LACK OF PERSISTENCE is one of the most common causes of failure in business and in sales.
But, the good news is, persistence is a state of mind that can be cultivated, developed and grown.
One of the original personal success gurus, Napoleon Hill, believed that despite unexpected setbacks in life, the one thing that you can always control is “your mind and your attitude.” This is great news – IF you put it to use!
“Without persistence, you will be defeated. With persistence, you will win.” – Napoleon Hill .
The truth is, most people lack persistence and often quit when faced with defeat. Sales research studies have revealed that:
- 44% of salespeople give up after one “no”
- 22% give up after two “no’s”
- 14% give up after three “no’s”
- 12% give up after four “no’s”
Just think – if you’re in sales and you give up after four “no’s”, you’re likely leaving money on the table.
NEVER stop reaching out to prospects, even when you hear them say: “No”, “Not now”, or “Not yet”. (The only time you should stop contacting them is if they explicitly say, “Please place me on your do not call list.”) Otherwise, it is imperative that you continue to reach out to them repeatedly, providing VALUE at every touch.
Provide prospects with helpful, educational information on a consistent basis. You may offer white papers, webinars, podcasts, or articles with tips, best practice ideas, recent industry research, or any other information which could benefit your prospect. I have personally closed a number of deals over the years, where the client had said, “By continuing to stay in touch with us in a way that added value, we decided to buy from you instead of your competitor.”
Simply stated: Polite persistence pays off!
You can achieve great things if you follow these FOUR STEPS to strengthen your habit of Persistence in sales:
- Develop a definite purpose or goal, and a burning desire to fulfill that goal.
- To be effective, develop an emotional connection with your purpose. Breathe it and believe it.
- Connect your sales goals to larger goals in your personal life to boost your motivation!
- Create a definite plan in writing, with specific steps to reach your sales goals.
- Post your plan where you can see it every day.
- Break larger goals into bite-sized chunks – hourly/daily/weekly goals.
- Determine how many sales calls typically result in a proposal or a sale. Work the numbers to determine how many outreaches you must make per hour, per day, per week to achieve success.
- Cultivate a positive mindset.
- Be conscious of the people with whom you associate yourself; avoid negative influences.
- Repeatedly say positive things to yourself to enhance your ability to stay on track. Some of you may remember the old Saturday Night skit, “Daily Affirmation with Stuart Smalley.” If not, Google it… Funny thing is, daily affirmations, or “autosuggestions” as Napoleon Hill called them, have been proven to work. This is because the subconscious mind believes what it hears repeatedly – good or bad. So, make sure it’s hearing POSITIVE things!
- Foster a friendly alliance with people who will encourage and support you.
- Form a mastermind group to help keep you grounded, accountable, and on track with your goals and plans.
- Hire a professional coach if needed. It will likely be well worth the investment!
- As a sales manager, you can have a great impact on your team by providing sales coaching and morale-boosting one-on-one meetings with each sales rep.
- Provide ongoing support and encouragement to those around you in sales. Optimism is contagious!
What steps will you take today to create a habit of persistence in sales? How will you exceed your sales goals? What actions will you take to make them a reality? Are there accounts you’ve given up on? Why? How can you take a different approach to become “politely persistent”?
Don’t give up. Don’t stop. Persevere!
Learn polite persistence and you will achieve greater sales success than you ever thought possible.
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Did you know that Mentor Tech Group’s success arose in part, due to the power of persistence? In 1999, there was no reliable resource offering an accurate, high-quality database of corporate training and HR decision-maker contact information, so Mentor Tech Group was born to fill a market need. Pat Ryan and his dedicated team built a high-quality decision-maker database from scratch – one phone call at a time.
Today, Mentor Tech Group is THE market intelligence leader in corporate training and HR decision-maker information, offering:
- Corporate Training & HR Market Intelligence: More than 40,000 Corporate Training and HR decision-makers at America’s top 5500+ companies.
- Hand-Built Database: We speak with each and every contact, to ensure accuracy and determine if the contact merits membership in the Mentor Tech Group database.
- FREE List Updates are provided every 4 months (with a minimum purchase) to keep your data current.
- Segmented by Job Code – This is the contact’s actual area of responsibility in the organization, not just a nebulous title!
For more information, or to schedule a Mentor Tech Group database demo, please contact us today at 651-457-8600, Ext. 1.
We have exactly what you NEED to be successful when selling to Corporate Training & HR!
