I am often asked, “Do you have any good ideas for handling objections?”
Objections are one of the most misunderstood concepts in sales. Most of the reason why prospects don’t like to deal with salespeople is because of the ridiculous techniques devised for overcoming objections.
My first sales manager gave me a book called 101 Way to Close and Deal with Objections, or something like that. I remember tip # 22: Now that you are thinking about it Mr. / Ms. Prospect, what is going through your mind? And # 78: Well sir, you know, you get what you pay for.
Here’s a revelation for you: If you receive the same objection three times in 60 days, you are the cause of it. What? How can that be? It’s Pavlov, my friend; stimulus and response. You are providing the stimulus to cause the response.
If you are hearing the same objection, here is what you should do: Bring it up first. That’s right. Be upfront about it. Don’t wait for the bomb to explode. Disarm it by dealing with the objection before your prospect does – not by selling more features and benefits and avoiding it. Be polite and nurturing, but face it upfront.
For example, you might say, “Before we launch into this demo, may I share a problem I have with you, and ask you a question? The problem is when I get done with the demo; people typically have some confusion about integration with current platforms and custom application. Since I don’t know your business as well as you do, could I ask you to do me a favor? Will you please ask me enough questions to make a decision as to whether or not you want to proceed? If you don’t want to, that is okay. If you do, we will define each step clearly. Alright?”
You cannot overcome your prospects’ objections because they are not yours. You can, however, ask questions to help the prospect move forward or move out, and either way is okay!
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