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By Stephan Schiffman
The Hiddon One
The most difficult objection of all is The Hidden One. Why? Because it's a camouflaged version of the real objection, and can lead you down numerous blind alleys. It takes place when the individual on the line gives you a reason not to schedule the appointment--but isn't telling the truth. This one takes real work (and a little intuition) to overcome, because you must somehow size up a situation that your contact does not want you to know about.
Here are some specimens of The Hidden One, with what the contact doesn't want you to know set in parentheses.
"Yeah, I'd love to talk to you about it sometime, but I really don't have time right now." ("I'm not the decision-maker, but would rather not put my boss on the phone now because I'm just about to step into a meeting with her.")
"It's been a tough year. We're not budgeted for that." ("We're doing great. We're budgeted for anything we want. But I'm screening the boss's calls.")
"Mr. Jones would handle that, yes, but he's on vacation." ("Unbeknownst to you, I am Mr. Jones. I just had a fight with a coworker and don't want to think about anything but getting into my car and going home.")
When making telephone calls, you encounter these objections often; but I bet that right now you handle them differently than you would if you were making a face-to-face sales call. My question is: Why?
Suppose you had driven a hundred miles to see a prospect who proceeded to throw The Stall at you. Would you, after driving two hours to get there, simply turn on your heel and walk out if you were told that there was no time to see you that day? Of course not. You'd have to turn the objection around somehow.
During the telephone call, you only have two or three minutes, tops, to make the appointment. In that time, you must be able to respond quickly to objections. The only way to do that is to have a response ready for a given objection ahead of time. And you must be persistent in your efforts, or you'll be wasting almost as much time as you would if you drove around all day from prospect to prospect, smiling as people shut the door in your face time after time.
Here's an exercise I want you to try now. On the next page of your notebook, list your six most common objections. What things do your prospects say to you that stop you cold? Which of the categories I've outlined describes each one best?
On the facing page, try to turn those objections around. What could you say that would change your prospect's objective from getting you off the phone to getting more information about your product or service?
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