A sales manager who reads this newsletter regularly suggested the topic for this issue.

"I read your news letter weekly, and would like to see some information, or suggestions that deal with overcoming sales objections, such as cost, and 'no time right now.' Thank you and I look forward to further readings in the future."

Time and money are the most critical resources that everyone has - whether we are speaking of an individual or a business. Both time and money are abstractions that measure the amount of resources that we have available to expend.

So if someone claims "I don't have the time for this right now" or "I'm sorry I just don't have the money", then what this person is really telling you is that you have not justified why they should expend their precious resources on what you are selling.

If you dig down into any "sales objection", ultimately you will find either time, money or both at the root.

Let's take a look at a few common sales objections:

  -That looks too complex for me          = time.
  -We don't have any budget money left    = money 
  -We already have a supplier for that    = time and/or money 
  -I don't have the staff to support that = time + money 
  -Sorry, we don't need that              = time and/or money 
  -I can't talk with you right now        = time 
  

In all of these examples, the seller hasn't demonstrated his worth or value to the prospect. So if someone gives you a sales objection, then he is really telling you that you haven't shown him anything of value to him. You haven't justified to him why he should expend his precious resources on you.

If you've read any sales books, or been around selling for awhile, you might be thinking "sales objections are great - each sales objection moves me one step closer to closing the sale." I know that I was taught that years ago in IBM Sales School.

In traditional selling, this is true. Your supposed to get in there, make your pitch, and fight down the sales objections until you get an order.

Consider an alternative - just avoid sales objections completely.

It is possible.

How?

Find out the pains, desires, and values of the prospect. Show them a solution involving your prospect/service that meets these. Find out precisely what they want by asking questions.

Use this knowledge to propel the sale forward. Propel them toward what they want to have, eliminate, or most value. The prospect will sell themselves, and will be able to resolve their own "sales objections".

If you think about it, your easy sales were like this. Your hard ones, or the ones you lost, weren't.

I want to make one more point here while I am thinking about it. Finding your prospect's pains, desires, and values is somewhat different than discussing and presenting benefits to him. Benefits are great for marketing and online selling (because these are non-interactive).

Use benefits for your marketing and online selling efforts. Use questions to determine the true pains and wants when selling. Find out what people and businesses want to avoid, have more of, or desire most. Then show them how you can help them get what they value most.

© 1999-2004 Shamus Brown, All Rights Reserved.

Shamus Brown is a Professional Sales Coach and former high-tech sales pro who began his career selling for IBM. Shamus has written more than 50 articles on selling and is the creator of the popular Persuasive Selling Skills CD Audio Program. You can read more of Shamus Brown's sales tips at http://Sales-Tips.industrialEGO.com/ and you can learn more about his persuasive sales skills training at http://www.Persuasive-Sales-Skills.com/