The Case Against “Objection Handling”

Learning how to overcome objections is an integral part of just about every sales training process, whether it’s formal corporate training, or a book you picked up in the airport. It only makes sense, right? You need to have comebacks to common objections because they’re going to come up anytime you try to close a sale.

Or will they?

After many years both selling myself and teaching others how to sell, I’ve come to the conclusion that spending lots of time learning “objection handling” can actually be harmful in the long run.

Here’s why:

When you teach a sales rep to overcome objections, that person begins to expect and anticipate objections.

It’s known that a dog can detect fear. So can a criminal. When you show fear, those who would do you harm will take advantage and attack. When you show no fear and are fully confident, however, you will be able to stand your ground and have no fear of attack.

The same is true in selling.

Drilling the concept of “objection handling” into a salesperson’s head absolutely convinces that salesperson that objections will always happen. And when you go into an appointment expecting objections, guess what happens?

Yep – you will get objections.

Human beings are very much in-tune to the subtle, non-verbal subcommunication that all human beings unknowingly transmit. When you’re expecting sales objections, your prospective customer is going to pick up on your lack of confidence. They may sense that you’re uneasy, or they may just know that something is off.

Either way, as soon as they pick up on your doubt, they tune into that doubt and they also begin doubting the decision they’re about to make. That’s when they start firing off objections, and your sale is stalled.

When Napoleon Hill trained insurance salesmen nearly a century ago, he taught them that before going to an appointment, they should “send their minds out ahead of them” and imagine themselves at the appointment, getting a sale with no resistance and no objections.

Naturally there was no black magic or voodoo involved here. All that really happened is the salesperson was then conditioned to expect the sale. When you expect a sale, your confidence is contagious, and prospects also feel confident doing business with you.

When you expect objections, however, the exact opposite happens.

If you’re a sales manager, take the objection handling lessons out of your trainings and meetings. Teach your people to expect sales instead, and as if by magic, they’ll get them!