Shane Decker tells you how to make sure the ?I’ll be back’ customer actually does.
WHEN ARNOLD SAID IT, we all knew he meant it. Unfortunately, most jewelers aren’t so lucky when they hear those three fateful words: ?I’ll be back.?
In fact, research tells us that 93 percent of those customers will never return to your store. Ouch! That’s even more painful than a Terminator movie marathon. But while there may be nothing you can do to improve Arnie’s acting, there is a way to deal with your ?I’ll be back? customers, and hopefully improve your closing ratios along the way.
Four out of every five customers who leave you do so because of a perceived lack of value. It gets really disturbing when you realize that 75 percent of all jewelry shoppers buy their jewelry the same day they started shopping for it. That means that people are walking into your store ready to buy. Why are they leaving? In previous issues, we’ve gone over the things you can do better in your sales pitches.
But let’s say your team has had the very best in sales training, and that you are providing an amazing experience to every customer who walks through your door. Even then, you’ll still have a few cold-footed customers who won’t commit to the purchase. How do you handle them?
The biggest problem in these cases is that most jewelers never follow-up with these customers.If a customer in your store had but a single objection, you would never give up on the sale. So why treat your ?I’ll be back? customers any differently?
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Never underestimate the human need for attention and reassurance. Give these prospects a phone call the next morning. Tell them ?I’d love to have the opportunity to show you this item again and talk about it a little more.? If they’re not home, leave them a message. Whether they come back in or not, they’ll know you cared enough to make the effort, and that could be the difference in making a future sale.
But wait, there’s more. If you don’t hear from the customer in three days, send them a card thanking him or her for coming in. Let them know you haven’t forgotten about them, and that you’d like to invite them to come back in. Tell them you would appreciate the opportunity to show them this drop-dead gorgeous diamond one more time. If you don’t hear back after that, then you can let it go. But if they do call, and you’re able to set up an appointment, your chance for closing the sale goes up to 90 percent.
Arnold Schwarzenegger would never give up without a fight. Why should you? Those three little words ? ?I’ll be back? ? are just one more objection to overcome. You may close a deal you never thought possible! And even if you aren’t able to make the sale, chances are good that customer really will be back at some point in the future … hopefully, before the machines take over the Earth.
Hasta la vista, baby!
