9 Overcoming Sales Objections Strategies for Getting Your New Product Launch Marketing Plan on Track
Getting leads to respond to your emails or talk to you on the phone is difficult. Even when they do, overcoming sales objections needs to be your next goal.
But that’s only the start of the struggle every salesperson has to endure.
Overcoming sales objections of all of those leads is possibly the biggest differentiator between those who succeed and those who don’t. This makes it the most crucial skill for reps to acquire and improve upon over time.
Sales is getting past common roadblocks of leads. The first of those roadblocks is actually getting a hold of them. Then, it’s getting through their other defenses.
Let’s face it, if a product could sell itself, a sales team wouldn’t need to be a part of that organization.
While the marketplace is getting more advanced and moves closer to automation, there will always be a need for conversations.
And in those conversations, there will always be objections.
No matter who you are (rep, manager, or founder), how well you get around them will determine success.
It’s just one of those skills that will keep you afloat in hard times.
Today’s post is to give you a few (9 exactly) winning strategies to overcoming sales objections. Let’s get started.
1 Predict the Sales Objections
The excuses you hear on the other end of the line will always vary, but they should never catch you off guard.
One of the easiest ways in overcoming sales objections is to understand as much about your ideal buyer as possible.
If you’re still using a generic list, or even a loosely targeted one, the reps on your team are at a serious disadvantage.
They’re flying blind into a fight.
Even with the incredible knowledge about the products and a keen ability to articulate—reps don’t know what’s going to happen on a call.
Prospecting to find a list of leads that fit your business model (based on the data from current and past clients) will dramatically increase the likelihood of closing.
How?
One of the major reasons leads say yes easier, is the prep that your team can do before the call.
You should always equip yourself with a quick, factual, and well-researched response to the common objections.
This process is way easier if you know the common traits of your leads beforehand.
2 Listen
A sales call is not a debate.
You’re not listening to their objections to respond, one-up them, or get a sick burn. The goal is to create a partnership with your company by selling to people who can genuinely use your goods and services to their benefit.
The only way that is going to happen is to convince qualified leads of the benefits. The only way to do that is to understand why they aren’t convinced in the first place.
To understand that—you have to listen and comprehend.
Dwelling on the words at this point can beat the best script template on the internet.
Simply put, if you know:
- The product you’re selling
- The lead’s pain they’re having
- How to listen
No objection should stop you. But there are a few more things you can do if you learn the art of overcoming sales objections.
“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” — Stephen R. Covey
3 Ask, Probe and Confirm
It is important to constantly move the conversation further and deeper.
A call is a very fluid thing and it stays alive as long as you and the lead are talking.
If one starts dominating, it turns into a situation where no one benefits.
As they provide the answers to your open-ended questions, make sure to ask for clarification.
As a salesperson, no important detail should pass you or get ignored. Share on XYou will never understand the reason why they are putting up certain objections until they explain to you in details.
In fact, it might take you up 4-5 layers of questions to comprehend the reasons for their objection.
Once you’ve listened well, it’ll be easier to address the objection.
Bonus Resource: We’ve got a great list of sales questions (and follow-up questions) for you to look at and use here.
4 Empathize
Showing empathy is one of the most effective strategies to slay worry.
It is an emotional and mental exploitation that helps the salesperson connect with the buyer at a personal level.
That sounds devious, but people need to both feel stuff and know stuff before they buy into something.
If you have the best product and all the facts to back it up, but the lead thinks you’re a jerk—they’re going elsewhere.
Likewise, if you are the sweetest person on the planet and have no clue about your product; the prospect will hate telling you no—but they will anyway.
Get around it by empathizing.
Tell them you understand and be able to repeat their concern back to them (hence the listening). The strategy convinces the customer that you are both reading from the same page.
Do not forget that buyers are taking risks every time they make a decision to purchase the product.
Show them that you understand where they are coming from.
Doing so will give you an opportunity to show that there is nothing really to worry about.
5 Justify
It’s important to make them feel justified in their objection.
This isn’t to fully agree with them, turn in your two-week notice because they’re so right that you can’t even work for the company anymore.
Justifying their objection is to ensure them that they're thinking clearly. Share on XIt doesn’t benefit either of you to convince them that they’re wrong.
Even if you can, they’ll have to get off the phone and think about some stuff—not buy you product.
Telling them that you understand and even agree opens up more opportunities than proving leads wrong (especially using strategy number 8 on our list).
6 Use Humor
Another (ahem) benefit of knowing the leads you speak with better is the ability to relate in a more human way.
Every seasoned rep knows the value of humor, but a scripted joke is worse than a joke not told.
Every industry has lingo, problems, and laughable traits unique to them. If you can crack a joke about TPS reports, you’re more likely to close a deal with Initech.
It’s like you’re privy to the inside jokes of their office and it can work SO well if you can relate it to the objection and pains your products solves.
Have a few jokes handy that relate to the common objections of the contacts you’ll speak with and the industry they’re in to really move the rapport needle.
7 Don’t Let Buyers Stall the Process
We’re all about providing leads with everything they need to make an informed decision.
Resources, webinars, and good conversations are all a part of ensuring that you are ready to make the purchase.
That said, buyers who aren’t in an immediate need will stall (sometimes) for the sake of stalling.
It’s not always easy to gauge when a prospect is just enjoying themselves on the fence, or just a suspect that will never buy.
To get past this particular situation, you have to do a little “line in the sand” drawing.
If they are trying delay tactics, turn the table around by asking them to make a quick decision and not you. I’ve never sold to anyone from talking until they say, “OK! Yes, I’ll buy it.”
It’s always when I ask them to buy. Always.
8 Apply Law of Social Proof
You want to know another benefit to reaching out to pre-selected leads?
It’s a whole lot easier to tell them about previous buyers who shared the same objection and ended up purchasing anyway (e.g. case studies).
Then, tell them about the success they’ve had using the product. The rich details reps can provide will melt the lead’s reservations.
Example Transcript:
Lead: “You know, we’re just not sure about [objection x].”
Rep: “Yeah, I totally understand [objection x]. In fact, [client in similar role/industry] had the same issues.
They ended up switching to [product] and within six months they’ve [benefit y].”
This technique will easily diffuse not only the current objection, but could get them past the ones you haven’t even discussed.
The key isn't to make the buyer feel like they are the one who is seeing things in the wrong way. Share on XInstead, it paints that “perfect world” that your clients want to create using your stuff. If you know your leads, you can have that data handy.
9 Conditional Close
Set the tone for the call by (after the lead’s objection is presented) asking them, “If I could convince you that XYZ isn’t an issue, would you purchase/sign a contract today?”
Prospects will stay, suspects will turn into Jell-O (wobbly).
It’s called a conditional close and is fairly common in the sales world.
The point isn’t to get a yes or no answer as much as it is to gauge the conversation.
Most people who are genuinely interested will say yes to this question, but the majority of those leads may not say yes after you do the convincing.
Don’t be afraid of this, especially if the lead has been qualified for a sales call.
Either someone has slipped through and should have never been on the call, or you just have a skittish lead that needs to start making a commitment.
Conclusion
Its not a “One-Sized” Formula
Every call is different, no matter how well you know the leads.
Randomness is the reason listening is vital to overcoming sales objections.
If you can listen and ask good questions, you’ll gain understanding and insight.
Then, it’s just a matter of taking the knowledge of the product and its ability to improve results and presenting them in a way that diffuses those concerns.
Sounds simple, but it’s the difference between awesome reps and the rest.
What are some of your best strategies you’ve seen for overcoming sales objections?