[Thomo]

My advice is still to forget about closing techniques, open question techniques and what to say when somebody objects to your pitch. Buyers are as aware of sales techniques as sales people are. If they know they are being sold to then it comes across as unprofessional.

It should be a natural process a proper conversation - if you are there because you 'need' to be more than they 'need' you to be then you'll be dealing with objections all day. If you spend most of your time dealing with this type of sell then all you are likely to do is pressurise most people into accepting a quote or demonstration, you'll be dangled by a thread until you have worked them into a corner - if you are a 'pressure' salesman or they like you they won't want to give you the real reason they're not going with you anyway. All that will happen is you do loads of work for very little reward.

So what if you find yourself in this position, how do you get yourself out of it? That's really a question the MD should be asking him or herself. If you are having to 'convince' people to do things they won't. People do things because they want to. The secret is getting them to want to.

If you can create a scenario where you are there because the customer 'needs' you to be there then you won't have many objections. That skill is partly up to you (as a salesman) and partly up to your company.

Before you say things aren't that simple, I know they aren't but if 90% of the time you find yourself in a position were people are saying "I need time to shop around" it can only mean that you are either approaching them too early or they are unconvinced by what you say/what your company offers them and are fobbing you off.

Put it this way, if you really fancied buying say a Ford Mustang but were unsure about the fuel economy and asked the salesperson "but don't these cars cost a lot to run?" - I would not class that as an objection. This is somebody who is asking you 'interested questions' - they want to know more about the product etc because they are interested in buying - these are 'buying signals' not objections.

If you are being told "I need to look around at other deals" then I believe it is wrong to say "okay, when will you be making a decision because I'll reappoint/call you back" - the answer will be a fob off. However if they buyer said "I really like what you are offering and think we should talk more after I've had a few more prices in" then that's opening the door for you.

Forget the others. Find the people who are interested or in need and focus all your attention on having proper conversations about what they want, what they need - you will then be given all the answers. It's up to your company to be able to offer what they want.

If no one knows you, if you are not known in the market - that's not your fault, it's the fault of where you work.