The Blatant Truth Weblog

Winning the War Against Tire-kickers

You know exactly what I mean. The symptoms:

• I’m going to do it but I’ve been soooo busy
• Can you give more information (this after explaining the product or service ad nauseum)
• I forgot. How do I (fill in whatever it is they say they are going to do)

And on and on.

Anyone who has been in business more than 30 days has probably experienced this “tire-kicker” syndrome. It can be frustrating and even a bit infuriating. (OK, more truthful, it totally sucks.)

What causes this phenomenon? Well…

1. Inertia (the most powerful obstacle any salesperson will face)

2. The philosophy that “the devil I know is preferable to the devil I don’t (translated into fear of the unknown)

3. There was no real intent to move forward. (the BS factor was solidly in place)

So how can you win the war against tire-kickers? While there is no hard and fast answer there are a few simple things that can help you to overcome the problem:

• Be persistent. You can’t lose what you don’t have so don’t give up. Be tenacious and stay on the grid.

• Determine if you really WANT this business and if not, move on. (Actually, you should have done this right at the beginning)

• Don’t forget to continue to present value and benefits. The tire-kicker needs to keep hearing about the “improvements” that will be made in their situation if they avail themselves of your product or service.

Most importantly, make certain that you have enough prospects in your sales funnel so that one or two tire-kickers won’t destroy your sales numbers. You can’t avoid them but you can make certain that they have as little impact as possible.