How to Overcome the Objection – “I’m with my bank”

Many times I walk into a business and they are not interested because they say, “I am with my local bank.” In my market the two banks I usually go up against are First Commonwealth and M & T bank.

Now first of all, if you are going to combat this objection, you are going to have to understand what it really means. What they are saying when they give that objection is really one of two things or both:

1. “I trust my bank.” One of the big things the bank already has is the business owner’s trust. You don’t have their trust and you must earn it.

2. The bank has integrated services. They are able to say, “We are able to give you this business loan and do your business checking, bill pay, and merchant services.” So it is a compelling pitch on the bank’s part since they already do other services for the business owner.  The bank wants the business owner to feel that merchant services is part of banking.

So here’s what you are going to have to do to make these sales.   You have to go into the business, and as soon as they say they are with their local bank:

1.   You have to express your understanding.

Example: “Bill, I certainly understand why you are with your local bank. Many clients I have with me now used to be with their local bank. Many of these clients were with their bank for two reasons.  First of all, they already had a relationship with their bank through loans, business checking accounts, etc. and secondly they already trusted their bank.  Would you say these are the two main reasons you are with your local bank?

You ask them that question first and get them to agree so they understand that you understand. People love to be understood. People love to be listened to, so don’t go jumping right into your objection first, make sure they first know that you understand them and their reasons.

2. You have to explain the “middle man.”

Then say “Let me explain a little more to you about how this process works with your local bank.  Mr. Jones, the local bank contracts people just like me to do the credit card processing.  The local bank doesn’t actually do the credit card processing. What they do is give a list of their small business clients to a company like mine and then they follow up on the banks behalf to increase the bank’s revenues through merchant services.”

“One way I could prove this Mr. Jones is if you got out your credit card processing statement and called the number at the top. It’s not going to say, ‘Thank you for calling ________.’ (Whatever your bank name is.) It is going to say thank you for calling the merchant services department. That is because it is not actually the bank. The bank is simply outsourcing to another processor just like me, and they are making a cut of the profits.”

“The problem is now you are dealing with a middle man. When you are dealing with a middle man are your rates normally higher or lower? (Now every small business owner understands that and they will probably say ‘higher.’) That is exactly right because both the bank and the processor have to make a profit. So the problem is you end up paying a higher rate.  And many times you don’t get free benefits included. A free tablet point of sale system or free credit card machines are things we offer our clients that the bank doesn’t usualy make available through these middle men.” (You can pitch them on that and help them to understand that they are really dealing with ‘a middle man’ when they are dealing with their bank.)

Now you have to address the issue of trust.  So you say, “Mr. Jones, in closing I am going to ask one favor of you. I am not asking for you to give me your business today. As I pointed out earlier we don’t know each other and you don’t have the same trust in me as you do in the bank yet and I understand that. Here is what I am going to ask you to do for me. If I will come back in a couple days with several letters of recommendation from business owners in the local community to increase the trust level you and I have, would you at least be willing to allow me to give you a free cost analysis to show you how we can lower your costs and add value to you through cutting out the middle man? Would you be willing to allow me to do that?”

So now you put them in a position where you basically answered the question of integrated services. Really they are not integrated and they are simply dealing with a “middle man.”  You also dealt with the issue of trust since you said, “If I give you a couple letters of recommendation would you in exchange be willing to give me a copy of your credit card statement so I can give you a free cost analysis. That way I can show you what benefits we can offer that the bank doesn’t.”

I hope these tips will help you make more sales.

Have a great day,

James Shepherd

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