Meeting Objections at the Close of a Sale by lisafugere

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Meeting Objections at the Close of a Sale
by lisafugere

Objections almost always arise at the end of a deal. It?s a prospect?s final opportunity to back out, and prospects want to be 100% sure that buying your products or services is a good idea. Furthermore, at the end of a B2B sales cycle, proposals pass by legal departments and through development and finance teams. More eyes almost always means more objections. You need to address these objections calmly and in a manner that satisfies the prospect. If not, you could lose the sale. The best way to handle these objections is to answer honestly while focusing on the benefits your product or service offers. There are also a few techniques you can employ earlier in the sales process to keep the late stage objections to a minimum.

Bring up objections before your prospect does.
If 75% of your customers expressed concern about the same feature of your product before they bought it, prepare materials ahead of time to address the objection, and present them to new prospects at the beginning of the sales cycle. For example, if customers question your plug in capabilities all the time, find one who?s satisfied, produce a case study, and market it to prospects. If you can anticipate objections before they occur and refute them early on, you won?t have to scramble to build slide decks at the last minute.

Ask a lot of questions up front.
Ask your prospects open ended questions that encourage lengthy answers. You want to know as much about their needs as possible, and the more they talk, the more you?ll learn. When people buy products, they just want their problems to be solved. Objections are almost always directly related to customer-specific needs (how?s your coverage in my zip code? do you integrate with our current email provider?), and if you know those needs backwards and forwards, you?ll have the right answers ready when the objections come up.

Learn from past deals.
Every once in awhile, unheard of objections make their way into sales ears. But most of the time, sales objections are repeat offenders. Keep track of the ones you hear, and create content that invalidates the most common ones. Have ready answers. Prepare your key contact to present the project to the boss?s boss.

Know your enemies.
Sales is a pretty peachy profession for reps that don?t have any competitors. But the rest of us have to deal with competition nearly every day. You need to know the difference between your offering and your competitors?, as well as all the areas yours surpasses your competitors?. Know your competitors prices and the fear, uncertainty, and doubt they spread in the market about your products. Competitive battles usually surface early on in a sale, but nothing will put a stop to a close quite like a prospect?s declaration that they?re going to postpone buying your products so they can evaluate another alternative.