Back in May 2015, I was brand new to sales and experiencing my first week in the business world. I had just transitioned into sales from a food service role at a grocery store that I had held through college and, as you could imagine, things were certainly different. On the second day of training our CEO, Greg, who ran the training at the time, introduced my team members and I to a concept a lot of us knew was coming with sales: Objections.
Objections are a natural part of the sales process; you’ll encounter objections on sales calls no matter if you’re selling a one-call-close, $40 software solution or a 12-month sales cycle, $15,000,000 infrastructure deal. In a previous blog, I touched on how to handle objections specific to your product or service.
While in training way back in 2015, Greg was pretty adamant that there were 7 specific objections that come after your opening to the call; no more, no less. All objections are not created equal, as you can probably imagine, and Blocking Objections are the first knee jerk reactions you encounter on a cold call. After more than five years of data gathering, I can confirm that there are 7 specific objections you’ll run into while cold calling:
I’m busy/ I don’t have time
If I had a dollar for every time I heard ‘I’m about to go into a meeting’, I’d be rich enough to not be writing this blog. In all seriousness, your prospects are busy; get to the point quickly.
I’m not interested/I’m all set
Of course they’re not; you haven’t given them a good reason to be… yet. Rely on your relevance and do your best to try and understand why they aren’t interested.
We have a solution
Well, that makes sense; your prospects are smart and have done their due diligence on a solution. Figure out what it is!
I’m not the right person
Mistakes happen in your research… or do they? Validate your prospect isn’t the right person before moving on.
Is this a sales call?
No, but it is certainly a cold call. If you hear this, go back to the reason why you called. If that reason isn’t compelling, then go back to the drawing board.
We don’t have budget
This has nothing to do with your product or service; if this comes after your opener then this is a knee jerk reaction. Your prospect is uncomfortable so you need to reassure them of your intent during the call and try your best to ask a question to uncover a need.
Send me more information/ send me an email
They want information so that means they’re interested, right? You’re going to send that information, they’ll look it over, and get back to you immediately because of how compelling it is, right?! WRONG. The information you’re going to send is generic; try and uncover a specific use case to cater your information to before you email them.
These 7 objections are going to be what you hear after your opener. They may not be explicitly said exactly how it’s written here, but these 7 ‘buckets’ apply to all of the blocking objections you’ll hear. Remember that it has nothing to do with your product or your company- this is a knee jerk reaction. Keep your composure and focus on extending the conversation past the objection and you’ll see the results!
