Thoughtful Thursdays – A follow up on sales P’s
Last weeks post talked about sales related P’s. There are also P’s that you do not want to be associated with.
This week’s Thoughtful Thursdays sales topic is about being persistent and not becoming a pest.
“Be persistent” are words you commonly hear in sales training sessions. They are used often in association with: “don’t take it personally” and “no today does not mean no tomorrow”. These are good sales thoughts.
It is interesting that when you re-arrange the letters in the word persistent they also spell the two words “pester” and “isn’t”. Okay, I took the liberty to add the apostrophe. These two words describe what being persistent is not. I don’t know how many other words can define themselves so clearly.
There is a line, some may see it as fine, and when you cross it, you transform your behaviour from persistent to pest. Pest is not a ‘P’ word you want to be associated with.
When you put your mind to it is it quite easy to avoid becoming a pest. Here are a few tips:
- Another ‘P’ word, that was mentioned last week, be patient.
- Never complete a communication without knowing when the next one is going to take place.
- Listen to your prospect and respect their time.
- If the next contact is agreed for two weeks later, call in two weeks – not earlier and not later.
- When re-establishing communications based on a prior understanding, and the prospect is not available, leave a message and let them know when you will call back. If you call first thing in the morning, a late afternoon follow up call is likely acceptable.
- Have enough opportunites to follow up with so that one prospect does not become your focus.
Persistence means not giving up or losing sight of the goals and objectives. It does not mean annoying someone by calling unecessarily every day, or several times a day. If one has the time to do that, they may not have enough prospects, and without enough prospects will have difficulty achieving their sales objectives.
A few more thoughts on pest and persistent behaviours:
| Pest Behaviour | Persistent Behaviour |
| Repeats the same message over and over. | Finds relevant new subject matter for every communication. |
| Appears to have a hearing impairment. Listens but does not seem to hear what is being said or perhaps more importantly, what is not said. | Converts information gathered into valuable insights that will help strengthen the relationship. |
| Self-centred, only interested in making a sale. | Cares about the customer’s customer and researches before each communication, becomes a consultant to the customer. |
People do not like pests and would rather buy from people they like. Get the hint?
Good selling,
Richard
Have a question about sales? Contact Sakanashi and Associates Inc. and I will respond.
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