Being a Pest

Baltimore/Washington

Chamber of Commerce

Your Business Blogger has been on both sides of the table as buyer and seller in government procurement. Today I worked with a client selling to the public sector, working at the Baltimore/Washington Area Government Procurement Fair.

Follow-up and persistence is key for selling in any market. But are the rules different in government sales? In particular, when are you making a pest of yourself?

Gloria Berthold, President of TargetGov gave a compelling presentation, reminding small business owners that some government selling has lengthy, challenging sales cycles. What is needed?

“Persistence, Persistence, Persistence,” she says.

Gloria reminds us that sales reps often quit too soon. They will bail out before they get tossed out.

Persistence. I was fortunate to have a trainer over two decades ago who taught how to measure persistence. In the high-pressure elite cadre of medical sales:

If you’re not getting thrown out of an account once a month, you’re not working hard enough.

This is always a challenge: balancing being nice, with being good . . .and persistent.

Sorry. Being nice is over-rated. Your Business Blogger always recommends being good.

Email me and let me know what worked for you. Nice gets nothing. Good gets the gold.

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