Extended Service:
How To Sell Extended Service
Pt. 2 of 3
By Tom Egelhoff
 Last
month you learned how to present your product to the customer
and include the ESP (extended service policy) in your presentation.
This month I'll discuss how to overcome some of the common objections
that you and your sales staff will run up against. In sales there
are only two kinds of objections. Valid and Invalid.
Most objections are invalid. You would never have gotten to
the point of writing up the sale if the customer were not a valid
customer. So keep in mind that in almost 70% of the cases they
can afford the ESP but object to it because you have not fully
shown them the value of buying it. So do not automatically assume
that price is the problem. In some cases it might be but in most
it is not.
The biggest mistake that most salespeople make is simply not
asking for the order. If you have presented your product and
the ESP as a team and created value in the product there should
be no objections. But if you did not create value then you will
have some objections to overcome. Here are some of the most common.
Objection #1 - "I just can't afford that right now."
I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard that and I
still ended up selling them. There are several ways of handling
this one. "Mr. Customer if I could include the ESP in the
price of the unit you'd take it wouldn't you?" Answer, "Yes."
So what you are telling me is that you like the program but you
are having trouble justifying the cost of coverage that you might
not use." Answer, "Yes" again. "Do you realize
that with labor at $50.00 per hour and parts almost as much that
you could save more than the entire price of the ESP in just
one service call?" "If you don't have this coverage
and something does happen to your system are you going to bring
it right in?" "Or, are you going to live with a system
you're unhappy with until you think you have the money to have
it repaired?" "Suppose the problem isn't fixed to your
satisfaction the first time?" "With the ESP you can
bring it in any time you feel it's not performing at peak efficiency."
"And as a bonus feature you will get the latest upgrades
in parts and technology that have taken place since you purchased
your system possibly giving you a better system than the one
you originally purchased." "Do you think the latest
technology will cost more or less over the next 3-4 years?"
"You can lock in today's labor and parts costs for the next
three years." "You can't afford not to do it."
Objection #2 "I don't need the warranty, if
it breaks I'll just throw it away and buy another one."
This usually happens on lower end equipment and you just
need to show them the error in this kind of thinking. Let's assume
that you are dealing with a $200.00 item with a factory warranty
of 90 days labor and one year on parts with a $75.00 ESP for
3 years. "So Mr. Customer, are you saying that you would
rather spend $200.00 twice for a total of $400.00 and STILL end
up with only 90 days of warranty?" "How many times
would you do that before the ESP makes sense?" (You might
not want to ask them that.) "Doesn't $2.08 ($75.00 over
36 months) per month make more sense than $11.11 per month to
know that it will always perform at peak efficiency?" "And,
if at any time it's not repairable, we'll throw it away for you
and the next ones on us."
Some quickies:
"It's not in my budget." "Mr. Customer,
isn't your budget designed to control costs?" "You
will never be surprised by an unexpected repair bill."
"I may not keep this car that long." "Mr.
Customer, the ESP is transferable which can actually add to the
value of the vehicle at sale time."
" I think the manufacturers warranty is enough."
"Mr. Customer, let me show you the parts that are
not covered in the manufacturers "limited" warranty."
"With my ESP there are no parts exclusions."
"I'm thinking about moving out of the area."
"Mr. Customer, our plan is covered by over 12,000 repair
shops in all 50 states, Canada and Puerto Rico."
There is never enough space to cover every objection and this
is just the tip of the iceberg here. Each shop is going to be
different because the salespeople in it are all different. In
most cases you will only hear about 4-5 common objections. Learn
to handle those and watch your income rise.
My best suggestion is to discuss objections at your weekly
sales meetings and learn from each other how to overcome them.
Review your ESP's coverage compared to the manufacturer and learn
the strengths and weaknesses of each.
Next month I'll show you how to develop an in-house training
program for your sales staff to make them ESP stars.
Part One
- Click Here
Part Three
- Click Here
Based in Bozeman, MT, Tom Egelhoff is the author of How To Market, Advertise & Promote Your
Business Or Service In A Small Town, and The
Small Town Advertising Handbook: How To Say More And Spend Less.
He is also a seminar and workshop presenter and trainer.
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