Sales & Customer Growth
An objection is often a question the customer has not yet asked
"Your price is high." "I will think about it." "Another shop is cheaper." Owners often respond with a discount or with silence. Usually there is something specific underneath: doubt about value, a worry about risk, a missing piece of information or simply the need to ask someone else. This session helps participants find out which, and respond honestly.
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Most owners meet the same five objections again and again.
Price, trust, timing, comparison with another supplier and "I need to check with someone" account for most of what small businesses hear. Because they recur, they can be prepared for. An owner who has thought in advance about how to respond is calmer and more honest in the moment.
The aim is not to win arguments. A customer who is pushed into a yes often returns the product, delays payment or tells others. The aim is to understand the objection, answer what can be answered truthfully, and accept it when the customer's no is the right answer.
What the session covers
30 topics across 6 areas. Six parts, with the participants' own objections as the material.
Collecting Your ObjectionsStart with what you really hear.5
- Writing down the last ten reasons customers did not buy
- Using the customer's own words
- Grouping them: price, trust, timing, comparison, authority
- Which are heard most, and which cost the most
- Which ones the business could prevent
Some objections point to something worth fixing in the business, not something to answer cleverly.
What Lies Behind the WordsFind the real question.5
- "It is too expensive": compared with what?
- "I will think about it": what are you weighing?
- "I need to ask my partner": what will they want to know?
- "We already have a supplier": what would make you consider a change?
- Why a calm question works better than a defence
Responding Without ArguingA simple pattern.5
Participants practise the pattern aloud with the objections from their own lists, in pairs.
- Listen to the whole objection
- Acknowledge it: that is a fair point
- Ask a question to understand it
- Answer what is true and relevant
- Check that you have answered it
Price ObjectionsThe most common, and the most mishandled.5
- Explaining what the price includes and why
- Showing the cost of not solving the problem
- Offering a smaller or different option instead of a lower price on the same thing
- When a discount makes sense, and what to ask in return
- Knowing your own margin before you negotiate
A discount given at the first sign of resistance teaches customers to resist.
Trust and Risk ObjectionsThe worry behind the hesitation.5
- What a new customer is afraid might go wrong
- Being clear about what you will and will not promise
- Offering a small first order, a sample or a trial where you can
- Referencing real past customers, only with their permission
- Putting terms in writing
Knowing When It Is a NoRespecting the answer.5
- Signs of a polite no
- Asking once what would change the answer
- Leaving on good terms
- Following up later without pressure
- Noting the reason for your records
What participants leave with
- A written list of their own top objections
- A calm response and a clarifying question for each
- A personal rule about discounts
- Experience of practising responses aloud
- A habit of recording why a sale did not happen
What this session is not
- A set of lines to overcome every objection
- Training in pressure or tricks
- A guarantee that more objections will turn into sales
- Advice on setting prices for a particular business
Who teaches it
- Sales practitioners with experience of negotiation
- Owners who sell high-value or custom products
- Customer-facing managers
- Procurement practitioners who can explain the buyer's thinking
How the session runs
Three hours, in a small group. Participants first write their own objection lists, then the practitioner picks several and works through them live with volunteers. Pairs then take turns being seller and customer, with the customer instructed to push back realistically but fairly. The session ends with each person writing a one-page objection sheet.
What your students leave with
- A list of the objections they hear most, written down in the customer's words
- A way to find out what is behind each one
- Calm, honest responses that do not depend on cutting the price
- The ability to tell a real objection from a polite way of saying no
- A rule for when a discount is and is not worth giving
- A personal objection sheet to use and update
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
Understand the objection, answer it honestly, and respect the reply.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.