Do you want to stop negative people stalling conversations during meetings? Are you sick of making proposals, only to have them dismissed by whiners? Are you fed up trying to close a sale, only to find objections are putting a barrier in the road to success? If these situations are frustrating you, you need to learn how to handle objections like a master negotiator.
In my course, Negotiation Skills for Women, we cover a range of techniques women can use to overcome objections in both formal and informal negotiation settings. Here’s a quick rundown on the advice I give to participants in these classes.
Ask exploratory questions
Highly skilled negotiators don’t stop when they hear objections. Instead, they adopt a mindset of exploration. They ask questions to uncover what’s going on for the person who has raised the issue. They do this because they know that handling an objection is always easier when you understand what’s prompting it. Useful questions to ask include “What makes you say that?” or “What are you concerned about here?” Get lots more tips on this in my free podcast, Handling Objections Without Sounding Pushy. Read more