handling objections a valuable skill to

As professional sales people, we have all encountered our fair share of objections from our customers for the product or service that we are selling. When I first started in sales I took these objections that customers put up personally, wondering what I had done wrong and why they did not buy from me, especially when I found out that they had bought a similar product from my competitors. That can destroy your self esteem, and if not controlled has a disastrous flow on effect which will effect your performance, customer interaction, and your pay check.Have you encountered a similar situation? Not good is it?So why do customers raise objections, even after you as a professional sales persohas covered all the ground and created rapport?Customers object for many and varied reasons and the most common of these is affordability! Yes affordability. I know that sounds crazy, but is it? Have a look at your self, and analyze why you put up objections when you have gone into a store to buy an item, and the sales person has been great, yet you have taken an out put up an objection and then told the sales person "Hey I will think about it, and get back to you" and guess what you like most customers never do. So why did you do that?Your answer to this self analysis question will provide valuable information to assist you in handling objections from your customer and in particular the fatal words "I will think about it" the sale killer. Think about how often you as a customer have used these exact same words, and then look at how often your customers have used those words on you. Interesting isn't it?Yes objections are frustrating, especially when you desperately need the sale to make target. Objections are not the end of the world or for that matter the sale, in fact superb sales people welcome and are prepared for objections, it comes with the territory of sales. So rather than getting hot under the collar when you as a sales person feel your customer is about to raise an objection welcome it by being prepared, preparation comes with looking at all possible scenarios and then rehearsing how you will handle them. Remember Armies rehearse for battle; they just don't jump in and go to war. The majority of a soldier's military life is spent training and rehearsing for WAR. As a professional sales person how much time do you spend training and rehearsing to sharpen your selling skills one of which is handling objections?I find objections healthy and very informing as it allows me to gauge just how well my customer is listening and reviewing what I am proposing. Rather than getting defensive I use their objections to further build my credibility.It is not the scope of this article to teach you how to master the art of handling objections, so to help you along in turning objections into sales here are some simple pointers, which you can expand on.1. Openly acknowledge the customers concerns,2. Show empathy, establish the core of why the objection has been raised3. Ask Questions, strategically tuning your questions to be even more specific so that you can unearth the underlying reason. Often the customer themselves may not know why they have raised an objection it could be as innocuous as listening to a friend and thought well that worked may be it will work here as well.4. Appreciate your response. Be concise (try not to be verbose and waffle), Be Specific, customize your response to meet the customers needs, and ask more questions.5. Never take objections personally; the customer could be afraid of making the commitment.

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