Objection Handling made easy
When dealing with objections you need to take into account 2 things
Firstly – What went wrong with your planning? Why didn’t you anticipate the objection?
Secondly – The other person wants to be heard and you must let them tell you their objection to your plan.
Often during the process of letting the other person talk through their objection they talk themselves out of the issue on their own.
But for those occasions when this doesn’t happen…
Here is a simple process for dealing with the objection in a positive constructive way rather than meeting it head on.
SLIPPER
Stay Calm: The danger is you want to jump in and talk
Listen: Let the other person speak – they need to tell you – YOU need to let them!
Inquire: – If their objection is not explicit and clear – ask them to be specific – if it is clear, ask them how it makes them feel or how it impacts on them.
Present back: Say what you have heard and understood from what they have told you – “So what I’m hearing is that X is the specific problem and Y is how it is impacting on you – is that correct?”
Probe: Ask them some more detail based questions – “so this started when?” – “What caused this?” – “How long has this been an issue?”
Explore solutions: – Ask them for their view of options to resolve this problem – “How do you feel we can solve this?”
Resolve: – It is often good to search for multiple options for solving the problem or the objection – the next step is to explore which of the available options is most likely to work for both parties (sometimes I use the “out of 10” resolution technique) “out of 10 how likely is this particular solution to resolve this problem or objection?” – if it is a low number you can ask – “how can we make this a higher score?”
Once you have agreed a way to resolve the issue – if indeed you can – then agree the action to be taken by each party and move on.
If it can’t be resolved – you need to review exactly what went wrong with your planning in that you failed to anticipate the objection and you have not got a way to resolve the issue.
If you would like a FREE ‘Overcoming Objections Help sheet’ that will help you plan a way to overcome any objection then follow the link below.