In the previous blog I outlined the importance of drilling down until you understand what the real objection is.  Only then can you work with the prospect to move the sale forward.

Even when you have understood the objection you will find yourself from time to time in a position where you feel as though you are arguing with the prospect about the relative merits of your solution.  Those of you who have experienced this know that debating with a prospect leads to only one place – nowhere!

Disconnection between you and prospect is often due to differences in world view and experiences.  Or simply put, you have not explained the value of your solution in a language the prospect understands.  Like most communication challenges, the people involved need to talk the same language if progress is to be made.  So the key here is to link the known with the unknown.  Using stories, metaphor and questions are your key tools.  Never tell a prospect something that you can put in the form of a question!  And here is how you do it.

Let’s say you sell and install insulation solutions to homeowners and builders.  You are talking with a homeowner and you ask them if they are ready to go ahead with the sale and pay your deposit.  The prospect says “hang on a minute, I don’t want to pay a deposit because you might do a poor job and leave me high and dry.”  Rather than debate the topic here’s another approach.   During the conversation you establish that the prospect owns an automotive repair shop.  You ask the prospect the following questions.  “Let me ask you this Mr Prospect.  You are the owner of an automotive repair shop?  If you had a customer come in and say please fix my car you would ask the customer to pay in full when they picked the care up, yes?  Ok, if the customer said, “look I don’t want to pay now because I want to be sure that your repairs will last and you have done a good job” what would your thinking be?”

You then let the prospect answer their own objection by using the example that they can relate you.  The prospect is likely to say something like, “well of course we would make them pay and I would tell them that we have lots of experience and a proven track record over many years.”  Finally you say to the prospect “well I’m the same as you.”

Questions are incredibly powerful for objection handling so start using them today.  And you can handle pretty much any objection by using examples that the prospect can relate too.

Good Objection Handling!

Successfully

Tony

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Well like most things there is a short and long answer.

The long answer is that a well-defined sales process will help you eliminate most objections prior to them ever arising.  For instance, how many times have you heard “I like what you say but I’ll have to talk with my (wife, husband, accountant, lawyer, dog, cat whatever) before going ahead.”  This is the classic excuse that will drive you to despair.  Often the prospect will use this objection so they don’t have to make a decision or because they are too “nice” to tell you the real reasons.  To prevent this happening your must always ask the prospect “so who needs to be involved in the decision.”  Then only meet with the prospect at a time when all parties are available – and be firm with this!!!!  It also pays to understand the prospect’s budget before presenting your solution.  Nothing will kill the sale quicker than a prospect that has a figure of $5,000 in mind and you present them with a solution requiring a $20,000 investment.

So let’s say you have structured your sales process for success and the prospect still has an objection.  As an example the objection comes in the form of the classic “I just need some time to think about it.”  Here’s what to do.  You say “no problem, I know it’s a big decision and you should take some time.  Now two heads are better than one . . . what specifically is it that you want to think about?”  The prospect may say something like, “well I’m just not sure that I can afford it at the moment.”  You say “so are you a bit short of funds at the moment or are you concerned about whether what we discussed will actually work for you?”  These questions are looking to see whether they are short of money right now (cash flow) but like the concept or whether they just don’t see the value in your solution.  If they say “we just don’t have the money right now” you ask this powerful question.  “So if money was no object and you had the cash to invest now would there be anything else that would hold you back?”  If they say “no we’d go ahead” then you know you have uncovered the objection.  If the prospect says yes there is something else you keep asking.  When you have uncovered the objection you can deal with it.

The key here is to be persistent in a respective and helpful way.  And take a note of the main objections you face and then develop a standard answer for dealing with them.  Once you have these answers sorted you can use them over and over again!

Good objection handling!

Successfully

Tony

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