Objections don’t need to happen. Hearing them means the buyer: a. doesn’t know how to make sense of any internal change your product might require; b. doesn’t know how to differentiate your product from the competition; c. is getting defensive when noticing that a need for your product might demonstrate their incompetence; d. would need to change their belief they can solve the problem themselves; e. doesn’t believe they have a problem – or at least one they’d be willing to let you resolve; f. is defending themselves against your need to push information at them; g. has developed a creative work-around for the problem making it difficult for them to make a change easily. WHAT IS A SOLUTION? From where you stand, a problem seems obvious, as does how your solution would fit. But you’re standing outside – outside of the problem, outside of the person’s situation, outside of any work-arounds they’ve created that would need to be undone. When you think you notice a problem that your product can solve, you see only that part of a hidden system that seems to have the attributes your product addresses. Is the person ready to resolve their problem? Does the person want to resolve it with something like your product? Does the person need agreement from friends? Is the person in denial and unwilling to think they need to fix something? Maybe they are attempting to fix it their own way; or they see a different route towards a solution; or they need to keep it that way for a reason. You don’t know that. You can’t know that. Even if it seems obvious, even if you ask all the right questions that give you lots of secret data, a buyer’s decision making is private, unique, and personal. And when you assume that your solution will solve a prospect’s problem, and offer them the information you think they’ll use to understand how your product can help, you are asking for an objection. Indeed, sales creates objections. WE CAN NEVER KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON INSIDE IF WE ARE OUTSIDE Years ago, I sat before three men at a table on a prospecting call that my new sales manager arranged. The three men facing me were seated about 2 feet apart from one another. The conversation went like this: SDM: How is your current sales training working? Prospect #1: Well, it’s ok. Silence from #2 and #3. SDM: Do either of the two of you want to comment? Prospect #2: Nope. I’ll let him speak for now. Prospect #3 remained silent. SDM: How long has it been just ‘ok’”? #1: About two and a half years. Around now I noticed an uncomfortable shifting of seats. Men #1 and #2 were shifting to the right, while #3 stayed in place. There was a growing gap between them. SDM: I’m assuming you want a program that’s better than just ok. How did you decide that it was time to call us for possible additional sales training? #1: We didn’t. Janet called us and told us about you, and we thought it might be nice to have you come down and give us a presentation. SDM: Well, actually, I don’t think we have a lot to discuss. Sounds to me like you’re doing fine and you’re happy with what you’ve got. #2: Why do you say that? SDM: Two and a half years is a long time to be unhappy with a sales program. That must also mean you’re not getting the results you want? #1: That’s right. But we stay pretty much on target with our budget numbers so it’s seemed fine. I just think we can do better. SDM: But I don’t see you seeking change. #1: Right. We’d have to come to some sort of plan. What do you teach? Maybe you could give us some ideas. SDM: Let me leave you with some material, and you can call me when you’re ready. I left, and was surprised to get a call the next day from #1 with the rest of the story. It seems that man #3 was the nephew of the owner of the bank, and he had designed, developed, and taught the sales training material. As it was a family-run private bank, the other men were waiting for #3 to pipe in and be prepared to work with me toward changing the training. He stayed silent throughout – including after the meeting – and men #1 and #2 had nowhere to go. I could have done this on the telephone (the same questions can be asked on a phone call that can be asked in person) and gotten the same result. These people weren’t going anywhere (indeed I ran into #1 a year later and they were still using the same training); they weren’t even in the market for doing anything different, and no matter how good my product was, no matter how brilliant I might be as a sales person, they were in no position to buy. They didn’t realize there was a need. Imagine if I had spent an hour or so presenting, and gotten excited comments by the two interested men. I would have walked out thinking I’d done a fine job and waited impatiently to hear back: after all, they had an obvious need that my product could solve. I would have called in two weeks, and heard either ‘We’re not ready”; “We haven’t decided.” “We don’t have a budget now.” Etc. I would have heard objections, and would have had no easy answer for why they didn’t buy my training. And even if my brilliant presentation and materials would have gotten the two men inspired to consider the possibility of bringing in some sales training, they would have had to go with whatever #3 was most comfortable. WHAT EXACTLY IS AN OBJECTION? Let’s look at this from a systems perspective. Systems include people, policies, initiatives, and different forms of relationship. A family is a system. A group of friends are a system. All people exist in some form of system, and most probably multiple systems. When you pitch/present/push product – no matter how small or large the product - all you are doing is standing outside looking in, hoping that some of what you are presenting or pitching will be acceptable to the insiders. And what happens? The insiders rebel and defend their status quo. Even if they need a solution, a pitch at the wrong time will elicit reasons why change can’t happen now. Because decisions get made based on private, internal criteria, pitches come right up against a person or group’s beliefs. Need a new lipstick? Well, I’ve been wearing the same one for years, thank you. Need a vacation home? Too expensive. Objections actually are healthy for the client: they protect the client from making quick decisions that do not address all internal factors that would need to shift with change. Once you understand that your job is to help buyers recognize all of the internal issues that need to be managed as part of a complete solution, it will be easier for the buyers to decide. The Buying Facilitation Method® will teach your buyers how to line up all of their decision variables by recognizing their own internal criteria - without you offering any pitch/information. Teach your buyers how to buy. Then – and only then – will there be a place for you to sell into, without any objections.
Article Source: http://bizymoms.com/business
For more articles by Sharon Drew Morgen, visit her blog at sharondrewmorgen.com and also check out her newest book at dirtylittlesecretsbook.com