The Dance – Overcoming Objections

Objections are buying signals. As a negotiation keynote speaker, I show audiences that no one asks questions about something they are not considering purchasing. Questions and objections lead to dialogue and conversations. When I was on the phone call with Anthem insurance ,and they were deciding between me and another speaker, I had to show them why I am a negotiation keynote speaker One of the objections they put into a question was, “have you given a keynote talk in the medical or health field before?”

My answer was “no,” but instead of telling them that, I kept the dialogue going by asking a series of questions: What did their audience need to know? What did the audience need to be doing that they were not currently?

By focusing on what Anthem needed, I learned that they wanted their team to handle objections better and embrace selling as part of their job. I was able to overcome move away from their “objection” and gain greater knowledge about what they really needed. I then told them how I approach my work. I conduct a deep dive into their industry to learn their medical
terms and customize my talk to include what is meaningful to Anthem.

Not only did I win the business and was chosen to be the negotiation keynote speaker, but several audience members came
up to me after the talk and asked how long I had worked in healthcare. My preparation gave me confidence to ask for the business and answer their objections but is also integral to each talk I give.

As a negotiation keynote speaker, the most common objections audiences tell me they hear include, “your price is too high,” or “I need to think about it.” If you are selling hardware, automobiles or something similar, you might hear; “you don’t have the features we want,” or, “this isn’t the way we want to do it.”

Well here’s one way to handle those kinds of objections; it is called feel, felt, found and it sounds like this:

“Well, I understand how you could feel that way. Other clients of ours felt that way at first too and what they found was...” you can then tell the story of why the product worked for another client. What’s happening here is that you do not agree with their objection, but you are letting them know that you heard it, “I understand how you could feel that way, other clients have felt that way.” Which lets them see that others have felt the same way they do, but ultimately became your client anyway.

The Daily Stoic writes:
Because life – and other people – will roll and throw so much at us. Criticism. Doubts. Competition. Difficulties. Deceit. 

Obstacles take many forms, but inevitably they always appear.

As a negotiation keynote speaker I have to remind audiences, that sometimes in isolation, sometimes in a landslide obstacles will appear. Our only option is to take energy from this, to be made better by it. We must learn from the obstacles. We must take consolation in them (if it were easy then anyone could do it, and the goal or good wouldn’;t be worth pursuing). We must gather strength and muscle from each experience.

We have to remember: The obstacle is the way. Or rather, obstacles are the way. One of the best ways to get the obstacles to become fuel for your fire is to recap what went right and what went wrong when you lose a sale in order to learn from it. It is key to remember, this should not become a “blame game.” Doctors do this when there are complications in a case or a patient dies, they have a Morbidity & Mortality review with their peers to LEARN, not to blame.

M&M’s are held by medical services at academic medical centers, most large private medical and surgical practices, and other medical centers. While death, deterioration and complications may be unavoidable in some patients due to underlying disease processes, they may also be associated with errors or omissions in patient care. M&;M conferences involve the
analysis of adverse outcomes in patient care, through peer review. The objectives are to identify adverse outcomes associated with medical error, to modify behavior and judgment based on previous experiences, and to prevent repetition of errors leading to complications.

I recommend sales teams hosting their own version of this monthly so they don’t repeat previous mistakes. This type of forum may also bring about new solutions or answers to new objections.

When objections come up, you must remain calm. When I saved a life when I was a lifeguard, I had to take in every element of the situation to see the best way to save little Sophia; there was no time to panic. It is not dissimilar to being in a pitch when the hard questions start to fly. Your heart rate goes up anticipating the next one or the objections.

When you have confidence and have prepared instead of stumbling, you are going to soar. You know that you have the best product and the best team, and ultimately, you are selling yourself and your big reason for doing what you do best.

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