Some might call it the ultimate sales brush-off…
You’re mid-call, or maybe you’ve just nailed your opening hook, and the prospect drops the line: “This sounds interesting. Can you just send me some more information over email?”
To the untrained ear, this sounds like progress. The amateur rep thinks, “Great! They want to read more. I’ll go spend forty-five minutes crafting the perfect PDF and then I’ll be one step closer to the deal.”
But if you’ve been in the game long enough, you know the truth: “Send me something” is where deals go to die. In 95% of cases, it’s a polite way to get you off the phone without a confrontation. It’s a “soft no” wrapped in a “maybe.” If you just obey and hit send, you aren’t selling; you’re just doing administrative work for a non-buyer.
If you want to protect your pipeline, you have to decode what they actually mean and pivot the conversation before you lose the thread. And today I’ll show you how to do exactly that.
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The Three Secret Meanings of “Send Me Something”
Before you react, you have to diagnose the situation. There are three reasons a buyer says this:
1. The “Polite Rejection” (The Most Common)
They aren’t interested, but they don’t want to be the “bad guy.” Sending an email is the easiest way to end the interaction.
The Reality: Your email will go into the digital abyss, never to be opened.
2. The “Overwhelmed Executive”
They actually might have the problem you solve, but they are currently staring at 400 unread emails and three back-to-back meetings. They can’t process your value proposition right now.
The Reality: They want to care, but you haven’t earned their mental bandwidth yet.
3. The “Information Gatherer” (Least Common)
This is a lower-level stakeholder who has been tasked with “looking into solutions.” They want a brochure to put in a folder so they can tell their boss they did their job.
The Reality: You are being treated as a commodity, and you’re about to be compared on price alone.
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How to Pivot: The “Curiosity” Response
The moment they ask for “more info,” you don’t say “Sure, what’s your email?” You use Tactical Curiosity instead.
The Strategy: You must acknowledge the request, but immediately re-qualify the interest.
What You Say:
“I’d be happy to. I have a lot of different resources—case studies, technical specs, and ROI calculators. So I don’t overwhelm your inbox, what specifically are you looking for so I can send the most relevant piece?”
Why it works: It forces them to be specific. If they say, “Oh, just anything general,” you know they are in Category 1 (The Polite Rejection). If they say, “I’m specifically looking at how you handle data integration for Series B firms,” you’ve got a live one.
The “Negative Reverse” Move
If they stay vague, you need to use a “Negative Reverse” to find the truth. This is the Brutal Honesty we’ve talked about.
What You Say:
“Usually, [Name], when someone asks me to ‘send something,’ it’s a polite way of telling me they aren’t interested. And that’s totally fine—I don’t want to clog up your inbox if this isn’t a priority. Is that where we are, or is there a specific problem you’re trying to solve?”
Why it works: It’s a massive pattern interrupt. You’ve given them permission to say no. If they aren’t interested, they’ll tell you, and you’ve just saved yourself weeks of “follow-up” ghosting. If they are interested, they will tell you, plain and simple.
The “Gap Discovery” Pivot
Sometimes, the best way to handle “Send me something” is to ignore the request entirely and address the underlying problem. If you jump straight to the email, you’ve accepted defeat on the call. Instead, you want to use a Pattern Interrupt that shifts their focus back to their own pain.
What You Say:
“I can definitely do that, [Name]. But before I hang up—just so I don’t waste your time with a generic brochure—I have to ask: You mentioned earlier that [Problem X] was a priority. If you don’t find a solution for that by the end of this quarter, what does the rest of the year look like for your team?”
Why it works: This is a “Hard Pivot” back to what matters most… their bottom line. By asking about the consequences of the status quo, you force the prospect to move out of “brush-off mode” and back into “problem-solving mode.”
You aren’t asking for a meeting yet; you’re asking them to look at the gap between where they are and where they want to be. If they give you a real answer, they’ve just handed you the keys to the meeting. You can then say: “It sounds like that’s a bigger headache than a PDF can solve. Why don’t we take 10 minutes on Tuesday to see if we can actually fix that?”
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What to Actually Send (The “Relevance” Rule)
If you’ve qualified them and determined they actually want information, do not—under any circumstances—send a generic 20-page deck.
The Strategy: Send a “Wedge” Asset. Instead of a brochure, send a 1-page “Impact Summary” or a 2-minute personalized video that addresses the one specific pain point they mentioned.
Real-World Example: Instead of: “Attached is our company overview.” Try: “I thought about our talk regarding your developer churn. Attached is a 1-page breakdown of how we helped [Competitor] reduce that by 20% last quarter. Page 2 has the specific math. Let’s talk Thursday if that’s the result you’re looking for.”
The “Success Plan” Close
Finally, never send information without a Hard Next Step.
The Strategy: Treat the email as a “bridge” to the next meeting, not the destination. “I’ll send that over now. Usually, after people read this, they have questions about [Specific Detail]. How does Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 look to cover this?
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The Bottom Line
Remember, “Send me something” is a test of your professional standards. Amateurs obey. Pros investigate.
It’s time that salespeople everywhere stop being a digital brochure-delivery service. If you haven’t identified a gap, established an economic impact, or held the frame, no amount of “information” is going to close the deal.
The next time a prospect asks you to hit send, stop. Take a breath. And find out if you’re building a partnership or just filling an inbox full of noise.
Until next time…
Johnny-Lee Reinoso
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