The traditional sales approach teaches us to “overcome” objections, to keep pushing and to present clients with more information until they say “yes”.
This approach oriented towards making the sale, doesn’t distinguish between genuine concerns over what you’re selling and resistance to how you’re selling.
So you have no way of tackling the underlying cause of resistance, which is usually subtle pressure from within your sales process.
Objections are usually code words for “I’m feeling pressured by how you’re trying to ‘sell’ me.”
It’s important to realize that there’s a clear distinction between a genuine concern and “resistance.” But to understand this, you need to forget virtually everything you’ve ever been told about selling and replace it with this simple idea:
There are only two kinds of “objections” you’ll ever experience:
1. Objections to what you’re selling
2. Objections to how you’re selling
Here’s what’s crucial: When potential clients raise objections about what you’re selling — pricing, delivery, quality, how well what you have to offer can solve their problem or issue — these are genuine concerns.
They’re rooted in the client’s world and so you must take them seriously, rather than dismissing or ignoring them.
What gets tricky is when clients express objections that sound like genuine concerns — when they’re actually reacting to the sales pressure (even if it’s subtle).
This is the root of the old but true saying, “If they don’t buy how you sell, they’ll never buy what you sell.”
On the surface, it might sound as if all objections fit into the first category above.
You might hear comments like:
But they may actually be code words for “I’m feeling pressured by how you’re selling.”
The tricky thing is, your potential client probably isn’t going to tell you the truth.
After all, when was the last time a prospect told you, “You know, I feel as if you’re really attached to getting the sale here and that’s making me feel as if you’re pressuring me. It’s creating a slight tension in my stomach. I’m not about to tell you anything more about the truth about my situation and the problems and issues I’m trying to solve — because, at this point, I don’t
trust you.”
Fortunately, you can figure out whether potential clients are expressing genuine concerns or covering up their discomfort by doing two simple things:
1. Assume that pressure is always present, even when you’re doing
everything you can to create a pressure-free environment.
Why must you do this? You’re battling the negative stereotype of “selling”. Your clients have lived through so many traditional sales approaches that any behavior or energy that connects you with that image will set off their internal alarms, make them shut down, and raise “code” objections.
This is why you must be sure that your communication style never makes clients feel as if you’re associated with the negative stereotype of a “salesperson.”
2. Trust your intuition and instincts.
Over time, you’ll learn to be able to tell whether potential clients are telling you the truth or not. You’ll start listening to yourself, and you’ll start picking up signals that mean they’re feeling pressured.
For example, here are some signs that potential clients may be resisting what they sense as your attempts to pressure them:
If you’re experiencing these behaviors and also feeling tension within yourself, it’s almost a 100 percent that you’re dealing with resistance rather than a genuine concern.
Whenever you hear an objection, whether it sounds like a genuine concern or you suspect that it might be resistance, do these three things:
1. Stop.
2. Take a deep breath and physically relax yourself in your chair.
3. Then gently re-engage the conversation as you continue to explore your client’s truth.
An objection is really the greatest moment of vulnerability for potential clients, and if you can connect with them to defuse their lack of trust in you, you’ll gain a new paying with ease and without resistance.