How do you handle objections and overcome resistance from multiple stakeholders?

Always try to create an organogram and mark ** against those who have significant power to move the deal in your favour. Identifying the decision process and timeline is equally important.

With any large complex sale, there is value in creating a power map of all stakeholders and potential stakeholders. Don't stop with the people you know of, dig deep and try to map reporting lines, internal politics, relationships, and decision tree. Realistically, you should be making sure you are looking at the needs, desires, and problems for each person, or trying to define some based on their role.

Según mi experiencia, primero es necesario mapear el terreno para: 1. Identificar a los tomadores de decisiones Son los individuos que tienen la autoridad final para aprobar o rechazar la compra. 2. Reconocer a las personas influyentes Pueden no tener la última palabra, pero su opinión tiene un peso considerable en el proceso de decisión. Pueden ser responsables de área, expertos técnicos o incluso colegas respetados dentro de la organización. 3. Detectar a los usuarios finales Son aquellos que usarán vuestro producto o servicio en su trabajo diario. Su aceptación y satisfacción con vuestra solución pueden influir en gran medida en la decisión final, especialmente si su opinión es valorada por los tomadores de decisiones.

Craft a compelling narrative that aligns with their aspirations, aiming to make your prospects feel truly heard and understood. Practice emotional intelligence, admit mistakes gracefully, and tailor your solutions to their specific needs.

Empathy and active listening...they are superpowers. Open conversations by asking insightful questions about the customer's current situation, and then genuinely listen to their responses. But make sure you are listening to more than just the words they say. The body language, tone, pitch, eye contact, and more are all key to understanding the message they are giving.

Before any temptation to respond - make sure you fully understand what the underlying concern is. Rarely is it the thing that is brought up and the only way to uncover it is to be curious. For example - a pricing objection could be raised about payment terms. The underlying concern could be whether they can work within a current budget cycle, or it could be because they want to reduce the level of commitment. Without delving deeper, you risk responding to the wrong objection.

I've never actually won an argument, either professionally or personally. In each case, even though my facts and figures outmatched my opponent in the argument, I would still not accomplish the goal of the conversation. Try to find a genuine way to agree with a client's objection. If a client says the price is too high or they don't have time, take that objection personally as a failure on your part to properly define their costs before discussing your product. I would normally agree and admit to the client that I wouldn't spend the time or money to fix the problem as defined and take time to listen and dig deeper to find the problem that is worth the time and money proposed.

Según mi experiencia, valora perfilar a cada persona a nivel humano. 1. Estilo de relación - De confianza y cercanía. - Profesional y formal. - Basado en resultados. - Basado en la innovación y creatividad 2. Estilo de comunicación - Directo y orientado a resultados. - Detallista y orientado a procesos. - Tranquilo y orientado a personas. - Abiertos y orientado a soluciones innovadoras. 3. Motivaciones personales Pueden ser variadas: El deseo de mejorar la eficiencia, obtener reconocimiento profesional, reducir costes... 4. Percepción del riesgo - Los pioneros, dispuestos a probar nuevas soluciones. - Los conservadores, prefieren opciones comprobadas. 5. Influencia interna - Poder informal significativo. - Influencia más estructurada.

Be transparent and authentic about what you can and can't do. Educating them on the "why" behind that and detaching from whether that will draw them in or push them away. In many cases, this confidence and sense of detachment will be refreshing and appreciated.

Tailoring your solution to the specific needs, desires and problems that you have identified will help to showcase the value of your solution over a competitors. However, within complex sales, I have found it best to ignore the competition, of course, it is good to understand them, but focus on what you are providing, not what they are not. Once you have showcase the value through a rigorous ROI exercise, 1-2-1 reference visits are wildly successful, rather than standard case studies and old documents.

You should never "overcome" objections or "handle" them. You need to stop thinking that each person has the same objection, or concern, each will be nuanced and different. People hate to feel "handled" so stop slapping them with pre-canned answers or push back. Instead, spend time to really understand the issue, lean into it, then reassure. Buying is all about risk mitigation, so take what they have raised concerns about, the information you gather while leaning into it, and then show them the factors that mitigate their risk. Stop redirecting or avoiding. Don't be a politician.

The first iteration of the solution is all you, showcasing how much you understand their challenges. From there, formulating a joint solution makes the value of the solution increase. The ideal situation is when an influencer/champion is jointly presenting the solution to their executives with you. or, if they are the executive, collaboratively working with you to build out the solution and it's value.

So often the process takes centre stage alongside data points and the x number of steps to win a prospect. All the above are part of a sale, but buying a service or product is a behaviourial decision, made by a human being. This happens in a different part of the brain and is most positively influenced through the quality of the relationship. This trumps features and benefits and USPs in almost every situation. If you have fostered a close and personal relationship with your coach, sponsor and stakeholders, not only will you discover real objections more quickly than your competitors but you will experience far more fluidity in negotiations and be far more efficient at qualifying out of deals that will never happen.