One of the keys to successful selling is learning to overcome objections in sales, such as, “I can’t afford it.” Follow these three easy steps every salespeople must take to avoid ever hearing this phrase again.

Learning how to overcome objections in sales can be the key to crushing your sales goals. I’m willing to bet these objections sound familiar to you: “I can’t afford it. It’s just too expensive. We just don’t have the budget.” If you’ve been in sales long enough, you’ve heard these devastating phrases in your sales before.

People often ask me what I do when a prospect raises these objections. But that’s the wrong question to ask. What you should be asking is, how do I avoid hearing these phrases in the first place?

Once you’ve heard one of these phrases, you’re already in trouble. In fact I’d argue that there’s very little that you can do to save the sale at that point. That’s because your prospects are basically telling you that you haven’t shown them enough value to justify their making an investment in your offering. It’s your job to do that, not their job.

In this video, I’m going to show you three steps every salesperson must take to overcome one of the most common objections in sales: “I can’t afford it.” Check it out:

Overcome Objections in Sales Video Summary:

Overcome Objections in Sales Tip #1: Have a disqualification mindset.

There are some prospects who simply don’t see value or don’t have money. It’s your job in the beginning of the sales process to identify these people as soon as possible. That means asking questions to understand how critical their challenges are, to figure out whether they are the type of prospects who will really invest in solutions to their challenges.

The second that you determine they’re not going to make an investment, it’s your job to immediately disqualify those prospects. A disqualification mindset means that you think like a doctor. You’re not going to look for a sale. You’re looking for a prospect who has some serious challenges and a willingness and a commitment to solve them. Anyone who falls outside of that should be immediately disqualified.

Overcome Objections in Sales Tip #2: Help prospects calculate the upside.

Once you understand your prospects’ challenges, it doesn’t stop there. All prospects know they have challenges, but often they haven’t done the math to see what those challenges are really costing them. As a result, they don’t know what it would mean to the organization in additional revenue, profit, or cost savings to actually solve those challenges.

The math is where you actually build value in the sales process. Ask your prospect, “If you were able to solve these challenges, what would it mean in additional profit, cost savings, or additional revenue?” With this question, you are now creating value in the sales process.

Overcome Objections in Sales Tip #3: Discuss money before you present.

Often, salespeople think it’s easier to just present the solution before talking about money. Let’s face it, talking about money is uncomfortable. But the problem is that once you present your solution and share your prices, you suddenly have far less use to the prospect. You’ve given away the goods. Establish a budget before you present your solution.

Make sure that you’re on the same page with money before you show them the goods. By doing that, you’re going to keep the sale on track and make sure that what you’re presenting will be better received by the prospect.

So there you have it. Those are the three steps every salesperson must take to avoid the objection, “I can’t afford it.” I want to hear from you. Which of these ideas did you find most useful? Be sure to share below in the comments section to get involved in the conversation.