#53: How To Handle Customer Pushback

#53: How To Handle Customer Pushback

Read Time: 3 min

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Today, I will share how to handle pushback.

Often, prospects on the fence and ready to commit need that extra push to move forward. It’s essential that you know how to push when it’s necessary.

I’ve listened to many calls in which the prospect is literally telling the founder what needs to be done for them to move forward. The deal falls through because of the founder's limited experience in addressing their concerns correctly.

Once you can read between the lines of what the prospects try to convey and address those concerns, your close rates will go way up.

 
Inspiration is perishable. Act on it immediately.

~Naval Ravikant

Before we dive in, let’s use the sport of boxing as a metaphor to frame how we think about this.

A boxer has 4 punches they can throw at you: a jab, cross, hook, and an uppercut. There are various combinations they can throw, but there are only 4 punches.

A boxer's job is to understand the combinations that can be thrown at him, how to slip each, and counter with his own to lower the chances of getting caught and potentially knocked out.

As a founder, you need to understand the punches (objections) a prospect can throw at you and how to address them so you do not lose closeable deals and increase your chances of closing. Usually, only four or five outcomes play out consistently.

Let’s look at the 5 most common objections and how to address them.

5 Most Common Objections

1. Too expensive / cheaper solutions

2. How are you guys different than your competitors?

3. Timing is off / Not the right time.

4. Don’t think the problem is big enough.

5. Build in-house vs. outsource

There are 4 steps you need to understand to handle objections.

Step 1:  Acknowledge

Step 2: Isolating

Step 3: Pain / Solution

Step 4: Commitment / Close

Here’s what it would look like to address the “Too Expensive” objection.

Acknowledge

I understand your concern.

Isolating

Is budget the only thing preventing you from moving forward? Are there any other concerns?

If No: There are no other concerns, proceed to Step 3: Pain / Solution.

If Yes: There are other concerns you need to identify and use this cadence.

Pain / Solution

On our previous call, you mentioned that you were using 3 different pieces of technology, which required a lot of bandwidth and resources for your team to manage this workflow. Is that correct? (Pointing to the problem)

With us, we are literally removing that bottleneck because our solution automates the entire process for your team. Not only do you no longer have to duct tape different pieces of technology together, but we are giving you and your team back all that time to focus on higher priorities and ship faster. And the effort required to manage this is pretty much nonexistent. We do all the heavy lifting for you. That’s why the investment might be slightly higher with our product because our execution is significantly better than that of any other competitors. (Directing to the solution)

Commitment / Close

Let me ask you: If we could make this more economically feasible, would you consider moving forward?

If Yes: They would move forward, then offer them a better deal.

If No: They would not move forward, ask why.

Best Practices

1. Write down the most common objections you hear from your ICP.

2. Write out the rebuttals using the cadence mentioned above.

3. Study and role-play the rebuttals to be delivered flawlessly when the objection arises.

Key Takeaways

1. Acknowledge the objection.

2. Isolate the objection.

3. Point to the pain and direct to the solution

4. Get the commitment and close.

That’s it for today, my peeps!

See you all next week.

Darren

P.S. If you’re ready to level up, you can book a call with me here

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