Objections

Introduction: It Wasn't Supposed To Be This Book

Writing books is the closest men ever come to childbearing.

—Norman Mailer

I wasn't planning on writing this book. It wasn't on my radar. Frankly, I never even considered writing a book on objections because it seemed like such limited subject matter.

The objection is most often a bit player; never the star of the show. There's usually a chapter on objections tucked away in the back of most sales books. And, sales training programs offer up a module or two on objections almost as an afterthought.

I was in the middle of writing a book on a much more important subject—sales-specific negotiation tactics. That was until I met Adam Vogel, the director of inside sales for the New York Mets. Adam and the Mets sales organization had fallen in love with my book Fanatical Prospecting and invited me to New York to inspire their stable of young sales guns to make one more call.

Bright, young, well-dressed sales professionals gathered in the auditorium at Citi Field for what my Sales Gravy team calls “Jeb Un-Plugged.” It's a session in which sales professionals and sales leaders hurl questions and challenges at me and I answer whatever comes my way. No script, no slides, and no preparation.

I enjoy unplugged sessions. It's my favorite way to teach. For three hours, they hit me with hard questions. When it was all over, they let me go to a game (I'm an unapologetic fan of baseball).

During the game, something kept tugging at me about the ...