“Let Me Think About It”

For a brief period during a misspent youth, I was employed by a long-defunct chain of gyms called European Health Spas. My job was two-fold – one to help the members design suitable exercise programs and the other – to sell as many multi-year (and often inescapable) member contracts as possible.

For that I was outfitted in black pants and a white short-sleeved lab coat reminiscent of a barber. And in full disclosure I was terrible. With no formal sales training my soft-selling skills were basically non-existent. At that point in my life I would have had trouble peddling air conditioners in Phoenix.

But we did have one superb sales person – a woman who, in contrast to myself, could sell blocks of ice in Anchorage. Stunningly attractive with a silky voice that had male members of all ages swooning like lovesick kittens, she not only broke the existing membership sales record for the entire company, but later became one of the most successful real estate agents in the state.

Her technique was quite simple. Whenever a prospect was on the fence about signing and tried to leave with a “let me think about it” parting line, she sat him or her down in her office, closed the door and glared at them like a school principal would a repeat truant.

“I’ve been in this business a long time and never once has ‘thinking about it’ ever gotten anyone into shape.” 

More often than not she closed the deal. 

I’ve long since progressed from selling memberships to selling succession planning. But incredibly, I often receive the same response that many of them have been thinking about it, but a ridiculously low percentage have actually done something about it.

Case in point. Last week I visited a client in the Northeast and if there was ever a textbook case of a firm in desperate need of a succession strategy this was it. To put in the perspective of my former career, it was as if John Candy strolled into the health club and said he was thinking about getting into shape.

The firm had two owners – both comfortably into their mid-60s with exactly no one either groomed or had the potential to assume the leadership reins. In addition, revenues had been stagnant for the past five years.

Nevertheless, after all this was pointed out to them, I still received the tired bromide of “let me think about it.”

Arguing was pointless, but before I left their offices, I told them that if they don’t do something, they had two alternatives: either enter into a desperate merger with decidedly unfavorable terms or lock the doors and shut down the business for good.

“I’ll let you think about that.”