3 Common Objections in Customer Success And How You Can Overcome Them

(4-min read)

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#15 The Customer Success Cafe – 3 Common Objections in Customer Success And How You Can Overcome Them

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Objections are a natural human behavior as we all want to be reassured in our own beliefs first, whether they are rational or not.

And so it is with your customers.

An objection is often about a “lack” of something which would prevent people from getting to the next steps. For your customers, it can also just be to find reasons for not taking an action about a critical issue they are experiencing.

Your role is therefore to help identify and remove these obstacles so you can engage in more meaningful conversations.

And here are 3 most common objections you’ll often need to handle and how you can overcome them:

1) Lack of credibility and trust

Example of your customer saying: “I’m not sure who you are or what your role is about. Can I trust you?”

Well, people do business with people they like, know, and trust.

We take actions based on the credibility we give to others. And we are mostly influenced by actions that are similar to ours.

So before engaging in any activities or discussions, we look for answering these 2 critical questions:

1. can I trust this person?
2. does this person know what he/she is talking about?

And the reaction we are looking for is a big YES!

This is why you should position yourself as a trustworthy guide helping your customers achieve their goals as them being the hero of your story.

And here are two actionable items you can focus on to overcome the lack of credibility and trust:

• Showcase the authority you have in the market

Bring in everything that confirms you know what you are talking about: studies around your industry expertise, years of experience, brand, reputation, etc.

• Leverage social proof

Share the story of other customers who had similar objections but ended up succeeding with your products.

You could say something like: “I understand how daunting it could be to implement such a new process/tool. But we have recently deployed this at a similar organization to yours with help from our expert teams. We can make this transition as effortless and smooth as possible for you.”

2) Lack of need

This is where your customers would say:

“I don’t see what you could do for me. It all works fine.” or “This is not important right now.”

So, you’ve identified a pain point customer has but they are not able to make the connection between the issue and your solutions.

Therefore it’s the perfect opportunity for you to give your customers more information to raise awareness about different possibilities.

Here are a few open-ended questions that will help you better evaluate their needs and position your offerings:

• What are you using today to address this topic in your business?
• Can you tell me more about your priorities?
• What are the challenges you’re facing today?

It often appears customers didn’t know they needed something else.

And it’s your role to uncover their needs and overcome this common objection.

3) Lack of urgency

Here the customer would say something like:

“This topic is not important to me right now. I’m using another solution which is working fine so far.”

So, your goal here is to identify if the customer’s concern about timing is a blocking point.

And one way to nail this is to simply ask:

• why is it not important to you at the moment?
• how are you solving your business problem with the current solutions in place today?

This will help you talk about the value your products would bring in and how they would help them succeed along the way. 

But you need to go a step further and create urgency.

A universal truth is that we fear losing more than winning.

So explain what would continue to happen if they don’t take action right now rather than wait and take even more risks over time.

Well, that’s it!

These were 3 common objections you’ll often need to handle in Customer Success:

1) Lack of credibility and trust

2) Lack of need

3) Lack of urgency

In the end, any conversation about your products and services is an opportunity to learn and build stronger relationships with your customers.

And objections are the perfect growth opportunities in disguise for you and the company if you are able to identify and overcome them.

This brings us to what I like quoting often:

As you sow, so shall you reap!

Agree?

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Have a great week ahead!

And until next Sunday, take care friends!

Hakan.

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