How Can a Sales Team Handle The "Lack Of Budget" Objection?

"I'd love to, but it's just not in the budget for this quarter," says a potential buyer, and most salespeople will take this as a firm "no" and move on to the next on their list. It's surprising how many salespeople do exactly that, and even more surprising that your average sales force training programme doesn't cover what to do in these situations. The truth is, there's a much bigger potential for a sale than most people realise.

Why? Because when a buyer says it's not in the budget, most of the time what they're really saying is, there's no room in the budget for something that doesn't wow me. But does that mean you should give up? Absolutely not: it means you need to figure out what will wow that buyer. They may not be interested in this product, but they might be interested in something else.

When it comes to budgets, most have some built-in wiggle room. And that “wiggle money” is more likely to be spent on a want item rather than a need item. The question is, what does the buyer want?

A fundamental part of sales training is about learning how to determine what a buyer wants, and also about figuring out how to make a buyer want what you're selling. These best-practice strategies still apply here; as always it's just a matter of asking the right questions. Remember, it's all about asking open-ended questions that get the buyer talking; for example:

• If cost weren't an issue, what would you be looking for in a [product]?

• Apart from the cost, what's stopping you from considering [product]?

• What [product] features are most important to you?

This isn't necessarily about trying to sell the product the buyer already turned down; the more important aspect is the fact that you're getting the buyer talking. That helps you figure out what it is they want, and it may be that you have another product that fits neatly into that category. Not only that: it's also a way of ramping up the buyer's enthusiasm for the original product, and sometimes, that's all it takes to override any budgetary concerns and make the sale.

Photo Credit: www.medscape.com