Quick Tips for Common Sales Objections - Part 2

This article is part of the Sales Secrets Uncovered series where we share key learnings from our analysis of 211k+ sales calls spread over 3.8 million minutes and 12 months. Why? To uncover the stats that will help you sell better in 2022 and beyond!

This article is from the desk of our Lead Content Specialist, Anirban.

PS: Use this data responsibly. Correlation is ≠ causation. ???

So last week, we talked about sales objections and their impact on deals, and then did a deeper dive on a couple of specific types of objections, with a promise of more to come.

And since I always keep my promises* here’s part 2, where we talk about objections of the “I need to talk to my boss” and “But I don’t even know you!” variety.

*"I promise not to eat the last brownie at the company potluck" is not a real promise, Tina!

The I’m-not-the-boss objection

Gatekeepers. What cold call would be complete without them?

More often than not, you are likely to run into a gatekeeper before you get to the actual decision maker in the organization, which means you will face the objection.

Basically, it’s when the person you are talking to tells you that they are not the decision maker. Or that they would need approval from higher up.?

While this usually means that the deal is likely to slow down, all is not lost. According to our research, such objections correspond to a 49% increase in win rate, and a 33% decrease in loss rate.

The best way to handle this kind of objection is obviously, to politely ask to speak to the person in charge. However, sometimes that might not be possible. Even in more advanced stages of a deal, your point of contact might need the approval of higher management.

In such cases, custom collateral works wonders. Go back to your enablement team and with their help and your understanding of the prospect, create collateral that succinctly addresses the customer pain points. Maybe even record a short video taking the viewer through it. These are busy folks you’ll be addressing through, so keep it to elevator pitch length.

The suspicion objection

Ok, so officially we call it the Trust objection but come on! That doesn’t even rhyme.

So whatever you call it, it happens when you are a relative unknown in the market. Perhaps a startup or a small business. In B2B, where contracts can last months or years, this is a big deal. A lot of money and reputation is on the line here.

We won't lie - this one a toughie. While this objection does correspond to a 40% increase in win rate and 23% decrease in loss rate, those numbers are actually less than what we have seen for other objections.

So how do you overcome this?

First, by acknowledging it.

Some sales folks, when faced with a lack of trust, go directly into a pitch of how amazing they are and their product is. What this conveys is that they don’t really care about where the objection is coming from - the fear that doing business with an unproven entity will harm the prospects’ business.

So in our experience, the best thing to do in such situations is to first say “You know what? You’re right. We’re pretty new to the market so it’s not a surprise that you haven’t heard of us. However, we did work with…”

Which is when you bring out your relevant testimonials and case studies to show actual, real life wins. And once that is done, then you can go into your story – not about your solution but rather the prospect’s problem. How it’s harming the prospect’s business. What the actual impact on revenue is. And finally, how your solution can fix it.

Remember, what’s at stake here is the very trust of your prospect. And that’s worth more than all the brownies in the company potluck.

Well, except for the last one.

And that’s it for this issue of Sales Secrets Uncovered with Wingman. Catch you next week!