Many salespeople are not getting inside the buyer’s mind. Too often, salespeople focus on their sales processes and objectives, without carefully considering how people make purchase decisions. Consequently, salespeople proceed too quickly: they push. Buyers hate “pushy” salespeople. Pushy salespeople reap a huge harvest of objections from buyers.
The sales process then becomes a struggle when it might otherwise be a pleasant partnership between two professional business people: a relationship built on mutual respect yielding long-term benefits both ways.
If you change the way you sell to closely conform to how people buy, you will see a reduction in the number of objections from buyers. More than 80% of the objections we experience as sales people focus on the price/value issues involved.
If a price objection arises early in the process, respond by asking history, symptom, cause, complication and cure questions. These questions help your prospect recognize the seriousness of ongoing problems, thus increasing the value of your solutions. By becoming a goodDoctor, you prevent price objections.
Price objections occurring late in the sales process are typically caused by fear, or a desire to get a better deal.
Fear is emotional, not logical. Traditional objection-handling techniques don’t work when the prospect is fearful. Better to become the Therapist. Draw out the real fear issues. Get them into the open. Softly and sensitively empathize with the prospect. Allow him or her to work through their own fear.
The desire to get a better deal is natural and understandable. The best way to respond here is to assume the role of Negotiator. Create a win-win agreement!
Finally, another way of responding to price objections, and other objections, is the “verify / feel / felt / found” technique.
This technique has been around for a long time, so avoid using the actual words because you might turnoff the client by appearing to be manipulative. Actually, this way of handling the objection helps both parties discover new issues, or clarify items already covered. Here are the steps you can use:
Ask a question to understand the real objection and derive more information.
Ask if the objection were to be addressed satisfactorily, would the prospect commit?
If they say no, then you don’t have the real objection on the table.
Describe a real example of a client who had a similar objection, and the way they finally resolved it.
“Mr. Prospect, I understand your concern. Mary Thompson of Thompson Graphics across town had the same concern when we were talking about a similar system last month. Once she learned about the system’s flexibility she decided to go ahead. She discovered that she could do all the things she needs to do today, and have room to grow.”
It is a good idea to have materials–such as testimonial letters–to substantiate your claims!
This is just one example of the sales techniques we teach at TopLine Leadership.
Does your company have one or more sales managers who would benefit by learning new selling skills to develop an elite, hi-performance sales team?
Our next Sales Management Leadership Seminar is November 4-5, 2009, at the Peppermill Hotel in Reno, Nevada.
Please note, seating at our sales training courses is limited, and the seminars fill-up quickly.
Cost: 1 Manager – $1,695 each
2 or more (same company) – $1,550 each
Our Sales Management Leadership Seminar includes continental breakfast and lunch plus morning and afternoon breaks. Each participant receives a 200-page participant guide. Walk away with the tools you need to implement immediately, including Select-Quest Interviewing System, Mutual Commitment Performance Management Tool, Tactical Map planning guide, and much more!
