By Dana Phillips.
We often say that the best defense is a great offense. The most common objective is that people are too busy.
Suppose you have been around direct sales; you know the “Ping-Pong” method of handling objectives. When someone offers an objection, the Ping-Pong seller has a ready-made, clever quip. Here is an example of the Ping-Pong exchange.
Customer: “I can’t have a party. My house is too small.”
Ping-Pong: “Of course, you can; we have parties in small houses all the time.”
Customer: “You haven’t seen my house.”
Ping-Pong: “We will make it work.”
Customer: “I said no.”
Recognize the Ping-Pong back and forth? The exchange gets you nothing except an escalating disagreement.
A better way is to listen and seek solutions. We call this the service approach to handling objections.
Customer: “I can’t have a party. My house is too small.”
Service: “I understand. If you had a bigger place, would you like to receive the free products?”
Customer: “Not really. My parking is so bad.”
Service: “I hear you saying your place isn’t conducive to a party.”
Customer: “Right.”
Service: “Would you be open to suggestions on how you could have a party, get gifts, and not have them at your house?”
Customer: “Maybe.”
Service: The consultant gives her some options like a Double Hostess party, bringing her party to the consultant’s home, a lunch party, or a work party.
We have found this solution-oriented service approach to work for our clients. When we seek to understand before we seek to be understood, we listen for solutions to the problem of our prospects.
This approach for selling products and recruiting works as well. Let me know if you want more examples in the comment section of this article. Think about the objections you hear and begin to think of solutions.
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