Managing prospects requires a delicate balance.
On the one hand, you don’t want your reps constantly spending time on prospects that are never going to buy.
But on the other hand, they also can’t shrink away at every objection that comes up. Otherwise, they’ll never build up a pipeline.
So one key skill your reps should have is the ability to handle objections in sales calls. This includes both responding to and deflecting them, as well as realizing when it’s time to walk away.
This guide will walk through how to coach your reps through this process.
How to Handle Prospecting Objections
One of the most difficult times to handle sales objections is during prospecting and cold calling.
Most prospects either aren’t expecting to speak with the rep, don’t have enough trust in your organization to invest in the conversation, or both. As a result, handling prospecting objections can be the most difficult to master.
This almost certainly is a learned skill, one that you have to constantly work with reps on building. By analyzing their call recordings, examining their responses, and coaching them on how to improve, they can become better at handling prospecting objections.
While each prospect will be different, there are two important principles to keep in mind:
- Articulate value early and concisely. If a prospect doesn’t want to talk to you, it’s because they don’t understand the value you’re selling. As early as you can, explain your value in a buyer-centric, customized way
- Don’t sell the product, sell the next step. No B2B prospect will buy the product in response to a cold call. So don’t try to sell the product. Just sell them on the next step, typically a demo. Then, you can delve into the full value of the product, respond to objections, and break down enough barriers that the prospect is ready to consider buying.
Here are some examples of how reps can respond to prospecting objections:
| Objection | Reponse(s) |
| “Just send me some information.” | “Can I take 30 seconds to explain how we [NAME THE VALUE PROP], and you can then decide if it’s worth a follow-up?” |
| “I’m not responsible for making these decisions.” | “Who on your team is responsible for [NAME THE VALUE PROP]? Can you connect us?” |
| “We already work with [Competitor].” | “I’d just like the opportunity to show you how we’re different and [NAME THE VALUE PROP].” |
| “Call me back next quarter.” | “Of course, but I would still like to set up a five-minute call to show you what we are doing and how we might help [NAME THE VALUE PROP]. That way, if you don’t think we’ll be a good fit, you don’t have to worry about me chasing you down next quarter.” |
| “We don’t have the budget.” | “That’s okay. We don’t expect you to buy anything right now. We’d just like the opportunity to share what we are doing and see if it could help you [NAME THE VALUE PROP].” |
| “Does your product do X, Y, and Z?” | “I am glad you asked that. I think it will be helpful to set up a time where we can answer this question and others with a specialist. When is a good day and time for us to talk?” |
| “Sorry, I have to cancel. I’ll get back to you with a better time.” | “Typically, when someone cancels and says they’ll get back to me, it means they’re just not interested in [NAME THE VALUE PROP]. Is it fair for me to assume that’s the case?” |
Do you know how your reps are handling sales objections? Coaching intelligence software can surface these insights automatically from your call recordings. Click here to learn more.
How to Handle Qualification Objections
Once you get the prospect onto a followup call, their objections will generally fall into one of four categories. Let’s walk through each of these in turn.
1. Lack of Budget
All purchases carry some financial risk. So if you’re going to convince a project to free up budget, you have to demonstrate the financial value to them. Ultimately, you have to convince them that the reward is worth the risk.
2. Lack of Trust
People do business with people they like, know, and trust. One of the primary goals of your conversation is to build trust with them by providing real, tangible value. This could mean emphasizing your authority in the market, demonstrating the ROI, or showing your success through case studies.
3. Lack of Need
Many prospects will claim they don’t need your product. Generally, this is because the pain of doing without isn’t obvious to them. Your reps should be skilled at surfacing that pain through engaging stories, thought-provoking questions, and gripping examples of what failure could look like.
4. Lack of Urgency
Much like need, urgency only becomes clear when the pain is obvious. The same tactics that can demonstrate need can also be used to demonstrate urgency.
When to Take “No” for an Answer
No matter how adept your prospects are at responding to objections, there will always be times when the prospect is a bad fit. An important part of handling sales objections is knowing when to take “no” for an answer.
While this will look different for each prospect, here’s a general rule of thumb: if the prospect repeats the objection more than once, it means that you should probably back off.
Salespeople are trained to be persistent and aggressive. Sometimes this is good, and sometimes it presents problems.
If your reps are too aggressive and don’t listen to the prospect, then they’re going to build up mistrust and bad feelings. This will certainly impede future opportunities to try and win their business.
On the other hand, if your reps know when to take a step back, they can demonstrate that they care more about helping the prospect than winning the deal. This, in turn, will build trust, increasing the chances of earning their business in the future.
Final Thoughts: The Importance of Active Listening
One of the skills that’s essential to responding to sales objections is active listening. That means, in essence, taking in what the prospect is saying, and using that information to inform what you say next.
This skill doesn’t come naturally to most reps, and requires a fair amount of coaching for them to master it. And when you have a large sales force, coaching intelligence software can enable you to seamlessly monitor your whole team’s effectiveness.
To read our comprehensive guide on coaching intelligence, click here.