A friend of mine asked me “To what do you attribute your success?” First, I was flattered that he considered me a “success”, but more importantly, he caught me off guard, as did my answer.

I thought for a few seconds, and scanned all of the usual clichés in my mind…. “being customer focused, working hard, a unique selling proposition, delivering value, luck,” and so on.

But I blurted out a one-word answer that surprised even me…”Longevity” I said.

The conversation quickly moved on to other topics, but the next day I began to ponder how profound that answer was.

Does your sales culture and remuneration structure sustain longevity, or do you have an “eat what you kill” culture that starves your new recruits to death?

It was “longevity” that allowed me to build my business, and success certainly didn’t come over night. There were many years when I had to go into debt or dip into my savings just to stay in the game.

And there were times when I almost packed it in for other career opportunities.

I was fortunate enough to have a savings account, a wife who stood beside me, and good credit, to carry me through the “unsuccessful” days. Do you have a remuneration structure and support structure that allows new recruits to stay in the game?

Upon further reflection, here is what longevity did for me, and can do for you:

1.)  Experience. You can’t expect a rookie with 90 days experience to outsell a competitor with years of experience.

2.)  Confidence. Given time to get a few successes under your belt gives you the confidence to pursue more business.

3.)  Learning. With time, if you make an effort to learn something new every day, eventually your expertise will be second to none.

4.)  Awareness and familiarity. We all know that reach and frequency sell….and longevity simply builds more reach and more frequency for every sales person.

5.)  Trust. It takes time to build trust, and over time, your prospects and customers simply trust you more.

6.)  Referrals. Proving yourself over time, you will have enough referrals and build a strong enough reputation that you seldom need to prospect….referred prospects will be calling you!

7.)  Timing. Timing itself plays a role. I have contacts I made ten years ago who are just now becoming clients. They just didn’t have a need when we first met.

We have all seen eager new recruits who “failed” in our business, only to become successful in their next career. Creating a culture of longevity could help you keep some of those successes in your camp!

My friend, Howard Christensen, once said to me, “Have you ever noticed that the smartest people you know think just like you?”

Think about it. It’s true! The smartest people you know think just like you. In fact, people who don’t think like you are often dismissed as idiots…..well, I may be overstating my case a bit.

But here is my point. Your clients will think you are the smartest marketing consultant they know if you can think just like them by aligning your proposals with their thoughts, beliefs and visions.

How can you write a presentation that demonstrates you think just like your prospect? Here are a few tips:

1. Ask thought-provoking questions to uncover your prospects’ underlying motivations, and document their answers carefully.
2. Fly some “trial balloons” during your questioning process to make sure you are interpreting their thoughts correctly.
3. Look around their office to see what books they read and what marketing “gurus” or business leaders they follow so your presentation will align with their beliefs.
4. Deliver a trade article or blog about advertising or about marketing their business and then ask for their feedback.
5. Prepare your presentation with their long term vision or dream in mind, rather than simply solving this month’s short term problem.

When you become the smartest marketing person your prospects and clients know, you will be surprised how much they will pay you for thinking just like them!

      We received a ton of comments about last week’s ENS on Sales about mastering the fear of rejection. This week we’ve added a few more methods you can adopt to handle the daily rejection faced by busy sales executives.

Mark Twain said, “Courage is mastery of fear, not absence of fear.”

Here are a few mastery techniques you’ll find helpful:

1.)  Know your product. – Your prospect only dabbles in marketing while trying to run her business, hire staff, order merchandise, deal with taxes, accommodate customer complaints, renew her lease and fight with banks. Knowing that you are a full time student of marketing gives you more expertise on the subject than your clients.

2.)  Be comfortable with the “what if” – What if your prospect doesn’t buy? Knowing that you have succeeded up until now without your new prospect’s business helps you to accept the “what if” in stride. You lived before you met them, and life goes on without a hitch after the rejection.

3.)  Be sincere and have integrity – Make sure, based upon your expertise, that what you are proposing really does deliver value to the client. Knowing you are doing what’s best for the client increases your confidence level and selling is often merely a transference of confidence.

4.)  Understand the steps – If you know your closing ratio, and the steps involved in your selling process, you’ll understand that each step takes you one step closer to a sale. For example if you know your closing ratio is one in ten, then you can train yourself to become more excited with each rejection. At rejection number 9 you’re one presentation away from making a sale!

5.)  No doesn’t mean “no” -Understand that client’s needs and strategies often change. A prospect who says “no” to one idea or presentation, may see the merit in another idea or strategy in your next presentation.