How to Overcome the Most Common IT Sales Objections

Tell me, do you cringe at sales objections?

Fear you might not know how to address them, and lose the sale in turn?

After all, no matter how long you’ve been in business, “no” is still a tough pill to swallow.

You may feel like you’d rather move on to the next lead instead of pushing back. But learning to overcome these objections will help both your business and the clients whose problems you can solve.

And so, if you want to earn the most common sales objections in the IT industry and the best strategies to overcome them…

…just keep on reading.

The Most Common IT Sales Objections

While every objection sounds a little different, almost all come back to the same five reasons.

And once you understand these, overcoming sales objections will get a lot easier.

So, without any further ado, here are the most common objections IT companies hear from their leads:

Cost or Budget

What You Might Hear:

• “We don’t have the budget.”
• “That’s a little out of our price range.”

How to Overcome:

In the business world, most decisions comes down to one thing: money.

If your potential client sees the cost as greater than the value they’ll receive, you aren’t going to get very far in the conversation.

The issue here isn’t actually the number on the price tag—it’s more about perceived value. And to overcome it you just need to communicate the true value that your MSP company can provide more clearly.

As Dr. Flint McGlaughlin of MECLabs stated, “Clarity trumps persuasion.”

Instead of dropping your price out of desperation or moving onto the next lead, go back to the basics. Evaluate your value proposition. Ask yourself, what pain points can you relieve for that potential client? What is that worth? Be clear and confident on these points.

Need or Fit

What You Might Hear:

• “Our current system works fine.”
• “This problem isn’t a priority.”
• “I don’t understand how you could help us.”

How to Overcome:

If a lead doesn’t know much about your MSP business, you may need to spend some extra time on this sales objection.

First of all, you need to do some research yourself to understand if this potential client fits your target audience. Are your services truly a good fit for this company? In other words, don’t try to land an enterprise-level client if you’re really only equipped for small and medium-sized businesses.

Once you’ve identified how your solution aligns with their problems, you need to make that alignment clear. This method is called “solution selling.” Focus on the cost of the problem at hand, whether it’s in revenue, time, or effort. Demonstrate what it’s costing them currently and precisely how you can solve that problem.

 

Authority Level

What You Might Hear:

• “That’s not my decision.”
• “I need to consult with X.”

How to Overcome:

Whether you’ve garnered your lead from a trade show or from an online form, you probably don’t have the contact information of the decision maker. That is, the person who greenlights spending for an IT solution. In fact, some research shows it takes an average of 18 phone calls to get in touch with a buyer. Talk about persistence!

Overcoming this sales objection is simple: track down the person who makes those decisions. You can learn exactly how to do that right here.

Competition

What You Might Hear:

• “X offers a lower price.”
• “We’re happy working with X for now.”
• “X says this about your company.”

How to Overcome:

Many of your leads may already have IT solutions from your top competitors. This comes back to your value proposition. Not only do you need to illustrate the value you offer as an MSP provider—you also need to define what unique value you offer.

But keep in mind that this unique value might not come from what you do, but rather how you do it. In other words, what does your business stand for?

FreshBooks, a cloud accounting company, is a good example of how to communicate unique value. A quick glance at their site makes it obvious what their business stands for: making accounting easy for small businesses.

 

Communicating what your business stands for probably won’t win you every client. But it will win you the right clients.

Timeline

What You Might Hear:

• “We’re too busy to think about this right now.”
• “Tell me about this in six months.”

How to Overcome:

The rapid pace of modern business doesn’t show any sign of slowing down. Which means that the “crunch time” that’s keeping that potential client from committing is never going to end.

What this sales objection usually translates to is “This isn’t our priority right now.” And if that’s the case, you can some of the tips for establishing the need for your solution.

However, sometimes your timeline and your lead’s timeline really don’t line up. Be accommodating and understanding. Your courtesy could earn you a sale down the road—if you remember to follow up!

Universal Strategies for Overcoming Sales Objections

We already touched on some specific strategies you can use to  address the categories of sales objections above. But there are a couple of skills that can help you in every situation. Master these, and sales objections don’t stand a chance.

Listen

I know—your services are the best and the client should hire you immediately.

But here’s the thing: you have one mouth and two ears for a reason. If a lead makes an objection, you need to listen for the underlying reason (probably one of the five we described above).

Not only will listening help you identify how to move forward with the sale, it will also leave a positive brand impression on the lead. According to HubSpot, 69% of business buyers reported that their sales experience could be improved if a sales representative listened to their needs.

Whether they become a client or not, you want their experience to be positive in case they give you a referral down the road.

 

Follow Up

Making the sale is about creating multiple touch points along the way.

Many customers want to do their own initial research when they need to make a purchase decision. Therefore, if you faced a sales objection during your first contact, that potential client may have simply been in the awareness stage.

It’s not until the consideration phase, or after they’ve weighed their options and settled on a shortlist, that they want to interact with a sales representative from your MSP company.

As you can see in the graph below, 60% of buyers prefer sales contact during the consideration phase. That’s your greatest window of opportunity.

 

Build Relationships

At the end of the day, people want to be treated like people. And when so much of selling feels like a cheap facade, you can stand out by building sincere relationships with your leads. Setting your company apart as a source of valuable IT solutions and excellent client experiences will help you overcome sales objections more than any other “hack” out there.

So whether a customer buys today or not, do everything you can to create a positive experience for them. That impression will last much longer than your sales pitch.

Conclusion

Now you can stop sweating over sales objections and turn them into opportunities. Listen to your leads; understand what they’re saying and why they’re saying it.

Once you’ve mastered that, overcoming sales objections in IT will be a cinch.