Sales Persistence And Knowing When To Stop


 

Your Business Blogger has been on both sides of the table as buyer and seller in government procurement. A few months ago, I worked with a client selling to the public sector, working at the Baltimore/Washington Area Government Procurement Fair.

Follow-up and persistence is key for selling in any market. But are the rules different in government sales? In particular, when are you making a pest of yourself?

Gloria Berthold, President of TargetGov gave a compelling presentation, reminding small business owners that some government selling has lengthy, challenging sales cycles. What is needed?

“Persistence, Persistence, Persistence,” she says.

Gloria reminds us that sales reps often quit too soon. They will bail out before they get tossed out.

Persistence. I was fortunate to have a sales trainer over two decades ago who taught how to measure persistence. In the high-pressure elite cadre of medical sales. His advice:

If you’re not getting thrown out of an account once a month, you’re not working hard enough.

This is always a challenge: balancing being nice, with being good . . .and persistent.

Sorry. Being nice is over-rated. Your Business Blogger always recommends being good.

 

Smart small businesses know the difference between sales resistance, dealing with objections– and smart selling and account management.

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See more outstanding selling wisdom at GrowABrain postings on Salesmanship.

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Jack Yoest John Wesley (Jack) Yoest Jr., is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Management at The Catholic University of America. His expertise is in management training and development, operations, sales, and marketing. Professor Yoest is the president of Management Training of DC, LLC. A former Captain in the U.S. Army and with various stints as a corporate executive, he also served as Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Resources in the Administration of Governor James Gilmore of Virginia.

3 Reactions
  1. Persistence is the key! A majority of the sales are made after the second attempt. But mostly I hear from my clients that they don’t call back more than twice! They assume the person is not interested.

    http://www.captureprofits.com/blog