There are countless motivational phrases out there about persistence in selling. I saw one last night posted to LinkedIn that showed a stat about a sales person earning an appointment with a prospect after 50+ calls. It was celebrated with many “likes” and comments. It should be commended – the persistence required in this example is admirable.
However, that sales person wasted a ton of time trying to get one appointment. There is a point of diminishing returns where persistence becomes a time waster. Yes, there is the magical story like the one referenced above; but how many of these actually happen? Why would you endlessly call on prospects that don’t give you the respect to schedule a few minutes? I believe there are two reasons…
- We were taught to do so and now we wear our wounds as badges of honor. We like to hear people tell stories about our persistence and thick skin.
- We feel like we’re giving up if we don’t continue to call on these prospects. We’ve turned it into a competition and we’re not going to lose!
The philosophies we’re taught about sales were developed for new sales people entering the profession, and for selling pictures at Successories. It’s not for the real world. In selling security technology and services, you’re wasting your time after six to nine calls. The variance of quantity of calls has to do with your offering, your experience and book of business, etc.
Idea Tuesday: Decide on a quantity of calls that you’ll make before deleting an account from your prospect list. In the security industry, that number seems to be between six and nine times.
Next Tuesday I’ll share an idea on how to make that break. Until then, click here if you’re interested in learning more about our sales and sales management programs, and how they can help you and your company.
