Mark Hunter's Blog, page 10
February 28, 2024
How to Unlock Sales Potential with Confidence
Of course, confidence that borders on arrogance has no place in sales. Confidence is about putting the other person first. Arrogance is about putting yourself first.
Are you truly confident when you’re in front of your customer? Is your customer confident with you?
Confidence cuts two ways.This blog continues our series on The 7 C’s of Successful Sales Hunting
Confidence is not only you being confident, but the customer being confident in you. What happens is we actually create a level of competence. The customer now sees us as insightful enough and competent enough to be able to help them solve their issue.
via Titanic on GIPHY
Confidence puts the customer first.
Confidence isn’t about selling, it’s about unlocking the customer to be willing to share with you.
It’s absolutely critical that we ask ourselves, are we putting our customer first in everything?
I want you to go back and review your successes. Not what you’ve sold—that’s arrogance—but rather how you’ve been able to help customers.
You might be new to sales and say, “Mark, I don’t have any customers.” Fine. What are other things that you’ve done in your life where you’ve been able to help another person?
You see, sales is about putting the other person first and helping them succeed. That doesn’t just occur when we’re selling something, rather it occurs in everything that we do.
Confidence makes it your mission to help others. Do you believe in the mission to help others? That’s the difference between arrogance and confidence. When I’m confident, I believe in my mission to help others. When I’m arrogant, I believe in my mission to help myself.
Are you going into each conversation knowing that you can absolutely help somebody?
Last week, I was making a number of prospecting calls to people I didn’t know, and I was doing them with a high level of confidence. I knew that I could help them.
Surround yourself with confident people.Surround yourself with all those successes that you’ve had, but also surround yourself with other confident people. This is why I speak so highly, and so frequently about having a mastermind group. When you associate yourself with other confident people, it is amazing how you become more confident. If you surround yourself with doubtful people, naysayers, you’ll get the opposite.
Confident people are not pessimistic people. Confident people are optimistic people because they find the best in things.
via MANGOTEETH on GIPHYBe confident in your product, but even more confident in yourself.
Are you asking enough questions? When you’re doing a sales presentation, are you beholden to the presentation? Are you beholden to the PowerPoint?
Sure, confidence is about product knowledge, but it’s much more about your personal level of confidence. Here’s what I’ve found: Give me a person who is far more confident in themselves, and I’ll take them as a salesperson over somebody who is far more confident about the product.
I want you to be knowledgeable about your product, but I’ve witnessed too many times where people are incredibly knowledgeable about the product, but have poor communication skills, or people skills. You need both.
*Continue this blog series for more on Communication skills, one of the 7 C’s.
Top 5 Ways to Increase Your Sales Results A Sales Logic Podcast WebinarMarch 13th | 1 p.m. CT
Building Credibility and Trust
+Your reputation arrives before you do. Does yours build your credibility?
Find Ep. 181 on The Sales Hunter Podcast now.
Tactics for Winning Over Executives
w/ Bethany Ayers
+Influencing the C-Suite and briding the gap to executive approval
+Do’s and Don’ts for dealing with C-Suite
Episode drops WEDNESDAY, 2/28/2024!!
Thank you, reader!
via FOX TV on GIPHY
We’re pleased this blog has earned recognition by Top Sales Awards!
Thank you to everyone who follows the blog and has shared it with a friend or colleague.
We wish you great selling in 2024!
Start off 2024 with the Most Comprehensive Prospecting Training Available.54 modules at your fingertips. The learning starts now.
Watch them all, or pick and choose what you need to improve.
Click here to learn everything you need to know about turning prospects into profits.
via The Sales Hunter on GIPHY
Copyright 2024, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results .
The post How to Unlock Sales Potential with Confidence first appeared on The Sales Hunter.
February 21, 2024
How Consistency Pays Off in Prospecting
Ask yourself: Am I consistent in how I use my time, how I schedule my time? Am I consistent in how I stay engaged with my customers and how I follow up?
Many salespeople struggling to close deals are simply lacking one thing: consistency.
Consistency in time management.The most successful salespeople are the ones who are absolutely consistent with their time. I get to work with some absolute top performers in a number of industries, people who are rocking it and commanding massive, massive paychecks. In fact, they all tell me one thing. They say, “Mark, our lives are really quite boring because we’re absolutely consistent with how we use our time.”
They’re disciplined, they’re absolutely dialed in, kknow exactly what to do, when to do it, and they don’t deviate from it. One guy tells me, “Every morning at nine o’clock, this is exactly what I’m doing. Every morning at 10 o’clock, this is exactly what I’m doing. The only deviation is if I happen to be on the road.”
Answer yourself this question, are you consistent? Because when you create consistency, it’s amazing how it becomes repetitive.
via Tennis TV on GIPHY
Consistency in how you prospect. I see too many people make a bunch of phone calls and then they never come back and follow up. They have one sales call, but they’re not consistent in their follow-up.
The sale is made in the follow-up. It’s not made on the first call. Are you demonstrating consistency in your follow-up?
There are so many surveys and studies out there it could make your head spin, but the average customer buys after six or eight calls, but the average salesperson gives up after three or four (or something close to that). I’m going to venture to say that you are not being consistent enough.
via UFC on GIPHYHave something to share every time.
Don’t sit there and say, “Mark, I don’t have enough information to share.”
That’s your problem; you haven’t taken the time to develop the information to share.
Every time I reach out to a customer, I’m giving them new insights, new messages. Don’t tell me “I’m reaching out to them too often. I’ve called them five times and they’re not interested.”
I’ve had many people that I’ve called numerous times and they totally ignore me, but ultimately they do come back and buy from me and they say, “Thank you for reaching out because you stayed consistent. I just never had time to reach out to you, but I do want to talk with you, and now’s the time I want to.”
Pro tip: Use your CRM to set your focus!
How Consistency Turns Busy into Productive
+It’s not about hustling, it’s about sticking to a system that works.
Find Ep. 179 on The Sales Hunter Podcast now.
The Sales Leader’s Guide to Coaching Winning Teams
w/ Jake Thompson
+The most important part of being a sales leader/manager
+How to lead and develop yourself before pouring into others
Episode drops WEDNESDAY, 2/21/2024!!
Thank you, reader!via FOX TV on GIPHY
We’re pleased this blog has earned recognition by Top Sales Awards!
Thank you to everyone who follows the blog and has shared it with a friend or colleague.
We wish you great selling in 2024!
Start off 2024 with the Most Comprehensive Prospecting Training Available.54 modules at your fingertips. The learning starts now.
Watch them all, or pick and choose what you need to improve.
Click here to learn everything you need to know about turning prospects into profits.
via The Sales Hunter on GIPHY
Copyright 2024, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results .
The post How Consistency Pays Off in Prospecting first appeared on The Sales Hunter.
February 14, 2024
Sales Clarity: Accelerate the Close, Maximize Profits
Top salespeople need clarity of which solutions they provide. They also need the ability to communicate that outcome clearly to customers, connecting with them at a level they can understand.
When was the last time you reassessed your ideal customer profile? Or your list of outcomes you provide?
A confused customer doesn’t buy.Clarity has to come through in everything that we do, because a confused customer does not buy.
We know our product well, we know it inside and out. The challenge is: our customer doesn’t exactly wake up in the morning and say, “Oh man, I want to know more about that product.” What they wake up saying is, “I have a solution I’m looking for.”
via GIPHYYour number one competitor is no decision.
Clarity is about being able to articulate your solution in a way that the customer can understand quickly. Remember, the number one competitor we face is no decision. In other words, the customer says, I’m not going to make any choice at all.
Why does the customer say that? Because the customer is still confused. The customer hasn’t seen enough value. There is a direct relationship between the value you create and your ability to create clarity. If your customer is not seeing value, chances are you’re not demonstrating clarity.
Read the 4 Steps to Qualify Prospects Earlier.
Your messaging must be clear. Look at all the questions you ask. I want you to look at everything you say, everything you do, and ask yourself, is this clear for the customer? Actually, that’s not for you to answer, it’s for the customer to answer.
If you are finding customers, getting to the first call, maybe the second call, but then it’s stopping and you can’t engage them further, then you aren’t demonstrating clarity. You haven’t given them enough reason to continue on.
Clarity is about your messaging being straightforward. In other words, look at your prospecting messages. Are they feature-driven or are they outcome-focused? And is there a clear CTA, call to action?
Check the speed, size, and profitability of the close.Clarity comes through in three ways. First, it comes through with the speed of the close.
It also comes through with the size and profitability of the close. If you create absolute clarity, the customer will see value, and when a customer sees value, they’ll pay a higher price. When a customer sees clarity, they’ll actually speed the process up and they’ll buy faster, too.
Assess and reassess your ideal customer profile.Clarity also deals with the customer you’re facing. Are you really dialed in to your ICP—your ideal customer profile?
So many times I see salespeople chasing anything and everything. Just because the customer has a heartbeat doesn’t make them a customer. My dog has a heartbeat. My dog’s not buying anything from me. Slow down, be focused. Have absolute clarity as to who your ideal customer profile is, and this means that every year you’ve got to assess it.
via Nebraska Humane Society on GIPHYTake a step back.
Customer outcomes change, marketplaces change. It’s amazing how dynamic everything is out there. I’m not saying you change anything 180 degrees, but it might be a 10 degree pivot.
It might be that the outcome you’re focused on now is a little more focused around helping people minimize labor, whereas before it was helping them get projects out the door. Whatever it might be, refine and create clarity around the outcomes you create.
It might be time to reassess that ICP. Take the Ideal Customer Profile masterclass and get down to the nitty gritty.
Aligning Your Pitch with Customer Perception
+How to transform confusion into clarity
+Tailor your sales pitch to the specific outcomes your customers want.
Find Ep. 177 on The Sales Hunter Podcast now.
The Future of Sales Is More Human than You Think…
w/ Andy Paul
+How to harness your strength as a human
+What machines can’t understand but YOU can
Episode drops WEDNESDAY, 2/14/2024!!
Thank you, reader!via FOX TV on GIPHY
We’re pleased this blog has earned recognition by Top Sales Awards!
Thank you to everyone who follows the blog and has shared it with a friend or colleague.
We wish you great selling in 2024!
Start off 2024 with the Most Comprehensive Prospecting Training Available.54 modules at your fingertips. The learning starts now.
Watch them all, or pick and choose what you need to improve.
Click here to learn everything you need to know about turning prospects into profits.
via The Sales Hunter on GIPHY
Copyright 2024, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results .
The post Sales Clarity: Accelerate the Close, Maximize Profits first appeared on The Sales Hunter.
How to Elevate Your Sales Career with Larry Levine
Step up your sales game with actionable advice and heartfelt wisdom as Mark Hunter and Larry Levine discuss their proven strategies for influencing and impacting customers.
Mark and Larry share insights on being intentional and uncovering your purpose in 2024.
Prefer to listen? Find Episode 166 wherever you stream podcasts.
The following is an AI generated transcript of the conversation between Larry Levine and Mark Hunter on The Sales Hunter Podcast which aired on 1/3/2024.
00:00 – Mark Hunter (Host)
Hey, welcome to this episode of the Sales Hunter podcast. My name is Mark Hunter. What are we talking about today? We’re talking about selling from the heart. Well, that means Larry Levine’s on the show with us and specifically, we’re talking about how does that mindset, how does that internal view that you have, that sense of gratitude, how is that going to affect your attitude as we head into the new year? Let’s get the show going right now with Larry Levine.
00:27
We’re listening to the Sales Hunter podcast with Mark Hunter, where the focus is to help you, as a salesman, sell with confidence and integrity. And now here’s your host. So we’re talking about selling from the heart and how your attitude really affects how you’re going to face the new years. And to help me have that conversation, larry Levine. Larry, welcome to the show. Thank you, oh, it’s my pleasure. Great seeing you again, mark. It is always great to see you. And let’s dive right into this, because we were just talking about this before we went live, about how we were both so optimistic about next year, and I talked to a lot of salespeople and they’re oh, I don’t know. Next year is going to be tough. What drives your attitude? What drives it for you?
01:14 – Larry Levine (Guest)
I think it’s a great question, Mark. I think it’s the way I start my morning every single day. I’m a big believer in this. So you know, whether you’re a sales leader, you’re sales professional, how you start your morning is really specifically how you start. Your first hour of every day is going to dictate, I believe, what happens next. So the question becomes, Mark, how do y’all start your day? And the first word that comes to mind in the minute my feet hit the ground in the morning, I’m intentional. I’m intentional with my morning. I’m a morning person and I go right into a routine and that’s what fuels me for the rest of the day and I think that’s what’s kept me going year over year over year is how I start my morning every single day.
02:01 – Mark Hunter (Host)
Now I love you do it, because I do the same thing, very, very in fact, this morning I had to catch myself because I went to bed last night waiting for an email to come in to respond to a particular issue that I had to get you. So I literally first thing when I woke up had to check my email and it was amazing, it got me out of my sink. Yep, it got me out of my routine, but I find I had to stop and pivot myself back into, but that changes my outlook for the entire day. But here’s the question. Here’s the thing as we start the new year we’re just getting into the new year Are there things people need to do to do that attitude correction, that sense of self-worth to start the new year off?
02:46 – Larry Levine (Guest)
Yeah, I think so. There’s a couple of things that if I could share. There’s a couple of things I would encourage people to start really honing in on. First thing, I’m going to ask you to start thinking about write down your values. What are your core values? What do you stand for? What are the things that are near and dear to you? And then the next thing I’d ask for you to all start doing is uncover your purpose why you do the things you do.
03:12
It’s really interesting is when I uncovered all of this. I read it every single day. I read my core values every single day. I write them down. I write one of my core values down every single day and then I define it. And then I go into reading my purpose and my why, and then I go into three things I’m grateful for. And if salespeople and sales leaders can do this and, by the way, one of the things y’all should be grateful for is that you got clients and you got future clients who wanna talk to you, and those would be the things I would those just three simple things, though they they’re simple, but they’re hard to put into action. But the reason why this is so important, mark, is that.
03:56
Just think about the mental state for many in sales. It’s tough If we can get our mindset right first thing in the morning. This stuff that I just shared this is minor things that are transformational in nature for a lot of us, but you have to be consistent with it. And if you’re consistent with it, watch what happens over time. It’s not something you just flip a light switch on and all of a sudden your mindset’s right. You gotta be intentional, be purposeful and watch what starts to happen.
04:26 – Mark Hunter (Host)
I love that you bring up values and purpose, the V and the P, because I think that’s so true. You know, and it’s amazing. But you think back to what your values were as a kid and it’s amazing how they kind of aligned with your values today. You know, unless you really came from some sort of a a very disruptive childhood, but that whole purpose, it was interesting.
04:49
I had breakfast this week with a gentleman Absolutely frustrated with his job, thinking he needed to leave. I’m not making enough money, I gotta leave, I gotta leave. And because I’m not making enough money for my family and I stopped him. I said have you ever stopped to think about the people that you influence? The job he’s in he touches hundreds of people every day and the same people every day. And I said have you ever thought about the impact that you make? I’ve been around your workplace. There’s not one day that goes by that people aren’t impacted by you. And he said, yeah, and it was amazing. But over a course of about five minutes he changed his whole perspective to having this attitude that he was grateful to have this job because he was really able to influence and impact people. And yeah, he still got the financial concerns and so forth, but it changed his whole attitude and I think that when you change your attitude, it’s amazing how problems just disappear.
05:51 – Larry Levine (Guest)
You know and they do.
05:54
And I wanna go back to these values and these purpose because it does play out in who you associate with, who you get in conversations with, who you start prospecting to and how you start taking care of your clients.
06:08
And I’m a big believer in marketing, I call it value alignment and really the magic starts to happen is when you’re willing to unpack your values, commit to your values, you understand your purpose, but then you bring those out into the open and you start having conversations around those with your clients, with your future clients. And the reason why I bring this up is you’ll be amazed how fast conversations start to get deep when you’re willing to bring this to the forefront. It’s gonna require a little bit of vulnerability, that’s okay, but how many sales leaders and sales professionals out there really understand the values, the purpose and the why of their clients and their future clients and how many of them are willing to go there, mark? And if you’re willing to go there, watch what starts to happen to this word and the words called trust. Watch how fast you all build trust.
07:09 – Mark Hunter (Host)
Wow, what you just said is really powerful. I wanna unpack this whole purpose thing because it’s easy for us to think that our purpose is to achieve our quarterly number, our purpose. But I think our purpose is really what is it that we wanna achieve in life? What is it that we wanna do? Walk the audience through. How do you determine what your purpose is?
07:31 – Larry Levine (Guest)
Yeah. So this is where I did some deep work on this over the past couple years and it was all around unpacking my why and we have a very strategic partnership here at Selling from the Heart with the Why Institute and I spent some time diving into this, as well as everyone on my team, and once I found this out, this is what happened. I understood my purpose. If you allow me to share and it’s going to tie in, it’s going to answer your question is when I found out my why operating system, in other words, why I do the things I do, how I do them then ultimately, what people can expect from me this is when I got clarity on my purpose. To unpack this even more is I believe success happens when I contribute to a greater cause.
08:21
I’m a big contributor you could probably tell because we know each other, mark but conversely, I’m a big clarify guy. How I bring this to the forefront is I’m a guy that’s just filled with curiosity. Things need to be clear with me. They need to be clear, they need to be concise. Then, ultimately, what I bring to the table is trusted relationships. Once I started to unpack all of this, it helped me uncover these are why I do the things I do. I bring this to life. That’s become my purpose.
08:58 – Mark Hunter (Host)
I love the fact that you use the word clarify, because I think that’s something that we just don’t spend enough time really clarifying. What is it that we’re really trying to achieve? You think of what are salespeople about? In order for us to close a deal, we have to clarify something with our customers, because many times our customers are confused. When we talk about clarify, I think it has applications on both sides. I’m going to contend that the majority of salespeople don’t really understand their purpose. They think their purpose is just to achieve their quarterly number. This gentleman I was having breakfast with. He was totally wrapped around. The amount of money he was going to, that was it. That was the only thing he was wrapped around. He was saying it because of a sense of his family. Okay, I get that, I respect that, but it’s more to it than just that.
09:51 – Larry Levine (Guest)
It is. I respect, I mean, that’s just face it. I mean, sales is an outer game to some extent. We got to hit these numbers. We’re benchmarked, we want to achieve these results. Those are all outer results. The things that we’re talking about is the inner work. This is hard for a lot of people because some people just don’t want to go down that road mark. But if they do, if you can do the inner work, watch what happens to how fast you start achieving even greater outer success. The things we’re talking about values, purpose, your mission, why you do the things you do these are all internal things. You got to be willing to open up the cupboard to unpack what’s inside. If you don’t, I believe you’ll be inconsistently consistent with your outer results.
10:42 – Mark Hunter (Host)
I didn’t realize this. We’re actually streaming this live to the YouTube and YouTube right now. The comments come in. This is absolutely terrible.
10:50
This is great. I love this. It’s a good thing we’re keeping the show on the up and up, but then again we have all of our conversations on the up and up, this inward struggle that impacts the outward result, and I think the inward struggle drives far more the outward than salespeople want to give it credit for or salespeople are really willing to accept. Give us a framework for how I if I’m listening to this, I’m watching this should deal with reframing my inward sense.
11:35 – Larry Levine (Guest)
Here’s a couple of things. I’m going to just give you some simple things. I do some of these things as well. Every single day is just start asking yourself just some internal questions. What do I stand for? Who am I? What words would I use to describe me? How do I want to be viewed out in the marketplace? How do I want others to view me?
12:02 – Mark Hunter (Host)
Wow, I’ll tell you what those questions that you just asked. So you know what’s funny is so many salespeople. I’m busy, I got to return this call. I got to return this call and yet I think you and I both subscribers sometimes you just got to stop. You stop for 15 minutes. It kind of it goes back to sharpening your saw. You know Stephen Covey was so keen on this. You know, if I have one hour to cut down this tree, I’m going to spend 55 years sharpening my saw, and we don’t sharpen our saw enough.
12:35 – Larry Levine (Guest)
No, and here’s what happens, again my belief. Here’s what happens. Here’s the three things. I think that happens, mark, when we’re not willing to sharpen our saw, relax confidence. We lack believability, not only believability in ourselves, but believability in our messaging. And then the last thing we start lacking is self-worth. And I want us to think about the day in the life of a sales professional, even a sales leader. Just think about all the things that start to happen to us in a given day. We start our morning off a certain way and it veers off into the right real fast and we can go down a ditch real fast. But if we start working on our self-confidence every day, if we start working on our believability every day, if we start working on our self-worth every day, watch what starts to happen, to the level of conversations you have, how you carry yourself and here’s the last part of this how your clients and your future clients start viewing you.
13:39 – Mark Hunter (Host)
You know, I love the fact that you’re talking future clients because, again, it’s this whole level of confidence that we’re creating and in order for the customer to have confidence in us whether it be a current customer, future customer, whatever we have to be confident, and you use that term self-worth. And there’s something I want to unpack with you because I’m gonna pose a scenario. I feel that too many salespeople put their self-worth in what they sell and not themselves. Unpack why that contrast is so fatal.
14:18 – Larry Levine (Guest)
Because I think so many and I was guilty of this. What I’m about ready to say I was guilty of it as well is we attached our self-worth to how much money we made and do we hit our budget numbers because that’s how we’re benchmarked in sales and over time it’s gonna change. I’m beyond the point where I don’t attach my significance to the monetary part of this. I attach my significance to making a difference. If I can make a difference in everybody I come across, the money just comes in. Now some of y’all are gonna go.
14:56
You know something, larry, I don’t buy into anything you just said. Well, it’s a mindset thing. It’s a mindset and it’s a heart set thing, and this is gonna change over time, because if you were to ask me this question in my 20s, I would’ve given you a totally different answer. But now, as I’m knocking on my later part of my 50s, it’s completely different than it was even in my 40s. So it’s always constantly changing. Therefore, you always gotta be willing to do the inner work and unpack all of this. If you don’t, you’re missing up on growth opportunities like none other.
15:31 – Mark Hunter (Host)
I think, without doubt, what you’re saying is so spot on, because the marketplace has cluttered more than ever before. Every customer’s got options and until we, the salesperson comes in and really spends the time focused on the customer. Yesterday I did a podcast with Carson Heady and we were talking about this and he says you know? I asked him he said what sales process do you subscribe to? And he says I really don’t have one. I subscribe to the sales process of understanding the customer. And you go wow, this is a top performer at Microsoft on believe. And you stop and ask yourself that question am I really focused on the customer? But to be focused on the customer, I have to be willing to let go and I have to be willing to really allow the customer to share. But in order for me to do that, I had to be confident that this could go in a different way, that I want it to go.
Read these 10 Tips from the Top Sales Performer’s Playbook
16:28 – Larry Levine (Guest)
Thank you. Yeah, no, I was. You got me thinking just for a second. And this goes back to asking yourself, right, some tough questions. And I’m just going to poke the bear just a little bit, but I want everyone who’s watching or listening to really key in on this. If you are not willing to ask yourself tough questions, these are the internal tough questions. What makes me tick? Why do I do the things I do? How do I want to be perceived? What words would people use to describe me? And these are. They’re simple things, but they’re difficult to really just latch onto. If we have a hard time asking ourselves these questions, mark my word you’re going to have a hard time asking tough questions to your clients and your future clients, and this is where the lack of confidence and believability occurs. You get what I’m saying.
17:25 – Mark Hunter (Host)
Oh, I hear what you’re saying. You know, I’m going to add to that too, because I think many salespeople will answer it. Well, we’ll ask themselves that question, but then the lie to themselves in the answer.
17:35 – Larry Levine (Guest)
Oh, totally, and that’s why I always say the mirror never lies, only the person looking into it lies. Oh, back up, say that again. That was powerful. I just said the mirror never lies, only the person looking into the mirror lies.
17:50 – Mark Hunter (Host)
Okay, audience, stop and chew on that one right there, you know. Think about that. When we’re going into the sales call, what’s the mirror telling us? When we’re coming out of the sales call, what’s the mirror telling us? That is a huge, that’s a mic drop. That was nice. Who’d you steal that from?
18:11 – Larry Levine (Guest)
I came up with that one myself.
18:15 – Mark Hunter (Host)
That’s outstanding. Hey, this is what’s so keen, but it comes back and hey, I’m going to give you all the props in the world. Larry, that was apt, that is a. You got to frame that quote. That is powerful because it has so much visual imagery to it, and what we’ve been talking about here is this whole mindset. So now, if I’m standing on the doorstep of a new year, a new quarter, which we are, what are three things that you think I should be doing to get ready.
18:50 – Larry Levine (Guest)
I would say unpack, just doing a little bit of inner work. Just really unpack your purpose, your mission, your why Okay, purpose, mission and why Love that. And then the second thing is is I would just, every single day, start your morning, lead your whole day with acts of gratitude. I’m going to give you all some things to think about here in a second. And then the last thing I would ask everyone to do if they really want to have a very successful 2024, it’s simple things.
19:27
Every single day, at the end of the day, this would be the last thing you do before you sign off is capture a small win and capture what you learned for the day.
19:41
And if you’re willing to do that, check this out, because the math plays out on this mark. If you’re willing to capture a win and, by the way, a win may not be a sale, a win might be you made a great connection, you had a great conversation, anything as simple as that. But if you capture that every single day and you do this Monday through Sunday, that’s seven days a week, that’s seven wins a week, seven learning moments a week. Multiply that out by a month, multiply that out by a quarter, multiply that out over the year. You have hundreds of wins and hundreds of things you’ve learned. Unpack your mission, your purpose and your why Attitude of gratitude and then capture a small win in a learning moment. Do that, commit, clav yourself, hold yourself accountable, create some discipline around it and then start that January 1st. Hold yourself accountable December 31st 2024,. Watch what happened over the past year with your growth.
20:46 – Mark Hunter (Host)
That is powerful. I’m going to add just one thing to it. Every morning starts your day off creating a list of who are the people who you feel you’re going to influence and impact that day, and you begin to frame them up when you’re thinking that these are customers, these are people who I have the potential to influence and impact. And then, at the end of the day, just like what you said, I reflect and I go thank you that I had the ability to impact and influence these people, because at the other day, sales is not what we sell, it’s the people we get to touch and that’s what absolutely makes a difference. Hey, we’re running out of time here. This is an absolutely great show, absolutely fantastic. Larry, your book Selling from the Heart People if you haven’t read it, read it. Read it. What else is going on with you? How do people find out more about Larry? Because you’ve got a absolutely killer podcast.
21:43 – Larry Levine (Guest)
Oh, no, thanks, Mark. I’ll just speak to the podcast here for a second we podcast. You’ve been a multiple time guest on the podcast. We’re weekly talk about things that we feel need to be talked about. On the Selling from the Heart podcast, with my dear co-host and my dear friend and business partner, Darrell Amy, you can find anything you want to find out about Selling from the Heart. Just go to SellingFromtheHeartnet. I got some things that I’m creeping out into 2024. I will tell you this right now. Book 2 is done. It’s coming out later part of the summer 2024. You’ve had a sneak peek into it, Mark. It’s going to take Selling from the Heart and it’s going to take this to all new level.
22:25 – Mark Hunter (Host)
It is, and we’ve got a great audience. Jbj has, I’m done there, so that’s an interesting joke for some folks.
22:32 – Larry Levine (Guest)
Hey, can I just? I just want to leave your. I just want to leave everyone with something. If they’re willing to do this In fact, they can do this next week that will set themselves up for a great 24. Will you allow me to share something? Yeah, go ahead Before we split. Here’s what I want you to do, because this is the second part of this is. I talked about gratitude, but gratitude is not something you just flip on and flip off. It’s like authenticity is not a lifestyle. I mean, it’s a lifestyle. It’s not a light switch, same with gratitude.
23:05
I’m going to give you a framework. If everyone who’s watching and listening can key in on this, I promise you you will unpack some gold. This is about bringing gratitude and thankfulness to your clients. Start with one, and this is what you all are going to do next week this kind of a lag between Christmas and New Year’s. Find your best customer, and you all know this. You all know who your best customer is. What you’re going to do is you’re going to pick up the phone or you’re going to see them face to face, you’re going to look them in the eye, or you’re going to have phoned it here and you’re going to say. I’m going to use you, mark, as an example.
23:44
Mark, I’m super grateful for the opportunity you have given me over the past year to continue to serve you at ABC Company. I just wanted to say thank you. I look forward to a very successful and healthy 2024. But as we bring 2023 to a close, can I ask you, mark, to put your thinking cap on for just a moment? And the reason why I’m asking you this is I want to take you down memory lane for just a second.
24:19
By the way, mark, I can’t believe we’ve been doing business together for the last three years. It’s been an honor again to serve you, but if I can get you to go back in time, three years ago, did you initially choose to do business with me? And, mark, what keeps you coming back for more? And y’all got to stop. After you say that, and there might be some awkward silence, and that’s okay, but what you unpack from your customer is going to be pure fricking gold. Now, if they pause and they don’t know and there’s awkward silence beyond awkward silence, behind awkward silence here’s what it’s telling you you got opportunities in 2024 to bring gratitude and strengthen the relationship with that customer. So if y’all are willing to do that, take me up on this. Watch what happens.
25:18 – Mark Hunter (Host)
I love that, larry. That is absolutely so key because, again, there’s so much opportunity. There is an unlimited amount of opportunity out there.
25:29
If we approach it with the right attitude of serving the customer first. So with that, I want to say thank you, larry. Your podcast, again, of course, Selling from the Heart podcast, your book, Selling from the Heart.
Hey, with that I want to say thank you for listening to the Sales Hunter Podcast. I want to provide you with the tools to be able to influence and impact people, to help them see and achieve what they didn’t think was possible. That’s really what our goal is with this podcast and that’s what you’ll be able to do with your customers. With that, I want to say thank you very much. I’m Mark Hunter, The Sales Hunter. Thanks for listening.
Thank you, reader!Check back for weekly Sales Hunter insights, strategies, and tips at: https://www.thesaleshunter.com/blog
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We wish you great selling in 2024!
Start off 2024 with the Most Comprehensive Prospecting Training Available.54 modules at your fingertips. The learning starts now.
Watch them all, or pick and choose what you need to improve.
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Copyright 2024, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results .
The post How to Elevate Your Sales Career with Larry Levine first appeared on The Sales Hunter.
February 7, 2024
The 7 C’s of Successful Sales Hunting
I see too many salespeople simply taking orders. They wait for the business to come to them.
I want to show you the seven Cs of having a Sales Hunter Mindset.
If you were making a cake, but you left out a critical ingredient, would the cake turn out? No, it would not.
You have to have every component to make it happen.
A Hunter Mindset means that you have mastered all seven of these:
1. ClarityYou have to have clarity of what you’re selling. Do you have clarity around your value prop? And is your value prop truly outcome-focused, or is it just feature-driven?
Do you have clarity around who your ideal customer is? If you don’t have clarity around who your customer is, what you sell and why you sell, everything else is totally irrelevant.
Read these 6 Questions to Solidify Your Value Prop.
2. ConsistencyYou’ve got to be able to stay in the game, and that includes follow up.
I’ve had prospects that I have talked to twenty, thirty times before they’ve ultimately become a customer.
Consistency is also about how you use your time. The most successful salespeople are the ones who have a very set routine and they never deviate from it.
via CBS on GIPHY3. Credibility
Your reputation arrives before you do, as does that of your company. This is why companies spend so much money on marketing.
Spending time on social media can help create that level of credibility where people know who you are. I’m not saying to become obsessed with social media. However, credibility comes out through the relationships you cultivate, and some of those can grow online.
4. ConfidenceThis is not just you being confident, but the customer being confident, too.
First of all, confidence is not to be confused with having an ego. I want you to be confident in your ability to dialogue with the customer, to help the customer see and achieve what they didn’t think was possible. By the way, when you demonstrate a level of confidence with the customer in terms of what questions to ask, it’s amazing how they in turn will have confidence in you.
Does any customer ever want to do business with a salesperson that’s not confident? No, they don’t.
Confidence is the separating factor. If the customer doesn’t have confidence in the solution, they’re certainly not going to pay a price. So if you ever want to expect to make profit, confidence has to be a key critical aspect.
5. CommunicationWe have to communicate at the level and the tempo that the customer is looking for. That means we also have to use different communication types. In other words, we may prefer email. They may prefer the a phone call or text messaging. We have to become masters in each one.
via Visum on GIPHY6. Connection
Without connections, who are you selling to? Nobody.
Connection really comes down to your prospecting process. What does your referral process look like? How do you stay in touch with customers, or others who can refer you? Do you keep subject matter experts and other people in your company at your disposal so you can utilize them with customers?
7. ConversionNotice didn’t say close; I hate the word close because a close is an ending. The only good sale is one that leads to the next sale. That’s why I love to say convert.
My objective is to convert you into a raving fan. Yes, I want to help you achieve this outcome, but I’m truly converting you to where you’ll buy even more from me. Plus you’ll refer me to others in your space!
When is the best time to ask for a referral? To find out, read here.
Do You Have the Sales Hunter Mindset?
+This is no cryptic code, but a series of traits that can transform your sales game.
Find Ep. 175 on The Sales Hunter Podcast now.
The Salesperson’s Guide to Leveraging AI
w/ Jeff Bajorek
+How to view AI as your personal intern
+How to know if you’ll be replaced
Episode drops WEDNESDAY, 2/7/2024!!
Start off 2024 with the Most Comprehensive Prospecting Training Available.54 modules at your fingertips. The learning starts now.
Watch them all, or pick and choose what you need to improve.
Click here to learn everything you need to know about turning prospects into profits.
via The Sales Hunter on GIPHY
Copyright 2024, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results .
The post The 7 C’s of Successful Sales Hunting first appeared on The Sales Hunter.
January 31, 2024
Shrug It Off: Handling Setbacks in Sales Calls
Somebody’s going to be upset at you making a phone call to them, and if you take it personally, it’s going to wear you down.
You have the potential to help people, so don’t let one negative interaction get in your way.
***This blog brought to you by The Sales Hunter Podcast. Find it wherever you stream podcasts!*** Right place, wrong time.Here’s the way I look at prospecting: if somebody gets upset, it’s a little bit like you’re driving a car, the light is green and you proceed through the intersection. A car coming from the cross street runs the red light and T-bones you, bam. You’re totally in the right, the other person was in the wrong, but you know what? It happened.
via Travis on GIPHY
You have no idea what’s going on in that person’s life. That person that “ran that red light,” may be racing to get to the hospital, or they may just be clueless. Who knows? But chances are, 99% of the time when people get upset with a salesperson who calls them, it’s because of something that happened before that call and all they’re doing is taking out their aggression on you.
Unfortunately, I’ve done this in my own life, have you?
Shake it off.When somebody gets upset at you, you just move on.
If you do take it personally, you’re going to hyperventilate and not make the next call. But if you don’t take it personally, you just shrug it off. You blow it off and you make the next call.
I want you to be excited about making prospecting calls because you’re helping people—not dreading it. You have the potential to help people, and you’re excited because you never know when the next sale is going to happen. But more importantly, you just have to accept that whatever happens is okay.
It’s not about you.
It’s not about you on the prospecting call. It’s about the customer.
The prospecting call you’re making is to get the customer talking. I treat the customer as if they’re a bobblehead doll. My job is to just tap the top of their head. When I tap the top of their head, it gets moving. That’s how I engage you.
For more phone prospecting mistakes to avoid, read this.
The 7 C’s of Successful Sales Hunting
+Elevate your sales process from start to finish.
Find Ep. 173 on The Sales Hunter Podcast now.
The Best Sales Advice
w/ Mark Hunter
+Mindset, optimism, and outlook.
+How to increase new and repeat sales + much more!
Episode drops WEDNESDAY, 1/31/2024!!
Start off 2024 with the Most Comprehensive Prospecting Training Available.54 modules at your fingertips. The learning starts now.
Watch them all, or pick and choose what you need to improve.
Click here to learn everything you need to know about turning prospects into profits.
via The Sales Hunter on GIPHY
Copyright 2024, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results .
The post Shrug It Off: Handling Setbacks in Sales Calls first appeared on The Sales Hunter.
January 30, 2024
The Sales Hunter’s Best Sales Advice
What’s the best sales advice out there? I’ve curated it all and I’m going to share my top 20 golden nuggets.
You’ve got to have the right mindset to succeed in sales. The challenge is: our mindset is made up of a wide number of things, chief of which is how we do our job.
***This blog brought to you by The Sales Hunter Podcast. Find it wherever you stream podcasts!*** 1. Follow up, follow up, follow up.Top performers know that the sale is made not in that initial conversation, but in the follow-up. They stay true to that all the way through. They do not give up and that’s one of the single biggest differences.
2. Be clear on the outcome you create.Top performers stay absolutely locked in on the outcomes they create. It’s not the product. Average salespeople get hung up on the product they sell.
It’s the benefit the customer receives. The best way to do this is by taking a piece of paper. Write down your ten best customers and write down the outcome that they received. That’s what you focus on.
3. Know your customer’s customer.It’s no longer good enough to know your customer, but you’ve got to know your customer’s customer. When you know your customer’s customer, it’s amazing at how much more valuable you become.
The ultimate mark of success is when the customer asks you a question about something you don’t know anything about. But they do it because they’ve seen you bring them so much brilliance, so much insight.
If you can understand their customers, then you’re going to know what they have to do to continue to win their sales.
4. It’s all about the questions you ask.Spend more time developing questions to ask. It’s not what you share with the customer, it’s what the customer shares with you.
That means that you have to be comfortable with silence. Know how to be silent, because when you are, the customer will wind up sharing more information with you.
5. Relationships and peer groups.This is one of the reasons why I’ve got the Sales Logic Mastermind. If you’re not familiar with that, jump out to Sales Logic Podcast.com. It’s in the podcast I do with Meredith Elliott Powell and we have a mastermind group.
It’s about being part of a community where you’re associating with other top performers. My relationships drive me, my peer groups drive me because I challenge them, they challenge me.
Top performers are careful who they hang out with. They know other behavior rubs off on them. They also know that relationships open doors for them. It’s proximity is power.
6. Time management and discipline.I can’t recommend enough the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. I highly recommend you read it, because in that book he talks about the discipline of the little things.
I use my day wisely. Now, it doesn’t mean I’m booking myself solid. Top performers I speak to keep white space on their calendar because they know that they need time for themselves to think. They schedule meetings with themselves!
7. Goal-focused.Top performers are absolutely locked in. What are your goals?
These goals are not what your boss or your company has set for you. Your job is to go past those goals. That’s where average people stop.
Every day, start off by looking at your goals and ask yourself: what am I going to work on today? Is it going to help me achieve my goal?
8. Never stop learning.Sales hasn’t really changed much in 2000 years, but the mediums, the strategies, the methodologies have changed, as well as the customers, the verticals, the industries, the go-to-market strategies. And you have to ask yourself: am I continuing to learn?
Top performers, regardless of how many years they’ve been in the business, are continuously learning.
9. Maximize opportunities with existing customers.Salespeople struggle to land a new customer. Then they land the new customer and they quickly move on and continue the struggle to land the next one. Maximize the opportunities that you have.
Every salesperson I know says, “Give me more leads, give me more leads.” I say: look at your existing customer base. There are a lot of leads right there.
If I’m not maximizing existing customers, I’m treating existing customers as if they’re bowling pins and my job is just to knock them down, take their money and run.
10. Give referrals and get referrals.Top performers know that you can give and get referrals from your own customers.
What is the percentage of your business that comes from referrals?
Are you giving referrals? If you’re not giving referrals, you’ve got a serious problem on your hands. If I want to get referrals, I need to give referrals.
11. Your attitude matters. That means having an optimistic attitude. You’re always seeing the upside in everything.
Top performers do not get caught up in pessimism—even when the call goes wrong.
12. Play the long game.Short-term problems are just that: short. The valleys are never as deep as you think they are, and the mountain tops are never as high as you think they are.
You have to keep doing the work. The results you achieve are a result of the activity you do, and it’s the day in and day out. Play the long game.
13. Serve others.I want you to be seen as someone who goes past what’s expected.
Zig Ziglar used to make the comment, “The best way to achieve your goals is to help others achieve their goals.”
14. Own the prospecting process.It’s great to have marketing giving you leads. Don’t rely on others to bring you your leads.
The leads you create yourself are going to be your best leads. When you own your prospecting process, you own the outcome.
15. Speed sells.Don’t get bogged down with trying to make it perfect.
Customers aren’t waiting around. Plus customers don’t necessarily know what’s perfect.
16. Embrace your CRM.Even the lousiest CRM system is better than no CRM system. Don’t think for a moment you’re going to be able to remember everything. You can’t.
17. Keep your pipeline manageable.Don’t start what you can’t finish.
I see a lot of salespeople, when business gets slow, they throw out hundreds and hundreds of prospecting emails. Hold it. How am I going to follow up with hundreds of emails?
You want to prevent your pipeline from resembling a sewer pipe. You want a water tap, where you have more time to spend with fewer prospects.
18. Never allow price to become what you’re known for.When you become known for price, you’re replaceable. One, because that’s the only reason people are buying, because they’re buying off a price. So why do I need a salesperson? We can just automate that whole transaction.
Two, that transaction will only occur until somebody else comes along and makes it a little bit cheaper. And they will. Price is not a sustainable competitive advantage.
19. Have metrics you use to measure your performance.What are the metrics? What are the number of calls, number of conversations that you need to have each day? How many steps are there to close the sale?
We all want to put results up on the table. The number we achieve is only a result of the activities we do.
20. Create a process.You’ve got to have a process and a routine. Do not deviate from it. If you deviate from it, it’s amazing how quickly you lose sight of things.
The Best Sales Advice
w/ Mark Hunter
Listen to Episode 174 wherever you stream podcasts! Available now.
Start off 2024 with the Most Comprehensive Prospecting Training Available.54 modules at your fingertips. The learning starts now.
Watch them all, or pick and choose what you need to improve.
Click here to learn everything you need to know about turning prospects into profits.
via The Sales Hunter on GIPHY
Copyright 2024, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results .
The post The Sales Hunter’s Best Sales Advice first appeared on The Sales Hunter.
January 24, 2024
How Repetitive Prospecting Is a Game-Changer
In other words, a solution they only do when they don’t have enough in their pipeline, when all other attempts to sell have failed, or when it doesn’t look like they’re going to make their number.
It’s a solution when they’re absolutely desperate. That is the wrong attitude about prospecting.
Prospecting is an activity you have to do with repetition.
Repetition brings exposure.Unless the prospect sees you enough, they’re not going to engage with you.
Oftentimes salespeople throw out a whole bunch of emails—hundreds and thousands of emails, get one or two bites, and then run with it and forget about all the others. They never come back to them.
Read these 10 Ground Rules for Prospecting with Email
Let’s say you’ve qualified your leads, you know they’re good leads, but they’re not engaging with you. You haven’t been repetitive enough in reaching out to them, whether that be phone call, email, text messaging, social media, or a combination thereof.
via Paramount+ on GIPHYIt takes time to see a difference.
Are you a person that exercises? Let’s say you go to the gym every day for a week or two, and you really don’t see any difference. You might start to feel a difference, but you really don’t see one.
It isn’t until you are routinely doing it day in and day out for a long period of time that you begin to see the results.
Similarly in prospecting, you want to be doing this as an activity, and that actually means fewer prospects than you realize— but it’s repetitive.
It’s over and over and over again, but never with the same message. Every message must be different.
via Friends on GIPHY
More prospects won’t solve your problem.When I work with salespeople and companies who are struggling with getting prospects, I always say, “Let’s take a look at the CRM system. Or, let’s look at your cadence. Let’s look at what you’ve been doing.”
And you know what? 95% of the time, it’s not there. They have not been reaching out. In the majority of these situations, they’ve had no repetition. You see, this is why I say prospecting is an activity.
This is also why I don’t think that you can prospect 500 people. At one time, I was working with some enterprise reps dealing with very large accounts, and each of them had 20 accounts, and they were thinking, “I need another 50, 75, 100 accounts.” No, you don’t. You have more than enough right there.
via Love Hostels on GIPHY
Now, if I’m SMB, that’s a different story because those are shorter sales cycles, smaller opportunities, et cetera.
Your solution to prospecting cannot be to just get a boatload more prospects. That’s a big fat mistake.
Breaking Goals Down into Small, Consistent Chunks
+making your goals more manageable and more powerful.
Find Ep. 171 on The Sales Hunter Podcast now.
Making Your Solutions Essential for Every Stakeholder
w/ Julie Thomas
+How to connect the problem you’ve identified to real business issues that make it worthwhile to solve and to change
+The overlooked aspect of customer inaction and strategies to effectively communicate the cost of inaction (COI).
Episode drops WEDNESDAY, 1/24/2024!!
Start off 2024 with the Most Comprehensive Prospecting Training Available.54 modules at your fingertips. The learning starts now.
Watch them all, or pick and choose what you need to improve.
Click here to learn everything you need to know about turning prospects into profits.
via The Sales Hunter on GIPHY
Copyright 2024, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results .
The post How Repetitive Prospecting Is a Game-Changer first appeared on The Sales Hunter.
January 17, 2024
6 Tips to Sell to Multiple Verticals
When you’re prospecting, chances are you chase a lot of leads, but get little to no traction.
You have to get traction to be able to know what questions to ask, and to become confident and knowledgeable with the type of people you’re dealing with—no matter how many verticals you’re dealing with.
Strategy #1: Deal with one vertical each day.This blog is brought to you by an episode of The Sales Hunter Podcast. Find it wherever you stream podcasts!
I want you to set up your cadence to where you’re only dealing with one vertical each day.
By staying tight with that vertical, you’re going to pick up more information. Sure, the first few calls you make in that vertical are a little bit awkward, even if you’ve been selling in that vertical for quite some time.
But once you get four or five phone calls in and start getting some repetition, it’s amazing how much more confident you sound. It comes across better in your voice, in the voicemails and the emails you send, because now you’re able to be concise and targeted to that vertical.
via SWR Kindernetz on GIPHY
Strategy #2: Assign each vertical a time block.
Some of you might say, “Mark, that doesn’t work for me because I’ve got to respond to everything as it comes in.”
Fine, I totally get it. But what you’re going to do is choose one vertical for a two or three-hour period, and then take care of all your other stuff.
Then later in the day, come back and do another two-hour block in that vertical. You want to block your prospecting into minimally two-hour blocks, if not four-hour blocks or all day if you can. Follow this strategy and you’re going to gain so much more knowledge.
via GIPHY
Absolutely update your CRM system.Don’t wait until the end of the day. Put it in as you go.
Why? Because as you type it in, it’s going to trigger another thought.
Keep a pad of paper right by you as you’re making your calls, because you might think of great questions in the moment.
When you’re thinking about prospecting in the CRM system, you tend to record historical information about what happened. What I want to do is make sure I capture what I’m going to do as well.
via GIPHYCreate a playbook.
You may have a section in your CRM system where you’re keeping notes by industry, as well as great questions by industry. You can create a digital playbook.
And if you don’t have that, then you have a notepad and you keep it handy. I’ve been doing this for years, and it allows me to be incredibly smart about different industries quickly.
In my job as a speaker and trainer, I deal with a lot of different verticals. I’ve got a library of questions, key insights. These are insights that I’ve picked up.
It doesn’t turn me into a subject matter expert, but it does give you more confidence to be able to make the call. And in time, you will become a subject matter expert.
More confidence, more motivation.Read these 4 Steps for Any Salesperson to Become a Subject Matter Expert.
It’s going to do two other things for you:
One, it’s going to increase your level of confidence. Before you go to bed, you’ll know, “Hey, tomorrow morning I’m dealing with aerospace…. Tomorrow morning I’m dealing with automotive.” It allows you to get more motivated to stay in that vertical.
This is excellent for those of you who have to sell in multiple industries because of the nature of who you sell for.
Clusterize.Sales managers, do your salespeople a favor, and as leads come across, clusterize them so that they can work all of the leads within the ________ space here. Clusterize, that’s a technical term.
For example, one person can work all the leads in trucking, or whatever it might be, but allow your people to stay tight. Don’t just randomly pass them out. When you keep leads focused by vertical, it’s amazing how much better their results will be.
No More Goals! Try this instead…
+how to make your goals for this year much more powerful+how to focus on the activities that will get you to the finish line.
Find Ep. 169 on The Sales Hunter Podcast now.
Lessons in Adaptability
w/ David Kreiger
+How embracing change not only enhances efficiency but also fosters growth
+How to combat loneliness as a sales leader/executive/entrepreneur
+ The 5-Year Journaling Technique that brings perspective
Episode drops WEDNESDAY, 1/17/2024!!
Start off 2024 with the Most Comprehensive Prospecting Training Available.54 modules at your fingertips. The learning starts now.
Watch them all, or pick and choose what you need to improve.
Click here to learn everything you need to know about turning prospects into profits.
via The Sales Hunter on GIPHY
Copyright 2024, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results .
The post 6 Tips to Sell to Multiple Verticals first appeared on The Sales Hunter.
January 10, 2024
4 Steps for Any Salesperson to Be a Subject Matter Expert
Hey, Mark, I’ve only been selling for a year. How can I be seen as an SME?
Perhaps you’re defining your market incorrectly. To be seen as an SME, you have to be seen as an expert to your ideal customers.
People want to do business with SMEs!This blog is brought to you by an episode of The Sales Hunter Podcast. Find it wherever you stream podcasts!
Let’s use the example of a new financial planner.
You’ve only been selling for a year, and you’re going up against people who’ve been in the business for 20 or 30 years. You think, “Man, there’s no way I can grow my business.” Yes, there is.
1. Find your niche.You can achieve it by niching your business tight to where you are seen as an SME.
You might say, “My market is going to be couples under the age of 35. They’re going to be couples that have at least one or more graduate degrees, and along with getting those graduate degrees, they’ve incurred a lot of student debt. These are people who have decided to put off kids for now because they really want to get established in their career and don’t feel financially ready. In lieu of kids right now, they’ve got a couple dogs which mean everything to them. In addition, these people may be dealing with one or more parents going through some serious issues in life—health, financial, or otherwise.”
And for the sake of making this even better, let’s say that you as a financial planner are going to focus on those people in Dallas, Texas.
2. Educate the expert.
Now your objective is to become an absolute expert in helping couples just like those I’ve just described (as your ICP).
How will you help them navigate how to pay off all those student loans? How will the repayment schedule fit into their bigger financial plan?They want somebody who is compassionate and has real empathy towards dogs. Do you?They also are dealing with elderly parents who have challenges. Okay, so you start getting information that I can help them. What are the websites I need to read to become an expert on this? Okay, so they don’t want to have kids now. So, what are the challenges that people, their age could incur regarding fertility?You can become a subject matter expert to these people in that niche.
3. All you need is one open door. In thinking of your own niche, you may think, “Mark, there just aren’t any customers there.” No, they’re there. All it’s going to take is for you to find one. Then that door’s going to open up to the next one.
I’ve done this strategy with so many salespeople in so many industries, and it works. Because you are now seen as an expert to one person, they in turn share you with somebody else. Birds of a feather flock together, so they probably know other people. If it’s business to business, they probably know other businesses.
4. Expertise brings confidence.Click here to learn 10 Tips to Get More Referrals.
Any time spent as an SME increases your level of confidence. Now you know better questions to ask. You have better information to share.
I want you to set these objectives:
Define your market tight, tight.Determine what are the 5, 6, 7 pieces of information around each one of those tight factors.What do you need to learn? …And then you begin sharing that.You begin sharing that in conversations, in phone calls, in email. This is a way that you’re parceling out your expertise and people will begin to recognize you as an SME.
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Copyright 2024, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results .
The post 4 Steps for Any Salesperson to Be a Subject Matter Expert first appeared on The Sales Hunter.
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