Category: Cold Calling Scripts

A Better Approach Than, “How are you today?”

by mike

Nothing signals a sales call more than that worn out opening, “How are you today?”

As soon as you ask that of someone you’ve not spoken to before, their immediate thought is, “Oh, here comes a sales pitch from someone I don’t want to talk to!”

If you don’t believe me, think about your own reaction when someone calls you at home or the office that you don’t know and asks you that? I cringe just thinking about it….and so do your prospects.

Wouldn’t you like to know a better opening? Wouldn’t you like to find something that doesn’t sound salesy, yet still breaks the ice and gets your prospect to respond positively?

Well I’ve got it for you.

I learned this opening working with a new client recently, and while at first I was suspicious of whether it would work or not, after listening to recordings, I found that it worked really well.

So well, in fact, that I now teach it to other clients and it works great for them also!

As you’ll see, it’s assumptive in nature (always a good thing), it gets your prospect to agree with you, and puts you in control to continue your opening. Use it word for word for a week, and I think you’ll agree:

“Hi _________, this is ________ ________ with (your company), I trust you’re doing well today?”

If you’d like to vary it a little, you can also say:

“Hi _________, this is ________ ________ with (your company), I take it you’re doing well today?”

OR

“Hi _________, this is ________ ________ with (your company), I hope your day is going well so far?”

As you can see, this opening invariably leads to a yes, and even a response of, “I hope yours is, too?”

The big difference here is that you’re going to finally stop sounding like every other sales rep out there and you’re going to stop telegraphing your sales call.

As with all these scripts, don’t take my word for it – try it yourself and see how it works for you. I’m sure, with a little practice, you’ll love how effective it is!

How to Qualify for Interest

by mike

Today it seems to be harder and harder for sales reps to qualify for interest and to identify buying motives.

One thing making this so difficult is the decision tree: often there are many different levels of decision makers (committees, bosses, regional managers, corporate, etc.), and sales reps often just skip any attempt to qualify for interest.

Instead, they just send their information or schedule their demo and hope for the best.

As you might suspect, the way around this is to be prepared with scripted questions that are assumptive in nature and that lead your prospect to reveal what the buying motives (or motivation in general) are for the various other departments and decision makers.

Use the following scripts (or customize them to fit your product or service), so you can gain an understanding of what the buying motives are and how to tailor your pitch to each group to close the sale:

Qualifying Question #1:

“ _________, why did you (or corporate/manager/boss) choose the solution you’re using now?”

Layer:

“And what are you (they) looking to improve upon now?”

Qualifying Question #2:

“If you were to pick one thing that would be a deal killer if it weren’t there, what would it be?”

Qualifying Question #3:

“What have you heard they’re (corporate, their manager, boss, etc.) specifically looking for in the next (your product or service)?”

Qualifying Question #4:

“Besides price, what else is important (to you, them, etc.)?”

Qualifying Question #5:

“I know that these (your solution) may seem to be all the same, but tell me, what will stand out for you…what’s the one or two things you’re really hoping to see?”

Qualifying Question #6:

“_________, what have you heard in terms of what the priorities are for adding this (your product/service)?

Layer:

“And what is the timeframe you’re hearing for implementation?”

Qualifying Question #7:

“Out of all the companies you’ve (or corporate/manager/boss) has seen so far, what looks the best to you?”

Layer:

“And why is that?”

Qualifying Question #8:

“If you had to pick one thing that this is going to come down to – you know, one thing that you think will be the deciding factor as to who you’ll (corporate/manager/boss) choose, what do you think that will be?”

Layer:

“Besides price, what’s next?”

Qualifying Question #9:

“__________, you haven’t made a change so far, just out of curiosity, what is motivating you to consider doing so now?”

Qualifying Question #10:

“__________, I know I called you out of the blue; I’m glad you’re interested in seeing what we have. Quick question for you, though: What do you think it will take to convince the (corporate/manager/boss)?”

I bet you can think of some of your own, can’t you?

The key to any sale is getting your prospect to tell you how to sell them. If you can do that, you’ll make your job much, much easier.

Ten Ways to Soften the Price Objection and Keep Pitching

by mike

Many sales reps get thrown off their pitch when a prospect objects to something early on during the close.

For example, if when talking about the price of a product or service, the prospects says something like, “Oh, that’s way too much,” many sales reps don’t know how to respond – and often do the wrong thing.

The wrong thing in this case is to stop and try to overcome the objection. Instead, a sales rep should retain control of the call, soften this objection and move on to build more value.

Here’s an example:

If a price or price range is given (say, anywhere from $5,000 to $25,000), and the prospect objects with, “That’s more than we want to spend,” then instead of stopping and trying to overcome the objection (which only gives control to the prospect and throws you off your momentum), you should respond with any of the following:

Response One:
“That’s only a range, and I’ll explain how that works in just a moment…”

Then continue on with your pitch.

Response Two:
“There are some other options, but first let me explain how this works and how it can impact you (or your company or other departments, etc.).”

Then continue on with your pitch.

Response Three:
“Based on what you know now, it may seem like a lot, but let me get through exactly what you get for this…”

Then continue on with your pitch

Response Four:
“_________, you obviously don’t have to go with this at all, and I’m not asking you to make a decision right now. Instead, let me finish explaining how this works, what you get, and how it might work for you (or your company, etc.).

After that, you’ll be in a position to decide what to do next, fair enough?”

Response Five:
“Let’s put the budget aside for a moment and first see if this is a solution that would even work for you. What I’ll do is explain everything to you, answer your questions, and then we can address whether or not it provides the value to justify the investment, O.K.?”

Response Six:
“The budget and the value this provides is quite worth it – as you’ll see. Let me finish explaining how this works and what my other clients are getting out of it, then you can decide what – if anything – you want to do. Now…”

Continue on with your pitch.

Response Seven:
“Let’s put budget aside for a moment and let me show you how this can positively affect what you’re spending now…”

Back to your pitch

Response Eight:
“I know at this point it might seem like a lot, but I guarantee once you understand the whole picture, you’ll easily see the value here…”

Back to your pitch

Response Nine:
“_________, those are only the price ranges and what you decide to ultimately spend will be entirely your decision and based only on whether you see enough benefit to move forward. Let me show you…”

Back to your pitch

Response Ten:
“_________ until we qualify your business, we won’t know what your payment options are, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves. What I recommend is we go through the approval process and then you can decide if this is worth it for you or not – fair enough?”

Remember, the point here is not to get thrown off early in your pitch just because a prospect objects to the price. Instead, you want to maintain control, build value and get buy in during the close.

And you can do this by using one of the rebuttals above to soften the objection.

How to Handle the “Status Quo” Objection

by mike

As you know, I often get emails from readers of my ezine, “Secrets of the Top 20%”, asking me how I would handle various selling situations and objections.

Someone sent in a request asking me how to deal with the, “We are used to the status quo and don’t want to make waves” objection. This reader also wrote that he had been told by another training company that he needed to, “Make them painfully aware of something they don’t see coming at them (like a freight train) and develop a more compelling message.”

As you might imagine, he wasn’t able to come up with anything that was working.

By the way, I must comment here that I frequently hear this about other “sales training” companies: they are quick to offer what sounds like good advice, but they don’t provide the specific solutions to back it up.

As you know from reading my ezines, watching my YouTube videos or reading or listening to my books and CD’s, I not only tell you what to you, but also how to do it.

In this case, I think the reader was having trouble with this technique because, to begin with, it’s not a good approach.

Trying to convince someone that what they’re doing is a bad idea and it’s going to lead to big trouble (so you can say, “I told you so” later), isn’t going to endear you to anyone. What I recommend instead is to find a way to bypass this obvious initial resistance and find a way present your product or service in a non-threatening way.

Your goal on the prospecting call isn’t to overcome objections (which this isn’t, by the way), but rather, to qualify and set a date up to demo your product or service.

Here are some sample scripts to help you do just that:

Objection: “We are used to the status quo and don’t want to make waves…”

Approach One:

“I’m completely with you and believe me, I don’t want to rock the boat. But because things change all the time, there might come an instance when you need to consider your options. So let’s do this: I’ll set a time to give you a brief demo of what we do and how it might help you.

After we do, you can then decide if you want to do anything with it now, or keep it in your back pocket in case you ever need to consider a different source – sound good?”

Approach Two:

“I understand and I’ll try not to make too many waves here. Just out of curiosity, when was the last time you did compare services and pricing – you know, just to keep current on what’s available to you?”

Approach Three:

“I’m with you and believe me – I’m not here to cause trouble. But let me ask you this: isn’t it wise to at least know about your options just in case you need to make a change at some time in the future?”

Approach Four:

“I’m with you. So tell you what: instead of me trying to sell you something, let me just educate you on what’s currently available in the marketplace – you know, so in case you need something further down the line, you’ll know who to call – make sense?”

Approach Five:

“No problem, I fully understand. Let me ask you this though: If something were to happen to your current provider, wouldn’t you at least want a dependable backup plan so you didn’t miss a beat?”

The point of these rebuttals is to bypass this resistance so you can get in front of a qualified lead and pitch your product or service. Obviously, once they agree to do a demo with you, you’ll want to ask other qualifying questions.

As always, I encourage you to practice, drill and rehearse your responses so you can internalize them and deliver them in a natural way.

How to Qualify an Influencer

by mike

If this were a perfect world, when prospecting and qualifying we would always get to speak with the decision maker and, while questioning them, we would discover that they were looking for our solution, and that they have the budget and authority to make a decision. Furthermore, when asked about their timeline for making a decision, they would reply, “Can you get it here yesterday?”

Too bad we don’t live in a perfect world…

Instead, it’s more likely these days that we don’t get right through to the decision maker – or to that mysterious “committee” that is going to decide at some undisclosed point in the future – instead, there are usually some layers to go through first, before our product or service can finally get to the right set of eyes.

Usually the person standing in the way of the final decision maker is an influencer – someone who might weigh in on the decision but who doesn’t have the final authority to make the ultimate decision.

Now here’s the key: just because an influencer doesn’t have the authority to make the final decision, that’s not to say they don’t know other crucial information that might help you navigate the decision tree and ultimately make a sale.

Unfortunately, many sales reps are terrible at vetting or qualifying the influencer, so they just send their information and then hope for the best.

If you follow the advice below, you will not only know how to get this crucial information, but you’ll also separate yourself from 90% of the other sales reps who just don’t know how to qualify influencers properly.

Questions to ask: Even though your influencer might not be the final decision maker, they often have some insight into what the decision is looking for, or what their interest in your product or service is.

Because this is true more times than it isn’t, you must always ask any of the following questions to get this insight. If the person you’re talking to is hiding behind the real decision maker, then ask things like:

“_________, you probably work quite closely with (the decision maker), tell me, how open are they to adding (your product or solution)?”

OR

“_________, in terms of what you know, what is their (the decision maker or committee’s) timeline for putting something like this into effect?”
OR

“What other solutions are they considering right now?”

AND

“How do you get involved in the decision on something like this?”

OR

“How much influence (or input) do you have on the final decision?”

AND

“How closely do you work with (the decision maker or committee)?”

[If they are involved]:

“What are you recommending they do?”

OR

“From what we’ve just gone over, do you think this is something that would work for them?”

AND

“Give me your thoughts on how (the decision maker) is going to decide who to pick for this”

OR

“From what you know, what is (the decision maker) looking for in a solution like this?”

AND

“Given what you know about the urgency for making this decision, how soon do you think they will decide on a solution?”

AND

“In terms of budget, what are they thinking?”

AND

“From your perspective, what is involved in their decision process?”

OR
“How many other vendors are they going to look at before they make a decision?”

AND

“From the other companies they’ve looked at, who are they leaning towards now?”

AND

“Is the company they’re using now still in the running?”

AND

“How likely do you think they’ll just use the same company they’re using now?”

AND

“What do you think it will take for them to choose a different solution from who they’re using now?”

AND

“Is there any reason you can see that they wouldn’t move forward with something like this?”

AND

“Is there anything you can think of that I should know that’s important for them in making this decision?”

AND

“What do you think I need to do to have the best shot of earning their business?”

As you can see, there are many areas and many questions you can ask which will give you tremendous insight into the sales process – if you just ask.

Is the influencer going to know any or all of this? Of course not! But, again, more times than not, they’ll know a lot more than you might think.

And if you begin asking some of these questions, you will know it, too!

Handling Objections When Requalifying

by mike

As I’ve suggested before, it’s always a good idea to requalify your prospect at the start of your demo or presentation. Doing so allows you to anticipate objections and position your presentation to speak to whatever resistance you may face later on.

When I make this suggestion, I get a lot of pushback from sales reps. “But if I ask for the deal before I’ve given the presentation, before I’ve given the value, they’ll just say no!” is the most common objection I get.

So let me make it clear: You’re not “asking for the deal” at the beginning, instead you’re using a trial close to access the next steps and to get a feel for the kind of pushback you might get at the end of your demo. Getting this information is crucial for you to leverage the rest of the call.

There are several ways to use a trial close. There’s the aggressive way below that is appropriate if you’ve been aggressive on the first call and identified the decision maker and time-frame. If you have, then something like this will work:

“_________, as we talked about last week, I’m going to go through everything now, answer any questions you have, and if, at the end of the demo today, you feel this will definitely help you drive more business, then is this something you can put to work for you today?”

Some sales reps (O.K., most sales reps) will be uncomfortable with this kind of requalifying because they haven’t done a thorough job up front. If that’s the case, then here is a softer trial close:

“_________, I’m looking forward to covering everything with you today. Just out of curiosity, if at the end you feel this is just what you are looking for, what would be the next steps to putting it to work for you?”

This is a soft, non-threatening way of finding out what his/her answer is going to be at the end when you ask for the sale. All of you have to agree you’d like to know that, right?

Another, in-between way, of requalifying at the beginning is:

“__________, at the end of today’s demo if you like what you see, is there anything that would prevent you from putting this to work for you in the next two weeks?”

The positive way of asking this is:

“__________, at the end of today’s demo if you like what you see, is this something you could put to work for you in the next two weeks?”

O.K., so there are the ways of using a trial close at the beginning. Now, what happens if you get push back? Here’s how to handle it. If you’re prospect says:
“I’m not ready to make a decision” (or any variation of that), you simply respond:

“That’s no problem and I’m not asking you to. We haven’t gone through the benefits here nor have I answered any of your questions. All I’m trying to get a feel for is IF you like what you see and you think there is value here for you and your company, what would you have to do to get this approved?”

OR

“I’m with you and don’t mistake my question for pressure. All I’m asking is IF, after the end of our demo today, you see value here and want to pursue this, what are the next steps on your end?”

What you’re trying to do is isolate and uncover what the objection or stall is going to be at the end so you can position yourself to deal with it and advance the sale. For example, if your prospect then says something like:

“I’ll have to take it to the committee,” (or show it to the boss, etc.), then you isolate this now:

“I understand and most people I speak with do as well. Tell me, if you really like this, though, what kind of influence do you have over that process?”

AND:

“I’m with you. And if you are in favor of this, would that affect their decision?”

Again, you want to isolate the objection and understand the stall so you can deal with the close at the end better. For example, if your prospect tells you they DO have influence, then at the end of your demo, this is how you close:

“So, does this sound like something you feel is the right fit?”

[Get buy in here, then]:

“Great, then what can I do to help them agree with us?”

See how this goes?

If the objection or stall at the beginning of your demo is the “No budget” stall, then say:

“Please, I’m not asking you to invest in this right now, and we can deal with where you’d get the budget from later. All I want to know now is that IF you found value here and were determined to move forward, is there a way you could find the resources – again, if you were convinced?”

If the answer is no, then you need to deal with the money issue now rather than spend the next 45 minutes on a demo that will end with the same objection!

I know this isn’t going to be a popular answer for many of you – again, I know you’d rather pitch until you’re blue in the face – but if your prospect can’t afford to do it at the end, why would you want to?

What I’m suggesting here is what I’ve taught for many years, and what I personally do when closing on my training services: properly qualify prospects upfront – on the cold call or prospecting call – on the six qualifiers (which I’ve written about extensively elsewhere – check out my blog if you missed it), and then requalify before you waste the time of giving a long pitch to someone who isn’t or won’t buy at the end.

Doing this will make you a more successful closer – and a more confident one as well.

How to Overcome the, “My relative handles that for me” Objection

by mike

If you’re in B2C sales (business to consumer), then you’ve no doubt gotten the objection, “My relative handles that for me, and I wouldn’t be interested in changing.”

In B2B sales (business to business), this objection often manifests as, “We’ve been doing business with X for years and we get the best (rates, service, etc.) and we wouldn’t be interested in switching.”

Other variations include:

“We have a rep who visits us each week and we don’t want to do business over the phone,”

OR

“I’ve known my rep for years and we have a great relationship so I wouldn’t be interested,”

OR

“Our supplier is the boss’s son (or father, sister, pastor, etc.) and we only do business with people we know.”

The list can go on and on.

The tricky thing about this objection is that we can all relate to having a personal relationship with a family member or someone we really like and trust, so we feel awkward trying to overcome it.

Here’s the thing: sometimes this is a real objection, and sometimes it’s just a smokescreen that works on salespeople so the prospect keep using it. Either way, below are some ways to get around it, or, at least, set the prospect up so they’re thinking about you when that relationship changes:

Response One:

“I totally know how that is, and I’m not here to come between you and that relationship. But hey everything changes, as you know, and if something should change between how you’re doing things now, it’s always good to have done your research in advance so you’re not scrambling later.

Why don’t we at least get together briefly, and I’ll give you some solid options in case you ever need them…”

Response Two:

“I understand and you know _________, every now and then initiatives change. Sometimes you might need a lower price, or more variety of product, or who knows. The point is that it’s always good to know what’s out there.

How about this: it doesn’t cost anything to at least compare what’s really out there these days, and who knows, if things change with you, at least you’ll know who to call to ask questions. Let’s do this…”

Response Three:

“Glad your (brother in law, sister in law, etc.) is handling this for you, but heaven forbid anything ever happen, you know a divorce or a falling out, you’ll be happy you’ve got a good backup!

Let’s do this….(set an appointment)”

Response Four:

“Well _________, you know how life is – people can get sick, or change jobs, or whatever – the smart thing for you to do is to always have a ready back up, you know just in case…

Since it doesn’t cost anything to learn about our services and prices, why don’t I drop by…”

Response Five:

“Because things have changed a lot since you’ve been working with (him/her), I’d suggest you at least be prudent and learn about what the current market has to offer you. Who knows? You may find that there’s an even easier/less expensive option available to you and you can let them know about it!

Let’s do this…”

Response Six:

“I’m happy you’ve found someone you’ve been able to trust for all these years. Let me ask you this: If something changes with that relationship and you find that you need to look elsewhere, could I be the next in line person you speak to about getting this (product/service) from?”

[If Yes – get information and give yours, then]

“_________, just out of curiosity, what might have to happen for you to even begin looking?”

Now you have a variety of ways to handle what may have seemed like an almost impossible objection in the past. Will all these work? No. Will some of them work a lot better than what you’re probably saying now? Yes!

Qualifying for Budget

by mike

Nowadays, there seems to be a raging debate about when – and even whether or not – to qualify for budget. The new thinking seems be driven by the fear that “until we give the value of what we’re offering (meaning the demo), it’s too soon to talk money. Prospects will just say they can’t afford it.”

Given this thinking, companies are stressing just setting an appointment with anyone who will listen, and then relying on the presentation being so strong that anyone with half a brain would jump all over it and buy.

Well, if you’ve ever tried setting demos and appointments that way and then calling these “prospects” back to close them, then you know how that goes….

Not properly qualifying – up front – on the six basic qualifiers (buying motive, potential objections, decision makers, timeframe/decision process, competition, and budget) means that you’re just hoping and praying when it comes to the closing presentation.

And I can tell you from personal experience, that’s an exhausting and highly ineffective way of running your sales career or company.

So here are some scripted ways you can qualify for budget up front – without the fear of having your prospect turn you down before you get to tell them how great your product or service is:

On the prospecting call:

Option One:

“_________, I’ve got you down for a brief demo of this on (confirm day and time). Now, as you can imagine, if you like this there are various ways you can engage with us – and at different price points.

So let me ask you: If, after we go through everything, you think this can seriously help you (or drive customers/revenue to your business), would you be in a position to make a monthly investment in your business of between $200 to $400 – again, if you believed it would help you?”

Option Two:

“Well _________ obviously, there are several ways for you to participate in this if you like it, so let me ask you: if, after our presentation next week, you really like what you see and think it can drive the revenue you’re looking for – would you be able to allocate $X amount towards it?”

Option Three:

“And ________ I know you haven’t seen this yet, but if after you do you think this can be a benefit for you, could you make the budget available to get involved for just $X?”

Option Four:

“________, most of our new clients who decide to put this to work for them usually start with an initial investment of between ($X and $Y). Again, if you think this solution would work for you, where would you be along those lines?”

Option Five:

“And _________, after we go through the demo on this and you decide it’s something you’d like to take advantage of, we have three packages: Our Starter Kit for $X; our Professional Package for $Y; and our Elite Deluxe Package for $Z. Where would you see yourself, again, providing you like what you see?”

As you can tell, there are various ways of qualifying for budget, but they all have one thing in common: They qualify your prospect for budget! And you should, too. Don’t fall into the trap of “spraying and praying” as one of my companies put it.

Make it a point of thoroughly qualifying your prospects and only spending time with buyers who are able – and likely – to make the decision to do business with you…

Ask for the Sale Five Times – At Least!

by mike

How many times have you seen a commercial (either a TV ad, a public billboard, ad in a magazine, etc.) for Coca Cola? Perhaps I should say how many times a DAY do you see one?

Now you’d think that people already know about Coca Cola, but did you know that Coke still spends billions of dollars a year on advertisements?

Why do you think that is?

It’s the same reason that infomercials run over and over and over again. After you’ve seen the same infomercial 50 times, you begin to consider it. After another 50 times you think you might actually use it. Another 50 and some of you decide that you’ve got to have it – I mean, heck, they’ve run this commercial at least a thousand times, there must be some value to this, right?

I remember my first sales manager used to say to us that we weren’t even in the closing arena until we had asked for the sale at least five times (and gotten a “no” five times, by the way). After that, he’d say, you’re finally closing…

How many times do you ask for the sale? Do you ask for it in a round-about, soft way and then give up if your prospect says no? Or do you even ask for it at all?

On the other hand, how much more successful would you be if you asked for the order five times and had a prepared response to each objection and, after answering it, asked for the sale again?

Now I know there is a fine line between being obnoxious and being persistent, but the more you’re able to be persuasive and persistent, the more deals you’re going to close.

It’s like Coca Cola. If they had run one ad and quit, we’d all be drinking Pepsi today…

So, how do you ask for the order over and over again? You have options: you can use trial closes, assumptive closes or flat out closes. Here are some scripts to get you started:

Close One:

“Have I given you enough to say yes yet, or do you need to hear more?” (Soft trial close)

Close Two:

“Do you have any more questions or have you decided to put us to work for you?” (Soft trial close)

Close Three:

“Most people choose the starter pack and that works out great. Would you like that, or do you think the professional package is better for you?” (Alternative close)

Close Four:

“Our system can be set up in a matter of a week – and the sooner you give us the O.K., the sooner it’ll be working for you. Would you like to get started with this today?” (Close)

Close Five:

“….And that’s how my other client got over that hurtle. I’d recommend you do the same; you’ll always be glad you did. Let’s go ahead and get you signed up for this – which credit card would you like to use today?” (Close after overcoming an objection)

Close Six:

“Since your (partner, spouse, etc.) goes with whatever you think is best, they’ll probably go with this as well. In the meantime, let’s go ahead and get the paperwork done and a delivery date set. If they change your mind, you can simply call back in, but in the meantime, you’ll have all this completed. Now how would you like to pay for this?” (Overcoming the partner objection close)

Close Seven:

“Now ________, we can go back and forth on this and I’m sure you can come up with many more reasons not to do this – but let’s face it: you know you need it, and I know you want it! So let’s go ahead and move forward. What’s your preferred payment method today?” (Flat out close)

Close Eight:

“It sounds like you understand this now, so let’s get you started. What address do you want this delivered to?” (Assumptive close)

Close Nine:

“Did I answer that for you? Do you have any more questions? No? O.K., great – then welcome aboard! I know you’re going to enjoy this as much as my other clients do. How would you like to pay for this today?” (Close)

Close Ten:

“As my dad used to say, “There’s nothing to it but to do it!” So let’s do this today. Where did you want us to send this to today?”

If you’ve done your job and properly qualified your prospect, then chances are they actually want to buy from you. So make it easy on them by asking for the sales at least five times. Remember, the magic happens around the seventh close.

How to Handle the Wife Stall

by mike

If you sell B2C (or even B2B) and you get the “I have to convince my wife,” stall, how do you handle it?

If you’re like many of the sales reps I’ve been listening to lately, the answer is: Not very well.

So let’s start at the beginning. The first thing you need to do with this stall/objection is to isolate it. You begin by qualifying that the prospect you are speaking to is sold on your solution regardless of that the wife would say. You use:

“I understand completely – let me ask you: if your wife says she is fine with whatever it is that you want to do, would you move forward on this right now?”

If you get buy in with a “Yes I would!” then you have several courses of action to take. I like to then qualify what it would take to sell her (in other words, find out in advance of speaking to her what her concern is), so I would then ask:

“O.K., and what do you think it will take to convince her?”

OR

“All right, and what do you think is holding her back?”

OR

“What are some of the concerns she has?”

OR

“And what do you think she would need to hear to say yes to this?”

OR

“And how can I help you convince her on this?”

After you’ve gotten some input on what the potential objections of the wife are, and/or gained insight on what her possible buying motives are, then you can set up a time to speak with her (with the husband on the phone, of course) and move to close the sale. You can say either of these:

“Is she available now?”

OR

“Why don’t you go get her on the other phone now?”

If she is not available, then you need to set up an appointment to speak with her at the soonest possible time:

“How about first thing evening, what time would be good?”

To reiterate the steps above:

1) Make sure the husband (or whatever spouse or decision maker you’re speaking to) is on board.
2) Find out what the concerns or buying motives of the wife are.
3) Move to speak with her right then or at the soonest opportunity.

When you then get the spouse on the phone, you can open the call in many different ways. Here are a few:

First, use the information you received from questioning the husband:

“Hi _________, your husband has been telling me that he likes the XYZ and that you like it, too, but you just need a little more information on (whatever the concern is). Can you tell me what you’d like to know?”

OR

“Hi __________, it’s nice to meet you. I’ve been talking to (her husband’s name) and he’s quite interested in moving ahead with XYZ. What might it take to get you onboard as well?”

OR

“Hi _______, this is ______ _______, and your husband wanted me to reach out to you about the XYZ he’s been looking at. I’d like to answer any questions you have so you can feel as confident about it as he is. What would you like to ask me today?”

OR, if you know what the concern is and have a good response to it, open with:

“Hi ________, this is ______ _______, and I’ve been talking to your husband about XYZ. He tells me that you’re concerned with (go over reason), is that right?”

Now Listen….then,

“I’m glad you brought that up – you’re not the first person to have that concern. But the good news is that …” (overcome objection, then ask): “Do you see how that works? Does that make you feel better?”

If and when you get buy in, you simply close the sale with:
“Well, I guess you can see why your husband likes this. Here’s what I recommend we do…”

And ask for the deal. If she is not ready to move, repeat the above steps all the while ending with asking for the order.

Adjust any of these scripts as necessary, but then commit to using them – they’ll work for you as long as you’re willing to use them!