Recession-Proof Your Business with This Underrated Vital Skill

We were in a bull market for over a decade, and money was easier to come by when everyone enjoyed the good times.

The tides have turned, and getting a share of the client's budget will be harder. This means you must up your sales and service skills to ensure you get a portion of their annual spending.

Many people think sales is a dirty word, but you're doing sales every day. It's a human, soft skill that is less likely to be replaced by an AI bot. People like to do business with people they like; notice people do business with people, not robots.

So, what are some examples of how you're selling in your daily life?

Are you pitching a campaign idea?

Are you trying to get buy-in to your logo design?

Do you want your boss to give you a promotion or a raise?

Do you want your kid to go to bed early?

Are you asking for any sort of favour from a friend or colleague?

You are selling something in all these scenarios and counting on the other party saying yes. A big part of being a great salesperson is handling objections, and a large part of whether you're good at this is whether you are proactively LISTENING and mentally taking notes during the conversation.

While people think selling is where you're doing most of the talking, it's actually a better tactic if you're doing the listening because whether or not you close the deal depends on if you successfully handle all the prospect's objections.

Here are some four common objections and suggestions on how to handle them.

“We don't have the budget for this.”

Suggestion: What similar initiatives are you investing in right now, and is it doing well for you? What if we can outperform your current initiative? Would you be open to shifting a portion of the budget for a test run to see if we can deliver the results?

**There is ALWAYS, ALWAYS a budget for great people and ideas. I have been told several times by clients that if we can justify the spending with a proposed return on every unit, then the budget is essentially unlimited. Think about it this way: if the cost structure of a business model is where the variable cost of producing one unit is always less than the revenue generated from the said unit, you're making money off of EVERY unit, then why wouldn't there be a budget for it? (There are likely also fixed costs to consider, which is also why you must calculate a feasible and reasonable break-even for the client).

“We don't have the manpower for this.”

Suggestion: Would you consider this if we bring on additional staff while maintaining an X% profit margin?

If we review the workflow and highlight which parts our team can support to take the workload off of your team, does it make the proposed project feasible?

“We can't make that deadline.”

Suggestion: Can we make the deadline if we 1) cut back on the deliverables? or 2) push out the deadline to a more feasible execution with buy-in from all involved parties that are part of the rollout?

There’s a saying in Chinese that roughly translates to: “Rules are dead. Humans are alive (flexible).” Learn to question the rules or arbitrary deadlines; proactive listening in meetings and thinking on your feet allow you to problem-solve by being flexible.

“This doesn't align with our overall strategy.”

Suggestion: Maybe I missed something from my research. Would you mind sharing your company's strategy in more depth so I can understand better and refine what I have so it does align with what your business is trying to achieve? (you'll need to prove that you did your research so the client doesn't assume you didn't do your homework.)

Are there other common sales objections that I missed? Let me know if there are other objections you want me to write about!