Are You Showing the Big Picture When Overcoming Your Customers Objections?

​Years ago, I was selling newly constructed homes in a community that had – let’s say “less than optimal size homesites.” Meaning the backyards were tiny! If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say, “The backyard seems too small,” I would be retired and living on a beach somewhere.

What my customers were really saying was that they couldn’t visualize using the backyard space. Maybe they were coming from a bigger backyard and just couldn’t visualize seeing all of their outdoor furniture, kid’s toys, and dog playing in that space all at the same time.

And believe me I get it. We want to visualize maximizing the product or service we’re about to buy before we actually put down our hard earned cash for that product or service.

Lucky for me I worked with a great trainer by the name of Juliet who shared with me that I could use visual aids to help customers see how they could live in that tiny backyard.

Juliet encouraged me (a.k.a. “made me”) find pictures of creative ways people designed their small outdoor spaces to include dogs, dinners and relaxation. Then, she told me that anytime customers objected about the tiny backyard, I was to pull out these photos and show people visual examples of what could be – what they couldn’t see for themselves.

The first time I used the pictures and overcame the small backyard objection I got hooked. I found pictures for every possible objection I could think of.

That was 16 years ago. Pre-iPhone. Pre-iPad. I had to go to Kinko’s to print out pictures and carry them in a three-ring binder. #oldschool

What about you?

You live in a different world. You have access to more visual aides now  than at any other time in history. So what do you need to do?

  • Write down your top five objections.
  • Look for examples of how other people have solved those objections.
  • Find visual representations for those solutions and capture them via picture or video.
  • Show them to every customer that has those objections.
  • Ask them if that would work for them as well.

This is commonly referred to as Social Proof. The idea behind Social Proof is that customers are more comfortable moving beyond an objection if someone else like them has done so already.

So, the next time you encounter an objection, don’t try to handle it with a silver bullet. Simply share some visual Social Proof and let other customers help you make the sale.


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About the Author: Ryan Taft

As the former National Sales Training Manager for a Top 5 homebuilder and a licensed Realtor® in Arizona, Ryan Taft is consumed with a passion for helping others achieve breakthrough results in sales, business and life.