Selling is an art and a science. A beautiful dance of listening, understanding, and influence. To maximize your success in selling, preparation beats luck. Preparing for all types of sales conversations ahead of time will provide you with the greatest return on investment.
I recommend to my clients to prepare for sales conversations like a lawyer would prepare for a trial. Think through how you will present your solution, how you will answer their questions, and most importantly how you will respond to their objections.
Think Like Your Customer
Take some time to reflect on the pain points that you solve. Do you remember, prior to your own breakthrough, what it felt like to have those pain points? The struggle. The search for an answer.
Your ideal customer is there now, searching for answers to the problem you solve.
Document the pain points. The questions. Serve that person.
For example, Sales Cheerleader solves these common pain points:
- My business is not growing fast enough.
- I get anxious for discovery calls.
- I do not understand how to best sell.
- I’ll lose my business if I don’t increase my revenue.
- I want a strategic sales process but I do not know how to write it.
- I’m not confident in my ability to sell my service.
- I don’t understand how to lead my prospect to a close.
- I need revenue.
- I’m worried I will sound slimy if I share my offer.
- I want to know how to measure my effectiveness in selling.
- I want to improve my sales process.
- Etc, etc, etc.
Sales is a Service
You and your business are a gift to your ideal customer! Your knowledge, skills, and abilities can help them overcome the problem they are currently facing.
Reframe your mind to live in this space and share your solutions!
You are reading this blog now because you have one or more of the pain points above, right? And you are still here because I am serving you with this content. I am helping you learn how to solve your problem with sales. You may hire me to dig in deeper, or you may self-learn on this blog. Both options are FABULOUS and accomplish my mission of helping others build wealth!
See how that works?
Your Messaging
Articulating a very clear and concise pitch and subsequent sales conversation will work to prevent objections before they come but, not always.
Have you reviewed your entire sales process? Your messaging?
Can a 5th grader understand your pitch? It’s imperative that your pitch is that clear.
Your work needs to begin here.
For custom work on your pitch, book a 1-hour call with Sarah, your Sales Cheerleader!
Mindset Matters
Objections are not “no.”
Objections are “show me more value.”
They do not equal rejection.
Shift your perception and remain positive. I like to think about objections as opportunities. Objections mean that your prospect is engaged, listening, and vulnerable enough to share with you why they are hesitating. Thank them for sharing. Be open and honest and excited to dive deeper into the conversation. The conversation surrounding objections will strengthen your know, like, and trust factor with your prospect. This is your opportunity to shine!
Not only should you be enthusiastic about the objections, you should be asking for them.
I like to ask questions like:
“What, if anything, is causing you to pause to move forward now?”
“You seem a little concerned about Y. What are your thoughts?”
“What else can I answer for you before we talk about the next steps?”
This provides an open forum for your prospect to open up about their concerns. It also shows trust and confidence in your solution. When avoiding the tough conversations you risk losing trust. Build that confidence by showcasing how you embrace all of the tough questions and are willing to provide that space for your prospects.
The most common objections fall into 4 main categories:
- Budgetary: too expensive (or no budget)
- Lack of trust: prospect needs more information
- No need: transformation is unclear
- Timeline: lack of urgency
This is a reason that qualifying your opportunities is so important and follows the same categories as BANT:
- Budget
- Authority
- Need
- Timeline
If you need more training on how to qualify your opportunities, check this blog post: Master the Art of Deal Qualification.
Overcoming Sales Objections
Think back to your last lost deal conversation. Why didn’t they purchase?
Can you put it into one of the objection categories? Money, Need, Time, Trust?
What common themes can you find?
Next, do your due diligence here. Is there anything about your packaging or pricing that needs to be addressed? If 100% of your prospects share that your offer is too expensive, perhaps a careful look at your packaging is in order.
Once you are confident in your package, solutions, and pitch. You can move forward to anticipating and overcoming objections.
I keep a spreadsheet of every objection I hear within my sales process. I review these quarterly.
- What was my close ratio last quarter?
- Which, and how many, objections did I successfully overcome?
- How did my handling of those objections feel to me?
- How did my prospects process the additional information?
- What can I improve?
Be prepared. Be confident. Grow your business!
Click here to download my Most Common Objection Responses, and tell me in the comments: what is the most common objection you receive?
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