Clearly the best time to sell is when the customer is ready to buy.
The challenge is that you have to know your customers well to be able to create some sort of relationship that evolves as they become more ready to buy, they are looking for some information you can provide, make an offer that is compelling, and so on.
Getting the ‘time to buy’ wrong is a common, basic and often terminal mistake.
A while ago (before the current Royal Commission was announced) I wandered into the local branch of my bank. I wanted to make a simple procedural inquiry, and make a cash withdrawal larger than the ATM would allow. The teller was pleasant and helpful, but at the end of the transaction, launched into a spiel about insurance, urging me to undertake a review of my insurance with one of their ‘experts’, guaranteeing to save me money.
Almost everyone buys insurance, usually multiple types, so it is a fair bet that something is coming up for renewal.
However, when I walked in, I was not thinking about insurance, and felt no need for a review, despite being depressed at the cost every time I renew a policy.
Dead money, unless circumstances are against you and you need to claim, and then you still need to extract the money from the insurer. At the best of times insurance is a reluctant, even grudge, purchase. We all hate it, and prefer not to think about the almost always dead money represented by the premiums.
The young teller was very persistent, immune to a simple ‘no thanks’ so I had to be rude, and just walk away. However, it was not her fault, there is no doubt in my mind that someone disconnected with customers had decided that tellers were the ideal lead generators for insurance sales, and had schooled tellers in the pitch, then applied a KPI to them:
‘Sales pitches delivered, and number of reviews initiated’ . Pity the KPI is almost certain to annoy a substantial number of existing and possibly formerly loyal customers, and often make the person delivering it very uncomfortable. Hardly a great selling environment.
The best time to sell is when someone is ready to buy, delivering a ‘hard sell’ to them at any other time is a good way to ensure they will not come back to you when they are ready to buy.
Header screenshot from the movie ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’
