Every salesperson runs into skeptical buyers. The kind who seem impossible to convince until suddenly, they’re your best customer. The key? Don’t run from skepticism. Move toward it.
1. Acknowledge Skepticism Upfront
Ignoring skepticism kills deals before they start. Instead, call it out. Compliment buyers on their caution. When skepticism is baked into someone’s DNA, pretending it’s not there only puts you on the defensive.
“I’m glad you’re pushing back. I’m glad you’re challenging because it really demonstrates that you want to make a good decision, and that’s good.”
Don’t attack. Don’t get personal. Share a story, like another customer who raised concerns, took a chance, and reaped the rewards. A third-party story makes it safe for them to imagine a better result.
2. Focus on Risk, Not Just Reward
People buy for two reasons: to protect against risk or chase a reward. But when skepticism is high, risk dominates. Dive into the fallout of “what if.” What happens if they do nothing? What if they don’t achieve the outcome they want?
Insurance exists for a reason—everyone wants to avoid catastrophe. The same principle applies in your sale.
“Customers will always pay more when it’s regarding a risk.”
Let buyers answer for themselves. Don’t confront, but guide the conversation toward what’s at stake, not just what could be gained.
3. Use Testimonials (Wisely)
A testimonial from someone respected, ideally in their company or network, can break down the wall. But timing matters. Drop it in too soon, and it smells like a stunt. Wait until you see their guard coming down, then bring out the peer story or introduction.
“I do not put a testimonial of this nature, person they respect, directly in front of them. Until I begin to know that they’re starting to make the move.”
Let the proof elevate them from “maybe” to “yes.”
4. Ask Questions No One Else Does
Don’t play the “ask a question you know the answer to” game. Skeptical buyers spot it and resent it.
Instead, ask questions neither of you can fully answer. This opens up a conversation where both sides learn something. As buyers process with you, they start to reach their own conclusions without feeling manipulated.
Skeptical buyers are process-driven. If you don’t help them work through the process, they’ll go offline and research…often stumbling into competitors.
5. Be Willing to Walk Away
Some deals aren’t worth chasing endlessly. Sometimes you have to call their bluff. If the buyer’s skepticism is truly immovable, make it clear you’re prepared to walk. Occasionally, this clarity is what earns respect and tips the sale.
BONUS: Keep Asking How You Fit
You can’t assume a buyer understands where you fit in their world. You have to ask, repeatedly, how they see your solution landing in their organization. Tie your proposal into the bigger outcomes they’re chasing. When you do, you’ll expose skepticism and learn what’s truly in the way.
Get Your Stories and Questions Ready
A stockpile of customer stories is a salesperson’s secret weapon. Have testimonials ready with names, stories, examples so you don’t scramble when you’re under fire.
Also, the best salespeople have a list of industry questions that spark genuine curiosity. Even if the questions are ones they can’t answer, authentic curiosity builds relationships.
With confidence, stories, and the right questions, overcoming skeptical buyers isn’t just possible, it’s inevitable.
“There’s nothing wrong with a skeptical buyer. They’re great. They’re absolutely fantastic. The only thing worse is a skeptical buyer that you don’t know is a skeptical buyer.”
Mark Hunter :
How to build trust fast with skeptical customers. No, it’s not an oxymoron. You can do it. Hey, we’ve all had skeptical buyers. You know the one, you know you can help, but for some reason, they don’t see it. These are the people who, when you do turn them into a customer, you’re doing them a huge favor because you’re truly helping them. You see you’re doing them a service when you help the skeptical customer become a skeptical customer. That’s the topic, and the show begins right now.
Mark Hunter :
You’re listening to the Sales Hunter podcast with Mark Hunter, where the focus is to help you as a salesman, sell with confidence and integrity. And now here’s your host. Okay, you’ve got that skeptical customer, the skeptical buyer. I can’t say, really, customer, because they haven’t bought you anything from you. I’m going to share with you five things you can do to turn the skeptical buyer into a customer. Number one, acknowledge their skepticism upfront. Don’t run past it or ignore it. I find so many salespeople, I can be listening to calls, I can be participating in a call, and I hear salespeople, they just kind of ignore it.
Mark Hunter :
I want to say compliment them on being skeptical. Compliment them, hey, I’m glad you’re. I’m glad you’re pushing back. I’m glad you’re challenging because it really demonstrates that you want to make a good decision, and that’s good. Compliment them on it. Because chances are it’s in their DNA that they’re skeptical on anything and everything, including customer brings to them. Now, the way you then begin to work past it is, is you. You compliment them and you begin to share a story of another customer who maybe said the same thing and the benefits they found by buying from you.
Mark Hunter :
Now, this is what’s cool, because you’re not attacking them directly for their skepticism. You’re entering in, you’re bringing in a third party that they can relate to. And that is absolutely powerful because now it’s a safe way for them to see that, okay, they can achieve what they’re looking for. They are not being attacked by the salesperson. 2. Focus on their risk, not the reward. Now, we know that customers buy for one of two reasons. It’s either to, you know, mitigate a risk or to achieve a reward.
Mark Hunter :
Here’s what I found. Customers will always pay more when it’s regarding a risk. And what I found is this. You want to help them understand this risk, and you want to engage them in a conversation about what would happen if something went wrong. Now this is, even with a reward, this actually works. Let me see. Why do we buy insurance? We buy homeowners insurance, we buy auto insurance, we buy life insurance because we want to protect ourselves and protect those around us from a catastrophic situation. And we hope we don’t use the insurance, you know, the auto insurance, the homeowner’s insurance, but we do know that we need it.
Mark Hunter :
You see, what I’m doing is I’m mitigating your risk. Now the same thing can be played out from a reward because you can sit there and ask the customer, what, what is it that you’re really looking to achieve? Chances are your sale is one piece of a component of them achieving a reward. And again, you can come back and say, so what happens if you do not achieve that reward? What happens, what happens if we’re not able to? And again, you’re allowing them to answer the questions. I found this. Skeptical buyers cannot be confronted. But what you can do is you can share questions with them. And I’ll get into more of that here in just a bit. Number three here.
Mark Hunter :
Use a testimonial from a person they respect. This is absolutely powerful. You can, you can send that to them in an email, send them a document, send them something or share with them or whatever it might be. But, but get, allow somebody else to share with them how much value they got from what it is that you sold them, the product or the service. Now what’s really powerful is of course, if you can get that person to call them up. So we’ll say, we’ll say that you’re, you’re dealing with a large company and you’re dealing with a division that you haven’t sold to before. And there’s a skeptical buyer, maybe in another division, there’s a person who they know and you can say, hey, would you mind calling them? Would you mind calling, would you mind reaching out to them using a testimonial or personnel? Here, here’s the challenge. This can come across as confrontation.
Mark Hunter :
So you have to be very cautious about when you put this up, when you put this in front of them. Okay, What I have found is this. I do not put a testimonial of this nature, person they respect directly in front of them. Until I begin to know that they’re starting to make the move. They are starting to become, okay, they’re let, they’re less skeptical. Now what I’m doing is I’m trying to elevate, I’m trying to elevate them to where they are. Absolutely. Game on.
Mark Hunter :
Now, one of the easiest ways, one of the best ways to do this is number four, and that’s ask better questions than your competitors. Now, let me break this down. I find too many salespeople, what they do is they ask customers questions that the customer can’t answer, but they can answer. And they do that as a way for them to feel really good. Oh, I’m so special. I’m so good. I’m so smart. I asked you a question, but I knew the answer to it.
Mark Hunter :
That’s, that’s a game, and customers hate that game. What you want to be able to do is, is you want to be able to ask the customer questions that they can’t answer and you can’t answer because this is going to force a conversation. But here’s what I found. The skeptical buyer has to overcome their skepticism on their own, on their own time frame, on their own accord. So if I can ask them a question that neither of us can answer and if creates a conversation, it is amazing at how. Now, as you begin to process through and figure out what the answer might be, the customer now comes around and says, you’re right. I can see how this is working. I can see how and, and what happens is the skeptical buyer then reaches their own conclusion.
Mark Hunter :
And this is absolutely key because what I found is this. Hesitant buyers, skeptical buyers, what they are, is they’re more process driven. They are absolutely more process driven. So they want to be able to sort through things. This is why you have to have the conversation with them. Now, here’s why I say this is important. If you don’t have the conversation with them, what’s going to happen is they’re going to wind up going out and doing their own research. The skeptical buyer will always do their own research.
Mark Hunter :
Unless you’re sitting in the room with them on the call with them, the zoom call, the teams call, whatever it might be. And here’s what happens when they start doing their own research. They wind up coming up with other options, other ideas. Your competitors are suddenly in the mix. You’ve got to be absolutely careful on the skeptical buyer. Now, I’m going to share with you again, a couple more things here I want to share with you. But number five on this piss on this list is you’ve got to be prepared to walk away. Sometimes you’ve got to call the person’s bluff.
Mark Hunter :
You’ve got to call their bluff. Now, there is some risk in this, but I’m going to share with you a quick story I remember there was a customer I was working with years ago and absolutely great. We put great proposal in front of them, was all good, but the president, CEO of the company got a hold of it and thought the price was too high. He was very skeptical and he pushed back on me, pushed back on me. And I had to be very blunt with him. I said, you know, because again, I called out the issues that they had. In other words, they had some real risks. I had to call out the risks to them.
Mark Hunter :
And when I called out the risks to them, then he realized they had a problem and they needed me. But see, I was fully prepared to walk away. You have to at times, be prepared to walk away. Okay, now let’s cut to the chase here. There’s nothing wrong with a skeptical buyer. They’re great. They’re absolutely fantastic. The only thing worse is a skeptical buyer that you don’t know is a skeptical buyer.
Mark Hunter :
This is why it’s absolutely important that you’ve got to ask them multiple times how they see your solution fitting into their business. You don’t sit there and assume. When you take a skeptical buyer and line them up with an assumptive, focused salesperson, you’ve got a sale that’s never going to happen. It is never, ever going to happen. You’ve got to make sure that you’re continuously asking them how this is going to fit in. And, and what you’re doing is you’re tying it, you’re tying it into the larger outcomes that they’re looking for. And this is absolutely key. This is why early on, I got to understand how is it that what I’m selling to you is going to fit into your bigger picture.
Mark Hunter :
So, so what I’m doing is I’m asking you questions that have you sharing with me how this fits in. That’s one of the easiest ways that I can really begin to understand as to whether or not the customer is skeptical. But again, you’ve got to ask. Never, never sit there and assume. Okay, I’ve shared with you how you can overcome a skeptical buyer, and I want you to put in place. And the number one thing that I want you to do right now is one, come up with some stories. What are some of the stories of other customers that you worked with? What are the names of other people who you can use? You’ve got to get that set up right now. You’ve got to have an inventory of those ready to go for you.
Mark Hunter :
Two, You’ve got to really understand your industry so well that you can have questions that you know what I nobody’s thinking about this. I don’t have the answer to and they don’t have the answer to and I got to be prepared to ask. That’s a level of curiosity. That is an absolute level of curiosity. When you have those two pieces and you have the confidence the confidence of selling with integrity it is amazing at how you’re going to overcome the skeptical buyer. I want you to grab the book integrity first selling. You know I came out with it a couple months ago. I want you to grab a copy of it.
Mark Hunter :
Hey my name is Mark Hunter the sales hunter two episodes a week one like this where I do a deep dive really taking a single topic second is a subject matter expert. Leave me a review would you please leave me a review. We need more reviews whether it be on Spotify, Apple music however you listen to the podcast. I’m Mark Hunter the sales hunter Great selling.
