Handling Objections During Sales Calls

You just won't be able to get in front of the decision-maker in every deal. Here's one way I help my champion "sell" on my behalf: Ask your champion: 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺? Based on the response you get, you've now opened the door to "coach" your champion on how they might adjust their "pitch" to their boss. Common places to coach them on editing their pitch: 𝟭. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀: When I sold billing software to law firms, the way to position how our software helped varied depending on who I was talking to: Below the power line: Billing Managers might complain about the day-to-day pain of having to manually edit and submit bills to client spend management portals. Above the power line: CFOs wouldn’t care about the manual billing tasks since they’re not in the weeds like the manager was. But they would complain about lost money from payment deductions and write-offs if bills weren’t submitted in the proper format. Your champion is likely speaking about how your product helps them 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 rather than the 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 it drives. Help coach them on the latter. ___ 𝟮. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲/𝗯𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀: First - Human beings are more motivated to take action to get rid of pain than they are to achieve benefits. If someone has a headache, they’re gonna take the Advil. But even if someone knows there are health benefits to taking a multivitamin, they are far less likely to jump out of their seat to take one. Second - your product's "value" has no context without a problem attached to it. Unlike headaches, most prospects need to be reminded of their problems before they can see the value of your solution. They won’t care about your titanium-plated non-stick pan if they like their cookware. They will if you remind them that the egg stuck to their pan last week. ____ How else do you "sell" to a decision-maker you just can't get in the room with? 

61% of sales reps say selling is HARDER than it was 5 years ago. And that stat came BEFORE the recent tech layoffs, budget freezes and buying committee chaos. According to Salesmate, the top sales challenges of 2024 include longer deal cycles, budget freezes, and decision maker ghosting. Sound familiar? Most reps are panicking. But I’ve seen this before. I sold through the Great Recession. Got promoted 12 times in 8 years. Closed over $700 million in contract value. Hit President’s Club almost every year. Managed a team of 110 before I turned 31 (I’m 41 now). Now I train reps at Google, Zoom, Salesforce, and more on how to thrive in ANY environment… not just when the pipeline’s hot. If you want to be the AE who earns $250K–$500K while everyone else just survives, you have to master this: 👉 How to handle objections without triggering defense mechanisms 👈 (We are in a LOW trust environment in 2025. Layoffs, inflation, interest rate whiplash. People are cautious. Buyers are nervous. Budgets are tighter. That creates friction and with it, skepticism.) Because objections are higher now. Resistance is higher. And if you show up with commission breath, it’s game over. Instead, use this: The HEART Framework This is how top reps turn objections into opportunities. (H) Heard Don’t rush. Don’t rebut. First, make your buyer feel safe. Acknowledge their concern without trying to “solve” it immediately. Example: “I totally appreciate that. Thanks for being honest.” (E) Elaborate Go deeper. Ask questions to surface the root issue, not just the symptom. Use soft tone and pacing to create psychological safety. Try: “Can you tell me more about that?” or “What’s behind that concern for you?” (A) Aside from that Isolate the objection. You want clarity, not confusion. Ask: “Aside from [X], is there anything else holding you back from feeling 100% confident?” (R) Reclarify Value Shift focus. Bring them back to what they liked about your solution. Ask: “Before we dive back into that concern, what stood out to you the most about what we’ve discussed so far?” (T) Transition Now you address the root objection with context. Pull from earlier discovery. Reference past failed solutions. Let them convince themselves. “You mentioned trying X for 6 months with no results. What do you think would change if you kept going down that path?” This isn’t persuasion. It’s precision. Done right, your buyer talks themselves into the close. But here’s the deeper point: If you can stay calm, curious, and service driven when everyone else is pushing discounts, you win. And not just this quarter. You win for life. — Hey Sales Leaders… want to get your team through this TOUGH market? We should talk. I can train your team with our proven repeatable sales systems: https://lnkd.in/eaibeK8q

“Send me an email.” Over the past 5 years, I have trained 3,500+ reps across dozens of teams (from companies like Zoom, Gong, Rippling, and more) on how to handle this objection like a boss. And I use the same this simple 3-step framework every time: - But first—a quick reality check. Once you hang up the phone, the success rate of landing a meeting goes down dramatically. There’s literally a <1% success rate of sending an email that blows the socks off your prospect so much they respond with: “KILLER email! Yes, let’s talk. Are you available right now?” Play the odds. You’re better off asking for the meeting again. ✅ Step 1: Greet the objection Prospect: “Can you send me an email?” Rep: “Sure thing, happy to.” Doing so disarms the prospect. And that’s all you can ask for when objection handling during a cold call. Genuine conversation. That’s the goal. ✅ Step 2: Get more info Now it’s time to dig in. Your goal is to anchor back to a legitimate reason for the prospect to meet with you. Prospect: “Can you send me an email.” Rep: “Sure thing, happy to. Before I send you that email, I'm curious—every contact center leader I talk to says the #1 thing they want is to do reduce cost to serve. Too many people are calling into the contact center. And they don't know why. How does that resonate with what you're seeing right now?” Then dig in for as much as the prospect is willing: - Find out their current solution - See if they have similar problems that your clients have ✅ Step 3: Ask for the meeting Now it’s time to anchor what you just learned to the reason for meeting. Rep: “Great. That's actually what I hear from a lot of contact center leaders. How about this—I could send you an email that you're probably not going to read that's gonna have a lot of different use cases and stuff. Or it could just share with you how we've helped Nordstrom and several similar companies with the same exact problem. If nothing else, you'll get some insights, you're free to steal from that conversation. Do you have your calendar handy?" This usually does the trick Bonus: How to handle resistance Still getting resistance? Try this: Rep: “Okay, no worries. How about we put 5 minutes on the calendar for tomorrow when you’ve had a chance to look over the email? If you like what you see, we keep the meeting. If you don’t, you can cancel. Sound fair?” ============== And that’s how you handle the “send me an email” objection. Want more tips like this? Join me Will Aitken 💙, Jack Wauson from Mixmax, and Abdulla Jarrod Casino from ZoomInfo for a free objection handling training next Wed 3/6/24. Register here: https://hubs.ly/Q02lg9040 #sales #outbound #prospecting

I had Nick Glimsdahl on the Negotiate Anything Podcast and we were talking about skepticism in the world of business and sales. The conclusion we came to was that since many of us feel like we are constantly being marketed to, we shut down much faster when we sense this happening. This is a frequent occurrence for those in the sales industry. Potential clients start to feel like the only reason you are being friendly is so that you can sell them something. So how do we overcome this skepticism? By breaking predictable patterns. So, here’s an example: Let’s say in a typical sales interaction, you would begin by offering some free advice or asking them about some problem they are having. There’s a high likelihood that many of the people you speak with will assume that you are only offering to help them as a tactic to eventually persuade them to purchase something. This only increases their skepticism and blocks their willingness to listen to what you have to say. In this case, the predictable behavior would be doing just that. Simply asking questions with the goal of turning the conversation towards a sales pitch. So here is something you can do instead. Be genuinely generous, not strategically generous. Create goodwill in the relationship by helping people without expecting something in return. Then, follow your genuine curiosity with authentic advice. One thing Nick likes to say in situations like this is: “Regardless of which company you decide to go with, [Product X]  would be a good decision because of….” It’s the consultative sales process that helps you to be seen as a trusted advisor. Once they realize that you are offering advice without the expectation of anything in return, it makes them more likely to trust you. Ironically, this increases your odds of securing them as a client, in the moment or at some point in the future. #Negotiation #Sales #Business

There’s a big difference between handling objections and understanding them. Handling sounds like this: Prospect: “The other agent will sell my home for 2%, not 3% like you.” Agent: “I understand how you feel. Many people felt the same way. But what they found was that they ended up leaving money on the table because the lower-fee agents didn’t market the property as aggressively or negotiate as strongly.” When you’re convincing, you’re losing. Of course you’re going to say that. You’re biased. You have commission breath. Convincing comes across as dismissive. Understanding sounds like this: “You want to make sure you’re getting a fair deal and aren’t overpaying on commissions.” That hits differently, doesn’t it? It names what the person actually cares about. Not just the words, but the feeling behind them. When people feel understood, they relax. They stop bracing for the rebuttal. They open up because they feel like you’re with them, not against them. That’s why understanding is better. Because objections aren’t walls to climb. They’re windows into what someone values. Once people feel understood, then you can poke the bear. Ask a question that illuminates a potential knowledge gap. Examples: “With a reduced commission, the pool of agents eager to bring buyers through your door can shrink. How are you thinking about handling that trade-off?” “Part of the commission goes toward attracting buyer’s agents to your property. If that piece is reduced, it can impact exposure. How are you making sure your home still gets full visibility?” “Sometimes that 1% savings looks great on paper, but if it means your home doesn’t get as much attention or as many strong offers, it could end up costing you much more than you save. How are you weighing that trade-off?” No pushing. No pressing. No persuading. Just illuminating a knowledge gap without leading people to a desired answer. Because the goal isn’t to persuade. it’s to let people persuade themselves. Buyers have the answers. Sellers have the questions.

Deal or No Deal? Have you ever found yourself in a negotiation where the person you were negotiating with was the "good cop" and the "bad cop" was never directly involved in the conversations? I find this convenient trick to be one that many leaders use to avoid direct conflict in having the tough conversations around deal terms. It's so much easier to blame the CEO or the Board or the Owner who aren't ever in the room. But here’s the thing—if the decision-maker is never actually present, are you even negotiating with the right person? I’ve seen this tactic used time and time again to delay, deflect, or pressure the other party into accepting less favorable terms. It creates an artificial power dynamic where the “good cop” seems reasonable while the unseen “bad cop” remains an immovable force in the background. So how do you handle it? 1.  𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁. Politely ask, “What would it take to get the real decision-maker in the room?” If they keep dodging, you know where you stand. 2.  𝗦𝗲𝘁 𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀. If you’re negotiating with someone who doesn’t have full authority, clarify that your final concessions won’t be made until you’re speaking with the right person. 3.  𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘆. If they’re playing the “bad cop is unavailable” game, take your time too. Don’t let them rush you into bad terms while they hide behind hierarchy. At the end of the day, real deals get done when both sides come to the table prepared to make real decisions. If you find yourself negotiating with someone who always needs to “check with someone else,” you might not have a real deal on the table—just a runaround. Deal or no deal? You decide. #scalingwellness

Traditional objection handling feels manipulative because it is. Buyers can feel when you're using a technique on them. The SPIN, LAER, and Feel-Felt-Found methods all have the same problem, they're about winning an argument, not solving a problem. Here's what actually works with today's sophisticated buyers: 1️⃣ Validate, don't combat When a buyer says "Your price is too high," stop trying to justify it. Start with, "That's a completely fair concern. Most companies we work with initially felt the same way." Validation before response changes everything. 2️⃣ Ask genuine questions Instead of launching into your prepared rebuttal, get curious: "What price point were you expecting?" "Which competitors are you comparing us to?" "What would make this investment more acceptable?" 3️⃣ Acknowledge the objection might be valid Sometimes, your solution genuinely isn't the right fit. The best reps are willing to say: "Based on what you've shared, this might not be right for you right now. Here's why..." This honesty builds tremendous trust. 4️⃣ Focus on business impact, not product features When they say "We don't need this feature," stop defending the feature. Redirect to outcomes: "I understand. The reason I mentioned it is because companies like yours have used it to achieve [specific result]." 5️⃣ Give them space to think After addressing an objection, stop talking. The silence feels uncomfortable, but respect their need to process your response. The best objection handlers aren't the smoothest talkers. They're the most empathetic listeners.

Stop trying to "crush" objections. That aggressive mindset is why so many deals stall in your pipeline. Here's what changed everything for me - I stopped seeing objections as battles to win and started seeing them as opportunities to understand. The 3C Mindset Approach transformed how I handle pushback: - Curiosity first. When a prospect says "it's too expensive," my first move isn't to defend pricing. It's to ask: "Help me understand what you mean by that." - Continue the conversation. Success isn't overcoming the objection. It's asking one more question that keeps the dialogue going. - Reach a conclusion together. Sometimes that's a next step, sometimes it's learning this isn't the right fit. Both are wins. I've heard every objection in the book across 250,000+ cold calls. The ones that led to closed deals weren't the ones I "crushed." They were the ones where I got genuinely curious about what the prospect was really saying. When you shift from defending to understanding, everything changes. Prospects feel heard instead of sold to. Conversations deepen instead of ending. Trust builds instead of erodes. Your prospects aren't obstacles to overcome. They're people trying to solve real problems. 📌 What's one objection you hear constantly that you could approach with more curiosity? ✨ Enjoyed this post? Make sure to hit FOLLOW for daily posts about B2B sales, leadership, entrepreneurship and mindset.

90% of SaaS reps overcomplicate objection handling. They’ll write 15-slide decks or “strategic” follow-up emails. But the best objection-buster I’ve ever used took one line: 👉 “Here’s how to get your CFO to approve this tool in 7 minutes flat.” That line alone turned stalled deals into signed contracts. Why? Because it gives the buyer exactly what they need (ammunition to win approval internally). We spun that same core message into multiple weapons: • “The ROI calculator CFOs can’t argue with” • “Your boss will literally thank you for sending this” • “The lazy AE’s guide to instant approvals” Different flavors, same impact: we made the champion look like a genius inside their org. The lesson? You don’t always need “new messaging.” You need the right angle for each buyer. One insight. Three angles. Pipeline unlocked.

Software AEs: Pull a list of your closed-lost opportunities in the last 12 months. How many did we mark "price" or "budget" as the reason code for the loss? Price/budget objections are often an easier way for the prospect to tell us - "I don't think this software will be as easy to implement, or as valuable, as you're making it out to be". It's why cost is #10 for SMB & MMKT, and absent from the top 10 list of ENT buying considerations. Buyers know the phrase, "no budget", will get us to leave them alone. A few months ago, G2 released their Software Buying Behavior report (that's where I got the data below). Here's how I'd use this G2 graphic, post-demo, in a conversation with a software prospect: Step #1 - Crop the image to the column that reflects your prospect. Step #2 - Copy/paste it on a slide, and title it "Elephant in the Room" (title credit: Amy Hrehovcik. She shared that slide title with me when I interviewed her on the Challenger podcast and I loved it.) Step #3 - Say, "Let's address the elephant in the room. Often, I speak with executives at SMB/MMKT/ENT companies who like our solution, but have very real concerns like those you see listed here. Which ones mirror what you're thinking right now?" Here's why: This data shows the buyer it's the norm to have these hesitations. It makes it normal for the prospect to admit they have them, too. We're showing the buyer we aren't a happy-eared rep. We know that liking our solution isn't enough for to buy it. The best Sales convos happen when we stop trying to convince the prospect to buy, and start having open dialogue around what might make them NOT want to buy. They key here is - don't treat these as objections to "handle". Seek to understand where the concern is rooted (past experience? flawed belief/assumption?), before jumping to address it. Our ability to listen + maintain objectivity will dictate how much our prospects tell us the truth.