Selling 106 Handle an objection with style

How do you start helping someone with a new way of doing things when you are not very good at teaching or do not have the necessary skills of a teacher?  This is a hard thing to get across to anyone in sales.

An objection to your product is usually a sign that you have not done your job.  Yes I am starting this lesson by beating you up.

In a perfect world if you have presented your product or service in a professional manner, you don’t have to worry about objections because there won’t be any.  Believe it or not I have made sales without any objections at all, but usually that is not the case I am dealing with.

OK, The world is not perfect and no one’s presentation is perfect and you are going to get a lot of objections or you are not trying hard enough.

When you know an objection is coming you can anticipate and pre-handle it with a good logical reason why it is there.  I will get to this in a minute, but first let’s analyse what an objection is.

An objection to your sale is either a condition or a question that has not been  answered. An example of a condition is if the prospect cannot pay.  You never just take their word without verifying it but that is an example of a condition.  The wrong color or your product will not fit with the customers needs is another example of a condition.  Trying to fit a round peg in a square hole is a condition.

If you have an objection to your product then the next step is to verify that it is a valid objection.  This is a process that has a technique with it but it is very powerful when it is implemented professionally.

Here is a sample script to use when you get a no.

Sally:  Mr prospect, can we set-up your installation for next week?  Is Tuesday or Thursday better for you?

Prospect:  Well Sally I don’t think so

Sally:  Mr. Jones could you tell me more about that?

Prospect:  I am not sure that this will work with our office

Sally:  Could you elaborate a little bit more?

Prospect:  Yes, I am not sure that our Sales people will use the system as you have designed it.

Sally:  Could you be a bit more specific?  It would be very helpful to me

Prospect:  Yes,  If I spend the money up front and the sales people don’t use it then I will have thrown money away.

Sally:  I understand your concern and other customers have had the same concern in the past. That raises an important question.  Suppose for a moment that you implement the system and your sales people do use it to their advantage.  Would you benefit from the system despite your concern about the risk?

Prospect:  Yes

Sally:  That is the very reason that we need to look into this a little more. If we could let you try this system out for a few days with a test before you buy, would you be ready to move forward today?

Prospect:  Yes

Now at this point this may be an option for you as a sales person to offer, or there could be other issues.  If the prospect says no to the question “would you be ready to move forward today?” then your prospect has been telling you a lie.  At this point you have to start over at the objection handling script.  You can repeat this with different variations on the questions but if you follow this script you will eventually find out the truth.

Next lesson:  Killer words and phrases