Find the root of an objection before you answer it

What it does

“It’s too expensive” can mean five different things: they don’t see the value yet, they can’t get it approved, they’re comparing you with something cheaper, the timing is wrong, or they’re being polite about a no. Answer the words and you’ll answer the wrong one. Find the root first, and most objections turn into a question you can actually answer.

What you need

• Recordings or notes from calls where buyers pushed back
• Your objection list (see write down your sales process)
• A doc

How it works

1. 1

   Don’t answer straight away

   Acknowledge it, then ask. “That’s fair. What’s behind that?” or “Compared to what?”

2. 2

   Ask until you reach the real concern

   Usually one or two questions. On price: “If price weren’t a factor, would this be the right fit?” If yes, it’s about value or budget. If no, it was never about price.

3. 3

   Play it back

   “So it’s not the price itself. You’d need to get it past your CFO, and you’re not sure how to make the case. Is that right?”

4. 4

   Answer the root, with a question where you can

   Help them see it rather than telling them. If the root is getting it approved, offer to build the case for their CFO together. Nobody should leave the call feeling pushed.

5. 5

   Build your objection doc from real calls

   Prompt for Claude or ChatGPT, with transcripts attached

   Here are transcripts of [NUMBER] of my sales calls.
   
   Find every objection the buyer raised. For each one:
   - the exact words, quoted
   - what it turned out to be about, from what they said next: value, budget, timing, approval, risk, a competitor, or a polite no
   - what I said, quoted, and whether the call moved forward after it
   
   Group them by root, with how often each one came up. Only use what's in the transcripts.

   For each root, keep the questions and answers from the calls that moved forward. Keep the doc next to your sales process.

What good looks like

You know the five or six roots behind most of your objections, with the questions and answers that worked on real calls.

Mistakes to skip

• Answering the first sentence.
• Arguing. A buyer who feels pushed agrees to end the call and never comes back.
• Treating every no as an objection. Sometimes it’s a real no: thank them, and log the reason.