How Objections Are Gifts
By John Aberle | heart-centered , Sales Training , Soft Sell
Not all gifts come wrapped in pretty paper
Have you ever noticed how most people want to avoid conflict? Salespeople are no different. That is why it’s hard to appreciate that objections are gifts. After all, objections tend to come across as either rejections or as pending conflicts.
This is why traditional sales trainers teach you to prepare a list of all the objections you can think of that your prospects might bring up. Then develop strong counters to each one. Then, when your potential buyer raises one of the objections, you can quickly and smoothly defeat it.
See Sales as a Battle, Lose the Customer
The irony of that approach is that each victory you have over your prospect’s objections sprouts another objection. Eventually, unless you just happen to get lucky and find a prospect who wants to buy anyway, your prospect comes up with something like, “Well, let me think about it. I’m not ready to buy right now.” And so, with this effort to be polite, the meeting is over. It’s unlikely you will ever get back in to see that person or, if you are in retail, that he or she will come back looking for you to sell him again.
See with Your Heart to Find Objections as Gifts
The key to accepting objections as gifts is to take a heart-centered, soft sell approach: step outside our own personal feelings long enough to ask, “Why did this customer bring up this objection in the first place? What does she really want?” Change your viewpoint Continue reading