Mark Hunter's Blog, page 31

What’s Your Perspective of the Pandemic?

It’s time to reflect on what people see versus what they feel. This is another Mornings with Mark. Over the last week, I’ve been in about seven different states. Yes, I have made some trips. As I write this, I am in the airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan heading back to Omaha. It’s interesting seeing people’s different perceptions of the pandemic and what’s going on right now.

It’s fine. I have no issues with it. I just continually see that people want to respond. As I meet with people, I don’t know where they’re coming from. I don’t know their perspective of the pandemic. I’ve learned we all must lean in with a sensitive ear -that’s all it takes. You have to stop talking and just listen. Hear what they are saying and do not pass judgement.

As I think about the importance of doing this right now, I can’t help but reflect on a few teachers I had in middle school. They were teachers that really made an impact in my life, and for one very simple reason: they did not pass judgment. You know, students are capable of doing really stupid things. I was one of those kids, yet I never felt judged. Rather, they accepted those of us that did foolish things.

Those lessons have really made an impact on me and my life. I still find myself judging people, but then I think how much better I would be if I just listened without passing judgement. Take time and listen to where people are coming from. Each time someone shares with you about how they’ve been handling themselves through the pandemic and the whole situation, you begin to see a glimpse of their frame of reference. You begin to understand where they’re coming from. You begin to understand where they’re at and even why.

Even a simple thing that I just did – wiping my nose. I want you to know that that was very intentionally done on this video, because I know some people will call me out about it. Now, I just sanitized my hands. It’s not uncommon for even little things to create judgements. We have to be very careful that we don’t allow little judgements to cause us to read into bigger things too much and pass judgement there too. Be careful you don’t jump to conclusions after one little judgement that you begin to block out everything else someone says to you.

So here’s the lesson for the day: do not pass judgment. Don’t jump to conclusions. Just be open and receptive. You know what? In the end of this, I think we’ll all hear better. We will listen more closely. I’m thankful for those middle school teachers that taught me a lifelong lesson. I just wish I could apply it a little bit more.

Copyright 2020, 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.

 

10 Prospecting Mistakes Salespeople Still Make

I wrote the book A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting, both of which apply to this topic of salespeople making prospecting mistakes. Here are the top 10:

1. Relying on Social Media

Social media is fine, but you can’t only rely on it and nothing else. You have to use every channel out there to reach people. This includes the phone, email, texting, or whatever other avenue of communication it may be. Don’t just sit there and think that you can depend on social media 100%. It can be fine for a slice of your audience, but you’ll never reach your full potential if that’s you’re only avenue.

2. Being Self-Focused

This is a big one. Guess what? Prospects don’t care how good you are. They don’t care how many awards you’ve received. They don’t even care how many years you’ve been in business. All they care about is their problems, and when you’re self-focused, you’re not going to get anywhere with them.

3. Not Tailoring Messages

Hey, folks, guess what? There’s information out there on everyone. You have no excuse to not tailor your message to each individual. Hey, people are busy and it’s noisier than ever in the world. The last thing people want to receive is some generic message; that’s just lame and pathetic. Tailor your message to the person.

4. No Clear Process

This happens when you say you’re just going to prospect a little bit today and little bit tomorrow. The agenda is unclear; you don’t know what’s going to happen or what you’re going to do with it. You decide to just wait and find out. It’s important to have a process that you can stick with and stay focused on.

5. Not Scheduling Enough Time

You’ll never be successful at prospecting by only doing it for 30 minutes per month. That’s impossible, because it’s not enough time. If you don’t have enough deals to close, it’s simply because you’re not spending enough time prospecting. Trust me, there is a direct correlation between the amount of deals you close and the amount of time you spend prospecting. If you’re not closing enough deals, you need to prospect more. However, don’t just say “I’ll prospect tomorrow.” You have to intentionally schedule the time in your calendar to prospect. You must be diligent and deliberate about scheduling time for it.

6. Not Being Clear with Your ICP

ICP is your ideal customer profile / persona / avatar. When you’re not clear about who your prospect is or who your prospect should be, you don’t get anywhere. It’s easy to sit there and see “squirrel… squirrel” running all over the place chasing the next thing / person but not actually making progress. If your ICP isn’t clear, you’ll waste your time chasing prospects that will lead you nowhere.

7. Failing to “Rinse and Repeat”

If you’ve read any of my other posts or books, you’ve definitely heard me share this. On every bottle of shampoo is the phrase “rinse and repeat.” That means that you apply new shampoo to your hair and then do the process again. You must be able to create repetitive messages but ones that are different that you can give to your prospects time and time again. A “one and done” kind of message doesn’t work nor does just two messages work. Continue reaching out 10, 15, even 20 times in a very succinct process.

8. Thinking Everyone is a Prospect

This goes back to the whole ICP. If you think everyone is a prospect, you’re wrong. You might think that since they downloaded your eBook, attended this webinar, or did this, they’re a prospect. That is not necessarily the case – at least not every time. All those actions do is give you a name of a person. That’s it. It doesn’t mean the person is a prospect. Be sure to qualify each of your prospects. Otherwise, all you have are suspects. Far too often, I see salespeople spending way too much time chasing nothing but suspects and leads.

9. Failing to Use a CRM

Whoa, what did I just say? Yes, I said that failing to use a CRM is a prospecting mistake. There’s no way that you can manage your process in today’s environment without having some sort of a CRM system. I am not saying it has to be complex. It can be simple. There are plenty of programs out there that suit every level of organization out there. You just have to pick one and go with it, so you can track your process and stay organized.

Remember, you are not beholden to the CRM system. It is there to support you. That’s a key distinction. That said, don’t overinvest in a CRM system where you end up sitting there spending all of your time just trying to maintain it.

10. Giving up Too Soon

You call them three times and they don’t respond, so you assume they must not be interested. That does not make a sales prospect in sales prospecting process. Not at all. No. You’re giving up too soon. More businesses lose because salespeople give up too quickly. Just because they’re not responding doesn’t mean you shouldn’t continue to reach out. You have to keep coming at them. Persevere and keep going.

There you go! Those are the 10 fatal mistakes that too many salespeople make today. I talk about all of this in more detail in my books, High-Profit Prospecting and A Mind for Sales. Grab your copy today! When done right, prospecting works!

Copyright 2020, 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.

 

Why Do Roses Have Thorns?

So, work continues in my yard. My question today is, why do roses have thorns? This is a question I want to ask you. Roses look great and all, yet while trimming the thorns on our rose bushes today made me realize that it can be dangerous. My wife had to wear gloves, and I learned very quickly why you need to wear gloves while trimming rose bushes. My guess is that the thorns are there to protect the roses from the other harm around them. Maybe… I don’t know.

Roses are absolutely beautiful. Let’s talk about this for a second. We love the rose bushes in our backyard. They look beautiful in the summer. They continue to get bigger and bigger, too which is neat to watch. The thorns, though. Man, if you get up close to those and accidentally touch them, they hurt.

Let’s think about what roses and thorns have in common with our lives. You and I both know that we protect certain things, but in order to protect them, we have to put a guard around them. What do you protect? Probably, you have an alarm on your home. Ok, well maybe not. You probably lock your doors, though. That’s offering some protection to your home. When you leave your car some place, you lock your car. That’s a form of protection. 

These are just simple things that we do to protect the things we like, the things we want to keep. It’s the same way with roses’ thorns. They’ve been on the bushes for years and years. Man, ouch! If I wasn’t holding my phone to record this message, I would show you. But the thorns are there for a reason. 

What things do you need to protect around you? Take a roster of everything in your life. What/who do you need to guard? Which business relationships, personal relationships, etc.? We all need to protect our lives and certain things/people in it. What thorns do we need to put up around them to keep them from being attacked? Also, what things do we need to protect in terms of our thoughts and actions? 

Where do you need to put some “thorns” in place as a form of protection to make sure no damage gets inside? As you can see by answering these questions, we all have much to protect, no matter what. If you’re a manager, think about your roles. One of them is to protect your people, which are the roses. That is one role that you play as a manager. You protect your people, keep them, and allow them to flourish. At the end of the day, I think the thorns are what allows and actually encourages the roses to blossom. 

Don’t get rid of the thorns, because they’re there for a reason. They are there to protect you and help you grow. So, who are you a thorn to? I’m not talking about being a needle to them, but to protect and help them thrive. On the other side, who is the thorn in your life to protect and help get you to the next level?

Copyright 2020, 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.

 

How to Overcome Customer Objections in a Pandemic

In this pandemic, I’ve been taking notes on the objections that salespeople have shared with me as they call and ask for my help. Here are the top seven objections related to how to overcome sales. I will also share strategies and tactics that you can use to tackle each objection, specifically in the pandemic.

Are they in order? Yes and no. Yes, they are in order; however, they may not be in the right order for your industry. I say this because I’ve found that objections salespeople are hearing very dramatically based on the industry and the type of customer they’re selling to.

First, have you read my books, A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting? If not, grab a copy today! Also, I want you to check out our new online program, The Sales Hunter University. Alright, let’s dive into the top objections:

 

1. “Call me in a couple of months!” 

This isn’t an objection we’re just hearing right now; we hear it all the time. You probably hear it a lot. So, when you hear this, go back to the person and ask what will change in a couple of months. Confront the customer. Don’t just sit there and be ok with this statement. They may sit there and say, “Well, by then we’ll know what’s happening with the pandemic.” If so, your response should look like this, “Didn’t we all think this was going to be gone back in late March or April when it first came on the scene? Yes, we did. But it’s still here today.”

When people tell you to call them in a few months because they think things are going to change, you have to question how they know things will change. Share with them that you’ve heard assumptions about things changing from other companies in the initial months of the pandemic. However, those companies have since seen nothing change so they are deciding to move forward and engage customers. When you hear this objection, share examples of other companies that are no longer subscribing to the philosophy of just calling their customers back in a couple months without questioning why.

2. “We are going to wait this out.”

Yes, some people are still sitting there saying we’re going to wait this out. Your response must be very similar to the first one, but here’s the spin you want to put on it.

Ask them, “What happens if this goes on for another year? Then, what happens?” Again, share that we all thought this pandemic would pass by in a couple months, but it hasn’t. Tell them that they can’t sit there and wait this out forever. In the meantime, business is happening and unless they have a tremendous amount of cash reserves or existing customers, their business is not going to stick around. It’s rarely feasible to wait this one out.

3. “The last thing I want to do is switch suppliers.”

I hear this a lot, especially from salespeople who are in consumable businesses where the customers purchase on a regular basis.

I totally understand not wanting to switch suppliers; however, if the customer can see how you can save them money, how you can do something better, whatever it might be, it’s in your best interest to go ahead and make that move. Share the advantages that you can provide them with your product or service.

4. “I’m not buying until I have to.”

I see salespeople cowering when they hear this, so you have to ask, why is this any different than any other time?

This is one of the big reasons why you have to make sure that you tie everything you sell back to time and money. In other words, the reason the customer should make the decision to buy from you now is because they can save more money and avoid risk by doing it in a timely manner. You have to overcome their excuse of not buying until they have to.

They may have an excuse in terms of cash flow or other things, but again, you want to press into their reasons. Ask them, “When do you think that time will be?” and that will help validate their reason as to why they’re saying they’re not buying until they have to. That will help give you a response. One of the worst things you can do it back off and not respond at all.

5. “You need to lower your price.”

We hear this all of the time but especially in our current circumstances. People are constantly saying that you need to lower your price because that’s what everybody is doing right now. In a pandemic, you do not want to lower your price.

Price adjustments are ok in certain situations. If you’re changing your value outcome, you can change your price. If you’re changing the product that you’re offering, you can change your price. However, if you choose to lower your price, you have to figure out if you’re taking it out of your salary, commissions, etc. You probably won’t know.

When a customer tells you that you need to lower your price, it means that you haven’t gone back to sales one-on-one and created enough value to warrant the price you want them to pay. Therefore, you need to ask yourself these questions:

What is the solution?
What’s the outcome?
What’s the gain?
What is the risk avoidance?
What will the customer receive as a result of buying from me?

I’ve had several customers in very difficult situations agree to make major investments with me because they know the rewards that they will receive from working with me. They know the specific outcome I will bring them. Yes, they did ask me for a price discount, but I didn’t give it to them. You know what? They still bought.

6. “This is too risky.”

Again, people are using this objection more right now as we’re wrapped up in the pandemic, but they use it all the time. Nobody should ever be expected to make a risky decision.

It’s your job as the salesperson to show them the clear, concise way that they can avoid risk. That is why they want to go with you, and that is a confidence factor. It’s one of the trust factors that you create right away, starting in the prospecting phase.

7. “I will buy now if I can pay you in three months.”

We hear this objection all the time, but it seems like a pop-up. Now, ask them if they’re a business owner. If so, ask them if they are allowing their customers to slow down their purchases when they pay. Probably not. Most likely, that is not the case.

Now you may go ahead and let them pay you in three months; however, you must factor in the cost and risk of that buying situation. In other words, they’re not going to buy from you if they can’t pay for it for three months. You may need to increase the price, and that’s ok. You can do that.

Tell them that the price is now “X,” because you need to increase it to help cover the risk factor and cost of money. If you let them pay over the course of three months, it’s important to make sure they pay something up front. You need to get the customer to invest with you right now.

Those are the seven objections I’m hearing right now in this pandemic. As you tackle each one, I would encourage you to pick up my books, High-Profit Prospecting and A Mind for Sales. Also, check out my website and YouTube page. Subscribe now. We post new videos like this all the time.

Copyright 2020, 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.

 

I Hate Weeding!

Do I really have to spend the afternoon weeding? It’s certainly not at the top of my list of things to do, but it needs to get done. There are things we have to do even though we don’t want to. Weeding is one of them, because in the spring, the weeds will overtake the yard. We could easily let the weeds go and just say, forget it. We could not cut back the bushes or trim everything up and decide to just deal with it in the Spring, but no. That’s not the best choice for multiple reasons.

We know for a fact that it would make for a bigger mess in the spring. It would be an even bigger problem. It’s easier to just dedicate a Fall afternoon and get it done. So, that’s what my wife and I are doing. All of this leads me to share about my weeding experience on this Mornings with Mark. Let’s talk for a moment. So many things have popped into my head.

First, we’ve decided to take care of the work before we need to. Note that we live in a part of the country where soon snow will come. In just a few months, snow will cover the soil and everything on the ground for a season. That said, we could just forget about it and let it go; however, I’m certain it would come back worse in the Spring. Therefore, putting off the work doesn’t really make sense, because in the end, it would make a lot more work. I can’t help but think about all the times in my own life when I’ve put something off and said I’ll just get to it later. Then, for example, snow falls, and we don’t get to it.

Then boom! Spring hits, and the weeds are worse than ever. There’s a thing about pulling the weeds, because there’s plants we got to leave in the ground. We don’t want to trim those back. We want to leave them there, because they’re great plans. Again, it’s about cleaning out stuff around us that starts with taking stock. Continually, I have to assess what things I need to clean out of my life, both personally and professionally, in order to allow the good stuff to grow more and better.

I think this is a subject we should all consider taking stock in right now. Assess which weeds you need do trim and which weeds you need to just plain get rid of. What trimming do you need to do in this pandemic environment, so that when we’re out of it, we can flourish even more. Even further, what things do you need to get rid of entirely? Period.

Take a moment right now to take stock of your life – all aspects of it. What do you need to trim down? What do you need to cut back? What do you need to pull? What do you need to remove and never replace? What do you need to put some fertilizer on or something else to really stop it? What do you need to prevent from re-appearing in your life?

Alright, taking a break from weeding to share this with you was good, but there’s a lot more to do. I’ll surely be at this for another few hours. Thank you for letting me do another Mornings with Mark. Actually, hey, this is more like an “Afternoon” with Mark because it’s actually 2:30PM on a Saturday. We’ll get over it, though. It’s the way life is. I’m trimming and cutting back, so Spring is better. Will you choose to do the same?

Copyright 2020, 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.

 

Top Ways to Sell Value

Mark Hunter: Hey, isn’t it cool that we have VanillaSoft as our sponsor? Pretty cool!

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah, they’re an impressive company. Not only with the product they produce and what they do in the sales arena. Also, they are a promotions machine, and I think we are really lucky to have them onboard supporting Sales Logic. Now you’ve known Darryl for a while, haven’t you?

Mark Hunter: Oh, he is just a great… Listening to his voice over there, he clearly must drink as much coffee as I do, which I know who does. I know who does drink a lot of coffee. Darryl is so in tune with what’s happening out there in the sales world, the breadth and the depth of the conversations that he has, and that’s why it’s really cool that they kind of selected us for their title sponsor.

Let’s put it this way. It’s a marriage that came together really well. So we’ll just kind of leave it at that.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Well, Mark, I really love that they have decided to support the podcast because they are really dedicated to all things sales. But why don’t you just tell our listeners just a little bit about VanillaSoft, who they are, what they do, and what they’re doing in the world of sales.

Mark Hunter: Sure. The best way to describe them is they’re going to help you keep your leads in order to allow you to manage because, and I hate to use the word artificial intelligence, but they have a way to queue up the leads so that stuff doesn’t fall through the cracks. I hear time and time again and I’ve had a chance to talk with a number of their customers; they all say, “Wow, the number of deals that they’re able to close and close faster because of how their system works and how it integrates with other tools.” Wow. Think about this. How many people wake up in the morning and say, “Oh man, I want to prospect. I want to prospect”? Not too many people.

What’s nice is this makes that, okay, it doesn’t make the pain go away. It can still be difficult. Personally, I don’t think so. I know you don’t feel that way. But for a lot of people, it just makes it feel so much more efficient and so much more effective.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Well, I think that everybody needs to check out VanillaSoft. What were you going to say, Mark?

Mark Hunter:

I think we’re realizing that we’re probably going to have to live with COVID for a long while. So we better just figure out a solution and not allow it to become the dominant thing in all of our minds. We just got to figure out a solution.

I have found more ways to be more efficient in the last six or eight weeks than I ever thought imaginable because I can’t imagine how did I ever have time to travel? I mean, that’s what’s kind of blowing my mind. I did, now I live in a small town. I live in Omaha, okay? Actually once in the past few months, I have driven past the airport just to see that it’s still there. Okay, it’s still there. I mean, I miss it. I do.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah. I was thinking about something. I tend to live in Delta lounges. I mean, I’ve probably spent more time at a Delta lounge than I spent in my own home, and every Delta lounge that I walked in in January and February was packed to the gills. I really wonder how they’re going to manage that now and how they’re going to start just a lot of decisions and a lot of innovation that has to happen. But isn’t that what entrepreneurship and business is really about? It’s about, I think there’s a lot that you can learn from the fact that no matter how bad the challenges have been, we have always gotten through them and always found our way.

Mark Hunter: We always do and we always come out of the other end much smarter. Go back to the 2008 recession. Nobody wanted it, but we came out of that so much smarter as a result of that. So to a certain degree, no, I’m not wishing this on anybody. However, I’m viewing it as a learning experience, as a tool. I’m digging deeper into things that I didn’t ever think I’d have time to do. Now, my calendar is crazy, it’s busy, but I’m able to do things with clients that I never was going to be able to before. I’m able to streamline systems. I can’t believe how much time I wasted pre-COVID doing some things.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah. It does make you get quite a bit more selective. I’ll tell you the thing that I’m most energized by is just how so many of the things that I consulted about or I talked about before COVID had become almost irrelevant. All of this has really forced me to go back in as I’ve listened to some of my customers’ challenges and their issues, not to just throw the same old answers, but to really go back in, dig and educate myself.

Since you’re from Omaha, you know the legendary advice of Warren Buffett, that he is an avid learner and reader and devotes quite a bit of time to that every day. While I’m not exactly on the Warren Buffett train of spending that much time, really reeducating myself and spending a lot of time upping my game has really reinvigorated me and gotten me excited again about some things.

Mark Hunter: My family room and my office has books stacked nearly three feet high. In fact, some more arrived the other day, plus Kindle books and so forth. I’ve got so many books that I’ve picked up and haven’t been able to read.

I think about Warren Buffet. He doesn’t live far away from me at all, and he reads 500 pages a day – yes, 500. You think about the knowledge and the accumulation of knowledge he gathers. Wow. I have got to read more. But here’s something that I figured out regarding this whole COVID thing. We are all going to bestow on each other an MBA in sales, because isn’t it amazing how we’ve really learned how to sell over the last couple of months? What I mean is that selling is truly understanding what the customer really values. So what does that do? It forces us to listen. It really forces us to create more trust. It really forces us to truly understand how we can make an impact and help the customer and that’s something that I think every salesperson I’ve talked to has echoed time and time. Wow. It’s been great. Yeah, it has been great.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Well, you know what, Mark, I think that since we’re talking about value and that has a lot to do with today’s show, we should probably kick off this week’s episode of Sales Logic. What do you think?

Mark Hunter: Well, I think we should. I think before we do that, because hey, we’ve been doing this on the YouTube and Facebook and so forth, and we’re going to try to continue this. Hopefully when we both get back on planes, we’re still going to find time to do this every week.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Definitely.

Mark Hunter: Because we’re really starting to pick up kind of an audience here and it’s really cool. Again, that’s kind of an outgrowth of COVID-19, but hey, we should get into the show. 

When we prospect with integrity, we will get customers who have integrity. Integrity is the foundation from which everything is built on.

Meridith Elliott Powell: You better understand value. But at the end of the day, sales is a relationship business. It is a people business. It is emotional business.

Alright. So here we go. Welcome to Sales Logic, the show where we dive into the strategies, the techniques, the logical solutions to really help you sell and sell effectively in today’s marketplace. I’m Meridith Elliott Powell, and with me today is my cohost.

Mark Hunter:

Mark Hunter, the Sales Hunter. It’s great to be with you today, Mer. We got a full action packed show and it is amazing how the sales world continues to change. So hey, why don’t you tease the audience a little bit with what we’ve got planned for today?

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah. So we’ve got a great topic today. Today we are going to talk about what is the difference between solution-based selling and value-based selling and how you make the change.

Before we dive into that, we’ve got a question from one of our listeners and you are always invited to submit a question… Lined up as we do every week with a fast track, the actual tips that you need to walk away and effectively put things into place. Today our fast track is going to be the top ways to sell value. So Mark, let’s kick off with today’s question. It is from Jim Stefanino from Kansas City. The question is: Given the impact of this crisis, should I update my value proposition, and if so, how?

Mark, question on the table to you.

Mark Hunter: Well, the first thing I have to ask Jim is if, since you’re from Kansas city, are you a Kansas City Chiefs fan. No, the real question I want to ask you, Jim, is do you think the Kansas City Chiefs are going to win the Superbowl again this year?

Okay. Now Meridith, I know you’re not into sports, but I just had to get that out on the table. Just had to. Hey, here’s the whole thing. I think we should always be updating our value proposition, and especially now in this COVID environment.

Mark Hunter: Things change and customers are looking for faster answers. They’re looking for more simplicity. They’re looking for a faster ROI. So I think you really do need to. I don’t know. I’d be curious. What are you hearing from people and what are you sharing with people?

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah. I’ve got to tell you that I think it’s probably one of the most important things that you do. Now, just in case anybody’s wondering, the very simplistic definition of a value proposition is this is the promise that you’re going to make to the customer. This is your differentiator in the marketplace. This is why they should choose you over the competition and what they believe they are going to gain in a value perspective. I think you need to update your value proposition because what your customer values in today’s marketplace has changed. We’ve got to reposition our products and services. I mean, value propositions are designed to solve our customer’s pain points, right? What’s bothering them, what’s worrying them. The way we sell is to fill the urgent need.

So the chances are high that your customer’s pain feeling has changed given the COVID crisis, whether they’re directly or indirectly impacted, whether they’ve been impacted in a way that their business is suffering or impacted in a way that their business is booming. Their problems and challenges have changed and that makes you need to change your value proposition.

Mark Hunter: I think with that, it’s got to be short, expedient, short and expedient. I’ve been stressing this with everybody. I can’t put something on the table with a value proposition that says, “Oh, this is going to really work on for you in 2025.” Customers are saying, “Hey, what is it now? What is it? What’s going to help get me through to the end of 2021 or 2020, let alone to 2021?” Oh, yeah.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah. Mark, have we changed our own value propositions? I mean, how do we answer the question of what is the value that you bring to the marketplace? I was thinking about this just this morning, is that really before the COVID environment hit, my whole value prop was that I could work with you to turn uncertainty to competitive advantage. Now, really what I’m selling and helping people do is gain control in an uncertain marketplace, because my customers aren’t as worried about their competitors in today’s environment. They’re worried about how they get their own business up and running and what I sell is a three-step strategy to put you in a position to stabilize, grow and transform your business. So I’ve had to adjust my strategy even just a little bit, even though my value prop sort of spoke to this environment. I still want to go back in and tweak it, so when a customer hears it, they go, “That’s me. I recognize myself in that value prop.” What about you?

Mark Hunter: Well, yeah, I mean, mine has always been that I help you find and retain better customers that you can close at full price. What that’s meant is I’ve had to change just slightly in terms of because find and retain better customers, what does that mean? It means different things to different customers. Find and retain better customers right now. This may not be a long-term growth strategy. This is a short term growth strategy. What do we mean by full price? Full price might be full price, but on a smaller level. So yeah, I’ve had change to adapt to this COVID environment.

 

But you made a comment and I think you and I are both on the same track. Our mission / overall objective is still the same. All we’re doing is we’re changing a little bit of the track, the path that we’re traveling now to help the customer get there. That’s the only thing that we’re doing. We’re still staying focused and I think this is where a lot of companies get lost. I saw a company the other day. Totally unrelated. I can’t believe it. Now they’re making masks. They’re making masks. I go, “What? Where did this come from?” This is like so stupid, so stupid. Know what your core competency is and stay in that. You may have to change the path and the track a little bit, but you know what?

Mark Hunter: I don’t see the airline business. It’s getting pummeled right now, yet I don’t see the airline business, like Delta saying, “Oh, we’re going to get into trains. We’re going to get into… We’re going to buy Tesla.” No, they’re still an airplane business. They’re still in the mode of transporting people through the sky. That’s the lane that they’re in. They got different ways to deliver it.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah. You just made me think about something. Because when I think about like Uber’s value prop is something like the smartest way to get around or something like that, and they may have to play with that value prop a little, because really Uber is surviving more now on Uber Eats and some of the other things that they’re doing. So I think the biggest thing just to keep in mind is when you think about your value prop, is it relevant to the problems and the pain points that your customers are having right now? If it is, great. Keep on moving with it. If it isn’t, then adjusted a little bit. But I think what Mark has said is so key is that you’ve got to stay aligned to your core values and the core of who you are.

Meridith Elliott Powell: You can look at businesses down through history that have really survived through uncertain times, and that’s one of the main principles. They’re clear about who they are and clear about the value that they bring to the customer. They may just have to change the wording a bit, the value prop, so it speaks directly to the pain that the customer is feeling. So we hope that that has solved today’s question. But Mark, we’ve got a topic to jump into, where we have to talk about the difference between solution-based selling and value-based selling. If we need to make the switch, so topic on the table, what do you think?

Mark Hunter: When you pose that topic to me, I got thinking, is this a chicken and an egg question? No, that’s not it. It’s not even close. This is really a more about boneless wings and bone-in wings. Let’s cut right to the chase, boneless wings and bone-in wings.

If you really stop and think about it, how do we get to value-based selling? First, we got to understand the need. We were talking about that when we were answering Jim’s question. Because you think about it, he’s got to change his value proposition. We both changed our value proposition slightly because the marketplace has changed. I think solution-based selling takes us to value-based. That’s just my theory. You’ve actually got the website, you actually have the website with the word value in it. So I have a feeling you are pretty strongly opinionated with this.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Well, I never really thought about it that way. I like what you’re saying, that solution brings you to value. I tell you, what I really think about it is solution-based selling is great. It is like getting to the first level with your customer. But if you stop at solution-based selling, you’re missing the opportunity to really be the level of value you need to your customer. Here’s the difference that I feel is number one is pretty much when we solve a solution, we’re probably solving a problem that the customer knows they have. Our job as salespeople is to help them identify and proactively solve the problems that they haven’t really identified yet that can help their business, help their teams and help their customers go to the next level.

Value-based selling to me is really where we come in and we think bigger. We really help them take the opportunities in their business to the next selling, to the next level. Where I feel like salespeople sell themselves short is that we take our cues from our customers, which is important, but once you solve those problems, go another level and help them think bigger and think bigger about the way that your products and services can help them achieve their goals in ways they’ve not thought of before.

Mark Hunter: Yeah. When you do that solution-based selling right, you create trust and confidence and deeper relationship, which is what we really hone in on here and this whole podcast. What does that do? That earns you the right to be able to go deeper with them, to be able to go farther with them, and that’s where I really feel the payout. Because if we stop and think about this, if all we do is help you, the customer, achieve the immediacy of your issue, we really haven’t done anything. All we’ve done is really provided a transaction that probably could have been done by waving your hand. See, the value that we bring, the solution-based and the value proposition that we bring is really based upon the intellect and the insights that we bring to the table and we help you uncover.

That’s where I always go, in order for me to really do value-based selling, I’ve got to first do solution-based selling because that helps me understand where I need to go with you. So that’s where I kind of come back to this whole piece of it really is about boneless wings and bone-in wings. They’re both great. I personally enjoy boneless wings if I don’t want to get my hands dirty, but if I really want good chicken wings, I got to have bone-in.

Meridith Elliott Powell: So I’m trying to figure out, are the bone-ins the solution or the value?

Mark Hunter: Don’t go there. I don’t have logical thinking…

Meridith Elliott Powell: Well, I just want to say that I think you brought up a really great point, and the point that you brought up is if you are just solution-based selling, you are doing what your competitors can do. You are not differentiating yourself. Value-based selling is what makes you a true resource and what makes your customers say, “I can’t live without you,” and that’s what we want in today’s marketplace. We want to hold onto our customers long-term and we want to make sure that even when our competitors come knocking at the door, they can’t possibly even think about going to work with them.

Mark Hunter: That really means that the sales process is really designed to create an ecosystem that brings you and the customer together to a level of understanding that you both can’t function without each other. That’s really what we’re talking about here.

Meridith Elliott Powell: How do you make the switch to become more value-based selling?

Mark Hunter: It’s funny. That’s very interesting because I guess maybe I grew up on value-based selling. When I first got into sales, that was kind of the methodology I was taught and it always came down to trying to quantify, how do I quantify it to really help you understand what is the ROI from what you’re going to do? So for me, it was almost harder to come back up, and I remember very vividly, I won’t bother to tell the story because it’s rather quite boring, but the time when I thought I was going to get fired from a job, yeah, if you read my book I got fired from a couple of sales jobs, but when I thought I was going to get fired from another sales job, because my manager didn’t think I had any sense of understanding what solution-based selling was all about, because I was so fixated on value and the solution is trying to understand what’s going on inside the customer’s head.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah. Well, I mean, you grew up differently than I did. We certainly went to classes about, we called it relationship selling back then and we would go to classes and we would sit in classes for hours. That’s when training was three and four days long and then we’d walk right back out and we’d all just take orders. We would do, and we thought we were really mastering the sales process if we actually proactively called a customer and tried to sell them a product or try to sell them a product or service, they didn’t bring up to us. I think, for me, I feel the change came in the value-based selling when I started to truly think of myself as more of an educator than a salesperson, and that I spent the majority of the beginning of the relationship, not only engaging them in conversation and trying to hear, but educating myself on the industries in which I was selling into, so that I had more background and more understanding sometimes even more so than what my customers said as to what was going on in their industry and what they needed in order to be successful.

So I felt like for me, it took this flip in my brain of thinking these customers are my responsibility now, and the worst thing that can happen to me is not that I don’t get a sale, it’s that they find out about something they need from anybody else other than me. When I started to make that shift into that level of responsibility, I moved into a value-based sales professional.

Mark Hunter: Hey, I just got an idea. We need to put together a flip book. On one side, it’s value-based selling.

Mark Hunter: On the other side, it’s solution-based selling. So, okay.

Meridith Elliott Powell: That’s great. Good, another project.

Mark Hunter: Yeah. I mean, we don’t have anything else. We don’t have anything. I mean, we’re just sitting around doing nothing and we’ve been bored stiff, so yeah. I mean, yeah. Haha!

Meridith Elliott Powell: I do love it though. I think it could be filled with that was some good quick tips.

Mark Hunter: Yeah. Which is going to get us to the fast track here in just a second because we’re going to do a fast track, but before we do that, we should really talk about what is Sales Logic podcast and kind of what people should do, because we really do hope that you jump out to saleslogicpodcast.com, leave us a question just like Jim did from Kansas city, or go out to social media and just put a question out there and put a #saleslogic. We’ll see it. Because each week, we bring in a question from a listener. This is why Sales Logic is starting really hit home with so many people, and it’s one of the reasons why VanillaSoft is the sponsor, because they said, “Hey, you guys. We like what you’re doing. We want to be the sponsor.” Of course, we love it when that happens.

Mark Hunter: So hey, we should jump into the fast track.

Meridith Elliott Powell: All right.

Mark Hunter: So fast track question ready. Are you ready?

Meridith Elliott Powell: I’m ready.

Mark Hunter: Put your hand on the pole. Top ways, top ways to sell value. Go.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Top ways to sell value is number one is that you need to do your homework and you need to understand your customer. You need to be aware of the problems that they have.

Mark Hunter: I love that. I’m going to share with you, understand how do I quantify, how do I put it into dollars and cents? What is going to be the ROI you’re going to get from what you buy for me?

Meridith Elliott Powell: That’s great. You need to understand what value means to your customer because how you sell value to one customer versus another, even in the same industry, may be very, very different. People will pay for what they believe is going to build their business, but value may be different to different businesses.

Mark Hunter: What do I mean by that? What is it that the customer is looking for? It’s not what you think it is. It’s what the customer is willing to talk about twice. What I say is this, when the customer is willing to talk about a particular issue twice, then you know it’s a need that they have that they’re looking to have solved.

Meridith Elliott Powell: You need to make sure that you are actually selling the value. You can’t assume that the customer knows what the value is. So if the value that you bring to the table is that you are highly responsive, that they’re going to get some extra things going with it, that they’ll always be able to interact with a person, that you are guaranteeing a return on investment within 30 days, whatever it is, you have to articulate that value and make it part of the presentation. You just can’t assume they understand the difference between you and what they’re paying a competitor.

Mark Hunter: I’ll share one final one before we close the show, and that is it really is about taking the time to develop a level of trust with the customer first, because you’ll never understand what is the value proposition, you’ll never understand it until you first have a level of trust so that what they’re sharing with you is absolute truth and they have confidence in what they are sharing with you.

So hey, with that, we need to start shutting down this show. Let me say thank you for listening to Sales Logic this week. If you like what you hear, subscribe, rate, and review the show on your favorite podcast app. If something we’ve said has earned you a single dollar, consider telling a friend about our show. It’s how we grow to help you grow. I’m Mark Hunter.

Meridith Elliott Powell: I’m Meridith Elliott Powell.

Mark Hunter: Remember, when you sell with confidence and integrity.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Uncertainty suddenly becomes your competitive advantage.

Mark Hunter: And the sale becomes a logical.

Meridith Elliott Powell: We’ll see you next week.

Copyright 2020, 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.

 

How to Maximize Your Year-End Sales

Here are 10 things you can do to maximize your year-end sales. If you haven’t read my newest book, A Mind for Sales, pick it up now – available here on Amazon. Also, hit subscribe to my video so you can watch videos like this every single week. Lastly, check out the website: www.thesaleshunter.com.

1. Leverage Holidays

Yes, I’m telling you to take advantage of the holidays. Hey, the fourth quarter is full of them, so you better be able to use them to your benefit. This means you have to know what hours your business is going to be open and what hours your business is going to be closed during this holiday season. Do the same with your customers – ask them when they are going to be open and closed.

I am always amazed at the number of salespeople who don’t understand what days they’re cut or what days their company is/is not shipping orders. So, what’s happening within your company over the next two months? Clear everything up and get it figured out now ahead of time.

2. Existing Customers

This is you time to really dial into existing customers. I want you to have frequent conversations with your existing customers. One of the things that you want to do is understand exactly what their hours of operation are going to be heading into the end of the year. What days will they be open? What days will they be closed? You need to know what they plan to do, because that will help you understand how to best serve them. By the way, it helps to just have the conversation. That’s a start.

There is another piece in terms of existing customers, who I love to call up and you should love to talk with too. Ask them their game plan for the end of the year. Be up front and just ask. Ask them what key issues they think they will see next year.  

For example, before I did this video/blog, I was talking on the phone with a client and asked, “Hey, what are the current issues? What key issues do you think you’re going to face next year?” By asking these questions, it opened the door to another conversation that has allowed for additional business right now.

3. Get Referrals and Close Quickly!

So, why not jump on referrals and ask for referrals? It’s absolutely necessary and important.

One of the other things you should do is give referrals in the fourth quarter. Take on more value and priority to everybody, because right now, customers want to make decisions faster. Another words, they want to deal with businesses and people who they know they can trust. Therefore, if somebody has been referred to them, they will place more value with that business / person.

Trust me, it just works.

4. Build Inventory Now

Building inventory cuts both ways. So, what does this mean and what is your inventory? In other words, what inventory do you have to be able to sell, and what is the customer’s inventory? Here’s the whole thing: you want to be able to help the customer maximize their inventory. How do you help them do that?

For many customers, this means actually ordering additional quantities since they’re closing for a week, and they need to get it. I would build up customer inventories wherever possible. There are also customers sitting there saying that they have had a very good year. If so, from a tax standpoint, it’s in your best interest to go ahead and spend money, build inventory and leverage the inventory opportunity.

5. Credit Terms

Again, like inventory, credit terms cuts both ways. Within your own company, you need to understand how late you can submit a credit form for a new customer coming online.

Also, what are the credit terms, and will they change in the new year? Many companies change credit terms as they approach the end of the year, because they’re trying to manage their risk. This same thing happens with your customers. They might typically like terms of thirty days but at the end of the year, decide they want to go ahead and pay in full right away. How can you do that for them?

Understanding the value of money on both sides of the table is a key piece that gives you an additional tool to help leverage and increase sales at the end of the year.

6. Competitive Weakness

Several times I’ve had this play out where certain companies are open, but their competitors have been closed. It’s interesting to see. This is a great opportunity, though. If you’re in an industry where your customers or your prospects are currently buying from a competitor, you can leverage it. Often, salespeople and companies have long-term customers who they have just been loyal to; however, they really don’t deliver good service at the end of the year. Suddenly, you can be the one to help fulfill that critical need order.

A few years ago, I ran a supply house, and this is exactly what we did. We stayed open through the holidays and picked up a tremendous amount of business that we were able to turn into long-term customers, simply because we remained open when our competition was closed. It was a very easy way to gain business.

7. Calendar Planning

Take your calendar and mark down what days you’re personally planning to take off. Are you planning to take any vacation days? What windows of time are you stepping away from work? When do you need to be available, because your kids have some sort of event that you need to be at, or be with family members, etc.? Plan your calendar through the end of the year now. This is key.

Are you using your time in the most efficient manner? As we get closer and closer to the end of the year, your time becomes more and more valuable. Know where your breaks are blocked in and know where your holds are. They must be in place, so you can begin planning around them now.

8. Plan for Next Year

Don’t get so caught up in these last couple months that you don’t make plans for next year. It’s important to look ahead.

I said earlier, one of the things I love to do is call up customers and ask, “Hey, what are your plans for next year?” Make those customer calls now. This is now. You’re not looking for year-end orders yet; you’re looking to get insight.

As you get your customer thinking about next year, you are getting a chance to get inside and help them plan what they think they should focus on. This, therefore, helps you be seen as strategic to them; you’re not just chasing the end of the quarter, but you’re helping them next year.

9. Stay Focused

I am all about prospecting 365 days a year; however, in the fourth quarter, it requires greater urgency on my part, so I dial in a little more. This requires you to focus even more closely on your customers. I’ve realized that I may only get one window of opportunity to reach out to this customer. I can’t afford to lose it. I honestly can’t afford it.

Staying very focused means sitting down every morning every day of the week and assessing who you’ll reach out to. Who will be your contacts? What are your objectives? What outcomes are you expecting? You have to hold yourself accountable every day and even more so in the fourth quarter.

10. Quick and Easy!

Keep your selling fast and simple. This is not the quarter to sell complicated deals. Why? Because complicated deals will get punted as soon as Thanksgiving’s over.

If it’s complicated, customers will just resort to not talking to you at all or waiting until after the first of the year. I want you to keep it quick and easy. If you can do that, the customer will make the decision faster, because one more excuse is taken off their plate. It all comes down to you, the salesperson, making the decision to make it happen.

The fourth quarter is the motivation quarter. It really is, because this is the time when it all pays out. Maximizing sales at year-end won’t ever happen unless you’re absolutely motivated and focused to make it happen.

Copyright 2020, 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.

 

Blinded By the Light

Remember that song, “Blinded By the Light” from the 70s? Some of you are probably not old enough to remember – that’s ok. Anyways, I couldn’t help but think of that song as I put this bright green jacket of mine on today. It’s a jacket I wear only when I’m going to run at night. You really can see me from a mile away when I wear it. As I put it on, I was reminded of that old song.

How many times have we been blinded by the light? How often are we blinded by the shiny object -say squirrel, squirrel? We get caught up in something else. I can’t fathom the enormous amount of time I’ve wasted throughout my life blinded by the light. Isn’t it interesting how sometimes the shiniest, flashiest people you see out there are really not that smart? Typically, the really smart ones are actually the quiet ones that nobody has heard of. Strange, huh? 

I can think of several friends who are incredibly brilliant. I love spending time with them, yet nobody knows who they are because they’re not flashy. They just go out and do their thing. Others out there are not really smart, but boy, they are out there because they’re flashy kind of like my current jacket that’s blinding. Those kinds of people blind people by the light. 

Now, let’s take a step back and really think for a moment. Do we draw conclusions? Do we draw our sense of belief based on being blinded by the light, or is it truly substance? It’s funny because sometimes when the person who is flashy says something or comes up with something that’s flashy, we all believe it. It’s easy to buy into what they’re saying. That’s how you get conspiracy theories, right? Wow. But we have to dig deep.

I’m challenging myself to dig deeper and challenge myself to honestly question if this is the next shiny object, the squirrel, or my lime green running jacket. I’m highly visible to other people when I wear the bright green jacket. As people see me running in it, they may think that I’m an incredible ultra-marathon runner, but nope, not at all. And that’s me blinding them by the light of what I’m wearing. 

So, are you blinding other people by your light? We should lead people by our light, not blind people by it. Well, that’s what I’m thinking about this morning. Yes, I plan to go for a run very shortly. Don’t worry, though – I’m not an ultra-marathon runner. I’m not even much of a 10K runner anymore. I’m just thankful to be able to run at all and complete a run.

Copyright 2020, 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.

 

All About Social Selling

Meridith Elliott Powell: Welcome to Sales Logic. The show where we dive into and lay out the strategies you need to well approach sales logically I’m Meredith Elliott Powell, and I am here with my cohost, Mark Hunter

Mark Hunter: Hey, good afternoon. Welcome. I’m Mark Hunter, the Sales Hunter, along with Meridith. It’s always great to do this show with you.

Well, I was going to say, we’ve got some hot, hot topics. And before we jump into the topic, we should tell people that sales logic podcasts they can go out to- they can leave us a question.

Cause again, we’re going to pull the question. We got a question right here today that we will shape the whole program around. Or you go out to social media and just post your question with #saleslogic. We’ll see it there, too. Today, we have a good question. And it’s going to lead into a great topic and then we’re going to do some really quick, whatever we want to call it at the end where we just throw stuff out real quick.

And we’re going to have this whole show done in about 20 minutes. Hey, before we jump into it, I want to give a big shout out to VanillaSoft. It’s great to have them as the title sponsor of Sales Logic podcast. It’s great. They’re going to do a lot of promotional work for us. We’re helping them out and it is a great wind cause I’ll tell you what, from a prospecting standpoint, there is no better tool than VanillaSoft. But hey, why don’t you share with us the question that came in this week. Go for it.

Meridith Elliott Powell: All right. So, so I just want to recap really quickly. What, what Mark just went over. There’s three segments to this show every single week. Number one, we start off with your questions. That’s right. Anything you want to ask, anything you want to put on the table. We’re going to jump in and answer that question.

Number two, we’re going to have a topic of the week and last but not least, you are going to leave with an action plan. Talk about return on investment. We’re going to do a lightning round of the exact things that you can put into place to really sell more logically and effectively. But, Mark, this question this week comes from one of our National Speakers Association friends who asked to remain anonymous.

So I will ensure that she does, but it’s such a good question and such a good topic. Is Sales Navigator worth the investment. What do you think, Mark?

Mark Hunter: Yes, I use Sales Navigator. How’s that? Okay. Let’s move on. Let’s move on with time. No, no. Here’s why I believe Sales Navigator’s worth the price and I don’t even know how much it costs.

It’s less than a thousand dollars. I use it. I have it. Here’s the whole thing. If you do anything in sales whatsoever. And this is a productivity tool and it can save you time. Why would you not use it? The ability to see a much broader breadth and depth of people out there is amazing. That’s what I use it for. There’s a lot of other tools, but I just use it to be able to dig a lot deeper into finding people I want to work with.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah. So it runs, I think it’s about $79.99 a month, or something like that. So about 80 bucks, you can probably find a coupon code. I use it as well. I’m pretty diligent about it, but am going to say that it’s worth it if you’re going to use it, don’t the buy the tool, because it doesn’t work without you actively engaging in it. So you need to buy it then set aside the time on how to use it. I mean, some of the features that I really gravitated towards was number one is it allowed me to do a much more robust profile. And that’s important to me because, I do feel like people are looking at me and finding me on LinkedIn. And I bet that really it is the same for you. And then the quality of the searches is so much better. The information that I can get on people to actually kind of, as Mark said, save me time, but I’m really clear on my target market. And then when I go on there, I have far more ability to find out information about people.

And then the last thing I’m going to say is I love it cause it’s really mobile phone, the app works really well with it. On the days when I used to be on a plane or you know, sitting, waiting on a meeting or something, I can be updating and getting some of the latest information on my clients.

So if you’re not using it to prospect, I can’t imagine what you’re using that is better. But if you’re not actively prospecting, then we have another challenge. And I don’t want to see you buy a tool that you won’t use.

Mark Hunter: Well, that’s so true because you really have to look at it. It’s a gym membership.

Having a gym membership does not get you in shape. You have to use it. Now. Here’s what I tell people. There are some industries where people are just not on LinkedIn. So you do have to make sure that you’re selling into an industry or you’re working in an industry or industries that people are on LinkedIn. One of the best ways that I use it, like tomorrow, for instance, I have a call tomorrow with the VP of sales of a very perspective person who I’d like to do some work with. Before our call, I’m going to go into Navigator and run a whole profile on them. I’m going to find out all the other people and get a tremendous amount of intel, from right there. Chances are, there’s probably some other people who I know. That I’m already connected to. What is it going to do? It’s going to enhance the quality of my conversation. I use it from a prospecting standpoint, but I also use it for getting more informed. I use it, and love it.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah. And I’ve got a new client we just started with and we’re building his prospect list. And one of the things that we do with, we’re working on a prospect list for the team and we use it because the filters are so good. Like I said, we got really, really clear on our target market, who it is exactly.

If we’re gonna make a sales call, cause it’s one of the most expensive things you do, we’re going to reach out and make a sales call. Then we want to make sure we’re aimed at the right targets. And the filters are just so much deeper on Sales Navigator, so we’re getting better results, which, Mark knows this better than anybody, the better you prospect, the faster you’re going to get the sales call and the faster you’re going to close the deal.

Mark Hunter: Without a doubt! Hey, with that, let’s jump into the topic because it’s a hot topic. This is going to be controversial. Cause I know you and I have discussed this more than a few times. The topic is social selling. Is it a fad or is it here to stay?

Meridith Elliott Powell: Well, I think it’s a great question. I think you have to define what social selling is. I really think something that’s different about selling today is, and we’re talking a little bit about this in the pre-show is you’ve got to build your reputation online.

You’ve got to be visible online. People have to know who you are, what you’re about, and what you stand for. Selling is going to be so much harder if you’re not doing that piece. But I don’t want people to feel like selling, creating the videos, making the posts, being visible that isn’t actually making the sale. That still happens in an old-fashioned way, even if it happens online. So, yes I think it is definitely here to stay. I think its impact is going to grow, but I believe it’s a blend with what, for lack of a better term – traditional selling.

Mark Hunter: Okay. I just found another reason to like you.  I like you for which you just said in terms of social selling. Because I get wound up about social selling.

First of all, you nailed it. It’s not about posting and so forth, because you can’t take clicks and likes to the bank. I mean you can’t. I see too many people sit there and if they could just throw enough stuff out on social media, people will be, you know, at their door. It’s not going to happen. The other piece and I’m not going to say it, but I’ll probably get in trouble.

No, I’m not going to get in trouble. I’ll say it, social selling is neither social nor selling. Okay, drop the mic. What do I mean by that? I mean too many times- because how many times have you had somebody try to connect with you on LinkedIn or on Facebook, and we’ll use LinkedIn, cause we’re both B to B, and they immediately tried to connect and then they immediately start selling. And I go, “hold on”.

Did you forget the social part? Did you? Because we have to create social first. I’m not saying we can’t sell, but they are two separate activities. You have to earn the right. And like you said, it’s really your reputation that is so critical. Cause nobody’s going to talk to you without first googling, without first finding out what your LinkedIn profile says. Right?

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah. I mean, absolutely. I think there’s- I want our listeners to understand that there’s so much opportunity with social. I mean, you get to talk about how you feel your product or how the service helps clients or customers.

I mean, I was working with a customer last week and we’re working on some sales strategies for her team. And I said, “put together the top 10 questions that customers ask you. The top 10 things that they’re challenged with. And we’re going to shoot a series of videos on that.” Just little tips that I want them to put out, because if their customers are asking those questions, all their potential prospects and future customers are asking those same questions.

So I feel like social selling shortens the sales cycle, has a lot of potential, but you have to have the foundational pieces of sales up under there. You have to understand who your target is. You have to be speaking to your target, solving their problems. You have to be connected to the right people. And you’re right, you can’t push. Because you wouldn’t walk into a crowded room and just start selling people on a product or service, you’d build engagement first. I cringe every time I come across my LinkedIn profile, somebody says, “Thanks for connecting with me. Would you like to attend this webinar or be a part of this?” It just doesn’t feel right.

It doesn’t feel authentic, like we said at the start of this.

Mark Hunter: Isn’t it amazing how when they do that it’s so obvious they haven’t even looked at your profile. They have, obviously haven’t seen what you do because this is the whole thing that I say sales and sales – your reputation arrives before you do. You’ve got to build your reputation out on social media.

Now, one of the challenges I say about social media is it doesn’t mean you have to build it out on every platform. I mean, there are so many different platforms out there. Know where you play well and stay in that lane. I tell people, and I see this from salespeople… they sit there and they throw a little bit out on like 9, 10 different platforms.

Don’t. If all you have time for is LinkedIn, then let that be your master. Let that be where you spend your time. If your customers are on Facebook, then that’s where you spend your time. Don’t think you need to spend all kinds of time. I mean, I’m on several platforms, and I hate to say this, but I rarely look at them all, because I don’t have time.

I don’t, wow, I looked at 10,000 cat videos. Isn’t that great? It didn’t make any money. Okay. I’m sorry. I’ll calm down. I’m sorry.

Meridith Elliott Powell: You know, Mark one question though, when it comes to social selling and it comes to platforms that I think is, I don’t know about you, but some of my clients are running into is that where do you strike the balance?

I mean, some of the things that I do with social media is that I am looking to build my reputation and my brand, both personal and professional. In other words, I have platforms that I’m on that are more, you know, bent towards personal and I use that to build my brand and my image. But where is the balance with personal and professional, where is it going too far and how do you help a sales team, you know, do that. I mean, if I worked for your, sales team and I have an opinion about something that’s going on in our community and I posted it, how do we strike the balance of that? How do we allow people to be authentic? Which is so much that we’ve talked about today, at the same time striking the balance of not offending a certain population of our target market.

Mark Hunter: And you think we’re going to answer that question in about five minutes? Come on. You just opened up Pandora’s box there. Here’s what I do.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Well, it is an important question.

Mark Hunter: LinkedIn for me is 95%-98% business, that is business to business. And I don’t let my political or personal views or any of that sort of stuff come into play. Facebook, I’m a little more. I never go down the political path. I will not go down the political path. I don’t venture into a lot of different cases. I’m pretty cautious and reserved. If you follow me along, you get to know who I am. I put out some jokes, I put out a great meme the other day. It was a bear chasing a guy on a bicycle and it was meals on wheels.

Now I thought that was funny. I thought that was funny. So, I’m sorry. That was shiny object. Here’s the whole thing, I tend to say business, but Facebook is probably more, closer to maybe 50/50. I used to be probably 80/90 personal on Facebook and 10% business, but lately, my team has challenged me to go a little bit more over there.

So again, I don’t know what the right balance is. You just have to do what’s comfortable for you, but I’m never going to put something out there that is going to come back to bite me two or three years from now. Because, wow, isn’t it amazing how people get in trouble?

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah, I think that, one thing that I’m advising my clients to do is that, and I do this for myself, is what’s in alignment with your personal brand? How do you really thinking about, we don’t think enough about how much- I always say to people, if you were going to write down five words of how you would want people to describe you to somebody else and then just think about what you’re doing and what you’re posting in alignment with those five words. And if you stay true to that, I think that you’ll stay on a pretty good course. Because your brand may be, I mean, we certainly know people in the sales space whose brand is to, I don’t know, let’s be controversial to definitely challenge the status quo or in some cases even offend.

I think it’s just important to remind yourself before you post, who is it that you want to show up? And if you’re in alignment with that, then great. And for me, it’s not that. So, those posts, my posts need to be in alignment with my personal values.

Mark Hunter: See, what that means is picking your lane and staying in your lane.

The piece that I always tell people is to be cautious and check the emotion at the door. I know of one person, who I have tremendous respect for, has an unbelievable intellect and yet every now and then there’s this unbelievable emotion filled rant on Facebook. Unfortunately, I think less of that person as a result of that.

So I say keep the rants off because it doesn’t help at all; you’re not going to change anybody’s opinion. That’s okay. All you’re going to do is paint a brighter picture of you and at the end of the day, it’s going to suck a lot of emotion out of you. It’s going to suck a lot of your time. Let’s put it this way, undoubtedly, you more have important things, more important places to spend your time.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah, I agree. And I think that social selling is for your opportunity to really use how your products and services can benefit your target market. And the more that you can do to use the platforms to do that, the faster you’re going to get through the door, the better conversations you’re going to have, the faster you’re going to close the deal and the more referrals you’re going to get.

Mark Hunter: Yeah and take your time on the selling piece. It’s social first.  My whole goal, and I love this definition, my objective is to create an online connection that I can turn into an offline conversation. Because when I do that, then I’ve created a deep relationship. And that’s what to me social media is all about.

Meridith Elliott Powell: I think it’s important for us to remember that finding a product or service is not a problem for customers today. They can find that stuff anywhere. We do it with a click of our fingers running across the keyboard. What they’re looking for is somebody that they trust. Somebody they believe in and somebody who could proactively add value to that relationship. So, back to Mark’s point, it is the social first.

Mark Hunter: Social first. And Hey with that, we should probably jump into the lightning round. So what are some quick things, but before we jump into the lightning round, we should remind people, saleslogicpodcast.com. Jump out there to leave us a question. We love answering them.

We love hearing comments. And of course, we love it when you leave a review out there on iTunes, whatever you’re subscribed to. You tell friends, but okay, enough about a commercial. Let’s do the lightening round. What are some quick hit tips that people can do right now to help elevate social selling social media?

Meridith Elliott Powell: Number one is knowing the platform. You cannot possibly spread yourself across all the social media platforms you are. You have to understand where your customer is and spend at least 80% of your time on that platform.

Mark Hunter: That’s a great tip. I’m going to say, build your profile. And the best way to build out your profile is look at five other people that you respect. What are they doing on their product? What are they doing on their profile? What they do is what you should do. Copy. It works.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah, I think we way underestimate how important profile is. Number three, I’m going to say, learn to leverage video, images and videos.

Those things are really what get a lot of play those days. Also enhance your brand to ensure that you look like you’re somebody who is a trailblazer rather than a trail follower.

Mark Hunter: I’m going to add, be a leader. Be a leader when you share something. I love sharing news commentary. In other words, there was this morning, there was an article I saw on cnbc.com. I put the link out and I added a couple of comments to it. It’s a way for people to understand that you have a level of expertise and a level of intelligence, and you’re sharing more than just about yourself.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah, I would also add that, really use your social media platform to position yourself as a thought leader.

And the way that I tell my clients to do that is really, again, make a list of the top 10 questions that your customers are asking and then do videos. Do blogs, do those things up there and position yourself as a resource out there.

Mark Hunter: I’m going to throw out another one and that’s, control your time. Set a time limit.

Maybe it’s 15 minutes a day, or 10 minutes a day. Do not allow it to run away from you because otherwise you’ll wind up going out to Facebook, go out to LinkedIn and three hours later, you’re still there. You set a timer. It’s five minutes. It’s 10 minutes and that’s it and you’re gone!

Meridith Elliott Powell: I would add that leverage your opportunity to partner with people.

So in your posts, call out somebody else. I’m working on a post right now on accountability, and I’m going to highlight our friend, Sam Silverstein, because he is an accountability expert. But the more that you can partner with people and form those relationships, you’re certainly shining the light on somebody else, but you’re getting more views with their audience and things like that.

Mark Hunter: Right. And the last one I’ll share, and that is open yourself up to connections. People tend to be too limited. I pretty much connect to anybody who is going to connect with me unless I really see that- okay, this just doesn’t line up with me. Because really what am I trying to do? I’m trying to be social. I’m trying to connect and I’m not going to hesitate. I’m not going to step away from that. Hey, with that, we need to start wrapping up this show. I’m going to say right now, thank you for listening to Sales Logic this week.

If you like what you, hear, subscribe, rate, and review the show on your favorite podcast app. If something we’ve said has earned you a single dollar, consider telling a friend about our show. It’s how we grow to help you grow. I’m Mark Hunter.

Meridith Elliott Powell: And I’m Meridith Elliott Powell.

Mark Hunter: Remember when you sell with confidence and integrity,

Meridith Elliott Powell: uncertainty suddenly becomes your competitive advantage

Mark Hunter: and the sale becomes logical.

 

Copyright 2020, 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.

 

How to Overcome Sales Obstacles During a Pandemic

How are you doing at overcoming sales obstacles currently? There are always obstacles in sales, but in our pandemic filled world, the obstacles are greater. However, the rewards are greater, too.

I’m going to walk you through 10 sales obstacles that salespeople are facing right now in the pandemic and what you can do to overcome them. First, if you don’t yet have a copy of my books, A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting, go out on Amazon and grab them. Also, subscribe to my YouTube channel to receive a new video like this every week. Last but not least, check out my website for tons of resources on how to overcome sales obstacles during a pandemic, www.thesaleshunter.com.

1. Hard to Get Leads

Right now, it’s just plain hard to get leads because the traditional methods of finding them are off the table. No longer do we have conferences, trade shows, exhibitions, etc. This is why you have to be able to create partnerships with people. You have to do a better job of defining your ICP, since now you can’t just expect thousands of people to drop by your booth at a trade show. That’s not even an option.

Know precisely who your ICP is so you can target that person through alternative methods – for example, online through social media (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.), or direct mail. It all starts by understanding your ICP; that’s your first step.

2. Zero Motivation

Wow. This one is crushing a lot of salespeople. You have to understand that nobody can motivate you, except yourself. A strategy that I’ve shared before but will share again is to make a list of all of the successful outcomes that you’ve helped your customers create. I want you to write this down and put it next to your phone, computer,  desk, wherever – just as long as it’s in a prominent place where you look often. If you have the ability to help someone, then it’s your obligation to reach out to them.

You have to believe one hundred percent in the outcome that you can create. You might not be successful every day, and that’s ok. Don’t worry. Hey, there’s a lot of baseball players who strike out far more often than they get on base. But you know what? Once they get on base, it suddenly makes all that hard work and effort worthwhile.

Don’t expect every day to be all roses. It won’t happen. However, stay focused on the outcomes you can create and believe that you can make a difference. In every one of your daily conversations, it must be your goal and desire to earn the right to privilege, honor and respect to be able to talk with that person again.

3. Everyone’s Confused

You’re right, everyone is bewildered, yet this is what makes your job even better and greater than before. Customers don’t know what they don’t know, because of all the information out there. The world has become noisier than ever, primarily due to the Internet. Everyone is confused. This is why you have to do your job of asking questions and engaging in conversations. Right now, the exchanges we have with people are more important than ever.

In addition, I want to go back to ICP, your ideal customer profile. The more you stay in your lane focused on your ICP, the more you’ll be seen as the expert and able to share insights to help bring clarity to your customers.

4. Nobody Wants to Buy

Well, that’s just a flat-out cheap excuse. There is still a lot of business happening out there. Yes, I get that it may vary by industry. However, customers want to buy and they will, if you give them the reason to buy.

It’s starts with your thinking. This is why the greatest obstacle to overcome is your own mind. Yes, it starts with you and your thoughts. When you hear that nobody wants to buy, that’s not true. People want to buy when given a reason to do so.

5. Prices are Too High

Price has always been an issue, but right now in a pandemic, price has become an even bigger issue. Again, you have to come back and ask yourself: are you creating the right value?

You may need to make some tweaks in how you’re offering your product like in how you present the product or the packages that you’re offering, but your prices are not too high if you’re providing outcomes. Remember, there are two types of meat out there – hamburger and the New York strip steak. They’re both meat, but they sell for different prices and deliver different outcomes.

Know the outcome. You create the market in which you go after. Your price is not too high.

6. Bad Customers, Bad Leads

You’re right that these two go together. You see, salespeople become so desperate that they begin having conversations with anybody and everybody. They begin to listen to that person, talk to that person, and so on and so forth. In doing so, they end up opening themselves up to bad customers.

Bad customers do come in all kinds of shapes, flavors, sizes and types; however, basically, they are customers that will never understand your value or how you can help them. Bad customers never value and appreciate you for who you are. That’s how bad customers come from bad leads. It comes back to remaining focused on your ICP. I can’t stress that enough.

7. Customers have Options

Yes, they do have options and they always have. The change that has come in relation to customer’s options has to do with geographic boundaries. Because of the pandemic, the geographic boundaries have significantly shifted. You used to be able to call this customer because you knew that you could physically go to them. Now, you can’t physically go see them. Suddenly, this means that the best person is not the person who walks to the door but the person who can be reached on the Internet.

Customers do have options, but that means that you also have options. I like that. It’s not bad, and it means two things. First, you have to increase your level of presence on the internet. Second, you have to increase the trust you create when you increase your presence. In other words, increase your circle or your sphere of influence.

You will be exposed to more customers again and more customers who have options. You have to create a level of trust, because when you create a level of trust, it’s amazing how the customer starts to view you as the person they want to buy from, rather than just somebody else.

8. Customers Won’t Make a Decision

This is no different than any other time. It just seems really magnified right now during the pandemic.

Customers won’t make a decision, because you haven’t given them a receipt. The number one person you’re selling against is the person who doesn’t make a decision. It’s not the customer who says that they won’t buy from you but somebody else. It’s really the customer who says they’re just not going to make a decision.

Why is that? Because you have not taken the time to engage with them. You’ve neglected to help them understand their critical need or reason. This is why I don’t think it’s about the number of leads you have, but rather the quality of the leads. Your objective is to spend more time with fewer prospects. When you do that, you’ll be able to understand each of your customers on a deeper level.

9. Too Much Ghosting

Yeah, it happens. Sometimes you have one conversation and then you struggle to engage with them again. This happens because people are busy.

If you’re not seen by the prospect / customer as being their first or second priority, in other words, if the outcome you create isn’t their number one or number two, they don’t have time for you because they’re dealing with so many issues. Immediately upon engaging them, you have to understand how you can become their number one or number two priority. It’s not that they love you more than somebody else. It’s about the outcome that you create. In other words, the outcomes you can help create for them is so crucial that they see it as their number or number two priority if it doesn’t fit in that wheelhouse.

Again, this goes back to why I emphasize needing to stay in your lane and focusing on your ICP. Ghosting also occurs, because you just haven’t followed the message that appears on every bottle of shampoo. If you don’t know, stop and go take a look at the bottle of shampoo in your shower. That bottle of shampoo has a couple of key words: rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.

You have to be able to rinse and that doesn’t mean putting the same shampoo back in your hair. Every time, you apply fresh shampoo to your hair and repeat the process.

You have to be able to deliver that prospect with enough value, enough meat, and enough reason for them to need to speak with you again. That’s how your status goes from number four, five, or six on their priority list to number one or number two.

10. Hard to See Customers

Guess what, the world has changed. Get over it. This means that not only is it hard for you, but it’s hard for your competition. Remember, all you have to do is be smarter than your competition. Yes, that means you need to use Zoom, videos in your emails, social media, and other platforms.

As difficult as you think it is to work-from-home, customers are now saying they have to be able to buy from home. So, what does that mean for you today? The world is different and really, with more businesses opening, it’s not just buying from home, it’s about buying and selling online. This has to be done from a video standpoint as well.

The faster you accept that, the better off you’ll be. It really all comes down to the sales obstacle that I mentioned earlier which is your mind. Every sales obstacle begins in your mind, so you must start by having the right mindset and believing that you can make a difference. A mind for sales is the first and most important step in overcoming sales obstacles in a pandemic.

Copyright 2020, 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.