It doesn’t take much time to learn the common objections to our service. The seller who has been selling for six weeks already has experienced ninety percent of the objections he will face as a seller. What he doesn’t know is how to handle these objections. Scripting will help this new seller handle objections at a professional level, sooner.

Good accounts have salespeople calling them constantly. They have to give objections to uncover the great salespeople from the mass of mediocrity calling them. If they don’t, they will have too many salespeople calling them.

We know ahead of time what the major objections to our service or product are. There are standard objections that cross industry lines. Below are some common objections and options on how to respond to them. Tailor your objection responses to your market, your personality, and the individual customer you are dealing with.

Objection: I’m Happy with the Suppliers (or Products) I Am Currently Using.

Response: “That’s great. I don’t want to get in the way of the relationships you currently have. What I would like is the opportunity to become a secondary supplier for you. If you allow me to call you on an ongoing basis, we can get to know each other and if anything does happen with your current supply, we will already have a relationship. You will already know the quality of my products and service, and we will be able to hit the ground running without interrupting the smooth operation of your company.”

Don’t say, “If I can get product to you at a better price, would you consider buying from me instead of your current supplier?”

This sets you up as a price supplier. Remember,

Money Maker #11: If you steal business based on price, it can be stolen from you based on price.

“What do you like about your current supplier?” is equally weak.

We don’t want our customers talking about what they like about their current suppliers. First, many will become defensive when we ask this question. They will take it as a challenge. Second, we don’t want to spend any time talking about what our competition does right. That’s their job.

For many years I felt I was a complete seller. I would not face the issues that were holding me back. I felt I understood the sales process and what it took to be successful in sales. I was wrong. Like Mrs. Johnson’s denial about her son’s marching skills, I was in denial about my skills as a seller. This denial cost me years of frustration and who knows how much money.

When I finally let go of my ego and came to grips with the (lack of) selling skills that were holding me back, I was able to improve.

Money Maker #6: Dealing with our weaknesses is painful. The good news is, when we finally deal with our weaknesses, we can improve faster than we think.

Working with salespeople, I see this same issue over and over. Sellers that evaluate their skills honestly can and do improve their results. Those who do not or will not honestly evaluate their sales skills stagnate, and have a tortuous time improving their earnings. Are you in denial?

Myth #1: Sales managers and lumber sellers believe that selling is a God given or innate talent. You have it or you don’t. Many sellers try selling for awhile, and if they have only marginal success, they give up. They tell themselves, “I’m just not cut out for this sales game. I don’t have what it takes.” Some sales managers do the same thing. They try to hire “naturals”. They don’t train their sales people. The ones who get it on their own, succeed; the ones who don’t, struggle, and eventually are fired or quit, and new salespeople are hired in their place. This is a long, unprofitable way to build a sales team. There just aren’t that many “naturals” out there.

Myth #2: Time will make you a better seller. The mediocre seller who has been selling for years is more the norm than the exception. They aren’t worth firing, but they aren’t superstars either. They do a mediocre job of selling year after year. When new sellers come in and sell more than these experienced sellers do in a short period of time, they call it luck or favoritism. Or they say, “That kid’s a natural.”

These are just excuses.

Many of these long-suffering, mediocre sales people don’t understand the skills they need to increase their sales. Many of them know what they need to do to improve their sales and just don’t. Change is difficult. Some of the habits and actions we needed to be great in sales are difficult. But they must be done to succeed. Newton’s third law, “For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction”, holds true in sales. If these salespeople will change their actions they will change their results.

Want this and other sales secrets? Buy my Book Selling Lumber: Sales Secrets of a Lumber Broker and tune in each Friday at 4pm PST to the Sales Doctor Radio program. In Portland on 1410 am or around the world online at SalesDoctor.biz.