This is part 4 in a ten part series.
Here is the problem: the person you are talking to does not understand; the person it is being showed to will not understand: and there is another problem: people do not buy a product or service from anyone they do not like, and it is impossible to decide that you like somebody you have not met, at least on the phone.
Green salespeople do not hear what is really being said here: this response actually means one of the following:
- I do not understand
- I do not want to understand
- I think I understand, but I do not want to buy
- I do not want you to meet my boss because he will buy this and it will make work for me
- I want to spin what you are saying to make sure we don’t buy it
- I am actually naive enough to think I can do a good job of putting it across
- I think I want to buy this and that scares me because I am analytical and don’t like to make decisions
- I work by the hour and you are boring me, I am thinking about my date tonight, etc..
In all these cases (and believe me, it is one of the above 99% of the time), this is the best way to respond:
I am sure you will understand, and please forgive me for saying so: but it has been a challenge for me to put his across well: it is a longer-than-one-sentence thought train: it will definitely loose something in the translation. What I am hearing is that you need more proof and a better explanation: and if that is the case, trying to put this across on paper or remotely without proof or thorough explanation will be a waste of both of our time: do you mind if I suggest an alternative? (Let them give you permission to do so – you must remain silent and give them a chance to answer to do this!)
It is not fair for you to be asked to bring this to the table, and take the responsibility for it if you are not convinced: instead, why not suggest that what I have to say is at least interesting, and that you value the opinion of your colleagues (the real decision makers – don’t say that part) : why don’t you let me do the presenting, either in person or on the phone, then you can talk about me afterwards when I am not there: this way you have not endorsed my, just asked for an opinion; fair enough? (the answer is almost always yes – saving the opportunity for the sale!)
I have used this system for handling this very common selling objection thousands of times.
Keep reading, 5-10 in this series of common objections is comming soon! Do you want to be a real professional?
