Changing Your Strategy for Sending Out Literature

I once collected all company collateral material from my sales reps offices and cubicles and issued an edict, forbidding them to send anything to customers without a sign-off from the VP of Sales or myself. I can assure you, for the next six months, my name was used in the most unflattering terms throughout the sales team.

So, why would the president of a company who spends hundreds of thousands of dollars a year designing and printing collateral material forbid anyone to use it? Seems to defy logic, doesn't it? The short answer is, most of the time it doesn't work!

Does this scenario sound familiar? A rep calls a prospect, makes his best pitch and the prospect responds by saying, "OK, why don't you send me some information and I'll look it over". The rep hangs up feeling pretty good that he's moving the account forward. The problem is - he's probably not. The odds are high that the information he sent out will never get read or maybe never even make it out of the envelope. Worst case, the prospect has no intention of reading the information; they're simply trying to get you off the phone (in the most polite way they know how) so they can move on to other business. Best case, even well intended prospects simply get overwhelmed with the tsunami of information coming across their desk and either forget who and why the packet was sent, or they put it on the back burner to be reviewed at a later date - a date that usually never comes.

To illustrate that point (and to try and convince my sales team I wasn't a total lunatic) I invited small groups of reps into my office at 11:00 every day; the approximate time my mail was delivered. They sat in horror as I sifted through the foot high pile of mail, summarily tossing thick packets of information into the trash. While somewhat painful for them to witness, the message was crystal clear - sending out collateral was probably a waste of time.

So what should companies do? Not send out any information? Well, not exactly. If you feel you absolutely, positively must send out information, here are some simple guidelines and a few strategies that can make that effort more effective.

Less is more - Not only were my reps sending out collateral to lots of customers, they were sending out lots of it! If a couple ounces of paper were good, surely a couple pounds was better. However, a few sheets clearly articulating your main message will suffice. Make sure it clearly communicates your 1) key benefit, 2) credibility statement about the product or company and 3) differentiation between you and your competitors.

Don't get cute - Stay away from the cute and clever - people buy benefits, especially busy people. Think of all the ads on TV or print that are cute and clever. How many times do you even remember what they are selling? People respond to ads that inform, not entertain.

26 miles to go - Your reps have been trained for countless hours on your product but your prospects haven't. What is second nature to you and your sales team may be a total bewilderment to your prospect. Be patient and pace yourself (and your client). Selling is often a marathon not a sprint. If you come out too fast, you'll tire your prospect and he'll drop out of the race early.

A picture is worth…. - Tell your story with graphics (charts, graphs, pictures, etc.) to start. If someone doesn't grasp your main message or value within the first 20 - 30 seconds (or less), getting them to the next step will be very difficult.

Here are some strategies and ideas to consider regarding sending out literature.

Just say, “No” - You may want to shock your prospect and simply refuse to send him/her anything. Of course, you'll need to do this in a polite and professional manner and give them a sensible reason as to why not.

“John, I'd be happy to send you out all the information you want. Here's the problem - my customers have told me that there's so much of it, it's a bit overwhelming - even a waste of time. What if we do this? I'd be happy to drop by with all the different collateral pieces I have and spend 10 or 15 minutes with you pulling out the ones I think would help you the most.”

The fall back position, of course, is spending the next 10 to 15 minutes on the phone engaged in the same exercise. In either case you've begun a meaningful dialogue with the prospect.

Beat them to the punch! - I think it's reasonable to assume that a high percentage of prospects will ask to be sent information at some time during the call. So why not beat them to the punch.

“John, let's do this as a next step. Why don't I send you information about the company and our product? We have a lot of information, what are you most interested in?”

This gracefully highlights the fact that without a clearer understanding of the clients business (or his of yours) sending out packets of information would be a waste of time. Their response would be typically something like; “Well, I'm not sure, what do you have”? This is a perfect response as it leads to dialogue about the prospects needs and the real potential and benefits of doing business together.

Use the web - I don't think anyone would argue the power of the Internet as an information and communication tool - so use it! Put your collateral material (and a short descriptive summary of each piece) up on your web site in a logical way. The odds are high that when you are talking with a prospect they are at their desk and have Internet access. Take advantage of that!

“John, we have about 20 different pieces of information I could send you. But just dumping all of it out to you in the mail won't be much of a help. I know when I get that much information, it's nearly impossible to sift through it let alone understand what's most important to me. Here's what we've done to help our clients. Log on to our web site at www.xyz.com. We've designed a page just for this purpose - to help our clients get the information they need. What we'll do is spend just a few minutes selecting the information you need, then you can either download the files or just read them online.”

If you insist - Sometimes it is completely appropriate to send literature out to a prospect - either they insist or you feel the information will truly be read. Make sure in those cases, however that you get a next appointment set up before you hang up.

“John, I appreciate how busy your schedule is. I think it took us two weeks just to connect on this call. I'd like to set up a time when we can talk again to follow up on the information I'm sending out to you. If you don't find our product or services of any value to you, just call or drop me an e-mail and cancel”.

There is no one strategy that works every time and I've listed just a few. But the more tools you have at your disposal, the more likely it is that you will find one that works for each selling situation.

Elliot Levine is the Managing Partner of The Sales Factor, a consultancy focusing on sales force effectiveness. Elliot's sales expertise comes from experience on "both sides of the desk" - as a seasoned sales executive and president and CEO of two companies. For more information visit www.thesalesfactor.com