This is the blog transcript of our video “The 8 Core Objections You Should Be Ready For”. If you’d like to see more of our videos, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel here.
Whether you think that objections are something to be “handled” or “dealt with” or simply “responded to”, they’re a natural part of the selling process.
When they come at the end of the sales process, they can become overwhelming and sometimes even sink a deal.
But if you’re paying attention, you’ll notice that objections are being discussed all the time – they’re just coming in the form of questions, not as a “no, because” statement.
Hey everyone, I’m Ian Campbell, CEO of Mission Suite. Before we jump into today’s video, do me a favor and hit the subscribe button and ring the bell so that you’re notified whenever we post new videos.
No matter what the objections are, they tend to boil down to one of eight core objections. So what are they?
If you’ve watched some of my other videos, you’ve probably heard me talk about justsell.com. It’s a great resource for sales people and sales leaders alike. It’s one of those resources that I always highly recommend to people who are in sales.
I’ll drop a link to the website in the description of this video so you can check it out.
Just Sell has a great article on objections that I love and typically assign as required study for all of my new sales people. In that article, they boil down every objection that you’ll get into a list of eight core objections. There’s a link to this article in the description too.
If you know how to address those eight core objections, and know which ones aren’t worth trying to respond to, then you’ll be able to effectively discuss anyone’s concerns about doing business with you.
I’m not saying you’ll win every deal, but at least you’ll be able to continue the conversation.
Before I get into discussing this list of eight core objections, it’s important to remember that objections aren’t stopping points, and typically aren’t deal breakers.
Rather, they’re better to be thought of as conversation points – opportunities for you to show your value as a sales person, and to dial in on specific points of interest for the prospect you’re working with.
Objections are nothing short of opportunities. Make sure you treat them as such.
OK, now let’s jump into the list.
They don’t see your value.
This is always a tough one to swallow as a sales person. By the time we’re actively selling our stuff, we’re usually so heavily bought into our offering that we can’t imagine anyone not seeing the value in it.
This can be especially true if you’re a professional services provider. Suddenly when someone indicates they don’t see the value in what you’re offering, it can become REALLY personal.
But, if we can pull ourselves out of the equation and acknowledge that the sales process isn’t about us, but rather about the prospect, it becomes a bit easier to swallow.
If they don’t see our value as a product or service offering, that’s ok. Maybe they need more information from you. Maybe they need to hear from some of your current clients. Maybe they just need more time.
And, of course, maybe they’ll just never see your value because of some sort of prejudgement that they’ve made so you just need to move on and focus on people who do.
There’s no urgency in buying from you.
I’ve said this in the past – timelines are everything when it comes to closing deals.
We’ve all got them, but the only ones that really matter are the prospects’.
Sure, there are always things you might be able to do to successfully accelerate a timeline, depending on your business. If someone needs to buy something next month, maybe offering a special pricing concession that is good until the end of this month could make them move a bit faster.
But a lot of those types of “motivational” tactics are short lived and can’t be used regularly. It’ll get pretty coincidental if you’re offering the same deal every time someone says they’re not ready to pull the trigger. At that point you may as well just lower your price and stop playing the games.
There are also ways that you can create a sense of urgency by highlighting the opportunity cost of waiting. If they’ve told you what NOT having something like what you’re offering in place is costing them – financially or otherwise – you may have a really clear picture on why this should be urgent for them. Once you understand that, you can actively make that a part of your conversation. It’s a strong tactic and I’ve seen it work often.
I’m a believer, though, that you’re going to be much better off getting to know their timeline, and why they have that timeline in place.
Do they have a contract that they need to wait to let expire? Are they trying to hire someone who will be your primary point of contact? Maybe they’re waiting to get paid from a client of theirs before they can pay you.
Urgency is always nice when you can find it – and there are plenty of prospects out there who are actively looking for a solution like yours, and doing so urgently. If you need sales now, keep working on finding those prospects.
If you maintain a strong pipeline then you won’t have to worry about creating urgency you’ll be able to let the prospect’s natural timeline create the urgency itself.
Something else is better
It might be something that they’re doing themselves or one of your competitors, but they’ve convinced themselves that there’s an option that’s better than yours.
Now I’ve talked about this in the past, too. Sometimes we’re just not the right fit, and we have to make ourselves ok with that. There will be times that their needs are different than what you’re able to offer.
But what about the times that you know that you have a good story to tell against your competition. Or when you know that you can provide a better option to the solution that they cobbled together in house?
There are things that we can do once we’ve gained the trust of the prospect in these situations.
First, you know you have plenty of competitive information and comparisons between you and your biggest competitors. And if you don’t, spend some time and put them together. Something as simple as a spreadsheet can be really effective at laying out the differences between you and your competition.
Also, find clients or customers that you have who chose you over other offerings and ask them to be references for you or write up a testimonial that talks about why they decided to go with you over the others they were looking at.
Third parties go a long way in helping you build that credibility. And once you have credibility, you can make a strong showing with more behind you than just words.
Internal Politics
There’s nothing worse than dealing with someone else’s politics. But sometimes it needs to happen. So what’s the best way to get around it?
Make sure that you’re involving everyone who will be a part of your deal into the conversation as early as possible.
And how do you do that?
Ask!
From the earliest points of your conversation with your primary contact at the company you’re working with, find out who else might need to be involved in something like this.
What other departments is this going to impact? Who else has the “ear of the boss” that could influence the final decision?
Make sure that these people are involved in at least one conversation so that you can learn their needs and get their buy in really early on. Politics become a problem when people are annoyed or frustrated because they feel like they weren’t thought of. Show them otherwise.
So what if the person that you’re talking to insists that they are the only person you need to talk to?
That’s rarely the case so start asking them more questions. Ask them questions that they likely won’t be able to answer without talking to Sam in Marketing (or whoever they are).
When you find that person, ask to speak with her as well to make sure you can get all of your questions answered. That way your main point of contact doesn’t feel like you’ve gone behind their back, they don’t have to play middleman and you get all of your questions answered.
What’s the hardest objection you have to overcome in your sales day? Let us know down in the comments and, while you’re there, give this video a like so that we know that you’re getting something out of it.
No Money
The best things in life may be free, but that’s not going to help you make quota. You need to make sure that the person that you’re talking to can afford what you’re offering otherwise you’re wasting your time.
The truth here, though, is that we can all afford what we need to buy that has the value that we’re looking for. But because money is a finite resource, we all have to make choices about what we spend it on. So, unless you’re talking to someone who is literally penniless, you just have to make the best case you can for why the value you bring is worth spending it on you.
Easier said than done, though, right? How do you go about showing that kind of value?
Well that’s going to depend on what you’re bringing to the table, but there are a few things that you can do.
Will what you’re offering save them money? If so then focusing on that savings could go a long way in moving the needle.
Are you offering something that can help them MAKE money? Well that can be even more of a no brainer for some people, although you need to be careful not to let expectations get out of control on this one.
Maybe what you’re offering will combine multiple tools into one. Usually that will allow your prospect to shift the resources that they’re spending with all of those other tools and focus on just paying you. Oftentimes that will help to save them money AND time.
There are plenty of ways to keep the conversation going if a prospect thinks that they don’t have enough money to actually do business with you. Make sure you’re ready to address the concern.
Personal issues
Sometimes no matter how hard you try, a decision maker just isn’t going to move forward with you.
Maybe they have an issue with the type of solution you’re offering. Maybe you remind them of someone they don’t like. Maybe they ate some bad fruit and just aren’t willing to hear you out.
The thing about being in sales is that, as sales people, we make our living on being liked. And it’s tough when someone just clearly doesn’t like us for some reason.
I don’t know about you but in the past I’ve found myself thinking that if I just try a little bit harder they’ll like me and we can do business.
And sure, sometimes it’s worked, but usually I’ve had to give up something to get there. It’s usually not worth it.
For me, I find that if I sense that the decision maker has some sort of personal issue with me or my offering that it’s best to just move on.
There’s something going on with an outside company or organization
Every now and then you’ll come across a prospect who has engaged a third party to assist them with something in the world in which you’re working. This actually happens to me somewhat frequently, so I’ll use my own experience as an example.
I start a conversation with a prospect who seems really interested in the marketing and sales automation aspects of Mission Suite. They’re really excited to talk and during our first conversation they mention that they’ve also engaged an outside marketing firm that needs to be able to use whatever system they decide to work with.
Off the bat, this is a great opportunity for me to underscore our competitive advantage that Mission Suite doesn’t charge for additional users so they can access their CRM without having to pay extra for them.
However, this marketing company may have their own preferred CRM that they try to implement with all of their clients. Or maybe the marketing company has final sign off on whatever system they decide to use and needs to see another demo of Mission Suite before the prospect moves forward.
Obviously it’s still the prospect’s decision on what platform to move ahead with, so I can still make my case as to why they should go with Mission Suite, but the third party is always going to be an influencer in the decision.
In your world it may not happen often, but there are plenty of times when it could just become par for the course. Make sure you know how to address it when it does happen.
It’s just safer to maintain the status quo
I have to say that, of all of the objections that I get, the idea that “I think we’re better off just sticking with what we have” is the one that frustrates me the most.
If a prospect is content with what they’re currently working with, that’s fine. But if that’s the case, why are we going through the sales process together?
Change is never easy. And no matter how many times we’ve read Who Moved My Cheese, change in your working environment absolutely doesn’t get any easier. That’s true for all of us, and it’s easy to forget that the prospect that you’re working with is probably feeling that too.
There’s always going to be apprehension over the idea of implementing a different system or bringing in another service provider to do something differently. But something brought them to the table.
It’s your job to find out what brought them to your conversation in the first place and to truly understand the impact of that so that you can position yourself as the answer to that pain.
Then, if the person you’re talking to starts to indicate that they might just maintain the status quo, gently remind them why they’re talking to you in the first place.
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We’ll see you next time around!