The Truth about Objections

A few years ago I was faced with one of the toughest objections a person can encounter. Essentially the decision-maker stated very early in the introductory meeting – “I already have what you sell and it’s free. Why should I work with you?” Check please.

Paul ran an inside sales division for FedEx and while observing a free pilot program we were conducting for one of his leaders. During a break he pulled me aside to explain that the corporate learning organization offers a well-known sales program for his reps, costing him zilch. He cut to the chase, “Why should I consider talking to ASLAN?” It was a great question. It was an honest question. He wasn’t being combative. He just wanted to know the answer. Watch the move I put on good ol’ Paul. He didn’t even see it coming.

I told him the truth.

No, I didn’t respond with the one of the hundreds of techniques found in every book written about sales. I just simply focused on the truth. Why would he invest in an outside firm if he had free access to the same solution? He shouldn’t.

I simply agreed with his intelligent position. If ASLAN offers the same program, the answer was obvious - don’t hire ASLAN. Don’t hire anyone. Stay the course. That was the truth. And I didn’t need a technique to figure this out. I just needed to care about what was best for Paul.
Here’s the rest of the truth I shared with Paul. If the program doesn’t address the 18 unique competencies required to sell over the phone, then the free program may fall short. If the program was built for field sales, it most likely will miss the nuances of addressing the barriers of selling over the phone and have little impact on his reps’ performance. That was also the truth. I offered to explore this with Paul and together we discovered the truth. The free program wasn’t in his best interest and we ended up signing a long-term contract.

Does it always work out like this? No. Sometimes the truth leads to another path but you will avoid people you can’t help and convert those you can. Why? Because your position is based on what they SHOULD do and not on earning a commission. When your motive is pure and truth is the goal, the right response is fairly easy to land on. You don’t need mind tricks to remove objections, you just need a passion for truth.

Whether you’re facing objections as a leader, rep, or even as a spouse, the best response is the truth. Instead of focusing on how you can win, focus on what they should do. Develop your recommendation from the perspective - what would you do if you were the CEO of their company? If you’re not sure, you don’t know the truth and your left scrambling for a technique or two. And when you do, you start to sound like a sales rep. And these days, the real decision-makers don’t meet with sales reps.