Today we take a look at the most common objections in cold calling and how to deal with them to improve sales performance and generate more revenue for the company!
Cold calling is an outbound lead strategy that consists of soliciting prospects by telephone without prior contact on their part. The advantages of cold calling are numerous: rapid qualification of the prospect, human contact, reception of objections, instant appointment setting, etc.
This method of telephone prospecting must be prepared in advance and aims to generate qualified leads and revenue for the company.
"75% of senior managers accepted at least one appointment with a salesperson following a cold call in 2020"
The Sales Club.
The Sales Club is a weekly event where Blacksales clients meet to role-play, discuss concrete issues and share best practices on a specific theme: B2B telephone prospecting, qualification, negotiation, closing, etc.
The event is hosted by Sébastien Burgain, Sales for over 15 years. He has hundreds of clients signed for an average basket of more than 30K and is also the founder of Blacksales "the prospecting solution to never be short of deals to close".
To listen to the "Role Play" every Friday from 11:30 to 12:30 it is here.
"No bullshit, no judgement, just concrete to help you close more
We will address the following objections:
1. "I don't have time"
2. "I am not the right person to talk to".
3. "I am already equipped".
4."Bonuses".
At the end of this article you :
✅ have better visibility on your prospects' objections
✅ leave with concrete answers for b to b telephone prospecting
✅ you will feel more confident about getting leads over the phone
Come on, let's go! 🚀
During your B-to-B telephone prospecting, many of your prospects tell you that they don't have time to talk to you or that it's not the right time.
When a prospect says they don't have time it's not really that they don't have time, it's just that they don't know you and don't understand the value you can bring them.
He thinks you are like the last 100 prospectors and most prospectors are bad. The person you are talking to is thinking "another bad salesman who is going to hold my leg for a long time..."
To counter this objection, it is important to put yourself in the prospect's shoes, if they don't have time, help them save time.
The purpose of the following sample responses is to build rapport by letting them know that you respect their objection and want to help them save time by setting up a direct appointment or pre-qualification call.
Response:
"Look, I'm going to save you some time, you don't have time to read your emails and think about it, so I'm going to suggest we call you back this afternoon at 5pm or tomorrow at 10am, which is more convenient for you?"
or
"Look, it's true that at the moment with the health crisis, teleworking etc it's complicated, we only have 5 minutes, would you prefer me to call you back today at 5pm or tomorrow at 10am?"
If the prospect is still not inclined to make an appointment with you, you need to glean as much information as possible that will enable you to make them understand the value of your product. Always keep in mind their first objection: saving time.
Response:
"Before I hang up, what is one thing you would like to change about this topic?"
or
"Look, if you don't have time, regarding issue X what is the number one thing that bothers you most about this issue? Tell me."
Once your prospect has told you their problem, you can structure your pitch around it. The aim is to show them that the perceived value of your product is greater than the value of their time, as quickly as possible.
Commercial: "Look, if you don't have time, regarding your cyber security, what's the number one thing that's bothering you?"
Prospect: "I don't know, we did an audit two years ago and that was it".
Commercial : "But today, how do you feel about this subject? In your opinion, if you are not protected in terms of cybersecurity, how could this translate into business issues?
Prospect: "It's true that we have issues with customer data such as passwords, our prospecting database or that kind of thing which is sensitive data..."
Commercial: "Oh right, that's interesting, and in terms of financial risk if there's a problem there, it could potentially cost you how much?"
Prospect: "If I have a cybersecurity problem it can drive three to five clients away at €40,000 I think."
Commercial: "Listen, we've just seen that it can cost you between €120,000 and €200,000, plus let's imagine 50% in notoriety. You haven't put anything in place on this subject, according to your organisation it could represent a risk of up to €300,000. It's up to you to tell me, but don't you think it's worth taking ¾ of an hour to discuss it, evaluate the risks, see what's feasible, at what cost and within what timeframe, so that you've at least swept it under the carpet? What do you think?"
This type of structure applies to any type of b-to-b telephone prospecting and any type of b-to-b product, the objective is to find a business issue, budget it and compare the time spent during an appointment with the potential gains or losses.
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During a b-to-b telephone canvass, it can happen that the prospect contacted is not in charge of the subject you wish to discuss. In this case, the objective is to optimise this call by leaving with either the contact details of the right person or a direct connection.
Response:
"Thank you for your feedback, can you point me to the person in charge of this subject?"
or
"Can you give me his contact details?"
To increase your chances of getting this information you can also glean information bit by bit.
"Thank you for your feedback, what is the most favourable channel to contact Mr X?"
or
"Ah very well, can I write down his email?"
If the person is receptive, you can also ask for a intermediation:
Response:
"Thank you very much for giving me this information, could you do me one last favour? Can you tell Mr X that I'm going to call him this afternoon about something.
If you refuse to give the contact details of the right person, you can ask for an e-mail transfer and, as a last resort, rely on the empathy of your correspondent.
Response:
"I understand that you do not wish to share his details without his consent, what we can do if you prefer is that I send you an email to forward to him and if Mr X is interested he can come back to me directly."
or
"I'm sorry, ma'am, I know it's been a long day, I'm really struggling right now, I've been making I don't know how many calls, if you could do me a favour and give me a name, a contact to redirect me to it would really brighten up my day.
If your contact repels your contact request strategies one by one, you can always add the person in charge of your topic on Linkedin by saying that you called such and such a person and that they informed you that they were in charge of this topic.
It regularly happens that a prospect you contact is already equipped with a solution similar to yours. In this case, the objective is always the same: to glean information to show them that the perceived value of your product is superior to their current product.
To begin with, it is important to always remember that during a b-to-b telephone prospecting session the prospect responds instantly, so it is important to research your competitors, their products and their potential flaws beforehand.
Response:
"You are equipped, which solution do you use? For how long?"
Then, your role is to identify the problems not solved (functionalities, budget) by your competitor. Don't hesitate to prepare your response by looking at the negative comments of your main competitors on Google or on comparison sites, they are a considerable source of information.
Response:
"Are there any points on which you are not totally satisfied? I know that the satisfaction of X's customers is mixed in relation to this issue, is this the case for you?"
You can also offer your prospect a comparison, as in the following example.
Response:
"Congratulations, you are already equipped. If you have time this afternoon at 5pm or tomorrow at 10am for half an hour, I could give you a quick presentation of our tool. It doesn't cost anything, you can make a comparison and if you're interested we'll push the subject a little further."
If you feel that the prospect is not inclined to accept your proposal, you can also follow up with :
"Listen, it will take 20, 30 minutes maximum, what I can propose is that we make an appointment, from my side I send you a first element by e-mail and if it suits you you confirm me the appointment or not."
When a prospect raises the issue of GDPR during a b-to-b cold calling session, the best solution is to respond with transparency to quickly get back on topic.
Response:
"I got your phone number with X tool, it's an online prospecting plug-in, I'm calling you about this issue, is this a topic for you?"
This is an uncommon opposition that can occur when prospecting for sales people working for companies in specific sectors of activity (cybersecurity, defence...)
In order not to be confused by this type of response, it is important to go along with the prospect and maintain a reassuring attitude.
Response:
"I understand, you're right, that's why we almost never communicate about the clients we work with, except for these two, who are our historical clients and who have explicitly given us their authorisation. You're right, it's very important for us to maintain confidentiality, etc. So tell me, in your case, what is the number one problem with subject X?"
In this article, you have read concrete keys with examples of typical responses to avoid being confused by your prospects' repeated refusals.
To become excellent in b-to-b telephone prospecting, you obviously need a lot of preparation and practice, but you also need to have a proactive attitude that has only one objective: to serve the prospect.
Blacksales is the business development solution to exceed your pipeline and revenue goals.
Blacksales automates your prospecting by writing your content, contacting the best prospects and transferring the leads received directly into your CRM.
To optimize your b to b telephone prospecting with Blacksales, you just have to filter by objection (call me later, it's not a priority right now ...) the answers of the prospects tagged in your CRM by Blacksales and to contact them thanks to the phone number in their signature
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