relationship mastery

Overcoming objections

An objection by a client is often a good thing.

It gives you an opportunity to address the client’s issue and can be the basis on which a great relationship is formed.

I think there are three broad principles to successfully handing an objection:

It’s important for the relationship – if you try to plough through the objection without addressing it fully, the underlying reason for the objection will usually come back to haunt you.
Objections often have merit – your purpose is to understand the objection fully, isolate it, and respond to it appropriately.
Many objections require a process not a quick answer – you may need to build a case for overcoming an objection instead of answering quickly on the fly.

How you handle an objection will generally create a binary outcome. Handle it well and you have a basis for a great relationship. Poorly done will often mean no sale and a damaged relationship going forward.

Do we really listen?

We all know that listening is one of the keys to building relationships and winning work. But do we really listen?

Here are 5 tips to listening that will help:

Ditch the distractions – you cannot multitask. If you try to multitask the other person will most likely feel insulted and you certainly won’t hear and observe everything you should
Use your whole body, lean towards the speaker – even on the phone. Use facial expressions, shake your head, and use “non-verbal” verbalisms. It improves your listening – and indicates you are listening
Keep it about them, not you. Use open-ended questions and let them tell their story. Don’t use them as foils for your hypotheses
Acknowledge frequently – paraphrase their data and empathise with their emotions. Make sure you are hearing both correctly
Think out loud. The biggest obstacle to listening is your own thinking. Think out loud – with the client. Doing so role-models collaboration and transparency. It says, I hear you, I value you and I respond to you with no hidden agenda.

They say yes 99% of the time if you are confident

About 17 years ago I moved to Sydney from Perth. I knew very few people in Sydney and worked for my own company which was unknown in the Sydney market.

Day 2 in my new office, I was flicking through some annual reports (we are talking pre online, LinkedIn etc) to see who I would approach. One of the key execs at a major financial institution was a guy named Brian Smith (named changed). I knew Brian from years before so I rang him and confidently suggested that I come to his office for a coffee at 10.30 the next morning.

The next morning I was sitting in a plush reception and Brian came out to greet me – the only issue was that the Brian I knew was about 5ft 6in tall; this Brian was about 6ft 5in. We had a great conversation and later he became a significant client.

The great lesson for me was that if you approach someone with confidence, they are more likely to meet with you; in this case I had no doubt Brian would meet with me when I called because of our previous interaction.

I find what I’m looking for; but am I looking for the right thing?

Recently I went to a meeting with a colleague and had a great conversation with a potential client.

Afterwards we did a debrief and we had completely different views on the key take outs from the meeting and the opportunities that we should go back on; it was like we had attended different meetings. The issue was that we had both taken different frames into the meeting and had been listening for cues that met our frame, rather than just engaging in the conversation.

The reflection on this meeting led me to think about a number of statements I have heard recently where a frame of thinking is skewing the result:

“This is the way our business responds to the economic cycle” – I hear a number of senior executives say this, generally based on a historical paradigm rather than a true analysis of what the linkages and correlations truly are.
“The client only wants to spend $75,000”. Very often we havent asked what the client’s budget is or the budget has been derived by the client without really understanding the size of the problem or opportunity
“There is no opportunity for xx”. This was the statement made by my colleague from the meeting mentioned above, as her listening was skewed by the frame of her service offerings rather than truly listening to the client’s need.

To me, if you look for something, you will probably find it. That is, if I go into a conversation to talk about risk, risk opportunities are probably what I will find. If I go in to a meeting looking for a $50,000 opportunity, that’s what I am likely to find – even though there may have been a $250,000 opportunity there if my mind was open to explore all the client’s needs

Twinkle twinkle

Leading Harvard Professor Boris Groysberg has written books on what makes people ‘stars’.

His study over 25 years has led him to one conclusion; the difference between someone who is talented and someone who is a star is the quality of their network.

Having a network within an organisation is seen by Groysberg as critical for success. Having a network that extends beyond the organisation means that success can be replicated by the ‘star’ even if they move organisations.

Despite the overwhelming evidence from Groysberg and others, so few people prioritise the building of a network. Instead they continue to focus on the development of technical skills and leave the network to chance. Thier are a number of simple steps you can take to build and foster a network, but they do all take an allocation of time.

Are you building a network that will make you shine?

What impression do you want to leave?

When meeting with a client, I believe you should have four key objectives:

1. Build a lasting relationship

2. Help the client uncover an affliction and/or an aspiration

3. Always bring value to the person and the organisation

4. Leave them wanting more

Do these four things and the client will have a great impression of you and your organisation.

The minute you use it you lose it

Years ago Boss Magazine ran an article on the ‘Seven things a CEO should know’. I have forgotten the first six but the seventh has always stuck with me – “you can have all the power in the world, but the minute you use it, you lose it”.

In essence, it was saying that the key to engaging and motivating people was influence. In your role, you may have the power to order a staff member to do something, but the minute you do you have lost their ongoing support and input of discretionary effort.

So how do you influence someone to do something, particularly if it is difficult assignment or something that they would rather not do? I apply four key filters to ensure that I am exercising influence rather than control:

Can I make the task or assignment a learning experience and one that they will feel that it would be good for their career?
Is there a goal or outcome that we can ‘co-create’ that will ensure a personal sense of achievement in completing the task?
Do they feel that they will be recognised by me and the organisation for undertaking the role?
Is the task or assignment framed in a way that allows them to see how it fits into the bigger picture or strategy of the division or company?

To me, you know when you have been successful in influencing when an employee sees:

that the task or assignment is something that they believe in
that they, and the organisation, believe that they are the best person to undertake the assignment
that the task is worth putting discretionary effort into.

John Meacock

Strategy, Insights and Relationship Mastery