The Science And Strategy Of Getting Past Stalls , Delays , And ‘ No ’ s To Close The Sale
A little sales humor …
The entire North American sales force of a leading dog food company was gathered together for their national sales convention . Onstage , the marketing director was giving a performance that any revivalist would have been proud of . Using the old pattern of call and response , he was really working up the spirit of his sales team .
“ Who ’ s got the greatest dog food in North America ?” the marketing director shouted .
So , there are objections and then there are OBJECTIONS .
Most of the questions I get about selling and closing are simply about this ONE topic : How do I handle objections and sales resistance ? What should I do , what should I say , and how should I respond ?
Get A Daily Shot Of Sales Boosting Advice
The only daily email that makes sales training entertaining . Sell more and have more fun … for free .
Try it here : www . salesespresso . com
18 | WWW . IT-RADIX . COM
“ We have !” the audience replied .
“ And who ’ s got the greatest advertising campaigns ?”
“ We have !”
“ Who ’ s got the most attractive packages ?”
“ We have !”
“ Who ’ s got the best ingredients in their products ?”
“ WE HAVE !”
“ Okay . So why aren ’ t we selling more of the product ?”
One bold voice from the crowd replied , “ Because the darned dogs don ’ t like it .”
The bottom line is that prospects are far more likely to say “ no ” than “ yes ” for a wide variety of reasons that don ’ t necessarily have to do with money . Just ask any sales rep why they aren ’ t hitting quota ( or why they haven ’ t closed a particular sale ), and you ’ ll often hear the list of sales objections they ’ re running into and can ’ t overcome : They ’ re not interested . They ’ re already in a contract . They don ’ t want to spend money . They ’ re broke . Our prices are too high . It ’ s the holidays / beginning of the year / summertime / etc ., and people aren ’ t buying right now . The gatekeeper is blocking me . They need to think it over . They aren ’ t ready to move ahead right now . They need to bake a cherry pie . ( That is an actual objection I got once as to why someone couldn ’ t make a decision at that moment , and after all , the result was the same : no go on the decision .)
That ’ s why I think handling and overcoming objections is the single most important skill a sales professional can master . Not value building , not asking questions , not building rapport . So , let ’ s attempt to tackle this vast but critical aspect of sales .
Is It Really A Sales Objection ?
When I quiz a room of businesses as to what their single biggest sales objection is , I always get “ not interested ” as one of the first answers . So , the first point of clarification you need to understand is that “ not interested ” is not a sales objection but a marketing objection .
Marketing ’ s job is to properly prepare and develop the interest in a prospect so selling can begin . This is a BIG reason why so many salespeople struggle . They waste their time trying to sell to people who are not interested and / or who are not properly prepared to engage in a sales presentation . They confuse courtesy with genuine interest .
If you ’ re talking to a prospect about what you do , and they tell you they aren ’ t interested , your problem lies in your marketing strategy . Yes , many salespeople conduct cold calls as a means for “ marketing ,” calling it prospecting , and therefore see it as a sales objection . I contend that it is not . They are essentially trying to use selling to do the job that marketing should be doing — and pure cold calling in the absence of marketing is a really crappy marketing campaign .
In my organization , the SDRs ( sales development reps ) are part of the marketing team and fall under the marketing budget . They ’ re doing the job of calling our list of unconverted leads to find those prospects who are interested in talking to us RIGHT NOW about our services . If they get a “ not interested ,” I instruct them to say thank you and call the next prospect . We ’ re not trying to turn a lump of coal into a diamond through pressure . It ’ s better to keep digging until they find the existing diamonds in the mine .
Ultimately , the purpose and goal of marketing ( and , more accurately , marketing systems ) is to create offers and communications that move a prospect from “ not interested ” to “ interested .” Sometimes that happens fast . More often , it ’ s a drawn-out process of warming up slow-maturing prospects , moving