Want to be a great salesperson? Learning how to handle objections is one of the best methods for making the sales process smoother.
Pushback on a sales call is inevitable. Dealing with pushback in a positive way aids both your customer relationships and your sales. In this article, we’ll outline 12 of the very best objection handling strategies to help you win sales.
Stay Calm & Listen
So, you are on a sales call. You are delivering a great pitch, the prospective customer is listening intently, and everything seems to be going well. Then boom —they hit you with an objection.
Don’t panic. Your first task is this — take a deep breath and listen very carefully to what the prospect is objecting to.
Remain Positive
Remaining positive in the face of objections is a tricky, but crucial skill for overcoming them.
Remember that objections mean that the prospect is considering your product or service, but they just need some help overcoming obstacles before they can commit to buying. If they weren’t interested at all, they wouldn’t bother taking the time to object.
Facing an objection is also an excellent opportunity to practice crucial sales skills. If your customers never had objections, there would be no need for sales professionals.
Objections are a positive thing that you should embrace.
Practice Empathy
Developing a relationship with your customer is the best way to build the trust you need to make the sale. When faced with objections, practicing empathy is a great way to develop this relationship.
Instead of just offering an ‘off the shelf’ solution to the objection, try putting yourself in the customer’s shoes. Understanding their perspective will help you build a good relationship and offer a more bespoke solution to their challenge.
Dig Deeper by Asking Questions
Don’t just accept objections— always take the opportunity to dig a little deeper and find the true cause of the issue.
Take, for example, the common objection:
“It is too expensive.”
By asking the right questions such as:
“What is your budget currently spent on?”
“How do you currently solve this issue?”
“How do you calculate your return on investment in this area?”
You are likely to find that being ‘too expensive’ isn’t the issue, but instead could be:
“I don’t understand the value.”
“We are spending that money elsewhere.”
“I don’t believe the benefits outweigh the cost.”
Once you know this, it is much easier to deliver the right solution and make the sale.
Repeat & Confirm
When delivering objections, the customer needs to know that you understand what they are telling you. One easy way to do this is by putting their objection into your own words and repeating it back to them.
You can start by saying:
“So am I correct in thinking…”
Offer Soft Solutions
Offering ‘soft’ or ‘test’ solutions is a good strategy for maintaining the flow of the conversation. When you provide a single, final solution, it is easy for the prospective customer to say ‘no,’ effectively closing the conversation and your opportunity to make a sale.
Try testing routes and ideas with questions such as:
“Would something similar to[solution] work?”
“If we [solution], would that help?”
Isolate Objections
When faced with multiple objections, you need to make sure that you give each one the care and attention they deserve. Seek to resolve each one before moving onto the other.
Check whether your solution is acceptable by using a sentence such as:
“So, if I could [solution], would that fix the issue for you?”
Plan & Prepare
Knowing the common objections your customers face is a good way to prepare reliable answers ahead of time.
Make sure that common objections and replies are noted and are accessible to the whole sales team. The goal is tolimit thetime and effort invested, ultimately making your sales organization more efficient.
Hold Back Pricing
Pricing is an essential aspect of selling, especially when it is competitive in the marketplace. However, holding back pricing information until later in the conversation has significant benefits — it allows you to develop trust and fully explain value before discussing the price.
Revealing the price before communicating the benefits can make it difficult for the prospect to see the value.
Deliver Hard Proof
When purchasing, people want to know that they are making the right decision. One way to help them is by offering them proof of your product or service. This could be a series of facts, such as the average return on investment of using your product.
Play on Emotion
A powerful way to prove the value of your offering is to use facts. In theory, it shouldn’t take anything else to make a sale.
However, sales means dealing with humans which means emotions are always going to play a role in the buying decision. Ask the right questions to get a feel for their feelings towards the product. A great example — ask: “Do you feel this would be a good option for [Company]?”
Leverage Your Team
Pride can easily play a big part in buying decisions. Once a prospect has objected, it can be difficult for them to go back on their decision, even if you are offering a reasonable solution.
If you are stuck with a client, try getting someone else from your team to speak to them. A new perspective can freshen up the conversation and open up the prospect of buying. It can also be beneficial if you and your colleagues have different selling styles by helping you find one that meets the prospect’s preferences.
Handle Objections, Win at Sales
Objection handling like a professional is as simple as being in the right frame of mind, and having the right tools to hand. Being prepared is by far the best way to limit panic and offer solutions that seriously increase the chances of making a sale.
What is your favorite strategy for handling objections?
