If You want the fruit to fall, You have to shake the tree.
Persistence and endurance are among the most important traits for a salesman to have. If you don’t like to hear the word no, you’re in the wrong field. There will be times you will hear the word “No” 100 times before you get a “Yes”. Sometimes from the same customer. If you give up after the first “No”, you’re never going to get there. The best deals are the ones you have to work for. Hearing a No is just a way to help build a relationship so that you can get closer to a Yes. This concept was once described to me as having the “skin of a rhino” – ie you have to let the No and the bad things people will say to you just bounce off you as though your skin was as thick as a Rhinoceros. If you take things personally, it will eat away from the inside, so keep that stuff out.
The best way to be persistent is to be constantly in the face of your customer. Unless you’re a door to door guy, then probably not in the literal sense. Email often, call even more often, and be available when the customer would need you to be.
Jeremy Tanner wrote a great post that nearly exactly says what I was planning for this at his blog under the title of “The Social Network that Beats Twitter or Facebook”. His point and mine – PICK UP THE DAMN PHONE. When it rings – ANSWER IT. When you have a question for your client – CALL THEM. Client has an issue – CALL THEM. Haven’t closed the deal yet – CALL THEM - Ask for the Sale again.
Even better than this is to regularly call clients who DON’T have problems and just say “Hey, I just had an idea for you about….” and fill in the blank. Make it something that fits to what you’re selling and something that benefits them, even if its just a charity event they would be interested in going to or a newspaper article from that day that in some way is related to them.
Follow up, follow up, follow up – on the phone – and you will close more deals and turn more clients into customers.
More from Conrey
- Rules of Sales: Rule #1
- Rules of Sales: Rules 4 & 5
- The Rules of Sales
- Rules of Sales: Rule 6
- Rules of Sales: Rule #3
Conrey Recommends
- Nine Examples of Sales Excellence (The Sales Cooke)
- A Great Sales Lesson From the Unlikeliest Source (The Sales Cooke)
- Some Thoughts on the Future of Gangplank (Derek Neighbors)
