Mark Hunter's Blog, page 11
January 3, 2024
Are They a Qualified Prospect or Shiny Object?
Too often, those prospects turn out to just be shiny objects.
What really happens is you get these prospects and it’s two, three months later that you realize they’ll never become a customer. Why are we chasing these?
For some reason, we get caught up in the euphoria.
I don’t want a sales pipeline that is plugged up like a sewer pipe. What I want is a water tap.
1. Qualify fast.This blog is brought to you by an episode of The Sales Hunter Podcast. Find it wherever you stream podcasts!
You don’t have time for shiny objects in your pipeline. This is how your pipeline winds up becoming a sewer pipe. I want to spend more time with fewer prospects.
If I can’t bring it to fruition, then why am I wasting my time? If they’re not sharing proprietary information with me early on—that means information not known publicly —they’re not a prospect.
Read more to follow these 4 Steps to Qualify Prospects Fast.
via ABC Network on GIPHY2. Ensure they link up with your ICP.
If they don’t line up with your ICP, don’t think for a moment, “Hey, this would be a great new ICP for us to go into.” This is not the time for you to suddenly seek a new vertical.
via The Sales Hunter on GIPHY
3. Know their timeline.If they haven’t given you some sense of a timeline of their decision-making and what their process is, then I don’t have time to dance with them. Just because it’s a big opportunity, has huge potential or it’s a logo you’d love to have, that does not make them a prospect.
You have to be incredibly judicious about who you allow in your pipeline.
Sales managers, please don’t look to your salespeople to have them stuffing the pipe—unfortunately that’s what many are already doing. They’re stuffing the pipeline and it winds up turning into a sewer pipe that nothing gets through. Instead, I want leads that are going in and turning out to be customers very, very fast.
via William Garratt on GIPHY4. You can’t force the prospect along.
There has to be some sense of gravitational pull on the part of the prospect towards you. If they are not demonstrating some sort of interest in you and your solution, not your product, but your solution, then cut them loose. You don’t have time.
Personal Accountability:The Unseen Engine of Success
+ Who holds you to the fire when your motivation wanes and excuses pile up?
Find Ep. 165 on The Sales Hunter Podcast now.
Intention & Gratitude& How to Elevate Your Sales Career
w/ Larry Levine
+Recognizing our daily impact and documenting our wins to set the stage for a year of triumphs
+Uncovering your purpose in 2024
Episode drops WEDNESDAY, 1/3/2024!!
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 Are They a Qualified Prospect or Shiny Object? first appeared on The Sales Hunter.
December 27, 2023
Keeping Your Prospecting Muscle Strong
Prospecting is a muscle, and it has to be exercised daily.
Recently I found myself not running for about a week, and man, I was getting stiff. I went out for a run and it was ugly; it took me a couple of days to get back in the groove. It’s exactly the same with prospecting.
Too many times we get caught up, or we think we just don’t have time to prospect. Then the prospecting muscle gets flabby.
Prospecting must be done daily.This blog is brought to you by an episode of The Sales Hunter Podcast. Find it wherever you stream podcasts!
I know when I work out daily, I feel a lot better. I have a good friend who says, don’t use the excuse that you don’t have time to exercise. Exercise creates time because you feel better.
I apply the same thing to prospecting. Don’t sit there and say that you don’t have time to prospect.
If you make the time, prospecting can benefit you greatly.Prospecting creates sales for you because it gives you more opportunities to close. Prospecting increases your level of confidence, too.
Why? You’re no longer looking at that one deal that you’ve got to close, and as a result, you make a deal with the devil to try to close it.
When you’re not prospecting regularly, you wind up chasing things that you shouldn’t be chasing.
via GIPHY
Know your number. How much time are you allocating each day to prospecting? How many calls/emails are you making daily? You have to set your own number—everyone’s business is different. For me, it’s just three. I know if I make three phone calls, three emails a day, my business is good.
Now, I always try to go way over that, but I know that three is my minimum and I feel good when I hit three.
Sometimes, just do it.Read these 5 Ways to Create Momentum with Your Mindset.
Never stop and question yourself, or think, “I got to get more prepared.” Just make the call. It’s no different than going for a run or lifting weights. Simply start.
I want you to have a prospecting muscle that’s firm, tone, and that delivers leads for you. And that means you’re going to set a daily goal and work to achieve it.
via GIPHYSet achievable expectations.
I’m not trying to set a marathon record every day. Oftentimes, people put off prospecting because they feel they have to be a machine and make 150 calls in a day.
Do what you feel comfortable with, but do it deliberately every day to create a routine. And when you do that, it’s amazing how trim and firm that prospecting muscle will be.
A Formula for Sales Success
+ Learn more about Continuity + Competence = Confidence = Opportunity = Profit
Find Ep. 163 on The Sales Hunter Podcast now.
Buyer Centricity and How to Deliver a Win
w/ Carson Heady
+How to deal with the most knowledgeable customers to date
+How to earn the right and the trust in each relationship we pursue with our buyers.
Episode drops WEDNESDAY, 12/27/2023!!
The Most Comprehensive Prospecting Training Available.54 meticulously crafted modules at your fingertips.
Click here to learn everything you need to know about turning prospects into profits.
via The Sales Hunter on GIPHY
Copyright 2023, 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 Keeping Your Prospecting Muscle Strong first appeared on The Sales Hunter.
December 20, 2023
Using Land and Expand to Grow Your Sales
If you’ve got customers that you don’t normally produce as much volume, or you just have a long sales cycle, land and expand is a strategy you need.
What is land and expand?Land and expand is really very simple. Close the initial deal, then you expand the amount of sales you get from them.
Keep your selling process extremely simple.This blog is brought to you by an episode of The Sales Hunter Podcast. Find it wherever you stream podcasts!
Make it easy for your customer to say yes. This means you might keep it small enough so they don’t have to go out to bid, or to the procurement department. Keeping it small means it’s easily within their budget and prevents them from comparing you with everybody else.
The idea is to land the customer as rapidly as possible, because then you can prove yourself as a person who can help them.
Next, offer additional services.
Once you prove yourself and your ability to help them, then you begin to expand by upselling them.
The advantage to this is very simple. Many times we try to sell everything, but by doing so, we confuse them. Overwhelmed by options, they may choose to make no decision.
Read this blog about how to defeat your #1 competition: no decision!
Think about the last time you had to get a new phone, or a new laptop computer. Oftentimes we can get overwhelmed with the choices or features and may choose to make no decision, or stick with what we’ve always used.
Your real competition is ‘No Decision.’
Land and expand is built around this whole premise that customers are more likely to not make a decision. Our number one competitor is not necessarily somebody else. Our number one competitor is the customer just not making a decision. And that’s exactly what ‘land and expand’ is designed to prevent. The customer doesn’t have to overthink it.
Look at all your existing customers.
The beauty of this is that I can put ‘land and expand’ into all of my existing customers.
I want you to look at all of your existing customers and ask yourself, “how do I expand my business with them? How do I expand the number of services?”
I do this on a routine basis. I’ll go back to customers that I haven’t worked with in a couple of years. I’ve stayed in touch with them, but I’m going back and it’s amazing how much additional business I can get from them.
It reinforces you as a solution provider to them, and customers are appreciative of it.
Don’t make a new customer a confused customer.
This strategy works especially well with new customers.
It is so easy for us as salespeople to get caught up in what we sell. We want to sell everything. It winds up confusing the customer—and a confused customer doesn’t buy anything.
Speed sells.
“I’ve got to put it out to bid. You’ve got to talk to procurement. I need to get other people involved. It’s not in the budget.” All these things slow down the process. And right now in today’s economy, something we’ve learned: speed sells.
Failing to close the deal fast works against you. Look at what you sell; I want you to ask yourself, “how long does it take a typical customer to go through the buying process?” If you adopt land and expand, you’ll be able to cut that in half.
It’s true, this could cut down the average size of your deal. Would you rather have customers thinking about buying from you or actually buying from you?
How many deals have you closed in the last year that have results in additional business?
Read more about how to go from closing deals to opening relationships.
Vote Mark to the Best Global Sales Gurus 2024!
5 Prospecting Shortcuts
+Mark shares five strategies to speed up the prospecting process and close deals quicker.
Find Ep. 161 on The Sales Hunter Podcast now.
How to Empower an Overwhelmed Customer
w/ Brent Adamson
How can I take something that seems big and complicated and complex and make it feel more manageable and easier to understand?
Episode drops WEDNESDAY, 12/20/2023!!
The Most Comprehensive Prospecting Training Available.54 meticulously crafted modules at your fingertips.
Click here to learn everything you need to know about turning prospects into profits.
via The Sales Hunter on GIPHY
Copyright 2023, 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 Using Land and Expand to Grow Your Sales first appeared on The Sales Hunter.
December 13, 2023
Overcoming the #1 Obstacle to Prospecting
People always think they don’t have the right leads, or don’t have the right script. That’s not the number one obstacle. The number one obstacle with prospecting really comes down to your time and your mindset. Okay, that’s two. But they go hand in hand.
I find that people are using the lack of leads, CRM system, or time as an excuse because they can’t get their head wrapped around what they need to do.
Instead of excuses, try these three things:
1. Stop worrying, start doing.This blog is brought to you by an episode of The Sales Hunter Podcast. Find it wherever you stream podcasts!
We psych ourselves up that we can’t make these two, five or ten phone calls, whatever it might be.
If every phone call takes perhaps three minutes and I have to make five, that’s just 15 minutes. But if you sit there and allow your mindset to go wonky on you, and spend all this time fretting, you’ll actually spend three, four times the amount of time it should take to make those calls
That mindset impedes our time.
Break down the prospecting activity you need to do into very granular activities. The conversation might be only three minutes, four minutes, that’s it.
via Saturday Night Live on GIPHY2. Time block.
Set yourself up to say, I’m going to do this at an exact time.
One of the things that highly motivated people do is regulate how they use their time. They time block everything.
The mindset drives the time set, and the time set drives the mindset. Create the dedicated time, and it will get done.
3. It’s only a conversation.Read 4 more time management tips here.
I’ve yet to see a headline where a salesperson making a sales call got maimed, stabbed, or lost an arm.
via The Office on GIPHY
It’s just a phone call. And if you can’t make that, then maybe you should not be in sales.
Instead, remember why you are in sales. Because you want to be able to help people! You want to be able to help people, and you know that you can.
This is what drives me every day.
Vote Mark to the Best Global Sales Gurus 2024!
How to Prospect When Nobody Is Responding
+7 strategies to get through and get the next step+ How to recover. theprospect gone dark
Find Ep. 159 on The Sales Hunter Podcast now.
Do you have a Sales DEPARTMENT…TEAM… or FORCE?
w/ Lee Salz
Does your sales organization have the framework for the results you want?
Episode drops WEDNESDAY, 12/13/2023!!
The Most Comprehensive Prospecting Training Available.54 meticulously crafted modules at your fingertips.
Click here to learn everything you need to know about turning prospects into profits.
via The Sales Hunter on GIPHY
Copyright 2023, 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 Overcoming the #1 Obstacle to Prospecting first appeared on The Sales Hunter.
December 6, 2023
How to Ask Better Questions Sooner
It’s the questions you ask—not the information you share—that is going to make the sale.
Plus, the answers you get aren’t just going to educate you, but also your future prospects.
1. Engage with questions, not information.This blog is brought to you by an episode of The Sales Hunter Podcast. Find it wherever you stream podcasts!
Customers can get information. If you want to engage a prospect, engage them with questions. It’s the questions you ask that are going to get them talking about the information you need to hear.
If all you do is share information, sure, you’re educating the customer, but you’re not doing anything for yourself.
Questions aren’t limited to discovery. I can even ask questions in the prospecting email, or a prospecting voicemail.
2. Show your confidence and competence.
Asking questions more frequently is a way that I demonstrate two things: my confidence and my competence.
Asking questions that are relative to your business, or your industry, set you apart as more qualified and more informed.
“George, I’m Mark Hunter, really interested in how you’re going to be handling the change in regulations regarding X. Got some information I can share with you. Call me.”
You see what I did there? I asked a question relative to something of interest to their industry. I love leading off with something that connects to them.
This is much better than saying, “Hi, I’m Mark Hunter with so-and-so, we’ve been in business for 65 years and yada, yada, yada.” That’s just telling you information that’s not going to get you anywhere.
3. Questions help you qualify.If I have the ability to get you on the phone, I’m going to ask you that question and depending on how you respond, I’m going to ask you a follow-up question. I’ll keep asking you questions in order to truly understand if I can qualify you as a prospect.
If all I’m doing is sharing information, I have no idea if you’re a qualified prospect. It just means you’re a lead, a suspect that responded. The sooner I ask questions, the sooner I save myself from wasting precious time on a prospect that won’t buy.
via Amazon Prime Video on GIPHY4. The more specific the questions the better.
This is one of the reasons why prospecting always has to happen within an ICP. Your ideal customer profile has got to be tight, as then the questions I use for one prospect I can use for another.
I begin to get Intel back. When I’m asking questions within the ICP, I’m not only educating myself, but I’m educating future prospects.
You want to be able to write out 10 questions that you can ask a prospect in your industry. Then you only need to do a little research to create three to four company-specific questions.
Now I’ve got 13, 14 questions. I’m going to lead off with a question relative to your company, or you personally. In other words, the tighter I can make the question, the more effective. Then I may add an industry question, and suddenly they begin to realize, whoa, this person’s pretty smart.
The more times you ask these questions, you’re going to be able to refine them even better.
5. Meaningful questions get you to the next step.If I’m asking you meaningful questions and you’re responding to me, I’m going to be much more likely to get that CTA, call to action.
“Hey, great conversation. Tuesday, 10 o’clock if you’ve got time. Let’s put it on the calendar right now. I’ve got quite a bit more information to share with you.”
I’m creating a value-added ‘call to action’ based on the questions.
Questions will drive the results you want to achieve in prospecting.
Don’t Do It Alone!
+Why who you surround yourself with in sales matters+ How to cultivate a strong team of peers and influences
Find Ep. 157 on The Sales Hunter Podcast now.
Does your CEO elevate the company’s brand?
w/ Brandon Lee
How a CEO’s reputation can create opportunities for their sales team+ strategic, non-intrusive ways of using platforms like LinkedIn to create conversations…and how to involve your CEO.Episode drops WEDNESDAY, 12/6/2023!!
The Most Comprehensive Prospecting Training Available.54 meticulously crafted modules at your fingertips.
Click here to learn everything you need to know about turning prospects into profits.
via The Sales Hunter on GIPHY
Copyright 2023, 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 Ask Better Questions Sooner first appeared on The Sales Hunter.
November 29, 2023
5 Ways to Create Momentum with Your Mindset
We can have a great cadence, a great system, tools, you name it. However, if your head is not in the right place, you’re not going to be able to perform.
Some salespeople are afraid to pick up the phone and call a prospect. So they want to rely on automation via tools. Prospecting and sales is a person-to-person game, but the games begin in your own mind. Your mindset going in predetermines what you’re going to achieve coming out.
So how do you get your head in the right place?
1. Remember your objective.This blog is brought to you by an episode of The Sales Hunter Podcast. Find it wherever you stream podcasts!
Your objective is to help others see and achieve what they didn’t think was possible. That’s it. Your objective is not to sell them.
But to do that, you’ve got to engage with them. The chances of them buying during the first call are slim to none. So your objective is just to engage them and to create a next step.
2. Break it down into activities.It becomes much more palatable if you can just focus on the next activity. If you think every call has to lead to a sale, you’re going to mentally mesh your mind up pretty quickly.
Instead, focus on moving the customer through one step at a time.
via INTO ACTION on GIPHY3. Set early goals.
Early goals might be: By 9:00 AM I want to do this, or by 10:00 AM I want to complete that.
Think of goals that you know you can achieve. Why? Because it begins to help your mind thinking that you can win. Motivation creates motivation. Momentum creates momentum.
Read more about the 10 AM Rule and other time management tips for salespeople here.
4. Write down your success list.
I was speaking with a gentleman the other day and he said, “I’m having a hard time prospecting because my head’s just not in the right place.” Hey, at least he was honest.
Take that piece of paper and write down your five or ten best customers, and then next to that, write down the outcomes you helped them achieve. Not what you sold them, but the outcomes you helped them achieve. And then you give yourself a big hug. Focus on your success. Don’t wallow in your defeat.
via GIPHY5. Create momentum with a cadence.
The top performing salespeople have a routine that they never deviate from. They stay with it.
If you’re a runner, let’s say you get up in the morning and you go run. I’m sure there are days that you wake up in the morning and you don’t want to run. One of the best ways to get out of that head space is to have a routine, because it’s just what you do.
When your head is screwed on, it’s amazing how you’re going to listen better. And when we can listen effectively, you bet we’ll be more successful.
The Sales Logic Mastermind is YOUR place for growth. Become a member NOW for 50% off your annual membership (worth over $2,000!)Amazing perks include:Monthly Q&A coaching calls with Meridith Elliott Powell and Mark HunterAccess to the Sales Logic Vault—over 100+ hours of video content and learning resources!A network of like-minded professionals to supercharge your sales careerDiscount to all future Sales Logic EventsEven 1 Crisis Call per month?? Amazing!Get this offer now before it’s gone! Learn more here.
Don’t Forgo the Follow-Up!
+What to do each time you follow up+ How to be persistent and effective
Find Ep. 155 on The Sales Hunter Podcast now.
Prospecting in December
Do’s and Don’ts for Year-End Selling
Learn why prospecting never takes a holiday.
Episode drops WEDNESDAY, 11/29/2023!!
The Most Comprehensive Prospecting Training Available.54 meticulously crafted modules at your fingertips.
Click here to learn everything you need to know about turning prospects into profits.
via The Sales Hunter on GIPHY
Copyright 2023, 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 5 Ways to Create Momentum with Your Mindset first appeared on The Sales Hunter.
November 21, 2023
4 Steps to Qualify Prospects Earlier
Don’t get suckered into spending time with bad prospects.
Validate early, so you spend more time with fewer prospects. Here’s how…
This blog is brought to you by an episode of The Sales Hunter Podcast. Find it wherever you stream podcasts!
How many times have you spent time with a prospect who is engaging? They’re sharing information with you. They’re saying how brilliant, how wonderful, how thankful they are that you came on the scene. They act like they can hardly wait to buy from you.
The problem is they can’t buy from you. Why? Because they’re not empowered to make a decision. In fact, they don’t even have influence in making a decision. They’re just a warm, friendly face telling you what you want to hear.
via GIPHY
It winds up filling up your pipeline and wasting valuable time. You’ve got to get them out of your pipeline.
Here are the 4 questions you need to ask: 1. How have you made decisions like this in the past?Follow up with: Who else is typically involved?
This is absolutely critical because you’ve got to find out from them as to whether or not they have gone down this path before.
2. What budget is this going to come from?Who controls that budget? Who’s got the money? In other words, you’re really cutting to the chase.
Why spend time with somebody who doesn’t have any kind of budget authority? Now, there is a risk that you can ask that question too early. I must make sure I understand what the need is first. However, if this person has shared the need, the desired outcome, go ahead and ask that money question.
3. Who else should I be talking to?
Who are the other people that we should be talking to regarding how this is going to work in your company?
I’m getting other people involved. Many times there are people who are excited to do business with you, but they’ll never introduce you to anybody else because their excitement is just in their own mind. It’s a delusion. The truth is they don’t even have the guts to get you involved with other people.
4. Identify if they’re a cheerleader, coach, or champion.If you have a prospect that’s just excited, what you have is a cheerleader. You don’t need a cheerleader. You might even have a coach because they’ll tell you what to do.
When you spend time with cheerleaders, you’re going to feel good. You’re going to wind up putting stuff in your pipeline that shouldn’t be there, and then come the end of the quarter, it’s not even going to come close to closing.
The coach is the one who is always quick to tell you who to talk to, and what to do next. If they’re not even willing to make the introduction to you, all you have is a coach and a weak coach at that.
via NFL on GIPHY
What you really want is a champion.
The person who believes in your product, believes in your service, believes in how it’s going to help, and they’re going to help knock down the doors to get you the money, the approval, to get everything through.
The last thing you want is to have somebody who is really excited about it, but when you get to procurement they say your price is 30% too high and there’s nobody who will go to bat for you.
You see, your prospects are not always who they claim to be. Validate early, so you spend more time with fewer prospects.
The Sales Logic Mastermind is YOUR place for growth.Blog readers get Early Access to this Cyber Monday 50% off offer!Become a member NOW for 50% off your annual membership (worth over $2,000!)Amazing perks include:Monthly Q&A coaching calls with Meridith Elliott Powell and Mark HunterAccess to the Sales Logic Vault—over 100+ hours of video content and learning resources!A network of like-minded professionals to supercharge your sales careerDiscount to all future Sales Logic EventsEven 1 Crisis Call per month?? Amazing!
Get this offer now before it’s gone! Learn more here.
Prospecting: A Gift with No Strings Attached
Isn’t it better to give than to receive?+ How giving helps the prospect to see you in a different light.
Find Ep. 153 on The Sales Hunter Podcast now.
Artificial Intelligence in Sales
w/ Gerhard Gshwandtner
+ Your complimentary ticket to the AI Sales Summit!
Episode drops WEDNESDAY, 11/22/2023!!
The Most Comprehensive Prospecting Training Available.54 meticulously crafted modules at your fingertips.
Click here to learn everything you need to know about turning prospects into profits.
via The Sales Hunter on GIPHY
Copyright 2023, 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 to Qualify Prospects Earlier first appeared on The Sales Hunter.
November 15, 2023
7 Ways to Stop Procrastinating, Start Prospecting
For some reason, we’re quick to rationalize away why we shouldn’t call a prospect.
We can’t close the sale if we don’t have a conversation first.
1. Get your head in the game.
This blog is brought to you by an episode of The Sales Hunter Podcast. Find it wherever you stream podcasts!
At times we don’t believe we can make a difference. Other times we delay with the excuse of needing a little more preparation.
These are giant cop outs. I believe the reason we don’t make the call is because of these two big reasons: One, our headspace, and two, the perception that we don’t have anything to say.
Our mindset as salespeople must be that if we know we can help the prospect, we feel it’s our responsibility to reach out.
2. Silence the negative voices.I get it. Sales is hard.
Too many salespeople allow themselves to hang out with negative people. When you hang out with negative people, guess what? You get negative voices.
I encourage you to listen to podcasts that educate and lift you up. You have to surround yourself with positive people who help you believe you can do it, and you can make a difference.
via The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on GIPHY3. Celebrate your successes.
Celebrate all of the things that you’ve done right for customers. Make a list, write these down and keep them with you at all times.
If you are ever going through a funk, you pull that list out. There may be testimonials that customers have given you. There may be other videos that customers have sent you or reviews—whatever it might be—keep those handy. Keep those with you because it’s designed to reinforce in your mind that yes, what you do matters, and you can make a difference.
4. You don’t need to do more homework.It drives me crazy because people will sit there and say, “Well, if I just do a little more homework.” It becomes this habit of believing just a little bit more, a little bit more. I’ll make the call tomorrow. I’ll make the call tomorrow. Delay after delay. It’s just procrastination.
5. The time to call is now!Prospecting calls are time-sensitive. The longer you wait, the longer it is that the prospect has potential to hear from somebody else. Or, the prospect has the ability to come up with a different solution or just go in a different direction.
The time to strike is right now.
via General Hospital on GIPHY6. Prospecting within your ICP gives confidence.
We prospect within our ICP, our ideal customer profile because it allows us to have information that we can share.
When I have information of value to a prospect, it’s amazing how much more confident I am.The call goes that much better.
Take a couple minutes and think through all the things that you could share with a prospect that would help them in their business or in their life.
What are the questions you can ask?
And the way you do that is you go back to that list that you created of how you’ve helped other customers succeed, and you begin to pull that together.
7. Make an appointment with yourself.You literally set your timer. Block the time.
Read these 7 Tips to Maximize Time for Prospecting
It is amazing that if you have to catch a flight, you will be on that flight. Even if you don’t want to travel, you’ve got to be on that flight.
Make that appointment with yourself that you’re going to make that call at 8:00 AM or 9:00 AM, 10:00 AM. You notice I said early because I always believe that I want to have accomplished something significant before 10:00 AM. It’s my 10:00 a.m. rule.
Read more time management tips for salespeople like The 10 Rule in this blog.
If I can make at least a few prospecting calls before 10:00 AM it’s amazing how much better I feel about my day.
Do Your Prospects a Favor, Call Now!
The best time to make your next prospecting call is NOW! Your prospects won’t know you can help them unless you call.
Find Ep. 151 on The Sales Hunter Podcast now.
The Importance of LIVE Conversations with Prospects
w/ Molly McKinstry
+ how to differentiate ourselves to earn more live meetings+the ever-evolving landscape of sales
Episode drops WEDNESDAY, 11/15/2023!!
The Most Comprehensive Prospecting Training Available.54 meticulously crafted modules at your fingertips.
Click here to learn everything you need to know about turning prospects into profits.
via The Sales Hunter on GIPHY
Copyright 2023, 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 7 Ways to Stop Procrastinating, Start Prospecting first appeared on The Sales Hunter.
November 8, 2023
Does Your Personality Sell or Repel?
Most probably assume their personality sells. But what if it’s the opposite?
A personality that sells is a personality that puts the customer first.
And when we put the customer first, it’s amazing what we hear.
Your personality is a reflection of your attitude.This blog is brought to you by an episode of The Sales Hunter Podcast. Find it wherever you stream podcasts!
When it comes to prospecting, attitude is especially critical. Because if I go into a prospecting call with the wrong attitude, I’m going to have the wrong personality.
When I go into a call, whether it be a phone call, a video call, or face-to-face meeting, your personality comes through very quickly. The person on the other end receives it and processes it just as we are processing theirs.
There’s an immediate emotional connection or disconnection, and this is why so many prospecting calls go awry.
Read about What Prospects Want to Hear.
Don’t think for a moment that your personality is only in how you come across visually. No, your personality comes across in your language. It comes across in your emails!
via GIPHY
Your personality is going to come out right in that first sentence and the last sentence. Of course, it is not about making the email cheesy or all fluff. Instead, it’s about understanding the customer
Our personality is about being natural. It’s about being who we are. Even on my podcast, The Sales Hunter Podcast, or when I record videos for this blog, you’ll see I use my voice to showcase my personality. I slow my pace, I lower my tone.
I’m not changing my personality, I’m changing my approach. My personality is still the same. I want to engage you.
Personality affects the type of questions we ask, but more importantly, impacts the answers we get. This is why two people can ask a customer literally the exact same question and get completely different answers.
So I want you to stop and ask yourself this question: Is my personality centered around the other person, or is it centered around me?
The attitude we have going into a sale predetermines the results we get coming out of it.Before you go into any call, before you write any email, ask yourself this question:
How will I put the customer first? What can I say? Or ask? What can I do to put the customer first?
That’s the question I want you to ask, because it’s not about you.
via Channel 7 on GIPHYSales is competitive.
Many times we’re in conversations with a customer where there’s a competitor, and our proposals are pretty equal. So who’s the customer going to do business with? The person they like the most; the person who is most engaging.
The personality you express going into a call, during a sales call, even throughout the whole sale process is a reflection of the service that the customer’s going to get once they choose to buy from you.
So before any call, text message, social media post, ask yourself: Is going to put the customer first?
Quit Procrastinating on Prospecting!
The best time to make your next prospecting call is NOW! Learn to identify hang-ups and how to beat them.
Find Ep. 149 on The Sales Hunter Podcast now.
What Is Accountability in Sales?
w/ John Barrett
+ How to use accountability and feedback to improve performance+How feedback can elevate your team
Episode drops WEDNESDAY, 11/8/2023!!
The Most Comprehensive Prospecting Training Available.54 meticulously crafted modules at your fingertips.
Click here to learn everything you need to know about turning prospects into profits.
via The Sales Hunter on GIPHY
Copyright 2023, 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 Does Your Personality Sell or Repel? first appeared on The Sales Hunter.
November 1, 2023
How to Improve Your Attitude Before a Call
It’s true, the results you get from any prospecting call are a reflection of your attitude going into it.
This goes not only for prospecting, but for every type of sales call you make. I’ve got three strategies to improve your attitude before you reach out to that prospect.
The right attitude changes everything.This blog is brought to you by an episode of The Sales Hunter Podcast. Find it wherever you stream podcasts!
With the right attitude, we hear much better, we feel better, we ask better questions.
Oftentimes I’ll see two salespeople working almost the exact same list, and one has a great attitude and the other doesn’t. It’s amazing how the person with a great attitude gets much better results. It’s not by luck.
You can create good fortune because of the attitude you have.Read more about ways to learn from your prospecting mistakes.
But Mark, how can I have a great attitude about prospecting?
via Late Night with Seth Meyers on GIPHYDon’t expect the worst.
Don’t focus on: What if they chew me out? You’re right, they could. Tomorrow I’m going to be on an airplane. It could crash. But I don’t think about that. I think about where I’m going and the benefits of why I’m getting on that plane.
I’m going to be getting in my car in just a bit. I don’t think about getting in an accident. I think about where I’m going.
Your attitude is going to determine your feelings. You can condition yourself to feel at-risk. I’m not saying to be cavalier, but shift your mindset to the positive!
Keep scrolling for three strategies…
1. I must know I can help the person I’m reaching out to. I’m making prospecting calls into my ICP, my ideal customer profile. These are the types of companies, industries, or customers I know I can help.
When you know you can help them, it’s amazing how much better you’re going to feel on that call. Plus, imagine how much better you’re going to listen.
What about how much more confident your voice is? Whether it be on my podcast, or on a sales call, being able to help people comes through in my tone of voice.
But Mark, I can have a bad attitude and still make calls because they just wind up going to voicemail. Wrong! Your attitude comes through in your voicemail—even in how you write your emails.
via GIPHY2. Remind yourself of how you’ve helped your customers.
I want you to take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle of it. On the left hand side, write down the names of five or ten of your best customers. On the right hand side, write down not what you sold them, but how you helped them.
This is so key. Right there in black and white you’ll see how you’ve absolutely made a difference. And when you look at that, it’s incredible how it changes your outlook.
via Susanne Lamb on GIPHY3. Call your favorite customer.
I was working with a sales team just the other day on this. Call one of your favorite customers and they’re going to be thankful you called. They’re going to tell you how much they appreciate you.
You’re going to start feeling good, and have that great attitude now while simultaneously helping your customer feel cared for and appreciated.
Does Your Personality Sell or Repel?
+ The customer is going to do business with the person they like the most. How can you harness that likeability? It’s time to check in on your attitude.
Find Ep. 147 on The Sales Hunter Podcast now.
Using Tech to Support, But Not Replace
w/ Nikolaus Kimla
+ How technology must support us in the effort to build real relationships.+Why tech will always be an enabler, and relationships will always foster sales.
Episode drops WEDNESDAY, 11/1/2023!!
The news bombards us daily with negative stories that affect our mental state and performance.Now would be a good time to know how to change your negative state into a positive state.
Read The Negativity Fast by Anthony Iannarino. You’ll find a proven, scientific system for long-term positivity and peak performance.
Find it on Amazon now!
The Most Comprehensive Prospecting Training Available.54 meticulously crafted modules at your fingertips.
Click here to learn everything you need to know about turning prospects into profits.
via The Sales Hunter on GIPHY
Copyright 2023, 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 Improve Your Attitude Before a Call first appeared on The Sales Hunter.
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