How to handle: "We've never heard of your company. Are you established?"
Share company credentials and history, then provide customer logos and testimonials so the conversation moves from "we've never heard of your company" to the business outcome they actually care about.
What this objection really means
Buying from you carries personal career risk. They need proof — social, financial, and technical — before they can defend the choice internally. For "we've never heard of your company" specifically, the underlying job is to share company credentials and history before you say anything else — that one move usually reveals whether this is a genuine blocker or a reflex response.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What does "We've never heard of your company. Are you established?" really mean?
- Buying from you carries personal career risk. They need proof — social, financial, and technical — before they can defend the choice internally. In this specific case, the signal you're looking for is whether you've done step one: share company credentials and history. If that's missing, the objection will keep resurfacing.
- What's the best framework for handling this objection?
- Use the Trust, Risk & Security framework: Acknowledge the risk → Show proof (logos, references, certs) → Offer a low-risk first step → Pre-empt the internal critic. For "we've never heard of your company" specifically, the move that matters most is to provide customer logos and testimonials before you discuss financial stability and backing.
- Should I respond immediately or ask a question first?
- Ask first. A useful opener here is: "When you say 'we've never heard of your company', what's the specific thing driving that?" — it earns you the right to respond and prevents you from solving the wrong version of the objection.
- What's the single most common mistake reps make here?
- Volunteering reassurance the buyer didn't ask for — it amplifies the risk. Specifically on "we've never heard of your company", reps tend to skip "share company credentials and history" — which is the one move that turns the objection from a wall into a conversation.
- How should I follow up if the call ends with "we've never heard of your company"?
- Send a short recap that mirrors their exact language, references one piece of proof (case study, benchmark, or customer quote), and proposes one specific, low-commitment next step with a date attached.
- Can I practice this objection with an AI buyer?
- Yes — LemCoach scenarios let you run a live roleplay where the AI prospect uses "We've never heard of your company. Are you established?" verbatim, then scores your response against the key points: Share company credentials and history; Provide customer logos and testimonials; Discuss financial stability and backing.