Why Buyer Objections Are Your Sales Breakthrough

Welcome to Selling for Success — your go-to sales podcast for strategies, tips, and inspiration to help you close more deals, generate leads, and grow your business.

In this episode, we’ll cover: 

• Three core truths behind every objection: need for more information, lack of trust, and timing/value perception issues
• The money objection is usually about value perception, not actual price
• Understanding the difference between value and price is crucial for overcoming financial objections

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Welcome to the podcast!

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction: Hidden Messages in Rejection
• 2:43 Three Core Truths Behind Objections
• 8:48 Handling the Money Objection
• 14:56 Turning Objections into Opportunities
• 17:42 Proactive Objection Handling Strategy
• 20:16 Action Steps and Key Takeaways

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:07

Hello and welcome to the podcast. Now, what difference would it make to you if you realised that every no from a potential customer is not a rejection, but it has within it a hidden message? And what difference would it make to you if you knew what those messages were? How would you feel about asking for the business, knowing that you might get a no? If you understood that no doesn't always mean no, and this is something that, if you've listened to other podcasts, I've spoken about this before and that's what we're going to dive into in this podcast. So my name is Graham Elliot. Please remember to like and subscribe. That would be really great.

Speaker 1: 0:48

So what is the client really trying to tell you when they say no, and how do you turn that around and make it a breakthrough? So what are the three core truths behind every objection? So the first one is that they need more information. In other words, is that they need more information? In other words, they're not convinced yet. So what generally has happened there is, if you've assuming you've gone through all the other steps up to this point correctly, so you've properly qualified, you've had a good face-to-face discussion with the client about what they're trying to achieve, you've got really clear on that and what's important to them. You've gone through and answered each of those points in turn and demonstrated how you can meet that requirement and they're still holding back. So it's simply a question of asking what is it that they need to know? What is it that I would own it? I would say what haven't I explained properly? The alternative is to say what haven't you understood? That kind of puts it on them and that can create a bit of kickback, a bit of resentment. So I always own the miscommunication. Put it that way because that way I can deal with it. It's not it's if you have a client who's got a big ego and we all have those, I mean clients with big egos, not necessarily we've all got big egos they won't like it if you're implying that they've screwed up somewhere or made a mistake. So the easiest thing is to just own it and ride with it, but then you can deal with it. So that's the first one. They want more information. So it's simply a question of going back and clarifying what is missing from their point of view.

Speaker 1: 2:34

The second one is the I don't trust you or I don't trust this solution. So this is perhaps this is really the fear objection. So it may actually be neither of those things. It may simply be that they're afraid of making a commitment, and I think on one occasion I've had this where I felt there was a personal issue with somebody. I've offered to just put them in touch with another salesperson if they would rather deal with somebody else, and in fact that cleared it. That cleared the issue.

Speaker 1: 3:12

But you know, this is the thing about it it's not to get caught up in your own ego. You're there to serve your client and so drop your ego and just go through the steps, make sure you do them correctly. And some clients have really big egos, so you know that's fine. You can't change that. So you've just got to work with it.

Speaker 1: 3:33

If they don't trust the solution, obviously there you have some options, depending on what it is you're selling. It might be that you can offer a trial period, something like that, just so that they can convince themselves, that kind of thing. Again, I don't know what you're selling, so there may be something you can offer there. Or the other reason for the no might be that it's not right for them right now. So this is the time objection. Or it could be a perceived value objection. So I've covered how to turn those a little bit.

Speaker 1: 4:09

We'll dive in a little bit deeper. The one that you may well have had and it tends to be the favourite. So if you write a list of the top three to five objections you get this one is almost certainly going to be there and it's the money objection. And the thing about the money objection is that it's really about the price. So what you're selling has a value and it's really important to understand the difference between value and price. I'm going to talk about how you price things in another podcast, but it's basically what is the value of what your solution offers to the client, what is the value of solving their problem? And they should know that. And as you're talking to them, as you're getting clearer on the requirement, it's something you also need to get a clearer feel for. So this is really the value perception. So what does it deliver for them versus sticker shock?

Speaker 1: 5:10

So usually in your qualifying process, remember when we qualify we're qualifying people out as much as we're qualifying people in. It is good to get a fit. Make sure that they know the kind of ballpark you're talking about ballpark figure, you don't have to go straight into it straight away, but it is important that you are talking to people who have the kind of budget needed to buy your solution. So that's one thing. They haven't understood the value. The second thing is the budget smoke screen. So what I mean by that is that they'll start referring back to the budget as an issue, however it goes, but it will be related to budget and what they're really telling you about the priorities. So how important is it that they solve this particular problem? And maybe it's not as important as they told you.

Speaker 1: 6:09

Now there is a whole process you can go through and it's in the training course, consultative selling, where you can basically start to itemise the price, the value in terms of a dollar, pound, euro, whatever currency you use value, but that is just one. To be aware of that. You might get budget thrown at you and generally it's about something else. So the most likely thing is they haven't understood the value of it. Aware of that, you might get budget thrown at you and generally it's about something else. So it's the most likely thing is they haven't understood the value of it or they don't recognize the value. So owning that problem. We haven't um, correctly demonstrated that to them so.

Speaker 1: 6:45

So the thing to do there is to you need to get them to think about your solution as an investment. And what you're doing there you're shifting the whole narrative from making this purchase an expense to making it a gain, and this is where you get return on investment. Depending on what you're doing, you might even have calculations, and you might even have calculations. You might have an algorithm or a spreadsheet or something where you can pop in a bunch of figures and then the price of what they're buying and that will pop out return on investment. And it's the same thing with the sales training course, to put it as another example.

Speaker 1: 7:23

So not that I do too much face-to-face selling on that one, on the consultative selling course, but the bottom line is, when you look at the price of that course, if it delivers what it claims to deliver, if you can improve your sales by 30% in a matter of a month or two, what difference does that make to your, let's say, your take-home pay, your net pay, that make to your, let's say, your take-home pay, your net pay or your net margin if you're self-employed? So what does a 30% increase in sales revenue mean to you in those terms? And so how many extra sales would you need to make to cover the cost of the course the price of the course, if you like and, of course, once you've covered the price, once you've covered the price of the investment, then everything on top of that is money that you would not otherwise have had. So this is now all. This is your investment. This is the payback. So this is how to think about what you're presenting.

Speaker 1: 8:31

Often, things will come down to money, so it's really important that you have a good basic understanding of what the deliverables are from your product sale in terms of value. Now, if you're selling something like gym membership, things like that, the value is something different. There's more of an emotional sale there. So here I'm talking more business to business. In the previous podcast, I spoke about the difference between business to business and business to client or consumer. With the business to consumer, it's much more about emotion, so the payoff is more likely to be emotional. If you're in business to business, the payoff is more likely to be financial, so just be aware of that, okay.

Speaker 1: 9:14

So how do you turn objections into opportunities? What's the strategy around that? So you need to be doing something that is often referred to as active listening, and what that means is you're listening beyond the words, and what I mean by that is you're hearing what the unsaid aspects are to the conversation. So obviously you need to get clear on what the problems are, what the problems are that you need to solve, because that's what you're doing. Certainly, in business to business is generally problem solving, but in that conversation, just listen out for other things that will come up. So these would be emotional cues. They might be underlying needs, they might be underlying problems that perhaps go beyond the direct purchase of a solution, but there is something underlying that. So, um, they may have been trying to deal with a loss of revenue in a certain area for some time. Um, there are going to be clues in there.

Speaker 1: 10:18

It's difficult for me to get specific at the moment on that one, but hopefully you understand the point, though, as always, is to really listen and ask questions. Demonstrate that you. I mean, don't ask silly questions, but do ask questions that allow you to clarify, particularly what the payoffs are. And so, again, in the course, there's a lot more of these, but it'd be the kind of thing or the kind of question you would be asking is what difference would it make to you if you could solve, when you can solve, this problem? What difference will it make when you solve this problem? And those kind of questions are great because they tell you a lot more about the payoff that your client is expecting, why they're talking to you in the first place.

Speaker 1: 11:06

And this is what I mean by going a bit deeper. A lot of salespeople just talk through the brochure and at the end of it they're none the wiser about what the real payoffs are for the client. They're simply selling a box and it is simply selling a box. There's no value associated to it. So it comes back to understanding the value and while the value certainly in B2B will be financial, there will also be a more. There'll be emotional, but there'll be other payoffs in there.

Speaker 1: 11:35

And this is what you need to need to understand other things, looking for the feel felt, found framework. So this is using empathy as a bridge. It's not a concession. So it's basically demonstrating from a more emotional, more personal side that you understand. So you can say something like oh, I feel this would be a good solution for you, or I feel that that's going to be an important part of the solution we need to find for you, or an important part of what you're trying to achieve. But you're listening for all of those cues, particularly the, the emotional, but the underlying thing. So what are they feeling? What have they felt? What have they found?

Speaker 1: 12:28

Another thing is and this is really important, and this is called or one name for it is to refer to as proactive objection handling. So this is about anticipating and dealing with concerns they have or they're likely to have, which could turn into objections, before they bring them up. So the easiest way to do this, if you've been selling for a little while, is to think about the common objections that come up. What are the top three to five objections that come up? Money may well be one of them, but there might be others. So this is something for you to do as a follow-up activity, I guess, to this podcast.

Speaker 1: 13:14

Now, the thing for you to do, and the thing a lot of salespeople do, is actually shy away from those objections. They know what they are and they'll do anything they can to avoid them. So what I'm going to suggest to you is you do the exact opposite and you raise them as points of conversation, because if, if you raise them, it is part of the conversation. If the client raises them, they are objections, so it could be money. You could say something like a lot of our clients initially were a little bit concerned about the size of investment. It was a little bit higher than they were expecting, but what we've seen with them and we've seen this in every case I can think of the payback has been far higher than they expected as well. So they really benefited by making the investment.

Speaker 1: 14:01

Now, that needs to be true. Obviously we are talking about ethical sales here, but hopefully you get the idea. So for any objection that may come up, you need to turn that into a point of conversation and just raise it. And if you talk about other people who've had the same problem, that also makes the client feel a bit safer, because we like to be part of the crowd. It's just part of being human. So what are the action steps you can take right away?

Speaker 1: 14:30

So the key thing is to get clear. You get your really work on your questioning, because this is one of the most important things you can get right as a salesperson. It's to ask a series of questions that give you real clarity about what the client is looking for, about what the outcomes are they're looking for and also understanding the key things. There might be one absolutely key requirement that you have to meet. There's probably secondaries as well, but there's usually definitely one that you must be able to deliver on that. Often, on the rest, there's room for compromise, but there's usually one thing that you have to deliver on. Don't make it an interrogation, but you do want to understand, to keep it a conversation, keep it light, almost as you would with a friend.

Speaker 1: 15:26

Secondly, really build. It's been referred to as the value proposition, but basically what you're doing, you're reinforcing the benefits, what the payoffs are going to be. So value in business to business will likely be a dollar value. If you're in business to consumer, it could be an emotional payoff. But what is the value? How does this client define value? And it's really important to understand that, and you can do that by asking the right questions, just having a conversation with them, asking what's important to them, what are the things that this solution really has to deliver for them? Deliver for them and then, if you can't close them there, and then, in fact, even if you do use the follow-up.

Speaker 1: 16:23

So if you haven't been able to close them, you really need to maintain momentum by setting up another appointment and ideally keep it fairly close to where you are. So probably no more than a week if that's doable, and ideally shorten that. Because where you are at the end of this conversation is you're at a peak in terms of the buying probability. When you've gone through the question, you've got them to really re-engage with all the benefits that they're going to get when they buy, when they solve this problem, let's put it that way. So if you're doing this correctly, you've actually got them experiencing what they're going to get when they get the solution, and that's an emotional high. That's a really good point to close the deal, because in their mind's eye or in their imagination, they already have bought the solution. They've already, they're already getting the payoffs.

Speaker 1: 17:15

So this is the time to strike, obviously, if you're not able to close it right there, and then you need to follow up as quickly as you can because obviously that peak will drop off pretty quickly and you you really want to re-engage that in that energy in them so that you get them when they're feeling really positive about it. So make sure that the conversation continues with empathy. You need to demonstrate that you're on their side. Okay. So just to recap, when you get a no from a client and the reason I've focused on this is that for a lot of salespeople, this is something that they really fear Don't fear the no. And when it comes to objections in particular, get really clear on the main objections that you're likely to face and you bring them up. Go head on in there. Don't try and avoid them, don't hide away from them. Go in and deal with them, because when you raise those issues in conversation with the client, they are going to give you the answer if they subsequently raise them as an objection and that's the beauty of this.

Speaker 1: 18:29

So, if it's money thing, um, you might say, look, this is, this is looking like the kind of budget we're looking at for this. How does that sit with you? Is that what you were expecting? And they'll either say that's fine or okay, it's a little bit higher, um, and, and they may volunteer something, or you can offer something. We'll give them the payoffs that we can deliver and the return on investment that you're looking at here. How do you see us moving forward? And that opens the door for them to start looking at ways of making that happen.

Speaker 1: 19:03

Now you might be able to do something too. So it depends on your business. You might be able to have them put down a certain amount of money up front, paying installments, all that kind of stuff. So that's all up to you and that will depend on, obviously, the business you have. But the point about this is they will give you the solutions if you work the conversation correctly.

Speaker 1: 19:30

If they need more information's, simply take that you know, deal with that. But also just look at your questioning, because it means you probably missed something. Um, it's good to have testimonials, white papers, anything like that. That gives social proof. People like social proof. We like to be um part of the. And then the timing concern. Again, if you can have a reason for them to buy now, it could be a stock issue, it could be delivery. If they need a fast delivery, that's definitely a good one. It could be a price rise coming up, but make sure what you're talking about is true, because this is a strong incentive for them to move quickly, and this is all about building trust as well. You need to be demonstrating that you're on their side.

Speaker 1: 20:18

Okay, so I hope you found that useful. As I say, there is the consultative selling course. All of this stuff is covered in a lot more detail and many other things. So if you do find these podcasts useful, please have a look at the website. There is a link to download seven ways of closing it's free pdf. I just ask for you to sign up to the mailing list and obviously you can also do. The free webinar, which is about 45 minutes, takes you through three things that you can implement that, if you're not doing at the moment, will definitely have a positive impact on your sales results, and that is completely free and my gift to you. Okay, thank you for your time. Hope you have a good day wherever you are, and I'll speak to you in the next podcast. Bye for now.