Imagine you're visiting a potential client, a head chef of a popular hotel, who is happy with his current food supplier. He says, 'Why should I switch? Your product costs more.' How would you handle this objection?
RoleBusiness Development Associate
DifficultyDifficult
TopicTechnical
Asked at
Why This Is Asked
The role requires consultative selling to convert chefs and owners who are loyal to competitors. The interviewer screens for objection-handling, product knowledge, and the ability to shift the conversation from price to value, aligning with the Activation and Visibility parts of AVA.
General Approach
Follow a three-step structure: Acknowledge, Reframe, and Engage. Show that you listen, then use facts, samples, and demos to prove value, ending with a low-risk trial offer.
General Answer
Acknowledge the chef's point directly rather than dismissing it: agree that price matters and that switching suppliers is a real disruption, which shows you're listening rather than immediately pushing back. Reframe the conversation from price to total value: ask what matters most to him in a supplier, such as consistency, yield, prep time, shelf life, or exclusivity of certain cuts or ingredients, and connect your product's specific advantages to those priorities rather than arguing about price in isolation. Support the reframe with something concrete he can evaluate himself, such as a product sample, a side-by-side taste or yield test in his own kitchen, or a case study from a comparable establishment, rather than just asserting quality. Close by lowering the risk of trying you: propose a small trial order or a limited-menu test rather than asking him to switch his entire supply at once, since a low-commitment first step is much easier for a loyal customer to say yes to. Follow up after the trial with a specific conversation about the results, rather than assuming silence means satisfaction.
PH Interview Gotcha
Candidates often reply defensively, 'Mas mura naman yung sa amin kung tutuusin' without proof. Instead, use consultative selling: acknowledge their concern, then present tangible comparisons and an invitation to try.
Sample STAR Answer▾
S
Situation
During my time as a sales associate at a local food distributor, I approached a popular hotel's head chef to introduce our soy sauce. He immediately objected, 'I'm satisfied with my current brand and your price is 10% higher. Why should I switch?'
T
Task
I needed to overcome his resistance by demonstrating the product's superior value without sounding pushy or disrespectful of his existing choice.
A
Action
I acknowledged his loyalty but asked permission to do a quick comparison. I showed him a blind taste test card from a recent food expo where chefs preferred our product's richer umami flavor. I also calculated the cost-per-plate rather than per-bottle, showing that a little goes a long way and the actual impact on his food cost was negligible. I left complimentary samples and offered to do a free culinary workshop for his kitchen team on new Filipino-fusion dishes using our ingredients.
R
Result
He agreed to the workshop. After the team experienced the product's performance, he switched to our brand for three key menu items, resulting in a 20% increase in average order size from that hotel.
Key Takeaway
Objections on price are best handled by reframing value, showing proof, and engaging the customer in an experiential way.
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