In this Q&A video, sales coach Ryan Dohrn answers a listener’s question about prospects who want to postpone purchases until after the first quarter. He explains that such delays often stem from a perception that others are also delaying, creating a herd‑like hesitation. Dohrn recommends probing the prospect’s quarterly initiatives (Q1‑Q4) and weaving the product’s benefits into those specific goals. He stresses the importance of pre‑call research on the company’s website to uncover initiatives, and suggests asking diagnostic questions to align the solution with the prospect’s priorities. To overcome price objections, he shares a framing technique: compare the price to a high‑value item (e.g., a Maserati) to illustrate the value delivered, then explain how the solution saves time and makes money. The video ends with a brief promo for his sales coaching services.
Chapters
Hey friends, Ryan Dohrn here, your global sales coach. Thanks so much for hanging out with us each and every week and listening to these tips. I love to answer your listener questions. All right, next one comes from Robin from Tallahassee, and Robin's question is this: what do we do when people want to delay buying until after first quarter? So good question, it's going to come up a lot all throughout 2021. So Delays are based around people thinking typically that others are delaying as well. So a lot of times the decisions that people are making are not just their decisions. They've listened or they've read or something like that. So they're delaying buying decisions because a lot of times they feel like everybody else is delaying those decisions. So what I like to do is talk with people. What's your first quarter initiative? What's your second quarter initiative? Your third, your fourth quarter initiatives? Try to get in alignment with whatever you're selling. Try to get in alignment with what their company initiatives are. So if someone says, I'm going to delay, rather than saying, okay, well then I'll call you back when a time is better, I like to pivot that, even though I don't like that word very much. I like to pivot that conversation and say, well, if you don't mind me asking, what are some of the initiatives or some projects and things that are going on in first quarter? And then what you want to do is weave your product your solution, your offering into their initiatives. Now, one of the ways to really beat that is by going to their website, trying to figure out what some of their initiatives would be, what some of their goals are, what some of their desires are. Or you could say something like this: before we even make that buying decision, okay, we've got 5 or 6 things to talk about. First, let me ask you a couple things about this. A lot of times people, because of the transactional sale, want to just really cut to the chase. A lot of times you've got to back them up a little bit. They're trying to jump you to a decision point. Maybe they've missed out on all kinds of value that you can bring to them. For example, I had a guy ask me the other day, hey Ryan, what's this cost? What's the cost of this? And I simply said, well, I could tell you that it's $5,000, but if you didn't know that you were getting a Maserati for that $5,000, You would really think you might be paying too much. Could I have an opportunity to explain to you what we do to make you money, what we do to save you time? Once I got that out, all of a sudden the $5,000 sounded moderately affordable. So good luck with that, Robin. Keeping my fingers crossed for you. I think you're going to be able to get through it. All right, friends, I'm Ryan Dohrn. Love to help you. Love to train your team. Love to speak at your next national sales gathering or whatever. So visit the website ryandohrn.com for more. D-O-H-R-N, ryandohrn.com. All right, friends, we'll see you next time.
