How to Handle:
“The team won't adopt it / Too much resistance”
Adoption concerns are often legitimate—many software purchases fail due to low usage. Prospects need confidence that their team will actually use and benefit from the solution.
Why Prospects Say This
They've seen past tools fail due to poor adoption. Their team is resistant to change. They lack champions to drive internal adoption. Leadership hasn't bought in.
Best Responses
The Champion Strategy
“That's the right concern to have—adoption makes or breaks any tool. Who on your team would benefit most from this? If we can get 2-3 champions excited first, adoption spreads naturally from there.”
Why It Works
Focuses on bottom-up adoption through internal champions.
Best For
Identifying early adopters
The Simplicity Sell
“A lot of tools fail because they're too complicated. Ours is designed to be simpler than what your team is doing now—not just 'easy to learn' but 'easier than the alternative.' We can run a test with your most skeptical user.”
Why It Works
Addresses complexity as the root cause of adoption failure.
Best For
Tools with strong UX
The Adoption Support
“We've seen this before, so we have a whole adoption playbook—launch training, in-app guidance, and a customer success manager for the first 90 days. What specific pockets of resistance do you anticipate?”
Why It Works
Shows you have resources specifically for adoption challenges.
Best For
Demonstrating implementation support
Do's and Don'ts
Do This
- Identify potential internal champions early
- Understand specific sources of resistance
- Highlight ease of use and low learning curve
- Offer training, onboarding, and adoption support
Don't Do This
- Dismiss adoption concerns as unfounded
- Promise 'everyone will love it'
- Ignore legitimate usability challenges
- Underestimate internal politics
Follow-up Questions to Ask
“Who on your team would benefit most from this?”
“What's caused adoption failures in the past?”
“Who would be most resistant and why?”
“Would a pilot with willing participants help prove adoption?”
Industry-Specific Variations
“Salespeople hate new tools”
“Salespeople hate tools that slow them down—I get it. That's why ours is designed to save time, not add steps. Most of our reps say they got time back within the first week. Can I show you the specific workflow?”
“Engineers will just work around it”
“Engineers find workarounds for bad tools. That's why we built this with engineering input—it fits into existing workflows rather than replacing them. Want me to set up a technical eval with your team?”
Pro Tips
- Find the internal pain points—someone is suffering from the status quo
- Champions matter more than executive mandates for long-term adoption
- Pilot programs with willing teams prove adoption before full rollout
- Low adoption is often a symptom of poor fit—qualify harder upfront
Tired of Handling Objections?
Let us handle the prospecting and objections for you. We book qualified meetings with decision-makers who are ready to talk - no cold call rejections.
Get Qualified Meetings