Dear Tony, I am proficient at closing budget when my leads are properly pre-qualified, however, I struggle with the “I haven’t got any budget objection”, how can I overcome this
In the current climate this is an objection that arises time and time again, however what needs to be identified is, is it true?
The best way to handle this objection is to do what I call the ‘side stepping technique’ and you say this, “putting budget to one side, can I ask you”……… Now the questions you ask all depends on what you are selling, however the objective is to build the value in the prospects mind to build the desire for your product/ services. Let me illustrate this; I sell sales training, so once I hear we have no budget I reply, “Putting budgets to one side, how are you currently developing your sales people?” What areas do you feel they could improve? How many of your team are not achieving their targets? These questions build the value in the prospects mind and then I organise a meeting to discuss training; 80% of those never mention budget again as I have demonstrated the value I can bring to their business.
Another method to handle this objection is what I call the ‘let’s pretend’ technique and it goes like this. “Mr Prospect, let’s pretend you had a budget for my product/ service, are you happy with what we have discussed today? If they answer no to this, then you know the budget is not the real objection and you can ask them what is causing them to hesitate. If on the other hand they reply positively, then you need to qualify when their budget will next become available. You are then in a position to gain their commitment and potentially negotiate payments terms to fit in around their budget.
