Navigating Iceberg Objections
We’ve all seen it happen: an otherwise promising deal suddenly gets lost for reasons that aren’t readily apparent. Next, the blindsided sales team is left looking at each other, asking: “What in the heck just happened here?”
I’ll tell you what really happened in that kind of scenario.
While the team worked in managing the negotiations linked to the sale, they didn’t manage the buyer’s internal decision-making process. They focused only on what they could see, and not on what dangers lurked below the surface. In a sense, good deals often get sunk the same way the doomed Titanic did. Not by bad luck. And not by the hazard of the tip of the iceberg that people saw (albeit too late)…but by the much larger, jagged underwater ice spur that acted like a giant, deadly can opener.
Sadly a lot of consultants and sales trainers don’t like to talk about Titanic-like outcomes like that. Partly because some have a professional allergy to failure. But mostly because in the absence of facts, it’s a nuanced problem where people can only speculate about factors that remained unseen and unknown…right until the bitter end.
Here at Engage, we thrive in grey areas like that. As a seasoned coach and trainer, I help sales leaders recognize that the buyer’s internal decision-making process is much like an iceberg: only 1/8th of it is seen. The job then is to navigate and chart the unseen “iceberg objections.” Not just for your own benefit: for your buyer, too.
Tackling iceberg objections is about helping your buyer solve three problems they have: how to better recognize the risk posed by a lack of internal alignment on a proposed deal (e.g., internal politics and external factors), how to anticipate internal objections and how to overcome those objections (both said and unsaid).
Here’s how you do that.
Define how decisions get made. The typical advice here is to identify who makes decisions in a buyer’s organization. But frankly that’s the easy part. Understanding how takes work. In fact, every organization has a way of doing things when it comes to making purchases (especially large ones). Much of it is codified in a process or in an org chart. But quite often, some of it is unspoken and implicit. For example: does the buyer’s VP or CEO consult with a certain staff member simply as a matter of practice before green-lighting a deal? You’ll only know if you do the work. Many good deals die in the boneyard of a decision-making process that remains undefined.
Be a shadow hunter. As I have discussed often in recent articles (and in my book), all your deals are at serious risk if your selling strategy is tied to one single buyer. You and your team must hunt for the uncodified gatekeepers who otherwise remain out of sight. In effect, these are shadow decision makers: they can kill an otherwise promising deal with a single skeptical comment during an internal meeting that happens without you being there. Here are two questions I ask of the buyer to uncover those shadowy influencers: “Who benefits the most if this goes forward?” And: “Who might push back on you if this deal moves forward?”
Coach the buyer on the problems you anticipate. You must give your buyer the tools to navigate internal objections. Do that by walking them through the answers they might give. This provides a two-fold benefit. First, it gives your buyer the opportunity to air any unspoken objections that even they might still have with you. Second, it provides a much-needed opportunity to structure a skillful response to those iceberg objections. For instance: which part of the proposal is the most compelling? Should it go upfront, or should the objections be tackled first? Be strategic for their benefit…not just yours.
Give your buyer valuable checkpoints. Here’s a commonly overlooked truth: being a buyer isn’t usually a full-time job. Most have other things to do! And that’s often reflected in the fact that “buyer” isn’t in their job title. No one else but you is going to help them navigate the internal decision-making process that turns a proposal into an approved deal. You must structure the key checkpoints that the buyer can use to determine the state of internal alignment. And not just once. Over and over, so both you and the buyer can see progress and direction. This also helps catch internal misalignment early to avoid one of those Titanic outcomes.
Always be closing…collaboratively. As I discussed in my earlier book, Non-Stop Sales Boom, you and your team must always be creating and maintaining a closing plan with your buyer. Rather than see it as transactional, treat deal closing as a project management exercise. Doing so is how you prove to your buyer that you are both working toward the same goal: their success. Always remember: the real value you and your sales team offer in the eyes of the buyer is to be a proven, reliable resource that helps reduce risk and lower complexity for them.
Stay neutral, not desperate. The stakes in a deal are always different for a buyer than they are for the seller. You reaching your sales targets is not their problem to worry about. Making a good decision and being able to execute the solution successfully…is! Therefore, adopt the following mindset: I am committed to helping you make a decision, even if we don’t yet know what that decision is. Thus, you’re better able to focus on those iceberg objections and see what would otherwise remain unseen. That includes gaining the ability to sense when a buyer isn’t quite ready to move forward, or wants to do so in a way differently than initially planned. You also become a valued “pressure valve” to the buyer rather than a buildup of steam in their decision-making pipe. Stakes can change, timelines can slip and new barriers can appear late in a deal. By staying neutral, it gives you and your team the chance to reassess and look carefully at a deal when underlying conditions change.
THE PROFITABLE OUTCOME OF OVERCOMING ICEBERG OBJECTIONS
Yes, you’re not just in the dealmaking business: you’re in the deal protection business, too…for your benefit and that of your buyer. The task behind overcoming iceberg objections is all about asking the hard questions that no one else asks about, so that you can see what no one else can see. And the result is about far more than just saving every promising deal from sinking to a watery grave at the bottom of the ocean.
It’s also incredibly profitable to work and think this way, because it differentiates you and your team from every other seller out there. Remember: year-over-year studies show that 53% of all successful sales conversions is tied directly to having differentiation in your sales process. That factor is larger than any other one. The better you are at mastering iceberg objections, the more differentiated you are from others, the more deals you’re going to close in less time.