What Wins Sales

In a few days I will begin a project with a new client that will involve looking at their HR structure, policies and procedures from top to bottom. I have been given a 6 month deadline to produce a report and recommendations but I know it won't take that long. Quite simply, if I haven't formed a view by the end of the first week then I should be in some other line of work!
Some things though do take longer and this contract is a case in point, I have been chasing this particular client for nearly 2 years. A friend of mine once told me that everyone knows one thing about the mechanics of a car and, regardless of what may be wrong with your particular motor, they will always trot out their particular theory about engines.
I think that also applies to what works in sales so, for what it's worth and with apologies to sales people everywhere, here is the one thing I (think) I know about getting a sale. It's luck. I don't mean that it doesn't happen without planning and hard work but so much also depends on your sales target receiving that visit, telephone call or e-mail at precisely the time they are ready to think about moving their account. There are many talents to sales but the ones I value above almost all others are persistence and bloody minded determination. It is that kind of doggedness that keeps in touch with the prospective client however unpromising it may seem and that, more often than not, wins the sale. I think that is what helped me win this new contract, it will, however, require another set of skills altogether for me to keep it!