How to have an answer for everything

“Sales people always have an answer for everything!”

The truth is, we don’t. We do have the answer to everything a prospect is likely to ask/say which creates the appearance that we have the answer for everything.?

This appearance pays off dividends in the sales process because it makes prospects feel like they’re in good hands. Buyers work with sales folks that they can trust. Don’t underestimate how much of an impact competence and confidence has in building trust with prospects.

The good news is that it’s easier than you’d think to create the appearance that you have an answer for everything. Most people react to pitches in the same way. So, having an answer to ~8 objections/ questions will mean that you have an answer to ~80% of the objections/questions you’ll get.

Let’s talk about how you can learn what those 8 (or so) objections/questions are, prepare responses and create the appearance that you have an answer for everything.?

Learning your standard objections

What to do:

The fastest strategy is to document everything that your prospects say to you on sales calls.

Within 5-10 calls,? you’ll start to see a vague pattern and within about 15-20 calls you’ll start to see a clear pattern. It’ll look like the graph below?

As the chart suggests, you’ll start to see a few questions/objections that come up either:

1. Every time
2. Regularly?
3. Rarely

The objections that come up every time are relatively few—likely fewer than six. What creates the illusion that all sales calls are different is that prospects phrase their questions and objections differently, but they generally mean the same few things.

Prepare Responses

Once you’ve got the list of objections, pull out the ones that come up every time and regularly. Start drafting responses. Responding to objections well is a skill and it's not always intuitive. Don’t be afraid to reach out to learn how to craft these responses.?

Practice! Roleplay your responses with a friend. See what works and what doesn’t before you get back on the phone with a prospect. You never want to practice your scripts on your clients.

When you take your objection handlers live with clients, document prospects' responses to your handlers and iterate as needed.

The objections that you rarely hear are worthwhile taking note of, but not high priority to practice until that first tier (every time and regularly) is solid.

A quick closing thought: Having an answer for everything is a byproduct of practice and experience. It absolutely is the goal, but it is not required for success. If you don’t know the answer to something, the best thing to do is say that you don’t know. Prospects trust people that know what they are doing, but acting like you know what you’re doing when you don’t can backfire quickly. There’s nothing wrong with following up later, if needed.