There is a great deal of power and wisdom in what ancient Greeks understood. In your sales career you are not asked to commit to battle, but make no mistake, commitment is required. Your battles are not fought on enemy shores but within confines of your own mind. There is a need to commit to self and to career. Until you have made decision to be fully committed, there is hesitancy and opportunity to draw back. The moment one defiantly commits oneself, magical things happen. The true underlying motivation for all success is a deep and unwavering commitment to task at hand. If you are being pushed around mentally by thoughts of fear, anxiety and worry, it’s time to “burn your boat” and become fully committed to your sales career.

The secret is to develop tools that will allow your prospect to respond to you when they are ready, interested and motivated to do so. We call this Permission Based prospecting. A far cry from bothersome phone calls, staged drop-in visits and thinly veiled and contrived networking events, this process is proactive and positive.

How do you do this? Start with a good contact management software system. Then go ahead and develop a strategy of frequent yet unobtrusive ways to stay in touch with your key prospects. Worry more about qualitative, value laden contacts than a pure volume of bothersome phone calls.

Give some serious thought to providing your prospects valuable information they can use rather than simply trying to persuade them that they need to see you. Newsletters, postcards, reports, information of value, audio tapes, video tapes and other items that help them to do what they do even better are some great ways to stay in front of prospects in positive, productive and powerful ways.

The real secret is to give prospects a chance to respond to your varied offers. Be sure to include a fax-back form, 800 phone number, response card with pre-paid postage or even a return E-Mail address that will allow your prospects to respond to you when they see how you can help them solve problems or work through challenges they face on a daily basis.

This strategy will yield a more positive perception, enhanced receptivity and a greater sense of professional acceptance. It is also far more sophisticated; is less heavy-handed and far more likely to be successful than traditional idea of believing that personal persistence really does pay off.