Sales Training Dealing with Objections in Washington DC

>How Sales Superstars View Objections

Salespeople who really love selling see objections as a fun challenge instead of a burden. Instead of seeing the objections in a bad light, consider that the prospect you should be more worried about is the one who doesn’t share or state any objections.

Important sales tip: Unless the prospect buys immediately, there is some sort of objection – be it big or small. When the prospect doesn’t share any objections, take it as a clue that they may not have fully listened to you. If you are in a more complex sale or one that requires more thought, no objections can be a clue you are going to experience stalls and indecision. If you are in a simpler sale such a retail environment where you walk up and approach the prospect and they don’t have any objections, it might be because they never seriously considered the offer in the first place or are not a qualified prospect (don’t have the need, money or authority to buy).

If you do happen to notice that a prospect isn’t listening to you much anymore, maybe even tuned you out, you can utilize a bold and more advanced sales technique. Stop what you’re saying and ask why they have decided not to buy. This is disarming and the reality is, if they aren’t listening, they aren’t buying. This shifts their mindset back to the present with you and creates the opening for an honest and direct conversation. This should ease the prospect into telling you the real objection (or objections) on their mind. As mentioned, this is a bit more advanced and you need to be aware of distractions, time and other elements that may be preventing them from focusing on you now which is different than them being disinterested in the product or service.

In order to answer the objections they now share, you need to know several things:

• How to get yourself and the prospect in the right mindset to tackle the objection.
• Why the objection is raised.
• The category of the objections, as they should all be responded to in different ways.
• When they should be answered.
• How they should be answered.

Sales Training: Answering the Objection or is it a Lost Cause in Washington DC?

In a broader sense, objections can be classified as hopeless objections and objections that can be responded to. Hopeless objections are those that cannot be answered as a matter of selling. For example, if a prospect explicitly tells you they aren’t interested and leaves the room or hangs up the phone, that is unanswerable. The objections that are answerable can be put into two categories: objections that are stated, and objections that are not stated. Stated objections are easier to manage since the prospect is at least acknowledging an issue – be cautious here. The stated objection is not always the real issue and you need to figure out what the “real issues are”.

Objections that are not stated can be a hard situation. The prospect has in their mind a reason they don’t want to buy at the moment, but won’t express it to you for one reason or another.

In order to find out what the objection is, you can either directly ask the prospect what their objection is, or you can ask questions tailored to bring the objection out of them. A more experienced salesperson may be able to tell what the objection is without the prospect stating it. Often times, though, even when you know the real issue, it can’t be fully overcome until the prospect opens up. So even it you know the real issue your prospects participation is VERY helpful. Sometimes pride, ego and fear are at the root of the objection. In cases like this you may need to address the subject in a general way in order for the prospect to ease into the conversation and confront the issue.

Some objections are harder to deal with than others. One of the hardest is a prejudiced objection, which is one that is not based on reasonable grounds. Many prospects have prejudices, or are predisposed to a certain belief. They impact what the prospects see or hear and objections come from them. Since they are usually unreasonably-based, they are harder to deal with. Even if the prospect’s view is “wrong”, it’s easier for them to continue believing that than learn the facts.

In order to handle prejudices, there are various rules to follow.

• Respect the prospect’s prejudice or beliefs. Let the prospect know you understand how they can believe that, even if you disagree. Be sympathetic towards them.
• Don’t argue with the prospect. The prospect didn’t consider reason when they started believing the prejudice, and reason isn’t going to change their mind.
• Show the prospect that the prejudice they believe is inconsistent with another belief of theirs. The best way to change a prejudiced opinion is to use a fact you already know the prospect believes and use it to disprove their prejudice.

Objections are not the easiest part of the sales process, but they can be overcome. Understanding your prospect and their beliefs is imperative to being able to move past this step and get on with closing the sale.

Mark Anthony has been presenting sales training and customer service workshops throughout the world for 30 years. For more tips or information on training and one-on-one coaching, contact him at 877-464-5215.