Some of you are asking… what the heck does perseverance have to do with b2b sales? Well in some cases everything.
Let me explain the importance of perseverance in large account b2b sales…
Major account sales are seldom to never a one call simple sell. You will be asked to make call after call – meet with multiple decision makers and influences to make a successful b2b sales. This does not include all the follow up, additional documentation, negotiations, and planning of your sales strategy.
Since you are not going to get a quick sale in most cases, perseverance keeps you in the game and coming back to see the sales opportunity to the commitment and agreement. So embrace this key success trait to your advantage.
I want to go into greater depth on this topic now. To being with I want you to think about this story…
Lately, I have been watching the local basketball teams as one team found a way to enter the national playoffs and another is fighting for a position in the professional playoffs. Both teams have had major difficulties during the past month, yet, they have re-focused in different ways.
The college team had lost several games at the end of the season to teams they were favored to beat. This caused major discussions regarding the coach (leader of the team) and the quality of the players. Sounds like a sales team and their manager when quarterly or monthly results have dipped below the goals and objectives set some where else.
The professional team recently was destroyed by another team – on the other’s team home court. Yet, the next game, this same team with the same players and the same coach managed to do the destroying in their next game. How could this happen? The same players and coach were involved, yet, things happened with completely different results.
So what happened? First, perseverance entered the picture. Neither team – to a man – gave up or gave in to the bad. In other words, they persevered through the bad, re-focused on their goals and objectives, rediscovered their purpose and executed their plans better than ever before.
To review the changes after dealing with the bad results earlier in the game, they did the following steps…
- Committed to each other to perform better in the next opportunity.
- Committed to themselves to focus on every play and perform at higher levels.
- Focused upon their commitment to WIN.
- Took self responsibility for their part in the next opportunity (game).
- Rallied around each other and spoke highly of each team member (no blaming others).
- Prepared better for the next opportunity with extra practice and preparation.
- Dedicated themselves to excellence and to never give up.
These are the signs of true winners who fight though the bad breaks, the poor decisions, less than top performances, lack of focus, lack of preparation and lack of execution to return to their level of excellence. Winning in b2b sales is just like winning in sports. There are no ties. There may be extra time put on the clock – just like a major account who is not sure enough to make a decision and reschedules visits in order to make a final decision.
Perseverance is the trait the winners call upon to get to their next level of performance and results. Recognize the power of this trait on your personal success and develop this Success Habit.
Voss Graham
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