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The Sales Buzz Issue 184 - A Sales Objection – Buying Signal or Obstacle
November 28, 2012
Hi,

Many training courses say that sales objections are buying signals. Is that correct or is it just another case of classroom training based on theories rather than genuine experience in a real sales job.

Question the traditional view by reading on...



A Sales Objection – Buying Signal or Obstacle

A sales objection has traditionally been presented as a buying signal by many sales trainers and managers.

Many training courses, books, CDs and other places where selling skills are presented tell you that when you get an objection you should treat it as a positive buying signal.


Is that really true?

Do professional career sales people really think that getting an objection is a reason to feel good because they are getting closer to closing the deal, or do they see it as another obstacle getting in the way of their commission.

The idea that a sales objection is a buying signal has persisted because it has been passed down from trainers and managers to sales people and many sellers don’t want to question their employer, their manager, and trainers that their employer brings in.


Question traditional training if you dare

Questioning long held beliefs, and the people that present them, can be a bad career move. As the sales training is passed to each new generation of new sellers the rule, about sales objections being buying signals, has been presented as if it was written on tablets of stone and passed down from the top floor of a divine tower block.

So maybe now it’s time we clicked on to the idea of questioning this traditional belief and seeing if it’s doing us some good or if we may be losing sales because of it.

The problem with such a general statement about sales objections and buying signals is that it can’t be true for all sales objections. If a buyer asks you a question about your product then that could be an indication that they are interested. If they raise a concern about your service it could be a sign that if that concern can be overcome they would consider buying.

But a sales objections not always a question.

If you try to close a sale and the prospect says they don’t want your product, or they want to think about it, or they want more information, these are not questions. I don’t see how this is a buying signal or an indication of a prospect’s interest in your product.

If I receive these types of responses to a when I try to close a sale I don’t think, ‘Oh Great! That’s a really positive buying signal.’


So when is a sales objection a buying signal

An objection could be an indication of a sales prospect’s interest in your product when it is presented in the form of a question.

sales training course

For example if a buyer asks about additional cost, add-ons to the product, or delivery times, they are showing an interest.

They wouldn’t ask these questions unless they were thinking about going further along the decision making process.

So the old traditional view of all sales objections being buying signals is not completely true because it is too general and we can see that some objections are not requests for information they are obstacles to the sale.

But when a prospect raises an objection in the form of a question then yes, it is a buying signal, and as long as you can answer it you should see it as a positive.

As a sales trainer and manager I am only interested in training that works. If you want to question traditional classroom theories, and want to see training that has already proven successful in real selling situations, take a look at our online Sales and Training Solutions...








I'm Stephen Craine from the website Sales-Training-Sales-Tips.com

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