The Top B2B Sales Objections (And How to Overcome Them Like a Pro)

As a sales rep, you sell more than a product or a band-aid. You sell a positive change—a future state. You sell the idea that your prospect’s problems will disappear and their life will transform and improve as a result of their purchase. The same principle applies whether you are selling a car, an application, or an entire CRM system.

Unfortunately, humans are creatures of habit and, by instinct, are adverse to change. This means that even if you have the best product on the market and sell it flawlessly, your prospect’s basic nature will still create objections you must overcome. Fortunately, with well-prepared responses, you can turn an objection into a demonstration of your product’s value.

There are many ways to address objections. Sales coach David Masover has a helpful way of categorizing different types of objections in martial arts terms: blocking, dodging, and preventing the attack. In this post, we will highlight several combinations of these methods.

To help you prepare, we looked at the best responses to the most common B2B sales objections that overcome the resistance to change and use the objection to demonstrate your product’s worth effectively.

Sales Objection 1: Budget

Objection: “This seems like a great product, but the price is too expensive. It is a bit more than we’re looking to spend.”

Response: “I know there’s an initial investment, and that can seem daunting. But let’s talk long-term. Let me show you how much revenue you will gain over the next year by using our product.”

To overcome this objection, keep your ROI calculator ready. Budgets can be flexible for products with legitimate positive results. Discuss your prospect’s current situation and be prepared to demonstrate the ROI impact your product precisely will create and how it will help them reach their goals. Ideally, if they become customers, your product will produce such good results that it will pay for itself.

Sales Objection 2: Currently Using a Competitor

Objection: “We’re already using for marketing automation.”

Response: “I totally get it. But let me share a case study with you that shows how a company similar to yours was able to triple their marketing ROI by switching from to our solution.”

Today, competition is extremely high in every industry, and B2B buyers are more knowledgeable and thorough than ever. You can almost guarantee your prospect is aware of, contacted by, talked to, or even is a customer of one of your competitors.

It’s probably easy for you to talk for hours about the numerous reasons your product is better than the competition. However, that’s likely not enough incentive for your prospect to leave their current situation.

To win a customer from a competitor, utilize testimonials, case studies, references, or even meetings with your customers who left competitors. Bonus points if they came from the same one.

Customer testimonials are extremely effective because prospects do not immediately take the same defensive stance they use with a salesperson, and they can relate to someone who was in their position.

Sales Objection 3: Competitor With Lower Pricing

Objection: “I noticed your competitor is offering a similar product at a lower price point.”

Response: “On the surface, it may seem that way, but let’s talk about some of the reasons our product has a higher price point. We offer several valuable features that our competitors don’t and will help you earn revenue.”

This is a widespread objection, and sometimes a negotiation tactic, especially in hotter spaces where companies attempt to gain market share by undercutting the prices of their competitors. Unfortunately, price is an extremely motivating factor for many prospects. To overcome it, educate your prospects on why your solution is superior and where the money from the extra price is spent.

Often, a more advanced product justifies a higher price. Open the hood and show why your product’s engineering is more robust, has stronger integrations, easier implementation, faster performance, more updates, or better support. Also, show your prospects the depth of features you offer and your competitor doesn’t. Explain how they will further increase the ROI they will receive.

Sometimes, your competitors don’t have lower pricing and are simply concealing it. Dig into the pricing structure your prospect was provided. Maybe the monthly cost is lower, but there is a high implementation fee or a price for additional features that were pitched as standard.

Sales Objection 4: Lack of Buy-In

Objection: “I like the sound of your product, but I would also need to get the CMO and CTO on board to make this happen.”

Response: “I totally understand! In order to make your decision as easy as possible, I’m going to go ahead and send you a one-sheet that highlights some of the specific marketing benefits of our product for you to forward to your CMO. I’m also going to share a document with you that clearly outlines all of our technical specs, so you can ensure that you and your CTO are on the same page. I’ll also be glad to arrange a demo for them in case they have any further questions.”

If you are selling complex, high-end, or enterprise solutions, you must involve multiple stakeholders in the buying process. Even if you are working directly with an executive, they are probably unable to make the purchase decision independently.

To overcome the buy-in objection, you need to do two things. The first is to identify who holds the influence. There is likely one senior person or executive who has garnered enough support to drive the process as far as it has. Find out who they are and sell directly to them. They could be your main point of contact or the one who asks the most questions. You can also always ask which departments are impacted by the problems they are looking to solve. Babette Ten Haken describes pitching to a room full of executives, only to find they were all looking to a single lead engineer for a decision. When it comes to buying complex solutions, title level does not always equal purchase influence.

Educating the Stakeholders Involved

The next is to educate all the stakeholders involved. Treat each person as your main contact; a single no could lead to a lost deal. You want to ensure that every executive understands why they need your product, why it is better than your competitors, and why it is worth the cost. This may require selling a different feature set to each contact. When executives understand where their money is going and what they will get in return, they are more willing to sign off. You may need to provide collateral, one-sheets, case studies, client testimonials, or even hold one-on-one meetings to accomplish this.

Sales Objection 5: Timing

Objection: “How about you follow up in Q4?”

Response: “I get where you’re coming from, but before you make that decision, let’s talk about exactly how much revenue your company can gain over the next 6 months by considering this now.”

They say timing is everything, but you likely have some prospects who ask you to follow up in a few months. Unfortunately, your sales goals can’t always wait. To overcome the time objection, simply set up a “five minute exploratory call” as soon as possible. Use this time to find out if they are a legitimate lead and a qualified customer. If both of these conditions are not met, it may be better to part ways.

If they are, while you are on the call, uncover why your prospect wants to wait. They may be waiting for room in their budget, in which case you will want to follow up later. If they are procrastinating, show them what they may lose by not investing in your product immediately. Show what they could gain over the course of those few months and inspire them to make the change sooner.

Another way to handle this objection is with fact-based research that discusses changes in their industry. Your goal should be to convince them that they need to make changes quickly to remain competitive.

Sales objections are not an obstacle, they are an opportunity to demonstrate your product’s worth and work towards a close. If you can conquer them successfully, you stand to be an even more effective salesperson.

Looking for more ways to take your prospecting game to the next level? Our free Ultimate Sales Discovery Call Cheat Sheet arms you with the most important questions to ask prospects in order to qualify leads and close deals.

Objections vs. Excuses: How to Overcome Pushback in Sales Conversations

Sales Objections vs Excuses

The main difference between objections and excuses is that objections are real concerns worth addressing, while excuses are just a way to dodge the conversation. Objections open the door to a meaningful dialogue, but excuses? They’re a sign you need to dig deeper and figure out what’s really going on.

Objections. They’re a pretty hot topic (did that sentence make you feel like you had on a Nirvana shirt?).

The other day, I heard an ad on the radio from some guy who claimed to be “the world’s best sales trainer.” He was selling his sales program, and said he could teach you how to overcome objections. He sounded like a jackass.

I think we all need to take a breath and think about how archaic it sounds to “overcome” an objection. I’ve been to my fair share of therapy and somehow this type of language isn’t used in that arena. You can overcome your own difficulties, but you can’t overcome someone else’s point of view. Steam-rolling right over someone isn’t how you’re supposed to start a meaningful relationship.

Working Past Objections

Where I think many people lose the plot is when they fail to recognize an excuse versus an objection. I don’t believe that objections should be “overcome.” I do, however, believe that excuses can and should be dealt with more directly.

Earlier in my career, I worked for a tiny start up. It was primarily outbound cold calling, and no one knew who we were or even what we did, since it was a newer category on the market. I realized that there was never enough time to properly explain what we did, so I took another approach: I led with results. “We helped customer X increase their win rate by Y% and based on , I believe we can help you too…”

Often when I’d pitch to someone in that way, not saying one word about what we do, they’d respond with something like this: “Thanks, but we already have a provider that does that for us.”

I realized that this wasn’t an objection at all. It was an excuse. And the best way to deal with it was by calling it out.

Company Business

So I’d then ask something like “Have you heard of ?” and they’d either say yes or no. If they said yes, then I’d ask “Can you describe what we do?” And if they said “No,” then I’d ask “If you don’t know who we are, then how can you know what we do?” The excuse would unravel pretty quickly, and I had success booking meetings and eventually closing business because I’d recognized an excuse for what it was.

Think about your business. What’s an excuse, and what’s an objection?

When I think of an objection, there’s a legitimate reason for the prospect to bring up a blocker or concern. Unless you fully understand why they’re objecting (you should always ask for clarification even if you think you know) and have valuable information about why their perceived objection might not be relevant, don’t try to force your will on them.

Look to see if there’s another way to work together, and if not, then try to find a time when that objection will be resolved. Maybe they’re waiting for another contract to expire, or to get budget. Sowing the seeds of a good relationship now and revisiting it later is more valuable in the case of a true objection, because if you’re just trying to get around or ignore a real issue, then you’re just trying to win a prospect who won’t be a good customer in the long run.

Identifying objections vs. excuses may seem like a simple idea, but it could change the way you sell for good. I encourage you to try it out!

Read our ebook about the five most common sales objections and how to overcome them.