Authority
“I need to run this by my boss before moving forward.”
Explore Q: “How does your boss usually evaluate solutions like this?”
“It’s not in the budget this quarter.”
Explore Q: “How do you typically prioritize spend when something unexpected but valuable comes up?”
“We’re happy with our current system.”
Explore Q: “What do you like most about your current system?”
“Can you reach back out next quarter?”
Explore Q: “What’s going to be different for you next quarter compared to today?”
“Just send me an email with the info.”
Explore Q: “What info would be most helpful for you to see right now?”
“I’m not the right person to make this decision.”
“Who typically makes this type of decision in your org, and what’s important to them?”
“I've seen your pricing and its more expensive than what we’re currently using.”
Explore Q: “Curious what your understanding of our pricing is? Have you spoken with someone here about pricing or just looked on the site?”
“I don’t see a big enough problem to switch.”
Explore Q: “If you could wave a magic wand, what would you improve about your current setup?”
“We’re too busy right now to consider this.”
Explore Q: “What’s keeping you busiest right now?”
“We already use Pardot today and we’re satisfied.”
Explore Q: “What do you like best about your Pardot?”
“Our leadership team isn’t focused on this right now.”
Explore Q: “What initiatives are top of mind for leadership today?”
“We already exhausted all of our budget on other priorities.”
Explore Q: “How were those priorities chosen, and how do you measure their success?”
“The issues you’re talking about aren’t top priorities for us.”
Explore Q: “What challenges are taking up most of your team’s attention right now?”
“We’re in the middle of another rollout, so the timing isn’t right.”
Explore Q: “How is that rollout impacting your team’s day-to-day?”
“I’ve heard onboarding with tools like this takes forever."
Explore Q: “What does a smooth onboarding process look like for your team?”
“Even if I liked this, I don’t think I could get internal buy-in.”
Explore Q: “What kind of data or proof points usually help you get buy-in internally?”
“Even if we wanted to, finance is on a cost-cutting initiative right now.”
Explore Q: “What’s the criteria finance is using to approve or deny investments right now?”
“We’ve built an in-house process that works fine, so I don’t see the point in changing.”
Explore Q: “What’s working well in your in-house setup, and where does it feel stretched?”
“Our contracts don’t renew until next year, so we can’t talk until then.”
Explore Q: “How do you usually evaluate options before renewal?”
“We’ve tried to solve this problem before and it never stuck.”
Explore Q: “What do you think prevented it from sticking last time?”
"Our executive team is skeptical of making any changes, and it’s almost impossible to influence them.”
Explore Q: “Has there been a time when leadership did get behind a change? What helped tip the scale?”
“Unless you can prove immediate ROI with hard numbers, there’s no way we can justify this spend.”
Explore Q: “What metrics would make ROI most meaningful for your team?”
“Even if your tool could help, our team wouldn’t actually use it"
Explore Q: “What factors have helped or hurt adoption of new tools in the past?”
“Realistically, we won’t be ready to evaluate something like this for at least 12 to 18 months.”
Explore Q: “What milestones need to happen before you’ll be ready to explore solutions like this?”
“Honestly, I don’t believe your solution can make an impact in our business model - we're pretty niche.”
Explore Q: “What would it take for you to feel confident a solution could make an impact?”