A Favorite Sales Technique: 2 Questions to overcome “I’m already buying that.”

Today I’m going to share with you one of my favorite sales techniques that will help you overcome the objection, “I’m already doing that.” Or “I’m already buying that.”

Because let’s face it, if you could only sell your product to people who don’t have it, or a version of it, then your market would be incredibly limited. For the purposes of this article, I will be telling you how I sold Google AdWords Management to business owners who were already buying it from another provider or maybe even doing it themselves.

So here’s how it might go.

ME: “I’d like to show you how I can help you get to the first page of Google with AdWords.”

BIZ OWNER: “No thanks. I’m already doing AdWords.”

ME: “That’s great! Are you doing it yourself or have you hired someone?”

BIZ OWNER: “I got a guy who handles it for me.”

ME: “I’m happy to hear you are already utilizing AdWords. May I ask, are you one hundred percent happy with your results?”

Let’s stop for a moment. Have you ever asked a business owner if they were one hundred percent happy with … anything? “Are you one hundred percent happy with your computer? Are you one hundred percent happy with that truck? Are you one hundred percent happy with your sandwich?”

You know what? Forget business owners. Is anyone ever one hundred percent happy with anything? I know. I’m being a little cynical. But that aside, you can imagine how they answer this question, right?

BIZ OWNER: “Well, no. I wouldn’t say I’m one hundred percent happy.”

ME: “Okay. Well what percentage would you say you are not happy?”

At this point, the answer doesn’t really matter. If it’s one percent or eleven percent, you’ve found a little crack in their happiness.

BIZ OWNER: “I don’t know. Maybe ten percent.”

ME: (thoughtfully) “Oh. Well, tell me about that ten percent. What’s going on that is making you unhappy?” 

And that’s when the business owner will proceed to tell you exactly how you can sell them your product. It could be anything: price is too high, my guy is unresponsive, I’m not sure it works that great.

You’ve just taken them down a path that focuses on what they do not like about their current provider and this can lead to you getting an opportunity to pitch your version of the product.

ME: “You’re not sure it works? Why do you continue to pay for it?”

BIZ OWNER: “Well, I know I need to be at the top of Google. I just don’t know if it’s making me money.”

ME: “What if I told you that when my team manages Google AdWords, we provide extensive reporting and even help you access the results in Google Analytics? What if I could track the calls that the campaign delivers? Would that be worth hearing about?”

BIZ OWNER: “You can do that?”

ME: “Sure. And a lot more. Can you tell me more about why you’re not one hundred percent happy?”

And there you have it. Two questions that will often lead to an opportunity to talk with the business owner who is already buying what you’re selling.

Are you one hundred percent happy with your current provider?

What percentage would you say you are unhappy?

Will it work one hundred percent of the time? Come on, you know the answer to that. But will it work often enough that you will get a little deeper into those conversations that could lead to a sale. You bet.

Best of luck, and let me know how it goes!

Thanks for reading.

David McBee

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