How to Address Concerns During Negotiation

After coaching the #1 sales reps at companies like Salesforce, HubSpot, and dozens of Fortune 500s…. I've noticed a pattern. Elite performers don't get better at handling objections, → They get better at preventing them. Here's how they handle the 7 most common deal killers. 1. "Your price is too high" This objection means one thing: perceived value < price. Average reps respond by desperately defending their pricing: "Well, we're more expensive because of X, Y, Z..." (creating more resistance). Elite reps prevent this by running a discovery process that quantifies: → True cost of inaction (what happens if they do nothing?) →Opportunity cost (what are they missing out on?) →Potential ROI (10X value compared to price) 2. "I need to think about it" This classic stall tells you nothing about what they're actually considering. Elite reps respond: "I completely understand. To make sure I'm giving you what you need, can you share specifically what you're thinking about?" Then they shut up and listen. The prospect's answer reveals the actual objection that needs addressing. 3. "I need to run this by my CEO first" If this surprises you, you missed uncovering all stakeholders early in your process. Elite reps ask: "If it was only up to you, would you move forward?" If they hesitate, they're not truly sold. If they are convinced, coach them for the conversation: "When you talk to the CEO, what concerns might they have? How will you address those concerns?" This transforms your champion into a prepared advocate who can sell internally for you. 4. "We don't have budget" When prospects truly see 10X value, they find the money. Personal example: When my parents found out I needed surgery for a broken finger as a teenager, they had zero budget for it. But the cost of inaction (permanent damage to my hand) was so high they found thousands of dollars. If your prospect truly believes your solution solves a critical problem, budget objections disappear. 5. "This isn't a priority right now" Average reps can only sell to prospects with active pain. Elite reps transform latent pain into active pain by helping prospects see the true consequences of inaction. If you're consistently hearing "not a priority," you're failing to elevate pain levels in your discovery process. 6. "We're considering Competitor X" Never trash talk competitors. Elite reps ask: "Based on what you've seen so far between us and them, which way are you leaning?" Their answer will reveal exactly what matters most to them and where you need to differentiate. 7. "I need to speak with your customers first" This is an uncertainty objection. Find out what they're really uncertain about: "I appreciate that. When you speak with our customers, what specifically do you want to find out?" Their answer reveals what you missed building confidence around earlier. When you thoroughly uncover pain, quantify impact, and build value upfront, objections rarely surface.

“We should share this feedback with the seller.” “Nah, they’ll just refute everything we say. We should just go with the competing solution and inform them they lost the deal.” If you are a seller (or CSM) it begs the question. How do you handle objections in a way that doesn’t suppress feedback or transparency? Last year, I was dealing with a seller who rewarded me for my transparency rather than stifled it. We did end up sharing feedback about the proposal that the seller had sent over. High level concerns were around 1) ability to meet technical requirements 2) ability to “self-serve” (without supplier handling it for us 3) price related to ability to scale (and add people who needed access but weren’t true users). 🔸 Rather than immediately refute everything and start to problem solve, they listened. 🔸 Rather than get offended or argue, the asked questions. 🔸 Rather than demand to know who else we might be considering, they clarified the use case and re-explored what was important to us. 🔸 Rather than put us in a spot where we were hesitant to share more feedback, we felt comfortable sharing more. At the end of the call, they humbly, yet confidently said, “Thank you so much for sharing this information. Here’s what I heard you say (then restated what was heard). I’d like to address at least a couple of these points. But I’d also like to quickly touch base with one of our solutions consultants first. Could we grab 30 minutes tomorrow? If it doesn’t address your concerns, you have my commitment that we’ll graciously bow out. We don’t want a bad fit here. However, based on what I heard you say today, I think there might be some misunderstandings that we can clear up.” We agreed to the call. It turns out, there were indeed some misunderstandings. But we (as the buying group) almost didn’t share the feedback. Because often times it feels like it falls on deaf ears. That the seller will do anything to close the deal. I wanted to share because I’m a big advocate for improving the procurement-sales process. And this is something that I see happen quite often. Just some thoughts from a procurement guy: Objection handling done wrong causes me to say less. Objection handling done right encourages me to say more. (And let's be honest, it’s hard to overcome objections if you don’t truly understand what the objections are...)

It’s crunch time for AEs. Here's my #1 negotiation tip to help bring your deals over the finish line in Q4: Always confirm that they want to move forward with your solution before offering incentives or discounts!!! This may seem obvious, but WAY too many sellers offer Q4 incentives as a way to close the deal before validating that the customer is ready to move forward! They may still have unspoken concerns, such as technical fit, implementation support, timing, or higher priorities. If you try to negotiate before addressing these concerns, you are simply negotiating against yourself. Even if they mention price as a concern, you still need to validate that it’s their ONLY concern before negotiating. Here’s a great question to ask before ever offering an incentive or discount: “Before we discuss any Q4 incentives, I just want to confirm that you are ready to move forward and have no other questions or concerns we should address besides pricing.” If you get their confirmation, then ask about their pricing concerns before sharing what you can offer. You need to make sure your incentive is mapped directly to their concerns. For example, if their concern revolves around the contract length, you can offer to provide them with the 60 month rate on a 36 months term if they move forward this month. If their concern is around cash flow, you may be able to offer semi-annual or quarterly billing. If their concern is about license or consumption commitment, you may be able to do a ramp plan. The main point is that you need to make sure PRICE or COMMERCIALS are the only concern before you negotiate or offer anything. And always, always making sure you are negotiating directly with the decision maker who can say yes. Otherwise, your incentives will likely miss the mark. P.S. I just released a FREE COURSE to help you close more large deals in 2025. It’s called Fundamentals of Elite Tech Sales. You can get it here: https://lnkd.in/ghHvbgyS