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The Single Greatest Answer To Every Objection

by Claude Whitacre
25 replies
I'm not kidding.

For years, I sold vacuum cleaners door to door. I pitched, and answered objections (until one of us simply gave up) and then closed. I would work with other salespeople that were amazingly successful. I'd just work with them a day, and they would work with me. We would usually both learn a thing or two.

And I love watching sales being made.

Anyway, this acquaintance of mine sold encyclopedias (remember those?)

He was a con man. One day he said to me "Claude. The difference between us, is that you are selling. You're a salesman. I'm a con man. You try to show benefits, answer objections, and close. I just tell a story. If they believe me, they buy. If they don't believe me, they don't.

Much of what he taught me was...well...evil. But you can learn from evil people, as long as you sort and sift through their evil coal...and find some diamonds.

He taught me the one answer to every objection. And it's a whopper.

Here it is. "I can't afford it", "I have to think about it", We don't buy the same day"..whatever the objection is.....

"John, If there is any reason you would hesitate, you shouldn't do this. And maybe this isn't for you. In my business, I only want happy clients. I only want to work with people that are sure that this is for them....the client who just wants to take action and get the results we talked about. My question is, is that you?"

That was the only answer he ever gave, to any objection to buying now.

And I've used it for years. And for me, about 40% say "Yes" and 60% say "No". And the 60% that say "No" would never have said "Yes".

But you have to understand, that I only use it when I get an objection...and I usually don't. So it's 40% of the prospects that gave an objection....
Not 40% of the people I've seen.

It saves me an hour of answering objection after objection...And I can go home.

Do you know why this works so well? Because if there is any glimmer of a desire to buy, it fans that flame by sounding like I'm selective...and taking the offer away. It they aren't interested, they usually say (after I've used this) "Well, right now....", and I know that it's not going to happen.

When I'm giving this little dialog, I lean in a little. I may lower my voice slightly. When I say " I only want to work with people that are sure that this is for them.", I'm talking slightly slower than normal. I say "Sure" like it's important.

Some of selling is theater.

I hope someone finds this useful.
#answer #greatest #objection #single
  • Profile picture of the author NewParadigm
    Exactly Claude, I have found fear of loss(missing out on a vacuum deal) is a much more powerful motivator for most people, than desire for gain(chasing the sale by convincing thru features).

    It goes to the core emotion where decisions are really made. Features are only used to rationalized the emotional decision.

    Like many predator animals are naturally hard wired to chase fleeing prey. You run from a bear, he is hard wired to chase you. Stand up to him and make noise, he runs.
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    • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
      Originally Posted by NewParadigm View Post

      Exactly Claude, I have found fear of loss(missing out on a vacuum deal) is a much more powerful motivator for most people, than desire for gain(chasing the sale by convincing thru features).

      It goes to the core emotion where decisions are really made. Features are only used to rationalized the emotional decision.

      Like many predator animals are naturally hard wired to chase fleeing prey. You run from a bear, he is hard wired to chase you. Stand up to him and make noise, he runs.
      My thought is, when a dog run for you, clap your hands together and say "Here boy!".


      (By the way, it's a metaphor...Don't try it in real life)
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  • Profile picture of the author TheBigBee
    Claude,

    Scanned this right to the meat and potatoes of this. This is a brilliant push pull play, and I am going to thank you for increasing my close ratio!!!
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    • Profile picture of the author Horny Devil
      Banned
      Claude you superhero, you've sold me. Can you do me a deal on a Dyson?
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  • Profile picture of the author laurencewins
    Hey Claude, I have heard that type of sales pitch as well. I know it works, as oyu say, because it threatens to remove their chance of achieving whatever it is your product will do. When used by an ethical person it is good. When used by a shark, it can be evil.
    Nice to know you're one of the ethical ones.
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  • Profile picture of the author gordonlds
    It is the art of selling persuasiveness through psychology, whether it's scarcity, fear of loss, not wanting to appear dumb. I find it absolutely fascinating and the better you know it and more importantly can do it the more success you find. But I have to say people who play on the desperation of another and make false promises just to get their money are just a poor excuse for a human being. Imho
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  • Profile picture of the author shawnlebrun
    Claude,

    Great post and tidbit of info... and stuff like this DOES work. It's a play on the scarcity/takeaway tactic.

    I can't even count the number of times I had clients contact me... and for whatever reason, I just had this GUT sense to not work with them... to stay away.

    And when I voiced that I couldn't help them, so many of them would want to wait, ask me to put them on a waiting list, and pretty much WANT me to help them even more.

    This stuff does work.

    Claude, by chance... have you ever read "You Can't Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar" by David Sandler?

    Around 3 years ago, I was made aware of this book by Jason Leister... and it's kinda along the same lines as what you mentioned above.

    By almost taking away the chance to buy... you get them to move forward...

    Anyways, your post reminded me of that book, I was wondering if you had read it?

    You Can't Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar...You Can't Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar...
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    • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
      Originally Posted by shawnlebrun View Post

      Claude, by chance... have you ever read "You Can't Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar" by David Sandler?
      Yup. Read it. Some was very useful. The same as Influence by Robert Cialdini.

      Influence was a stronger influence. Sandler's approach (if I remember correctly) is more "Well, what would you like to do next?". A very non-salesy approach.

      Maybe a little too "leave it in their hands" for me, but I know the approach works. And for many, a perfect match. I know clients love it. Ari Galper has a very similar approach that he uses and teaches.

      That's another thing. Maybe 100 books on selling have influenced what I do. (I'm sure many of you have the same experience). But I didn't know if the book teaches me, or I'm reminded why I do what I do...by reading the book.

      I remember the first good sales book I ever read. How To Master The Art Of Selling. by Tom Hopkins. Maybe 1981. It changed my life. And after that, several more really clarified why I was doing what I was doing. They showed new improved questioning methods I never would have thought up on my own.

      I think I may dig out the Sandler book and read it again.

      Thanks guys.
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      • Profile picture of the author KingOfContentMarketing
        Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

        I remember the first good sales book I ever read. How To Master The Art Of Selling. by Tom Hopkins. Maybe 1981. It changed my life.
        Same. Check out the audio version if you can. You have to hear his voice inflection when he says (going by memory here), "My first motivational speech was when my father said, 'I just want you to know I'll always love you, even though you'll never amount to anything.'"

        Really funny/sad the way he delivers it.

        The best thing I got out of it was his concept of "maintenance of a positive value with the expectation of a negative result." It sounds contradictory, but he's saying statistically most things don't work out. It's just the nature of things. But you maintain your positive attitude to get through setbacks and failure to get to the winners. This was in context of cold calling, I believe.

        I can't tell you how much that one thought has helped me in my life. I told him this myself at a sales seminar he had in Cleveland back in the day. Really great presenter and person.

        Also, the idea of "mining the mountain." Once you sell one chiropractor, you go after all of them, for example. Many smart marketers have become stinking rich with this one idea. He said many salespeople do the opposite, they strike gold once and live it up, never thinking there might be a huge vein of gold in there if they just keep going.
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        • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
          Originally Posted by KingOfContentMarketing View Post

          Same. Check out the audio version if you can. You have to hear his voice inflection when he says (going by memory here), "My first motivational speech was when my father said, 'I just want you to know I'll always love you, even though you'll never amount to anything.'"

          Really funny/sad the way he delivers it.

          The best thing I got out of it was his concept of "maintenance of a positive value with the expectation of a negative result." It sounds contradictory, but he's saying statistically most things don't work out. It's just the nature of things. But you maintain your positive attitude to get through setbacks and failure to get to the winners. This was in context of cold calling, I believe.

          I can't tell you how much that one thought has helped me in my life. I told him this myself at a sales seminar he had in Cleveland back in the day. Really great presenter and person.

          Also, the idea of "mining the mountain." Once you sell one chiropractor, you go after all of them, for example. Many smart marketers have become stinking rich with this one idea. He said many salespeople do the opposite, they strike gold once and live it up, never thinking there might be a huge vein of gold in there if they just keep going.

          Some solid stuff there. I want to say here that I kept increasing my income as I leaned more about selling, but the big leaps in income didn't come until I used marketing to put me in front of the right prospects. If you buy 3 or 4 books by Dan Kennedy, you'll know what I mean.
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          • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
            Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

            Some solid stuff there. I want to say here that I kept increasing my income as I leaned more about selling, but the big leaps in income didn't come until I used marketing to put me in front of the right prospects. If you buy 3 or 4 books by Dan Kennedy, you'll know what I mean.
            I think I am going to tackle a bunch of his books over the holidays.
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            • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
              Originally Posted by Aaron Doud View Post

              I think I am going to tackle a bunch of his books over the holidays.
              Aaron; Read the Ultimate series. They are the ones he wrote himself, and are the real deal. Lately, Kennedy has been writing small parts of a book, and it's mostly written buy someone else, for their niche.

              The Ultimate Sale Letter
              The Ultimate Marketing Plan

              Those are real treasures.
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              • Profile picture of the author mjbmedia
                Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

                Aaron; Read the Ultimate series. They are the ones he wrote himself, and are the real deal. Lately, Kennedy has been writing small parts of a book, and it's mostly written buy someone else, for their niche.

                The Ultimate Sale Letter
                The Ultimate Marketing Plan

                Those are real treasures.
                I second that, and also look at Master Closer by John Fenton
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                Mike

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    • Profile picture of the author mojo1
      Originally Posted by shawnlebrun View Post


      By almost taking away the chance to buy... you get them to move forward...
      Exactly what I experienced last week for the very first time while awaiting a response from a potential lead generation website buyer.

      My words were: Let's Stay in Touch
      I appreciate the opportunity to share a few quality junkcar seller leads and a bit about my client's Junkcar.com website statistics. I hadn't heard back from you therefore, I will safely conclude that you are not interested in making an offer to purchase the website at this time.

      I went ahead and have turned off the junk car leads for your email and will begin reaching out to damagedcars.com, copartdirect.com, junkacar.com and a few other junk car buyers in this region this week to market Junkcar.com website.

      If in the future, you require a different type of website property or domain name for greater business branding and customer acquisition, please don't hesitate to call.

      Best regards,

      His response after not hearing from him in about 3 days was the following:
      I do have some interest in the site but not at $xxxx. I would pay $xxx for the site. Let me know if your interested.

      Although this was a kind of spin on the takeaway, that I really did intend to follow, it certainly did work like gangbusters.
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  • Profile picture of the author keith88
    Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

    I'm not kidding.

    For years, I sold vacuum cleaners door to door. I pitched, and answered objections (until one of us simply gave up) and then closed. I would work with other salespeople that were amazingly successful. I'd just work with them a day, and they would work with me. We would usually both learn a thing or two.

    And I love watching sales being made.

    Anyway, this acquaintance of mine sold encyclopedias (remember those?)

    He was a con man. One day he said to me "Claude. The difference between us, is that you are selling. You're a salesman. I'm a con man. You try to show benefits, answer objections, and close. I just tell a story. If they believe me, they buy. If they don't believe me, they don't.

    Much of what he taught me was...well...evil. But you can learn from evil people, as long as you sort and sift through their evil coal...and find some diamonds.

    He taught me the one answer to every objection. And it's a whopper.

    Here it is. "I can't afford it", "I have to think about it", We don't buy the same day"..whatever the objection is.....

    "John, If there is any reason you would hesitate, you shouldn't do this. And maybe this isn't for you. In my business, I only want happy clients. I only want to work with people that are sure that this is for them....the client who just wants to take action and get the results we talked about. My question is, is that you?"

    That was the only answer he ever gave, to any objection to buying now.

    And I've used it for years. And for me, about 40% say "Yes" and 60% say "No". And the 60% that say "No" would never have said "Yes".

    But you have to understand, that I only use it when I get an objection...and I usually don't. So it's 40% of the prospects that gave an objection....
    Not 40% of the people I've seen.

    It saves me an hour of answering objection after objection...And I can go home.

    Do you know why this works so well? Because if there is any glimmer of a desire to buy, it fans that flame by sounding like I'm selective...and taking the offer away. It they aren't interested, they usually say (after I've used this) "Well, right now....", and I know that it's not going to happen.

    When I'm giving this little dialog, I lean in a little. I may lower my voice slightly. When I say " I only want to work with people that are sure that this is for them.", I'm talking slightly slower than normal. I say "Sure" like it's important.

    Some of selling is theater.

    I hope someone finds this useful.
    I'll be using this. Thank you
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      Claude, what you brought up reminds me what
      Robert Cialdini wrote in his book, Influence.

      The part about getting people to allow their front lawn
      to have a great big sign up on it.

      First canvassers called on home owners and had a questionnaire
      for them.

      They would illicit their internal values,
      as in something like...

      "Are you a person who likes the right thing done for the community?"

      Now once they have verbally said so and ticked the box,
      the law of Consistency kicks in.

      Peoples behaviour follows what they see themselves as.

      Adding that step into getting home owners to comply with
      the request for BIG billboard on their front lawn dramatically
      increased their billboards erected.

      I read ages ago the prison guards in England call the prisoners Sir.

      Given that you are a Sir, one would expect the behaviour
      would be befitting to someone of that standing.

      Giving a person an identity changes their behaviour to match
      their new status.

      Corporate America have done this for years.

      VP of just about anything these days.
      Give em' a new title to save the pay rise!

      Best,
      Ewen
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    • Profile picture of the author midasman09
      Banned
      David Sandler created "The Sandler System" that he called, "The Submarine Presentation".

      Just like a sub is divided into compartments that can be sealed, so a Sales Pitch is separated into sections and the salesperson "seals" each section of the pitch so that when it's time for the "close", all the "sections" prior have been closed and "sealed".

      And....I think it was Sandler where I got a close I've used for years with various projects.

      With most of the stuff I've sold I use a "Pitch Book" with a series of pages and, when it comes time to quote a price I stop and ask; "Other than price, is there any reason why you wouldn't go ahead....now?"

      I'm looking for a response that "slams the door shut" so he can't come back with an objection after I quote my price!

      And...if he brings up an objection before I state the price, I answer it and restate the "Other than price..." ....until he agrees that "Price" is the ONLY reason for not buying....now!

      Works for me,

      Don Alm....long time sales guy
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  • Profile picture of the author misterme
    Originally Posted by mojo1 View Post

    Exactly what I experienced last week for the very first time while awaiting a response from a potential lead generation website buyer.

    My words were: Let's Stay in Touch
    I appreciate the opportunity to share a few quality junkcar seller leads and a bit about my client's Junkcar.com website statistics. I hadn't heard back from you therefore, I will safely conclude that you are not interested in making an offer to purchase the website at this time.

    I went ahead and have turned off the junk car leads for your email and will begin reaching out to damagedcars.com, copartdirect.com, junkacar.com and a few other junk car buyers in this region this week to market Junkcar.com website.

    If in the future, you require a different type of website property or domain name for greater business branding and customer acquisition, please don't hesitate to call.

    Best regards,

    His response after not hearing from him in about 3 days was the following:
    I do have some interest in the site but not at . I would pay for the site. Let me know if your interested.

    Although this was a kind of spin on the takeaway, that I really did intend to follow, it certainly did work like gangbusters.

    Permission to speak honestly, sir?

    I don't mean to burst your bubble but that's not any definition of gangbusters. At best you prompted a counter offer.

    I completely understand what you wrote and why, but I'd suggest a different way of expressing the takeaway because the tone of your takeaway is something to consider. When you tell a lead you're going to shut off this and offer it to that, in the cold, cold world of email void of inflection and facial gestures, it can come off as aggressive... and that turns people off. It comes off as an angry "since you didn't get back to me I'm shutting you off and going to your competitors." It could be why your lead only offered some money and not everything you wanted.

    I know. I've been there.

    Instead nowadays I'd write something humorous first, joking around just a little to show I'm not being a prick about this, that it's not really anything that bothers me, and that I'm quite nice to deal with BUT would like to know what's up so I can clear this off my desk if they're not interested. Sounds softer, does the same job. As far as veiled threats to go to the competitor, I let their imagination do that for me, by building that competition early in the game, rather than at this late point when its sudden appearance can seem more like a ploy.
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    • Profile picture of the author mojo1
      Originally Posted by misterme View Post

      Permission to speak honestly, sir?

      I don't mean to burst your bubble but that's not any definition of gangbusters. At best you prompted a counter offer.
      Ultimately, I made the sale in the amount I wanted to make, so for me it did equate to gangbusters, sir. However, I appreciate your feedback, albeit not requested and omniscient sales experience you put on display daily on this forum.

      Originally Posted by misterme View Post

      As far as veiled threats to go to the competitor, I let their imagination do that for me, by building that competition early in the game, rather than at this late point when its sudden appearance can seem more like a ploy.
      It honestly isn't a ploy as that's how I have my lead system set up. I send free leads for a brief period of time as a way to introduce my service. If there is no response or stated non interest then I really do proceed to the next prospect. Therefore, I'm not sure why being up front about my intentions to move on to a competitor in their space would be considered problematic?
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      • Profile picture of the author misterme
        Originally Posted by mojo1 View Post

        Ultimately, I made the sale in the amount I wanted to make, so for me it did equate to gangbusters, sir. However, I appreciate your feedback, albeit not requested and omniscient sales experience you put on display daily on this forum.
        I never claimed to know it all but like anyone else I sure can write about that which I do know. And with 32 years in business I've learned some stuff.

        I know you didn't ask for any feedback but I thought I had something of value to tell you and so I did request permission to speak first.

        It honestly isn't a ploy as that's how I have my lead system set up. I send free leads for a brief period of time as a way to introduce my service. If there is no response or stated non interest then I really do proceed to the next prospect. Therefore, I'm not sure why being up front about my intentions to move on to a competitor in their space would be considered problematic?
        I said it comes across as aggressive. It's like 'if you don't buy I'm taking it to your competitors'. It's a factual statement but it's like a threat, that's all. Some people see the aggression and get turned off, others might not, others may feel intimated, others might shrug it off. They might buy despite it or not, so whatever. Just trying to share some help here.
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        • Profile picture of the author mojo1
          Originally Posted by misterme View Post

          Just trying to share some help here.
          I sent you a pm
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  • Profile picture of the author KingOfContentMarketing
    Here's some good stuff from Gitomer on the "I have to think about it" line:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcSt7gp_uVI
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  • Profile picture of the author Nathan Alexander
    On the topic of books, a great read is: Selling Fearlessly: A Master Salesman's Secrets...Selling Fearlessly: A Master Salesman's Secrets...
    This guy has great stories for being hammered with objections and fun(ny) stories of perserverance.
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  • Profile picture of the author MrSDPromo
    Very solid thread!
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    Jake Widmer
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