Having discovered the need to identify objections and deal with them appropriately, it is also important to keep in mind that objections should not be handled aggressively. Because there are many different reasons for objections being presented, each one must be handled in its own way, on its own merit. You need to understand the nature of an objection if you wish to address it properly and with the right amount of care.

The nature of an objection is based on the fact that the buyer’s heart and his mind are engaged in a struggle. As we know, it’s the heart that does the buying and the mind that prevents the purchase. Therefore, when a buyer is making an objection, it’s clear that his mind is creating an obstacle for the bit of interest that has been stirred in his heart. In other words, he IS interested in your product. If he wasn’t, he would have walked away. But the fact that there is an objection means that his heart and mind are competing in a battle of wills over the validity of the purchase.

If an objection has been made in good faith, it may simply be that the prospect is interested in the products but hasn’t the means available to buy them. His common sense (mind) may be trying to prevail over his desire (heart) to make the purchase; but only because he knows that he should keep his money aside for a more essential need. This is a difficult resistance for any salesperson to overcome. However, it may well be in the prospect’s best interest to purchase your product as opposed to buying a new pair of shoes or some other essential item. It is your responsibility to demonstrate this to him, in the appropriate manner.

Again, if the prospect has objected with good intentions, it may be that he does have a strong desire to purchase your product but he thinks that it’s not a wise decision to make as there are other essentials that he needs to buy. Subconsciously, he’s wistfully hoping that his heart is right and his mind is wrong.

Let’s suppose that he thinks it’s foolish to spend money on your product when he needs a new pair of shoes; but he’d rather do without the new shoes if he could have your product without seeming foolish. All that you need to do in this case is to demonstrate to the prospect that making the purchase is a wise move and is not a foolish decision at all. The degree of opposition is in proportion to the weakness of his desire. If he has a strong desire to purchase your product, the opposition of his mind won’t be difficult to overcome and his heart will eventually win the duel.

Most failures in objection handling are due to the salesperson failing to understand the double nature of what he or she is dealing with. You will not succeed in trying to overcome an objection by using a purely mental approach. This is because when two minds are at loggerheads it can only result in antagonism instead of the harmony that you need to acquire the sale. Similarly, meeting an objection with a purely emotive approach will also not secure the deal. A prospect’s mind also needs to be satisfied before he resolves to make a purchase. Even his heart will suspect the sincerity of your emotional appeal.

To be effective, you need to know how to proceed without causing the prospect’s heart to doubt your sincerity or antagonizing his mind to reject your approach. To do this, it will help if you can classify an objection specific to its cause. Objections may be due to one of the following six causes:

1. The buyer’s fears
2. Buyer’s unwillingness to change his buying habits
3. Objection to some feature of the product; or to the proposition itself
4. To general conditions
5. Buyer’s opinion of the salesperson
6. To a “personal” cause that the buyer presently has

The objection is merely a symptom of the ailment – it is not the disease itself. The CAUSE of the objection is the disease. If you discover the cause, you can treat the disease and alleviate the symptom of objection.

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If you want to learn more how to effectively handle objections please keep following my blog; next week topic is about handling the price objections.

What to do when the heart buys and the mind prevents the purchase? is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Majer

When it comes to selling, what, exactly, is an objection? If we can truly understand what we’re dealing with when a potential client makes an objection, then it will be easier to handle and use to our advantage in the appropriate situation.

Not all objections should be received as a negative blow to your sales presentation. In fact, with the exception of two very specific objections, most others can be dealt with effectively and are actually a positive sign that your client is showing some interest. In other words, if the product or service that you are offering holds no appeal to the client, they will not object and will have no desire to be entertained any further.

Broadly speaking, the following objections may be viewed as an honest indication that your client will not be persuaded into making a purchase:

1. Firstly, if the client does not have the means to pay for the product and there is no prospect of affordability, this financial objection can essentially put an end to your approach.
2. Secondly, if the prospective client truly has no need for the goods on offer, this objection may be considered conclusive to your sales presentation.

If an objection can be removed from the conversation between you and your prospect, the resistance will begin to break down as the proposition automatically becomes more attractive. From this point, a genuine requirement and desire for the product on offer is easily identified, enabling you to make your approach more effective and tailor-made to suit the client’s needs.

However, a clear distinction needs to be made between a genuine objection versus excuses and postponements. These should not be handled as if they were objections because, by doing so, you are effectively creating an obstacle. There are real instances where a client will ask for a postponement or will provide a legitimate excuse – but these are generally easily identifiable. Most other excuses are a polite effort on the prospect’s behalf to end the sales talk and to make an exit.

By accepting the excuse and moving away you have enabled the prospect to accomplish his purpose. There is a natural tendency for a prospective client to become defensive when they realize they are being approached by a potential sales pitch. But if you are able to courteously side-step the excuse or postponement, about 99% of the time a prospect will not pursue his excuse any further, allowing you to present your proposal without any resistance.

When a client makes an honest objection, it is in your best interest to eliminate the objection and use it effectively as an aid in your selling proposal. If a client’s concerns are addressed, their confidence in your knowledge and in the value of the product will grow. In that light, if we can use such objections to our advantage then it must be said that only the real obstacles which may hinder the closing of a sale need to be addressed further.

There really are only three such obstacles that could further prevent a sale:

1. The prospect lacks clear understanding of the product or service on offer
2. The prospect’s current lack of resources available for buying
3. The prospect’s inability to make use of the product to his advantage

If a prospect doesn’t fully comprehend the proposition that you have presented, your efforts to continue to sell him will be fruitless. If you’re able to identify this obstacle, you need to become an educator to your client and clarify any issues surrounding the product or the proposition. Once there is an understanding, you’re able to proceed with your presentation.

If there is a lack of available funding on the prospect’s part your efforts to continue selling would be unfounded, unless you were able to assist or advise in getting the necessary funds. A pause in the sales process in order to address the financial implications is necessary, until the issue is resolved. If the funds have become available you are able to continue your presentation.

If the obstacle presents itself whereby the prospect lacks the capability of using the products to his advantage, you need to see if you can change the prospect’s circumstances and eliminate the obstacle, before being able to proceed with the sale.

For example, if a potential client has poor eyesight and is reluctant to purchase your book because he cannot read, the ideal remedy here is to find a solution to his problem that will create the opportunity to make the sale. In other words, you could suggest that somebody reads the book to the client; or suggest the services of a brilliant optician who could assist with his eyesight problem. If the obstacle can be removed then your path to a potential sale has been reopened.

But if there is genuinely no need for the product (perhaps because the prospect already owns a copy of the book) then continuing the sale is futile. The objective at this point would be to attempt a new sales approach in suggesting, perhaps, the purchase of a copy of the book for a friend. Failing that, any effort to sell should be abandoned and a new prospect sought for a new sales presentation.

An alternative scenario is that the client has not yet recognized his need for the product.  If you’re able to identify a need that would make your product useful to the prospect, you should point this out to him in the hope that he realizes the benefits attached to making the purchase.

In handling any objection, always try to draw out the client’s reasoning in order to gain an understanding of his situation. A skilled and well-trained salesperson will be able to gather a certain amount of information about the prospect just by communicating effectively with him. Try to avoid the situation of allowing the client to outwardly state his objection. Rather attempt to decipher his reluctance without being too direct.

In due course, you will become adept at understanding the various scenarios surrounding the objections that you may encounter and, without eliciting a direct statement of objection from your client, you will be able to identify and remove any obstacle that may hinder the closure of your sale.

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If you want to learn how to recognize and handle objections effectively, our one-day workshop can help you overcome objections and close more sales. Even better – at this workshop we will give you exact objection-handling techniques and scripts that sell!

Hurry up, register today because seats are limited!

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How to identify objections and other obstacles is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Majer

You have arranged the meeting with your customer, and you got his attention. Next step is to secure his interest in your products or services.

Interest is usually lacking for one of two reasons — either you have not secured your customer’s attention, or your argument or selling pitch or presentation is not the best.

If you believe your argument or selling talk is failing to arouse interest, you must investigate the cause.

This could be one of the following:

1. Your proposition actually has no interest for the customer and for good reasons can have none. If this is the case, the sooner you find it out, the better for you both. A salesperson, however, should be very careful about giving up on this supposition. There is a constant temptation to believe it is impossible to interest a customer, when as a matter of fact, the whole fault lies with the salesperson.
2. You do not understand your customer and are not grasping the things that will be sure to interest him.
3. You are not describing your products or services in an attractive, intelligent way.
4. There is something objectionable about you as a salesperson.

In short, you will see that unless the fault is of the first point mentioned, it lies in your failure to understand and make the most of either one of the three factors of the sale: the product, the customer, or the salesperson.

It is very natural when the salesperson is putting up the best talk he knows how, and knows that his products are right, that he should believe that the fault lies with the buyer.

The fault is rarely with the buyer.

While it may be true that certain ignorant buyers will hurt their own interests rather than purchase from a certain salesperson, the reason for this is always to be found in some matter connected either with the salesperson or his products in a direct or indirect way. If the customer will not buy a certain new style of products, it may seem that it is the prejudice of the customer that makes the sale impossible; but the thing that really makes the sale impossible is that the salesperson does not know how to overcome this prejudice.

In short, it is wrong for the salesperson to blame his failure upon the buyer. He can’t properly excuse himself for the failure to make a sale by merely saying, “I could have sold it to him, if he had had any sense.” The salesperson must take the customer as he finds him.

More about how to awake interest on buyer’s side in my next article on this blog.

Why there is no interest on buyer’s side? is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Majer

Objections to price are the most frequent of all objections. The ability to meet these successfully is a valuable asset, and efficient selling is impossible without it. It is so important that every sales manager should take special efforts to see that each member of his sales force is able to meet successfully price objections.

Price objections may be divided into three classes:

1. Those which are not meant by the customers from the point of view of value, but that the prices are higher than they can afford to pay. These customers desire a cheaper grade of products.
2. Those which are made solely for the sake of argument. Many customers think it is their duty to make many objections in the course of buying, and their most frequent objections are to price.
3. Those objections which are made with all sincerity. The customers object because they sincerely believe that the prices are too high for the products. They are sincere in their objections, and believe in what they are saying.

When an objection is made to price, you should be able to tell to which class it belongs. If the products are too expensive, you should be able to read this, and to judge what the customer is able and willing to pay.

Many salespersons cannot tell this kind of price objection, and continue with arguments to prove that the price is satisfactory from the point of view of quality. This is not the cause of the objection made, and the customer knows it.

If the customer can afford to pay the higher price, in a few cases you may be successful. If this is the case, you should know it, and continue the plan of sale with that in mind. On the other hand, if the customer cannot afford to pay the higher price, the sale is lost.

Great number of sales people are not able to distinguish between these two classes of customers, and they wonder why they are not more successful.

Let me give you an example.

Recently, I was shopping for a Valentine’s day present for my spouse in a big retail store where I witnessed a conversation among the customer and a saleswoman.

The saleswoman showed to a customer a nice dress with a higher price tag. The customer said the price was too high. The saleswoman thought that she meant that there was not a value in the dress priced higher. Arguments were used to prove that the price was not too high considering the quality of the dress.

The customer repeated that the price was too high, and added that she wished to see something less expensive.

The saleswoman even then did not understand the reason for the objection, and continued with arguments to show value. Eventually, the customer went out without buying. The saleswoman wondered why she did not make the sale.

If she had been able to read human nature, she could have told that the objection was because the price was higher than the customer could pay. This being the case, the sale under ordinary circumstances would have been made if a products of lesser value had been shown.

Next time when you hear a price objection from your prospects, try to understand to which class of this three this objection belongs and than try to handle it properly.

Three Classes of Price Objections is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Majer