Your Secret Weapon: Crafting Value That Eliminates Objections

We break down why objections like “I need to think about it” persist and show how to dissolve them by making value specific, measurable and owned by the buyer. We map the before-after-bridge model, craft impact questions and use proof so clients often lead the close.

• separating price qualification from value clarity
• diagnosing pain and the cost of inaction
• framing before and after states with metrics
• translating features into payoffs buyers feel and count
• using social proof, pilots and ROI to de-risk
• agreeing success criteria and measurement
• avoiding red lights and focus on the client’s story

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You can even donate a little if you want to as well, that would all help
Please give me a like, a subscribe, tell your friends, and I’ll speak to you again on the next podcast.

Welcome to the podcast!

Chapters

• 0:13 Welcome And Value Focus
• 0:46 Why Objections Appear
• 1:55 Price Checks Versus Value
• 3:12 Value Lives In The Client’s Mind
• 4:24 Red Lights: Talking About Yourself
• 5:26 From Pain To Transformation
• 6:51 Weight Loss As A Value Example
• 9:15 Building Pain With Impact Questions
• 11:24 Before And After, Bridge And Metrics
• 13:26 Tangible Outcomes And Proof
• 15:25 Social Proof And Motivation
• 17:15 Key Takeaways And Closing

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:07

Hello again and welcome to another podcast. Now, um, in this podcast, we're going to look at your secret weapon, and that's how you make use of value, and how that is a great way of getting rid of objections. So, before I dive into that, I just want to ask you to like and subscribe if you uh enjoy the podcast. Um, you can even um donate a little if you want to as well, that would all all help. So let's just dive straight in those. So the kind of objections a lot of us are familiar with getting are things like I need to think about it, or um, you know, I need to discuss with somebody else, or this kind of thing, essentially delaying comments. And usually the reason that that happens is that the client is not convinced that you are delivering value to them. So the key thing we're going to focus on in this podcast is how do you make sure that you have communicated to your prospect that your solution will deliver to them the value that they need. Because once you've done that, that makes the whole closing part of the conversation much, much easier. And in fact, you may even find that at that stage the client is leading the close. So you're not even having to close, the client's doing that all for you. The other thing to bear in mind is that when you focus on value, price becomes secondary. And this is really important because uh because a lot of people get hung up on price. In fact, I remember a lot of comment, one of the comments I used to get a lot from people that I was demonstrating to was literally the comment, how much is this worth? Now, what they're asking is what is the price, but if I was to take that question literally, my initial answer would have to be, I don't know. Because what something is worth is what is it worth to that client? And that's really where we focus in this podcast. So, and I hope that's um clear. Obviously, what I will say on price is obviously when you're qualifying people, you need to make sure that they are um able to spend the kind of money, the financial side, uh, that you are needing to get to provide the solution. How they do that, of course, there are various ways of doing that, and it will depend on the business you're in and what you're able to offer the client. So, price is one thing, and you definitely you need to make sure that they are in the ballpark on the price side, but value is very different, and that's what we're going to focus on in this podcast. So the big mistake that most salespeople make when it comes to value is they think it's what the product does, and that's where the value is, and that is not where the value is. Um the value is what the client, the prospect, believes it will do for them, and this is part of the conversation. You might have to provide proof that it will deliver the value, but that's where the value is. So again, remember when you're talking to clients, when you're talking about yourself, and in by yourself, I mean you're talking about your product, anything that's about you, your business, what it is you offer. But when it's about you, that's a red light. And if you've looked at my um uh sales consultancy training, this is something we spend a bit of time on, looking at red and green lights, and how a lot of salespeople, one of the reasons they struggle is that they are spending most of their time doing red light activities. So, what I mean by that is that they're switching the client off. They're talking about themselves, not the client. So the key thing to remember is it's about the client, it's not about you, it's not about your product, it's about the client, the problem they have, the pain point they have, and what you are doing in your discussion, in your meeting, in your demonstration, in your trial, is proving to them that your solution can solve the problem, can fix the pain or end the pain, and deliver the outcome or the transformation is another way of looking at it, that they are looking for. So, in other words, they are currently in a position that is painful to them in some way. It might be financially painful, it might be physically painful, it might be emotionally painful. So um examples uh might be where you're offering something uh that makes um, for example, production much more effective. So their cost per unit that they're producing drops so they can make have a more profitable business. So that might be a financial uh transformation that you're offering. If you have uh maybe you're helping people lose weight, that can be emotional. Obviously, there's a physical side as well, because if you're overweight and then you lose weight, presumably in most cases, you will be physically fitter, uh and that leads to all sorts of other things, but also emotionally there might be a huge improvement because that self-worth, self-value, how people see themselves can become transformed. And if you think about that from a value point of view, it's actually not a bad example. If you help someone to lose weight, and you might have gone through this yourself. So think, and if you haven't, put yourself in that person's shoes. So you're overweight, your self-image is pretty low, uh, you hate seeing yourself in the mirror, um, you're embarrassed about buying clothes, clothes you'd like to wear don't fit properly. There's all that stuff. So all of that creates a very negative self-image. What does that do for your self-esteem? Well, that drops down lower and lower as time goes on, or perhaps as you you fail with different diets or different exercise regimes or whatever it is that's been going on. So that pain builds. So what is the difference though when you find something that works, that does take the weight off, starts to make you look good. Uh, you start to look fit. You know, you your weight looks good, you look fit, you don't look overweight, you actually look healthier. What does that do to your self-esteem? So if your self-esteem goes up and you're starting to feel better about yourself, what does that do for your self-confidence? You've proven that you can deal with this weight issue, that you can get yourself to a point where you're looking pretty good, you can wear the clothes to the beach that you want to wear, uh, wherever else it might be. But do you see how one payoff hits another one? So you start to really build the value. So, where is the value in losing that weight? It's not just in the loss of weight and even being able to wear clothes that you'd like to wear, but it goes beyond that. Your self-confidence goes up. How do you deal with things when your self-confidence is high? You'll tend to procrastinate less, you'll tend to just get on and do things. You might take a chance on something, you might do a trip that you've been thinking about for years. So, what is the value of that transformation? It's it's actually very difficult for a salesperson to truly know what that is without letting the client fill in the blanks. So I'm hoping this is making sense because often the value of what we deliver to somebody goes well beyond what we see as the advantages, the benefits of the product. If you do your features advanced uh advantages benefits routine. So this is why it is so important to have a real conversation with your client, really get into where the pain is. So you need to be initially building the pain. So one example is uh we I mean we'll do qualifying questions, obviously, like we're exploring budget, when they want to do it, all that kind of stuff. So this sort of first level, top level uh kind of qualification questions. But then you need to take them to the next level, and that's to start asking impact questions. And this is where we are really now starting to build the pain, we're starting to build that value. It's starting when for ourselves we're beginning to really understand where the value lies for that client, and we want them to see the value as well. So, this would be questions like what happens if this problem isn't solved in the next three months or six months or 12 months. And I want you to think about the kind of questions you can ask that are relevant to the business you have and the kind of clients you have, because you've got them to you've got to get them to look at what happens if they take no action. Two reasons for that. We're building the pain and we also need to motivate them to take action. Uh there's um a little saying that the transformation begins with the transaction, which is why we charge for things, because when people give money to get a particular solution, it has value to them. And if you think about it, anything you got for free, you might have been interested, you might have got some use from it, but the chances are you got it for free, you left it on the shelf, on the computer, wherever it was, and you didn't really do much with it. Something you paid$2,000 for, you're going to make the most use you can of that. You're really motivated to use that, whatever it is, to create the transformation for you that you're hoping for. So this stuff is really important, and it's really important that as salespeople we work with the client to start to understand where the real value is. And remember, the payoffs, if it's business to business, then it chances are finance is going to be pretty high on the list. If you are business to customer, so direct selling to your client, and it's not a direct business sale. Um, the chances are that there will be at least some level of emotional content in that solution, which may well be self-worth, um, self-confidence, all those kind of things. So what you are building with your questions and your discussion is essentially showing how what you're offering can provide a transformation. So you work on the before, which is where they are right now. This is where all the pain is. Um, really explore it. You know, what is motivating them to do something now? What's prevented them from doing something in the future, all that kind of thing. This is the before stage. You've got to get them to look at where they want to go. What is the transformation they want? It might be if it's business financial, their overheads might drop, their cost per unit might drop, whatever it might be. If it's personal, the chances are there is that emotional payoff, but there's also the more measurable things. Obviously, you need to have those because how do you know you've got there if you can't measure it? So you're looking, you're building a picture of where they are now, the before picture. You're building a picture with them of where they want to go. That's the after picture. And where your solution sits is your the bridge. So what you're bringing to the party is the means by which they can get from where they are now, where all the pain is, to that transformation, that outcome, that different version of themselves, that better cost per unit, whatever it is that is uh important to your client. So it is really important that you define some tangible results. So that might be to build a return on investment. You might need to look at case studies, but you need something tangible because you need to be able to show that you have delivered. So if they just want to feel better about themselves, how do you measure that? How do they know the thing better? You know, is it better every day, once a week? What is it? So it's got to be really tangible, you've got to be measurable. These need to be agreed outcomes because ultimately you are delivering a product or a service that they are paying for. You need to be able to demonstrate that you have delivered on your promise, if you like. You've delivered delivered on your part of the agreement with what you've sold, and also they can see that you have delivered and they have achieved what they wanted to get from your um solution. So, look, this is um hopefully making some sense, but you need to be filling in the detail yourself. Obviously, I don't know what you're selling, so it is really important that you start to work around and build that framework. So it's really important that when you are having those conversations, you get really clear about what it is that the client is trying to do. You get really clear on what you can deliver, what you can be confident about delivering to your client, whether you do it for them, you help them to get them get there themselves, whatever it might be. So without going too much deeper into this, because I want to keep this really focused on one point, the most important thing is to understand what value means. And the only way you will understand what value means to a client is by having the conversation with them. In terms of producing measurable value, that needs to be agreed with the client, and whatever it is you're selling, it is really helpful if you can provide examples. So let's say weight loss, for example, this person lost so many kilos in so many months, and um they've been able to keep the weight off for so many years, whatever it might be, and this is what they've experienced. They're feeling healthier, they're able to take up running, they're able to uh spend more time with their kids or grandchildren, whatever it might be. You've got to have stories that resonate with your client and where they're trying to go, because that is social proof. So if you think back to the things that we all look for before we make buying decisions, social proof is one of them. If you don't know the others, then do um do take a look at um the consultative selling program because I run through all of that in detail so that you understand exactly how everything plays. Um, but it is really important. Ultimately, though, once you've convinced somebody of the value of what you're offering, the price will become less and less relevant. Obviously, they need to have money available to do and to buy what it is you're selling. That's part of the qualification. But if you think about it, if you put yourself in your client's shoes, and the more you start to see how you can, first of all, solve the pain, because we tend to be more motivated to move away from pain than we are to move towards pleasure. So again, this is why we build the pain that they're experiencing right now, because we want them to really feel it. And also, we need to build the pain of not taking action. So you can build a pain of where they are right now, and they've clearly reached the threshold because they're talking to you about a solution. So that's a clear sign that they have reached a level of pain in whatever it is that they're trying to solve, that they now need to take action. So that's why they're talking to you. Um but also you need to show them the outcome, you need to show them the deliverable, you've got to give them that uh little motivation, that push to put them in the picture of how their life will look when they have made the change. So there's a bit of moving away, moving away from the pain, moving towards pleasure, moving towards the outcome. There needs to be a balance, but that they need to see and ideally see themselves in the picture where your solution has delivered for them in a way that they can absolutely measure, that they know it's delivered, they can see the change and um they know that they've got there. So the key takeaway, and what I hope you get from this podcast, is to understand that value is not price. Um, and in fact, value and value is not what you or what your solution necessarily delivers. Value is what your solution delivers, it's what the what the actual value is the change in the client's results that your solution delivers. That's where the value lies. So it's a bit of a subtle distinction, but hopefully you've got the idea of it that the value goes beyond simply delivering a particular outcome, you know, losing um you know 10 kilos in so many weeks, as an as an example. Now that's an example of a measurable. So um you you you weigh the person at the beginning of the program, you weigh them throughout the program, maybe you keep a food diary, but you weigh them at the end, and there you go. That's a measurable result. But what you are also getting are the more intangible results, um, how they're feeling about themselves because they have lost weight, how they're looking, maybe they feel more energized, these kind of things. So think about what it is for what you sell. If you're not sure, a great thing to do is to sit down with clients you already have, if you've already got clients who've had success with what you're selling, and ask them, just take them for a cup of coffee or something and just have the conversation with them, just to help you understand from more from a user perspective what your solution delivered to them going beyond what was on the on the brochure, if you like. Yeah, what else did it deliver to their business? Because this is always um it's a useful conversation to have. Uh we probably don't have them enough as salespeople, but it does start to give you a real uh a much deeper understanding of what you deliver from a client's perspective rather than just what you're delivering as a as a solution, as um a number of bullet points on a brochure, that kind of thing. Okay, so that is the podcast. I hope you found that useful. Um, if you did, please give me a like, a subscribe, tell your friends, and um I'll speak to you again on the next podcast. So bye for now.