Handling Objections: What Does 'I'm Not Interested' Really Mean?

An objection means that someone, your prospect, is opposed to something. The word opposed means to be in conflict with or to be resistant to a particular thing.

An example is being opposed to war, that means that a person doesn't believe that there should be a war.

If you have someone who is principally opposed to war and you bring up the subject, then you can just picture what that person turns into. It's almost as though they take their foot and put it up against the wall behind them and they're going to stand their ground.

You will run into people who are in conflict with something (very opposed to it) and people who are resistant.

Your job in affectively handling questions and objection is to adequately and effectively measure the amount of opposition that your prospect is giving you. It doesn't have to be an objection in order for there to be opposition. It can come in the form of a question.

A prospect might ask, "Is it one of those pyramid schemes?"

That is a question, but you can tell that there is definitely opposition behind that question.

There are two different types of objections.

#1) Expressed objections: This means somebody actually states them.

#2) Unexpressed objections: Your prospect never states them. You often don't even know that there is an unexpressed objection.

If someone simply says, "I'm not interested," without any explanation whatsoever, then there is an unexpressed objection. If somebody doesn't return your phone call over a period of time, there is likely an unexpressed objection.

Unexpressed objections are often caused by us.

Clients often do not express their objections to us because we are not being effective and respectful communicators.

This happens when we are not attentive or aware of what we are saying. It happens when we are not being interested enough in the prospect to keep them engaged in the conversation.

There are usually clues all over the place if you are aware and observant of what's going on around you. Take a look at what's going on during your conversations with prospects, and you can pick up on a lot of these unexpressed objections that would otherwise be hidden.

When you do pick up on something, right then and there you could say something like, "I just detected that I said something you didn't like. Did I?"

They often respond by telling you exactly what their objections are. This is a helpful shortcut that you can use to identify what your prospect's real objections are.

You simply have to be attentive and engaged in conversation with your prospect. If you pay very close attention and observe what's going on, you can often effectively identify and address otherwise unexpressed objections.