Objections

9Avoiding Objections Is Stupid

Do not worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older it will avoid you.

—Joey Adams

We know that sensitivity to rejection is baked into our DNA. We also know that it is a natural human tendency to avoid and shun pain, suffering, and adversity.

Therefore, most salespeople would prefer to avoid objections because even though objections are not rejection, objections induce the painful feeling of rejection.

But avoiding objections is a wickedly stupid sales strategy. Nothing is more dangerous than a silent veto from a stakeholder—an objection you are unaware exists. Few things suck more than investing everything you have into an opportunity and getting hammered by a last-minute objection from a stakeholder that you overlooked in discovery. Nothing is costlier than investing time on a deal that will not close.

Avoiding objections is the most common reason why salespeople:

• Talk too much on prospecting calls.
• Beat around the bush when asking.
• Get stuck with low-level influencers and never level up to decision makers.
• Lack situational awareness and have no idea where they stand in the sales process.
• Fail to get to the next step.
• Do shallow discovery.
• Ignore glaring signs that the buyer is just not that in to them.
• Have pipelines stuffed with stalled deals.
• Get blindsided with impossible objections at the last minute.
• Consistently miss forecasts.
• Discount when there is no need to discount.
• Negotiate with themselves.
• Waste precious time working deals ...