When They Say, "I'm just too busy," This is What You Say

Knowing how to overcome objections in sales is the key to your sales success. It’s so critical this feels like my millionth blog post on the subject, and guess what, it won’t be my last. 

Today I’m focusing specifically on time. Time can be a big hang up for clients who are trying to make a decision. And time can be one of the more difficult objections you get. 

Time shows up in a few different ways:

• I’m too busy right now
• It’s not the right timing
• Call me back in a few months
• Can you just email me the details, I don’t have time to get on a call

And I’m sure there are other ways it shows up. That’s just a few I hear often. 

I want to share a little bit of psychology behind the time objection before we get into the script.

Time is not actually the issue. We all have 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, and 365.4 days in a year. (We have to count the ? day because I am a leap year baby and that ? day adds up to one magical day once every 4 years for me.)

And in that time, we choose what is most important to us. We choose to put our time into maintaining our status quo life. Or we put our time into building the life we want. We cannot make more time. We cannot borrow time. We cannot find time. We can only dedicate time. 

I am incredibly busy. My schedule is jam packed and if I’m being honest, this is probably my most commonly used objection. But, here’s the deal, when a solution comes up that can help me get closer to my goals, I do it. I dedicate time to the things that are highest priority to me. Your clients are also dedicating time. Maybe not to their highest priority things. But still they are choosing where to spend that time.

Quite often here are some of the realities behind a client saying they don’t have enough time.

• They are lacking in support and feel overwhelmed by their current load and are hesitant to take on anything else.
• They are disorganized, frantic, and struggle to keep their life organized and worry they will fail. 
• They are indecisive and think putting off the decision will somehow make it easier.
• They are afraid of success and failure and have been avoiding jumping all in to their dreams. So they keep it on the back burner and that lets them avoid any risk by staying in planning mode. 
• What you are offering them is not as high of a priority as the things they are currently doing. (warning, this one is not likely to close).

Why does this matter? When you are learning how to overcome objections in sales, particularly time, you’ve got to understand it doesn’t always have the same root. And when you are overcoming this objection, it’s helpful to understand their situation a little bit more.

So here’s how I script this one out.

How to overcome objections in sales: Time, too busy, it’s not the right time etc.

1. Acknowledge the objection: So it sounds like you are interested, but you (restate their time concern as they stated it. I,e you’re not sure it’s the right time. You are too busy etc) Does that sounds accurate?
2. Ask a Question: May I ask you a question? If we set aside timing for a minute, do you think this is the right program/product/service for you? And is time an issue in general in your life?
3. Do I have permission to brainstorm with you and see if we can figure out a solution to the timing challenge? Because I know you want X now, but you don’t have time to do what it takes to get you there. If you’re open to brainstorming with me, I think we can come up with a plan.
4. Inform: I always love using questions to help people find their own answers rather than me telling them what I think. So here are some good questions that will help you see what type of Time challenge you are dealing with.

• If you were to take this on now, what would be your specific concerns? And what would be the benefits?
• If you don’t take this on now, and a year from now everything is the same for you, would you be okay with that? Or would that be frustrating to you?
• Is there anything you are currently spending time on that isn’t bringing you closer to your goals?
• What type of support would you need in order to be successful with this?

Bonus strategies: If they still need a little help saying yes, these two strategies work well with time.

Feel, Felt, Found: I know how you feel. When I was starting my business, I felt similarly. I was having my 5th son. I was overwhelmed with starting a new business. And it seemed like the worst time in the world to start a coaching program. But what I found was I really needed someone to save me time by just telling me what to do. Because my time was so limited, and my support was so minimal, I needed the fastest path to success. And I found that with hiring a great coach. Do you think that could be true for you as well?

The Green Light: (Name), can I be honest with you? It sounds to me like you want this, but you are trying to find the perfect moment. And in my experience, that doesn’t really exist. If you were to drive to work tomorrow and not leave your house until you knew that every single light was green, would you ever get there? No. Sometimes, you just have to decide that you want it now, and take the red lights and green lights as they come. You make more progress than you would if you just kept waiting. So what do you think, are you willing to jump in?

So there you have it! How to overcome sales objections about time! This one can be a little bit tricky! Also, did you notice this blog post is a little longer than normal? There’s a reason for that. It’s actually an excerpt from my upcoming book! Click Here to get a free digital copy.