Brand Source Service

Expert Protection plans are a great way to increase your commissions and keep ­customers coming back. But too often, Expert Protection is offered as an afterthought—at the checkout counter. When that happens, the buyer is basically forced to make another purchase decision. And as any savvy salesperson knows, re-opening the sales pitch after the decision has been made can cause unwanted objections to surface.
Why make it harder on the buyer—and yourself? One of the best ways to close more Expert Protection sales is to open up the topic earlier, rather than later, in your sales ­presentation. Here are a few tips on how it’s done.

Make Service a Benefit
If you integrate the features and benefits of the Expert Protection with the features and benefits of the product itself as you’re highlighting its advantages, customers will be more likely to consider—and purchase—the two together. That’s why you should stress the potential savings and peace of mind a particular product can offer the customer, in addition to its primary function. Once you’ve laid the groundwork by positioning low-cost service as a distinct benefit of what you’ve got to sell, offering Expert Protection is a natural next step.

Accentuate the Positive
When you offer your customers an Expert Protection, present it as an opportunity to get more for their money. This approach will often head off objections before they arise. You might say, for example, “This product is so reliable that it qualifies for a 3 full years of coverage. That means you’ll never be hit with excessive repair costs.”  By addressing your customer’s need for service protection head-on, you’ve also just overcome one of the most frequent objections. And that is—“If this product is so great, why do I need to worry about repairs?” No matter how great the product, repairs are always a possibility. But with extended coverage, skyrocketing service costs never need to be an issue.

Believe in the Service
Do a little homework and find out the average repair costs for products similar to what you’re selling. Know when the OEM warranty starts and ends—and understand what it covers. You’ll learn how valuable Expert Protection can be in increasing the life of a product and protecting your customers from expensive service charges in the ­future. You’ll also be able to answer questions. Consumers can spot a phony sales pitch a mile away, but if you’re confident in the plan, your customers will be, too.

Assume a “Yes”
Recently, a sales representative whose extended service plan sales percentage was near 80% of his sales was asked how he did it. His answer was simple: “I always quote the product and service plan together. For example, you could say ‘This television and five full years of coverage only cost $XXX.XX.’ That way, my customers have to tell me they don’t want it.”

This salesman has discovered an important fact about consumers: if you assume they’ll say yes, chances are they will. And with the benefits a service contract can offer, why should they ever say no?

This article was contributed by Sean Hicks of Warrantech Corporation.