Objection Handling

Considering Objections before they arise

You need to handle objections WITHIN your ad, not wait until people start leaving negative comments on them.

So you need to be thinking about the main reason why someone wouldn’t buy your product – and you need to be honest with yourself. How you handle this needs to be subtle, presenting them as ‘features’ rather than objection handling (there are some examples of how we do this at the bottom of this lesson)

Common objections and how to handle them

  • Too Expensive – if your pricing is competitive, then point this out – but if you know you are more expensive than other people, explain why. Maybe in your salon, they get a glass of wine with their treatment. Maybe you are Award-winning. Maybe you have a lot more experience than anyone else. Maybe your product comes with a 5 year warranty instead of 1/2 years. Maybe you are a travel agent, and yes they could book direct but if they have issues in resort they will have nobody to contact.

  • Another ‘guru’ – if you sell coaching or marketing training you are likely to get comments on your ads that say ‘Not another guru’ so it’s important that your credibility shines through. If you are relying on credibility, it is important that you are also working on your wider marketing efforts – is your Linked In up to date? Does your website have your contact details, company reg, address etc? Do you have any recognised qualifications? If I google you, will I find evidence of your achievements?

    If you are relying on being perceived as an authority in a certain subject, then it is vital that your authority can be independently checked. Even with the best ads in the world, nobody is going to hand over cash to be trained in something by a person that cannot demonstrate why they are qualified to give that advice.

  • There’s a free option I could take instead – there are often free or low cost options that people may wish to take. They will buy their own gel nail kit and do them at home. They will learn from Youtube. Someone on PeoplePerHour can do it in India for ten quid. They will buy a packet of hair dye for a fiver. You all know the reasons why someone shouldn’t do this, and what will probably happen if they do – so tell them!

  • Your product is sold by lots of people – if you are an E-commerce business selling items that are also sold by lots of other people, and the item is identical regardless of who you buy from (think, branded beauty products, games consoles, other branded items like iPhones etc) then you can find yourself competing on price.  People go into a store, see what they like, then search Google – look through Google Shopping results or even Amazon / eBay and pick the one that’s cheapest. If this sounds like a problem you are having, then think ‘What would make me pay an extra couple of quid for something?’ – so things like faster dispatch, more payment options, finance options if you have them, longer warranty, UK customer services, a number they can call for post-sales support rather than email, a No-Quibble returns policy…. etc.

Example 1

In the example above for our client, where they were selling a training day for amateur dog breeders to learn how to reach their goals in a more scientific way (as opposed to sticking a couple of dogs in a room and hope they’re feeling frisky!)

We knew there were several potential reasons why someone would not pursue their enquiry – namely the high upfront cost (they cannot afford it, don’t have thousands of pounds to hand over) or that they thought it might only be suitable for medics and they would be out of their depth. We also wanted to ensure that we didn’t waste time processing enquiries from people who were unable to attend on the scheduled date, or unable to travel to Manchester.

There were of course, MANY other things we could have put in the copy – but you need to be selective, and learn to laser in on what is really important rather than including everything but the kitchen sink.

Example 2

This client works in partnership with colleges, their objective is for people (99% male and aged 19-40) to book onto their College Open Day with a view to taking their PTS qualification to work on the railways.

“There’s no work”

The most common objection here is “There is no work at the end” – as everyone knows that HS2 has been approved (despite many attempts to have the project shelved) we have been upfront about the fact there is guaranteed work available until 2026, which is when the project is due to end. Putting my psychology hat on, I know that they will be thinking “Well, if I get five years of employment out of it, it’s better than anything else on offer in a recession and it’s the Government, they have loads of money to waste on stuff”

We have made it clear what they are going to earn, and what the next steps should be.