Whose Objection Is It, Really?

This is the second article in the series on Selling Intangibles.

As sales managers, we need to know what the sales associates’ objections are to selling intangibles.

In many cases, the objections the salesperson has to the intangible may be greater than the customer’s objection—or it may be that the salesperson simply agrees with the customer.

We know that salespeople need to believe in the intangible as a valuable tool to the sale. But when they don’t have success using that tool, they often conclude that the tool itself is lacking something—not that they haven’t yet built the skill of using it effectively.

They’ll have evidence to support their objection.

“I tried to use financing and the customer was turned down.”

That experience becomes proof, allowing them to keep their belief about the tool intact instead of being open to seeing it another way.

As Einstein said, “How we see the problem is the problem.”

How salespeople view the intangible tool directly impacts how they use it. That perspective, combined with their level of intentionality to use the tool and to get the sale, determines the outcome.

To break this cycle, we have to start by identifying which objection belongs to the customer and which belongs to the salesperson.

Since a salesperson isn’t going to sell something they don’t believe in, the real question becomes: how do we help them believe in the intangible?

If we continue to assume the customer is the obstacle to the sale, we won’t look far enough to see where the salesperson may be stopping or limiting the sale based on their own beliefs.

Stay with it.

These are important tools, and learning to use them effectively matters.

Action to Take This Week

• Ask your sales team to name their top objection to each intangible.
• Separate what they believe is a customer objection from what may be a salesperson belief.
• Listen for statements that start with “I tried…” and explore what skill may still be developing.
• As a manager, coach the belief before coaching the technique.

We’ll keep building on this.