- What do you do when your potential clients they say,
"well, I don't like longterm contracts."
A typical sales person would say something like,
"well, that's just our company policy,
this is the way that it is."
No, please don't say that.
Or they might say,
"well, you know, all our clients,
you know, sign up with us
and they all have longterm contracts, just trust me on it."
That's not what you say either okay.
You have to go a little deeper.
What are they actually saying when they say
"I don't like long-term contracts."
What is exactly going through their minds?
It means one of these two things.
Number one, they are afraid that they cannot afford
what they're paying you 12 months
or 24 months or 36 months from now.
Lack of cashflow.
They don't know if they could afford to pay you.
That's the reality, that's what they're thinking
or they're thinking,
"well, what if this doesn't work
and I'm locked in for one year, two years and three years.
I cannot get out of this.
I don't want that risk."
They don't want to take that risk.
That's actually what they are saying.
So here's how you handle their objection
when your prospects say,
"well, I don't like long term contracts."
So Mister Prospect, what bothers you the most
about long-term contract?
Because see, I want to get to the root of the problem.
I don't want to be playing a guessing game.
Now he might say,
"well, you know, I've been burned in the past."
Okay or he might say,
"well, you know what?
What if it doesn't work?
I don't want to be locked in for 24 months."
Okay, see, now I know what he's thinking.
Is it a cashflow issue?
Or is it a trust issue?
Or is it a timeline issue?
Because those are very different problems.
Those are very different objections
and you and I will handle
those objections very, very differently.
So let's say I run a SEO firm, I sell SEO services.
Meaning I help websites
and companies get on the first page of Google
to get more traffic to their offers.
Let's say, that's what I do and let's say,
I typically sell a 12 month contract
and let's say, I'm getting this objection from my prospect.
"Well, I don't like long term contract,"
then I ask,
"so what bothers you the most about longterm contract"
and he said 'blank,'" let him talk.
Then I might say something like, "well, Mister Prospect,
I know where you are coming from, I understand that."
"Maybe share with me what kind of financial commitment
are you most comfortable with."
Now he might say, "well, you know, I don't think
I'm more comfortable more than three months."
Boom okay, so he's thinking
about three months, not the 12 months.
Now, there are many ways I could handle this
depends on the kind of plan that I want to offer
but let's say it's a three month contract.
First of all, I want to find out a little bit more.
So Mister Prospect, let me make sure
I understand this correctly.
So getting on the first page of Google,
is that important for you?
"Yeah. It's very important for me.
Why is that important for you?"
"Well, because I want to make sure I dominate the keyword.
I don't want to compete with my competitors.
I don't want them to have higher ranking than me.
I want to get all those eyeballs traffic."
Okay. "So if this works, let's say you
and I worked together in three months,
I deliver the exact results that I promised to you.
You will have no problem renewing that contract with us.
Is that correct?
"Yeah. I have no problem renewing
that contract if this works."
Because of the services that we provide,
we have to invest a substantial amount of time
in terms of doing research,
studying your marketplace and coming up with the keywords.
So there's a real cost to what we do
when we take you on as a client.
Suppose I was willing to make an exception
and take you on without having you
sign on a 12 month contract,
would you be comfortable paying that three month upfront?
So if I'm not getting the 12 month contract,
at least I want to get something else from the deal.
How can we make this work right?
In negotiation, you cannot get the price,
get the term right?
You cannot get the term, get the price.
It is very, very simple.
So another way they could handle this objection
is you give them a choice.
So let's say a 12 month contract,
you will charge them $2,500.
Let's say, that's the term.
You use the same line.
Now, Mr. Prospect, because we have to invest
a substantial amount of time and effort to study the market,
to come up with the keywords, to align everything up,
to make sure that we can get you the optimal results.
You always want to give them a reason why.
So you would say something like this,
"Well, well, Mr. Prospect, I mean, this is, this is hard.
I do like you and I do want to take you on as a client
because I know the results that we could produce for you
and I do see that there's a
longterm relationship being formed here.
Now, if you sign up with us, today is $2,500 a month.
If you have to go with a three month,
the best I could do is
I'm going to charge you just a little bit more
because of the investment upfront from our part
for maybe let's say we can make it work
for $3,500 a month for three months.
And afterwards, if you are comfortable with us
and we are comfortable with you
and you want to extend it to a 12 month contract,
then we can go back to the $2,500 a month.
So which one are you the most comfortable with?
$2,500 a month for 12 months
or $3,500 a month for three months?"
And boom, you let them make the decision.
Now they might say, well, you know what?
I want the savings.
That's fine. I'll go with the 12 months.
Or they might say,
"yeah, you know what?
I'm more comfortable with the three months."
That's perfectly fine.
Now you are making more money.
You're making more of a profit.
Another line, another script
that you could say as a followup is,
"I don't want you to be in a marriage
that you don't want to be in.
If after three months you feel like we're not doing a job.
You could fire us.
It's not a problem, but it's not going to happen.
We want this to be a longterm relationship.
So Mr. Prospect, which one do you prefer?
$3,500 a month or $2,500 a month?"
That's it.
And these are some of the most basic techniques
that we teach within our training program.
If you want to develop the ability,
the confidence and the skill that you need
to handle any objection, any time,
make sure you click the link below
and check out our free training.