The One Real Objection @ Burke’s Business Builders.

If you’re in the business of selling, then you’re in the business of overcoming objections. In media selling, we hear objections daily from prospects and clients. If you’re in management, you also have to handle objections from your staff. (I think more selling goes on in building than outside the building. Try rolling out a new compensation plan and tell me you’re not in high sales mode.) If you’re selling Hispanic media, you’re probably going to hear more objections than your general market counterparts. I’m sure this is not new news to you.

Clients will give you all kinds of reasons for not wanting to do business with you. Mostly, they will fall into two categories: No Need and No Benefit. Some businesses just don’t have a need to advertise. I’ve seen businesses that are maxed out and couldn’t handle much more. You can make a case that they should continue to advertise to insure they stay that way, but I can understand their reluctance. Much more common are businesses that fall into the No Benefit category. These are businesses who can afford it, need it, will benefit from it, but can’t seem to pull the trigger.

You’ll hear some real objections and some not so real. “My budget is gone” may be true or a convenient way of getting you to back off. “I tried (insert your media here) before and it doesn’t work” could be sour grapes from a bad experience or a nice way of saying they don’t want to do business with you. “Your rates are too high” might be a money issue or a smokescreen. But when you boil all these objections down, there is really only one: the client doesn’t believe it’ll work. You can boil down all the other No Benefit objections into this one. It should be categorized as “No Belief”.

Have you ever had the “no budget” client suddenly appear on a competing station or media? I have. What was the difference? Most often, they believed it would work and they didn’t feel that way about your station. If they believe it will work, money has a way of being available, rates don’t matter as much, and the whole media industry in which you work isn’t cast aside. If the belief is there, most of the time you can make the sale.

The way to get around The One Real Objection is with success stories. Nobody wants to be first. You have to help them soften their perceived risk by giving them examples of others who have experienced success doing what you’re asking of them. This is especially important with Hispanic media because the natural barriers to belief are higher. Not only are you asking a client to try a media they’ve never used before, but also many are trying it in a language they’ve never advertised in. That’s a bigger commitment for most than simply adding another general market station to the mix.

So, come prepared. Bring success letters from past or current clients who have achieved success with your station. Have a few clients new prospects can call and talk to about using your media. Don’t rely on just your word; add other voices to soften their objection. If you don’t have success letters, start gathering them. I know radio stations that air success ads from current and past advertisers. Anything you can do to add to the chorus of voices telling other businesses that advertising with you makes sense is going to help overcome the one real objection.

Bottom Line: Happy clients who have achieved success with you in the past can help you overcome the one real objection. An old saying is “Success breeds success”. Use the success others have had in the past to bring new clients into your station so you can make believers out of them, too.

Dave Burke is President of Burke Media Marketing, Inc, an advertising sales training consultancy. Dave works with radio, TV, and cable sales teams and their clients to help them dominate their markets. He can be reached at (603) 746-5588 or http://www.BurkeMediaMarketing.com