I Love Objections

When you bought clothes pre-COVID-19, you tried them on before buying. You used to take an actual, nonvirtual test drive when you bought a car. Few people (including me), make a major purchase without at least some reservations. Usually the larger the purchase financially, the more perceived risk you face, and the hesitation level increases.

In sales, be very leery of the prospect that signs on the spot without hesitation or without any reservations. When that happens, one of two things are likely at play. Either you’re leaving money on the table because the purchase isn’t significant enough for them to worry about, or they are just trying to get rid of you and they will cancel after you leave.

I welcome objections. Actually, I love objections. That probably sounds weird, unless you define objections the way I do. Objections are buying signs. Think about it. If a prospect has no interest in doing business with you, they will simply say “no.” The fact that they have reservations and share them in the form of objections means you have their attention and they want to move forward, but at some level they’re uncomfortable.

Today we are going to classify objections, tomorrow we share how to answer them. All objections can be classified in one of seven categories:

1. The Value Objection: Perceived value of product or service is not worth the price or will not solve the problem

2. Status-Quo Objection: No urgency to grow or do better

3. I-Can’t-Compete Objection: Feelings of inferiority to competitors

4. The No-Budget Objection: Money is spent, budget is tapped

5. Risk-Averse Objection: Afraid to try something new, safer to do nothing

6. The Power-Struggle Objection: I want to do this, but my partners won’t go for it

7. I’ve-Had-a-Bad-Experience-with-Your-Company Objection

The key is to prepare answers, information and documentation to help you with answers for each category.

Tomorrow we’ll share a tested and successful formula for handling any objection.