PART 2
This is the 2nd blog of a 3 part series. For part 1, click here.
How to Anticipate Objections During Discovery (where pro’s win)
This is where deals are won or lost.
Let’s assume marketing has nailed the lead qualification process and you’ve got a well qualified prospect…so far.
From experience in sales, we know that objections arise from 3 main issues: pricing, timing and decision makers not engaging. There are others, but let’s start here.
1. Pricing Objections
Sales pros don’t wait for price resistance – they frame value early on in the sales process.
If you don’t yet have this, work with your team to create a list of questions for discovery that addresses pricing objections head-on. The questions should help you gauge if the prospect has budget, is solely price-driven, or is open to seeing the value of your offer and is therefore more flexible on pricing.
A great place to start is to have a brainstorming session with your sales reps (see the tip at the bottom of this blog post). Discuss deals that your company both won and lost. What pricing objections were raised by prospects? Are there patterns for closed lost deals? How did sales reps successfully stick handle pricing objections to win the sale?
This is an incredibly valuable conversation to have with your team. The resulting insights will help you frame conversations and position reps to be proactive vs. reactive.
Now reps can:
- Ask about budget timing and allocations (can budget be reallocated?)
- Quantify the cost of the current problem
- Tie your solution to financial or operational impact (what are the long-terms savings and benefits?)
By the time numbers are discussed, price is placed in proper context, and you can refer back to what they told you during discovery. They may not remember what they said, but you will, and that will raise your authority and credibility with prospects.
2. Timing Objections
When prospects say “not now,” it’s often because nothing is forcing a decision.
Top reps ask:
- “What’s driving the timing on this?”
- “What happens if this doesn’t get addressed this quarter?”
- “What else is competing for resource priority?”
It’s up to the sales rep to surface urgency – or to expose when it doesn’t exist. You may be surprised how often your prospects are prepared to stick with the status quo rather than devote resources to an alternate solution.
But we often don’t find out if the status quo is acceptable to them. This may express itself in the prospect simply ghosting sales reps (i.e. “We’re gonna stick with what we know so I can’t be bothered to reply.”). (Head over here to grab my handy “No-Ghosting Proposal” Checklist.)
Jonah Berger has an excellent insight around this in his book “The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone’s Mind”. He identifies “endowment” as one of the 5 key barriers to change. So it’s up to the sales rep to initiate a discussion around the cost of inaction and help identify the costs and risks associated with sticking with the status quo. (I highly recommend Jonah’s book as a must-read.)
3. Authority Objections
When authority is addressed upfront, it rarely becomes an objection later. In my calendar booking form, I ask upfront if any other decision makers need to be invited to the meeting, in addition to the person completing the form. It’s a great way to establish authority parameters from the start.
Surprise stakeholders will stall your deals and, worst case, kill them.
Your time is valuable, so it’s essential to identify key decision makers early on by finding out:
- Who else is involved in the decision?
- How do approvals work?
- What needs to happen for a final yes?
When authority is addressed upfront, it rarely becomes an objection later. And if it does, you can once again remind them of earlier discussions you had around this.
Your CRM has the answers…
Check your CRM pipeline settings to see if you require sales reps to select why a deal was lost. This is valuable data to identify patterns in lost sales, and also tells you the common objections that are causing your company to lose business.
Your CRM should let you create a list of pre-defined reasons for losing deals. Sales reps should not be able to move a deal into the “closed lost” stage without selecting why the deal was lost. This is trust-based, so sales reps need to be truthfully selecting the correct reason to ensure data integrity for analysis.
Would you like to master handling objections so you’re no longer caught off guard, or sound defensive?
Learn The PAUSE Framework in Part 3.