You must remember that ad from a few years ago. Well, I recently upgraded to a new cell phone. It took two trips to the store and two different sales people. When the first salesperson attempted to close with, “Is that the one you think you’d like?” I wasn’t sure. So I said:
“I’m not sure it will have enough battery time for me.”
He responded with,
“Well, the card says it’s got 40 hours on standby, so you should be good for a whole day if you charge it at night. That’s really the top end of what you are going to get anyway.”
“Oh, great,” I thought. “Thanks for reading the box (which I just read) back to me. Now we both have the same knowledge of this phone.” I understand why he read me the information off the box, but it was not necessarily helpful to me. He was telling me something I already knew, something I could find out on my own.
I decided to wander around some more in “just browsing” mode. Why? For two reasons. One, either he really didn’t understand what specifically concerned me about battery life, or he didn’t dig enough to realize that I didn’t believe the info on the box, based on my previous experience.
The salesperson was guilty of what most of us are: when we hear resistance or an objection, we say something to turn the customer around.
But it doesn’t usually work for two reasons:
- As a sales rep, we don’t understand the real objection.
- The customer is not really open or listening to our response.
The cell phone salesperson had both of these problems. Let’s start with the first one.
We Don’t Understand the Real Objection
When I said, “I’m not sure if that will have enough battery time for me,” what does that really mean? It could mean several things:
- I talk on the phone all the time, so it won’t last me a full day.
- I don’t always have a chance to charge it at night.
- I’m a heavy GPS and Wi-Fi user.
- If it goes dead while I’m on the road, it creates a huge problem.
- My last phone did not have as much battery life as was listed on the spec sheet.
- I don’t want the battery to go bad in 18 months, forcing me to buy a new phone before my two-year upgrade.
- Some combination of the above.
- None of the above, or…
You get the idea.
From looking at the list, it’s clear there are a lot of possible underlying reasons for my general objection about cell phone battery life. A good sales rep selling a good product or service probably has the information to help address any and all of these objections. But the question is, which objection should the sales rep address?
Without knowing, it’s a guess. If the rep guesses correctly, the customer might hear something helpful that could influence the decision to buy. But the odds are against guessing correctly. And when we guess wrong, customers might hear what we say but are thinking:
“Yeah, but that doesn’t really address the issue I’m concerned about. You are not listening. You are not helpful. You just want to make a sale.”
Use These 2 Simple Steps
There’s more to handling an objection than just taking a marketing-approved, objection rebuttal script and tossing it out there. We have to clarify the objection before we know which is the real objection to handle.
1. Accept and Acknowledge first …
I believe that most customers don’t like conflict. I’m sure you can think of more than one prospect you met who actually enjoys the conflict and just wants to debate and argue. But most people who are hesitant to work with you will give you a soft objection when you ask some type of commitment question:
“I’m not sure if that will have enough battery time for me.”
To remove any awkwardness in the conversation that would make customers uncomfortable, accept and acknowledge first. Let customers know it’s okay to have a concern and that it’s a perfectly good and logical reason to hesitate.
“I hear you. Battery life is an important feature to be concerned with.”
2. …Then Clarify
Once a customer knows it’s okay to object, you can get to the heart of the objection.
“What’s the specific requirement you have for battery life for your phone?”
This is your best chance for customers to tell you more about what’s causing the hesitation. Maybe someone they know had a previous bad experience. Maybe they read something or are just unsure, but they don’t want to seem uninformed.
Be sure to listen closely and ask a few clarifying questions if needed. Pay attention. Many times, when given the chance to talk it through, customers’ concerns may be minimized or disappear entirely.
The key is to be genuine in letting them articulate thoughts instead of just waiting to pounce on them with rebuttals.
The Customer is Not Really Open or Listening to Our Response
Once customers state an objection, they expect the salesperson will usually try to overcome the objection with a sales pitch. Experiences with most sales reps have taught them this. As a result, they’re ready for battle, and they’re playing to win.
As soon as sales reps make a counterpoint, customers will usually fortify their position and become closed to an opposing point of view. That is, unless customers realize that you share the goal of arriving at a good decision instead of pushing products.
Drop the Rope®
Remember, customers are expecting rebuttals – a debate. And if you’ve read our other blogs, you’ll remember that your best option is to Drop the Rope and avoid any tug of war or tension.
It’s simple: Remind them that it’s their choice. Tell them if that issue is a deal breaker for them, they should not buy – they are the best person to decide among all the options, (one of which includes deciding not to buy). This will absolutely get their attention.
And, if you are sincere (as I hope you would be) it will cause them to listen to what you have to say next. My cell phone rep could have said, “If you are not sure about the battery life of this phone, you should hold off.”
Validate the Truth
Now that you’ve removed the pressure, you can provide some of that ‘marketing’ information. Give customers some more information, a success story about a previous customer or a Word Picture. Just speak the truth. And because of your previous steps, customers should be much more receptive to your point – they’ll actually be listening.
Check Your Six
Just like a pilot, look back to check on your passenger. Don’t force them to commit, just check in on them; make sure they heard you and that your explanation was beneficial. This will help you determine if you’ve been effective or if more back-and-forth discussion is necessary. You need a positive response before asking any type of buying or commitment question. Make it easy for them to say, “maybe.”
Develop the Habit
The following two steps will help this become a habit for you when selling.
Make a commitment to step one: to clarify your next objection. It takes very little practice, and you don’t need any more training. The next time a prospect shows concern about your recommendation:
- Accept and acknowledge first: “I understand – that’s an important factor.”
- Then clarify: “What specifically concerns you about ______?” Let the prospect talk. Ask another question. Make sure you know the real issue. The first few times just worry about clarifying – respond however you’d like. Make this part of the habit. Then work on step two.
After you are comfortable getting customers to give you the real details behind their objections, go for step two: make sure you get the customer receptive so that they actually listen to your response.
- Drop the Rope: “If you are uncomfortable with our approach to ______, we might not be right for you” or “Only you can make that decision.”
- Validate the Truth: Tell them a story, give a Word Picture they care about – make it personal. “Recently, I had a similar customer situation, and….”
- Check your Six: Ask them, “Does that help?”
To bring it full circle, let’s go back to the cell phone store. I did not buy the cell phone that day. I went home and did some more online research. Then I went back, hoping for a different rep, and I got one. He must have known the information above already. He commiserated with me about cell phone battery life – how it’s never enough and the specs are under ideal conditions, which never happen in reality.
Then he looked at my old phone and showed me how to close down apps and shut down certain features to help conserve battery life. He compared the specs of the new phone to my old phone. The new one was supposed to last longer, but even so, the rep let me decide. Combined with my new-found knowledge about shutting down some apps, I decided the new phone would be just fine. I bought the phone, and months later, I am still happy I did. Thanks, Mike (I don’t remember your last name).
I hope my cell phone purchase experience helps your efforts. Give these steps a try. Better yet, replace ‘customer’ with ‘spouse’ or ‘mom’ ‘dad’ ‘son’ or ‘daughter’ and re-read.
What’s Next?
If you or your sales team is struggling to make the transition to virtual selling, click here for our new program.
We would be happy to understand your challenges and see if we can help. We started as an inside sales training company in 1996, working to help sales teams overcome the very same challenges we are all facing today.
Marc Lamson
As President of ASLAN, Marc is responsible for all day-to-day operations including our sales and marketing efforts and growing our success in helping our clients be Other-Centered®.
