Ancient Greek speakers not only laid the foundation for teaching the art of speaking, but also became a kind of standard of rhetorical mastery. They often practiced for the sake of art itself, but today the tasks of eloquence are more pragmatic, whether it is campaigning a politician, selling a presentation, speaking at a meeting of shareholders.
The ability to beautifully build a speech, to speak irreproachably means nothing without argumentation, persuasiveness, the ability to overcome obstacles. In one of the lessons of the training, dedicated to working with the audience, we pointed out that the success of the speaker depends not only on the preparation for the performance, but on also on how successfully he copes with the above obstacles - questions and objections.
In this article, I will try to supplement that material and understand how to present your position with verbal and psychological tricks so that no one doubts the validity and relevance of the arguments used.
We, thanks to numerous films about brokers, stock exchanges, telephone sales, have got used that work with objections of clients is characteristic for these branches of activity and has more in common with "speaking of teeth", rather than speaking skills. But in fact, most of the techniques used are taken from the field of rhetoric and are used not only in sales. Negotiators, account managers, and any other person, regardless of the profession that craves for feedback, can use them.
So, where does the work with objections begin? No matter how banal it may sound, but with an understanding of their nature, revealing the true reasons for disagreeing with your point of view. Their elaboration even before the meeting, negotiations, performances increases the chances of success. Many authors are sure that it is the weakness of speech and the arguments given in it that in most cases becomes the starting point of disagreement. Therefore, the first thing that a speaker needs to do after writing a speech is to determine her weaknesses, to find out how clear she communicates the main idea. Ask to evaluate your text family, friends, acquaintances who do not understand the topic. Thus, at this stage it will be possible to warn some objections.
The next step should be to get acquainted with the most popular designs that people use for refusal. Over the years of work in the direction of overcoming client objections, negotiators and salesmen, a kind of educational program for the industry was developed. One of the options for such job descriptions leads in his blog Allen Meyer, a successful sales consultant. He writes about the 10 most common objections and ways to deal with them:
"We are not interested". It is necessary to interest. Just? Yes, but it really works. Create an interest: tell a short funny story about how the proposed product helped you solve an important problem; how, using your services, other companies increased their net profit by 15%.
"We do not have enough money." Switch the attention of the interlocutor to long-term prospects, the monthly savings that he will receive if he spends money on one occasion.
"We do not need this." Try to find out for what reasons. Use these reasons to strengthen your offer.
"These are additional concerns." Offer to save the client from these worries. Many companies have long practiced the delivery, installation, maintenance. Offer a discount on these services.
"We are satisfied with the current state of affairs." The interlocutor, most likely, did not appreciate your strengths. Tell us about the benefits again. Offer a discount.
"Others offer conditions even better." Find out what the conditions are, and level the benefits from them with your offer.
"It's hard to decide." Suggest two or three specific options, exclude all redundant information. Try to maximize personalization of the data.
"We'll think about it." This can not be denied, and your task here is to get at least some kind of reverse action from the client. Agree on the date of the next call or appointment.
"This is not exactly what we need." Clarify what is needed, and make an appropriate proposal.
"It's just not for us." One of the most difficult objections. It is really difficult to sell goalkeeper gloves to a person playing basketball. But the situation described is exaggerated, and if you have not made a mistake in choosing an audience, then it should not arise such objections, otherwise it will be a waste of time. When working with this type of objection, try to show only the advantages, potential and opportunities that a person will get starting to interact with you.
Of course, to transfer the experience of American sales to our conditions is not entirely correct. But completely reject them wrong - if the strategy of conversation or presentation is chosen correctly, while you are addressing your target audience, these methods are working. They do not only work in sales, but also in any cases where you need to be persuasive in talking to other people.
Technology of root extraction. As stated above, an objection is sometimes only an external manifestation of a real motive. This technique is aimed at fighting not with objections, but with the cause of disagreement. So, the first - do not interrupt the interlocutor, let him finish. Even if you hear constantly the same arguments against your words, listen. Do not rush to answer, that it does not look like a template. Sometimes a pause can push a person to continue to convey his position to you and discover the motive. Be sympathetic, agree with the client, do not use in the answer constructions with "no" and "but". Ask clarifying questions until you come to an understanding of the root cause of the refusal. After this, challenge the interlocutor with a doubt - bring counterexamples, facts, tell a life story when similar fears were not confirmed.
During the clarification of the motives for objections, two effective methods can be used: partial agreement and psychological add-on. Partial consent allows the client to see in you a like-minded person, not a soulless representative of corporations or an aspiring benefit manipulator, but the same person. People familiar with NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming) and versed in advertising, it may seem surprising, but personal stories of the type: "You know, I was worried, just like you. Previous experience did not bode well. Then I took a chance, and my life changed significantly for the better "- are efficient and effective. Psychological extension - a similar method. But instead of agreeing to the client's expression, the compliment says: "None of my previous customers so deeply analyzed the situation, you are really an excellent manager." These methods work well when you need to put a person to yourself, enter into him in confidence and start talking to him on an equal footing.
The technique of "boomerang". A simple and effective technique, which is also easy to apply. Its essence is that the objections of the client you turn into arguments in your favor. This, of course, is not possible in all cases, but to overcome some popular objections fits perfectly. A classic example is the objection: "Your goods are expensive." The answer to it in accordance with the technique of "boomerang" should be built in this way: "Yes, dear, and this price will give you the opportunity to get a quality product plus a set of 5 additional services" or "I understand that nobody wants to overpay, so let's talk about the benefits that you get to buy for free."
The technique of fixation. The essence of the method in constructing a communication strategy based on the starting point. If you have worked with the client before, try to emphasize the positive aspects of cooperation during the negotiations: "Remember, there have never been delays in the delivery?" Or "Our copywriters have always written effective selling texts for your website and at the same time, is not it?". Applying this method, you set a positive emotional background for your negotiations. You can apply the technique and with a minus sign, indicating unpleasant moments in cooperation with your competitors, if you know them, but in any case, do not lie.
Assumption method. Like the root extraction technique, this method helps to find out the true causes of failure. Applying it when you come across an objection, assume that the problem is solved and ask if the interlocutor is ready to act in the new conditions. If the reason for the refusal is insufficient budget, ask if it is ready to start cooperation in case of a discount? Yes fine. No - find out the real reason.
The illustrations are used in agreement with the Depositphotos photobank
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