Setting: Company boardroom. Big room. Lighted up with a projector connected.

4 marketing staff and 1 CEO.  My team of 4. 

I was trying not to break my momentum as I talked about achieving first-in-the-mind market leader position in a sea of competitive rivals.

The aircon blowing at my face was making my throat dry. I mentioned about being the first action taker and leaving competitors in the dust.

My team member shared about how important it was to attract good Gen Y staff to join their ever-growing, expanding workforce of 300 staff.

I smiled as I showed a marketing chart how companies surveyed reported over 200% in the number of inbound leads when they took this action on their website.

It was exhilarating, nerve-wrecking and EXCITING.

Finally I was playing with the BIG BOYS! (Correction: Mid-range. Haha. I got optimistic team members who thinks we can present to even BIGGER BOYS.)

With steady handling, with the support of my hungry hungry team – we blew every single objection out of the water.

Want to know how I did it?

1) Listen.

2) Listen hard. Discover the bigger concern behind those words.

3) Clarify.

4) Agree to what they say.

5) Turn it around and point out what they overlooked. Then paint a brightness of the future if they did what we suggest.

All of the above of course happened in milliseconds to ensure we didn’t just do an impressive job – but IMPRESS ON THEM on our ability and confidence level.

I totally LOVED IT when my team worked so well just like how an orchestra creating beautiful music with the instruments in our hands.

Finally my biggest lesson from the entire experience? It is not about value you can deliver. It is not how beautiful or fantastic looking your website is.

Instead it was to inspire confidence, to provide a solution that will take away their worries, to provide the reassuring presence that when I hold your hand, it will be all the way….. 🙂

Want to find out more about my experiences? I will share in depth in my next email. Subscribe to find out more!

P.S. The title of this post came from the CEO’s objection.