Purchasing and Negotiation Training

"Shorten your sales cycle & increase your win rate through competitive excellence"

Editor’s note: Stu Schlackman is a frequent contributor to this blog.

Factual objections must be managed. Facts tend to be more important to those that are left brain, Greens and Golds.  Factual objections are often about ‘the numbers’. “Your price is over our budget.” “The return on investment is short of our expectations.”  “The terms and conditions need to include a three year warranty.”  Factual objections point to where your products or services are missing the mark in a certain area.

Accept that a “factual objection’ is correct from the customer’s point-of-view.  While factual objections need to be addressed head on, do not fight them directly.  Avoid accusatory responses such as “you are wrong.”  The most important question we can ask a customer at the start of a sales call is “when it comes to investing in [the product or service] what is most important to you?” This will offer a good indication of their personality style that you will now use to “redirect” the objection.

An example

If storage space and speed are the most important criteria when buying a computer, then an objection about price needs to be redirected back to the important criteria.  “the price reflects the enhanced storage and performance.” Consistency is important to Greens and Golds.  Remembering their prior answer about relative importance, lead with a question which they must answer in your favor to remain consistent: “Which is more important to you, a lower price or the greater functionality?”

Emotional objectionsEmotional objections are more common from right brain personalities – the Blues and Oranges. Emotional objections are windows into the buyer’s doubts.  For example, “Can I trust you to follow through?  Will it really be three years before I can expect to upgrade the system?” These are emotional objections that require the sales person to either “clarify or prove”. For example, for a Blue, getting a customer reference or testimonial can enhance a feeling of belonging and alleviate their concern.  For an Orange, the reference should imply the solution helped the referrer win something.

The four A’s

Whether factual or emotional, deal with objections when raised.  Use the four A’s: Acknowledge, Address, Acceptance, Alleviate. 

1. With every objection raised, we must acknowledge the customer’s concern. We do that by stating: “we hear what you are saying, I understand, I see.” We are not agreeing with the customer, but simply acknowledging we have heard their concern.
2. Address the objection. If it’s factual, refocus or redirect the customer back to their most important need which should outweigh the objection in terms of importance. If the objection is emotional, clarify or prove that their concern is not valid.
3. Once the objection is addressed, ask for acceptance. “Are you satisfied with our answer to your concern?” If we don’t ask for acceptance the customer likely will return to this later in the sales cycle.
4. If they said yes, the objection is alleviated and cannot be brought up again.

The next time a customer raises an objection, consider their personality style and resolve their concern!