“That’s more than we budgeted” is the most common objection in Dryrun practice calls. It is also the most misread. When we replayed the calls reps lost on price, most buyers weren’t arguing about the number. They were saying this quarter was the wrong one to spend it.

Listen for the calendar, not the number

Timing objections dressed up as price come with tells: a mention of the budget cycle, a project that has to land first, a new leader who hasn’t settled in. Top reps hear those and stop defending the price.

“Is it the number, or is it the timing? Because I can help with one of those.”

That one question splits the objection in two. If it’s the number, you negotiate. If it’s the timing, you build a plan that starts when the buyer can actually say yes, and you stop discounting a deal that was never going to close this month.

The CFO and Procurement scenarios in Dryrun both raise timing objections that sound like price. Run each one twice and compare the scorecards.