Sales persistence can be tough, especially when you put in the work and don’t immediately see the results of your actions. You’re making calls, sending follow-up messages and meeting with decision makers but keeping hearing “NO.” So you decide to take a different approach, meet with a different person or follow up a different way.

And sometimes, after all of the effort you put in, it can feel as though you’re no closer to winning the business than when you first started. That’s especially true when faced with a long sales cycle. While some opportunities close quickly, others can take months (or even years!).

When you find yourself in the middle of one of those long cycles, it’s easy get discouraged and begin to wonder if all you’re doing is actually getting you anywhere.

Keep in mind, though, that the answer is not always easy to see. Sometimes, much like chipping away at a rock with a sledgehammer, progress is happening beneath the surface through every conversation, every follow-up and every small action you take.

The Sledgehammer Analogy for Sales Persistence

Recently, BDU’s CEO Lisa Peskin was talking with Bill Hunt, President of MedCom Solutions, when he mentioned his sledgehammer analogy for sales persistence.

Bill told Lisa about a company he had been pursuing for three years (three years!) before he finally won their business. There were plenty of opportunities along the way for him to decide it was time to move on but he kept at it.

He compared his experience to a sledgehammer: imagine going outside and trying over and over to break apart a huge piece of stone. You swing the sledgehammer and nothing appears to happen. So you swing again but the stone still just sits there. Then, you come back another day and take another swing, then another and another. From where you’re standing, it looks like you’re making absolutely no progress.

Until one day, you take one more swing and the stone finally shatters.

It was not just that final swing that broke the stone. Every swing that came before it helped weaken the stone until it reached the point where one more strike could break through.

As Bill noted, the same thing can happen in sales.

Why Is Persistence Important in Sales?

Persistence in sales matters because meaningful progress isn’t always immediately visible.

In a long B2B sales cycle, a salesperson can do everything right and still not hear an immediate “YES.” There may be multiple stakeholders involved, the prospect may need to secure funding, priorities might change, objections may surface or internal approval might take some time.

That doesn’t mean that the work being done along the way isn’t valuable. Every activity can bring the opportunity one step closer to a decision. The challenge is not knowing which step will create the breakthrough.

Sales persistence isn’t simply about refusing to take “NO” for an answer. It’s about continuing to create value, learning more about the opportunity and taking productive steps forward when the opportunity is still worth pursuing.

Every Sales Activity Is Another Swing of the Sledgehammer

There can be a lot that needs to happen before getting a “YES,” including:

• Finding the right stakeholders and decision-makers
• Uncovering needs and challenges, and determining where the solution can make an impact
• Scheduling individual and group meetings with the right people
• Helping the prospect secure funding or gain buy-in
• Presenting a solution and demonstrating its potential impact
• Handling negotiations and objections
• Hearing a “NO,” learning from it and finding another way to move the opportunity forward

Each activity may seem small when viewed on its own, and it might not be immediately clear how it changed the opportunity. However, each step could be another chip in the stone.

Want to keep your prospect meetings as productive as possible? Make sure you’re dotting every “i” and crossing every “t” with BDU’s Prospect Visit Checklist, available to download in the BDUtensils library.

Progress in a Long Sales Cycle Isn’t Always Easy to See

One of the most challenging parts of a long sales cycle is not knowing if the effort will eventually pay off. It’s natural to want to see evidence that what you’re doing is working, but selling doesn’t always provide immediate gratification.

A decision-maker might say the timing isn’t right, their budget might not be available yet, a contact may need to bring several other stakeholders into the conversation or you could have a fantastic meeting but struggle to schedule the next one.

It can feel like nothing is happening but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s true.

Every conversation can reveal something new about the prospect, every additional stakeholder can create another path through the organization and every objection can provide insight into what’s standing in the way.

Those are the little chips in the stone. They might not be obvious at first, but they can still show you that you’re making progress.

A “NO” in Sales Doesn’t Always Mean “Never”

Unfortunately, rejection is part of sales. However, there’s an important difference between a true, final “NO” and a “NO” that really means not now, not this way or not with the information available today.

That’s where sales persistence becomes so important.

This doesn’t mean endlessly chasing every prospect who has ever declined your products or solutions. Not every opportunity deserves months or years of attention and knowing when to walk away is an important sales skill, too.

Instead, persistence should be strategic. When you have a good, qualified opportunity with a legitimate reason to believe you can make an impact, a setback doesn’t necessarily mean the pursuit is over. It may simply mean it’s time for another swing.

What Should the Next Swing Be?

When an opportunity stalls, the answer isn’t always to make another call or send another “just checking in” email.

Instead, figure out what productive action could move this opportunity one step closer to a decision. That could be:

• Finding out if there’s another stakeholder who needs to be involved
• Better communicating the financial impact of the solution
• Handling an objection that hasn’t been fully addressed
• Looking for ways to build internal support
• Determining if the prospect simply isn’t ready today and creating a thoughtful follow-up strategy to keep the relationship alive until the timing changes

Effective sales persistence means continuing to find meaningful ways to move the opportunity forward rather than simply repeating the same action over and over again. In other words, every swing should have a purpose.

How Do Salespeople Know When to Keep Going?

Persistence is valuable, but so is knowing where to invest time and energy.

Before continuing to pursue a stalled opportunity, you should consider whether there is still a legitimate case for moving forward. Try asking yourself:

• Is this prospect a good fit?
• Is there a real problem that the solution can help solve?
• Is there a potential financial or business impact?
• Are there additional stakeholders or decision-makers who could help move the process forward?
• Is timing the real issue rather than the solution itself?

If the opportunity is still qualified and there are productive actions left to take, it may be worth continuing to chip away. If the fit simply isn’t there, the smartest move may be to focus that energy elsewhere.

The goal isn’t persistence for persistence’s sake but purposeful persistence.

Don’t Stop One Swing Before the Breakthrough

Consider Bill’s story. For three years, he kept chipping away at an opportunity while not knowing exactly which conversation, meeting or follow-up would ultimately lead to a breakthrough.

Finally, the stone shattered.

It’s an important lesson for anyone in sales because sometimes you can be closer to a breakthrough than you realize. If you knew the stone was going to break after three more swings, you would absolutely make sure to keep going.

However, there is rarely a way to tell that you’re getting closer to your “YES.” Instead, you have to consistently evaluate the opportunity, continue providing value and trust the process.

Some stones may never break. Part of being a strong salesperson is recognizing when that may be the case and when your energy is better invested elsewhere.

But when the opportunity is real, the fit is strong and there’s good reason to keep pursuing it, a lack of immediate results doesn’t mean your effort isn’t making an impact.

Keep chipping away, finding the right people and asking questions. Keep demonstrating value, learning, adjusting and following up. And, most importantly, keep swinging. You never know which hit will eventually shatter the stone!

At BDU, we’ve spent years helping professionals strengthen their pipelines, build connections and increase revenue. Whether you’re new to sales or a seasoned professional looking to sharpen your prospecting approach, we’ve gathered our proven strategies in one place to help you build stronger connections, land more appointments and ultimately close more business. Check out BDU’s Ultimate Prospecting Playbook now.