When selling anything, especially when face to face, objections and rejections can come in many forms. The skills of the salesman or saleswoman come into their own when trying to turn around declining situations. You need to think about many factors when overcoming customer objections such as their personal position, work situation, and if they are not letting on the reality of their situation.
Objections in sales can appear in personal sales and business sales of course. Personal sales are a lot more difficult because if you are selling on a personal level or to a household, especially with high ticket products, you really will have to consider their personal finances and living needs.
Where overcoming objections sales really comes into its own is in business-to-business sales. This is where you can navigate the client’s thought process and really think about what their motivations and limitations are. It’s like a game of mental chess, where you need to work out, very quickly, what the client’s budget constraints are, how adept they are in regard to the subject matter, and how far you can push the sale in order to overcome objections.
Of course, the main objection will always be price. This is an interesting fact because dropping price is not always a positive thing in anyone’s eyes, as it can devalue what you are selling and also lets on that you don’t really care about the product. Dropping the price should be the last line of defense, and expert product knowledge will help you greatly to promote the benefits of the product and seal a full-price deal.
But objection in sales does not always come from price, it can come from any angle. Perhaps the package is not what the client needs or perhaps the product you are selling is too complicated for the client to understand. Guiding the potential client through any part of the product is crucial to building trust and competence, so knowing your product and any variations of it are paramount, in order to present your client with the best solutions.
Ultimately, you have to look at your sale not just on a monetary basis, but to offer a solution to a problem the client has, work around this problem, and offer the best-tailored package depending on the client’s requirements, budget-wise or otherwise. When you think beyond the bottom line, it’s a great mentality to have when you need to know how to overcome objections in sales.
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Here are some sales techniques for overcoming objections:
“We don’t have the budget”
The most common objection you will face. A quick reaction to dropping the price is not always the best decision, it can also make your product look non-valuable. Instead, find interesting ways to tell your customer about the product’s uniqueness and how it can offer solutions to a customer’s situation.
“I need to speak to X”
This may seem like the end of the line but be creative and try not to finish by agreeing to wait for a random phone call. Why not ask to set up a future meeting with the decision-maker? You could follow up with more marketing materials. Ask for the decision-makers contact details and start communication while you’re with your present client.
“I’m happy with my current situation”
Use this to your advantage and bring up how your product can improve the client’s situation. Case studies of your product working and benefiting in the real world will aid you to change the client’s mind. Fear of change can also come into this, so good examples of how your product can bring positive change to your client’s company can really turn the tide in a sale.
“I need to think about it”
This is of course a common sales objection. When dealing with this, many factors come into play including; a client’s needs, the timing of the product deployment, trust in you, product capabilities. The client needs to see the benefits your product will bring while being able to trust you enough that you can implement the product with no problems or stress. Selling the certainty of a positive outcome and the benefits of the product will really help to solidify the decision in your client’s mind
“We’re too busy to take this on right now.”
This can be a tricky outcome, so you must make a convincing last-minute pitch giving them reasons why they should buy right now. You also need to make sure they will regret missing the opportunity to get the best deal. However, also listen to the client’s situation. If it is just a business problem that has arisen, ask to call back at a better time, or set a specific meeting time for the near future.
Overall, objections in sales will always happen and how to overcome objections in sales, is a key skill that needs to be honed by any serious salesman or saleswoman. You will not succeed all of the time but with the right thought process, restraint and trustworthiness you’re much more likely to close a sale, more often.
Live Chat Best Practices – What is live chat and how to use it.
What is live chat?
Customer service live chat is an instant messaging tool that attaches to any part of a website. This service allows any visitor to engage with your website instantly via a chatbox platform. Chat services can be staffed by humans, AI, or be automation and script-based. This service enables valuable potential and returning customers the chance to instantly ask questions, ask for help with the website or find important information on products or services.
With live chat, you can answer customer queries instantly and in real-time, which gives customers the instant support they are looking for. You can also automate live chats to point customers towards FAQ pages or answer basic queries without the need to speak to anyone. No matter what approach you take, your customers will receive a response a lot faster than any usual communication channels, such as phone waiting lines, emails, or going into a store. Response times using previous methods can take hours, days, or even fail altogether. For best results, don’t forget to implement chat best practices throughout your new or existing chat services.
So why live chat?
Live chats are becoming increasingly deployed across many different types of websites. From eCommerce web stores to banks, live chat, both automated/AI and human staff, is becoming the new frontline of customer service.
This relatively new and constantly developing technology can be used to augment your existing customer service team or if you are a new and smaller business, replace it entirely. Human-operated live chats are now the most direct, quickest, and most engaging way to help your customers and deliver them a better overall brand experience.
To highlight live chat’s new importance, Marketing Insider Group tells us that “80% of U.S. customers would pay more for a product or service to ensure a superior customer experience” which is a really useful statistic when considering return on investment.
Along with this, Forrester states that “30% of customers expect live chat on your website” which shows that customers really value the experience that lives chats bring, so offers a sure-fire way to increase customer satisfaction and retention, if you don’t have a live chat system employed already.
How to live chat?
Live chat is a great way to convert page views into leads. Instant live chats popping up when a new visitor reaches a site is becoming all too familiar for web users and it provides instant engagement, drawing potential customers into your website and onto your products.
Emarketer tells us that “63% of customers were more likely to return to a website that offers live chat” showing how important live chat best practices are to customers’ experience, purchasing journey and ultimately a business’ revenue stream.
What about chat best practices?
Identify the purpose of your live chat or chatbot and how will it function. Maybe you need a general customer service chat, or maybe you want to drive visitors to a sales team. No matter the goals of your live chat, if it has a clear path it wants to lead customers down, it will make for a much more user-friendly and satisfying experience.
Make sure to set the chatbot availability to its actual availability. Don’t leave the chatbot running when there is no one to attend it. This can frustrate customers especially if they are looking to speak to a human. Some ways to get around this are:
Don’t hide the live chat completely, offer an away message with a call-back function or times when the chatbot will be operational.
Display the average reply time
Only use live chat if there is a human behind it and able to keep on top of requests, AI or automated chat will not always fill a customer’s needs.
One of the most important chats best practices is to give the user the option to speak to a human. There are always some issues that will not be able to be solved by AI or automated bots, and for a customer to go through endless static options only to find their issue isn’t solved, will greatly reduce customer satisfaction. Have a look at some live chat canned responses examples to see the difference.
Use human elements throughout the chat. Whether your chat is fully staffed or completely automated use a real photo for the profile picture, use real names for the chat staff and add direct contact information if they receive an offline message.
These are all great examples of how to live chat with chat best practices.
In conclusion
Live chat services are a new, smart and rapid way to increase customer engagement on any site. Live chats can drive sales, solve customer problems and even alleviate the pressure on your existing customer service teams. Live chat services can be deployed in many ways and the smarter the integration, the more the chats can work for you and your business’s future.
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