How to handle and overcome objections in the sale

If you are a Salesperson or a Professional or Entrepreneur directly involved in the sales phase of your products / services / solutions / creations, being able to effectively manage objections in the sale should be an integral part of your skills… but unfortunately, very often this is not the case…

Still, it should be clear that just like an athlete who has hurdles to overcome, effective objection handling is what gets you closer or closer to that goal which, as far as you're concerned, is closing a sale, i.e. getting the offer accepted. your proposal/offer, receive a formal order or have your contract signed .

Unfortunately, still today, there are too many professionals, owners of professional or technical studios and small entrepreneurs who lose sales because they don't know how to effectively manage objections during the sales phase.

Working with these professional categories on a daily basis, I know from experience that they all try their best to overcome these problems, but the lack of knowledge and specific sales techniques on how to handle sales objections is what causes them to lose, too frequently of relevant business opportunities.

Therefore, given the important loss of turnover that can be caused by poor management of objections, let's see first of all…

The main objections of customers in the sale

Let's make practical examples to understand how to deal with them... avoiding uselessness such as the use of the acronym gab in the management of sales objections...

The price is high, the cost is high,…

This has always been considered one of the killer objections. In reality, arriving at the end of a negotiation to be told that the price is high depends only on a mistake made by the seller during the sales process.

Basically, if you use a qualifying and professional sales process, it becomes almost impossible to find yourself having to manage this type of objection, because the same has already been anticipated, having discussed the "budget" during the phase preceding the quotation/proposal/offer .

Do you think it is not possible to discuss the budget/expenditure possibilities before quoting? Ok free to do that but then don't complain if you keep losing sales due to this issue.

Another aspect that can be connected to this objection is that often the seller does not adequately consider that the price is evaluated by the potential customer on the basis of the value that he associates and perceives with respect to what is offered to him.

Consequently, if it is not a problem of spending capacity/possibility, it means that you have not managed to create that Value which, in the customer's mind, is congruent with what you are requesting.

How to overcome this objection?

This means that during the sales process or having to handle customer objections, this is the moment in which you should be able to explain how the cost is not at all high compared to the value that your potential customer can get.

The high price is often a perceptive problem of the potential customer caused by the fact that the seller has not managed to make clear the high obtainable value compared to the proposed price.

If your potential customer comes to clearly perceive that what they are about to get is exactly what they want, price is almost never a problem.

Be careful… Value is not a beautiful but useless expression from marketing books. Value is also not what you have in your head and therefore what you think is value.

Value, in selling, is the advantages/benefits/utility/results that your customer wants to obtain with respect to his needs/necessities/problems/desires.

So the theme is: do you know exactly how to identify what constitutes value for your potential customer? Do you know what to ask to receive this fundamental information from him?

Everything is ok but it's not the time to make this purchase/investment... we'll talk about it later...

Here too, we are faced with an objection that you cannot find again after you have quoted, because this too can be solved in advance during the sales process.

In fact, this would never be an objection to be handled if, among the topics for discussion with the potential customer, you always set yourself the goal of verifying the time horizon.

How to overcome it?

However, if you are faced with this problem , you can overcome it by asking simple questions such as: "Why isn't this the time?" or “ What are the estimated times? " or again "What's stopping you from proceeding now? ”.

You need these questions to understand what the real problem is and/or what the timing would be.

If there is a problem, you can then work on the solution. If, on the other hand, there is no urgency, you can try to understand what to do to convince them to accelerate or in any case to confirm your proposal immediately.

I can find/get a better price from others

This is the other side of the coin of what we saw in the first point.

In the digital age, this has become one of the most common sales objections, given how easy it is for any of your potential customers to find many possible alternatives.

How can this objection be overcome?

The first thing to do in these cases is never to oppose the objection but to accept it as plausible. After that, you have to start asking questions about the cheapest alternative.

You must therefore be clear about your set of questions to ask the customer in these cases. Questions that allow you to identify where your proposal is not perfectly comparable.

Even 1 single element is enough for you to return, for example, to leverage the specific "advantages/benefits" that you can offer unlike others.

Only 1 element can be enough to make the customer understand that, by spending less, he risks not exactly acquiring the "result" he wants to obtain.

Here too, as you can see, everything could be resolved during the sales process, without therefore finding yourself having to manage this type of objection.

I have to think about it… We think about it…

This is the other killer objection. The one that kills most people in a sales pitch.

Why?

Because faced with this, even more than with the others, they don't know what to do...

Often this false objection is interpreted by the seller in a negative way, because in his head it becomes: "Now I won't hear this anymore..."

This is not the case because this is just a false objection which hides the real objection.

Therefore, without prejudice to the right of some to think about it despite everything being clear and extremely defined (but these are few, believe me…) it is therefore probable that, in reality, there are still some doubts or perplexities in the head of the potential customer.

This means that, in the face of this objection, you must never "abandon the field" ...

Overcoming the objection...

You have to ask questions because to handle this objection, you have to find out what is behind it, the hidden one, so you have to know what they have to think about.

There are various sales techniques for this but the underlying theme is that by finding out what they have to think about you will also know what is stopping them from closing at that moment.

If you learn how to do this, you'll find that often it's little things that, once clarified, will put the prospect more at ease.

And when your prospect feels calm and at ease, you close the sale.

I don't have this budget/money right now…

I would not like to continue insisting on the qualifying and professional sales process, but you cannot find yourself at the end of the negotiation facing an objection of this type, when you could have unmarked it before even issuing a proposal/offer.

Patience it went like this, now what can you do?

Having said that, if you are faced with this anyway, it is necessary to work on the potential client's Values to make him understand how absolutely useful it is for him to think, at this precise moment, about how to find/create the necessary budget.

It is therefore up to you to be able to collaborate with the customer to help him identify all possible solutions and this becomes much easier when you are able to work on the "result/utility" obtainable against that budget .

Not the right product for us

Variations on this theme should be handled as a request for information. A potential customer might argue that a certain issue isn't that important at the moment, that the product is too complex, that they don't understand what it could be used for, or that you don't understand what they do.

How to fix?

Whatever the situation, politely explain to him how the product can help him solve certain problems.

Also, it's important to keep in mind that pretexts often indicate an attempt to give definite shape to a simple lack of resourcefulness on the part of the prospect. Understand that and use it to your advantage.

I need to talk to… you need the approval of…

You must know that within a qualifying and professional sales process, an important part is, not surprisingly, dedicated to identifying the decision makers.

At this point, what can you do…

However, if you have not carried out this step or the person you spoke to made you think that he is the only one responsible for the decision when he was not at all, you must immediately focus on your need to find out who is the decision maker who was missing from the negotiation up to that moment.

Why do you have to do this? Because you have to be able to talk to us directly, perhaps immediately or, if not possible, organize a special meeting at the same time.

You must also make sure that the one with whom you have talked up to now can be a true evangelist of your proposal . You must try to immediately understand what you can do to put him in a position to be in front of the decision-maker and be able to talk about your product/service/solution/realisation, exactly as you would.

They didn't speak well of her/you… I found bad reviews about her/you…

The beauty of the internet is that today any potential customer can find you with a simple Google search but at the same time they can also form an opinion about you that can be positive but also strongly negative.

You can rest assured that today, even 1 negative review/opinion/comment/testimonial/reference can upset him.

However, you must be clear that this objection highlights a strong need for reassurance.

What can you do to overcome the objection

This objection, unless we are talking about one or very few negative judgments, can be resolved by showing case studies and positive testimonials released by your customers and explaining in detail, for example, the guarantees you can offer with respect to what you propose.

We are waiting for other estimates/proposals/projects…

For many it is absolutely normal to request at least 3 estimates, because the need is to make sure you can get the best price.

Mind what I wrote… the “ best price ”, NOT the “lowest price”.

As strange as it may seem to you, in over 80% of cases, potential customers in any field/sector NEVER look for the lowest price but ALWAYS for the best price.

You do not believe me?

Think about it… when YOU are a potential customer… are you looking for the lowest price or always the best price?

The answer hurts you a bit right? :-) ;-)

How to be able to be the best price?

Effectively managing this objection means having the ability to submit proposals which, even in the face of cheaper quotations, are still seen as the best.

The guarantees you can offer can be worth much more than the lowest price, your differentiators and uniqueness can be worth much more than the lowest price.

Your experience/expertise/authority may be worth much more than the lowest price, what you can do after the sale may be worth much more than the lowest price.

Your ability to connect and build relationships can be worth much more than the lowest price, your…

Where to continue with the examples or is the concept clear?

We are already working with a competitor company

This is a lucky case, because it means that the company is already aware that it needs the product. Even if they claim to be satisfied with the competition, dig deeper into their relationship, find out what's right and what's wrong, without criticizing the work done (I, for example, prefer never to do it), and finally indicate the points where you can offer something better or simply your added value.

General tips for handling objections

Also, I advise you to keep these always valid tips in mind for conducting negotiations and minimizing the possibility of conflict.

Don't interrupt

Even if you've already sensed what objection is about to arise, let the customer do the talking and feel valued.

Thank you for the new opportunity to clarify

Thank your customer for raising the objection and giving you the opportunity to resolve the issue.

Acknowledge the objection…

Give your client reason to show that you understand their objection before refuting it.

…Or deny it if that's the case

If you are certain that the customer's objection is based on erroneous personal bias ("This software will cause security problems"), politely dismiss it.

The skills to be a successful professional salesperson

Sure, objection handling is just one of many skills you need to train if, as a salesperson, you want to be successful.

Keep these three things in mind:

• It is essential that objection handling techniques are applied alongside other more general techniques, such as verbal communication, body language and organization.
• As you focus on improving a certain skill, don't lose sight of other essential things, such as an interest in the customer's day-to-day challenges, which brings out the real issues and characteristics of the offer that you should do to present yourself as who can solve them
• It should also be remembered that if a customer is only interested in an offer, and not in a conversation, he probably just wants a quote and is not a good investment of resources and time. The same is true if your contact refuses to let you speak to their executives even after numerous conversations.

What does the sales cycle make of it  

Objections are inevitable : if the potential customer was already convinced of the product, you wouldn't even need to speak. Of course, not every lead will be worth it, and not every call will present you with the opportunity to leverage closing techniques and close a deal (if you experience rejection as a salesperson, it's important to know how take the hit).

But, as a sales technique, learn to spot objections early and react appropriately   it's much more beneficial than becoming defensive about the value of the product or considering them a failure and proceeding elsewhere, however tempting that move may seem. Start thinking now about how you can improve your objection handling and sales skills.