Objections: An Essential Piece Of The Sales Process

It’s important that a company’s team effectively navigate and overcome client questions, concerns and objections in order to keep the sales process running smoothly from start to finish. The Service Excellence team is here to help investigate the key components of objection handling. Objection handling can be a seemingly daunting skill to acquire in the independent contracting industries of HVAC, plumbing or electrical.

For some, objections seem to be a source of conflict and for others, it may seem that clients with objections never invest in the sale. However, Bo Bennett, founder of Archieboy Holdings, put it well when he said, “An objection is not a rejection; it is simply a request for more information.”

By paying attention to the areas of your presentation where a customer has objections, you’ll discover the topics that they find most important. So it’s helpful to view objections as areas with the greatest selling potential. Once a customer’s objections are overcome, then a close is not far behind!

Developing Effective Listening Skills

On the road to effective objection handling, the development of strong listening skills is an important milestone. Active listening does not mean taking in all that the potential client has to say outright but also involves interpreting what a client means through body language and tone of voice. Effective listeners take time to decipher the facial expressions, tone of voice, posture and physical reactions of their clients.

Remember, objections are best handled before they’re vocalized by the client. When a technician has the ability to listen closely to a client in order to find out their wants or needs, then that technician will be able to confidently ask questions and apply techniques to overcome potential objections and move closer to a solid close.

Asking Guiding Questions

When technicians feel confident that they have a solid understanding of a client’s wants and needs, then they can ask guiding questions to help them clarify areas that may still be unclear. Active listening and guiding questions can help a technician address client concerns and prove the unmatched value of their company before the clients have a chance to vocalize their objections.

Providing Clarification

Sometimes, soft close and guiding questions aren’t enough to avoid the objection. When a client objects, there is in fact a chance to sell because the client is specifically directing their concerns, rather than making the technician guess potential issues. Moreover, objections make for easier selling situations because there’s an opportunity for a more thorough explanation of the areas that are important to the customer.

Handling Objections

In order to master objection-handling skills, a company’s team must:

• grow their listening skills
• develop the confidence to ask effective questions
• implement the best techniques
• provide the client with thorough clarifications

Objection handling is an important training topic for all independent contractors in the industries of HVAC, plumbing and electrical. To learn more or take advantage of the opportunity to practice these skills, sign up for our next session. Here at Service Excellence, we IGNITE THE POWER WITHIN!