Let's face it; handling sales resistance or objections, as some people like to call it, is the hardest part of the sales process. Here are 3 simple steps to deal with resistance; or to put it another way - indifference.

Customers rarely object to your sales proposal they are often only indifferent to it. You usually encounter indifference because potential customers:
 
a. are using a competitors product or service

b. they don't realise that it's possible to improve their current circumstances

c. they don't see the importance of improving their current circumstances
 
1. Acknowledge the customers point of view

Say something like - "I appreciate that you're happy with your current supplier," or "I understand that you're not experiencing any problems at present."
 
2. Request permission to ask a few questions

Say "I wonder if I might ask you a few brief questions about how you currently organise your supplies. We've worked with businesses similar to your own and there may be things we've learned that would be of value to you. Would that be OK?"
 
3. Ask questions

Once you've received permission to ask questions you want to explore the customers' circumstances for opportunities and hopefully, establish a need. It's important to ask questions that relate to the benefits of your product or service, however, don't make it too obvious.

It's important that the customer believes that you have a genuine interest in his or her business. To give you some examples - If I was selling a sales or customer service course to an indifferent customer I might ask questions such as:
 
   "How do you currently find new customers?"
   "How many customers do you lose per month?"
   "How much does it cost you to find a new customer?"
  
When you start to receive some answers from the customer you then want to establish what effect it has on the business or on the customer personally. You would ask questions such as:
  
   "How do you feel about that situation?"
   "How does that affect your productivity?"
   "What impact does that have on your business?"
 
What you're attempting to do his plant some thoughts in the customers mind and hopefully establish a need. To establish if a need exists, ask questions such as:
   
   "Would it be important to do something about that?"
   "Is that a problem you'd be interested in solving?"
   "Would you like to find a solution to that?"
 
If the customer says yes then you can follow up with a benefit statement about your product or service. If they say no, then at least you've created an awareness of condition that might be important one day - and one that you can deal with.

As I've said before, handling resistance is the hardest part of the sales process however that's why sales people have jobs. If every potential customer beat a path to your door than there wouldn't be a need for sales people. As long as you realise that you can deal with resistance in a professional manner and although you won't win every time, you will have more successes.

So, go ahead, give these three point a try and I wish you every success.

"You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions." - Naguib Mahfouz

Alan Fairweather

Discover how you can generate more business by motivating your team! Alan Fairweather is the author of "How to get More Sales by Motivating Your Team" This book is packed with practical things you can do to get the best out of your people . Click here now howtogetmoresales

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