We’ve spent the last couple issues of EFE looking at objections. If you’re asking at high enough dollar amounts, you know they’re going to come. Objections pop up in just about any walk of life—sales, dating, family…
By now you know that I believe objections are a great sign. It’s a prospect’s way of fogging a mirror. By pushing back a bit, they’re showing that they’re alive. Making objections is a normal part of being a human.
Sales and motivational guru Zig Ziglar says that there are four times to deal with objections:
- before they happenÂ
- as they happen
- after they happen
- never
The good news is we can do something about the first three. The bad news is that if we don’t deal with them in the first three times, we can’t do anything about the fourth.
So use the brainstorm talked about in the last issue of EFE and see if you can create compelling answers to the 5 or 6 common objections your team comes up with. Then strategize with how to use these answers during each step of the process.
If we never deal with objections, we never deal with them. (Sounds like something Yogi Berra would say, doesn’t it? *grin*)
Here’s an encouraging note. Even if you deftly deal with every objection, four out of five times the prospect will likely say “no.”
Most good fundraising gift charts recommend having 4 or 5 prospects for each gift. If you’re looking for one person to give $100,000, you’ll need four or five prospects capable of that. If you’re looking for 20 people to give $1000, you’ll need 80-100 people capable of giving that size gift.
So don’t get discouraged if you’re not seeing the gifts come in. A “no” can be a sign that you’re one step closer to finding the prospect that is going to give!
And remember, if you’re not getting any objections, you’re not asking for enough money.
