What do you do when they put up a roadblock?

Written By Jeffrey Gitomer
@GITOMER

KING OF SALES, The author of seventeen best-selling books including The Sales Bible, The Little Red Book of Selling, and The Little Gold Book of Yes! Attitude. His live coaching program, Sales Mastery, is available at gitomer.me.

What do you do when they put up a roadblock?

Every time the least little obstacle appears in a sale or sales call, the salesperson refers to it as an objection. Personally, I prefer to call them barriers. If you don’t respond to or you handle the “obstacle” in some other poor fashion, it will preclude the sale.

You know the standard objections: “I can get it cheaper somewhere else.” “Your price is too high.” “I’m satisfied with who we’ve got.” “We’ve spent our whole budget.” “Business is slow.” “We have all the business we need.” “You’re not the right fit.” These are objections you’ve heard in one form or another a hundred times or more.

The only new objection in the last 100 years is “I can get it cheaper on the Internet.”

Many times these objections are flat lies.

The customer is saying “I’m interested in buying, but not from you” or “I’m interested in buying, but I don’t perceive any difference between you and the person I’m already doing business with.” Or the customer is interested in buying, but you’ve shown no value to that customer. So you’ve created a situation that offers no alternative but to deal with the PRICE. Ouch.

There are also unstated objections that may be behind the stated ones. Someone may say “I’m satisfied with who we’ve got.” But what they mean is “I’ve heard you’re no good.” “I don’t like you.” “I don’t like your company.” “I don’t like your product.” “We’ve done business with you before, and you screwed up.” Or “I’m loyal to somebody else, and there’s no way I’m switching.”

Here’s the real way to look at it: An objection is actually a buyer’s indication of interest. An objection is actually an opportunity to make a sale. And, an objection is an opportunity for you to learn from this sale and prevent it from occurring in future sales.

But for most salespeople, an objection is a reason to gripe, whine, complain to their boss, and quit in the middle of the sale. When the customer says “Your price is too high,” she’s really saying that your perceived value is either too low or not any different from the salesperson with the lower price.

Why do objections occur?

1. Because there is doubt or unanswered questions in the mind of probable purchaser created by the salesperson.

2. Because the prospect wants to buy or is interested in buying but needs clarification, wants a better deal, or must have third-party approval.

2.5 Because the prospect does not want to buy-or at least not from you.

Sales reality: No business in this country (yours included) has more than 10 objections to a sale. And PRICE is consistently among all of them.

Here’s a strategy that will work 100 percent OF THE TIME, but ONLY 5 percent OF PEOPLE HAVE THE WORK ETHIC TO MAKE IT (AND A TON OF SALES) HAPPEN.

Here goes. Get a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle. On the left side of the paper, list the objections. The list might include why people won’t buy from you and barriers to a sale. Remember to list every objection you’ve heard. (HINT: Price too high; satisfied with others; budget spent; etc.)

OK, now on the right side of the paper, list the things your customer is trying to achieve in his or her business. It may have NOTHING TO DO with your product, but list them anyway. What are their needs? (HINT: More sales. Better image. Profit. Loyal employees and customers, etc.)

Think about this: If you helped people with their needs, what would happen to your barriers?

Think about this: What are you doing to help them with their needs and problems in order to eliminate yours?

Here’s the rub: Even when companies KNOW the OBJECTIONS, less than 1 percent of businesses (yours included) identify those objections, figure out the best way to overcome those objections, define the scripts for those objections, offer several options to communicate responses and then train them to their sales team.

Come on. Doesn’t that seem obvious?

Here’s the bigger rub: There’s plenty of “here’s how to overcome this objection” information out there, but most of it is so old-world, so scripted, so stilted, so manipulative, so outdated-that it’s insulting to engage a customer in such a manner.

Want the real examples? Sure you do. They will appear in this spot next week, so stay tuned.

FREE GitBit. Want to know the REAL objections to a sale? The real barriers? You may not like them. Go to www.gitomer.com, register if you’re a first time user, then enter BARRIERS 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