Right Information, Right Time: Turning "Send Me Info" into Actionable Sales Opportunities

Hello and welcome to the show. Today. We are still on how to handle the typical sales objections, business objections that we get when we're trying to, when we're having conversations with people, we're trying to close the deal. And an objection for those of you who are just tuning into the show is any reason that someone gives you, your potential customer gives for not wanting to go ahead with the, with the agenda, with the transaction,

with the relationship. So if they say you're too expensive, that is an objection. If they say Chikody down the road is cheaper, OK, well, Chikody down the road is cheaper. That's also another variation of you're too expensive. But bottom line, you get the juice. Whatever reason they give for not wanting to take the next step, that is an objection. So today we're going to be exploring another objection. Oh, by the way, for those of you who are newbies listening to the show, we've already run through those other objections, like Chikudi is cheaper, you're too expensive.

Let's see what else you know, all those kinds of objections. I can't go with you because, you know, the last time I trusted somebody, this happened. That's happened. So we've done a couple of episodes before this one. So once you're done listening to the episode, just keep hopping back one more episode and you get caught up to speed with all the other objections that we've handled so far. Now today we're going to handle the objection when people say,

can you send me some more information? Now of course there are other variations because not everybody is going to say, can you send me some more, some more information. Some people are going to say, oh, do you have a flyer or do you have some promo material? If they say that that is a variation of can you send me some more information or excuse me, then some people are going to say, oh cool, this sounds interesting, can you e-mail my secretary with blah blah blah blah blah?

Or can you drop off some Flyers with my PA on Monday? Or can you come by the office next week Tuesday and then drop your brochure with my office assistant? You know, all those sorts of things. So this, these are different variations of can you send me some more information Now the reason why people say these sorts of things, drop it with my PA e-mail me a flyer, can you send me some more information? Blah blah blah. The reason why people do say these sorts of things are for a number of reasons, varied reasons of course, just like we've been I'm looking at with other objections.

So sometimes it's because the prospects, the potential customer, the potential clients, the person that you're talking to, sometimes they genuinely need more information or the information that you've given them so far is incomplete. So they have an incomplete understanding of your product or your service. Now this can come up in financial services and it's something that I saw quite a bit when I tried selling some financial products, you know,

like insurance. So you're talking to someone, a potential customer, the person is you know getting ready to leave the civil service and you have some insurance products that you're trying to sell, annuities and program withdrawals, defined contribution pension schemes, although those are not things that are sold under insurance. But these are different products that have been designed by employers and by government regulators to make sure that after people leave their service, you know, after you stop working with Unilag or you stop working with Ministry of Finance or you stop, you retire as a head teacher or something.

These are schemes that are designed to make sure that you receive some sort of money to cater for yourself in, you know, in your old age. Because, of course, after you leave work, you still have to pay bills, buy medicine, pay house rent, you know, take care of yourself. And some of these products, especially for people who are not, what will I say, are not financially savvy. Some of these things are hard to understand.

So you're talking to someone about an annuity and an annuity, the way that I like to describe it for people is sort of like a salary for life. And then there's something called a programmed withdrawal. The program withdrawal means that you're receiving a set, some. It's not a salary for life, but there's some advantages of going one way over another. So for some people it's confusing when you start talking annuity versus programmed withdrawal, or you're talking to somebody who has not yet retired, and his organization is one of those organizations where you can have a defined contribution pension scheme.

I won't go into what that is. And maybe you're trying to toast the person to see how they can opt out of it and then go with your own firm instead. So with these sorts of things, the average person who is selling financial products is trying to close on the first time on the first visit. And that's a problem because this person hasn't started considering their retirement yet, really because you know, retirement is something that happens in the future.

So if you're talking to somebody now and the person is going to retire next year, they might think, you know, what I still have to do is let me handle, let me handle this, let me get to that thing later. So you're talking to someone who hasn't really started the process of considering what retirement life is going to look like, and then you start bombarding them with these things, annuity program, withdrawal, defined contribution, blah blah blah.

This advantage, that advantage, of course, is going to seem overwhelming to some people. They might understand one, not understand another. They might not get a sense of how everything works together. So in those situations, people genuinely need some more information or they have an incomplete understanding. And that's a situation where if you're talking to someone who is, what's it called? What's that level? Director.

Maybe like director level. He can say, OK, you know what? Thank you very much. Nice meeting. I'm glad you helped me shed some light on blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But you know what? How? How about you come over to the office on Monday and then drop some Flyers with Baku? Baku is my assistant. And so drop it with him and I'll get back to you. So that's the. Can you send me some more information? Objection. And that's because in this case the, you know, the director has heard you, he has listened, but he has an incomplete understanding of what it is that you're talking about because he has been hearing people say annuity, annuity.

But this is the first time he has sat down to have an in depth conversation with someone about it. And it's just all a bit much. It's in there's overwhelming information or incomplete information. So he says county office on Monday, drop a flyer with my office assistant because he actually wants to sit down and read the whole thing and then try and make up his mind. And then of course another reason why is when people have confusion over futures and benefits.

It also ties into, you know, this scenario that I've been talking about right here because somebody's trying to consider what do I really need? OK, annuity is salary, salary for life, but program withdrawal is not salary for life. But if I die, I want to be able to leave some money to my children. So which package is going to help me maximize the amount of money that I'm going to leave to my children? Or which one is going to maximize the amount of money that I'm going to have for paying house rent and paying medicine?

And so people are trying to juggle these sorts of things, and then it causes some confusions. So what are the features of annuity? How much will I be getting every month? What are the features of program withdrawal, or will I be getting every month? If I die before the program is supposed to stop, how much am I going to be able to leave to my children if I live beyond when the program is supposed to stop? What does that mean for me?

So all sorts of features, all sorts of benefits, They're asking themselves what do I really need? And so of course they say, please send me some more information, Drop your flag with my with my secretary, here's my e-mail address. e-mail me some more things. Let me have a look at. Now sometimes people say, can you send me more information because they're trying to do some comparison shopping and getting quotes, trying to do quote matching.

So like back in this insurance case, so let's say the person genuinely understands, the person understands, he knows what anonymity is. He or she knows what the program withdrawal is. The person already knows what it is that they need and what they'll be going for. But now they are trying to get the best rate. So you come, you're from Axis Bank because now they have their own pension schemes. And yes, so your Axis Bank and they say, OK, no problem, drop me some material and then you leave.

And then somebody else comes from lead way insurance and then say, oh, can you drop me some insurance, some material and then they leave. And then somebody else comes from, let's see which other organization is there. Nikon, Nikon insurance. And they say, can you drop me some material and then they leave. Now the reason why they're doing this is because they want to compare the quotes. They want to sit down on Saturday or Sunday, get a nice bottle of wine or a glass of beer or whatever, and then sit down and start saying, OK,

Access Bank, They offer this Nikon insurance, they offer this, you know, lead way, they offer this so it is better here or better there. So now some of you might be offended at this point, but please, we are big boys and we're big girls, so don't be offended. It's just business. Let's stop being naive. Stop assuming that because you're talking to Alhaji right now that he's not talking to anybody else. So let's not be naive.

I run into people who get offended by the whole thing and they say that customers are dubious. The customers are shifty. They're not being shifty. They're just trying to maximize their self-interest. So and The thing is, you know, you listening to the podcast, you do it too. You tell the plumber to come to the house. The plumber gives you a quote and the quote at the end of the day is, you know, 55K and you're like 55 Watt and you're like,

let me think about it. And then he leaves and then you call another plumber. And then the plumber comes and gives a quote and the person comes in at 45 and then you compare, OK, 55K45K, let me go for the 45. So we all do it. So let's stop getting offended when you find out that you are talking to someone you thought you were having a good relationship and then you found out that they're talking to the competition, they're talking to somebody else.

It's just business. Everybody does comparison shopping, quote matching, you know, whatever it is that we want to call it. So those are some of the reasons why people say, can you send me more information? They want to get information from everybody. Then they'll sit down and kind of make up their mind on what they think is the best. Sometimes people ask, can you send me more information? Because they have internal discussions that they need to have.

So you need to discuss with another stakeholder or somebody else who is important to the decision and they just want to have something. A folder, a flyer, APDF is something that they can show the other person to say, I had a meeting with this guy or with this girl, this thing is making sense. What do you think? How should we go about it? Then? Let's see what else, What other reason can people give for? Can you send me more information?

Oh yes, I have. Sometimes there's an internal buying process and it's just official policy that everybody who comes and wants to do business with this organization, the person has to drop some documents, the person has to drop company profile or letter of introduction or project scope or hardbound proposal or whatever. So sometimes it's just the internal policy. Yes, the person feels you. Yes, the person likes you. Yes, the person wants to go with you and your quote.

But it's just official policy. Everybody has to drop something. And then of course there's nothing of some people are not ready to commit. And like I say, Nigerians are very, very polite people. So they're trying to stall and they're trying to brush you off without being rude. So they just say, can you send me some information? You send it the next time you call, they won't pick up your phone. You know, you start entering a voicemail.

So that was just it. You know that Nigerians are just being nice. They don't want to tell you, look, young man, you're wasting your time, young lady, you're wasting your time. Don't come here. I'm not interested. And then sometimes the problem is that you haven't done a good job of qualifying the person that you're talking to. And The thing is just a matter of low priority and there is no urgency. So sometimes that's just how it works.

So we've done over 10 minutes of looking at how these sorts of things come up in the 1st place. So let's quickly go through how we can deal with this objection. Now, if you've been listening to the episodes that we've done before this, it's no surprise that the first step is to acknowledge, empathize, show some understanding Because nobody wants to feel like they're full or nobody wants to be accused of lying. Even when they're trying to be polite, they're not going to do business with you, and they actually are lying.

You know, nobody wants to be called out for being a liar. So empathize like, Oh yes, I understand it sounds pretty confusing. I totally understand. When my Pop C was about to retire was the same thing we know when they were telling him about annuity program withdrawal, blah, blah, blah. In fact, he even called me to ask that. Oh, OK, my son, this is your line of business. So what do you think? So I understand it's, it can be confusing.

So when the person says give me a flyer, you know that's you're going through that whole spiel. But when you do all of that, you're actually trying to gain permission to start asking clarifying questions. Because before you drop Flyers, because it's easy to drop a flyer, you need to know exactly which kind of flyer or PDF or report or proposal or presentation or whatever it is you need to know which kind, what kind of information that they need.

So you should ask them the question. Oh, OK, so I understand this all seems confusing and everything, but what kind of information? What kind of information do you need exactly? Because if you're going to drop a general brochure, it is not going to help if this person you're talking to, you're an insurance person and he understands, OK, no, let me move past the insurance. Let me see. OK, I don't have to come up with a particular example here.

I'm sure you guys are getting the gist. So if this person understands one product or one set of features but doesn't understand the other, but then you drop a general, what's it called? OK, sorry about the banging that is coming over from the window. My neighbour runs a commercial kitchen so his staff are they're out there, you know, doing stop pounding. Yeah more pounding. Whatever. OK so was I. So if the person has understands one set of features very well but has confusion over features BC and D and you drop a general brochure, it's not going to be helpful.

But if you ask him the question, what info exactly do you need or do the other people in the office need or whatever? And he says, oh, we're good on ABC, but we have questions about Ed and F Then you know that the material that you have to send are things that are related to options, Ed and F So you need to ask specifically what they're unclear about, what specific information that they need so that you know which kind of material that you're going to drop off with the PA or drop at the office that explains different features or different pricings or showing case studies or other kinds of reports.

Then you also have to ask more questions around their needs, their priorities, the difficulties that they're facing with the proposal that you put so far, where things seem obscure, what is it that they don't understand properly? So that way you're going to be able to send tailored documents or come up with a new proposal or something else. Because if you're going to go and drop some material with Tahir, let's say Tahir is the the office PA.

If you're going to drop some material with Tahir, at the very least you want to be sure that what you're dropping with Tahir is tailored and relevant so that when Oga or when Madam sits down to have a look at it, it'll be able to answer the questions that they had the last time that you guys had a meeting. So the main thing to consider here is that whatever content you're going to be dropping with the PA, with the secretary, or that you're going to e-mail or you're going to drop out the house, you want to make sure that the content is relevant.

Now, another thing that we have to bear in mind is nowadays we have different formats and people have different learning styles and preferences. So you should also ask these sorts of questions. There are some people who refuse to do e-mail. I don't know why, but they exist. There are some people who even if you send the e-mail, they will tell the secretary, print out the e-mail, put it on my desk, then they will read the e-mail and then make whatever replies or annotations, then give it to the secretary or to some general member of staff who will now type it and then send the reply back to you.

So ask what format does Madam need? Should I print it out or should it be an e-mail? Some people might not mind video resources because it might be more convincing, especially if there's someone who's in front of the camera. It might be more convincing for you to say, to record a video when you get back to the office. Just a small video on your phone saying, Mr. Coley, thank you very much for the meeting. I really appreciate, blah blah,

blah, blah blah. At the last meeting that we had on Friday the 12th of May, something, something, something we discussed this, this and that. And if I remember correctly, you seem to have some difficulties with this aspect of the proposal and the aspect of the proposal. So that's the reason why I'm making this video to explain everything to you. So Mr. Cooney, this is how it works. First of all, we're going to tackle this, this, this, and we're going to do this and we're going to do that.

And for the questions that you had around this part of the proposal and this part of the project, this is how we intend to do it. We're going to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So if you're smooth on video, that might not be a bad idea then. Yeah. So like I said, the different formats, some people might not mind audio. I think I've only done that once sent sent an audio summary once, but ask you never know. And then the spirits.

What we're aiming for here is we're trying to maintain the conversation. When someone says drop it. With Tahir, my PA, we're trying to maintain the conversation. We're still trying to remain in the loop of things. So here we should be aiming for an advancement and we should be wary of continuations. Now this is your first time I'm listening to the podcast in sales and business development. When we see an advancement, it means that you've had a conversation with someone and you guys have very clear indications of whether you're moving forward or not.

You know what the next step is, is going to be you know what it is that you guys need to do to move things to the next step. That is an advancement. When you meet someone, you have a good meeting, you laugh and you know there's plenty of vibes and you go away, but you're not sure is this business moving forward or not. What is the next stage When you're unclear of all those things, you're in the continuation. So continuation is just when you're having meetings for the sake of meetings, follow up for the sake of follow-ups.

So you're meeting, you're having a good time, everybody's vibing, but you don't know whether they're moving forward or not. So if you want to maintain, to get advancements here, what we have to do is when the person says drop it with Tahir on Monday, you have to be able to schedule a mutually agreed follow up meeting or call and it has to be very specific. He said OK, no problem man, I'll drop it off with Tahir on Monday just like you requested.

Typically when we drop off proposals with our clients usually takes them about a week to consider all the information that is there. So, Madam, do you think it we could be OK for you to consider the proposal? And she will say, yeah, I'm traveling, but I'll be back by Wednesday, so sure, no problem. I would have read it. OK. So Ma, then would it be OK for me to call you on Friday so that we can have another meeting and she will say fine, it's OK, no problem.

Thank you very much, Ma. And then she's off on her way and you're off on your way. At least you have some sort of commitment that you guys are talking on Friday. But would even be better if, let's rewind you say, oh, Madam, typically when we drop off proposal with clients, usually takes them about a week to consider. She says, oh, sure, no problem. A week. Yeah, that's good. And then you say, oh, Madam, so in that case, can I come back to the office Monday next week so that we can discuss next steps And then she will say, OK, yeah,

yeah, sure, no problem, Monday next week. And then you give a range of times. OK, Madam, I'll be in central area between 8:00 and 10:00. So which time works for you? You can see that we're getting more narrow, more specific. So this is what we mean when we say advancements. Both of you will leave the meeting and she is clear and you are clear that you guys have a date again for next week, Monday. So it's not a matter of dropping off the proposal with Tahir and then ghosting.

But of course, we also should try to identify where there is hesitation because if there is some sort of hesitation, if it's like, well, you know, I'll be back on Wednesday a week, OK, a week should be fine. But you know what? Just just give it to just give it to to here. I'll call you, I'll call you. If there's that kind of hesitation, then there might be a deeper objection there. Maybe they're not interested, you know, stuff like that.

And there'll be no point in going into how to deal with these sorts of things because with all, with the prior episodes that we've done so far, we've gone over, you know, every conceivable hidden objection that might be might be there because you might say drop it with Tahir because she's not interested. She might say drop it with Tahir because it's too expensive and she doesn't want to tell you. But we should be able to figure out if there's hesitation.

And of course it's always the same, asking more questions to try and get to the root of the issue. But assuming there's no hesitation, don't make the mistake of just dropping it off with Tahir, the PA, or with the chingery, the secretary. And then you just leave things like that. You're going to enter into voicemail, you're going to end up being ghosted, secure advancements. So oh, no problem, I will drop it off with chinnery by Tuesday.

So, Madam, would it be OK if I call you the Monday, the week after so we can have another meeting to see whether we can move ahead with option A, option B, or option C? So anyway, you get the spirit. An advancement means me initiating the meeting, the other person receiving the meeting. I mean, both of us in the conversation, we have very clear ideas about what the next step is going to be. And we have agreed now that this is going to be the next step.

So, OK, 20 minutes. So let me bring it to a close. Thank you very much for listening to the podcast. I think I think we've dealt with enough objections so we'll be able to move on to what the next question is going to be for the show. I'll have a look at my rough sheet, my list of handy questions, and then I will take it from there. So please connect with me on LinkedIn. It's always nice to hear from you guys. My name is Tavishima Ayede.

I'm the host of the show. You can confirm the spelling of my name and my e-mail address from the link we're currently listening to this episode. Also, connect with me on WhatsApp. The phone number is 08064662140. The country code is +234 for those of you who are not Nigerian, so thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you at the next episode.