If you’ve been selling for any length of time, you’ve been told that you have to overcome the buyer’s objections for you to make the sale. But is that true? What if it’s not an objection but merely a stall? And how do you tell the difference?
Some may try to tell you that they’re the same thing (and some even train salespeople to think this way), but I believe they’re two entirely different things. First off, an objection is a specific reason for the client to not purchase whereas a stall is merely a tactic to delay making the purchase decision.
The most common objection (of course) is price. Customers only buy when the perceived value of your product or service exceeds the price you are asking them to pay. It’s really that simple. If you haven’t built the value, the only lever to pull is price. That’s the grim reality but it’s the truth. If they perceive that they can get the same thing (or roughly equivalent to it) for a lower price somewhere else, they’re not buying.
Another common objection is product preference, although it’s not always stated by the customer. For example, they may currently be driving a competitive brand and they come to see/test drive your vehicle(s). After closer inspection, they may come to the conclusion that they prefer what they already have. No amount of price reduction (unless you’re prepared to give it away for free) is going to help here.
On the other hand, the most common stall is “I have to think it over” or some derivation of that phrase. Roughly translated, it means you didn’t convince them that this was the best product for them. If they were convinced, there is nothing to think over! They are going to buy when all the boxes are checked in their mind.
Another common stall is “I have to talk with my husband/wife/partner.” Trust me, that other person knows exactly what is going on and doesn’t need to be consulted if the right deal was in front of the customer. You don’t think they left their house for a gallon of milk, somehow wandered into your showroom and got almost all of the way through the buying process by accident, do you? No, no you don’t. There’s something else they don’t like about the deal.
The hard part about the stall is you have to give the customer more information than they already have and they may not be willing to tell you what’s missing. If you haven’t built the trust and rapport needed, they’ll simply say something to be nice to you so they can get out the door (and most likely never to come back).
So, what are we to do? Take the customer’s comments, shrug our shoulders and move on to the next guest? Not if you want to earn their business!
- If you haven’t already, get your manager(s) involved. And if you’re a manager, get another one of your counterparts in the deal. Sometimes all it takes is another face, another voice, another set of eyes looking at the deal and talking to the customer to find out what the real objection is. Nothing builds a good culture faster in a sales environment than helping someone else put a deal together.
- Keep asking questions. Whomever is asking questions is in control of what’s going on. If you get stalls and objections from the customer, you have to keep drilling down to find out what information is missing for them to pull the trigger. Once again, they did not happen to leave their house by accident and come down to your store to have their day wasted in vain searching for a car. Find out the customer’s need and fill it!
What do you do when presented with customers’ stalls and objections? How do you recognize and overcome them? I’d love to hear the feedback.
Make it a great day!
Dan
