An objection bank for the four sales

Part 16 of 20 in How to Sell: The Key to Success← Part 15Part 17 →

This chapter provides a collection of responses to common sales objections for first-time tech founders in India. It helps founders handle objections from family, potential hires, angel investors, and customers.

A reference chapter. Steal these lines, then replace them with lines from your own calls.

Objections repeat. Bettger wrote them down so he would not meet each one as if it were new. Here is a starter bank for Indian first-time tech founders. The response is never a speech. It is a why, then a fact, then an ask. Use these only until your own bank, built from real conversations, is better.

Family

• “Take the job, try later.” Why later is safer, what the six-month test is, ask for agreement on the date you will stop.
• “Log kya kahenge.” Ask what they are afraid will be said. Answer with the floor, not with status. The close is a story they can repeat to relatives without flinching.
• “We cannot support you.” Good. Do not ask them to. Separate emotional consent from cash. Selling them a plan that needs their money is a different, worse sale.

First hire

• “The salary is low.” Ask what they want that money stands for. Often it is rent and a parent’s expectation. Show the cash, the cliff, and the work they will own. Do not sell imaginary wealth.
• “How do I know you will still be here?” You do not know. Say so. Show runway, the customer sentence, and the weekly rhythm. Confidence is the admission plus the evidence.
• “I need a title.” Ask why. If the why is respect at home, a clear title costs you little. If the why is authority they have not earned, the key issue is role, and you should not blur it to close.

Angel

• “Come back when you have traction.” Ask what traction means to them, in a number. Then either hit that number or tell them the round is not for them. A vague come-back is not a relationship.
• “The market is small.” Ask which buyer they have in mind. If they are picturing the wrong buyer, correct it with a named account. If they are right, you have a strategy problem, not a slide problem.
• “I don’t know this space.” The key issue may be their ability to help, not your ability to build. Offer a customer call they can join. Watching you sell is better diligence than a data room.

Customer

• “Too expensive.” Why, then what else. Compare to the cost of the workaround in hours, not to a competitor’s logo. If it is truly price, offer a smaller start, not a cheaper company.
• “Send the proposal.” Ask what the proposal must answer for them to decide. Send that, with a date to discuss it. A proposal without a date is a brochure.
• “We already have a guy.” Ask what he does not do on the second of the month. The gap is the sale. Respect the guy. Contempt loses the room.
• “Call me after the quarter.” Ask what changes after the quarter. If nothing does, the key issue is priority, and you should ask whether the pain is real enough to deserve a twenty-minute look now.

Add your own lines every Friday. An objection you have answered from a script you copied will sound copied. An objection you have answered after hearing it three times will sound like competence.