Marketing
Overcoming Sales Objections: Four Strategies to Overcome "I Have to Consult With..."by Lorna Riley CSP
You finally get in the door at a company with which you’ve been wanting to do business for a long time. Once inside however, you find that the door you came through hasn’t led you to the person you need to talk to. You are now talking to the WRONG PERSON! The decision-maker you need to find, or another key player, is through another door…maybe even on another floor…maybe even at another location. To put a new twist on an old sign: Do NOT abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
The objective of any good sales strategy is to get in front of the right people, at the right time, in the right way, and to present the right information. Here are four strategies to follow when looking for the "right people," sometimes called "key players." Key players are all those people who could influence the decision, but may or may not be present at the time you present your offering. Sometimes key players are obvious, often they are hidden. It’s the hidden ones that are responsible for sale sabotage and send us home wondering what went wrong.
Strategy #1: Find a coach.
Very often secretaries, administrative assistants, or supervisors can act as one type of key player decision maker called the "coach." Coaches want you to win because they perceive that if you make the sale, there is a win for them. They can guide you to the right people and literally teach you how to sell to the other key players. Perhaps you have the product or service that this person could use to advance his or her career in the company. Perhaps this is the person who can lead you to your ultimate buyer. Perhaps, too, this person will one day become that ultimate buyer. One way to find a coach is to treat everyone you meet is a VIP and a potential guide. If you treat everyone with respect, you will increase the likelihood of others coaching you through the sale.
Strategy #2: Look for "technical buyers."
You should always be assessing your contacts in a prospect company. Technical buyers are those individual(s) or groups who need to be present in order to judge the specifications of your product or service. They measure, quantify, and are often brought in to screen out vendors at the start. They may say that they hold the final decision, but they typically act as a gatekeeper, and must consult with others before making a recommendation to the final decision maker. While technical buyers do not have final approval, they hold a great deal of influence in making recommendations. Before you present or conduct a sales conversation, ask if there are technical buyers, and how they might be included in your presentation.
Strategy #3: Look for "user buyers."
This could be one person or a group, and they are the ones who would actually be using your product or service. If you’re selling a phone system for example, they will want to test-drive your system. If it’s a service, they may want a dry-run. Users make decisions about performance, operations, and how their lives will be affected if your product or service is accepted. Before having a sales dialogue, ask to include people who will be using your product or service to provide input on job performance.
Strategy #4. Find the "economic buyer."
The economic buyer is your ultimate decision-maker and like the name implies, releases the funds to buy. They have final yes/no power, may override negative recommendations, or veto all the thumbs up. The ultimate decision made by this key player is not about "pricing," but rather must satisfy the silent question, "Is your product or service worth what you’re asking?" If they see good price performance, and that your offering will in some way enhance the bottom-line of their organization, they can often locate hidden funds or create budgets where none existed. Best advice is to find the money source early in your cycle, and to ask for the other players to be present as well.
To avoid the "I have to consult with…," locate a coach, technical, user, and economic buyer. If you run into this stall, it means that you didn’t qualify decision-making roles at the outset before creating your sales dialogue. A simple:
"Who else would you recommend needs to be in or this?" Or,
"What role do you play in making the final decision?" Or,
"Who else do you consult with before going ahead? How could we all get together so that we’re all working with the same information at the same time?"
Anything along these lines could have opened hidden doors. If any one of these players block your passage to the others, and they often do, then you could follow-up with, "Then if you really like what we discuss, do they usually go along with your recommendation?" If you get buy-in, the "decision maker" will go to bat and sell for you harder than you might have—now their word is on the line.
Decision-making buyers move around a lot and their roles change. "They" could be one person, or many. Develop strategic alliances so that no matter what role one plays, you will have covered your bases up front and avoided the "I have to consult with…"
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Lorna Riley, CSP, is the president of the American Training Association. She can be reached at lorna@lornariley.com or 760-639-4020.
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