“It’s not a good time to buy…”
I bet you’re probably hearing this objection quite often right now.
It’s not surprising right? We are in the middle of a global pandemic could return for a second wave at any moment and the biggest finical crisis of the decade…
So how do you deal with this objection?
It’s actually pretty simple because this objection isn’t real.
Do you want to know what the buyer is really thinking when they say “it’s not a good time to buy?”?
Then stay tuned.
SIMILAR OBJECTIONS
So how do you deal with the objection “It’s not a good time to buy” which also can be shared by buyers saying “call me back next quarter” or “leave it with me and I’ll get back to you”?
Well the first thing we need to do is to be empathetic and use our emotional intelligence.
Ask yourself if the person who just gave us this objection is stood there crying and packing up their desk as their company has just laid off 500 members of staff?
If that’s the case then perhaps now isn’t a good time to push for the close.
Otherwise, you shouldn’t accept a buyer telling you “it’s not a good time” and the sale isn’t over either.
So with empathy and emotional intelligence in mind, you can deal with this objection in three ways.
#1 DIG DEEPER
One thing I ask when a buyer gives me the objection “it’s not a good time” is –
“Ah OK, what’s holding you back?”
You need to respond to this objection because the buyer is rarely telling you the truth when they say it.
Usually the buyer has a more logical objection but they don’t want to share it with you for some reason.
So when you ask “what is holding you back?” you keep the pressure on the buyer to explain what the real objection is.
Don’t be weak here. Especially if you’ve spent lots of time working with the buyer and they’re at the end of your sales cycle. It’s not unreasonable to ask this question so be assertive and ask it.
#2 WHAT’S CHANGED BRO?
The second way to deal with this objection is to see if the buyers priorities have changed.
You can do this by asking the question –
“Ah, is [GOAL] no longer a priority for you?”
Here the buyer will start to fill in what the real objection is because this question makes them feel like a hypocrite.
If they’ve been through your sales process and you’ve consulted with them then you should know the goals that they’re aiming towards.
If they turn down your product, they’re basically saying their goals for the year have changed too, right?
Often this isn’t the case. Their goals haven’t changed but they’re too soft to tell you directly that they want to go with one of your competitors.
#3 SHHHHH……………
The final way of dealing with the “not a good time to purchase” objection takes some balls.
But this is what I do and I find that it’s incredibly effective.
When I’m on the phone, selling our Salesman.org team memberships to sales leaders and they come back with the objection “now isn’t a good time to do this” I say…
NOTHING
Nada. Zilch. I say sweet nothing.
100% of the time the buyer feels the crushing pressure of the silence and they start to fill in the gap.
The buyer will explain what the real reason for the deal being side-tracked is and most of the time they start apologizing to me too.
Crazy right?
This is because you’re leveraging the influence principle of “authority”. If you truly have authority, people explain themselves to you. Like how a child explains their actions to a parent. We’re hacking this programming here with our own silence to the buyer.
And remember, these aren’t any old smchucks that I’m selling to. Most of the people I partner with have decades of sales experience before they moved into leadership roles.
So if a moment of silence works to break down their “it’s not a good time” objections, it’ll work with your buyers too.
