# Objection handling prompt: free ChatGPT template > Prepare honest answers to sales objections with a ChatGPT prompt: ask a question first, use only your facts and limits, and know when to let a deal go. Source: https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts/objection-handling-prompt · Updated 2026-10-01 · Free from Stepthrough (https://learn.ynteractive.com) [Sales](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts#job-sales) · [Sales](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts#industry-sales) · [Trades](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts#industry-trades) · Works in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot Updated October 1, 2026 · By [Robert Breen](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/about) Use this to prepare for the objections you hear again and again ("too expensive," "we'll think about it," "we already have someone"), or to answer one that just came in. AI answers to objections tend to be slick: they argue, discount on the spot or knock the competitor. This prompt asks for honest responses built on your real facts, each starting with a question to understand the concern, and accepts that sometimes the right answer is that you're not the best fit. ## The prompt Copy it into ChatGPT (or Claude, Gemini or Copilot) and replace every `[BLANK]` with your own details. It uses the four parts from [Prompt Writing 101](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompt-writing-101-role-context-task-format): Role, Context, Task and Format. Copy prompt ```text Role: You are a sales trainer for [BUSINESS], helping our team respond to customer objections honestly. Context: We sell [WHAT WE SELL] to [CUSTOMERS]. The objection: [OBJECTION]. Facts we can use: [OUR FACTS]. What we can and can't offer: [OUR LIMITS]. Never criticize competitors, never invent a discount or a guarantee, and never pressure. Task: Give me three different ways to respond, each starting with a short question to understand the concern, then the relevant facts, then a next step the customer can choose. Also tell me when this customer might be better off with someone else. Format: Each response under 70 words, written the way I'd say it out loud. Then one line headed "When to let it go." Plain words, nothing that sounds like a script. ``` ## Fill in the blanks **`[BUSINESS]`** Your business name and what you do. **`[WHAT WE SELL]`** The product or service the objection is about. **`[CUSTOMERS]`** Who usually raises it. **`[OBJECTION]`** The objection in the customer's own words, or their email pasted in. **`[OUR FACTS]`** What's included, warranties, how you work. Only things you'd put in writing. **`[OUR LIMITS]`** What you won't do (price-match, rush jobs) and real alternatives you can offer. This stops the AI from solving the objection with a promise you can't keep. ## Example, filled in **A made-up example** from the free lesson [Build a Custom GPT Plumbing Quote Writer](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/plumbing-quote-writer-custom-gpt). Blue Maple Plumbing is the made-up plumber in the plumbing quote writer lesson. A homeowner says its water heater quote is higher than another plumber's. Copy example ```text Role: You are a sales trainer for Blue Maple Plumbing, a small residential plumbing company, helping our team respond to customer objections honestly. Context: We sell water heater replacements to homeowners in Lancaster County, PA. The objection: "Your quote is $400 more than the other plumber's." Facts we can use: our quote includes hauling away the old tank, a new expansion tank and the permit; we give a written labor warranty; our techs are our own employees. What we can and can't offer: we don't price-match; we can quote a standard-efficiency tank instead of the high-efficiency one we quoted, which costs less. Never criticize competitors, never invent a discount or a guarantee, and never pressure. Task: Give me three different ways to respond, each starting with a short question to understand the concern, then the relevant facts, then a next step the customer can choose. Also tell me when this customer might be better off with someone else. Format: Each response under 70 words, written the way I'd say it out loud. Then one line headed "When to let it go." Plain words, nothing that sounds like a script. ``` ## What a good answer looks like - Openers like "Can I ask what's included in the other quote?" before any defense of your price. - Facts that might explain the gap (haul-away, expansion tank, permit) without saying the other plumber cuts corners. - A real option within your limits, like the standard tank, and no surprise discount. - An honest "When to let it go," such as when the customer only wants the lowest price. ## How to check it before you use it An AI draft can sound right and still say something you never told it. Use the habit from the [Reply Faster lesson](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/chatgpt-reply-to-customer-emails): check every promise, name, date and number against what you gave it before anything goes out. - Check every promise: what's included, warranty terms and options must match your facts and limits. Delete anything like "we'll beat any price." - Remove any line that hints the competitor is worse, even politely ("you get what you pay for"). - Practice the responses out loud. If one sounds rehearsed, ask for it again in more casual words. - Save the versions that work in a shared doc so the whole team uses the same facts. ## Why this prompt works Starting with a question turns "defend the price" into "understand the comparison," which often shows the two quotes aren't for the same work. The limits blank matters as much as the facts, because an AI asked to overcome an objection will reach for a discount or a guarantee unless you rule them out. See [estimate, quote and bid](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/estimate-vs-quote) for why comparing quotes is rarely apples to apples. ## Practice it in the free lesson **[Build a Custom GPT That Writes Sales Follow-Up Emails](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/custom-gpt-sales-follow-up-email-writer)**: See why generic prompts give generic results, then build a Custom GPT that knows your product, pricing and rules and writes short, useful follow-up emails in your voice. You do every step yourself in a practice copy of ChatGPT, and nothing touches your real accounts. [Start the free lesson](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/chatgpt-custom-gpt-sales) Also useful: [Build a Custom GPT Plumbing Quote Writer](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/plumbing-quote-writer-custom-gpt) ## Terms used here [Grounding](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/grounding) · [Prompt constraints](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/prompt-constraints) · [Estimate, quote and bid](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/estimate-vs-quote) ## Related prompts - [Sales follow-up after demo prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts/sales-follow-up-after-demo-prompt): Write a follow-up after a sales demo from your call notes: the features that fit, price only if asked, one next step. A ChatGPT… - [Quote follow-up email prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts/quote-follow-up-email-prompt): Follow up on a quote that got no reply: remind them what it covered, answer the likely question, and make yes, a question or "no… - [Discovery call prep prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts/discovery-call-prep-prompt): Prep for a discovery call with a ChatGPT prompt that separates what you know from what you're assuming, then gives open… - [Decline a request politely prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts/decline-request-politely-prompt): A ChatGPT prompt for saying no to a customer clearly and kindly: the no up front, one honest reason, a real alternative, and no… ## Frequently asked questions **Can I use this for objections that arrive by email?** Yes. Paste the email as the objection and add "Write it as a reply under 120 words" to the Format. Then check the reply's promises before sending, as in the [Reply Faster lesson](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/chatgpt-reply-to-customer-emails). [All free prompt templates](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts) · [AI glossary](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary)