There are many ways to handle that awkward objection and two of the best ways are the the “Feel Felt Found” and the Neutralize, confirm and re-position” methods that have been around a while and stood the test of time.
It’s a great way to handle those quick little sales objections that are based on the customer’s reactive feelings to a product.
Feel Felt Found has worked for me for many years. Give it a try, it’s really fast to learn and you can start using it straight away.
What Is The Feel Felt Found Method?
The feel, felt, found method of combating concerns tells someone that they are not alone.
You know how they feel about the concern, you have a case of someone who felt in a similar way and when they did give it a go they had (found) great results.
In most cases, your personal experience is used in party plan recruiting. This is true when it comes to using the feel/felt/found method as well.
Keep it Personal
Don’t try to make the recruit feel small by talking down to her when you are answering her objection or arguing it. You should relay a personal experience that acts more as a story than a lecture.
You do not literally say feel felt found every time but your word choices indicate that you do know how they feel, you felt the same way yourself (or know someone who did) and what you (or they found was….
An example of using the feel felt found technique in a recruiting interview may go like this:
If a recruit indicates that she does not feel she has the time to plan and host events, then you can respond like this:
“I understand how you feel. I have to be honest, when I first got started, I felt the exact same way. What I found was that I was able to fill the down time I had with a money-making venture and I still had all of the time I needed to take care of my other responsibilities. What kinds of things keep you busy?”
This sort of a response will allow you to convey a story from personal experience and then finish it with the lesson that you learned.
You are not trying to tell the recruit how to feel but rather you are using this as an invitation for the recruit to ask questions and get more information.
Keep it Pertinent
One of the biggest mistakes that can be made with the feel/felt/found approach is trying to draw a correlation between the rejection and a completely unrelated event.
For example, if the recruit feels that the pricing is too high on party planning products, then you should respond with a feel/felt/found response that deals with your personal experience on pricing issues.
A story about how you had problems getting a good price on your last vehicle is not pertinent and not going to help the situation.
Feel – Felt – Found Effective Communication
The feel/felt/found approach is easy to remember and, when used properly, effective at getting recruits to rethink their objections. All you want a recruit to do is see that her objection should not stand between the opportunity you are offering and her chance to make extra money.
You can relay your own feel felt found story or you can use an example from one of your team members such as this one where a potential says they are concerned about what their husband would say:
“I know how you feel… I had a new consultant last year who felt the same way as you do. What she found was that after she got going in her business she had more time to spend with the family because she was able to give up her full time job and work this party time. What do you think your husband will object to?”
Keep it short, and end in a question that will give you more information about the concern.
What is the Neutralize, Confirm and Re-position Method?
Very often, when people object, there is sometimes a deeper concern going on within them, and they often mask that by projecting on some other answer. The real reason why they are halting is different to the one that they are stating to you.
When you are chatting with someone about an opportunity, they often expect some form of retaliation or argument and we never want to do that as that just repels the prospect even further away from where you want them to be. Instead try this:
Prospect: “I dont have the money”
You: “OK” – “Is this the only thing that is holding you back from getting started?”
With this you are really confirming that this is the real reason why they are holding back.
Prospect: “Yes – I don’t know if I have the funds to start a business”
You: “ Why do you feel that you don’t have the funds?” ( what you are doing here is actually asking them the real reason why they are giving you the objection.
Prospect: “Im not really sure that I can make money out of this business” – Boom….now you have the real reason why they are objecting.
So now that you have neutralized the situation, now you can go in and confirm and provide them with assurance such as:
You: “Gosh, I may not have explained it so well as when you enrol with me, I work with you personally to help you get into profit quickly, as well as having an entire support and training system with our company that teaches you how to do this step by step. If you knew all this, how our program helps you get to profit quickly, you’d want to do this, wouldn’t you?”
Now you have re-positioned yourself and your opportunity to a far more positive stance than before.
A great suggestion is to practice this with all the objections that you feel are stalling your progress as with practice you will become a force to be reckoned with regarding overcoming objections!
