Episode #233: Sales Objection Handling Mastery

Brain fog can hit salespeople when they hear a buying objection from the client. As soon as they recover, they spring into action. Usually, it is the wrong action. It involves arguing with the client about why this isn’t a reason not to buy. This effort goes nowhere and is a complete waste of time. In today’s episode find out what we should be doing.

Getting pushback, rejection, disinterest when you present your solution to the client’s problems is the natural state of things. Getting a sale is an exception. That is why the best salespeople are exceptional. There are so many ways to fail in sales, it is no wonder that getting to a ‘”yes” answer is so hard. One of the common questions or issues we get in our sales training classes from Japanese salespeople, are about how to handle the client’s objections. There are some key techniques we need to be applying at this point in the sales conversation.

Obviously, we should always question the objection. The words we hear are an abbreviation, a headline for a much longer reason or more elaborate reason for them not to proceed with us. We want to hear the full thinking behind their rejection of our offer. We also know that we shouldn’t get busy answering the first objection they share. This may not be the real objection. Always have the tip of an iceberg picture in your mind’s eye and imagine there is a big chunk of reasoning as to why it is a “no”, hidden below the surface.

We need to keep pushing for other reasons not to go ahead, after they have told us each one, until we have exhausted their supply. We then ask them to rank them in order with the highest priority first. That is the one we attempt to answer. When we get to this point we have to make a couple of judgement calls. Is this a real objection? Is it a legitimate reason? If it isn’t, then we have not uncovered the real culprit yet, as to why they can’t proceed with us. We need to keep digging for their actual issue with our proposal.

If it is a legitimate reason not to proceed, we need to move on to the second judgement. Can we actually supply what they want, at the price and in the way they want it? Can we overcome the objection within our resources and within the bounds of our pricing and profit model.

Some clients love to play a game called “sport negotiating”. They have a big ego and want to see how hard they can push us on price. This isn’t as much about the economics of the deal, as about their need to win. We may conclude we don’t want to play that game and walk away. That is always my preference when I meet these types of buyers. You can usually tell from their attitude what they are doing. I would rather find a client who will become a repeat buyer and with whom I can cement a long term, rather than transactional relationship with a bully.

If you conclude that you can deal with their price issue, then it is a matter of judgment on how low you need to drop your price. In Japan, once you drop it, then that becomes the ceiling and they want to push you even lower. Never go in with your best price, unless you want to get massacred. Always have some margin in there, so that if you are forced the drop the price, then you can still make the deal worthwhile from your own financial point of view.

Another common objection is that they are satisfied with their current supplier and don’t want to change. This objection is much harder to deal with than price.

The risk averse nature of business here drives everyone to find someone they can trust and then to keep using them. It makes sense in a society which doesn’t tolerate errors or failure. You may disagree with that philosophy, but nobody cares what you think.

There must be some clear differentiation to what you are offering, compared to what the incumbent provides. This may be speed, quality, reliability or cost. Proving this through salesperson hot air and bluster is impossible. You need to ask for a trial or a test or a period of engagement to demonstrate why you are the superior choice. Japanese companies are always very focused on what their competitors are doing. This means that the idea that what you have is really good and will certainly be going to their competitor, to make them an even more formidable rival, if they don’t buy from you now, will get people’s attention.

When we talk about a test or trial, expect it will be an elongated affair. No one gets rewarded in Japan for making a quick decision, but plenty of people are made to suffer if they make a wrong decision. They will want to test and observe, test and observe at their leisure, rather than addressing your preferred timing. I would rather take part in a long test maturation process with the client, than get locked into some disadvantageous pricing.

We recently had that case with a global automotive company. Their foreign headquarters decided that our Japan pricing didn’t fit into their global model and we should reduce it. This particular class they wanted to do, always has a long waiting list. This is at the current pricing and there is a limit on how many can take part in each class. I had no hesitation in telling them we couldn’t match their expectations.

I tried to educate them on different cost frameworks, country by country. I asked them if they were willing to reduce their Japan HR team’s personal salaries, to match those in equivalent jobs in the foreign headquarters? Their answer was no they would be able to do that. Of course not, so why expect me to match that foreign regimen with my Japan pricing? Sometimes we are dealing with uninformed, parochial idiots.

I would rather forego the business, than comply with an uninformed opinion about our relative cost, against our quality. If you believe in what you are selling, then you should be brave in the face of objections. Remember, in 99% of cases there are usually plenty of buyers in an industry. There will be other buyers who will appreciate your quality at that cost. Let’s all go find those companies.