Learn the steps that turn encountering resistance into an opportunity for future sales.
November 25, 2020
By Rachel Smith
You’re meeting with a prospective client, and they tell you the specific reason they aren’t sold on your product. You have been presented with an objection. What should you do? Celebrate! (In your head, of course. You don’t want to look like a total weirdo.)
Why should objections be celebrated? Because when you get an objection from someone, it’s a good sign that you’re on the right track. Think about it from your own perspective as a buyer. If you’re in REI looking at hiking boots and the salesperson asks if you’re interested in trying them on, when you reply, “no thanks,” or “I’m just browsing,” then you’re probably not going to buy boots that day. But if you say, “I like these, but I’m not sure they would have enough ankle support for steep hikes,” it shows that you have already started imagining yourself walking in those boots. A savvy salesperson will know that (a) you’re serious, and that (b) you have weak ankles. They should then be able to sell you a pair of boots that meet your needs.
Specific objections indicate that someone has seriously considered buying your product or service. Not only that, they have just given you more information about what they are looking for or worried about. If you are given an objection, you’re much closer to a sale than had you not received one. What you do in the next few minutes will determine your success.
If you tell an REI salesperson that some boots in their store are unattractive, they probably aren’t going to take personal offense. But you don’t sell boots. You are part of a company that you believe in. You may have had a hand in creating the company or the product that you sell. And when someone tells you why they don’t want what you’re selling, you likely will feel defensive. You want to explain as quickly as possible why any negative idea about your product or service is unfounded. And that’s what you’ll do…if you’re a lousy salesperson.
Your first step to responding to an objection should be to do nothing. Pause. Show your client that you are listening to what they are saying. Take a deep breath and collect yourself. Who knew not doing anything could be so difficult?
Gong.io studied more than 67,000 sales calls to find, quantitatively, the behaviors of successful sales professionals and how they differed from those of poor salespeople. The good sales reps paused after receiving an objection. In fact, it was their longest pause of the entire conversation. The less-successful sales reps not only didn’t pause—they interrupted the customer before the objection was fully articulated.
Something else discovered through Gong’s research was that good sales professionals maintain their speaking rate when answering objections. The less-successful reps tended to speed up. A typical sales conversation is about 173 words per minute, but the less successful reps sped up to 188 words per minute when responding to objections, while the better reps stayed nearly the same. (You can hear what different rates of speech sound like here.)
It’s common to talk faster when you’re anxious, so be aware of your speed of speech and keep it as consistent as you can. Maybe you get the same annoying objection over and over and it makes you angry. That’s fine. You just can’t let it show. Don’t let an objection throw you off your game. Remember, objections are a good thing.
Answer the objection directly. Don’t deflect or talk around the issue. And if the buyer has brought up an objection that you aren’t sure how to answer, it’s better to find someone who can answer it or promise to follow up with them than it is to give it your best guess.
This piece is critical. It’s important to understand exactly where the buyer is coming from before you address their objection. Ask open-ended questions and let them expound upon what, specifically, they are objecting to.
Take a seemingly simple, common objection—“Wow, that’s expensive.” If you immediately start offering discounts, you may be missing the mark completely. When you dig deeper and ask, “What made you say that?”, you’ll likely get an answer in one of these three categories:
Your response to each of these more specific suggestions will differ. If someone does not see the value of your product, for example, a discount will likely not help you win the sale.
It sounds counterintuitive that you should want to go looking for objections, but if you’ve reframed your view of an objection as a step toward a sale that gives you clues about what matters to your client, why wouldn’t you go looking for them? Sometimes a buyer won’t voice an objection, but their body language is showing you that they have some hesitation. Perhaps they crossed their arms when you mentioned a particular feature.
It’s better to address any objections than ignore them. If you notice negative body language, you can try something like, “You didn’t look so happy when I mentioned X. What made you react that way?” If you don’t do this, you risk that the individual saves his objection until after you leave. When he shares it with his team, you won’t be there to address it.
Many sales professionals dread receiving an objection. That dread and defensiveness is what makes individuals speed up their speech. If you’re one of those who cringe when you get an objection, it’s going to take some time to reframe how you look at them. In the meantime, make a conscious effort to stay positive.
We already mentioned being cognizant of your rate of speech. You also need to pay close attention to your body language and your tone of voice. If you have nervous habits or vocal tics, those tend to pop up when you’re stressed or upset, so be aware of those as well. Your goal is to keep a calm, cool demeanor regardless of how you’re actually feeling.
All of this can seem like a lot to think about, especially when you’re also mentally preparing your response. That’s one reason the pause after an objection is critical. It gives you a moment to recalibrate. (And you already have a response ready because you prepared yourself using question trees, right?) The ultimate goal in all of this is to not get rattled by objections in the first place because you see them in a positive light.
Objections aren’t barriers. They are indicative of an interested client and can provide extremely useful information. When you learn to pause, listen, and unpack objections, you’ll see them not as an obstacle, but as a tool you can use to your advantage.
Ready to overcome objections? Reach out to mastery@maestrogroup.co to learn more about our trainings.
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