Part 2 of the “How to Handle Objections” series covers the classic issue of the reluctant prospect who insists that his/her company doesn’t have the human resources to oversee the process of implementing a new efficiency project.
Objection: “We just don’t have the manpower.”
How to respond: First of all, who is “we” and what “manpower” is your prospect worried about spending? Do they not have the manpower to walk the auditor around their building? To overcome this objection, you really need to reframe the situation for your prospect.
Your prospect seems to be inferring that all of his/her employees are too busy to take on any new projects. Given this fact, you might assume that the prospect’s organization is understaffed and would benefit greatly from having another set of hands around the office. If you determine that this assumption is accurate, use it to your advantage – reframe your project’s estimated cost savings:
“The coordination of this project will likely take about 50 hours of your time over the course of the next year. The project (once the initial cost is repaid) will save you about $100,000 a year. Just out of curiosity, what does your average engineer make?” Then zip it. They’ll probably tell you their engineer’s salary… “He makes about $90,000 a year.” You respond, “Great. Would you sacrifice 50 hours of your time this year to get a free engineer in perpetuity?”
They would be crazy to say “no.” Now obviously, the numbers will not always work out this favorably. However, your goal is to first turn your prospect’s objection into an objective, and then reframe the benefit of your proposed project so that it decidedly meets that objective.
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