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Overcoming Objections in Closing Sales

Written by: Carrie Langstroth

Article Overview: Objections at the last stage of closing a sales deal can be quite frustrating. However, if you stay calm, listen carefully, and take your time to think, you may reach a solution that is amicable both to you and your customer.

Overcoming Objections in Closing Sales

You have been able to make it past the initial stages. You have delivered the sales pitch and actually been able to say your complete piece explaining the various benefits of the product or service that you are trying to sell. And, then it happens! There are a barrage of questions that seem to make you feel that this is likely to be end of the sales call because the customer just does not seem to relent and goes on pointing out certain holes in the offer or quotes competition and how they are doing a better job.

It is important to view objections that are made in the right light. It is obvious that a customer shall try and raise questions about the price of the service or the specific features and try to negotiate in order to get a bargain. However, these objections can be extremely irksome when they come up at a time when you may have thought that you have bagged the sale and are ready to count your commission.

Some sales techniques and tips to overcome and manage objections at the closing stage are provided below.

• Don't show your emotions - Even if you are extremely upset and feel that you have just lost a customer who you thought had converted, it is important not to give away your negative feeling. In fact, this is exactly what the customer is probably playing at.

He/she may feel that after spending a fair amount of time with him/her, you would do whatever you can to crack the deal. It is this very 'best offer' that the customer is probably trying to extract out of you.

• Listen carefully - It is important that even in the agitated state, you listen carefully to the exact objection that the customer has. Do not try and guess it or try to jump start the response.

• Ask for clarifications - When you are accosted with objections at the last stage, make sure that you understand what the customer is really looking for. Ask a few questions to assess the real motivation of objective behind the objection and see if you can counter it effectively without really giving away too much.

• Buy time - If the objections that the customer has raised are too demanding, take time off to think and evaluate whether giving in more than what you had initially planned is something that is affordable and profitable for you and your company.

• Ask for all the questions in one go - A technique used many times when it is really the last straw, is asking for all objections in one go. This is sometimes called tipping the bucket. It is a technique in which you ask the customer to lay down all the objections or questions that he/she has so that you can clarify all of them.

This is a good technique that you can use for a potential customer who is genuinely interested in your offering and is just trying to get the best deal. It can also reveal customers who are not likely to convert at all despite all the time that you spend with them.

Closing sales can be an extremely stressful task, especially when you are looking at completing your target for the week or the month. However, it is a cool head that really makes it to the top of the list and features as a star salesperson at the end.

Related Articles
  Overcoming Objections
  Handling the Greatest Source of Failed Closes
  Effective Negotiating
  Handling Objections in Four Simple Steps (Really)
  Overcoming Sales Objections Made Easier

Article Tags: overcoming objections
Referred by: http://jaykubassek.com



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