When to Address a Client Concern—and the Strategy Behind It

Next week at our annual conference, WORLD, (I can’t believe it’s nearly here!), I’m teaching a breakout called The Follow-Up Formula. While finishing up the session prep, I came across a question that gets into a little bit of sales psychology—the study of how buyers (or in the case of advisors, clients) think, feel, and make decisions—that fascinated me. I couldn’t find a way to fit it into the session, so I wanted to share it with you here.

The question is simple: Should you address a client’s objection before they raise it?

Conventional sales wisdom says you should always get ahead of objections, but the research offers a more nuanced answer.

In a study, researchers compared three ways of dealing with a possible concern from a buyer/client: ignore it, raise it and answer it, or raise it and leave it unresolved. The research finds the following, but this is just a starting point:

• The most persuasive message raises a predictable concern and then resolves it.
• The next best message says nothing about the concern (i.e. it ignores it)
• The least persuasive message raises the concern, but leaves it hanging and doesn’t address it.
• Is this concern predictable for this type of trip?
• Is it important enough to affect the client’s decision?
• Can I give the client a clear answer, recommendation, date, number, or next step?
• The cancellation and change timeline
• Your specific travel protection offering
• What support the client can expect if a supplier disruption occurs
• The date and amount at which the client’s commitment becomes nonrefundable

In essence, bringing up a concern without resolving it was worse than not mentioning it at all. In other words, don’t introduce a worry you can’t put to rest.

This is especially important in travel because travel naturally feels risky to a buyer. A client may be spending $12,000 today on an experience that will not happen for another nine months. They cannot hold it, test it, or return it afterward. In some cases, there are no refunds and as an advisor, you can’t even make a change (ahem, third-party travel insurance is a good thing). There are other risks: flights change, suppliers have rules, and of course good old Murphy’s Law (which says that anything that can go wrong will go wrong) is always there to interrupt plans.

A client may not say all of that out loud, but they certainly feel it. What makes the psychology even more fascinating is that simply introducing a hypothetical concern can change a decision.

If you ask a client, “What if something comes up and you have to cancel?” and then stop, you may not have uncovered an objection. Instead, you’ve likely created one. The client’s mind immediately begins writing the rest of the story. Someone gets sick or work becomes complicated, and the trip falls apart. Twelve thousand dollars disappears.

The real problem is risk without boundaries.

As an advisor, you don’t need to pretend that nothing can go wrong. Your job is to put guardrails around what happens if it does.

Consider the difference between these two approaches:

“What if you need to cancel?”

Versus:

“Plans can change. Your deposit is fully refundable through March 14. After that date, these amounts become nonrefundable, which is why I’m offering this specific travel protection plan.”

The first statement opens a fear. The second opens it, but closes it again quickly.

The same principle applies to disruption:

“If the airline cancels your flight, you will not be left trying to figure it out alone. Contact me, and I will work with the airline and our partners to help get your trip moving again.”

Now the client is not picturing themselves stranded at an airport. They are picturing you answering the phone!

Psychologists sometimes call this inoculation. By exposing someone to a manageable version of a concern and giving them an answer, you help prepare them to resist that concern when they encounter it later.

You will not be present for every part of the buying decision. A spouse may ask what happens if they need to cancel. A friend may tell them never to put that much money down. The client may reach the cancellation language in the terms and conditions late at night.

If you have already addressed the concern clearly, your client has an answer. In a sense, you are still in the room even when you are not there.

There’s a limit though. Do not give clients a guided tour through every disaster that could possibly happen. You do not need to introduce illness, job loss, civil unrest, supplier bankruptcy, hurricanes, missed connections, and the next global pandemic in one proposal!

Before raising a potential objection, ask yourself:

• Is this concern predictable for this type of trip?
• Is it important enough to affect the client’s decision?
• Can I give the client a clear answer, recommendation, date, number, or next step?

If the answer to all three is yes, address it proactively.

If you cannot resolve it, or if it only applies to a small number of clients, wait until you understand whether it is actually relevant. Of course, this does not apply to anything you are legally or ethically obligated to disclose.

For your next proposal, if you don’t already, consider including one short section that explains:

• The cancellation and change timeline
• Your specific travel protection offering
• What support the client can expect if a supplier disruption occurs
• The date and amount at which the client’s commitment becomes nonrefundable

Then stop. Say it once, say it clearly, and do not keep reinforcing the concern unless the client brings it back. Great selling is not convincing someone that nothing bad can happen. It’s helping them understand that if something does happen, the risk has boundaries and they will not face it alone.

Sometimes the best objection handling happens before the objection. You just have to make sure you finish the answer and don’t leave them wondering.