sales-objection-handling

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---
name: sales-objection-handling
description: Diagnoses what a sales objection really means and writes rebuttal scripts a rep can say out loud, or calls the deal dead when the objection is a real constraint. Covers price/budget, timing, competitor/incumbent, authority, status-quo, and trust objections for B2B and B2C, with price-specific guidance on value gap vs genuine budget limit and trading instead of discounting. Use whenever the user mentions a price objection, "too expensive", "not interested", "send me some info", "we already use a competitor", stalling, or an objection library, even without the word objection. Do NOT use for discount trade planning (mbfinotti/sales-skills@negotiation-concession-planner) or ROI math (mbfinotti/sales-skills@deal-value-calc).
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: Maya-Beth Finotti
  version: "1.2.8"
---

# Objection Handling

Diagnose what a sales objection really means, then produce spoken-language response scripts - or say plainly that the deal should be disqualified. Works for B2B and B2C, from cold call through negotiation, with dedicated price-objection sequencing.

## The prevention check (run it first)

The strongest research in this field (Neil Rackham's Huthwaite studies) found that objections are more often created by the seller than the buyer, and that preventing them beats rebutting them. Pitching before the need is developed, or leading with features, manufactures price sensitivity.

1. Once the interview tells you where the objection landed, ask what discovery happened before it.
2. If the honest answer is "we pitched before we understood the problem", say so, and recommend mbfinotti/sales-skills@sales-discovery-questions to fix the upstream gap.
3. Then continue - the rep still has to answer the objection in front of them. One check; don't turn this into a discovery session.

## Interview

Ask one question per message. Offer multiple-choice options wherever possible - the user is often answering from a phone between calls. Gather:

1. What are you selling, and to whom? (product, rough price point, buyer persona)
2. B2B, B2C, or consumer high-ticket (auto, solar, home improvement)?
3. Where did the objection land: cold call / discovery / demo / proposal or negotiation / retail or inbound?
4. The prospect's exact words. Verbatim matters - "that's a lot of money" and "we have no budget" are different objections.
5. What has the rep already tried in response?
6. Which proof assets exist: case study, benchmark, reference customer, guarantee, trial? Never invent one.
7. Do you sell in a regulated category - securities, insurance, lending, health/pharma, energy/utilities? (See Ethics and compliance.)
8. By when does this have to land - the call tomorrow, this quarter's pipeline, or next year's team enablement?
9. One-off win or compounding asset: scripts for one rep's live deal, or a framework the whole team adopts and drills?
10. What's the effort ceiling - rehearsal hours available before the next call, and can the rep offer an opt-out, guarantee, or phased start without sign-off?

Re-rank the framework ladder on those answers, and say which answer moved what:

- A call tomorrow promotes the pause, the value/capability split and the ledge, and drops everything costing a quarter of rehearsal.
- A compounding mandate promotes LAARC, the up-front contract and the JOLT play - all three only pay once a team drills them, and all three are wasted on a single deal.
- No authority to offer de-risking deletes the de-risk move from the discount menu below and leaves trading at the top.

## Workflow

1. Run the interview, then the prevention check.
2. Diagnose the objection (next section). Never script before diagnosing.
3. Pick the response mode that matches the diagnosis.
4. Draft the rebuttal set in the output shape below. Apply the price sequencing section to any price objection. For competitor objections: if you can browse the web, verify the competitor's current public pricing and packa