I began my career as a door-to-door salesman. It was hard. I would barely get my first sentence out, and their response would be, “Not interested!” — followed by a slammed door.
These days, I’m a little disappointed when I don’t get any pushback. I’ll think, Wait a minute, come on, hit me with something! Why? Because after a successful career in sales, and now running a training agency for salespeople called The D2D Experts, I know something now that I didn’t when I started: Nine times out of 10, if a prospect doesn’t raise a single objection, they aren’t really listening. They’ve checked out, and when you get to the end, they’ll say something like, “Can you leave me some information? I’ll call you if I’m interested.”
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All of which is to say: When people object, they’re engaged. You should like objections. If you can’t deal with objections, you can’t sell.
Instead, when you hear an objection from a customer, you need to assess what kind of objection it is. This is the key to everything that happens next. That’s because there are three kinds of objections:
1. A deal-breaker condition
2. A smoke screen
3. A true objection
If you misdiagnose the pushback, you’ll end up responding with the wrong tactics, and they probably won’t work. It’s like trying to use a screwdriver on a flathead nail. So let’s break them down.
A deal-breaker condition is a problem that can’t be resolved or overcome. Suppose you’re selling a software product, and within minutes of talking to a prospect, you find out that they aren’t the person who can make a company purchasing decision. Or you’re selling a service for homeowners and discover you are talking to a renter. In both cases, the person is literally disqualified from buying from you. The same is true if you learn the company is filing for bankruptcy, or that they’re already in contract with one of your competitors. There’s nothing you can do about any of these, so just excuse yourself and move on.
A smoke screen can be a little harder to confirm, but the usual tell is that the pushback comes within the first minute of starting your pitch. The classic example is when the prospect says, “Not interested.” If someone says it before they even know what you’re selling, they simply don’t feel like listening to you right now. Their pushback has no connection to what they might think of your offering if they gave you a fair chance to sell it. Other common smoke screens are: “I’m too busy to talk now,” “We can’t afford it,” and “We’re happy with what we’re using.”
However, if a prospect gives you enough time to explain what you’re selling and then resists, or repeats a substantial concern over and over, it might be a true objection. These need to be taken seriously and answered in depth. For instance, if you’re pitching a fitness coaching service and — after some detailed back and forth — the prospect says, “You know, I just follow an online workout plan and it works for me,” that’s a true objection. It’s also an invitation for you to make your case: Why should this person spend extra money for personalized sessions? If you can show that your service adds more value than whatever solution they’re currently using, and is worth the extra cost, you have a real shot at winning their business. A true objection is exactly the kind of pushback you want to hear. It’s a fastball over the plate; you just need to learn how to hit it.
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Image Credit: Zohar Lazar
In this article, I’ll show you how to overcome both the smoke screen and the true objection. (There’s no point combating the deal-breaker.) So let’s start with the smoke screen.
Blowing away the smoke
Let’s say I’m selling solar panels, and within the first 30 seconds, the prospect says, “Sorry, we can’t afford it.” I haven’t even gotten a chance to explain that it will cost nothing out of pocket, saving the customer money from day one — so it makes no sense for them to say they can’t afford it. What do I do here?
One option is to say, “That’s okay. Anyway, so what we’re doing is…” and keep going with my pitch. This is called a micro-validation — a simple, two-second acknowledgment that puts me back in the driver’s seat and buys me more time.
A second option is to convert it into a solvable objection. When I hear, “We can’t afford this,” I instantly translate it to, “Prove to me how we can afford this.” So I respond with, “That’s exactly why I’m here, to show you why everyone is doing this.” I’m not merely defusing the objection — I’m flipping it into a reason to keep listening.
Another example is when a customer brushes you off with, “I’m too busy to talk now.” Many salespeople hear that as a no — but the word “no” never came out of their mouth! My objection translator turns it into, “Whatever I’m busy with at the moment — my job, a deadline — feels more important than whatever you’re selling.” That’s a solvable objection, and totally fine! I’ll reply with something like, “I’ll just make it super quick, and be in and out of your hair before you know it.” That gives a micro-validation that I heard them as I go on.
But my all-time favorite way to deal with smoke screens is what I call “the 8 Mile technique,” because I got the idea years ago from the classic Eminem movie 8 Mile. (If you’ve never seen it, watch it! It’s an epic sales lesson as much as a hip-hop movie.) In the final rap battle, Papa Doc wins the coin toss and elects to let Rabbit (Eminem) go first. Rabbit knows that his opponent has a lot of ways to mock and attack him, so Rabbit unloads a bunch of negative information — about himself! (He says, “I am a [expletive] bum, I do live in a trailer with my mom…I did get jumped by all six of you chumps.”) This way, he steals the other guy’s thunder in front of the crowd. What can Papa Doc possibly do here, without just repeating all the insults Rabbit already acknowledged? Speechless, he has to concede defeat.
You can do the same during your pitch by addressing the objections you expect to hear before the prospect has a chance to get them out. Let’s say I’m selling a new AI product and I’ve been hearing the same pushback lately. When a potential customer’s body language starts signaling resistance, I might beat them to the punch with:
“Hey, I bet you’ve probably already talked to five or six guys trying to pitch you on AI, right? These bros are annoying, aren’t they? Always trying to sell what you don’t even need. Plus, I bet you’ve been trying to watch your budget these days with the uncertain economy? Yeah, me too. I hate wasting money on some fancy tech I never use. That’s why I’m so glad my company is doing something so new and different. I’ll be super quick because I can tell that you’re busy, right? I need to leave soon anyway, because I have another appointment. But before I run, let me show you this cool program we’re running.”
Boom, boom, boom. I’ve just covered all the major potential smoke screens in 10 seconds. The key is preparation. That means taking notes on every objection you hear. Then practice weaving them into the conversation naturally, so it sounds like you just came up with them off the top of your head. This may take a while to get the hang of, but it’s totally worth the effort. When you get good at it, you can disarm your prospects, taking their objections right out of their mouths.
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Flipping a true objection into an opportunity
When a potential customer raises a real objection, not a smoke screen, you need to investigate. One of my favorite old sayings is, “Buyers are liars.” They often make stuff up to try to wiggle out of a deal or hide their true concerns to avoid showing vulnerability. So how can you tell what’s really bothering them? I use a strategy with three steps: identify, isolate, and overcome (IIO).
First, drill down into objections to identify the true source of the problem. For instance: “It sounds good, but I need to think more about it.” That’s vague. It means there’s something deeper that the prospect isn’t telling you. What are they thinking about?
I’d respond with: “It feels like you still have some questions. I’m sorry I didn’t explain clearly. Just let me know what I can answer for you.” Or I might restate the concern back to them, but make it a lot more narrow, as in, “I totally get it. We all have to think about everything we spend on these days. But if you had enough cash on hand, you’d be all about it, right?”
Either way, let’s say the prospect replies, “I really just want to make sure it’s affordable.” This is getting closer to the real problem, but we’re not there yet.
ME: “When you say ‘affordable,’ do you mean cheap enough for your budget, or just that you want to make sure you’re getting the best deal?”
PROSPECT: “Just that I’m getting the best deal.”
Bingo! The real problem is identified. The next step is isolating: Finding out if that’s the only concern preventing the deal, or whether there are other issues too.
ME: “So if you got a killer deal, would anything else hold you back?”
PROSPECT: “No, but I’d like to get at least three bids from three different companies.”
Now the problem is both identified and isolated. The last step is to collaborate with the prospect and overcome the objection. Solve this one, and you can close the deal.
ME: “Hey, I totally understand. If I were to call our competition right now and get them to send quotes and show you the deals they’re offering — and if ours is the best value — would you say yes then?”
Here, I’m double-checking to make sure this is the real objection. If he says yes, I’d continue with something like, “Awesome. I just happen to have a few examples from other customers who did the same comparison shopping.” Then I’d pull up the competing bids on my iPad and show that we offer the best value. (Remember: You should always pitch on value rather than price. It’s not just what they’re paying but the bang they’re getting for their buck.)
Because this prospect has already said competitive bids are the only thing holding them back, how can they say no at this point? Assuming your value proposition really is the best, this problem will soon be overcome.
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Image Credit: Zohar Lazar
One final trick to save a sale
You can usually tell if a prospect is about to raise an objection (or throw you out of their office). At that point, you may think you need to sell even harder to try to save the pitch from crashing.
But that’s actually the perfect moment to stop selling — and go on a tangent.
Here’s how it works: If someone says, “Sorry, this is a bad time, I’m really busy with work,” you quickly switch into human mode with something like, “No worries, I totally understand. What do you do for work?” The prospect will probably answer that question because people generally like to talk about their jobs and hobbies.
Then you can respond conversationally. If the prospect is an engineer, what kind? What projects are they working on now? This might lead to a brief exchange about product design or quality control and you can loop back with a comment like, “As an industrial engineer, I’m sure you can appreciate the difference between well-designed and crappy products. That’s one thing I really love about my company — how our HVAC systems are engineered to a very high quality standard…”
Once people start talking to you, it’s a lot easier to keep them talking. The hardest part is honing your instinct as to when’s a good moment to loop back to your sale.
I remember pitching one of my company’s executive mastermind groups, the Xperts Circle, to a prospect who was acting highly skeptical. Early on, I made a mental note that he mentioned having just gotten back from a scuba diving trip to the Cayman Islands. When we seemed to be hitting a wall of tension, I shifted to asking, “So do you like to travel?”
This led to a fun exchange about all the spots he’d visited, and how he was getting more into adventure travel. I listened intently and responded with interest.
When the mood was calmer and less tense, I transitioned back to my pitch. “The best part about our CEO mastermind group is that we do an international trip once a year, with epic adventures in awesome places. It’s the coolest way to mastermind and network with other high-level people. We’ve got one coming up next month. Let’s get you on board so you can be part of the fun!”
We ended up closing the deal — a $30,000 per year commitment for five years. And he wound up becoming a real friend along the way.
Not all of these tactics work all of the time. But even when they don’t, they improve your mindset. If you take every kind of pushback at face value, you’ll just hear no, no, no — and you’ll feel like you’re getting beat up the whole time. But “I’m busy” isn’t a no. “We can’t afford it” isn’t a no. So use these tools to just keep going until you do hear “no.” At least you’ll have a fighting chance!
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From Eat What You Kill: Becoming a Sales Carnivore by Sam Taggart, to be published on January 14, 2025, by Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © 2025 by Sam Taggart.
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