You've just given what has to be your greatest sales presentation ever. Your opening line cut right through your customer's resistance, you schmoozed to the point that he has promised to make a provision for you in his will, you asked all the right questions at the right time, then went on to give a showtime demonstration of an item that couldn't have satisfied his needs better if it were custom-made. There is no reason in the world why this customer shouldn't buy-right here, right now. You can hardly believe your ears when out of your customer's mouth comes one of these old dreaded lines:

I'll be back. I want to shop around. Can you hold this for me? I'm not sure; I really should bring my wife in with me.

As you stare in disbelief you wonder what you did wrong. In actuality, up to this point, you may have done everything right. You'll hear these types of objections from customers when they feel uncomfortable or embarrassed about telling you the real reasons for their objection.

Work with the Customer

Some aggressive salespeople think that overcoming customer objections means arguing with customers or wearing them down until they buy. Some sales trainers even suggest you ignore objections and continue closing. On the other side of the coin, many salespeople are so concerned about sounding pushy that the idea of trying to uncover objections, much less attempting to handle them, is out of the question.

Successfully overcoming objections depends almost entirely on the salesperson's ability to work with the customer. It means being able to empathize with the customer's feelings-the ability to put yourself in their shoes. It also means avoiding an "us versus them" situation-the store versus the customer.

The Smoke-out

During probing, you determined your customer's personal reasons for wanting the item: it's to be given as a gift, they've always wanted one, their neighbor has one, etc. You've used all this information when you presented Features-Advantages-Benefits-Grabbers (the features, advantages and benefits of an item followed by a question to gain the customer's agreement), and you were careful to match the merchandise you chose to demonstrate to the customer's needs.

Now comes the moment of truth-you ask for the sale and unless the customer says yes, you have to do some detective work to find out what's bothering them. You have to find out if the features you demonstrated-the ones that they said they wanted-were really what they were after. To do this, you have to review the features of the item that your customer said were important and encourage your customer into letting you smoke out the truth.

Suppose you are in the furniture business and are showing a leather chair to a customer. Based on the information, the customer gave you during probing, you chose to focus on two features of the chair and point out the benefits of each during your demonstration. The first is that the style is traditional and would look great with everything in her house. The second is that the cushions are filled with 100% pure polyurethane foam, which makes the chair incredibly comfortable. The following dialogue illustrates how you can smoke-out the customer's true objection:

Trial Close Salesperson: How about this perfectly matched ottoman to rest your feet on while you relax in your new chair?

Objection Customer: You know, I really need to think about it for a while.

Agreement and Grabber Salesperson: I can really understand you wanting to think about it. When you select a beautiful piece of furniture for your home, you want to make sure you're making the right decision, don't you?

Response Customer: Yes, I sure do.

Permission to ask a question Salesperson: May I ask you a question? Customer: Sure.

Smoke-out Question Salesperson: Do you like the chair?

Customer: It's lovely.

Support Salesperson: Yes, it's gorgeous, isn't it? Finding a chair that's as comfortable as this one is very special.

Smoke-out Question Salesperson: Let me ask you this, how did you feel about the traditional style?

Answer Customer: Oh, I think it'll fit right in.

Support Salesperson: I think so, too-based on what you told me about the other furniture in your home, I thought this would be a perfect match.

Smoke-out Question Salesperson: How did you feel about the cushions?

Answer Customer: Well, actually, what did you say they were made of again?

There it is at last! The objection never was that she wanted to think it over. As we re-examined the benefits, we found out what was really bothering her. This is a typical customer reaction; for some reason, she couldn't speak truthfully about the real issue on her mind until you sought it out. However, after having identified the material used to fill the cushions as a source of the customer's objection, you can go on to ask follow-up questions to overcome or resolve the objection by reassuring her of the benefits of that type of cushion filling.

When dealing with high-ticket items, many salespeople have a tendency to offer layaway and credit plans during this stage of overcoming objections. Unless you are certain that the problem is budget, it is premature to bring up alternate payment methods at this point. If your customers aren't happy with the item, it won't matter that your price on it is the best in town, or that it's the last one in stock, or that they can pay for it in installments. Take a look at how things could have gone wrong in the last example:

Trial Close: How about this perfectly matched ottoman to put your feet on while you relax in your new chair?

Objection: You know, I really think I should think about it for a while.

Salesperson: Well, why don't you go ahead and put it on layaway so you make sure you can get it? This floor model is the last one we have in stock.

Customer: Oh, I don't think so. I'll be able to make a decision by tomorrow morning. I really just have to sleep on it.

And off she goes to another store. If your customer objects to a particular feature of the item you are demonstrating, it is often the result of poor communication during the probing process. For example, your customer's objection might be that they don't like the shape of the stone in a ring or the carpet isn't the right color or the shoes aren't formal enough for what they had in mind. If you do your job right during probing, you won't have to waste time and energy showing merchandise that does not match your customer's needs.

Handling your customer's objections is an essential part of the sales process. The only way you can successfully overcome your customers' objections is by first finding out what they are. The smoke-out technique will help you to better determine your customer's true objection. Follow the road map to smoking out objections, and watch how many stalls turn into sales!