Today it gives me great pleasure to present “Celebrity Thursday” – my guest blog spot!
Beth Anderson is dubbed the “The Networking Queen,” and is an active participant in several on-line networking communities. She credits her success to the lessons learned by her participation in the world’s largest organization of weekly face-to-face meetings, BNI – Business Network International.
Beth is also an avid sailor and one of the most amazing people I have had the pleasure to connect with online over the last few years. It is an amazing honour to present her blog today to you….. So without further ado…. over to Beth………………………
A Young Man’s Lesson in Perseverance
By Beth M. Anderson
My nephew, Craig, is 25 years old and runs an Arby’s fast food restaurant in a college town in Minnesota (one of those cold northern states in the middle of the United States). He has been with Arby’s for five years, starting out as a regular employee, and now is the store’s manager. He is well liked by both his bosses and his employees, and much to the chagrin of his mother, quit college to do this full time.
A month ago two nicely dressed gentlemen came into the restaurant during a busy lunch rush and Craig ended up waiting on them. He told them about a new sandwich that was being offered, which they purchased, and they sat down to eat their meal. About 45 minutes later Craig realized they were still sitting in the dining room, so he went out and spoke to them, to find out what they thought of the new product.
To his surprise, the older man told him that they were actually there to check him out. They were with Verizon Telecom; one of the “big three” cellular companies in the US. They were on the search for a new manager and Craig had been highly recommended to them by one of his former employees. They asked if he would be interested in coming in to talk some more about the opportunity.
Very flattered, Craig explained that he was leaving on vacation out of town in the morning, and could they get together when he returned in a week. They agreed, and exchanged cards.
Ten days later, on the Monday after vacation, Craig called and left the first message. The man did not return his call. Four days later, he called again, still no return call.
Craig called his mom, very disappointed, saying things like “They must have hired someone else” and “I should have skipped vacation and gone to see them”. His mother, being the practical woman that she is, told him to call again.
Craig didn’t see the point in calling again. After all, wasn’t it obvious they had lost interest in him?
After some minutes of persuasive arguments from my sister, Craig finally agreed to call again. On Monday the man from Verizon called, very apologetic, explaining that he had gone on vacation the week after and therefore only got the messages that very day. He complimented Craig on continuing to follow up, and told him how impressed he was that he had.
They’ve set up the interview for later this week, and while we don’t yet know the results, I suspect there will be an offer on the table very soon.
How many times do we say to ourselves, when we’ve tried calling a prospect several times with no results, “They’ve lost interest” or “I don’t want to bother them” or my favorite “They are obviously not interested because if they were, they would have called”.
I’m no longer in sales, but am in a position to purchase services for a large client of mine, and so I often get sales calls. I don’t know about your life, but mine is quite busy. Over the years I have been called by many, many salespeople, and I’ve discovered that as a first test I always tell them to “call me back next Tuesday, when I’ll have more time to talk to you”. Very, very few ever call back at all, much less on the day when I’ve asked them to call. I never set a time, because people can manage that – that’s more like setting an appointment which they then write down and generally will follow through.
I just ask them to call. If they do, then I’ll take the time to listen to them. If they don’t, well, then I haven’t wasted my time, have I?
You never know what is going on in someone else’s life. Politely continuing to contact someone until they tell you, specifically, to stop calling, results in a successful career in sales.
Now think back on all of those missed opportunities, change your attitude about it, and go out there and make the most of all of those referrals coming your way!
You hit the nail on the head Beth!