How do you take potential disadvantages and turn them into advantages? Understand what the prospect is telling you when they talk about your potential disadvantages. If they’re saying, “You’re too small,” they don’t mean that you’re actually too small. They’re really saying, “We don’t trust you yet or we don’t know that you can handle the kind of work that we expect.”
Take their concern of being too small, and turn it into a benefit by saying, “We create the right process for each client.” Explain that they don’t want “big” because then they’ll get the same process applied for everyone. Nimble is what they want.
All sorts of obstacles get in the way. Pricing is rarely the actual issue. The issue is trust. If you say you can double their business, and they don’t believe you, they might throw up price as an obstacle. They don’t yet trust that you can fulfill your promise.
Obstacles are almost always some kind of code for a fear that you have yet to address. The best way to take an obstacle and turn it to an advantage is to understand what is being asked. Put yourself in your client’s shoes and understand why they might have these obstacles. What does the obstacle actually represent? This takes experience and empathy.
