No one likes rejection. And rejection can be especially painful when you are deep in the sales process. While the Castus team has successfully launched hundreds of products in markets all around the world, we have faced our fair share of challenges along the way.

In our experience as International Business Consultants, by following these six steps you’ll be more equipped to deal with customer objections and more likely to close the sale.

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PAUSE

When a customer objects to your solution, your first instinct might be to immediately rebut their objection without giving proper thought to their concern. Don’t panic. Take a deep breath and think critically about what they are saying before you formulate a response. Often, this brief pause will allow you to interpret a deeper meaning.

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RESTATE THE OBJECTION

After the customer has finished sharing their concern, take a moment to digest it and restate it in your own words. This will ensure you are fully understanding their thoughts and it will allow you to put a positive outlook on the situation. For example, if your customer says, “I have heard your service is terrible” you might try restating their objection as, “It sounds like you have concerns about the quality of our work?” The goal is to keep the conversation moving in a positive direction.

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CLARIFY

After you and the customer have identified their objection, you can now spend time probing for deeper meaning. Often, customers are unable to articulate the full reasoning behind their objection. As a result, you’ll need to dig a little deeper with questions like, “What specifically concerns you?” or “Do you have any data you can share regarding your concerns?” This will allow you to address the core of the objection and ensure you aren’t missing a bigger issue.

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ANSWER THE OBJECTION

It can certainly be intimidating when a customer objects to your solution, but it is critical to fully acknowledge and address the objection to the best of your ability. Attempting to dismiss a customer’s concerns sets the entire sales process, and ultimately your partnership, up for failure. By leaning into the customer’s objection you’ll demonstrate that you value their thoughts and you care about finding the right solution to their problem.

It can be incredibly impactful to offer real-world examples of how you have addressed similar problems with previous customers. You can even offer to provide references if you have the ability to do so.

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CONFIRM

If you feel you have fully addressed your customer’s objections, then you should be able to confidently ask them to confirm as much. Don’t over think this step. By simply asking, “Have I adequately addressed your concern?” you should get a direct answer that will tell you whether you have more work to do, or if it’s time to move on to closing the sale.

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TRANSITION

It’s important to address customer concerns, but it’s just as critical to keep moving through the sales process and towards closing the sale. Before jumping straight to “the close,” make a smooth transition. Take a moment to thank your customer for openly sharing their concern(s) and acknowledge that you appreciate their transparency. By taking a thoughtful approach, you will again demonstrate the fact that you value your customer’s input, which will ultimately build trust in your partnership.

The above steps assume that your customer is being honest in their responses and not providing “false” or “phony” objections. False objections can be incredibly frustrating, because they are not based in reality or fact. The good news is that by following the same steps outlined above, you will eventually identify the fact that your customer doesn’t actually have an objection, they are simply unwilling to purchase your solution – which actually means they aren’t a qualified customer to begin with!

For more advice on how to navigate objections, identify false objections, or build an impactful Sales Process, contact Castus via email (hello@castusglobal.com) or visit our website: http://www.castusglobal.com/

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