Objections - Part 3
In the last couple of weeks, we have been talking about the types of objections and how to determine the difference between them. This time we will start discussing the strategies that will help you overcome those objections. Remember, every objection that a customer has is important and deserves your attention.
The first thing a professional salesperson must do is listen to the objection. You should never interrupt a customer in the middle of an objection. They are telling you why they have not said “I’ll take it” and they must be heard. If you are not listening to their objections, then you probably are not going to address them and a potential sale has walked out the door.
The next step for you is to acknowledge the objection. Simply stated, by acknowledging the objection you are letting the customer know that you understand their concerns and will do everything in your power to resolve that objection. The third step is give agreement. You want the customer to know that their objections are important and that they are not in for an argument. This can be a tricky step if you are not careful. You are giving agreement but you may not be agreeing with the customer. If the customer says, “I need to look around,” you do not want to say, “yes, I agree you should see what else is out there.” Instead, you would want to say something like, “I can understand why you would want to look around, it’s a big decision isn’t it?” As always, this is a question designed to get the customer to say, “Yes!”
Your fourth step is to relieve resistance. Your customer just simply may need their tension over making the purchase eased. There may not even be an actual objection but just a little resistance in pulling the trigger. However, that tension can hold up a sale just as easily as an objection if it is not addressed to the customer’s satisfaction. This represents the first four steps in dealing with objections and next time we will conclude our review of customer’s objections and how to deal with them.
FINAO - Brad Huisken - President, IAS Training
