Close More Sales by Overcoming Stalls and Objections
Whether you are a veteran salesperson or a neophyte, you expect objections to surface during the sales process. In fact, any experienced salesperson will tell you that no objections means that the prospect probably has no interest or hasn’t been listening to a word you said. However, there is a major difference between getting an objection and being stalled. The key to successful closing is the ability to tell the difference and then take the appropriate action.
Imagine that you are courting a prospect through the sales process. You have taken the time to qualify the prospect thoroughly. You have used the information you gleaned during your qualifying conversations to propose a solution to address the prospect’s needs. As you finish making your sales recommendation, you pause for a moment and then move to close by asking, “So when would you like to get started?“ The prospect tells you: “Well, you’ve made some very good points and you’ve certainly given me something to think about. At this point, I just need some time to think it over.” “Well, okay,” you respond cheerfully, demonstrating just how understanding and accommodating you can be. “When would be a good time to get back together after you’ve had time to think about it?” “How about next week?,” the prospect asks. “That’s fine with me – is Monday or Tuesday of that week better for you?”, you respond, believing that you have suavely maneuvered the prospect into a closing position.
If this sounds familiar, well, congratulations, you’ve just been stalled. And, there is a definite likelihood that your sale has just been routed to an indefinite holding pattern.
WHAT IS A STALL?
A stall is something – real or imagined – that prevents a prospect from buying now. A stall signals a prospect’s conflict. The conflict is the agony of indecision as the prospect is torn between the desire to have your product and the effects of feeling uncertain and anxious about the consequences, if acquiring your product turns out to be the wrong thing to do. These feelings of uncertainty and anxiety are a prospect’s natural reaction to the inherent risks in decision-making. Let’s face it: Whenever a person has to make a decision, the reality is that he or she may make the wrong choice and have to live with the consequences. By not making a decision, the prospect is at least assured of one known commodity: the status quo.
Now you might think, what’s so risky about making the decision to open a DDA account or any product at my bank? From your perspective, there is little or no risk because you have much more information concerning your bank’s processing and servicing capabilities. From the prospect’s perspective, the view is very different. In the prospect’s mind, there is greater security in maintaining the status quo, by not changing banks and by not opening a new account.
If you think about it, nearly everyone has a pre-established banking relationship. This means that if you are trying to open DDA accounts and establish savings account relationships, you need to get your prospect to sever an existing banking relationship. Now, you might think that a prospect who is dissatisfied with his or her current bank would be the easiest sale to close. On the surface, this is a logical conclusion. With deeper inspection, this is not necessarily true because the adage, “a devil you know is better that the one you don’t” applies and uncertainty about switching banks takes root in the prospect’s mind. While the prospect may have problems with his/her current bank, these problems are a known commodity. By switching to your bank, the prospect is taking a risk that he/she may have new, additional or worse problems with your bank.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STALLS AND OBJECTIONS
Essentially, a stall means that your prospect does not have a compelling reason to buy now. When a prospect stalls, she or he doesn’t sense a need or have the urgency to buy badly enough and the status quo, despite its problems, is more attractive. When the desire to have your product is great enough and the prospect’s feelings of anxiety are addressed, the prospect will buy. This will not happen by accident. You will need to address the stall and supply the prospect with the information he or she needs to make the decision to use your bank’s services.
Stalls differ from objections in one important way. Stalls are delaying tactics, which give the prospect more time to postpone a buying decision. Objections are obstacles, which when overcome will lead to the close. Although the close may be positive (I’ll take one, so sign me up) or negative (no thanks), the close is just that, the end of the sales process for this prospect at this particular time. Closing a sale leaves you, the salesperson knowing exactly where you stand with the prospect.
All too frequently, when salespeople get stalled, they don’t recognize what has happened and innocently believe that the prospect really does need time to think over the proposal. More often than not, the salesperson responds by saying, “Oh, okay, when should I follow up with you?” Or, “When will you be making your decision?” While it may seem natural or even polite to accept what the prospect is telling you, it is not advisable because you will begin to lose control of the sales process. If you accept a stall, believing the prospect will buy at a later date, you’ll lose 95% of your prospects. Trust me, I know. With almost 20 years of selling experience, I have been stalled by the best.
COUNTERING THE STALL
Sometimes a stall occurs because the prospect is not the true decision-maker, contrary to whatever he or she might have told you. Maybe the prospect has been assigned only the data collection tasks and someone else will make the actual decision. You won’t know this vital piece of information unless you successfully counter the stall.
Alternatively, the prospect may truly need time to consider the proposal, especially if your proposition is complicated, involving compensating balances and a tiered fee structure. Nonetheless, you need to be astute enough to ask a few more critical questions before ending the conversation. Remember, the prospect will buy when he or she perceives a strong, positive benefit. Your job is to discover what those benefits are. You need to help the prospect focus on the benefits. You can do that by asking questions such as:
How would you benefit from my bank’s product or service?
What do you find attractive about our product or service?
What advantage do you see in my proposal?
When the prospect says, “I need to think about it”. You need to find out why the prospect feels that he or she needs more time. You might ask:
What do I need to do to earn your business?
What is blocking you from going forward?
What aspects of my proposal do you need to think about?
These questions may seem very pointed, and that’s because they are. These questions are intended to propel the prospect towards a decision. If you don’t ask questions like these, you are condemning yourself to a purgatory of follow-up calls that will result in nothing except wasted time. As a salesperson, the only thing you have is your time. If you waste it on stalls, you will miss spending it with people who have a sincere interest in your services. By asking these pointed questions, you are actually helping yourself and your prospect get to the close.
DEALING WITH OBJECTIONS
So, know you know how to deal with stalls. But what do you do when you are confronted with an objection? The following tips will help you out:
Tip #1. Change your perspective and view objections as welcomed, disguised buying signals. If you were a pilot, objections would be your runway lights to a smooth, safe landing. By understanding the objection, you now understand what you need to do or say to close the sale. The prospect’s objections actually form your closing strategy. For example, if the prospect’s objection revolves around your price, you know that you need to make a price concession or forfeit the sale. Please note, that I’m not advising you to make price concessions; I believe in selling the value proposition and differentiating your proposition based on service. However, there are sometimes when what you are selling is a plain vanilla commodity and available at a lower price. If this is the case and the prospect’s budget is truly an obstacle and you can handle lower margin business, proceed to negotiate the price. One final warning, though, before you make a price concession: once you’ve acclimated a prospect to a lower price, it’s very difficult to raise your prices and still retain the account.
Tip #2. Typically, a prospect will raise seven objections before the close occurs. Therefore, you need to adapt your pacing by expecting at least seven objections before you can close an account. This will build your selling stamina and keep you focused. Train yourself to view the initial objection as just the first in a series of hurdles that you will need to clear before you reach the close.
Tip #3. Get in the habit of restating the objection, so you ensure that you understand the prospect’s meaning. This approach also lets the prospect know that you are listening. Restatement also has the advantage of buying you the precious time you need to think of alternatives that will satisfy the prospect and your bank.
Tip #4. Sometimes the purpose of the prospect’s objection is clear, i.e., the prospect wants a lower fee. The intent of saving money is a transparent goal behind this objection. Other times, the prospect’s intent is not as clear. For example, imagine that a prospect asks you, “Is there a limit to the number of transactions I can make per month with this account?” You really can’t tell by the question whether the prospect does or does not want or need to make more than three transactions each month. Since you can’t tell, deal with the situation as though you were back at the qualifying stage and handle it as you would any question that arises at that point in the sales process. Before answering, take the time to ask a qualifying question. Find out what is important to the prospect. You may have overlooked this particular need during the initial qualifying. If making numerous transactions is important to the prospect, you may need to change your recommendation.
Tip #5. For any sale, there are a finite number of possible objections a prospect can raise and an equally finite number of successful ways to overcome them. Prepare by developing “winning” responses to the typical and recurring objections you face.
Follow these tips and you’ll differentiate stalls from objections, which will let you save time and close more sales more rapidly.
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