16 Power Closes. Tom Hopkins

       CHAPTER 1

       The Objection Connection

      Most new or average salespeople have a dream. In the dream, they meet smiling, happy people. They build rapport, qualify, and give a dynamic presentation. At the end of the presentation, the smiling folks can’t wait to own the product. They claps their hands. They whip out their checkbooks or credit cards, sign on the dotted line, and shake hands profusely with the salesperson for showing them the greatest thing since sliced bread. Yep, that’s a dream all right.

      Let me give you a short lesson that will take you far in sales. If the people you’re talking with don’t object to anything during your time together, they’re either not listening or not qualified. In other words, they won’t buy!

      Objections (concerns) are nothing more than ways for your potential client to slow things down—to keep themselves from making rash decisions—from feeling as if they’re being “sold.” Objections are a common aspect of every sale you’ll attempt to make. Accept this fact and you’ll open your mind to the ways to handle, address, and overcome objections that I’ll cover in this chapter.

      Until you learn how to handle objections, you’re not going to approach your potential in sales. Champions have an affection for even the peskiest objection because it’s something concrete. They know they’ve reached the Klondike and are digging for gold when they start hearing objections.

       Make the Handling of Objections an Integral and Expected Part of Your Selling Sequence

      I hope that you’ll highlight this achievement-oriented statement:

      Objections are the rungs of the ladder to sales success.

      When you climb to the top of that ladder, they own what you’re selling. There just isn’t any other way to where you want to climb except by grasping and overcoming the most common concerns. If you decide to overcome objections by learning the material in this book, you’ll learn to love objections as much as I do—because they announce buying intention and point the way to closing the sale.

       What Is an Objection?

      Objections are statements by potential clients that they want to know more. Of course, objections don’t usually come out sounding like a polite request for additional information. People aren’t trying to make it quite that easy for you. They usually are sincerely objecting—they don’t realize they’re just asking for more information. It’s your job to know that, and to know what to do about it.

      There are two kinds of objections, minor and major. Please keep this in mind at all times:

      Minor objections are defense mechanisms.

      People use them to slow things down. They don’t mean that they don’t want to buy; they just want to mull things over before committing themselves. Maybe they need clarification on something. Perhaps they’ve thought of a need they forgot to tell you about. It doesn’t matter the reason. It’s always a good sign when someone gives you a concern. And you don’t necessarily have to address all of them. Trust me. There are people who look at selling situations as opportunities to debate. They’ll toss objections at you all day long if you’ll allow it.

      If you sell frequently to couples, you’ll have one of them start to go along with your demonstration and then the other one suddenly starts objecting and fighting you. Sometimes the other spouse, the one who’s going along, is more surprised than you are. The fighting spouse may only want to catch his or her breath, or make sure that you can answer minor objections eloquently before things get any thicker.

      Of course, not all concerns should be overcome. You’ll often encounter conditions that prevent the purchase.

      Major concerns are things such as: The new SUV doesn’t fit in the garage. Your product doesn’t come in a color that complements the decorating style of the potential client. In other words, your product has limitations that simply don’t fill enough of the needs of the client.

       What Is a Condition?

      A condition is a valid reason for not going ahead. It’s not an objection to overcome, it’s a total block to the sale that you must accept and walk away from. Champions are quick to recognize conditions. The major aim of qualifying is to determine whether there are any conditions that make the sale impossible and further attempts to sell pointless. So Champions, being expert qualifiers, never destroy their enthusiasm by trying to overcome conditions that can’t be overcome.

      One of the most common