“Digressions, objections, delight in mockery and carefree mistrust are all signs of health.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
Beyond Good and Evil

Objections vs. Stalls vs. conditions

 

      By my definition, an objection is the customer’s way of telling us what we have to accomplish in order to sell him. He’s telling us that he’s not 100% comfortable yet. Unfortunately, it’s not usually the first thing they tell us.
Ex: “We need to think about it” really  means “That’s more money than I can afford right now!”

 

      There are a lot of ways a customer may try to hide that it’s a money issue. It’s a natural reaction, they’re usually embarrassed. There are some easy ways to funnel their camouflaged objections into the actual one. For example:

 

      “I understand you need to think about this Jim and Martha, which is totally fine. Let me ask you a few questions to make sure we’re on the same page, ok? Is there anything about my product that you’re uncomfortable with? No, how about our service plan? Well, could it be the price?”

      Now that’s an easy way of doing it. But it works. We’ll discuss some other ways as well.

 

“If you shoot at mimes, should you use a silencer?“

Steven Wright (1955- )
Stand-up comedian/actor/writer

 

 

      A Stall is something that a customer says or does that covers up the real reason they do not feel comfortable going ahead with the project.

Ex: Great, let me call my credit union and get back to you next week.”

      You see, he’s not saying no (but he’s a far cry from saying yes, either). What he’s doing is trying to get rid of you with the least confrontation as possible. This is not a bad thing for us, if we can get the customer to agree that “THAT” is the only reason he’s not committing to your product today.  Either that or we funnel him down to his real objection, which is probably money. For instance:

 

      “That’s great, Jack and Jill. Credit Unions will always seem to offer the very best rates, you’re lucky to belong to one. However, just to make sure we’re all on the same page, … is there any other reasons why you don’t want to start the project now other than checking with your credit union first?”

      If they agree, then play the devil’s advocate … “Let me ask you this Jack, what if they turn you down, can we use our financing as a back up?”

      If they say sure, then you have yourself an order. However, if they try to stall you, you realize that they’re really not sold yet.

 

      Ask a question such as: “So if they turn you down, does that mean you can’t sign up at all?” If they say they will still do it, ask them to confirm that it will be your product for sure that they use.

 

      Now you’ve gotten them to admit that going with your product, and they’re going to do it with our without their credit union. You’ve just thrown a monkey wrench into their stall.

 

      “Let’s write this up now, because you’ll probably need a copy for your credit union, and this way I’m all set to get you a loan if they don’t make you happy, fair enough?”

 

      Chances are, it’s not fair enough. Remember, this was a stall. The customer will hem, haw and hopefully you’ll be able to get the true objection out of them, which will probably be the money.

 

 

“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining. “

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)
35th President of the United States

 

      A condition is a specific reason why they can’t do it now. The customer is not telling us that he doesn’t want to do it; he’s telling us that he can’t do it. Many times this is a façade, but some times it’s something that is out of our customer’s control and ours too.

Ex: “I have no money and my credit is very bad.”

 

      Hmmmm, doesn’t sound like a very good prospect. Cut to the chase with this customer. Flat out get him to agree that if YOU can make this happen, he wants to get started now. With a customer like this, you have to be very upbeat and positive.

“We get everybody financed.”

 

      Some conditions, conversely, can’t be handled. Such as:

“We don’t own this house.” … Find out who does and reset the appointment.

 

      Remember, there are several things you can do up front, in order to make the objections easier to handle on the back end:

 

  • Build value during our presentation
  • Use Price conditioning early and often.
  • Take out the competition early in the presentation.
  • Listen to what they want!!! It’s a true skill.
  • Use creative synergy so we can arrive at a win/win agreement.

 

      Hint: In non-combative selling remember:  A customer will be more comfortable with an idea he came up with himself, as opposed to you solving his problem for him. This is natural human nature.