Posted: 24 September 2025

Stop Selling, Start Listening: Handling Objections The LAER Way

Managing objections is an inherent part of founder-led sales, but often the temptation when you hear one is to go straight into solution mode.

Prospect: ‘Here’s my objection.’

Founder: ‘Ah, let me tell you / show you a solution to that.’

What this actually does is shut down any further conversation.

Often the objection is not the real problem, and by shutting down the conversation, you prevent yourself from understanding the real issue behind the objection. So you have zero chance of providing a realistic solution to the true objection.

So, instead, whenever you hear an objection, STOP yourself from jumping straight into the solution and instead LISTEN.

There’s another reason to do this, and it comes from something I once heard Chris Voss (bestselling author of Never Split The Difference) say:

‘We are willing to be influenced by those we feel understood by.’

So think about that too. Going straight into solution mode also prevents you from allowing your prospect to feel understood. So even if you have a great answer for their objection, they are significantly less likely to believe it if you jump straight to the solution.

So, when you hear an objection STOP SELLING and START LISTENING.

A great way to do this is by following the LAER framework – Listen, Acknowledge, Explore and Respond.

Step 1: Listen

On hearing an objection, the first step is to listen to it fully without interrupting. Maintain a reasonable amount of eye contact as you take notes, both of which demonstrate that you are genuinely seeking to understand the objection.

When your prospect has finished, pause for a few seconds to absorb what they’ve said and move on to Step 2.

Step 2: Acknowledge

This step is about demonstrating empathy and understanding.

You can respond with phrases such as:

‘I understand what you’re saying.’

‘That makes sense, getting X right is really important.’

‘I often hear that from people I speak to.’

For more complex or lengthy objections, summarising your prospect’s objection also works well. For example:

‘So if I can play that back to you, what you’re saying is…’ followed by the key points and ending with ‘Did I get that right?’

Keep in mind that acknowledging the objection is not agreeing with it. Your goal in these first two steps is to make sure your prospect feels heard and understood.

Step 3: Explore

This step is about exploring the objection in more detail. This allows you to get below the ‘surface-level’ objection to the real issue, and will also make your prospect feel better understood.

Open-ended questions work particularly well to begin this exploration. For example:

‘Can you tell me a bit more about that?’

‘Can you walk me through why X is important to you?’

‘Can you expand a bit on X for me?’

‘What’s the main challenge you’re seeing with X?’

‘Which aspect of X is of most concern to you?’

‘How does X compare to what you’re expecting?’

‘What were you looking for with X that you’re not seeing here?’

‘How does X compare with what you’ve seen elsewhere in the market?’

‘Could you tell me what would work better for you?’

‘What’s causing your main hesitation with this?’

‘Often when I hear about <Surface Level Objection>, I find the real issue is <Deeper Level Problem 1>, <Deeper Level Problem 2> or <Deeper Level Problem 3> – do any of these resonate with you?’

The key here is to demonstrate genuine curiosity and to avoid steering the conversation in a particular direction.

Step 4: Respond

Having listened, acknowledged and explored the objection, Step 4 is about delivering a tailored response.

Tailored responses could include any proof points from existing customers you may have, sharing some in-depth content that addresses the objection in greater detail, or in the case of technical objections even proposing a separate technical deep-dive workshop to work through a solution.

I recently worked with a salesperson on a high six-figure deal that had got all the way to being approved by the prospect’s steering committee, only for the CTO (who had been deeply engaged throughout the process) to come back and say ‘We can’t implement this <aspect of the solution>, it just won’t work for us at all.’

Instead of getting upset or pushing back, the salesperson simply listened to what the CTO had to say and then said:

‘I understand, that makes sense. Could you walk me through a bit more detail of why that doesn’t work for you.’

After a bit of back and forth it turned out to be a relatively minor technical issue that was quickly resolved with little fuss. Without the LAER framework, it could have derailed the entire deal.

I’ve put some more examples of using the LAER framework below. Any questions or comments, please DM me or email me at ben@crane.vc.

Best of luck with handling your objections!

EXAMPLES: The LAER framework in action

Here are some examples of the most common prospect objections together with some examples of how to use the LAER framework to acknowledge and explore them:

Objection 1

‘Your solution is too expensive.’

Acknowledge:

‘I understand, there’s a lot of price sensitivity in the market right now.’

Explore:

‘Can you tell me a bit more about what you mean by expensive?’
‘When you say too expensive, too expensive in relation to what?’
‘Often when people say something is too expensive, it means that the value being delivered isn’t properly understood. Do you think that’s the case here?’

Where this objection may be coming from:

You have not yet articulated the value or ROI of your solution
If you have, the prospect may need your help to walk them through it in more detail
They may be comparing you to the competition
The problem you are solving is not a high priority for them

Objection 2

‘We don’t have budget for this right now.’

Acknowledge:

‘I understand, budgets are under more scrutiny than ever these days.’

Explore:

‘Can you help me understand a bit more about what you mean when you say there’s no budget for this?’
‘When you say right now, do you expect budget to be available in the short to medium term for this?’
‘Often when people say they don’t have budget, they can mean that it’s not a priority for the business to address this – would that be the case here?’
‘Often when people say they don’t have budget, it means that the value being delivered hasn’t been properly explained. Do you think that’s the case here?’

Where this objection may coming from:

You may be engaging with the wrong person and/or someone too junior
They may mean the problem you are solving is not high-enough priority to allocate budget for
They may be at the end of their budget cycle and have little or no discretionary funds left

Objection 3

‘The timing is not right. We’ll come back to this later in the year.’

Acknowledge:

‘I understand, I’m sure you’re very busy at the moment.’

Explore:

‘What do you anticipate will be different later in the year that would make this project more of a priority for you then?’
‘Will you still be responsible for finding a solution then?’
‘Sometimes when people say this, it’s just a polite way of saying they’re not interested – do you think this really will be a priority later in the year or do you think other priorities will take over?’

Where this objection may be coming from:

They may have other priorities that need to be addressed before the problem you solve merits their attention. In which case use the BAMFAM technique for an update meeting later in the year.
The problem you address will never be a high priority and the timing is an excuse.
You may be engaging with the wrong person and/or someone too junior

Objection 4

‘We’re going to build this in-house.’

Acknowledge:

‘I get that, sometimes it does make more sense to build solutions in-house.’

Explore:

‘What sort of timeline do you have projected for the development?’
‘Has development already started or are you still in the planning stages?’
‘Which team will own the development?’
‘What’s the projection for how long it will take to build?’
‘What do you think will be the rough cost of building in-house?’
‘How far into development are you?’

Where this objection may be coming from:

Previous solutions to address the problem have not delivered value
Internal politics and/or a culture of ‘Buy vs Build’
Concerns about Total Cost of Ownership