A client’s objection can quickly derail a sale, but a well-considered response is the key to success in moving them beyond it. Here are four common sales objections and the creative solutions to overcome them.
It’s game time. You’re discussing a financial product with a client, and they throw out an objection. As if you were playing football, an objection on a sales call can feel like a 15-yard penalty — because it often is.
What do you do now?
Regardless of what you’re selling, this is the moment to discern whether the objection is irrational or valid, and the onus is on you to determine which it is. To answer your client head on — which is necessary to solidifying a trusted advisor/client relationship — you’ve got to have a plan for responding in a substantive way.
How you respond to their objection determines whether you succeed or fail during the sales process.
4 common sales objections + solutions
It’s not easy to navigate difficult sales conversations. Understanding these four common sales objections will help you work through them in the moment.
- “I can’t take time to plan my estate right now.”
This could be an objection to getting a meeting in the first place, or adding a financial product to your client’s overall wealth transfer and retirement plan.
A busy high-net worth individual may not be thinking about their future generations, or even beyond next year. At this moment, the individual may be focused upon building their empire and maybe not so much on preserving the maximum value of their estate.
Help them think about their estate as if it were a huge building they erected over the years. The question then becomes, “Why wouldn’t you take great care to make sure the cathedral you built stands for generations to come?” A good advisor can establish a plan to keep his/her financial cathedral intact.
Urge them not to leave money on the table. A well-designed life insurance plan, for example, should be a critical part of their estate plan. Building that empire took time and a well-crafted and well-considered estate plan ensures the financial legacy they’ve built over the last 50 years doesn’t expire when they do. Let them know it doesn’t have to be painful. How they will be remembered depends upon a well-designed estate plan.
- “Why should I use life insurance as part of my future retirement income plan?”
A properly designed index life plan can be used to provide a predictable tax-free stream of retirement distributions. When compared to other alternatives, the client can enjoy their retirement free of worries about excessive taxation impacting their retirement plan.
Many clients and non-insurance-based advisors are unfamiliar with how these products can become the foundation of a successful retirement. The internal costs of the program over time are less than the income tax exposure on a taxable account. Additionally, other product features such as the annual reset of the account value, protection against market losses, fantastic upside performance potential, available chronic care benefits, and a tax-free permanent death benefit make modern indexed life attractive.
- “I changed my mind.”
When a client has second thoughts about purchasing any financial product, it’s important to refocus on why you made the recommendation in the first place. Remind your client why your recommendation is the best option for them, and how it can help them achieve their financial goals. Consider using a comparison to other alternatives to better validate the recommendation. Without a benchmark or reference point, it may prove more difficult for the client to understand the validity of your recommendation.
Taking this stance has two possible outcomes: The client will usually agree with your initial suggestion and move forward, or you’ll uncover a new conflict that requires further discovery.
- “This is too good to be true.”
People often believe that if a solution looks too good to be true, then it is. To take this objection off the table, show the client their data and detailed information on how their specific life insurance policy plan works. Remind them about the tradeoffs and considerations and be transparent about the fact that the numbers are based on a presumed rate. Being transparent like this will earn you credibility and trust in the sale.
Remember why your client is here
Client objections are a natural part of the sales process and often your relationship with your client can be built through your conversations after these objections. The better you handle them, the more successful you’ll be. That’s why when you’re making a recommendation, you must be able to validate why you chose that plan or service for the client.
Remember, the goal is to solidify the client relationship for the future, not just make a single sale.
For more information on how you can better service your clients’ life insurance needs, schedule a call with a member of the Premier Planning Group team.