Sales objections are potential obstacles that are present in any relationship with customers. Although we always bet on acceptance, the reality is that we must be prepared to learn to handle rejection or denial in a positive way.
In fact, it’s best to be prepared to best interpret rejection and learn some tactics that can help you overcome and transform them.
When we change the idea of seeing sales objections as a nightmare, your reaction to them will be more positive.
There are many sales objections and it’s logical that you don’t hear the same ones over and over again, but without objections, salespeople would be out of a job and even sales managers are not safe from it. If this were the case, companies or institutions would have a single person as human capital or, on the contrary, a computer that received orders from buyers who would already have to be fully convinced.
What are sales objections?
It can be said that some sales objections are conditioned or programmed, but without a doubt they are reflections of automatic responses or they can also be expressed in attitudes that customers assume, to give quick answers to salespeople.
Some examples of these responses are:
- “I’m just looking”.
- What discount can you give me?
- What is your best price?
These answers are said even when the client has not even seriously considered the product or its proposal.
According to the experiences of the sellers, these types of sales objections are made, but they are phantoms.
Because?
As a seller you must remember that you are also and will be a consumer. In most cases it happens that customers have not been treated as they wish by other sellers and they think that when one approaches, they should move away or protect themselves from them.
Much of the sales objections are lies, they are self-defensive responses that you should not take personally but understand them and try to change the customer’s mind.
examples:
-“I need to talk to my spouse”.
-“I can’t decide until “x” thing happens.”
-“They don’t have the color I’m looking for”.
There are other sales objections that simply require more information, but do not necessarily mean “NO.” In any case they translate into a “not yet”.
There are also cases where the client is afraid of agreeing to an immediate decision having a possible alternative, even when he is ready to buy.
This means that most customers are afraid when buying. If it were not so, they would simply buy on the spot.
What actions should you avoid taking as a seller?
-Too fast and pressing approach.
-Low level of empathy in communication.
-Poor determination of the needs of a client.
If you take any of the three attitudes mentioned above, your client will move away from you little by little and you can be sure that he will take time to answer you with an objection.
As a seller you need to provide the customer with sufficient, relevant and accurate information. You must target their needs and desires. This information should be expressed in the way the customer wants to communicate and how the purchase is established, at the same time that you try to sell the product.
The idea is that the customer values the offer, and that the benefits of having access to that product or service outweigh the investment they are making.
Can doubts, fears and modesty be part of the objections?
Doubts and fears that clients have are sometimes not expressed in their objections.
But yes, doubts, fears and modesty can be immersed in the objections.
In fact, some clients aren’t even sure about their objections or may not have expressed them verbally thinking you won’t understand them.
Also, it may happen that the client, either out of modesty or fear, does not formulate the real objection, since he may feel that it would be rude to you.
And it is at that moment that a filter between what the client really thinks and what he says.
Even if you are not really sure what the customer is thinking, you must respond to their objection as if it were the real one, because otherwise they will have no positive effect and obviously you will not know what really bothers the customer.
Before you start your sales presentation, try to eliminate all objections or minimize them to one.
If in the sales process, you perceive a negative non-verbal language, you should ask questions after questions or coordinate an appointment or another meeting, but while the client is formulating objections you should not stop trying to sell to him.
Don’t be alarmed if the customer presents you with more than one sales objection.
With experience you will know how to distinguish which ones you should or should not respond to. Because if you feel that you must respond or try to convince the client in the face of every doubt or fear that he has, valuable time can also be wasted unnecessarily.
The “No, no” can be turned into “YES”.
As a salesperson, you will have heard many times when a client tells you “no”, however, it is not a definitive answer, it is part of the process that will lead you to a “yes” as long as you do not give up and abandon the sale. .
On average 4-7 times the customer objects “no”, but as a salesperson you should try to ask him to buy 5-8 opportunities before he actually says no.
The average salesperson knows only two closing techniques and fears rejection or frustration. But you have to be trained in the tactics that will help you overcome doubts and fears.
You must be clear that not all responses to sales objections work well for everyone, all the time. But there are many alternatives or strategies on how to overcome the most common objections.
Recommendations for working with sales objections:
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Before responding, rephrase the customer’s objections in your own words.
If you manage to carry out this activity you will achieve 3 objectives:
- You will allow the client to have a notion that as a seller you are listening to him.
- It ensures that you are answering the customer’s questions correctly and therefore misunderstandings are avoided.
- It gives you time to think about what you are going to respond to the client.
And if a customer tells you “If you give me a good discount, I’ll buy it”.
“I fully understand that you want a discount, I can offer you 10% less if you buy two products from me.”
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Turn sales objections into a reason to buy.
As a seller, your goal will be to give the customer enough reasons to make the purchase. So you can effectively eliminate sales objections.
If you are able to convert sales objections, rest assured that the chances of making the sale will be much higher.
And the easiest of all is that if you manage to prevent the client from continuing to generate other additional options.
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Be proactive. Apathy is not a good seller.
As a seller you may think:
- “I don’t have to be bothering to sell to this customer.”
- “I’ll waste my time trying to explain the benefits to him so he’ll still say no.”
And, you mention to the client:
“You can call me if you are interested, here is a brochure with the description.”
What happens in these cases?
That the client is totally alone and with the certainty that you cannot offer him anything to convince him and make a purchase.
So, don’t tell yourself “I knew you weren’t going to buy me”.
Most common sales objections from your customers
The price is too high.
This is one of the most frequent sales objections, but it does not mean that it is negative, since it indicates that there is a real interest in the product and you can address it with the following questions:
- What do you mean our price is high?
- Over your budget?
- What would be a reasonable price for a product of the quality we offer?
Once you have the customer’s informative responses, you make the case for the value of the product.
“I can understand if you think we’re expensive, but… (product value).”
Now, it will be necessary for you to anticipate the objection, if you are aware and have compared your prices with those of the market and your product has a higher cost.
As?
Proposing to the client several options of products or services with different prices, but making it very clear the disadvantages that he would have if he purchased the lowest priced ones.
It should not always be shown that the price is changing, but if it is within the possibilities to offer a discount or special price in exchange for some condition, you could also consider it.
we have no budget
This type of objection could be considered an excuse, but it is essential that you learn to identify if it is true; Since, if so, the purchase can be postponed until when the budgets are available or coordinate an installment payment.
The purpose is to provide advantages that outweigh the disadvantages, for example:
“If it is more beneficial for both of us, we could reach an agreement to split the payment into 3 installments.”
“You can pay me a part now and another when you have the budget allocation.”
“We can meet in March when you assign the budgets.”
The product is good but the service not so much
-“The orders have arrived late”.
-“The service is not complete”.
-“The products arrive in bad condition”.
When this situation arises, it is important that these claims are justified. If it’s true what they afflict it is essential to accept it and apologize as well as committing that the errors will be corrected.
The boomerang technique would be very well used in this situation, how? telling him:
How do you think we could solve it? “Since you don’t like these details, we could modify them without any problem and we would reach an agreement if you agree.” Boomerang Technique
I don’t like the shape/color/size
When the client raises an objection that compared to the benefits provided by the product, it is inferior, as a seller you should remind him how important the service/product you offer is.
As well as emphasizing that what you are selling differentiates it from the competition for the reasons it requires, but yes, you should not allude to the competition.
An alternative to this type of sales objection is show the product in such a way that the customer participates and also highlight the qualities that interest him most.
Perhaps the color does not seem very attractive to you, but we will work to solve it, there is no doubt that it is the best solution in terms of efficiency, productivity, or any other benefit that you can mention.
You can too apply the “warped mirror”which consists of repeating what the buyer argues, but exaggerating it, is the product really so ugly as to…?
I need clear information
It is very important that you have the necessary documentation on hand to be able to provide it to the buyer and also express to him that it is with you that he is going to talk.
“It seems perfect to me, here is all the information related to the product/service, but if you wish, I can accompany you without…
