Want Money? Learn to Answer Objections. Prospective customers always have the same objections, so there is no excuse for not always an answer.
By Grant Cardone Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Salespeople must handle objections to get sales, but the ability to master objections goes far beyond the retail showroom -- because everything in life is a sale. Universities around the nation should have curriculums on handling objections, but they don't. Most salespeople don't even know the difference between an objection and a complaint. Last year I did a seminar on handling objections and wanted to tell you about 4 types of common objections many salespeople will get:
1. Time objections
"I'm on my lunch break", "I've only got 10 minutes", "give me your card, I'm in a hurry"…what kind of customer acts like this? Anyone who brings up time before you even have them on a product is a buyer. Time indicates players and professionals. If someone tells you they are in a hurry, know they have a credit card on them and that they are a decision maker. If someone hits you with "I've only got 5 minutes", reply, "5 minutes is perfect, let's get busy.''
Don't fight him over the five minutes. If he wants to hook up in five minutes, you should be good. The only reason a sales process takes time is your consideration of how long a sale should take, or you don't handle people right. Train yourself to control processes and you will get done in half the time that you think you can. So when you get the time objection, remember you have a buyer and you can move faster than you think. Train yourself.
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2. Financing objections
If you are selling anything with contracts, you might be getting questions about financing. You'll get questions about terms, the length of time, cost of finance, what's your credit requirement, what's the down payment, and "what if I have bad credit?" When you get these sensitive finance questions agree and reassure.
When a customer says to you, for example, "How much will I have to put down?" you may not know, you don't know their credit score, you may not even know what they are buying yet. Just reassure them, "I'll show you a number of choices and let you decide, including no money down—now which product are you interested in looking at?" You see you answer the question without actually answering the question, and you began asking questions. Surrender, assure, and redirect.
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3. Credit objections
Any of you who sell things on financing have heard the "I have bad credit". At least they are being honest with you upfront. There's so much turmoil out there with people being laid off and foreclosures. You can be in a transaction with someone who you think has tons of money but who really is in financial trouble. Your ability to line up credit will determine your ability to make the sale.
Even if your business doesn't offer to finance, most people have credit cards and the truth is credit cards are financing. I can buy some expensive jewelry on my card and pay only $100 a month on it. It's about your ability to handle the situation. "I understand you have bad credit sir, but that won't stop you and me from doing business together."
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4. Payment objections
The world is no longer on a price, they are making payments. I know people that finance a haircut. I don't care what you sell—life insurance, boats, homes, cars, furniture—people are going to be making payments. Great word tracks to use when a customer asks about payments can include "I'd be happy to get you the payments, I want to make sure you are on the right product, then provide you with many payment options" or "My goal would be to move you up to a better product and keep your payments the same as they are now."
Agree, assure, get them on the right product, and know that you will handle the payments in the close.
Every salesperson must learn how to handle objections. There are much more types of objections you will hear than the ones listed above. I can teach you how to handle any objection from anyone at any time in my Mastering Objections University.
