What is a sales objection meeting?
At any point of a sales cycle a prospect may have an objection or a series of objections as to why they can’t or won’t be interested in your product. These can range from things like price, or concerns about what you are offering. Most good sales teams will have a list of common objections and how to address them. Having these increases sales productivity. Every product or service has to know how they are positioned against these objections. In some cases the fact is that certain objections are enough to walk away from the deal. The goal is to have a win-win and though you can handle objections some are more about you as a sales person than what is in your customers best interests. A great company goes one step further and holds a regular meeting to go over these.
How often do you have it.
Holding an objection meeting once a month seems to be best. Either make it a part of your regular sales meeting or have a special meeting specifically to cover these important issues. Since the end of the month is typically hectic for sales people and this is when the objections seem to be the highest, having an objection meeting during this time is counter productive. Keep your sales people selling and have your objection meetings at the beginning of the month. This is a perfect opportunity to go over last month’s deals and get the sales team ready for the next month of selling. Having a sales objection meeting in the begining of the month also help a sales team be better at lead generation and lead qualification.
Why do you have it
Getting the entire sales team together to discuss typical objections being given helps on a few levels. First, identifying new objections helps the sales team collectively work through them. The sales manager can reinforce them across the entire sales team at once instead of on a one-off basis. Second, even your seasoned sales people can learn what objections are being raised in other territories and how the other sales people are addressing them. In many cases your seasoned sales people will be able to help the more junior sales people with ways to work with prospects through these obstacles. Third, building a list of common objections and making sure all of your sales people are on the same page keeps a very consistent message across the company.
Handling and overcoming objections constructively is a critical part of the sales process.
You can prepare yourself for objections or queries before the meeting by:
- researching the client with sales intelligence – they may have particular issues to deal with
- writing down a list of possible objections and deciding on your answers
- covering the objections in your presentation
Listening carefully earlier on in the sales meeting will also help you to prepare for questions later on. Try to establish the real reason behind objections – prospects often use them to stall for time or if they are nervous about making a decision.
Make sure you are:
- clarifying what they are unsure of by repeating it back to them
- asking them if they will be prepared to sign the order if you can show a way to overcome the objection
- setting out how you can resolve the issue
- modifying their expectations to a sensible compromise if you can’t fully resolve the issue
Does your company have sales objection meetings? What else should be covered in them?
