Work in sales long enough and you will eventually get the “It’s not the price. It’s that we’re not ready to do this now, but we want to do this later.” If you’re new to sales, you leave the conversation pumped because you think that this is progress. You think that this deal is going to be done. Unfortunately, oftentimes, the latter never comes and the deal is never done and it won't be for your lack of trying.
In fact, because you believe that the deal is going to be done, just not right now, you work extra hard to continue to engage with your soon to be customer. Days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months and pretty soon you’ve sunk so much time into trying to keep your deal alive that you don’t want to stop pursuing the client. Sure, following up with a lead is important. Yes, staying on top of mind for both customers and leads is an absolute must. But, what’s even more important than both of those is getting quickly to a “Yes” or a “No”.
The reality is, saying “No” for the majority of people is hard and really uncomfortable, so they come up with other things to say. “Later, not now, it’s on our roadmap, we’re going to invest in what you’re doing but not yet” are just some of the things that leads will say rather than telling a salesperson no. A junior salesperson takes that not yet at face value and reengages based on the lead’s perceived timing. A senior salesperson understands that it is important to determine whether or not the lead is serious about moving forward later or is just going to waste time.
Here are the three tactics, if combined, will best help you move that client from a “Now now” to a “Yes”:
Create a sense of immediacy. Often you hear sales managers use the term FOMO. They want you to create, in the potential client, the Fear of Missing Out. Unfortunately, with many sales people, this gets translated into “the discount is only good for the next 3 days”. It’s easy to believe that this statement is believable when you say it, but both for your potential client and probably yourself, you never believe someone is actually going to pull a discount on a deal that they want to close.
Rather, create immediacy by tying their needs to their timeframe for success, meaning that if they want to be up and running with your product by August, they need to understand that waiting could mean that they might not be able to meet their deadlines. Depending on your product, focusing on supply, and the potential lack thereof, is one of the best and most honest ways to create the sense of immediacy. Simply state something to the effect, “I definitely understand the need to focus on different efforts, but we're continually growing in leaps and bounds. So without a commitment from you all, you might not be able to implement us as quickly as you'll need to in the future.”
Take money out of the equation. While it’s true that we inherently find value in things for which we must pay, taking money out of the “Not now” equation helps deflate the potential client’s pushback. One of the best ways to determine whether or not their pushback is because they have zero money to spend, is to set their payment to begin when their contract begins. One way to phrase this to your potential client is “How about we get a contract together with a start date that aligns with your roadmap and when you would integrate us into your offering."
Focus your rebuttals on their specific problems. Salespeople are great at following a script. But, clients are terrible at going through a script. Therefore, while great salespeople have a rebuttal script, the rebuttal scripts are never perfect. So, rather than talking from a rebuttal script, highlight how you and your product solve the potential client’s problems and pushbacks. Be specific with your rebuttals, not general.
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