Tweet

Overcoming Objections with the "Turn Device"

Guest post by: Bob Janet

Article Overview: Turn the customers objection into a sales close by using the "Turn Device". They will close themselves.

Overcoming Objections with the "Turn Device"

One day while watching my father selling a color television in our retail electronic store I learned how to use customer objections to make the sale. My father was demonstrating a new 21” diagonal screen model color television which had just arrived. This set was much bigger in overall physical size and more expensive than the advertised 15” diagonal model that was advertised and that the prospect had come into the store to purchase.

At one point in the conversation the prospect, in an objective voice and tone, said, “The size of this TV is really big.” My father seized the opportunity to turn the objection into a positive by simply saying, “Yes you are right. With this size Television everyone in the room gets a great view.” This technique, turning an objective into a positive is know as the “Turn Device”.

When the prospect asked, “What is the price?”, (In the 70’s retailers did not put price tags on every item the way we now do.) my father said, “$599”. When the customer, in a surprised objectionable voice and tone, repeated the price, “$599.00!!” (The 15” television he came in to look at sold for $299.00.) My father used his “Turn Device” and said, “Yes, everyone says the same thing. They cannot believe we are selling a new 21” RCA color television for only $599.00.”

Recently my clients, “Clean Air Technologies,” the Charlotte area’s experts in inside air quality, used the “Turn Device”. David Thompson (the owner) received a call from a local homeowner asking the price for a particular job. When he quoted her $199.00, she was astonished and replied, in an objective voice and tone, “$199.00!!!!!!?”
David said, “Yes, isn’t it something that we can do so much for so little money?”
She then stammered and started asking more questions. Within 5 minutes he scheduled the job.

Your “Turn Device”
Of course as you know, you cannot just start using a new sales technique without some planning and practice.
First: Wright down 5 or 6 objections you hear from your customers,
Second: Next to the objection write out your complete turn for each objection.
Third: Practice, Practice, and Practice… Have a colleague play the part of the
customer and fire objections at you. Use your turn device to show the
customer (colleague) the benefit they receive from the item they are
objecting about.

Reinforcement
It always helps to reinforce a point that we want our customers to remember. Reinforcement is usually done by repetition. My clients find it a lot more rewarding (with increased sales) to reinforce by giving the customer a choice.
Example: When David quoted his prospect $99.00, she was astonished and replied, in an objective voice and tone, “$99.00 !!!!!!?”
David said, “Yes, isn’t it something that we can do so much for so little money?”
To reinforce by giving a choice David said, “Which would you rather have done in your home, a complete duct cleaning for only $199.00 or a partial for $159.00?

Sales Professional that use turn devices and reinforcement with choice close more sales.

Related Articles
  Overcoming Objections
  Handling pricing and delay objections
  Effective Negotiating
  When you hear, "Your Price Is Too High!!
  Handling the Greatest Source of Failed Closes

Article Tags: air quality, charlotte area, color television, david thompson, diagonal screen, electronic store, job, model color, money, objection, objections, objective voice, price tags, rca, size television



Related Forum Posts
Re: Ways to Boost Productivity - 1. Give Employees More Than a Paycheck 2. Provide Better eSupport Channels to Promote Self-Service 3. Complete your most dreaded tasks first thing in the morning. 4. Outsource as much as possible 5. . Turn off the TV.
On Escalade - I've seen the ad for "Turn you on" on TV here in Toronto but not the others. Yeah my girlfriend liked that ad too and started telling me wouldn't it be great to have one, I had to quickly remind her that one of the reasons we moved downtown was so that we could get rid of the car and plus we don't have a parking space for it. Honestly, I was seriously considering it.
Re: What is your biggest challenge? Today? - The biggest hurdle for me to start my online firm, was getting financed and overcoming the technology learning curve. I spent the better part of 6 months attending workshops and unpaid training to learn about SEO and online content management systems. I also spent a month learning basic programming, web site creation tools, and general IT skills. The culmination of this training enabled me to make a thorough presentation to the bank and to private investors. I was able to secure some finances and some servers to run my operation. However, the biggest challenge was time. Overcoming what to 'do' with your time is something entrepreneurs struggle with every day. There is always something you could be doing 'better' or 'worse' with your time.
Re: Getting *back* to the next step - I think small things can make a big difference. Cut corners when ever possible. To the point that you don't lose any business. For example: start using cheaper products around the office. You'd be surprised how much money you can save just by going to a less expensive brand for the same items. Start soliciting referrals. People are happy to give you a good one if you've done a good job. You just have to ASK. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising and it's the least expensive = free! Turn off lights and computers and even pull plugs on appliances on the weekends, or even every night if you have time and aren't using them. This saves a lot of energy in the long run and you should be conserving energy anyway. Dare I say this......shake the printer ink and make it go another 50 copies. Over a year you can save quite a bit in ink costs. There are other cuts you can make that won't impact the quality of your service/product if you sit down and really think it over, but this is a start.
Useful Business Cards - At one point in my business I branched out into many other avenues and had multiple divsions within the main company. I was in a rush to get the word out, so I ordered business cards for each division. Several months later I brought in a marketing director and manager to help out and the first thing she did was to redesign my cards. I still use the cards she created. They have business name, my name, contact info, website, tag line and license and insurance info on the front. Turn the card over and there's a list of the services we offer. A couple of the advantages she pointed out to me were - 1 - I only had to keep up with and hand out one card - 2 - multiple services listed on one card gives the opportunity for clients to have us do additional work. Our yellow page ads use a similar plan and have helped us do repeat work and additional work for many clients. Chris


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

African Technology Development

Improve E-mail: Avoid the Quicksand

Ten Steps to Go from Idea to E-book for Sale

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.