Did you ever wonder what causes sales objections? According to Bill Bartlett, chief sales officer, corporate strategies and solutions, Sandler Training, the answer is miscommunication or the salesperson making assumptions about the prospect.
Speaking at a NationaLease meeting, he says most sales objections have very little to do with the features and benefits of a product or service.
In order to get a prospect to relate to you, you need to engage with relevance, establish credibility and focus on outcomes.
If buyers have no way to relate to the features and benefits of your product or service, they will reject them. However, most salespeople think that product features and benefits are proof of the superiority and desirability of their product or service. To be successful, a salesperson has to prepare the prospect to accept the features and benefits of his or her product or service.
Bartlett talked about the consultative approach to selling. The first phase of this is establishing a relationship, followed by qualifying the prospect and then closing the sale. In the first phase the salesperson needs to bond with the prospect and build a rapport. The second phase involves conversations around budgets and focuses on helping the prospect reach a purchase decision. Once the decision is made, the order needs to be filled and post-sale follow up is needed.
He also told the audience about some of the tenets of buyer psychology:
- Mental and emotional factors govern everyone’s actions
- We all have developed a multi-faceted life script
- Some information is hard-wired while some is changeable
- Psychology is the hidden driver of the buyer-seller relationship
He went on to talk about four psychological strategies.
- Neurolinguistic programming: According to the science of neurolinguistic programming, there are three elements of communication — spoken words, tonality and body language.
- Sales competency: This is based on how much customers trust you and how they see you. Are you seen as an advisor? A partner? A consultant? A problem solver? Or a vendor?
- Primary sensory dominance (PSD): Each person has a preferred sense (sight, sound, touch). Bartlett cited statistics that say that 55% of the population is visual. People whose PSD is sight (visual) will use words like “look, see, picture.” These words create pictures in their heads. For 20% of the population sound (auditory) is the PSD. People in this group will use words like “sounds good to me, hear what I’m saying.” For the remaining 25% of the population touch (kinesthetic) is their PSD. They use words like “I get what you’re saying, it makes sense, it feels right to me.”
- Human dynamics: This is a continuum of not ok to ok. The prospect and salesperson are often at different points on the continuum. The goal of the sales interaction is to bring the two closer together.
Concluding his presentation Bartlett offered the audience some final tips to improve their relationships with prospects:
- Build your professional image with body language and tonality
- Improve your relationships by focusing on mirroring and matching the prospect
- Use visual, auditory and kinesthetic cues to improve communication
- Keep your prospects/customers feeling “ok”
- Raise your prospect awareness factor
He also suggested that you evaluate your relationship with each client. Determine what your current relationship level is, decide what your desired relationship is and then identify the gaps that are preventing you from having the relationship you want. Put together a 30-day action plan that outlines what you will do to strengthen that relationship and get it to the level you want it to be.
