It can be tempting to back off when you hear “no” on a sales call. Nobody wants to be the person who “can’t take no for an answer.” 

However, if you have chosen sales as a profession, you are going to have to deal with a lot of nos, and you cannot even let them get you down. Instead, you need to find creative ways of overcoming objections. That’s how you can become successful in this competitive field. 

A salesperson ‘s skill becomes apparent when they are able to listen to an objection with empathy, and still navigate their way through the sales conversation. Fortunately, most of the time the “no” is followed by a “because”, or if it isn’t, you can usually find out what the underlying reason is. Once you have that reason, you can work around it so that you can convert the initial “no” into a “hell yeah”! 

In fact, with sales reps who know how to handle objections, the deals won rate on sales calls goes UP by almost 30%! Don’t believe us? We can prove it.

So don’t let rejection deter you. Only the brave succeed.

Here are 10 common sales objections and the objection handling techniques that will help you deal with them.

Objection #1: “I don’t need this product/I can’t see how this will benefit me.”

This is one of the most common sales objections. When the client starts off by saying that they have no need for your product/service, it can be hard to know what to say. But this objection is actually an opportunity in disguise. And the best objection handling technique is to study all that you can about the company before going in. 

How to handle it:

When you know all that there is to know about the potential customer’s company, you will know what their needs are. Then you can explain to them how your product can satisfy these needs. A great way to get to know these challenges is to ask open-ended questions on your sales call. Use the information you get to list out the challenges that your prospect’s industry or company is typically facing, and explain how your product can help them solve these problems. Be specific in demonstrating your value proposition.

Objection #2: “I have never heard of your company.”

This second objection is based on a lack of trust. If the prospective client has genuinely not heard of your company, it will be hard for them to trust you with their business. Many companies hold the belief that it is better to continue doing business with the salesperson they are familiar with. Shaking that belief is actually a great way to get their business.

How to handle it:

This is an opportunity for you to showcase how your company is better than the companies they might have heard of. A tip: keep your pitch short and crisp, or you risk losing their interest. Moreover, there’s no better time for name-dropping than now. Give them the elevator pitch about what your product/service is and then immediately jump to the companies that you work with. Keep testimonials on hand to talk about what problems you solve for your current clients and how you think you can be a good fit.

Objection #3: “This is not our priority right now/Call me back next quarter”

This type of sales objection is pretty vague and signals a lack of urgency on the part of the client. They might see your value, and even how you might be a good fit. But if they don’t think that they need you right now, they won’t be ready to allocate any budget to you. So what’s the objection handling technique here?

How to handle it:

Find subtle ways to confirm that the objection is genuine and not a way for them to give you the brush-off and leave the sales call. 

Show empathy - especially if the prospect is asking for more time and has a positive outlook towards your product. Ask them specific questions about how their needs are expected to change next quarter. Explain how much value you can add to the prospect’s business and how much money they will save by giving you a chance right now. If nothing works, schedule a follow-up sales call for later.

Objection #4: “This looks too complicated to use.”

Ouch. This sounds like criticism and you might be tempted to go fight with your product team. However, this potential customer objection could be due to a lack of time or even a lack of expertise. If the prospect’s concern is that it will take their team too long to get a handle on your product, then they might push back because they don’t want to dedicate that time for training purposes. If this is the case,  they might stick with the service they already use, even if it fails to yield comparable results in the long run.

How to handle it:

Ask the client exactly what they find complex and offer to break the process down for them and their team. Offer some indirect assurances by telling your prospect about how quickly another customer picked up your product (you can maybe say that another client had reservations too, but soon discovered they had nothing to worry about). Offer a free demo and assure them that the customer success team will hold their hand through the entire process. Offer training and onboarding for others on the team. 

Objection #5: “This is too expensive/We do not have the budget for this.”

Price objections are one of the most common sales objections that a client might have. If the lack of budget is a genuine and permanent concern, then you might not be able to make the sale no matter how good a salesperson you are. But in case there is any wiggle room or it is only a temporary deficit, then the prospect’s concerns can be handled.

How to handle it:

Try to shift the focus from how much the product costs to how much ROI it generates. Even if the product is expensive, talk about how it will add value and decrease costs in the long run. Use case studies to talk about how other companies who use your product ultimately saved money in the long run due to improved efficiency or increased output.

Objection #6: “I need to check with my boss first.”

This objection is raised when something has gone wrong in your sales process and you have reached someone who lacks the authority to make sales decisions. There is only one objection handling technique here. Talk to the higher up responsible for decision-making.

How to handle it:

Ask the point of contact how you can reach out to the person who is responsible for making decisions in the company. Once you get hold of the decision-maker, make your sales pitch to them directly. If the decision lies with more than one person, involve all the decision-making stakeholders in your conversation, whether directly or indirectly. 

Objection #7: “We’re using [Competitor’s product] right now.”

This prospective customer objection has to do with competitor interference. If someone else got to your client before you, the chance is higher that they might not switch. There is a reason they say “the early bird gets the worm”. But no sweat. Even if you weren’t first, there are ways to convince the client that you are better.

How to handle it:

Ask the prospective client why they went with your competitor. Try to understand their pain points with them. Then explain how your company can either solve their problems better or do it cheaper, or both! Adding more value and reducing costs are the two main reasons people switch services. 

Objection #8: “I don’t want to sign a contract.”

Is your client starting to sound like a frat boy, saying don’t want to be cuffed by you? This #committmentphobia might occur when your prospect wants to give your product a chance - or test the waters - but is not comfortable committing too much of their budget before they can evaluate what value it is going to deliver. They might be hesitant about the value of your product in the long run or might just want to keep their options open.

How to handle it:

Again, demonstrate to your prospect how it makes more monetary sense to sign up for longer. The longer potential buyers sign up for, the more money they save in the long run. Offer them a free demo to try out before they sign a contract. In case such a service exists at your company, offer them a monthly or quarterly subscription plan instead.

Objection #9: “We don’t have the capacity for this product.”

This objection can be tough to handle. It occurs when the prospect doesn’t believe they would be a good fit for your company because their own team lacks the ability to utilize your product. If they believe that they lack the resources, it might be hard to convince them otherwise. But it is not impossible.

How to handle it:

Spend some time to try and understand the prospect and their available resources better. Find ways they can integrate your product to increase efficiency. Map out what the expected results of such an integration can be. But if it truly does not add value to the company, then it might be best to back off.

Objection #10: “I can get the same product cheaper.”

If the prospect has been pitched by a similar company that is able to offer the same capabilities for lesser, then you will have to battle it out on price.

How to handle it:

You could try to explain why your product is more expensive. Perhaps the quality and efficiency of your product are better or it took more R&D to develop. You could try to throw in some freebies like an extra month of service or an upgrade to their plan. But if that doesn’t work, your best bet is to offer them a lower price. 

Tip: Some prospects are suave negotiators and this could be a tactic - request for paperwork using excuses like “I could maybe convince internal stakeholders to match that rate - do you have your existing offer handy?”  

Maneuver objections and make the sale!

Objection handling in sales involves active listening, making clear points, validating prospective customer concerns, and tons of follow-up. But one of the best objection handling techniques is to anticipate the objection and be prepared for it.

With enough data, it is actually possible to anticipate objections and swat them away (with empathy, of course). Relax, we’re not asking you to start making complicated spreadsheets of how sales pitches went and when conversations turned positive (or went downhill). We’re offering to do all that for you. Wingman’s AI-powered sales intelligence platform brings automation to the table to record and track sales objections. Our platform’s inbuilt analytics give you live cues on what to say when you run into objections. The sales team can also funnel new knowledge back into the system by creating a repository of sales objection templates.  

How can you and your team prepare yourselves for objection handling in sales? 

With Wingman as your wingman. 

Wingman is an AI-powered sales intelligence platform that uses automation to record call transcriptions and highlight sales objections that can help you understand the mindset of your prospects. The data-driven analytics platform can help you to anticipate sales objections and give you a chance to prepare for them. With Wingman, you can easily create a repository of sales objection templates in order to help your sales team prepare their handling techniques. Book a demo with us to experience the power of Wingman and learn how to overrule all types of objections.

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