The three jobs of a sales bot
- Qualify: two or three questions that reveal budget, timeline, and who decides. Not a form — questions inside the conversation.
- Advance: every reply ends with a next step. “Here is the pricing” is a dead end; “Here is the pricing — which of these two fits your volume?” is a move.
- Disqualify: say no quickly when the fit is wrong. A bot that closes everything destroys the sales team’s trust in it within a week.
Handling the price objection properly
“Too expensive” almost never means the number is too high. It means the value is unclear or the comparison is wrong. A bot needs three prepared responses, not one.
| What they mean | Response move |
|---|---|
| I do not see the value | Break the price into unit cost and name what it replaces |
| A competitor is cheaper | Ask for the spec — usually a different scope, not a cheaper price |
| I cannot afford it now | Offer a smaller scope, not a discount |
Where bots beat humans
- Response time at 2am, in five languages, at consistent cost.
- Following up on the fourth touch, which humans reliably skip.
- Remembering what was said three weeks ago across forty concurrent threads.
- Never getting defensive when a prospect is rude.
Where humans must take over
The handoff rule should be explicit and written down: a bot escalates when the prospect asks about contract terms, mentions a deadline within two weeks, requests a call, or expresses frustration twice. Everything else it can carry.
A realistic setup checklist
| Layer | Content |
|---|---|
| Product layer | What it does, what it does not do, real price ranges, delivery constraints |
| Voice layer | Three sample conversations in your own tone — the bot copies structure, not phrases |
| Objection layer | The five objections you hear most, each with two responses |
| Boundary layer | What it may never promise, and the exact escalation triggers |
| Follow-up layer | Three touches: day 2, day 7, day 21 — each with new information, not a reminder |
FAQ
Q1How is this different from a FAQ bot?
A FAQ bot answers and stops. A sales bot answers and then moves: a question, a comparison, an invitation to the next step. The difference shows up in the number of conversations that reach a human.
Q2Will customers notice it is a bot?
Usually within two messages, and it matters less than people think. What customers punish is being misled and being made to repeat themselves — not automation itself.
Q3What is a realistic timeline to see results?
Weeks, not days. You need a few hundred real conversations before the objection layer is calibrated. Expect to rewrite it twice.
Based on desensitised conversation samples from real private-domain and customer-service work, plus public communication research. Each page is revised as reader feedback comes in. How we work