The Sandler Training Hour
Join Jim and Jason Stephens for weekly insights on the Sandler Selling System, navigating the modern sales landscape, and overcoming real-world business challenges.
A Sandler Trainer is a salesperson. We lead by example and talk from experience.
Reach out to us: Jason.Stephens@sandler.com
Visit our website: https://go.sandler.com/crossroads/
The Sandler Training Hour
Why Prospects Shut Down When You Try to Overcome Their Objections
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
You had the answer ready. You delivered it cleanly. And the prospect pulled further away. That pattern has a cause: every time you argue with a hesitation, you confirm the stereotype the buyer walked in with before you said a word.
This week we continue our conversation on objections with the core Sandler position: overcoming an objection is the prospect's work, and your job is to help them do it. We walk through what that sounds like on a live call, from the first playback to the moment a stalled deal clarifies itself.
Objections are opinions
Jim reframes the whole category. An objection is a thought the prospect chose to say out loud. When you hear it as an attack, you get defensive and telegraph it. When you hear it as an opinion, you can acknowledge it and open the dialog instead of shutting it down.
The playback that builds trust
Before you respond to any hesitation, restate it: "What I'm hearing you say is that moving forward feels like it could create these consequences. Is that what I'm hearing?" The prospect feels heard, and a prospect who feels heard will listen to you.
"I have a different perspective. Would you like to hear it?"
Jim's follow-up once the playback lands. In 25 years of using it, nobody has said no.
When "we need to think about it" means no
The gentle put-off. Jim repeats the prospect's words verbatim, then offers a story: often when people say that to me, what they mean is they don't want to move forward and don't want to hurt my feelings. Could that be happening here? Either they confirm the soft no, or they name what they actually need to process, and now you can coach them through it.
Questions that quantify commitment
On a scale of 1 to 10, where will this project be a year from now? How many minutes a week do you spend thinking about this problem? Clarity questions like these are how to respond when a prospect says they need to think about it without fighting them for the deal.
Referrals over close rate
The tree metaphor: conversations are the branches, and fruit shows up at the end of some of them. Competence demonstrated on a call brings warm referrals, even from people who were never a fit themselves.
Try this before your next call: notice what you feel the moment an objection lands. Defensiveness telegraphs through the phone. Empathy is what opens a prospect to a different perspective.
If this resonated, check out last week's episode where we cover why think-it-overs trace back to how you open the meeting.
The Sandler Training Hour Hosted by Jim & Jason Stephens | Crossroads Business Development
Join hosts Jim and Jason Stephens from Crossroads Business Development as they discuss techniques, tactics, and the occasional tangent associated with the Sandler Selling System. Whether you are prospecting, negotiating, or closing, The Sandler Training Hour gives you the actionable advice you need to stop "winging it" and start controlling the sale.
📧 Reach out: jason.stephens@sandler.com 🌐 Crossroads Business Development
