Avoid objection overload

"Most salespeople don't prequalify well," Boe says. "Because of a lack of prospecting ability, they try to make the dead come alive."

A simple phone call or other fact-finding procedure can alleviate a couple of the strongest objections before the meeting even takes place. No matter how well advisors take care of prequalification, however, some people are still going to toss out objections; it's part of the sales game advisors will never completely avoid. They shouldn't take it personally. They also shouldn't go on the defensive.

Avoid the adversarial

One thing advisors don't want to do is turn the process into an us-vs.-them scenario. That will surely give rise to even more objections. Remember, an advisor's job is to help clients accomplish all of their retirement hopes and dreams, not sell a product for the commission it brings in. And while people go to financial professionals for their expertise, those professionals should avoid putting on airs and talking above the heads of prospects.

"Some salespeople like to show how smart they are by overcoming every objection out there," Boe says. "And sometimes they induce the objections they want to hear." They will actually steer the conversation toward certain objections they are ready for so they can overcome them, show the prospect how good they are at meeting and beating back protests. It comes from their training. "Most salespeople think they can overcome objections by rote. They're taught, ?When they say something, you say exactly this.'"

It's a game Boe calls objection tennis or emotional arm wrestling. And it's a sport advisors don't want to play. Togo-Figa agrees that some salespeople try to be too smart for their own good. They come in with canned presentations and dump on prospects. As a result, they don't give their full attention to a prospect's problems and issues; they are busy planning ahead when they aren't exactly sure what they are planning for – because they haven't listened.

"The tendency is to come up with a solution," Togo-Figa says. "But advisors rush ahead without listening. They can overcome that by playback. Play back what you heard. Say things like, ?Let's recap?' or ?If I understand you correctly?' It helps to stay on the same page and it helps them agree or disagree. It also shows you to be a keen listener."

Boe believes in the power of feedback, too. He says that feeding the objection back to the prospect – after listening to him until he is done speaking, since interruptions are sure to sabotage an advisor's chance at success – gives the person a chance to expand on or explain the statement. There's a chance he will even overcome his own objection if he hears it spoken back to him and talks about it in more detail. To avoid interruptions, thereby keeping the prospect talking, Boe encourages advisors to take short notes, simple reminders of what needs to be addressed when it is the advisor's turn to talk.

And when it is the advisor's turn to talk, he should avoid a three-letter word sure to raise the emotional and psychological defenses of any prospect: b-u-t.

"You never want to say ?yes, but,'" Edelson says. "You need to acknowledge the objection and keep listening. Then, when it's time to address it, say, ?Yes, and.' If you say ?but,' they get turned off. Saying ?and' affirms the objection and goes beyond it. The key is what you say after ?and.' Reaffirm what the person said and show a reason for [getting past] it without contradiction. Give them another reason to more forward."

Edelson often accomplishes that by tying life insurance back to the estate planning process, which makes life insurance a component, not the end-all, be-all of the meeting. And therein lies the key so many advisors talk about today: Make everything part of an overall solution. Be someone who solves problems, not someone who sells products. That alone keeps some objections at bay.

Eventually, the process gets to the point of asking for the sale, but if trust and rapport have been established, if the pre-qualification process has exposed any potential for monetary or need issues, and if the advisor listens well before feeding any objections back to the prospect and dealing with them, any barriers to doing business should be knocked down. Such a process – with its lack of direct confrontation, absence of high drama and disdain for the rote dialogue of a script – may not get picked up for an additional season on a major network, but in the end advisors can feel good about their roles in planning successful retirement years for clients who deserve better than to be stuck acting in a financial cliffhanger.