Are Objections Harming My Business? Part 1

Are you using prospect objections as a force for good, or for evil?

A prospect is not likely to begin a sentence with “Allow me to raise this objection…”, but that is still what they are doing. No business has every client agreeing with its proposals every single time.

Following are just some of the situations that require training on and preparing for objections.

I sell to family, friends and referrals

“They trust me implicitly and I have no problem closing the sales.”

The problem with this scenario is how much you are outsourcing control of your business. You are limited both by the numbers of the extent of family and friends, and the relevant people they know. Your family and friends do not work for you, your connection to them is arbitrary with regards your business. With this sales model, you are sacrificing the selection and growth of your clients.

The key part here is control: if people are raising objections to or concerns about your work, they are doing it before they meet you. You lose the opportunity to address their concerns and to improve your own business based on what you could learn from them.

I have never lost a sale – every conversation I have ends up converting

Does it though? Are you truly tracking every conversation you have about your business?

Think back to the last three weeks. Look at your calendar: what meetings did you have? What events did you attend? Who called you in that period? Who did you meet socially? How many of those people are actually potential clients, or could lead you to potential clients? And how many of them are, now, clients?

Now take all the people you have met, and who are not clients: what objection could they have raised to hiring you? You may be telling yourself that they have another provider, or they don’t use your type of service. Both of those are objections, not refusals. Rethink the sales conversations you are having: you are not closing 100% of encounters.

Both of the above are examples of people who don’t think they have a sales issue. Tomorrow let’s look at a few people who do struggle with sales.