The Escape Hatch: (When you’ve closed all the doors…and they still get away.)

Objections – reasons or arguments that are offered in disagreement, opposition, refusal, or disapproval.

Every day of every week “objections” stand in the way of sales people reaching their goals…hitting their objectives…and reaching their full income potential. Every sales 101 tip on closing states the number one reason a sale doesn’t occur is that it’s not asked for. But what about those of us that do ask? We do a great presentation, have great products, and when that all important time in the presentation comes we ask for the commitment. When you ask for the sale and you’ve seemingly covered all of the bases and there’s even interest on the part of the customer, but yet they get away…somehow, someway slipping through our fingers. We’ve all had that happen…possibly more often than we’d like. Let’s identify why this happens so that we can experience more success at closing sales.

Go with me for a second to a large square room with a dozen or so visible doors. The room symbolizes the sales presentation, and the doors are the objections. Inside this room are you and the potential customer. We go through the entire presentation (if doing it right) closing all of the doors…[one by one]… overcoming the visible (or common) objections prior to them even coming up. If done correctly we look around the room, every door is closed…even possibly locked. We have this one in the bag…there is no way out…and then we ask for the sale. The customer says “sounds good, let me think about it and get back with me next week”. We think we’re ok because we have closed all of the doors. There is no way that this one is getting away…I have sealed all of the exits off. Come on…you know where this is going…we all have played this game before. We call back, but we don’t get the response we were expecting…he’s no longer hot…he’s had a week to cool down…so we make a couple additional attempts…then we hear the news none of us want to hear. “I’m going to hold off right now”. WHAT! Wait a minute…how did that happen? It’s just you in the room by yourself, with a bunch of closed doors. How did he get away?

The Escape Hatch- a hatch used as an emergency exit.

What emergency? They were in danger of being closed if they remained in the room…they had to get out! The escape hatch is the HIDDEN OBJECTION! We cannot close a deal as long as there is a hidden objection. So what do we do? It is easy…we must identify, isolate, and overcome the hidden objection. Yes, we must find the “escape hatch”, shut it, and then lock it. If done when initially asking for the sale we will find that our closing ratios will go up, our sales goals will be reached, objectives will be hit, and our overall earnings will increase.

“Now check your room…and batten down the hatch”

David Villa, CEO