When you’re in business, you most likely also have dealt with objections already: You ask for the sale, and customers reply with “It’s too expensive” or “I don’t need this.”

What an objection actually means

Every objection threw me off entirely during my first Sales conversations. I had no idea how to handle “It’s too expensive” or “I don’t need this.” Also, I thought, an objection is a definite No from the customer. They don’t want my product or service. The deal is lost.

The opposite is the case. Customers bring up objections because they’re not ready yet, but interested in moving forward.

An objection is not a No. It’s a question, a feeling that needs to be handled and answered. 

Therefore, it is possible to deal with objections in a constructive way. First of all, an objection is not a No. It’s a question, a feeling that needs to be handled and answered. 

For instance, if a customer says, “It’s too expensive,” what they’re saying is they don’t see the value yet. In some cases, they just won’t. But then, the product is not for them anyway, and you move on.

How to handle Objections

Here’s how to handle an “It’s too expensive” objection. Ask, “Why is it too expensive? What price did you have in mind?”. Be curious about the feeling and need behind it. 

More often than not, it turns out that the customer doesn’t see the value yet. Either you haven’t asked the right questions to uncover the real motivation, or they haven’t told you, however. More often than not, the latter is the case. 

In general, an objection is an invitation to dive deeper into the discussion. If the customer comes back with “But your software product doesn’t interface with Salesforce (or any other major application),” ask them why this particular integration is crucial. It’s another need/requirement to discover. 

Interestingly, objections don’t vary too much from customer to customer. After ten or twenty conversations, you should have a more or less complete list of common objections customers bring up. Once you have this list, prepare for each objection. What do you reply to when they say, “It’s too expensive?”. You could go in and ask more questions to find out why it’s too expensive for them.

Another way of dealing with this is to reframe the objection into something positive. When they say: “But you’re too young / don’t have enough experience as Freelancer,” you come back with: “I’m glad you mention that, and you’re right. I’m new to the field. Why don’t you use this to your advantage and leverage my fresh perspective?” 

What are your strategies to handle objections? Have you been successful in reframing objections to your advantage?

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