153. 3 Sales Objections Killing Deals (Fractional CFOs)

Oh, it's the critical four dashboard. I like things simple and graphical. And so if if we get into your books and we start doing our financial health assessment, we realize like, look, you're worse off because of working with us. You you really need to focus on just making payroll right now.

Or whatever hole they're in, the last thing that you want as a fractional CFO is to leave them in a worse position when you started before. Now I want to cover three of the most common objections that you're gonna get. And I don't really care. If you're selling fractional CFO services, if you're selling a course, if you're selling coaching, like whatever it is, like whatever it is you coach.

All right, whatever it is you sell, these are the three most uh common objections. I'm gonna talk you through kind of how to overcome those objections. And uh one of my coaches, Brendan Breshard, actually that's where I got this list from. And it's awesome. I've been using a lot of these. For for years to overcome injections. They just work really, really well. Number one thing you're gonna get is this.

Program for me. Is this for me? Is this fractional CFO thing for me? I just don't know. If you get this. Objection paramount that you understand their situation from the first half of the call. They went over the goals, dreams, aspirations, fears, and uncertainties. This falls apart. You will not be able to successfully overcome this objection if you aren't clear.

On their goals, dreams, aspirations, fears, and uncertainties, because the way you overcome it is, I want you to proactively hit them with our fractional CFO. service or our core package or whatever it is is the perfect solution for you because So before they bring the objection up, if you can, I want you to hit them with this. But if not, then just say that's a great question. Actually, our fractional CFO core package is perfect for you in your exact situation because.

And then go into why. I don't know what the because is because it's so dependent on what they went over in the first half of the call. It might look something like this though. Look, Jocelyn, our fractional CFO service is actually perfect for somebody in your situation.

Because most of the businesses that come to us, their books are bad. They have no idea if they were even profitable last year, but they're trying to increase their cash flows so they pay off debt. And we've put our program together to give you the clarity. That you need on if you're profitable or not and how profitable you are. We talked about the cash flow forecasting. That's going to help you figure out exactly how much cash you need.

To do XYZ and it's perfect for a business your size because it's priced in a way that you can afford or whatever that is. But you got to figure out the goals and the dreams and the aspirations and the fears and the uncertainties from the first half so that you can overcome it. Again, I like this one proactively. And what is the difference between kind of reactive and proactive mean? Just it the you you figure out what it fits for you, but you say something like this.

A lot of people ask themselves, is A fractional CFO for me. And I'm like, yeah, specifically based on what you said earlier, it's perfect for. You and then walk them through. So again, look for that opportunity to drop it in. A lot of times I'll do it right after the money back guarantee. I'll I'll ask them what questions they have or what part of the CFO services resonate with them the most. Don't ask you.

Closed ended questions, ask open ended questions. What I used to do a lot was like, do you have any questions? Does this make sense? It's a yes or no answer. It's a closed-ended question. What I've I think it was Carol Maloney's, it was Carol Maloney's book that really kind of got me on this. Or no, it was Mike Weinberg. It was Mike Weinberg, uh, fanatical prospecting. Instead of saying, do you have any questions? Or does this sound like a good fit?

say, hey, based on our CFO core package, which of those things do you think is going to be the most valuable for you? Or which one of those things do you think is going to help you the most? Oh, I think it's the monthly check-in calls. I need that accountability. Oh, it's the critical forward dashboard. I like things simple and graphical. So anyway, I'll ask him one of those questions, then I'll hit him with the.

Look, a lot of people wonder if this is right for them. I'll hit them with it proactively right after that question. If you find content like this helpful, then I'd like to invite you to join my inner circle program. Inside the inner circle, you'll find a highly engaged and highly supportive community of 300 other fractional CFOs. Many of them are just getting started, but many of them have been in the industry for years. You'll find it a great mix.

Of all experience levels. It's super collaborative and super supportive. I also go live on Zoom every month and share the latest lessons, insights, and best practices that I've learned over the last nine years of running my own fractional CFO firm. KFE solutions. Just click the link below to try the inner circle 100% risk free for 30 days.

I hope to see you inside. Number two, this is one I've been hit with a lot recently. Do I have Time. I don't know if I have time to do the check-in calls and the monthly calls and the Slack things. It sounds like it's a lot. Then there's like the onboarding. I don't know if I have time. Once again, the best way to overcome the time objection is to go back to the beginning of the call specifically around the goals, the dreams, and the aspirations. And then

This is how I want you to leverage them. Do you have time not to do this? Because earlier you told me that you started your business. Years ago, and you've been trying this and this, and you're still stuck. And so I'm just wondering how much time do you have to stay stuck? I I don't think that you have the time to not do this. based on what you told me earlier. And if you've identified those goals and dreams and aspirations, you're gonna get that like.

You're right. Look. Again, it's so important to be curious. the first half of that sales call. Every fractional CFO needs three things to be successful. You're gonna need a sound financial strategy for your clients. You're gonna need clients that are willing to listen and do the work, but you're also gonna need accurate and timely books.

But if you're anything like me, you don't want your firm handling bookkeeping. You want to stay focused on high-ticket advisory services. And that's why my firm uses decimal. Decimal has built their entire company around providing world-class bookkeeping and financial operations while providing the best customer service and client communications that I've ever seen. Decimal handles everything from bookkeeping to AR and AP to payroll and invoicing.

They even take care of taxes. If you value accurate and timely books for your clients, but you don't want to do it in-house, then I highly encourage you to check out Decimal. My firm trusts Decimal for our books. And we refer all of our clients to decimal as well. Click the link in the description below to learn more. And number three.

This is a big one too, especially as the economy tightens up, especially as recession-y things happen, interest rates go up, et cetera, et cetera. They'll say, Can I afford this? Can I afford this? I don't know if I have the money. Now I want let me share this with you because I know a lot of you in here are you're about making

people better, you want to have positive impact. If they truly don't have the money, walk away. And you, you're, we're all numbers people here. You know the difference between do they have the money in the bank account right now that they can pay me? And can they really afford this?

And just have that intellectual integrity when you start working with somebody. If if they really can't afford you, just walk away. Because I know that if you're anything like me, the last thing that you want as a fractional CFO is to leave them in a worse position than when you started. So let me just start with that. If they really can't afford you, you just walk away. Now, if that's not the case.

Remind them of the money back guarantee, number one. But two is tell them, look, during my onboarding process, the first thing that I'm going to be doing is evaluating where your finances are. And if I find that you can't afford us. I'll give you your money back and walk away. Because that's the first thing I'm going to be evaluating is if you can really afford it.

And so if if we get into your books and we start doing our financial health assessment and we realize like, look, you're worse off because of working with us. You you really need to focus on just making payroll right now. or whatever hole they're in. Well we're gonna stop right in our tracks. We're gonna just let you know. We're gonna be really transparent about it and let you know. And I'm gonna give your money back. That I would say

Seven or eight out of time times out of ten gets me past the I don't know if I can afford this objection. It's really effective. Where you're like, the first thing I'm gonna look at is if you can afford us, and if you can't, I'll give you your money back. Builds trust, de-risk. But here's the truth.

Usually when somebody says, like, I don't know if I can afford it, what they really mean is I don't know if it's worth it. Usually when they say that they don't know if they can afford it, it usually means that they're not sure if it's worth it. They're not convinced that there's An ROI. So what do you do? Hit them with this. And again, I I love all of these to be proactive.

I love all these to be proactive. So if you start sniffing that this objection might come, give them what I'm about to give you before they bring it up. If you're worried that you might not get the return on investment out of my services, just remember we've got a money back guarantee. Back to the money back guarantee.

If at the end of your first CFO call, or frankly any CFO call, you don't feel like you got ROI, we'll give you your money back. If you feel like you can't afford it, we'll give you your money back. If you feel like this is not for you anymore, we'll give your money back. But remember. What's really at risk here isn't your money. What's really at risk here is progress towards

Your dream and hit them with that dream that they the specific thing that they told you about earlier in the call. What's really at risk here isn't your money, it's progress towards your dream. Because with our money back guarantee, there's no risk with your money. Risk here is progress. Then shut up.

All right, my friends, I hope you found this episode helpful. If you did, it would mean the world to me if you would leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you're listening to this episode. In the meantime, I can't wait to see you back right here next week. I'll see you then.