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Get Rid of Those Pesky Objections

By Paul Montelongo

Recently, in a sales seminar I was conducting, a participant posed an interesting question. He wanted to know what was really behind a prospect’s objection. In other words, what was going on in the mind of the prospect when they voiced an objection to your sales presentation?

The gentleman seemed genuinely concerned that the “words” a prospect uses when voicing an objection do not really reflect what is going on in their mind.

As I thought about it, I couldn’t agree more.

I am frequently asked how to overcome objections when selling your product or services. The quick answer is that there are many ways to overcome objections.

I will give you my top ten list for overcoming objections later in this column.

As I pondered my seminar participant’s question even more, I began to think in terms of eliminating objections all together. After all, if you could completely get rid of objections to your sales presentation, wouldn’t you rather do that, than have to tangle with your prospect?

I would like for you to consider this very bold statement. If you agree with it, great and if not, then let me know exactly why. Here it is…

 The interesting thing is that your prospect may not even know that he/she doesn’t completely trust you. They just know at a sub-conscious level that something is amiss. When your prospect is feeling even slightly distrustful of your presentation they will begin to question everything about your sales pitch.

We usually call that an objection. And it is. However, at its core level, it could be taken as an indicator of the lack of trust in the relationship between you and your prospect.

Try to look at it this way for a while….

 Objections are a red flag; questions are a green flag. When your prospect continually objects to everything you present, you haven’t built enough rapport and trust in the sales relationship. When they are asking exploratory or expanding questions, then you have an agreement of trust in the sales relationship. When your prospect ask questions, they are searching for ways, reasons and proof of their decision to buy from you. This is a good thing. It leads directly to a sale.

When your prospect continually objects, they are searching for a way to let you know that there has not been enough trust built in the sales relationship.

Now, whether you choose to buy into this concept or not, that’s just fine with me. If you don’t buy into it, perhaps you and I need more time to build rapport and trust. However, just for grins, try viewing objections as a sign that you need to work on the sales relationship for a while. Take the next five customers you have and examine carefully when they object, why they object and what you do to overcome their objection. I will bet you a roll of nickels that when you move toward more camaraderie in the sales relationship, there will be far less resistance. If it works and you make a few extra sales, you can take all the credit.

Does this mean that you will totally eliminate all objections? In a perfect world, I would love to say YES! The reality is that some days you are out of sync or your customer is having a bad day and rapport is much more challenging to establish.

So if you continually get objections, try my top ten list of ways to overcome those pesky objections.

1. Back up to the place where there was total agreement between the two of you. Once you regain the agreement, move forward to the next point of negotiation.

2. Ask a “re-direct” question. Get them thinking about what they are objecting to in a different way.

3. Get into body language agreement and voice tonality agreement by nodding, gesturing and maintaining an open posture.

4. Inquisitively ask..."How did you arrive at that opinion?" Never say the word conclusion, because that closes the mind of your prospect.

5. Get them up and moving in a different posture or physically relocate them as possible. This gets the blood and oxygen flow going of both parties and may stimulate some creative thinking to handle the objection.

6. Ask…"Do I need to understand something that I missed?" They begin to see that you are genuinely interested in them with a question like this.

7. Say…"Please tell me exactly what you mean." Same reason as above. Getting intensely interested in them builds more trust.

8. “Is this the only issue of concern to you?” Ask this and it opens the dialogue to more options.

9. If they vehemently object to your price, delivery time or warranty, etc., let them spill it all out and release the tension. Let’s hope you don’t need to go there, but hey it is an option.

10. Admit that you were way off base by assuming they had all the info rmation they needed to make a buying decision. A little humility can be very attractive and help regain their trust.

There are dozens of ways to built trust with your prospect. I really believe that the more trust you establish in the beginning of the sales relationship, the fewer objections you will face.

One final thought on objections. If you live your sales life believing that you will always have to face objections, then that is exactly what you will get.

On the other hand if you are solution’s oriented and focus on the infinite possibilities of creating a “customer served sale”, then you will get that, too.