BY Liz Wendling
"Just send me some information" is a trap. Don't take the bait!
One of the biggest objections heard around the world is “Can you send me some information?” It pops up early and often. What do you do now?
Should you reach for the stamp and lick the envelope or save your saliva?
If your response to send me some information is “sure, what’s your address”, you’re done. You lost control and most likely the business. Most of the time potential customers are blowing you off and have no interest but can’t or won’t tell you no. If you’re consistently being met with “send me some information,” that’s a red flag that your initial approach is weak, ineffective and not customer focused. You’re getting that response because every word out of your mouth prior to that objection was off track. When you use flawed opening value statements, you give your power away and lose the opportunity.
The reason is not obvious, because salespeople have never been trained in a proper, more efficient way. They think they need to be more persistent, consistent, and enthusiastic. The outdated never give up and keep trying strategy does not work.
The quickest and most effective way to get rid of a salesperson is to pull out the most popular and overused one-liner; send me some information.
It’s been working for decades. It works because as soon people use it, you disappear. It’s like a magic trick, and it works every time. If you don’t probe farther and ask a few qualifying questions, then prepare yourself and suit up to play the sales chasing game. A game where salespeople waste endless amounts of time and energy on people who had no interest in the first place.
Here’s what usually happens in a version of the sales chasing game.
You take the bait and eagerly send out information about your company, wait a few days, make several attempts to get them on the phone, leave a few messages, maybe even send a few emails, and right after you catch your breath from the chase, you attempt to leave one more voice mail and hope that you connect. You can never win at this exhausting game.
There are many ways to uncover if someone is trying to blow you off and get rid of you. Your approach is everything. If you continue to keep using the same tactic that is yielding the same objection, I encourage you to stop and take a good look at why? We all know that continuing to repeat the same actions but expecting different results is insanity. When you change your approach, you change your results.
Every business is different and every business should have a customized approach. One version is try to uncover what’s behind the objection and ask questions and dig a little deeper. When you dig you get answers. When you ask you get clarity. When you get clarity you can decide if there’s a reason to move forward or not.
Keep in mind there are dozens of ways to handle this scenario. Try something like this, "I’d be happy to send some information however the services we offer are targeted to our clients' specific needs, so it’s difficult to get that in a brochure. Brochures can't answer the questions to your specific and unique needs. Is there something specific you would like to see or help me understand exactly what information would be useful to you?" That is just one of many.
If they can't describe their area of interest, it means you haven't identified their problems or issues, or they simply aren't interested. If they can give you specifics and the interest is there, then by all means lick the envelope and send the information. If they can’t elaborate on why you should send information and you sense a blow off, save your saliva and move on. Either way, you have a better idea of where you stand. A quick rejection is better than playing the chasing game. Celebrate the speedy rejection and move on to a real opportunity.
It’s up to you to find out who is genuinely interested from those who are interested in getting rid of you.
Liz Wendling is the author of two books (and counting) — The Unstoppable Business Woman and Everyone Sells Something, a columnist for Colorado Biz Magazine, and one of the first nationally credentialed facilitators for Napoleon Hill Mastermind groups. Learn more at lizwendling.com.