Pop quiz.
Twenty seconds into a cold call, your prospect says, “Can you send me an email?”
How do you respond?
Most salespeople do one of two things.
- Send the email and follow up.
- Try to overcome the objection by saying things like:
“Sure, the email comes with me. Let’s schedule some time next week to chat. How’s Tuesday?”
“My experience is that emails get buried, so that doesn’t do either one of us any good. Let’s schedule some time Thursday at 3 or 4 pm. What works best for you?”
Each of these statements destroys trust because prospects can smell your commission breath.
Here’s the thing.
Objections carry one of two meanings:
1) They’re true. The prospect is interested and wants some additional information.
2) They’re not true. The prospect isn’t interested and is asking for an email to get you off the phone because they don’t want to hurt your feelings.
Here’s phraseology that will help you get to more truth, so you don’t waste time chasing:
“To make sure I don’t do a disservice by sending you an email that’s not relevant, would it be okay if I asked you a couple of quick questions?”
One of two things will happen after you ask this question.
The prospect will say “sure,” and now you’re in a conversation.
Or you’ll hear, “No, just send me anything.”
When requests don’t have “oomph” or are specific, that’s when you know they’re not the truth.
“Anything” sounds like a brush-off because it’s not specific.
So you might say, “I might be misreading here, but typically when people ask me to send them anything, it’s just a nice way of saying they’re not interested, which is perfectly okay. I know you didn’t ask me to call you. Is that the case here?”
A good skill to master is knowing how to get to more truth to protect your time.