“The sale begins after the word “NO”- are you familiar with this phrase?

By the word “NO” we mean any excuse from the client that does not lead to the conclusion of a deal and sale. Many sales managers are confused by this word and the deal falls through. In this article you will find an 8-step algorithm for working with objections.

Refusal can be heard at different stages of negotiations with a client:

• at the opening (immediately after the greeting);
• during a product presentation;
• at closing (after the price has been announced).

For many, “NO” is a problem; for our company’s employees, it is a challenge.

Let's take a step-by-step look at how to close a deal after the word “NO” at the opening stage:

Opening:

The instructions below have helped to successfully complete more than one negotiation. Example: sales by phone in 11 minutes for a check of $145, payment was made within 20 minutes after the conversation.

If you were told “NO”, try working out the objection using this algorithm:

Stage 1. Establishing reality

Ask the question: “What do you mean?”; “What are you talking about?”, “What is “NO”?

You need to understand what the client means by “NO.”

Stage 2. Change of goal

If the purpose of the call was “to sell,” then change it to “find out the reason for the refusal and solve the client’s problem.” The purpose of the negotiations is everything. The path to achieving this goal must be flexible. Tell the client the purpose of the call and make sure that he heard and understood you.

Stage 3. Removing fear

Man by nature does not like to say “NO” - he does not like to refuse. Therefore, refusal at the discovery stage can be caused by fear: fear of a call, a stranger, an awkward situation, etc. To remove this fear, take the situation into your own hands and boldly continue negotiations. Put your interlocutor at ease by asking questions on abstract topics.

Stage 4. Switching

Switch the client out of denial: explain that you will discuss his refusal last, and now you need to get to know him and discuss the situation in detail.

Stage 5. Getting to know each other

You must clearly understand what worries the client now, what tasks he has, why he needed the product - what he was guided by when he left the request, what problems he encountered before your conversation. Identify solvency, pain and motivation. All this is needed to complete the transaction.

Stage 6. Analysis

Match the refusal to the client's goals and problems. At this stage, it is important to understand the reason that prompted you to say “NO” and, by comparing, decide which feature of the product can solve this problem. At this stage, do not rush to present the product until you are sure that you have found out everything you need. If there is not enough information, return to the questions again (see Stage 5. Getting to know each other).

Stage 7. Solving the problem

Present the product in a way that shows the customer how it easily solves their problem. And if you carried out all the previous stages correctly, then you will no longer encounter refusal. Because the solution to the client’s problem and problem will be in the foreground - now he is ready to buy this solution without unnecessary objections.

Stage 8. Compliment

If you have identified the true reason for the refusal, you can do a little more for the client than just solve the problem. Offer the client additional help from yourself: some advice, a recommendation for a related inexpensive product, or give a gift. But only in such a way that it really helps solve the detected problem.

Try to use this algorithm, and you will see for yourself that sales really start after the word “NO”.

How to get the most out of every client “NO”.

N never say: “Never...”

And yet the client did not buy...

Well, firstly, there is still no final “no” from the client. As long as the client is alive, there is a chance, provided that you did not spoil the matter with your violent reaction to his refusal, did not stress him beyond measure with your negative attitude towards the client’s “no,” etc. In other words, we maintained contact and good relations.

And secondly: working with client refusals is your chance to make your sales or your business better, stronger, more effective. All you need in this case is to analyze your work with this client, find out, remember what was done well and what was done wrong, what needs to be changed, corrected, added.

In the previous article we discussed, and I promised to tell you what to do if the client still says no.

As a rule, when a client says no, he himself is not very pleased. The person understands that his refusal causes negative emotions in the seller. He subconsciously fears that they will begin to persuade him, reproach him, try to convince him, challenge his choice, etc. Therefore, if we easily and respectfully recognize the client’s right to say “no,” then such behavior of the seller (very, it must be said, atypical for the realities of our market) will most likely be a pleasant surprise for the failed buyer. And in most cases, a person will willingly fulfill a small and easy request - at least as moral compensation for refusal. Again, provided that you did everything correctly.

I want to give you a well-proven step-by-step algorithm with scripts in case of a final client “no”.
Scripts can be used verbatim, but it is better to adapt them to a specific situation and a specific client, leaving the structure and key message, meaning.

Step 1: Agree with the client's choice and ask for feedback.

Client: “Everything is fine, but no, we accepted another offer” .
Salesman: “Ivan Ivanovich, I am very sorry that we were not able to cooperate now. And at the same time, I respect your choice. Your opinion as a sophisticated consumer is very important to me, and therefore, before we part, please answer one question: what could I improve in my work, what could our company improve in the product (service, service) so that next time our proposal was accepted? What could be added that is missing?”
Let me remind you once again that it is very important to maintain sincere and friendly intonations here! I know it's not easy, but try, it's worth it!

Step 2: Listen to customer feedback.

Even if the criticism is very unpleasant for us, even if we categorically disagree with it, it’s all the same: we listen and CAREFULLY RECORD everything that the client tells us. Once again I will emphasize EVERYTHING, and not just what is less unpleasant for us to listen to.

Step 3: THANK the client.

Not through gritted teeth, but warmly and sincerely. The man spent at least his time and mental effort to remember and formulate all this and gave us very useful information.

Step 4: Obtain formal permission from the client for further contacts.

Formal in the sense that we didn’t just decide that he didn’t seem to mind, since he didn’t kick us out rudely or hang up on us, but to get a clear and clear YES from the client to a request for further contacts.

Steps 3 and 4 can be implemented, for example, in the following script: (Let me remind you once again, it is better to adapt the phrases for yourself, or at least rehearse them many times so that they sound organic, so that they do not sound alien).

“Ivan Ivanovich, thank you very much for your opinion, it is really very important both for the company and for me personally. I will definitely convey what you said about our product (service) to our management and developers, and we will make every effort to improve our work. Will you allow me to keep you updated on these improvements?”

I know from myself that it is VERY difficult to refuse such a request. She doesn't oblige you to anything. And it seems like you will be involved in improvements... It is very difficult for a client to say “no” in such a situation.

Step 5 Mark dates on your calendar for your next contacts.

Next step Without giving yourself time to grieve about the failed deal, call your next client.

With absolute conviction (tested more than once by me and my participants), I can say that such work with client refusals significantly increases the likelihood of turning today’s client “no” into tomorrow’s YES.

Introduction

Let's start right away with examples.

Example 1

“And they asked Jesus to accuse Him: Is it possible to heal on the Sabbath? He said to them: Which of you, having one sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take it and pull it out? How much better is a man than a sheep! So, you can do good on the Sabbath” (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 12, verses 10-12).

Example 2

- Darling, you are still too young to go to the city alone. When you grow up a little, I will let you go to the cinema with your friends.
- Mom, why does Mom let Vasya go, but you don’t let me go?

Example 3

– Wonderful tour. Four-star hotel, two meals a day, excursions, vacation on the seaside and charter flight. And we have the best prices in the city.
- Yes, sure. But I visited your colleagues at agency X. The same trip there is one and a half times cheaper.

Example 4

- Dear, why do you receive a salary and don’t give me money for housekeeping? You do not trust me? My dad always gave my mom money.
- Darling, you don’t need anything. I buy everything I need. The man must have the money. It's always been like this in our family.

Four stories. What do they have in common? How are the biblical legend, a conversation between a mother and her son, a conversation between a travel agency agent and a client, and a conversation between newlyweds similar?
They are similar in that in each of the stories people have different opinions on the same issue.
A situation where a person expresses an opposing opinion about the subject or topic being discussed is called a situation of objection.
Objections can be expressed either in the form of a question or in a narrative form. Very often, an objection contains facts or information that your opponent believes and that directly or indirectly contradict or undermine your opinion.
The man who asked Jesus a question based his opinion on the ancient commandments and believed that it was impossible to work on the Sabbath. Jesus says the opposite, giving an example from life. In the second story, the boy’s mother thinks that her son is still small, although the boy himself considers himself old enough. He finds confirmation of this in the behavior of his friend Vasya’s mother. In the third story, the agent names the price for a travel package as optimal, based on his criteria. The client does not agree with this, since he has information about prices for similar trips from another agency. Newlyweds argue about who will manage money in their family. The basis of their dispute is different points of view on the roles of men and women in the family, based on observation of the family relationships of their parents.
How often do we encounter objections in our lives? Constantly. We are offended that loved ones do not like what we love (food, a way to relax, TV shows and movies, and so on). We get upset when our colleagues do not take our ideas seriously or simply do not understand the prospects for implementing the project we propose. We don’t like it when our grown-up children start arguing with us and “pumping up their rights.” We don't like it when someone has to repeat the same thing for the hundredth time. We get angry when a client cannot understand the benefits of purchasing our product or service. We try to prove that we are right and complain about the misunderstanding or even stupidity of those who do not share our point of view. And this happens at every step.
What to do about it? How to understand other people and make them understand us? How to convince others of our ideas? How to find a worthy answer to their objections in a timely manner?
This book is dedicated to working with objections in various life situations and contexts. I hope that you will find in it ideas both for working with objections in your business (in sales, in management, in working with colleagues and partners) and for building relationships with loved ones (spouses, children, friends, parents).
The structure of objections is the same. Only the form changes.

Chapter 1 How objections are born

Experiment

Dear reader! I suggest you start researching the issue not with boring definitions, but with an experiment. Do you agree? If yes, then let's start!

Experiment 1. Please take a notepad and interview at least 10–15 people from your environment. Your task is to ask just one question - “What do you imagine when I say “doggy”?” Do not be shy. Ask the person about the details of his vision. The more you learn, the more interesting it becomes. You can even write down your answers in a notepad so you don't forget who said what. After you have interviewed 10–20 people, compare the resulting images. What do different people see when you say the same word?
When I conduct this experiment to demonstrate at trainings, I get many different answers, sometimes funny. For example, when people hear the word “dog,” they imagine something like this:
♦ a small white dog, fluffy and cheerful;
♦ white lapdog with a pink bow;
♦ small black one with “protruding” (bulging) eyes;
♦ my handsome Doberman;
♦ huge “Caucasian”;
♦ small baby pink elastic band;
♦ a red shaggy dog ​​from our yard who plays with the children;
♦ my sister’s toy – a fluffy brown dog in a collar;
♦ rifle trigger;
♦ icon in the email address;
♦ little mongrel;
♦ white poodle of my friends.
I am sure that if you conduct the above experiment, you will get many answers similar to these. Interesting, isn't it?
The same word was spoken, but how many different images it brought to life! The question logically arises: why is this so and what does it give us?

How do people think

How do people think? I asked this question more than once during the training. Someone answers: “With my head.” And someone says: “With the help of the brain.” Someone answers: “Creatively, intensely, with the help of thoughts.” Hm! Doesn't really move forward. What is "thought"? Who saw her? What is it like to think with your head?
Let's spend experiment 2. Right now, while you are reading these lines, remember your morning today. What's happening? What if I ask you to remember how you spent last summer? What happens to you then?
I hope I am not mistaken if I say that, most likely, when you began to remember your morning today, before your inner gaze pictures surfaced what you saw in the morning (your room, toothbrush, breakfast on the table, bus or subway). Maybe you even heard some sounds or this morning's dialogues. Maybe you felt the warmth of a shower or the taste of a wonderful hot sandwich or oatmeal, tea or coffee. All this happened quickly and rapidly, but this did not stop you from remembering everything in full. I'm right? It is quite possible that the same thing happened with your memory of last summer. A kaleidoscope of pictures, sounds and sensations flashed through your head and you said to yourself, “Of course I remember summer.”
It is at this point that I would like to begin to introduce the theses that I will rely on throughout our conversation about objections.

Thesis 1. People think through images, sounds and sensations.

To remember something, people somehow reconstruct in their memory what that “something” looked, heard, or felt. To remember the taste of an orange, for example, people may first remember what an orange looks like and then reconstruct its taste in the mouth.
Try it now. Tasty? Or feel like you are petting a small fluffy kitten. How's the kitten? What colour is he? How does his soft fur feel?
The most interesting thing is that in reality you most likely don’t have any oranges or kittens right now. But you see them before your inner gaze, you feel them.

Thesis 2. Any word spoken or read evokes an image in us.

I will write: “The dog ran down the street.” Well, did you run? Which street? What breed of dog? What's the weather like and what time of year?
Do you think another reader will have the same image in this place as you? No!

Thesis 3. Everyone has their own “dog” in their head.

We are designed to think through images, sounds and sensations without even noticing it. It has become so familiar that it does not enter the field of vision of our consciousness. The hardest thing to see is what is familiar.
What do we do when we want to make repairs? We imagine (visually) our office or apartment as it is now, and then we begin to try on new wallpaper or new curtains to match this image. We look at our changed internal image and decide whether we like it or not. Someone can then depict it on paper so that it is clear to everyone what he wants. But many cannot do this. They explain everything to the workers “on their fingers”. And then there are so many disappointments when, having seen what happened, you realize that you just threw money away and now you either have to live “in this” or redo everything. It's a shame, isn't it?
What do we do when one of our loved ones is very late? The same. We begin to figure out what happened to them. And again we see pictures. Only now they are often in the form of films with internal dialogue, sounds and sensations. “Petka is late. It's a five minute walk from the school. He's been gone for half an hour. And there is a crossroads. What if he got hit by a car...” And we already see a car running over a child, we hear the screeching of brakes and screams. And the “cinema” started, the “cartoons” started. Hollywood is resting! Such horror films will not even be invented there.

Who is the creator and director of this film? And why give a child who is late in extracurricular activities a dressing down? “I could call. I'm worried! After all, he wasn’t the one who started your movie in your head. He didn't invent all these horrors. “But I thought that something happened to him,” you say. Have you thought about it? How? And again we return to the images, sounds, sensations and the internal films that we create from them.

Thesis 4. Internal pictures and images are combined in a person’s head into entire films. It is these films that are remembered as memories of what was said or read.

What are words

Let's return to the "dog". “Dog” is just a word, a combination of seven letters. But after someone says it, a picture, an image appears before our inner gaze. A word triggers internal images associated with this word in a person’s inner world.

Thesis 5. Words are “buttons”, a trigger that initiates the process of imagination.

The words cause a rapid change of pictures taken from the person’s personal experience. Behind each word, each person has multidimensional pictures from personal experience, which are encoded as filler for the given word.

Thesis 6. By listening to words and creating images, we we understand what the other person says, or what is written.

Words launch internal programs, our internal films. Listening to someone’s words, we “complete” the full picture of what happened. It’s not for nothing that great writers are said to have “colorful, figurative language.” Why? Because, reading the words that this man wrote, we plunge into the world that he creates with these words. And the more details, dialogues, nuances are described, the more alive and real the event described in the book seems to us. And we become immersed in these events, and forget about reality and even lose track of time. And then we move away from the story for a long time, maintaining a strange feeling that it was not the hero who survived all the events, but us. Let us recall an excerpt from A. S. Pushkin’s wonderful poem “Winter Morning”.

Frost and sun; wonderful day!
You are still dozing, dear friend -
It's time, beauty, wake up:
Open your closed eyes
Towards northern Aurora,
Be the star of the north!

There are only six lines, but so much is said. There are only six lines, and in front of us we already have a canvas depicting a small piece of the life of two people. Every word creates an image, a vision. And everyone saw their own beauty, and everyone imagined the situation, and everyone saw a winter morning from the window...
Now read another quote: “To approximately find the smallest absolute characteristic number № and the corresponding eigenfunctions of the Hermitian polar kernel TO(x, y) the Kellogg method of successive approximations is used" (textbook "Equations of Mathematical Physics"). What about the images? What did you understand from what was written?
Yes, of course, for a person passionate about a certain area of ​​applied mathematics, these words make sense. And I even admit that after reading them, drawings, graphs or equations will appear in his head and he will happily say: “Oh, cool!”
What if you are not a mathematician? You've probably come across books or articles in which each word individually is more or less understandable. But what is written there is generally impossible to understand. This is why this happens.

Thesis 7. When a word in our head is not associated with any images, we do not understand the meaning of what was said.

Remember a situation when you witnessed foreigners communicating with each other, or a situation when you witnessed communication between deaf and mute people who spoke to each other using sign language. Did you understand anything of what they said?
We do not understand a foreign language precisely because the spoken word does not evoke any pictures or images in us, does not evoke any sensations or sounds. We cannot connect this word with reality. For us, these are just empty and completely useless sounds or gestures. But people who pronounce these words understand each other, laugh at jokes that are inaccessible to us and perceive information that is incomprehensible to us. The thing is that they associate some images and sensations with these sounds or gestures. But we don’t.
And then the following thesis can be considered one of the main ones.

Thesis 8. To understand another person, you need to know what images and pictures this or that word or phrase evokes in his imagination.

And it is also very important to remember and understand that when you communicate with someone, the process of “understanding”, the process of creating images, occurs simultaneously in your head and in the head of your interlocutor. And, unfortunately or fortunately, these images are completely non-identical. Everyone has their own “dog”. Everyone has their own illusions.

- Oh, doctor, my husband scares me!
- Yes, I understand. He probably drinks, swears and runs after you around the house with a knife.
- No, doctor, he scares me because his heart often hurts now.

Probably, such dialogues are not uncommon. For example, I am always amazed by the fact that with such different perceptions of reality and with different ideas about the world, we still manage to somehow understand each other and agree on something.
By the way, a lot of money is paid in the world to ensure that people understand words in the same way. What is a promoted brand? It is a brand name that evokes the same association in all people. Or, in other words, a brand is a word or phrase that evokes the same internal image (perhaps accompanied by sounds and sensations) in all people who hear it. For example, Coca-Cola. Well, did a bottle of drink appear with slanted letters on the label? Or maybe it's better Marlboro. Prairies, galloping horses, fire... Romance!
And finally, two more points.

Thesis 9. The most important thing in working with objections is to understand that what we imagined in our imagination when we hear an objection from our opponent is not equal to the figurative idea that was in his head when he said it.

Thus, the following conclusion suggests itself.

Thesis 10. When working with objections, it is important to study the images of your opponent, to work with his ideas, and not with your own illusions about this.

Three Processes for Creating a Subjective Map of Reality

Now stop beating around the bush. Let's figure out how mutual misunderstandings and objections arise.
To find answers to these questions, we will have to plunge a little into the theory of creating “Human Reality Maps”.
There are three processes by which a person creates a space of internal representations:
1) generalization;
2) omission;
3) distortion.

Generalization

Generalization is a wonderful process. Without it, we would not be able to navigate this world so well. Every time we would need to discover the world anew and every day look for an answer, for example, to the question: “Who is this guy walking down the street on four legs, with a tail and saying “woof-woof”?” Without the process of generalization, we would not be able to remember or understand anything. We would not be able to structure our experience and learn from our mistakes.
We generalize all the time. We touched fire a couple of times in childhood, and now we have remembered for the rest of our lives that fire is danger. Three subtraction examples with apples, bricks and water in a pool, solved by us in a mathematics lesson - and now we already know how to solve similar problems with pears, houses, kittens, tons of iron, barrels of oil, thousands of dollars, and so on. For all this, thanks to the process of generalization.
True, there is a second side to the coin. If something happens 2-3 times in a row, then people tend to consider what is happening as a pattern and begin to extend their experience to all other cases of life, often without any reason for this. And this is also a generalization.
Two or three clients said “no,” and then the generalization comes: “I don’t know how to sell. I won’t succeed.”
Two or three “life partners” who met on our way betrayed us - and then a new generalization: “They are all like that!” And if, at this sad moment, a friend or girlfriend suddenly appears and says “yes, it’s the same with me!” – then after this our confidence becomes unshakable.
The created belief becomes an unconscious filter through which we begin to look at the world and people of the opposite sex and see only what confirms our generalization. Unfortunately, this is fraught with further disappointments in life.
Conclusion. Generalizations help us learn quickly. Generalizations can limit our world.

Omissions

The task of every salesperson, no matter how trivial it may sound, is to sell. After all, selling is what provides income. Therefore, customer refusals cause quite a lot of emotion. And the question arises - why does the buyer say no? Today we will try to answer this burning question.

Long history

I recently remembered an incident. I was then working as a customer service specialist at a communications company. And one evening a man came to the office. He wanted to extend the Internet option service. The option was old and not very profitable. And then I offered to connect a new, more profitable one. Such a connection, it seemed to me, would be beneficial to the client and it would be beneficial to me - connecting new ones would be rewarded with bonuses. And I offered what seemed to me an advantageous offer.
But the point is that a lot seemed to me. And the man refused. I didn’t quite understand why there was a refusal - why the client said no. The client himself explained the reason to me - it turned out that although the Internet option was old and not profitable for everyday use, the client’s company used it as a backup if the main server failed, which happened very rarely. And the features of the old Internet option made it the most profitable for rare applications.

To understand why a buyer says no, you need to understand what exactly makes the buyer think about buying in the first place. It's primarily about needs. And the main points of the sales process.

Identifying needs

The first point is identifying needs. A big and common mistake is always neglecting this point. The seller can start talking about the benefits right from the start:
“This is the feature that makes this thing very profitable.”
Although the client did not say that he needed something profitable. And such words say too much about products. And accordingly, such an approach with a high degree of probability may not find feedback from the point of view of the buyer’s benefits.
Or the seller can simply start showing off the products:
“Here we have a new product. And this copy has been very popular lately."
And in all cases, the seller either relies on his own ideas, or on possibly successful experience of previous sales and the preferences of past buyers.

The buyer may very well not be interested in the overall benefits - profitable, economical, convenient, and so on. But every buyer has something that made him think about buying - his needs.
If we take the example given at the beginning of the article as an illustration. The man needed an Internet option, payment for which was made only upon use. Moreover, a very small amount of traffic was required. The client did not need a profitable Internet option in terms of payment; the client did not need a convenient service. He needed a pay-as-you-go option with low traffic. And this was his benefit.
There may be different benefits for each individual buyer. Moreover, these benefits can be quite specific. And general words about benefits or convenience for the buyer may not mean anything.
As for the methodology itself, everything is simple - before offering anything, you should ask questions about the benefits. After all, questions are the most effective way to identify buyer needs.

Presentation based on benefit language.

It would be a mistake to make assumptions. And it’s worth asking enough questions to identify needs to understand the buyer’s benefits. Naturally, without forgetting about moderation.
Be that as it may, after the first point we know the client's needs. Now all that remains is to make a presentation based on the benefits language. Simply put, if we give the buyer what he needs, then the sale itself is in our pocket.
For example, if we sell cars. We can show the buyer a status car, with a powerful engine and luxurious interior trim. but if our buyer is a family man with many children, then our presentation may become empty. But if we offer our buyer a safe car with a spacious interior for his large family, then this will find a greater response.

Elena Samsonova

If the buyer says no

Introduction

Let's start right away with examples.

Example 1

“And they asked Jesus to accuse Him: Is it possible to heal on the Sabbath? He said to them: Which of you, having one sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take it and pull it out? How much better is a man than a sheep! So, you can do good on the Sabbath” (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 12, verses 10-12).

Example 2

- Darling, you are still too young to go to the city alone. When you grow up a little, I will let you go to the cinema with your friends.

- Mom, why does Mom let Vasya go, but you don’t let me go?

Example 3

– Wonderful tour. Four-star hotel, two meals a day, excursions, vacation on the seaside and charter flight. And we have the best prices in the city.

- Yes, sure. But I visited your colleagues at agency X. The same trip there is one and a half times cheaper.

Example 4

- Dear, why do you receive a salary and don’t give me money for housekeeping? You do not trust me? My dad always gave my mom money.

- Darling, you don’t need anything. I buy everything I need. The man must have the money. It's always been like this in our family.

Four stories. What do they have in common? How are the biblical legend, a conversation between a mother and her son, a conversation between a travel agency agent and a client, and a conversation between newlyweds similar?

They are similar in that in each of the stories people have different opinions on the same issue.

A situation where a person expresses an opposing opinion about the subject or topic being discussed is called a situation of objection.

Objections can be expressed either in the form of a question or in a narrative form. Very often, an objection contains facts or information that your opponent believes and that directly or indirectly contradict or undermine your opinion.

The man who asked Jesus a question based his opinion on the ancient commandments and believed that it was impossible to work on the Sabbath. Jesus says the opposite, giving an example from life. In the second story, the boy’s mother thinks that her son is still small, although the boy himself considers himself old enough. He finds confirmation of this in the behavior of his friend Vasya’s mother. In the third story, the agent names the price for a travel package as optimal, based on his criteria. The client does not agree with this, since he has information about prices for similar trips from another agency. Newlyweds argue about who will manage money in their family. The basis of their dispute is different points of view on the roles of men and women in the family, based on observation of the family relationships of their parents.

How often do we encounter objections in our lives? Constantly. We are offended that loved ones do not like what we love (food, a way to relax, TV shows and movies, and so on). We get upset when our colleagues do not take our ideas seriously or simply do not understand the prospects for implementing the project we propose. We don’t like it when our grown-up children start arguing with us and “pumping up their rights.” We don't like it when someone has to repeat the same thing for the hundredth time. We get angry when a client cannot understand the benefits of purchasing our product or service. We try to prove that we are right and complain about the misunderstanding or even stupidity of those who do not share our point of view. And this happens at every step.

What to do about it? How to understand other people and make them understand us? How to convince others of our ideas? How to find a worthy answer to their objections in a timely manner?

This book is dedicated to working with objections in various life situations and contexts. I hope that you will find in it ideas both for working with objections in your business (in sales, in management, in working with colleagues and partners) and for building relationships with loved ones (spouses, children, friends, parents).

The structure of objections is the same. Only the form changes.

Chapter 1 How objections are born

Experiment

Dear reader! I suggest you start researching the issue not with boring definitions, but with an experiment. Do you agree? If yes, then let's start!

Experiment 1. Please take a notepad and interview at least 10–15 people from your environment. Your task is to ask just one question - “What do you imagine when I say “doggy”?” Do not be shy. Ask the person about the details of his vision. The more you learn, the more interesting it becomes. You can even write down your answers in a notepad so you don't forget who said what. After you have interviewed 10–20 people, compare the resulting images. What do different people see when you say the same word?

When I conduct this experiment to demonstrate at trainings, I get many different answers, sometimes funny. For example, when people hear the word “dog,” they imagine something like this:

¦ a small white dog, fluffy and cheerful;

¦ white lapdog with a pink bow;

¦ small black one with “protruding” (bulging) eyes;

¦ my handsome Doberman;

¦ huge “Caucasian”;

¦ small baby pink elastic band;

¦ a red shaggy dog ​​from our yard who plays with children;

¦ my sister’s toy – a fluffy, brown dog in a collar;

¦ rifle trigger;

¦ icon in the email address;

¦ little mongrel;

¦ a white poodle of my friends.

I am sure that if you conduct the above experiment, you will get many answers similar to these. Interesting, isn't it?

The same word was spoken, but how many different images it brought to life! The question logically arises: why is this so and what does it give us?

How do people think

How do people think? I asked this question more than once during the training. Someone answers: “With my head.” And someone says: “With the help of the brain.” Someone answers: “Creatively, intensely, with the help of thoughts.” Hm! Doesn't really move forward. What is "thought"? Who saw her? What is it like to think with your head?

Let's spend experiment 2. Right now, while you are reading these lines, remember your morning today. What's happening? What if I ask you to remember how you spent last summer? What happens to you then?

I hope I’m not mistaken if I say that, most likely, when you began to remember your morning this morning, pictures of what you saw in the morning (your room, a toothbrush, breakfast on the table, a bus or subway) popped up before your mind’s eye. Maybe you even heard some sounds or dialogue from this morning. Maybe you felt the warmth of a shower or the taste of a wonderful hot sandwich or oatmeal, tea or coffee. All this happened quickly and rapidly, but this did not stop you from remembering everything in full. I'm right? It is quite possible that the same thing happened with your memory of last summer. A kaleidoscope of sights, sounds and sensations flashed through your head and you said to yourself, “Of course I remember summer.”