Hello and welcome to the eighth lesson of the course “Copywriting from zero in 30 days”. Today we are going to learn how to handle objections in a text. We have already talked about what objections are in the sixth episode. These are the factors and aspects that confuse our audience and prevent people from moving to the next stage of interaction.
When a copywriter handles objections in a text correctly, he or she removes the barriers between the reader and the target action, and therefore significantly increases the effectiveness of the copy. That’s why it’s critically important to understand common objections and be able to handle them. Subscribe to the channel and let’s begin.
5 types of objections
Once upon a time, there lived a famous salesman, Zig Ziglar. And he wrote a wonderful book. It’s called “Secrets of closing the sale”. I always recommend it to anyone involved in sales or copywriting. In this book, he divided all objections into five main categories:
- No money
- No trust
- No mood to buy
- No relevance (yet)
- No need at all
Such a division greatly simplifies our work, since we do not need to know how to handle all possible objection formulations (there are an infinite number of them). Instead, we only need to know the general handling principles for each category. And then we just create the right blocks of text to neutralize the potential objections. It’s simple, but very effective. So let’s take a look at each category separately.
Objection #1. No money
This category includes two large groups of objections. The first group is when a person would like to buy our product or service, but he or she does not physically have money. And there is nowhere to get it. In such a situation, the objection can be handled through an installment plan, bank loan, trade-in (if any), etc.
The second group is when a person has money, but it is of greater value to him or her than our product or service. The most popular objections in this situation are: “Too expensive”, “Not sure if it’s worth it”, “I’d rather buy something else” etc. In order to handle them, we need to show the significance of the offer, so that the reader perceives the product or service as more valuable than money.
The easiest way to do this is with the help of detailing and benefits. Moreover, ideally, to show that if the potential client refuses to buy, he or she loses much more as a missed opportunity. By the way, I have compiled all the handlers from this tutorial into a single file. Here’s the link.
Objection #2. No trust
This objection is quite logical. If the audience doesn’t know us, it has no reason to trust us. To fix this, we need to show the authority attributes.
Authority attributes — are facts that prove that we are experts in our field and professionals.
The most popular examples are titles, awards, certificates, diplomas, high-profile or complex projects, famous clients, impressive numbers, etc.
Another way to handle such an objection is to offer a test drive, money back guarantee or another option, where the audience can verify the quality, without any risks.
Objection #3. No mood to buy
This objection is a tricky one and is often encountered in active sales. For example, when we send a commercial presentation to a person, but he or she is very tired or loaded and does not want to read and delve into it.
In order to handle this objection, we need a set of measures. First, organizational: choose the right time to send the copy when the audience is ready to perceive it.
Second: informational. From the very beginning of the text show the value of the offer, arouse interest and evoke the right emotions. As you remember from the sixth lesson, these are the first stages of AIDA model, for which visual images, the headline and the lead are responsible. We talked about how to write catchy titles using the 4U formula in the fourth lesson of this course. And we also talked about how to write an interesting lead in the fifth lesson.
Finally, the third measure: maintaining the initiative so that we can always take a break and wait for the audience to get in the mood. And then come back with a proposal to resume communication. We will talk about the initiative in the lesson about sales scripts. Subscribe to the channel so you don’t miss it.
Objection #4. No relevance (yet)
This objection has a lot of forms. Our audience may, for example, look for some product or service for the future, not intending to buy it here and now. Another form is when the audience regularly needs our products or services in principle. But not now, because the need has been already closed for the near future.
In such a situation, we can make an alternative call to action in the middle or at the end of the text to keep in touch with the audience. For example, we can call to sign up for a newsletter, receive a limited-time coupon, catalog, presentation, etc. It depends on the segment we are working in and the text that the audience reads.
Objection #5. No need at all
This category is one of the most difficult. First, because the audience may be initially irrelevant. For example, the text was originally intended for male mechanics. And because of a mistake in advertising, women-housewives came to read it. Most likely, women will not perform the target action, because the text is not for them, and it is completely uninteresting to them. This objection cannot be handled in principle.
Another case is when a client thinks that he or she doesn’t need our product or service, but in fact he or she does. The client just hasn’t realized it yet. Then, to handle the objection, we can show the key benefit at the very beginning of the text and explain why the client needs our product or service.
There was a good example in the fourth lesson, when we made up the headline for the sale of phytoncidal plants in B2B segment. These plants in themselves are completely uninteresting to the director of the company. But as soon as we say that these plants can reduce the cost of sick leaves up to 30% and improve the image and reputation of the company, the proposal begins to be perceived in a completely different way.
Special handlers
There are special cases of objections that are difficult to attribute to any category. For example, if a person doesn’t know whether a product is suitable for particular situation. And because of this he or she doubts. Or the customer is worried that the goods won’t be delivered in time or will be damaged on the way. So the client doesn’t want to risk money, time and nerves. If you watched the second lesson carefully, then you probably noticed that the origins of these objections are in three basic instincts: self-preservation, social and procreation.
In such cases we can use special handlers in the form of answers to a frequently asked questions (FAQ). It is very effective, especially when we know what questions the audience asks most often. We talked about it as part of an express market analysis in the previous lesson.
Practical task
We have just considered five basic objection categories (plus questions as a special case). They may have dozens and hundreds of derivatives. We also learned the ways to handle them in the text. Now it’s time to practice.
I will give you five derivative objections. Your task is to understand which group they belong to and suggest a method of handling based on the information from this lesson.
- We’d rather buy from another company we know.
- The budget has already been allocated.
- We already have a supplier.
- This is absolutely not suitable for our niche, it has its own specifics.
- It’s too complicated. I’ll think about it later…
You will succeed! If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments below. Take care of yourself, subscribe and see you in the next lesson.