When it comes to in-home selling, executing a solid offensive game plan is way better than being on defense. You know the drill, you follow the sales process step-by-step, you build rapport, you make a great presentation, and you’re feeling great, that is until the homeowner throws up an objection.
Everything you built up is quickly deflated, as the air rapidly goes out of your "sales." You’re in defense mode now, back pedaling, trying to “overcome objections."
During i5 Sales Training, the #1 requested topic, after “how do we get more leads?”, is “overcoming objections”. Today’s consumer is more savvy, more researched, more experienced, and armed with more information than ever before, so objections are natural. Heck, it’s almost their obligation to object, don’t you think? Isn’t that what you do when you’re making a large purchase decision?
The two standard objections that almost every homeowner will potentially throw out are:
1) "Your price is higher/too high" and/or
2) "We need to think about it."
Even the newest, greenest salesperson pretty much knows that they’re going to hear one or both of these, so it’s shocking that they’d be unprepared upfront to PREVENT these. The problem seems to be all the sales training conditioning around “overcoming objections” or playing defense on sales calls.
Sales Success Formula: Lower Resistance = Higher Acceptance
It would be much better if you were able to anticipate and BLOCK potential objections BEFORE the homeowner raised them. If you bring up potential objections, you get to own them, instead of the homeowner. This keeps you in control of the conversation and direction of the sales call, rather than the customer. This is absolutely critical in helping homeowners make complex purchases, like HVAC and Home Performance Solutions.
Simply stated, BLOCKING objections is easier and more productive than overcoming them. The result is lower resistance, more sales, higher average prices, and happier clients. BLOCKING objections deflates all their power versus if the homeowner raised them, and the sales happen easier. Remember, if you’re “explaining” you’re losing the conversation.
So, where do you start?
First, create a list of the Top-5 objections your team is hearing directly from your prospective homeowners. Take 15-minutes in your next sales meeting and review all the leads from the previous week, making a list of all the objections that were raised. Don’t analyze them yet; just get them all up on the board.
The same core objections tend come up over and over in any market. You must identify and fully understand the common objections you’re facing in your market as the first step in developing strategies to BLOCKING them. Get them all written down, then prioritize them in order 1-5.
Once you have your Top-5 objections, you’re ready to start strategizing BLOCKS for each one.