IT Staffing Sales Objection Handling Tips & Proven Rebuttals

1. Acknowledge the Objection, Express Empathy.  Depending on the prospect's concern, how you handle this first step may be more important than your actual rebuttal.  Acknowledging to your prospect that you hear their concern is important because it shows that you're listening.  Expressing or demonstrating empathy is important because it makes the customer feel understood.  Remember this, people, including your prospects and customers don't care about how much you and how great of a solution you might have until they know how much you care.
2. Ask Clarifying Probing Questions:  Listening to the prospect's concerns or objection and then asking clarifying probing questions to understand the root cause issue and true motivation behind the client’s objection will enable you to better craft a relevant and powerful rebuttal to the objection.  For example, your prospect may say, “Your candidate is not as good as your competitors’.” Regardless of how technically prepared you are to deal with this, unless you understand what the client truly means and what their concern is, your response cannot be as on-target and specific as it could be if you understood more. You must ask clarifying probing questions that uncover what the concern is.  For example, you might say “Please share with me in what ways my candidate is not as strong as my competitor’s candidate and could you please provide an example?” You also want to uncover whose concern it is.  Is it your client’s concern, their boss or colleague’s concern, or is the concern something that a competitor has provoked? Often times the first objection is not the customer’s real concern but rather symptomatic of the client’s real issue or concern. Don't jump the gun by offering a rebuttal until you first ask clarifying probing questions.
3. Position Your Credible Rebuttal: Your rebuttal is your concise response that is targeted to the specific objection. Being able to provide a succinct response demonstrates that you understand the problem and have the ability to offer a simple solution. Whenever possible, I suggest that your rebuttal be delivered in the context of a story.  By framing your rebuttal in the context of a story you can optimize the quality of your rebuttal. For example, you might say “John, we have encountered this situation before from another customer and here is how we handled it.”  When you provide a rebuttal in this context it validates your rebuttal because it allows the customer to see and understand how your rebuttal or solution has been beneficial for other customers. It provides context because they can hear how you worked with other customers to overcome the same concern or objection.
4. Check For Feedback: After you share a credible rebuttal with your customer you need to check for feedback with your customer by asking them for feedback on your rebuttal. Checking for feedback with your customer allows you to determine if your rebuttal successfully addressed and overcame the client’s objection.  Asking for feedback is critical to knowing where you stand with your customer and if you addressed their objection. You might say, “Jim, does that address your concern?”  Or, "Debra, how do you feel about moving forward now?” At this point in the conversation you should be listening to the client to confirm that their objection has been addressed and that they agree with the solution and are comfortable moving forward. 
5. Repeat the Process:  You might might be thinking, “what do I do if my rebuttal doesn’t overcome their objection?”  In that case you will need to repeat the four step objection resolution  model until your customer’s concerns have been adequately addressed. 

One of the most common mistakes I see salespeople make when trying to overcome IT staffing sales objections is they offer a rebuttal to the objection but then they just keep on talking.  They never ask for the client's input.  Salespeople who do this never know if their rebuttal addressed the client's concern.  You have to check for customer feedback after positioning your credible rebuttal. 

For additional tips for preventing objections and booking more sales meetings, download our eBook, Top Sales Prospecting Techniques That Book More Sales Meetings.