The Inertia Close (Feel, Felt, Found)

The Feel, Felt, Found technique has been around since my Grandfather was peddling Encyclopedia’s door to door. I have used it with great success when faced with the “WAIT”, “I’m just fine where I am”, or “That’s not enough savings to make it worthwhile to go through the process” type objections. Basically, I’ll use this whenever a customer says that it’s easier to STAY at REST than to go into motion. I first ran into it while selling MLM products about 20 years ago myself, the problem with using it today is that anyone who’s had any experience in sales will surely recognize the technique so we need to dress it up a little and change the vocabulary. Otherwise, the same system still works today. It’s “Old Reliable” in your SalesFu tool belt.

STEP #1 Empathize with the customer (Understand how they FEEL). First Empathize with the customer but do NOT use the word “FEEL.” Examples-

I understand why you might have strong loyalty towards your local/current agent…

I can see why you would lean that way…

I get why you would have a tendency to stay put…

STEP #2 Tell them about someone else who was in the same situation (It’s OK, some other people FELT the same way). This is basically a Bandwagon type closing technique. Examples-

…and I’ve seen 100’s of customers in your situation with similar hesitations…

…and many of my clients don’t take action initially because they are scared of making the wrong decision…

…and tons of my current and past customers expressed similar concerns at first…

STEP #3  Explain the solution the other person came up with (The solution they FOUND). What was the resolution. Examples-

…and what we did was find the best program (revisit Benefits)…

…and invariably once we made the leap of faith everyone breathes a sigh of relief…

…and then we reviewed the warranty protection program and realized that this was the safest course of action…

STEP #4 CLOSE.   This technique, like all others only works when you circle back to the CLOSE and ask for the Business again. Example-

So it’s safe to say that we met all of your goals right?

My mother used to tell me to Trust people, but to Verify the details. The documents will verify these for you. What credit card do you want to appear on the documents?

So wouldn’t you agree the we’ve now exceeded your expectations?

A couple of Tricks-

Do not say “BUT” it sounds argumentative, instead say “AND”.

A common mistake is talking too much about the Benefits during the “FOUND” response. Make it short, sweet and to the point. Long rambling responses are hard to follow over the phone. KISS. Keep it Simple Stupid.

Practice. If you are using the technique or any sales tool for that matter, don’t wing it. Practice this so that it sounds natural.

Happy Selling and if you have any questions about this feel free to reach out to me!

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