Sales training ideas – How much information should you give during your sales presentation?

Your overall objective in your sales presentation is to give your prospect enough information to make an informed decision, but not so much that you overwhelm or confuse her. 

People will keep track of only few key points. After three or four major points are made in the sales presentation, the information starts to become a little overwhelming and your prospect may mentally shut you off and stop listening. As a result, you want to keep things simple. 

You may have heard the saying, “The less you tell, the more you sell.” Too much information in the sales presentation can lead to objections or stalling measures such as “leave me some information” or “I need to think about it.” It is usually better to give too little information rather than too much. With too little information you have the best chance of remaining within the prospect’s attention span and realm of understanding. Keep the information in your sales presentation to three or four major points and leave the others for objections, additional closes, or as an opening when you follow up on a second or third closing call. 

There are two times when it’s better to over-explain. First, in some cases there are legal ramifications to not giving the full story. In cases such as these, you need to ensure the prospect has all the required information. Second, if you are going over a difficult subject such as an investment, it is important to make sure the person fully understands what you are talking about. 

For example, if you are a financial advisor discussing a company’s P/E ratio during your sales presentation, you can say something to the effect of, “As I’m sure you know, the P/E ratio is the company’s price- to-earnings ratio. Meaning, if the stock trades at $100 and the company has earnings of $10 per share, the price-to-earnings ratio would be ten—the price of the stock divided by the earnings per share. Does that make sense?” 

Starting with, “As I’m sure you know” tells the prospect, “I know you’re intelligent so you probably already know this, but I’ll explain it anyway.” If you simply launch into the explanation and the person already knows what a P/E ratio is, she might think, “Does this guy think I am an idiot?” If the person does know what a P/E ratio is, she will let you know when you begin your explanation. 

Finally, remember, when explaining, to be careful not to talk down to the person or use a patronizing or condescending tone. The bottom line is: you need to find a happy medium with regard to the information you convey during your sales presentation.

Sales training ideas – 6 more keys for powerful sales presentations.

During your sales presentations you want everything possible going in your favor. Some of these are finer points that are not typically discussed in sales training materials.  

6 Finer points that can really solidify your sales presentations 

1) Sell the Relationship in Addition to the Product or Service

When you are giving your sales presentation, emphasize the importance of the long-term relationship, and show the prospect that you understand the importance of service after the sale as well as the long-term quality and value of your product. To achieve this end, say, “Mr. Prospect, the most important thing is the relationship five, ten, twenty years down the road. Now, obviously, today price is important. At the same time, the long-term relationship we develop with you depends on the quality and longevity of the product we supply, as well as the service we provide to you. We grow our business by making you happy today and for years to come. Does that make sense?” 

2) Name-dropping in Your Sales Presentation

Your sales presentation is a great place to name-drop. Name-dropping builds credibility. If some of the high-profile companies in the industry use you, let it be known! If some other companies in the same area as your prospect use you, you might want to consider dropping their names too. You can also mention the names of some individuals with whom you do business. 

One way to name-drop in a sales presentation is to put up a slide that lists some or all of the companies you do business with. You can also use your concept book. Simply show some examples of where and how your product or service worked for other companies and drop names at the same time. 

3) Where to Sit When Delivering Your Sales Presentation

Try to position yourself on the same side of the table as the prospect(s) during your sales presentation. When you sit on the same side of the table, people usually feel more comfortable than when you are across the table from them. 

The chair at the head of the table, farthest from the door, is typically where the “leader” sits. If the President of the company will be attending your sales presentation, he or she will probably sit in that spot. If, instead of the President, you are meeting with the purchasing agent and a Vice President, you might want to take the head chair since most people in the company are used to saying “yes” to the person who sits in that chair—namely, the President. 

This is called a power anchor. By power anchor we mean that people typically equate power to that chair and that position at the table and are used to saying “yes” to people in that chair. Before you sit in that chair, ask indirectly if it’s permissible. Simply ask, “Will anyone be sitting here?” 

4) Where to Look during Your Sales Presentation

Look directly at the customer or prospect during your sales presentation. Do not look at the other people from your company who might be present. You are not selling them, you’re selling the prospect. The only time you want to be looking at someone from your company is if he or she is talking or you want to signal someone to jump in or help you out. 

5) Get By With a Little Help from Your Friends

If you are giving a sales presentation to a large audience, you will typically find some interested faces as well as some uninterested ones. Focus on the friendly faces in the audience and try to avoid looking at the unfriendly ones. You need to stay positive and upbeat while you are speaking. Friendly faces will lift you up while unfriendly faces can drag you down. 

6) Point Out Weaknesses

Don’t try to hide weaknesses from the prospect. Point them out and then show the advantages. For example, if you are in the retail industry or car business, you may have some inventory that you need to sell before you can bring in the new models. You might say, “Mr. Prospect, we need to move these in order to make room for the new model. As a result, I can give you a great price on this model, and it is virtually the same as the new one will be.” 

A house may be a bargain because it’s located near some railroad tracks, airport, or some other undesirable item. If that’s the case, don’t avoid the railroad tracks, point them out and then state the advantage which is price in your sales presentation. 

Keep the above six points in mind and use as many as you can as all will help to ensure you have powerful sales presentations.

Sales training ideas – The 9 most common mistakes made during sales presentations.

During a sales presentation, there are a lot of mistakes you can make, in this article we’ll be talking about the most common that salespeople make. 

9 Big sales presentation faux pas  

1) They’re not prepared for the sales presentation.

 They arrive with no meeting agenda, are disorganized, or are way off the mark about their prospect’s needs and objectives. 

2) They have poor sales presentation skills.

Poor sales presentation skills include, but are not limited to: 

• Butchering the English language.
• Butchering names.
• Poor delivery.
• Too many ahs, ums, ya knows, and other similar unnecessary fillers.
• Giving a presentation that is unclear and/or confusing.
• Bad content. 

3) They don’t know their product, material, or sales presentation.

This is someone who does not stay current with what is happening in the industry and is not able to answer a good number of the prospect’s questions. This is also someone who “wings” the sales presentation. If you are brand new, it is understandable that you won’t know everything. If that is the case, you should not be on the call alone. 

4) They show up late for the sales presentation.

Being late makes you look unprofessional and disorganized. 

5) They fight among themselves at a customer sales presentation.

This seems obvious, right? You’d be surprised. We have heard people call co-workers to task in front of the customer. Bad idea. It shows that you have problems internally and it is extremely unprofessional. If you disparage or undermine a colleague in front of a customer, not only will it look bad to the customer, often you’ll permanently destroy your relationship with that colleague. 

6) They argue with the customer.

You may need to make a strong point and even defend yourself or your company in a meeting. However, you need to be very careful about how you do it. Obviously, you should never get into a verbal confrontation with the prospect. 

7) They don’t have an action plan built into the sales presentation.

These salespeople don’t outline objectives, fail to tie everything together at the end of the meeting, fail to debrief with co-workers later, and don’t follow up in an appropriate or timely manner. 

They sell features instead of benefits.

The sales presentation is filled with all sorts of information about color, shape, size, and technical data that has nothing to do with what the product will actually do for the prospect. While features are important, they should be used only to lead to the benefits of the product. 

9) They don’t close or take the next step in the process.

This one is self-explanatory. You need to either close the sale or take the next step in the selling process at the conclusion of the sales presentation. 

Before you go on sales calls, check this list of nine items and make sure you don’t fall into any of these holes during your sales presentations. 

Sales training ideas – 7 keys to group sales presentations.

Group sales presentations can differ greatly from one-on-one sales presentations. As a result, you want to make sure you cover all the differences when you find yourself doing a group sales presentation as opposed to a sales presentation to an individual. 

1) Become informed about the group before your sales presentation.

Knowing the group’s history will help you talk about items that are of interest to each member. You also want to include information that lets them know you have researched and studied them. This shows that you are a professional and you care. 

2) Arrive well before the sales presentation and meet people.

Take time before the meeting to get to know people in the group and build rapport with them. Remember their names and refer to each of them by name during the meeting. 

3) Find out who the important person is.

During your sales presentation, you want to play to the power in the room, or the person or people with the most influence and authority. This person or people are the key to getting a sale, as a result, can completely make or break your sales presentation. 

Note: If you find yourself in a meeting where you want to learn who the power person is, ask an off-the-wall question such as: “What if the solution you chose to implement doesn’t work?” Everyone will look at the key person to see his or her reaction. They may only look for a second, but this always works. 

4) Be professional, honest, and mix in some good, clean humor.

Being a consummate professional who is honest and has integrity can carry you a long way in sales and in life. It is particularly important to emphasize these traits in group sales presentations, where so many people are watching and judging you. Use good, clean humor to create the right environment and draw your audience closer to you, but use it sparingly. You want the audience to perceive you as a businesslike professional who is down to earth, not a clown who is only occasionally serious. 

5) Address everyone’s concerns.

You are likely to have several different personality types listening to your sales presentation. Make sure you can answer all technical questions and other curve balls that may be thrown at you. If there are questions you can’t answer, have other people with you who can. 

6) To keep their attention, keep the audience involved during the sales presentation.

Here are some ways to do that:        

• Ask questions and have the audience participate during the sales presentation. For example: “A quick show of hands. How many people here are small business owners?”
• Have people do something physical at some point in the sales presentation. “Okay, we’ve been sitting for a while. Everyone stand up for a moment and greet the person to the right of you. Now greet the person to the left of you. If you already know those people and they’re boring, try the person in front of you and the person behind you.” Notice we used a little humor there too.
• Have your audience practice some of the techniques you talk about in your sales presentation. You may say to a group of salespeople: “Okay, now I want you all to stand up, turn to the person directly to your right and give him or her your best sales line in the most confident, enthusiastic manner that you can muster.”
• Hand things to your prospects, or let them test your product right there during the sales presentation. 

7) Follow up and move toward the close.

As with any other type of sales call, you need to have a system in place to follow up and move toward the close. In addition, try to send a note or e-mail to every member of the group, thanking them for their attendance and participation. 

Make sure you cover the above seven points during your groups sales presentations. If you do, you’ll have a much better chance at making the sale and will have much more effective sales presentations.

Sales training ideas – How to introduce difficult subjects during the sales call.

How to Introduce Tough Subjects into the Sales Call

Sometimes you have to talk about tough subjects when selling, and you have to make people uncomfortable in order to educate them and move them out of denial and toward the sale. 

Obviously, some subjects—such as nursing home care or death (when selling life insurance)—can be a challenge. For example, one of us sold long-term care insurance, otherwise known as nursing home insurance. If you think people enjoy talking about getting sick and going into a nursing home, you’re wrong. Many people refuse to face reality. 

In a situation such as this, build some rapport and make your prospect comfortable before proceeding. Next, put the prospect in the right frame of mind. Let him know up front that some of the things you will be talking about in the sales presentation are not pleasant. 

Open the prospect’s mind to the conversation by complimenting his or her ability to talk about these issues. Open the sales call with a statement like this:  

“Mr. Smith, we’re going to be talking about some things today that most people don’t like to spend much time thinking about. Obviously, no one likes to ponder what will happen if they become sick or have to go into a nursing home for any reason. 

“At the same time, unless someone is living in a complete state of denial, they realize that this risk is very real and one that requires serious consideration. Wouldn’t you agree? (Wait for agreement.) 

“That being said, I want to compliment you on having the foresight to look into what you can intelligently do to protect yourself, your assets, and your loved ones.” 

Now bridge into your sales presentation. 

Once you have opened your sales call with this or a similar statement, the prospect will realize that if he tells you he isn’t interested, doesn’t believe this will ever happen to him, or believes he can afford to wait, that’s the equivalent of saying, “Look, I’m in a state of complete denial, so don’t bother me.” 

You’ll still get these objections from time to time during your sales calls, but you can dramatically reduce them by addressing this issue in the beginning of the sales presentation.

Sales training ideas – How to handle sales appointments that cancel or are absent when you arrive.

Selling can present us with some unique problems such as sales appointments that cancel or are absent when you arrive.

If you encounter either of the above scenarios, either your communication is not clear when you set the sales appointment, people aren’t taking you seriously, or you don’t have solid prospects. 

First, you want to ensure your communication is clear when you set the sales appointment. Be specific about the day and time you will be there. Use a statement such as, “I’ll see you at three o’clock on Tuesday the fourth,” rather than, “I’ll be there around three.” 

Have the person you’re meeting with verify the time and day. You might say, “Okay, so I’ll see you at three o’clock on Tuesday the fourth, right?” You can also say, “Okay, so we’re meeting at three o’clock on…let’s see…” and let the prospect jump in and give you the day. 

Let people know your time is valuable. If you are professional and treat your time as valuable, prospects will tend to do the same. Set your appointments in a friendly, but businesslike tone, and let people know you have a tight schedule. 

Before you get off the phone, you might say something like, “Okay, great, so I’ll see you at three o’clock on Tuesday the fourth. I have a lot of people to see that day and my schedule is tight, so I’m happy I could squeeze you in. I look forward to meeting you then.” 

Call ahead of time. Some salespeople don’t want to call ahead of time because they are afraid the prospect will cancel. Trust us, you’ll save far more appointments by calling ahead than you’ll lose. Call an hour or two before your appointment and say something like, “Hi, this is (your name) from (your company), and I wanted to let you know that I’m on schedule so I’ll see you at three o’clock today.” Of course, if you’re running late, you’ll let the person know that along with when you’ll arrive.

Sales training ideas – How location can effect your sales presentation and what to do in each situation.

You will be holding your sales presentation in one of three places, either at your place of business, at the prospect’s place of business, or at a neutral location such as a hotel or conference center. Where you hold the sales presentation will affect your preparation. Here are some ideas for all three scenarios. 

Your Location 

If the prospect is coming to your place of business, be sure you have all your sales presentation materials set up and working well before the prospect’s scheduled arrival time. If your meeting is in the morning, have coffee, bagels, and Danishes available. If it’s around the lunch hour, have lunch scheduled to arrive at the appropriate time. For the afternoon, coffee, bagels, or similar snacks are appropriate. Have items on hand that you can give to your prospect such as pens with your company logo, golf balls, calculators, or other small trinkets. 

Have your full business attire on before the prospect arrives. You also want your place of business to be clean. 

If possible, have a display case by the door for the prospect’s company name. It should say something like: (Your company name) welcomes (the prospect’s company name). 

Make sure all the appropriate people know your prospect is coming, and have all the key people there to welcome her. Ensure everyone is on their best behavior. We once had a situation where company employees were yelling at one another as a prospect arrived. Not good. 

When the prospect arrives, greet her and exchange some small talk. This involves many of the factors we’ve already discussed: a firm handshake, good eye contact, mirroring, and demonstrating to the prospect that you have a sincere interest in her. 

Point out her company name on the greeting board and say something like: “We have you up in lights.” You can also ask how the directions were (if you gave her directions) and travel in general. You will then lead the prospect to the location where you are holding your meeting. You also want to ask the receptionist or office manager to inform the other people in your company who will be involved in the sales presentation that your prospect has arrived and the meeting is starting.  

Get the prospect seated comfortably and ask if she would like anything to drink or eat. Continue with some small talk and rapport building. Look for things the prospect is wearing that you might positively comment on. You should also notice what kind of car she is driving as this might be a topic of conversation or an item you can comment on.  

The Prospect’s Location 

If you are meeting at the prospect’s location for the sales presentation, arrive well in advance to set up any sales presentation technology or other items. 

Bring coffee, bagels, donuts, etc., or lunch if the meeting is scheduled around the noon hour. If the sales presentation is scheduled immediately before or after lunchtime, you should also offer in advance to take the prospect to lunch either before or after the meeting, whichever is appropriate. Bring small trinkets to give to the prospect. 

Once you arrive at your prospect’s place of business, introduce yourself to the receptionist, present your card, and let her know that the prospect is expecting you. It’s also important to have a smile on your face and be pleasant to everyone at the facility. 

At this point, observe your surroundings to find things you can talk about or use to build rapport. In the main facility, this may include photos, letters, or awards on display and other interesting items. In the prospect’s office, if for some reason you didn’t have a chance on the cold call, look for diplomas, trophies, plaques, keepsakes, and anything else that will give you an idea of her interests, hobbies, and family life. 

If you need time to set up, let the prospect know in advance how long this will take. If you’ve brought food or other items, ask her where she would like you to put those. And of course, engage her in small talk and build some rapport before you begin the presentation. 

If you are doing a sales presentation at a prospect’s house, the same rules apply as if you were doing the sales presentation at his place of business. Again, take note of your surroundings both outside and inside the house to see what interests the prospect might have. Are there birdhouses out in the yard, or a nice garden? How about a dog, cat, or pictures of family? 

A Neutral Location 

If your sales presentation is at a neutral location such as a hotel conference room, act as though the prospect is coming to your place of business. 

It is your job to direct the prospect to the proper meeting location, have coffee and other refreshments available, and ensure all things are in the proper working order for the prospect’s visit. Call the facility a couple of days in advance to find out what items are available at the facility in order for you to give your presentation. 

Show up well in advance of the presentation in order to check cleanliness, lighting, temperature, the sound system, and so on. Make sure the food and other items arrive on time. 

Finally, know the name of the facility’s contact person if something goes wrong or needs to be changed. Meet the person in advance, discuss your needs, and make sure you can reach them immediately if something goes wrong. 

Keep the ideas above in mind and realize that location can play an important role in all your sales presentations.

Sales training ideas – 10 real reasons you get sales objections.

Sales objections are one of the biggest obstacles, if not the biggest, to getting the sale. In this article we’ll explore the reasons why you get sales objections. 

10 “real” reasons people give sales objections 

1) The prospect has no need or simply is not interested.

Example: The Eskimo looks around and sees nothing but ice, and there you are with ice to sell. “What would I ever need more ice for? Get outta here.” 

In a case where a person is truly not interested, he or she may simply say no and walk away without even giving you one sales objection. Yet, if someone is listening to you and hanging around to give you a sales objection, it usually means he or she is at least considering your offer, but there is a hurdle in the way. You need to help the prospect find a way over the hurdle. 

2) The prospect doesn’t see the urgency.

Example: A tightrope walker with eight kids and a wife knows he should probably buy life insurance, but he just doesn’t think he needs it right now. Another example: A twenty-seven-year-old musician with a wife and one child on the way has thought about life insurance, but it’s not really a priority. 

3) The prospect doesn’t have any money.

Example: No money. Okay, another example: She may think she has to pay 100 percent up front and she’s not able to do that. 

4) The prospect can’t make the decision by himself.

Example: His wife will kill him if he makes the decision without her. Another example: A person only has authorization to sign orders under $20,000 and this order is for $30,000. 

5) The prospect doesn’t like you, your product, your company, or a combination of the three.

Example: You played football for Michigan, the prospect is from The Ohio State University. Another example: He used your product a year ago and was thoroughly disgusted with it. 

6) The prospect is satisfied with the current vendor.

Example: She gets what she wants, when she wants it, and it operates the way she thinks it should. Why ruin a good thing? 

7) The prospect has a friend or family member in the business.

Example: His father is his supplier and they’re best friends too. Good luck.  

The prospect simply doesn’t want to change.

Example: Similar to being happy with the present vendor but a little more laid back. “Hey, things are cool. Why change?” 

9) The prospect believes his situation is about to change.

Example: A professional juggler just lost his hand while feeding the sharks at SeaWorld. Another example: A mid-level manager hears that substantial layoffs are just around the corner. 

10) The prospect thinks she can do it herself. In other words, she doesn’t need you.

Example: The guy down the street just bought the entire set of “do-it-yourself home repair” books, and now he’s ready to build a skyscraper from scratch that will dwarf the Sears Tower. Yet another example: In 1999 and for the better part of 2000, everyone with a computer who was online trading was a stock market genius. 

Those are the “real” reasons why people won’t buy and why they’ll give you sales objections. However, people may not give you their true sales objections. Instead of saying they can’t afford it, they’ll tell you they want to think about it. Instead of telling you “I don’t like you,” they’ll tell you they’re happy with their present vendor. Any objection a prospect gives may be true, but, more often than not the sales objection is simply a way to put you off without being rude. Most people don’t like to say no. They would rather be polite by giving you an “excuse.” 

Often potential buyers are also affected by their egos. Prospects don’t want to admit they can’t afford it or can’t make the decision on their own. Consequently, they give you an answer they think you’ll buy and then they stick to it as long as you let them. It is your job, through questioning and listening, to find and then overcome the true sales objection.

Sales training ideas – 7 steps to getting great at answering sales objections.

Answering sales objections is both a science and an art form. Luckily, answering sales objections is a process and like most processes, it can be broken down step by step.

7 steps to knocking off sales objections

1) Write down all the possible objections you may encounter.

Every product and service has certain sales objections that come up over and over again. Ask other salespeople, especially the top salespeople, what sales objections they’ve had. They’ll probably come up with quite a few. You should end up with at least ten or so depending upon what you’re selling.

2) Come up with answers to each objection.

Once you have determined all the possible sales objections, ask the top salespeople for their answers to these objections. Don’t ask mediocre or poor salespeople for their answers, even though they will likely be the most willing to help. You want “top” results, not mediocre or poor. Mediocre and poor salespeople can share their objections—these should be universal. But beyond discovering what the real sales objections are, stick with the top people for the answers. And prepare to persevere. Start with your first objection. Let’s say it is “I have no money.” Ask the top salespeople this question: “When you get the ‘I have no money’ objection, what do you say?” Record their response, if possible. You want to get the entire response from start to completion. Although each top salesperson will typically have a favorite response, you want to get more than one. Ask them what they say the second time they get the sales objection, the third, and the fourth. Take as many answers as they will give you. You want to ask these questions during non-selling hours. Also, ask the top salespeople if you can have some time with them to go over sales objections. Obviously, you don’t want to run up to them, stick a recording device in their face, and start firing questions. Let them know it will probably take fifteen minutes or so and ask if the present time works for them. If not, ask them when they might give you a few minutes.

3) Write or type out your responses to the objections.

Play back the recording and write down all the responses to the different sales objections. With each new objection, start with a new sheet of paper. You can change some minor words to make the responses feel more comfortable. However, be very careful nor to change the meaning! Keep the wording as close as possible to what you originally received in the recording. The top salespeople are getting the top results because of what they are saying and doing. If you change what they are saying, you will get different results. The bottom line is that it’s best if you don’t change the wording at all.

4) Get all supporting information together.

By supporting information, we mean testimonials, newspaper or magazine articles, industry studies, and any other proof that helps support your response to someone’s sales objection. For example, let’s say one of the objections on your list is, “I think our company is just too small for this program to be of any benefit.” If this is a standard sales objection, your company probably already has some testimonials from companies similar in size to the one you’re calling on. Here is an example of a testimonial to support your answer to this objection: “Before we began this program, we thought our company was simply too small to see any benefits, yet after the first three months we saw a 22 percent increase in production, a 16 percent reduction in cost, and a 41 percent reduction in turnover that led to a savings of nearly $34,000.” If you and your company don’t have testimonials such as this one, get some immediately! For instance, you may also have an article from a respected industry publication that shows how companies similar in size are benefiting from a product such as yours. Listen to the sales objection, hear the prospect out completely, answer the objection and use your supporting evidence to back up your answer to the objection.

5) Put all the pieces together.

Now that you have all the pieces, put them together. First read through the answers to the sales objections and see how they flow. Do you need to make some changes, or are the answers flowing fairly well? Add the supporting pieces and then practice the entire process. Next, get together with the top salespeople and your manager. Go over what you have and make any necessary changes.

6) Practice, drill, and rehearse.

Once you have a final version for each sales objection, practice, drill, and rehearse until you know each one like the back of your hand. You want to get to the point where you can answer objections in your sleep.

7) Practice on prospects and customers.

After you’ve practiced your sales objection responses, go out and answer some objections in the real world and see how it goes. As we’ve already said, don’t call on your largest prospect first. Make your mistakes on the small guys. After a few days of calling on people, evaluate your progress. Did your answers go as well as you expected, not as well as you expected, or better than you expected? Are there any changes you should make? Talk to the top salespeople and your manager again and see if they have any feedback for you. Make any final changes if necessary, and then go back out into the world with confidence! Continue to revise your answers and come up with better approaches as time goes on.

There you have it: the seven steps to preparing for sales objections. Remember, anytime you get an objection, welcome it as a sign the prospect is interested and listening. If you get one you haven’t encountered before, get some answers from the top people, practice, drill, and rehearse the answers. Then hit the streets confident that the next time you hear it, you’ll roll right over the sales objection.

Sales training ideas – 4 keys to handling sales objections.

The saying that selling doesn’t begin until you get a sales objection has some validity to it. At the same time, if you were to do all the steps in the selling process perfectly, you might never get an objection. In any case, that is more the exception than the rule, so let’s take a look at how to handle sales objections. 

4 Steps to selling your way through the objection landscape 

1) Listen well and hear the prospect out.

Listen well during a sales objection, maintain eye contact, and give the prospect visual cues that you are listening, such as leaning in and acting very interested. People need to know you are paying very close attention to what they are saying. If the prospect is not being straightforward with you, he will usually become uncomfortable and have a difficult time continuing to mislead you when he knows you are listening intently. If he is being straight with you, he will also lean in, look you in the eye, and convey his thoughts more thoroughly. In addition, he will get the sense that you care about him and his problem because you are paying such close attention. 

Once the prospect has finished talking, sit in silence and slightly nod your head for five seconds before you begin to speak (count to five by 1-1,000, 2-1,000, etc.). Often, the prospect will be uncomfortable with the silence and will begin to expand on what he has just said. Occasionally, he will even attempt to explain away the sales objection himself before you get a chance to open your mouth. Even if he doesn’t expand on his ideas any further, the pregnant pause gives the prospect the impression you are listening to him very well, and it gives you additional time to think about what the prospect has just said and what you’re going to say. 

There are two other good reasons to pause after you “think” someone is finished speaking. First, she may not be done speaking and people hate to be interrupted. Second, often the prospect will give you key information after the pause. 

2) Question the objection.

Your goal in questioning the sales objection is to get the prospect to expand and give you a better understanding of where he is coming from. A secondary benefit is that by expanding on the objection, he may talk it away all by himself. Sometimes, the more people talk about something and the more they think about it, the more they start to question their own reasons for the sales objection.  

Here are a few different ways to question the objection:  

a) State the sales objection back to the prospect as a question. If he says it costs too much, say, “Hmm, it costs too much?” And don’t say another word until he speaks. At that point, he will usually expand on the objection. 

b) Ask the prospect what he means, how he means it, or if he can elaborate further on what he means. You can say, “Could you expand on that a little for me?”  

“It costs too much” all by itself doesn’t give you much to go on. He may mean he can’t pay 100 percent of the cost up front, he may not know there are different pricing options, or there may be other reasons why he believes he can’t afford it. In order to answer the sales objection, you need to know exactly what he means. 

c) Ask a quick probing question that gives you more information. After “It costs too much” you could follow with, “How much too much?” You could also follow with, “So, if we could resolve the issue of price, you’d be ready to go ahead?” 

These questions allow the prospect to expand on the sales objection, and his answers will give you more information about the objection. Is it the only objection? How serious is the objection? Is this a true objection? 

3) Isolate the objection.

In the last example, we isolated the sales objection with the question: “So if we could resolve the issue of price, you’d be ready to go ahead?” You want to ask this question to find out if that is the only objection or if there are others. If you get a yes to this question, you know you have only that one objection to overcome. You can then get on with handling it. If you get a no to this question, you need to ask what else is stopping him from moving forward. 

For example, “Mr. Prospect, what else is preventing you from moving ahead today?” Get all the objections before you start answering them. 

4) Handle the objection(s).

Once you’ve heard the prospect out, discovered all of his sales objections, and found out as much as you can about each one, it’s now time to respond to the objection(s). 

Although you will probably end up with a favorite answer to each sales objection, it’s important to have several in your arsenal. When you answer an objection: 

• Cushion your response.
• Handle the objection.
• Get an affirmative answer.
• Give three powerful features/benefits.
• Tie the prospect down to those benefits.
• Close. 

Here’s an example. Let’s say you’re selling dental equipment and a prospect tells you she has no money for a new machine which will streamline her tooth restoration business. You will: 

a) Cushion your response. “Jane, I definitely understand that, but let me ask you a question.” 

b) Handle the objection. “If I could guarantee you that this new machine would pay for itself in the first year and then save you an additional $25,000 per year would you be able to come up with $25,000?” 

c) Get an affirmative answer. 

d) Give three powerful features/benefits and tie the prospect down to them. “Jane, $25,000 is pretty much the minimum amount that most dentists are saving with this machine, we’ve seen some as high as $47,000 per year. 

“Second, with this new machine you’ll be able to do restorations on the same day, during the same visit creating additional cost savings and saving time for both you and your clients in that you won’t need to schedule a second appointment. 

“Third, you and your clients will see a positive difference in the quality of the restoration and the restoration will last longer. At the same time, you’ll be able to charge more due to the added quality and convenience. Based upon this evidence, do you see how this machine will both make you and save you thousands of dollars?”  

e) Get an affirmative answer to your tie-down question above and close. You want to make your proof for moving ahead so powerful that she cannot help but answer your tie-down question with an affirmative “Yes!” Once she’s answered in the affirmative, close: 

“Jane, would you like to purchase this outright or would you like to see our payment plans?” Look her directly in the eye and be completely quiet until she answers you. 

If you cover all four points above when answering sales objections, you’ll find that you’ll be able to make most of them go away and that you’ll have a much easier time selling.

« Previous Page — Next Page »