Step 5 – Deal with Objections

Determine and Meet Objections

When a prospect first gives an objection, smile, because that is when you start earning your salary. You want to receive personal satisfaction from your job and at the same time increase your salary – right? Well, both occur when you accept objections as a challenge that, handled correctly, benefits both your prospect and you. The more effectively you meet customers’ needs and solve their problems, the more successful you will be at sales. If you fear objections, you will fumble your response, which often causes failure.

Remember, while people want to buy, they do not want to be taken advantage of. Buyers who cannot see how your offering will fulfil their needs ask questions and raise objections. If you cannot effectively answer the questions or meet the objections, you will not make the sale. It is your fault, not the buyer’s; that the sale was not made if you sincerely believe your offering fulfils a need by the prospect still will not buy. The salesperson who can overcome objections when they are raised and smoothly return to a presentation will succeed.

Interestingly, prospects who present objections often are easily sold on your product. They are interested enough to object; they want to know what you have to offer.

Opposition or resistance to information or to the salesperson’s request is labelled a sales objection. Sales objections must be welcomed because they show prospect interest and help determine what stage the prospect has reached in the buying cycle attention, interest, desire, conviction or readiness to close.

What are Sales Objections and how can You Overcome Them

A sales objection is a rebuttal from your current lead during the sales process that explicitly states a reason why they will not be buying from you now. These can include problems with price, usefulness of the product, or a lack of time to engage with you currently, among other things.

Here’s one important thing every seasoned salesperson understands:

Getting an objection from a client is a good thing! It means the prospect has enough interest to at least engage with you, rather than flat out dismissing you. For you, the salesperson, a sales objection is an opportunity to learn more about your prospect’s needs and find better ways to communicate the value your solution has to offer to them.

How to Handle Sales Objections

To handle sales objections, you must be prepared for what is coming at you, listen attentively to your potential buyer, and demonstrate that you truly understand their concerns. To master handling objections, you need to prepare responses to common rebuttals from your leads to regain the upper hand.

Salespeople often struggle with objections because of the surprise factor that accompanies them - you weren’t expecting it! If you need to know how to manage any sales objection, these strategies can help take the shock value out of the conversation and get you back on track to close.

Proven Strategies for Overcoming Objections in Sales

Really Listen to the Objection: You might think jumping in with a quick response is the best tactic, but it’s much better to listen carefully to what they are saying so you don’t make assumptions about what they want/what they mean.

Take the Time to Understand the Objection: Ask further questions about what they mean, as it’s common that your potential buyer isn’t revealing their real objections. Explore with them to get to the real root of the issue that’s holding them back.

Craft a Response Addressing Their Biggest Objection: Once you understand it, provide a rebuttal to their concerns. If you can overcome this barrier, the call can likely continue with less resistance.

Try to Resolve Their Objection in Real Time: The better you can satisfy their concerns right away, the more likely they are to proceed further in the sales process.

Keep Responses Clear and To the Point: A long response where you go on and on isn’t likely to be well-received, but instead, seen as more ‘selling’ and less like addressing their concerns.

Don’t Wing It: Making up things on the spot is likely to get you in trouble; buyers can sense this, and it will create a level of distrust that likely will end the sales call. If you need more information, ask for it, or look it up.

Confirm you’ve Satisfied the Objection: Don’t assume you have just because they accept what you say. Ask your potential buyer how they feel about what you’ve said, or if you’ve alleviated their concerns. This can help you move in for the close, or if necessary, move on to addressing further concerns they have.

Most Common Sales Objections

Different salespeople face completely different objections, right? Wrong. What you’re selling will clearly affect the minor details of the objections that come your way, but the truth is, most salespeople face the same objections from their leads.

These are the types of objections in sales that most people see on a regular basis.

Price Objections: No budget, no money, the price is too high, need a discount to buy.

Not a Good Fit: The product doesn’t make sense, too hard to integrate, not for me.

Not Interested: Brushing off, we don’t need this, “It’s not you, it’s me”.

Too Busy: Can’t talk right now, maybe later, send the information in an email.

Gatekeepers: Passing the buck, you need to talk to someone else, “I don’t have authority”.

Competition: We’re going with a competitor; [X]'s product is better; we’re already locked into a contract.

Hard NO: Not interested, “How did you get my information,” “I hate you,” *click*.

Create an Objection Management Document

This course should list the top 25 objections you face, along with a 1-3 sentence response for each. If you work with a team, collaborate on this project together.

Practice the objection responses and commit them to memory. You don’t have to recite them word-for-word, but you should at least have them in the back of your mind so you have a strong foundation and can deliver confident, compelling responses every time.

Customise your objection list to market. Each market has its own objections, and if you aren’t prepared for those, you’re going to lose deals to someone that is. Sort your objections into groups by market and add objections you get from only certain areas.

The best way to become a master of these strategies is to practice them while selling. But you want to be prepared for these objections, so you aren’t losing sales while mastering your objection handling. Here are the objections you’ll see in sales on a regular basis.