Being a successful salesperson isn't a talent that you are born with. Some people may have the right instincts and personality traits to potentially be good salespeople, but success still depends on learning and putting into practice the right selling techniques. One of the biggest roadblocks to success in business sales is customer objections. When you are not prepared to deal with them, your prospects for successful sales are bleak. If you take the time to learn positive ways of dealing with and overcoming objections, however, you will see obvious financial benefits.
Let's say that you are in the business of selling a certain brand of office furniture. You set up an appointment with and then visit a business owner. Your goal is getting him to replace the office furniture he has with what you are selling. You make your presentation to the customer, laying out in detail the benefits of buying and using your office furniture. The business owner's first response is that he is happy with the furniture that he has, and none of his employees have ever complained. Almost before he finishes saying this, you jump into how the furniture he has now could actually be physically detrimental to his employees. You tell him that he should replace it with the furniture that you are selling if he cares about the people who work for him. You walk out of there without a sale.
In a slightly different scenario, you make your sales pitch to the business owner, detailing positive facts about your office furniture and why it would be beneficial to him and his employees. He tells you that he and his employees are happy with the office furniture that they have and don't see any reason to spend money on different furniture. You listen intently to his objection. You ask him to clarify what it is that he and his employees like about the furniture they are using now. You tell him that you can see why he feels the way he does. You go on to explain that a lot of your customers felt that way at first, but when they bought your furniture they found that there was a significant increase in comfort and decrease in employee injury. You get the sale.
In the second example of dealing with the customer objection, you show that you are truly listening and not simply thinking about the next thing that you're going to say. You acknowledge his feelings and empathize with them. You ask him to clarify something to show that you want to make sure that you understand what he's trying to say. You give him examples of others that have felt the same way, and then you go on to show why other customers ended up preferring your office furniture over what they used before. You can see the difference between this kind of positive interaction and respect for the customer's feelings, and the negative approach in the first example.
When overcoming objections, customers should always be treated with respect, and their feelings should be taken into consideration. When you think of your customers as people and not potential sales, you are leveling the playing field and creating a positive atmosphere for successful selling.
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