The Top 4 Sales Objection Handling Techniques for the Trades

In the sport of sales, closing a deal can feel like trying to make a 99-yard rush to the end zone. Customer objections may seem like an all-star defensive line, blocking your sales team from scoring. But here’s the play: those brush-offs and roadblocks are actually hidden clues that your potential customer is engaged and open to persuasion.

To turn objections into opportunities, your salespeople need to see things from the customer’s point of view, address their pain points, and build trust. Objection handling is a key part of the sales process, giving your team the tools to better understand potential prospects, focus on their needs, and develop stronger relationships.

We’ve analyzed more than 20 million sales conversations with Rilla and uncovered the top four objection-handling techniques that reps in any trade can use to overcome challenges and close deals.

Prepare for the Most Common Sales Objections

Although your reps’ prospects’ objections are going to be unique to their individual situations, there are a handful of objections that come up over and over across sales verticals.

‘It’s Too Expensive’

Price objections are a common hurdle for sales reps, and walking away or offering a discount might feel like the easiest solution. However, these moments are opportunities to reframe the conversation and focus on the value of your product.

Often, this objection arises because customers don’t fully understand how your offering will enhance their everyday lives. By asking probing questions during sales conversations, reps can uncover the root cause of the prospect’s price discomfort. For instance:

• “What specific challenges are you hoping to address?”
• “What would you need to see to feel confident about the value of this investment?”

Once the real customer concerns are clear, reps can craft tailored, value-boosting rebuttals that focus on the prospect’s needs. Highlighting how your product solves pain points and delivers measurable benefits will help shift the conversation from cost to value, making the buying process feel less daunting and more empowering for the customer.

‘I Need to Think About It’

When customers say they need time to think about a purchase decision, it’s often because they have underlying concerns—like cost or uncertainty about a product or service’s value. Reps can (respectfully) ask if price, compatibility, or another factor is the base issue and address these specific objections head-on with transparency and empathy.

It’s also important for reps to reframe the sale as an investment that helps customers avoid future repairs, costs, and uncertainty. Inaction can often lead to greater financial or productivity losses if the situation worsens. For example, delaying a purchase could mean higher repair bills or more downtime. By quantifying these risks and emphasizing the long-term benefits of your product or service, reps can help prospects feel more confident about moving forward.

‘I’m Happy With My Current Solution’

A customer who is happy with their current solution may seem like a dead end, but oftentimes this objection is not as rock-solid as it seems. Reps can start by validating their customer’s choice and showing interest in what they like about their current solution. This can help your sales reps build rapport and open the door for a chance to talk about how your offerings can provide additional value. 

Once reps know a bit more about customers’ specific pain points, they can focus on highlighting your unique value proposition and product features that can remedy these pain points.

‘I Don’t See The Value’

Most of the other types of sales objections boil down to this one: the customer doesn’t see the value. Demonstrating ROI is like painting a serene picture of a happy customer’s future. Your sales professionals have several brushes at their disposal to make this vision crystal clear — like social proof.

Social proof can help reassure sales prospects that people like them have successfully used your products to achieve excellent results. Things like:

• Customer testimonials
• Case studies
• Use case success stories

These can help your reps build credibility and trust in both B2C and B2B sales. Showcasing other customers’ measurable (positive) outcomes can help your reps address value concerns without being overly “salesy.”

4 Effective Objection Handling Techniques

Using AI, we’ve analyzed more than 20 million in-home sales appointments and have uncovered specific patterns and trends for overcoming objections. Here are four (nearly) no-fail ways your reps can better handle customers’ objections during on-location sales pitches.

1. Ask Many Open-Ended Questions

Open-ended questions are the key to success on a sales call. From building rapport to post-sale inspections, asking open-ended questions helps your sales team keep the conversation on the customer’s needs rather than just the sale.

According to our data, top-performing reps out-ask average performers by 20 questions per sales interaction.

It’s been said, but it bears repeating: The goal of asking open-ended questions is to uncover the root of customers’ concerns and objections. It shows customers that reps care about their specific needs and provides the perfect setup to gather insights.

Here are some examples of some open-ended questions field sales reps may ask their potential customers:

• “If you could improve your current solution’s functionality in one way, what would it be?”
• “How does your organization measure success in this area of your business?”
• “What would I need to show you so you’d feel confident moving forward with our solution?”
• “How does your organization typically measure the value of this type of investment?”
• “Are there any specific deadlines you’re looking to meet with this product?”

Once reps have enough information, they can present a customized solution that incorporates these insights.

2. Practice Active Listening (and Mind Your Talk Speed)

As a recent Rilla Labs guest said, “A sale is the culmination of a good conversation.” And good conversations are a two-way street, requiring an equal balance of talking and listening. Active listening techniques — like reflecting and clarifying, where reps paraphrase the customer’s words back to them — are essential for showing customers that their concerns are heard and valued.

Active listening not only helps build trust but also demonstrates empathy. By keeping a balanced talk-to-listen ratio, your reps can create meaningful dialogue that fosters connection and leads to better outcomes.

Active listening can include the following tactics:

• Staying fully present
• Maintaining eye contact
• Avoiding interruptions until the customer has fully expressed themselves
• Mirroring customers’ talk speeds

Many top salespeople aim for a 50/50 split of talking and listening so they don’t dominate the customer interaction, but reps should aim for no higher than 65% talk ratio. This allows reps to give customers ample opportunity to voice their concerns — which helps them avoid assumptions and often leads to a deeper understanding of their perspectives.

3. Provide Financing Options

One way to handle sales objections and make big purchases more feasible for customers is by providing customers with payment plans that are tailored specifically to the individual. Our research shows that when reps mention “financing” during a sales interaction, it increases what customers are willing to spend by more than 200%. 

Financing options empower potential customers and decision-makers by providing flexible monthly payment capabilities that they may not have known existed. When prospects feel like they have control over large investments, they’re more likely to follow through with the sale.

4. Discuss Promotions Strategically

Strategic mentions of promotions during in-home sales conversations is another tactic that can help to get customers over their objections — particularly when cost is the issue. Limited-time promotions like holiday sales, and personalized promotions like birthday discounts can create a sense of urgency and inspire potential customers to take immediate action. Urgency is a main ingredient in creating FOMO (fear of missing out), so reps can use this to drive decision-making and conversions.

Promotions aren’t just good for customers; they’re good for business. Once reps establish a connection with customers and learn about their needs and pain points, promotions help to solidify the value your products or services can offer. In fact, offering the right promotions at the right time could increase average ticket sizes by more than 92%.

Knowledge is Power With Rilla

Remember how we told you we analyzed over 20 million real-life sales conversations between reps and customers? Well, we did that with Rilla’s virtual ridealong software — and you can too. The only way sales leaders can coach reps on how to handle customer push-back is by being equipped with real-time data and practical insights. And this information can inform the objection-handling skills your reps will need to succeed and close deals.

Tracking customer objections, gathering data, and conducting structured follow-ups empowers reps to do their best work. And Rilla’s capabilities can help your sales team continuously improve your objection handling process by analyzing what works — and what doesn’t. 

When you’re ready to find out for yourself what “works,” throw on your finest overalls and contact us to book a demo.