Persistence Pays

Persistence is the secret weapon of the top ten percent of salespeople who win 80 percent of the business. If everything else remains equal between two rival salespeople-if they have the same skills and quality of approach, the same product and prices-the difference may only be persistence. As the old adage goes, “You only start selling when the customer says ‘No!'”

You don’t actually start to earn your money or use your craft until you get those “No’s,” and begin to use persistence to find a way around them. What if a golfer gave up every time he failed to get a hole in one, or didn’t get a ball down in the “correct” number of strokes? A top golfer will know that some holes will be under par, and some over, and for each stroke he needs a particular club and a different level of skill.

Two sales research surveys prove the vital importance of persistence. The first followed the fortunes of several thousand salespeople and studied how many contacts they had with each customer before they closed the sale.

Eighty percent of sales were made after the fifth contact, but 48 percent of the salespeople gave up after the first contact and won just two percent of the sales. Seventy-three percent of the salespeople gave up after the second contact and won three percent of the sales.

Eighty-five percent of the salespeople lasted until the third contact and won five percent of the sales. Ninety percent of the salespeople wouldn’t try after the fourth contact, when ten percent of the sales were made.

Only ten percent of the salespeople continued past the fourth contact, but ended up with 80 percent of the sales.

The second survey studied control groups of 100 cold-call prospects. Its conclusions: From 100 prospects whom you cold-call, you will get on average of ten who say “Yes,” and agree to see you; ten who say “No,” and are completely uninterested; 20 who ask you to call back; 50 who are not available, and ten who want more information.

If you want to get a bigger slice of these 100 prospects, the only real way is to use persistence and re-call the 50 who are “not available,” and to carefully and systematically track the 30 who want more information and ask to be called back. When other factors remain constant, persistence can double or triple your sales productivity.