The Drill
You know the drill. You are talking with a prospect either face to face or on the phone and they try to blow you off by saying something like, “Can you leave me some literature, or can you fax or email me something.” When you hear this, your gut tells you they have no interest in what you are saying but you are still tempted and feel pressure to do what they ask. Instead of wasting your time by becoming a facilitator to their wishes, stop and address the issue head-on. When you do this you will discover that, indeed, they either have no interest in what you are saying or you will uncover a legitimate interest. Either way, you eliminate wasting your time in worthless follow-up.
Depending on personality style there are several responses that can be used. Although these responses differ in subtlety, they all confront the ‘put-offs’ head-on. If you fail to confront the BS and Intellectual Smoke that you hear you will fall victim to endless follow-ups and will feel like a schmuck.
Below are some word for word scripts that I have used and found very effective:
For the Direct Personality Style:
___________I appreciate that, may I ask you a question? (Wait for response – they will say yes 95% of the time) Usually, when people tell me to send them some literature they have no real interest in what I am saying and they are simply being polite and trying to get rid of me. Is that what you are telling me?
If they say yes then thank them for their time and move on. If they say no, then say, ______“I’m confused what are you trying to tell me”? Then shut up and listen.
OR
“__________ I appreciate that but let’s be realistic here. I can send you all the information in the world, but if you’re not ready or able to take advantage of it then we’re just wasting each other’s time. Now I’m happy to send you some information that will help you (state your unique benefit here), but before I do that I need to ask you a few questions. Are you ok with that?
For the Extroverted Social-Personality Style:
___________, I appreciate your interest, however, it is my experience that information like this, even when it’s valuable, usually just gets buried under a stack of paper and is never really looked at seriously. (Pause) So,______ may I make a suggestion? (wait for answer) Now that we’re on the phone together, why don’t we take 5 minutes and address specifically what you are looking for, and then we can both decide if it makes sense to have any further conversation. Does that make sense?
For the Introverted Cautious Personality Style:
______, I appreciate your interest. If you are like me you don’t want to be rude when you are not really interested. To keep from being rude, I just tell reps to send their information, and then I hope they lose my number. ______, please be honest with me, is that what’s happening here?”
Try using the style that best fits your personality and see what happens.