13. What is the key to persistence?
Customers resist even the best ideas. The resistance starts with a negative feeling about the product, service or program. He or she hasn’t looked into it yet. The immediate resistance is general. First of all, there’s the risk. What if the idea doesn’t pay off or the product doesn’t perform?
Also, something new means change. And maybe the change will be uncomfortable. It will cause trouble, and who needs trouble?
All this makes the prospect feel that they don’t want to hear about what you are trying to sell. Even if you get them to listen, their generalized resistance adds strength to the objection.
Your customer will be on the defensive before you even begin to sell. It is in a person’s nature to fear making a change that will cost money. During a sales presentation, your customer will almost always respond negatively to your pricing. It is part of their strategy to get you to lower your price.
By knowing what to expect you avoid giving in without making a case for your product. Salespeople frequently make the mistake of offering discounts up front in order to head off a potentially negative discussion about price.
A sales manager I worked for insisted that I call on a certain account every week even though it seemed hopeless to ever sell them. On the very first call the customer tore my business card up in little pieces. The customer had a problem with a previous sales person. The sales person had left the company with a grudge and had left several things undone. This particular customer had several special orders for a banquet. The day the product was due for delivery the customer found out that the sales person had quit and never turned in the order. However, I followed orders and finally, after 37 weeks of calls, he gave in and bought something from me. If it had been up to me I never would have done it, however, the boss followed up and asked me every week if I made the call.
Have the necessary persistence to overcome their resistance and plan to outlast the competition. You have the knowledge of knowing you can turn them into a customer as long as you stay with it.
Do you have persistence? Take the test to see how much persistence you have. Ask yourself this one question - what is your biggest accomplishment and how long did it take to accomplish it? If you have a major accomplishment that took you over THREE YEARS - welcome to the club.
Comments:
Persistence pays off. I have a couple of accounts that it took six months or longer to get a decent order. I continued to go see the accounts even though the orders I received were not worth my time. Both are among my better accounts now. In another stop, the customer disliked me because my company had fired my predecessor, whom the customer liked. After several months of verbal abuse and small orders, I offered to wash dishes for them on a day that some of their employees had failed to show up for work. They took me up on my offer and the next week they had a large order for me along with the comment that their other sales reps would not have washed dishes for them or kept coming by for so long.
Larry Edmondson
Persistence is the key to success in anything you do. Whether it be education, sales, or any other career avenue, you must be persistent in all that you do. Ever hear the saying “Easy come, Easy go”? There is a reason that business came to you easily. That is the same reason that business will leave you just as easily. You must be persistent and consistent in the growth and building of your business.
Scott Green
Persistence really does pay off in the long run - in large amounts! I think with persistence though, you really need to have it low key - like a social visit - rather than with the impression that you are irritating someone to try to get their business. Knowing how to be persistent to get the results you want to achieve and holding the customers interests at heart is the key.
Joanne Welsh
Persistence does pay off. When I was in sales with a large “strapping” company I had a customer that I called on every week and every week he told me he was happy with his current supplier and he was getting a better price on the strapping than I could give him. Every week I thanked him for his time and told him if the situation ever changed I would be there to help him. I called on him every week for four months and happen to catch him in a bad mood one day, his current supplier had let him down. Guess what, I got his order and all his future orders.
Vickie Reihl
I read somewhere that it can take up to 10-12 contacts before you close a sale. So with that in mind, I would say the best thing a sales professional can do to overcome resistance is to stay in contact with your potential client. My goal is for them to associate my name with the service/product I can help them with. To summarize... keeping yourself “Top of Mind” is key to building a lasting business relationship.
Becky Akins
Great lesson - persistence is the key to everything. Take a look at the greats in sports...Michael Jordan, basketball legend - cut from high school basketball;
Richard Petty, race car legend - not only more wins than any other racer; also more 2nds & 3rds;
Michelle Kwan, figure skater; not only more wins than any other skater, more 6.0's for perfect scores & still competing;
Phil Mickleson, finally a major win along with a great career.
In business you hear about it over & over again - Colonel Sanders, Sam Walton, Helen Keller, Thomas Edison - Oprah Winfrey, just to name a few.
Persistence is the one strength that is common in most all successful people. We have seen this happen over & over again in our industry (The staffing industry)
Heidi leaves cards, visit after visit after visit. Sometimes it is years before we ever get a call - but that persistence pays off.
I think that's why there is a lot of turn over in this industry - most people want that immediate gratification - can't wait - can't be persistent in reaching a goal, can't stay on task for years.
I also think this is an innate quality or ability that people are born with - not that it can't be learned or fine tuned - but for the most part you either have it or you don't.
Jean Smith
"Have the necessary persistence to overcome their resistance by planning to outlast the competition. You have the knowledge of knowing you can turn them into a customer as long as you stay with it."