OK, you are in a sales role. Sales objections are going to come up.

To get a lot of FREE information on Handling Sales Objections enter your details in the box to your right.

I believe this is important for two reasons:

• it highlights what you are not doing / covering earlier in a sales call
• it gives you specific targets to practice your objection handling skills.

Now there are sales trainers out there who would tell you to take your regular objections. Work out answers for them. Try those answers in the field. Then memorise the ones that work for each specific objection.

I do not agree with those rote learning approaches !

If it was that simple you could train a robot / computer to sell for you !

I favour teaching your mind how to generate responses to objections on the fly.
Because each customer is different and each buying scenario is likely to have unique characteristics.
That’s what I teach in my sales coaching.

For an article about the rote approach click this link 

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Everything that happens to us is coloured by our perception of it.

Our perceptions are governed by our values, past experiences, our intentions and our current mood.

So, what about objections ?

Maybe some of what we think are objections are not and maybe they are not buying signals either maybe they are just someone trying to understand what we are offering and how much benefit it could be for them.

That’s what the following article from Paul McCord states quite well.

Who’s Qualifying Whom Here

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And sales people are always after sales coaching on handling objections.

Well the truth is if you had built enough value earlier in the call that there would likely be no objections coming up.
And price objections would be the first ones to fall by the wayside.

Value is a funny thing too, it is perceived and perceptions are emotional.

The follwoing post tells a story that highlights that very point in a most unusual way.

Happy reading.

Overcoming Price Objections by Charlie Cook.

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I certainly do not agree with delaying dealing with objections till the end of a meeting as it tends to show disrespect for the prospect.

Have a look and tell me what you think.

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Well they can be and sometimes they are not.

Sometimes they are an example of sloppy saleswork being done early in the sales process.

Sometimes they are just a manifestation of good ole procrastination.

Obviosly, you need to know how to deal with sales objections as that ability is your insurance policy. Otherwise once you get an objection, for whatever reason, the sale has ended. I am available for sales coaching on how to handle YOUR sales objections

The article below asks the question are sales objections buying signals.

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In terms of answering sales objections sometimes it’s good to use contrast to your advantage.

On my website I have some pages relating to Robert Cialdini’s influence patterns from his book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion”. (A great book and a MUST read if you are serious about being a sales person)

Cialdini discusses the Contrast Principle at some length in his book.

The contrast principle can be used when you are dealing with price objections to make the cost of your offer look smaller. The idea is to compare your price to something larger so it doesn’t look so expensive. You may compare your price to the extra profit the client will make or to your competitors or to the much larger costs inherent in the client’s business.

Let’s explain the contrast principle and see how it works.

The contrast principle affects the way we see the difference between two things that are presented one after another.

Simply put, if the second item is fairly different from the first, we will tend to see it as more different than it actually is.

So if we lift a light object first and then lift a heavy object, we will estimate the second to be heavier than if we had lifted it without first trying the light object.

If we talking to a beautiful woman at a cocktail party and are then joined by an unattractive one, the second woman will strike us as less attractive than she actually is. 

The point is that the same thing can be made to seem very different, depending on the nature of the event that precedes it.

Examples of The Contrast Principle in action include:

• Retail clothiers selling the expensive suit so it’s easier to seel you shirt and tie later.
• Car sales people selling relatively cheap accessories after you’ve agreed to purchase the much more expensive car.
• Real estate companies using “setup” properties where they take you to a couple of overpriced houses before they show you the house they think you will want.
• Warning your customers of an upcoming 10% price increase when you know the increase will only be 5%.

The great advantage of this principle is not only that it works but also that it is virtually undetectable. Those who employ it can cash in on its influence out any appearance of having structured the situation in their favour.

In relation to Objections the principle of contrast is often used when you run into a price objection.

Client says to you, “Your premium service would cost me an extra $1000/year.”

Using “contrast” you could reply, “That’s right for about $2.50 a day you could have all the advantages of the premium service.”

$2.50 a day seems much less than $1000, doesn’t it?

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This is quite an effective tack for dealing with many objections.

You should consider practicing the use of it because you could use it in a number of situations.

I would be a bit concerned about using it when speaking to a professional buyer these days as the framwork has been around that long that you run the risk of the buyer noticing it and possibly thinking you are trying to manipulate them.

Just for a review (in case you don’t know the pattern) let’s go through an example.

Your prospect says something like, “I’d love to use your service but we just can’t afford it.” (Sound familiar?)

An example of your response, using “feel-felt-found”, would be something like the following.

“Strange you should say that. I can certainly understand how you could feel that way. Mr Jones over at Allied Inc felt the same way for a long time. Then after he started using our service he found that the added cost was minimal and was far outweighed by the benefits of our premium service.”

Another example.

Prospect says, ”We’ve been with our current supplier for many years, I’m just not sure about moving my business to your company.”

You reply, “ I appreciate you feel that way. I would hope you would feel the same way if you’d been doing business with us for many years. In fact, a number of other companies that have switched to us in the last 18 months have felt the same way. That’s why it’s so gratifying that all of them have found the move to be such a good one for their company.”

I repeat, this “feel, felt, found” pattern can be used in MANY situations and should be part of your sales objections kit.
Just take care to make sure it sounds polished and don’t use it too often on professional buyers.

You’ve been consulting with your prospect or client for some time. No resolution, no sale. You’ve run out of things to say.

Then you say, “What’s the one question you could ask to be totally convinced that this is the product for you?”

This is a beautiful question because of the presupposition that is inherent in the question.

A presupposition is something, often not specifically stated in a sentence, that has to be true in order to make sense of the sentence.

For example if your partner asks you to pick up the laundry on the way home. Certain things have to be true. There has to be laundry, there has to be a place to pick it up from (laundromat) and you have to have a home to go to.

Now the presupposition in the question above is that there is a question that will cause your prospect to be totally sold on your offer. They don’t even have to answer the question!

Once your prospect asks a question his/her unconscious mind believes that this is the product for them.

It doesn’t make the sale but it’s a rung on the ladder because it starts them thinking about using your product.

Another example.

Prospect says. “I can’t see your service working here.”

You reply, “That’s right you can’t see our service working here….yet… because you haven’t yet asked the one question that allow you to realise all the benefits you will have by using our service.”

This follows a pattern I recommended earlier. That is, you agree with the objection first and then try and redirect it. As a general rule meet them where they are and then take them where you want them to go.

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There is a certain mindset you need to have in order to handle an objection effectively.

There are certain things you need to practice and in a certain way.

Take a read of the attached post for some pointers.

Sales Objections