Deal Management37% of the exam
Handling objections to finalize the deal
How to remove the last barriers to a deal: recognize the six objection types, work each one through Defuse, Discover, Deliver, pick who answers, respond with proof, Feel-Felt-Found or a customer story, and use Dale Carnegie's Cross-Check and Reply to confirm nothing else stands in the way.
Identify and remove all challenges to finalize the deal.
~8 min read · 13 practice questions ·
What the exam expects
- Recognize an objection's type (product or feature, price, business, implementation or integration, hidden, stalling) and spot a gatekeeper.
- Work an objection through Defuse, Discover and Deliver, in that order, without jumping to an answer or a discount.
- Decide whether to answer yourself or bring in a teammate, and which teammate fits the objection.
- Choose a response technique: proof, Feel-Felt-Found, or a customer success story.
- Use Dale Carnegie's Cushion, Clarify, Cross-Check, Reply and Trial Commitment, and know when (not) to "tip the bucket".
Key terms:
- Objection: a statement or question that indicates a barrier in the buying process.
- Hidden objection: one you must ask more questions to uncover; it can be any other type.
- Gatekeeper: a contact who blocks access to key decision makers.
- Matching statement: an empathetic reply such as "I appreciate your honesty."
- Cross-Check: confirming the hesitation is the only factor preventing commitment.
Key facts
Three Ds
- Detail
- Defuse, Discover, Deliver
Gatekeeper
- Detail
- Can lie behind a stalling or hidden objection; ask more questions
Objection by email
- Detail
- Pick up the phone; emotions get lost in text
Clarifying
- Detail
- Paraphrase or restate the objection
Product or feature objection
- Detail
- Solution engineer
Price or business objection
- Detail
- Account executive
Proof types
- Detail
- Stats, product and feature details, differentiators
Feel-Felt-Found
- Detail
- Response for an objection with a deep emotional base; the Confirm module warns against reciting it as a script
Tip the bucket
- Detail
- One on one only, not in a room or presentation
Reply options
- Detail
- Deny, admit or reverse
Sources for this section (5)
- Prepare for Objectionstrailhead.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Defuse Objectionstrailhead.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Discover Objectionstrailhead.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Deliver Responsestrailhead.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Confirm a Solutiontrailhead.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- What are the three steps of objection handling, in order?
- Why paraphrase an objection before responding?
- When should a rep bring in a teammate instead of answering alone?
- When a contact keeps saying "too busy right now", what should the rep do?
The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.
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- Core concepts
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The free Agentforce Sales Foundations pack includes:
- All 21 lessons of the Agentforce Sales Foundations guide, with reading progress
- Interactive decision walks and step-by-step sequence steppers
- Inline practice questions and one-click topic practice (13 questions for this lesson)
- An official source cited for every claim
- An AI tutor that answers from the guide (uses credits)
- Unlimited timed practice exams
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