... or so said baseball Hall of Famer Walter "The Big Train" Johnson about hitters struggling when he pitched (he's in the Hall with 1st place all-time in shutout wins (110), 2nd place all-time in wins (417) and 9th all-time in strikeouts (3508).  The same saying holds true for us when trying to handle an objection-- if you don't recognize it when it appears, you'll be lucky to foul it off and chances are, you're headed back to the bench hitless....  And just because you THINK you know what an objection is when it's verbalized for you doesn't mean you really get it-- right?  Sometimes you need to dig deeper to really understand what's being put out there as an objection (see Joan's comment about psychology midway down).

To demonstrate this point, I used to have a little fun with sales reps during their early training.  During the lead-in conversations, we'd talk at length about how 'hitting the target' was so critical in sales-- especially when it came to handling objections.  We'd have that typical discussion about how resolving the objections thoroughly (and thus 'hitting the mark') left little standing between them and a completed sale (a nice commission)-- a truth most good sales professionals would generally agree with given a qualified prospect was engaged in the sales process. 

To point this out, I'd invite someone to stand and be blindfolded in front of the group.  They'd be given the chance to shoot a velcro dart gun with three darts at a velcro target I held in front of them.  Inevitably they'd get wrapped up in the process of being blindfolded, laughing, and shooting the dart gun and paying no attention whatsoever to the fact that I [quietly] moved the target from the position they saw it in when they were unblindfolded.  And inevitably, they'd fire off their three darts without checking to see exactly where the target might be when they actually took a shot.  And of course they'd miss the target altogether (a fact everyone else in the room grasped would happen immediately when they saw the shooter take aim while the facilitator moved the target). 

What followed this demonstration was a discussion about why it's so important to "see" and understand what the objection actually is before trying to fire off a volley and attempt to knock it over.  If all you have is a finite number of 'darts' to use, wasting them on poor shots may be the biggest obstacle standing between you and the sale.  Three 'misses' (or three wing shots) likely won't make the deal go down as well as one well-placed 'hit' aimed squarely at the target's center would.  I can't tell you how many times I've stood by and watched a sales person try and swing for the fences at some fluffy comment a prospect makes that isn't really indicative of the actual objection.  It starts to have that 'swatting at gnats' feel to it and eventually, as many times as not, it becomes almost a game to the prospect-- let's see how many things I can toss out to make the sales rep sweat a little.  And maybe it's just me being hyper-sensitive to it, but every time I see it, the prospect eventually realizes that the sales rep is prepared to say or do virtually anything to take a shot at the issue or objection-- whether it has any validity or not!  What would happen if occasionally the sales rep had the courage to ask "How important is that to you?" or "How likely do you suppose that is to really happen?" before running off to try and create a 'fix' for the objection?    It seems to me that with only so many legitimate shots to try and knock the deal down favorably, making them well-aimed at real targets would be the better strategy.  But that's just me.

What SHOULD you do when confronting a sales objection? 

First, make absolutely certain that what you hear is, in fact, an objection and that it calls for a response.  Personally, I mutter comments under my breath all the time-- and these are often sarcastic in tone-- but they are meant to be rhetorical (and would certainly best left unverbalized-- but as my bride often reminds me, I'm 'a work in progress).  The point is, I say things that I don't EXPECT to get a response about.  Prospects do that too! 

Second, phrase the objection back to the prospect to confirm you understand it and that it really matters.  When you do this, you'd do well to broaden the topic and learn more about what a prospect will and won't like, would and wouldn't agree to, and how you should best approach a resolution.  In an earlier blog I mentioned the 'pink house' objection.  You might phrase the objection back "so it sounds like color really matters and pink is one of the 'no way' colors for you.  Are there any other colors we should be avoiding or should we be looking to ask the sellers to paint for you before escrow closes?"  If living in a pink house matters, we'll find out.  If changing a pink house to another color is an option, we'll find out.  If it was just sarcasm and the color of the house is really a small factor, chances are we'll find out.  Objections are a signal that the prospects need more information from us-- and that should be a signal to us that we haven't asked enough good questions of them!

Lastly, once you have the objection teed up in front of you and well-defined, decide which of the three types it is so you can prepare to resolve it.  Remember from our earlier blog on strategies, an objection is an appeal for something-- a reminder of why other things matter more than the actual thing disliked, a plea for clarity around misinformation, or a request for proof of something that is as yet not believed.  Once the objection is clearly identified in front of you, you know what to do and you have three good swings at making solid contact-- and consequently driving it a long way (toward a commission)!