Objections sometimes instill a sense of fear into many sales people because it’s often the final barrier to closing the sale.
In reality, our old nemesis the objection can actually be our best friend when it comes to selling, because if dealt with correctly, Objections can actually be our greatest closing asset.
Three Step Technique For Using Objections to Close More Deals
1. Be Proactive - Ask Your Customer for Objections!
At first this might seem strange, why would you encourage the customer to find objections?
The main reason for this is that if the customer does have objections, asking for them is not going to make any difference; they would have still come out. What this does do however, is create a subtle shift in power, putting you in control of the situation rather than coming from a place of defense. Here’s the type of question you can ask
“Based on what we’ve discussed, is there any reason why you wouldn’t be able to do business with me today?”
As well as putting you in control, this question also does 2 other things. Firstly, they have now got to tell you (or lie) the specific things that would stop them doing business with you. Secondly, and potentially more importantly, you are also assuming the deal will be closed should these reasons be addressed to the customer’s satisfaction.
2. Ask For More
If being proactive and asking for objections wasn’t bad enough, now I’m suggesting you actually ask for more!
One of the biggest mistakes I see sales people make, is responding too quickly to the first objection a customer provides. A smarter approach is to get all the objections out on the table first before you address any of them.
A simple way of doing this is firstly acknowledge the previous objection and then ask a question something like …
“OK, so let me address that in a moment, but before I do, are there any other concerns you have?”
By repeating this process you will finally get a definitive list of all the reasons this prospect might choose not to do business with you. A list that in theory, if addressed to their satisfaction, should lead to you closing the sale.
The key is not to rush in with answers too early, but instead, hold your cool and take the time to get all their concerns aired.
3. Test Close.
Now that you have this finite list of objections, you should do one more thing before you start to address each concern, and that is to do what we call a ‘Test Close’.
The way to do this is to firstly list all the objections they have provided, and to then ask one more question before you answer them. This would sound something like …
“To summarise then, you said you would like more information about a, b and c, and that you had some concerns over x, y and z, correct? Let me now address each one of those for you and assuming I answer those questions to your satisfaction, have we got a deal?”
This last part of the sentence is the ‘Test Close’. We have now tested the prospects true intent. They have to either agree that these are the only reasons that would stop them doing business with you, or come up with more objections that they haven’t told you about.
If they come up with other objections, then you just repeat the process again until the list is truly definitive. However, if they keep adding objections, you now know that these are what we call False Objections (excuses not to do business with you) and you can qualify out.
As you can see, these three steps enable you to control any sales situation and tactically move an opportunity nearer to a signed deal.
I’m sure many of you reading this might know these techniques, but ask yourself, how often do you jump in with an answer to any given objection, rather than taking the time to get the full list first?
If you’d like three free videos on Objection Handling Techniques, then visit:
www.channelsalesmastery.com/gift