Most people resent objections. They try to avoid them. Handling objections is the biggest obstacle in the sales process.
When a prospect raises an objection, it’s a good thing. They’re basically opening up to you. They are revealing the obstacles they are facing in purchasing from you. Your prospect is giving you another chance to help them.
If the prospect was not interested at all, they would not even bother giving you an objection.
When a prospect gives you an objection, most people become defensive. Or in a worst case scenario, you just abandon the prospect and go to the next one.
If you’ve identified a desire or a need your product can fill for your prospect, your task should consist of handling objections that are preventing this person from achieving what they want.
Your intention should be to help your prospect get what they want. If they knew how to get it, they already would have it.
There are many reasons why a person may object. Let’s look at some of them:
- It could be a lack of knowledge “I don’t need to take supplements.”
- It could be a specific problem “Your product is more expensive than other brands.”
- It could be an undisclosed objection. Your prospect may be incentivized to purchase from someone else but doesn’t say it.
- It could be a perception issue “I can have the same product elsewhere”
- It could be that we don’t know their real interest “I don’t want to lose weight now because I’m going on a cruise for two weeks.”
Action step: Write down the most common objections you face in your business and find the best answers to those. The 5-Step formula to handle objections in this article will help you use those answers properly. You may not overcome them with every person but at least you will not have abandoned too early.
Now that you have a list of common objections. Here’s the formula that I learned from my friend and business partner Tim Sales. He teaches that formula in Professional Inviter. It’s the training program that helped me hit the top 10 list of the best recruiters in my company last year.
Handling Objections Formula:
- Listen Completely Through. At this point of handling objections, you don’t want to interupt your prospect. Let them explain completely their point. Don’t jump all over your prospect trying to defend your product. You may actually even want to thank them for letting you know what’s happening. Keep in mind that an objection is much better than a “no” because it gives you room to start the conversation. You can ask them open ended questions. If they can answer with yes or no, rephrase your question. If you get stuck, just do what every 4 year old kid does and ask “why?” — you won’t believe how powerful that little question can be 🙂
- Confirm Understanding. It could be as simple as saying it back to your prospect. By using their words, you are confirming you understand their situation.
- Make the Objection Valid. This doesn’t mean you agree or disagree with their objection. It simply means you may show empathy, showing you care about them and that you are listening to their concern. For example: I hear you, I’m sorry you are experiencing that, it sounds like this has been very frustrating, I understanding what you’re saying and I may be able to help.
- Handle or Facilitate Handling Objections. Facilitate means to help your prospect handle their own objection. By asking them questions, they can figure out a solution. If you’re helping them by handling objections themselves, you’ll get the best results. Some other times, you have to handle it yourself like I did on this training call on how to handle the Money objection. Your goal is to help them get past those roadblocks that are stopping them from getting what they said they wants to get.
- Return to The Previous Step. At this point you want to confirm that you’ve answered the prospect’s objection fully. This can usually be as simple as saying, “Does that make sense?” or “Have I answered your concern?” Then, get the prospect back to where you were in the conversation. If you were about to invite them to review information on the product when the prospect raises his objection, then once you’ve answered it quickly summarize what you’d been talking about before you move on. If you’ve finished your presentation, check if the prospect has any other objections, and then complete the sale.
The key to handling objections in the best manner is to figure out early on why your prospect wanted your product in the first place. They must see value in your product or business. This is done in the Qualify step of your early conversation with a prospect. The purpose of qualifying your prospect is to understand what’s important to them, why it matters, and what their business would be like without your product or business. When you uncover a pain, your next step should be to quantify what that pain is costing them. You will use that information in step four of the Handling Objections formula above.
Handling objections requires practice. Take these 5 steps and apply them to your business. You’ll see very quickly that they work extremely well. I saw immediate increases in qualified prospects and higher sales in a very short period of time by using this formula because I was able to demonstrate how our product or business can be used to overcome real pain in their life.
When you care about someone, you do everything you can to get them past their own obstacles.
Please share your own tips and techniques for handling objections in the comments section below an if you liked this prospecting tip, share with others!
Stephane Page
Canada: 819-321-9385
USA: 310-601-8262
Skype: stephpage
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Excellent advise. It's all about your prospects, their wants and needs, dont wants and needs. So listen carefully, and really care about helping them. THanks Stephane!!
its was awesome explain..
Thank Mr. stephane..
Thank you Stephane! Great advice