How to identify, tackle and resolve client reservations before they turn into a deal killer

Introduction

If you fail to answer client concerns successfully, they can turn into a deal killer. By shaking their confidence through stumbling your words and a lack of conviction, you risk undoing all the hard work that got you to talking with this potential client in the first place.

The number of sales I must have lost by not having convincing answers…I dread to think about it. Customers can be fickle. Say the wrong thing and it puts doubts into their mind that are difficult to shake off.

But it’s just so difficult to remember what to say when someone comes up with an objection and you have no time to think of an answer.

At least up until now.

This Special Report shows how I have successfully tackled the most common objections and how I got the answers remembered!

Apply its principles and your are guaranteed to achieve higher sales.

I’m not saying by reading this report you will always overcome a prospects objections. We live in the real world so we have to be realistic here. What I am talking about is percentages.

By knowing up front what type of objections you will face, you are half way there. Preparing your answers and remembering them is the second half of the equation.

Let’s get straight to it.

What is an objection?

It’s an opportunity to move closer to a sale. Yes! It’s true! I used to read all those sales books that said, “Objections are opportunities in disguise.” I used to think, “Positive thinking bullshit! I don’t want any objections!” But the truth of the matter is, if you don’t get any, they aren’t interested.

How many times have you bought something expensive without having your serious doubts answered? In my case, rarely. If I have doubts, I put off the purchase, particularly if it I is a big-ticket purchase. If my doubts have been answered satisfactorily then I might make the purchase.

However, if the answers I get are:

• Lacking conviction
• Too generic
• Unconvincing
• Stumbled

…then my chances of buying go right down, at least with that vendor.

My reasons are:

• If they lack conviction, they may not believe what they are telling me. In other words, it’s just a sales pitch and not the truth.

• If the answer is too generic, they may not actually know the answer. How many times have you or I talked in vague terms to avoid being “found out?”

• If the answer is unconvincing, they may have a flaw in their logic that I just haven’t consciously detected yet. On the other hand, their argument/presentation may be sound, but the benefits don’t outweigh the objections negative points.

• If they stumble badly, they just don’t know their stuff so how can I trust them?

Remember, I said objections are an “opportunity” to move closer to a sale, not a guarantee. It’s worth highlighting this point, so here it is again:

Fact #1: Sloppy objection handling will move you away from a sale.

Fact #2: Effective objection handling will move you closer to a sale.

Rules When Answering Objections

Rule #1
Establish whether it is a “condition” or an “objection.” Sometimes there are very real reasons for not being able to go ahead with your recommendations. For example, if they have an unmoveable deadline of 2 weeks and you can’t start until 3 weeks time, that is a condition.

An object is usually either misinformation or perspective. See the difference? There’s no point tussling with a client over a condition – it cannot be changed. However, there is every reason in the world to clear up misinformation or to change the client’s perspective of your company for the better.

Rule #2
Don’t jump down their throat with your answer. Lead into it.

A common technique is the feel, felt, found formula. It goes like this.

“I know how you FEEL. Most of our clients FELT that way when they first began to look at what I'm suggesting, but then they found that it was the right decision to make after all. This is because…”

Rule #3
Be gentle with your answers and agree with them where possible.

Use conversational smoothers like…

• “I agree with you in principle. However, in practice…”
• “I understand why you may think that.”
• “Yes, I agree.”
• “Yes, I know what you mean.”

This makes your answer much more palatable and you are less likely to get their back up. You don’t want to win the objection at the expense of loosing rapport.

Rule #4
When you hear an objection ask if that is the only objection. This can clear the way to a sale if it gets answered satisfactorily.

"You have raised an important question. Is that your main concern?"

If they then come up with a whole host of other objections, you may find they told you a good sounding excuse rather than the real objection. Yes, people do this because they feel their real objection doesn’t sound good enough.

To counter that, a good way is to say:

“Isn’t there something else, something in the back of your mind that makes you hesitant about this project?”

They may reply, “Well, yes actually. It may not sound important but I’m worried about….”

Then you can answer it and clear away their concerns.

The Top 7 Objections You’ll Face In IT

Objection #1: “You’re expensive!”
Smaller and medium sized companies are most likely to come up with this objection. Large corporations are used to dealing with approved suppliers and they often charge a premium rate.

Some suggestions:

• “Although my day rate may seem high, I get more work done in less time than a cheap consultant. And if they are any good, why are they charging so little?”
• “It’s much better to get a job done professionally than having an inexperienced person mess everything up. It saves you a lot of aggravation in the long-run.”
• “We get so much work at this rate and our clients are really pleased with what we do. Besides, it’s not our rate that’s important. It’s what you get for your money.”
• “We are priced for market share, charging 25% less than our nearest competitor.”
• “This type of work has a high rate attached to it because it is specialist.”
• “Comparing us with most cheaper XXX specialists is not comparing like with like. We provide quality reliable solutions with ongoing support. We are in it for the long run.”

Objection #2: “I’ve got a friend who’s a bit of a computer whiz. He said he could help me out.”
What a load of rubbish this one is. But in the prospects mind – at that point in time - it is often a viable alternative.

You must question them to establish some doubt over their friend’s credibility. Test the objections validity by asking them why they haven’t brought their friend in already.

• “Do you have any reservations about using your friend?” (If yes, “What are they?” If no, “Why did you contact us then?”)
• “To get the job done properly, I strongly advise you to use a specialist, whether it’s us or someone else.”
• “Call us if it doesn’t work out.” <walk away>

Objection #3: “Why should we deal with you?”
You must have a decent list of reasons. When I was first asked this I came up with the usually mumbo jumbo of “quality, doing a good job etc.” but everyone says that. It lacks credibility and believability. You need to give specifics.

Examples:

• “We’ve built ready made code so that we can design your system at lower cost and of a higher quality for the same money.”

• “We’re local to you and that can be very handy if you get a problem and want it fixed straight away.”

• “Because we’re specialists, we can more accurately forecast how long this project will take. This means you are less likely to suffer missed deadlines and price creep.”

Objection #4: “What kind of ongoing support can you provide?”
Companies are very concerned about getting reliable ongoing support. If you can reassure them here, it will go a long way toward cementing the sale.

You must have several support options available. Give them an option of a fixed fee contract. This is a great way of setting up a predictable income. In fact, many IT consultants earn over 30 percent of their income from support alone.

If you don’t have a support contract in place, there is a high likelihood that later on, the client will try to pick your brains for free. And that is the last thing you want.

Try saying this:

• “How important is support to you?”
• “What kind of support contact would suit you?”
• “We can either set up a support contact or deal with issues on a per incident basis. Which of these would you prefer?”

Objection #5: “One of our IT guys can deal with that.”
This one can sometimes work for you, and it can work against you. There seems to be a belief among many people, that if you have reasonable IT skills then you can do anything with computers. Yet both you and I know that this is simply not the case.

Therefore, you will often face objection #5. It is extremely frustrating, as the client’s conviction can be difficult to break down.

In my opinion, the best way to tackle this objection is not to confront the skills of their IT department but to shake their confidence in other areas.

For example, most staff realize how stretched IT departments are. Therefore, you can play on how slow it will be for them to tackle their projects.

The two examples below give you an idea

• “Will they have much time on their hands for this project?”
• “I’m sure we could turnaround the project much faster. Is early implementation important to you?”

Objection #6: “My boss has said I should get some training and tackle it myself”
I get so many inquiries from people wanting to tackle a project themselves, even though it is way beyond their capabilities. Often, this is because their manager has unrealistic expectations of what is possible to achieve with some limited training.

It is your job to re-educate them. However, you must be very careful how you do this. It is so easy to upset and alienate a potential client by suggesting they are not up to the job.

Your first task is to establish how complex or difficult the project is. Only by doing this will you ascertain how likely it is for them to complete their project on their own.

If it is way beyond their skill level, then you have an opportunity to fully assist this client. But you must convince them that it is out of their reach.

A few phrases that may assist…

• “What are your IT skills like?”
• “Do you feel confident in handling this project yourself?”
• “How long do you think it would take? How much time have you been given? Do you have a deadline?”
• “Do you feel as confident in tackling this project as your manager?”
• “Do you have any concerns of undertaking this project yourself? What are they?”
• “In my professional opinion, I think you’ll find it very difficult if not impossible to complete this project yourself. You would need to much more experience.”

Objection #7: “We’ve already got an IT Company that helps us out”
Many IT consultants will try to “ring-fence” a client. What I mean is they try to build a virtual wall around the client to stop them from seeking IT help elsewhere. They will feed their client’s mind with junk like “We can help you will ALL your IT needs. If you have a computer related need, we’ll solve it for you.”

Once they have established a good personal relationship with the client, it is highly likely that they will get first pick. However, it is also likely that they will not have a wide range of specialist skills. They cannot be masters in all areas.

Your two angles for countering this one are:

1. Establish how happy they are with their current level of service.
2. Present the “generalist verses specialist” argument.

Ask them…

• “How long have you used them for?”
• “Have they ALWAYS performed well for you?”
• “Anything about their service that you don’t like?”

If they have weaknesses like slow service (a common one) then you can jump in with:

• “We are guaranteed to return your call within 24 hours or you get one hours free technical support.”
• “Look at what our customers have said about our technical support…” (Then show some testimonials)
• “We give out the consultants mobile so you can contact them at any time.”

By showing how you can improve on one of their weaknesses, you are opening their mind to the possibility that there are other alternatives. You need to overcome their inertia as quite often people just can’t be bothered to change suppliers unless for a very good reason.

An often more effective technique is to say…

• “We don’t want to tread on their toes but for THIS particular project, we really think you need a specialist.”

This way - in the client’s mind - they are not changing suppliers. Instead, they are having one ad hoc project done because “it makes sense.”

Besides, everyone knows a specialist is going to do a better job than a generalist. You can’t be a jack of all trades.

Instant Recall: How To Remember Every Answer, Every Time

You won’t remember your best replies if you only look at the material once. Or even twice. Or even 10 times.

You must rehearse your answers for at least 2 weeks and then come back to them on a periodic basis.

Follow this plan:

1. Write each objection on a 3 x 5 card.
2. On the reverse side, write your chosen answer(s).
3. Repeating aloud the objection. Then try to recall the answer aloud.
4. Review each card 3 times a day for at least 2 weeks.

Two weeks from now your answers will be at your fingertips. But not if you don’t repeat aloud. Do it in your car so no one can hear you or when you are alone at home. You must learn to associate the sound of those words with your spoken response to assist in the learning process.

If you have a partner, use them to role-play an awkward customer. Let them hit you with every objection on your list and see if you can tackle them all with ease.

Doing this exercise will put money in your pocket.

Summary

Never underestimate how important objection handling is. Salespeople will confirm that many times a deal is won or lost on how smoothly you tackle your client concerns. They should be viewed as stepping stones and no more.

The role objections play in the sales process can be analogous to driving to a distant holiday destination. The first three-quarters of the journey has gone fine (this is your rapport building, presentation of your service and establishing client needs). Then your car starts to splutter (client has some objections).

You open up the hood and find you have a loose wire.

Scenario #1: You connect it back firmly (smoothly answer client objection). Then you complete the remainder of the journey.

Scenario #2: You’ve never looked under the hood (no objection handling preparation) so you take a guess. You stick the wire onto something poking out. It sparks but your engine doesn’t fire up (you answer poorly)! You’ve blown a fuse and you don’t have any with you. You are broken down and never quite made it to your destination (you lost the sale).

Most IT people I know don’t want to become salespeople but you do need to become persuasive. If you don’t , the competition wins. Now we don’t want that, do we?