I was talking with a close family friend over the weekend as we both marveled at the incredibly opportunities our amazing country offers. As many of you know, I am immigrant, born in the former Soviet Union, and my friend is also from an immigrant family.

He said, “In America, all you need is hard work and you can accomplish anything.”

I agree of course, and I also think another element is even more important to our success here:

“Hard work and perseverance,” I said.

Success in America — and anywhere — demands that we continue trying to succeed even when success does not immediately present itself.

Researchers find that perseverance is twice as important to success as talent is.

Not giving up is far more important than being good.

So, yes, hard work in our great country will likely lead to some success.

But add perseverance, and you will be impossible to stop.

And in the selling profession, perseverance is the single most important behavior you can bring to your work.

Without it, you will not overcome failure very much at all.

And ours is a failure business.

Compared to other professions, we must overcome relentless failure and rejection.

In fact, we only succeed a small percentage of the time in our work.

Which is why, in sales, perseverance is the single most important characteristic we can implement.

And hard work is very close second.