Beyond Belief: Out of Stock

[Jack T. Chance]

Sometimes that works. Most of the time, though, when I try that, I get two whines:
"But I need it NOW! I can't wait for you to transfer it here or ship it to me."
-or-
"But those other stores are too far away!" (Granted, a 40-minute freeway drive to either the north store or the south store can be a long drive, but if you REALLY want it...)

She hasn't come back for her laptop yet, by the way. Or, if she did, I missed her. In any case, those 17"-ers came in right on time.

It's probably one of these 2 possibilities, because these are the 2 most likely to happen:

1. She found and bought her precious laptop somewhere else, hopefully at a much higher price, but most likely while complaining to them about how unfair it is that your store didn't have it... like they want to hear her endless bitching and moaning!
2. She'll come back next week, or the week after that, or the month after that... you know, after they've sold out again... then bitch and moan about you being out of stock again! This will, of course, be your cue to say "I told you so", i.e. "You should have come back the next day, when we actually received a shipment of them in, like I asked you to do!"

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

[pbmods]

I thought of something else....

Another idea I had - present an upsell as an alternative.

"Well, we are out of 17" laptops right now, but let me save you some time here. We can go ahead and look at the 19" laptops right now so we can find out what specs you're looking for, and then what I can do is special order you a 17-incher with the same features today."

I figure then the customer will pick out a laptop that she just absolutely loves, and then rather than wait for the order to come in, she'll just buy the 19" laptop....

The key selling point here will definitely be playing on the customer's sense of urgency. Use phrases like, "Right now", "Today", "Real quick", etc.

Incidentally, the four factors used by salespeople to maintain impulse:
- Fear of Loss (EXTREMELY effective; "This offer is only good through me today." "We only have one left in stock." "Normally, this costs $50, but if you buy it now, I'll give it to you for $39.50." etc.)
- The Jones effect (from 'keeping up with the Joneses'; "This item is really popular among [customer's profession or hobby]." "Funny; I've worked with about a dozen customers who [significant trait or characteristic of customer that relates to product] that bought this same item." etc.)
- Sense of Urgency (Different from fear of loss, keeps the customer thinking in terms of right now and right away; phrases such as "Right now", "Today", "This'll just take 10 seconds", etc.)
- Indifference (the customer wants to think that you have his interests, rather than, say, a commission, at heart; "It's no big deal." "You probably wouldn't be interested in this, but...", shrugging shoulders, etc.)