When you talk with a sales person, typically you can tell the skillset from that salesperson by how well they handle objections. Sales objections are the biggest problem sales people have. They hear sales objections they are not prepared for, that they don’t know how to overcome or that throw them off. I have several strategies that I use for handling objections. Today I am going to go over one skill with you that that you can apply immediately. This is truly simple, but it’s a strategy that will allow you to handle objections like an expert.
Embrace Objections
Before we get started, I want to say that you should embrace receiving objections. When you receive an objection, it’s simply a request for more information. That’s all it is. Half the objections you hear are what I call smokescreens. They’re not really strong enough to stop you, but if you allow them to, it will prevent you from making your sale. When you hear an objection, embrace it. If you have a repeatable sales process, you’ll start to identify where you hear objections most, and you typically can go back and evaluate your process and identify how to improve it.
Anticipate Objections
No matter your industry, there’s typically the same five or six sales objections. They center around price, value, urgency, ease of use. In your specific industry, there are probably some unique to what you do, and you should already know what the top five, six objections you’re going to hear. If you don’t know those, ask the person next to you, your sales manager, or someone you went to training with. Once you’ve identified your top five objections, your job as a sales rep is to solve those objections. You do this long before your customer appointment. You do this long before your prospect, you’re qualifying your leads. If it’s price, we find ways to identify higher value. If it’s urgency, we learn to create urgency. If it’s compatibility, we solve the compatibility issue. Once you identify the five most common objections you face, then you work those into your sales pitch by creating small soundbites that address them. Don’t plan long drawn out monologues about each objection; create simple soundbites around each objection that can be applied to your sales presentation. For example, if it’s a pricing issue, drop subtle hints of value throughout your entire sales presentation. You can simply say, “This product, if retailed at XYZ, would cost this much.” If it’s a timing issue, create urgency by saying, “The last time I sat with a client, I wasn’t even sure that we were going to have this product available next week.” You prepare for objections and you weave them into your sales process. By doing this, you’re typically addressing all your prospect objections before they come up, because let’s remember: the best way to handle an objection is to handle it before it comes up. That’s how you handle objections like an expert.
There’s so much more we can address in this topic, and I’d love to share more with you. Reach out to me so I can help you work through your objections. I can give you some info and feedback on how you can overcome some of these sales objections. Continue to follow me here, and don’t forget to get a copy of the “Catapulting Commissions.”Â
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