Scripts to Conquer the Probing Barrier Objections

Here are three examples of sales objections that would come under the heading of the Probing Barrier:

1. Are You Trying To Sell Me Something?

2. Is This A Sales Call?

3. Are You Selling?

This is sometimes known as the toughest cold calling question of all time! If you give people a whiff that you’re selling something, they’ll either close up or come out with one of these objections.

These are not good questions to handle, because you cannot lie and you cannot deny that you’re selling. Even if you’re just fact finding, selling is what's on your mind. And they might just be looking for a reason to uncover your true motives and terminate your call. You’ve got three choices with this one – say ‘yes’, say ‘no’ or avoid the question!

If you’re saying yes, be firm and confident, and finish with a 'thank you' or some kind of command:

1. Yes, it is actually. If you could just tell him/her it’s Rob Brown calling – thank you.
2. It is, and if you could just say it’s Rob, Rob Brown, that would be great. Thank you.
3. Yes, of course! Tell him it’s Rob Brown, thank you.
4. It most certainly is, and quite an urgent call. Just tell him/her it’s Rob Brown on the line. Thanks very much.

The 'thank you' on the end indicates you expect to be put through and puts them under pressure to explain why if they refuse.

For more options on this and hundreds of other objections, see my Ultimate Objection Handling Script Manual. Click here for details.

Your Strategy for Probing Barrier Objections

Last time I explained what Probing Barrier objections are - the type where you are going to have to give more information in order to get any further.

These people are naturally cautious and just sussing you out. Objections like these tend to arise in cold calling.

Some Things You Should Definitely Consider Doing

• Answer their question.
• Be honest. If you’re selling, say so. If you just want to chat, say so. If you’re just fact finding, say so. If you want to help, say so.
• Tag your replies with a question.

Some Things You Should Definitely NOT Do

• Waffle and make lame excuses.
• Give them a chance to ask another question.
• Try to pull the wool over their eyes with corny answers.
• Hesitate, um and er.
• Lie.

Your strategy is to be the next one to ask a question. When you do that, you get control and can stay in the conversation. So first answer their objection, then bounce back with something to make them think and get them engaged. More on that next time.

Meanwhile, for more articles on handling objections, check out my Ultimate Objection Handling Manual.

Sales Obections: The Probing Barrier

Today I'm going to help you understand the 'Probing Barrier'.

This is one of the categories of objections that I explore in my Ultimate Objection Handling Script Manual (pictured). This type of objection might be a put-off, a sign of suspicion or a genuine desire to find out more about you. But whatever the motive, it means you are going to have to satisfy their desire for more information before you can get any further.

Here are some typical probing objections:

• Are You Trying To Sell Me Something?
• Is This a Sales Call?
• Are You Selling?
• We Don’t Take Cold Calls
• How Did You Find Out About Us?
• Why Have You Called Us In Particular?
• How Did You Get Our Number?
• Who Gave You My Number?
• How Did You Get My Direct Line?
• What Do You Know About Us?
• How Much Do You Know About Us?
• What’s The Call Regarding?

What These Could Possibly Mean

• You’re a stranger and I need to verify you before I engage with you.
• Tell me something about yourself before I tell you something about me.
• We get a lot of these calls so you’d better be good, better or different, OR ELSE!
• I don’t like sales calls and I don’t like being sold to.
• I’m really busy and this is my first line of defence.

Got the picture?! I'm sure there are enough there for you to be thinking about. Next time I'll tell you what your strategy for overcoming this barrier should be.

How to Respond to 'You Let Us Down'

Today I'm going to give you some more scripts to help you in overcoming objections related to the Previous Experience barrier. Last time, I gave you a great strategy for overcoming objections like these two:

'We Got Burned By You In The Past'
'We Used You Before And You Let Us Down'

Here are a few more powerful rebuttals for those:

1. I’m sorry to hear that because we certainly pride ourselves on our excellent reputation. Tell me, what exactly happened?
2. I’m sorry about that. Although it was before I joined the company, I’d like to know how you’d like me to resolve this now so we can perhaps move things forward.
3. Well back then, you’re right, that was a problem. Thank goodness we sorted it X years ago, because now we [give them a few benefits you offer that they would be interested in].
4. I’m really sorry you’ve had a bad experience. I’ve been let down myself in the past and I know how you feel. But we’ve got something here that might just erase those bad memories for you. Can I run it past you?
5. I can understand you being upset at that. The reason for my call is ___.

Click here for details of more great sales objection scripts in the Ultimate Objection Handling Script Manual.

Do's and Don'ts for the Previous Experience Barrier

When you meet the Previous Experience type of objection, here are some things you should and shouldn't do...

Some Things You Should Definitely Consider Doing

1. Acknowledge their remarks – this is definitely coming from the heart.
2. Listen very carefully.
3. If you or your organisation did mess up, take it on the chin. No excuses.
4. Ask as many questions as you can.
5. Probe their concerns and see if you can bring them round.
6. Show what you’ve done or plan to do to change and mend the previous problem.

Some Things You Should Definitely NOT Do

1. Fight with them and disagree in strong terms.
2. If they’re wrong, never tell them.
3. Assume they’ll never buy from you.
4. Get aggressive and confrontational, however much you want to!

Now, what happens when you meet Previous Experience Barrier objections like these?

'We Tried Something Like This Before, But It Didn’t Work'
'I’ve Heard Bad Things About Your Company/Product'
'We Got Burned By You In The Past'
'We Used You Before And You Let Us Down'

We’re going to cover all of these in one go, with one sales objection script.

This is a sensitive area. The best way I’ve ever come across to handle this was from sales guru, Tom Hopkins. I talk about this in the Foundations part of my Ultimate Objection Handling Manual. It's called 'making them walk in someone else’s shoes'. It’s ideal when they’ve had a poor previous experience with your organisation or with doing business the way you do it. This is more of a dialogue than a one-off rebuttal, and is worth repeating here. Here’s your first line:

Tim, would you for a moment pretend that you’re the chairman of my company and you’ve just found out about the problem we had with ____________ [state the problem they had last time]. What would you do?

This is a brilliant line because you’re just about to get them to answer their own objection. They will probably tell you how they would sort the problem and make it all better. By putting your prospect in the shoes of your company chairman, CEO or MD, you flatter their ego and essentially ask their advice. Once they tell you, you smile nicely and deliver this killer line:

That’s exactly what our chairman did.

What can your prospect do now but listen to the rest of your presentation? It lays aside the ghosts of the past and wipes the slate clean. For another first class example from Hopkins, see my Manual.

Your Strategy for Previous Experience Objections

Following on from last time, typical sales objections that relate to previous experience include:

'We Got Burned By You In The Past'
'We Used You Before And You Let Us Down'
'We Tried Something Like This Before, But It Didn’t Work'
'I’ve Heard Bad Things About Your Company/Product'

These could be taken at face value and simply mean either they’ve had a bad experience with you, or the person who did your job before you, or your company, or your type of product/service, or just heard some nasty rumours.

Alternatively, these could be cover stories for the fact that they are stuck in a rut with what they’re currently doing, are traditionalists and resistant to change.

Your Strategy

The bottom line here is that you’ve got to know why they feel they way they do. This is especially important if it involves you and your organisation. It may help to give them an opportunity to vent their spleen and get it off their chest. If they come at you with both barrels, you’ve got to think whether you’ll be closer to making any sale afterwards, or further away.

Keep them talking and aim to educate them gently on how things have changed and what measures were taken to rectify things. Think what you can do or say to sow a seed of doubt in their minds about their previous experience. Try offering a free trial, compensation, testimonials or endorsements from people and companies they know.

Another approach is to just acknowledge their objection but without answering it, and go on with the reason for your call. Be careful with this – it can backfire if their emotions are high and their grievances are genuine. Tread gently.

For more strategies on overcoming objections of this sort see my Ultimate Objection Handling Script Manual.

Overcoming Objections: the Previous Experience Barrier

As the police sometimes say to a suspect, 'You've got previous!'. That means the criminal has done some crime or other before. In your prospect's mind, you or your company may have done something before that didn't go down well. I call this the 'Previous Experience Barrier'.

Today’s markets move very quickly and news travels very rapidly. Whether it’s true or untrue, at some point your prospects will come at you with something negative about your company, your sector, your service, your product or yourself! This could have come from personal experience or rumour. It could come from their imagination or from a vindictive disgruntled customer or ex-employee.

Alternatively, the Previous Experience Barrier could come from prejudices against what you do that runs against their traditions, longstanding practices or general habits. People don’t normally like change!

A final explanation for these kinds of objections is that they often come from perfectionists. Such people are rarely satisfied. You’re either too big, too small, too bright or too dull. Just never perfect. While they may be a good account to win, they’re a tough one to keep and a high maintenance one to keep happy. Consider carefully whether you really want them. They just may not be worth your while.

These can be hard nuts to crack. You may possibly have to go in with the harder sell because they have done quite well without you, thank you very much.

Over the next few weeks I'll be looking at Previous Experience objections, what they really mean and what sales objection scripts you can use to overcome them.

If you can't wait that long, click here to get hold of my Ultimate Objection Handling Script Manual.