In sales, objection handling training is not what it used to be!
But, even still, knowing how to handle objections professionally, smoothly and without derailing the whole sales process is a game changer.
Especially when it comes to building a high quality sales pipeline that consistently converts to closed deals.
But the truth is, if you’re still waiting for objections to be shot at you from the buyer half way through the sales pitch then you’re still selling like its 1989!
STOP!
Selling doesn’t work that way anymore.
Things have moved on!
If you’re not flushing out objections early, telling the prospect what they should be looking for and objecting to then you will be missing out on sales!.
It’s no longer good enough that you handle those sales objections so they melt like honey on toast.
Instead, you need to get to the objection first, air in first.
Air it so it’s part of your educate and transform positioning, rather than the fly in the ointment that it will inevitably be if you leave it for the buyer to raise.
Failure to do this will mean you’re neither working efficiently or effectively, and the cost asscoated with that are high…
Including, but not limited to,
- Endless hours wasted writing sales proposals that come come nothing
- A sales pipeline full of nothing of value
- A sales forecast that is way more fact than fiction
- A call list that stats with, ‘just wanted to check you got me email’ ‘have you had a chance to look at my quote’, ‘is there anything we can do to get this deal back in play?’
It doesn’t need to be that way…and
- It’s not pretty
- It’s not profitable
- BUT it could well be your reality if you’re thinking about objections as something to fear!
Your skill in broaching potential objections early, educationally and effectively is directly proportional to your chances of securing the order!
So, What Does Sales Objection Handling Training Look Like Today?
Objection handling and overcoming sales objections used to take up a lot more time in my sale training courses than it does today.
Today, I work with sales people who accept there are a few truths about sales that perhaps weren’t so evident a few years ago:
- A resistance, friction and objection-free sales pitch is possible
- Often the real selling doesn’t take place until the buyer says no
- Tension, something which was once avoided, is now part of the sales process and can actually aid sales conversion and urgency
Understanding these three principles helps professional and successful sales people succeed where others may falter.
Overcoming Objections – Old School
On paper, every sales discussion will unearth some form of objections, resistance, sticking point.
And that’s ok. It’s to be expected.
The trouble sets in, and the chances of closing the sale drop, depending entirely on how you deal with it.
Recognise any of these?
Do you:
- Get defensive
- Say the same thing they’ve just said again and again and get inwardly frustrated with the buyer
- Ignore it, change the subject and move on
Old School Sales Objection Handling: Here are the win points:
- Listen
- Ask questions to understand
- Welcome the buyer raising the point, it means he’s engaged
- Ask some questions so you can understand the difference between what the buyer says and what the buyer means
- Let the buyer unpack and reformat the objection themselves
- Summarise what the buyer has said – 70% of the time the buyer will have answered their own objection and your can move on, but, failing that
- Reformat your answer to address the KEY concern/s
- Get the buyer nodding as they understand your joint view
- Keep it brief
- Ask if that’s set the buyers mind at ease
Is this such a bad framework? No
Does it work? Often
Should you still use it? If you must!
Is there something better? Of course….it’s not 1989 remember!
Will ‘something better’ increase my sales conversion rates? Without a doubt!
Objection Handling Training | Handling Sales Objections – What’s Now?
The simple fact is that – if you just did what I’ve outlines above. you’d be streets ahead of many sales people, because they are mostly stuck in 1989 too.
Today – you can use sales objections to you advantage!
So you’re more expensive than any one else in your space? Great, own it, It’s your selling point. Your value proposition. Your differentiator!
You’re smaller than all of your competitors? Great, own it, It’s your selling point. Your value proposition. Your differentiator!
You’re the new kid on the block in your space? Great, own it, It’s your selling point. Your value proposition. Your differentiator!
So you don’t have as many social media reviews as everyone else? Own it. Unpack it before your prospect does.
Your terms are structured differently? Own it. Unpack it before your prospect does.
Whatever the objection, potential, real or other wise – what should you do? Own it, It’s your selling point. Your value proposition. Your differentiator!
When you stop looking at objections as objections and start seeing them as differentiators to be unpacked, explained, and sold, then you really have unlocked unlimited sales potential for you and your sales team
Sales Objection Handling Training | Selling Using the Friction Free Sales Pitch
You can take every single sales methodology in the world today – and we look at them all on The Sales Improvement Workshop – and every single one will advocate for:
- Educate your buyer
- Offer insights your buyer might not already know
- Challenge your buyers thinking to help them with their thought process
- Use lived experiences to guide you buyer and help them address their problems and challenges
- Run meaningful discovery calls before you even start to think about pitching
- Build real value into your sales pitch
- Build a business case for each buyer in the buying process
- Map out the sales process
- Qualify continually as you go
- Make sure the right people are in the room – thread all your comms to maximise buy in and reduce sales cycle times
Handling objections doesn’t even hit the list
Why Handling Sales Objections Means Something Totally Different Today
Today what ‘Handling Sales Objections’ actually means is:
Help your prospect better define their buying journey and their buying outcome!
What does that look like when you’re in the sales process?
It means:
- Ask better questions
- Get inside the buyers head so you can walk their journey
- Thoroughly scope out the buyers needs
- Educate, inform, transform, counsel the buyer without selling
- Help the buyer refine their wish list, so you meet the criteria
- Be an adviser before you become a sales person
All these skills and behaviours build for you a friction free sales pitch!
Discover how to master them all by joining us on The Sales Improvement Workshop – hit the link for details or call Carol on 0779 002 1885 to check dates and availability.
A friction free sales pitch is the ultimate way to structure your sales pitch so buyers see you as the trusted adviser you are, and the only provider of what they need.
The Sales Improvement Workshop | Sales Objection Handling Training and So Much More
Selling has changed a lot in the last 5 years.
Buyer are more savvy, more educated and already (probably) 75% of the way through their buying process before they get to you – you can either fail foul of this when they use their wisdom to lay traps for you to pass or fail….
Or you can use their wisdom to your advantage and meet them where they are.
Peer to peer selling is here to stay.
If last years advice was for Sales Reps to become the buyers Trusted Advisor then this has only become more relevant this year.
In The Sales Improvement Workshop we cover everything your sales rep needs from prospecting to closing, pitching to qualification, including handling objection training….all the while bring the best and most up to date sales methodologies available today.
Structuring your sales interactions with several different buyers with separate agendas and inputs, across varying time scales, with different levels of authority and urgency can become a challenge unless you have a proven framework to use to ensure you connect with every single stakeholder at the required level.
Understanding the relationship between buyer/s and seller had never been more important for the sales profession.
Start your sales growth journey with Morton Kyle Limited – call Carol on 0779 002 1885 for availability and rates.
Summary | Handling Objections Training
If you’re looking for handling objections training then dealing with this aspect in isolation will not impact sales results. There is a fundamental shift in thinking needed to address friction and objections which is more inline with how buyers buy today. Objection handling training in the sales arena relies more on the quality of the sales discovery, value positioning and minimising risk than ever befor.
We cover all of this an more in The Sales Improvement Workshop – come and join us.
With so much information available about how to improve sales, the best sales methods, the changing needs of buyers, what sales process to use… it’s often tough to know where to start if you want better sales results.
That’s why we create CLARITY from CONFUSION!
With our holistic approach to improving B2B sales performance, my clients can see an immediate uplift in sales outputs because we only focus on the elements of your sales function that are dragging your sales results down.
There is nothing hit and miss with our sales improvement interventions – whether that’s sales coaching, sales training or sales strategy.
What does that mean for you? Faster progress, less effort, fewer changes, less friction, smoother transition from the old to the new.
Don’t get bogged down in out the box sales solutions and ‘hit and run’ sales training – you’re closer than you think to getting the sales results you want, you don’t need to start from scratch.
So, what’s your sales challenge?
Let’s chat!