B2G Sales Objections: Overcome Resistance, Laziness, and More
Sales is never easy and state and local government sales is particularly tricky.
That’s partly because SLED customers’ motivations are different than business buyers’. Government workers aren’t chasing innovation or trying to maximize revenue, so they react differently to sales pitches than B2B buyers do.
There’s a common set of SLED customer sales objections that we see with government buyers again and again. These objections might catch you off guard if you’re used to dealing with business or enterprise customers.
Here are the three most common government sales objections that you will encounter as you engage with potential buyers—and how to respond to each one:
SLED Customer Sales Objection #1: Resistance
The most common form of resistance we find with government buyers is an aversion to change.
Resistant buyers want to maintain the status quo and keep things the same. They don’t want to take on new projects. They don’t want to rock the boat.
In business organizations, innovation and change are often prized and sought after. You can make your career by bringing in a new system, process, or technology.
That’s not often the case in government. Government offices are more concerned with stability and consistency than they are with innovation.
(And that’s an especially big challenge when selling govtech solutions and B2G software.)
How do you bust this SLED customer sales objection?
With resistant buyers, ho-hum offers aren’t going to cut it. You have to give them a reason to get excited.
They aren’t going to go for a project that is simply new or different. So focus on benefits and case studies that prove that your offering is something truly advantageous.
SLED Customer Sales Objection #2: Lethargy
Now let’s look at laziness.
No offense intended, but quite frankly, many government buyers are lazy. It’s unfortunate, but it seems to be a fact of life.
Maybe they’re coasting into retirement. Maybe they’re just punching the clock in a low-stress job.
Either way, your project probably looks like more of what they don’t want: work.
How do you bust this SLED customer sales objection?
Show that your offering is turnkey and that they won’t really have to put in extra work to move forward.
“Don’t worry, we’ll take care of everything.”
If you can show how you’ll handle the logistics of implementation and make everything easy you’ll be going a long way to getting past this objection.
SLED Customer Sales Objection #3: Busyness
At the opposite end of the spectrum are the overwhelmed government workers.
You see a lot of overwhelmed buyers in state and local government – especially in high-growth areas. They simply don’t have the infrastructure in place to handle everything on their plate.
These folks clearly aren’t lazy, and there’s a reasonable chance that they’re aren’t resistant either. But even though they may be interested, they simply don’t have the bandwidth to handle yet another project right now.
How do you bust this SLED customer sales objection?
In this case, the solution is to show the buyer that your product will ultimately make their lives easier.
Sell them their time. Lighten their load.
As with the lazy buyer, help them understand that your offering won’t take a lot of extra work right now—but more importantly, it will really save them down the road.
You’re offering relief from the stress they’re currently under. Things are going to run more smoothly once this purchase is made and put to use.
SLED Customer Sales Objections are All About Mindset.
Are there more objections that come up during the government sales process? Of course!
These three are the most common objections we see, but there are plenty of others—from budget constraints and staffing issues to real or imagined regulatory limitations.
Our new whitepaper outlines four ways to shift your mindset to overcome SLED customer sales objections and secure more government contracts. Download it now!