Persistence Pays
This is when I was working in Subaru back in 2000 as a Marketing Manager. It is about some of the most valuable business lessons I have learned from a “crazy” salesperson.
I met Emily (not her real name) when she joined us as a sales executive selling Subaru cars back in 2002. She left her job as a flight attendant for something that she felt would pay better, and inline with the effort she put in. Selling cars in Singapore was potentially such a career.
With no experience in sales, Emily knew little about cars and wasn’t very interested. She joined us because there was a news article about a report from AMEX saying that car salespeople were among the top earners in Singapore. She wanted to make more money.
In the beginning, her sales were way below average. She had difficulty meeting her minimum monthly targets. It seemed she was moonlighting as an insurance agent and “dabbling” in real estate.
She was everywhere, and going nowhere.
Then one day, something happened. Something that helped her become the top salesperson in the company.
She had a cunning plan…
Emily came to me one day, after 7pm, to ask if I can help her with something.
“Sure! What do you need?”
“Can you print these from this website? The printer in the sales office is out of toner.”
It was a list of classified ads from a used car sales portal. These were individuals advertising to sell their cars privately.
She explained to me she will call them to ask if they are interested in buying a new Subaru; since they are selling their current car, they must be in the market for a new one. So simple.
It makes sense. I thought that was a notch better than cold calling from the phone directory.
I asked, “So how did it go so far?”
She said that it was a new idea and the first time she was trying so she won’t know yet. She also asked that I keep this a secret because she didn’t want the other salespeople to steal her idea.
I promised. She said she’ll keep me posted. Cool. Good luck.
I have to admit, I initially didn’t think she would get very far. I was so wrong.
Emily compiled her list daily and started calling each person on the list every day after 7pm, since that’s when these prospects would have finished work and were less likely to be in a meeting.
She would introduce herself and ask if they would be interested to meet with her at the showroom for a test drive. Most of the people on her list would just tell her they were not interested and hang up. Then she would move on to the next person.
When she reached the bottom of the list, she’ll start all over from the top. This means she was calling the same people who rejected her invite for a test drive. Her list got longer and longer as she added more prospects to it.
Many on her list got annoyed and upset because she didn’t take ‘No’ for an answer. She only stopped calling if they blocked her calls. Some called my office to complain about the persistent calling. A few threaten to take legal action.
There was a reason some salespeople used to call her “the crazy woman”.
Madness in her method
Over time, some people relented and came to the showroom. Others were curious and wanted to meet her. A few eventually bought a Subaru from her.
Some became friends and recommended their friends to her.
“Are you looking to buy a Subaru? I know someone who works there. I can introduce you.”
These “few” became sufficient enough to give her a 6-figure annual salary that made her one of the top salespersons in the company.
Eventually, another prestigious automotive brand heard about her and poached her over, where she continued to excel in her sales performance.
Subsequently, I have used her as an example when I conducted sales training for new recruits.
Stay focused
When Emily was doing everything, from selling cars to insurance to real estate, she lost focus. She thought that since there weren’t too many people walking into the showroom to buy a car every day, she might as well spend the time doing something else.
The problem was that each of her ventures turned out to be a distraction for the others. The prospect ‘looking’ at a Subaru car seems less important than the ‘prospect’ thinking about buying an apartment. Same thing for the guy who called about life insurance and wanted to meet outside the showroom.
Somewhere along the line, she decided she was better off just doing one thing and doing it well. Then, every “suspect” became a potential customer and received her full attention. While the calls may have been annoying initially, some eventually realised that if they bought from Emily, they’ll get better service and attention than from someone they didn’t know. When you receive a call from Emily every fortnight, she was no longer a stranger. Emily had become a friend.
Find a method (and stick to it)
Once she decided on selling cars, she needed to pick a method. She could have chosen from a variety of methods; giving out flyers at car parks, doing road shows with fellow teammates, working with used car dealers to co-broke deals, building relationships with garages, etc… Most top performing salespeople used one of these to meet people and generate leads.
A method is a plan of action. In Emily’s case, she decided on cold calling. What’s important is that once she decided, she stuck with it long enough to see results. For anything to work, it takes time. If she had given up after the first few rejections and decided that maybe it is better to just leave flyers on windscreens, she would not have gone very far.
She would have discovered that it was a terrible waste of money because often, these go into the rubbish bin. People will complain about flyers sticking onto the windscreen and damaging the paintwork. Weeks will pass without a single lead. Maybe it is better to work with used car dealers and co-broke. But don’t they already have their network of sales persons working with them?
But isn’t it necessary to tweak the plan? To improve? Yes, but not immediately. Over time, I am sure Emily would have noticed that calling past 10pm was not a good idea. Or that calling too often or rarely enough can have poor results. She may notice that different scripts for different people work better than a standard script.
All these came from the experience of having made many calls to many people and learning how, with each variation within her method, what worked better or worse in different circumstances.
The importance of persistence
Whatever you are doing to achieve your goals, it is important to keep at it with patience and persistence. I am sure that it took a while for Emily’s calls to become more effective. It took time for her to learn how to read the tones and moods of people she was speaking with. It took many calls to become confident and competent, to know if the person on the line was receptive, and to work her pitch accordingly. It took time for her to improve, and results to show.
We have a cluster of brain cells called the reticular activating system (RAS). One of its main functions is to filter information to the unconscious mind. Information critical to our survival is transferred instantly, while information that is not so important gets lesser priority.
This is the why it is difficult to learn to juggle; the RAS do not recognise that it is an activity that is important to our survival. So the RAS filters out most of the information going to our unconscious mind so that we only need to deal with important information.
However, if we keep doing something, say juggling, then the RAS recognises that this “juggling” must be important. Or why would you keep doing it? It therefore transmits this information to the unconscious, and more resources will be allocated to the learning process. Then suddenly, we find we have learned to juggle.
For Emily, her success was not because she kept CALLING; it was because she KEPT calling.
Lessons from Emily
I have learned a great deal from Emily when she was my colleague.
I learned you must have a vision of what success looks like if you want to be successful. Even if it is just “making more money”. You must have a goal. Something to shoot for.
I learned you don’t need to have the best ideas to be successful. You just have to do something with the idea. Don’t wait for it to be perfect. Run with it. Tweak it, and adjust as you go. Do it diligently and persistently.
I learned it takes time to get results and to build rapport. Not everyone she cold-called became her friends and customers, but some did. And she took good care of them when they did. There were enough of them to help her become successful.
I lost touch with Emily over the years. The last I heard was that she went on to work for a leading German automotive brand that pays significantly better commission. I am certain that she will succeed in her career as a salesperson, as well as in life.
And I thank her for the invaluable lessons that she taught me.
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