Do Your B2B Sales Engineers Know How to Take a Punch?
When I was training for karate tournaments, my instructor didn’t just teach me how to throw punches. He taught me how to take one. Do your B2B sales engineers know how to take a punch?
Because in a real fight, getting hit isn’t a possibility—it’s a guarantee.
As a B2B sales engineer, you will hear objections.
I remember when I had just achieved my green belt and started participating in tournaments. After one tournament where I should have taken first place but finished third, my sensei pulled me out of practice the next week and said that I did not win because I was afraid to take a punch. You need to learn how to take a punch so you won’t be afraid to receive one. After practicing, you will learn how to block, absorb, and redirect the person’s punch to your advantage.
Well, I was very humbled for the next 30 minutes and several practices after that. My guess is he landed over 30 punches to my face and body, along with several kicks.
However, he taught me how to breathe if I think I will get punched.
He had me enter the ring with several people of higher rank than me, and we practiced and practiced.
Over the years, I entered several tournaments and some full-contact events, and sometimes I won, but I was rarely injured.
Over time, my fear of taking a punch diminished, and my preferred fighting style became counterpunching. Once I feel your punch coming, I block and then respond.
B2B sales engineers are no different.
Objections are punches.
And most average B2b sales engineers?
They flinch, retreat, or freeze the moment they get hit.
A unique response specifically from B2B sales engineers is surprise and confusion.
“What? The proposal and application recommendations were brilliant. How could they have objections?”
If ego kicks in and they become defensive, the deal is over.
If they flinch and do not know how to handle sales objections professionally, their competitors win the deal.
Top performers don’t.
They expect the punch, absorb it, and stay in control.
The Problem: B2B Sales Engineers Aren’t Trained to Take a Punch ( Objections)
I have trained salespeople for over 40 years. I wrote a white paper you can download here on Sales Training Reimagined. Often, when asked to help a B2B sales team with sales engineers, the sales engineers may have already received some training. The trouble is the design, delivery and focus of that training.
Most B2B sales engineer training focuses on:
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Pitching
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Product knowledge
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Applications
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Closing techniques
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How to use the CRM
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How to enter an order
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How to do their call reports and expense reports
But ignores the most predictable part of the job:
Resistance.
So, when objections come, B2B sales engineers:
- Take it personally
- Get defensive
- Discount too quickly
- Or abandon the deal entirely
That’s not a skill problem.
That’s a preparation problem.
The Reality: Objections Are Predictable Punches For B2B Sales Engineers
In fighting, you don’t guess what’s coming.
You train for the most common strikes—over and over.
You develop muscle memory, or Mu Shin (no mind). Your body responds based on your training and practice.
What are the top punches ( objections) sales engineers will likely see, and how do you professionally handle them?
First, we identify them.
Then we practice, practice, and practice more!
Same in B2B sales.
Here are the punches every B2B sales engineer will take:
Punch #1: “You’re Too Expensive”
What Average Reps Do:
- Panic
- Justify price
- Offer a discount
- Offer free products or services
What’s Really Happening:
You failed to establish value before presenting price.
How to Train for “You Are You Too Expensive”?
Drill: Value Reinforcement
Teach reps to respond:
“Compared to what?”
Or:
“Help me understand—what were you expecting based on the problem we discussed?”
Then anchor back to:
- Business impact
- Cost of inaction
- Outcomes
- Your unique value proposition
No-Smoke-And-Mirrors Insight: The goal isn’t to defend price.
It’s to reframe the comparison.
Punch #2: “We’re Going with a Competitor”
What Average Reps Do:
- Concede
- Ask weak follow-ups
- Move on
What’s Really Happening:
You lost control of differentiation early.
How to Train for “We’re Going with a Competitor”?
Drill: Competitive Disruption
Coach reps to respond:
“That makes sense—what specifically stood out to you about them?”
Then:
“Would it be helpful to compare that to what we discussed to make sure you’re getting exactly what you need?”
We encourage what I call the Apples and Apples Exercise, where we walk through each requirement we quoted and compare it to what the competitor offered. In most cases, they do not match, and that creates a new conversation.
No-Smoke-And-Mirrors Insight: This keeps you in the fight instead of walking away. You may even lose this sale, but now you are in consideration for future opportunities.
Punch #3: “We Don’t Have a Budget”
In our no-smoke-and-mirrors sales enablement training, we provide qualifying skills training and coaching. Qualifying ensures B2B sales engineers focus their time on sales opportunities that are likely to close and turn into revenue. We train salespeople to relentlessly qualify, as I shared in a recent post about improving your close rates, so they spend time on opportunities that will likely close. Budget is one of the qualifying criteria salespeople must establish long before the quote, follow-up, and attempted close.
What Average Reps Do:
- Accept it as fact
- Lower price
- Follow up later
What’s Really Happening:
Budget is often a priority issue, not a money issue.
How to Train for “We Don’t Have a Budget”?
First, refresh the qualifying skills training.
Then…
Drill: Budget Reframe
Response:
“Got it—does that mean this isn’t a priority right now, or the timing just isn’t right?”
Or:
“If this problem continues, what does it cost the business?”
Or:
“ We hear this often and after we develop a business case and ROI our product typically pays for itself in 6 months and every month there after you realize $_______ more profit. Can we work together so I can help you create a budget to solve this problem?”
No-Smoke-And-Mirrors Insight: shift from “budget” → business impact
Punch #4: “We Don’t Have Time”
Decision makers are busy. I would argue busier than they have ever been. In B2B sales, over 70% of buying decisions are made to fix or avoid a future problem. Their problem should have been identified and quantified in the discovery and qualifying conversations. Today, in economically uncertain times, B2B sales engineers must quickly identify problems and challenges and create a dotted line to how their product or service solves them and the financial impact.
Often, with strong discovery and qualifying questions, we help identify and frame the decision maker’s problem. This creates urgency.
What Average Reps Do:
- Back off immediately
- Try to reschedule
- Lose momentum
What’s Really Happening:
They don’t see enough value to prioritize you.
How to Train for “We Don’t Have Time”?
First, revisit discovery, qualifying, and business case-building skills.
Practice over and over again until conversations repeatedly follow your formal sales process.
Drill: Time Compression
Response:
“Understood—usually when teams say that, it’s because this hasn’t been tied to a critical outcome yet. Can we spend 2 minutes on that?”
We hear that often, like you, many of our customers are doing the job of three people and are busier than they have ever been. Can we spend 15 minutes redefining the impact of solving this problem?
No-Smoke-And-Mirrors Insight: Respect time—Demonstrate competence- Build trust but earn attention
Punch #5: “Your Payment Terms Don’t Work”
Again, if you hear this, it is a sign that you have not followed the formal sales process and have skipped discovery and qualification.
What Average Reps Do:
- Escalate internally
- Concede terms
- Delay deal
- Walk away
What’s Really Happening:
You’re negotiating structure before reinforcing value.
How to Train for “Your Payment Terms Don’t Work”.
Drill: Value Before Terms
Response:
“We can absolutely look at structure—before we do, can we confirm this is the right solution for what you need?”
No-Smoke-And-Mirrors Insight: Never negotiate details before confirming decision confidence.
Punch #6: “We are staying with our current vendor.”
What Average Reps Do:
- Back off immediately
- Try to reschedule
- Lose momentum
What’s Really Happening:
- You failed to demonstrate value and remove the risk of working with someone new.
How to Train for We are staying with our current vendor”.
This is a sign that we failed to conduct discovery, qualifying, and sense-making to determine the buyer’s problem, their buying process, and where they are in it. It also indicates that your value proposition and business case were not compelling enough.
Drill: Your Unique Value and Business Case before Quote
- Response:
“ I’m surprised, when we met and worked together, we discovered our solution delivered $_____ in X months and your current vendors proposal did not. Did I drop the ball and miss other buying criteria and requirements I should have included?”
Or:
“Would it be helpful to compare that to what we discussed to make sure you’re getting exactly what you need?”
The above are some common objections that B2B sales engineers need to learn to take. In our sales training and coaching program, we work with sales teams, list the objections they hear, and practice handling them professionally.
How to Train B2B Sales Engineers to Take Punches ( Professionally Handle Objections)
Knowing the objections isn’t enough.
You must condition B2B sales engineers to handle impact without losing control.
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Normalize the Punch
Tell them:
- If you’re not getting objections, you’re not in real deals
- Objections mean engagement—not rejection
No_ Smoke-And-Mirrors Insight: Remove the emotional reaction.
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Script the First Response (Not the Whole Conversation)
Reps don’t need full scripts.
They need:
- A confident first sentence
- A question that regains control
No-Smoke-And-Mirrors Insight: The first 5 seconds after an objection determine everything.
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Repetition Through Role Play
In karate, you don’t “talk about” punches.
You absorb them in training.
Watching videos or reading books about Bruce Lee or Chuck Norris does not make you a black belt, training, instruction, and practice do.
Same here:
- Run objection drills weekly
- Increase intensity over time
- Practice under pressure
- Create real-life scenarios
- For your top performers, add more difficulty and emotion
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Study Top Performers
Top reps:
- Don’t rush to answer
- Stay calm
- They stay in the moment
- Ask better questions
Record and review:
- How they respond
- Their tone
- Their pacing
No-Smoke-And-Mirrors Insight: Confidence is modeled, not taught
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Track Objection Conversion
Measure:
- Objection → deal progression rate
- Not just win/loss
No-Smoke-And-Mirrors Insight: This turns objections into a performance metric, not a fear trigger
What is the Shift That Changes Everything for B2B Sales Engineers and How do They Handle Objections?
Average B2B sales engineers think:
“Objections mean I’m losing the deal.”
Top performing B2B sales engineers think:
“Objections mean I’m finally in a real conversation.”
“They wouldn’t be sharing objections if they did not still have an interest in working with me.”
Final Thought on B2B Sales Engineers and How to Take a Punch
In fighting, the person who wins isn’t the one who never gets hit.
It’s the one who:
- Expects the punch
- Trained for the punch
- Stays composed
- Practiced and developed sales muscle memory
- Responds with control
B2B sales are no different.
If your team isn’t trained to take punches, they’ll keep losing fights they should win.
If you are a CEO, business owner, or PE investor, this means your team made investments to win sales, and you will not receive an ROI on those investments. The longer you allow your B2B sales engineers to take punches and not know how to handle objections, the more your cost of sales will increase, and your margins and net income will decrease.
You don’t rise to the level of your pitch.
You fall to the level of your preparation for resistance.
Let’s schedule a call if you wish to increase your close rate by 10% or more by training your sales engineers to handle objections professionally.