What If They Want to Think About It? How to Conquer the Stall Tactic

One of the cold hard facts of prospecting that school owners must face is the prospect that says he's going home to "think about it." It's likely he'll never think about you or your school, and your opportunity to enroll­ him or her is almost nonexistent, once he or she leaves your school. The "I-want-to-think-about-it" objection is just a stall tactic. It's rare for a prospect not to receive enough information on the first visit to make an educated decision to enroll in your school. Most school owners are guilty of "in­formation overkill" with prospects. Most school owners are more comfortable talking and explaining, in de­tail, their arts than moving to the close and asking for money. Lack of impartial information on the school owner's part is not the reason prospects stall when asked to enroll. Why, therefore, do prospects say they must go home and think about it before they can make a decision? Is there some deeper level of concentration available only in the sanctity and safety of one's dwelling? Does being at home allow a prospect to come to an enlightened revelation, not otherwise attainable in your office? The answer to all those question are, of course, no. The real reason prospects stall has little to do with you, or your school. Prospects stall because of a basic human trait: An underly­ing fear of making the wrong decision, and suffering imagined conse­quences. Studies show that seventy-five percent of people tend to procrastinate when making decisions, not only about enrolling in martial arts classes, but also any decisions. The reason for this reluctance is an unrealistic and often paralyzing fear of deciding incorrectly. Knowing that a great number of people are reluctant to make a decision for fear of making a mistake, you can help prospects feel much more comfortable enrolling in your school, simply by removing any imagined risk from that decision. What I'm about to share with you is the most significant tool I've ever found to enroll students. I first developed and started using this technique in 1990, and later wrote about it in my book, The No-Intro Enrollment Tour. School owners who read the book have often told me they generated more enrollments from this one technique than any other tool they had ever used. My secret weapon for enrolling students, killing the stall tactic and overcoming any ob­jection is the 30-Day Money-Back Enroll­ment Guarantee. Almost every type of business today of­fers some sort of no-risk 30-day guarantee because it puts customers at ease and ultimately makes those businesses more profitable; otherwise, it would not be used. A guarantee for new students enrolling in martial arts classes just makes sense. Wouldn't it be great to put parents at ease with the promise of a guaranteed re­fund if their children don't like your classes? You bet it would. Besides, any school owner knows that the most exciting time for new students is the end of their first month in class, when they are about to test for their first belt, and they're starting to feel like they belong. In fact, the first 30 days students are in class usually results in excellent retention because those students' excitement level is so high. A 30-day guarantee, therefore, is not a risk for a good school owner; but it can make a huge difference with prospects and their parents, who would otherwise stall and pro­crastinate about enrolling. Refunds should never be a problem with an Enrollment Guarantee. During the six years I used a guarantee, I refunded only one enrollment of more than one thousand, and even that was a special circumstance. The family discovered the husband was being trans­ferred after they had enrolled. Occasionally, I'll hear this comment from school owners who are learning about the Enroll­ment Guarantee for the first time: "I'm afraid I'll have to refund too much money if I use the 30-Day Guarantee." My response is: "If you must refund several enrollments, then you should be very thankful to have discovered a serious problem with your cur­riculum, your instructors or both that must be corrected right away or it will eventually ruin your business!" I wrote a simple, one-page Enrollment Guarantee to help me eliminate the stall tactic during enrollment conferences. The Enrollment Guarantee effectively answers any objection that could possibly arise. Study this example of how to use the Enrollment Guarantee: The parent of a potential student says, "l want to think about it, and I'll call you later." You reply: "Mrs. Franklin, that's exactly why we enroll each new student with our exclusive, no-risk Enrollment Guarantee. We know that parents always want to make the right decision for their children. That's why we give Johnny and you 30 days of classes to learn more about the program, with absolutely no risk involved. If for any reason during that period you feel this is not the school for Johnny, then we will gladly refund any amount of your enrollment you feel is appropriate, to 100%. All we ask you to do today is take care of the paperwork, and the enrollment deposit, so Johnny can start without delay. "Mrs. Franklin, we know from experience that Johnny will love the classes here. In fact, you won't be able to keep him away, but we want our parents to feel comfortable that they are making the right decision, so we make it very easy to start, and then we give you 30 days to decide. Let's complete that paperwork and place him in class tonight." If you will practice and use the script above (with some variation for adult stu­dents), with an Enrollment Guarantee, you can overcome any stall objection you'll ever hear from a qualified prospect.