Yesterday we discussed the first 3 ways to work to overcome a prospective customer’s objections, today let’s discuss the last 2.

4. Dollarize Your Benefits Often when you get a rejection that is a knee-jerk reaction it can be because YOU have not quantified, or “dollarized” what you can do–how much profit you can create for your customer.  The perception of “value” is always going to be considered when purchasing a product or service (regardless of whether is dollar value or emotional value).  Therefore this value aspect must be presented.  To paraphrase Tom Hopkins, if you are trying to sell a website to a new prospect for $5,000, yet they were only ready to spend $3,000, you need to illustrate to the customer why they should spend that extra $2,000, and how your process is going to be worth that $2,000 investment.  My suggestion is to amortize the $2,000, and highlight how if over ten years the additional investment of $200 per year will quickly be overcome by the additional business that will be won with your website.  In business, the bottom line is king, focus on that and guide your prospect to full understanding of the financial benefits and they will choose you.

5.  No is GOOD I once read a piece written by a very, very successful Wall Street broker, who wrote that if he did not hear “No” several times per day, he knew he was not working hard enough.  Think about that, here is a guy who was top producer, yet even he was hearing “No” daily.  Therefore, in essence, “No” can be a good thing–it means you’re on track,and working hard.  Sso instead of letting “No” get you down, and spiraling you into a rut, embrace it, and understand that when you’re out there presenting ideas to people you will ALWAYS hear “No,” so, take advantage of it–LOVE IT!

6.  BONUS.  Learn from NO! Every time I interface with a prospect, at some point during the process I make a mistake–always.  Scheduling, follow-up, the presentation, wording, pricing, some aspect of what I do is wrong, which can ultimately end up in a rejection.  So, what do I do?  Learn from rejection.  My strongest suggestion to you is to review each step after you receive a “No” and highlight what you did wrong, and work to avoid doing this again.  This will make your end to end interactions with both customers and prospects stronger and much more engaging for them, ultimately leading you to a higher customer vs. lost prospect ratio.

I believe if you truly digest these aspects of rejection, you can learn to handle “No” better, overcome them, and when it is a real “No” understand “No” can be a good thing–in its own way.

What do you think?

Preston Ehrler, Webvantix