Selling through Objections

I would hate to be a retail store owner today, you either have customers who don’t have the money or credit to make a purchase from you or you have sales people from every industry imaginable coming into your shop to tell you how much money they can save you, in all kinds of ways, processing fees, debit card fees, equipment, etc.

And in the middle of this you have to find a way to manage your expenses, control employee cost and grow revenue. WOW – and they only got in their business because they were good at car repair, bookkeeping, they wanted to be of service to people through the medical field, or whatever got them into that industry. The fact is they were not and never have been a great businessperson. That’s not to say they have not been good at business or that their business has not grown or been successful, I’m just saying they did not get “in” their business because they were a good business person. Most likely they learned to be a good businessperson by running their own business or they hired someone who was good at business.

So what is the skill that they have spent the most time perfecting, the one we as trained sales professionals have unwittingly helped them become very proficient at……sales resistance! Look you drive onto a new car lot, park your car by the showroom, get out of your car and a car salesperson comes towards you with his hand out to shake your hand and says “What can I help you with?” What is your answer, 80% of the time…….”I’m just looking”, right? Then an hour and a half later you drive off in your new car, paying a little more than what you had said you would pay before you drove on the lot! When you told the car salesperson “I’m just looking” did you lie to them? Or was that your “put-off” your delaying tactic, not because you were not there to look at a new car and not because you weren’t interest in a new car, but because you didn’t want to be……..SOLD! It’s not that you were not going to buy you just didn’t want to be sold, right?

Now what’s funny about this process is when the merchant says to us “just looking”, “I want to think about it” or “Not interested” then we find out they bought from someone else what is our reaction? I know a lot of sales people who are ticked-off. And why don’t we lie to? Didn’t we tell the car salesperson “I’m just looking?” Or did we just misread the sales resistance, were we so focused on what we were “going” to say we didn’t hear what the merchant was “saying?”

So when we approach merchants let’s keep a couple of things in mind:

1.      If you use the same approach as every other product, price hocking salesperson who are you to the merchant?

2.      If you use the same presentation as every other product, price hocking salesperson who are you to the merchant?

3.      If you use the same close as every other product, price hocking salesperson who are you to the merchant?

If you want the merchant to be different with you then you have to be different to the merchant. Your “elevator” pitch has to speak to what matters most to the merchant. Where are they spending their money “anyway” that they are getting poor results that you can help them “reposition” to both increase their sales while managing their expenses? What prevents them from having more sales is it taxes, payroll cost, advertising or the economy? How will your product help address those concerns? Are they buried in expenses, cost or lost sales? What are the three things most merchants already have?

1.      Lease’s

2.      Equipment

3.      Fees

So if they already have these things what and how will doing business with you be different? In other words why should they take their time to speak with you, what’s the benefit in taking their time away from making money to speak with you? When they hear lease, equipment or fees are you setting up sales resistance, are you building in the “Not interested”, “I already have…” or “You can’t…” objection?

 If you have been in the sales business for any real amount of time you already know the four basic objections you get from merchants:

1.      No money

2.      No need

3.      No hurry

4.      No confidence

The same reasons merchants won’t buy from you are the same reasons they will buy from you;

1.      They do have the money

2.      They do need your product or service

3.      They want to increase benefits or lower cost today

4.      They do have confidence in you, your company, your service (in that order)

Remember questions gather information and objections disclose information. So talk to the merchant about the things that matter most to them, in the order that they use things.

1.      Their customer

2.      Their business

3.      Them as the business owner

You have heard the objections a thousand times before so why are they coming up? Does your presentation account for the objections you already know you’re going get. Do you ask questions that help your prospect move to your solution? I learned years ago the “close” starts with the very first contact.

For one program I’m familiar with the elevator pitch does this:

“What we do is help merchants increase sales 15 – 40% in as little as 2 -3 weeks by helping them install a No Credit Needed finance program where you the merchant receive your money up front, in full in 72 hours while your clients have up to 12 months to pay for your product or service.” Now here’s what happens 80% of the time…… the merchant says “How do you do that?” We have gone from the merchant deciding “If” they have an interest or need in a product or service to asking “how” the product or service works. And guess what, in most case we knew that is what they would ask. Remember questions gather information and objections disclose information. So if I already know the four basic objections that will come up with a merchant;

1.      No money

2.      No need

3.      No hurry

4.      No confidence

So when would it make sense to address these objections? Build the answers into your sales presentation and change the dynamics of the conversation from “If” they will use your product or service to “How “your product or service might work for their business.

Today merchants are approached by dozens of sales people every week, wanting to take their time away from making money to talk about everything except “them.” Talk to the merchant about the things that matter most to them. People buy from people they like and people they believe in. Here’s wishing you all the success your willing to work for.