7/16/13 6 Techniques for Effective Objection Handling - Salesforce Blog

blogs.salesforce.com/company/2013/03/6-techniques-for-effective-objection-handling.html 1/11

What is Salesforce?Who uses Salesforce?View DemosFree TrialResource Center

What is Salesforce?Free TrialView DemosCustomer StoriesSmall Business CentreContact Us

Contact Us

Salesforce BlogSalesforce Blogsearch Search

SalesCustomer ServiceMarketingWorkCollaborationCloudMobileSocial

More

NewsEventsDreamforceCommunityMVPs

Customer StoriesFoundationCareers

Developer

Sales CloudService CloudMarketing CloudPlatformChatter

7/16/13 6 Techniques for Effective Objection Handling - Salesforce Blog

blogs.salesforce.com/company/2013/03/6-techniques-for-effective-objection-handling.html 2/11

MVPs Developer Chatter

News AUEventsDreamforceCommunityMVPs

Customer StoriesFoundationCareersDeveloper

Sales Cloud AUService CloudMarketing CloudPlatformChatter

6 Techniques for Effective Objection HandlingMar 25 2013 By Daryl Spreiter / in Featured , SalesMar 25 2013 By Daryl Spreiter in Featured , SalesComments: 4

TweetTweet 110

13

TweetTweet

110

13

A couple of years ago, I was asked by a senior leader todesign a program that would help the sales team qualifymore deals. The biggest obstacle to closing new businesswas how the team was managing customer objections. Asthe customer mentioned an objection, some reps on thephone would become defensive and start to justify themerits of our company or product. Others just took theobjection at face value, hung up and moved on to the nextcustomer on their list. However you look at it, these aremissed opportunities.

Objections are inevitable but should never be seen as adoor slamming closed in your face. The key is to understand why the customer is objecting – you must takethe time to uncover this if you hope to move forward in a mutually beneficial way. While customers mayobject for many reasons, let’s take a look at few common causes:

May simply be lack of knowledge: “We don’t need a mobile solution.”May be a specific, warranted concern: “Your price is higher than everyone else.”May represent a hidden agenda: The customer has a preference or incentive to use a different

Like 54

ShareShare 314

54

Like

314

ShareShare

7/16/13 6 Techniques for Effective Objection Handling - Salesforce Blog

blogs.salesforce.com/company/2013/03/6-techniques-for-effective-objection-handling.html 3/11

product but doesn’t say that outright.May be a perception issue: “The Cloud isn’t secure.”We may not be clear about their interests: “That’s not a priority for me this year.”

Take action: Think about the objections you receive in your line of business. Write down an example foreach of the above types of objections. The techniques in this article will assist you with these and manymore that you’re likely to face. You may not overcome them every time, but at least you didn’t give upbefore even trying.

Now that you have written down the most common objections, here are some of the top tactics for handlingthem:

Tactic #1: Gratitude

Say “Thank You!” Always thank your customer when they put an objection in front of you because this isan opportunity to address it and move on with your deal. In fact, ask them about all of their concerns andobjections right up front and you’ll receive even more opportunities to turn the table to your advantage.Don’t forget, an objection is better than a “no” because it gives you some place to begin the conversation. Ican’t tell you the number of times a simple thank you has helped to diffuse a situation with an angry or upsetcustomer and get me on my way to solving their problem or getting them back on the happy train.

Tactic #2: Empathize

Empathy is a way to connect with your customer on a personal level, show you care and that you’relistening. All of us have had to say “no” at one time or another, and in business, you’re not always speakingto the decision maker. Often times, they’re just the messenger so don’t shoot yourself in the foot by gettingdefensive. After thanking the customer for bringing the objection to your attention, empathize in a way thatwill help further diffuse the situation. For example: I hear this a lot, I’m sorry you feel that way, it soundslike this has been very frustrating, I hear what you’re saying and I think I can help. By empathizing with thecustomer, they’re more likely to open up and share more.

Tactic #3: Let the Discovery Begin

Now that you’ve begun to diffuse the situation, take your time to uncover what’s really going on. Goodcustomer discovery always focuses on asking open-ended questions. If the customer can respond with a“yes” or “no,” then you’ve got to rephrase your question. This is a lot harder than it sounds and it takespractice to develop this ability. You can test yourself at home or with a friend – have a conversation withsomeone and only ask them open-ended questions. If you get stuck, just do what every 4 year old does andask “why?” -- you’ll be amazed at how powerful that little question can be! Building rapport is equallyimportant during the discovery phase. Check out the recent blog article titled “Your Best Sales ProspectingAsset is You” for some great tips on building rapport and trust.

Tactic #4: Ask, Probe, Confirm

Now that you’ve got the questions flowing, it’s important to keep the conversation moving further anddeeper. As the customer responds to your open-ended questions, you should probe further by asking morequestions about what they’ve just said. If at any time you don’t understand something, ask them to clarify. A great example of this tactic is when the customer mentions an acronym or other words specific to theircompany or business process. Experts say that it takes at least 4-5 layers of questions to really uncover thepain or nature of the objection. Take your time and keep asking questions until you truly understand thereason for the objection and they’ve satisfied you’re curiosity. Finally, restate what you heard in your ownwords and ask them to confirm that you’ve understood them correctly. Barry Rhein published a greatwhitepaper about the power of open-ended discovery questions titled “15 Sure Fire Ways to Qualify anyProspect.”

Tactic #5: Show Them The Value

7/16/13 6 Techniques for Effective Objection Handling - Salesforce Blog

blogs.salesforce.com/company/2013/03/6-techniques-for-effective-objection-handling.html 4/11

To keep your customer around for the long haul, they must see value in your product or service. Thepurpose of good discovery is to understand what’s important to them, why it matters, and what theirbusiness would be like without your product or service. When you uncover a pain, your next step should beto quantify what that pain is costing the business. If the customer continues to object or restate the sameobjection then you’re not asking the right questions to align your value to their pain. Pain can cost acompany in a different ways; lost revenue, wasted time, customer satisfaction, employee turnover and more.GuruGanesha Khalsa of Sandler Training fame provides a great example of aligning pain to value using thisexample: By taking the pain point and expanding on it, the rep can then encourage the customer or prospectto quantify the problem in business and personal terms thereby convincing them that purchasing aproduct/service to resolve the issue is worth the investment.

Tactic #6: Back It Up With Proof & Customer References

Now that you’ve gone through steps 1-5, it’s time to back up your statements with industry research,customer references or customer success stories to prove the value of your product or solution. For research,find out what analyst firms say about your industry or product and incorporate this data into yourconversations. I’ve had great success getting new customers interested by mentioning what leading industryanalysts say about our products. Customer references are another great tool because those stories oftenrepresent a pain or objection that was overcome with success. I challenge everyone I mentor to learn at least3 new and relevant customer stories a month. Overtime, your stories will set you apart from others and giveyour customers another reason to trust you with their business. I’ve never seen another company sell itbetter through customer stories than salesforce.com. Take a look at the customer stories on our website andsee firsthand how you could leverage the value of references for your business.

Managing objections requires practice. Take these 6 rules and apply them to your business. You’ll see veryquickly that they do work. We saw immediate increases in qualified leads and higher close rates in a veryshort time by employing these techniques because we were able to demonstrate how our product can beused to overcome real pain in their business.

Peter Drucker once said that “The quality in a product or service is not what you put into it, it’s what thecustomer gets out of it.” Think about what’s in it for the customer, take what you’ve learned from yourdiscovery and wrap your solution in terms of values and benefits that will uniquely help them – this is howyou delight your customers.

Please share your own tips and techniques for managing objections in the comments section below.

By Daryl Spreiter, Senior Manager Onboarding, Curriculum & Coaching at salesforce.com

Comments: 4TweetTweet 110

13

Like 54

ShareShare 314

Like

7/16/13 6 Techniques for Effective Objection Handling - Salesforce Blog

blogs.salesforce.com/company/2013/03/6-techniques-for-effective-objection-handling.html 5/11

TweetTweet

110

13

Other Stories

25 Mind Blowing Email Marketing Stats

25 Mind Blowing Email Marketing StatsBy Amanda Nelson | Jul 12 2013

Beware Of These 7 Tricks Professional Buyers Use To Get a Lower Price

54

Like

314

ShareShare

7/16/13 6 Techniques for Effective Objection Handling - Salesforce Blog

blogs.salesforce.com/company/2013/03/6-techniques-for-effective-objection-handling.html 6/11

Beware Of These 7 Tricks Professional Buyers Use To Get aLower PriceBy Mark Hunter | Jul 12 2013

16 Dreamforce 2012 Highlights to Pump You Up for 2013

16 Dreamforce 2012 Highlights to Pump You Up for 2013By Marissa Kraines | Jul 10 2013

Comments

craig spreiter said...

I've been teaching Sales for nearly 20 years and the best approach I've discovered to handling stalls andobjections is to ask more, and better, questions early on in the sales process. Understanding your customersmotivations, concerns, hot buttons, etc. early in the call help you better position yourself, your company,your product, and your price...it helps you establish more value throughout your presentation rather than justwhen attempting to close. If done well you head-off most concerns before they become objections. Goodluck!

Reply 03/25/2013 at 05:51 PM

7/16/13 6 Techniques for Effective Objection Handling - Salesforce Blog

blogs.salesforce.com/company/2013/03/6-techniques-for-effective-objection-handling.html 7/11

Daryl Spreiter said...

Thanks Craig. I'm seeing more and more parallels between what you're teaching business students in highschool and what we train sales people on in the corporate world. Very cool!

Reply 03/25/2013 at 07:28 PM

Tom Payne said...

When I was in sales I would occasionally find myself being blocked by the receptionist at the door. Sheexplained the office was closed to sales reps and that I would have to get managements permission to enter.My solution was to hire an espresso truck and have them pull to the front door. It generally took about 10minutes before everyone in the office was out front. From that point forward I was always welcome in theoffice.

Reply 03/26/2013 at 12:40 PM

Leo Hollants said...

It is always good to read an article about objection handling. In fact, these objection handling techniques arenothing new and should be known by everyone in sales or business development and it is good to bereminded of these techniques.

Reply 04/01/2013 at 05:43 AMComment below or sign in with Typepad Facebook Twitter and more...

7/16/13 6 Techniques for Effective Objection Handling - Salesforce Blog

blogs.salesforce.com/company/2013/03/6-techniques-for-effective-objection-handling.html 8/11

(URLs automatically linked.)

Email address is not displayed with comment.

Name

Email Address

Web Site URL

Post   Preview

7/16/13 6 Techniques for Effective Objection Handling - Salesforce Blog

blogs.salesforce.com/company/2013/03/6-techniques-for-effective-objection-handling.html 9/11

Trending Posts11 Sales Experts Explain Why Your Sales Team Is UnderperformingCurrently 14 people7 Customer Service Lessons from Amazon CEO Jeff BezosCurrently 8 peopleWho Should Be Doing The Selling?Currently 6 people50 Inspirational Customer Service QuotesCurrently 4 people25 Content Marketing Stats to Jumpstart Your EffortsCurrently 3 people

Get the Blog Newsletter

email Subscribe

Follow UsFacebook Twitter Youtube Google+ LinkedIn RSSFacebook Twitter Youtube Google+ LinkedIn RSS

YouTube

See our YouTube Channel »

Salesforce on Twitter

7/16/13 6 Techniques for Effective Objection Handling - Salesforce Blog

blogs.salesforce.com/company/2013/03/6-techniques-for-effective-objection-handling.html 10/11

"Salespeople and sales teams underperform because they spend very little time selling." @Mike_Weinberg bddy.me/13eSy6d

salesforce.com @salesforce

Show Summary

Just your average Monday...tech party with a cameo by #Chatty! @ Exploratorium instagram.com/p/bzfQmkFfP3/

Retweeted by salesforce.com

Salesforce #dreamjob @salesforcejobs

Expand

8h

8h

Tweets FollowFollow

Tweet to @salesforce

Find Us on Facebook

Flickr Stream

Salesforce

Like

262,671 people like Salesforce.

Facebook social plugin

7/16/13 6 Techniques for Effective Objection Handling - Salesforce Blog

blogs.salesforce.com/company/2013/03/6-techniques-for-effective-objection-handling.html 11/11

See Our Photos on Flickr »

SalesCustomer ServiceMarketingWorkCollaborationCloudMobileSocial

1-800-NO-SOFTWARE - 1-800-667-6389 © 2000–2013 salesforce.com, inc. All Rights Reserved. Various trademarks held by their respectiveowners.Salesforce.com, inc. The Landmark @ One Market, Suite 300, San Francisco, CA, 94105, United States

© 2000–2013 SFDC Australia Pty Ltd. Darling Park, Level 12, 201 Sussex Street Sydney, NSW 2000,AustraliaGeneral Enquiries: (02) 9394 7300 | Fax: (02) 9394 7399 | Sales: Australia Toll Free - 1800 667 638

Top of PageWhat is Salesforce?View DemoFree Trial

Top of PageWhat is Salesforce?View DemoFree Trial

© 2013 Salesforce.com, Inc. All rights reserved.

Terms of Use / Privacy Policy