How To Tell If A Sales Objection Is Fake
Technically, there’s no such thing as a fake objection.
If your prospect says anything other than “my credit card number is …” when you ask for the sale, then whatever they say instead is an objection.
What we mean by a “fake” objection is one where the prospect isn’t really saying what they mean.
We also refer to “fake” objections as “smokescreen” objections.
Click here to read more about smokescreen objections.
It’s not always easy to figure out if an objection is fake.
But there’s one telltale sign, and it involves something called “kettle logic” …
What the heck is kettle logic?
Kettle logic is when contradictory statements are used to win an argument.
Here’s a classic example used by Sigmund Freud:
A man is accused by his neighbor of returning a kettle in damaged condition. The man offers three arguments as to why:
- He had returned the kettle undamaged.
- It was already damaged when he borrowed it.
- He had never borrowed it in the first place.
It’s obvious that the man is lying about at least one of these statements (he may even be lying about all of them).
Click here to read more about kettle logic.
Kettle logic is a telltale sign of a “fake” objection.
Kettle logic is about emotion.
In the context of a sales encounter, your prospect might be using kettle logic in the following situations:
- They feel pressure.
- They’re nervous or scared.
- They want to get off the phone.
And just like the example of the man and the kettle above, the prospect will start to give one objection after another, even though the objections don’t make sense together, and they might even be contradictory.
Here’s an example:
At the end of a sales call, you ask your prospect to sign the contract and they give you an objection:
“I really want to sign this, but it’s just not in our budget.”
So you handle the objection, like any other objection, and have a conversation with the prospect about seeing the purchase as an “investment” with a positive ROI, and not just as an “expense.”
The prospect seems to be on the same page, so you ask for the sale again.
But then the prospect gives you another objection …
“What you’re saying makes sense, but I need to talk to my partner first.”
And now you’re thinking to yourself: Well, which one is it? Do they not have a budget? Or, do they have to talk to their partner first?
Maybe it’s both. These two objections aren’t explicitly contradictory.
So you handle this second objection. You confirm that the prospect you’re talking to is the decision-maker (DM) and the “partner” they were referring to is really just an employee.
So you ask for the sale again.
And the prospect gives you ANOTHER objection …
“I just don’t think we’re really interested at this time.”
Here’s where the kettle logic really starts to come out.
This third objection doesn’t make any sense. The prospect has spent an hour with you on the phone and clearly demonstrated a need during qualifying.
So, where do you go from here?
How to respond when a prospect starts to use kettle logic.
Like we mentioned above, kettle logic is about emotion.
In the example above, the prospect probably feels like they’re being backed into a corner, and they’re just nervous or unsure about making the purchase, for one reason or another.
Anybody who’s ever talked to a human knows that using logic to respond to emotion is a bad idea, like telling an angry person to “calm down.”
In the context of a sales encounter, if the prospect is giving kettle logic objections, one after another, then the wrong thing to do as the salesperson is to handle each of the objections, one by one, as if they are like any other objection.
Even if you handle one objection successfully, the prospect will give you another, and another—like Hercules fighting the Hydra.
Because it’s not about the objections. For all intents and purposes, the objections are fake.
There’s something deeper going on at an emotional level.
Here’s some advice from marketing guru and all-around smart person, Seth Godin:
“When a customer or colleague begins to use kettle logic, the useful response is to seek out the emotions behind it. Because dismantling the logic part of kettle logic does nothing to get you closer to what the person really needs to talk about.”
So the best thing to do as a salesperson is to switch gears—from logical to emotional.
Because using logic to respond to emotion does nothing to get you closer to what the prospect really needs to talk about. Instead, it will force the prospect to clam up.
Ask an open-ended question.
Take some of the pressure off and ask an open-ended question that invites the prospect to speak openly.
“I get it, Bob. Let’s take a step back. How are you feeling about buying [insert type of product] in general?”
If you’ve done a good job of building rapport, the prospect might open up and tell you what’s really going on.
If your prospect, is still hesitant, you might need to “dig in” with follow-up questions to get to the real objection.
Once you get down to the root of what’s really going on, then you can start handling the real objection.
Click here to read more about how to handle real objections.
You won’t win every sale.
And sometimes the prospect just needs some space and time to think.
The key here is to avoid taking “fake” objections at face-value.
Because even if the deal doesn’t close on the call, and it goes to a follow-up, then you’ll need to have identified the real objection, in order to have a successful follow-up call.