The more they object, the more you protest.
The “objection” is one of the least understood aspects of selling-and also one of the most frustrating to a salesperson.
And the only new objection in the last 100 years is “I can get it cheaper online.” All the rest you have heard time and time and time and time again. You’ve heard the objection “Your price is too high” ad nauseam. And you’ve heard the objection “I’m satisfied with my present supplier” as much as you’ve heard “Your price is too high.”
Why do you continue to let this happen? You protest that you are a great salesperson, yet you let these puny little objections get in your way of making sales. I don’t get it.
I refer to an objection as a barrier. There are several barriers to a sale. Affordability is a barrier. Competition is a barrier. Customer understanding is a barrier. “The fit” of your product or service to a need is a barrier. And risk of ownership is a barrier.
The other elements that you call objections occur because you are not dealing with the decision maker. In order to earn time with your prospective purchaser, you, as a salesperson, have to generate interest or communicate value beyond your product.
There are several sales scenarios that occur again and again. Unfortunately, the salesperson believes these obstacles cannot be overcome. Take, for example, “Your price is too high.” The old-world tactic was to ask, “Well, how much were you thinking about paying?” or “How far apart are we?” or “Well, how can we work this out?” Or how about my favorite dumb sales response: “What will it take to get your business?”
The reason that “price” plays into a selling cycle is that you, the salesperson, have not communicated any “value reasons” that will move the prospect to buy. Now, price is the only thing left.
Instead of ASKING what it will take to get his business, wouldn’t it be more powerful if you TOLD the prospect what it would take to get his business? Don’t you know what it will take to get his business? Get a grip. When it comes to respect, how low do you want to sink? You’re the expert, aren’t you?
Shouldn’t you walk into the sale and tell the prospect “I’ve studied the situation, I’ve worked with your people, I’ve analyzed the risk elements, and I’ve created several great ideas about what it will take to get your business”?
If you walk into the sale KNOWING what it will take to get the prospect’s business, you’ll have a 100 percent better chance than your competitor does by ASKING what it will take to get the prospect’s business.
As soon as you ask “What will it take?” the customer is immediately thinking “price reduction,” so even if you win the business, you lose the profit.
When someone says your price is too high, it’s literally too late in the sales game to recover without dropping your price.
A better play is during your sales presentation. So say something like “A lot of people who are considering purchasing our products look at our price and look at our competitor’s price. And although they believe ours to be higher because we may be the higher initial price, the fact is that during the term of use-we are the lowest cost. Our productivity is the highest. Ms. Jones, people buy in 30 minutes. But they use for several years. Let’s look at how you are currently using our products.”
That’s objection PREVENTION.
When the customer says “We’re satisfied with who we have,” it’s too late. When you enter the room, you should head it off by asking, “Mr. Jones, why do customers switch suppliers?” This takes the objection away and makes the customer answer his or her own objection.
This will create a dialog and real answers from the customer. It also implies that you know why they switch, so you better have your own set of answers.
Here’s the biggest rub: Customers will lie to you or play games or do both-and there’s almost nothing you can do about it. Turn on your BS meter. Set it on high. Being a keen listener and a keen questioner will help you-but in the end, if they lie about anything, they’ll lie about everything. It’s best to give these people to your competition and let them deal with people who lie.
Free GitBit: Want to know the BEST way I have ever found to overcome an objection? Go to www.Gitomer.com — register if you’re a first time user — and enter the word BEST OBJECT in the GitBit box.
Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Sales Bible, is now offering licensed training programs to corporations, as well as distributorships to individuals, based on his best-selling books and the TrainOne online learning series. This process is starting with his newest book The Patterson Principles of Selling. Jeffrey can be reached by phone: 704/333-1112 or e-mail: salesman@gitomer.com
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