"Bulldog" was his nickname and he was proud of it. Guido spent years proving that no one could escape him once he made you a prospect.
Tireless and relentless, this sales guy didn't care if it took 12 days, 12 weeks, 12 months or 12 years to get a customer. He knew he could outlast anyone as long as he could just keep stopping by and leaving his card and some literature. Sure, there were other salespeople that made more than he did or spent more time living their lives, but Guido knew they were all the lucky ones. What did they know about working hard like "Bulldog"?
Bulldog could not dare to think that his process of never letting go was costing him opportunities or money. Persistence is often a virtue that many "sales dogs" rely on when they have not, or will not, learn new sales techniques. They believe that sooner or later all that literature and face time will pay off if they can just stick it out long enough. That attitude is not necessarily bad, as long as you don't want to earn more money and live long enough to enjoy it, though. Many seasoned sales vets bank on a positive mental attitude and a "don't take no for an answer" mentality as a primary key to success in their unending quest to close every single deal that dares to come into their field of vision. Frankly, no one has done it yet and no one ever will.
Being persistent is a great virtue in sales as long as it doesn't become obstinacy. When to be perseverant, instead of obstinate is the real art. Guido left plenty of business on the street that could have been his had he been persistent on the call rather than after it. Relentless follow up should never be confused with superior selling or closing skills. He probably never figured out that had he asked one simple question, he might have saved himself hours and hours of worthless work.
By asking a prospect what it takes to do business, a salesperson can decide how much effort and energy to put towards turning a suspect into a prospect and then the prospect into a customer ... AND whether they were even worthy of the pursuit in the first place. Guido figured that his showing up would prove how much he wanted the business and that the suspect would be impressed with that. Nice, wishful thinking. But not very effective, so go learn some skills that have some finesse rather than brute force and pay attention to the difference between persistence and perseverance.
Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another. ~ Walter Elliot
Your Top 3 Goals & Tactics for the Week
LAST WEEK: Update us on how things went last week with your stated Goals and GD Tactics.
THIS WEEK: Please share your Top 3 Goals for this week and the GD tactics you plan to deploy.