Special Report –Money Comes Out of the Closet with “Overcoming Money Objections”

Special Report –Money Comes Out of the Closet with “Overcoming Money Objections”
Written by Marilyn August

You cannot take hope, excitement or motivation to the bank.”

Wallet Wisdom

Most sales training focuses on getting sales people motivated, enthused or excited. Typically a sales training event is filled with lots of rah rah, and you can do it motivational presentations and speeches. Then to cap off the event, an awards ceremony features the highest producers receiving the prize (a trip, bonus or plaque) for achieving the company’s sales quotas. Observing these ceremonial rituals over the years, it seems like the same people are recognized each year. The almost-ran sales person is anything but motivated and often leaves the program wondering where to find the magic closing pill. Upon returning to the normal work day, fear of phone rears its ugly head once again and positive thinking is all but forgotten in the daily grind of rejections and objections. It is almost guaranteed that most of what is presented during these events will be forgotten within one month.

This sorry state of sales training results in the average producer continuing to be average. Companies continue to be frustrated while still spending major sales training dollars and getting minimal results. Nothing much changes as the cycle is repeated over and over again. So what’s missing in this sales training model? The answer to that question is simple and complex all at the same time. The answer is that ultimately all sales conversations calumniate in a money transaction. A successful sale is simply an exchange of money for goods or services that have a perceived value. Michael Grunwald says it another way in a recent article on consumer confidence.

“There is no inherent value to a house, a stock or even the US dollar – just the value on which a buyer and seller can agree.”
Newsweek Magazine, Confidence Game, July 28, 2008

Yet, open honest money communications remain the last taboo. It is more socially acceptable to talk about your sex life than to talk about money. So it is not surprising that sales training programs gloss over or skip the sensitive subject of money.

Positive Thinking
Studies in neuro-linguistic programming have shown that the average human being has around 60,000 thoughts per day. It is estimated that 95% of those thoughts are the same old thoughts as the ones they had yesterday. This study helps to prove that the way a sales person thinks is a pre-requisite to success in sales. What about the way a business owner or sales person thinks about money? How does their prior personal history with money, an investment failure or a money augment with a spouse affect their productivity? These past money experiences and beliefs impact sales success as much or more than any other single factor.

Not only is a sale person working through the veil of their personal, unconscious money beliefs, they are selling to a prospective buyer who also has negative money beliefs. The easiest thing for a prospect to say is “I can’t afford it” or “it costs too much.” These simple words are almost guaranteed to shut down further pricing discussions giving the prospect control over the sales process. The sales person either walks away discouraged, cuts their price or discounts their commission in order to get the deal. This discounting behavior sets up a cycle of failures and frustration for both the sales person and business owner. The business owner or sales person who has been trained to recognize personal negative money attitudes will be dramatically more successful at increasing productivity. If they have also been equipped with techniques to handle the money objection, the close rate goes skyrockets them to success.

A Numbers Game
Most sales people play a numbers game rather than address the complexities of money objections. The irony is that most of the sales lost due to prospects’ money objections can be easily saved if only the sales person has an understanding of the real objection. Money objections automatically and without conscious thought triggers the sales person’s own internal “money head trash.” They believe the words “I can’t afford it” mean the same thing to all people. They simply have never been trained on how to overcome their own internal perceptions and pose the questions that will unmask the underlying objection.

The Last Taboo
Money remains the last taboo not discussed in polite company or in traditional sales training programs. “How to Overcome Money Objections” hits the subject head on.

Marilyn August, Business Advisor and author of “Wealthy U” specializes in increasing productivity by changing the way people think about money.

For more information about “How to Overcome Money Objections” program for your organization, please contact Marilyn August
go to www.wealthyu.com or e-mail at marilyn@wealthyu.com