Sales objections are no different than any objection. Every objection is an emotional response. Even the ones shrouded in reason. Because of this, responding to the emotion is more effective.
While context always matters, here’s a simple mnemonic you can use in many cases. I call it VET.
You can think of it this way. When someone is upset (when they’re emotional), they want to be:
VALIDATED: Validating someone can take many forms, but in a sales context, it might sound like: “I appreciate that you brought that up. It’s a fair point.” This simple statement “validates” the feeling. This makes people feels good. It also shows you as someone who is emotionally aware. People will feel safe with you. The next is empathy.
EMPATHY: Empathizing with a prospect in a sales scenario might sound like this. “It sounds like you weren’t expecting that.” Or, “I can see why that might be frustrating.” This short empathic statement acknowledges the emotions at play. It puts people at ease. It makes you trustworthy. The next letter in the framework has multiple uses, but started with Teach.
TEACH: Teaching might sound like this: “Are you open to thinking about this a bit differently, or should we just part as friends?” This provided freedom of choice for your prospect to Talk and/or Think it through. Or, the objection may indeed be a deal breaker in which case, Termination, is the best course of action. You can move on to helping someone who needs your services.
VET: Validate, Empathy, Teach
For additional thoughts on handling objections here’s a couple of posts that might be interesting to you: