The Best and Worst Objection Handlers for Realtors

SUMMARY

You already know that your ability to handle objections has a lot to do with how many listings you take. If objections make you feel nervous, insecure, challenged, frustrated, or combative

The best objection handling reduces resistance from the sellers, and causes them to want to work with you. Here are the principles of powerful objection-handlers.

WORST: Anything that causes resistance.

The worst objection handlers cause immediate resistance from the seller.

“No” is the single worst resistance trigger in English. No one likes to be told “no.”

“I can’t” is a close second. They want an agent who has power…who CAN…not one who can’t.

Many objection handlers are basically designed to silence the seller in a way that makes the seller feel totally shut down, but no one likes to feel like they just lost an argument.

BEST: An answer that is straightforward, honest, and redirects the focus to what the sellers want.

The best objection handler is one that answers the intent of the question and then re-directs the sellers’ attention toward what they really want.

Here is an example of an objection handler that answers the tough, “Will you cut your commission?” Objection in a way that is straightforward and honest, and that turns the conversation back to what the seller really wants (or in this case…away from what they don’t want): “I don’t discount commission…because I don’t deliver discount results. I assume you’re not looking for discount results, correct?”

To learn more, watch the video or for all of my best scripts and objection handlers, get a copy of my #1 bestseller, The Book of YES: The Ultimate Real Estate Agent Conversation Guide.

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Hi there. It’s Kevin Ward, the founder of YESMasters Real Estate Success Training and the author of the number one bestselling book, “The Book of YES: The Ultimate Real Estate Agent Conversation Guide.”

Admit it, ever since you were a little child, whenever somebody gave you an answer or told you something that you did not want to hear, you did not like, you immediately wanted to fight it. Am I right? We’re all that way, it’s natural, so today, in today’s video, I want to talk about the best and the worst objection handlers on the planet, especially for talking to sellers.

Whenever you’re prospecting, whenever you’re on a listening presentation and you’re having to deal with objections, what are the best objection handlers and what are the worst objection handlers that you and I and all of us have been taught that we have used, so that after today, you will never again use the wrong objection handlers.

Let’s talk about first the worst objection handlers on the planet, and then we’re going to talk about the best objection handlers and what is the dynamic difference between them.

WORST OBJECTION HANDLERS

Here is what makes an objection handler horrible. If the objection handler, whenever you give an answer to a seller and they throw a question at you, they throw an objection, and your answer, your objection handler causes resistance, anything that you say that causes a seller to resist you, that causes them to want to fight with you. It’s the same thing ever again, going back to ever since you were a little child.

Whenever your mom or your dad came and said, “Okay, son,” or as my parents used to call me Bub, “Hey, Bub, it’s time to go take a bath.” As soon as they told me something I didn’t like to hear, “Bub, turn the television off. It’s time to get ready for school. Turn the television off. It’s time for dinner. Bub, come in. It’s time to eat. Wash your hands.” “Oh, no, Mom.” As soon as they said something that you didn’t like or something I didn’t like, what did we do? We immediately resist, so any time you as a seller asks you a question, “Will you reduce your commission?” Now, oh my goodness, we just hit. We just hit one that’s so raw, it’s like the cut is just fresh, and they go like, “Will you reduce your commission? Will you cut your commission? Will you take a 30-day listing?”

When they throw at you an objection like that, the next words out of your mouth are going to do one of two things. They’re going to either make them want to fight. They’re going to cause them to resist you. They’re going to make them want to argue with you or they’re not. The worst objections are the ones that cause resistance. I’m going to give you the two what we call resistance triggers, and I spent years studying and understanding influence and persuasion and words that cause people automatically to resist you. There are two words that you never want to use whenever you’re talking to a seller because these will automatically cause resistance.

These are the two things that we hate the most. Number one is whenever you say no. That is the biggest one. If there’s one that causes more resistance than anything else, it’s nobody likes to be told no. “Mom, can I have an another cookie? Can I have ice cream?” “No.” “Mom, can I go out and play?” “No.” “Can I turn on the television?” “No.” “Can I watch another television show?” “No.” Anytime that you’re parent or somebody in authority or somebody you’re in a conversation with, when you ask for something or you want something and they tell you no, immediately, we kick into argument mode. We kick into adversarial mode. We kick into it’s time to fight. It’s time to argue. It’s time to defend ourselves, and automatically, it causes people to resist us.

“Will you reduce your commission?” “Nope.” What happens, immediately, the moment that word comes out of your mouth, immediately, they don’t like it. I’m not saying that they’re going to argue with you. Sometimes, they may not argue at all, but they don’t like it. It’s going to cause them to resist it and they don’t even know why.

Another one that’s close behind it is, “Will you do a 30-day listing?” And you go, “I’m sorry. I can’t.” I can’t. What it represents is a refusal. It also represents something else. They’re hiring you as a professional to help them sell their house. They want somebody who can, not somebody who can’t.

They want somebody who knows how to deliver a result and who has the authority and power to do everything that needs to be done to get a result, so whenever you tell somebody, “Well, I would like to. I wish I could, but I can’t,” whenever you say, “I can’t,” what you’re telling them is, “I have limits on what I can do.” We all have limits. We get that, but you don’t want to use words that are going to communicate limitation. Does that make sense? Whenever that happens, what are the better way you can do it. Let’s talk about the best objection handlers and what the best objection handlers actually do.

BEST OBJECTION HANDLERS

Here’s what the best objection handlers do. The best objection handlers do a very simple and very powerful process. They redirect focus to what the seller, or it could be a buyer, as well, but we’re talking mainly about sellers, what seller wants. Think about that for a second. The best objection handlers are one that they answer the question. We’re not talking about dodging the question or ignoring the question or evading the question because whenever you do that, people catch on to it real quick and they feel like you’re evading them. They feel like, “Why aren’t you answering my question?” I’m not talking about not answering it.

You want to answer the question and, at the same time, you want to redirect the focus to what the seller really wants. I’m just playing this video with one simple, but very, very powerful objection handler for a very common and yet one of the most difficult to handle objections that we run into with sellers, and that is the old commission objection. “Will you reduce your commission?” “Nope. I won’t do it. I won’t do it. You can’t make me. I’m not going to do it.” Then, immediately, you’re defending your commission, and they’re defending, “Well, I don’t want to pay you the commission.” Now we got a battle going on. “Well, I think it’s too much.” No you’re in an adversarial role, so what do I need to do?

I need to answer the question and then redirect their focus to what they want because what they don’t want to do is they don’t want to waste money. They don’t want to pay you money that doesn’t have value for them. “Will you reduce your commission?” “That’s a great question, and I appreciate you asking. I don’t discount my commissions. Can I tell you why?” They’re going to say, “Why? Yeah, tell me why?” “Because I don’t deliver discount results, and I’m sure you’re not looking for discount results, right?” What did I just do? One, I acknowledged the question. “It’s a great question. I appreciate you asking. I don’t discount my results.”

I answer the question very directly, and it’s a total in control answer. I don’t discount my commission. Can I tell you why?” People want to know why, and they go, “Why?” Because, and because is a very powerful influence trigger. Let’s go back to resistance triggers make people want to fight. Influence triggers make people want to agree. It makes people want to submit. It makes them want to accept, and here’s why because is a powerful influence trigger, because ever since you were a little child, because is the reason why everything in the world was the way that it was. “Why do I have to go to school every day, every weekday?” “Because you just have to.” “Why do I have to go to bed now?” “Because I said so. That’s why.” “Why? Why do I have to do this?” “Because I’m the dad. That’s why. Because that’s just the way it is. Because that’s the law. Because that’s life.”

Whenever, as a child, you heard the word because, it just told you this is authoritative. This is final. It’s crazy, but ever since we were kids, that’s how we were programmed, that because was final. It’s the one thing that ultimately answered the big why question. “But, Daddy, why?” “Because.” And that’s all there is to it. Just because. It is the word that was irrefutable. It was the word that was inarguable. “Can I tell you why?” They go, “Why?” “Because I don’t deliver discount results.”

Here’s the redirect. What do they want when they hire an agent? They want the best results. What does the best results look like? The best results looks like the most amount of money in the best amount of time with the least amount of hassle. That’s what they want. I redirect, “Because I don’t deliver discount results.” Then I tie it down by asking them a question that they have to agree with. Here’s the question. “Because I’m assuming you’re not looking for discount results, right?” What are they going to say? “Oh, no. We want discount results.” What you did was very powerfully and very simply is I tie the fact that people who provide discount services also deliver discount results.

You’ve heard this saying, “You get what you pay for,” right? When it comes to hiring professional services, you get what you pay for. Another powerful word because it’s another word that people don’t like is the word cheap. “Look, if you’re looking for the cheapest agent, I’m probably not your guy, but if you’re looking for the agent that can get you the best results and help you get the most amount of money, which will actually net you as much or more money in your pocket, then we got something to talk about. If you’re looking for cheap, I’m not your guy. Think about it. Your house is worth 2.8 million or 700,000 or 350,000, whatever it is. Would you agree that that is not a cheap asset?” “No.” “Then why would you look for cheap when it comes to getting results?”

What I’m doing is I’m redirecting the focus to what they want. As long as you’re talking, as long as the conversation is on commission, what do they want? They want to pay less, but the commission is only a part of the equation. What’s really important to them is the ultimate bottom line result, and “I’m assuming the bottom line result is what’s most important to you, right, Mr. Seller?” “Absolutely.” “Great. That’s what I do. I help sellers get the best result.” When you redirect that focus, it eliminates or at least reduces dramatically their resistance, so the best objection handlers are the ones that take the question, they answer it in a way that’s fair, that’s honest, no BS, and then redirect the conversation and the seller’s attention to exactly what it is that they ultimately want.

You do that and you will master getting yes without the BS, and people will not have the ability to tell you no. If you like it, comment. Ask any questions here. Share this with other agents that you know need it, and I’ll look forward to talking to you soon.

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