Objection Handling

It’s important that you have solid clarity of all the details in order to be able to truly overcome an objection. There are 5 steps to objection handling:



Acknowledge: Empathise and identify with their concern


Question: As for specifics including Who What Where Why and tell me more


Listen: Be patient and truly understand what the prospect is telling you


Position: Discuss the benefits and connect the dots to their business


(Here is where you could use the Feel, Felt, Found technique)


Check: Has the objection been addressed and ask for further feed back with a question


Here are some common Objections and some questions to ask that will help you uncover the true objection and position yourself to resolve the concern.


Happy with their current provider/service


• Perhaps you could clarify for me – Is it your service or your service provider that are happy with?


• What is it that you like about them


• When was the last time they did an assessment of your requirements or services?


• How do you feel your business would benefit from new technology? Cost Savings? Increased productivity? Efficiencies? Being more Competitive?


• It would be helpful if you could be specific about who your current service provider is and if you have more than one provider for one or more service


• How are you kept up to date on new technology, products and services?


• How proactive is your rep/provider?


• What features do you like about your service?


• Is there a specific feature or product you would like to see from your current service provider?


• Have you ever had an outage? How was that handled? What is your outage process?


Not Competitive


• Could you be more specific? Price? Solution? Product offering?


• Are you speaking with other providers regarding this service?


• I would like to confirm that we are truly comparing apples to apples. Can we move through the solution and truly understand the similarities and differences?


• Some line items may be included in the pricing where as with other suppliers they may be a separate item. Could I help you do a detailed comparison?


• Is there a specific part of the quote/pricing that jumps out at you?


• Was there anything noticeably different in the quotes?


• Do you have a budget?


• Is cost the most important factor in your decision?


• Where do you specifically feel we are not competitive? SLA? Price? Solution?


In a contract


• Is this a verbal contract or a signed contract?


• When was the contract signed? What is the term of the contract?


• If I could show you cost savings, and the numbers make sense, would you consider switching?


• Could I do a cost analysis of savings vs. any penalties?


• Could you share with me some of the main Terms and Conditions of the contract?


• Does it have an auto renew clause? Will your rates increase with the Auto renew?


• Were there any sticking points with the contract?


• What services are specifically contracted?


With the “In a Contract” clause the goal is to set a reminder to follow up 6 months prior to the contact expiry and note it in Goldmine and to offer them other Avega services including Conferencing and Social Media.


Not Interested


• Are you interested in New Technology? Better Service? Saving Money? Being Competitive? Educating yourself on communication trends? Getting a second opinion on solutions?


• What are you not interested in?


• Tell me something about your business that would help me understand what is important to you


• Are phone & internet a service that your business depends on daily to run your company?


• If your business depends on phone and internet, why wouldn’t you be interested?


• How do you communicate with Customers? Vendors? Other employees? What percentage do you use phone to communicate? What percentage do you rely on Internet and email to communicate?


• How critical is phone and/or internet to your business


• If Phone and internet are critical infrastructure, isn’t it worth looking at more closely?


• If I could demonstrate improved productivity and greater efficiencies by having the right solutions, would you agree to look at this service in more detail?

Be that active listener and truly seek to understand the objection. Take your time and be deliberate in your questions and finding the heart of the matter. Happy Selling!