"An objection is not a rejection; it is simply a request for more information"
About this Quote
Sales culture trains people to hear “no” as a verdict. Bo Bennett’s line tries to rewire that reflex: an objection isn’t the end of the conversation, it’s the conversation. Coming from a businessman, the intent is plainly tactical. It’s a permission slip for persistence, but dressed up as empathy. If the prospect pushes back, don’t spiral into defensiveness or desperation; treat it like a diagnostic signal. The goal is to keep the exchange on the rails long enough to find the real friction point: price, trust, timing, fit, or fear.
The subtext is a subtle power move: objections get reframed from resistance into “information needs” that you, the seller, are qualified to satisfy. That can be genuinely customer-friendly - a reminder that skepticism often means engagement, not hostility. It also risks turning every boundary into an opening gambit, which is why the quote lives so comfortably in corporate training decks. It moralizes persistence by making the other person’s “no” sound incomplete rather than final.
Context matters: in negotiation, fundraising, product demos, and even job interviews, objections often are conditional yeses. People object because they’re imagining consequences in real time. Bennett’s phrasing works because it lowers the emotional temperature. It converts rejection (identity-threatening) into curiosity (problem-solvable). Done well, it leads to clarification and better fit. Done poorly, it becomes the script that steamrolls consent: if every objection is “just a question,” then the only acceptable endpoint is agreement.
The subtext is a subtle power move: objections get reframed from resistance into “information needs” that you, the seller, are qualified to satisfy. That can be genuinely customer-friendly - a reminder that skepticism often means engagement, not hostility. It also risks turning every boundary into an opening gambit, which is why the quote lives so comfortably in corporate training decks. It moralizes persistence by making the other person’s “no” sound incomplete rather than final.
Context matters: in negotiation, fundraising, product demos, and even job interviews, objections often are conditional yeses. People object because they’re imagining consequences in real time. Bennett’s phrasing works because it lowers the emotional temperature. It converts rejection (identity-threatening) into curiosity (problem-solvable). Done well, it leads to clarification and better fit. Done poorly, it becomes the script that steamrolls consent: if every objection is “just a question,” then the only acceptable endpoint is agreement.
Quote Details
| Topic | Sales |
|---|---|
| Source | Later attribution: It's a Great Deal, All Three of Me Think So (Bruce A. Rosenblat, 2009) modern compilationISBN: 9781627725774 · ID: bZBEVvOt3CQC
Evidence: ... (Bo) Bennett was once quoted as saying, "An objection is not a rejection; it is simply a request for more information." Objections can be a frequent sales problem for many salespeople. Other candidates (1) Elvis Presley (Bo Bennett) compilation42.9% etcom on may 1 2019 atheism is not a philosophy not even a view of the world it is simply an |
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