Billboard Insider reader Tom Giesken asked me “what’s the most important thing to teach a new out-of-home sales rep?”

The answer is persistence.

Early in my career, I had a craggy old sales trainer. He said when you call on a new prospect, you look like a chicken in a tuxedo. They’ve never seen anything like you. If you come back and see them 8-10 times, they are calling the chicken by name.

The sales trainer had what he called his 18 exception rule. You don’t know if a prospect is viable until you’ve made 18 attempts to engage in a conversation. It’s human nature that we stop. I have seen a lot of research proving calling on a prospect at about the 6th, 7th, or 8th attempt, is right about the time they are starting to gain some curiosity about what you are saying.

When I came to Minneapolis to sell for the highest billing radio station in
the market, I was in a cube next to one of the top billers. He was a complete “Eeyore”, never had a very sunny outlook. I couldn’t understand how he sold so much. One day he walked in with a $300,000+ annual contract. When I asked him how he did it, he said, “Well, I have been calling on him for over 2.5 years.”

“No” is “no for now.” We are ingrained from the time we are a year old that “no” means “no.” It is unnatural to keep going after a “no.” Remember that rejection is simply indifference. Engage the prospect and you cut through to productive dialog.

When I let a prospect drop from my radar, it never fails, three months later somebody gets a call from that company asking “Will you come and talk to us about our ad program?” Clearly, I had fallen off of their radar also!

For more great sales advice like this purchase The Ultimate Out of Home Sales Guide.  You can purchase your softbound copy of The Ultimate OOH Sales Guide for $69.96 plus $5 for emailing info@billboardinsider.com.  To learn more visit The Ultimate OOH Sales Guide.

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