So your last three closes in a row blew you off with the “We’re just not doing anything right now,” or “We need to hold off on anything new until things get better,” or some variation of this.  If you’re like most sales reps, then you know how things have slowed down, and you’ve probably gotten this objection a lot.  What to do?

Here are three ways to handle the “recession objection”:

1)  Eliminate it in the beginning. The best time to handle possible objections is during the qualification stage, and that includes any recession related ones as well.  If you’re going through a presentation and get the objection above, then you need to work in a solid qualifying question when you first speak with your prospect.  Use something like:

“_________, I’ll email you a (brochure, proposal, etc.) and then I’ll get back with you to go over how this would work out for you.  Now given what’s happening in the economy, if you think this would be a fit for you, what are the parameters your company is working within to allow a purchase like this?” 

Then write this down word for word – you’ll need it later…

2)  Question before answering the objection.  If the recession objection still comes up at the end, question it before you deal with it.  Use:

“I can certainly understand that, and let’s say your company were to approve (your service or product), do you personally feel that this solution would be the one you would go with today?”

If they still stall, then this isn’t the real objection and answering it will get you nowhere.  You will have to ask questions to find out the real one.  If they say yes, then:

3)  Script out a close based on the information you got while qualifying.  Since you asked what procedures their company used to approve your specific service or product in the beginning, then go back to that and script out your response.  Customize something like this:

“I’m glad you think this service will work for you, and I know you’ll be happy using it.  When we first spoke, you mentioned that all approvals go through the (repeat what they told you).  I’d be happy to present this to them – what should I do to help you get this approved?”

As you can see, this objection can be handled if you are prepared for it in advance (like all objections!)

Print these scripts out, adapt them to your product or service, and get in the habit of using them.  Believe me, they’ll work if you use them!

Also, if you’d like more proven scripts like this, then visit my script book page and invest in my 100 page Complete Book of Phone Scripts.  You’ll get tons more scripts like this one to help you overcome objection and close more sales!