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Objections are a part of sales. You will constantly face them, there is no way around it.
However, objections are actually a good thing, if you know how to use them to your advantage.
Think about a scenario when you’ve been on a call and the prospect isn’t giving you ANYTHING.
No context, no rebuttals, just a stone wall. That is much more difficult to dig into versus the person who is sending objections your way. “We are already using X”, “This isn’t a priority”, etc.
Those objections give you information & allow you to frame the conversation to an advantageous position. It also means that the prospect has some level of interest, because they are identifying friction points for you.
Handling objections is about understanding what the prospect actually means.
Here are the ones I hear constantly & how I handle them.
1. “Send me an email / info”
This is generally the polite way to say ‘f off’. And to be quite honest this is my favorite one to get.
There are two angles you can take with this one & typically it depends on the scenario / person.
You’ve probably heard the rebuttal to this being: “Sure, what would you like to see specifically in that email?”… and honestly this is good. This is because it then gives you context on what they care about - once they tell you, continue the conversation to your advantage.
Another angle I take (you’ll see this again later) is:
“Sure, I’m happy to, but before I do that, is this even relevant to you right now?”
You get two different responses: either they actually are interested & want more info to help get to the next steps OR they were being polite & didn’t have any interest.
Both are wins because you can qualify more or disqualify & move on.
2. “No budget”
This typically means that it isn’t a priority right now.
To have a real sales deal, you need to be in a buying window:
-urgency
-budget
-pain
Without all three of those, you don’t have an actual deal.
The goal for me in this situation is to find out the renewal of their current tech / when it will become a priority again (ie contracting / renewal date).
Ask something simple like: “Oh gotcha, I’m sure you are currently using something like [competitor]… curious on how that is going?”
You can then use that angle to learn more about their current setup, find out the renewal date, etc.
3. “I’m not a decision maker”
This one can be tricky. But the goal of this one is to make the person feel valuable… because they are.
If they say right away that they’re not a decision maker then you likely lost the frame of the call… and the whole goal of sales is to solve people’s pain.
They likely labeled you as someone just trying to sell something… and that is fine, but you need to reframe why you are reaching out.
“Got it, no worries, I’m actually on the account team and I support [company], I noticed that [research you did on the company] & wanted to share some resources / info. I’m not looking for a decision.”
This is about getting to the next step. For anyone who works in longer / more complex sales cycles you know how important intel gathering is, and this is generally done at the IC level (ie the non-decision makers).
4. “We already use X”
This is probably the best objection you can get. They know what space you are in, what you do, and they are already paying for a tool… it means it is important to them!
This is where your product & competitor knowledge comes into play.
“Understood. I hear it’s a great tool, but a lot of folks I speak with generally struggle with [x,y,z].”
This is where you dig in & find current pains, gaps, or differences in their setup. Then when the time is right you can offer next steps.
5. “Can you call me back later?”
I get this one weekly. Typically there is some level of relevance, but just not quite enough to earn next steps. It is another polite brush off.
You can either offer to lock-in a specific time, however I don’t think the show-up rates on these are great because you didn’t fully earn the next step.
For this one I also take the same angle as the ‘can you send me an email’ approach.
“Hey [Name], happy to, however I just want to confirm that this is relevant to you right now & that you actually want to continue the conversation?”
If they come back with a positive response you can then lock in time on their calendar & give a quick agenda on what you are looking to cover. This is genuinely such a good feeling when it works.
Most objections aren’t objections - they are signals.
They teach you things like relevance, timing, budget, tech stack, and much more.
Focus on your targeting, be genuinely curious, and the conversations will flow.
Hope this helps.
Until next week.
– Rook ♜
ps… I offer 1:1 calls for breaking into tech sales or improving your outbound here