If you aren’t getting objections when selling to your clients, you are done selling. You have either closed the sale or the client wants to leave without placing an order with you. If you didn’t get the sale, do you know why? Many times you need to work on getting the real objection from the client. Because if they are not buying, there is a reason. If you don’t find out what the reason is, you can’t sell through it.
An important small business sales tip when it comes to handing objections is that there are a few times to overcome them: before they happen, right when they happen, after they happen and never. I don’t like being surprised by them, so my favorite way to overcome objections and close every sale possible is to handle objections BEFORE they even happen.
Let’s face it, if you have been in business for any length of time at all, you should know what your top 3-5 objections are. If you are a boutique business, you spend more time with your clients, you have more unique products, services and experiences. Because of that, you probably charge more (or you should).
When you charge more, price objections might be something you should anticipate. If you bring price up in the very first conversation by first explaining what makes you different and then creating value for what you do, you will likely have few if any price objections later.
I keep a notebook with me and record any objections I hear in my photography business. Then, I spend time figuring out how I can overcome these objections with the client so that the next time I encounter that objection, I am prepared. Rarely do I hear an objection that I haven’t heard before, so when they occur I know how to overcome them.
For those of you who have a fear of selling, if you go over all of the possible concerns your clients might have in the very beginning, you will be amazed at how excited they are and ready to buy they are when you get to the sales presentation. For more details about the 4 times to overcome objections, the 5 buyer styles and how to sell differently to each of them, check out Cafe Joy, my monthly marketing club. Each month you get a new marketing strategy or template to implement in your boutique business. If you can learn to sell, you can survive in small business in any economy.