YOU GUYS get some “stupid” questions thrown your way, don’t you?
Recently, in one of my favorite forums, Ask The Lab Guy on Facebook, Dr. Joseph DiGiorgio shared a question posed to him by a patient:
“I can get a frame for $14.99 at Zenni. I can get a frame and lens for $99 at Warby. Why should I get my frames and lenses from you?”
You know exactly why they should buy from you and not online. Yet, your challenge is how exactly do you speak truth to “stupid” questions like these? You shouldn’t. Have the customer do it.
Start with the question, itself. Do you recognize what this question is begging of you? What they are actually asking you? This is the key!
This question is begging you to sell them. They’re literally asking you why they should buy from you? This is a gift. But, beware the trap.
The trap most salespeople fall into when a question like this is asked, is the salesperson/ECP jumps in with a response based on their experience, expertise and defense mechanisms. This has absolutely nothing to do with
what’s going on inside the custo-mer’s head or their exper-ience. By the way, they can see if you’re getting defensive. No way to hide it. Once that happens, game over!
This is a “gotcha question”… they’re convinced that you’re gonna do a song and dance about how great you are, how great your quality is, how bad the other guy’s quality is, etc. But please, understand this very important point: They know what you’re going to say and they’ve turned off their hearing.
So, turn it around to have them close the sale.
To turn someone’s hearing back on, ask them a simple question. Coupled with this fact: if they know what you’re likely to say, it means, they can say it almost as well as you can, right? So, why not let them? (This is where the fun starts folks!!!)
I like to throw it back at them with a gentle question. Depending on the person in front of me, I might respond with one of the following questions:
1. “Well, why do you think you should get them from me?
Stay quiet and let them sell themselves on you! Just smile and nod. When they’re done, say: “Terrific, is there anything else?”
2. “Well, why wouldn’t you get your frames and lenses from them?”
Basically, the same question asked in a different way. The first question sets them up to talk about how wonderful you are and the second sets the stage for them to talk about the negatives of buying online. Either way, let them talk.
Or, I ask some simple questions:
You: “I assume you’re considering Z or W because they’re less expensive?”
Them: Yes.
You: “I understand. May I ask, between the two, price and quality, which do you feel is most important?”
Eighty percent of the time, they’re going to say: “Quality.”