by Sean D'Souza
1) Perceptions
2) Past-Experiences
3) Need To Know.
Perceptions are simply what we perceive to be true. It may or may not be true, but we don’t really care. If we think it’s going to be cold outside, and it’s going to rain tonight, then well it’s going to be cold and rainy. Unless of course, there’s some evidence to the contrary. But in most situations the perception is the first reason why objections pop up.
The second reason why we object is based on past experiences. These may be our own past experiences, or someone else’s past experiences. And as the saying goes, “Once burnt, twice shy”. We’re not that keen to go ahead and burn ourselves again, so we bring up the objections based on our personal history.
When dealing with the unknown, we’re not happy campers. We get edgy, tentative and full of objections.
The third reason is just the unknown. When we’re about to commit to something, we’re not quite sure what we’re getting into. We may have doubts that need to be resolved. These doubts aren’t based on past experiences or perceptions. They’re just based on a need to know the answers.
And to describe how this works in real life, let’s take an example, and see how we use ‘perceptions, past experiences, and a need to know’ to create a nice bunch of objections.
Example: Yoga class
Perceptions: You may think you’re not flexible enough. That you’ll be the joker in the class. That the teacher may embarrass you. That you may have the wrong outfit. That the class may be just for advanced students.
Past Experiences: You may have not got adequate attention and injured yourself. You may have got too much attention, and been embarrassed. You may have felt the asanas were too complex.
Need to know: You may need to know if the yoga class is restricted to women. Or you may need to know whether the time and the schedule suits you.
As you can clearly see, we can bring up a reasonably long list of objections, simply by using the three categories of ‘perceptions, past experiences and need to know’.
Provided of course, the product or service already exists.
But what if the product, service or idea doesn’t already exist?
Or what if the customer hasn’t had the chance to try out the product/service? What then?
But is your product, service or idea really brand new?
In many cases, it’s a massive improvement over what’s available in the marketplace, but there are still going to be perceptions and past experiences.
So if someone were to start up a ‘Yoga on Ice’ tomorrow, the customer would still need the reference point of yoga. If the customer hadn’t run into the concept of yoga, you can still draw up a reference point of exercise, and how yoga is a form of exercise.
So no product, service or idea exists by itself. To explain a ‘new’ product, service or idea, you have to reference it to something that already exists. And as soon as you bring up something that already exists, you automatically bring in the perceptions, past experiences and the need to know.
In fact, if a product/service is too far ahead of its time, it’s bound to fail.
Take parachutes for instance. The famous inventor/artist, Leonardo da Vinci, conceived an early version of a parachute hundreds of years before planes took to the air. The parachute was just too far ahead of its time, and hence Leonardo could logically defuse almost every objection, and still never be able to sell his idea to the public.
The buyer looks at your product or service and tries to find objections that are related to his/her own situation. The more you understand the objections, the more you can bring up the exact issues that most customers consider when buying into a product or service.
Which is why your product/service needs to build on other products/services in the market. And of course, when you build on existing products/services, you get similar ‘perceptions’ and ‘past experiences’ of those other products/services—and then some!
And here’s how you can get a list of objections.
By sitting down and brainstorming all the possible objections within your sales force/staff. Or you can actually ask your customers/potential customers. The more you know, the more you’re able to defuse objections and enable customers to buy products/services from you.
So let’s vamoose back to our two recurring examples from the previous chapters and build on those examples.
Example 1: Website strategy workshop
Example 2: An allergy clinic
Website strategy workshop
Target Profile: Howard R.
Problem: How do I grow my internet business, without compromising on my ethics?
Solution: Here’s how to create a website strategy that’s ethical, yet extremely profitable.
Objections:
- Not sure if I have time to implement more information
- Travel always takes time and energy
- I’ve just got myself a project manager which leaves me with fewer discretionary dollars
- Not sure if there’s an overlap of information from other courses
- I don’t need more tactics. What I need is a strategy.
As you can see, we’ve got the problem, solution and target profile. And we’ve added the objections. If you do your target profiling exercise well, you’ll get most—if not all—your objections from the person you choose to be your target profile. Now that we have Howard’s objections, we can set about making sure we defuse those objections. The defusing of the objections is not a persuasion exercise. It’s just a matter of explaining why his objections are not valid.
In effect once you’ve collated the objections, your next step is to highlight these objections in your marketing material or presentation. And then systematically defuse one objection after another.
An allergy clinic
Target Profile: Tricia M.
Problem: How do I get rid of my allergic reaction to wine?
Solution: Here’s how you can get rid of the allergic reaction in less than 24 hours (and without any pills or medication whatsoever).
Objections:
- I’ve tried these anti-allergy clinics before and it didn’t work for me
- The treatment seems to be quite expensive
- Will I have to go for several treatments on a recurring basis?
- What if the treatment doesn’t work for me?
- How do I know that the person treating me is qualified?
Once again in Tricia’s case, we can clearly see that despite the discomfort of the allergy, she’s not completely convinced that the allergy clinic is the best solution. These objections come from past experiences of having tried to get rid of the allergy and not succeeding. And of course, the need to know factor. She needs to know if she’s dealing with a qualified professional, or if there’s a guarantee if the treatment doesn’t work as advertised.
It’s important to note that in most instances, the customer is keen to buy into the idea, service or product. Yet, they tend to hesitate. This hesitation is natural, and it’s important that you answer the objections in great detail and never rush a customer through.
A rushed customer is a confused customer.
When pressurised, they may buy into your product, service or idea, but later regret their decision. This regret is one of the reasons why they return products, or ask for their money back. Even in situations where they don’t ask for an exchange or a refund, they remember the experience of being rushed. And a rushed customer’s brain embeds a memory of the pressure, and becomes hesitant to come back in future to buy more from you.
Your short term gain, leads to a long term loss.
The process of bringing up and defusing objections is a vital part of getting the customer calm and relaxed. It’s when you present the objections and defuse them one by one, that you allow the customer to go ahead with their decision-making process. The pressure hasn’t gone away. There’s still a decision to be made by the customer. But the pressure isn’t coming from the
uncertainty. The pressure switches to the customer, because now they’re headed into a zone, where they’re close to making a commitment.
And it’s at this point, they start looking around for proof. They’ve listened carefully to what you have to say, but now want third-party proof. They want to hear, read or see instances where other customers went through the same decision-making process. And how other customers benefited from the commitment.
Your customers are looking for the ‘testimonial bag’.
And here’s what you need to pay close attention to: objections are the flip side of testimonials. I’ll say it again. The objections form ‘one side of the coin’, and the testimonials are the ‘other side of the coin.’
But why is this relationship between objections and testimonials so important to understand? You’ll know in a short while, as we pick up Bag No. 5 from the conveyor belt.
Summary: The Objections
The Objection is a big signal that the customer is interested. Disinterested customers don’t object, or ask questions. They simply walk away. It’s when customers are interested, that they feel the risk, that they start asking questions and objecting.
Most of us hate when customers bring up objections. We treat objections like something we could do without. Yet, it’s important to avoid hiding the objections. Instead of hiding objections, it’s important to bring up the objections. When you do bring them up, you’ll see the customer nodding in agreement.
It’s not enough to just bring up the objections, of course. It’s pretty important to defuse the objections. And you defuse objections by coming up with a simple, logical answer for the likely objection. Every objection can be easily answered, provided you’re prepared in advance. The worst thing that can happen, is that a client brings up an objection, e.g. your price is too high, and you sit there wondering what to say.[8]
Objections can quite easily be split up into three main categories: perceptions, past experiences and need to know.
Most of your existing customers as well as new customers will happily assist you in coming up with your list of objections—and often tell you how they’d want the objection dealt with as well.
Objections and testimonials go hand in hand. They’re intrinsically linked to each other. Objections are one side of the coin. And testimonials are the other side. Understanding the objections, leads to an understanding of what kind of testimonials you need to have in your message.
Bag 5: The Testimonials
You’ve seen résumés haven’t you?
And what’s common with all the résumés on the planet? Yup, they’re all created to make the candidate look wonderful. Yet what’s the first thing a company does when you present them with a résumé?
Most testimonials are made of sugar and spice, and everything nice. Which makes them not-so-reliable, because there are always two sides to a story.
They check the résumé details, don’t they?
They go back and do some digging, and the smarter the company, and the more important the job, the more the company digs.
So you have to ask yourself: Why does the company check back on the résumé? And the obvious answer is: The company checks back, because they want to see the complete picture. They don’t want the one-sided résumé view.
And testimonials are like résumés: One-sided.
Most testimonials resemble résumés: They’re all sugary. No matter where you look, testimonials are stuffed with wonderful adjectives, and powerful verbs. Every testimonial seems to talk about the ‘magnificent, outstanding, and amazing’ qualities of the product or service.
And after you’ve read a couple of those icky-sweet testimonials, you feel like you’ve had quite enough. If you had a big dose of wonderful testimonials, you start feeling a little sick.
And there’s a reason why.
You’re getting a massive overdose of ‘sugar’. Those testimonials are so sucrose-laden that there’s no way on earth that you’re going to believe in them.
So what would it take to make a testimonial believable?
Just like a résumé needs both sides of the picture, so does a testimonial.
When we’re considering a purchase, we feel out of our depth. We feel we somehow need some reassurance. And testimonials, sugary as they are, reassure us somewhat. But what if you had a more believable testimonial? A testimonial that not only shows us the ‘after’ scenario, but reveals the ‘before’ as well. A testimonial with the complete picture.
Presenting the ‘reverse testimonial!’
So what’s a reverse testimonial? A reverse testimonial is simply a testimonial that starts off in reverse. All testimonials start off with the praise, and continue with the praise of a product/service.
A reverse testimonial talks about doubt. It starts with the skepticism first. It describes the fear or uncertainty racing through the customer’s mind at the point of purchase.
A reverse testimonial works because it speaks to us, in the way we speak to each other. When we’re recommending a restaurant, or a movie to a friend or a colleague, we intrinsically lace our recommendations with doubt.
We say things like: “You know that seedy-looking restaurant, and how you don’t really feel like going inside? They’ve got the most amazing food.” Or we say things like: “You know that fancy looking restaurant that you think may be over-priced? Well we went there last night, and we had the most delicious food, and the bill was far, far less than we expected.”
We tend to coat our testimony with at least a little bit of doubt.
And when a testimonial highlights these doubts first—yes first—they make the testimonial real. And believable. They give the testimonial power and depth. And make it less like a bunch of words strung together, and more like a story. And stories don’t just fall into place. Stories have to be constructed.
So while you’ve probably got quite a few testimonials from your customers in the past, you’ve probably never ‘constructed’ a testimonial before. So instead of ‘getting a testimonial’, it’s important to ‘construct a testimonial’ instead.
So what does ‘construction of a testimonial’ mean?
It doesn’t mean fabrication. It doesn’t mean you’re going to make up some fake testimonials. Construction means you’re using structure to get your testimonial. When you use structure, you don’t get random testimonials, but instead get testimonials that are specific and story-like.
You don’t want to ‘get’ a testimonial. You want to have a plan, so you can ‘construct’ the testimonial in a systematic manner instead.
But how on earth are you going to create testimonials that have specific details and read like stories? In the past, you’ve tried to get testimonials from clients, but it always seems like they’re procrastinating.
The reason why clients promise to write you a testimonial and don’t do so, is because they’re lost for words.
They don’t have specific parameters, and so when they sit down to write, they stare at a blank screen. And then they either write something that’s kinda boring, sugary, or instead they just put off the writing for another day.
And there’s a second reason too. Often, we ask for testimonials days, weeks, sometimes even months after the client has made the purchase. This time-delay makes it harder for a client to recall facts and results.
We have to make it easier for a client to give us a testimonial. And easily the best way to get a pretty detailed testimonial, is to ask six core questions.
There are six questions you need to ask to get outstanding reverse testimonials. Not only do you get great believable testimonials, but each testimonial is rich with emotion and detail.
The six questions you need to ask to get a powerful testimonial are:
1) What was the obstacle that would have prevented you from buying this product/service?
2) What did you find as a result of buying this product/service?
3) What specific feature did you like most about this product/service?
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4) What would be three other benefits about this product/service?
5) Would you recommend this product/service? If so, why?
6) Is there anything you’d like to add?
And here’s the explanation for each of those questions above:
1) What was the obstacle in your mind that would have prevented you from buying this product/service?
We ask this question because the customer always has a perception or an obstacle. No matter how ready the customer is to buy your product/service, there’s always a hitch. The hitch could be money, or time, or availability, or relevance—or a whole bunch of issues.
And when you ask this question, it brings out those issues. And it does something more. It gives you an insight into issues you may not have considered, because the client is now reaching into their memory to see what could have been the deal-breaker.
And there’s always an obstacle; always something you may not have considered. So when the customer brings up this obstacle, it presents an angle that’s unique, personal and dramatic.
2) What did you find as a result of buying this product/service?
This question is important, because it defuses that obstacle. When a client answers this question, they are clear about why the purchase was worth it, despite the obvious obstacles.