By M. Mesar

| 28 Dec 2023

Sales

The Hidden Science Of Objection-Handling in Sales

Objections are an unavoidable part of sales. However, learning to overcome them can boost your agents’ success rate by up to 64%.

The humble “No” is a powerful tool in our vocabulary. According to psychologists, this single word causes an immediate negative reaction in the listener. If wielded wisely, it can be used as an instrument of integrity and a shield against exploitation.

But that’s no consolation to the salesperson who hears it every day.

An Invesp study found that 60% of customers say “No” four times before ever saying “Yes”. On top of that, 80% of sales require five follow-up calls to close, but 48% of agents give up without even attempting one, and 44% give up after the first.

So, what’s the lesson? Instead of fighting a losing battle of having your agents close deals on the first try, you need to train them in the art of objection handling to turn a “No” into a “Yes”.

Here’s what that takes.

No Such Thing As A Simple “No” In Sales

Here’s the thing. Your sales team rarely gets straight-up rejected. More often than not, they’ll get brushed to the side by some variation of “No, because…”. And that’s great!

The prospects might not realize it, but their excuse is an Achilles’ heel because it gives your agents something specific to attack and leverage against them. Christian Krause, the Founder of the SaaS Sales Academy, put it best in his post here:

We’ll talk about how to turn the “No” on your prospects in an upcoming section, but for now, let’s look at a few of the most common objections:

“Just send me some more information.”
“I’m not responsible for making these decisions.”
“We already work with [Competitor Name].”
“Call me back next quarter.”
“We don’t have the budget.”
“We need your product to do X, Y, and Z. Does it?”
“Sorry, something came up. I’ll get back to you later.”
*Dial Tone*

The keen-eyed among you will notice that many of these objections stem from the same underlying reasons we described in our article on the 3 Mistakes Costing You 98% Of Your Leads.

Keep this in mind for when we come back to countering each of these objections. But first, we need to make sure your team is ready for objection handling.

Building The SSS Employee:
Soft Sales Skills Necessary For Objection Handling

Did you know that, according to Caliper, 55% of people in sales lack the necessary skills to succeed? Even if you think that number doesn’t apply to your team, you probably have quite a few agents who could use a little extra attention.

There are several soft skills you should focus your efforts on to ensure the best possible results. Chief among them is the ability to handle stress and burnout. You can read more about that in our article on How To Save <20% Of Total Payroll Costs With Better Agent Coaching.

Now, let’s focus on the 3 soft skills more closely connected to overcoming objections: active listening, situational awareness, and proactive empathy.

1. Active Listening

We’ll soon talk about the value of being proactive, but we shouldn’t disregard the benefit that having the right reaction can have. Let’s assume for a moment that everything a prospect says, they say for a reason.

If that’s the case, your agents need to be able to properly unpack the information, understand it, and only then respond with something relevant.

Example:

Agent: “Good morning! Thank you for taking the time to meet with me today. I understand that your company is looking for a new software solution. Can you tell me more about the specific challenges you’re facing?”

Prospect: “Yes, we’re struggling with inefficiencies in our current system. We need something more streamlined to improve our workflow.”

Agent: “I appreciate you sharing that. Efficiency is a common concern, and we’ve helped many companies overcome similar challenges. Can you provide more details about the specific areas where you’re experiencing inefficiencies?”

Prospect: “Our current software doesn’t integrate well with other tools we use, and it’s causing delays in our processes.”

Agent: “I see. Integration is indeed crucial for seamless operations. Can you give me an example of how these delays are impacting your team or affecting overall productivity?”

Prospect: “Well, for instance, when we receive new client information, it takes a while to input it into our system, and then we have to double-check for errors.”

Agent: “That sounds time-consuming. I can understand how accuracy and speed are essential for your team. If I may, let me summarize to ensure I’ve captured your concerns correctly.

It seems like you’re looking for a solution that not only integrates well with your existing tools but also helps streamline data input and reduces the likelihood of errors. Is that an accurate representation of your needs?”

However, in a fast-paced space like sales, it’s far more common to try and get ahead of an issue with a knee-jerk reaction. This can often make the lead feel they’re not being heard, which is no good.

Furthermore, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time can cause irreparable damage to the relationship and ultimately lead to you losing the deal.

According to Gong, the highest-yielding B2B sales conversations averaged a 43/57 talk-to-listen ratio. So, to reach above-average performance, you need to train your sales team’s patience and ability to listen carefully.

Thankfully, this can be done fairly simply with targeted listening exercises, where the rep will have to sift through a dense conversation to find the most relevant information and attack it.

You can read more about the talk-to-listen ratio in our blog on sales small talk.

2. Situational Awareness

However, sometimes, certain things remain unsaid, and salespeople can’t exactly listen out for something they never hear. And that’s where they need to bridge the gap with their practical sales experience and pre-existing knowledge of the customer.

That’s because these two factors allow them to establish the prospect’s current situation, their desired goal, and the stage of the deal.

Example:

Prospect: “We currently have around 15 agents working for us at the moment, but we’re looking to scale up to 50 in the near future.”

Agent: “I see. So, would it be fair to say that your biggest concerns right now are finding a simple-to-use (onboarding/training) solution you can build on easily (scalability) while maintaining efficiency (analytics and reporting)?”

Based on this information, your sales team can decide which pain point they should apply pressure to and how much. And if you want to improve their ability to do so, we recommend you implement shadowing senior reps and research training.

Hint: CloudTalk’s Call Monitoring feature has been an invaluable tool both for our and our customers’ teams, as it allows agents to listen in on the calls of their more experienced colleagues. Alternatively, you can always record the conversations for later use.

3. Proactive Empathy

This is where your sales team’s previous effort comes to fruition. By choosing to get ahead of issues by getting into their prospect’s shoes and speaking to their (assumed) biggest pain points rather than just reacting to what’s said, they can effectively shape how the conversation evolves and, ultimately, where it goes.

This allows the rep to anticipate and remove potential objections to clear the way for a seamless sales process. However, this shouldn’t come at the prospect’s expense. According to Zach Lawryk, the process is more about buyer enablement than anything else.

“What I think is broken about so many sales organizations nowadays is that they’re still trying to sell like they’re in control of the process. But the truth is, they’re not. The buyer is in charge of the process, and it’s much more about buyer enablement than it is about selling anything.”
– Zach Lawryk, Head of Global Solutions Consulting at Rippling

To that end, you should train your agents to articulate key benefits and ask effective open-ended questions to gauge the lead’s actual state of mind. Your reps must understand the value of finding the right customer fit for your product rather than getting a sale at any cost.

Example of Feature-Selling:

Prospect: “It doesn’t seem like you can offer us the features we need…”

Agent: “While that may be true, it’s not something I’d worry about. Just consider what you could do with all of our other features! Plus, we’re considering adding [X] down the line.”
Example of Sales Enablement:

Prospect: “It doesn’t seem like you can offer us the features we need…”

Agent: “I’m sorry to hear that. Of course, my main concern is ensuring you get access to everything you need to succeed. Please, tell me more about the features you see as vital to your business and how you plan on using them. I’ll see if we can solve your problem in a different way or at least recommend you another solution to explore.”

Setting Up For Success With Underlying Objection-Handling Strategies

With soft skills reinforced, we can move on to the various objection-handling techniques. For this article, we highlighted two that take full advantage of the necessary soft skills.

The LAER Bonding Process®

Developed by Carew International, this technique takes its name from abbreviating 4 core steps to overcoming objections, curbing anger, and building relationships with prospects.

Listen: The first step to building a positive relationship with a lead should always be letting them speak their mind, which shows interest, encouragement, and respect. However, it does require the rep to stay silent and wait to formulate a reaction.

Example:

Prospect: “We’re already working with a competitor, and we’re happy, but…”

Agent: “…”
Acknowledge: Not to be confused with an agreement, acknowledging can be a positive nonverbal gesture like a nod, reaffirming the issue, or a supportive statement, like “Yes, I can see what you mean”. It should go hand-in-hand with active listening.

Example:

Prospect: “…we’ve had some issues getting through to their Customer Support team, and their service has been pretty spotty.”

Agent: “I see what you mean, that has to be pretty frustrating, right?”
Explore: Your rep should sincerely try to obtain even more new information, restating and verifying what’s been said to understand the prospect’s situation, uncover potential resistance, and enable an efficient presentation.

Example:

Prospect: “Yes, incredibly so.”

Agent: “And have these outages had any negative effect on your team’s performance? How does your contract look? Can you imagine that if the situation doesn’t improve, you might want to look for a different provider?”

Respond: This should only come after the rep’s obtained sufficient information to formulate a response. Therefore, they may need to repeat the first three steps a few times before responding with a recommended solution, corrective action, or next step.

Example:

Prospect: “We’ve been with [X] for a while now, but yes, if they don’t improve soon, we might have to cut our losses and start exploring other solutions.”

Agent: “I understand. Tell you what, why don’t I send you a few resources regarding our product and the work we’ve done with other businesses? You can look them over and see if [X] fixes its issues by the end of next month. I’ll book us a call for the 31st, which we can cancel at any time.”

The Isolation Framework

Unlike the previous technique, this method we chose to dub the Isolation Framework requires the rep to take a more active role in objection handling. Its goal is to extract the true reasons behind objections, find common ground, and tactically dismantle them.

Extract the Objection: Sometimes, the best approach is a direct one. If all else fails, have reps ask the prospect, “What is your biggest concern regarding this deal?”. It’s important to do this early in the relationship to avoid roadblocks.

Example:

Objection:
“I’m not ready to make a purchase just yet.”

Answer:
“I see. Could you tell me what you see as the biggest obstacle we’d need to overcome to discuss implementation?”
Clarify Concerns: Sometimes, the lead may try to hide the reason for their hesitation, for example, citing a price concern, when in reality, they just like the competitor’s salesperson more. Don’t be afraid to dig in and ask tough questions.

Example:

Objection:
“We haven’t made a business plan to tackle this yet.”

Answer:
“I see. Do you have plans to explore this issue sometime soon? Some of our customers didn’t even know they had a problem, but after implementing our product, they saw [X benefit].

Find Common Ground: Once the rep has a good idea of the issue, they should try to find something both parties can agree on – positives and negatives. At the same time, they should keep everyone’s goals in mind and work from there.

Example:
“So, based on what you told me so far, can we agree that [X] would be valuable for your organization once [Y]’s taken care of?“

Resolve Objection: Removing the obstacle is the only way to push the deal forward. This can mean diving deeper into your solution, leveraging testimonials to dissuade fears, or even offering a discount. This depends on the lead’s specific objection.

Example:
“Tell you what, since we can agree that exploring this would be worth your time, I’ll send you some supplementary material to look over with your team, and we can schedule a call for early next month when you’ve dealt with [X].“

Breaking Down The 4 Main Sale Objection Archetypes

If a prospect’s telling your team “No”, it’s likely because of BANT – Budget, Authority, Need, and Timing. Or, perhaps, to be more specific, the opposite of this framework – a (perceived) lack of budget, trust, need, or urgency.

This may not seem to be the case at first glance, but it’ll soon become evident when we start breaking them down in the next section.

1. Lack of Budget

“I don’t think we have the budget. That’s far too expensive.”

Pricing objections are most common since all purchases come with a degree of financial risk – especially in B2B, where clients may be committing to long-term contracts. However, pricing ultimately comes down to value.

Knowing this, the rep’s goal should be to verify the prospect’s product/service fit to ensure they’ll be satisfied with their purchase and then find ways to showcase benefits you can provide that’ll ultimately outweigh the risk.

The tools they might commonly use to achieve this include personalized product demos, testimonials, and curated customer success stories.

“In the current economic climate, customer concerns regarding pricing are entirely natural. As Customer Success Managers, we aim to foster a collaborative approach. There are situations where we may adjust mark-ups to ensure mutual benefit.”
– Gerrlane Gloria, CSM at CloudTalk

Examples of Pricing Objections

Objection: “Your product is too expensive!”

Answer: “I understand your concern, but I’d like you to consider how [X] can help you overcome [Y] by doing [Z].

Hint: This simple sentence actually allowed our amazing CSM Gerlaine to save a seemingly lost deal. Read more about this triumphant example of objection-handling here!

Objection:
“I need to use this money somewhere else.”

Answer:
“Are you certain that it will offer the most value at the end of the day? [Existing Customer Name] faced a similar issue, and investing in [X] allowed them not only to remove [Y] but also increase their ROI enough to budget for additional projects.”
Objection:
“I don’t want to get stuck in a contract…”

Answer:
“That’s completely understandable. We offer various alternative payment plans that might fit your needs better. Why don’t we have a look?”

2. Lack of Trust

“I’m sorry, but who are you again?”

Humans are social creatures, which means we’re most likely to do business with people/companies we know, like, and trust. This is easy to achieve in inbound sales, where leads have interacted with some of your content, and you’ve built rapport.

Therefore, trust objections should be relatively rare in your inbound pipeline. And when they appear, they are usually easily removed with lead nurturing campaigns. Unfortunately, that’s not the case when it comes to your outbound deals.

To overcome leads’ initial apprehension in outbound sales, agents should focus on crafting the best possible elevator pitch, including some of your company’s accolades, like the number of customers, awards, etc.

Examples of Authority-Based Objections

Objection:
“I don’t have the authorization to sign off on a deal like this.”

Answer:
“I understand, that’s no problem. Could you please redirect me to the right person to speak to about this?”
Objection:
“I wouldn’t be able to justify this purchase to my team.”

Answer:
“Not to worry, I can help you with that. Do you have any of the objections your team may have? I’d love to share some enablement materials to overcome them.”
Objection:
“The higher-ups won’t agree to this purchase, no matter what I say.”

Answer:
“I understand it is tough to align expectations sometimes. What I understand from our conversation is that a tool like CloudTalk would have a significant impact on your CSAT score and help you achieve your CS targets. Do you think this is not a priority for your hierarchy? What’s top of mind for them now?”

3. Lack of Need

“I don’t see how that could help me…”

Hearing a prospect say they don’t need your product might seem like a dead end. In reality, this objection is an excellent opportunity to start a dialogue with open-ended and layered questions, as we discussed above.

The first step is to get the lead to talk to your rep more about their company and needs to requalify them. Assuming they’re a good fit and willing to speak, your agent’s foot is already in the door. All that’s left is to demonstrate value and explain why they DO need you.

Ideally, the agent will want to push the prospect towards a personalized demo with social proof from similar companies and relevant quick-fire use cases.

“Sometimes, it’s about emphasizing the competitive value rather than offering discounts. Ultimately, building a partnership mindset is crucial – hoping customers remember our support, whether in thriving or challenging times. Our goal is to be seen as a partner, not just a vendor.”
– Gerrlane Gloria, CSM at CloudTalk

Examples of Need-Based Objections

Objection:
“You misunderstand my problem. I need help with [X], not [Y].”

Answer:
“Oh, I’m sorry, I must have missed something. Could you please explain to me again why that is the case and your biggest issue?
Objection:
“We don’t need your product. We’re doing great.”

Answer:
“That’s great to hear! Could you tell me a bit more about what you’re currently doing to improve in this area, how you’re progressing, and what your ultimate goals are?
Objection:
“Your product seems too complicated.”

Answer:
“I see. Which aspects of it seem confusing to you? I’d love to explain more. Plus, we offer full onboarding for new clients, and our customer service is always there to help with any problems.”

4. Lack of Urgency

“Why don’t we circle back to this next quarter?”

If a lead cites timing as their main issue, there are only two possibilities. Either they’re telling the truth, and you should take them for their word, having the rep schedule an appointment. Or… they’re just making excuses.

The question is, how do you tell the difference? Your agents will want to look out for vague or evasive answers, which indicate the prospect just trying to brush them off. And that’s when they get to play the bad cop.

Of course, we’re not saying the conversation should ever become a confrontation. However, having the rep apply pressure and trigger the prospect to explain further will likely engage them in a conversation and give you the in you’re looking for.

Examples of Authority-Based Objections

Objection:
“We haven’t thought about this.”

Answer:
“I understand. Why don’t you talk to me about the biggest challenges you’re facing right now and let me tell you about what we do? This might turn out to be a good area to explore.”
Objection:
“This is not a concern for us right now.”

Answer:
“Oh? Could you tell me more about your current priorities and how you chose them?”
Objection:
“This sounds great, but I don’t think we could handle implementation right now.”

Answer:
“I understand. On average, it takes our customers [X] days/weeks to onboard. Could you tell me how much time you spend each day on [Y]? And when do you anticipate you might have more time?

Top 28 Sales Objections And How To Overcome Them

So, we’ve covered the 4 main objection archetypes, but that’s far too broad. Next, let’s look at examples from each group, discuss the nuances that set them apart, and learn how to overcome each one.

5 More Examples Of The Most Common Pricing Objections

Objection:
“We don’t have any budget left this quarter.”

Answer:
“Totally understand. If you are looking at the amount of time and manual labour you spend on XY, how much do you think it is costing your team.”
Objection:
“We’re already working with a competitor.”

Answer:
“I see. What motivated you to choose [X]? How are you satisfied with your experience so far? I’d love to tell you a little more about what sets our product apart from [X].
Objection:
“I can get the same thing cheaper somewhere else.”

Answer:
“I see. Could you please explain your point of view a little more for me? Which other competitor have you looked at so far? What challenge is top of mind now for you, and how does X help you solve it?”
Objection:
“I’m happy with your competitor.”

Answer:
“That’s great to hear! Could you tell me more about your relationship with [X] and how they’re helping you solve your problems? It’d be very helpful for me to see how we compare.”
Objection:
“I’d like to get a few more quotes for comparison.”

Answer:
“I completely understand. It’s important to pick the best solution for your company. Do you have any specific competitors in mind already? I could give you some extra information about how we compare.”

8 More Examples Of The Most Common Authority/Ability Objections

Objection:
“I’ve never heard of your company before.”

Answer:
“In that case, allow me to introduce you! Our company works in the [X] space and offers products targeting [Y] to help companies like yours overcome [Z]. I’d love to talk to you about what we can do for your business.
Objection:
“I’ll have to discuss this with my team first.”

Answer:
“It’s always good to have more eyes on a project. Are there any particular stakeholders you’d like to involve? I’d be glad to have a call with everyone you think is relevant and show them the value our product can provide.”
Objection:
“We only work with trusted suppliers.”

Answer:
“I understand. That’s the same as us. I’d be happy to engage you in a conversation with Y (current customer) based in the same region. We helped them solve X, and I think it could be beneficial for you to ask for their honest feedback.”
Objection:
“We’re part of a buying group.”

Answer:
“I see. Are there specific limits on who you can buy from? I’d love it if you could tell me more about your current arrangement regarding pricing and trusted providers.”
Objection:
“I’ve had a bad experience with a similar provider in the past.”

Answer:
“I’m sorry to hear that. Could you talk to me about how that was and what caused you the most trouble?”
Objection:
“I’m not interested. I’ve heard bad things about your company.”

Answer:
“I’m sorry to hear that. Could you tell me more about what you heard so I can share the feedback with our other departments?”
Objection:
“I’ve heard your company [false statement].”

Answer:
“That’s interesting! would you mind telling me where you’ve heard this? It could have been a genuine mistake, we actually [true statement].”

9 More Examples Of The Most Common Need/Fit Objections

Objection:
“That’s not an issue for our business.”

Answer:
“Hmm, that’s interesting. Could you tell me what you’re doing differently than other companies in your space to address this problem?”
Objection:
“I don’t see how your product could provide any benefit.”

Answer:
“I see. Would you please walk me through your biggest challenge? I might have missed something during my initial explanation.”
Objection:
“I don’t understand what your product does.”

Answer:
“No worries! What part of our product seems confusing for you? I’d love to explain.”
Objection:
“I don’t think my team could handle a complex product like yours.”

Answer:
“I understand your concern. What do you think would be the main source of trouble? We offer full onboarding for new clients, and our customer service is always there to help with any problems.”

Objection:
“Your product doesn’t have a key feature we need.”

Answer:
“I understand. Could you tell me more about how you plan to use this feature and what you want to achieve? We have many integrations/partners our existing customers have been very happy with.”
Objection:
“We’re happy the way things are.”

Answer:
“That’s great to hear! Please tell me what you’re doing to solve this issue, your progress, and the ultimate goals?”
Objection:
“I don’t see the potential for a return on this.”

Answer:
“I see. Why don’t we reschedule this call? I can show you the numbers behind what we do and how we can help.”
Objection:
“This is just a fad anyway.”

Answer:
“I see why you would feel that way. However, in reality, we have numbers that would suggest otherwise. Why don’t we schedule a call with one of our existing customers, so you can hear about their experiences first-hand?”
Objection:
“Your product doesn’t fit with our current tech stack.”

Answer:
“I see. Would you please tell me more about your tech stack? What tools are you currently using, and how integral are they for you? We have several partnerships and integrations that might help you achieve similar or even better results.”

4 More Examples Of The Most Common Urgency Objections

Objection:
“I’m not ready to buy just yet.”

Answer:
“No worries, it’s always best to research your options thoroughly. I’d love to share with you some additional research materials to help you make an informed decision. Why don’t we schedule another call in a few weeks/months to see where you stand?
Objection:
“Could we get back to this next quarter?”

Answer:
“Of course! I’m more than happy to reschedule for you. But, could you tell me more about what will change next quarter?”
Objection:
“Sorry, I have to cancel our call today. I’ll let you know a time that’d work for me better.”

Answer:
“That’s no problem. Why don’t we find a day and time right now?”
Objection:
“We’re not sure what we need yet.”

Answer:
“That’s completely fine! Many customers come to us without a specific idea of what they’re looking for. Why don’t you talk me through your biggest challenges, and we’ll see what we can do to help.”

Crushing Multiple Objections At Once:
A CloudTalk Sales Success Story

Imagine this situation – one of your agents is scheduled to have a call with a prospect for a 1,200 MRR deal. Everything seems to be going well when suddenly…

“Sorry, I need to cancel.”

Now, most agents would think nothing of this and let the deal slip away. But not our Senior Account Executive Dominika. She sent a follow-up email.

Email 1: The Follow-Up

And though she did not know it yet, in doing so, she set in motion the success story of one of CloudTalk Sales Team’s best showcases of overcoming objections and adversity in recent memory. But first, she’d need to deal with…

Email 2: Objections, Objections Everywhere

Ouch… A strict time constraint AND a competitor offering a good price on a feature the prospect wants? Genesys seemed to be meeting the lead’s BANT requirements to the T, and the situation seemed dire.

And yet, not all was lost. The prospect did take the time to respond. And that gave Dominika the “in” she needed to hit them with the ultimate combo of overcoming objections.

Email 3: Overcoming Objections In 5 Simple Steps

BAM! This is how you do it.

Leveraging both the strategies we’ve outlined in this article and some sales best practices, Dominika was able to craft a profoundly effective email that says everything it needs to and nothing more.

We’ve highlighted each important part of the email to help you understand which parts relate and appeal to particular aspects of the prospect’s psyche. Please, also pay attention to how the information structured, as that’s important too.

And as for ther results…

Email 4: Putting The Deal Back On The Table

Dominika’s tenacity, sales skill, and buyer-enablement approach was rewarded. The prospect was once more open to considering CloudTalk’s offer and after a little more back-and-forth…

Email 5: Success!

Just like that, Dominika managed to save a 1200 MRR deal from being lost forever. All it needed was a bit of proactivity, some skill, and the knowledge necessary to overcome objections contained in this article.

When No Means No

And so we’ve come full circle. At the start of this article, we’ve told you there’s rarely such a thing as a straight “No” in sales. But sometimes there is. Just consider these examples:

*Click* / *Dial Tone*
“Don’t call me again.”
“Don’t you get I’m not interested?”
“How did you get my information?”
“Please leave me alone…”

Unfortunately, there are some objections your agents won’t be able to overcome, regardless of how much training they go through. It’s not all bad, though. Recognizing when their time is wasted and focusing efforts elsewhere is an important skill.

And now, your team should be ready for both.

Sources: