This comes about today from a couple of people who asked me about, when they are in front of clients, or talking with the clients on the phone or wherever, and the clients simply has the reasons why they don’t want to buy.
Customer objections. What do you do? What are the answers? Now it’s as if, the way they’re asking, it’s as if there is a list of, oh we’d just do this, do this and that solves all of it. It’s not as simple as that. This is all mind games and trickery.
Now, first of all remember that not every client is, or potential client is in a position to buy now. They may be in a position to buy later.
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So, there is only a certain amount of pressure. In fact, pressure is a wrong word. If you are using pressure, it’s wrong. The client, and this is the 21 century, everything has changed.
The power has shifted from the supplier to the buyer. Now the buyer is in control. So you cannot pressure.
Gone are the days of, in the U.K. we had double glazing sales. Well they still operate but double glazing salesmen who would stay in your house till midnight, until you signed to get rid of them.
And in any way, they get you to sign is, they say, we’ve got 21 days to change your mind don’t worry, no commitment. And etc. etc. We don’t do that.
So people are not always in a position to buy, and sometimes the product is not suitable for them. But hopefully you have qualified them, hopefully you’re in front of the right type of potential client.
And they’re pre-qualified and they are the correct audience for you. So your main thing is, can they buy it now or later?
They Still Need to Like You
So remember, if they want to buy it later, they still need to like you. So first of all, if someone brings up an objection, a particular objection, first step is to agree with them.
To thank then, to say that is, that is a great question, that is a great point, thank you for bringing that up.
If you have a notebook, say “if that’s OK, do you mind, because that is a very valid point. Do you mind me making a note of that?”
So first of all, you have agreed with him. You are suddenly on their side, you are not opposite them, you are on their side.
Because you are agreeing with them. And then you’re going to bring in empathy. Ask him a little detail of why and then side with them. So. ‘I understand’, ‘Yes, I understand’, ‘I can remember when’, ‘I can remember this company’.
Always Use Examples
Always bring in examples, always have examples to hand whether it’s of yourself, but make sure they are genuine. Don’t make stuff up.
OK, now, now you’ve got them on your side. They like you. You’ve agreed with them. You haven’t flat off said “Oh no, no, no”. You’ve agreed with them. So they are your friend.
Convert Them
The next one is to start to convert them, to turn them around. And the way we do that is by explaining, first of all the value. So forget about prices.
This is not about the price. You have to discuss the value to the client. So if they, if they are, if you’re trying to sell them something, they say, “well it’s too expensive or it, so and so has one cheaper”.
Then you can say, “Well yes, of course, of course it’s bound to be cheaper. However there are probably, whatever you’re supplying.
You know 193 suppliers in this country, supplying the very same product. Only one of them is the cheapest and everyone has customers. We are, we are never going to sell on price because that’s a monk’s game. What car do you drive?”
And hopefully the person doesn’t driver the cheapest car on the market. But you probably have seen, they’re going to driver a middle car, say why didn’t you buy a cheaper one.
Exactly, it’s not as simple as that. And then you enhance the value.
So, so you give justification, but then you talk about the value. And you hopefully, you’ve already done this. This is how to sell. You explain the value to them.
You put everything in their, in their court, in their words and you explain how this is good for them. Not how it’s good for you. How it’s good for them. That’s all they’re interested in.
One of the best ways you can do this, to explain value, is in some way, shape or form, explain how this is going to save them money and it’s going to save them time.
Because those are the two things that people want, want more off, or don’t have enough of time and money and so if you can explain how that’s going to work.
How Can You Save Them Money
Don’t tell them about what is going to save them over the next 20 years. They aren’t really thinking that far ahead. They’re only thinking now. So find a quick win of how it’s going to save them money now.
Why, so for instance with cars, why buy a Mercedes instead of a Ford? Because of the reliability, the comfort, the status, etc.
Get away from price, and put those things in the person’s mind. If you want to know way of of putting them into their mind.
So if you want to turn a feature into a benefit. A feature is a feature of the product. A benefit, being a benefit to the potential customer.
At the end of the feature, so just add this little phrase. ‘So that means,’ and then you can explain. So this, I don’t know, the Mercedes has an ergonomic, ergonomic seat.
So that means, when you’ve driven a long, a 300 mile journey back from, from, to see a client. And you would normally be tired, you get off out of this car as if you have been sitting on an arm chair at home, watching TV. You see, convert it into that way.
Then you back this up. Once you start to enhance the value, then you start to drop in more case studies.
People have got objections, they just want proof that other people are buying this. That they are not an idiot. That they are not going to be silly. That they are not going to be the only one.
They want to know that everyone else is buying it and everyone else is happy and why they bought it? And how they are happy? And how it helped them?
Now I’m going to hope that you have proof that your product is a good product. Now Of course if you have just invented it yesterday, and this is customer number one. You’d probably be selling it in a different way.
But let’s assume you have clients, you have been in business for a while and you have happy repeat clients. You can tell them, you don’t have to give them names. You can explain, we have a customer who is so and so.
I means in my fire protection business we supply to Google, we supply to Buckingham palace, the BBC, ITV, top Gear.
We supply to Downton Abbey, Downton Abbey, the show. The production company for Downton Abbey use to buy our products. No you won’t see them, they are not that old.
But we have people galore with names that people recognize. So we can say and if people think, oh if they’re buying, then it must be OK.
Back Up Your Product
And of course we back it up with guarantees. But you shouldn’t really need to talk about the guarantee, you should’ve mentioned that before.
Because that makes you sound, like you can, you can overdo it on the guarantee at this point. You can make it sound like you, well don’t worry if you get it wrong, it’s all covered.
You should’ve covered that earlier.
This is where you agree with them, you thank them for their unique point of view. You agree with them, that, it’s a the valid point, but then you stress the value and then you explain everyone else who thought the same and how they got over it, and they put it to use and how it is improving their lives.
And that’s how, generally you deal with customer’s objection.
If you ever go to a sales conference where you have some sales expert at the front, and says, ‘Right any one, put up your hands and tell me, all the reasons, why could people don’t buy?’
And you think, oh there’s 100 of reasons, but in actual fact, when it comes to it, there’s about 5. And no matter how many people can come up, to write them down. They all come under a few little categories, there’s only about 5 reasons why people don’t buy. And so you don’t have to cover that many objections. You can practice, practice makes perfect. You’ll get more sales. Ok.
Tuesday Toolbox Tip
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And oh by the way, tomorrow’s expert’s Interview Series is Phil Pallon. Phil is brilliant, is a branding guy. He is so funny and he’s so nice. I’ve met him in real life.
Genuinely, a great guy. He’s going to be the one doing our new branding. So listen to him tomorrow, I’ll be back on Thursday.