"We tried automation before. It didn't work. Why would yours be different?" Client 3 on discovery call. Perfect fit. Real pain. Budget approved. Then this objection. I almost lost the deal. THE BAD RESPONSE (What I DIDN'T Say): "Well, our automation is better because..." Defensive. Salesy. Makes them dig in. THE GOOD RESPONSE (What I DID Say): "Tell me about that experience. What happened?" Curious. Non-defensive. Gets real info. WHAT THEY SHARED: "Previous vendor built something. Took 6 weeks. Accuracy was 70%. We still had to manually review everything. Eventually just stopped using it." THEIR REAL CONCERNS: Implementation time Accuracy reliability Ongoing maintenance burden Not "automation doesn't work." But "will THIS automation work?" MY RESPONSE: "Makes sense why you're cautious. Here's how we'd do this differently: IMPLEMENTATION: 1 week, not 6. Start with limited scope that definitely works, expand after proven. ACCURACY: Show you test results on YOUR documents before go-live. We aim for 95%+ on core fields. Anything less, we don't deploy. MAINTENANCE: Built-in monitoring alerts me if issues arise. You're not troubleshooting alone. Most important - 30 days in, if you're not seeing clear time savings, I'll refund the setup fee. You only keep paying if it's working." Guarantee removed all risk. CLIENT SIGNED 2 DAYS LATER. COMMON OBJECTIONS AND RESPONSES: OBJECTION: "Too expensive." RESPONSE: "Compared to what? You're spending $X monthly on manual work. This pays for itself in Y months." OBJECTION: "We're too unique/complex." RESPONSE: "Let me show you a workflow I built for [similar industry]. Different details, same core process. Your complexity is the reason you need automation." OBJECTION: "We need to think about it." RESPONSE: "Of course. What specifically do you need to think through? Timeline? Investment? How it would integrate with your team?" OBJECTION: "What if it breaks?" RESPONSE: "Good question. I monitor all workflows daily. Average response time when something needs fixing is 2 hours. Plus maintenance includes all updates and fixes."