This article is part of the Sales Secrets Uncovered series where we share key learnings from our analysis of 211k+ sales calls spread over 3.8 million minutes and 12 months. Why? To uncover the stats that will help you sell better in 2022 and beyond.

PS: Use this data responsibly. Correlation is ≠ causation.

Today’s issue comes to you from the desk of Kushal Saini Kakkar. 😇

Growing up, Who’s the Boss used to be one of my favorite TV sitcoms.

It’s the one with two bosses in one household — but no one was ever sure who the penultimate boss was. You know, the one who actually called the shots and made the major decisions.

Apparently (and I’m trying for a perfect segue here), sales has the same problem — who’s the boss? Who actually makes the buying decision — cuz many a time it’s not the one who reaches out and sets up a call.

And we all know all too well the pain of a prospect saying on a call - "I’m not the decision maker". Even more so when you’re in more advanced stages of negotiation.

But first, how often does this objection come up on sales calls?

According to our data, authority as an objection comes up on 2.3 percent of all deals.

This percentage could also point to good qualification and filtering done previously, as this data only analyzes calls that made it to the deal stage (vs calls that never became deals in a CRM).

But wait, does it even matter that this objection comes up?

Well, apparently it does.

Our data shows that the authority objection points to an almost 50 percent increase in deal win rate and a 33 percent decrease in loss rate.

I don’t know about you but I like those odds!

So the next time someone says “I’m not the boss”, you can smile inwardly given what you now know. 🙂

The only question is how do we handle this objection on a call?

Common sense dictates that we ask to speak to the actual decision maker - or maybe ask them to set up a call. But this may not happen all the time, so the next best course of action is to empower your prospect to answer all the questions themselves. Time to convert your prospect into a champ!