A question I get asked a lot when speaking to sales groups is, “When is it appropriate to present multiple offers to a customer?”
The situation is something we can all relate to.
You have a customer you want to close, but you’re just not sure which option they might want or what price they might be willing to pay.
You’re not sure if you should hold back on closing until you know more or merely offer the customer several options.
This situation can be tricky, but let me share with you the best strategy I’ve found and the same one I share in my sales training sessions.
First, never think about giving a customer options if you feel the customer can’t make a decision. Nothing is going to make things worse than giving more options to someone who already can’t decide anything.
Never even think of using this closing strategy with this type of person.
If, on the other hand, you’re dealing with a customer who has a huge ego or wants to control everything, closing them by presenting multiple options can be a perfect approach.
Giving a person like this options plays directly to their style and will most likely allow you to close the sale faster than if you chose to use other approaches.
When presenting multiple offers, use it also as a way to upsell to allow you to gain more revenue and avoid customer pushback to offer a discount.
Multiple offers allows you to give the customer several different price points, which in essence is allowing them to control the buying process.
Key is in making sure at least two of the options are for packages that are larger and more expensive than you feel the customer would want. Giving the customer 3 options to pick from — two of which are priced higher than you’re expecting them to pay — can help to condition the customer to feel the lowest price option is the one they should chose.
Beauty is this is the one you’ve been envisioning they would pick all along.
Allowing the customer to pick the lowest price option gives them a feeling of control and can allow you to close the sale quickly without as much pushback on price as you might have expected.
What makes this technique so good is there will be times when the customer will take one of the higher-priced options. When this happens, you wind up even further ahead. Not only have you closed the sale faster, but you have also done it at a higher price.
Closing the sale by providing the customer options is a great strategy that will work far more frequently than most salespeople realize.
I strongly suggest using it in the right scenarios. Worst case that can happen is the customer rejects.
If that’s the case, you use it as a trial close to gain more information about what they truly want.
Copyright 2014, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.
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2 Responses
This is absolutely true. I learned it in car sales. By presenting a matrix of pricing options you are going to very quickly learn their decision making factors. The client doesn’t know it, but they are telling you exactly how to close the deal.
Present three choices: “Which of these is best for you?”
They will say, “Well I really like this one. BUT… (the price is too high, it’s not the right contract, etc)”
Then you say, “So if I could offer you the features that you like from this proposal, but at the contract terms from this other proposal, we would have a deal?”
If you can’t close that deal, then you don’t belong in sales.
Very insightful, as I was pondering a major marketing decision. Thanks!