Sooner or later, a prospect is going to
tell you, "Send literature." It's a natural response to a
salesperson. It's an easy way to reject the salesperson without
getting personal.
Before you agree to send literature,
ask yourself, "Why is the prospect requesting literature? Is this a
sign of no interest?"
Ask the prospect, "Maggie, it's no
problem; I can send you some literature. But before I do, I need to
ask you a question. Okay?" (Notice the up-front contract: You've
made an offer to do something - send literature - but you need to
understand the situation better, thus you want to ask a question.
And, you're asking for the prospect's acceptance.)
Maggie agrees to let you ask a
question, so you continue, "Sometimes when people ask me to send
literature before they know anything about my product (or service),
as opposed to inviting me in, what they're really saying to me is
they just don't have any interest. But they don't want to hurt my
feelings. Is that the case here Maggie?"
If you decide to send literature to a
prospect, don't do it without an up-front contract that explains
what happens next.
"George, I have a tremendous amount
of literature which may or may not be of interest to you. Do you
mind if I ask you a few questions to make sure you'll be reviewing
the right material before I send it?"
The questions you will ask will do
one of two things:
- Narrow down the literature you
need to send the prospect; or
- Stir up enough interest in the
prospect's mind to give you the opportunity to try a second time
to set an appointment.
If you've got to send literature,
then continue as follows:
"I'm going to send you the
literature, George. It's on its way. It should arrive by Thursday.
How much time will you need to review it?"
Wait for George to respond, and then
say, "Let's assume you do get the literature by Thursday. You say
you'll need 24 hours to review it, so I'll call you Friday. And
here's what I'd like to have happen, if you're comfortable with
this. I'd like you to be able to say, 'John, I read the literature
and I have some questions,' or you can say, 'I've read the
literature and there's absolutely no reason for us to get together.'
If you tell me you have some interest, George, then I'd like you to
invite me in for a face-to-face meeting. Is that fair?"
Does anyone have any idea how much
money is wasted every year by salespeople who send literature to
prospects only to never hear anything from the prospects? It's got
to be enough money to cure the national debt! Don't contribute to
the waste. Set an up-front contract before you mail your literature.
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Sandler Systems, Inc. All rights
reserved.
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