“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” — Albert Einstein
A few years ago, I was at a sales meeting and my colleague shared the following story. Her experience illustrates what Einstein was talking about: staying with a problem can make all the difference.
My colleague, Sue, set up an introductory meeting with a potential client. The week before the appointed meeting time, she learned that her contact had been assigned to a different group and a new person was taking over. The meeting was rescheduled.
Sue repeated the process of sending an introductory email and requesting a meeting. This time, the meeting took place as scheduled, but once they started talking, she realized the wrong person from the company was sitting at the table. She was directed to contact another individual. For the third time, she persistently initiated the process.
Finally, she was able to advance beyond the introductory email to the next steps of ideation, proposal, test marketing, sales testing, and final placement. It took three years but Sue got the sale.
Sue’s story is an excellent illustration of persistence. Persistence, a firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition, is necessary in our workplace these days. And sometimes, it’s important to share the story of when it pays off.
– Dan Glass