(By Loyd Ford) If you are a radio seller, you never get any objections today, do you? Right. Potential clients are well-armed with a variety of ways to say, “No thanks.”
Yet, the products we sell are designed to create solutions to the real problems all clients have today more than ever. You’ve heard this a million times, “the battle is often won before the first shot is fired.”
Make sure you are fully prepared to engage a prospect by knowing more about them than they know about you.
• After all, we are in the business of providing value by creating top of mind, creating new customers and helping the client bring their regular customers back more often.
• We listen to the client (right) and identify the real challenge impairing their ability to earn more this year so we can provide a solution to their problem; then we help them see the solution (that’s the job, right?)!
• We communicate the importance of acting now and show the immediate power of radio to get their customer momentum moving.
- If you see potential customers every day, you hear this: “We don’t have the budget right now.”
Welcome to the number one objection in the world. Often sellers panic and go directly to lowering the price to get the business. Instead, try reframing the objection around the real problem that the customer has and how your product solves this real problem creating more revenue. Be certain to give specific examples of how your product does this. Doing this translates well directly into value…not price. - “I’m happy with our current advertising.”
This is fear-of-change, and it is a powerful impairment for many business owners. In fact, it is common. In this case, like the objection above, the objection usually isn’t the real objection; This objection is usually coming from a potential customer who doesn’t know your product value and doesn’t have enough information even to make a decision. That means that when you hear this, it is like a bell that says, “Time to go to work.” In this case, it is most important to position yourself to develop more time so you can get to know the customer better, get to know their behavior better, build trust and begin to describe the problem or opportunity they have with your product with more depth. This may take more time; build that time into your relationship because that time will create value and trust. - “I must consult with my partner.”
Who has not heard this one? A boss, a senior manager or someone else is really in charge. Always show respect. Respect is more important today than it ever has been in the past. Think of this objection as being part of your learning curve with this client. Find out all parties involved and use this as an opportunity to get all the decision-makers in one room. Set a meeting with the decision-makers so you can ask the right questions of everyone and bring a fully well-thought-out solution to key problems facing each of them. - “I need to think about this some more.”
Trust is brand and you are a brand in addition to selling a brand or brands. If you want to develop a great relationship with the prospect, it has to be based on building trust first. If you effectively share the value of your product and solution, clients will see that they can trust you. If you get this objection, it’s very possible they don’t see your value. They may not think you genuinely want to help them. This means you simply must develop the time to fully develop trust. Without it, it doesn’t matter how good your product or solution is. - “We’re too busy right now.”
This is the old, “Can you come back in a few months.” Make no mistake here. When this is used on you, you must make your point immediately on the compelling reason for them to purchase now. Make this an opportunity they can’t refuse. If you’ve done your research on the potential client, you will likely have a well-thought-out plan on how to do this. It all goes back to something we said above: “The battle is often won before the first shot is fired.” You know you will get objections when you sell any product. Many of those objections are not valid and I will share a secret: No one turns down a solution because they are too busy to work on their problem. Maybe you haven’t researched enough what the biggest problem is and you haven’t brought a solution to that problem. Busy usually isn’t the thing that stops solving a problem. Find out if you are visiting at the wrong time and set a better appointment. Trust is built by respecting their time and being prepared in advance of any visit. - “It costs too much.”
This is the fastest objection to overcome if you bring the right tools. When you hear you are too expensive, that is probably NEVER true. People who see the value never care about price. If you haven’t built the value, you WILL get this objection. How do you overcome it? Build the value.
The bottom-line is that objections are good. Without them you have no sale. Each one is an opportunity for you to grow and really help a client in a way you may not have expected. You’re probably good at asking open-ended questions, probing deeper to find out what are the real challenges clients face. Keep this up and become more skilled at this and you will overcome more objections, sell more and cash bigger paychecks. And that is business you want in 2022.
Loyd Ford is president and chief strategic officer at Rainmaker Pathway Consulting Works (RPC). Reach Loyd at 864.448.4169 or [email protected].
