New-Hire Objection Handling Onboarding Toolkit

A 10-working-day (two calendar week) ramp plan. Manager runs it; new hire works through it. Nobody takes an unsupervised live call until they pass Day 10 certification.

The 6 Objection Families (hand this out Day 1)

1. Price / Budget — "too expensive," "no budget for this"
2. Trust / Risk — "never heard of you," "what if it doesn't work"
3. Timing / Priority — "not right now," "call me next quarter"
4. Authority — "I need to check with..."
5. Competitor / Status Quo — "we already use X," "we're fine"
6. Stall / Vague — "send me info," "let me think about it"

Every objection a rep will ever hear collapses into one of these six. Memorizing the family is step one — it tells you which response pattern to reach for.

Core Framework: A-L-E-R-T

Day-by-Day Ramp Schedule

Day 1 — Orientation. Hand out the 6 Families card. New hire shadows 3 live/recorded calls, logging every objection heard in the Objection Log (template below). No talking on calls yet.

Day 2 — Framework + Drill 1 (Price). New hire must recite A-L-E-R-T from memory before starting. Manager runs Roleplay Scenario 1 five times back to back, scoring each rep with the grading rubric.

Day 3 — Drill 2 (Trust). Roleplay Scenario 2, five reps. Plus: shadow 2 more calls, logging only Trust-family objections.

Day 4 — Drill 3 (Timing). Roleplay Scenario 3, five reps.

Day 5 — Quiz #1. Written, 10 questions (below). Must score 8/10 to proceed to Week 2. Below 8/10: repeat Day 2–4 drills over the weekend before continuing.

Day 6 — Drill 4 (Authority). Roleplay Scenario 4, five reps. New hire shadows with a side-channel (chat) coaching feed from the manager during a live call.

Day 7 — Drill 5 (Competitor / Status Quo). Roleplay Scenario 5, five reps.

Day 8 — Drill 6 (Stall) + first live calls. Roleplay a stall scenario, then new hire takes their first 1–2 live calls with the manager silently listening in.

Day 9 — Live call review. Review 2 of the new hire's own calls against the grading rubric. New hire self-scores first, then compares against the manager's score.

Day 10 — Certification. Cold roleplay: 5 back-to-back objections, unscripted, drawn randomly from all 6 families, graded on the rubric. Plus the 15-question certification quiz. Passing both = eligible for Bronze certification (see the Objection Handling Certification Rubric).

Roleplay Drill Scenarios (word-for-word customer lines)

Scenario 1 — Price: "Look, this all sounds great, but there's just no way we have budget for this right now."

Scenario 2 — Trust: "Honestly, I've never heard of your company before this call."

Scenario 3 — Timing: "This looks interesting — can you just follow up with me in Q3?"

Scenario 4 — Authority: "I like it, but I'd need our VP to sign off on this."

Scenario 5 — Competitor: "We've been using [Competitor] for three years. It's fine."

Roleplay Grading Rubric (score each 1–4)

Certification threshold: average ≥3.0 across all 5 scenarios, AND no single criterion scored below 2 on any scenario.

Objection Log Template

Quiz #1 — Week 1 (10 questions)

1. What does the "A" in A-L-E-R-T stand for? a) Argue b) Acknowledge c) Avoid d) Assume — Answer: b
2. "Just send me some info" belongs to which family? a) Price b) Stall/Vague c) Trust d) Authority — Answer: b
3. True/False: You should isolate an objection before responding to it. — Answer: True
4. Which of these is NOT one of the 6 objection families? a) Timing b) Authority c) Personality d) Trust — Answer: c
5. What is the purpose of a trial close after responding to an objection? — Answer: to confirm the objection is actually resolved before moving forward
6. Fill in the blank: "I hear you — and if I'm honest, most people say something similar before they see ______." — Answer: the results / how it actually works
7. A prospect objects on price. What should you do FIRST? a) Discount b) Isolate c) Walk away d) Escalate — Answer: b
8. True/False: an unresolved stall objection almost never means the real objection has surfaced yet. — Answer: True
9. "We already do this in-house" maps to which family? — Answer: Competitor / Status Quo
10. Write the correct order of A-L-E-R-T. — Answer: Acknowledge, Label, Explore, Respond, Trial-close

Certification Quiz — Day 10 (15 questions)

1. Name all 6 objection families. — Answer: Price/Budget, Trust/Risk, Timing/Priority, Authority, Competitor/Status Quo, Stall/Vague
2. True/False: reciting a memorized rebuttal word-for-word is sufficient at Bronze level. — Answer: True (Bronze only — Silver requires adaptation)
3. What question isolates whether price is the ONLY objection? — Answer: "Is that the only thing holding you back, or is there more?" (or equivalent)
4. A prospect says "send me a proposal." What should you ask before sending it? — Answer: what specifically they want the proposal to address (price, fit, proof, etc.)
5. What's the risk of responding to an objection without isolating it first? — Answer: you may resolve the stated objection while the real one goes unaddressed
6. True/False: a stall objection that recurs after being "handled" once was likely never actually resolved. — Answer: True
7. Give one example of a proactive (preventive) objection response. — Answer: naming the price range in a voicemail before the prospect asks
8. What should a rep do if the same objection resurfaces a second time in a call? — Answer: change the proof point/angle rather than repeat the same rebuttal
9. Roleplay (graded live): handle an unscripted Price objection.
10. Roleplay (graded live): handle an unscripted Trust objection.
11. Roleplay (graded live): handle an unscripted Timing objection.
12. Roleplay (graded live): handle an unscripted Authority objection.
13. Roleplay (graded live): handle an unscripted Competitor objection.
14. What is the passing threshold on the roleplay rubric? — Answer: average ≥3.0, no criterion below 2
15. What resource governs your next certification tier after Bronze? — Answer: the Objection Handling Certification Rubric (Silver/Gold)

30/60/90-Day Manager Check-In

• Day 30: "Walk me through the last 3 objections you handled — what family, what response, what happened?"
• Day 60: "Which objection family still trips you up? Let's roleplay it right now."
• Day 90: "You're eligible for Silver certification — let's schedule your assessment."