When a customer says "let me think about it"

In short: "let me think about it" rarely means the customer needs time. Usually there is an unspoken concern: price, results, timing or not yet enough trust. Your job is to draw that concern out gently, not to cut the price and not to chase relentlessly.

Four don'ts

• Don't discount: dropping the price at the first hesitation tells the customer the full price was never worth it.
• Don't get defensive: rushing to insist how good you are only raises tension.
• Don't let go: "Sure, think it over" ends the conversation and gives up on the customer.
• Don't push: a deadline might win one sale and lose the customer's trust.

Three steps to find the real concern

1. Repeat their words: "You'd like to think it over, is that right?" They hear their own words, and you get a moment to think.
2. Rule out other reasons: "Apart from that, is anything else making you hesitate?" or "I may not have fully understood. Could you tell me a bit more?"
3. Answer the real concern: if it is price, explain the value or suggest a better-fitting option; if it is results, explain how they can check; if it is timing, make it easier to schedule.

Different people, different responses

Fast, results-focused customers want it short and direct, with the decision left to them. Slower, relationship-focused customers hate being rushed; give them time and make them feel safe first. Reading the customer's style matters more than memorising scripts.

If there is no sale, close well anyway

Agree a specific time to follow up, and afterwards neither chase nor disappear. Many sales happen on the second or third contact.

Treat selling as solving the customer's problem, and "let me think about it" stops being a no. It becomes the start of the next question.

Adapted from Vital Design's Sales Master Training and DISC course material.

Author: Dr. Dave Tan, DBA — Founder of Vital Design, Doctor of Business Administration (DBA). A business consultant to salons and SMEs since 2003, and author of a book on salon management.