GRIT: a four letter sales characteristic
According to Merriam Webster dictionary, grit is defined as firmness of character; indomitable spirit or a strong resistance to embracing vulnerability.
Successful sales people display this characteristic to the core. I wanted to quote a personal example of display of grit. I had recently undertaken a trip to the North Eastern part of India to an area in Tawang district which is in Arunachal Pradesh (state). Myself and my family had no idea that we could visit the Indo - China border called Bumla Pass. We were excited upon understanding that this is possible but figured that it requires a Tourist Permit, which has to be generated by District Commissioner's (DC) office and validated by Army HQ in Tawang.
We reached the DC office in the evening and found it to be closed being a local holiday. I got a bit disillusioned but I went to the Army HQ and tried to understand if there is an alternate solution to getting the permit, unfortunately there was none. Everyone including our tourist guide, hotel manager & driver discouraged us and told us that it would be next to impossible to get the permit issued for travelling on the next day, as the normal turnaround time is 12 hours.
I had mentally decided that come rain or shine we have to go the border the next day itself, as we were returning back the following day from Tawang to the next destination. I used my account management skills to map the army gatekeeper, influencer and the signatory - result was that they promised to have the permit cleared in less than 10 minutes, condition being to get the permit issued from DC office in time.
Challenge
The challenge for us was to get the permit in less than 2 hours as we had to reach a particular point before 1400hrs or the Army personnel will not allow us beyond the gate. The DC office opened its gates at 0930hrs but the officers usually come a bit late.
DC office
For cracking the DC office, me and my wife formed a team, she did the paperwork at the office and I went to the drivers house to get his paperwork. We were ready with every possible paperwork before the officer arrived. He was reluctant in issuing the permit initially, but our sheer persistence paid off and he issued the same in 30mins. The Army HQ stakeholders true to their word issued the permit from their end in less than 5 mins.
So our grit saved the day along with account mapping, information gathering in advance, helped in bringing down the permit issuance time from 12 hrs to less than 1 hour.
Can you relate to the same in the everyday sales scenario? If we are proactive and have the grit to get a deal, nobody can stop you.
The author runs a sales consulting and outsourcing firm called Simplimetric Consulting LLP. For more details you can look up at www.simplimetric.in