Thoughtful Thursdays - Using objections to your advantage

Past Thoughtful Thursdays have talked about handling common objections and using them to grow your business.

Today's thought describes another way to approach common objections.

Once you have identified the objections that are indeed common in your sales experiences, you will undoubtedly have responses at the ready.

Instead of waiting for the objection from your prospect, try bringing it up yourself. For example: "Many people have felt that the cost of this product is prohibitive, and on the surface that may appear to be true. Allow to me explain how you can save in the by using this product." (advance preparation will allow you to back up your claim)

You can mitigate the chances of encountering many insincere objections by eliminating them before they have the opportunity to surface.

Good selling,
Richard

Thoughtful Thursdays - Yes, we do use that product/service...

...but I must tell you that we have a supplier we are quite happy with. I have your card and will call you if anything comes up.

Do you say "Thank you for your time." and leave or is there another way to approach this? Most importantly, are you prepared to handle this objection?

When I encounter this kind of objection, my immediate thought is "Game on", and what do I need to do to get the prospect to listen to me? I appreciate that they will get back to me if "anything comes up", but I certainly do not expect them to do so without having a good reason.
Today's sales thought is about providing that good reason for your prospect to contact you when something does come up.

• Ask if they would consider having an alternate source
• Have a follow up strategy to make sure you are not forgotten and execute it
• Prepare for a longer sales cycle - persistence is key
• Clearly demonstrate the value in considering you as a supplier
• Become knowledgeable about the prospects industry
• Challenge yourself to connect with the prospect on a regular basis
• Communicate your competitive advantage 

Good selling,
Richard

P.S. Did anyone else loose posts this week due to the day long Blogger outage? I thank my RSS feed for providing copy and enabling this re-post.

Thoughtful Thursdays - Dealing with the "but"

Thank you for presenting your proposal earlier this week. We like what you are offering, but we just can't afford to pay that much. There is a competitive situation we must consider. Is there anything you can do about your price?

Okay star, how will you handle this common objection? Are you prepared to respond? The way this is handled may make or break the deal.

Today's thought may provide you a few ideas on how to handle this kind of objection. Let's assume that your research is sound. You have correctly identified the needs and proposed your best solution. There is not much wiggle room with price and you are not prepared to just drop price to get the order unless absolutely necessary. There may be some points that need clarification.

• Is the customer making a fair product/service comparison with the competition?
• How far apart are the prices and what is the total impact over the entire order?
• If you are the incumbent, has the customer considered all the costs of changing suppliers?
• If you are not the incumbent, have you considered the cost to your customer of changing suppliers?
• Can you make up the price gap with value added services other than price of your product/service? Examples include improvement of cash flow or inventory planning.
• Is the lifetime value of the customer significant? Are they strategically significance to the long term goals of your business?

You are looking for ways to establish value that do not directly impact your proposed price. It may not always possible. By exploring all possibilities you are likely to secure a higher percentage of your business at the prices you want.

Good selling,
Richard

Thoughtful Thursdays - Use objections to help grow your sales

Today's thought is about using something that you have a lot of, as a resource to grow sales.

In the long run you will probably face more objections than approvals. Addressed appropriately you can use the objections as a base to help grow your revenues.
I will  assume that the the people you are talking to are your target market, the ones that, based on your research, will be most likely to want to buy from you.

Never walk away when you face an objection before taking the opportunity to ask for your prospect for their help. If you can get to the root cause of the objection, you will be in better a position to either respond or decline.

Even if you walk away, you can gain valuable information from the experience that can be used in future sales calls including:

• Sales leads
• Ways to improve your approach
• Industry information
• Competitive information

With forethought and planning you will find that in many instances an objection can be converted into positive experience for your business.

Good selling,
Richard