Handling: "I've been burnt before" with ease

Today, I'll explain how I handle the "I've been burnt before" objection.

If you've worked in the SMMA space, you'll know this one comes up quite a bit. If you don't have plenty of social proof and a solid response to this objection, you will lose a lot of deals here.

Unfortunately, many people struggle to overcome this objection for several reasons:

#3. Bad past experiences: Sometimes, people had bad experiences before with other agencies, which makes them unsure about trusting again.

#2. Fear of making the same mistakes: People worry about making the same bad choices again and getting disappointing results.

#3. Not sure who to believe: In an industry full of over-promising, it's hard for people to know which ones are real and which ones are just empty talk.

But fear not! If you have done a decent job throughout the sales process, and the prospect is 80-90%+ sure they want to work with you, then this objection handle makes sense and works really well.

Let's dive in:

Step 1: Acknowledge their concern

Start by acknowledging the prospect's apprehensions, by saying:

Let them know you understand their hesitance and give off the vibe that you are here to help, not sell them another dream.

Now they can sense that you aren't going to shove some fake guarantee down their throat, they’ll feel more relaxed about having a sensible conversation with you about this.

Step 2: Clarify the situation

Probe deeper to understand the specifics of their past negative experience. Being burnt before can mean several things, so find out by saying something like:

When you hear their response, you can tell if they are far from being ready to buy or not.

For example, this far through the sales process, you should both be pretty sure you’re going to work together, so they’ll likely say something like:

Now you know they are just a little nervous but still pretty sure they want to do this, you can repeat back your understanding of their experience so they feel heard and not just like you are trying to sell them something that probably isn’t going to work either.

Here I’d say:

Chances are they’ll respond positively to this and you can move on to the next step.

Step 3: Isolate the issue

Now, you want to make sure that this is their actual objection. Prospects have a knack of saying one thing while thinking another.

You can do this by asking:

They’ll either say no, or they’ll give you some more concerns that are stopping them from going ahead.

For the sake of focus, let’s assume that being burnt before is their only concern and move on to the response.

Step 4: Respond with an analogy

I like to share a relatable analogy to illustrate that one bad experience shouldn't deter them from seeking the right solution.

In life, success rarely happens on the first attempt. Emphasise the importance of learning from past setbacks to pave the way for future success.

Here is my favourite analogy to illustrate this point, which I got from Renzo Guevarra:

I love this because it makes so much sense, almost everyone will resonate with this and sets you up nicely for the close.

Step 5: Ask for the business

Once you've responded with your dating analogy and it’s gone down well, you are ready to ask for the business again.

I always like to keep this simple and confidently ask:

Assuming you’re not trying to close a prospect who is super unsure that you are the right agency partner for them they’ll probably say something along the lines of "Yeah, let’s do it."

To wrap up…

Overcoming the "I've been burnt before" objection requires a bit of empathy and understanding of what happened, followed by an analogy to open their eyes to the realities of life. Doing this rather than offering some fake guarantee will help build trust and give them the confidence to try this again.

All the best with this one. It’s one of my favourites.