Why “overcoming” objections is wrong… and how to do it right!
Brad Trnavsky | October 29th, 2008 - 1:00 amI talk to a lot of sales people, and one thing I have learned is, as soon as someone finds out you are a sales coach the conversation inevitably turns to one topic: How do I overcome objections? Young or old, green or experienced it is a never fail inevitability for the conversation. One of the primary reasons I believe most of these people are having difficulty “overcoming” objections because they are bringing the wrong attitude to the table in the first place. The minute you start to play objection handling ping-pong it puts you on the offensive and your client on the defensive. In this environment it can be difficult at best to achieve your goals even if you clearly have the best solution for the customer in the market.
I think the best advice you can get on overcoming objections comes from Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. In this book Covey explains Habit 5 “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” What this basically says is: In order to successfully find a solution to an obstacle you must first understand its roots and meaning. Driving to a solution to soon is what will make you look desperate, or pushy.
There are four Primary types of obstacles and it is important you understand all four in order to be successful.
• Perceived obstacles (Obstacles that are perceived to exist in the sales persons own head)
• Feeling (Usually based on fear or other emotion)
• Misinformation (Obstacles that are based on things that are not true)
• Genuine (Issues that will need a more substantive solution)
Of these it is the first one (the perceived obstacle) that I believe is the most difficult for the average salesperson to not only identify but to deal with. The good news is that it is easy for sales managers to spot if you know what to look for. For most this is the obstacle that comes up in almost every appointment or phone call. The key words to look for are statements like:
• Why does no one have time to meet with me?
• Our product is too expensive.
• Why can’t we cut our price so we can compete with XYZ.
• I lost another deal because our product can not…
• Why do all my clients ask me…
When sales people have a perceived obstacle in their head they sell differently the minute they start talking about it. You will see them start to skirt an issue, soft sell price, or otherwise behave in ways that will demonstrate that they have some kind of lack of confidence in the product, and the prospect will pick up on this immediately. If you believe your clients are all to busy to come see you, you will set up the question so that it is easy to say they are too busy. You need to have 100% confidence in yourself, and your product, and be able to pass on that belief to your clients. If you close, and your client says I’d love to but you are a bit more expensive that XYZ you need to have some compelling reasons why you are better than XYZ. If allow your own internal conversation to switch to: “well they are cheaper”, or “dang it this always happens!”, you will loose deal after deal.
So how do we deal with this issue? The first step takes a little self reflection to determine if you have any perceived obstacles, and then identifying them. This is often easier to do while talking to a peer or your manager. Once you have identified what your perceived obstacle is, you need to inform yourself. Why is your product a bit more expensive? Do you have a better customer service plan? Is your product more reliable or made of higher quality parts? How have the trade journals or consumer product rating groups rated you vs. the competition? You may find that despite your higher cost no one can compete with YOU, or that the feature everyone keeps asking for is a fad not worth having.
The short answer to the perceived obstacle question is” You need to become an expert on not only your own product, but all similar ones in the market place. Not to “sell against” the competition, but to assist your clients in making the right decision. Presenting yourself as an expert will not only help you overcome your own objections, but the confidence and expertise you bring to the table will make your clients more confident in your presentations.
The next type of obstacle is the feeling obstacle. This is an obstacle based on fear or emotion. The tool that I recommend here is Feel – Felt – Found. I use this tool so much and so effectively that my friends and co-workers sometimes joke with me because it can sound a bit silly if you recognize it, but it is a very effective tool in the right situation and if used sincerely. This is how it works:
Your client says “I am afraid I can’t XYZ because of ABC.”
Like overcoming any other obstacle, the first step is to clarify by asking a question that confirms you are in complete understanding of the issue.
Frequently when fear is the cause of the obstacle what you really have is a stall, not an objection. In that situation all your client really needs is a little reassurance that everything will be ok. In that situation I will respond with something similar to this:
I can understand how you feel. Many of my clients have felt that way, but what they have found is (insert benefit statement here).
To give it to you in the form of a joke I hear on a regular basis from friends…
Me: I wish I had more time to write on my blog…
Friend: I can understand how you feel. Many others have felt that way before, but what they have found is that by drinking more coffee and sleeping less you will have no problem getting your scheduled blog posts out on time!
I understand that that is a silly example, but try it a few times and you will find it to be a extremly flexible tool for overcming fear based objections.
The next type of obstacle is one based on misinformation. The first and most important thing to remember is no matter how ridiculous the misinformation sounds it is real to them and true as far as they know. My approach to dealing with this particular obstacle is not too different from any other. There are lots of techniques out there on ways to combat misinformation, but remember a lot of customers are savvy, and will shy away if they catch you using a “technique” because it often feels dishonest or like you are trying to trick or entrap them. Here is what I have found to be the most successful. Remember that 5th habit… Seek first to understand then be understood!
1. Welcome the objection. It sounds counter intuitive, but I actually thank them for sharing the objection with me. It has to be an honest and sincere thank you… Not a cheesy fake sounding one. So if I hear an obstacle based on misinformation, my first response is always “Thank you so much for sharing that with me…
2. The second step is to clarify the objection. There are a few different ways I will clarify depending on what makes sense. The first is simply “tell me more about that.” The second is “When you say X, what do you mean exactly?” and the third is “So if I understand you correctly, what you are saying is…” This will help you to make sure the objection you perceived is the actual one they are trying to express.
3. The next step is to re-educate the client. There are a lot of ways to go about this, but I usually try to use a neutral outside source of information or written documentation like a trade journal to demonstrate the correct information in combination with an associated feature – interest – benefit check or feel – felt – found.
4. The final step is to trial close with a simple question like do you have any other questions about xyz or does that make sense?
The misinformation objection is very difficult to deal with if you do not have good rapport, so make sure you do not get offensive or defensive. Stay warm, comfortable, and open. Welcome the objection, clarify it, re-educate, and then trial close understanding and you should be in good shape!
The last type is the genuine obstacle. Really this obstacle is dealt with in much the same way as misinformation with a small twist. here is how I do it:
1. Welcome the objection with a smile.
2. Clarify by asking a open ended question.
3. Use the appropriate feature – interest – benefit statement.
4. Summarize and trial close with a good open ended question.
As you can see real issues are really the easiest to deal with. If you learn to deal with the first three appropriately the genuine obstacle is EASY!
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