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Too often, I see salespeople become almost dejected at the hint of an objection from a prospect they’re working with… and it puzzles me. Sure, an objection may very well slow you down, and may jeopardize your ability to make a sale, but do you really want to spend time with a prospect and get no objections?
Some years ago, Xerox performed a study regarding the frequency of objections and the results from that study had some startling implications. One number that jumped out at me, and one I’ve never forgotten, was this simple finding:
Sales calls without at least one objection have a 24% less chance of resulting in a sale, as sales calls with at least one objection.
Do you still think having a sales call with a prospect who never objects even once is such a good idea? Quite frankly, I’m surprised that number wasn’t even higher. If there is an objection that your customer is concealing, I think you would very much like to hear it, although I suppose you do have a choice. Either you can answer this objection, or you can allow your competition to hear it and answer the objection. Something tells me you would do a better job answering it.
The problem is, not every prospect will interrupt the person they are speaking with to object. Often, prospects want to be nice, and will keep their objections to themselves. That’s why I’ve always been a big fan of trial closes. A trial close is one of the most misunderstood sales tactics out there: You don’t ask trial closes to trap a prospect; you ask trial closes to initiate an objection from your customer if an objection exists.
Ironically, many salespeople will heavily focus their training around the need to study objection handling tactics. However, studying how to handle objections is a reactive move. Utilizing trial closes to initiate objections is a proactive move. Here are three trial closes I’ve always been a fan of:
- Commitment to Change. The biggest challenge for all who sell is helping prospects to move from thinking about making a change, to actually committing to making a change. Once you’ve studied the prospect’s challenges, you might ask a question like this: “Do you think now is a good time to look at alternatives?” This will flush out key objections, and allow you to either stay put and continue to problem solve, or move forward to potential solutions.
- Commitment to Criteria. Once a prospect has made a decision to change, he or she then naturally moves to determining what that change would look like. Once that criteria has been determined, you might ask a question like this: “Will you be basing your decision on this list of criteria?” This will help to confirm not only the prospect is ready for change, but what exactly that change will look like.
- Commitment to You. Once you’ve confirmed with your prospect that he or she wants to make a change, and understands what the change looks like, there’s one last trial close that can be applied… and it’s a bit antiquated. I’m referring to a question like this: “If I can offer a solution that addresses this list of criteria, and I can prove I can do that better than anyone else, would you be willing to work with me?” Yes, it’s old-fashioned, and yes, it often initiates objections, and yes, that’s not a bad thing! If there’s a showstopper of an objection, you’re going to hear it now. Of course, if you prefer, you could hope you know the answer, and commit time, resources, and potential solutions for your competition to gravitate to and offer.
Objections should never represent the big, bad and troublesome obstacles so many salespeople attach to the mere mention of the word. Objections are simply another natural step along the decision process that all customers go through. Their status as potential “deal breakers” is not only terribly exaggerated, but objections should be encouraged, if not initiated, by the salesperson. To borrow a famous line we have all heard before: “The only thing we have to fear is. . . fear itself.”