After running qualifying and demo calls, many salespeople are faced with a dreaded interaction: objections. But we don’t think objections are something to dread—in fact, we think objections are great because they show the customer is engaged and demonstrate what the customer thinks is truly important.
That said, you need to know how to handle objections when they arise. We’ve put together a five-step framework to help.
Prepare: Anticipate objections and how you might talk through them.
Listen: This may seem obvious, but make sure you really listen to a customer’s entire objection to make sure you fully understand it.
Clarify: Don’t assume you understand the objection right away. Ask questions if you need to.
Respond: Ideally, you’ve prepared for this objection, so you already have a comfortable, thought-out response. But if you don’t know the answer, just say so! Don’t be too vague or make something up that may end up being wrong. Then, follow up with the answer after you’ve had a chance to research it.
Confirm: Make sure your response satisfies the customer. If not, propose a next step, such as a call with an engineer, a case study, or a separate meeting.
Here are a few common objections, and some example responses and templates for how to handle them.
- Objection: Your price is too high
- Clarify: What is it about the price that seems high to you?
- Respond: We understand your concern. Based on our initial discussions, your team expressed challenges with [products] that results in [negative issues]. Our product solves these issues, allowing your team to achieve [solution]. If you determine that this is the right product for your team, we will figure out a way to make the economics work. Other than price, is the product a good solution for you and your team?
- Objection: Lacking a feature
- Clarify: What are you looking to achieve with [desired feature]? What’s more important: [desired feature] or the [other features] you mentioned earlier?
- Respond: Our product addresses what you’re looking to solve with that feature. While we don’t have that specific feature, we approach the problem by doing [XYZ], so I think our product can deliver what you’re looking for.
- Objection: Not a priority or don’t have budget
- Clarify: Whose budget would this project be funded by?
- Respond: Based on our initial discussions, your team shared that [XYZ] were high priorities this quarter. Our product makes [XYZ] achievable. Are those no longer the priorities for the team?
Want more insight on how to handle tricky objections? Reach out to us at team@entrepidpartners.com