What’s the best attitude after an objection?

Jorge Zepeda

John Kaplan

Be grateful because it means that you are actively listening. Some sellers completely miss the objection! Don't take it personal.

It's important to acknowledge the objection. This shows empathy.

Clarifying the objection allows the buyer to be more specific and the seller to be more targeted in response. For example, "Your too expensive." ⇒ "When you say we are too expensive, what are you basing that on?"

Respond constructively - be positive in your response

Gain agreement that you have answered the objection (For example, "Does that answer your question/objection on…"

The best companies I know, prepare their sellers for the most common objections. If you have not done so already, ask your management for a session on, "The most common objections in our environment and how to specifically address them."

David Chimenti

I agree with everything John said here, but would like to build on this a little bit. The great thing about objections, is that there are simple systems you can practice easily with a close friend and master quite easily.

A big question is what personality of buyer are you speaking with. There are four main types of buyer personalities and we can run advanced psych tests all we want but that doesn’t help you when you are on a cold call and have to gauge in a moment how to overturn an initial objection. You may have split seconds to be audible ready and adjust based on what you hear on the phone. I’ll list below a simple answer of the buyer types and they map to the four factors of impulse that are also explained

The four main buyer types spell the acronym BOLT for: Bull, Owl, Lamb, Tigger

The four factors of impulse are: Fear of Loss, Indifference, Jones Effect, and Sense of Urgency

Bull buyers only care about the bottom line. They are rarely conversationalists in the first ten seconds of a prospecting call when you need to be perfect and are going to be ROI driven. As such, fear of loss is the most effective impact for these buyers. They don’t care that your product makes employees happy. They care that it will save them 20%. You can’t miss a bull when you meet them. They may even give you a few seconds but you need to provide value early and often.

Owl buyers ask tons of questions that may not actually matter to the decision from what you know that they don’t yet. It’s rude to tell them their questions don’t matter because the people usually have 20 initiatives on their desk at any moment and need to make sure they aren’t throwing a wrench in one. This is a great example of where John’s description above comes in from a systematic sound point. Make sure you address the concern and it’s agreed upon. The impulse factor use in this case indifference because “it’s not a big deal if it’s not a deal”. They have a million things stressing them out and don’t need a salesperson telling them how to do their job or that their concerns don’t matter. They need a cool, calm, collected one that’s Johnny on the spot with answers and delivers to them in a way that makes it seem like not a big deal. This will also differentiate you from most others sales people they deal with who will call and bother them daily when they are busy. This same concept of indifference many people already use in their dating lives if that’s an easy correlation to make.

The concept of indifference is seen in breakup emails or sending a close email on a “sure thing” you haven’t heard from in a while that states value then says “We can not understate how much we have appreciated your consideration. If you decided to go in different direction altogether, that’s cool too just please let me know so I don’t bug you.” You aren’t attached the outcome. You are there to help if it’s helpful. It’s behaving different than your competition.

Lamb buyers are going to follow the crowd. Case studies, logos on your website, references are all great. In my early days as a b2b cold caller I’d work with lambs all the time just by walking in with a positive attitude and saying “hey my names Dave and I work with a few of your neighbors here in the park, I am here just here to quickly introduce myself”.

The Jones Effect is the most effective way to diffuse an objection from a lamb buyer. The Jones Effect is like “keeping up with the Jones’” (i.e. everyone wants what everyone else has plus it is a lot easier for people to make a decision if they can mentally place some of the accountability for the decision on someone else in case it doesn’t go well - it’s easier to tell ur Business partner “the new office supply guy you tried that works with Jack and Jane next door didn’t work out , oh well we tried” than it is “I personally shopped 5 sources and am willing to risk your level of respect for my decision making on simply my research.” That’s not in the nature of a lamb buyer. They want to make a decision that all can live with from reference points they trust.

This is why references are so important. It’s also my soft references are good use if used properly “most CEOs say….” doesn’t mean anything in an email because they know you do not know most CEOs. If you can have specific references it’s huge, but even just when doing b2b outside cold-calling saying “hey I work with a few of your neighbors in the park (or jack and Judy next door) and just came by to quickly introduce myself” was extremely effective for me in that setup. They need to be able to mentally receive some sort of actual credibility from a source that is credible to THEM early and often.

Tigger buyers are like tigger from Winnie the Pooh. They’re all over the place. Also people usually with a ton of initiatives and often “the person” in an SMB because they have consistently demonstrated that they get things done. They will have a million questions and they should for their level of responsibility. It’s important to keep them focused and on task though as they are generally high energy and have problems you don’t know about and maybe never will if they have nothing to do with decision and keep them on task.

Sense of urgency can be used with tigger buyers in several ways and can be many things. “Based on your goals of implementing by the new year, I really believe it’s important we carve out a few minutes next week to ensure we’re on track to drive positive business outcome A as soon as possible next year” is a good example. If it’s a prospecting call, just letting them know you will be brief can break thru the tension and there’s a variety of ways to do that. The key is to EXECUTE on whatever time they give you as it will be limited.

For prospecting there’s a lot of things with tonality you can do to eliminate objections but the best advice I’ve followed is:

Tonality is the most important thing. They are trying to determine a few things on a prospecting call, but the first one is “do I want to talk to this person” and the next is if you provide value. From there they assess credibility and ultimately if they like/respect you. I was always taught that I should come in with an attitude just higher on the spectrum than theirs . Everyone I speak with the entire day, my goal should be their day is slightly better after. If they’re in the dumps, they don’t want to hear from excited guy and vice versa. The person straightfaced working on a project they hate should be open to speaking with someone with a slight smile and calm demeanor though (as long as they provide value) If you can get a permission based opener with the right tonality, you’ll prevent more early objections than any other strategy I’ve seen. Well, that and asking a compelling question that doesn’t indicate you know more about their company or job than they do but may have insight to a problem they’ve been too busy to see coming or don’t have visibility into in the organization.

Hope this is helpful and want to hear more from the community if possible

Will Kasemeyer

When handling objection, ensure to acknowledge their position, ask them to expand on it so you can learn more about what is motivating them to take this stance, and engage the prospect again with a counteroffer or a compromise

Timmy Cotton

After an objection in a sales meeting, the best attitude is to remain calm and empathetic, acknowledging the concern raised. Follow up with a positive and confident response that addresses the objection directly, showcasing how your product or service can overcome the challenge raised.

Elijah Friend

The best kind of attitude to maintain after receiving an objection is one of positivity. Responding to objection in a negative way will only harm your chances of making the sale, because this kind of behavior will create a negative image of you in the buyers mind. If you respond in a grateful, appreciative manner this will position you in their mind as thoughtful and caring for the buyers need.

Avery Brockwell

The best kind of attitude to have after an objection is to stay positive. Not taking the rejection personally and moving on from it can help to maintain a positive attitude. If you view the rejection as an opportunity to grow instead of something negative it will be easier to remain positive.

Julie Brence

Staying positive, confident, and having a desire to learn more about why they objected you is important. Making sure that the customer knows that you did not take it personally and were able to handle it and dive deeper into why they objected shows that you are a strong seller. Diving deeper could also potentially change their mind and still allow you to sell.

Hunter Edson

The best attitude to have after an objection is to be positive, and ask questions about why they have this objection, I would also acknowledge the concern and address it directly.