How Anticipating Buyers’ Concerns Brings In More Sales

When I was still a bit green in my selling career, I had this dream. In my dream, I went to sell my product to a married couple, and they were such a pleasure to visit with!

They thoroughly enjoyed my presentation, and they agreed to everything I mentioned. They didn’t ask any questions, and they didn’t have any concerns. They even helped me fill out the paperwork! The whole transaction was completed in record time. Two very happy people waved good-bye to me as I walked out of their home with a check in hand and several qualified leads.

What a wonderful dream!

Somehow, I’m sure that I’m not the only one to have had this dream. Most new salespeople think this is what selling is like. Unfortunately, some salespeople who have been in the business for awhile keep looking for that dream to come true.

Imagine a sale with no resistance! Does it happen? Once in a blue moon. Addressing concerns is a normal step in any sale. It’s human nature to object, hesitate, stall, or procrastinate when making any decision that will separate you from your money.

Buyers need to feel absolutely confident that what they’re replacing their money with will give them all the benefits they want. Buyers also have to be comfortable with the value they are receiving for their hard-earned dollars. I know this is true for me. So why would I expect my prospective clients to be any different?

My success rate in sales increased tremendously when I began anticipating concerns instead of fearing them. I was basically hearing the same three or four in nearly every selling situation. I spent a few hours thinking about each of those concerns. Why were my future clients saying these things, and what could I do or say to help them get comfortably past these points?

I began by putting myself in their position and discovered most potential clients were expressing concerns because of one basic emotion that was being triggered — fear.

They were afraid to make an irreversible decision.
They were afraid to make a commitment with their money.
They were afraid the product wouldn’t live up to their expectations.
They were afraid I was a take-the-money-and-run salesperson that they’d never be able to reach again when they had questions about or challenges with the product after they owned it.

Realizing those points, I began to make some changes in my presentations. I eliminated words from my vocabulary that provoked fear, and replaced them with verbal images that brought confidence to my clients. I made sure to discuss products and services in light of the “hot buttons” that were uncovered during qualification, and this helped reduce the number of concerns I had previously been receiving.

Another strategy that was to bring up concerns that I knew the prospective clients were likely to have and address them before they could become stalls. By learning not to get flustered, but to be prepared instead, I controlled the concern. I didn’t let it control the sale.

If you still have a certain amount of fear when you hear a concern, let me explain what concerns really are. Besides being a normal part of the selling sequence, objections or concerns are defense mechanisms. They are ways for the buyer to tell you that you are moving too fast. They are ways the buyer tells you they need more information before they can feel confident about going ahead with the investment.

Always remember, the potential client is not personally objecting to you. They are objecting to some aspect of the product or service that they aren’t yet comfortable with.