Tips to Overcoming Sales Objections
Has this ever happened to you? You’re meeting with a hot prospect. You’ve asked all the right questions. You’ve answered the person’s questions. You feel you’ve given a great sales presentation. Then you go to close the sale and what happens – you get an objection.
What do you do? Hopefully, you don’t give up and walk away from a potential sale.
But if you are leaving before you reach the sale, you need to learn the art of overcoming sales objections if you want to be successful.
It’s important to realize that an objection is just part of the sales process. It doesn’t mean you’ve totally lost the sale. A lot of people know that if they throw out objections during a sales pitch about 80% of salespeople will just go away.
And if the salesperson gives up that easily, the prospect may believe the salesperson really had nothing of value to offer him/her.
As a sales professional, you need to realize that some objections are just a “test” to get rid of you. In these situations, you need to continue asking questions to glean more information from the prospect, answer their concerns and provide solutions to their problems before you attempt to close the sale again.
However, sometimes, the prospect’s objections are real and they need to be addressed before you can close the sale. To prepare for these points that need to be resolved, it’s a good idea to write down all of the typical objections you may hear and develop a possible response to each. Just remember though, you should never disagree or argue with the prospect about their objection. Instead, follow these simple steps:
- Listen closely to what the prospect is saying.
- Restate what you heard to confirm to the prospect that you were listening to what they are saying.
- Agree with what the prospect said.
- Ask an open-ended question to lead the conversation back to how your service can be of value.
For example, if your prospect says, “I need to think about it.” You would respond, “I hear you say that you need to think about it. Yes, it is a big decision and I’m sure you do need to think about it. Tell me, what are some of your concerns?”
Or, if your prospect says, “It’s too expensive.” You would respond, “I hear you say that it’s too expensive. Yes, it is a big investment. What kind of results would make this kind of investment worthwhile?”
When the prospect replies to the new question, explain how your product or service can meet this objection. Continue asking questions until you’ve uncovered and addressed as many objections as you can. Then ask for the business again and see what the prospect says.
However, if you do encounter a concrete reason why your products or services are not a good fit for the prospect, tell them so. Thank them for their time and gracefully end the conversation. It’s not beneficial to either of you to try to close the sale on a job you won’t enjoy and the client won’t be satisfied with.
In every sales situation, you should maintain a friendly, helpful, service-oriented attitude during the sales process, so you can build rapport and establish a mutual trust and confidence. You’ll show the prospect that you respect him/her and are concerned about his/her situation. And above, never let your personal feelings affect you. Remember, sales objections are not personal. They’re merely concerns to overcome to reach a mutually beneficial solution for you and the prospect.
To your success!
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