As a sales professional, you’re probably used to hearing objections from clients about why they can’t or don’t want to use your solutions. But did you know that Social Selling can help you to get past those objections and close the deal? Here are some of the most common sales objections, and how Social Selling can tackle them.
Objection #1: Now is not the best time
As they say, timing is everything. But if someone is telling you that now is not the best time, it’s likely because you’re approaching someone who hasn’t expressed an interest in your solution. Buyers today conduct a lot of research before they’ll connect with you, the sales professional. In fact, 57% of the buying journey is happening without you. Yet, research shows that ¾ of deals are being awarded to sales professionals who have first provided value and insights.
If you’re getting this objection, this means you’re approaching these buyers before they’ve done their due diligence. They may not be far enough along in their journey to make a purchasing decision, and may still be figuring out what their challenges and problems are.
Social Selling solution:
Leveraging content and marketing automation tools will help you understand your buyers. Through understanding the content they’re consuming, you’ll be able to gauge their interest level and whether they’re interested in buying. No longer will you be approaching potential buyers randomly. Instead, you’ll be approaching buyers who have shown an interest in your solutions.
Objection #2: I have to run, but shoot me an email with your details
When you get this objection, you can start by using your common selling skills to let the buyer know that a face-to-face or virtual meeting will be more effective at answering their questions than sending a PDF to them via email. But sometimes, using Social Selling is the only way.
Social Selling solution:
If you’re receiving this objection, chances are, your buyer isn’t aware of what his or her challenges or problems are. Your role is to help them along their buying journey. This means a long-term approach to dealing with your client. It can be tempting to give up on that relationship by only sending the client one PDF by email and leaving it at that. You need to nurture your client relationships through providing constant insights and content. On a weekly or bi-weekly basis, send the client tips, roadmaps, best practices, success stories, or 90-day onboarding plans. Over time, this will shape the buyer’s journey far more than a one-time contact.
Objection #3: I’m not sure we can afford something like this
The fact is that money and value are all a perception. For many companies, most of the solutions you’re presenting haven’t been accounted for in the budget. This reminds me of the old adage that only 3% of the buying market is actually seeking to buy. The other 97% is in the awareness/consideration stage.
Social Selling solution:
If you’re getting this objection, you likely haven’t built enough value upfront for the client. At Sales for Life, we’ve polled thousands of sales professionals, asking them where they feel they’re adding the most value in the sales process. 75% of sales people we polled said they believe their value was at the first meeting. But this is incorrect. So much of the buying journey is happening before that sales professional has even gotten involved. The truth is that when you think you’ve added value at the first meeting, you’re in the commodity zone, and not thinking about value. Continuously leveraging content and insights, and enabling introductions between customers—will shift the buyer’s journey in your favour.
Objection #4: We’re good, we’ve got this covered.
This objection gives you a fantastic opportunity to probe, and try to find out what the client means by “we’ve got this covered?” The client may be brushing you off, but may also be unaware of the big picture. They may not know what their challenges are, and how you can help them. How do you do this? Through Social Selling.
Social Selling solution:
Social Selling can help you leverage insights from the market. Using Google research, job change alerts, feedback from websites like glassdoor.com and other trigger tools, you can use these alerts to let you know what’s happening at both micro and macro levels within the organization. You can then use third-party content from Google to teach potential clients about what is happening in their industry, and where the whole thing is going – and how their “I’ve got this covered” solution may be a small piece of a much bigger pie.
