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Now that you have read this chapter, you should be able to understand how to handle objections.
Now it’s time to put what you’ve learned into practice. Following are two roles that are involved in the same selling situation—one role is the customer, and the other is the salesperson. This will give you the opportunity to think about this selling situation from the point of view of both the customer and the salesperson.
Read each role carefully along with the discussion questions. Then, be prepared to play either of the roles in class using the concepts covered in this chapter. You may be asked to discuss the roles and do a role-play in groups or individually.
Meeting Objection
Role: Meeting planner at Capstone Industries, a distribution company
You are responsible for planning the annual meeting for the company. It is the only time that all five hundred employees are in one place. The three-day conference is usually quite a lavish affair; however, this year the budget is much smaller. Your objective is to book a five-star venue despite the budget reduction. You have just taken a tour of the lavish Premier Hotel, and you are impressed. However, the price you received in the proposal is still too high considering the fact that you would be booking five hundred rooms for three nights and three meals per day plus snacks, not to mention the additional business the lounge will realize from your attendees.
Role: Event sales rep, Premier Hotel
You are responsible for booking the events at this spectacular five-star hotel. The convention facilities are state-of-the-art and ideal for large corporate meetings. The accommodations are suites, not rooms, so two people can stay comfortably in each one, which helps reduce the overall cost of rooms. The service is impeccable and has ratings above the Ritz Carlton and Four Seasons. In fact, Premier Hotel has received the J. D. Power and Associates Award for the best service in the hospitality industry.
You have done your presentation along with a pricing proposal and presented it to the prospect. This is an important meeting for the hotel, and it’s important that you close the sale. However, first you will need to handle some objections.