Most often sales reps face some or the other form of resistance from the prospects. Even with the warmest of introductions, it’s pretty rare that a prospect shows confidence in your sales reps instantly.

Thus sales reps must be prepared to effectively handle this resistance from the prospects. To do this, they’ll need to understand

• The most common types of resistance from the prospects

• Possible reasons why the prospects would resist them

• And ways to handle resistance logically and with confidence.

Here are some common objections that a prospect might have:

• We’re not interested.
• There’s no current need.
• We do not have the budget for this right now (or it’s too expensive).
• We already have a current vendor.
  

Now, every action and reaction of humans results from some intention or thought. If we can understand this thought behind the prospects’ resistance we will be able to successfully overcome it.

Here are some possible causes of prospects’ resistance

Possible Reasons for prospects’ resistance

They don’t know about you. Therefore they are skeptical of your offering and your company

In many cases, prospect resistance is born out of the lack of an intimate understanding of your business or your solution.

• If your prospects don’t know you, why on earth would they trust you or your sales reps?
• If they have never leveraged your solution, how would they possibly know if it’s right for their business or not?

These points are particularly pertinent if your solution is relatively new or unique. Usually, consumers depend on other consumers’ experiences to validate their preferences and decisions in order to reduce risk. They don’t prefer being the first customer and boldly take the path which no one has taken before.

So, your sales reps could face a bit of resistance from the prospects if you don’t have a solid customer base for your solution who can vouch for how awesome, effective, and legitimate it is.

They are reluctant to change

Another major reason for the prospects’ resistance could be inertia. And this could be a tough roadblock for sales reps. Let me explain how: Let’s say a prospect whom your sales rep has contacted already has a solution that he is leveraging. He is mostly content with that solution and has established a good relationship with the people providing that solution as well. So why would he now think of adopting your solution? After all, it is going to take him time and effort to learn and implement your solution, right?

When prospects are stuck in their ways like this, it becomes particularly difficult for sales reps to convince them. The reason being– sales reps not only have to convince these prospects that your product is the best for them but they also have to show them that it’s much better than the solution they are using. And they have to be convinced to go out of their way and change their operations in order to leverage your solution.

Prospects who are reluctant to change often push back on putting in this kind of effort. And this results in sales reps receiving serious resistance from prospects.

They are afraid of making any mistakes

Some prospects would be reluctant to embrace not just your solution but any solution in general. This resistance stems from their fear of making a mistake with the decisions that they take. Therefore they refuse to make any choice at all. This kind of resistance can be particularly frustrating for the sales reps. Because it can turn a lot of potential deals into non-starters.

Usually, prospects are naturally risk-averse. But, this tendency is even stronger in those people who are faced with making a big purchase on behalf of their company.

Ways to Overcome Objections

1. Break the cliches and pass the ball on to the buyers’ court

Sales calls are often opened with certain cliched sentences by the sales reps such as,

• Hello (Prospect’s name). How are you doing today?
• Could I have a few minutes of your time to talk about……..?
• Is this a good time to talk?
• I was wondering if you would be interested in …
• Am I talking to (Prospect’s name)? Hi (name). This is (Rep’s name) from (company name). I’m calling to tell you about … (followed by talking about your business)
• It’ll only take a minute of your time.
• I want to talk about …
• I have a product that can save you money.
• I’m in the business of making our customers more successful.
• I want to show you how we could help you …

Buyers often get to hear these same phrases and so they get turned off by hearing them.

This way the buyers wouldn’t feel like they are being held hostage in a conversation. It makes them feel like it’s their choice to talk and as a result of this, they will be more likely to listen to the sales rep and participate in the conversation.

2. Give them confidence that you have experience working with similar businesses

If your sales rep contacts a prospect,

• Who has very little or no information about your company
• Who is talking with your company’s representative for the very first time
  

then it’s quite possible that they would be skeptical about talking to you (a random company) on the other side of the sales call.

3. Change your approach

Sales calls should be about the buyer and not about your company. Most buyers are focused on “what’s in it for me”. So ask your sales reps to give it to them right up front.

Ask your sales reps to ensure that their sales conversation is more about the buyers rather than about your company

4. Avoid making assumptions

Sales reps should avoid making broad assumptions about the buyers. They would be starting off on the wrong foot if they tell the buyer why they need your solution. This would then immediately spark reactions like:

• “You don’t even know me”
• “How do you know that is going to help me?”
• “You have no idea about our business’s pain points”
  

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to say that the sales reps can build good relationships with the buyers and avoid creating resistance by focusing on two main things during their sales conversations:

• The buyer’s needs and goals (versus your company’s or sales rep’s goals)
• Starting a conversation (rather than trying to sell)

These two things will help them to project an open and friendly demeanor and get a warm response instead of encountering resistance.

Want to know the best ways to overcome the sales objections?

Read: 10 Effective Techniques to overcome Sales Objections

Learn about various buyer personas that sales reps usually come across and the ways to handle them efficiently

The 6 Buyer Personas and how to train your team to sell to them

Looking for ideas to make a perfect sales pitch?

Read: 10 Most Effective Sales Pitch Ideas