There may well be characteristics about your company or your products that frankly aren’t that impressive. If we know there is the potential for an objection or issue with something about our company, our people, and our solutions that we can’t change, then by all means let’s prepare to handle it before it comes up.
There can’t be that many bad things about your company, your people, and your solutions. But if there are some, you need to know what they are and be prepared to respond to any questions or objections you might get. Better yet, deal with them ahead of time because . . .
The best time to handle an objection is before it becomes an objection.
I was a sales rep for an enterprise software company during the late 1990s that enjoyed an excellent reputation for customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. That was great for the guys who managed existing accounts. My job, on the other hand, was ‘new business only.’
We were a publicly held company that had a little issue with financial performance. Well, actually, we had missed our earnings estimate for several quarters in a row. Unfortunately, all my prospective clients knew about it. It might have had something to do with the fact that our primary competitor made photocopies of the article that talked about our poor performance and handed it out to all of them, as evidence we were ‘going out of business.’ Now I had a choice to make. I could wait for them to bring it up, and then try to make excuses, or I could bring it up myself and stand a chance of handling it.
While asking about their concept of a good vendor/partner, I made a point to ask:
‘Mr. Johnson, I want to ask you about your idea of the kind of company you’re hoping to partner with on this project. Do you mind if I ask you a very specific question? Is a company’s financial performance ever a concern of yours when evaluating a new vendor?’
‘Yes it is.’
‘Why exactly do you say that, Mr. Johnson?’
‘Well, we couldn’t very well go with a company that might not be around to support us next year.’
‘I can certainly understand that. So, it’s company stability that is important to you. You want a partner who isn’t going anywhere.’
‘Yes. That’s right.’
‘Well, you’ll be happy to know that we’ve been in business for twenty-five years, we’ve got over 5,000 customers worldwide and over 1,000 in your particular industry. We’ve got $400 million in the bank and our outlook for the next three to five years is quite favorable. Now you also might have read that we missed our earnings estimate last quarter.’
‘As a matter of fact, I did.’
‘Well, the truth is, that’s not the first one we’ve missed. Let’s talk about why that happened and what the outlook is for the balance of this year . . .’
You get the idea.
If you’ve got a problem, learn to deal with it. Get your rebuttal ready and practice it a few times. Frame it, couch it, or whatever you have to do, but don’t just sit there and wait for them to hit you upside the head with it. Get it out in the open, and if they’ve got a problem with it, you can help them get over it or move on to the next customer who can. I’d rather know now that there is a problem than after I invest three months of my life in an opportunity that goes nowhere. As one forty-year veteran of sales told me years ago, ‘Half of selling is figuring out who ain’t gonna buy.’