I talk with a lot of lawyers. And everyone at one point or another has lost business to a competitor. Sometimes, one never gets the opportunity to compete in the first place. The secret to more wins is to turn an objection into an opportunity. To take what you are hearing and use it to make a next step happen. Take Josh, a 9-year old scout who was competing to sell popcorn and desperately wanted to be the top popcorn sales person for the scouts. After knocking on countless doors and selling lots of big $10 cans of popcorn, Josh was almost at his goal. He knocked on one last door and was told, “I’m sorry, I only have a $20 and since you don’t have change for a $20 I won’t be able to buy a can of popcorn from you.” Josh thought about this and leveraging off the objection and the buyer’s words, he said, “Well, then I guess you just have to buy two cans then.” The funny thing is? It worked!

So the next time you hear, “We really wanted your team but one of our board members urged the board in the direction of a firm she knows.” Try not to walk away, but rather create an opportunity. Like this: “Thank you for the feedback and for all your support for our team. What’s the best approach for us to meet with some of your board members so they know who we are next time there is an opportunity?”

Overcoming objections may not work 100% of the time. If you stop, think about what you are hearing and use your negotiation skills to work with what you are hearing and turn it to your favor, you’ll up your winning game and may even beat out the competition in ways you hadn’t imagined. Just think Josh.