Sales Stalls

I need to speak to...

One of the most common sales stalls is .."I need to speak to..."

In fact, a number of people have left a question on the Sales Objection Survey at my website asking how to handle the good ole,
“I NEED TO SPEAK TO MY PARTNER ABOUT IT”

This is indeed a common sales objection.

Well, the first thought that comes to my mind is to make sure you have qualified the buyer, up front, as a person able to make a decision.

Now, I’ve been in sales long enough to know that buyers will tell you that they have the authority and when it comes to the crunch they need to defer to someone else before they can place an order.

Well, it still pays to have asked the question because they may feel a little embarrassed when it comes to order time and they have to consult with someone else.
You can then use that as leverage to proceed in the way you want (see below).

Often, I have to talk to someone else is not a real objection. It's certainly not very specific.

What they are trying to do is to get some time so they don't have to make a decision right now.

The direct mail advertisers discovered long ago that if you don't act on their piece of direct mail within five minutes, they've lost you.
It's true. 
And in selling, a client will get cold if you let them think about this long enough.

I would say that once you're in a demonstration and once you've established value, then there are a couple of things you can say about "I need to talk to…" 

If you'd like a Blueprint of how to handle objections as a simple infographic ...

Click here

The first thing you can say is, 

“Well, are you in favour of it?”

That is the question. 
You ask them that because if you're talking to someone who is going to talk to someone else about whether or not they should buy your product, if they're not in favour of it, then how will it help you if they go and talk to someone else?

Now, if he is in favour of it, then you can say,
"Go ahead and talk to your partner."

However, an even better approach would be, 
“If you're in favour of it, then let's all three of us get together so that we can all talk about it together.”

So in other words, get their permission to come and talk to their partner with them.
Don't let them do it alone.
Ask them 
"Can you arrange a meeting here with you and your partner? Get me together with them."

There is another thing that you can do if they have to go talk to somebody even though they say they want to purchase.

For example if they say,
'Well, I certainly want to buy, but I need to talk to my wife because she always makes decisions with me." 
That may be real, but it may not be real.
So you say, 
“Let's write up the agreement and put down that this agreement is cancelled if your wife won't let you do it.”

In fact, I’ve often used this with buyers when I was selling technical products. 
Sometimes, you reach a point where a decision has to be made urgently and full technical approval has not yet been granted.
I have taken orders under those conditions, “subject to final product approval”.

Here's to YourSalesSuccess.

Return to the Sales Objections Menu Page