Selling to husband / wife teams!

This is easy when you get it right!  It is tough if you fail to set up the appointment properly.  What you have to remember here is that husband and wives think differently, they are together because of the old saying – opposites attract!  They have different views on life, you and your product / service.  Men generally think logically, women – emotionally.  You need to be able to understand this and sell accordingly.  REMEMBER – sales is defined as “professionally helping others to buy”.

Here’s what I have figured out over the years, and it remains the same no matter the size of the sale.  Husband / wife teams have a process for understanding their different decision making styles.  Over the time they have been married, one of them has made a rash decision and it came back to bite them on the bum!!  So now they have an unwritten pact that exists between them that goes something like this.  “No matter how good this guy sounds like, no matter how good the product is, we will not be making a decision today, we will take our time, weigh up the pros and cons and then call the sales guy at a time that suits us”.  Ever been stuck with this one?

Well, as a professional, it’s up to you to recognise this and approach the situation accordingly.  I use a process whereby I firstly let them know that I know what they are thinking and then set about dividing to conquer.  Let me explain.

At the beginning of a sales appointment I state that I am aware of the decision process that most couples have and then I sate something like “all I ask is that if you see something during the process that will improve your situation then keep an open mind”.   I also state that during the sales process there will be no pressure applied as we do not believe in this at all.  It breaks the ice somewhat and you can see the body language change in that instant.

When it comes to the close I have to divide the two and make sure I repeat back to each person the reasons why what it is I am selling makes sense.  I will cross to the wife and summarise the key points that I know she was interested in, then I cross to the husband to ensure he hears the key issues from his point of view.  I want for each of them to see the other person nodding their head in approval.  This way they see each other agreeing to what it is I have had to say.  The close therefore becomes simple and straight forward.

So keep in mind that couples have a pact before you show up, you have to acknowledge it then divide them up and conquer accordingly.  Good luck with this, I have been using this simple process with huge success for around 15 years now…