Home > Articles

One-to-One for Sales Professionals: Overcoming Objections

Overcoming objections is probably the hardest part of a salesperson's job. And the most important step in overcoming objections is preventing them from happening in the first place! The need to overcome objections will never disappear altogether, but it can be diminished with three little words: qualify, qualify, qualify.
Like this article? We recommend
Buying your product means bringing change into a customer's life. And, it's psychologically normal for human beings to resist change. When customers object, they're trying to maintain the status quo. You have to convince them that change equals improvement.

Overcoming objections is probably the hardest part of a salesperson's job. And the most important step in overcoming objections is preventing them from happening in the first place! The need to overcome objections will never disappear altogether, but it can be diminished with three little words: qualify, qualify, qualify.

Qualifying the company is your first action in overcoming objections. Before you make that first sales contact, gather good information to help answer the following questions: Is this company part of an industry that typically uses your products or services? Is the company likely to have the funds to purchase your products or services? Is there a general industrywide problem you could help them address? Could your products or services provide a solution to a problem that's unique to this particular company? Craft some compelling solutions to present: Paint a picture for your prospects that illustrates what's in it for them if they use your products or services.

Your next action is to gather additional information to determine who at this company makes the buying decisions for this type of product. Are there any other people who need to give consent? Is this a companywide policy, or do different locations and different departments make their own choices? If so, who in particular makes those decisions? Draw an organizational chart for each company and fill in the blanks as you find the answers to these questions. Of course, qualifying the contact also means listening to what each person has to say about specific wants and needs so that you can respond accordingly.

Objections can be legitimate and straightforward, or they can be artificial and misleading. You must work to qualify the prospect's objections—the "can't"—and determine whether the objection is a legitimate one or not. Ideally, your initial sales presentation would address any legitimate objection, never to arise again! But in reality, a salesperson will likely hear no some seven times before hearing a yes. Typically you can expect a variety of objections to surface throughout a sales cycle.

When you hear an objection, you must keep the dialog going long enough to determine what the prospect is really saying and really seeking. Is this a genuine objection or a brush-off? If it's the former, see how you can solve the issue for your prospect. Be creative and work out compelling solutions to your client's problems.

On the other hand, if the stated objection is actually just a way to prematurely dismiss what you're offering, you've got to dig deeper to isolate the distinct issues that cause concern in your prospect and then work to overcome them. If objections can be boiled down to specific issues, they can often be used to help you set up the close to your sale.

When dealing with objections, keep this in mind:

"Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines."
—Robert Schuller

Dialog 1: "The Price Is Too High"

Scenario

You've given your sales presentation and you hear, "Sorry, I can't. The price is too high." Your prospect might be saying any number of things with this statement. For example, "I like the product, but I think I can find a better deal somewhere else." Or "Based on what you've presented as the benefits, this cost isn't justified," or "It's not really too high, I'm just testing to see if you'll come down any." Or "I honestly don't have that much money available."

Strategies

You'll try to determine what the real objections are for your prospect and let that information guide the rest of your dialog. You'll try to identify concerns he may be feeling but not articulating by using a Perhaps-You-Feel strategy, and you'll express understanding of any objections that are raised by applying a Yes-But strategy. You'll refer to other situations where customers initially had similar objections with a Feel-Felt-Found strategy. And you'll talk about ways in which any remaining concerns could be addressed satisfactorily by way of an Eliminate strategy.

Insights

"The American car buyer wants economy so badly he'll pay almost anything to get it!"
—Lee Iacocca

Experience Shows

Don't use up all your supporting sales materials in your initial pitch. You may overwhelm your prospect and have nothing left to present in response to the specific objections you get from him later in the meeting.

Further Considerations

Make sure you know your company's pricing policy in advance. Do you have any latitude for first-time customers, big orders, or other special cases?

Have information available on any financing plans your company offers.

Figure 3.1 The Price Is Too High.

In order to help advance the sale, consider preparing sales tools such as the following, which can be handed out at a presentation or sent as follow-up:

Be Careful

Make sure the facts and figures on your materials are accurate, and put a date on the data. What may be an innocent error on your part may be perceived by your prospect as deliberate dishonesty. Also, don't overstate your case. Doing so will compromise your credibility.

  • A chart that shows price comparisons of competitors

  • A table that measures price versus cost for the short term and the long term, including factors such as shipping, guarantees, service by you and others in your company, cost and availability of parts and/or supplies, training, storage, and other issues

  • A list of product benefits, including any dollar amount you can attach to them (for example, absenteeism, turnover, morale, downtime, injury protection, peace of mind)

  • Testimonial letters that address various issues (for example, service, results, and length of relationship)

  • Corporate literature

  • Relevant articles, reports, or other information

What the Exemplars Do

Zig Ziglar, master motivator and sales maven, recommends in his book Secrets of Closing the Sale this response to a price objection: "I don't think there's any question about the price being high, Mr. Prospect, but when you add the benefits of quality, subtract the disappointments of cheapness, multiply the pleasure of buying something good, and divide the cost over a period of time, the arithmetic comes out in your favor.... If it costs you a hundred dollars but does you a thousand dollars' worth of good, then by any yardstick you've bought a bargain haven't you? "

Ask Yourself

  • When have I paid a lot of money for a particular product or service? What were the circumstances surrounding the purchase that helped convey its value to me? Can I apply those principles to my selling practices?
  • Have I made a list of every response I can think of to overcome price objections to my products?
  • Have I rehearsed those responses so often that they no longer sound rehearsed?
  • Are my sales tools compelling in their content and their appearance?
  • When I do a presentation, do I always bring lots of extra copies of sales tools?

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020