Why B2B Buyers Say “No” (and What You Can do About it)
If you’re in B2B sales, you’ll probably hear “no” a lot more than you hear “yes” over your career. But that doesn’t mean every objection is a rejection; it just means a prospect isn’t quite ready to act—or rather, it means you still have work to do before they’re ready to take the next step.
Prospects inherently have concerns about the products or services they are being pitched, and the skilled salesperson responds in a way that alleviates those concerns to move the conversation forward toward conversion. The key is understanding why a prospect is hesitant to move forward and helping them gain confidence to do so.
Of course, if you were asking the right questions in the first place, you’d probably hear a lot fewer objections. By the time you get to the ask—whether it’s scheduling a demo or asking for the sale—you should have already addressed most of the concerns and objections your buyers have. That’s the idea behind sales qualification; taking the time to completely understand your prospects’ pains, concerns, fears and desires as it relates to your offer, so you can articulate your value proposition in the best light.
Failure to ask the right questions, or even just enough questions, could result in wasted sales opportunities or worse, time wasted on targets who were never the right fit from the beginning. That’s why we created this list of B2B sales objections you should never hear. If you do, it means you aren’t talking to the right targets, and that likely means you aren’t asking the right qualifying questions up front.
Common B2B Sales Objections
“We can’t afford your solution.”
Pricing is one of the most common roadblocks you’ll need to overcome to close a deal. When is the best time to talk about pricing? According to an analysis of more than 25,000 sales calls, the best times to discuss your solution’s price is between 13 and 20 minutes, and 40 and 49 minutes into a call (or roughly around 20% and 65% of the way through). That’s because high-performing reps introduce pricing at the beginning of the call to set expectations, and again near the end so they can ask to close the deal. The data also reveals that for the highest win-rates, pricing should be mentioned between three and four times in a B2B sales call.
“I need to consult my boss.”
This may seem like an objection at first, but it’s completely normal in the world of B2B sales. In fact, the number of people involved in B2B solutions purchases has climbed from an average of 5.4 in 2015 to around 7 today, and these stakeholders have a variety of different titles, roles and functions in the buying process. So, what may seem like an objection is actually an opportunity to get other decision-makers involved. To determine if there are other parties involved, ask your prospect questions about how purchasing decisions are made in their organizations before you ask them to take the next step. This way, you can anticipate the prospect not having the authority to make a purchase and keep the process moving forward by setting up a joint meeting or demonstration with everyone who needs to be involved.
“I’m happy with things the way they are.”
Objections such as these are really a combination of concerns about budget, authority and need, but overall it shows that the prospect doesn’t see the value in your solution. This could be a result of poor messaging (do you have a compelling value proposition, and is it being clearly communicated to your audience?) or it might be that the buyer doesn’t understand how your solution fits. The goal here is to demonstrate the value of your product or service so a prospect knows exactly how it helps solve their critical business issues. And how do you know what those issues are? By asking the right questions.
Are You Talking to the Right People?
Sometimes, objections are the result of talking to the wrong people. That’s why lead qualification is so important, and it’s why Intelemark delivers the kind of connections that drive real results for our clients.
Murray Goodman, CEO, explains why:
“If we’ve qualified a prospect, and they have a need, the ask should be very simple. If all those things align, and we ask if they want to set an appointment to speak with a salesperson, chances are very good they say yes. That’s because our agents qualify prospects while they are talking to them. By the time they ask to take the next step, the prospect has already been qualified and it’s very likely they agree to an appointment.”
Contact Intelemark if you want to fill your top-of-funnel sales pipeline with B2B buyers and decision-makers who are eager and excited to speak with you.