Tweet

When to Send Literature

Written by: Andrew Wall

Article Overview: 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?"

When to Send Literature

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:
1. Narrow down the literature you need to send the prospect; or
2. 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.

Related Articles
  Putting the marketing basics in place Part 2
  Objections – Common Responses
  Should we cold call?
  A FEW SELLING DOS AND DON'TS
  Selling on the Telephone Part 1

Article Tags: appointment, feelings, literature, maggie, natural response, one of two things, salesperson, second time



Related Forum Posts
Re: Please review my business plan - Send me a private message with your email and I will send you back the business plan
On The Topic of Guest Bloggers - To have a guest blogger on your blog, you can: 1.) Write a post on your blog, seeking guest bloggers 2.) Let your blogging friends know (send them an email) 3.) Place a free ad in Craigslist 4.) Ask bloggers you know, and are in your niche 5.) Send a bulletin to your social networks There are other ways, these are but a few. Also you could simply create a page on your site dedicated solely to recruiting Guest Bloggers. Hope this helps in your efforts. Missy.
Executives summary - need your opinon - I have an idea of a new web based business that could become a new mass media in the future. Briefly it's about distribution of some content in printed format among the subscribers. I need your opinion... Could you please review it and criticize? I appreciate any comments - negative and positive. Send me an email or a private message with your email and I'll send you a word document. Or I can try to publish it somewhere and send you a link. Thank you very much Michael.ckg@gmail.com
Re: What is your biggest challenge? Today? - Here are some tips on how to choose the right outsource company for your business: *Figure out what expectations you have and how you plan to reach them. *Do a background check on the companies that you have shortlisted. *Send the company a sample project for them to accomplished so you can gauge their infrastructure and competence. *Determine if the offshore service provider is financially strong. *Make sure there are no culture clashes between you and the service provider. *See if the service provider is one that has plans to build a long-term relationship with you.
Re: Online Sales course - [quote="Carmen":3oy4kumj]Hi, My new project at work will be to sale our products online, can you give me some advice of webpages/books/seminars about the subject! thanks! Carmen[/quote:3oy4kumj] You might want to talk to a good web company that will be able to show you some options with your current resouces. On the other side you might want to pick up couple books about Google, Amazon, to see how they developed their website, sales concepts, and the mind set they used to develop it. Send me an email with any web stuff and I'll be more than happy to answer any question you may have.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Do You Deserve To Be Happy and Successful?

Getting The Media Attention You Deserve

Are You Listening?

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.