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Overcoming Sales Objections – We’re too small to buy your product
©2007 David A. Peterson
I’m going to start several articles that deal specifically with objections. In this article we are going to work on how to overcome this objection: We are too small to purchase your product or service.
In the sales process of Open, Probe, Pitch, and Close objections in general occur in two places. The sales objection can occur while probing for your customer needs and the sales objection can occur while pitching your product to your prospect.
It is important to understand where you are in the sales process to understand how to overcome sales objections.
During the probing process you will be asking a series of open ended questions. Each one is used to uncover the prospects needs. If you spend your time diligently uncovering those needs then your pitch and close will be much easier.
Let’s look at the “We are too small” objection during the probing process.
Customer: “We are too small for your product.”
Incorrect Probing Response:
#1 “No you’re not; our product was built specifically for your company’s size.
#2 “I hear that all of time but let me tell you why you are a good fit for this product”
#3 “The size of your company doesn’t matter this product will make you much more efficient.”
Correct Probing Response:
#1 “Most of our customer base is approximately your size so can you help me understand why your company is unique?”
#2 “You appear to be the proper size company for our product why do you feel your company is too small?”
#3 “I can understand your concern and I certainly don’t want to sell something that is going to be returned. Let’s take a step back to cover some of the information I missed. What is the size and configuration of your company?”
Notice that the incorrect responses above were ignoring the actual objection. The incorrect responses assumed the customer really didn’t mean they were too small. The customer was just trying to blow off or just using this objection to get rid of the salesperson and the sales call.
The correct responses above assumed that the customer really thought they were too small for the product. In fact the customer may actually be too small for the product. There could be a variety of reasons why they are too small. The point of the correct responses is to find out why the customer feels they are too small.
Remember in the Probing Process we are not trying to sell, we are trying to understand the customers needs. If we can understand those needs we can then move on to the Pitching Process and turn that customer need into them wanting your particular product.
During the Pitching Process you may get the same sales objection – “We are too small.” If you handled the Probing Process properly this becomes easy to overcome. If we missed something in the Probing Process it will come out when we start the pitch.
Customer: “We are too small for your product”
Incorrect Pitching Response:
#1 “Just try the product for 30 days if you don’t like it you can return it.”
#2 “Size doesn’t matter this is a universal product used by thousands of customers”
#3 “Trust me this product is perfect for you. Take it home if it doesn’t work exactly like I said I want you to call me personally.”
Correct Pitching Responses:
#1 “Mr. Prospect a few minutes ago we covered the size and configuration of your company. I specifically use that question to determine for myself if there is a need to continue our conversation. You look like a fit to me. Is there something else in the size of your company that I need to know before we move forward?”
#2 “Our product is traditionally used by one-man firms. Just the fact that your company is a little bigger than that means the product is a good fit in terms of your size. If you don’t mind I would like to take a step back to find out what ‘size’ means to you and your company.”
#3 “You have 3 inside personnel, 1 manager, and 1 outside sales rep, which is basically the exact target that we try to pursue for this product. I need this product to work for you exactly as described so if you don’t mind I would like to ask a couple more questions to clear up this size issue.”
Notice that during the incorrect pitching responses the rep is actually trying to close not pitch. Just as in the probing responses the sales representative is basically ignoring the actual objection.
It is important to understand that no deal will close unless you have covered all objections. Or worse – your product will be returned.
In the correct pitching responses the rep is actually trying to take a step backward. The sales representative in this case realizes that they have more probing to do. Successful sales reps realize sometimes during your pitch you may accidentally uncover other objections. That’s okay. You need to uncover all of the objections before trying to close a deal.
Don’t be afraid to take the step back. If your customer allows you to continue probing then the sales process is still moving in the right direction. The next time you hear… “We are too small for your product…” don’t start pitching; start probing to find out the size and configuration of that company.
Sincerely,
David
A. Peterson
Author
of:
Been There - Done That
David
Peterson's Search Engine Optimization Guide
Please
send all correspondence to: questions@usreference.com
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