🧅 Peeling back the onion of blame
Hello! Adam Thornhill here. ‘The Podcast Guy’ saving you 10 hours a week.
Enjoy the 89th Podup, with special thanks to The Truth About Passive Income.
Today, we’ll dive into the best insights and ideas from The Game w/ Alex Hormozi.
To close a sale, you often have to peel back multiple layers of resistance. In this pod, Alex Hormozi breaks down common customer objections and explains the 3 causes of why people don’t buy.
Sales is never easy
There are 3 causes of why people don’t buy. I call this the onion of blame. You have to peel back multiple layers and be prepared for that, rather than thinking you have to overcome one thing before they buy.
Circumstances. This is the outer layer of their onion. You still have to get through 2 more layers before someone is empowered to make a decision.
Other people. This is the middle layer. They may need approval from someone else.
Self. This is the final layer. They may say they still need to think about it.
Alex Hormozi
Common customer objections
These 3 causes manifest themselves in 5 different ways:
Time. I break this down into macro (‘This is a busy time in my life’), micro (‘I don’t have the time in the day’), and the when then fallacy (‘I’ll do this when…’).
Value. ‘I can’t afford it. It’s not valuable enough.’ If you communicate enough value, the resources are never an issue.
Fit. ‘I’m not sure it’s for me.’
Authority. ‘I need to talk to my spouse.’
Avoidance. ‘I don’t make fast decisions.’
Alex Hormozi
Why it matters
The onion of blame is akin to the SPIN selling methodology, which focuses on asking the right questions to understand and address customer concerns.
Whatever framework you use, it’s important to remember that customers want to buy, otherwise they wouldn’t be talking to you in the first place. Your job is to make them believe, provide a compelling ‘Why now?’, and proactively address their objections.
Next steps
Map out objections. Host a workshop with your sales team to categorize and score your customer objections based on their severity (likelihood of losing the deal) and frequency.
Align on responses. Define what a best in class response looks like for each objection. This could include follow-up questions, rebuttals, social proof, and validating their concern.
Remain natural. Encourage your team to avoid sounding too scripted. Keep conversations natural and tailor responses based on each individual.
Separate price from belief. You need to pull apart price from their belief that you will solve their problem and then tackle each one independently.
Be proactive. Address potential objections early on in marketing or sales conversations to reduce friction during closing.
Your thoughts?
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