[Free email template] How to deal with customers who want to cancel a care plan

“I want to cancel my care plan”

I’m going to share with you WHY customers try to quit care plans at a time like this and what you can say and do to prevent it (or even get them to spend more with you).

I’ve also got a free email template (with no optin required) that you can use to respond to any customer who asks to cancel their care plan.

Market uncertainty

This is a big problem right now and it’s going to happen to a lot of us. As soon as there is a global panic of any kind (Brexit, mortgage crisis, dot com bubble, Trump) people panic and start to protect what they have.

Lots of customers are going to start cutting costs and chances are you are the #1 choice.

How to answer a customer who wants to cancel their care plan

Agree with the customer

The most common and probably your immediate reaction, is to either take it personally or, to argue with the customer.

You have to understand that the customer, is reaching out to you from a place of fear. This is the last seen in the action film where the hero (you) and the rescue we (them), have to jump from one skyscraper to another.

The rescue we, or the customer, is telling you “I can’t do this”. They aren’t telling you that they don’t like you, they are just afraid to continue the journey.

When a customer says “I want to cancel my care plan” what they’re really saying is “I’m afraid and I don’t think I can do this. Please help me.“

There are immediately resorting to something they can understand and control, to combat the uncertainty that they are facing.

Just like all purchasing decisions are emotional ones, all refunds and cancellations are emotional decisions too. And the crazy thing, is that you have to agree with the customer.

The customer is resorting to controlling the one thing they can, their expenses. You have to see beyond their initial action, and look at their goal. You have to agree with them, that the goal of managing their finances is a smart one.

“Mr customer I totally agree, it’s a really good idea to look at your expenses. I want to make sure I fully understand before we do anything that can’t be undone and leave your website unprotected.“

We are demonstrating that we are on the same side as the customer. We are both on the same side of the table, and we want what’s best for their business.

Most funnel builders and agencies will immediately resort to accepting the customers demand and just feeling sorry for themselves. Or, they’ll try to argue with the customer.

The customer is telling you that they trust you and this is their best idea to help their business. Their goal is financial control and you need to agree with them that that’s a good idea.

I cannot tell you how many refunds and cancellations I have turned around, or even increased in value, because I have started off by agreeing with the custom

Offer a moral standpoint

At this point during the conversation, you want to offer a moral standpoint to why you can’t cancel it straight away. Explain that you are of course open to cancellation, and if it’s the best idea then you will gladly accept the cancellation. But you feel uneasy leaving their website unprotected, and unattended, especially during these uncertain times.

The customer is vying for immediate control over their future. Fear is a powerful motivator, and is causing them to make rash decisions. All human beings make this paradoxical mistake.

Don’t let the fear spread to you, and act based on emotion. Remain calm and examine the moral standpoint of letting someone make a bad decision.

Right now, the customer is looking to you for advice and help. I can 100% promise you that if you let them cancel their website care or maintenance plan, and then their website did go down, they’d be angry at you. You’re supposed to know better!

Show them that their priorities are also your priorities. You want to protect their cash flow, income and expenses. You also want to make sure that their most valuable asset s protected when they need it the most.

Yes, if they can show that cancelling their care plan does make sense then of course you’ll accept. But you can’t in good faith let them ignore new revenue or sales opportunities first, or at least demonstrate that this will save them money in the long run.

Provide another solution

Something I like to do with customers is the “maths of leaving”. This is where we work out the financial implication of them leaving their website open to breakages.

By asking them how much they need to earn per hour, how much a sale is worth, and how much experience they have. We can work out how much website costs them per hour, day or week.

Many customers will believe that they can do it themselves. Again, agree with them first. “Mr customer, I don’t doubt that you could do it yourself. It’s certainly not something that you could learn and understand.”

“And really, is the most valuable use of your time fixing your own website? Especially during a time like this?”

Dig a little deeper into your customers daily tasks, and show them that working on their own website, is not a valuable use of their time. Which leads us to our next point, of providing another solution to cancelling.

“Before we look to remove any kind of protection (needed now more than ever), I’d gladly talk through some ways we can increase your revenue? How does that sound?“

Most agencies and funnel builders will immediately close the customer account. We however are going to offer the customer another choice. The choice to increase revenue and protect revenue, rather than cut expenses.

If we can identify their top customers, their top selling products and help them see sales opportunities, they’ll be less willing to cut your care plan.

  1. Who were your top paying clients of last year?
    1. How much did they spend?
    2. How often did they buy?
    3. What did they buy?
  2. What was your top selling product of last year?
    1. How many people bought it?
    2. What was the average price?
    3. How much revenue did it make?
  3. Of those top customers, were there any products they didn’t buy, that they could/should?
    1. What are those products?
    2. What is the price?
    3. Why should they buy?
  4. Of those top selling products, are there any customers/leads who didn’t buy who could/should?
    1. Why didn’t they buy?
    2. Why should they buy?
    3. Who should we talk to?

Q: Would you like some help positioning new products to those current customers?

We’re also going to ASK them if they want help creating a new campaign to target the opportunities that they’ve discovered.

Use this email template

Finally, I’ve got this email template here (no optin) that you can use to respond to your customers, if they ask to cancel their care plan.

Mike Killen

Mike is the world's #1 sales coach for marketing funnel builders. He helps funnel builders sell marketing funnels to their customers. He is the author of From Single To Scale; How single-person, small and micro-businesses can scale their business to profit. You can find him on Twitter @mike_killen.