How To Be Professionally Persistent In Sales Prospecting

When I was slinging copier machines my sales role was 100% focused on business development. No accounts, no given prospects. I was on my own.

I learned a lot during my time there, especially about prospecting for new clients. Not only did you have to have a powerful value-add statement ready to go, you had to have a good closing statement. Even if there was no answer on the other line.

Let me ask you this: When you cold call, how do you end your message?

“Thanks for listening to this message”

“Hope to hear from you soon”

“Looking forward to your response”

Those are all very WEAK closes.

So ask yourself again, do any of the above sound like your calls?

If this is the last thing they are going to hear; shouldn’t it convey something a little more enticing?

This is where the term, professionally persistent comes into play.

Because after every single call I let them know that I will be professionally persistent in reaching out to them.

You get 20-30 calls into their voicemail…..they start calling you back.

Professionally Persistant is a very powerful statement to use in sales.

What This Statement Means

Professionally persistent means just what it says. You will be both professional and persistent in reaching out to them.

I’m not going to call you at home while you’re eating your dinner. I’m not going to show up at your office holiday party. I’m not going to be anything but respectful in my actions towards you.

It also means I will persistent in following up with you. And by persistent I mean as long as it takes. Sales statistics say it takes 7-8 touches because you have a meeting. I feel that it often takes much longer than that. I have no problem calling on a prospect o30-40 times until they pick up the phone or answer my question.

No is not an option!

So you have to keep at it. Do not give up. Persistence and consistency is key to sales.

Do not stop until they give you a good reason to. i.e. we just signed a 3 year agreement with Yardi or we’re selling all of our residential properties this year so will have no need for the MRI property management software.

I do not accept “no” and “not interested” as a reason to stop. To me all I hear is not now.

Sales Pro Blog Challenge: From now on I challenge you to end your calls and emails with this.

“Although I plan to hear back from you soon, I will of course remain professionally persistent in reaching out to you”

Let me know what you think, and what the response rate is for your prospecting calls.

~ Johnny Bravo