If you have ever been in a selling situation, chances are you’ve come up against the dreaded objection.  Here’s a secret:  All objections are a load of rubbish.  Yeap, I just said that.  Why?  Because what a prospect is actually saying when they voice an objection isn’t anything to do with the objection itself.  What they’re saying is ‘You haven’t shown me enough value yet’, so it is your job to identify why they’re saying that and then show them the value they need to see in your product or service.  Let’s look at some common objections you might get:

  1. Budget – ‘It’s way too expensive!’
  2. Trust – ‘Where have you done this before?’
  3. Need – ‘I don’t see how this can help in my business…’
  4. Urgency/Timing – ‘I really like you, but let’s start in x months’

All of these are of course barriers as to why the prospect can’t buy from you.  You must address these concerns.  The best thing any sales person can do is practice their objection handling.  Literally got through all the objections you might get and ask your spouse or partner to role play scenarios.  Get better at handling these, it will significantly improve your conversion rate.

Of course, in an ideal world, there wouldn’t be an objection.  The best way to handle an objection is to tackle it head on and control the narrative around the objection.  For example, in my own sales process I handle the price objection early on by mentioning price as soon as I can.  I take it off the table by controlling the conversation around price.  So when it comes to crunch time, I’ve already dealt with it and we can move on.  A common objection people might use is ‘OH, it all sounds really good, I’ll just need to check with my spouse/partner/business partner/goldfish…’.  Of course, this doesn’t sound like an objection, but it is.  I handle this very early as well.  I might say something like ‘How do you normally make decisions like this?’, and they’ll say ‘Oh, I usually talk it through with x..’.  Fantastic, lets get x on the call then because I wouldn’t want x to ask you any questions that we haven’t thought about…  Boom, objection handled without the prospect even knowing about it.  So, think about all the objections you get, and figure out how you can control the conversation so that they are handled before they even come up.  Often, this can even be done in your marketing ensuring that when they enter your sales process, you have already addressed their concerns.

What else can you do to ensure you’re handling objections professionally and effectively?

  1. Have situational awareness of where the prospect is in the buying cycle. There is no point you making an offer when you have misunderstood their readiness to buy.  In sales, we often call this temperature checking.  You have to know where the prospect is in order to know what the next steps are.  If you think they’re a 10/10 nailed on sale, and they’re actually a 3/10 need more info, its going to be a rocky ride.
  2. Actively listen to the objection. Its really easy at this stage to get defensive, don’t.  Train yourself to ignore any negative emotions.  Keep your body language neutral and show you are listening intently to their concerns.
  3. Acknowledge the objection. You read that right.  You have to show empathy and acknowledge that its ok to be feeling like this.  A sincere acknowledgement will often defuse the situation, circumvent an argument and have a calming effect.
  4. Isolate the concern. In my experience, when someone objects, there is another underlying reason why they are saying that.  It’s important to get to the real reason for the objection by exploring why they just said what they did.
  5. Lastly, you need to overcome the objection. You do this by asking open questions and opening up solutions, scenarios or next steps that enable you to either close the sale or move to the next stage in the sales process.

To finish, there is something really important you need to consider.  Remember that once you have overcome the objection, you are going to have to work them.  So, you don’t want to be pushy or burn your bridges.  Don’t just plough through the objection or ignore it.  When someone presents an objection, it is often a symptom that something else is going on; you need to understand it, isolate it and respond appropriately.

How do you respond to objections?  What’s the best and worst objection you’ve ever heard?  And if you need any more help with your sales conversions, do not hesitate to send me a message.