How long would you call on a prospect until you got a sale? How many no’s will you tolerate before you give up? How persistent are you in the face of adversity? Last week I speaking to the amazing sales team at Cars.com. In my pre-event interviews I spoke to John Scalzitti who told me about one of their Legends Jeff Coulter. Cars.com is a digital media company that brings an audience of car buyers to auto dealers. The dealers have in the past been used to paying for traditional advertising, primarily TV and print. In the early days of Cars.com it was a much more difficult sale than today. It is well known that car buyers do much more research on the internet today before they go the the dealership. Often that research is done on their smart phone…at the dealership…in front of the sales person!
Jeff had to challenge the dealers paradigm of how they viewed the car buying process. He had to win the battle and teach them a new way of thinking and buying their advertising to drive the car buying public to their dealerships. Jeff learned how to keep charging through rejection. He kept coming back with an assertive attitude and the right data and insight to change the way the dealers looked at their advertising.
Jeff used to say that deal took my 5 years and 10 minutes. Five years of sales calls and planning and 10 minutes to do the paperwork.
Can you relate to that? How persistent are you? Do not focus on the price/investment but instead on the value you bring to the customer. Challenge the way they currently view what you are offering! It may not take you five years but if you have a compelling story, create urgency and keep charging through rejection and you will be more successful.
