🐧 Sales 101 for Side Hustlers (Part 2)

INSIDE: Objection Handling 101, how to respond to "It's too expensive", "I need to think about it", and more
Dexter Zhuang
Dexter Zhuang
April 7, 2024

Today, in 10 minutes or less, you’ll learn:

  • 3 most common client objections I’ve heard
  • How to respond to “It’s too expensive” or “I need to think about it”

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🤝 Objection Handling 101

This post is part two of Sales 101 for Side Hustlers.

After reading part 1, you might be thinking:

“These are cool sales techniques, Dexter, but my potential clients always say stuff like “you’re too expensive” or “I need time to think about it.” Then they get off the call and I never hear from them again.”

Great point. You WILL encounter a myriad of objections and concerns on your calls. It all comes down to how you handle them.

Here’s a few examples of common objections:

“It’s too expensive”

People got on your discovery call because they’re interested in working with you.

But sometimes they’re just afraid to drop 4 G’s on your service.

Here’s how you can respond:

  1. Qualify in your discovery call booking form. I would add a question, asking: “My X program will give you Y results. Are you ready to make an investment of $Z to get these results?” If the client is not ready to make the investment, you should either hold off on the call (if it’s due to constrained finances) or go into the call with the intention of uncovering their reasoning.
  2. Ask if they’re willing to talk about it, and listen. Often, price discussions are a cover for deeper concerns, often related to the value of your offer. Ask the client to name these concerns, listen, and try to understand.
  3. Show the value of their investment. After listening, synthesize what they shared. You can say something like, “I hear you on your concern on [insert issue]. For this issue, here’s how we would help you overcome this obstacle in my program: [insert convincing point]. By doing this, we’ll help you achieve [insert Y outcome] that you mentioned earlier. What do you think?”

“I need to think about it”

This one is another super common response. When your potential clients say they want time to think it over, there’s two possibilities:

  1. They need time and space to think over an important investment
  2. They’re hesitant due to deeper (unresolved) fears or concerns.

How do you tell which one is it?

The trick is to ask them.

“Can you share more about what you’d like to take time to think through?”

If you listen, and it sounds like the former, this is totally OK.

I’ve had many clients need few days or a weekend to think over the program, then eventually pull the trigger.

As an action step, schedule a follow-up call while still on the call. Put it on the calendar together.

“I’m still exploring.”

I’ve heard this one a lot too. When potential clients say they’re still exploring, I feel my stomach drop. These words typically mean that I didn’t do a good enough job of building trust with them before the call or qualifying my calls.

For example, when I was testing expat career coaching as an offer, I had several potential clients sign up for discovery calls who said something along the lines of “I’m just curious about what it’s like to work abroad. I’m still exploring if it’s something I want to do.”

In this case, I should have done more upfront work to qualify their timeline/urgency.

Contrast this to my other clients who said, “I’m feeling super burned out from my job and really want to get a new job in the next 3 months. I’m willing to put in the work to make it happen.”

Night and day in terms of urgency and magnitude.

Here’s what you can do:

  1. Create content that showcases your system. Show how you’ve helped your clients achieve results. This helps to build your trust with your potential client and give them a reason to choose you vs other services before the call.
  2. Qualify in discovery call booking form. I would ask, “what are your goals?” and “what do you think is holding you back from achieving your goals?” These questions help you assess the urgency and magnitude of their pain.
  3. Schedule a follow-up. Sometimes, I’ve had potential clients go from exploring to ready in a couple months of time. On the call itself, book another call on your calendars to check-in on their progress.

Other resources

Season 2 Idk GIF by SHOWTIME

🌐 Beyond your borders

🛳️ Richard Branson’s cruise line launches month-long cruise for remote workers (link)

🇺🇸 This 29-Year-Old Left His Marketing Job to Pursue a Side Hustle — Now He Earns Nearly $200,000 a Year (link)

🇸🇬 How much money people say they need to earn in 9 countries to feel financially secure (link)

🇦🇺 r/fatfire - Tax residency [world wide] options to save on capital gains? (link)

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📆 How I can help

That’s all for today!

Whenever you’re ready, here’s how I can help you:

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Dexter Zhuang

Dexter is the founder of Money Abroad, an online education platform that helps people shift from "live to work" to "work to live." He writes about money, portfolio careers, and life design. Starting his career in San Francisco, he has lived and worked across Southeast Asia and Latin America for the past 6 years. He has 10+ years of experience building products and teams at public companies (Dropbox) and scaling startups (Xendit). His work has been featured in global outlets like Business Insider, CBS, US News & World Report, and Tech in Asia. He graduated from Dartmouth College.

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