A tip for anyone in sales or negotiation.

I'd like to share with you a tip which is very useful if you're involved in sales or negotiation or any kind of deal where you're discussing something with another party and that other person raises an objection. And here's the tip: when you hear that objection, you do not immediately rebut it. You do not immediately answer it. You ask a question. So if they say, your offer is too expensive, you don't say, well, actually it's very good value and many other customers are delighted with it. No, you ask a question. You say, compared to what? How do you mean? Why do you say that? Any kind of question like that which encourages them to explain why they're raising that objection will help you to understand their objection better because you may be making the wrong assumption about it. And it will also give you more time to prepare an answer. There's an old story about a little old woman who was in a furniture shop. And the salesperson came up to her and he said, um, do you like that wardrobe you're looking at? She said, yes. He said, would you like to buy it? She said, no. He said, why not? She said, well, it's too big. Do you make it any smaller? He said, no, that's the only size we do in that wardrobe. And he left her. A few days later, the same woman was in the same shop. A different salesperson came up to her and he said, do you like that wardrobe? She said, yes. He said, would you like to buy it? She said, no. He said, why not? She said, it's too big. He then asked a question. He said, how do you mean it's too big? She said, well, I couldn't possibly get that size wardrobe into my car to take it home. He said, that's not a problem. We offer free delivery. So by asking the question, he understood the objection better. He was able to handle it. And the same applies to you. So whenever you get an objection, don't immediately answer it. Ask some questions and you'll handle the deal much, much better.