HERE’S WHY

THERE AREN’T ANY !!

Have you been given books on How to handle ‘objections ?’
Have you been taught what to say when clients give you ‘objections ?’

This is one of the biggest wastes of time and most incorrect thinking in our business. Let me show you why and what you should be doing and increasing your business and income and helping more clients.

Let’s list a few of the more ‘common ones’, I am sure you will know more than listed here, this is to explain why you don’t have to waste your time anymore on these, AND why thinking this way WILL cost you money in lost sales.

• I can’t afford it

• I have one already

• I’ll talk to my partner about it

• I will wait until next year

• I want to check it out with someone else

• ???? the list can go on, these are just the tip of the iceberg.

I have seen whole books written on huge lists of OBJECTIONS.

WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT IS HOW YOUR OWN MIND REACTS TO THE ABOVE EXAMPLES

For example, if you have a neighbor who seems to be unapproachable and grumpy and ‘known’ for being argumentative, and you need to ask him to turn his TV down late at night, how is YOUR mental state as you walk over to approach him ? Warm, friendly, positive? or apprehensive, nervous, geared up for the ‘fight’, ready to counter his arguments and objections?

It almost doesn’t matter what is said, the ‘emotion and tone and expectancy’ of this ‘battle’ will almost certainly cause a poor result or outcome. You ‘know’ he is going to object, and you are ‘ready’ for him.

Now, what if after speaking to him, you found him to be really pleasant, but just a little stressed all day because his wife is dying of cancer and sleeps most of the day and her only pleasure is the TV in the evening and she is unable to wear hearing aids.

What would your emotional state be then?

Would you immediately be empathetic? Would you try to see if you could help with anything? Would you be trying to think of solutions? ( FOR HIM FIRST, YOU SECOND )

Did you put your shield and battle axes away and bring out comfort/solution sacks to see what could be done? Did you try to put yourself in his shoes, imagine his day and life? Imagine his stresses?

So when you are taught, “Ok, so if or when your prospect objects and says this, ( e.g.I can’t afford it, or whatever……… ), you say this “……………………… “ You bring out your objection countering phrases!

FIRSTLY:
You are in ‘objection handling’ mentality.
Your heart rate is likely up a little.
You’re likely to be a little tense (after all, you want to win this one by beating his/her objection).
You ‘know’ what to say, so likely your listening to understand is down, and you are in listening to reply state.

SECONDLY:
The prospect or client feels this from you.
His/her defenses go up, (they don’t even know why, they just sense something from you).
They go into defense mode.

THIRDLY:
The battle is on …………..
Now let’s think about these:
– The sky is blue
– The grass is green
– It’s warm today
– He is tall

How are you feeling ? What are you thinking ? Nothing ? RIGHT ! Why ?
Because THESE ARE STATEMENTS !!
They are not objections, they are statements.
With statements we don’t react positively or negatively, we just see them as they are, STATEMENTS and respond accordingly. We usually just acknowledge, accept and carry on the conversation. Just carry on being the nice helpful human you are.

SO, LET’S REVIEW:

• I can’t afford it

• I have one already

• I’ll talk to my partner about it

• I will wait until next year

• I want to check it out with someone else

THESE ARE STATEMENTS!

They are INTERPERATED as OBJECTIONS and we respond accordingly.

For all the guys out there, let’s say for example you see a beautiful girl and you want to ask her on a date. You summon up the courage and you ask her out and you want to pick her up on Friday at 7pm. All good so far.

She says, “Oh I always wash my hair on Friday at 7pm“

The usual reaction ?
She is politely ‘objecting’, ‘refusing” “making excuses “ because she doesn’t want to go.
So WE RESPOND accordingly as if we have been objected to

Oh sorry, didn’t mean to bother you, etc”, we get all nervous, uptight maybe, some guys get embarrassed

SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO ??
We see it for what it is, A STATEMENT

You then say“Fantastic, I love girls with clean hair, I will pick you up at 8pm”.

The follow on discussion goes where it goes, however what I am highlighting here is the initial reaction, which was to take it negatively as an objection.

So let’s relook at objection one ‘I can’t afford it.’
Now, we look at it as it should be looked at. We have a conversation along the lines of, ‘ thank you for letting me know, that’s why I am here to help you see if there is a way to afford it, either now or sometime in the future, so tell me how much can you afford ?’

Or

“of course you can’t, how close can you get ?”

Or

“of course you can’t, how much can you afford ?”

By taking it for the STATEMENT it is, we approach it completely differently and have a completely different conversation, with different emotions. Here we are in a state of helpfulness and open mindedness to find a solution, not pulling out readily prepared comebacks for this objection that now we understand doesn’t exist.

So by seeing these STATEMENTS for what they are, which is a passing of information to you, you are being given information and a focus on where the client is mentally and you can now look to be able to help him/her.

Instead of ‘seeing’ it as:

“I can’t afford it” ie ‘No’

Now we can look at it as:

“ I can’t afford it” ie ‘ I am tight financially and letting you know, so with that information can you help me to afford it, or some of it, or some of it shortly, do you have any solutions, please help me here’

( Oh and by the way, if someone does say ‘ I can’t afford it’ try changing the subject and asking them if they could have any car, or ?? in the world, which would they choose? Ask them how much it is. They will give you an unreal figure. Then ask them ‘just out of curiosity, if there was someone who was buying that car/??on finance and had made 97 payments with three to go at say $200/$400/$600 a month, and they would hand it over to you fully paid if you would make the last 3 payments, would/could you do it?)

What do you think the answer would be 99% of the time?

Absolutely, they will find it. So they CAN afford it, the real reason is likely to be something else missed during the meeting, which I will cover in another article.

The only ‘valid objection’ is likely to be “ No, I do not want to see you and I do not want a meeting”.
I am not talking about someone like a teacher, as I was, earning very little, discussing a $50,000 Rolex. Of course ‘I can’t afford it’ is still a statement, and a true statement. If the sales person doesn’t get this is not a ‘prospect’, this is, someone who has a desire or need, and the money then sad for him/her.

Usually people are in a sales meeting because they are interested in what you have to offer and either have a little or lot of cash now, or will do fairly shortly.

So next time, practice ‘seeing’ statements for what they are which are ‘statements’ and respond accordingly.