ASA 72 | Obliterate Objections

 

In sales, objections from people are always present, and when addressed correctly, it is what drives the sale to happen. In this episode, Alex Mandossian talks about obliterating their objections and shares the six-step formula, backed with stories, that you must use for each. Objections are buying signals from prospects. Learn why you should embrace these objections and what these actually represent. Lastly, Alex dives into emotional objections and the importance of converting them into logical questions and an opportunity that may eventually be your FAQs.

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Obliterate Their Objections

Birth Of Alex’s Son And A $13,000 Sale

It’s October 26th, 2000. There I am on the fifth floor of Mount Sinai Hospital in the recovery room and I’m looking at my newborn son, Gabriel who’s one day old and my then-wife, Amy. He wasn’t expected to come into the world until three weeks later, but because of my then-wife’s doctor, her OB-GYN was going to be going on vacation, they induced her. It was a good thing because he was getting bigger. He was big at birth.

The problem was I had a TeleSeminar scheduled that evening because I didn’t expect him to come into the world until three weeks later. I had a decision to make. I could either sleep in the chair that was assigned to me, that’s poetic justice because men can’t give birth. I’m sitting and I’m looking at this chair and I’m thinking, “I’ll sleep here all night.” After watching seventeen hours of labor, which I couldn’t believe, my then-wife and Gabe were exhausted.

I could serve over 450 people who were registered for this TeleSeminar. I decided to look at the chair and then the phone which had a cord back then. I didn’t have a mobile phone if you can believe that. All freedom is with a phone with a cord, but these days we don’t have that anymore. I decided, “Let me pick the phone.” I took the phone and I pulled the cord, which was long enough to go into the only private room in the recovery room, which happened to be the restroom.

For the first time in human history that I can recall, I put down the toilet seat lid and I put the phone on my lap and I began the TeleSeminar. I did what I did and I did it often because I was known as the Larry King of teleseminars. Eventually, I made an offer. I didn’t know if people would end up buying or not because there was a huge speaker in the restroom.

[bctt tweet=”The sale doesn’t begin until you get your first objection.” username=”AlexMandossian”]

In the worst New York City accent that I could recall, I heard, “Visiting hours will end in twenty minutes.” I heard, “Visiting hours will end in ten minutes.” There was even a two-minute warning for visiting hours. It was almost 9:00 PM, East Coast time. I was embarrassed and then I finally confessed and said, “My son was born yesterday. We didn’t expect it. I apologize. I know this is not professional but I hope you’ll forgive me.” I hung up. I made my offer.

The next morning, I’m taking my new family home and all of a sudden, I was using Outlook at the time to read my emails, I started to hear these sounds. I’d set up my Outlook that every time I got a sale, I’d hear a sound like a cash register. I looked at all these orders coming in and I’m thinking, “What the heck happened?” It was a WTF moment for me.

When all was said and done, there was nearly $13,000 worth of sales from the one hour the night before on the toilet of Mount Sinai. I figured, “If I can make nearly $13,000 in sales from a teleseminar on the toilet at Mount Sinai Hospital after one day when my son was born, then can’t you do at least 10% of that from the comfort of your office or home if I can teach you these TeleSeminar Secrets?” That became my origin story. If I can do it, you can do it too.

Six-Step Formula

Let’s look at the formula that I gave you. I gave you a short version of the story that, often on stage, I’ve told maybe over 200 times. That particular course made over $14 million in sales and consulting fees and all the other things that allowed me to cut my teeth in digital marketing. The formula that I want to teach you, a six-step formula, doesn’t start with why.

As my colleague, Simon Sinek, talks about in his book. He has one of the best TEDx speeches of all time, at least one of the most viewed speeches, he says, “Start with why.” With the story, I disagree. There’s nothing against his formula.

With storytelling, you start with when. I mentioned October 26, 2000. Where? I’m on the fifth floor of Mount Sinai Hospital in the recovery room. Who? I was looking at my then-wife, Amy, and my newborn son, Gabriel. I talked about what happened. I took the phone into the restroom and put the lid down and did the TeleSeminar with the phone on my lap. How did it turn out? I made $13,000. I noticed that the next day. I was surprised.

Why is it relevant? If I can do it from the toilet of Mount Sinai, can’t you do at least 10% of $13,000 from the comfort of your office or home? The formula is when, where, who, what, how and why. When and where give situational awareness. You can picture it in your mind. You’re intrigued. You’re brought into the story. Who, who’s involved? What, what happened? How, how did it turn out? Why, why is it relevant?

ASA 72 | Obliterate Objections

Obliterate Objections: Embrace an objection. An objection is about engagement. It is a buying signal from your candidate or your prospect.

 

Step one is when. Step two is where. Step three is who. Step four is what. Step five is how. Step six is why. If you want to become a better storyteller, follow that formula. I’ve taught it many times to over twenty languages on six continents and it always works. I’ve never seen an exception if they follow the formula.

Embracing Objections

Let’s talk about objections. We’re not talking about handling objections. For the 72 episodes, I’ve talked about obliterating objections. You don’t handle them. You don’t take care of them. You obliterate objections. You get rid of them. There are many ways to do it. I want you to realize one thing. Embrace an objection. An objection is about engagement. It is a buying signal from your candidate or your prospect and the sale formally begins after you get your first objection.

I want to get an objection as soon as possible. Don’t dread objections. Don’t think that you’re getting resistance to an objection. An objection is an invitation. I’m not reframing an objection. I’m telling you the truth. Embrace an objection as if it’s a buying signal because it is. When you start, don’t try to sell when you’re on a new campaign.

With my sales teams and when I’m teaching sales to organizations, I charge $30,000 to teach sales organizations to sell their way at events, after launches, in all different scenarios. I’m not known publicly for it but I do it in stealth and it works. That’s because I forbid them to sell in the first two weeks. What I want the sales team to do, and this is what I do, is I gather articulated objections for that offer.

When I say articulated objections, that means what are they saying in their own words, in your prospects language? Embrace objections. Use them as buying signals and once you get them, then and only then will you create an objections notebook with the responses that are ideal to obliterate them. Every objection requires a story. There are 5 to 9 major objections that are valid, that is genuine. It’s 7 plus or minus 2, 5 to 9. Nine is better.

I’ll give you some examples. I’ve been teaching a course called Guerilla Business Online. I sell it from the stage at a five-day event called Guerilla Business Intensive. Thanks to Success Resources and my strategic alliance partner, T Harv Eker. Here are some objections I’ve heard about Guerrilla Business Online, which is teaching digital marketing to non-technical people. “I can’t do this because I don’t have a product or service to sell.”

Here’s another one, “I don’t have the technical skills to do this. I can’t do it.” Here’s another one, “This is not on my budget. It’s more than I thought I would have to pay.” I’ve heard, “I can’t do this because I have other commitments. I’ve enrolled in other courses.” There’s always, “I’ll think about it. I’ll talk to my spouse,” or whatever other objection. If you have an authentic objection, it’s because they are interested in buying, but they don’t think they can.

As the salesperson, the enroller, the leader, you got to show them a path to overcome that. What I recommend is that you convert an emotional objection, because they’re parting with their money, into a logical question. What if you took every objection and instead of it being a dead-end, it ended up becoming an opportunity, as a question or a frequently asked question that you had on your website? You sent them in advance prior to a strategy session or a clarity call, as we call it.

Let me give you an example, “I can’t do this because I don’t have a product or service to sell.” What if we turn that into a frequently asked question? Here’s the question, “Can I do this even if I don’t have a product or service to sell?” Here’s another one, “I can’t do this because I don’t have the technical skills. I’m a tech dummy.” Here’s the question, “Can I do this even if I’m a tech dummy?”

What about, “This is not in my budget?” How about this, “How am I going to start if it’s outside of my budget? Can I get a discount if I start later? Can I still get the discount you’re offering even if I start later,” which is the question to, “I can’t do this because I have other commitments.” How about, “I’ll think about it.” “Can I think about it before I make a decision?” That’s a question.

What are the answers? Here are the answers that I give, “Can I do this even if I don’t have a product or service to sell?” Put the answer, “Yes. In fact, 83% of all of Alex’s students, which is true, don’t have a product or service to sell when they get started.” It’s better if you don’t have a product or service because you have no bad habits. You’re not emotionally or ego-tied to your product. It’s more likely that you’ll start the right way versus destroying the product you’ve created and felt bad about it.

How about this, “Can I do this even if I’m a tech dummy?” Here’s the answer. “Yes, if you can copy and paste, if you can search on Google, if you can turn on your laptop or your computer, then those are the only technical skills that you need because most of everything you do is done for you.”

How about this one, “Can I get the discount that you’re offering even if I start later?” The answer, “Yes. Most likely, you’re already focused on another continuing education product. You can start at any time. If you get it now you will get the discount. You can start later as long as I’m breathing. That’s me, Alex Mandossian. You will have access to the members’ area.”

How about, “Can I think about it?” “Yes, go ahead.” What’s your answer? How long does it take for you to think? I have a salesperson talk to them because, “Can I think about,” is not an authentic objection. “It’s not in my budget.” This is one of my favorite ones, I have to do a tip of the hat to Grant Cardone because I got the idea behind the answer from him, from one of the books that I read. The answer is, “It’s not in your budget. Nothing is in your budget.”

“Your kids are not in your budget. Your spouse is not in your budget. Your ex-spouse is not in your budget. Your home, your car, the cafe lattes that you drink in the morning are not in your budget. Nothing is in your budget. You knew that when you were coming here.”

The whole point of the Guerrilla Business Online is to get those other things in your budget. It’s not in your budget. It will stretch you but it will teach you how to put everything else in your budget even if you’re paying more than you thought. How’s that work?

When you have your frequently asked questions, you will be prepared for the objections in advance. Also, when you tell stories for each objection, the moral of the story is to overcome the objection, then you will also obliterate the objection.

You want to tackle them in every direction. You must use one story for every objection you have and use the six-step formula. You must embrace objections as buying signals from prospects because that’s when the sale begins. I encourage you to convert emotional objections, which is what they are, into logical questions in the form of FAQs.

Alexism: Truth

The Alexism for this episode is this, “Nothing is as persuasive as the truth.” What I tell people is, “I’m going to tell you the truth not because my mother taught me that was the right thing to do. It’s because when I tell the truth, I make more money.” You can count on me telling the truth because I will make more money when I tell the truth.

You can smell a lie, can’t you? You can sense a lie even if it’s a white lie, but if you tell the truth transparently, such as, “Raise your hand if you think I’m going to be offering you continuing education at this event,” and all the hands go up, then your response is, “You will not be disappointed.”

I tell them myself when I’m selling them. I tell them, “I’m putting my pimping hat on now. Are you ready?” They say, “Yes.” I’m putting on my pampering hat and that’s what I’m teaching them. I said, “Are you ready?” They say, “Yes.”

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Here’s a review about the insights you and I rediscovered in this 72nd episode of All Selling Aside. Remember. They will only work if you apply them. It doesn’t take long to learn these skills, but to master them will take years. Make it part of your day like breathing. Number one, why you must use a story to each objection with the six-step formula I taught you: when, where, who, what, how and why.

[bctt tweet=”Nothing is as persuasive as the truth.” username=”AlexMandossian”]

Number two, why you must embrace objections as buying signals from prospects. Celebrate when you get that first objection because you’re close to the sale. Number three, why you must convert your emotional objections into logical questions. We call them FAQs so that we can obliterate piece-by-piece.

Remember, these insights will only work for you if you work them. Please make sure you execute what you’ve learned in this All Selling Aside episode because if you do, your future will be bigger, look brighter and you’ll create it on your own terms. Is it that exciting to think about? I think so. You can go back and read a second and maybe even a third time.

Speaking of reviews, if you’ve already given me a review on iTunes, then I want you to write your biggest takeaway or a-ha moment from this episode on an index card. If you do that, then you can review that card later on with a few keywords. If you haven’t given me a review on iTunes, then I want you to go to AllSellingAside.com/iTunes and write your biggest takeaway or a-ha in the review section.

Don’t review the podcast as a whole. Give me your a-ha moment for this episode or maybe another one if you have another favorite in the reviews section. It’ll mean much to me but more importantly, it will bring my podcast up because I don’t have sponsors. By bringing it up, it gives people 25 years of sales and marketing know-how, especially for those who hate to sell in 25-minute chunks, week after week.

Once you’ve reviewed the podcast or this episode on iTunes, iTunes will ask you to rate the episode and I hope I’ve earned five stars from you. I can’t force it, but I hope I’ve earned five stars from you. I hope you will subscribe to iTunes. If you don’t have an iPhone, if you have another type of phone or another type of smartphone, then I encourage you to go to Stitcher and you can review it there. It’s AllSellingAside.com/Stitcher for Android phones.

Review, rate and subscribe so you remember to read week after week. This is a public service. It’s my legacy. Instead of writing books, I do podcasting. It’ll take three minutes out of your day but what you declare could provide you and others reading it a valuable learning lesson.

One final gift to give you in honor of the 72nd episode of All Selling Aside, and that’s a physical copy of my Amazon bestselling book called Alexisms. What’s valuable is you get to experience the magic funnel that can triple, I’ve even seen it quintuple, that’s five times sales when you make a free offer. You’re paying for shipping and handling but you get the book for free.

ASA 72 | Obliterate Objections

Obliterate Objections: If you have an authentic objection, it’s because they are interested to buy but they don’t think they can.

 

You’ll get a video tutorial of each step of this magic marketing funnel that can triple and even quadruple, quintuple any physical offer that’s free, such as a book. You can experience it at MarketingOnline.com/book. Another tip of the hat goes to Russell Brunson. He’s the Founder of ClickFunnels. He was once my student for TeleSeminar Secrets in 2006 and now he is my teacher. He taught me this funnel.

I hope our paths cross again next episode for All Selling Aside. This is the show dedicated to making you an ethical influencer, to bring more certainty into your life, personal or professional. I hope you believe that because it’s true whether you believe it or not.

Do whatever it takes to join me next episode because our topic is called Reasons Why Selling. It’s one of the easiest and the most powerful ways to sell. If you have the reasons why, those will give your prospects a reason why so that the how to buy will be a lot easier. I encourage you to invite a friend, colleague or maybe invite a study buddy to All Selling Aside. You can even do it now.

[bctt tweet=”Insights will only work for you if you work them.” username=”AlexMandossian”]

I can’t wait to connect with you next episode. It’ll be fun because in the episode, I already know what I’m going to be teaching. It’ll be valuable. I want you to join us with a study buddy because it’s a lot more fun learning with someone and comparing notes. I hope our paths cross again then. All good wishes.

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