How Sales Persistence Wins Over Gatekeepers and Lands High-Value Staffing Contracts

Learn how sales persistence, long-term strategy, and insider insights helped break through gatekeepers to win a $2 million staffing contract.

Breaking through Gatekeepers in the Staffing Sales Process

The main decision maker at PetSmart’s warehouse was never going to take a meeting with me. He had a gatekeeper who refused to take my calls. Every call ended the same way—with Vicki hanging up on me. I knew enough to know they were spending around $2 million on staffing services, which is what I was selling. It was easy to get close to the revenue opportunity because the temporary employees who washed out were coming into one of my offices. One person after another wrote down on their application that they had worked at PetSmart. This was a sign that PetSmart had a problem retaining staff.

Leveraging Temporary Staffing Candidates to Identify Decision-Makers

The best leads were walking into my office and listing every temporary job they had, often providing me with their supervisor’s name for each one. A number of sales reps said that I was making a mistake by pursuing PerSmart. They thought I was wasting my time, and causing Vicki to work harder than she should to keep me from getting a meeting with the VP of operations.

Sales Persistence Strategy to Win Staffing Contracts over Time

If you want to succeed in sales, you must persist long enough to wait out the gatekeeper or until the incumbent is removed. In this case, I knew the incumbent was failing to provide PetSmart with the number or quality of temporary employees they needed. I knew my company could do better, so I was not giving up after being told to stop calling.

At the same time, Vicki was doing her job, which was protecting the VP’s time. I knew that my company could help the VP of operations solve their staffing problem, which would give him time to focus on other important strategic initiatives. Vicki and I were on the same side; she just didn’t know it yet. Keeping this in mind, I knew that my persistence could help her in this goal, so I kept at it. And she kept hanging up on me.

When Gatekeepers Leave, Be Ready to Seize the Opportunity

One day, I called PetSmart, expecting to hear Vicki’s voice before she disconnected me. But Vicki was gone. The person who answered the phone instead made it sound like something bad had happened to her. When I asked what happened, the person on the phone shared that Vicki had found a new job. I knew my persistence had finally paid off.

With Vicki out of the way, I found a person who was kind enough to transfer me to the VP of operations, who was interested in what I had to say. It turns out, PetSmart’s warehouse had a severe shortage of forklift operators, and my company had plenty who were available. In the course of a week, we started to send them the employees they needed.

No gatekeeper sticks around forever. Eventually, they move on, or at least take a vacation or a sick day. Persistence ensures you are there when the time is right.

How a Pragmatic Mindset Fuels Long-Term Sales Success

Persistence is a strategy. But this strategy is better deployed with a patient, professional, and pragmatic mindset.

Patience means you take as long as you need. It could take weeks, months, or years for your incumbent to fail, or for you to get into direct contact with the decision maker. Patience is about letting events unfold in the time they need. No incumbent holds onto their clients forever.

Professionalism is about presenting yourself as an expert and maintaining confidence and authority. Professionals do not get frazzled when prospective clients hang up on them. They do not yell at gatekeepers or treat them like underlings. They are polite, polished, and pleasant. They are the kinds of people you would like to do business with.

Perhaps most important is pragmatism. Pragmatism is a way to move forward sensibly and realistically. You are practical in how you approach your clients, and you have realistic expectations for how they do business. Pragmatic people look for ways to collaborate with clients to find a path forward that will work for everyone. They focus on needs, results, and strategic outcomes, and use those elements to direct the sales conversation.

One of my less pragmatic peers asked me why we called on companies that already have a provider. He suggested that we should call on companies that don’t have a staffing firm. I broke his spirit by telling him that we only call on people who use what we sell. This is why we call on the clients we want, even if our competitors are already in place. This reflects our pragmatic approach. There are a finite number of prospective clients in our industry and area. It would be magical thinking to believe that we can make clients out of companies that don’t buy what we sell.

The Long-Term Game in B2B Sales and Staffing Contracts

You may have friends in sales who are willing to give up after being told that prospective clients are uninterested or unwilling to change providers. This is a mistake. With a long enough timeline, every client you have now will eventually be lost to you. This could happen because they no longer need what you sell, or because a new senior leader replaces you with one of their providers with a long history of working together. It can also happen because the client is no longer satisfied with you.

Now, come at this from the opposite side. Your competitors will eventually lose their clients for these same reasons. If you have been persistent, you will be in a position to pick up those clients when they are ready to make a change.

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