I am headed right out of the gate with this series because I know that this is the one that most people ask me about. 
“Jeremiah, how do you handle an objection?”
Ok, ok you’ve twisted my arm enough, I’ll let you in on how I handle them (Hint: the first couple ways aren’t what you think)
First let me divulge this information to you about influence and handling objections. I am not the greatest sales person on the earth, nor was I born with the ability to handle objections from other people at birth. As a matter of fact, I used to be the kid who hid behind his parent’s leg when we went to functions with more than one other person there. I was also the kid who was afraid to approach a girl and ask her out. As a matter of fact, I remember in Jr. High a girl, who I thought was gorgeous, came up to me and asked ME out and can you guess what I did? I laughed! Of all the stupid things I could have done, I laughed. Then, to follow that up, I said, “Yeah, right!”, as I thought to myself, “like a girl this beautiful would actually ask me out”. Then I walked away. Oh man I was an idiot! I hope to God that I raise my son to deal with a situation like that better than I did.
All that to say, that anything I have to say here, are things that I’ve learned through years of practice and perseverance. If I can nail these down, you can too.
First let’s define and objection. An objection for the sake of this blog post can be defined as a statement made by the other party that is holding them back from the immense benefit you have to offer them. Note: an objection is not a question, and if it ever seems like one, it is a rhetorical one.
With that said, I’ve learned that it all really comes down to preparation, so here is the first MINDBLOWING objection destroyer! Are you ready for it?
…silence…
Seriously! I will shut up! I won’t say a word. I will let what they just said sit there and make them uncomfortable. Why should I feel uncomfortable?
Now let me explain why I stay silent. Majority of the time, the first objection that comes out of the other person’s mouth is just a trained response that they’ve been conditioned to say and life has told them will help them either escape the situation or possibly get you to cave in to what they just said.
Here is an example. I had a client one time tell me, “Wow, $500! That’s a lot of money!”
You can guess what I did…yup…absolutely nothing. I just let them sit there and continue to stare at the pricing. Then after 5 seconds or so of silence, can you guess what they did?
Here’s what they said next, “So, what all comes with this? I think this is the one I want to go with.”
They asked a question, so I answered it and they bought it. Why? Because regardless of the price, it was what they knew they needed and I knew it was good for them too.
So, let’s refresh.
Step #1: Shut up and don’t say a word and watch what happens.
Step #2 will be up in the next blog post!
For now, leave me a message in the comments below and let me know how this first step has worked for you so far. Cheers!
– Jeremiah
Life of influence 