An objection is an expression or feeling of disapproval or disagreement with something. As humans, we face objections from others on a daily basis either at the home, the office or anywhere we find ourselves interacting with other people. Encountering objections are unavoidable and it is preferable to overcome than to avoid them, and it makes you wiser for it. Objections occur as a result of people having different results, perspective, situations, emotions, understanding among other reasons.
In this post, I will discuss seven effective steps for overcoming objections in any scenario in life.
1. Keep Calm
While the person you are interacting with is expressing their opposition to what you are offering or saying, you need to be calm. Do not make the situation about you, what do I mean? - do not get angry or try to force your idea on the person, remain calm, and allow the person to fully express his or her disagreement.
2. Listen
Listen attentively to the person and ensure the person notices that you are being attentive to them by maintaining eye contact. This is an important step where you will diffuse any hostile behavior towards you by the individual. Keep a receptive body language is also a key reflection of listening to a person. Active listening is not an easy task to achieve especially now that we live in a world where the attention span of every human is getting shorter due to so many distractions.
3. Acknowledge the Objection
You need to acknowledge the objection the person has presented to you by accepting it openly and making the person feel at ease knowing you have taken into consideration the objection. This is important because otherwise, the discussion could easily deteriorate into a heated argument and your objective will not be achieved.
4. Refine the Objection
You need to ask questions to really understand the objection, to enable you to overcome it. You should use open-ended questions - which are questions that cannot be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’, and instead require the respondent to elaborate on their points. This will prompt the person to give you a clear picture of why they are in opposition.
5. Define the Objection
Now that you understand the reason behind the objection, there is a need to state the real objection and get confirmation from the person. This is key so that both parties are aligned with what the objective is in the situation.
6. Overcome the Objective
Only when you know what the objective really then you can overcome it. At this point, you are already armed with all the information that you need to achieve this and hence you can go ahead with your plan to explain to the person and come to an agreement.
7. Close
Now that you have overcome the objective you need to close it to avoid digression or another objective to creep up in the discussion. The key to overcoming objectives is in the ability to ask probing questions to get clarification on the issues at hand.
Final Thoughts
Overcoming objections is a valuable skill that is crucial in all facets of life be it in our career, in your profession, family, business, and so on. Fortunately for us all, like so many other skills it can be learned and taught.
Well, that's all folks.
Read this post on how to lead as a manager on business ethics.
Are there other ways that are applicable in overcoming objections? Leave me a comment.
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