Attitude #5: Patient Yet Persistent

Patient yet persistent: an oxymoron? Not necessarily. As a sales entrepreneur, one of the biggest obstacles to your success is lack of patience. Statistics suggest that less than 5% of sales are made on the first call and over 80% are made on the fifth call. However, only 10% of sales representatives ever return for the third call. 111] They quit and go back to the adult day care center to hang out with other frustrated sales representatives.

Look around you and you will see mostly quitters. Maybe there is one in your mirror. Consider this: The average person who takes up a musical instrument, quits. How many people do you know who play a little piano or a few chords on the guitar? They tire of it quickly, as results come too slowly. They go on to look for something easier. Likewise, many people who start night school, fitness programs, or sales careers quit. The examples are endless. Many of us are great starters but poor finishers.

Ms. Dombrowski, did you get rid of that salesperson yet?

This is great news for those of us who truly desire to be successful. It means that if we stick to it, we will be ahead of the pack. Jack H. McQuaig, a pioneering psychologist, claims that the one defining factor of success in sales is persistence. There is lots of room at the top. History is alive with classic examples of persistence. Thank goodness for the likes of Edison (10,000 tries before the light bulb worked), Einstein, Bell, Michelangelo, the Wright Brothers, and Alan Hobson and Jamie Clarke. They never gave up. On May 23, 1997, Alan and Jamie finally reached the top of Mount Everest on their third attempt. Alan said this from the summit, If there is a lesson in all of this, it is that if we persevere long enough, we can do the dreams.

If you call a potential customer once a year, are you persistent? What about twice a year? Once a quarter, once a month, once a week? Are you persistent? The answer to all of the above is yes. Even by calling once a year you are demonstrating persistence. You are saying to the customer: Im still here, Im not giving up. Harvey MacKay talks about how he has not met a qualified customer he hasnt

sold. Some took a while-two to three years-but he sold them. Persistence. When do you give up on potential customers? When they die! Even then, introduce yourself to the new person!

Silver Platter Syndrome

One of the better sales videos I have seen presents the silver platter syndrome. Although the video is probably 20 years old, the message remains powerful. The premise of the silver platter is that the average sales representative gives up after only three or four calls to a potential customer. However, we know that 80% of sales calls are closed after five calls, but only 10% of representatives ever make the third call. The silver platter works like this: You make the first call and the second call, generating some interest from the customer. After the third call the customer may not be sold yet, but is probably interested. You have piqued their interest to maybe 80%. However, having made your two or three calls you give up, moving on to the next potential customer. Once again instant gratification prevails and sabotages the sale. Your competitor shows up shortly after you have abandoned the customer, or you simply gave up. The customer, still at an 80% level of acceptance, now entertains your competitors proposal. How much selling did your competitor have to do? Only 20%. Gottcha! You just handed that sales opportunity to your competitor on a silver platter. He or she should send you a thank-you note saying, Thanks for giving up. I only had to do 20% of the sale. Have a nice day.

My question is this: How many potential accounts are you working on where you may be exposed to the silver platter syndrome? Better check it out. How often have you given up on a customer relationship but later discovered that your competitor, who was more persistent, got the sale? Its frustrating and unnecessary. The attitude of persistence will not eliminate the silver platter syndrome but it will certainly help minimize it. Stay focused on the accounts that will truly contribute to your business, even if it takes a year or two to close them.

The problem once again comes back to human frailties. Human beings crave instant gratification and we pursue it with a passion, seducing us away from the task at hand, compromising our focus and deviating our energies. Why take six months to possibly close account X when I can probably close account Y tomorrow?

No one is immune. Our world moves along at breakneck speed as we satisfy our quest for instant gratification. Businesses compete with cutthroat aggressiveness to deliver their products faster, bigger, and better. Heck, even the beer companies responded by introducing the big mouth beer can. We can now drink beer 40% faster. We have drive-through coffee, eating, banking, and oil changes. In California, you can experience drive-through marriages and when you die, friends can pay their respects at a drive-through funeral home. Inarguably, the antidote to instant gratification is patience and persistence. We must be persistent to remain competitive but all the while patient enough to work within the customers timetable. Even in California, drive-through customers do not exist-at least not yet.

Sales representatives and customers are often out of sync during the sales process. Sales representatives are guided by their agendas whereas the customers are guided by theirs. Dont let the lure of commissions, bonuses, or quick sales sabotage your patience. Dont close the deal on your timetable in the interest of a fat paycheck. Its all too common for sales representatives to sell what they need to sell versus what the customer needs to buy. This is further fuelled by corporate incentives: One more sale and I win the TV, or I might win the parking spot for the month. Sales managers put additional pressure on representatives by demanding they hit month-end or year-end targets. A huge gap is created between the sales representatives selling agenda and the customers buying agenda.

[11iBrooks, William T. Niche Selling: How to Find Your Customer in a Crowded Market. Page 84-85, 1992. Business One Irwin.

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