Persistence

Talking to a young businessman in Abu Dhabi this week (a good place to be if you like selling and making money!) I heard a wonderful story about a salesperson who would not take "No!" for an answer. His prospect hung up on him, but the salesman dialed back straight away and said "We must have got disconnected!" And so on ... (Let me know if you want to hear the full story). Anyway, my point is "How many times will the successful, professional salesman hear "No!" before giving up?" It has to be more than once, but surely there is a limit? I have heard it said that the average number of times a buyer needs to hear the proposition is 7, while the average salesman gives up after 3 tries. Interesting!