“Convincing your client that change is good and is in their best interest isn’t always easy, but there’s an understanding where the objections are coming from and how to address them.” – Warwick Brown in today’s Tip 230
How do you overcome changes?
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Warwick Brown on LinkedIn
Account Manager Tips
Interviews with Jeff Bezos:
ARTICLE: Forbes Exclusive Interview With The Amazon Founder On What He Plans To Conquer Next
VIDEO: Jeff Bezos Thinking for the Long Term
Books:
Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play: Transforming the Buyer/Seller Relationship by Mahan Khalsa and Randy Illig
Winning the Professional Services Sale: Unconventional Strategies to Reach More Clients, Land Profitable Work, and Maintain Your Sanity by Michael W. McLaughlin
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Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip, actually this whole series of ideas comes from Warwick Brown of Account Manager Tips. Here he is:
Warwick Brown: So you have been working with your client for a while. You understand that challenges, you’ve thought about how to solve their problems and then you think one day, Eureka! I found it. You’re all excited and you share it with your client, but instead of dancing with joy, you’ve met with a wall of resistance. All of these if buts and maybes that just totally ran in your parade. People just don’t like change even when it’s good for them. In fact, especially when it’s good for them. I am worried, breakout manager tips. I am delighted to be on the Daily Sales Tips podcast and thank you for sharing a part of your day with me. We are going to run through seven common objections to change and some quick tips on how you can overcome them.
Number One, Reluctance: You know, these are the kinds of people that say, why should we do this now? To get those people across the line. You need to paint a very clear picture of what the future will look like and then you know what the return on investment is going to be for them to take action. And look, it needs to be like a 10 x return. It can’t just be a smidge better than today, but to really show the reason why they should get out of bed and you know, get on board.
Lack of Ownership, Number Two: Have you ever come across people that say things like “I’m not sure why I’m involved.” You know, to get things done, it takes a team and everyone has to pull their weight. You’re going to need other people. If you find that you’ve got some people that aren’t on board, you really need to focus on the impact to them as an individual. You know what’s in it for them. And don’t be afraid to appeal to some personal motives if this is going to help their career or if this is going to get them something that they want. Don’t be afraid to dangle that carrot.
Number Three, The Cynics: You know, the type that are always dragging up ancient history saying they’ve tried to before. So you know, why should it work at this time. These people need details. Give them an explicit documented plan about how you make this happen, why this time is different. And this time is different is because you’re around.
Number Four, The Risk Averse: You know, they fear the worst, doom and gloom for these people. It’s important that you acknowledge the risks. Don’t brush them aside and show them that you’ve taken precautions to reduce the risks. And also that you’ve got some contingency plans in place if the worst happens. Now, there’s a really, really great interview with Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon around risk and he refers to one-way doors and two-way doors when deciding to go for a strategy. Two-way doors or rather one way doors are decisions from which there’s no return. Two-way doors at decisions that can be reversed. So is what you’re asking them to do. Walkthrough a one-way door or a two-way door. And if it’s a two-way door, then what’s the harm? So a, there’s a link in the show notes for the interview. I really recommend you watch that one, really enjoyed it.
Number Five, The Cost-Conscious: There’s never any money in the budget, there’s other priorities, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You’ve heard it all before. For those naysayers, you need to pull together a pitch that demonstrates the value to your client, how it aligns with their organizational goals. You know, their vision, their strategy, whatever else they’re going for and what they’re going to gain. You are going to need to bring some solid numbers and some data to support your strategy. They’re gonna want the evidence, the proof points.
Number Six, The Overwhelmed: So these people are a little like the deer in the headlights. You know what you’re proposing just sounds like a whole bunch of extra work to them. They’ve got no idea how they’ll feed it into their busy days to get them on board. You need to understand that workload. Look for ways to lighten the load is the things that you can help them with through efficiency or helping them to get their work reallocated, get them extra resources, and really get deep into the strategy of how you want them to manage and participate in what you need to do, your requirements.
And lucky last Number Seven, Logistics: So these are the types of things that’s way too hard. What is your complex, we’ll need way too many resources. For these types of people, you’re going to need to show examples. They want case studies. I want testimonials. They want to see exactly how you’ve done this with other people before they commit and get on board.
All right, well that’s it. Hope you enjoyed those tips. If you want to explore this further, there’s a couple of books I recommend, Winning the Professional Services Sale: Unconventional Strategies to Reach More Clients, Land Profitable Work, and Maintain Your Sanity by Michael W. McLaughlin and then Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play: Transforming the Buyer/Seller Relationship by Mahan Khalsa and Randy Illig
Again, links in the show notes. Both are really great books on how to help your client succeed and make sure everybody feels good about the decisions that they make. Convincing your client that change is good and is in their best interest isn’t always easy, but there’s an understanding where the objections are coming from and how to address them. You know, you’re gonna be in a great place to get your strategy off the ground and good luck. I’ll catch you next time.
Scott Ingram: With Warwick, you always get more than just the tip, and as a companion to this tip we’ve got links to those articles and books for you at DailySales.Tips/230, of course, you can learn more about Warwick there as well and if you like his stuff, be sure to join his Account Manager Tips newsletter. He sends out some really valuable stuff there and I subscribe myself.
Well, thanks for listening, and be sure to swing by tomorrow for another great sales tip!