Tired of all the Objections?

June 3, 2008

Do you ever get the feeling that all of your prospects have read the same book on how to get rid of salespeople? Are you tired of hearing the same objections over and over again? When it comes to objections, do you feel like you've heard them all? Well, you're right: you probably have heard them all!

It should come as no surprise that there are very few surprises when it comes to objections. After the first few months of selling, you rarely hear an objection that you haven’t heard several dozen times before. In fact, if you were to sit down and make a list of the objections you most often hear in your sales efforts, I’d venture to say that your list wouldn’t be very long. In fact, you probably won’t come up with more than 10, and those 10 will represent 95% of the objections you hear. That being the case, why not invest some time in learning to overcome those 10? It's an easy task; all you have to do is script a simple, direct answer that allows you to get past the objection and continue your conversation.

For example, you might have this objection on your list: “Thanks for stopping by, but I’ve been buying from Company X for 20 years, and they’ve always taken good care of me.” If you’re not prepared, that can seem like a pretty convincing reason to cast your bait elsewhere, and you might just leave a business card and be on your way. That would be a huge mistake! After all, wouldn’t you like to have a customer who was that loyal to you? Well, what might you say that would allow you to continue the conversation?

How about something like this: “Well, Mr. Prospect, I certainly appreciate that kind of loyalty and would hope that my customers feel the same way about me. I’m certain that when you first started doing business with Company X, they offered the best value around. However, a lot of things have changed in our industry in the past 20 years. What I’d like to propose is that you and I schedule a brief meeting to discuss some of those changes and make sure that you’re still getting the best available service and value. If you are, I'll be on my way with no hard feelings. If not, you can decide how we'll proceed.”

There you have it—an answer that is simple, direct and easy to remember. Why not prepare something like this for each of the objections on your list? Put them in your own words, memorize them and rehearse them. The next time you’re hit with an objection, you’ll have a ready response that will allow you to continue your conversation with the prospect, a conversation that can eventually lead to a sale!

Until next time, happy selling!