During the presentation stage, a salesperson may encounter objections. What are the six basic techniques for handling objections?

Objections are excuses for not making a purchase commitment or decision. They may be valid and based on the characteristics of the product or service or price, or they may be invalid, which reflects prospect skepticism or indifference to the product. The six techniques for handling objections are: (1) acknowledge and convert the objection by using the objection as a reason for buying; (2) postpone an immediate response by informing the prospect that the objection will be dealt with later in the presentation; (3) agree and then show that it is unimportant; (4) accept the objection as valid, probe the prospect for the reason behind it, and attempt to stimulate further discussion on the objection; (5) deny a prospect's objection when it is based on misinformation or is clearly untrue; and (6) ignore the objection when it appears that it is a mere stalling mechanism or is clearly not important to the prospect. When using the above techniques, salespeople must be courteous, ethical, and professional in their manner.