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Selling & dealing with objections



The first thing to realise is that a customer is perfectly right in resisting your attempts to sell your product. This is because of the pressures he is subjected to from every direction to part him from his money, so there is nothing extraordinary in him telling white lies in order to protect what he has.

Your role is to remove his fears and all these natural restraints, and to assure him that what you are offering will help him solve his problems.

 

The customer has initially no evidence as to why he should spend his money on your product. He will come up with conditions and objections.

A condition is a genuine reason for the prospect not to buy your product (e.g. the prospect has no money, the prospect is too old to use the product, or simply the product is not appropriate). Most conditions are eliminated by pre-selecting the kind of prospect you target to sell to.

Objections are based on resistance to any kind of Change. They can relate to:

1. The Effort involved

2. Risk

3. Initial cost

4. Criticism from peers

5. Satisfaction with things as they are.

 

Conditions and objections are thrown out by customers in such profusion and disorder that each one has to be tested, to find out whether it is an objection or a real condition. However only a small number of real conditions exist and they are only a small percentage of the number of obstacles you will have thrown at you.



*  *  *  80% of Salespeople Fail Here  *  *  *



Most businesspeople know that if they throw out a number of objections in the early stage of the interview, 80% of the salespeople that approach them go away.

This proves to the prospect that he was right to make his objections.

When the salesman gave up, the prospect proved to himself that the salesman had nothing of value to offer.

In reality the salesman failed to recognise the way this works and he gave up at the first or second hurdle. He did not realise that these are “the standard tests” that are applied by the prospect to every sales approach.

“I can’t afford it” is a very common objection in which the prospect genuinely believes he cannot afford what you are offering. The “It” in his mind is his conception or mental image of what you are offering. He has not, at this point received information to know better, this is why you have to inform him.

If no real condition applies and he does not buy, it is your fault. There are no such things as lousy prospects – only lousy salesman.

Objections exist because of misunderstanding, which is caused by a lack of information. The right thing to do when dealing with a prospect’s objections is to give him more knowledge, which then removes the objection.

 

Welcome objections

A good salesman will welcome objections because:

1. It shows that the prospect may be considering or thinking about his product.

2. It gives him a chance to give extra emphasis to the benefits of his product.

3. He identifies the things the customer is interested in, cost, turnover etc.

4. The prospect is indicating that he wants more knowledge to be certain before making a decision.

 

"A man who never objects never buys."

 

Having answered an objection, there’s very little point in proceeding, without his acceptance of your answer, otherwise the objection will remain in his mind.

If you remove all possible objections, there is no logical action left for the prospect, other than to place the order.

Many prospects will raise objections only to disguise their real concern, which may range, from lack of money, to a lack of confidence in you or your product.



There are techniques that can be learned to master the art of removing or overcoming objections:

Always listen and show that you are genuinely interested in what your prospect has to say. It releases his pressure, and it makes it easier for him to accept your answer.
Always agree and instead of saying “yes-but” (that feels like a blow to the prospect) say “yes-however”.
Conviction, persistance
Whatever your answer to the objection, you must give it with conviction.
Don’t try to win, try to help.
No argument or contradiction – just help him achieve his goals.
See the objection as a question: restate the objection in the form of a question, so that you can then answer the question. (ideally, get the client to answer his own objection)
Example:

He says: "Your products are too expensive!"

You say "Is what you are saying, you don't think we can match our competitors with value for money?

If he agrees with this question you can now go on to extoll all the extra value benefits of your product or service over that of the competition.

If he says that is not what he meant then you can frame another question and then answer that one.

Ask questions in order to find out the reason for the objection.
Example: “Why do you feel that this product wouldn’t be of any use to your company?”
Turn the objection into a reason for buying.
Deflate objections by bringing them up yourself
If the objections come out in a group, separate them and answer each one individually, making sure to obtain acceptance at each point as you proceed.


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6 Keys to selling:

  1. easing the relationship with the prospect: making business with you is easy
  2. knowledge of the products
  3. talking positively about the products – never using negative sentences;
  4. if the client has a question about what the product can do, in 99% of the cases say yes;
  5. don’t sell too much, but be persistent in the treatment of objections.
  6. use networking

    7. Brinley Groves, senior manager in the UK, has used networking throughout his career, and he is still working at 70 years old. "I'm a firm believer in people buying people", he says. For people of his generation he says, networking comes naturally, especially if you have a sales background and are not afraid of rejection. "one of the fears of any networker is the fear of rejection. You have to speak to many people and eventually you will make successful contacts."



based on: http://www.successful-selling-secrets.com/objections.html