We Handle That In House and Don't Need You

As a salesperson, you've probably heard every kind of sales objection in the book, including the timing not being right, there not being enough money in the budget for something, or simply that someone just isn't interested. Learn how to overcome the stubborn client who tells you, "We handle that in house so we don't need you." All you need is a few creative rebuttals to get your outside sales team an appointment.

A few old-school scripts may not work in this case, so avoid saying something about an apples-to-apples comparison or saving the customer money. Thanks to data analytics and key performance indicators, firms know pretty well how to save money when it comes to buying services, purchasing goods or outsourcing certain aspects of the business. Instead, offer value to the client as the way to get past this in-house sales objection.

The rebuttal will probably happen no matter how you communicate with the client, whether through email, on the phone or even during a networking event. The sales objection remains the same no matter what scenario you're presented with, so have this new script ready to pull out on a moment's notice.

Start by saying you're glad the company has it handled in house for now. Clearly, it's a mark of success. Continue with, "Here's what I recommend, though. I'd love to drop by and show you what our process looks like and how we would take care of that for you. You still may decide to keep doing things the way you have been, but you might see how a different perspective saves you time, money and effort. The visit doesn't take too long, and everyone we meet finds a benefit to the way we do things."

Then ask when's a good block of time for next week. This script attempts to overcome the sales objection without a pitch, but it focuses on trying to prove to the potential customer that you have a better way of doing something. What the prospect decides to do with the information is up to that person. However, the point of this script is to simply get an appointment for a demonstration through a potential lead. Once you get your dynamic sales team in the door, then it's time to wow the other side with ways to save the company money by outsourcing to your firm.

Fine-tune your responses to this sales objection by writing down what happens. Adapt your script to various responses, and practice what to say until it becomes natural. See what happens after a few weeks and if you can get more appointments for your team moving forward from there.

Keeping things in-house is just one sales objection out of many you may hear in your career. Have a script ready for any scenario to try to get past the other side's reluctance to hear what your company can do for it.

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