Objection handling frameworks compared.

Most sales trainers have a framework for objections, and most of them are the same few moves in a different order. What's useful is knowing which moves the data supports, where the frameworks disagree, and which ones buyers have learned to spot.

So this page sets out the main frameworks in the words of the people who teach them, then what Gong's call data says reps actually do, then where the sources pull in different directions.

What you're up against on a cold call

Gong analysed more than 300 million cold calls recorded on its platform, with 30 Minutes to President's Club. Vendor platform data.

Together the top five make up 74%. Gong adds that "these can vary greatly from company to company."

Gong also sorts objections into three types:

• Dismissive, 49.5%. Brush-offs like "not interested", "Call me in 6 months" and "send me some information".
• Situational, 42.6%. Things like "too expensive" and "no budget".
• Existing solution, 7.9%.

Gong's summary: "Objections are often a reaction to the interruption, not your pitch." And the median successful cold call lasts 4.8 minutes, which Gong says means getting past at least two objections.

The frameworks

LAER: listen, acknowledge, explore, respond

Carew International presents LAER as its own trademarked method, "LAER: The Bonding Process". Carew's definitions of the four steps:

The Acknowledge step is the useful one. Carew says it "demonstrates respect for their viewpoint without necessarily agreeing with their conclusions." You can acknowledge an objection you think is wrong.

Carew also says LAER isn't a script: "it's about cultivating trust through authentic, two-way dialogue."

LAARC: listen, acknowledge, assess, respond, confirm

LAARC is described on sales reference sites, which link it to a US sales textbook. It looks like LAER with one step added at the end: Confirm, where you check the buyer accepts your answer. One reference source puts the rule simply: "If the other person still has the objection, repeat the loop."

Checking the answer landed is a step worth stealing, even if you never use the acronym.

Feel, felt, found

The classic: say you understand how they feel, that others have felt the same, and what those others found. A 2019 linguistics paper that studied the technique notes that any of the steps can be skipped depending on the situation.

Sterling Chase, a UK sales training firm, says it remains effective but warns that "Many buyers will be highly wary of the Feel, Felt, Found method" and that "If used too early, it may fail to address the real objection." It advises extra care with buyers who meet salespeople every day.

Labelling, mirroring and tactical empathy

Chris Voss teaches these in his book Never Split the Difference (2016) and through his company, The Black Swan Group.

• Tactical empathy: understanding the other person's point of view "and the depth behind it and ensure they feel heard."
• A label: "a verbal observation of the dynamics, emotions, and circumstances that are implied by your counterpart". Their example: "It seems like there's something preventing you from making a deal."
• A mirror: "repeating the last 1-3 words the other side says".

Black Swan's position is that "Questions will invite denial. Labels disarm it."

There's some research in the neighbourhood. In a 2007 brain imaging study, putting feelings into words reduced the response of the amygdala to negative images. But the participants labelled emotional images themselves, so it isn't a test of one person labelling another's feelings, and it isn't a sales study. A 2003 field experiment found a waitress who repeated customers' orders back to them got larger tips. Again, real research, a long way from a B2B cold call.

Black Swan's material comes from negotiation, and it doesn't publish cold call outcome data.

The Sandler approach: prevent them earlier

David Sandler's method dates to 1966 by Sandler's own account. Its position on objections is different from the rest: if you're getting them, something went wrong earlier. One Sandler blog post sums it up with the author's favourite Sandler Rule: "if your foot hurts, you're probably standing on your own toe."

One Sandler technique is "reversing": "When you reverse, you answer a question with a question." Alongside its Rule #5: "Never answer an unasked question!"

LDA: ledge, disrupt, ask

Jeb Blount's framework for prospecting, as taught by his company, Sales Gravy. It's built for what it calls RBOs: "reflex responses, brush offs, and objections". The steps are in the name: Ledge, Disrupt, Ask.

What the data says top reps do

Gong studied 67,149 sales meetings recorded on its platform and compared top performers with average ones after an objection. Vendor platform data, sales meetings rather than cold calls.

• They pause. Top performers paused about five times longer after an objection than average performers.
• They barely speed up. After objections, top performers spoke at 176 words a minute, average performers at 188. The normal pace in a sales conversation was 173.
• They ask a question. Top performers followed 54.3% of objections with a question. Average performers did it 31.0% of the time.

Gong's own seven-step process comes out of that data: pause and speak with calm authority, clarify with questions, validate, isolate, get permission, reframe, and confirm the concern is resolved. Its suggested check at the end: "What part of your concern do you feel is still left unaddressed?"

For cold calls specifically, Gong and 30 Minutes to President's Club teach three steps: agree, give them a reason to keep talking, and sell a no-commitment look rather than the product.

Where the sources disagree

Questions or labels. Gong's data favours answering with a question. A Black Swan instructor says the opposite: "Instead of asking questions, I always like to use Labels." Sandler's reversing is question-led.

Asking "why". Gong says: "Don't ask 'why?' when clarifying objections." One Cognism SDR in the UK asks it directly.

Handle or prevent. Sandler says prevent objections through earlier qualification. Gong and 30 Minutes to President's Club treat cold call objections as an unavoidable reaction to being interrupted, and teach how to handle them.

Apologising. Gong warns that "Your natural reaction will be to stammer, apologize, and scurry away. Do the opposite." Yet Gong's own "not interested" talk track opens with a deliberate apology: "Shoot, my bad". The difference is a chosen tactic versus a nervous retreat.

The common core

Take the acronyms away and most of them come down to four things:

1. Let them finish, and pause before you answer.
2. Show you've heard it without arguing.
3. Find out what's actually behind it, with a question or a label.
4. Respond to that, then check it landed.

The objection pages go into the most common ones in detail:

• "Just send me an email"
• "I'm not interested"
• Price objections: "too expensive" and "no budget"