You see, I had my online lead generation system pretty dialed in after a lot of testing and tweaking. I had my assistant doing a lot of the pre-qualifying and appointment setting over the phone, and I thought that once they were in the door, I was pretty good at giving them an uber-awesome experience and closing the deal…or so I thought.

After some thought, I started thinking why the hell am I not setting up appointments— not just for trial classes– but to actually have an allotted timeslot to sit down with the prospect and get a solid YES or a solid NO. I mean at the end of the day, isn’t a solid NO a really good answer from our prospects. Don’t get me wrong, a solid YES and a credit card number would be better, but a NO would save us soooo much time on following up and essentially chasing all those leads. Ugggh the followup and chasing game. Sucks, doesn’t it?

So after reevaluating my sales funnel and switching to the in-person close, I realized that the thing I dreaded more than the April 15th tax deadline was that dreaded “let me think about it” answer we inevitably get from so many prospects. Come on, let’s be real here. What does “let me think about it” really mean? It’s means NO! But in our minds, we get semi-excited and still keep them in the prospect pile of people to go devote valuable time and resources to go chase. What a waste!

So how can we get out of that vicious cycle once and for all? Unfortunately, there’s no way to assure that we can eliminate it altogether, but I have come up with a great little rebuttle or mini-script that has been working like gangbusters to just simply get the YES or get to the NO. I would take 10 NO’s over 1 “let me think about it”. At least with a solid NO, i can move on and spend my time and resources elsewhere.

Here is essentially what I say when I get the “let me think about it” response.

***Now keep in mind this is only after I have gone through budget and decision with them aka “What kind of budget do you think you would need to solve this once and for all” and  “how do you make decisions about purchases like this? Is there someone you would need to check with before we proceed”.

Prospect: Hmmm, I really loved the boot camp class, and I really want to join, but I’m just gonna have to think about it.

You: Hey Sally, can I be totally and completely honest with you?

Prospect: Sure, please do!

You:  99% of the people that leave here to “think about it”, I never see again. You just told me how much your life is suffering because of this. You told me that your husband won’t have sex with you, you don’t have the energy to play a simple game of hide and seek with your kids, and you cry everytime you get dressed in the morning because nothing fits. You and I both know that I can help you. I’d hate to have you leave here knowing that I can help you.  I just want to make sure that you are going to do SOMETHING about this. Whether its by going to Bally’s and getting a $30 dollar membership or hiring a personal trainer, you just told me that you can’t stand to live another day like this– that you have to do something. So if you aren’t going to do it with me, then what are you going to do to tackle this?

Okay, so it’s a bit ballsy– it is. But if you want to truly change as many lives as you can on a regular basis, you can’t be afraid to ask the right questions. And usually those are the questions that people are too scared or blind to ask themselves. They are the questions that they NEED to be asked…and they just so happen to be the ones that will lead  you out of the “let me think about it” trap, and lead you to more sales.  This line of questioning will get you to the REAL reason behind her hesitation so you can actually get the YES or the NO.

Leanne “Fitbiz Femme Fatale” Ellington
www.NotYourAverageBootCamp.com