How We Handle Objections at Trevean Spice

When you’re building a startup that’s disrupting the traditional spice industry, objections are inevitable. At Trevean Spice, we’ve learned that anticipating these objections isn’t just helpful—it’s essential to our success. Let me share how a simple technique called PREP (Proactive Response & Engagement Planning) has transformed the way our team communicates.

The Challenge: Engineering vs. Business Priorities

Last month, I had an important meeting with Maya, our engineering manager. I needed her team to prioritize developing our “Smart Labeling with NFC chips” feature—a key part of our digital strategy that would allow customers to access recipes by scanning their spice jars.

In previous meetings about new features, I’d often walk away frustrated. Technical constraints would surface halfway through implementation, timelines would stretch, and we’d end up with compromises that didn’t fully deliver on the original vision.

This time, I decided to try something different.

Enter PREP: Proactive Response & Engagement Planning

Why PREP? For our Trevean Spice context, PREP works particularly well since it relates to cooking terminology while also conveying the concept effectively. Let me take you through what I mean.

Before the meeting, I took five minutes to ask myself: “What will Maya object to about this feature request?” In past meetings it was becoming clear she was frustrated with the complexities of the features and resource constraints to deliver on-time.

I jotted down:

  1. Resource constraints (her team is already working on the AR app)
  2. Technical complexity of NFC integration
  3. Questions about actual customer value vs. development cost

Rather than rushing into my pitch about how this feature would help us stand out against competitors and drive our “digital recipe library” engagement, I decided to address these potential objections upfront.

The PREP-Powered Meeting

When we sat down, I started differently:

“Maya, I’d like to discuss implementing the NFC recipe access feature we outlined in our product roadmap. Before I go into why I think this is important for our Q3 goals, I want to acknowledge a few things:

Maya’s reaction was immediate—her posture relaxed, and I could see her surprise at having her concerns acknowledged before she even voiced them.

“Thanks for that,” she said. “You’re right that resources are tight, but I appreciate you thinking through this from our perspective. Let’s talk about the technical requirements first.”

Instead of spending the meeting defending my request against objections, we spent it collaboratively problem-solving. By anticipating her concerns, I’d created space for a productive conversation.

Beyond Anticipation: The Question Behind the Question

During our discussion, Maya asked, “Do we have data on how many customers would actually use this feature?”

In the past, I might have simply admitted I didn’t have exact numbers and promised to follow up. But remembering the advice to look for the “question behind the question,” I tried a different approach:

“I don’t have specific usage projections, but in our customer research, 84% expressed interest in exploring global cuisines, but lack authentic ingredients or knowledge. This feature directly addresses that knowledge gap. Are you concerned that the development effort isn’t translating into customer engagement? Because we could start with a limited test group to validate before full implementation.”

This response acknowledged her question while addressing the underlying concern: would the feature be worth the investment? By offering a test-first approach, I found middle ground that addressed both our perspectives.

How PREP Has Changed Our Culture at Trevean Spice

We’ve now made PREP a standard practice across our company:

The result? Shorter meetings, faster decisions, and fewer surprises during implementation. Our cross-functional collaboration has improved dramatically, and we’re making better decisions by considering multiple perspectives earlier in the process.

Try PREP in Your Startup

Whether you’re pitching investors, launching a new product feature, or simply sending an email to your team, take a moment to ask: “What are the objections I might receive?”

This simple practice has helped us at Origin Spice move past defensive conversations and into productive collaboration. In a startup environment where time is precious and alignment is crucial, PREP has become one of our most valuable communication tools.

As we continue building our ethically-sourced, small-batch spice business, we’ve found that being prepared for objections doesn’t just help us respond better—it helps us create better ideas in the first place.

What obvious objections might you anticipate in your next important conversation?