Let’s say you’ve just demonstrated the results that would be achieved by owning your product or service, and the prospect says, “Hey, I like what you’ve shown me, but I just need some time to think about it.” In this case, what’s an effective way to respond, so that you can still close the sale?
Well, the first thing you need to do is help them to let their guard down. But, let’s suppose that you ignore this step. And instead, you start arguing with the prospect by saying something such as, “Well, we’ve already gone over this, and you said you like it, so what do you need to think about?”
Now, if you respond in this way, how do you think your prospects will react? Well, it’s very likely that they’ll get defensive and shut down emotionally, because they’re starting to feel the sales pressure coming on from you. Or worse, they might even feel annoyed, and as a result, they’ll give you even more objections.
But when your prospects say that they need to think about it, is this is their real objection? In other words, will your prospects actually sit down after you leave, take out a sheet of paper, and write out a list of the pros and cons of your offer? And after two weeks have gone by, will they tell you that they’ve finally made a decision? Probably not.
You see, when your prospects say, “I need to think about it,” it’s a defense mechanism on their part because they don’t want to tell you what their real concern is. To put it another way, it’s not the true objection, because it’s what they actually want to think about which is the real objection.
So, your prospects do have a real concern. But since they’re trying to protect themselves from you, they say, “I want to think about it.”
And why does all of this happen? Because you haven’t yet learned how to guide them into wanting to open up and tell you the truth.
With that said, you want to invite your prospects to tell you what their real objection is, so that you can address it and help them to overcome it. Now, there are several steps to accomplishing this, so let’s get into it.
Okay. The very first thing you’re going to do is agree with your prospect. And you can do that by simply saying, “Yeah, sure. Look, that’s not a problem. Now, I guess, what’s your timeframe for getting back to me in the next day or so, just to see if I’d even be available for you?”
Alright. Let’s pause for a moment.
What’s going on here? Why would you not want to address their objection directly by asking them what they need to think about? Because once again, your first job is to get your prospects to let their guard down. Otherwise, if you can’t help them to open up to you, then they’re not going to tell you what their real concern is.
And on top of this, when you say “just to see if I’d be available for you,” what this does for you is that it raises your status. After all, are experts and in-demand professionals available 24 hours a day, seven days a week? No, because lots of other people want to do business with them. On the flip side, if you say, “I can call you back tomorrow at 9 am,” then all you’re doing is just lowering your status, because now they view you as a regular salesperson who’s just like everybody else.
But after you’ve asked that question, let’s say they don’t give you a specific time. Instead, suppose they say, “Oh, I don’t know. I’m pretty busy, but I can probably call you back later in the week.”
If this happens, you don’t want to let them get away with this. “Why?” you ask.
Because if you wait for your prospects to get back to you, then most of the time they’re never going to call you back. On the other hand, if they do give you a specific time, such as, “I can talk tomorrow at 2 pm,” then there’s another question that you can ask in order to find out what the true objection is, so that you can close the deal while you’re still there with the prospect. And we’ll go over this below.
But before we get to that, let’s go back to the scenario where they say, “I can probably call you back later in the week.” Now, in order to prevent them from getting away with this, you need to get a specific timeframe from your prospect. And to accomplish that, you can say, “Well, I’m not exactly sure if I’d randomly be available like that with my schedule. What I can do, though, if it helps you, is if you have your calendar handy, I can pull up mine, and we can have you book a specific time with me. That way, you don’t have to track me down and vice versa. Would that help you if I did that?”
Again, by saying this, it places you in a position of high status, in which you’re a busy person with a lot of clients who are coming to you to get their desired results. After all, who has the problems? Your prospects do.
And who has the solution to those problems? You do.
Alright. With that said, let’s say you’ve booked the appointment for two days later. Now, why did you do all of this?
Well, the reason for booking a specific time with your prospects is that now their guard has finally come down, because they think that the conversation is over, and that you’re going to leave. And here’s where you can finally get to the actual objection.
On a related note, as mentioned above, when you first ask the question about their timeframe for getting back to you, if they do give you a specific time by saying something such as, “I can talk tomorrow at 2 pm,” then that would work as well at this point.
Either way, in order to uncover the real concern, with a curious tone, you say, “Now, before I go, I guess, what was it that you were wanting to go over in your mind, just so I know what questions you might have when we talk again?” And once you’ve asked this question, the actual objection will finally come out.
But on the flip side, suppose you say, “Before I go, what was it that you wanted to think about?” Now, if you give this response, it’s likely that the prospect won’t reveal the true objection, because this question is too direct.
On the other hand, if you respond properly, the prospect will say something such as, “Well, it’s just a big decision, and I feel like I really need to talk to my husband first, and he’s not going to be here until later tonight.” And if that’s the case, then now you know that it’s actually a spouse objection.
Or, the prospect might say, “Well, it’s kind of a big decision, so I just need to see if I have the money for it.” And again, now you know that it’s actually a money objection, and you can handle it accordingly while you’re still there with the prospect.