Every digital agency struggles with some of the most common sales objections. I'm here to tell you how to turn those around and convert more prospects into clients, faster and easier.
Have you ever felt your agency's proposal knocked it out of the park only to have the prospect put you off? It happens to all of us. You put your energy and effort into a stellar proposal only to receive a lackluster response like "Let me talk to my partner", "let me see if we have the money", or my personal favorite "Send me more information".
Are these responses just to put you off or simply objections that can be flipped into a more favorable response? In this video, I go through some of the most common objections and how you can actually respond and determine if they can be flipped so you can train your team to handle objections effectively and close more business.
The best marketing salespeople answer questions before they're asked. How to do this? By being transparent and sharing their exact process to build trust. Of course, questions and objections will still be raised, but if you answer 90% of the unasked questions then your salesperson can come in with that extra 10% and bring it to the finish line.
I firmly believe there are no bad agency CLIENTS, only bad PROSPECTS or bad PROCESS. So how do you know if your prospect has a true objection or is just wasting your time? There are some steps you can follow to get to the bottom of this faster and turn more of those NO's into YES!
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If you give your pitch and the prospect's reaction is that they still want more information, this can mean one of two things, either something's missing or you're just getting a nice put-off. It can be difficult to determine which one it is, which is why I recommend asking these three simple questions: What, When, and Why.
If someone is blowing you off, they won't have good answers to these questions. On the other hand, a good prospect who is genuinely interested in working with your agency will have very specific information they're requesting, a timeline, and a reason.
Pro Tip: If it turns out it is a good prospect who just needs more information, then yes, commit to sending the information but also make sure to schedule the next meeting right then and there. That's how you're going to close the deal and stop wasting time on the wrong prospects.
You spend lots of time on the prospect only to hear 'Let me think about it". It's frustrating and unfortunately very common. Luckily, there's an easy solution that just needs a couple of upfront questions.
If it's a legitimate objection, then you can prevent issues by gathering more information. When I hear 'Let me think about it' it's usually due to one of three reasons:
So as you prepare for your next business pitch, instead of dreading one of these lines, approach the pitch more proactively. Make sure you're clearly defining the plan and results and that prospects have a full understanding of the NBAT. Once you have that covered, you'll dramatically reduce and even eliminate this objection.
The first impression can be everlasting, whether it's good, bad, or indifferent. Unfortunately, many times you can be held accountable for negative impressions left by an awful experience with a bad agency. This experience can become an objection because the prospect doesn't fully understand what separates your agency from the rest.
There's nothing you can do with regard to that past bad experience. It happened and was probably the result of bad communication when it came to expectations and results, strategy, or just a clash of personalities. What you CAN do is educate the prospect that those types of bad experiences aren't the norm. How can you turn it around? Educate them on the plan. Explain exactly how you're planning to achieve their goals and ease their pain points.
There's an inherent uneasiness when people don't know what to expect. However, having a clear plan in place will help your prospect feel more confident and assured. Inform them about the systems and processes. Establish clear communication on what you do and how you do it.
You need to know and understand what's the issue they're having, what's the impact that issue is having on their business, and what's the level of importance or consequence if they don't address the issue? When the right prospects are properly educated on the process, they'll choose to work with you. However, it requires work to build that relationship.
What if the prospect isn't asking you for more information and instead they want references? Does it hurt or help to use past clients as references for new ones?
The request for references goes back to the presence of doubt in the prospect's mind. There's something they're still uncertain about when it comes to working with you. Bottom line, this means there's a hole in your sales process. It's possible that somewhere in the sales process you failed to gain their trust fully.
Frankly, giving them a reference will actually hurt your agency. Here's why, you respect your client's time. If you have a prospect call up a client now they're spending their time helping sell you instead of working on their business.
A lot of prospects will have questions about your specific strategies, which are your intellectual property. Not knowing any better, your clients might start giving away your secret sauce for free. So when a prospect asks for a reference, counter by asking more questions: What's missing for them? What are they unsure about?
Instead of letting a reference or testimonial talk them into or out of working with you, try to answer all their concerns. Finally, tell them you want to share a case story or two instead of a reference. Case stories can often accomplish the same trust-building as a reference without monopolizing your client's time and putting your IP at risk. If after this, they still want a reference, you can do this as a last resort and make sure you have a trusted client or two that previously agreed to be contacted.
After easing the prospect's mind, answering all their questions, and offering all the information, you may find some clients will want to haggle over price. They'll say something like they got a cheaper quote from a different agency. It may be a case of an uninformed prospect who just needs a little bit more formation or a sign this is a bad prospect who's just not a good fit with your agency.
Is it really a price issue or are they undervaluing the solution that you'll be providing? Oftentimes, prospects aren't fully educated on the value. So how to combat common price objections? Cheaper does not mean equal. Go back to Issue, Impact, and Importance. Is the lower-cost option really meeting the prospect's objections? Ask them why the other agency's quote is so cheap and let them think through the cost vs. quality difference. Often the cheaper option will mean more work for the client and, don't forget, time is money.
Sometimes prospects only see dollar signs and forget to really scrutinize what they're getting. When you initiate conversations like these it helps them second-guess their gut reaction of going with the cheapest option.
Related: https://jasonswenk.com/top-5-agency-sales-objections/
FREE COURSE: Discover the 4-system process to CONVERTING more agency clients at https://www.agencymastery360.com/convert In our videos series, we'll break down the steps you need to charge what you're worth, overcome common sales objections, and unlock up to 20X more revenue from existing clients.