When a large manufacturing client rejected our consulting solution, I saw it as an opportunity to listen and adapt. Their concerns were clear: the proposal felt too generic for their complex supply chain. Instead of defending, I asked questions, shared success stories from similar clients, and proposed a tailored pilot program to minimize risk and prove value. The pilot delivered measurable results, earning their trust and turning skepticism into a long-term partnership. This experience reinforced a key lesson: rejection isn’t the end—it’s a chance to listen, build trust, and adapt to client needs.

In my opinion: Steps to Successfully Resolving Sales Objections Neutrally acknowledge the objection. Ask open-ended questions to understand what is really driving the objection. Position a response, based on the customer's answers to these questions. Check to be sure that the response satisfies the customer's concern.

- After rejection, staying calm is the key and try to find the areas which didn’t went well. - try to gather more information from the lead and fill the gaps of the solution you provided. - this experience will also help you in future when you have same kind of opportunity. - Treat this incident as an opportunity to improve on the use cases that will make your solution more effective.

To win over a client who rejects your consulting solutions, start by actively listening to their concerns and asking clarifying questions to understand their perspective. Demonstrate empathy and acknowledge their priorities. Offer a tailored alternative or adjustment to your solution based on their feedback, showing flexibility and adaptability. Highlight the value and potential ROI of your proposal with specific, relevant examples. Build trust by sharing success stories or testimonials from similar clients. Finally, maintain open communication, demonstrating your commitment to meeting their needs and ensuring their success.

In my experience customers’ solution proposals are mainly based on: 1. capability to build trust, 2. business problem understanding, 3. results committment. If something goes wrong we need to understand where the concerns come from and work either on the relationship, on the “why” the customer is asking for a solution or on the value the solution is promising to bring to her/him. In fact it’s a matter of problem solving and the failure should be searched in one of the steps of the process. Understand concerns can be a matter of problem setting or solution validation, sharing success stories refers to trust building and piloting is a powerfull solution validation tool. We also have competitors who might have offered a better solution.