Here are few a typical objection scenarios.
- “I want to think about it”. Just be sincere and non-confrontational and ask, “may I ask what specifically you would like to think about?” You’ll find that many people will tell you what’s holding them back. It’s then more likely to be an objection rather than an excuse.
- “I need to ask my partner, wife, etc.” Like I said before, narrow it down by asking, “If your partner wanted to go forward with this, would you go forward with this purchase right now?”
What this does is assume that the partner says yes and puts the decision on your customer. If your customer says “yes, I would go forward with the purchase”, you’ve just narrowed it down.
Also ask if there is anything else that would prevent the purchase. If the customer says no, you’ve just narrowed it down to one objection. If the customer had said “no, that they would not go forward with the purchase even if their partner said yes”, the customer was giving you an excuse, not an objection. If you have not asked, what chance would you have to make the sale? Not much.
- “It’s too much money.” Here are some easy, non-confrontational replies:
– What price did you have in mind? Depending on how you qualified and designed the sale, it may be a smokescreen. This means you can review the components of the sale. Reviewing the system or items in the sale by saying something like, “when we discussed the upstairs bedroom system, you said that you wanted music, a flat panel and the control system and lighting tied into the rest of the house. We can change or remove some of that if you want to lower the price”. Often times, when you review what the buying prospect said they wanted, it reminds them that this is part of the transaction and they now don’t want “less.”
– Expensive compared to what? This asks them to identify something that they may have heard or seen. It may just be a component of the sale, not the entire package.
- Also, there are some common and general phrases you can use to soften objections. You can say:
“You seem to be concerned about” – then re-state the objection.
“I hear you saying that” – re-state objection.
“Why is that important to you” – This can get them to talk more about why they are objecting.
Wrap Up
Again, there are massive amounts of info on overcoming objections and closing. I caution you on the “hard close” that some people preach since it is often short sighted and less likely to get you referrals and/or repeat business, depending on what you sell.
Good luck, good selling and never stop learning. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite sayings:
Wake Up, Kick Azz, Be Kind, Repeat. WUKABKR…
