Do you lead with “Yes, yes, yes,” or with “No, no, no”? Do you have a pattern of agreeing or disagreeing with your customer or interlocutor? Neither is right, there has to be a middle ground. I’ve observed that Indian teams will tend to lead with “Yes,” perhaps, to be polite and accommodating, and show the customer a good experience. I’ve also observed that some Eastern European teams lead with “No,” perhaps, to provide value and show the customer a better way. When objections, incorrect assumptions, or incorrect facts are stated by the other party these teams will either let the issue slide, or oppose them too strongly.
Say for example, a customer says: “Your prices are too high,” what do you say? Yes, or no? Neither is the right answer. If you say “yes,” then the conversation is over, and no sale is made. If you say “no,” you have a disagreement with the customer and no sale is made. There must be a better way to move the conversation forward.
I’m talking here about something close to the Acknowledge, Bridge, and Close techniques – one of the traditional meanings of the ABC Objection handling method. Acknowledge is important, so yes we will keep that. B has changed to D, to stand for bouncing back to Discovery, and C stands for Continue with Customer focus.
It is also true that not every objection must be handled, or you will be perceived as a nitpicker. You don’t want to correct every tiny detail or mis-perception on the part of your customer or partner, but the big items must be addressed. You have to get your facts and perceptions aligned otherwise the relationship will slowly shrivel and no mutually beneficial transaction will be had.
