Useless Techniques For Handling Sales Objections - Reframing
My favorite useless technique for handling sales objections is reframing. I really can't believe that so many sales trainers still push this one. Reframing is putting a different spin on a sales objection to frame a negative viewpoint into a positive viewpoint. Sounds like a good strategy but, when put in use, it's really a technique that aims to manipulate a customer.
Take this example: A customer is buying a car. The price is still too high. Customer asks salesperson to cut $1000 off of the price. If he could do that, then there would be a deal. Using the objection reframing technique, the car salesperson would say something like, "If I understand you correctly, you're saying that you'd buy this car if the price is just $1000 less? If you drive this car for 3 years, that's 1095 days. That's 91 cents a day, less than the price of a coffee. So, you're saying that if you just pass on buying one cup of coffee a day, you'd buy this car, right?" Notice how the salesperson says "you're saying." Ya, he reframes the question to make it sound like the customer came up with the idea. Don't assume customers are that stupid.
To use this technique is to assume that all customers can be manipulated. I think everybody understands that if they cut out on one coffee a day they'd save a lot of money in the long run. This is the case whether they purchase the car or not. The car has nothing to do with it. The customer wants the best price either way. People can also save money by cutting out the purchase of other trivial things... newspapers, candy, snacks, magazines, games, entertainment... They don't care to hear a salesperson tell them this. Heck, why not ask the customer to change their whole lifestyle so that they could afford to buy whatever you're selling? Manipulation is old-school sales. It may have worked in the 80's. It doesn't work as well any more.
Take this example: A customer is buying a car. The price is still too high. Customer asks salesperson to cut $1000 off of the price. If he could do that, then there would be a deal. Using the objection reframing technique, the car salesperson would say something like, "If I understand you correctly, you're saying that you'd buy this car if the price is just $1000 less? If you drive this car for 3 years, that's 1095 days. That's 91 cents a day, less than the price of a coffee. So, you're saying that if you just pass on buying one cup of coffee a day, you'd buy this car, right?" Notice how the salesperson says "you're saying." Ya, he reframes the question to make it sound like the customer came up with the idea. Don't assume customers are that stupid.
To use this technique is to assume that all customers can be manipulated. I think everybody understands that if they cut out on one coffee a day they'd save a lot of money in the long run. This is the case whether they purchase the car or not. The car has nothing to do with it. The customer wants the best price either way. People can also save money by cutting out the purchase of other trivial things... newspapers, candy, snacks, magazines, games, entertainment... They don't care to hear a salesperson tell them this. Heck, why not ask the customer to change their whole lifestyle so that they could afford to buy whatever you're selling? Manipulation is old-school sales. It may have worked in the 80's. It doesn't work as well any more.
Labels: objection reframing, sales objections, sales techniques
posted by Greg at 2:37 PM
3 comments
links to this post
|
|