You troubleshoot systems every single day. A water heater isn’t making hot water. Lights are flickering in a bedroom. A compressor isn’t kicking on.
You don’t guess. You don’t panic.
You ask questions, eliminate what it isn’t, find the true condition, and fix it.
Now a customer says, “That’s too expensive.”
And suddenly you freeze. You offer financing. You drop to a lower option. You feel like you lost.
You didn’t lose. You just forgot that you already know how to do this.
In this episode, Chris Elmore shows you that handling an objection is the same skill you use on every diagnostic call — the only difference is there’s a person on the other end instead of a machine.
And a person has emotions. So you add two steps before you troubleshoot: listen, and empathize. After that, it’s the same thing you’ve always done. Ask questions. Find the true condition. Problem-solve.
He also shows you what happens when you skip those steps. LEAP becomes PLEA. And now you’re begging instead of leading.
-Service Excellence
Inside This Episode:
- Why an objection is not a no — it’s an opportunity to learn more, teach more, or serve more
- The five most common objection forms and why most objections are just different words for the same thing
- Why handling an objection doesn’t mean getting a yes — it means taking the next step
- How troubleshooting a system and troubleshooting an objection use the exact same process
- The difference between a smokescreen and a true condition — and why you can only problem-solve for the condition
- Why skipping straight to the solution turns LEAP into PLEA — and now you’re begging
- The gas station ceiling fan story that shows why you’d never problem-solve without diagnosing first
Episode Chapters & Summary
1. An Objection Is Not a No
Most techs hear an objection and hear a door closing. Chris reframes it: an objection is an opportunity to learn more, teach more, or serve more. And handling it doesn’t mean getting a yes. It means taking the next step toward one. Change that standard and objections stop feeling like failures.
Key Takeaways:
- An objection is an opening, not an ending
- Handling it means moving forward, not closing the deal on the spot
- Customers spend three things: time, money, and emotion — objections come from one or all three
2. The Five Objections You’ll Always Face
I need to talk to my spouse. I want to think about it. That’s too expensive. I can’t afford it. I need a second opinion. Almost every objection is a variation of one of these five. Different words, same root. When you recognize the pattern, you stop reacting to the words and start responding to what’s underneath them.
Key Takeaways:
- Nearly every objection falls into one of five categories
- Different words can mask the same root objection
- Most objections are triggered by something unexpected
- Recognizing the category is the first step to handling it
3. LEAP: The Process
Listen to understand, not to recall a script. Empathize to validate the emotion without agreeing with the statement. Ask questions to separate smokescreens from true conditions. Problem-solve only when you’ve found the real barrier. In that order. Every time.
Key Takeaways:
- Listening means combining what they just said with everything you’ve already observed
- Empathy validates emotion; sympathy agrees and weakens your position
- Smokescreens aren’t real — you can only solve true conditions
- The order matters. Skip a step and the whole thing falls apart.
4. You Already Know How to Do This
This is the core of the episode. Every tech troubleshoots systems all day — senses, meters, gauges, tools. You ask questions. You eliminate what it isn’t. You find the true condition. You fix it. An objection is the exact same process. The only difference is a person has emotions and a machine doesn’t. Add Listen and Empathize at the front, and the rest is what you’ve always done.
Key Takeaways:
- Troubleshooting a system and troubleshooting an objection are the same skill
- The machine has no emotions — the customer does. That’s the only new part.
- You already eliminate smokescreens on every diagnostic call
- The skill that makes you good at your trade is the skill that handles objections
5. The Gas Station Rule
You’re at the pump. Someone sees your truck and asks about their flickering lights. You’d never diagnose it from a gas station conversation. You don’t have enough information. So why would you diagnose a customer’s objection from a single sentence? When someone says “that’s too expensive” and you jump straight to a solution, you just skipped the troubleshooting. And you’d never do that on a system.
Key Takeaways:
- You’d never fix a system without diagnosing it first — don’t do it with an objection
- A one-sentence objection doesn’t give you enough information to solve anything
- Jumping to a solution before asking questions is guessing, not troubleshooting
- Diagnose first. Solve second. Always.
6. When LEAP Becomes PLEA
Skip Listen and Empathize. Jump straight to Problem-Solve. The letters rearrange. LEAP becomes PLEA. And plea means beg. It’s the same thing that happens on a diagnostic when you assume the fix and it doesn’t work — you’re backtracking, apologizing, begging for another chance. Do LEAP in order and you lead. Skip ahead and you plead.
Key Takeaways:
- LEAP out of order becomes PLEA — begging instead of leading
- Skipping to the solution before diagnosing kills credibility
- If your first answer fails, you’re starting over from a weaker position
- Follow the letters. In order. Every time.
7. Troubleshooting with Emotions
Chris ties it together. Handling objections is not a sales technique. It’s troubleshooting with a person instead of a machine. Your job doesn’t end when you tell the customer what’s wrong. It extends to helping them figure out how to get it done. That’s what a professional expert authority does. An objection doesn’t mean no. It means they need your help to move forward.
Key Takeaways:
- Handling objections is troubleshooting with emotions involved
- Your job extends past diagnosis — help them figure out how to move forward
- An objection means “I’m not sure how” — not “no”
- You’re not being pushy. You’re being the professional they need you to be.
