Hello and welcome to my article this month. I'd actually written my piece several days ago however sitting waiting for my flight at Leeds Bradford Airport I got a call from one of my potential clients and I had a change of heart....
John (name changed) rang me to say that his staff were struggling to make enough calls and that they were getting more and more despondent every day. After a short conversation in which he outlined the methodologies that they were following it became clear that at the route cause of their problem were a handful of "difficult" objections. When prospecting for new business these were literally destroying morale and stopping proactivity. In my experience, this is not at all uncommon and I often find that two or three objections cause significantly more problems than all of the others put together. Salespeople store negative emotions about these core objections and all a client has to do is utter the objection and the salesperson immediately accesses an unresourceful state, remembering all of the times that they failed to turn it around in the past! Not good!
When I was asked to speak at a recent conference (Thanks to my enthusiastic audience BTW - you know who you are!) I asked what the core objections for were. The answer came back loud and clear, "It's too expensive" and "I don't have the time". As you think about these two objections, what emotions do they trigger for you? If you're like many of the audience that I spoke to, probably not that resourceful! With this in mind, what are you likely to say to a potential member? How convincing are you going to be? How well are you going to sell your company? What are the chances of them joining in these circumstances? Probably not great!
Sales potential is maximised by leveraging sales skills from a great mindset. Here are a few questions and exercises that will help you with both:
Question 1: When you think about the emotions that those two objections stirred up for you, what is it that you believe about them that causes you to feel this way? What do you think the potential member really means when they say this?
(And be honest with yourself! If you have negative emotions and beliefs here it's important that you get an answer!)
Question 2: Is the answer to Question 1 absolutely true? Do you know it to be true for a fact? Of course, you don't! Infact, it's probably only fair to say that someone else may think something totally different in this scenario? Isn't it! For those who've met me imagine what I might think! Now...
Exercise: I want you to take a few moments and think of all of the empowering beliefs that would support you in dealing with these client objections...
At the conference we came up with...
"It's too expensive" - it's cheaper than a round in the pub, it's less than two months in the gym, it's cheaper than our rivals... wow! It's too cheap!
"I don't have the time" - you choose the time, you can do as little or as much as you like, many people say this and then find it helps them to manage their time...
There are many more and I'm sure that you came up with plenty. With this positive focus clearly in mind, consider how you would feel when someone gives you one of these objections. How would you react? How would you stand? Speak? What would you say? How much more positive are you now?
Here's one of many possible skills-based approaches: Agree, Empathise, Reframe
"I understand how you might think that. Other people have said the same prior to joining however once they were fully fledged members they found that the club membership was well worth the investment and far cheaper and more productive than spending their nights down the pub!"
"I understand that totally. Time's precious to me too and I was quite worried about that when I first joined however I've found that I can get a lot of personal value without jeopardising other areas of my life".
There are many other ways of answering these and when you think about it from the correct mindset you will come up with them quite naturally. Next month we're going to look at something a bit different but in the meantime remember to go out and sign up more members with conviction and commitment.
John (name changed) rang me to say that his staff were struggling to make enough calls and that they were getting more and more despondent every day. After a short conversation in which he outlined the methodologies that they were following it became clear that at the route cause of their problem were a handful of "difficult" objections. When prospecting for new business these were literally destroying morale and stopping proactivity. In my experience, this is not at all uncommon and I often find that two or three objections cause significantly more problems than all of the others put together. Salespeople store negative emotions about these core objections and all a client has to do is utter the objection and the salesperson immediately accesses an unresourceful state, remembering all of the times that they failed to turn it around in the past! Not good!
When I was asked to speak at a recent conference (Thanks to my enthusiastic audience BTW - you know who you are!) I asked what the core objections for were. The answer came back loud and clear, "It's too expensive" and "I don't have the time". As you think about these two objections, what emotions do they trigger for you? If you're like many of the audience that I spoke to, probably not that resourceful! With this in mind, what are you likely to say to a potential member? How convincing are you going to be? How well are you going to sell your company? What are the chances of them joining in these circumstances? Probably not great!
Sales potential is maximised by leveraging sales skills from a great mindset. Here are a few questions and exercises that will help you with both:
Question 1: When you think about the emotions that those two objections stirred up for you, what is it that you believe about them that causes you to feel this way? What do you think the potential member really means when they say this?
(And be honest with yourself! If you have negative emotions and beliefs here it's important that you get an answer!)
Question 2: Is the answer to Question 1 absolutely true? Do you know it to be true for a fact? Of course, you don't! Infact, it's probably only fair to say that someone else may think something totally different in this scenario? Isn't it! For those who've met me imagine what I might think! Now...
Exercise: I want you to take a few moments and think of all of the empowering beliefs that would support you in dealing with these client objections...
At the conference we came up with...
"It's too expensive" - it's cheaper than a round in the pub, it's less than two months in the gym, it's cheaper than our rivals... wow! It's too cheap!
"I don't have the time" - you choose the time, you can do as little or as much as you like, many people say this and then find it helps them to manage their time...
There are many more and I'm sure that you came up with plenty. With this positive focus clearly in mind, consider how you would feel when someone gives you one of these objections. How would you react? How would you stand? Speak? What would you say? How much more positive are you now?
Here's one of many possible skills-based approaches: Agree, Empathise, Reframe
"I understand how you might think that. Other people have said the same prior to joining however once they were fully fledged members they found that the club membership was well worth the investment and far cheaper and more productive than spending their nights down the pub!"
"I understand that totally. Time's precious to me too and I was quite worried about that when I first joined however I've found that I can get a lot of personal value without jeopardising other areas of my life".
There are many other ways of answering these and when you think about it from the correct mindset you will come up with them quite naturally. Next month we're going to look at something a bit different but in the meantime remember to go out and sign up more members with conviction and commitment.