“How do you handle the “Just email me something” blow-off?”

If you are hearing “just email me something” on a regular basis, your sales process is causing that to happen. Having a snarky response prepared means you aren’t fixing the real problem.

The reason most salespeople get that response is that they:

1. Get the prospect on the phone;
2. Ask if they’re the person who makes decisions on XYZ;
3. Try to establish control by asking a few probing questions;
4. Which is then capped off with a mini “spray and pray” of what they offer.

To most salespeople, this is the sales process (or very close to it) that they use and were taught day 1 on the job.

The real danger zone for salespeople is they think of getting “just email me some information” is part of the process. It’s Not. Or at least it doesn’t have to be.

So How Do You Avoid It?

Well, for one, you should at least know the TITLE of the person that normally is involved in the decision making process for your product/service. The title doesn’t always guarantee they make the decision and every company has its own unique purchasing process, but if you look at the last 10 deals you or your company has won, you will see a pattern of two to three titles that seem to almost always have a part in the process.

Knowing who to speak with (to get the ball rolling) isn’t enough. You also need to know the WIIFT (What’s In It For Them).

Saying you provide “blah blah blah to help save time and money” is going to be darn near what every other salesperson is saying to them.

You need to separate yourself from the rest of the herd by piquing their interest in the first few seconds of the call. You do that by having an opening value statement that hits their hot buttons (Agitate a pain or scratch an itch)

Once you’ve passed the opener, deep-six the controlling probing questions and start asking what I call Engaging Questions. You want to have a conversation, not an interrogation.

But What if They Still Say “Just Email Me”?

If you are executing the advice above correctly, the “just email something” blow-off should no longer be a factor. However, if you do hear it while you are working on perfecting the three steps above, you may want to do this:

1. Agree to what they asked. This drops their guard.
2. Confirm their email address (And add them to your company’s drip marketing campaign).
3. Plant a seed.

Trying to push the prospect after they’ve said “just email me” is right out of the 1970’s pushy salesman playbook. You blew the call. Own it. And live to fight another day.

By planting a seed, I mean end the call with hitting a few hot buttons that will make them THINK of you after the call, every time one of the pain points happen.

For example:

“Thank you for confirming your email address. I’ll send that over ASAP. In the future, if your sales team starts to struggle with hitting their monthly quota due to being shut down by gatekeepers, prospects ignoring their voicemails or because they can’t get decision makers on the phone, we may be able to help. My contact info will be in the email I send you. Feel free to call me anytime.”

Now end the call, send the email and move on to the next prospect. And if you’re using a tool such as Yesware or Outreach etc, you’ll get notified when down the road they start opening that email again and poking around your website. A good indication that a PAIN POINT or a TRIGGER EVENT has happened – and it might be a good idea to reach out to them again.

– Michael Pedone

Michael Pedone teaches inside sales teams how to pick up the phone and close business. He is the CEO/FOUNDER of SalesBuzz.com – An online sales training company.

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