Career Tip 27: Be Persistent – Times 7 Strategy

Highly successful sales professionals are willing to contact customers at least seven times before they expect to make anything happen. This is known as the Times 7 Strategy.

Here is how it works. Let’s assume that, periodically, using your contacts, you find someone who may recommend you for a job opening.

1. The first time she hears from you, a faint blip appears on her radar. Your email is set aside for later/never.
2. The second time, she actually glances at your email before letting it fall again into the endless file of old mail.
3. The third time, she hears a voicemail from you and thinks, “I don’t have time to help.”
4. The fourth time, you finally connect over the phone. She admits she has not yet opened your resume attachment. She says she will.
5. The fifth time, you leave another voicemail; you suspect you are probably annoying her (So what? You do not have the job anyway.) She makes a positive mental note about your patient perseverance.
6. The sixth time, you leave a new voicemail telling her about a mutual acquaintance you just remembered. She calls that person, who raves about your work history.
7. The seventh time, she calls you to schedule an interview you would not have had if you had just applied online.

This approach is unusual and uncomfortable for many job seekers. Yet, we find our most successful clients use their personal and professional network to create opportunities that would never have been discovered otherwise. (See Tip 26 for a more comprehensive discussion on networking)

To begin right now, list the names of your ten highest priority contacts. Next, draw seven blank lines next to each contact’s name. Begin applying the Times 7 Strategy. Be diligent. We have learned that blank lines encourage thought and action.

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Present yourself in the most favorable ways to make others remember you.

–The Job Dog