Thoughtful Thursdays – On persistence, once again

The below thought was originally posted a couple of years ago. The subject is a common one with my clients and for that reason I decided to re-publishing the story and add a few new thoughts on the subject.

“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”. Good sales thoughts.

It is ironic 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 yourself from persistent to pest. I would think the former characteristic is more
desirable.

When you put your mind to it is it quite easy to avoid becoming a pest. Here are a few tips:

• Another ‘P’ word, 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 people to follow up with so that one prospect does not become your raison d’être.

I have been characterized as persistent, and take it as a compliment. For me, persistence means not giving up or losing sight of the goals and objectives. It does not mean drive someone around the twist by calling several times a day. If I have the time to do that, I do not have enough prospects, and without enough prospects I will not achieve my objectives.

Futher thoughts on the topic of persistence:

Pest Behaviour	Persistent Behaviour
Repeats the same message over and over.	Finds relevant new subject matter for every communication.
Appears to have an aural 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.

 

Good selling,
Richard

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