INTRODUCTION: Many sales trainers suggest holding sales meetings on Tuesdays or Fridays, but your store’s reality will obviously determine the best time for your meetings. Your weekly meeting can last 30 minutes, 45 minutes or 60 minutes.
Week 11 (Mar 16-22): Handling Objections
OPENING SEQUENCE (5-7 minutes)
Minutes 1-2: Recognition & Praise
- Start with specific wins from yesterday/this week
- Point out behaviors you want repeated
- Examples: “Sarah’s perfect use of the T.O. technique” or “Mike’s follow-up that brought a $5,000 sale”
- Make it sincere and specific
Minutes 3-4: Numbers Check & Store Updates
- Yesterday’s sales highlights (what sold, who sold it)
- Today’s appointments and special situations
- Rush repairs ready for pickup
- Items no longer in cases
- Quick progress check on weekly/monthly goals
- This week’s spiff
Minutes 5-7: Team Connection
- Inspirational quote (rotate who selects)
- Check current gold prices (market awareness)
- Any personal celebrations to acknowledge
- Set positive energy for the day
CORE TRAINING SECTION (20-45 minutes)
FEATURED SUBJECT
Handling Objections
Training resources for this lesson — Shane Decker’s columns in July 2008, September 2012, and November 2017.
The Big Idea
Last week we identified “inability to handle objections” as one of the 15 sale killers. This week, we fix it. Shane’s Golden Rule of Objections is simple: objections always show interest. If the client wasn’t interested, there wouldn’t be an objection. She’d just leave. So when a client pushes back, she’s not shutting you down — she’s asking you to give her the confidence she needs to say yes.
The problem is that most salespeople hear an objection and freeze, stumble, or get defensive. That hesitation is fatal. Shane says objections must be handled with speed and accuracy — if you pause too long before answering, the client thinks you don’t know the answer or that you’re making something up. Your response needs to feel natural, confident, and immediate. That only comes from knowing the common objections cold and practicing your responses until they’re second nature.
Why Clients Object
There are really only two reasons a client raises an objection. The first is that they need reassurance — they want the item but need to hear it’s okay to spend the money. The second is that they’re challenging you — they want to see if you know your stuff. In both cases, confidence is the answer. If you believe in the product, the price, and your store, that certainty transfers to the client. If you don’t, the client will mirror your doubt and walk.
The Three Types of Price Objections
Shane identifies three distinct kinds of price pushback, and each one requires a different response. Learning to tell them apart — by listening to the client’s tone of voice — is what separates a closer from a show-and-tell presenter.
1. The Test. The client says, “Man, that’s a lot of money” — but what she really means is: Do you believe this is worth the price? She’s watching to see if you flinch. If you apologize for or try to justify the price, she’ll conclude it’s too high. Instead, respond with confidence and redirect to value: “You’re right, it is — but she’s going to love it,” or “You’ll forget about the price, but she’ll have to live with the quality forever.” Your product knowledge is your weapon here — when you can explain how long it takes to cut a diamond properly or what makes this designer’s craftsmanship rare, you’re building value, not defending price.
2. The Need for Reassurance. The client hesitates at the end of your presentation — not because the price is wrong, but because spending this kind of money is scary. She needs to hear that it’s okay. This is where reassurance closes work: “She’ll never take this off,” or “Every woman dreams of owning one of these,” or “It’s okay to spend the money — your only regret will be that you didn’t do this sooner.” These statements should be woven throughout your entire presentation, not saved for the end.
3. The Challenge. This is the client who says, “I saw it online for less,” or “I know the markups jewelers have.” He thinks he knows more than you, and he wants to test your expertise. Start by complimenting him: “I’m glad you researched this — it’s going to make my job easier.” That catches him off guard. Then re-establish your ground as the expert. Remind him that no professional diamond buyer purchases sight unseen, and that two diamonds with identical lab specs can look completely different in person. Light makes a diamond dance, not a lab report.
The Four-Statement Sequence (When They Say “No”)
Here’s one of Shane’s most powerful techniques. When a client says no at the end of a presentation, most salespeople give up. But over 80 percent of clients say yes after they’ve said no — and more than 60 percent of salespeople quit after the first no.
When you hear “no,” pause for two to three seconds. Don’t speak. This gives the client time to reconsider, and it gives you time to analyze what you might have missed. Then lean in slightly — it makes the conversation feel more personal — and work through these four statements in this exact order:
1. “I thought this was the one you wanted.” This causes the client to think about why she said no. Many times she’ll say, “You know, you’re right — I just needed to think about it for a moment.”
2. “Do you have questions about this that I haven’t answered?” This smokes out any remaining objections you missed during the presentation.
3. “Do you want the bigger one?” Most of the time they’ll say, “Oh no, this is fine” — and when they say that, they’ve just bought it. Sometimes they’ll say yes, which means you underestimated their buying power. Either way, it’s a silent compliment to the client.
4. “Are you comfortable with the price?” This question comes last, not first. If you lead with price, you make the whole sale about money. But if you’ve already addressed the other three and the client is still hesitating, now you can explore price options — like changing a one-carat to a half-carat in the same mounting — without giving away your integrity.
The critical insight: price is almost never the real reason a client says no. Most of the time, something was left out of the presentation — not enough romance, not enough reassurance, not enough questions. The four-statement sequence helps you find out what that was.
A Note About “No” and Rejection
Many salespeople avoid closing because they’re afraid of rejection. Shane reframes this completely: when a client says “no” after a 30-minute presentation, she’s not rejecting you — she’s saying no to the item. Real rejection is when someone walks past you in the sweet spot without acknowledging you. That stings. But a “no” at the close? That’s just an invitation to find out what the client actually wants. Never allow no to be no.
Practice Exercise
Scenario 1: A man has been looking at a $4,500 diamond pendant for 20 minutes. He says, “That’s a lot of money.” Read his tone: is he testing you, needing reassurance, or challenging you? Role-play all three variations with different responses for each.
Scenario 2: A woman says, “I want to think about it.” Practice the four-statement sequence in order. One person plays the client, one plays the salesperson. Switch. Do it until it feels natural — because on the floor, you won’t have time to think about what comes next.
Scenario 3: A couple has been looking at engagement rings. He says, “I saw similar specs online for $2,000 less.” Practice the “challenge” response — compliment the research, then re-establish expertise. Role-play until the response sounds confident, not defensive.
CLOSING SEQUENCE (5-8 minutes)
Option A – Team Member Presentation (twice monthly)
- 5-minute presentation by assigned staff
- Topics can include:
- Book Report: 5-10 key takeaways from a business book
- Customer Experience Report: What other retailers do well
- Mystery Shop Report: Insights from visiting competitors
- Learning Summary: Online course or training completed
Option B – Action Planning (alternate weeks)
- Review “wow” opportunities for the day
- Assign follow-up calls
- Preview upcoming store events
- Set individual daily goals
- Quick round: “What’s one thing you’ll implement today?”
FINAL MINUTE
- Restate the main learning point: “Every objection is a buying signal. Learn the four-statement sequence, practice your price responses, and never let ‘no’ be the end of the conversation.”
- Team energy boost (high-five, cheer, or affirmation)
- “Let’s make today count!”
- Open doors ready to excel
