How to Overcome Objections

So the big question is this, how do recruiting leaders like us who have 12 to 15 other job responsibilities win at this game of recruiting? How do we build a system that allows us to recruit effectively in a minimal amount of time while motivating recruits towards meaningful change? That is the question. And this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Richard Milligan and welcome to Recruiting Conversations. Everybody, it's Richard Milligan, your host of Recruiting Conversations.

We're back in another podcast and today we are going to talk about overcoming objections. If you're a recruiting leader, this is one of the things that you deal with on a regular basis. It's why no one's signing up. To take over your recruiting role. Everyone wants the relational piece of your of your role, but no one wants to have to take over the recruiting piece of your role because you're dealing with constant objections, right?

It's like you pick up the phone or you send someone a direct message, or that'd be on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, wherever a text message. And it's normal for you to get tension back in, in response to whatever it is that you're doing. And so we've got to be able to overcome objections. Not just handle them, but really truly overcome them. And so I'm going to give you a little bit of framework today that I think will be beneficial to you in this.

What I have found is that the people that are willing to push past the smokescreen, you get it. Every single time practically you make a call, you get a smokescreen. And it's very rarely that you would call someone and they would say, thanks for calling. I was waiting for your recruiting call today, right? This has to be an expectation of something we deal with on a daily basis.

What's interesting to me is that over the years of recording this podcast, my most downloaded podcast easily by about 400 percent is cold call reluctancy. So I know you all are dealing with this. I know you're dealing with objections because then it plays into being reluctant to actually make that call.

So one of the things I've identified that is helpful. In get overcoming cold core reluctancy is over preparing. Think about it like this. I do a lot of public speaking. So I travel every two to three weeks these days and I'm speaking. And as I'm traveling and speaking, I early on. In 2018, when I was traveling and speaking, I used to get really nervous and I would say nervous. There's always an interpretation of what energy you're feeling.

And but I would say there's a lot of energy that that my, that I would be, my body would be creating in preparation for getting on stage and speaking to an audience. And I begin to interpret that energy as excitement. And in allowing that to propel me to bring more enthusiasm, more passion to what I was doing when I was on stage. And so the interpretation of this is really important. There's a real nugget for you. Are you experiencing reluctancy or is it energy?

And if it's just energy, that energy can be directed either direction. It can become a negative narrative. If you let it, it can also be seen as a positive narrative. And one of the positive narratives that's really that is very real is that as this energy is created internally, where you sense it before you make a dial, you can say it's negative, it's tension, it's cold call, reluctancy, it's fear. It's all those things, but in actuality, that energy is needed.

Because a simple framework around recruiting is this recruiting as a transference of energy. It's a transference of my passion to you to get you excited about my opportunity. So you can use whatever this is, whatever this energy is, you can use this and to propel you towards the recruit in a way that has the recruit responding positively to you because energy is attractive. Very attractive. I want to be around great energy. I don't want to be around negative energy.

And so the interpretation of this is really important for you. So what I would tell you is that this is very real. You're going to deal with this regularly. Make sure you're interpreting this in a way that has you moving towards this, not away from this. This would be very paralyzing. I've had leaders that couldn't get over this at such a level. They quit.

Their leadership role and moved into a production role because they knew they were going to have to build the team and they couldn't get past this. What they were, what I would quantify as negative energy around this. So how you interpret this is really important. There's that.

But when we get into a conversation with people, we're going to get objections. And I found there's really three or four major objections that you're going to get. One of those major objections is I'm not interested. Another one of those objections is I don't have time to talk right now. I'm too busy. And another one of those is I'm happy where I'm at. Now, we're not, when you, if you use my scripting or three parts of my scripting, but the third part of my scripting is we remove all tension.

We don't try to recruit, we try to build relationships. And so the third part of my scripting says that if you're willing to have a conversation with me, it would be a non recruiting conversation where we'd simply get to know each other. So that in the event, something were to change in your career, you'd be willing to pick up the phone and call me. That's a simple, what I call removing the tension framework. And and so in that framework, you can get a fourth objection I found.

And that fourth objection that you can get regularly is the, Oh, really? Which is, this is this really, you're what you're inviting me into. It's not a recruiting conversation. You're not trying to recruit me. So you've got to be able to overcome that as well. Cause we're not, I'm not trying to recruit you. I've never had anybody on my team that I haven't built a relationship with first. Okay. I don't know anyone that's joined my team that didn't know me as a leader first.

So in truth, relationship building is necessary. So my response to that is, look, I would never recruit you before I got to know you. And I would think vice versa, you would probably never look to join my team until you got to know me. And so what I would say to that is that something happens in your career and you experienced some sort of trigger event. I've done enough research on you to know that you're someone that I want to have a conversation with to get to know better.

Because if something changes and I don't know you any better, there's no way you're going to pick up the phone and call me. There's no way I'm going to call you. And if I looked up in six months and you're at another organization and I haven't tried to build a relationship to get to know you, I'm going to kick my own butt for that. So I'm simply trying to build a relationship with you. Okay. Excuse me.

So that's the, that'd be the fourth one, but let's talk about some simple framework early on when you're in communication with someone and you get, early on, this is Richard. I'm with ABC company. I'm the regional manager. Anything like that, anything that I get early on is just a smokescreen. If someone says, Hey, look, I get recruited a lot. I'm really happy where I'm at. That's early on. You get that early on in, in a conversation and you get an objection. It's a smokescreen.

You need to understand that in a lot of industries, people are getting five, seven, 10 phone calls a week. They've got to be really good at getting you off the phone or getting you out of the conversation. And so they'll throw the smoke screen at you. So when you understand it's just a smoke screen, what do you do? You acknowledge it. You don't address it. And there's a big difference. Acknowledging it would be saying, if someone said, I'm happy where I'm at, I'm going to acknowledge it.

I understand you're happy where you're at. So let me be real direct. That's very simple framework. If someone said, I'm not interested, I want to respect the fact that you're not interested. So let me be real direct that. So let me be real direct where you mirror what they say, mirror, whatever they say. So let me be real direct. We're just buying ourselves more time. Okay. So early on, when you get an objection, acknowledge it, do not address it. It's a smoke screen.

Get backed into your scripting. Now, if it's later on in, in your phone scripting where someone repeats that, look, I really am happy where I'm at. Now we have to address it.

Very simple framework to address objections is through feel, felt, found the three F's feel, felt, found. Very simple framework. Someone says, no, look, I'm really happy where I'm at. I understand that you feel that way. When I talk to people, I know a lot of people have told me they felt the exact same way. Here's what I found in my own career.

That when the season for change came, I was always happy that I built relationship with other leaders that I knew and trusted that I could pick up the phone and call in that moment. And then I go back to my scripting. So what I'm inviting you into is a 15 minute meeting where no recruiting is allowed. We simply get to know each other. Does that sound fair to you? And that's called gaining agreement.

So feel felt found is a very powerful framework that will allow you to insert any objection and say, I understand that you feel that way. Either. I know a lot of other people I talked to have felt the same way, or I felt the exact same way. What I have found is, okay, you come back to your clothes. That's a really powerful way to overcome objections. Okay. You're empathetic.

Okay. It's not, doesn't create any tension in this conversation and in empathy works really well in moving people to places where you need them to be.

Now, what I would say is this, here's what the phone data supports. In 2017, the average American was spending anywhere from 32 to 35 seconds on a cold call with someone. Fast forward to 2019, it was down to 11 seconds. Now, I haven't seen any data from 20 or 21, but we know this marketers have run the phone to a large degree, just like marketers run the email. Okay. All the spam calls that we get on the phone are what marketers have done to run the phone.

And so people are less tolerant of cold calls today than they've ever been. And so one of the things that's relatively new is that people are really willing to click on you, hang up on you early on into a conversation. As a recruiter, most of you on a Myers-Briggs are going to have the E and the F in your personalities. E and FJS are great recruiters. Okay. E and FPS are great recruiters. So the E is the extrovert. Okay. The I on the Myers-Briggs is the I. So the E is the extrovert.

The F is the feeler. Okay. The ENFJ or the ENFP are great personalities for recruiters. Just be aware of that. If you're a leader and you're looking to hire a recruiter, go find yourself some ENFJs. And maybe we'll do a podcast on that one day, because that's some great insight. They're phenomenal recruiters. Why? Because they're the feeler part, the intuitive part of that personality knows when they're about to get hung up on.

This, if you're a recruiter, you someone goes, look, I'm not interested in you're expecting what's next. So one of the things that to consider in this is a pattern disruptor. What's a pattern disruptor. If I call you and I say. Nancy, this is Richard. I've done a bunch of research on you. I know I want to have this conversation with you because I was, I found a lot of incredible things about you as I was doing my research. I was excited for this call today.

And Nancy goes, look, I'm not interested. I know she's going about to go click. I will say this. Can I ask you a question? And then I'll pause. I was about to hang up on you. Can I ask you a question? Okay. Now sometimes it won't keep them from hanging up on you, but most times you're going to find that people aren't quite rude enough to hang up on you in the middle of a question. And they'll say, sure. Now I'm into my scripting.

Okay. And so in your scripting, you have to establish a really large reason why they should meet with you. And look, a really large reason why if I asked that question, can I ask you a question knowing someone's going to hang up on me? And they said, sure. I would say, I think this industry is going to change dramatically over the next two to three years. Let me pause here. I think most industries are going to change dramatically over the next two to three years.

That's why you as a recruiter have a lot of job security, because every industry is going to change. Technology is accelerating. Consumer behavior is changing. These are all things that are true of every environment today. So I'm going to insert a really large reason why I think the industry is changing right now in a major way. Okay, and now I'm going to get into removing the tension. And so with that said, I would love to invite you into a 15 minute meeting where no recruiting is allowed.

We simply get to know each other so that in the event something happens in your career, you're willing to pick up the phone and call me. Does that sound fair to you? So the scripting that some of the scripting I'm giving, I'm not giving the full scripting, but I'm giving you some of the scripting. Okay. When I ask you that question, can I ask you a question? It allows me to get into my scripting.

Okay. So if there's three big nuggets here in on a script early on acknowledge, I understand you're happy. So let me be real direct. That's acknowledging later on into it. When I get another objection, I have to address it. And that's different. And how I'm going to address it is using feel, felt, found, and then I'm going to go back to my clothes. Okay. Where I get interrupted by someone that I know is about to hang up the phone on me. I will say, can I ask you a question?

These are three really powerful ways to overcome objections.

So here's a challenge for you. Know your scripting so well that you can get interrupted by anyone, anywhere, and you can pick your scripting back up. A lot of people will say I'm not into scripting. Guess what? The pros, the real professionals in this are into scripting. You know why? Because scripting works. Most people are winging their calls. Most people have no idea what they're going to say. There's a formula to this. Know the formula. That's called your script. Okay. Know the formula.

The formulas work. That's why there's formulas for success. You got to have script. Okay. Know your script. When you know your script, when you know the objections that you're going to get, and you know exactly how you're going to overcome those objections. Okay. Fear goes away. Pocahontas reluctancy goes away. Why is that? Because what you actually are afraid of is the unknown. You're afraid of being embarrassed. You're afraid of getting someone saying something that you can't respond back to.

You're afraid of people hanging up on you. You're afraid of men. Let's put a name to some of these things. You're afraid of some of these things. A lot of times. And if you're not, then great, but I recognize that podcast of mine, Cold Call Reluctancy is the most downloaded podcast I have because people are afraid they're experiencing these things. What are we afraid of? The unknowns. Think about it like being a little kid. When I was a little kid, lights came, went off. I was scared. Why?

There was something underneath my bed. I knew it. That's why I scooted of my bed and tuck the covers in. I think we've all experienced that when I walked into Walmart on March 23rd, and I could look all the way through March 23rd of 2020.

And I could look all the way through my Walmart because people were so afraid of what was about to take place with COVID breaking out that they went in and wiped all the shelves clean and bought groceries for three weeks, four weeks, all at the same time, because they were afraid. What were they afraid of? The unknown. What was about to follow. So where there are unknowns, you make knowns and fear goes away. So light comes on as little kid, guess what? Not afraid anymore. I was very clear.

There was nothing underneath my bed. So for you, you have to know, you have to know your script really well. And when you know your script really well, and you know how to overcome objections, there aren't any unknowns. And look, if someone gives you a random objection, figure out how to overcome it. My sister's actually a successful loan officer in the mortgage industry. And one time she asked me, she said, how would you overcome this objection? And it was a random objection.

It was like, the objection was out of respect for you. I'm going to decline the meeting. And she was like, no, one's ever able to overcome this. So I said it depends on where you gave it to me. Or if you gave it to me early in this, in my call, I would say thank you for respecting me. So let me be real direct. What'd I do? I acknowledged it. If it was later on. I would under, I would actually then use some of the same framework to, to overcome that.

And I presented that to her and she goes, Oh my gosh, that's so easy. I don't know why people get so hung up. She literally said this, no one's ever been able to overcome that objection. And to some degree, I get it. Two weeks ago, I got a call, a cold call from somebody and I knew who they were immediately because they had sent me an email. And I w I was annoyed because I get emailed all the time from people that scrape my information from LinkedIn and stick me in their freaking database.

It just happened a few minutes ago where I had to remove myself from someone's list because they scraped my data from LinkedIn and stuck me in their database. Okay. This person did that. Send me an email. And the email was interesting to me. The title line was like, we know someone within 10 miles of your location. That was interesting to me. And I look at the email and they're like, we have a client within 10 miles of your location. I'm like I'm virtual. How do you know where I'm at?

So they called me and they said, we recently sent you an email and we have a client. And it was just, it was a consistent message. So immediately I knew who it was. And I said, how'd you get my email address? Cause I got an email from you. And this poor girl. She'd obviously had no training or she'd never been asked that question. She just wasn't prepared at all. And I'm not kidding you, no exaggeration. I listened to her stammer as I was quiet for at least 30 seconds.

And it felt like 10 minutes because I simply said, how did you get my number and my email address? And her response to that was oh my goodness, Richard, this is true. This is really what happened. Oh my goodness, Richard. I can't believe that. Oh, I'm losing. I'm having a hard time thinking right now. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness, Richard. Like this, I'm so embarrassed. Like this is seriously what happened to me. I was like, it was unbelievable.

I felt sorry for her, but I really wanted to see if she could figure a way out of it because I teach phone skills and phone scripting. And I'm thinking to myself, no one's trained her on phone scripting that poor thing. But I let her go on and for probably 30 seconds plus she repeated herself and finally in the end I don't remember how the end was. I was so blown away that she said, Oh my goodness, probably 10 times. And I'm so embarrassed, probably three times.

And I can't put my words together probably two or three times before we finally got off the phone. I was thinking to myself, she probably will make a call for the rest of the day because that simple question, how did you get my number? And how'd you get my email? Just because I got an email from you as well. Took her off track, but if that's you and you're like, Oh my goodness, that's totally me when I get that random objection, do yourself a favor.

Figure out how you can overcome that objection, then memorize it, make it part of your script because that will remove the fear. Known things don't produce fear. Unknown things produce fear. So identify those. I would even implore you go get some white sticky paper. Put it on your walls, write your bullet points, your script so you can look up and just see it. Put your objections and how you're going to overcome those on your wall so that you can see them.

If this is something that's a major issue for you, be the weird person. If someone comes to your office and goes, what's up with that? I'm memorizing my script. I'm doing the best I can to be the best on the phone or the best at scripting. Be that person before you're the other person who's afraid to actually make the call.

I hope this brought some value to you. Do you know how to find me? If I can bring you more value, you can find me on my live calendar, which is going to come in the outro after this. I hope you're doing well. Hope you're finding success. This brush is the value day. Have a great week, everybody. Until I talk to you again on another recruiting conversation. Want more recruiting conversations? You can register for my weekly email at 4crecruiting. com.

If you need help creating your own unique recruiting system, you can book a time with me at bookrichardnow. com.