R and R (Rejections and Rebuttals)

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I've been cold calling for what seems like an eternity(barely a year) and I think I have heard almost every stand off, excuse, rejection, etc and business owner could ever think of.

I rarely get something that I haven't heard of a thousand times and by now it's like a broken record every time I hear a prospect leaning towards a rejection. I've gotten a pretty much automated brain when it comes to hearing rejections and throwing out immediate rebuttals that makes prospects re-think their doubts. I built this rejection proof dialogue over months and months of cold calling. I don't remember anyone ever talking much about what rejections to expect and how to overcome them.

So this is why I made this thread, in hope to get as many common rejections us Offliners are prone to hearing out in the open so people just getting started will be prepared for when a prospect stumps them with a rejection.

If we all contribute the most common rejections we've experienced from business owners and how we handled the rejection, I'm sure this thread will turn into a very useful resource to get people comfortable with rejections before they are faced with them.

In addition if you have any rejections you are expecting to hear and you want to have your response ready to go, just let us know here and I or someone else(hopefully) will try to help you get a rebuttal ready.

So I guess I'll contribute a few of my most commonly heard rejections in a few minutes.
#offline marketing #rebuttals #rejections
  • Arron, great idea for a thread I'm sure it will help a lot of people.

    In your experience, what was the most difficult objection for you to overcome and how have you learned to overcome it?
    • [1] reply
    • The first thing that comes to mind is, "I've got more business than I can handle." Still to this day, I haven't really found a way to get around that. It's just like they're saying, "I dont need you, and I dont want you." So it's kind of hard to fight through that one. I remember one specific time where an auto repair place used the same line, then he said, "You know anybody that I can hire? Then maybe we can talk." Only if I was into headhunting as well, I'd be in the money!

      I used to try to fight through it, but today, I just move on to someone who can handle new business. If they don't even want new business then why would I even waste any more time? That's MY JOB.
      • [2] replies
  • The top most common objections I get are, curiously, "I have more business than I can handle with out (whatever you are selling)" and "Business has been so slow I can't afford (whatever you are selling)."

    I hear the 2 of those quite often. It is really strange with it being the same type business in the same city.
    • [2] replies
    • Exactly, the first one, I just mentioned in my previous post. For me, it's THE worst rejection to surface. Not many ways around someone who doesn't even want more business.

      As for your second one, that's a prospect that really wants some help. They'd be an easy sale, if they could afford you. For this situation, I tell them, "So, I understand that you would love to do something to get out of this funk and drum up more business if you could afford it, right?"

      They usually feel some kind of hope after hearing that, which brings back interest.

      If it's about the money, you just have to find a way around it, provide services for them in return for value OTHER than money, until you help their business and the can afford to pay you cash. Obviously nobody likes doing things for free, especially with all the investments you'd have to put up, but there are ways to get value out of your prospects without having cash involved.

      Bartering is a good example, prospects would be much more likely to sign on with you if you offer some kind of barter instead of cash. This isn't always the best thing to do, but there is times where you can get much more value from a barter than an actual cash payment.

      There are other ways to get a lot of value from prospects without cash being involved, just can't exactly get into it right now.
    • So at the end of the day, we either have a productivity problem, or a profitability problem.

      Which is it?

      [Both can be solved through better marketing, BTW.]
      • [1] reply
  • Objections is very normal, what you need to do is make a list of objections that you have been receiving and make up a rebuttal that is suited for the objections.
    It is better to study the objections first before delivering the rebuttal.

    Hope this helps!
  • Objections is very normal, what you need to do is make a list of objections that you have been receiving and make up a rebuttal that is suited for the objections.
    It is better to study the objections first before delivering the rebuttal.

    Hope this helps!
  • @ - op

    Originally Posted by areevez:

    I've been cold calling for what seems like an eternity(barely a year) and I think I have heard almost every stand off, excuse, rejection, etc and business owner could ever think of.



    I rarely get something that I haven't heard of a thousand times and by now it's like a broken record every time I hear a prospect leaning towards a rejection. I've gotten a pretty much automated brain when it comes to hearing rejections and throwing out immediate rebuttals that makes prospects re-think their doubts. I built this rejection proof dialogue over months and months of cold calling. I don't remember anyone ever talking much about what rejections to expect and how to overcome them.



    So this is why I made this thread, in hope to get as many common rejections us Offliners are prone to hearing out in the open so people just getting started will be prepared for when a prospect stumps them with a rejection.



    If we all contribute the most common rejections we've experienced from business owners and how we handled the rejection, I'm sure this thread will turn into a very useful resource to get people comfortable with rejections before they are faced with them.



    In addition if you have any rejections you are expecting to hear and you want to have your response ready to go, just let us know here and I or someone else(hopefully) will try to help you get a rebuttal ready.



    So I guess I'll contribute a few of my most commonly heard rejections in a few minutes.

    • [ 4 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • Yeah well, I'm scattering my opinions throughout the thread instead of just typing up my entire rejection sheet in the OP, I wanna give some others a chance to pick up on the thread. I'll be coming in and giving r&r's from my list and/or answering anyone's question about a rejection or rebuttal. Yes, I started this thread to start a conversation and help, I didn't exactly start this thread to give the tell all to rejections and rebuttals.

      And trust me, I'm doing just fine.
      • [1] reply
  • My favorite line in this whole thread thus far comes from David Miller
    So why spend so much time struggling with morons when there are bright and ambitious business people that we may catch on the next call.

    Honestly if I, you or who ever keep this in mind whenever we start getting stuck and turning blue while trying to convince some knuckle head why they can benefit from such and such then our collective stress levels will go down.

    If there is one thing that I can suggest is to qualify hard and as quickly as possible that they not only want more/better business but that they are open to new ideas.
    If they are not already sold on the idea that they need help in some way then its a much harder struggle to get them to buy your idea. HInt..Just because they agree to meet with you in itself is not necessarily confirmation of such.

    The hard part for us is to get over our OWN EGO because we KNOW that we can help the majority of small biz owners and have this NEED to prove something.

    This is one of the biggest mistakes good people make is trying to help people who neither value what you offer or just dont the passion anymore in what THEY do.

    Think of rebuttals as a way to guide peoples OWN thought processes to get them to see your proposition from a different light/poiint of view and not as THE HAMMER that is going to force them to sign on the line that is dotted.




















    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • I would like to get a little input on this:

      "I don't need (whatever you may be selling), all my business is word of mouth"

      This objection is similar to "I've got all the business I can handle" in a number of ways. Most particularly they have the fact that they are both BS in common.

      The problem with these kinds of objections is that they can not be "overcome" with any kind of logic since they are baseless in every sense. Trying to apply a logical reply only leads to more ridiculous claims by the prospect.

      For example, being told either of these statements you could reply with a statistically proven statement:

      On average a business will lose 10% of it's anual revenue each year due to attrition, relocation, and death.

      So what could a prospect say once you've just told them that. They will try to prove you wrong, that doesn't help either party. They can say something to increase the level of BS such as:

      "My customers never will buy from someone else for any reason, will never move out of town, and will never die."

      Not about to pretend I have any answers to this particular objection, but I know we've all heard it.

      Any ideas how to deal with it?
      • [2] replies
  • rejections in sales are very normal. just be confident and always emphasize the FAB (features and benefits) of your products/ services you are offering. try to make a rebuttal atleast 3x. if customer is still undecisive, give him/ her time, make call back arrangements. make them feel that you fully understand them in making a decision of buying something and and don't make them feel that you're just another telemarketer who just want to hit his/ her quota for the day. don't sound like you're just really after their money.
    • [1] reply
    • I love the idea for this thread!

      So not hijacking the OP's thread, but Monday is going to be my first full day cold-calling. I've done everything I could possibly do not cold call, and I'm doing it no more! I even just started a part-time gig as a telemarketer at a home-remodeling place JUST so I could build up the confidence/know-how to start doing it for my own business...how pathetic is that? Figure I would get paid to acquire the necessary skills and be FORCED to do it so I couldn't wiggle out of it.

      To get back on track though, I was thinking about two of the objections that I saw posted with no real rebuttals.

      "I've already got more business than I can handle" and
      "I get all of my business through word of mouth"

      So I was thinking about something like this...(obviously not tested but curious on your thoughts)

      "Well Mr. XXXX, the way that I look at it is having a website is like hiring both a 24 hour receptionist as well as a 24 hours salesman for just one small one-time payment. So if you really don't need any help getting new customers in the door than that's great, but how many times a day do you find yourself (or receptionist) answering the same old questions?...

      What time are you open till? Do you do BLANK? Do you offer a warranty?etc.

      Wouldn't it be smart to have a single place that answers all of those repetitive questions so that you can save yourself hours on the phone every month? So even if you don't need the salesman half of the website, you can still SAVE yourself a ton of money/time every month in lost productivity and hassle. That seems like a pretty smart move right?

      Not only that, but you'll also be increasing your overall customer experience too! And all of that for just a one time investment that should pay for itself in Blank

      *Hourly wage X Hours of lost productivity time - Website cost = Break-even point*

      Thoughts?
  • Whether you’ve been selling for a day, a week, or a number of years, you know that whenever you make sales calls, there are objections. But objections are really your opportunity to sell. They give you a chance to focus on the major issues that concern your prospect, and turn them to your advantage in order to make the appointment and later the sale. An objection has to be treated as a hurdle. You must know how you plan to turn around each objection you face.
    In a lot of seminars and trainings that I’ve joined for telemarketing, I’ve encountered common objections that come up again and again. We’ll be discussing them here; if you’ve been selling for a while many may be quite familiar. Look closely at these and at the ways you can jump each of these hurdles.
    You know I'm glad to discuss this with you sometime, I am busy right now.
    Mr. Jones, it’s not my intent to inconvenience you. I’m not going to waste your time; I don’t have a lot of time anyway. I’ll be as brief as possible. If you don’t like what you hear, please stop me and I’ll get out of your way, ok?
    I am not sure. I am not interested at this time.
    You know something, maybe this is not for you but let me just ask you one more question and I’ll get out of your way. If I can show you a service that you and I will benefit each other, would you give it any consideration?
    I am not interested and I am satisfied with our marketing right now.
    I can appreciate that. You know something some of our clients told me exactly the same thing until we had a chance to discuss them all the ways we could save time and money by allowing you the advantage of being in front of the customers in your market area. Mr. Jones, if you allow me let us set an appointment at the place of your business to discuss this in a little more detail. Tomorrow afternoon at 2 o’clock, is that a good time for you?
    Send me an email or literature.
    We don't send out materials Mr. Jones, instead I’m glad to explain it to you now on how we can (benefits) while saving time and money, I’ll be as brief as possible and if you don’t like what you hear I’ll be the first person to advice you to pass on this. Fair enough?
    The client gives you resistance on the money.
    1. I can appreciate that. I know it's not about the money. Let me ask you this, have you ever bought something and you knew you can't afford it? If you want it badly enough you get it, is that right? If you believe and see how you benefit by (benefits), you're going to invest for it, you get it.
    2. I can appreciate that. Is the money the only thing standing in the way? If you have the money would you get started? Well if you believe and see how you benefit by (benefits), you will somehow find a way to do this, like maybe you can borrow the money or let’s put it your credit card. If you really what to do this, you will do those things. It’s not really about the money, right?
  • Objection: I have to much business already.

    Overcome With: Now I understand that you may have all the customers you can work with right now, but what if I could show you how to actually handle more business, so you could make more money, whether you use my marketing services, or not?

    Objection: I'm running so lean now, I'm barely making it, and don't think I can afford you.

    Overcome with: You'd be surprised. First, we have very flexible payment options, so we can help you increase your business to the point where you can not only afford us, you'll be begging us to keep working with you.

    Once you discover how much this helps your business, and how little it costs in comparison, you'll never let us leave. Many of our clients say they don't know how they got along without us, and many of them were struggling when we first started working with them, too.
    • [1] reply

    • Can you expand on that?
      • [1] reply
  • Post #9 by David Miller is gold. So is #24 by TheCG.
  • Some great stuff here.

    As soon as an objection comes my way (which is pretty much 90% of the time!), I say that's not a problem. This puts the prospect at ease, and then you come out with your benefits again (USP.)

    A good way to start a call (after you've introduced yourself) is to say that you know that such and such is a problem in their particular industry (you can get problems in all industries by going to the trade websites and doing a bit of research. You just pick companies in the same industry to call that day (manufacturers for example.) Just mention that the trade website states this is a problem and if they are finding the same thing. Then show how your product or service solves these problems and how they can increase they're revenue.

    After this you'll get the objections (how many sales calls go perfectly!) As with the "I'm already too busy", I say that's not a problem, I only work with small/medium businesses that can handle extra growth and from what your saying it's that you're not in a position to handle an increase in revenue at the moment. Is that correct?

    If they still say yes - That's great - however, if you do find that in the coming months your revenue is decreasing, you have my number, save it in your phone, I then give my name, company, my USP again and tell them to have a great day - maybe see you in the future for a chat. Sometimes there's just no helping some people...
  • In order to give out good rebuttals you have to learn their rejections.. Research for answers and consolidate it and use it for the future.
    • [1] reply
    • Just found this great thread as I wanted to find some good rebuttals to get over common caller objections.

      Although there were some great rebuttals 90% of the time your wasting your time as the caller is just trying to politely get rid of you.

      However there are certain objections which you can get around for example,"I don't have the money." If that statement is true then I proceed to say, "We are actually quite competitive...starting at only £100 ($150) a month.

      So don't get hang up over the rejection just move on. Would you try and pester a girl who obviously didn't fancy you or your dance moves in a nightclub?

      No you would give up and sulk (unless you are a warrior....you ask the next attractive babe out and carry on until you get laid...hehe).

      Those of us who cold call are more or less over the fear of taking action by cold calling but some of us haven't yet embraced the rejection and moved on. There is after all plenty more buyers in the sea.

      Lastly I am not discounted the rebuttal as it does work sometimes but for all the times it doesn't you have screwed yourself up inside cos the moron on the end of the line didn't budge. I'd rather go with the numbers and keep moving through the call list quickly until I get my "yes"

      Anyway that's my 1.33p (2 cents) lol
  • It's 90% timing? Buying is an emotional decision? Who can sell something unneeded without a base level of fear or greed? How many of those clients you fight for with rebuttal after rebuttal, end up being easy-to-manage clients?

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    I've been cold calling for what seems like an eternity(barely a year) and I think I have heard almost every stand off, excuse, rejection, etc and business owner could ever think of. I rarely get something that I haven't heard of a thousand times and by now it's like a broken record every time I hear a prospect leaning towards a rejection. I've gotten a pretty much automated brain when it comes to hearing rejections and throwing out immediate rebuttals that makes prospects re-think their doubts. I built this rejection proof dialogue over months and months of cold calling. I don't remember anyone ever talking much about what rejections to expect and how to overcome them.