Free template · Outbound & prospecting
The Objection Handling Cheat Sheet
A four-step method and ready answers for the 16 objections B2B founders hear most.
What's inside
- The acknowledge-ask-answer-confirm method
- 16 common objections with what they really mean
- Questions that move the conversation forward
- A template for your own objection library
Who it's for
Founders and first sales hires who freeze at 'we don't have budget'.
Why it matters
Most early objections are not a hard no. They are a buyer saying they have not seen enough value yet, or that someone else needs to be involved. Founders who sell for the first time often hear them as rejection, then either argue or give up. Both end the conversation before you learn what the real concern was.
A shared set of responses also helps once you hire. Instead of each new seller improvising their own answer to 'send me information' or 'your competitor is cheaper', the team starts from the same questions. Logging which answers worked turns scattered call notes into something a new hire can learn from in their first week.
How to use it
- 1Read the method page first and practice the four moves out loud, so acknowledging before answering becomes a habit rather than something you remember after the call.
- 2Scan the two objection tables before a call and pick the three you are most likely to hear from this buyer, based on their stage and role.
- 3When an objection comes up, use the suggested question from the Try column to find the real concern before you offer any answer or proof.
- 4After each call, add the objection, the concern behind it, the answer you gave and any proof to the library page at the end.
- 5Review the library with your team every few weeks, keep answers that moved deals forward and rewrite the ones that stalled.
Read alongside it
- The founder-led sales playbook
- How to build a sales playbook (what to include and how to write it)
- Cold calling vs cold email: which works for B2B?
The Objection Handling Cheat Sheet: FAQ
- How do you handle sales objections?
- Start by acknowledging what the buyer said without agreeing or arguing. Then ask a question to find the concern behind it, since the stated objection is often not the real one. Answer that concern briefly, with proof if you have it, and check whether it is resolved before moving on.
- What do you say when a prospect says they have no budget?
- Treat it as a question about priority, not money. Ask what would need to be true for this to get budget, or where the budget for this problem sits today. The answer tells you whether the deal is early, owned by someone else, or not a real fit.
- How do you build an objection library for a sales team?
- Log every objection you hear, in the buyer's words, with what it really meant, the answer you gave and the proof you used. Note whether the conversation moved forward. After a few weeks, group similar objections and keep only the answers that worked, then share the list with every seller.
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