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4 Popular Objections And How To Overcome Them Using Social Selling

Jamie Shanks
Jamie Shanks

Nobody likes to say no. People come up with lots of creative ways to stall or put off making a decision, even when it is in their best interest to solve the problem. When you are training your sales team to become experts on social selling, one way to get them on board is to show them how new technology solves some very old sales challenges.

At the Sales Acceleration Summit earlier this year, Jim Keenan revealed that 78.6 percent of sales professionals who used social media outperformed their competition. How did they do it? Here are four of the most common sales objections along with the ways that social selling blows them away.

1. Lack of Trust

What you hear: That sounds great! I have got the perfect contact for you.

Translation: I don’t trust you.

Social solution: Improve your LinkedIn profile.

Earning trust on the Web takes time. The CMO Council reports that decision-makers look at an average of five pieces of content before they want to talk to a sales agent. When they are ready, make sure your LinkedIn profile looks like someone they can trust. Other social networks are important, but LinkedIn is still the go-to resource for professional networking.

2. Lack of Confidence

What you hear: I’ll talk to my boss, and we’ll make it happen.

Translation: I don’t want to take responsibility.

Social solution: Google+ Hangout

In the old days, “I have to check with my boss,” could put everything on hold. Sales reps tried to make sure they had all the decision-makers in the room before proceeding or settling in for a long email chain. The availability of streaming video on virtually any device has changed that. Video conferencing is extremely inexpensive and available from satellite offices or on the road. Now you can invite everyone who could possibly object and get it done in an afternoon.

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3. Lack of Urgency

What you hear: I want to talk to you more about this as soon as I handle this crisis.

Translation: I’m afraid of change.

Social solution: Twitter and Facebook

Most people don’t want to change until they feel a sense of urgency. That’s probably for the best in the long run, but it makes it harder for them to accept improvements. The solution is to find out who influences them by looking at their Twitter and Facebook accounts. Search for networks and forums where they have a presence as well. Investigate what they respond to, who they retweet, and what they talk about most often. The more you know, the better you can explain your business model in terms that will make sense to them.

4. Lack of Money

What you hear: That is definitely something that we need. Send me all the details.

Translation: I can’t afford that.

Social solution: Blogging and video

When people indicate that they can’t afford something, it means they don’t value it as much as other things that they are already paying for. It may mean that they don’t really understand what you can do for them. Remember the 3 C’s of social selling are content, conversation, and conversion. Start educating them by sharing blogs that profile success stories or demonstrate the true value of your solution. The next step is a professional video, which is actually much less expensive than you think. Videos on social networks have repeatedly proven they can motivate prospects like nothing else.

The Collaborative Approach

Objections generally arise from lack of trust, confidence, urgency, or money. Although these roadblocks are nothing new, they look and sound a little different in the social networking world. Fortunately, social selling changes the dynamic by approaching them in a collaborative, rather than adversarial, way. Build your profile, master the social-selling tools, and show them what you can achieve when you work together.

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The Ultimate Guide to Social Selling