Objections and pressure

Stay calm and courteous when the pressure is on. Lesson 50 of 58: Negotiation, CEFR C1.

Common tactics, and calm answers

• Deadline pressure: “This price is only valid today.” → “I understand. If it has to be today, the answer is no; if we can take until Friday, I can give it proper attention.”
• The flinch: a dramatic reaction to your number. → Stay silent, then restate your reasoning calmly.
• “Is that your best price?” → “It’s a fair price for what’s included. If budget is the issue, we could look at the scope.”
• Good cop, bad cop: one is friendly, the other aggressive. → Name it lightly or speak to both equally.
• The nibble: after agreement, “Oh, and you’ll include delivery, right?” → “Happy to look at that: what could you offer in return?”
• I understand the time pressure. I’d rather get this right than rush it.
• It’s a fair price for what’s included.

Handling objections: feel, felt, found

• Acknowledge the feeling, normalise it, then reframe: “I understand how you feel. Other clients felt the same at first. What they found was that the training paid for itself within three months.” Or ask: “Apart from that, is there anything else stopping us?” to find the real objection.
• I understand how you feel.
• Apart from the price, is there anything else holding you back? (Isolating the objection)

Staying calm

• Slow down. Speak lower and slower when the tension rises: it calms the room. Take a break if you need one: “Let me take five minutes to think about this.” Never decide angry. And remember your BATNA: you can always walk away.
• Let’s take a short break and come back to this.
• I want to find a solution, and I need a moment to consider this properly.
• Tip: When somebody raises their voice, lower yours. It is very hard to stay loud at somebody who is calm.

Lines to have ready

• I understand. Let me think about that. (Buying time)
• Apart from that, is there anything else? (Finding the real objection)
• I’d rather get this right than rush it. (Resisting deadline pressure)
• That’s a fair price for what’s included. (Defending a price)
• Let’s take a short break. (Cooling down)

Your turn to speak

• Practise answering five pressure tactics out loud, calmly: an expiring offer, “Is that your best price?”, a dramatic flinch, an angry raised voice, and a nibble after the deal.
• I stayed calm and polite each time
• I gave nothing away without a trade
• I used feel-felt-found or isolated the objection once
• My voice got lower, not louder

Related

• Lesson 49: Trading concessions
• Lesson 51: Saying no, keeping the relationship
• The whole English course

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