01608 644144
3 Step Process for Objection Handling
Even very talented and experienced sales professionals face objections as part and parcel of their sales job. Whilst we wouldn’t be so foolish as to say that you can overcome them all, the process that follows, which forms the foundation of good consultative selling techniques as taught on our sales training courses, will help you achieve a much more professional way of handling objections well. And if you handle such objections well you will be more likely to close mutually beneficial business for both sides. These improved sales results will in turn will lead to greater job satisfaction for you.
Some prospects raise clear unambiguous objections during your sales talk, such as “I want delivery on Wednesday not Tuesday”. These unabiguous objections are easy for the salesperson to handle. However, it is much more likely that the objection is articulated less clearly by the prospect using a phrase such as, “I don’t think this product is right for us”, or, “the people in head office wouldn’t go with it”.,Whilst these reaons may be valid as objections, they are presented far too vaguely for a salesperson to handle immediately. Sales people often struggle with such objections, and this is where they would benefit from the approach taught on sales training known as the three stage process for handling objections.
The first stage in the three stage process is to refine the prospect’s objection. This is to make it meaningful, specific, or quantifiable so the sales person can deal with it. You can achieve this by asking a polite question such as “Do you mind if I ask why you say that?” By questionning in this way we make the prospect re-phrase their objection and talk about its real underlying meaning. If we can do this we are on our way to handling the objection successfully.
Having clarified the objection we now want to be sure that this objection is the only reason why our prospect is reluctant to proceed with the sale. It would simply waste everybodies time to solve the objection, only to be greeted by a host of other objections. So the next step in the three stage process is to isolate the objection.
This can be done by asking the prospect another question, along the lines of “If it wasn’t for this, could we go ahead?” The answer given by the prospect will quickly indicate to us if there are any more skeletons in the cupboard that we will need to deal with. If there are no other objections, then the sale is in sight.
Now that we understand the reasons for the objection and we have established that this objection is the only thing preventing the sale from taking place, we must move into the last stage of the three stage process.
In this final stage we now need to take a pro-active approach with the prospect, by using justification. This means repositioning the prospect’s argument. Instead of focusing on their reason not to buy, our sales talk to the prospect should now focus on hlping them consider the extra benefits they will have which arises from their area of concern.
So, for example, if the prospect objection is "It's too expensive”, they really want to know what extra benefit will come their way by proceeding with our more expensive proposal and we should explain this to them. If, on the other hand, the prospect says “It’s very big”, they want to know why it’s constructed in that way and what they will have for their investment. Again we need to cover these concerns with justification.
So, to summarise, the three stage process for professional objection handling involves refining the objection, establishing that it is the only objection the prospect has and then overcoming the objection with pro-active justification. By following this three-stage process, as taught in detail on our sales training courses, you will be well on your way to becoming a professional sales person.
