Happy Friday, everyone!
Here is this week's poll question:
What is the longest period of time you've pursued a prospect before closing the sale and turning him/her into a customer?
Looking forward to reading your replies!
3 years off and on. When the customer came on they came on in a big way and are on an annnual for the second year. The customer also tells many other businesses to come see me.
Rebecca,
I started a GM position at a small stand alone in Upstate New York and began pursuing an Auto Group in Aug of 09. I closed my first deal with them in Sep of 2012. Needless to say, I poured myself a drink that night and smiled pretty big. Thanks very much for a fun question.
Cheers,
- Tim Sweeney
Two plus years. It turned into a 12,000 to 20,000 annual account 4 years ago. Well worth the effort. Gives me hope to remember that when I pursue other accounts. Persistence pays.
I'd say closing a three-year chase successfully would definitely be occasion for a celebratory drink!
Thanks for sharing your story!
Nicely done!!!
Nice! Not only the contract, but referrals, too!
Almost two years. An independant show store. One of the biggest challenges ever! We ended up becoming good friends.
Unless a customer outright tells me they will never do radio I will continue to visit them. I usually actively pursue for the first 6-12 months, and then after that I visit them intermitantly when there is a promotion going on that I think would be perfect for them.
I got a customer on last week I've been pursuing for 2.5 yrs.
Back in 1980 I had an account in Tulsa who had had the Salesman of the Week for a number of years at KXXO Radio 1300. I started calling on him and of course he said there was no way he would do anything with someone who would surely be gone in a couple of weeks. He said if I could manage to appear once a week for 10 weeks he would buy whatever I brought on the 10th visit. I began calling with spec tapes and ideas. Each time he would stroke a pad with the number of the call. Sometimes if he was busy when I got to the front door he would call out the next number and wave me on. On the10th call he ushered me into his office, said "OK, give me what you got." He took the contract, signed it, and then said "OK what did I buy?" Of course, I under pitched. I had an Oklahoma Sooner plan that included spots in Pre-Game, Half Time and Post Game for a pretty decent budget. He sighed with relief. Told me he was afraid I would come in with some $100,000 deal. Told me he would have honored it too! Based on his honesty and integrity, I bought my first Honda Accord from him later on and have driven only Accords ever since. He showed me a lot as to what real integrity meant. And he told me that he was impressed that there were some in Radio that understood continuity. The station has long since changed, he moved his dealership and changed it's name but to this day continues to use Radio in the Tulsa Metro.
Learned my skills from a man named Jim Williams of the Welsh Company who taught me every client had a number 10 on their foreheads that represented the number of NO's before a YES. The funny thing was, he told us that the average radio sales person quit working on the account on the 5th call, and the average client bought on the 7th!
That's tremendous. What did it take to actually close that first deal?
Awesome story!
I have a fun story!! I have a place that said no to 7 salespeople over the course of 3 years. Every new salesperson said "Hey... can I call on ______!?!?!?" I always said... "Go ahead... and Good Luck" I had called on them three years ago and they pledged allegiance to a different radio company and said they would NOT be buying from us.
I let everyone call on them because you never know... that MAY change!
Then on New Years Eve we were doing the "TOP 80 OF THE 80's!" on our station. We sold each hour to a different sponsor. I had an open hour, so I called the owner of this company and asked if he would be my guest for an hour. He said "sure" so I recorded the show and didn't ask him to buy ANYTHING! (that was tough)
He got some calls from it and so did the station. I have voicemail that forwards to our email, so I forwarded him the message that was left (a listener that thought the business owner was on live on NYE) and the guy replied with an email asking "how much would it cost for us to do something with you guys?"
We signed him on as an MVP (most valuable partner) and he has been very happy with the decision.
I'm 100% positive that he was coming here EXPECTING me to sell him something.... when I didn't pounce on him... I stood out! We have been doing some fun stuff ever since!
Very nice!
Two years was the longest with a cell phone provider. They are now on an annual for the 2nd year straight. I had to get creative because I was having a hard time climbing the ladder to get to the right person with their corporate offices many states away. I finally put together a "package" for them. Printed it up, wrapped it in green wrapping paper with a bow on it and dropped it off of their local store with a cover sheet that said "only our family of radio stations wraps up your marketing plan and puts a bow on it". Surprise it made it all the way up the ladder
