Objections: acknowledge, explore, handle, check.
An objection isn’t a no. It’s the prospect telling you where they stand. Dodge it, argue it, or bury it under a justification, and you lose the call. Work it in four steps, and it’s often the moment the deal moves forward.
The four-step method
Whatever the objection, the handling follows the same order. Skip a step and you’re answering an objection the prospect didn’t actually raise.
- Acknowledge: “I understand.” Not “yes, but.” The prospect has to feel the objection is legitimate before they hear anything else.
- Explore: “What makes you say that?” The stated objection is almost never the real one. “It’s expensive” means “I don’t see what it brings me,” or “I don’t have budget this quarter,” or “I’m comparing it to another quote.”
- Handle: with proof, a frame, a number. One answer, short, aimed at the real objection.
- Check: “Does that answer your concern?” If not, you’re not done.
“It’s too expensive”
The price objection almost always comes too early, because the price was given too early. The fix is upstream: put a number on the stakes before you quote. If that’s already done, explore: expensive compared to what?
- “I understand. Expensive compared to what, to what it brings you or to another quote?”
- “You told me one more client is worth €15,000. We’re talking €1,500 a month. What’s holding you back?”
“We don’t have time right now”
No time for what: the rollout, the meeting, the change? Get them to describe their week. The time objection usually hides a priority somewhere else. You can’t create time, but you can make the problem cost more than the change.
- “No time for what, exactly: the setup, or changing habits?”
- “And the time it’s costing you today, where do you get that back?”
“We already have someone”
Never run down the incumbent. Ask what they measure, and what would be different if it were perfect. A prospect who says “it works well enough” just opened a door: “well enough” is an objection dressed up as satisfaction.
- “Great. What do you measure with them, and what would you like to see on top?”
- “What does ‘well enough’ mean, concretely, over a month?”
“I need to talk to my business partner”
This is the qualification objection: the decision-maker isn’t in the room. Don’t ask the prospect to sell for you. Offer a three-way call, now, calendars open.
- “Of course. What do you think they’ll ask you?”
- “Let’s do it together: twenty minutes, the three of us, Thursday. I’ll answer their questions directly.”
“Just send me a deck”
The end-of-call “send me a deck” is a polite way to hang up. Say yes, then ask the question that qualifies: what would make them read it? The answer tells you whether the deal exists.
- “Happy to. What would make you actually read it, rather than file it?”
- “I’ll send it over, and let’s take ten minutes Thursday to talk it through. 11 or 3?”
Questions
Yes, before the call. Otik’s brief writes out this prospect’s likely objection and the answer, based on what they’ve already said over email.
