After over three decades of educating individuals and corporations on sales, this topic is still the hottest on everyone’s list… What are the most common types of objections — and how do you handle them?
Whether you’ve been in sales for 20 minutes or 20 years, you have heard an objection from a customer. From those interactions, you can see how handling objections smoothly and with confidence will result in more closes.
The real secret to handling a buyer’s reluctance is to understand that there is a difference between what they are saying and what they mean…
In this article, I am going to break down the only types of objections you are going to encounter — no matter what business you’re in. Plus, I’ll show you how to interpret what is really keeping your prospect from buying…
The ONLY Types of Objections You’ll Hear from Customers in Sales
Although you may think there are as many types of objections as there are industries, that is not the case.
Whatever your customer is saying to you, their objections are going to fall into one of the following categories:
- Time
- Money
- Stall
- Product
Before we get into the specifics of each objection type, I want you to take note of this important piece of information…
IF THE PROSPECT KNEW WHAT YOU KNEW ABOUT THE PRODUCT, THEY WOULD WANT TO DO THE DEAL.
In other words, there must be something missing that is keeping them from being 100% certain and purchasing your product.
Your job as a salesperson is to determine the missing piece.
Thankfully, it’s not some giant mystery. Believe it or not, the clue lies in the objections themselves…
1. Time
This sales scenario is as old as time…
You’ve demonstrated your product to your prospect. They see it could be a solution for them, and you’ve established this person is the decision-maker.
Then in the close…
The prospect has to “think about it.”
At this point, you feel frustrated and like this person has wasted your time. While that is understandable, they wouldn’t have gone through the whole sales cycle with you if they weren’t seriously interested.
So why does the buyer need to wait all of a sudden?
Above all, the time objection tells you the client isn’t completely sure if:
- The product is going to benefit them or
- You or your company are going to take care of them.
That means the handling for this is easy…
YOU ASK THE HARD QUESTIONS!
“There are only a couple of reasons why you wouldn’t do this right now. It’s either the product, me, or the company. Which one is it?”
Practice asking this question while maintaining a positive attitude and NOT making the buyer wrong. You may be surprised at how easily they tell you the actual reason they are hesitating.
Once you know the true reason, you can handle their concerns and close.
Nonetheless, there is another objection that hangs up even the best salespeople…
2. Money
When you hear, “The price is too high!” know this…
PEOPLE BUY THINGS BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE THEY’RE GETTING MORE VALUE THAN THE AMOUNT OF MONEY THEY ARE PAYING.
Therefore, what your buyer is telling you is that you haven’t presented enough value for the cost of your product or service. This is good news because you don’t have to slash your price or cut into your commission.
Instead, I suggest using the “Reason to Buy” Close. It goes like this…
“Excuse me, but may I ask, are you looking for reasons to make a decision to do this or are you looking for reasons not to?”
(Get an answer from the customer.)
“What are some reasons to do this?”
This word track does two things:
A) Ensure you are on the right product and
B) Builds value.
The objections surrounding money are not hard to overcome if you know the features, advantages, and benefits of your product.
You just have to communicate the value to the customer.
3. Stall
The third type of objection I am going to show you how to master is the stall objection. This is similar to a time objection, except your prospect tries to throw a surprise variable that prevents them from doing the deal now.
“We need to do our due diligence… I can’t buy until I talk to my partner/spouse/the board, etc…”
More than likely, the client is just trying to keep you from closing them.
BUT IN REALITY, THERE MIGHT BE ANOTHER DECISION-MAKER ON THE DEAL.
This close will help you flush out what is holding up the sale:
“Great, most people want to think about their decision before making it. Let me ask you, from a scale from 1 to 10 — 10 being you are absolutely certain and ready to go, and 1 being you wouldn’t take it no matter what — where would you stand at this time?”
(Listen for the answer.)
“What would make it a 10?”
This gives you the opportunity to take the buyer’s temperature and figure out what steps need to be taken to get them to the close.
There is only one other type of objection your customer can make, and 9 times out of 10, it’s the root of all the rest…
4. Product
Finally, I will go over what to do when a customer makes a blatant product objection. In this case, they will start to point out things that aren’t quite right with the product just as you’re getting into the close…
It’s not the color they want on their new phone…
The new car doesn’t have a leather interior…
This list could go on and on.
THE KEY TO HANDLING THESE TYPES OF MINOR COMPLAINTS IS TO GET THEIR FOCUS BACK ON WHAT’S IMPORTANT.
The way to do that is to use the “Three Agreements Close,” and here is its word track…
“Do you agree that this is the right product for you? Do you agree that sooner or later your company will have to make this purchase? Would you agree that we have always serviced you? Good. Then do this as you agree it’s the right thing to do. Sign here and here.”
If you find it appropriate, this close can even be used in handling the other types of objections.
Still, you know you can’t just know four closes and become a master. There’s more to do, young grasshopper…
How Can You Become GREAT at Handling Objections?
Now, you are familiar with the only types of objections, plus a close that corresponds to each.
However, that handful of closing material will not be right for every situation you run into in sales…
For this reason, I have developed thousands of scripts that you can adapt to whatever obstacle you face. They are all even separated by category — time, money, stall, and product — in my training platform, Cardone University.
Training on this material every day will have you better prepared for whatever the marketplace throws at you.
At length, the masters in any field practice and train.
However you decide to study sales, commit to it.
May this article be the first step on that journey.
Be Great,
Grant Cardone
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