Objections

Objections, by Jeb Blount, isn’t the kind of book I would normally pick for myself. However, seeing how I will be supporting myself with a job where my role is to get past objections in a couple of months, I thought it would be a practical read. While I did not find myself reading it with the same kind of persistence as other books I have reported on this site, I did learn a lot of information I believe will be useful to me at the start of my full-time professional career.

Objections are present no matter what part of the sales industry someone works in. Cold callers offering the cure to death will still be cussed out by people who had their phone ring at an inopportune time. Rejection is inevitable and can dissuade salespeople from trying. They can try to avoid nos by beating around the bush or using soft asks, but this decreases their effectiveness.

Blout lays out three steps to asking:

1.      Ask with confidence and assume you will get what you want.

2.      Shut up!

3.      Be prepared to deal with objections.

When someone makes an ask with the mentality that the person will say no, they communicate to the stakeholder that they should say no. Expecting failure leads to failure. After making an ask, continued speaking can make a person seem untrustworthy like they are not confident with their offering. Objections are not rejections. Rejections can most likely not be talked down, but objections can be. Objections may seem like rejections but are more likely questions and negotiations.

Blout identifies four types of objections. Red herrings, micro-commitment objections, buying commitment objections, and prospecting objections. Overcoming these objections does not mean forcing a stakeholder to agree with you by downplaying their hesitation. If an objection is met with hostility, the stakeholder will either retreat further or, if they do back down, will have a tainted relationship with you from that point.

Decisions are an emotional act. Stakeholders make decisions based on biases they have developed over their lives. People typically aim to avoid negatives more than they aim to acquire positives. It is the job of salespeople to bring positives to their attention while minimizing negatives.

Getting rejected stings. (I am very familiar with this fact.) This sting can trigger the seven disruptive emotions- fear, desperation, insecurity, need for significance, attachment, eagerness, and worry. These emotions can make it difficult to stick to proven frameworks and cause salespeople to make irrational moves in an attempt to get a commitment. Disruptive emotions can be managed by developing self-awareness, positive visualization, managing self-talk, changing your physiology, staying fit, having a ledge, and using the this-or-that technique. A ledge is a prepared script in the event of certain objections so emotions can’t do the talking. The this-or-that technique is a question to ask in order to realign oneself. “Do I want to (waste my time trying to persuade someone who isn’t a good fit) or (know where I stand and accept that I may need to move on)?” These techniques help make salespeople rejection proof.

I mentioned earlier that both objections and rejections are a part of sales no matter what. So, attempting to avoid either is moot. Resistance is futile. The goal is to overcome objections. Objections must be prospected from stakeholders using intuition and deep listening.

Blout identifies the BASIC stakeholders that salespeople interact with when making a sale. There are buyers, amplifiers, seekers, influencers, and coaches. Buyers are the ones who can authorize or fund the deal. Amplifiers are the people who can’t authorize or fund a deal but will advocate for a change to the people who can because they can see the pain points an offering solves. Seekers are people who are looking for solutions but probably don’t have the authority to make a decision. Influencers are similar to amplifiers except that the problem the solution solves may not be visible to them. Influencers can be a positive or negative force. Coaches are advocates that not only favor a solution but help a seller navigate a deal.

Prospecting objections occur when first starting a relationship with a stakeholder, most often done through cold calling. Objections are extremely common here. There are three common types of responses to cold calling- reflex responses, brush-offs, and true objections (RBOs). Reflex responses are objections that are made by instinct. Claiming to have plans or be busy. Brush-offs are objections made to avoid conversation and possible conflict. Another time or send over the information. True objections are logical and could signal that a prospect does not need your service. To combat RBOs, Blout lays out a three-step framework- ledge, disrupt, ask. Since there are typically 5 most common objections, it is easy to prepare a ledge to go into. Disrupting is subverting the stakeholder’s expectations by flipping the script. Instead of fighting through a pitch, a salesperson should use the objection they received and turn it into a way to continue the conversation. The ask is setting up the next step. If there is no ask, the stakeholder is unlikely to move forward themselves.

Red herring objections distract from the goal at hand. They take salespeople away from their objective and weaken an argument. They can be intentionally or unintentionally thrown out by stakeholders. The steps to overcoming red herrings are to pause, acknowledge, ignore, and save. Pausing helps a salesperson collect their emotions. Acknowledging lets the stakeholder know that you heard their concern. Acknowledging is not the same as giving a rebuttal. Then the objection is either ignored or saved to address later. Often red herrings turn out not to be important and are forgotten so there is no need to bring them up later. If the concern is legitimate, it’s important to clarify the meaning of the objection before explaining it away.

Micro-commitments test engagement. They let a salesperson know how invested a stakeholder is. Examples range from setting a follow-up meeting to having a stakeholder tell a personal story. The more time, action, and emotion a stakeholder puts into the buying process, the more invested they become. Micro-commitments create velocity and set the momentum for a sale. Micro-commitment objections help identify pain points in a relationship as well as bad buyers. Overcoming objections is done by having a ledge, explaining the value of a commitment, and then asking again.

Buying commitment objections are objections made right before a close. The steps to combatting them are to relate, isolate and clarify, minimize, ask, and fall back. After relating to a stakeholder's objection, it’s important to find out if it is their only concern. Sometimes an objection can occur because of factors outside the objection. An objection about effectiveness could really be about whether the value of setting up a new system is worth the effort. Clarifying an objection allows the salesperson to better remedy the situation. Minimizing the risk of their concern can be done by building a yes ladder, walking the stakeholder through their situation and analyzing the effects a deal will/will not have on them, or using social proof. After objections are minimized, the ask is made again. If an objection is made after the second ask, the buyer may not be ready. Rather than give up and lose a lead or let a deal stall, a micro-commitment should be made. This could be a follow-up meeting, demo, or anything that helps keep the relationship alive. (Sometimes it's the little things, like sending flowers.)

Knowing how to handle objections helps salespeople increase efficiency and effectiveness. Pushing someone through the sales process creates buyer's remorse and ruins a relationship. That is why it is important to know how to properly handle objections, so deals aren’t made through hostility. This read helped reassure me about my new position. I am not looking forward to being rejected thousands of times but I am at least at ease now knowing I have a framework to refer to.