How to handle the most common sales objections?

"The price, this TV is very expensive." "The form of payment, this financing does not fit me." "The design, this shirt doesn't fit me." All these are very common objections in selling, one can find these types of complaints, dissatisfaction, or obstacles to overcome, before reaching the closing stage, where we will know if the sale will be completed or not. But how to survive this turbulent stage? How to build a strategy in the business plan?

If you are wondering if there are different types of objections, the answer is yes. We can classify objections into two large groups: manifest and hidden objections; the latter represents a great challenge for everybody who calls themselves a "Seller" because when ignored (which is usually very frequent), they can blow up a sale that is just a few steps away from being closed.

At Drew, we want to help you identify these to know how to handle them, below there is a description of each of them.

Stated (or superficial) objections

They are the objections that we are all used to and that have been grouped by type; however, these are the most recurrent:

• Price: "It's too expensive/ out of my budget."

• The decision is not up to me: "Let me check with my partner / manager / superior / etc."

• I am satisfied with my current product: “I am using X and it works well for me”.

• I don't know your brand: “Who are you? / What references do they have?

• Design/Aesthetics: “I don't like how it looks / it doesn't go with the image I want to give / it's too much for me”.

• Financing: "The interest is very high / I need installments / I don't have cash, I just brought the card."

These objections appear repeatedly in the entire sales process and sellers must overcome them every day to make the sale. Undoubtedly, each of these will fall into one of these boxes at some point:

1. Objections that can be resolved

   They can be used to face the closing stage since, at the moment of receiving them, an adequate response is surely available to satisfy the customer.

   Taking good advantage of these types of objections, the shopping experience can be made a much more enjoyable moment for customers, by giving them adequate answers at the right time, obtaining a lever to go through the argumentation process, and reaching the long-awaited moment of closing the deal. Example:

   - Customer: “Can it be paid in installments?”

   - Seller: “Yes, in how many do we close it 6 or 12?”

   In this way, by having a quick solution to the problem posed, the sales process can be accelerated; Although the example is simple, reality can also become so with the indicated tools.

2. Objections that can be negotiated

   These are objections that cannot be solved; but, in exchange, compensation of equal or greater value can be offered that encourages a cost-benefit ratio in favor of the product or service that is being sold, emphasizing the positive aspects of the product and increasing the chances of closing. Example:

   • Customer: “The price is very expensive, it does not seem reasonable to me”.

   • Seller: “I can't lower the price, but I can offer you a warranty extension / a discount on a future purchase / better financing”.

   It is about counteracting that objection that we cannot solve directly with something that can compensate for that negative aspect.

3. Objections that can't be resolved

   These types of objections are often found putting sellers between a rock and a hard place because if they don't act on time, it is very likely that they will lose the sale; however, they can't sacrifice their ethics by saying that they are capable of resolving a situation that escapes to their possibilities. A very useful tool is to list the pros and cons of the product.

   The key is to list the positive aspects, listing them in the pros column, and then listing the prospect's objection in the cons column. After that, you just have to wait for the prospect to try to find more negative than positive aspects of the product; in this way and visually, future customers will face a tempting cost-benefit. This might lessen their focus on that unavoidable objection for us.

Hidden objections

These are, in addition to the most feared, those that the customer does not express and does not let us see, either due to an ineffective inquiry process or a purely personal bias of the customer.

These objections are found in phrases like "let me think about it and I'll come back with a decision", and usually go unnoticed by a large number of salespeople who see a sale being dismissed that will not close, due to that feeling of uncertainty that held the customer back to move on to the next stage of the buying process.

It is up to each salesperson to detect the existence of these obstacles and get the customer to tell them to solve them, and for that person's purchase process to flow without restrictions.

For this, it is necessary not to let customers abandon the purchase situation, retaining them with empathy and a spirit of understanding, reinforcing a genuine interest in helping them solve the problem that led them to search for a solution, even if this does not imply the purchase of your product.

This way, it is easier to break down those barriers that are raised instinctively in the sales process, being able to offer a more personalized treatment, which, although it does not guarantee the sale 100%, will make you a better seller and will make the shopping experience better for that customer, something that they would want to repeat, which will help you create recurring customers and increase your chances of being referred to new customers.

This is the new sales philosophy, this is the Inbound philosophy, this is how to sell in the future, and this is how we sell at Drew.