At Last, Turning Objections Into Commitments Revealed

One of the most dreadful moments that strikes fear in the heart of sales professionals is when you’ve assumed the sale and your prospect or client says, “I need to… think about it.”

Ugh.  It sucks, I know.

Don’t you want everybody you have an appointment with to just say yes without having to work for it?

Yeah, me too.

But it just doesn’t work that way.

If it did we’d be order takers, everybody would do it and the compensation would be so low you wouldn’t want to be involved in this kind of work.

Are you fearful of objections and do you sweat every time you go for the close or do you get excited when your prospects tell you they don’t have the time, money, or are happy with what or who they’ve already got?

The purpose of this post is to show how you can turn objections into commitments so the next time you get hit with the inevitable concerns your prospects have you’ll be armed with a proven way to redirect them towards the sale.

When you view objections as questions instead of roadblocks it will make them much easier to deal with.

Remember, you can’t answer an objection, but you can answer a question.

Objections are good because they allow you to discover what’s holding people back and really find out what’s going on.

Think about it, if people didn’t do you the favor of giving you an objection and instead just said, “I’m not interested”, you’d have nothing to talk about.

And if the prospect’s not interested we should never attempt to close in the first place, right?

How NOT to Handle Objections

Before we go about the right way to handle objections let’s talk about the wrong way.

The wrong way to handle objections is to fight or argue with your prospects.

I know this is common sense and yet it happens so often it’s worth bringing up.

For example…

Prospect:  It costs too much.

Salesperson:  What, are you crazy?!  No it doesn’t!  You’re wrong.

baby fight

You’ll never get your outcome if you fight with your clients.

There’s a saying in the automotive industry that goes, “Write ’em, don’t fight ’em.”

What this means is you shouldn’t confront the client and instead align with them so you can then write the business.

Objection Prevention

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

That being said, here are 4 ways to prevent objections from popping up in the first place.

1.  If you consistently get the same objections over and over be sure to address them in part of your presentation.

It’s foolish to think that you’re going to pull a fast one on anybody.

If your product or service is more expensive than your competition then it would be wise to address the elephant in the room and handle it in advance.

For example, “There’s something I’ve got to tell you.  Our product/service is much more expensive than everyone else.  The reason it’s expensive is because _________.  And that’s why our product/service is so effective and sets us apart from everyone else.”

2.  Commit to building deep rapport up front so your clients won’t want to object.

The more you focus on developing rapport, connecting with people, and making them like you the less they will give you any token resistance or automatic responses when you ask for the sale.

If we’re having to close really hard at the end all that tells is that we haven’t done our job upfront by building enough rapport and trust.

3.  Use test/trial closes throughout your presentation to see if your clients are on the same page.

  • “Are you with me?”
  • “Does that make sense?”
  • “Do you like this?”

By checking their temperature as you go through your presentation you’ll be able to discover their concerns upfront before they’re verbalized later.

4.  Lastly, as obvious as it is, give them a gift.

Whether it be a physical gift, information, or education.

Human nature follows the law of reciprocity.

The more value and education you give clients the more they’ll want to give back to you by making things easy for you by not objecting.

10 Steps to Handling Any Objection

While working as a top trainer/speaker/coach with business guru Anthony Robbins I learned these 10 steps to turn any objection into a commitment.

These steps are really worth memorizing as they will give you the confidence of knowing you’re prepared to handle any objection thrown at you.

It’ll be like you’ve been using a pea shooter in battle to now having a machine gun.

Armed Squirrel

Step 1.  Ignore the objection.

Many times clients will voice one or multiple objections just so they don’t seem too easy, impulsive, or foolhardy.

You don’t have to handle every objection because most objections are not always real.

So when you hear an objection just continue along and assume the sale.

Now what if they bring up the same objection again?

If this happens then you have to address it.  Go to step 2.

Step 2.  Listen intently and let them get it all out. 

Many times people will continue talking and as they’re listening to what they’re saying they’ll realize they’re not making any sense and often times they’ll answer their own objection.

I’ve done this myself and it makes you feel kind of dumb.

But what if that doesn’t happen?  Then go to step 3.

Step 3.  Politely repeat it back to them.  

If they say, “It costs too much” repeat it back to them in the form of a question and stay silent.  For example, “It cost too much?”

Many times they’ll go on a rant and talk themselves out of it.  Especially if you’ve addressed it in advance like we talked about.

If they don’t talk themselves out of it go to the next step.

Step 4.  Ask them to go deeper.  

Here’s where you get to really find out what’s going on and find out why their objection is so important.

  • Politely ask, “How do you mean?”
  • Or  politely ask, “I’m sure you have reasons for saying that.  Do you mind if I ask what they are?  What are they?”

And then really listen.  They will give you the real reason and you’ll now be able to solve their problem for not buying.

Step 5.  Validate the objection.

Remember this phrase, “If we could handle that, would you want to go ahead?”

By asking this you’re getting a commitment, but it’s an opinion asking question.

If they say yes, then all you have to do is answer that objection by turning it into a question – which we’ll get into in a second.

If they say no then ask, “Well, then what would prevent us from doing it?”

And they’ll begin to tell you the real objection and you won’t waste your time on this false objection.

If this happens recycle and go back to step 4.

Step 6.  Align with them and let them relax.

No need to jump all over the objection and answer it right away.

Release any tension that might have been built and align with them.

“I hear that often.  Many people have had that same concern.  I understand and…”

Step 7.  Turn the Objection Into a Question.

Like I learned from Tony Robbins this is the turning point.

Here’s where you turn an objection into something you can answer.

You can’t answer an objection, but you can answer a question.

“That brings up a question.  In spite of

[their objection], isn’t the real question ________.”

  • “… even though you don’t have the money if you don’t do this won’t it cost you a lot more money because of the money you’ll miss out on?”
  • “… how do we go about finding the money/making the time so you don’t have to go through the pain of not having the money/time anymore?”
  • “… if you could get the results we talked about from [your product/service] isn’t it worth much more than the initial investment?”

Step 8.  Answer the question.  

Here are 4 ways to answer the question…

  • Turn it around.  “It’s only going to get more expensive the longer you wait and you’re not going to get any of the benefits.  It’s going to be harder in the future, not easier” or “If you don’t have the money that’s exactly why you should do this.”
  • Compare it to what they’ll miss out on.  “It’s definitely not cheap.  You know what it’s going to cost you if you do it, but what is it going to cost you if you don’t?”
  • Make it seem small.  “It is an investment, but when you consider you currently spend hundreds/thousands of dollars per year on bagels and coffee it’s a small investment, isn’t it?”
  • Deny it.  “It’s not too much money compared to everything else in the market.  I’ve got to tell you, here are 5 companies that charge more.”

Step 9.  Confirm and Test Close.

At this point you want to confirm you’ve answered their question effectively by asking…

  • “Are you with me?”
  • “Make sense?”

If they say no go back to step 4, “How do you mean?”

When they say “yes” they’ve confirmed you’ve overcome their objection.  Move on and test close by asking…

  • “In your opinion do you feel you’d want to [go with option A] or [option B]?”

Step 10.  Assume the Sale.  

This step is to confirm in their mind that they’ve bought.

“Did you want to spread out the investment or just take care of it all at once?”

Congratulate them for making a good decision.  Continue by finishing up the paperwork and let them know you’ll take care of all of the details

At this point you’ve handled their concerns.  If they give you another objection recycle, go back to step 4.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

 

Please remember to do all the social media stuff below if you like this post.

 

2017-06-03T11:24:53-07:00 By |

About the Author:

Mark Antonio is an international sales and social media marketing strategist with Boss Marketer. Mark is versed in many different industries and has worked as one of the top speaker, trainer, coaches with the Anthony Robbins Companies. In total, he is fluent in 3 languages and has traveled to over 35 different countries and spoken to over 300 companies and distinguished audiences including Mercedes Benz, American Express Financial, Santander, ArcellorMittal, Citibank, and Berkshire Hathaway to name a few.