Did you just say “NO” to me?

For some reason, when you propose a solution to a prospective client, they don’t always just give you money.  If they say “NO” they must have misunderstood, right?

What is the most extreme reason anyone has given you for not buying from you?

“My Granny had to catch a bus today.”  Uhhh?  I made that one up, but if you have been in selling or in business for a while, you will probably have heard, either from your prospects or other people’s, some pretty off-the-wall excuses.  More commonly would be “I have to ask my wife / husband / partner” or “I have to think about it”, not to mention “I can’t afford it”.

Weird or believable, there is one thing these reasons have in common.  The prospect has misunderstood how helpful or indeed life-changing your service would be for them.

Well it is about understanding, but whose?

When a prospect puts up a barrier to doing business with you, a straight “no”, a challenging question or reason not to proceed, these situations can be grouped together as objections.  If you attend sales trainings or read the old sales gurus you will discover all sorts of techniques for “handling objections”.  There are acronyms, pneumonics and methods.  And for fun there are cheesy retorts.

“I have to ask my wife.”  “Oh, does she wear the trousers in your household?”  How delightfully endearing, not to mention politically correct and empathetic.  “You have to assume they are not telling you the truth” was the sage advice I remember from one training.

Would you agree it might be better if we assume the error is our side of the fence not the customer’s?  It is I who have misunderstood.  I have misunderstood the timing, the perceived value, the customer’s priorities, their decision making process, their understanding of what I have been trying to say or offer.

So let’s start off by working on the basis that “an objection”, should it appear, is just part of a conversation.  It is not the prospect’s declaration of hatred for you, your products and your industry.

And a challenging question, is sometimes just a question.

Imagine you are trying to thread a needle.  Ever done that?  If you push the cotton towards the eye you will likely not succeed the first time.  You may have to tease the end of the cotton together to avoid frayed ends jutting out.  You may even have to wet the end to keep it tight together.  Typically it takes a couple of attempts (at least if you have my eyesight) to match the end of the cotton to the shape and size of the eye.  Once that is done, and the cotton is aligned correctly it will slip right through.

Don’t blame the needle.

Let’s approach “objection handling” step by step.

1      Should you be closing?  If you, knowing what you know from both sides, were the customer, would you buy your product?  If the answer is no, you should not be trying to get the business.  If yes, go to step 2.

2      Is it an objection?  Listen to what was said.  Was the prospect really trying to block the sale or where they simply making an observation or asking a question?  Test this out by acknowledging the observation or answering the question and continue forward.  If the prospect intended to block, there will be another one soon.  If not, things will move forward.

3      Do you understand where they are?  If it was a real block, you are missing something.  It is time to clarify and find out what you have missed.  Repeat the comment or question back in your own words to check that you have understood your prospect’s point of view.  This process should give you a clearer understanding of where the issue lies.  Now you can address it.

4      Isolate the issue.  If there are multiple issues or on dealing with one another arises, this probably suggests there are more, or the prospect is just a long way from being aligned.  You will need to ask much more to get back on track.  Dig down to the root cause of the issue(s).

5      What are you missing?  Assuming we have missed something, we need to delve further in to what will produce an alignment.  Work round again on the need, the value of fulfilling the need, the urgency etc..  All the parts that make the sale inevitable.

6      Circle back to “1” and resolve the issue.  Having clarified their situation and satisfied yourself that you would still proceed if it was up to you, re-present your solution taking in to account everything you have learnt about your prospect’s perspective.  You should now have closed the gap and aligned with the sale.

In the threading metaphor, if you have made the thread in to a point, aligned it with the needle, the only thing that can really go wrong is the needle moves at the last minute, like pushing together two magnets they either attract or oppose.  It might be simply the chemistry between you and your prospect.

If the chemistry is just wrong, why not pass the prospect to a colleague or competitor.  Think of the kudos.  The customer gets a solution and a potential rival becomes something of a friend or is in your debt.