Selling in a Crisis

17Persistence Always Finds a Way to Win

The squirrels didn't just try one way to get to the birdseed and then give up when that way didn't work. They continued trying, learning, and iterating their approach. They worked multiple tactics and avenues until they found a way in.

Likewise, you shouldn't send one or two emails to a prospect and then give up when you don't get a response. Your prospects and customers are distracted, overwhelmed, anxious, stressed out, and focused on survival. Their focus is on reducing spending, not on buying more. They are uninterested in talking to salespeople.

This doesn't mean that they won't buy from you. It just means that you need to grab their attention first, then give them a relevant reason why they should keep paying attention. Both are important, but getting their attention in the first place is a huge challenge in a crisis economy.

During the last economic crisis, Ariana, a business account executive, interrupted my day with a prospecting call. She wanted to discuss switching my company's mobile devices to T-Mobile. I politely explained that with everything going on, the last thing I wanted to do was switch vendors – especially when we were not experiencing any problems. “I have much bigger priorities,” I told her. “Call me back when this is all over.”

Over the next month she sent me email messages, video messages, text messages, direct messages, engaged me on social media, left voicemail messages, and sent snail mail. She earned my respect ...