“We’re in No Hurry!”
Ever been in a situation where you’re pushing for the sale, yet the customer is not willing to commit to a sale right now. Their attitude says that they do want to buy but they’re in no hurry as they have time before they will commit to the contract.
So while you’ve sold the benefit of the product to the customer, you’ve not sold the benefit of ordering now. The ‘buy now’ must be part of your selling effort. While the customer may be comfortable buying later, there are factors that may make sales at a later date more difficult.
There are times when your company will have excess capacity and therefore you will be able to serve the customer better. In such a case you need to sell the improved service to the customer. If the customer orders when your capacity is booked, the customer loses on the opportunity for in time delivery.
There may be a high demand for your product and you need the customer to order now or the raw material for the popular item may run out. The customer needs to order now otherwise when material runs out they will need to wait for the next time raw material arrives. This may or may not tie in with your customer’s production schedule.
Your company might be offering limited time bundle offers on your products. As such when the time limit on these bundle offers runs out, the customer loses the advantage offered. Therefore, they must act now to get the benefits.
Some items are limited production and once they run out the customer may not be able to order again. It is the sales person’s job to deliver this message and create the desire to buy now in order for the customer to get delivery of the limited-edition item.
The customer might be delaying their purchase decision due to cashflow issues. Try to understand why they are delaying their decision in order to tweak your offer. You could be in a position to offer them flexible payment options which could secure your sale as well as fulfill customer demand.
The disadvantages of buying later can be:
Late deliveries
Stock out
Item/offer discontinuation
Price increase
Inform all of these to the customer and let them know how soon they must order to gain benefit from the offer.
Keep the discussion open with the customer so that the customer benefits from what you are offering. Creating value for the customer will help anchor your position as a reliable business partner and open doors for future business as well.