Facilitate, Part II: Work Through Objections

“When solving problems, dig at the roots instead of just hacking at the leaves.”

—ANTHONY J. D’ANGELO, author of The College Blue Book

You’re in a conversation with a buyer and it’s going well. You’ve Initiated a positive connection and engaged in a productive Investigation where you discovered his POWNs. You’ve Facilitated a collaborative presentation of your solution and he agrees your solution will work. But . . . now there is an objection or a question.

What’s your reaction to the objection or question? Most people react with fight or flight.

Fight is to start bombarding the buyer with more information to try and talk them into your way of thinking. Flight is to avoid or minimize the objection, concern, or question.

Neither of these reactions advances the sale, trust, collaboration, or relationship.

Your own reaction to the objection and the buyer’s prior sales purchasing experiences both come into play at this time. The buyer may fear you will ignore the objection and both of you may anticipate a confrontation over price or another issue.

Objections in the sales conversation are often nothing more than problems to be solved. When objections are uncovered, it doesn’t have to become an “us or them” situation; in collaborative selling with a WiifT focus, we work through objections with our buyers.

In collaborative selling, we solve the problem together. Even more valuable than problem solving, though, is problem resolving. The difference in solution and resolution is significant. Problem solution identifies an answer for today. Problem resolution seeks a long-term solution or permanent fix.

If pricing is the objection, for example, providing a discount may solve the problem and close the sale today, but what happens for future purchases? Will the buyer expect the same discount or want more? A resolution could be scheduling repeat deliveries to earn a discount, different payment terms, or adjusting the solution to fit within the price they are willing or able to pay. As a long-term resolution, this elevates your value and assures you reach a Win³.

How, then, do you collaborate with Them for a mutual, problem-resolving outcome? By facilitating Them through the objection or concern.