POWERED BY WE HAVE A MEETING

THE PLAYBOOK · A 4-MINUTE READ

THE STATE OF SALES LENS

The objection and follow-up research, plus a framework we keep hearing on the strongest floors we visit. The best sellers treat objections the way a good therapist treats resistance in a session: as information about what the person actually believes, worth exploring rather than arguing with.

"We've always done it this way" is a limiting belief. An instant no to any new supplier is a learned behaviour from a bad past experience. "Our current system works fine" said through gritted teeth is cognitive dissonance. "We need to think about it" is very often fear wearing a rational costume. Each one needs a different response, and arguing works on none of them.

A practical way to build the diagnostic muscle: after every objection in call reviews, have the rep name which type it was before discussing the response. Within a fortnight the categorisation becomes automatic mid-call, and the response starts matching the objection rather than the script page the rep happened to be on.

THE NUMBER four objections on average before the yes arrives.

Acceptance, Clarification, Exploration, Redirection, Summary. Accept first: "That's fair, and honestly it doesn't work for everyone." Then clarify: "What makes you feel it might not fit?" Explore what sits underneath, redirect to what they told you matters, and summarise their own words back. The magic of the acceptance step is that it removes the fight. Nobody defends a position that isn't under attack.

The step reps skip under pressure is clarification, and it is the one carrying the framework. "It's too expensive" clarified properly splits into three different objections: no budget this quarter, cheaper competitor on the table, or unconvinced on value. Each has a different next move, and guessing which one you are answering is how rebuttals end up answering the wrong question confidently.

THE NUMBER five steps, in order, every time.

Socrates dismantled the strongest positions in Athens by pretending to know less than he did and asking questions until the contradiction surfaced on its own. On a sales call that sounds like "Help me understand, if the current system works fine, what made you take this call?" The prospect argues themselves out of their own objection, which is the only version of the argument they ever believe.

The tone is everything here. Delivered with genuine curiosity, the question opens the conversation; delivered with a smirk, it is a trap and the prospect knows it. The Socratic move only works if you are actually willing to hear "fair point, we probably shouldn't have taken the call" and respond to that honestly too.

THE NUMBER top reps ask 39% more questions than their peers, objection handling included.

Pick ACERS as the floor-wide standard. Pick Socratic questioning as the advanced layer for your senior reps. Ban rebuttal battles entirely.

Got a take on this one? Hit reply. We read every single one.

Every week we sit down with the operators actually moving revenue.

THE STATE OF SALES · TWICE WEEKLY · NO FLUFF