Of all the challenges your sales team face, none is more significant than handling sales objections from customers. In order to learn how to overcome doubts and instil confidence, your team should first understand the two main types of objections coming their way.

Although sales professionals are likely to hear hundreds of “yes, but” from customers over the course of their careers, it’s important to bear in mind that objections generally fall into two categories.

The first category is the fear of change. Many customers see change as a risky move. People don’t like change. It’s uncomfortable. And it’s unknown. What they are doing now may not work, but they are afraid your way isn’t any better.

The second main objection arises when customers focus on price rather than value.

If your service costs £50,000 but would improve their business by £5 million, prospective customers tend to focus on the £50,000. The skill of a salesperson, however, is to demonstrate that the real value is in the £5 million.

There are any number of sales methodologies for dealing with objections, but irrespective of which you use, sales teams will benefit from following eight basic steps:

1. Know the Industry. Showing prospective customers that you have a wide understanding of their industry and strong product knowledge is a powerful way to inspire confidence. It shows you know what you’re doing, care about what they need, and can show a real understanding of the effect of change on their business.

2. Know their Process. From the start, learn how your prospective customer decides to buy a product or service. Ask questions, “Tell me about your decision making process.” Listen carefully to their answer. “Where are you in that process right now?” Find out who is involved in moving them toward a “yes.” What are the real criteria for choosing a product? What are the timelines? And what are the deal breakers?

3. Provide Evidence. The more proof you can provide of your company’s previous successes, the easier it will be to establish trust and build rapport with your prospective customer. Where possible, demonstrate situations where you have provided appropriate outcomes for other customers that are relevant to your current prospect, and testimonials from previous or existing clients. Include case studies or white papers giving detailed descriptions of your successful projects. Cite credible professional organisations to which your company belongs. If your company has achieved high customer ratings, awards or prizes, mention them. Refer to positive media coverage your firm has attracted, but don’t use this evidence as a crutch for selling. Use it to inspire confidence and remove the customer’s fear of risk.

4. Ask the Right Questions. Listen carefully for signs of what motivates the customer. Don’t make assumptions about whats important to them, for example: “We’ve increased another client’s bottom line by 30 percent.” Why? Because the customer might just reply, “My bottom line is already 30 percent higher than the competitions, thanks very much. I don’t need your help.” The customer may have another pressing problem that needs to be resolved, but because you’re too focused on proclaiming what you can do — and not on what the customer needs — you’re not asking the right questions to uncover the issue. If your competitor asks the right questions and you don’t, it doesn’t matter how much you charge for your services. The customer won’t buy from you because your approach is now irrelevant.

5. Always Ask Why. Salespeople often see this question as potentially confrontational, but it is powerful when used properly “Why?” In my experience there’s no better question to ask when an objection comes your way. If the customer says that our services are too expensive, the first question I ask is, “Why do you think that?” You’re in a good place if you can get the customer to tell you what they’re thinking and why they’re thinking it because it means they trust you. Otherwise, you won’t know what their objection is, they won’t trust you, and you’re left wondering what to do next.

6. Structure Your Sales Meetings. The more structured you can make your sales meetings with customers, the better equipped your team will be to handle objections. Standard methods will enable a consistent approach to be developed and understood. It should be developed and tuned to deal with the typical and most common objection types being experienced. This way, your team will always become seasoned at using a consistent process to close them out. If you set up sales meetings with your customers using the same questions in the same order, your sales team will start to see patterns in consumer behaviour, understand their thinking, and will be able to handle their objections with more knowledge and practice.

7. Use Role Playing. Role-playing can be a great way to teach your salespeople how to deal with objections. It puts them under positive pressure in a low-stakes environment. But it’s important that you conduct the role-playing in a structured way. It should reinforce how you want your sales team to ask questions, communicate, and demonstrate value to the customer. Otherwise, you have nothing to benchmark the role-playing against and it just becomes an exercise.

8. Don’t Push Too Far. Don’t force a solution on your customers; you’ll only drive them away. Let them know your purpose is to talk to them and get to know them, rather than desperately demonstrating that they need to buy from you. As mentioned in point two, it’s vital to know where the customers are in their sales process so that you can determine what exactly needs to happen next in your relationship. Be clear about your purpose: “I’m here to talk to you, understand what you need, and show you how I can help.”

Remember, sales is not about closing every deal the first time. It’s about building relationships with customers. It’s about handling their objections, understanding their needs and positioning your company as the solution provider.

The greatest salespeople are the ones who succeed in the long run. They establish lasting links with their customers and earn steady income over time.