Overturning objections

Overturning objections

Objections are a natural part of the sales process. If a customer doesn’t come up with any objections at all it is unlikely that they have been listening or truly thinking about what you are selling them.

Objections can relate to anything from the price of the product or service to a feature but the structure to overturning is usually the same.

For very simple objections, the Feel, Felt, Found model is usually enough.

Feel - State that you understand how they feel.

Felt – Other people have felt that the same way/I would have felt the same

Found – But what they found is that when they took into consideration x,y and z, this was really something they wanted to get involved with despite their objection.

For bigger objections, this needs to be expanded a little.

State that you understand how they feel, but don’t agree with them. Simply saying ‘I appreciate your concern’ will suffice.

Gather further information – Really probe into their objection. What do they mean? Why is that an issue? What specifically is the problem with that? What do they want? Why is that important to them? None of the answers to these questions should be a surprise to you if you have gathered information effectively in the first place, but it may be that you have missed something, so use this opportunity to get to the route of their objection and truly understand what you are dealing with.

Isolate the objection – In an ideal situation, they will only have one specific sticking point to their decision to buy. Ask them if that is the case – ‘ So is that the only reason you have not to buy this product?/ If I solve this problem, will you be moving ahead?. This way, you can bring out any other objections or know for sure that this is the only objection.

Solve. Now you have all the information, you need to use it to match the product to the customer needs again, find out what you need to find out and change what you need to change and re-present it to the customer.

Close. Again, you have to bring the conversation back on track, get an agreement from the customer that you have overturned the objection and set out the next steps. If not, go back and find what the sticking points are so you can move forward.