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Alakris — Objection Handling Guide 2026
| Version | v1.0 |
| Date | 2026-07-12 |
| Status | APPROVED — published 2026-07-12 |
| Contract | MKT-030-7 (PARENT: MKT-030) |
| Format | Battlecard: "When They Say / You Say" (HubSpot/Klue style) |
| References | Pricing Book (pricing-book-2026.md, MKT-030-3), Discount Policy (MKT-030-9, referenced only — discount percentages are not duplicated here) |
Principle: LAER (Listen — Acknowledge — Explore — Respond)
The first objection is almost never the real one. Before answering, uncover the true reason with an Explore question. Below, for every objection the RIGHT_RESPONSE is built on LAER, not as a ready-made slogan to be recited immediately.
Anti-pattern we avoid everywhere: defensive justification and instant price drops. Any unexplained concession makes the customer think the price was inflated from the start — this principle applies to all 9 objections below, not only price-related ones.
Response tone depends on the customer's tier (see [tier] placeholders in RIGHT_RESPONSE): self-service (Lite/Self-Service) — quick, to the point, no complex ROI math; Managed — slightly deeper, with reference to the dedicated specialist; Enterprise — full ROI conversation (Sales Playbook, section 6).
1. "It's expensive"
- TRIGGER_PHRASES: "This is expensive," "why so much," "competitors are cheaper."
- ROOT_CAUSE: A signal of "I don't see ROI," NOT a refusal and not always literally about budget. The customer could not translate the price into value themselves.
- WRONG_RESPONSE: Immediately offer a discount ("let's make it cheaper") — confirms the suspicion that the price was inflated from the start. Also wrong — to argue ("actually it's not expensive").
- RIGHT_RESPONSE (LAER):
- Acknowledge: "I understand — the figure needs to be justified."
- Explore: "Expensive compared to what — the budget you had in mind, or what you expected to get for that money?"
- Respond by tier:
[Lite/Self-Service]: "$30/$129 a month is less than one missed night lead. Want us to count how many requests you're losing now?"[Managed/Enterprise]: ROI framing (Sales Playbook, section 6) — lead the customer to name the potential revenue uplift figure themselves, then compare to the tier price.
- PROOF_POINT: ROI table from
Alakris_Price_List_2026.pdf(Enterprise Pricing Policy, Pricing Book) — for example, at $1M/year revenue and +5% conversion uplift, a platform costing $2,500/mo delivers a net benefit of +$9,000/mo. Use the row relevant to the customer's scale, not a made-up figure.
2. "We need to think about it"
- TRIGGER_PHRASES: "We need to think," "we'll discuss internally," "give us some time."
- ROOT_CAUSE: Either a real need for alignment (see Axis 5 of the Qualification Guide — Authority), or a polite form of refusal due to an unvoiced objection (often price or an unspoken doubt).
- WRONG_RESPONSE: Agree and simply wait without a follow-up date ("okay, write when you decide") — the deal stalls without owner and deadline.
- RIGHT_RESPONSE (LAER):
- Acknowledge: "Of course, this decision is worth weighing."
- Explore: "What exactly needs to be thought through — the product, the price, or the implementation timeline? That way I'll send exactly what helps you decide."
- Respond: Lock in a concrete follow-up date (not "write when you decide"), and if possible learn the real reason for the pause right now while the conversation is ongoing.
- PROOF_POINT: No separate metric — this point is about process (next steps, Sales Playbook section 1), not proof of value.
3. "We already use another solution"
- TRIGGER_PHRASES: "We already have a chatbot / CRM / another service," "we work with [competitor]."
- ROOT_CAUSE: The customer doesn't see a reason to change what already works — the task is not to "prove we're better in general," but to find a specific gap in the current solution.
- WRONG_RESPONSE: Criticize the competitor directly ("they're worse because...") — looks like an attack, not a solution to the customer's problem.
- RIGHT_RESPONSE (LAER):
- Acknowledge: "Great that you already have a foundation — many of our customers come to us exactly like that."
- Explore: "What in the current solution works for you, and what doesn't? What made you consider an alternative at all?"
- Respond: Show the specific gap named by the customer (not a generic pitch), and a low-friction migration path — self-service tiers are set up without long implementation, the old solution can run in parallel during the transition.
- PROOF_POINT: No published migration case from a specific competitor as of 2026-07-12 — do not invent a comparison with a specific product if no approved case exists.
4. "We don't have time"
- TRIGGER_PHRASES: "Now is not the time for this," "too busy to implement something new."
- ROOT_CAUSE: Fear of a complex implementation requiring a lot of the customer's team time — often based on experience with other enterprise tools, not with Alakris.
- WRONG_RESPONSE: Promise "it will take 5 minutes" without clarifying the tier — for self-service this is true, for Managed/Enterprise implementation takes weeks/months, and such a promise will destroy trust later.
- RIGHT_RESPONSE (LAER):
- Acknowledge: "I understand — time is the scarcest resource right now."
- Explore: "How much time does [pain named on discovery] actually take each week right now?"
- Respond by tier:
[Lite/Self-Service]: "Here the effect is actually the opposite — conversational onboarding takes one session, from registration to live widget. It's not about 'carving out implementation time,' it's about 15 minutes once."[Managed/Enterprise]: Be honest about real timelines (Pricing Book, Enterprise Pricing Policy: 6 weeks to 7 months depending on scope), but emphasize that implementation is led by a dedicated specialist/onboarding team — the customer's team spends no time beyond alignment.
- PROOF_POINT: "No published case" with an exact implementation timeline as of 2026-07-12 — refer to the general market benchmark from Pricing Book, not a specific customer.
5. "We'll try later"
- TRIGGER_PHRASES: "We'll come back to this next quarter," "it's not the season right now."
- ROOT_CAUSE: Either real business seasonality, or a soft way to refuse without confrontation.
- WRONG_RESPONSE: Artificially press on urgency ("only today special terms") — creates a sense of manipulation, especially if untrue.
- RIGHT_RESPONSE (LAER):
- Acknowledge: "Makes sense if now is not the right moment."
- Explore: "What needs to happen by then for this decision to become relevant? Is it seasonality, budget, or something else holding you back?"
- Respond: If real seasonality — offer starting with Lite/Self-Service now (low entry barrier, captures losses in the off-season), scaling up before the season; lock in a concrete date to revisit the conversation.
- PROOF_POINT: Land-and-expand strategy (
pricing-strategy-2026.md, section 4.1) — a low entry barrier removes decision friction exactly in such situations.
6. "We only need the website"
- TRIGGER_PHRASES: "We only need a simple chat on the website," "the rest isn't needed."
- ROOT_CAUSE: The customer doesn't yet see the connection between separate processes (chat → CRM → analytics) — perceives them as scattered features, not a single funnel.
- WRONG_RESPONSE: Immediately try to upsell the full Managed set — ignores the explicitly stated need and creates a feeling of pressure.
- RIGHT_RESPONSE (LAER):
- Acknowledge: "Okay, let's start with chat — that's exactly what the Lite tier does."
- Explore: "What happens to the request after the chat catches it — is it recorded somewhere, or does a manager handle it manually?"
- Respond: Close the requested need on Lite, don't push for an upsell now — mention that Marina (CRM agent) is available later if/when request volume grows, but without pressure in the moment.
- PROOF_POINT: Pricing Book, Lite tier — "1 AI agent (chat widget)," exactly what the customer is asking for; honest sale without overkill.
7. "We only need chat"
- TRIGGER_PHRASES: "We don't need anything else, just a chatbot."
- ROOT_CAUSE: Same as "we only need the website" (objection #6), but specifically about the product feature, not the channel. Often confuses Alakris with a simple chatbot builder.
- WRONG_RESPONSE: Argue that "we're not just a chatbot" with a slogan — doesn't address the customer's actual request, sounds like an excuse.
- RIGHT_RESPONSE (LAER):
- Acknowledge: "I understand — website chat is often the first and most obvious need."
- Explore: "What do you expect from this chat — just answer questions, or also capture requests, consult on products?"
- Respond: Show that even "just chat" on Alakris is Alex, a full AI employee (not a scripted chatbot with fixed answers), working from the customer's knowledge base — honestly close exactly this need on Lite, without pushing the rest of the catalog.
- PROOF_POINT:
ai-employee-catalog-2026.md, persona Alex — "Real platform capability": cloud chat widget, prompt personalization through Merchant Admin.
8. "AI isn't for us"
- TRIGGER_PHRASES: "We're not ready for AI," "this isn't for our business," "AI is still raw."
- ROOT_CAUSE: A general phrase almost always hides one of three specific fears (see AI-specific subsection below) — do not answer it head-on until the fear is named explicitly.
- WRONG_RESPONSE: A ready-made slogan about the benefits of AI ("AI is the future, everyone is moving to this") — doesn't address the specific, unspoken fear of the customer.
- RIGHT_RESPONSE (LAER):
- Acknowledge: "That's a common concern, and it's valid — AI really isn't a universal solution for everything."
- Explore: "What specifically worries you — are you concerned that AI will tell a customer something inaccurate, that you'll lose control over communication, or that customer data won't be protected?"
- Respond: See AI-specific subsection below — the response is built for the specific named fear, not a generic slogan.
- PROOF_POINT: See the subsection below, separately for each specific fear.
AI-specific subsection — three specific fears
These are uncovered through Explore questions, not ready-made slogans about AI benefits (a mandatory contract requirement):
Fear 1 — Replacing people
- Explore question: "Are you worried that AI will replace someone on the team, or that the team will have to learn a lot from scratch?"
- Response: AI employees (see
ai-employee-catalog-2026.md) handle routine (night responses, manual lead qualification, meeting transcription), not people — they take the flow of repetitive tasks off people's plates, leaving the team work that requires human judgment. Content agent (Katya) and SEO agent (Lev) operate with mandatory human approval — this is not autonomous replacement, but a tool under the team's control.
Fear 2 — Answer accuracy
- Explore question: "What happens if AI answers a customer inaccurately — which scenario worries you most?"
- Response: The agent answers based on the specific customer's knowledge base (not the model's general "from thin air" knowledge), configured through Merchant Admin. For content and SEO — a mandatory review stage before publication (see
ai-employee-catalog-2026.md, Katya/Lev limitations — be honest about the degree of autonomy, don't promise "fully error-free").
Fear 3 — Control / data security
- Explore question: "What is critical for you in terms of control — who sees customer data, or the ability to step into the conversation at any moment?"
- Response: Data is processed within the customer's tenant; access is configured through Merchant Admin; the owner can view conversation history at any time and adjust agent behavior through prompt settings — not a "black box" with no control.
9. "No budget"
- TRIGGER_PHRASES: "We don't have money for this now," "budget isn't allocated."
- ROOT_CAUSE: Either a real lack of budget (then it really isn't the right time — don't push), or a lack of understanding that the solution is available even at the minimum check ($30/mo, Lite).
- WRONG_RESPONSE: Immediately offer a discount beyond policy (see Discount Policy, MKT-030-9 — discounts only via approval matrix, not spontaneously by a manager) — creates a precedent and undermines price discipline.
- RIGHT_RESPONSE (LAER):
- Acknowledge: "I understand, budget is a real constraint."
- Explore: "Is it that there's no budget at all for anything, or that this scale of investment isn't allocated? What budget level would be comfortable?"
- Respond: If the budget is objectively limited — offer Lite ($30/mo) as an honest entry point, don't try to sell a higher tier through concessions; if the budget is "not allocated" administratively — offer materials for an internal presentation (Pricing Book) to secure budget separately.
- PROOF_POINT: Pricing Book, Lite tier — the lowest entry point in the self-serve line, specifically designed for Land-and-Expand as the entry point for budget-sensitive customers.
Fallback (level 2) — if the customer has already heard the standard answer from a competitor and doesn't react
For any of the 9 objections above, if the customer clearly signals they've heard a similar answer before ("everyone says that," "yes, standard phrase") — do not repeat the same RIGHT_RESPONSE a second time. Fallback:
- Acknowledge directly: "Fair enough, that is indeed a common answer in the industry."
- Shift the conversation to the specifics of THEIR business, not a generic script: "Let's do this differently — tell me what exactly in your situation makes you doubt, and I'll answer that specifically, not with a generic phrase."
- If after this the objection repeats a third time in the same form — record it as a real, non-surface blocker in CRM and offer a next step with lower commitment (e.g., a no-strings demo access instead of direct deal closing).
Edge case — objection sounds like two reasons at once
For example, "expensive" = both a real budget constraint and ROI doubt at the same time. Use an Explore question to explicitly separate the reasons BEFORE answering — don't answer both with one template at once:
"Look, there may be two different things here: either the amount is simply more than what's in the budget, or it's not fully clear what exactly you'll get for that money. Which one is closer?"
Then answer the real named reason with the specific RIGHT_RESPONSE above (objection #1 "It's expensive" for ROI doubt, #9 "No budget" for a real budget constraint), rather than trying to close both with one universal answer.
Document maintained under task MKT-030-7. Changes to price arguments follow updates to Pricing Book (MKT-030-3) and Financial Model (MKT-030-11), not independently. Discount percentages are in Discount Policy (MKT-030-9), not here.