It is tempting to immediately share
30 years of research with you, and say
Buyer’s Objections Cannot be Overcome!
But, that would cause you far too much emotional distress. You don’t want to believe that is true, or you would not have started to read this Blog.
How to Handle Customer’s Objections?
The BEST way, by far, is to AVOID Objections completely!
In order to do that, you must first learn:
What causes objections?
YOU DO!
Yes, that’s right; Sellers CAUSE Buyers to Object!
In thousands of Sales Calls I have logged the Customer Objection,
AND what the Salesperson said before the Customer Objected:
The Sellers gave the price,
then the Buyer said “that’s too expensive!”The Seller gave the dimensions,
then the Buyer said “that’s too small!”The Seller gave a delivery date,
then the Buyer said “that’s too late!”The Seller asked for the order,
then the buyer said “I am happy with my current supplier!”
In fact, evidence based fact, the two primary causes of Customer’s Objections are:
- The Seller giving features, Price, Size, style, speed, feed, location, colour, compatibility, etc.
- Or, The Seller asking for the order.
If Objections were GOOD things (Buying Signals),
then the best way to get Objections is: to ASK for the Order,
early in the Buying Cycle as this is almost certain to cause an Objection!
Are Objections GOOD things, are they buying Signals?
If you look at the straightforward evidence of:
What is the relationship between Customer Objections and Sales success?
This is easy to measure, just COUNT them!
Then,
the MORE Objections you get,
the LESS you sell !
Remember:
YOU caused the Objection
by Talking Features or Asking for the Order.
ONE Objection?
for example: Price, this MAY be overcome if a ‘trade-off’ is made [often this is Value]
TWO objections?
You are unlikely to get the business, even if you have one good trade off.
THREE objections?
You have mis-sold your product or service and you won’t be getting the business.
Hopefully one of the three objections was PRICE,
now you can report to your Sales Manager,
that the Price is too high, rather than YOU cannot sell!
Objections are OBSTACLES.
If you believe Objections are welcome ‘buying signals’
then you have given up Rationality, rather than just giving up the sale [or selling].
When you extrapolate fiction, it then becomes fantasy!
Persistence is a trait of many Salespeople,
but continuing to repeat something with little chance of success is “Irrational Perseverance”
Objections are best Avoided.
You can avoid Objections by showing how your Product or Service meets the Buyer’s needs,
and by NOT Asking for the Order, until they are ‘Ready to Order’
OK, how do I Handle the one Objection I did get,
by giving them my Price BEFORE I gave them their Value?
First of all 99% of Sales “Objection Handling” techniques DO NOT work.
They are nonsense. I repeat, the techniques taught, and written about DO NOT WORK.
I have measured ‘overcoming’ Objections on thousands of occasions,
thousands of objections and the “Skills” to overcome objections DO NOT work.
You can easily measure them too.
Let’s take a widely taught Objection Handling technique “Feel, Felt, Found”.
I understand why you Feel the price is too high.
And other customers have Felt the same way.
However, when they saw the money they saved with it they Found it was really good Value!
I measured this against 300 uses for various objections,
it succeeded less often than just ‘ignoring’ the objection all together!
And, that was only “successful” in less than 15% of the time.
It does NOT work.
Or, “Preemptive” Objection Handling
using a “Script” to introduce a known shortcoming of your product or service,
then attempt to offer a scripted ‘answer’.
“By presenting these shortcomings or negatives, our aim is to create credibility and gain trust”.
The actual effect on Buyers is the opposite!
The Seller ‘introduces’ additional Fears, Uncertainties and Doubts in the Buyer’s mind,
then uses a “Rebuttal” or “argument” to overcome it! Nonsense!
Again, research shows that “When you extrapolate fiction, it then becomes fantasy!”
What does sometimes handle an Objection is a Trade-off.
In this case trading better Value for a higher Price
Let’s take three houses.
If we were selling the New House A, the most expensive,
then we would have the “That’s too expensive option”.
We have to Trade Value, for the higher Price.
Against the other house B our ‘Value’ is in a Better Location, with Good Schools.
Is it better to have a Good location?
Yes, because this property will increase in Value faster and further than House B,
So it will be in demand, therefore it may work out cheaper overall!
And, what price do we put on having our children happy at school?
If taken over a 10 year period it would be 20,000, or 2,000 per year, or 40 per week.
This money will be recovered in a higher Price when we choose to sell!
Against, the current house which, after the new baby, is now too small,
it’s the increased cost of the mortgage 263 per month or less than 10 per day.
However, ALL of this money, and more, will be recouped when you sell the new larger house,
i.e. the extra bedroom will be free!
Trade-offs, against Drawbacks [objections] may convince Customers to buy.
Here are a few Key thoughts about Objections:
- Objections are BEST avoided
- Objections are Caused by Salespeople
- Objections cause lost sales, they are NOT ‘Buying Signals’
- Objections are “Drawbacks”
- Objections can be traded off, sometimes!
- Objections are Statements, they are NOT Questions.
- Objections cannot be overcome with flim-flam,
psychological nonsense, and 99% of taught techniques do not work
BMAC Consultants have developed an Evidence Based Objection Handling model,
based on Avoidance and Trade-off.
This is a Sales Skill, an Interactive Skill based on the ACTUAL Sales Situation.
If you wish to see other examples e mail Brian.MacIver@Gmail.com
