If there is something you really want, do you give up at the first sign of a problem?
When you started learning how to ride a bike, did you give up when you came off for the first time? How about when you found that person you liked but who said no initially when you asked them out?
There are many times in our lives when we must go through a little bit of rejection and some obstacles before we get what we want. If we gave up at the first sign of any problems, then we probably would never get anywhere!
When I first learnt to play golf, I had several challenges to overcome but through some perseverance, improved technique and practice I have been able to improve and lower my handicap. It is now down to 11 and my goal for this year is to get it under 10 in case you were wondering.
Winning new sales is very much the same and yet it always amazes me how many business owners give up on the first sign of a challenge when they engage with a new prospect.
Come on, be honest with me. If you have made a ‘coldish call’ in the last month, when the prospect said, ‘no thanks’, ‘I’m not interested’ or ‘I don’t have any budget’ did you say ‘ok thanks not to worry’ or did you have a pre-planned response to handle that initial objection?
Objection response frameworks are a series of pre-determined outcomes that the best sales people put together to handle the common initial objections which come from a prospect.
For example, in my own area of sales, I often get ‘I don’t need a sales mentor’ or ‘I can’t afford what you offer’ thrown at me quite a lot but I always ensure I have a planned response to these rejections. I do this to really see if the prospect does already know everything about sales or whether they are just fending me off initially. For example, when someone says ‘I am pretty good with sales’ they may get a response like this from me:
‘That is great to hear and its great to engage with someone who knows a lot about sales already. If you’re anything like me then you have a hunger and desire to continue learning so that you build on these skills. Many of my current clients already had great skills but wanted to sharpen up their skills to increase their conversion rate. Are you interested in increasing your conversion rate further? In what areas would you would like to get some better results?’
By agreeing with the prospect, I am not being confrontational, but I want to at least find out whether they have a problem that I can solve for them or whether they really are sales experts already!
There are a few objections which I see which I can respond to and whilst I am always careful not to continue a conversation which then annoys a prospect, I certainly don’t want to be giving up at the first hurdle!
I know that if I do, I may be missing out on potentially working with someone as our natural human reaction is to put up a barrier but in many cases these barriers aren’t real!
Have a watch of my video on how objection frameworks can help you convert more initial conversations into next stage leads!
If you would like some help in putting together an objection framework for your business, then why not book a ‘Sales Review Day’ with me. Let’s get you and your business turning more initial conversations into warmer leads!
