Objections are your friend

The easiest way to lose sales deals?

Avoiding the hard questions that lead to objections.

However, during a sales process, objections aren’t your enemy, they’re your best friend.

Which is hard to embrace - especially for technical founders - as it requires a fundamental mindset shift.

They’re very much focused on product strengths - proactively surfacing objections goes completely against that.

Now, why should you surface objections proactively and as quickly as possible?

Simple: A slow "no" costs much more than a fast one.

Unspoken concerns don't disappear - they emerge as ghosting, stalled deals, or sudden disengagement.

On the flip side, bringing objections into the open creates opportunities to address them or identify deal-breakers.

This requires deep product knowledge.

If you know exactly where you fall short and if you can confidently acknowledge limitations while reinforcing your unique value, this builds trust.

How do you surface objections?

1. Invite them. In demos and proposal reviews, ask explicitly: “What could stop this from moving forward?”

2. Validate before countering. Understand whether it’s a deal‑breaker or something you can work around.

3. Capture patterns. Use repeated objections to inform the roadmap and your enablement materials.

Embracing objections means accepting no product serves everyone perfectly.

Which is far from easy!

However, embracing objections leads transparency that establishes trust, accelerates decision-making, and shortens sales cycles.

Active objection discovery creates clear paths to both successful closes and fast disqualification - both preferable to ambiguous middle ground where opportunities die.

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Enjoyed reading this?

Then check out my conversation on the focal podcast with Greg Costigan, a former sales leader at Box, Zuora, Zenefits, LearnUp, Hone, and many more.

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