Know-How Exchange : Customer Behavior

There are two kinds of objection - the most common is just to make you shut up and go away. Usually complying with their wishes is sufficient in this case.

The other is a genuine objection which is of course far easier to deal with. Either their objection has some grounds - well, a product can't supply every need. Yours included. If the objection has no grounds (and the questioner thinks they have) you need to explain their misguidedness.

The point I'm trying to make here is that there are people who will buy - and yet have a genuine problem. That you can work with. There are people who don't want to buy, and no matter how long you spend convincing them they still won't buy - even if the Taj Mahal itself comes as a free gift!

So work out which kind of objectioner they are and live with it. After all, it's far more profitable to deal with people who want to buy. It's surprising just how few of them there are.

Instead of trying to sell, learn to start a conversation by asking them for their needs, problems, and dreams. Only once you understand their goals/resources can you see if what you're offering is indeed the right thing for them.

You need to speak with your managers about training.

That you're expected to present to customers and close those conversations without first having had sales training is nonsense.

You also need to know that your ability to close on a presentation depends largely on the willingness of your prospect to listen to your message. From whom have you received your leads and how likely are those people to listen to what you have to offer? Without some element of pre-selling, call calling prospects won't get you that far: perhaps a close rate of 1 percent.

With pre-qualified leads you're on firmer ground but it still sounds as if you need sales training.

I've found that a good way to approach this is to begin by asking some high-gain questions to find out what the prospect knows and wants, what their values and biases are, and to assess their needs. Once you have that information you can determine how to proceed.

If you start by "pushing" your product/service at them, chances are (a) they'll be defensive, (b) you'll miss some great opportunities to solve their problem AND sell whatever you're selling, and (c) you will spend way too much time on the wrong prospects.