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This is a typical scenario. After searching long and hard to find a lead, I finally found one over the phone. “We really want to buy a house,” they say. Excited you pushed in to get an appointment to start the process.
Suddenly they throw an obstacle. “As a matter of fact, we think interest rates are too high at the moment and we should wait until they come down.” “And it’s too expensive.”
When they put up a new wall, you scramble to refute this second objection. “And all our friends think the market is going to crash, so it doesn’t make sense to buy now, don’t you think?”
life is full of dissent
Simply put, an objection is a concern someone raises about the action you want them to take. If the desired action is to sell the customer a home, any barriers the customer has put up to that purchase are the opposite and must be overcome in order to proceed with the sale.
The question is never “Will I encounter objections?” Rather, “How do I deal with objections?” As an example, parents deal with objections all day, every day.
- “I don’t want to clean my room.”
- “I will not eat this.”
- “Why do we have to be there by 10pm?”
- “Why can’t I have those $300 shoes when everyone else has them?”
Against all opposition, parents have a choice. You can either react with your instincts, or you can take the time to learn effective, often wrong, responses that will help you raise your child in a positive way. As a parent of 6 children, my responses were more than random and often fell into the category of “completely ineffective responses.”
The good news about parenting is that our children will be there the next day, and over time, with the help of a spouse, books, and even counseling, we can improve our correspondence. Unfortunately, she often has only one meeting with a prospect. If we silence the response, they disappear.
Therefore, it is important that we do whatever is necessary to ensure that the initial reaction to their objection is the correct one. This includes scripts, coaching, and extensive practice. We also need a systematic way of responding, a framework that allows us to effectively respond to objections, regardless of whether they are objected or not.
Dissent is one of the most difficult aspects of selling, but it’s not automatically a dead end. In fact, they represent opportunities.
The good news is that since clients are talking to you, they really want to buy or sell a home. All you have to do is find a path for them to succeed. If you can help them overcome obstacles and achieve their dreams, they will likely refer you to others as well. Therefore, learning how to overcome opposition is the path to success.
Here’s a four-step process for effectively responding to objections, courtesy of Anthony Zapata, Productivity Coach at Forward Coaching.
1. Accept and repeat
Most of us want to solve the problem quickly, but our clients need to know that we are really listening first. Instead of going into sales mode and trying to convince them of a solution, they need to feel that you are part of their team and that you genuinely care about them.
Since you’re not trying to change the other person’s mind, this approach minimizes the potential for self-defense and arguments. When you hear their objections, repeat them to make them more persuasive. If you are unsure of understanding, ask open-ended questions until you both agree that you have worded your concerns.
Example: “I want to confirm what you just said to make sure we have the same perception, you heard that the real estate market could crash in the near future. and he said he was worried that if you buy now, you might lose your money.” Could the value of the house go down? Worried about paying too much? Did you hear me right? ”
2. Separate concerns
The next step is to check if there are any other concerns. We want to be able to put everything on the table so that all their concerns can be addressed. After spending so much time with them, I don’t want them to have new worries.
For example: “Okay, I understand you’re worried about the market crashing in the near future. Are there any other concerns you should be aware of?”
3. Respond to concerns
After they’re confident that you’ve heard them right, and they’ve recognized the fact that you’ve actively listened to them and understood their concerns, they can begin to address the issue. The goal is to be able to remove their concerns as a reason not to move forward. Keep in mind again that they want to buy a house. You will help them remove the obstacles that are mentally holding them back from moving forward.
For example: “I understand you are worried that the market will collapse. I would like to remind you that the goal is to acquire a home, not to make a short-term profit. Prices fluctuate up and down all the time, but over the years they have always increased in value.
As an example, I recently sold a house that I had lived in for 23 years for five times the purchase price. The question is never the price of the house, but whether you can afford the monthly payments.
I have a question for you. “Whether it makes sense for you to move into a home when you know you can afford it and start enjoying all the benefits that come with owning a home, or wait without knowing the price or interest rate. Or will it go up or down in the future and affect your landlord’s retirement benefits instead of yours, and you’ll miss out on all the benefits of owning a home? ”
4. Close
Close once all objections have been addressed.
For example: “Now that we have addressed your concerns, when can we start investigating? We have two slots open. Which is best this Saturday at 12:00 PM or Sunday at 3:00 PM?”
Efforts to effectively address buyer objections are also commitments to practice. Author Jim Collins clarifies:
“To achieve excellence, it is not enough just to have a lot of practice. Then you fall into routine.”
It’s a good idea to create a list of all potential buyer objections and write a script to effectively handle each one. Find a practice partner and rehearse all the scenarios until your reactions feel natural. You should also consider getting your coach to help you with this. The coach may already have a list of objections and a corresponding script.
At the end of the day, especially in a volatile market like the one we’re facing right now, it’s the people who have learned how to effectively deal with objections who ultimately get to the table of agreement with their clients. will be The rest… nothing to do.