Objection Handling 101 – Part 2

In part 1 of this article we looked at some of the common myths surrounding objections, the types of objections, who raises them and why. In this part, we will look at how objections can be handled. A couple of caveats before I start. One, from what I have seen, the same techniques hold with only minor variations whether you are doing a session with outsiders like customers, dealers, suppliers etc., or presenting internally. Two, I am sharing what has worked for me and for others I have been privileged to work with but don’t claim my views cover all angles. So please do share your views and experiences too.

At the outset, the best way to tackle objections in my view is to anticipate them and prepare for them. A nice analogy I once saw emblazoned on a T-shirt read, “The easiest calories to burn are the ones you did not ingest in the first place.”. As with most other deceptively simple self help books, that is however a lot easier said than done. Why? Three main reasons in my view though there are other lesser reasons (other than of course sheer inexperience either because the person is young or has not been in such situations before):

1 – too close to the situation. Many of us like to think we have covered all angles so we don’t bother to ask for an alternate point of view or past successes blind us to even basic questions about why someone would be convinced by what we have to say.

2 – operating by the seat of the pants. I see this in way too many people unfortunately. There is a tendency to be multi-tasking at insane levels thereby leaving them so thinly spread that they don’t do justice to the topic by doing their homework. In many cases, they don’t even think about it because they are in a culture that unwittingly fosters reactive behavior.

3 – wanting to hog credit. This happens when the person thinks he / she has a great idea and does not want to ask others what potential objections could come up for fear of someone else copying the idea and taking credit. Such people tend to be the information hogs in any company. However, they often get into sticky situations when presenting the idea because someone comes up with an objection they had not anticipated.

Whatever be the reason(s), if you go into a critical meeting / presentation / demo / whatever without having anticipated objections, chances are you will step on a rake. So, best to accept that something can go wrong (with due credit to Murphy for this timeless insight!) and try to anticipate the pitfalls. The starting point is that you should go back to basics and ask yourself some fundamental questions:

What is the audience’s pain point or the opportunity you are trying to address?

Are you establishing the context clearly?

Can you back your assertions regarding the pain / opportunity with evidence?

Is there a clear flow from problem/opportunity statement to evidence to back the same to a discussion of options to a recommendation to an action plan to the specific asks you have of the audience?

Who in the room is likely to disagree, on what points and why?

Which of the 4 categories of objections (from part 1 of this article) will these objections fall under?

Debating these questions with the others who are helping you plan for the session comes next. Preparing for type 1 objections is the toughest because that is where we too often we get so caught up in what we are doing that we can’t see that we are going down a rabbit hole forgetting the big picture. It is also the toughest type because you have to invariably respond on the spot failing which you lose the right to ask for their time again. Therefore running your idea / presentation / proposal by another senior person who is not directly involved (can even be from the customer side. We do this often before major sessions to customers) is oftentimes a good idea to have them play the devil’s advocate. Being able to convince an “outsider” is your best way to bulletproof your arguments. Of course preparing for all the 4 types of objections on the same lines as above is essential but more so for type 1. Once you have a list of possible objections, you need to do 4 things:

1. Do you want to openly put up some of the objections in the session and clarify them upfront? This may be required where you know for sure a serious concern is bound to be raised and if not addressed early, may cloud the rest of the session. One of my earlier managers was excellent at this. He would openly state early into a session something like, “We know you have XYZ reservations about our company and I thought I would address those upfront” and would proceed to do so. It was usually successful and set the tone for the rest of the session. In the cases where such a gambit was unsuccessful, the audience usually stayed engaged because they liked his gumption and wanted to see what else he had to say. So we did not always lose in such situations and arguably if it was such a serious objection, chances are it would not have been addressed even if we had waited for them to raise the objection. So presumably nothing was lost by preempting the objection.
2. After looking at which objections to handle proactively, you need to decide how to handle the other anticipated objections if they come up in the session. You have a choice. You can choose to answer on the spot or you can suggest they be parked for end of the session or handled subsequently in a follow up session. That depends on which of the 4 types of objections it is. If it is the first (senior most people in the room asking a basic question) you have to respond immediately. If it is of type 2 (important but not a go / no go question) the timing of your response depends on how critical the question is to the rest of the flow, the importance of the person asking, how responding may cause the session to go on a tangent etc. There are no perfect answers but if you have anticipated the question and decided on your likely response and the timing of the same, chances are 9 times out of 10, you will nail it.
3. For type 3 objections (planted questions), my own preferred method is to preempt but subtly. For example if I know that someone close to our competition is bound to ask a question about how some specific feature in our solution matches up to the competition’s, I tend to emphasize what the customer actually needs and how we will resolve the same at a conceptual level and leave naming our product to the last. By that time, since others in the room know you can solve the problem, a question about how a feature works will be seen as irrelevant as it will have no bearing on the solution. If you name a product too soon, you will get the query before you have established your value. If someone still asks the question, I tend to gently push back by asking why they think that is relevant and usually the questioner will either subside or it gives you an opportunity to show that you are centered on solving the problem and not getting into the weeds.
4. Type 4 objections (smart ass queries) can usually be parked for an offline conversation and most people except the questioner will be fine with it. Of course you don’t want to let him / her feel insulted so a good idea would be to have a white board / flip chart where someone notes open issues. At the end of the session you can offer to sit down with the person for a separate discussion if needed lest he / she later throw a spanner in the works. Often they are people who feel neglected in their roles. So the fact that you offer to speak to them one on one separately will usually satisfy them. If however you have a good answer and can use the moment to make a strong case and better still, plant a land mine for your competition, go for it is my suggestion!

A couple of small tricks of the trade to remember. One, if you answer a query verbally on the spot especially during a presentation it may seem to you like a gotcha moment. However, it may come across as a glib answer without your realizing it. So if you are proactively identifying objections, it is always a good idea to have a slide which addresses the point directly but you can choose to keep it in an appendix. That way if it does not come up, you don’t have to show it. However if it comes up, you may want to say, “Please hang on. I had a slide for that.”. It comes across as more professional and sincere. On the flip side, if you choose to answer an unanticipated query, it is often a good idea to say “Good question, I had not considered that so I don’t have a slide. However let me take a stab at it and if you are not satisfied, I will be happy to come back to discuss in more detail.”. That usually works as the listeners get the confidence that you are not a smooth talker.

Secondly, agree upfront on who will be answer each anticipated objection and only that person should respond. If it gets sticky, others can chime in but you don’t want a situation where everyone is trying to respond and creates bedlam.

Next come the unanticipated objections. Firstly, agree on who the questions will go to if it is an unexpected query. This person has to be the one with most credibility with the audience and so will decide whether to answer on the spot or later and if on the spot, who should respond. If the question can’t be answered and it is not of type 4 (and you better hope it is not type 1), make sure at the end of the session you agree on who will respond, by when and circulate the list to all including the customer (and stick to it!).

When answering unexpected questions, often the customer may have some underlying thought that is not directly being mentioned and unless you probe, chances are you are answering at one level while the question is deeper. So it is always a good idea to do two things.

One, paraphrase the question and ask if you have understood it right unless it is a very clear question (also gives you time to think) failing which they will elaborate. Two, try to probe a bit as to why that query is coming up. Often it can tell you if the objection is of type 2, 3 or 4. It can also expose the audience’s underlying assumptions, their biases, concerns etc. Interestingly from what I have seen, such probing often initiates a debate within the listeners and someone else ends up either clarifying on your behalf (and better than you can as they have better credibility being on the other side of the table) or at least the problem statement of the objection is narrowed down to something precise you can easily answer. As a corollary, never butt in when they are debating unless it goes way off course.

Finally, regardless of the type of objection, a very important rule that is however seldom applied is checking that the questioners are satisfied after you have responded. In one of my first visits to China, I was pleasantly surprised when a question came up in a customer meeting and they happily nodded as I responded through an interpreter. So I took it that I had nailed it only to have my local colleague politely puncture my balloon later. Apparently they were nodding to seem polite but were not satisfied with the answer but unlike my ahem argumentative fellow Indians they would not persist for a satisfactory answer. So it is best in most cultures to ask politely at the end of a response if the questioner is satisfied. If not they will usually open up after a couple of tries to say what is actually on their mind and that is valuable. Otherwise they may nod but not sign off later (we lost that deal and maybe my mistake contributed…).

A corollary is that if they are not satisfied and ask a further question, what do you do? Depending on the type of objection, how deep you need to delve into the topic (and how others may react), how critical it is etc., you can of course choose to answer on the spot or request for a subsequent one on one with the questioner.

So to summarize, try to anticipate the questions, decide which ones to handle proactively and which ones to take up if they come up. Next be clear on what your responses will be to the anticipated queries, who will respond and the timing. For unexpected queries, have a chain of control and make sure unanswered queries are handled by the promised date. Bottom line, if done well, it leads to your ideas being adopted / products being sold and yes, it can be a lot of fun! It is not a black art. Practice makes perfect!