You think you’ve done everything right with the prospect. You have planned the meeting, established rapport, asked the right questions and presented your services well. You think your prospect is going to sign on the dotted line when you ask him for feedback and he turns and says: “We just don’t have the budget” or “the price is too high” or a similar statement that prevents you from closing the deal. What do you do? Before answering that, let’s review what objections really are.

Most objections aren’t really what they appear to be. Most of the time they are a way of stalling, a way of expressing fear over the risk of making a decision, or sometimes even a lie. When a prospect objects for whatever reason, they are actually telling you that they want to buy (they may not want to buy from you, but they want to buy).

And if they’re going to buy from you, they need some answers from you that will provide reassurance, communicate further value, or lower the perceived risk of doing business with you.

In sales, there will always be objections. How you handle them will determine how successful you’ll be. Here’s how to prepare for and handle them:

1) Make a list. List out the top objections you receive from customers.

2) Generate creative responses to those objections. For ideas, ask your top customers why they buy from you.

3)
Prevent objections. Build those objections into your conversations and presentation. If you address the prospects fears, desires, and hidden objections before they even have the time to voice them, you move them closer to closing the deal.

Here are some examples of typical objections most of us in sales will receive at some point or another, and how to answer them:

Prospect: “The price is too high”

You: “Lets review the projects objectives and discuss the value of achieving them. How much additional revenue/additional profit/cost savings/improved productivity/improved customer satisfaction would be made by going through with this project?”

Prospect: “We don’t have the money”

You: “Of course there is no money, I’m sure if you budgeted for this you would have done it already. But tell me what would your business and yourself gain from achieving what we just discussed?”

Prospect: “Our CEO says we will do this in-house.”

You: “May I ask why you want to do it in-house?” – note: if it is to save money, then use answer 2. If it is because of other falsely perceived risks, then answer: “I understand that this is a big investment so I want to make sure that you feel comfortable with the decision you’re making. Here is how we helped a client with similar issues that you have and here’s what they had to say about the results we provided them”.

Prospect: “I don’t have enough time”

You: “Of course you don’t, the process/machinery/staff you have is taking up all of it as you mentioned earlier. So lets say that if you dedicated a small amount of time, say two hours a week for four weeks, to work with me to help you save 15 hours a week thereafter – what would that mean to you?”

Don’t let objections (especially on price) be the reason why you don’t make the sale. Most of the time preparing for them and handling them well will spell the difference between success or failure in sales.

 

Ahmed al-Akber is the managing director of ACK Solutions, a firm that helps companies to improve their marketing and sales results by offering more effective ways attracting customers and significantly better products and services. Ahmed has worked internationally in marketing, sales, and strategic planning at companies such as the Coca-Cola Company, Philip Morris International and Dell. Questions or comments can be sent to Ahmed on [email protected]

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