When you are in a professional sales business, it’s just a matter of when you’ll be faced with a tough question that’ll get you thinking. This also means that the chances are you won’t have an answer to the question right at that point of time. Here is a list of do’s and don’ts that you should follow in such a scenario.
Let’s start with things not to do:
“That’s a good question”: I bet you’ve heard this many times, and if you don’t already know it, it’s almost always used when the person faced with the question isn’t really sure how to answer the question. It’s a giveaway that you should definitely avoid. It doesn’t add any value to what you are saying next and will probably tune off the prospect from paying attention to the answer you conjure up. The same goes with: “That’s interesting” or “Never heard that before”.
Try to bluff your way through it: You know where this is going. If you are a parent, I’m sure you have a pretty good idea of when your children are not telling the truth. The same way, most prospects or customers deal with a lot of sales personnel and have a knack of figuring out when someone is trying to ‘beat around the bush’ or even worse ‘lying’. The problem with these answers is that it doesn’t just impact the question you are answering, but in fact puts a question mark on your credibility, and you know, if that happens, it’s basically game over from there on.
Get an answer right then: There are some sales people who try and solve everything right then. Which is a good thing in some scenarios, not so much in some others. And they do it in this particular situation to ensure that they get rid of all objections. To accomplish that, they’ll stop everything and try to call in someone who they believe can answer the question right away. The issue with that strategy is that it often doesn’t go as planned. The person you are trying to usher in or call is not always available. Or it could be that the person himself/herself isn’t sure on how to answer that question simply because they don’t have a context of what transpired until that moment. Even in the best case scenario, there is a lot of time that has gone by during this whole process. And if you have read my previous blog, the attention span of the customer/prospect is lost by then. Getting it back can be another task.
Things you should do:
Stay Calm: As I mentioned in the beginning of the blog, it’s not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’ you’ll come up with a tough question that will catch you off guard. Hence your response should be calm and measured. Take your time and acknowledge that you don’t have an answer to the question straight away. Also put it out there, that you don’t want to mislead by giving an answer that you aren’t sure is the right one. “I shall get back to you” is a normal response that’s often used. If you don’t want to sound cliched, you can use variations of the same.
Using the question as leverage: While offering to come back with a response, ask for a micro-commitment. This means that you are asking the prospect that if the answer you give in the future is something that satisfies them, is there anything else that is stopping them from moving forward. What you are doing here is turning the question into an opportunity by seeking validation in moving the deal along the sales cycle.
Not allow a repeat of the situation: When a question pops up to you for which you do not have a credible response, promise yourself that this will be the last time you’ll allow this question to catch you off-guard. This doesn’t mean that you will have answers to all the questions that will be put forth to you in the future (that’s not possible), but in fact to make sure that after you are done with your current meeting, you’ll make all efforts to research the question and be prepared with an answer for it, if it’s posed to you every again.
CONCLUSION:
Objections are a part of the sales cycle and every sales professional at some point will be faced with tough questions that cannot be answered by them straight away. In such times there are a few do’s and don’ts that should be kept in mind. Don’t get bogged down with the question in itself. Remember, that your focus is to keep moving the deal along the sales cycle, but getting micro-commitments from your prospect. As long as you are able to do that, you are moving forward in your sales journey.
