Last Friday I was in a full day training with a client and the following question came up:
“Colleen, a trainer once told me that if I followed the SPIN(tm) methodology correctly I should have no objections during the sales cycle. What do you think?”
I think it‘s impossible to eliminate objections entirely because we are selling to humans, who have minds of their own, AND corporations where anything can change (mergers, takeovers, personnel changes) that are beyond your control.
Yes, you can reduce eliminations if you complete a proper needs analysis. No, you will never eliminate objections 100%. The secret is asking questions and listening to the answers. Think: talk 20% and listen 80%.
You said it Colleen! How ridiculous to think you can eliminate all objections. A prospect discovers through objections. It’s a natural part of their thought process. You stand out from the rest when rather than getting defensive about objections you respect them and ask more about them. Beginners and wimps fear objections the Pros know objections are a great thing:-)
[…] you’ll never get objections is unrealistic, my friend Colleen Francis, recommends “talk 20% and listen […]
Hi,
I’m with you Colleen. I was in B2B sales for 23 years (and did it well) and no matter how well you think you cover all the bases you could still have something come out of left field.
SPIN helps, asking a lot of questions helps, buyer facilitation helps but there are no sure things.
If you are a salesperson just deal with the fact you are going to get objections and practice METHODS to handle them
Greg
Food for thought.