The basis of these techniques comes from the work done by Richard Brandler & John Grinder in their preliminary work when developing the therapy which is NLP.  Using these techniques and applying them to a business, sales decision context leads to powerful results. 

These techniques are not designed to completely overrule any sales objection handling or need uncovering techniques that you already use, but to augment them.  For example the objection handling method of clarifying, empathizing, testing and rebutting are still valid yet during this these techniques can be used to help the process.  At the end of the explanation of these techniques there is a section where these techniques are used solely. 
Sometimes during a discussion a customer can through up an objection which completely stumps you.  You become lost and the overall thread of what you are trying to do is lost.  Often this is due to miscommunication and an inability of the salesman to ask the correct questions.  Using these techniques you can examine the objection that seems to block your progress to a sale and target a way thought.  These methods are not just to be used in closing but can help in every interaction with the customer from the initial phone conversation to the follow up call to see how the product/service is performing.

How to learn these techniques.  As with everything the best why to use these methods is to integrate them into your in such a way that they flow.  However similar to having a golf lesson it takes time to move a conscious technique into an automatic one.  Therefore the best way to learn these techniques is to take one at a time and try to start noticing for the structures described in your own or other people’s speech.  Once this is done then you can try and see what you would ask to move past this.

What will follow now are the techniques and after this an example of their use in some customer meetings and conversations.

Deletion.

A deletion can occur when the customer leaves out information in the sentence.  This leads to wide sweeping statements that have to be tackled if you are to bring them round to your point of view.  Examples of deletion would be;

‘ABC Widgets’ are rubbish.

‘Joe’s tools’ are too expensive.

We do not like upgrades.

All the above are incomplete as they leaves details out that cause confusion.  Dealing with this objection head is too much of a task and is important to find the root where these came from. 

Remedy.
Look in the sentences for verbs that can be more fully described.  For example

‘ABC Widgets’ are rubbish.

Here ‘rubbish’ is the verb and can actually have two arguments describing it, therefore there is a deletion and the question should be;

‘ABC Widgets’ are rubbish at what?

For

‘Joe’s tools’ are too expensive.

The verb is ‘expensive’ and the question should look for arguments that expand the meaning of this verb.  Therefore;

Expensive to whom?
Expensive compared to what?

For

We do not like upgrades.

Here there are two process words ‘like’ and ‘upgrades’ and the question should be;

You do not like what about upgrades?
You do not like upgrades of what sort?

Often in response to these questions the client’s will respond with more sentences involving deletions and you can then keep honing in on the incompletely expressed verb until the customer is being specific.  Why is this important?  This is important because until we understand where this objection was born we cannot deal with it and move it out of the way.

There are other forms of deletion that you can encounter during a sales discussion.  If a customer says;

‘Software Z is a better product for us.’

We look for the process or doing word and this is ‘better’.  It can be shown by the ability to write the following sentence that this is in completely written;

‘Software Z is a better at being a collaboration tool for us’

Therefore if presented with;

‘Software Z is a better product for us.’

The question that should be asked is;

‘Software Z is a better product for you in what way?’

To which the customer may reply;

‘Software Z is a better at being a collaboration tool for us’

Here there is still missing information as the ‘collaboration is not completely described, hence the question;

‘In what way is Software Z a better collaboration tool for you?’

and so on.

Consider the sentence from the customer;

‘Clearly, we should not proceed’

Here we have two process words, the process of being ‘clear’ and the process of ‘proceeding’.  You can challenge both of these verbs using the question;

‘It is clear to you, that we should not proceed with what?’

Obviously judgment should be used as to what to drill down on, as sometimes what the client is saying is obvious from the context of the situation.  This can be seen in the following sentence;

‘It is important that I do not talk with any sales people.’

Let us say that you have rang this client up and this is what they tell you.  Clearly when he says ‘talk’ he means ‘talking about buying goods’ and therefore does not need to be expanded.  What is the main area of interest here is the verb ‘important’ and it begs the question ‘important to whom’ but a better why of finding this out would be to ask;

‘What would happen if you talked with any sales people?’

Also we can use intuition to jump forward more steps in the following case;

‘No one can understand our business.’

Honing in on understand would lead to ‘understand what?’ however a better question would be’

‘What prevents people from understanding your business?’

An easy way to find the right question to ask is to try and visualize a scene created by what the client has just said.  So for the previous sentence, ‘No one can understand our business.’ You imagine there business sitting in the middle of a whole group of outsiders looking puzzled.  It is easy then for the human curiosity to ask why the situation has occurred.  I.e. why is it that all these people cannot understand your business?

Nominalization.

Another sentence that the client will use is one containing a nominalization.  Here we are looking at the non process word and concentrating on exploring this.  For example,

We regret our decision to move to your competitor.
I resent your question

Both these sentences contain nominalizations.  How can you tell, firstly high light the non process word.  So from the first sentence we have

We, decision and competitor.

So how do you find out if there is a nominalization?  You do a check to see whether this non process word is something that you can physically touch.  Hence;

We   yes we can touch them
Decision  no we cannot touch the decision
Competitor  yes we can touch the competitor

The words that we cannot physically touch are nominalizations.  What we do next is ask a question that challenges the nominalizations existence.  Therefore;

Client - We regret our decision to move to your competitor.
Salesman – What is it that prevents you from changing that decision?

So with;

I resent your question

Check for non process words that you cannot touch,
I   yes
Question  no

Therefore the nominalization is ‘question’, so in challenging the word question we have;

What it that you resent about my questioning.

Some more examples.

Client – I fear starting a new implementation.
I   yes
Fear   no
Implementation no
Salesman – What is it that you fear about starting a new implementation?
Salesman – What kind of implementation do you fear planning?
(Again here you have to use your judgment as to which question is most apt to ask, it may be obvious that he is talking about implementing an upgrade of you product.)

Client - ‘Your refusal to admit the facts causes my anger’
Refusal  no
Facts   no
Anger   no
Salesman - Our refusal to admit the facts about what causes your anger?
All the other questions are either not worth asking or are obvious such as
‘Who is this anger directed at?’
‘Our refusal to whom?’

Generalization.

Generalizations are particularly important as left unchallenged they completely cloud the customer vision of what you are presenting leaving you with little chance of completing the sale.  Some examples of generalizations would be,
‘Our customers do not buy enough of our products’
‘One has to take note of industry opinion.’
‘Everyone says your product is a waste of time’
‘All JMC salesmen are interested in ripping you off’
The first action we take to uncover if generalizations are present is to look at the non process verbs again.  So with the first sentence;
‘Our customers do not buy enough of our products’
Customers
Products
Then we check to see if this non process word is a specific thing or a generalization for a class.
Customers  yes (customers are a group of people.)
Products  yes (products belong to a group of products)
The next step is to hone in on that word until it becomes a specific item.  Hence;
Salesman – Which customers in particular do not buy enough of you products?
Salesman – Which products in particular would you like to sell more of?

Taking
‘One has to take note of industry opinion.’
One   no (this is a specific thing)
Note     yes (what kind of note?)
Opinion   yes (what opinion)
Now the task is to identify the most important generalization and this is clearly opinion as we are not concerned with what kind of note the client is making.  Hence;
Salesman – What opinions in particular does one have to take note of?

Taking
‘Everyone says your product is a waste of time’
Everyone  yes (everyone is a group)
Product  yes (which product)
Time   yes (which time)
Here we are not bothered about what time is a waste so therefore the questions to ask are;
Salesman – Who in particular have you heard saying that our product is a waste of time?
Salesman –Which product in particular are you talking about?

Taking
‘All JMC salesmen are interested in ripping you off’
Salesmen   yes (salesmen is a generalization)
You   no
This begs the question
Which salesmen in particular are interested in ripping you off?

In addition to these questions there is another way of challenging generalizations.   These can be used when we come across the words
All, each, every, any
Never, nowhere, none, no one, nothing, nobody
What you would do in this case would be to directly challenge the sentence, emphasizing the generalization.

‘All JMC salesmen are interested in ripping you off’

Salesman – ‘What every single salesman at LMC is interested in ripping you off’
Client – ‘Well probably not all’
Salesman – ‘Which salesman in particular’

Consider.

Client – ‘We do not have the budget for anything at the moment’
This is a generalization and it would not be apt to ask

‘You do not have the budget for anything at all?’

But rather better to test the generalization

‘Is there anything you can perceive there is budget for at the moment?’

Or

‘Has there been a situation to now in the past where you succeeded in getting something purchased for your department?’
I.e. you have to the client if he can imagine a time when what he is saying is not true.  If the client cannot do this then the salesman can offer examples to try and break the objection.  Such as
‘What about the time when we proved that our product was going to save the department 40k off its capital expenditure in two months’
Client – ‘yes well that was different’
Salesman – ‘how was that different?’
Client – ‘well I do not see how having a new printer installed will reduce our costs’
Salesman – ‘which costs are you most concerned about reducing?’
Etc...

What about the generalization
Client – ‘We have to make our purchases from your competitor Mr. Z.’
If this is the case then something must be in place that causes the client to have this generalization.  Hence
Salesman – ‘Or what will happen?’
Client – ‘Or head office will get upset.’
So we have uncovered the generalization that the client has to make his purchases from your competitor otherwise head office will get upset.  Therefore we ask the client if he could perceive a time when this would not be the case.
Salesman – ‘So if you do not make purchases from the competition will head office always get upset?
Client – ‘Well no, sometimes they do not have a solution that is suitable.’
Salesman – ‘So if we could prove that a competitor product was unsuitable for your needs and this could be communicated to head office then you could make a purchase from us?’
Client – ‘Yes……..

Equivalence Generalizations

There may be times when the client makes a statement that is in the form; because one thing happens A, then B must be true. For example;
Client – ‘You never give us a large discount….you do not value us as a customer.’
In the form
A You never give us a large discount
Causing B
B You do not value us as a customer
First you can challenge the generalization,
Salesman – ‘Is it true that by us not giving you a large discount always mean that we do not value you as a customer’
To which the client may confirm his belief.
Client – ‘Yes’
As in this case the client’s generalization suggests that he does not get a large discount but usually receives a discount, you can check the equivalence.  This is done by swapping the referential indices round or rather the subjects with the verbs.  Making;
Salesman – ‘Does you never paying full price for our services mean that you do not value our services?’
Client – ‘No that’s not the same’
Salesman – ‘What is the difference?’
Client – ‘No we do value you products but we have heard that you have been giving our competitor bigger discounts.’
Here you can then uncover their source and deal with appropriately, often these cases are rumors that left untapped can ruin relationships.

Incompletely Specified Verbs.
Sometimes during the discussion the client will offer objections that are incomplete.  Such as;
Client – ‘JMC makes us look bad’
Note this may be something the client believes but in order for him to have formed that opinion something must have occurred.  When confronted with statement like this it is necessary to ask questions until a clear vision can be seen of how the client formed this opinion.  Then we can help the client move from this belief.  So;
Salesman – ‘How does JMC make you look bad?’
Client – ‘Always bringing out new products’
Salesman – ‘How does that make you look bad?’
Client – ‘Because I keep going to head office to ask for more money because the current product we have is obsolete when we have only just bought it’
This is a generalization and you can challenge it’
Salesmen – ‘Can you imagine a purchase when this has not happened?’
Client – ‘Well actually this only really occurs with the payroll software’
This is hard to get a clear picture of how the payroll software becomes obsolete quickly.  Hence
Salesman – ‘How dos this occur with the payroll software?’
Client – ‘We keep having to upgrade the software because the old one never has enough features.’
So we look at the original generalization;
Client – ‘JMC makes us look bad’
Making ‘JMC makes us look bad because the old payroll system never has enough features’
Swapping the subject round would give us a sentence like ‘The customer makes our payroll software look bad because they always need more features.’  However we would not say this to the customer and would instead bring his attention to the increases in his need for features.  Hence’
Salesman – ‘Could this be because in your payroll office your needs and size of operation is increasing at an alarming rate’
Client – ‘Yes that is true we are twice the size we were two years ago’
Salesman – ‘Do you think head office is aware that the payroll business is expanding rapidly?’
Client – ‘They are all for it.’
Salesman – ‘Therefore do you think they would understand the need for increasing features to cope with that expansion?’
Client – ‘Well yes I think if it is put like that then yes.’

Example customer discussion using techniques.

S – How can I help you today?

C – Well I do not think much will come from this discussion because we cannot afford to work with ABC (your company).

S – Why can you not afford to work with ABC?

C – Because ABC is so expensive.

S – What from ABC is so expensive and compared to what?

C – ABC’s products are expensive compared to the competition.

S – Which products are these?

C – I am not familiar with your products but I know they are expensive.

S – How do you know these products are expensive?

C – Because I was talking to CBA (your competitor) and he said you were way above average.

S – If you were talking to me and I told you that CBA’s prices were above average compared to ABC would you believe that much would come from this conversation.

C – Well if your prices are competitive with CBA’s then that would be a good start, however we are too busy to start anything new at the moment.

S – Too busy with what?

C – The moving to our new offices.

S – How are you involved with the move?

C – I have to oversea the installation of the new CBA computer’s.

S – What is it that is causing you to be most busy?

C – The setting up of the hardware and all the images.

S – How are you doing this at the moment?

C – This is being done manually by some contractor’s and it is costing us a fortune.

S – Why is this causing you a fortune?

C – Because we have over 500 computers to upload and contractors do not come cheap.

S – If this is being done by contractors then why is it making you so busy, if you do not mind me asking?

C – Because the image they set up keeps on changing and I have to oversea the changes.

S – Which image keeps changing the most?

C – The Doorframes YQ image.

S – If we could help make you less busy with this task would you be willing to meet us?

C – Erm, that depends on how you could help.

S – We could help by providing you a product that could automate the process you have just described. 

Discussion about what?
Generalization.  Unclear vision of how the client has come to the opinion that ABC is too expensive

What is expensive?
Expensive compared to what?

Which products?
Which competition?

Which products?
Unclear vision of how he knows ABC is expensive.

Talking about what?
Above average compared to what?
Also generalization (equivalence) sentence A ‘CBA said you were expensive’ therefore sentence B ‘You are expensive’.  This leaves a couple choices. Challenge the generalization
‘because CBA says we are expensive does that mean we are always overpriced’
or change the subject around leaving
A ‘We say CBA were expensive’ and link with the previous generalization that this sentence came from,
‘This discussion will not come to much’

Prices of what?
Good start for what?
Generalization ‘we are too busy to start anything new at the moment’
This could be challenged with
‘You are too busy to start anything at all at the moment’
or
‘Is there anything that you are looking at presently that cannot wait until you are not busy’
However the salesman chooses to challenge the deletion around the word busy’
‘busy with what’

Which new offices.
Unclear vision of how that makes the client busy.

Which new CBA’s computers?
Still unclear how specifically this is making him busy. Salesman chooses to develop this.

What hardware?
Which images?
Still unclear how this is making him personally busy?

Which contractors?
How much?
Still unclear why this is causing him to be busy.
Another generalization that ‘having contractors do this work is costing them a fortune’ unclear to get a vision of how this is happening.  Salesman chooses to hone in on the cost issue that often causes the most pain.

What 500 computers?
Upload what?
How not cheap?
Still unclear to gain a vision of why this is causing him to be busy.

What image?
Changing in what way?
How do you have to oversea the changes?

Going back to the initial generalization
‘however we are too busy to start anything new at the moment’
We can challenge this and try to break it by showing the customer a situation where this may not be true.