This is a continuation to the previous article : Objections are from Heaven, where explored the psychology of Objections and why they are a good thing. As a recap, we said that most of time, objections are made out more out of resistance rather than outright opposition. And therefore as a sales person, we need to know that degree of objection, in order to best manage the two misses that result in objections, which are Miscommunication & Misunderstanding

Beyond the 5 myths behind objections, which are :

• Is it Personal ?
• It’s too Expensive.
• I have no time to meet you.

• Why should I buy now, It’s not even proven yet!
• Let me think about it.

We also talked about the 5 key reasons why we need to welcome and be open to objections. Which are objections :

• Enables us to understand the improvement opportunities of our product or service
• The customer is involved in the conversation
• Might just be a misunderstanding

• Basis to build trust and more opportunities to sell even deeper with the account
• Uncover their real objectives and learn from them

Today we will spend some time talking about how to handle objections and move forth towards good closure and be a winner ! Hence the topic “ Closing is for Winners”.

Objections and closing go hand in hand, because the fact of the matter is that if you cannot handle objections well, don’t be surprised that you don’t get to close as well.
Several years ago, I came up with this statement that went something like this :

“A closer wins, a dozer loses”

This basically means that : If you can’t close your clients, they will close you on a reason that your product, service or value will never be good enough for them.
A good “close” means keeping the door open to bring you “closer” to your goal.

“Closing is a mindset, it’s a decisive action, to accelerate the end result and to deliberately influence the outcome of the sale, by eliminating or minimizing objections”

Put into a real life scenario, you will get several types of reactions and behaviors from sales people.

• First Type
  Give up and say that probably their product is not suitable for the customer
• Second Type
  Keep trying to give more facts & reasons why the customer should but the product / service

• Third Type
  Show superior knowledge of your product and try to take the customer “down” & win over them with your passion of the product / service
• Fourth Type
  Able to appreciate the customer objections and psychologically convinced the customer by managing the misconception

Which category do you fall into ? We need to aim to be number 4 !

When your prospect asks you about the price of your product or service, what's important is not that you tell them (which is fine), but rather what happens next.
80 % of sales reps do this : WHICH IS WRONG :

• Remain silent, waiting for them to ask another question.
• Keep pitching their product or service.
• Move onto another qualifying question.

The right question? Ask them how they feel or where they stand in regards to the price you just gave them. Use these methods :

• How does that price sound to you?
• Is that within your budget?
• Is that what you are looking to spend?

TIME

"I don’t have the time for an appointment / to speak to you."

Don’t have time usually means don’t want to. Probe to find the real reason. Just by saying “What would be a better time for you?” would expose whether or not this is a false objection or not.

LOYALTY

"I’m happy with my current supplier."

At this stage you are not asking them to buy from you or anything, all you are asking them for is an appointment to discuss your needs further.

Golden Rule

Details

Hear them out completely & Put into a softening statement.

• “Some of my best clients felt that way."
• “I complete understand how you feel also.”
• “I completely understand how you feel, this is a big decision and right now I’m sure it makes sense for you to think about this.”

Question and Isolate the objection before answering it

• “I understand, __________, and let me ask you a question: Assuming that the price on these hearing aids weren’t an issue (or fit within your budget, or if someone were suddenly going to buy them for you), but if price weren’t an issue here, is this the solution you feel is right for you today?”
• “Is this something you would go ahead and order today?”

Answer the Objection (using a scripted response!)

• Use a scripted response once you understand the objection.

Confirm Your Answer

• “Does that answer that for you?”
• “Does that make sense?”
• “Have I satisfied that for you?”

Ask For the Deal

• This might sound obvious, but you’d be amazed by how many (like 80% or more) closers don’t ask for the deal.

As mentioned, a good “close” means keeping the door open to bring you “closer” to your goal. Don’t give yourself any excuses, not to close today. Be relentless !
Always be pushing for the next steps. Closing are for Winners ! So be a winner today !