“We don’t have budget”
Here’s how to handle this objection right now
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Start your response with: “That’s exactly why I called…”
This has been used for such a long time, that I’m not even sure who to give credit to.
But it works like a charm when done correctly.
The strategy here is to point toward a cost-savings value prop of your solution.
Here’s the framework:
1) Empathize + Validate
2) Align to cost-savings value prop
✅ Example: HR solution
Prospect: “We don’t have any budget for new HR solutions.”
Rep: “That’s exactly why I called. Many HR leaders we’re working with are dealing with tight budgets right now, and they’re looking to reduce the number of solutions they’ve had to piece together for payroll, benefits, onboarding, etc.”
Prospect: “Yeah...”
Rep: “Great, well how about this—if you're experiencing this, you're similar to COMPANY A & COMPANY B. Let's grab time to show you how HR leaders are using ABC SOLUTION to reduce the number of HR tools and spend to run payroll, administer benefits, onboarding new employees, etc.”
✅ Example: Customer Experience solution
Prospect: “We don’t have any budget for new contact center solutions.”
Rep: “That’s exactly why I called. Many contact center leaders we’re working with are dealing with tight budgets right now, and they’re looking for ways to reduce their cost to serve. Getting customers to self-serve more, reduce call volume, and increase first-call resolution. Does that sound about like your world?”
Prospect: “We’re definitely looking to reduce cost to serve.”
Rep: “Great, well how about this—let’s set aside time so I can show you how Target and Nordstrom are reducing the cost to service, lowering incoming call volume—while increasing NPS scores at the same time.”
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That’s how you handle the budget objection.
Use the objection as the reason to meet.
Best of luck closing out the year strong!
Cold email isn't harder because of spam filters.
And cold calling isn't harder because prospects don't pick up their phone.
You don't have a strong Reason To Meet (RTM)—because you didn't need one when buyers were buying like crazy from 2009-2022.
Let me prove it to you.
⛔️ Self-Centered Asks
Does any of this sound familiar in your outbound outreach?
"I'd like to introduce you to [your company]."
"Is there a reason you haven't looked into us in the past?"
"If nothing else, you'll have us in your back pocket during budgeting season."
"Let's meet so at the least you know what options are out there."
"Do a quick demo with us so you can re-evaluate when you're current contract's up."
Your buyer doesn't respond to these because there's nothing in it for them. Nothing unless they're literally in shopping mode.
Sorry, but you...are not the prize.
✅ Upgrade the Offer
You have to rethink what you're giving the buyer in return for their time.
Ideally, you teach the buyer about their problem. Or a problem their peers share. You GIVE them something.
Here are some ideas:
1) Experience the brand: If the account sells B2C, experience their buying process
2) Create a competitive analysis report
3) Share industry trends (they have to be non-obvious)
4) Share how you're helping their peers
5) Do a free analysis (website audit, etc)
6) Teach an approach they haven't thought about
7) Give something free to their team (credits, trial, etc.)
You need to give them something to show you're worth spending time with.
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Agree or disagree?
The worst sellers have one very big thing in common
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They don't connect features/functions to business impact and value.
Too much "what it does" vs. "what it means"
So what happens?
Their outbound messaging falls short. They struggle to get access to senior stakeholders in deals. Multi-threading is a dead end.
They drink the company Kool-Aid, but can't figure out why their buyers don't want a glass.
Here's how to fix this:
✅ Start in reverse order
Most reps are taught to start with product. What does our product do? What are the core features?
Then onto benefits...etc
I don't like starting this way because it's not how you'd explain it to a buyer. It's a bad habit.
To provide context, start in the buyer's world: Their priorities & problems. Then align those to your solution.
✅ Example
Let's say you sell a cyber security solution.
Your buyer's priority: Know exactly where they're exposed, understand the criticality of their findings to help prioritize, and fix as quickly as possible.
Now, saying things like this is where you can run into trouble as a rep:
"We can help you augment those spreadsheets you're using..."
"We can help you add more context to your findings..."
"We can help you move away from spreadsheets..."
None of this is bad. But senior stakeholders especially do not care about these surface-level "what it does" soundbites.
They care about what this means.
Here's an example:
What it does: "We can help you add more context to your findings..."
What it means: "...this helps your already under-resourced team quickly prioritize through tens of thousands of findings. They'll be able to find where the risk is highest so they can fix it ASAP and reduce exposure time."
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What problem does this solve?
What outcome will I achieve?
Your buyers care less about "what it does" and more about "what it means" to them.
With me?
AEs: SDR's aren't your executive assistants
Their job isn't to:
⛔️ Build all of your account plans for you
⛔️ Drop everything they're doing to answer your Slack messages
⛔️ Only use messaging you've approved
⛔️ Be on call anytime you decide to change your mind
⛔️ Juggle orders between you and two other AEs
No human can get things done in that type of environment. It's a sure fire way to create a sh*t ton of attrition.
This isn't the fault of the AE. It's a leadership problem. Leadership needs to agree on the collaboration structure.
Here's what we've seen work best:
✅ Objective: Autonomy
Provide SDRs and AEs with a structure that allows for autonomy. One where AE approval isn't needed for everything. And where SDRs don't have to ask for permission.
AEs are NOT the SDRs front-line leaders. The goal is collaboration, not order-taking.
✅ Weekly sync
Set up a 15-30 min. weekly 1on1 with SDRs and every AE they support.
Here's the agenda:
→ Align on a few high-priority accounts
Ideally, both parties do high-level research to come to a consensus on the highest priority accounts based on ICP fit, triggers, etc. Or a scoring system helps the AE determine the highest value accounts.
These are NOT the only accounts the SDR will work. This just helps direct some of their efforts on highest-value accounts. SDRs should also be working other accounts on their own.
→ Multi-threading
AEs discuss accounts they've broken into where they could be threaded across more departments or business units. That info is relayed to the SDR so they know where to dig in further to the account.
→ Collaborate and brainstorm
Where most of the time should be spent. Brainstorming on creative ways to break-in to the account. Review messaging, approach, etc
✅ Set (and stick) to a plan
Set a plan in place and stick to it. Mistake: AEs change their mind mid-way through the week on what accounts they want the SDR to focus on.
This isn't allowed. Set a plan and stick to it until you meet again. Outbound takes time. You have to put in the reps.
✅ Tag team accounts
I'm not a fan of AEs saving accounts for themselves that SDRs can't touch. Especially when they're doing zero outbound.
Unless the AE is disciplined about outbound, open up the account for the SDR to outbound into as well.
Split up the account by roles, seniority, and/or departments so you're not hitting the same people.
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It's not rocket science. But I've seen the "AE treats SDR like an exec assistant" play work 0% of the time.
How does your org provide guidance around AE/SDR collaboration?
The best SDRs set up meetings for their AEs like they're blind dates.
They get prospects excited to meet with their AE.
Put yourself in the prospect’s shoes. You get a call from someone you don’t know, from a company you haven’t heard of.
They do a decent job in the call and you’re intrigued.
And then…
They set you up for a call with someone else.
This process feels like a nurse handing you off to a doctor. Who then asks you the same exact questions the nurse did. Not a great experience.
Let's do better.
Here’s how to pull this off:
✅ Tell the prospect what they’ll learn
First, ask your AE what prospects learn from their first conversation. This excludes any language about platforms or dashboards. I’m talking education around “why change?”
Second, watch a recorded disco/demo from your AE. Or ride shotgun in a few sales calls if your company doesn’t record them.
Here’s an example of what this might sound like at the end of a cold call:
“I’m really excited for you to meet with Tom. You mentioned that staffing welders and figuring out how to automate high mix/low volume parts are top priorities. My Account Executive will walk you through how other manufacturers are solving these two problems so that you’re not having to push back orders. You’ll also walk away with a plan for how you can tackle traditionally tough to automate products.”
Don’t mention “demo” at all.
✅ Humanize your AE
Talk about your AE’s experience. Hype them up.
After you tell the prospect what they’ll take away from the call with your AE, you could end with:
“Oh, and Tom has about 7 years of experience walking the plant floor. Not to mention, he’s had dozens of conversations with Operations leaders in the last 6 months. There are some really big trends we’re seeing and everyone’s dealing with the labor shortage right now. You should get a few ideas you can bring back to your team."
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Lesson here: Take that extra step at the end to talk up your AE and get the prospect excited about them as a HUMAN + what they can learn in that first call.
Your AEs will love you. And the prospect will be much more likely to show up.
80%+ of cold calls get shut down in the first 30-60 seconds.
If this is happening to you, try this
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Reframe your goal to: "How can I make the prospect feel it would be irresponsible NOT to give me the time of day?"
Read that again, carefully.
You need to come to the cold call with so much heat that it's hard to say no.
This is accomplished in two parts:
✅ 1) Relevance
Bring evidence of a problem you think they might be having. One that's so pervasive that every one of their peers is dealing with it.
✅ 2) Social Proof
Name-drop two companies that are so similar (competitors even) that they just can't ignore you. They have to be similar in size, industry, etc.
If you don't have these two things, don't even bother calling.
✅ Example of what this could sound like:
Rep: "Hi Dave, it's Jason with _________. Was calling about the recent acquisition of Agropower and the consolidation of your Texas distribution plants. Mind if I take a minute to share more?"
Prospect: "Uh...you're catching me right in the middle of something, but go ahead..."
Rep: "Thanks. With the recent Agropower acquisition and the plant consolidation—I had a hunch you might be focused on something similar to two of our clients: Kroeger & Nabisco. Their CISOs wanted to get better insights into the devices inside of the plants they were acquiring to know the vulnerabilities they were inheriting. Their teams had more findings than resources so it was imperative to find a way to prioritize what really needed their attention and what they could ignore...
How'd I do?"
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This is what it sounds like to bring a laser-focused hypothesis on the buyer's situation.
This weaves in killer relevance and social proof that's just too hard to ignore.
If you're getting shut down in your cold calls, work on a better answer to this question:
"How can I make the prospect feel it would be irresponsible NOT to give me the time of day?"
