The Secret to Handling Objections Successfully

SUMMARY

The “secret” to handling objections is to understand the difference Between an Objection and a Complaint and a Condition.

1. An objection is a question that you need to answer.

2. An complaint is simply an expression of emotion about something they don’t like.

3. An condition is a situation you can do nothing about.

FULL TRANSCRIPT

One of the secrets to handling objections successfully is understanding when an objection isn’t really an objection.

Hey there, it’s Kevin Ward, the Founder of Yes Masters Real Estate Success Training, helping you get more yeses and more successes in your business and in your life. And objection handling is the secret. Well, it’s one of the secrets.

How do you handle objections successfully? One of the secrets to handling objections successfully is understanding when an objection isn’t really an objection. In fact, there’s really three categories of questions or statements that sellers make that are often confused with being objections. First, there are objections that are actually objections. Second, there are objections that are nothing more than really complaints. And third, there are objections that really are not objections, they are conditions.

In this video, I just want to break down what is the difference between an objection and a complaint, and a condition. First, let’s take and break down what’s an objection.

An objection is a question or a doubt that a seller or buyer has in their mind that requires explanation or an answer, or some more information from you. So an objection would be like, “Will you reduce your commission?” They’re actually asking you to take an action, and you’ve got to educate them or somehow convince them to change their direction by answering that or handling that objection so you can overcome the objection, so you can move on toward leading them to a decision.

So objections are the ones that require you to actually give them information, an answer, and help them overcome an emotion or a belief or a position that they hold that you can change.

Now, a complaint is different. A complaint is simply an expression of emotion about something they don’t like. All right? Let’s break this down and give some examples. So, “Will you reduce your commission?” That is now a question that requires me to answer, right? However, what if they go like, “Ugh, your commission is just so high. That is so much money”? Now is that an objection or is that just a complaint? And the answer is it’s probably, at least at that stage, it’s just a complaint. They’re just saying, “I don’t like how much your commission is.” And now, you can handle that differently.

How do you handle an objection? Well, an objection you handle by giving them more information in a way that persuades them to make a decision to do something that is an outcome that you want. Right? That is how you handle an objection.

The way you handle a complaint is primarily just to let them know that they’ve been heard and to reassure them that they’re making the right decision, okay? So what they need from you is really they need from you confidence that you got this, and you’re willing to hear them out and reassure them that this is the way it is.

Here’s some examples of complaints. “Ugh, your commission is so high.” Now, you could literally go like, “I hear ya, and it’s certainly not cheap. However, we’re getting you the best results and helping you get the most money in your pocket.” Now, just reassuring them I’m hearing them, and you can literally tell somebody, “Well, commission isn’t cheap, that’s for sure. However, if you want to get the most money in your pocket, hiring me is definitely the best way,” and it’s just reassuring them.

And the thing is, sometimes, you don’t even have to do that, just say, “I hear ya, I know.” Like, “Ugh, the price on our house, that’s just too low.” “I hear ya, I wish it was more. I wish we could get you more.” It’s just I’m listening to the complaint and letting them know I hear them, but I’m not going into, “Well, if we … ” See, then we go into an objection handle, “Well, we could price it here, but,” blah, blah, blah, and then we start going into objection handling.

One of the big mistakes real estate agents make is they go into objection handling way too soon. You don’t need to go into objection handling yet. A lot of times they’re just expressing their emotion reaction to something they don’t like. “I don’t like the idea. I hate the idea of having all these strangers coming through my house while its on the market.” “I hear ya, but look, you’re going to take all your valuables, have them locked up, and if you want to put a Ring doorbell on your front door so there’s security, that’s a great idea to do it. But it’s going to be okay. And all the buyers that come through here, they’re coming in with licensed agents, whether it’s me or another agent. They’re licensed, they’re vetted, and everything’s going to be fine.” I’m just reassuring them. Okay? It’s mostly just a complaint.

Understand that a complaint is not something where you start needing to go into some long explanation, it just is something that they need to hear from you it’s okay. They got it. You got their back, or whatever it needs to be. You’re just reassuring them.

Then the third thing that’s often a mistake or confused with an objection is a condition. A condition is a simple fact or reality, a circumstance or a situation that you can’t change. You can’t change it by explaining it or by negotiating with them or anything. For example, probably the most clear example of a condition is, “We’re not moving, okay? We’re not moving. We decided not to move.” That can be interpreted as, “We decided not to sell.”

Now, whenever you hear a condition like that, “We decided not to sell,” number one is you have to acknowledge in your mind, “Okay, this sounds like a condition.” The second thing is, now I’ve got to prod that condition, I’ve got to challenge it by asking a couple more questions to identify is that really a condition or is it really an objection disguised as a condition, which means it’s just a get rid of you tactic. They’re just trying to get you off the phone or get rid of you or whatever. And that happens too. So I’ve got to identify, is it really a condition, or is it just a smoke screen?

Once you identify it, “Nope, they’re really not moving. His job transfer fell through,” or, “interest rates jumped,” and they decided not to sell. So they’re like, “Nope, we decided not to sell.” Ask a few more questions to find out, are they not selling? And if they decided not to move and they’re not selling, you’re not going to just talk them into actually making a move that they don’t want to make. Does that make sense?

It’s learning how to identify is this really a condition or not, and if it’s a condition, to be willing to graciously accept the condition and then move on, whether it means wait and just build a relationship with them, with the real estate vortex, with your personal circle system, or it may mean just letting the relationship go or just shaking hands and being friends. And you have to be okay with that.

One of the most frustrating things for me is I used to take a condition and I would be like, “Ah, how do I overcome that? How do I overcome it?” Well, the reality is you can’t, and so I would stress out, and I would make a fool of myself by saying stuff or asking questions and trying to convince them, and all I did was create more resistance from them, and sometimes ended up damaging the relationship because I was trying to push them and overcome a condition that you cannot overcome.

So it’s learning how to identify it and be at peace with it. If you have a prospect and you find out that the prospect’s mom is a top real estate agent in their neighborhood, you’re probably not going to ever get that to change. They’re probably not going to list with somebody else, right? Unless something else changes. In that circumstance, it is likely a condition rather than an objection.

And just simply understanding the difference between an objection and a complaint and a condition will free you so that you can go like, “Okay, this is an objection. I’ve got to handle this. This is a complaint. I get to just hear them out, and reassure them, give them confidence that it’s going to be okay. A condition, okay, I’m going to shake hands and be friends.” When you identify and understand each one of those, and learn how to respond to it appropriately, it takes a lot of pressure and stress off you, it protects and preserves and builds the relationships that you have with your prospects and your leads and your clients because you are learning to respond correctly to the situation, whether it’s an objection or a complaint or a condition.

If that makes sense, make sure you give the video a thumbs up. If you have questions about it or you’re confused or you had other thoughts or maybe other angles on it, I’d love for you to post those down below in the comments so I can see those and respond to those. Make sure you subscribe to the channel if you have not done that, and I’ll look forward to seeing you on the next video.