Let’s harken back to my 29-year-old self (a whopping 15 years ago). I’m in Maui with family at Thanksgiving. And I cut away for an hour. Time to reflect on my place in life, while immersed in a retail environment. Strolling through the Whaler’s Village shopping mall, I stumble on a Rolex store. Through the windows, I peer at the watches before me. They stare back, begging to be tried on. Wrists feeling all too naked, I step inside the store.

A friendly salesperson greets me. “Hello, I’m Susan. I’ll let you take a look around. Let me know if you want to try on any of our watches.”

“Will do, thank you.”

A few Submariners catch my eye. I finally speak up, “Susan, could I try a few of these models?”

“Of course”, she responds. “Which of these would you like to see?”

I point to the three models I like the most. She’s quick to grab them. Before long, each watch takes a turn on my left wrist. Susan has a well-rehearsed spiel about each timekeeper. I find the experience enjoyable. Images of Roger Federer, Wimbledon, and James Bond appear in my mind’s eye. I envision myself in a tuxedo, ordering a Vesper martini at the Monte Carlo Casino. Before stepping on a mega yacht for an evening cruise on the Med. Accessing this status through the Rolex brand is intoxicating. I’m bathing in this fantasy, and Susan is doing nothing to break the spell. 

I land on the timepiece I like the most. As it lingers on my arm, she tells me, “This one looks great on you, Paul. I could see you enjoying this watch for a long time.”

Susan’s right. It’s alluring. And I know it. With all my being.

She moves in for the kill, “What do you think? Rolexes last forever. You’ve worked hard all year. Feels to me like you deserve it…”

I’m having a hard time disagreeing with her. I’ve been working at early-stage startups for a few years now. Grinding really. I have earned it.

But it just wouldn’t be responsible. At $90K per year, my salary doesn’t allow for a $15,000 expense. No matter how I look at it, I just can’t afford it. Sure, I could slap it on my credit card. But, using up half of my credit card’s limit on a luxury purchase doesn’t make much financial sense.

Sheepish, I respond, “I don’t think the timing’s right. I’m just not ready. Don’t get me wrong, Susan, all three are gorgeous. Particularly that last one. But it’s just not my time.”

Susan, the seasoned pro, moves into objection-handling mode. She sniffs out what’s going on with me and adroitly offers, “Paul…somebody like you probably doesn’t need it…but do know that we have financing options. You can get approved in no time, and it enables you to spread out the expense over a few years. Quite a few folks opt for the financing…certainly helps with the upfront investment. It’s not small, that’s for sure.”

She read my mind. I couldn’t justify the cost to myself. She nipped the objection in the bud and presented me with a viable solution. Not only that, but she made me feel okay about being in my financial predicament. Much of the shame I was feeling simply vanished. And, she made sure I didn’t feel alienated by going the financing route. It was a well-trodden path, Susan assured me. 

“Susan…actually, can you tell me more about those options? I’d love to see if I can make one of them work for me.”

This is a fictitious story. But it could very well have been true. The internal machinations I would have had at that age are accurate. Such an anecdote is a great way to introduce the 3 levels of objections we have to deal with as salespeople. Let’s talk about them.

Level 1: Objections Known to Prospect & Rep:

 

These objections are the simplest to deal with. They have been fully surfaced to the open air and are known to both parties. We know what we are talking about. Objections at this level are tangible things we can both interact with. We’re in full agreement as to what to what they are. An objection can only be handled at this level.  

In our story above, the objection gets known by both parties when Susan shrewdly guesses that my issue was budget, or my unwillingness to spend the required amount. Noticing my hesitation to buy the watch, she sized me up as a young dude who might not have had the finances to pull the trigger on such a purchase. Susan puts the option of financing out there, to see if I’ll bite. I jump at the opportunity to find out more. She can now start handling my objection because she was able to fish it out.

Level 2: Objections Known Only to Prospect:

 

 

The objections here are one level deeper. They only reside in the prospect’s head and are unknown to the salesperson. It is your job as the rep to get objections at this level to surface up to the open air, where you can work with the prospect and overcome them. If objections stay at this level, there is no conceivable way for you to handle them, because you don’t know what you’re working with.

In our example, my “no budget” objection was at this level for most of the time. I knew in my bones I’d have a hard time coughing up the money to buy the watch of my dreams. Susan unearthed my objection by observing me closely, guessing at it, and deftly laying out a solution to test her hypothesis. In the end, she was spot on.

Level 3: Objections Unknown to All Parties:

 

 

Reading the title above, you might think, ‘What are you talking about, Paul? Aren’t objections always known by the prospect?’ 

The short answer is: no. 

Have you ever made a decision where you couldn’t justify the ‘why’? You were just ‘feeling it’ in the moment. You couldn’t quite explain why. Your gut was telling you what to do. No part of your knowing self was even involved. That’s what we’re talking about at this level. We’ve all made decisions in a blink of an eye. Those calls are made in our subconscious. And usually, we end up building scaffolding, as a rationalization for those choices. 

 

In our tale, my objection residing in Level 3 would have looked something like this.

“Susan, I’m not sure I’m ready to get the watch. Doesn’t feel like the right time.” I’m not giving much to act on just yet. It’s not a smoke screen. I’m just not aware of why I can’t move forward. 

Susan has to do extra leg work. She digs in, “Paul…I do think any of these watches would look great on you. But I don’t want to rush you. How are you thinking about whether or not it’s the right time for you? I’d love to be a resource to you. We see clients make these decisions daily, and I’m happy to help you sort through this…”

This is where you get to be advanced. When you’re able to have your prospect become aware of an objection they had but were initially unaware of, you’re in therapist territory. 

The best thing you can do is to hold space for your prospect. A space imbued with equanimity. It should feel okay telling you anything including deep, dark secrets. All while knowing you won’t be judged. As a salesperson, this is where you step on the brakes and make sure the prospect doesn’t feel pushed. This is the prospect’s time to come clean. 

Susan pushed me to introspect. And I start to feel good about opening up. “That’s kind of you to say that, Susan. I really am not sure, to be honest. It just doesn’t feel right.”

“Could it be that it’s a big investment up front? How does that sit with you? Or is it something else?” She’s inquiring, giving me plenty of room to ponder what she’s asked.

“Yeah, maybe that’s it. Now that you mention it, I think I’m feeling some trepidation. This decision feels big. Probably because it’s a large expense.” 

Susan steps in, “I completely understand. My first two watch purchases felt exactly like that. I couldn’t make a call for what felt like an eternity. I remember going back to the store several times over a week. So trust me, I’ve been there. Also, you should know, Rolex has put together financing options that help reduce the stress of a purchase like this. Somebody like you might not need it, but these options are there for you…”

Susan now has us in Level 1. And we’re both talking about the same objection. She’s on her way to potentially making the sale.

As you now understand, our job as salespeople is to surface objections to the open air of Level 1. I usually tell my clients that moving objections to Level 1 is more than half the battle. Unless you’re dealing with an insurmountable objection – like being compared to a superior competitor – objection handling is the easy part. You’ve already more than likely memorized the carefully crafted scripts of your objection-handling handbook. You’re ready to share these at every turn. The art of objections is in surfacing them. The deeper they reside, the more work it will take you as a salesperson. Next time you get an objection from a prospect, try to identify what level they sit at. That will indicate which surfacing technique to deploy. And ask yourself, ‘What would Susan do?’