Overcoming Sales Objections For Better Results

You might think that all salespeople dislike having to overcome sales objections. But experienced salespeople welcome objections. Most objections are fairly predictable and can turned into opportunities to increase your prospect's engagement. If you encounter surprising or really tough objections, you can still use them as a way to improve your relationship with your prospect. Stop fearing sales objections, and learn to use them to your advantage.

Six Effective Ways For Overcoming Sales Objections

If you don't believe you're performing as well as you should because you have trouble countering customer objections, consider these helpful tips from salespeople who anticipate and handle sales objections with ease and grace:

1. Make Certain That You Understand the Objection

You might think you've heard it all; however, you should take the time to make certain that you've really understood what your prospect is telling you. One good thing about having encountering objections is that it means that the other party is actively engaged with you. At that point, you've got to take the time to offer them the same courtesy. The way you handle objections can improve trust and the chance you'll close the sale. If you respond without understanding your prospect’s concern, you’re putting that trust at risk.

Ask relevant follow-up questions to ensure you and the prospect are on the same page. Take a lot of notes as they speak so you don’t get lost in the conversation. Notes will also help you in the event you need to get off the phone to discuss the situation with a colleague before responding to their objection.

2. Empathize With Your Prospect

When customers offer you their perspective, they're also trusting you enough to let you know how they feel. You can employ your own natural empathy to counter their objection with a feel, felt, found strategy that can be completed with three basic steps:

• Let the customer know that you understand why they feel the way they do.
• Continue to empathize by letting the prospect know about others in similar positions who first felt the same way.
• At the same time, you've found that your solution actually solves their problems very well.

Use this technique, and make sure you don’t sound like you’re opposing your prospect when you speak with them.

3. Focus on Goals and Benefits

Your customer may tell you that they don’t need your solution. Explain how your product or service can offer benefits over the status quo, and lacking these benefits creates a very real need for the prospect. Understand why your customer doesn’t believe your service is a need, and then focus on the benefits you can offer over what the company is doing now.

4. Offer Social Proof

Your opinion isn’t always enough to sell your client on your solution. Instead of asking the prospect to simply trust you, you should offer proof that you and your company has benefited similar businesses. Case studies and testimonials can really help with this part of overcoming objections.

Be able to provide sources. These can be internal or external resources, but make sure they’re prepared in advance. Providing proof from a third party helps you establish your industry credibility. You’re not asking them to believe you. You’re asking them to acknowledge there is a company, very similar to them, that benefited from doing business with you.

5. Remain Pleasant

Even though this advice should be obvious, it's sometimes easier to know you should always remain pleasant than to do it. Some prospects are gracious when they realize that you want to help them, but you can't count on every customer to act like that. Other prospects may sound arrogant or irritated, but you cannot let your own tone or expression reflect any of those negative emotions in return.

Even if the sales call doesn't work out, don't express anything you will regret later. Sometimes, your prospect may think about what you said, wake up on the right side of the bed the next morning, and call you back. However, that probably won't happen if you return your prospect's negativity with any of your own.

6. Follow Up

If the customer's objection is complex, it's fine to make notes and offer to call back with answers. You may handle dozens of objections as the customer offers them; however, you shouldn't feel pressured to answer every question immediately. In fact, customers should appreciate you for taking extra time to research their unique issues.

Just make sure you do what you promised and call them back. This follow-up call gives you an opportunity to ask them if they have any other questions or would like to get started. This time, you should have already developed a relationship with your prospect and have a better chance to close the sale.

Restating your answer to their objection in an email gives you another opportunity for rebuttal, as well as a way to check in and see if they have any other concerns you can address. It also helps to provide your response one more time in writing so they can refer to it when they speak with their colleagues.

Objections are Opportunities

The most important thing to take away from this is to listen to your prospects. Addressing objections is all about empathizing and being professional. Don’t lose sight of your original goal, and be nice! If you use all of these tips for overcoming sales objections on your next tough call, you’ll nail it. Just remember that objections aren’t roadblocks, they are opportunities to get creative.

Now that you know how to handle objections, learn more about Koncert’s sales engagement software. Reach out today.