If you own your own business, then selling yourself probably happens every day. The best way to overcome an objection is to know the most common ones and overcome them before the client brings them up. It could be as easy as justifying the costs by providing ROI projections, sharing a past client story of the impact of your service, or explaining why the client shouldn’t attempt to do it on their own.
Here are some common objections we’ve noticed in selling services and how to overcome them.
“I want to wait until (fill in the blank)”
Think about this first: if your service can really help, why would you want to postpone the benefits? Any client who wants to postpone your service until (come up with your own creative event), either doesn’t see the value in your service or has another underlying reason why he or she can’t pull the trigger. Most often, there’s an issue with part of the proposal or the client doesn’t have the money to make the decision, but doesn’t want to tell you.
“I don’t need to hire you, because I can just do it myself”
This one, for some reason, catches people off guard. If you have made your service out to be easy or simple, then this objection may come up. Instead of overcomplicating your service, think about this: Can the prospect really deliver the same results in the same amount of time as you? If they can, then you need to find ways to build value into your service so that a prospect can’t help but agree to purchase from you.
“My spouse brought up some good questions for you.”
Understanding who may be involved in making decisions is a crucial part of the sales process. Some tactics go so far as to blatantly ask a prospect this very question. When working with small businesses owners, spouses often are involved and some even have great questions. Before submitting a proposal or bid, it’s important to clarify potential decision makers first.
Dead Silence – Umm hello?
Ever wonder if your prospect may have inherited a bunch of money and purchased a private island off the Caribbean, or worse, is in the hospital with some ungodly illness? Often times when a prospect isn’t calling you back there is a great reason. However, when there isn’t a good reason, there is an easy way to overcome this objection (and it isn’t to discount your services). Simply email or call the prospect and let them know you are worried about them, haven’t heard back since X, and going to mark them off your list of potential clients if you don’t hear from them in Y number of days. There are other tactics too, but the idea is that you’re showing the prospect that you care (because you’re worried), and removing the option of continuing to work with you. People always want what they can’t have.
There are probably hundreds of objections when service selling. Leave some of your most common objections in the comments section, and we will try our best to give practical feedback on how to overcome them!
