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No matter what product or service you are selling, objections or reasons your potential client does not want to buy from you, will be an integral part of your professional life. How do we prevent ourselves from falling at the first hurdle and in fact turn the objection into an opportunity?

Use the Objection to your Advantage
Do a bit of homework and explore the objections that could be raised before meeting your potential customer. Forewarned is forearmed and with enough information you will be able to turn the objection into a reason for buying. For example: If your product or service is more expensive than your competitors point

out that you are bigger, better, more versatile etc. and this is the reason that they may find cheaper versions of lesser quality on the market. It is of no benefit trying to avoid an issue, it will surface at some stage of your discussions so if you don\'t know the answers then find out before you meet your client.

Appointment setting Objections
You might find objections very early on in your conversations with a prospect. Perhaps when you are trying to set up that all important appointment. The most common objection is time. Every one is busy these days so pre-empt the busy client comment of \"Actually I\'m very busy at the moment\" with \" I realise you are probably very busy at the moment however I only need 10 minutes of your time unless you want me to go into more detail\". 8 times out of 10, your appointment will last longer than the allotted 10 minutes! However be prepared to \'microwave\' your spiel!

Change the way you \'see\' an objection
Use an objection as an opportunity to conduct some market research of your own. Once the objection has been raised ask some searching questions and this will also help you determine exactly what it is the client needs. If it\'s price that\'s the objection, find out exactly what the prospect means. Is it too expensive compared to the company budget? Is it more than they are allowed to authorise? Does the perceived value of the product/service not meet the price they expected? Is it more expensive than your competitors? Counter their objections with opened ended questions such as \"compared with what?\" \"How does this affect you?\" \"What exactly do you mean?\"

If you Assume you make an Ass out of U and Me
I\'ve fallen into the trap before of presuming to know what it is the prospect is going to object to. In the first paragraph I talked about using an objection to your advantage by covering off answers to the most common objections. Take care to keep this general and not specifically directed to your client. Listen carefully and keep an open mind - all is not as it may seem!

Contradicting the Client
When you know what the objection is, agree! You are agreeing to the fact that they have a problem not that they are right. It is now up to you to show empathy to the situation your prospect finds themselves in. Empathy can be shown with words such as \"I can understand that\", \"I\'m glad that you raised that point\", \"Some of our best customers thought that at first\". This type of agreement will avoid conflict and reduce the importance of the objection in the prospect\'s mind. But, if you disagree, you can be assured you have lost the sale right there and then.