Most salespeople think of stalls and objections as synonyms. Wrong. Stalls and objections are both things you may hear after you have asked for commitment, but an objection is a specific reason not to buy. In a stallI need to think about itthe customer offers no particular reason for hesitating.

Almost all salespeople buy in to the stall. Very few ever get the deal once they do.

What the stalling customer is really saying is this: Im not quite sold yet. Sell me some more. Well then, by all means, do some more selling. But do it right. Heres how:

Never challenge a stall. Since the customer offered no specific reason for hesitating, dont force him to come up with one by saying something like, What is it that you need to think about? Challenging stalls creates conflict, not sales.

Dont try to manipulate the customer. If youve learned any manipulative sales techniques, forget them. They do more harm than good. The old feel, felt, found method rarely worked even in its heyday, and it certainly doesnt work today.

Identify a Universal Stall Breaker. The USB is a capability of your product or your company that minimizes the risk to the customer who buys. Every company has one. Yours might be a money-back guarantee, a no-hassle return policy, a try-and-buy arrangement, extended terms, or an unusually comprehensive warranty. Whatever this capability is, do not present it to the customer up front. Hold the USB in reserve, in case you hear a stall when you ask for commitment.

When you do hear a stall, follow this procedure:

Say, I understand.

Restate the product features the customer liked before the stall arose.

Present the USB.

Ask for commitment again.

It works like this: I understand. You like ____, _____, and ____ about our product. With our _____ policy (the USB), you can try it with no risk at all. How does that sound? (Customer responds.) Would you like to go ahead with it then?

Far too many salespeople fail to ask for commitment even once in a sales call. With this stall-breaking method, you are asking twice. And you have followed the customers lead by doing exactly what the stall really asked you to do: Sell me some more.

Believe it, you will make more sales!

In The Field:

Equity Residential is the largest apartment leasing company in the United States. In a tough economic climate, Equity decided to invest in developing the selling skills of its leasing consultants. Needless to say, these consultants often hear stalls such as, Let me think about it and Ill get back to you.

Equity has a Service Promise Guarantee that minimizes the risk for customers who choose to rent. But prior to the Action Selling sales training program, we presented our Service Promise Guarantee as just another feature, said Jonakan OSteen, director of education and leadership development. With their eyes opened to a new way of looking at stalls, Equitys consultants quickly identified the guarantee as their Universal Stall Breaker. That is now how they use it.

Its easy to get stalled when working with rentals, OSteen said. Or, rather, it used to be.

Duane Sparks

Duane Sparks is chairman and founder of The Sales Board, a Minneapolis-based sales training company that has trained and certified more than 200,000 salespeople in the system and skills of Action Selling. He has personally facilitated more than 300 Action Selling training sessions.

In a 30-year career as a salesperson and sales manager, Duane has sold products ranging from office equipment to insurance. He was the top salesperson at every company he ever worked for. He developed Action Selling while owner of one of the largest computer marketers in the United States. Even in the roaring computer business of the 1980's, his company grew six times faster than the industry norm, differentiating itself not by the products offered but by the way it sold them. Duane founded The Sales Board in 1990 to teach the skills of Action Selling to others.