3 Big Sales Objections CEE Software Houses Hear – And How to Beat Them

Share this article

You know the story. You’re trying to sell your services to a client. You know your team is highly skilled. And you know you could do a great job with the clients’ project. But you keep hearing the same objections.
Excuse me.

I meant the same @*$%! objections.

“You’re so far away.”

“What about the time difference?”

“How do I know the job gets done right, if I’m not in the same room?”

Sound familiar? Yes? No? Well guess what. Even if you’re not hearing these, odds are your potential buyers are thinking them.

Why Hit Objections Head-On?

One truth in sales: We don’t always tell the salesperson the real objection.

This may be due to various factors – embarrassment, insufficient trust towards you, or other factors. Or maybe they just don’t like your haircut, you smell funny, who knows? (Ha-ha)

But seriously, whether we hear them or not, it’s true that clients in your industry tend to have the same concerns and objections—whether consistently spoken or not.

Rather than ignore them and hope we won’t hear them at the end (we will) – we can cover them early in the sales process.

This has 2 benefits:

Eliminates annoying or untrue objections
By removing concerns from the prospect’s head, he can better focus on more important steps of the process – like responding to our questions

And there’s a third, less-tangible benefit: you feel more in control of the sales process – not crossing your fingers hoping your prospect won’t bring up a negative topic.

But how to do it?

How to do it: Turn Objections into Advantages

Dealing with objections is any salesperson’s challenge. And you may not even see yourself as a salesperson to begin with (see our article on why software people need sales skills). But don’t worry.

Just like with software development, there is a method and simple framework you can use to handle these.

The best part? Done correctly, you can remove these objections from the picture. Even better – you can even turn a potential objection into an advantage.

The Framework

Here are the steps to do that:

Decide the 2-3 most common objections
Bring up the objection in the form of a third-party story during the first sales meeting
Describe the objection from the strong side – as an advantage – “What our clients like about working with us, is that we emphasize quality first.”
Explain what the client thought at first – the pain or concern. Then, in the form of a story, explain what they discovered that changed how they felt
Close with a statement confirming that the other person appreciated this aspect (“And I think that’s why company xyz really liked the whole process of working with us”).

Three Common Objections Central European Software Developers Hear

Odds are you’ve probably heard one of these before (maybe many times).

How would you respond to them? Which stories from past clients’ experiences can you use to answer them (we call this 3^rd-party selling)? Which testimonials that you already have (or can ask your happy clients for) would turn these objections into advantages?

Time Zone – “How can we effectively work together if you’re on the other side of the planet?? 9 hours is a big difference.”

How to answer: This common objection can be pretty easily answered. One point to emphasize is that the time zone difference can also be seen as an advantage – because it effectively extends the window of work. If your client is on the west coast of the US, you can work on tasks while the client is sleeping, so they have the task completed and ready to go right from the AM.

Alternatively, if you have staggered working hours, with some working later in the evening, that can be emphasized*. You can also point out that most tasks are not ultra-urgent, and the super-urgent ones can be handled as special cases*. Just be sure to put these in the form or a third-party comment for best effect.

Quality – “The previous company we worked with, their work was always full of bugs and it really set us back.”

How to answer: Simply covering this in advance with an effective story – sharing a previous client’s concerns, someone who already worked with an outsourcing company and had a bad experience, then worked with you and had a 180-degree different (better) experience, can be quite effective. Just remember to hit it in advance. The rule is: whoever brings up the objection first, wins.

Poor communication – “The last software outsourcer we worked with – it was frustrating because of miscommunication – or no communication at all!”

How to answer: This can be due to cultural factors or simply the communication process and expectations. You can cover this objection by telling a story about a previous client’s frustrations over poor communication – then explaining how the client really likes the tools you use to communicate, the regular schedule of communication, and the adaptability to their preferences.

Don’t try to cover everything in advance

These aren’t the only objections in the software industry, of course, just some of the most common. What others would you add to the list? How would you answer them?

You don’t need to try to cover all 57 possible objections in advance – just the most common and/or frustrating.

We work with clients to help them think through and prepare answers to objections and effective 3^rd-party stories. This helps them walk into sales meetings confident – and prevents deals getting derailed by common, easily-answerable client concerns.

Want to know more? We’d love to talk. Let’s get in touch for a 15-minute Skype chat.