Telemarketing Software Featured Article

There’s a reason why outbound telemarketing is a scary prospect for some companies: it’s a difficult job. It’s also fraught with pitfalls like unreceptive – even rude – prospects, hang-ups and seemingly fruitless strings of voice mails. Customer objections are common, and many outbound sales agents aren’t prepared to handle them. Despite all this, there’s a reason that smart companies still engage in outbound sales: despite the pitfalls, it still gets results.

In a recent blog post, Mark Hunter of the Sales Hunter blog notes that customer objections can actually help the outbound sales process. It’s a way that outbound agents can learn about the weaknesses of their pitches and adjust them accordingly to take care of customer objections before they even arise. For starters, he writes, outbound reps should ask the customer to share with them more insight as to why they raised the objection.

“I always say it’s not the objection that is the objection; it’s the reason behind the objection that is the solution I need to address,” wrote Hunter.

While the agent may not be trained to provide an answer, common objections can help managers, sales departments and marketing departments overcome them and craft the pitch to avoid them in the future.

Hunter also recommends that outbound reps be directed to ask the customer a question that ties the objection they raised back to one of the outcomes they desire.

“It can become easy for a customer to get lost in the weeds and be concerned about something that in the end will only move them further away from achieving what they know they need to achieve,” he wrote.

Anticipating customer objections and turning them around into a selling point is a skill that all successful outbound telemarketing agents possess. If the agent can respond to the customer’s objection by framing it in a positive manner, and compliment the customer on the insight he or she raised, it will be a successful first step in getting past the hurdle and moving on to a more positive sales relationship. Hunter recommends that reps use anecdotes of other customers who had the objection and how they got past it, and breaking the objection into smaller objections that can be dealt with easier.

“Many times simply being able to take care of some elements of the objection will be enough for the customer,” wrote Hunter. “Some objections may seem big initially but over the process of working out the value proposition they get dealt with.”

Having a strong framework to overcome common objections can help build confidence in outbound telemarketing agents, and give them a kick-start to get to the meat of the sales process. By tracking objections and analyzing them, sales organizations are better positioned to anticipate customer needs and meet them. Turning objections into a selling point is a valuable skill that all agents should be taught. It involves a bit of psychology, and helps customers feel more like wise negotiators.

“Allowing the customer to be seen as an expert will many times shift their own thinking and how they see things,” Hunter wrote.