Objections

Book description

There are few one-size-fits-all solutions in sales. Context matters. Complex sales are different from one-call closes. B2B is different than B2C. Prospects, territories, products, industries, companies, and sales processes are all different. There is little black and white in the sales profession.

Except for objections. There is democracy in objections. Every salesperson must endure many NOs in order to get to YES. 

Objections don’t care or consider:

  • Who you are
  • What you sell
  • How you sell
  • If you are new to sales or a veteran
  • If your sales cycle is long or short – complex or transactional

For as long as salespeople have been asking buyers to make commitments, buyers have been throwing out objections. And, for as long as buyers have been saying no, salespeople have yearned for the secrets to getting past those NOs.

Following in the footsteps of his blockbuster bestsellers Fanatical Prospecting and Sales EQ, Jeb Blount’s Objections is a comprehensive and contemporary guide that engages your heart and mind.

In his signature right-to-the-point style, Jeb pulls no punches and slaps you in the face with the cold, hard truth about what’s really holding you back from closing sales and reaching your income goals. Then he pulls you in with examples, stories, and lessons that teach powerful human-influence frameworks for getting past NO - even with the most challenging objections.

What you won’t find, though, is old school techniques straight out of the last century. No bait and switch schemes, no sycophantic tie-downs, no cheesy scripts, and none of the contrived closing techniques that leave you feeling like a phony, destroy relationships, and only serve to increase your buyers’ resistance.

Instead, you’ll learn a new psychology for turning-around objections and proven techniques that work with today’s more informed, in control, and skeptical buyers. Inside the pages of Objections, you’ll gain deep insight into:

  • How to get past the natural human fear of NO and become rejection proof
  • The science of resistance and why buyers throw out objections
  • Human influence frameworks that turn you into a master persuader
  • The key to avoiding embarrassing red herrings that derail sales calls
  • How to leverage the “Magical Quarter of a Second” to instantly gain control of your emotions when you get hit with difficult objections
  • Proven objection turn-around frameworks that give you confidence and control in virtually every sales situation
  • How to easily skip past reflex responses on cold calls and when prospecting
  • How to move past brush-offs to get to the next step, increase pipeline velocity, and shorten the sales cycle
  • The 5 Step Process for Turning Around Buying Commitment Objections and closing the sale
  • Rapid Negotiation techniques that deliver better terms and higher prices

As you dive into these powerful insights, and with each new chapter, you’ll gain greater and greater confidence in your ability to face and effectively handle objections in any selling situation. And, with this new-found confidence, your success and income will soar.  

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Foreword: The Democracy of Objections
  6. Introduction: It Wasn't Supposed To Be This Book
  7. Chapter 1: Asking—The Most Important Discipline in Sales
    1. The Discipline to Ask
    2. You Are Not Getting What You Want Because You Are Not Asking for What You Want
    3. Conjuring the Deepest, Darkest Human Fear
    4. There Is No Silver-Bullet Objection Slayer
  8. Chapter 2: How to Ask
    1. Emotional Contagion: People Respond in Kind
    2. The Assumptive Ask
    3. Shut Up
    4. Be Prepared for Objections
  9. Chapter 3: The Four Objections You Meet in a Deal
    1. Types of Objections
    2. Objection Turnaround Frameworks
  10. Chapter 4: The Science of Resistance
    1. Buyers Don't Go to Objection School
    2. You Cannot Argue People into Believing They Are Wrong
    3. Objections Originate at the Emotional Level
    4. Cognitive Biases and Heuristics
    5. People Ignore Patterns
    6. Status Quo and Safety Biases
    7. Triggering the Negativity Bias
    8. Sunk-Cost Fallacy
    9. Ambiguity Bias and the Less-Is-Better Effect
    10. Cognitive Dissonance
    11. Pulling It All Together
  11. Chapter 5: Objections Are Not Rejection, But They Feel That Way
    1. Not the Same
    2. But It Feels the Same
  12. Chapter 6: The Science Behind the Hurt
    1. A Biological Response
    2. The Most Insatiable Human Need
  13. Chapter 7: The Curse of Rejection
    1. Sales Is an Unnatural Profession
    2. Fight or Flight—The Genesis of Disruptive Emotions
  14. Chapter 8: Rejection Proof
    1. The Seven Disruptive Emotions
    2. Develop Self-Awareness
    3. Positive Visualization
    4. Manage Self-Talk
    5. Change Your Physiology
    6. Stay Fit
    7. Push Pause with a Ledge
    8. The This-or-That Technique
    9. Obstacle Immunity
    10. Adversity Is Your Most Powerful Teacher
  15. Chapter 9: Avoiding Objections Is Stupid
    1. Get the Truth on the Table—Early and Often
    2. Are You the Decision Maker?
    3. Mapping Stakeholders
    4. BASIC™
    5. Bringing Objections to the Surface
    6. Activating the Self-Disclosure Loop
    7. Deep Listening
  16. Chapter 10: Prospecting Objections
    1. When You Fail to Interrupt, You Fail
    2. The Rule of Thirds
    3. RBOs
    4. Prospecting RBOs Can Be Anticipated in Advance
    5. Planning for Prospecting RBOs
    6. The Three-Step Prospecting Objection Turnaround Framework
    7. Putting It All Together
    8. Bitch Just Hung Up in My Face
  17. Chapter 11: Yes Has a Number
    1. Sales Is Governed by Numbers
    2. Money Ball: It's All About the Ratios
    3. Changing Your Yes Number
  18. Chapter 12: Red Herrings
    1. Avoid Red Herring Objections
    2. PAIS
    3. Leveraging the Call Agenda Framework to Gain Control and Avoid Red Herrings
  19. Chapter 13: Micro-Commitment Objections
    1. The Bane of Sales Organizations
    2. The Power of Micro-Commitments
    3. The Cardinal Rule of Sales Conversations
    4. The Origin of Micro-Commitment Objections
    5. The Three-Step Micro-Commitment Objection Turnaround Framework
  20. Chapter 14: Buying Commitment Objections
    1. It's the Sales Process, Stupid: The Truth About Impossible Objections
    2. The Five-Step Objection Turnaround Framework
    3. Putting It All Together
  21. Chapter 15: Bending Win Probability in Your Favor
    1. Fanatical Prospecting
    2. Qualify, Qualify, Qualify
    3. Map the Account Stakeholders
    4. Leverage Precall Planning
    5. The Confirmation Step
    6. Murder Boarding
    7. Practice and Run Through Scenarios
  22. Chapter 16: The Relentless Pursuit of Yes
    1. Success Is Paid for in Advance
    2. Never Let Anyone Tell You What You Can't Do
    3. Shaquem Can't Compete
    4. Stop Making Excuses for Why You Can't
  23. Acknowledgments
  24. About the Author
  25. Training, Workshops, and Speaking
  26. Index
  27. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Objections
  • Author(s): Jeb Blount, Mark Hunter
  • Release date: June 2018
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781119477389