Objection Handling Framework: Develop a Routine to Increase Won Deals

Objection handling: Master objection handling frameworks and minimize lost deals.

“We don’t need that.”

“That’s not a priority.”

“It’s outside our budget.”

Sounds familiar? That’s what every sales rep hears day in and day out. If you give up whenever you hear “no” during a cold call, you’re missing out on deals. Overcoming objections takes a bit of preparation, some data, and a lot of elbow grease. But, if you develop a structured approach to overcome objections in sales, your conversions and sales will double.

What do sales objections really mean?

What is a sales objection? It’s an obstacle between your lead and a purchase.

The bad news is that nine out of ten prospects have objections. The good news is that objections don’t mean a sale is impossible.

Six out of ten people say “no” four times before confirming the purchase. At the same time, every other sales rep gives up after receiving an initial rejection, leaving potential sales for the competition. And only 12% of sales reps make three or more follow-ups, securing additional sales.

These numbers should tell you that an objection is an invitation to discuss your offer and convince the prospect to schedule a demo or sign up for a free trial. After all, they don’t have to answer your cold calls or respond to your emails. If they do, there’s a chance you can convert the lead and win the deal, all you need is to handle their objections right.

Structured objection handling benefits

Ignoring objections isn’t a good strategy. In most cases, common objections in sales are valid. Perhaps you’re talking to the wrong person, or your solution is outside their budget. Understanding the roots of objections and handling them resolves addressable concerns preventing purchases.

You can address concerns as they come, but developing a cohesive strategy for how to handle objections has plenty of benefits:

• Structured objection handling consistently increases the conversion rate and won deals.
• Listening to concerns and objections fosters trust and helps build strong customer relationships.
• Objection-handling scripts take the pressure off sales reps and increase their job satisfaction.
• Analyzing customer objections helps improve your products, services, and brand messaging.

As you see, objection handling in sales generates a positive feedback loop. The more concerns you address, the more deals you win while improving your offers, bringing in more leads (with new objections) and sales.

Choose your objection handling framework

There is no one perfect answer for how to handle objections in sales calls. You can choose from half a dozen objection-handling frameworks, and these are just the most popular ones.

If you’re wondering which objection-handling framework to choose, look closer. Although they use different acronyms and a different number of steps, these frameworks have a lot in common. At their core, they all have three steps in common:

Hear out the concerns

First, you need to let the customer vent all their issues. This is a critical step, so you must be an active listener and acknowledge the validity of their objections. To learn more and get to the bottom of the objections, ask open questions, but try not to turn your conversation into an interrogation. Keep your tone light and show genuine interest and curiosity to stay on the contact’s good side.

Example: “Many small businesses have limited software budgets, so I completely understand your concerns. Which product are you using now? What makes it worth it for you?”

Discuss potential solutions

If you do your job right on the first step, you’ll have a chance to introduce your solution. It’s important to address the core issue and prove your claims are true. Use customer testimonials, case studies, research data, and other tools to handle objections.

Example: “Our yearly plans offer 15% savings compared to monthly plans. And our clients at XYZ Company saw an ROI of 150% in just six months, so the product pays for itself. Besides, we offer a money-back guarantee if you don’t see a rise in sales by the end of the year.”

If the prospects claim they use your competitor’s products, rein back the negativity. Criticizing the rival offers will make you look bad and turn away most customers. Instead, ask them what they like and dislike about their current choice and suggest how your offer is better.

Example: “If you’re not married to XYZ Solution, let me tell you how our product can address the issues we’ve discussed. We have just the features you need, and I’m willing to negotiate on the price if you make the switch.”

Prompting the prospect down the sales funnel

Confirm the customer is satisfied with your solution. Quickly rehash what you’ve talked about and ask them to confirm they are happy. After that, ask if they have any additional concerns and repeat the previous two steps with the new issues. Once the prospect is satisfied with your responses, prompt them to take the next step. Most won’t be ready to commit to a purchase immediately, but you can schedule a follow-up call to discuss the specifics, set up a demo, or sign them up for a free trial.

Example: “We agree that our solution would be a better fit for your company, right? Let’s get back together soon to discuss how to make the transition easier for you. Or do you want to schedule a demo right away?”

Implement objection handling frameworks

None of the alphabet soup of frameworks explains how to handle objections in sales day-to-day. A framework is not a ready-made tool but a mindset or a rough outline. You’ll need to lay the groundwork to make your chosen framework work for your business. Here are a few critical steps for handling objections in sales:

• Analyze the common objections. Collect communication logs and call transcripts from the past few weeks or months and discover the most common objections sales reps face. Leverage the benefits of CRM, namely carefully organized communication records, to speed up this process. Group the typical concerns into major categories, like Money, Time, Need, Trust, and Competition, and create subcategories, if necessary.
• Collect objection-handling data. Find the best way to address every concern. Use hard facts, customer testimonials, case studies, and other tools. For example, if the potential customer doesn’t have the budget to close the deal, share the ROI estimates and successful implementation cases to prove your product is worth the investment.
• Develop scripts for sales reps. They can be as detailed or as vague as you want. Some reps prefer to have complete conversations written out to fall back on. Others are happy to improvise as long as they have instant access to all the objection-handling data they might need to convince the prospects. You’ll want your best reps to collaborate on the scripts and update them as necessary.
• Review and revise the sales performance. As sales teams implement the new sales objection handling techniques, monitor their progress. Review the communication logs to find the most (and least) effective scripts and additional objections to add to your database. Ideally, you want to see the rise in conversions and won deals as evidence of successful objection handling. Still, it can take a couple of iterations to find the right approach.

Avoid common mistakes in handling sales objections

Overcoming sales objections is an art, not an exact science. For all the best practices, frameworks, and recommendations, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution that would magically win every deal. It’s easy to miss something or overdo it. That’s why it’s also important to keep an eye out for potential missteps, such as:

• Poor objection handling preparations. You can admit you do not have the answer or data to support your claims, but it won’t work with every prospect. The more data you have on potential objections and rebuttals, the more confident you’ll feel during the calls.
• Rigid sales scripts. Having the info at your fingertips helps address concerns. But if you robotically follow the rigid outline, your conversation will feel stilted and unnatural. It will also prevent you from connecting with the prospects and fostering trust.
• Extreme emotional response. Acknowledge you’ll face objections nine times out of ten and keep a lid on negativity. Getting annoyed with the prospects’ concerns or becoming defensive will not win them over and instead convince them to go with one of the other offers.
• Attempts to win every deal. No sales rep has a perfect 100% win rate. Some objections are valid and impossible to address. After giving the deal your best, learn to recognize when it’s time to move on and refocus your customer acquisition efforts.

Practice makes perfect in handling objections. The more you explore the framework potential and the better scripts you develop, the more deals you will win. Just remember to stop and reassess from time to time to ensure you’re still on the right track.

Conclusion

Learning how to handle customer objections means increasing conversions and sales. You can use one of the established frameworks or develop a custom objection-handling process, but it must include the three critical stages of active listening, offering a solution, and prompting further action. Convincing reluctant prospects requires careful preparations, including analyzing past customer interactions and providing compelling evidence in favor of your offer. NetHunt CRM can be particularly handy for developing effective sales scripts and identifying major shortcomings in your sales communication.

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