I’m Great At Making the Pitch, BUT….

I’m great at making the pitch, but I struggle with the objections. How can I be more prepared?  Many salespeople struggle with objections, and for good reason. They are a deliberate and natural barrier that can keep us from achieving our goals. There are a few reasons why objections toss us off of our stumps. They feel like a rejection. They take us off script. They feel like a challenge to our professionalism. They shift the power into the buyer’s court and, frankly, it is not the yes that we were hoping for. Many of us when confronted with objections retreat to poor sales behavior. We retreat, get flustered or angry, we offer discounts that weren’t even requested or we simply hear the objection as a ‘no’ and move away from what could have been a sale.  One of the nice things about rejections is that once you overcome one and achieve victory, it makes that sale all the more glorious and really pumps up our self confidence. Knowing that we will constantly be faced with objections, wouldn’t it be great to walk away from as many as you can feeling victorious and champion of the sales process? Learning to face objections head on with confidence sets you apart from many sales people and will definitely build credibility in the eyes of the customer. Here are 4 techniques that can help you master the art of overcoming objections.

1. Know the difference between an objection and a rejection – Rejections are easy to spot because they are declarative and leave little room for interpretation. Phrases such as, “no, stop calling me, I do not want to work with you, I am not interested, no thanks’ and simply hanging up the phone on you are fairly primitive, yet definite, forms of rejection. Other phrases such as, ‘I think you may be too expensive, we have been using your competitor and have been happy, or I don’t have time to meet with you’ are objections, despite how we may first internalize those statements. Knowing the difference between a rejection and objection will prevent us from giving up too soon.
2. Make objections a part of your script – We know that objections are inevitable, and yet we do not prepare for them properly. We avoid this preparation because we believe that there are too many objection scenarios to be prepared for, but the reality is that 80% of the objections you hear will be in the form of 5 – 8 common questions. List out those top questions and prepare a written response, memorize the responses and then role play them like crazy until you know it like the pledge of allegiance.
3. An objection is not a challenge, it is an engagement – Too many times we will take both rejections and objections personally. We know that we’re not supposed to, but we do anyway. Rejections hurt and so anything that comes close to sounding like one, such as an objection, stirs up our fight or flight response. You must rewire your brain to hear it another way. Objections should always be heard as ‘Maybe, but not yet’. Objections are the buyer’s way of processing the information and opportunities that you are sharing. If you walk them through that process without taking it personally, the more they are willing to trust you and make a deal.
4. Use the objection to put the power back in your hands – You know when you watch the movies where an interrogator states, “Hey, I’m the one asking the questions here!”, it is their way of maintaining control. When you ask someone a series of questions, you keep them on the defense because they are the ones giving up the information. When faced with an objection, respond to it with 2 to 3 questions to put the power dynamic of the conversation back into your hands. For example, if someone objects with, “We do your services in house”, you can respond with, “I’d like to know why you do it that way. How then, do you know, that it is your best option? Would you agree that if I could show you a way that is faster and less expensive that a conversation would be worth both of our while?”

Make objection responses a part of your pitch so that your prospects will see that you have experience in their concerns and you will see a strong increase in the deals that you close. If you need help to write and memorize your objection response script or for role playing practice and objective coaching, we can help with that. Contact ajacobs@scorecardsales.com to start scoring big today.