One aspect of selling that I have always struggled with is knowing how much to follow-up, especially when it comes to selling myself with a job. I never know how much to persist in contacting the business that I am interested in, or how much is an appropriate amount.
Though I don’t have all the answers myself, an interesting article gave me four ideas for persisting with a prospect when it comes to selling your service/product in a sales call or meeting.
- Get your prospect a sales lead or give them a referral.
- Give your prospect an idea of how to serve his/her customers better.
- Give your prospect a list of things he/she can do to improve morale, productivity, or profit.
- Get your prospect some free publicity or social media exposure, help them win.
Though none of the above suggestions are guaranteed to get your prospect to buy into you and your business, they are all good ideas for persevering in a sale when you are trying to “hook” your prospect. These suggestions remind me a lot of what our guest speaker Wendy Mascio talked about when she mentioned giving your prospect the summary of an article in a magazine that is profitable to him/her. If that prospect knows that every time they see you they get valuable information that saves them time, they are more likely to see you again and make time for you.
Though persistence is not always easy, it shows your dedication and desire to do what you are doing. It does need to be tempered with appropriateness, (no one likes to be bugged incessantly), but a good dose of persistence in sales can sometimes be just the quality a prospect is looking for. A job interview is quite different from a sales call, but I think the same logic can be applied, persistence will make you stand out from the other competition and show your heart for the position.
BoweryJE22
This post is so insightful! I’ve always struggled with the same questions, and your four tips were very helpful.