How do you handle Mr. & Ms. Be Back? The majority of customers who tell you they’ll be back, don’t. Inside Track host Gerry Borreggine shares effective tips to keep them talking, not walking – and make the sale.
When you hear I’ll “Be Back,” how can you turn that into a sale? Inside Track host Gerry Borreggine shares some effective tips.
- 75% of those who say I will be back do not return, and you miss the sale
- Extend the conversation to hear what their concerns are
- Ask them what you can do to make the sale TODAY
Transcript
Gerry Borreggine
Welcome to Inside Track. I’m Gerry Borreggine. And we’re sponsored by Therapedic International. Today, we’re going to talk about the dreaded “be back.” And, you know, you spend up to an hour maybe on a customer, and when you move in for the close, they tell you we’ll be back. The “be back” line is the ultimate rejection. What they’re actually telling you is you didn’t do a good enough job.
You certainly didn’t make the sale. And the whole idea of them coming back is fictitious. It will likely not happen in 25% of the cases they may be back. And recent research shows 75% of those “be backs” do not return to the place where they said they were going to come back to. So you’ve missed the sale, you lost, and they’re going to walk out the door.
What are you going to do? My suggestion is you spent a lot of money to get them in the store, expended a lot of energy to present them the product, to sell them. Figure out something you could do to extend the conversation. One idea could be this. I know you were looking at this particular mattress. Ask the question if I could show you one.
I have one in the back. It’s got a mark on it where it’s got this on it, whatever. If you have to make a mark on it to have one back there, do it. If I was able to take a reduction on that, would you be interested in buying that? And if the answer is yes, you’re in the conversation again.
You take them back to your warehouse spot or your back room, wherever it is. Show them the mattress. Try to make the sale in your back room. You can do that. It’s a real plausible offering to a consumer. I’ve got one in the back if I could save you a couple hundred dollars. You can’t say if I can save you a couple of hundred dollars on this because their answer would be why didn’t you do that for me right here, right now?
But I have one in the back that got last year’s model, or it was last year’s label. Come up with half a dozen reasons why you could take a couple of hundred dollars off. And would you be interested if we did that? That’s one thing. The other thing, before they leave the store, I would always suggest this to our salespeople before they leave.
Ask them. Can I ask you one question? Yes. What could I do? Is there anything I can do to allow you to make your selection today to save you both time and energy? What could I do? You hear a variety of answers, and one might be if it was $100 cheaper or $200 cheaper, or even, depending on the product, maybe $300 cheaper.
I would have bought it right here, right now. And now you’re the salesperson. You look at your profit margin. Can you take that kind of markdown to make the sale? Keep in mind you’re going to lose them anyway, even if you make half the profit on them by taking some kind of markdown to keep them from walking; it’s better than nothing.
Look, you’re talking about dollars. You don’t pay your bills on percentage of margin and all that. You pay your bills in dollars. If you come out in a profit situation by taking some kind of markdown, taking this customer off the street, away from the competition, close the sale, make it better for them, better for you, better for everybody.
Do it. This is Gerry Borreggine. Inside Track is sponsored by Therapedic International. Thanks for watching.
For additional retail tips and strategies, check out these Inside Track episodes.
