How to Handle "Just Send Me Information"

SCENARIO: You've just made a cold call to a brand-new lead. You have a brief conversation which seems to go smoothly. Then the prospect says: "I'm a little busy right now. Could you please send some information and if I'm interested, I'll get back to you."

What's your best move? Vote in the poll below, then click here to get my opinion. Here are your choices:

• Email and wait. Go ahead and email the information. The prospect will contact you if he or she is interested to pursuing the matter.
• Email with nurture. Go ahead and email the information, but make sure it has links to your website so you know what interests them when they open it.
• Email and follow-up. Email the information and call them the next day about it. Keep calling until they come to the phone.
• Email, but quid pro quo. Promise to email the information only if they promise to read it with two days and schedule a call to discuss it.
• Deflect and ignore. My friend Larry Jacobs uses humor: "No, I will only pass information to you verbally so no documents fall into enemy hands."

• Email and wait. A waste of time. The email is just going to get deleted.
• Email with nurture. Also a waste of time. The links will be deleted when the email is deleted.
• Email and follow-up. Useless. The email isn't going to be opened, so you're back at square one.
• Deflect and ignore. This only works for somebody with superlative people skills, like Larry.

1. The prospect will refuse the commitment. Good! You can now move on to the next lead with complete assurance that this was never a real prospect in the first place.
2. The prospect agrees, but fails in the commitment. Great! You now know that the prospect is unreliable. (Useful!) And if you wish to pursue, the prospect now owes you one.
3. The prospect agrees, and fulfills the commitment. Fabulous! You've pre-educated your prospect and now have the opportunity to move the sales to the next stage.

READERS: Do you agree?