Quiz: What If the Customer Is Dead Wrong?
Scenario: You're selling some commercial property -- a big money deal -- to a rich, but not-too-savvy, prospect. As you're explaining that the property in question will be a good long-term investment, the prospect comes out with: "I heard this is not a good area for property appreciation."
You know that's not true and therefore conclude that the prospect has been getting bad information.
What's your best response?
- Response #1: Question the Source. The prospect is obviously getting bad information from somewhere. If you can weaken the prospect's faith in that source, the objection will disappear.
- Response #2: Shelve the Objection. The objection is blocking your sales effort, so best to put it aside and instead probe to discover what's important to the prospect.
- Response #3: Dazzle with Facts. You know the information is false, so all you need do is state the truth, along with all the reputable sources behind that truth.
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Scenario: You're selling some commercial property -- a big money deal -- to a rich, but not-too-savvy prospect. As you're explaining that the property will be a good long-term investment, the prospect comes out with: "I heard this is not a good area for property appreciation." However, you know that's not true and rightly conclude that the prospect has been getting bad information.
What's your best response:
- Response #1: Question the Source. The prospect is obviously getting bad information from somewhere. If you can weaken the prospect's faith in that source, the objection will disappear.
- Response #2: Shelve the Objection. The objection is blocking your sales effort, so best to put it aside and instead probe to discover what's important to the prospect.
- Response #3: Dazzle with Facts. You know the information is false, so all you need do is state the truth, along with all the reputable sources behind that truth.
The correct answer is: #2 Shelve the Objection!
Normally, shelving the objection is a bad idea, since it's the kind of "old time" sales pitch ploy that annoys the customer. But this is a little different, because there's a hidden bomb in the objection: the identity of the person who fed the prospect the bad information.
Since the prospect is rich but not-too-savvy, there's a good chance that the source of the information came from a friend or a family member. In that case, both questioning the source (Response #2) and dazzling with facts (Response #3) could put the prospect in the uncomfortable position of being disloyal by agreeing with you.
In addition, you KNOW that the prospect has bad information, so you can afford to wait a bit, particularly since it's a big-money deal.
Here's how sales guru Tom Hopkins (author of the mega-bestseller How to Master the Art of Selling) suggests you handle this objection:
Prospect: "I heard this is not a good area for property appreciation."The brilliance of Tom's answer is that it moves the discussion away from the facts, and towards an assessment of the importance of those facts.You: "We can check the appreciation rates when we get back to my office. How important is the appreciation rate to your decision about making a purchase in this area?"
If it turns out that appreciation rates aren't all that important, there's no need to bring the matter up again, unless the prospect asks. Problem solved.
If it turns out that appreciation rates are of prime importance, you can ask further questions to learn the source of the bad information, and then figure out a diplomatic way to re-educate the prospect.