Mark Hunter's Blog, page 32

I Outlived the Trees

The trees are gone. You’re probably wondering what happened. Maybe I just outlived the trees.

Just a few weeks ago, we took out the final tree in our backyard. Well, not the final tree, but the final tree that we planted. Let me explain. When we moved into this house, we planted three trees in our backyard. Our idea was to provide more shade, cover, and privacy. I remember the nursery telling us when we bought them that we were really risking ourselves, because the trees we picked don’t do well in our climate.

I heard them but thought that it was ok, because we predicted we’d live in this house for five, maybe 10 years at the most. Therefore, the trees were bound to make it for that short of time – not long considering a tree’s lifespan. I thought we will outlive the turnout and move before the tree die.

Well, guess what? It’s been almost 25 years that we’ve lived in this house. We certainly outlived the trees. So, what’s the lesson? The lesson is very simple. When my wife and I were landscaping our new home and made the decision to the buy the trees for our backyard, we figured it was the right move. Why? Because again, we were only making a decision for five years, maybe 10 years at most.

Wow, think about that. It’s got my reflecting on how we all think through things and specifically decisions. Often, we only consider the short-term impact but our decisions wind up making a long-term impact.

One funny thing about deciding to plant these trees was actually the cost. I remember when my wife found the bill. Almost 25 years ago, we paid $1500 dollars to plant three trees at $500 per tree. Then, we paid $850 dollars to remove the last tree. Alright, did we get our money’s worth? Yeah, we did! I am certainly not complaining, just chuckling. It’s rather ironic that we paid more to remove the tree and the stump that we did to plant the whole tree itself.

Again, we outlived the tree. I didn’t know that would happen, but it was a decision I made. In turn, I had to live with the consequences.

Another thing to consider is: in the decisions that we’re making, are we really thinking through the consequences and putting them in context of the right element of time? Sometimes we make decisions quick and fast, because we think it is only going to have a short and fast lifespan; however, it turns out having a much longer lifespan. Or maybe there are decisions that we take a long time to figure out because we feel they have a long-term implication, yet they end up only mattering for the short-term.  

The lesson here is very simple: the time frame we associate with our decisions may not actually be what we think at the time we make the decision. It might be completely different.

Thanks for listening to another Mornings with Mark and pondering with me about my backyard landscape decisions. Now, I need to figure out what new trees we should put into our backyard. It’s ok, we’ll wait until next Spring.

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.

 

Real Discovery Skills that are Relevant in Today’s Marketplace

Meridith Elliott Powell: Welcome to Sales Logic. The show where we dive into the strategies, we discuss the techniques and we give you the tools exactly what you need to be more effective at sales and well to approach the sale logically. I’m Meridith Elliott Powell, and I am here with my cohost.

Mark Hunter: Mark Hunter and welcome Darryl Praill to today’s show.

Darryl Praill: Hello. Hello.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Well, Darryl, we are excited to have you here. Let me talk a moment about how the show works. We’ve got a topic that we are going to dive into. We close the show out with a with a lightning round, but we kick off every show with a question. A question from one of our listeners dealing live with the challenges that sales professionals are dealing with today.

So, Mark, if it’s good with you, I’m going to go ahead and jump right into the question. And the question today is from somebody that you know Mark. You ready?

Mark Hunter:  Ready to go. The question comes from Bob.

What are the best ways to stick to the basics, the tried and true methods of what works in sales? And hey, you know what, before we answer it, we should say, how do you get your question in? You get your question by going to saleslogicpodcast.com, little piece there that you can send us your question, or just go out to social media, put your question with #saleslogic and we will see it.

And Hey, we may just answer it on next week’s show. So back to answering the question, I guess I’ll repeat it one more time here. The question here, the best way to stick to them the basics, the tried and true methods of what works in sales.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Well, I love this question because I think in everything that’s going on today and we’re all in, the moment you get into crisis, everybody starts to grab for the newest, latest, shiny object.

But this question really speaks to what’s true about sales. I mean, one of my favorite books on sales is, How to Win Friends and Influence People. One, because the book was written in the 1930s and two, because everything it says is still relevant today. At the end of the day, it is about the basics with sales.

And one of the things that I think you need to do to in order to stick to the basics is ask yourself, do you have a sales strategy? And do you track and measure that strategy. I mean, Mark, you were talking earlier about busy versus productive and the only way that I can measure whether I am busy versus productive is I know what I’ve got to do to hit my numbers, what sales calls I’ve got to make, what proposals I’ve got to write, how many proposals I’ve got to close.

And that day in day out of tracking those things and seeing what’s getting me results and what isn’t getting me results.  But Darryl, would love to have you weigh in just basically your thoughts on the basics in general. And then what, if anything, are you doing to make sure you’re sticking to the basics?

Darryl Praill: So I may go off on a slightly different tangent. For me, it’s funny, I’m actually glad to you talked first Meridith, because it gave me time to ponder the question. My immediate reaction as I think about the basics is not necessarily the processes because I’m pretty confident you’ve got tools today. Would it be VanillaSoft or something else that you’ve probably got processes that worked for you. And I love that Meridith said, you’re looking at what’s working and what’s not. Productive versus busy. That’s incredibly powerful. But to me, the basics are, what do we do when we’re selling at its most basic level – we’re having a conversation, a relationship if you will, with our buyer.

So am I actually engaging them in a way that shows that I care that I add a little value, that I’m not necessarily pitching, that I’m not viewing them as a transaction and that I’m a resource for them to help them overcome their challenges?

So I’m looking at what’s my phone script? What’s my email script? What’s my social media script? And does it embody that? Or is it just pitch, pitch, pitch and I’m going to not personalize anything and I’m just going to crank through. I’m going to use sales engagement for bad cause with sales engagement, in the irony of sales engagement is, I can do massive amounts of activity.

So many people play the numbers game, or I’m just going to do bad crap in high volume. That’s not the basics.  Then the other thing I would do is actually challenge your assertion around the relevance of the basics. Hear me out. I’m a big believe in the basics. You know our show Inside Sales podcast about being marginally better. The only way we can get marginally better is you take what’s working, which are the basics, and then you say, okay, I want to do an AB test. And I’m gonna do one little tweak and say, let’s monitor for a week or something. And am I better? And if you know, the traditional way, won. Great! Next week, I’ll do a different tweak against the traditional way, or if the tweaked way won next week, I’ll do another one against the tweaked way.

So I’m intervally getting better. The basics are good, but that doesn’t mean you stop. But what it does mean to me is you don’t get overwhelmed thinking that a new piece of technology or a new script or a new piece of content is going to change everything about your success. It’s not. And if you fall into that trap, then you’re going to lack success.

Mark Hunter: We just heard from Darryl Praill. You might say, wait a minute, when did he come on to Sales Logic Podcast? Well, when you’re the sponsor, he’s the Chief Marketing Officer at VanillaSoft. Hey, we are happy to have him on the show, but you know, what did you catch about his answer to that question?

He is incredibly insightful. So that’s again, why we enjoy having him on the show here today. I’m going to add one more piece to this question. Cause then we need to really get into the topic of today. That is, ask yourself this question when you get done talking to anybody, and talking is so key that the telephone is more relevant today than it’s ever been. The question is, what makes you believe that customer thinks there’s a reason why they should even buy from you? You see, what I find so many times happening is that salespeople are just throwing stuff out there. But you really have to stop and ask yourself what was the compelling piece that is going to move that customer to sit there and want to engage with you.

And what does that mean? The tried and true basic? Do you create a call to action? This is one of the big reasons why people are busy, but they’re not productive because they’re not creating that call to action to get that next step. All you do is wind up spinning your wheels over and over. But hey, we need to jump into the topic today.

The topic we’re talking about today is real discovery skills that are relevant in today’s marketplace. How do you tailor your value proposition? Now, if you think about this, it’s a key issue. Let’s go ahead and jump into it. Mere, I’m going to let you run with it first and share your thoughts.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah, I love this topic and I really stole it from Anita Nielsen, a friend of ours, a real sales guru, but she had used it to answer a question that I had asked about sales on LinkedIn. And I’ve got to tell you that I’m really passionate about discovery because I think it’s one of the most underutilized and most understood parts of the sales process.

And the one thing that I think that people need to understand about discovery is it is not a stage in the sales process. You don’t do it at step three and you don’t do it again. It happens over and over and over again in the sales process. Every time that your customer is talking, every time you ask a question and they’re saying something, you need to be listening for ways to go deeper, discover more about what their pain points and their challenges are.

So often what I see salespeople do is they go through discovery, they hear a problem, they jump the problem. They sell a product. The customer account is closed. Move on to the next customer. Discovery when it needs to be done over and over and over again through the sales process.

But Darryl, what do you think?

Darryl Praill: No, I love that you said it needs to be done over and over and over again in the sales process, because it does. And the thing about discovery is you need, and this, if I’m candid, this is where I see most sales processes break down, is that you’re not A: you’re not doing discovery, right?

You’re trying to rush to a demo, for example, so you can do a feature dump. B: you’re not doing a discovery by stakeholder because a champion versus financial advocate versus a technical advocate, whatever, all have different requirements. And instead, once you find somebody that is taking up your calls, who will actually take your calls and listen to you, you just stick with them and you put all your money on them. Discovery is a process. It’s not just about their pain, but it’s also discovery around the opportunity. Who has influence on this buying process? Who will be affected? Who will be impacted? Can I talk to them? And if more people did that, you would actually have shorter sales cycles, you would actually have shorter demos, because you could only show what matters to them, and you would dramatically differentiate yourself from your competition. Most of you are scared to do that because you don’t want to upset anybody. And I think what you need to do is change your mindset. It’s not about upsetting anybody. It’s about making sure you’ve heard everybody and your champion will be the victor here because they will understand, if you tell them and educate them, that in fact, you’re helping make them a rock star, but getting all the stakeholders to have inclusion of input. When the recommendation is made for you, they’re going to support the decision as opposed to object because they weren’t heard.

Mark Hunter: What you said was so spot on and I’m glad you linked it to the demo, because this is one of the things that I vomit over – the race to the demo. I don’t think too many people wake up in the morning and say, “Oh, joy. I get to sit through a couple more demos from stupid salespeople”, because that’s what they are- they are featured dumps. If you are really concerned or if you’re really interested about creating incremental sales, then you need to run deeper into the discovery process and it occurs at every phase and I’ll argue the best discovery occurs just after the introduction at the early stages of when confidence is being built, because it’s at that point that they’re willing to share truth with you.

They’re willing to share with you ultimately what it is. It’s not about crafting a solution that does everything. It’s about crafting a solution that takes care of their deepest, most critical need. And you’re only going to find that out by going deep into the discovery process. And I’m going to pick up on two other pieces here.

This is where I can’t stand so many sales processes because they’re kind of built on this automated system. I go from point A, to point B, point C and it does not allow in there for the whole discovery phase to take place, because I don’t necessarily know where the discovery phase is going to take place.

I mean, I don’t know where it’s going to go because it can run in several different directions. But here’s the whole thing, I have to be prepared to let it go where the customer wants to go. Now I’ll bring it back in. I’ll bring it back in, but I must let the customer share. And the only way I’m able to do that is by sitting there, putting that question out on the table and letting them chew on it. And then me coming back with that next question that just keeps building and building and building.

But here’s why I think so many people are afraid to do discovery because they really don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t know what they’re doing, and they just want to stick to this process. And they’re afraid.

I’ll argue the best salespeople out there, the best discovery process, you know you’re hitting a home run when you can ask the customer a question that they can’t answer and you can’t answer. Now think about that for a moment when both the customer and you can’t answer that question, what is that going to do?

It will force a dialogue. That’s going to create a conversation that is the ultimate in discovery. That’s how you really create incremental opportunities and not just be a stupid order taker. Okay, I’ll get off my soap box. Mere, I’ll let you put a close on this.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Well, I want to pick up on something you said. I think salespeople are afraid of discovery because they think they have to have the answers and you don’t have to have the answer as a salesperson. In fact, I used to say, when I hired salespeople that the first couple of days they were on the job, before they understood our products and services, they were the best salespeople I ever had. Because when they went out to talk with a customer, all they could do was stay in discovery mode because they could identify problems, they could identify opportunities, but they couldn’t solve them because they weren’t yet well-versed on the products and services.

You have lots of time to create solution. You can go back and work with your coworkers. As Mark said, you can create that dialogue. Discovery has always been important, but even more so now during the time of COVID when customers are more confused than they’ve ever been. They don’t know exactly what they need.

They don’t understand exactly know what their opportunities are and your value is staying in discovery mode and really digging deeper and helping them really uncover what would be most valuable for them. Mark, I do want to ask you and Darryl just two quick questions – the same question to each of you, but just because the second part of this was on tailoring your value prop.

And I think it’s important since we talked about discovery, helping our listeners understand that the value prop does need to change in today’s marketplace and what that means and what that looks like. And Darryl, I’ll kick it to you first.

Darryl Praill: So one of the things, so I’m going to answer the question, but for the audience, let me give you some context.

Mark introduced me as the Chief Marketing officer. What that means in this context is that I’m also the chief buying officer here at the company. I have the biggest disposable fund of dollars. At most companies, the marketing person does because we have programs spent, we don’t have staff necessarily. Therefore, I am probably the most targeted individual, maybe beyond the CEO, at our company to spend money.

So can relate to this. Your question is talking to me about tailoring the value prop. Let me tell you what you should do. Let me tell you what I want you to do. Alright? What you should do is when your value prop has got to adapt based on what you learn in discovery. I don’t want to hear your boilerplate, because I don’t care about what you do for others.

I mean, there’s going to come a point in time I’m taking you seriously. I want to know who else are your clients so I can do social proof and I do want to know that you understand my business, but I really care about my problem. And I care about how you address it. You need to tailor your response, which is why you need to do discovery.

So it’s contextual. Now, this is my biggest beef about you, as a buyer, is you’re throwing stuff against the wall hoping I pick up on something and I can actually take your value prop that you think is your unique selling proposition. And I can say that, “well, I have this pain over here. It sounds like maybe what they’re saying might help me over here”, when I have to work like that this is what happens- I go, “but I’m really busy right now”, so I’m going to get rid of them, hang up, gone. Whereas if you do the discovery so you can actually connect the dots and actually lead me like the pied piper. And I feel engaged and I feel listened to, and I feel like you gave me the exact answer I want to hear, even if your answer is “I can’t help you here, but I think I can help you there”. And this is why you’ve got my attention because I have real pain. That’s my long-winded answer.

Mark Hunter: I’ll give you a shorter winded answer. The best presentation ever given is the presentation never given. What do I mean by that?

You’ve done such a good job on the discovery. There’s no demo. It is purely a dialogue. It is a conversation right back to your specific needs where I think, and I’m going to echo and I’m going to mirror exactly what Darryl said, too many sales are lost because customer ghosts the sales person, because they’re tired of hearing them talk about all the generalities. Getting tight and specific brings the best. That’s all. I want this solution. And I’m only gonna know that if I’ve done the discovery call.

One final piece: this is why so many demos, I think 90% of all demos are a joke, are waste because they’re nothing but a featured dump.

Hey, we got to get the lightning round in and move fast. The clock is ticking. Mere’s going to announce the lightning round, but I’m going to drop the gauntlet right here. Lightening round means that our answers have to be 10 seconds or less. Go!

Darryl Praill: I don’t think I can do that.

Meridith Elliott Powell: You can, we have faith in you, Darryl. So this is the part of the podcast where our listeners need to be taking notes. Cause we are going to give them action items that they can walk away and implement immediately. So, the lightening round today are the best places to prospect to find prospects.

Mark, kick us off.

Mark Hunter: Know your ICP, your ideal customer profile. When you know who that is, those are the only people you want to be going after. Darryl jump in.

Darryl Praill: The best places to find my prospect, I will argue is social media. People are getting tired of the phone, it still works. They’re getting tired of email cause it’s overwhelming the volume, but real conversation happens on LinkedIn and you can find prospects in the comments.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Well, I think one of the best places to prospect is to make a list of customers you’ve had for the last couple years and ask them to send you a referral.

Darryl Praill: Oh, that’s good.

Mark Hunter: Mere, you stole that one right out of my, that was the one I was going to share. So, hey, here’s the next one. Know who your ICP is and go back to them and get them to give you more business because each one of them has got another division, another person, something or other, because again, you can expand from within. Darryl?

Darryl Praill: We’re still doing this? I thought I only had 10 seconds. You’re messing me up and this is not good. The next thing is any conversations you find on social media, you reach out to with a private one on one connection or an email. Give context around that conversation and ask to continue the conversation offline. If you do that, they will do it because you’re part of their tribe and you’re going to help them out.

Meridith Elliott Powell: You know, this one’s going to sound simple, but I just say brainstorm. I mean, one of the things that I always have my clients do is sit down and brainstorm everybody you want to do business with. And that’s your dream top 20 or top 30. And then start through social media, like Darryl’s connection, and finding the connections that you’ve got to them.

Mark Hunter: And I’m going to close it out by saying this one, and it’s going to rub some people the wrong way, but I’ll say it – stop networking. Network creates long-term – yeah,  I’ve ruffled a few feathers with that one. Nothing wrong with networking. But when I’m prospecting, I’m about getting business today. That’s why you have to zero in on your ICP.

Okay. So now that I dropped the bomb on that one, we’ve got to kind of wrap up the show here. 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. We need to thank our guest, Darryl. Thanks so much for coming on.

Darryl Praill: Thank you so much.

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

Meridith Elliott Powell: You turn uncertainty to a competitive advantage

Mark Hunter: and the sale becomes logical. We’ll see you next week. On behalf of Meridith, Darryl Praill, special  guest from VanillaSoft, I’m Mark Hunter. Thank you.

 

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 Do You Close More Sales at Year-End?

So you’re chasing your annual number, you have a number you need to hit and in order to get there, you have to close more sales. People ask me all the time how they can close more sales at year-end.

Every week, I put out a new video / blog like this one. I hope you click subscribe, because I guarantee they will help you. Hit “like” too and if you haven’t, buy my latest book, A Mind for Sales. Right now, especially as we move closer to the end of the year, having a mind for sales becomes all the more important. Let’s go through ten things that you can do right now to close more sales at year-end.

1. Simplify

Simplify things for your customers. This may mean taking options off the table so it’s easier for them to make a decision. It’s your job to help them make a decision and make it faster. Don’t leave every single little decision up to them, because they may decide to just wait until the first of the year.

2. Pre-qualify

This is another big reason why you need to keep it simple. If there’s vendor paperwork or things to set up, set them up right away. Even if the customer is not ready to buy, that’s ok. As we draw closer to the end of the year, it’s important to be ready to respond immediately when they’re ready to move forward in the buying process. Go ahead and get everything qualified. Get them set up in the form and make sure everything is in place and ready to go.

3. Credit Terms

What do I mean by credit or credit terms? It can very simply refer to an extension of additional credit to them. This looks like them being able to pay in 30 days or 45 days or whatever it might be. Credit terms might mean that you’re going to allow a little higher allowance for them to buy on credit terms.

This might include changing the discount that you offer. Any number of things will work as long as it’s ok with your finance department. Determine your options and do so before you get close to the end of the year. If you wait until the end of the year, it’ll most likely be too late to have those conversations.

4. Existing Customers

There is always more business to be had from your existing customers. Are you looping back with them frequently? Are you having enough conversations with them? Are you walking them through all of the same things that you’re walking other customers through?

It is amazing the number of salespeople who look past business from existing customers because existing customers means just asking them for referrals. Existing customers may have other divisions. Exhaust all of your options in all departments. There’s other people out there within your existing customer base.

5. Extensions

This is like product extensions. For example, a customer may buy this item from you, but not this item. Well, why not? Have you asked them?

Again, I’m amazed at the number of salespeople and customers I talk to that don’t realize the full breadth of items being sold, because they’re used to just buying one item.  Most likely, the customer buys the other item somewhere else. There are various extensions that you have that your customer is unaware of. Keep in mind that just because you are aware of them does not mean your customers are aware.

6. Supply Chain

Talk with those people who supply you and find out who else they sell to. Remember, if they’re in your supply chain, they’re probably in someone else’s supply chain. Talk to the people in your supply chain; this can very easily be other customers and usually isn’t that big of a deal. It’s amazing what you can get just out of your own supply chain because people know you.

7. Old Customers

This may be a customer who stopped buying from you several years ago, but they’re still familiar with you. Maybe they stopped buying from you and you thought the reason why they stopped was reason “x,” but it was acutally a completely different reason.

Reach back out to your old customers. I don’t care how far back you go; keep going further. There is business to be had.

8. Up-sell

Selling up comes in a number of different ways. It might be selling greater quantity or additional items that go. Whatever it is, up-selling can be so easy. It’s probably the easiest way to increase the size of an order because of an order for customers who place an order for “X.” It’s very easy for them to do “X” plus two, or “X” plus three.

9. Cross-sell

What’s the difference between up-selling and cross-selling? Up-sell means it’s an item that fits right with that particular item whereas cross-sell means it’s an item that is adjacent to that item. For instance, the customer may buy this item, but not this item.

I recall working with a janitorial supply company who had lots of customers buying cleaning supplies for floors, but none of them were buying cleaning supplies for windows. They were buying their window cleaning supplies from somebody else. So, we simply started cross-selling them to those items. It’s so easy now to do this.

You may also cross-sell with other partners, people within your supply chain, or other salespeople with whom you partner with on various things. Look for ways that you can cross-sell.

10. Hustle!

It’s the fourth quarter but a short one, because of all the holidays that fall within it. From the get-go, you have to hustle! I can’t stress this enough. You must continually hustle. An order left on the table and not taken at the end of the year is an order lost. You cannot afford to let that happen. It’s just a matter of hustling to get the jobs done.

Pick up my two latest books, High-Profit Prospecting and A Mind for Sales. Once you read them, let me know what you think by dropping me an Amazon review. Also, check out my website for tons more resources and information to help you be successful. In addition, we have The Sales Hunter University, a great online program that you should get familiar with to help you close more sales at year-end. 

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 Missed Hoover Dam!

I missed Hoover Dam. 

Now, how do you miss Hoover Dam? It’s not exactly a small place, but I missed it. Now, let me give you the back story. Recently, I drove from Phoenix to Seattle to take a car there. I’ll be honest, I was on a mission to do it as rapidly as possible. However, in doing so, I missed Hoover Dam because I was too focused on trying to get to Seattle as fast as I could that I didn’t take just a little bit of time, even 10 minutes to stop and see Hoover Dam.

I remember seeing the signs for it a couple of miles in advance and telling myself that I didn’t have time. The drive from Phoenix to Seattle is about 24 hours total, so what’s an extra 15 minutes? Well to me, in that moment, it was everything. I could not even afford to stop for 15 minutes.

I wonder how many times I’ve missed out, because I’m too busy racing to get to something, and as a result, I miss out on something else. How many times have I missed a conversation, because I’m too focused on something else? How many times have I missed an event? Not, it’s good to be focused. I get it. There’s nothing wrong with focusing on a task; however, let’s stop and ask ourselves if we’re focused on the right things.

No, I missed Hoover Dam, and I don’t know when I’ll drive between Phoenix and Seattle again, let alone between Phoenix and Las Vegas. I may never have the chance to see Hoover Dam again. I missed an opportunity. I remember as a kid seeing Hoover Dam many times. We drove past it on multiple occasions when I was a kid, but I probably haven’t been to it in at least 30 years.

For some reason, I allowed an experience from 30 years ago to cloud have an experience today. Again, that was a big mistake. I urge you to seize the moment, seize the opportunity, seize what you can do right now to be able to take advantage of what’s in front of you. Don’t allow yourself to miss Hoover Dam.

Yes, I made it to Seattle and in really good time. I pulled out of the airport in Phoenix at 7:44AM and arrived into Seattle at 8:30AM the following morning. Actually, I stopped a couple of times along the way to do work for about an hour. Wow, that was crazy. I stopped to work for an hour, but I couldn’t afford to spend 20 minutes at Hoover Dam. Kind of stupid, huh?

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 Do I Find a Better Sales Job?

Meridith Elliott Powell: All right. Welcome to Sales Logic. The show where we dive into the strategies, we talk about the tactics you walk away with real working techniques you can use to build your sales funnel and well sell a little more logically. I’m Meridith Elliott Powell, and I’m here with my cohost.

Mark Hunter: Mark Hunter, the Sales Hunter, and Meridith it’s always great to talk sales with you. What’s on tap for today?

Meridith Elliott Powell: Boy, we had some really good stuff on tap today. You know, as we know, this is the way that the show works, because we always have a topic of discussion, which we’ll talk about in a moment, we always kick the show off with a question that’s right. A question that actually comes from one of our listeners and we end with a lightning round. So you want to hang out to the end cause you, we end up with basically a set of steps that you can put into place immediately. So Mark, if somebody wants to send us a question, what do they need to do?

Mark Hunter: They need to go to saleslogicpodcast.com. That’s our website. You can leave the question there, or you can just throw it out on social media and with #saleslogic, but this is really your opportunity to throw a question out and who knows, we may be answering it next week. The question for today is pertinent to what we were discussing in the pre-show.

For those of you who are lucky to catch us live on Facebook or LinkedIn. That’s another story, but hey, we do hope that you catch up with us live here. The question is, “I love to sell, but I need out of my sales job. My sales manager, that company is really struggling with their approach. It is all about the numbers and the widgets. How do I find a better sales job? One that aligns with my values and how I was taught to sell.” Ouch!

Meridith Elliott Powell: Well, that question remains anonymous. Right. I didn’t want to necessarily include the person, that, that asked that question because I thought maybe this was a little bit anonymous. I loved this question and I really wanted to include it because the way that it was actually asked to me is it was asking for what are some companies that I can recommend going to work for? Well, of course I put Vanilla Soft, our sponsor, right at the top of that list, because I think they’re a phenomenal company, not only with phenomenal leaders, but I answer the question by saying, I don’t think it’s a company that you’re looking for but rather a sales leader that you’re looking for.

Cause you know, I certainly, in my years in corporate, I worked for a company and I worked under people I loved, respected and yes, I flourished. I could be inside the same company and work for another type of leader, but I just didn’t. A few years ago, I wrote an article titled, “What to Do When your Sales Manager Sucks.” Maybe that’s a whole, other podcast for another day, but I think the first thing you’ve got to do is start to really define what you’re looking for in a sales leader. What will make you happy in going to work for somebody?

Mark Hunter: I’ve got a laugh with that comment about sales leaders who suck. I mean, because I want to hear it. I want to read that – send that article to me! You know, it is interesting to note that it is the person you should go to, because culture starts at the top. I see this in sporting organizations.

Yes. You take your cues from your sales manager, you take your cues from your sales boss, but it’s amazing how the culture of the company does shape dramatically. Sure, I can thrive with a sales leader that’s very positive, but if the company’s ethics and values don’t line up somewhere along the line, things will break down. I think people are looking more than ever for that. I think there are three words that really come out right now, or measurements actually: transparency, values, and integrity. If those three measures don’t scream out at you, and you can’t see them quickly, you don’t want to go you don’t want to go to work at that company. Stay away from them.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Look around at other sales professionals and notice the ones that you think are happy and speak highly of their company and their work. Reach out to them and find out what’s really working in their position and why. Also, ask about opportunities with their company. The best way to find a really good sales job is to work with salespeople who are really happy in their position. I always like to choose. I go to people first and the company second. I identify the people who are happy in their roles and reach out to them.

Mark Hunter: You can tell a lot by just talking with some of their customers and who are their types of customers. Again, let me remind everyone that integrity-filled companies deal with integrity-filled customers. If you see a company that is dancing with, you know, the dark side, they’re going to be on the dark side too.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah, I think that’s really good advice to look at. Once in my life, I was looking for a new sales job when I was fairly young. I didn’t have a lot of experience; I got recruited because somebody felt I was very outgoing and recruited me into a sales position. I was new to sales. When I got in there, everybody was really gung ho about what they were doing and what they were selling; however, it was a very competitive environment.

The goal was to beat all the other salespeople on your team. They didn’t have any need for outside competition because they were too busy trying to defeat one another. They were selling a product that, in my opinion, I didn’t really feel like we were being completely truthful about.

Everything about that company lined up from checking the boxes, but when it came to values and what I needed in terms of support, it was not a good fit for me. I like competition on the outside of the company, and little competition with my teammates. If I’m killing my goal, I like to be held accountable to try to help my other sales reps get where they need to get. Finally, full transparency on products and services is really important to me.

It isn’t a right or wrong. I think Mark’s making such a great point. You’ve got to figure out your personal values and how you like to sell, and then go find a sales team and a company that aligns with those values. Because those people who were there before me were toning it in, and they were really doing great. It was just not an atmosphere where I could make it.

Mark Hunter: And remember, it’s not as much about what you sell. This may sound weird, but it’s why you sell – it’s all about the outcome you’re creating in the customer. That’s really what we’re selling. We’re selling outcomes. That’s what you need to focus in on.

Why don’t we jump into the topic because again, the topic lends itself to the question and the topic is what makes a great sales leader. What makes a great sales company? Jump in.

Meridith Elliott Powell: I think there’s a lot and I’m feeling we just bounce back and forth here.

Number one in a sales leader is that they are far more interested in their team succeeding then their own success. One of the challenges that we’ve all seen with sales leaders is that just because somebody is a really good salesperson, they get promoted to sales leader, and they’re really more of an individualist than a people developer. I think a really good sales leader focuses more on developing others than they do on their on their own personal sales and success.

Mark Hunter: Well, that really comes out, cause you can see how they handle and how they respond to other people that they lead. The salesperson to sales leader, who loves to step in and close the sale at the end loves to be the fire chief who comes on the scene. They’re a sales leader who wants to be involved in every single decision going on.

That is, without a doubt, the kind of person you want to avoid. It’s the sales leader, who you look at the sales team and you go, wow, there’s some impressive people in terms of how they handle themselves, their customers, and how they work themselves through situations. A sales leader’s results are not measured by what they do. They are measured by their salespeople’s results.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah. I also think that a really great sales leader really understands that he or she needs to treat their sales team differently. There might be newer or underperforming sales reps that you need to micromanage a little bit. You really do need to get in and hold their hand and work with them one-on-one. Your high performing reps, on the other hand, don’t need those same rules or regulations. Going to work for somebody who really understands that everybody on the team has different needs at different times and is able to easily transition. Sales leaders get directives from the top and a really good sales leader is able well to communicate their directives. They figure out how to apply them in a unique and motivating way to everybody who reports to them.

Mark Hunter: That brings up an interesting point. Now, I go back to Lou Holtz. He was a coach football coach for a number of years, and he was asked one time, how do you lead? How do you motivate 150 football players on your team?

I was going to say salespeople. How do you motivate? How do you lead 150 football players on your team? He said 150 different ways. Why? Because a good leader knows that there has to be adjustments with each person, yet be able to navigate those in such a way that it doesn’t become detrimental of other people.

That’s where I really come unglued. When organizations say we’re going to have this uniform policy with no deviations or changes, that tells me it’s weak leadership because they don’t know how to lead their organization.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah, consistency is definitely a good thing. And I think companies need more consistency, but I also think that, having that flexibility to really understand and intimately understand your routes.

This leads us to another piece in that a sales leader with the kahunas and the courage to hold people accountable to who understands the difference between a skill issue and a discipline issue. They’ve laid out the accountability strong enough there, and they check in to see if you’re doing and hitting your numbers. However, they are as focused on the behaviors that you’re doing as they’re focused on the numbers, because if you’re doing the behaviors and not hitting your numbers, you have a skill issue. If you’re not doing the behaviors and not hitting your numbers, you have a discipline issue.

If you have a discipline issue, the sales leader needs to have enough courage to get you off  the payroll. If you recognize the skill issue, you’ve got to be a good coach and go in and help people.

Mark Hunter: Yeah, something that I see in weak sales leaders or sales managers is spending all their time with lower level people, because that’s the only type of people they’re comfortable with. You can actually tell how much a sales leader is respected in the organization by the high achievers.

Do those top 10% people let the sales leader help them or do they try to ignore them? It tells you why, because the strong sales leader is very comfortable helping that upper performer get to even a higher level. I look at a sales leader and I can tell immediately where they’re spending their time. That tells me where they feel confident or shall I say, where they really need to exit – stage right.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah, let’s talk about that. What about good, great sales companies? I think about companies that I’ve gone to work for that I’ve really flourished in as a salesperson. It’s where they have made sales a strategic priority. It’s not something that’s outsourced to the lead salesperson. It’s really embodied by the CEO. It is something that not only the CEO talks about but the CEO does.

I remember working for this company where our president would come out on occasion, and this was a massive company, but he would show up in our area. At that time I was nothing but a pee on. He would say, “Meridith how are things going?” And I’d say, well, I’m doing really well with these accounts. I’m struggling with this one account. He’d say let’s pick up the phone. Let’s call him – maybe a call from the president would put that one over the edge. Then, we would go right into his office, pick up the phone, and he would call my client.

The very fact that he demonstrated sales at that level, showed me how important sales was. I think really great sales companies are when executive leadership team comes right there in the trenches alongside you.

Mark Hunter: Without a doubt, I had both examples.

I was with a company for a number of years where the CEO and the president, all of the top leadership, were out there with customers. It was a very sales oriented company. I was with another company for a while where the CEO was really afraid of customers. Absolutely afraid of customers, so they would not go to any kind of industry or even industry event.

It was amazing, because the entire culture of the organization reflected that. I found that if sales is not invited to the senior leadership table, their opinions will never count. When their opinion doesn’t count, it’s amazing how quickly salespeople shut down. You can identify which companies are sales oriented pretty quickly by looking at their C-suite.

Also, look at their senior officers. Go out online and take a look. What experiences have they had out there? And your level officers that have come from sales come up out of sales. Maybe not with that company, maybe with some other company. Again, those are really strong leading indicators of the organization.

I want to go to work for a company that’s willing to invest in me. Are they willing to invest in you? How many times have you seen a company, especially in small companies, hire a salesperson and then think the box is checked.

It’s like they think once they hire the salesperson, everything will be good. Then, within a few months, the salesperson quits because they are lost.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah. They’re not given the tools that they need in order to be successful. One last thing I’ll throw out there before we get into the lightning round is the difference between companies who understood the sales process and companies who don’t.

Meaning, when our directives don’t understand that they are constantly changing, they would give us products and services to sell. Then they would pull some products and services back and say no sell products and services as if all we were selling was widgets. And not really understanding that what we needed was a suite of products and services. Certainly, we understood that they’re trying to manage to a balance sheet and a profit statement, and so they try to elevate some things that they wanted. But they don’t understand that what we’re really selling is relationships. If we’re selling a product one month and then that product disappears the next month, it’s not easy to keep the sales process going.

If people really miss how much the C-suite needs to intimately understand sales and what it’s like to be on a sales call, to engage with your customers. And when you, so when you’re having that interview to be asking those types of questions, they get to feel out not only who you’re going to be working for as a sales leader, but who you’re going to be working for as a sales company.

Mark Hunter: Which takes us to the lightning round, and this is a great lightning rush. I can pull it up here. It’s all about what I look for when seeking the perfect sales job.

Meridith Elliott Powell: That the sales team is happy and productive and consistently working as a team to hit their goals, not one or two salespeople.

Mark Hunter: Is the company willing to invest in you? This starts with the compensation package.  If it’s all commission, that means they don’t have any investment in you at all. Those of you who are new people coming out of college, you want to go to work for a company that has a high base pay, because they’re willing to invest in you.

Meridith Elliott Powell: I would say clear directives, not only what is expected of you, but have they told you what the bullseye is, who the ideal customer is, what products they’re showcasing and why they’re showcasing those products, and have they made it clear what the sales process is?

If they do not have a defined sales process, run from that company.

Mark Hunter: I’ll add to that the onboarding process and the follow-up training – is it all product training or is it skills development? If they’re not willing to provide you with skills development, not just in the onboarding process, but ongoing to keep your skills sharp – run far from that company.

Meridith Elliott Powell: You want to spend some time interviewing the sales leader. You think that the sales leader is interviewing you, but find out what they do day in and day out. If they see part of their job as developing and investing in their sales team.

Mark Hunter: I say, look at where salespeople go when they leave that company – do they move on to bigger and better positions? If they do, that means they were trained well. That means they were developed well. That means they’ve been having a level of success. If you see people stagnating there or wind up going just to a lower level company, then it’s not a sales focused sales development / sales leader company.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah. Look at the retention rate of salespeople. I don’t want salespeople who have been there 25 or 30 years. And I don’t want salespeople there the average number of years, or people on the team less than two. You’re looking for some good tenure, but not so baked that people are stuck in their ways.

Mark Hunter: I’m going to add one more, then we will close it back, because you brought up a good one and that is poaching. Our companies trying to poach their salespeople because if they’re trying to be poached, that means they must be good. Other people must think they’re right.

With that, remember again that we talked about submitting your questions to saleslogicpodcast.com. Send them in, and we’d love to answer it.

Hey, 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 have 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 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 Do You Deal With Difficult Customers?

Oh, boy, we all have difficult customers. I’m going to walk you through the 10 ways to deal with these hard customers. In my book of A Mind for Sales, I talk about this; however, I separate difficult and bad customers – putting them in separate categories. Bad customers are those that have ethical issues. They have issues with integrity. Other things come into play with bad customers, not just that they’re not good people to deal with. 

Let me tell you something – bad customers are attracted to bad salespeople. When I hear a salesperson say that they have a bad customer, I ask more questions because there’s always more there. In this post / video, I am here to share specifically about difficult customers, so here we go.

1. Isolate them

You have to isolate the difficult customer. What do I mean by this? I mean that you don’t allow yourself to talk to a difficult customer minutes before you’re going to talk with your best customer, especially like five minutes before you have to negotiate a deal.

No, you isolate them. In other words, you deal with difficult customers during defined periods of time and you keep them separate from your other customers.

2. Listen

Often times, you just have to take the time to listen to a difficult customer, because they feel like they’re not being heard. It’s helpful if you just take the time to be quiet and give them your attention. Recently, I was in a situation with a company who had a difficult customer they were working with. They asked me to intervene, so I did. I wanted to help them and the difficult customer. It was very beneficial for me to intervene because the difficult customer suddenly changed their view; all I had to do was offer them a listening ear.

3. Teamwork

There may be other people in your organization that you need to get involved with just like that client of mine asked me to get involved. A difficult customer should not and does not ever have to be dealt with by a single person. Work as a team. Sometimes what makes the customer difficult are personality issues. That can be helped by just getting other people involved that have difficult personalities.

4. Price Increase

How does this deal with a difficult customer? First, if it’s a difficult customer, there’s additional work going on because of the difficulty of the relationship. Therefore, you may need to sit there and decide that you need to take a price increase because of how much money and time the extra work is costing you (and the company). Then, either one of two things will happen – either the customer says that this price increase isn’t worth it and goes elsewhere (which is fine) or they sit there and pay it. If so, at least you have additional revenue coming in to help cover the costs that you’re incurring.

5. Needs Assessment

Assess the customer’s needs by matching them up in terms of what you’re selling and what they are receiving. Sometimes a customer is difficult because they’re viewing your product / service in a different light than you are. They might be expecting outcomes that they can’t get. You see, there may have been expectations delivered in the sales process that can’t be delivered.

You have to sit there and ask yourself what the needs assessment is and line it up.

6. Competitor

There may be a competitor that you actually need to recommend to them. At the end of the day, your best objective is to maximize your ally. By doing so, you may actually maximizer the customer’s pride by being better served by another competitor. There may be another customer that can deliver better and/or faster than you. Go ahead. Turn them loose to a competitor.

7. Dropping Them is an Option

You can always drop them. Now, I’m not crazy about this, because I want to find out what I need to learn from them. However, there may come a time when you feel there’s no other option. You have to be very simple in saying something like this to them, “Hey, we can’t deliver the expectations that you want. We feel it would be better if you just went ahead and went someplace else.” And help them go from there.

8. Focus

Too many times, we only focus on what the difficult customer is looking for. By doing that, they become a difficult customer because we allow personality to come into play and the all these other issues arise.

One time, I saw a salesperson become absolutely livid, feeling like they had a difficult customer. The reason for such heightened emotions was because the customer’s favorite team was the biggest rival to the salesperson’s favorite team. The salesperson just could not get past it.

You see, you have to focus on the customer and let all the other noise fade away.

9. Your Mindset

What’s your mindset? If you come in looking for a difficult customer, most likely, you will have a difficult customer. It’s in your head. Without a doubt, it comes down to your mindset.

I remember years ago when I worked for a company within a certain territory and then all of a sudden, my manager changed it and gave me some different accounts. After a few months, I wondered why he did this, so I asked him. He said it was because so-and-so had this territory before and thought the customers in those accounts were difficult. The customer didn’t think they were difficult but actually easy to work with. The bottom line is that it all came down to the salesperson’s mindset.

10. It’s Their Loss

If a customer is difficult, it may be their loss because they’re experiencing other issues. I tell you this from a prospecting standpoint. You pick up the phone, call someone and they immediately jump you. Are they really jumping on you or do you just happen to be the person who called them right after they got jumped on by so-and-so? So just accept it as their loss.

Dealing with difficult customers happens one step at a time, just like everything else we do. It’s important to remember that our whole goal is to learn from them and move on.

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.

 

What’s Your Alternate Approach?

So, I’m standing in front of a car after about a 1, 454 mile drive from Phoenix to Seattle – just go ahead and Google it to get the exact mileage. It struck me on this drive that if you put Phoenix to Seattle into Google Maps, a number of different routes pop up. One of the routes shoots you straight up through the middle of Nevada on Highway 93. In fact, if you look closely, there’s a little shortcut … through Highway 318, or I think that’s the name of the highway shortcut. 

What’s funny about all of this is that the car I drove from Phoenix to Seattle actually belongs to my in-laws. They just moved back to Seattle to live closer to family. Long story. Anyway, I said hey, I’ll fly out to Phoenix, pick the car up and drive it to Seattle. So, I did. I was happy to help out. 

I flew into Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport and jumped in the car. Of course, I had looked at Google Maps in advance so I figured that’s what I would use for directions. Then I realized, wait a minute, while looking at that road that goes through the middle of Nevada, I realized that probably there’s not going to be any cell reception. Frankly, there probably won’t be much of anything, so I better go ahead and jot down some notes of key milestones to look for along the way on that desolate road. Sure enough, it happened. I’m driving along, using Google Maps, and it did a great job of getting me all the way to Vegas. It got me to North Vegas and then boom, no cell reception. I was right!

I would have missed the turnoff onto Highway 318, which by the way is a shortcut that will save you a good 45 minutes. I was on a mission. This drive was about 24 hours total. I was on a mission to get to my destination quickly. Why? Because I have other things to do. Here’s the thing: if it had not been for the directions that I jotted down ahead of time that I kept accessible without an Internet connection, I probably would have missed that turn. 

Think about this: how many times in our lives do we become so dependent on technology? How often do we focus on technology so much that we cannot operate without it? We have to keep it available to us, because of our ability to operate without technology. Think about just the basic things we do in life, not just technology. Think about always having an alternate approach. It’s absolutely critical. We must always go through life having two ways to do anything. That way, if one thing fails, we are able to get through and we have another way.

One of the key things on my road trip was to ensure that the spare tire had air pressure. The last thing I wanted was to get a flat tire somewhere, again in the middle of Nevada or Oregon or wherever, and not have another option. I might have gotten stuck. 

It’s about always having a contingency plan. Think about that in your life today. Hey, anyway, I made it to Seattle. Yeah, I did it in 24 hours and it was kind of a fun drive actually. I’ll save the rest of the story for another Mornings with Mark. Take care.

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 Do You Have the Perfect Client?

Meridith Elliott Powell: All right, here we go. Welcome to Sales Logic, the show where we dive into the strategies. We talk about the steps and give you everything that you need to know to sell logically in today’s uncertain marketplace. I’m Meridith Elliott Powell, and I’m here with my co-host,

Mark Hunter: Mark Hunter, the Sales Hunter. It’s great to see you again. We’ve got a good show planned.

Meridith Elliott Powell: We do. We’re talking about some, some hot topics and some good things on the, on the agenda. Before we dive in, though, I want to remind all of our listeners how this show works. We always start off with, with our question of, of the day that comes from one of you, our listeners, we always invite you to, To send us a question either at, saleslogicpodcast.com, or just put it out there on the social networking sites with #saleslogic, and we will find it.

And you just might be featured here on this show. Second part of the show is we dive into the topic. Then, we finish up with a lightning round because what we want you to get the most from this show is a return on investment of your time, right? We’ll give you some key takeaways and things that you can implement immediately to sell more logically, effectively and increase your bottom line.

So, Mark, why don’t you kick us off today and talk a little bit about what we have going?

Mark Hunter: Hey, here’s the topic we’re going to be digging into. It’s what everybody else is talking about right now, which is, how do you have a perfect client? How do you have that perfect customer? And how do you find them? Where do you find them? Which really is really kind of the question that we got here. The question came from Peter in Atlanta. Let me read you the question. “I have leads. I’ve been working since before COVID and still nothing. When do I walk away from them and move on?”

Hey, believe me. We’ve all got a bit of hanging out there. Not just before this. It is not just due to COVID, but I think it got accelerated from COVID. When should we walk away from a lead? When should we walk away from what might be an opportunity?

Meridith Elliott Powell: You know, I think this is a challenging question because I don’t necessarily think it’s about walking away. Rather, it’s about learning to prioritize your time.

Personally, I divide my leads into A, B’s and C’s. My A’s, I mean, not terribly innovative, right. But my A’s are my really hot prospects. What I mean by a hot prospect doesn’t even mean that they’re ready to buy just yet. It can just mean as much as the fact that they’re a really good fit and their need is really high.

B is a lead that I’m still working on. They haven’t necessarily indicated that they’re ready to buy, and C is either a lead that’s gone incredibly cold or has shown a disinterest. If a prospect I still really think is a good fit for me and I haven’t gotten any high indicators as to why she’d walk away, I leave them on there as a C. The reason I don’t mind is because C’s are not a big investment of my time or resources. I might send them a copy of my newsletter just to stay visible. I might drop him something around the new year, holiday and check in somewhere around mid-summer, but that’s it.

My goal is to turn a C into a B or an A. So I answered that just a little bit differently. I think it’s more about when do you stop investing a lot of time, energy and resources on them. What do you think Mark?

Mark Hunter: Well, I think it’s so true. It is about knowing when to invest and when not to invest.

Two things that I, well, actually there’s three criteria that I use is this. One, how closely do they fit into my ICP, my ideal customer profile? We’ll be talking about that. And the topic two, how big of an opportunity is it? Third and finally, is it connected to something else I’m already doing? In other words, is it a spinoff of something I’ve already got going so then it’s an easy fit.

I use those three criteria because if it’s a big, if it’s somebody who really fits into my ideal customer profile, even if I don’t receive any kind of response from them, they’re not going away. I’m going to stay focused on them and keep, I mean, drip on them as much, but I’m still going to drip on them.

Flip side is somebody who I’ve been, you know, really trying to get hold of but they’re not really in the ICP. After six months or after four months, they’re gone, but I basically keep them in a cycle and my cycle kind of works about a six-week cycle. I’ll work on you for six weeks, and if you don’t move, I’ll throw you out unless you fit that ICP or unless you’ve hit that big opportunity. Then, you’re going to stay there.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah. The reason I think this is so challenging is because one of the biggest mistakes I know that I see salespeople make is that they spend so much time and energy trying to close a deal that either isn’t going to close, or if it does close, it’s going to be such a pain. That you’re going to wish it didn’t close.

I think it’s, you know, all honesty to answer your question really well, it’s that you need to do a little bit of introspection and you need to think about yourself and ask, is this a good use of my time? What’s the likelihood that this is going to close and if it does close, does this person match my value system?

Years ago, when I used to train my own sales team, we used a grid and Mark talked about your ICP, your ideal client profile. At the top of that grid, we would have all the characteristics of the ideal client profile. You know, the industry they worked in, their ability to make a decision, their geographics, you know, region was how high and urgent their needs was. Then, down the side, we would put in our prospects and depending on how they lined up, they had to meet five or more of those ICP criteria for us to continue forward with them. Using that grid was just a great way to objectively look at people.

I think one of the things we have is salespeople who get so turned on by the chase, right? I mean, part of it is I just want to get this person, to close, but you’ve got to have a way or a tool to step back and really ask yourself, is this the best use of my time? Because as salespeople, we have to remember saying yes to one prospect is saying no to others.

Mark Hunter: That is so spot on because you can chase somebody that isn’t worth chasing. I mean, this is like the dog that’s chasing the car. This is what I feel so many salespeople are there. They’re their dog chasing the car. Even if you caught it, what would you do with it? Nothing. It’s not worth it. I, I use the line, “you can’t take a Walmart shopper and make them a Nordstrom customer.” You were talking about the ideal customer and the five criteria. I always, whenever I’m working with clients, we’ll build out the ICP and, and, we may have anywhere from three to 15 criteria. I tell them that if this prospect doesn’t line up at least 70% of the way there of an ICP, you better have a really good reason as to why you’re spending time with, because otherwise all you’re doing is wasting time.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, that takes us into today’s topic. Why don’t you tell us what’s on the table with the topic and let’s dive in?

Mark Hunter: The topic is everyone talks about having a perfect customer, you know, having perfect customers, so what’s the process to create them?

That’s an interesting question, because do you create a perfect customer or do you find a perfect customer? I’m going to throw that one onto your plate. Answer that.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Okay. Sort of like a, it’s sort of like a chicken or an egg, right. I really think it’s a little bit of a combination of, of both. You know, it’s sort of reminds me of dating, you know, I always found the perfect guy, but I had to fix him up just a little bit to get him, to get him right over the edge. But it’s kind of that way with the customer. I mean, customers are perfect in the sense that they are enthusiastic. They’re interested. They listen, they want to buy, they’re really believe that your product can make a difference. You know, for them at the same time, part of your role as a sales professional is to educate them on the possibilities beyond what they’re thinking. That ensures that relationship goes deep and wide so they become the perfect customer.

I also think you need to define for you what the perfect customer is. I mean, you know, what’s the depth of relationship that you’re looking for. Are you looking for referrals beyond that? Are you looking for somebody? I’ve got clients that, you know, we sell really big, heavy equipment. We’re not looking necessarily for a lot of repeat business because it just doesn’t lend itself to that. You buy a piece of equipment. It’s probably going to last 15 to 20 years. I have other clients that, you know, the product is only good for a year. So we want that engagement to be, you know, return. You need to define it, identify people that fit the ideal profile and then educate them as to what perfection could be for both of you.

Mark Hunter: You know, it’s interesting. Cause I had to ask you about creating the perfect customer. Or do you find that for the customer? And I love asking salespeople and sales managers that question a lot. So many times they say, well, we find them and, I’m glad you said that you don’t develop them.

If all you do is find them, all you’re doing is customer service. That’s all you’re doing. You know, sales is incremental. I want to have an ICP and other criteria of the persona of that perfect customer. And I’m going to start building that. The first piece I’m going to ask myself is can I deliver an outcome that they’re looking for? I get that by looking at my core customers. If they don’t line up to begin with, I don’t even want to go down that path. You know why? It’s too easy again for us, just because, you know, you will look like a perfect customer. It doesn’t mean you’re going to act like a perfect customer. It doesn’t mean your needs are going to be the same.

So you do have to be really tight. You know, I can pick up on your comment. It’s like when you’re dating, you know? Yeah. You could wind up with a real lousy guy.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Well, and, vice versa. I mean, I don’t think it is the client’s responsibility to know how to be perfect. I mean, let’s go back to, you know, dating or, or marriage, or just being in a relationship with anybody. I mean, you sort of have to learn how to adjust to be right for one and other. Well for customers, it’s not their responsibility to understand our products and services and how our products and services can benefit their lives.

For you, you may say that a customer is somebody I have a really strong relationship with. They have a number of our products or services. They always come to me first. To ask questions. They refer me business. Well, if you’re not developing and cultivating that in them, that’ll never happen no matter how shiny a suit they have when they show up at the door, because they don’t understand how to utilize you until you as a sales professional, help them, help them understand, understand how to do that. And that’s our job and the value we bring to the table.

Mark Hunter: Which brings up a good point because ideal customers are not ones that you’re lazy with. Ideal customers are not, well, they’re an ideal customer because they don’t require much work. Really got to stop and ask yourself, are they really an ideal customer?

Are you creating incremental opportunities with them? Are you finding ways to help them in ways that they didn’t realize? You know what I hear people say, they’ve got the perfect customers but they never ask anything. They just placed their orders. I go, “Hey, all you’ve got is an annuity. That’s going to eventually go away, so you better find a way to nurture it.”

So, you know, perfect customers are continually evolving and as well as the COVID environment. There’s changes you have to make to your criteria for an ideal customer profile. Yeah. I’m not all about changing everything, but, you have to be prepared to say that maybe there’s some criteria in your ICP that you had before COVID that maybe is not as important right now. 

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah. You know, one of the biggest things I think, especially is because so many sales professionals now we’re selling online. I know one of the biggest criteria we had for, for ideal was that we could reach them physically within our geographic region. That, that right there has, has, you know, changed so much. I mean, you have so much more opportunity to, you know, to engage with people, beyond the other, is that, the urgent needs of my ideal customers, my perfect customer before COVID and now, those are very, different because their needs have changed, change the products and services that I deliver, even if they haven’t exactly changed from a physical standpoint, they’ve changed in, in the value that they bring in how I position them in the marketplace. I think you make a really great point around that.

Mark Hunter: That whole talk about geography has come up in several conversations. I’ve been having with the companies because they say, okay, in this COVID world, there is no geographical boundaries because you know, like we can touch base with anybody and anywhere in the world. And then they sit there and say, yeah, COVID, it’s going to end eventually. And we will be back to our own ways. Yes, but don’t think for a moment that geographic boundaries are going to come back into play 100%, because they’re not. You better be prepared to ask yourself how you can continue to operate in this COVID world long-term.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah, I think the geographic boundaries are only going to come back if you want them to come back. I mean, I think that first of all, nobody has a flipping clue what’s going to happen after COVID and I think it’s 50/50. I think it’s all up in the air, but the truth is if I decided as a sales professional that I want to intimately get involved with my community, just like I was before COVID. and then I still want to sell quite a bit online and I want to sell around the world. I think if you make that decision, you’re in the driver’s seat, which is really everything that we’re talking about when it comes to creating the perfect client, right? If you, as the sales professional, flip the script and you decide, okay, I’m controlling this relationship in the sense that I’m going to help my customers really understand how they could become my perfect customer.

Not because I just want perfect customers, but by creating the perfect customer, it means I can do more to help them than I can any other customer. So creating perfect customers is, is, better for your customer as, as it is good for you. But can’t happen for your customer unless your doing it. So anything that returns or doesn’t return after COVID really up to us to decide, because if we want to continue to sell virtually people will certainly be open to it. I mean COVID changed that forever. At the same time, well, we want to see people physically, we want to connect in person. Absolutely. Those things will come back.

Mark Hunter: Again, you just triggered a thought in my mind that too many people view ICP and they say, Hey, is my ideal customer profile as if they’re just a rain barrel. They just capture the rain. And when we have to be, especially in this cold world, just be a rain maker. And you’re a rain maker not only with your ICP, but also with anybody else, because I have seen many, many companies and salespeople who take a customer, a prospect that lines a little bit, but you know, strategically where they’re going.

So, you know, strategically in six months are they’re going to be that ideal customer for you. So you know what you want to get them on board because you’re going to help lead them to where they become an ICP for you. Chances are, if they’re an ICP for you, they’re going to see you as incredibly important to them.

And I’ll argue this that I see in too many organizations when you go through and do a customer profit analysis, and this is boy, a deep process. But if you do a customer profit analysis, I see too many times where ICP’s are low margin because they’ve allowed them to get the upper hand with you the salesperson you, the sales company. And I want to make sure if I’m doing it right, if I’m really bringing you value and you’re a real ICP, then really you’re going to be a higher margin customer to me. And there’s going to be no problem because you’re getting more value from me and that’s fine. That’s fine.

Meridith Elliott Powell: You know, the, honestly, somebody shouldn’t be your perfect client, unless they’re a high margin customer. You can have all the other things that you love about them. They’re easy to work with. They love you. They buy their products, they buy your products. They always take your call. But if at the end of the day you’re doing that work for nothing, that’s not a perfect client.

Mark Hunter: But how many times do we see companies? I mean selling to customers where they’re making zero margin, you know, all are all, always knew that 20% of your customers are delivering 80% of your margin. And you can’t, you gotta make sure that that 20% that’s delivering 80%, they are in your ICP and the others are working to become part of your ICP. Otherwise you don’t want them around.

Hey yeah, we should probably move into the lightning round before you do that. Hey, big shout out to Vanilla Soft great sponsors. Thank you. Darryl pro sales enablement, really at the next level, because what it really allows you to do for all those of you salespeople out there who no longer have trade shows no longer have that. Boy, Vanilla Soft allows you to very systematically and very logically and more importantly opportunistically take advantage of your leads that you’re trying to turn into ideal customer profiles. So hey, reach out to vanilla soft, check it out. They have great solutions.

One final piece – we have a call. You got a question? Go out to saleslogicpodcast.com. We may grab it there or hit social media and just do #saleslogic.

But now right now we’ve got to jump into the lightning round. The lightning round today is all about how do you nurture my great customers? Go!

Meridith Elliott Powell: Okay. Ideas to, to nurture your great customers is number one, set yourself up on a schedule to check in with them regularly, at least four times a year. You should be doing a check in call with them. And one of those calls should be a deep dive just to make sure you’re one step ahead with the products or services that you sell.

Mark Hunter: Yeah. And that brought up a good point because you’re not just taking care of them, but you’re always trying to say, what else, what else is out there? I always say, Hey, what am I teaching them on a regular basis? What am I teaching them? I always want to be teaching my great customers go.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah. I think to nurture your, your best customers, you need to send a little business their way. It doesn’t, it shouldn’t always be about you getting business. You should be helping their business to grow.

Mark Hunter: I’m going to add that you need to create additional relationships in that customer. Don’t allow yourself to be held hostage by just one or two people. You may have a great relationship with them, but get to know others.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Yeah. That’s really good work to solve problems that they have that go beyond, your business position yourself as a resource for everything so that you are the first person they call, about anything, whether it’s related to your product or service or not.

Mark Hunter: Take a look at the customers that they sell to and be looking downstream, at least two steps. What can you learn? What can you learn about their customers or their customers’ customers to go all the way down stream. What can you learn? What about their supply chain? What’s the value? What’s the added insight information you can bring them totally uncalled for. You’re just bringing it to them. But it’s a way they become. I’m really impressed with what you delivered to me.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Okay. I think you should celebrate their anniversary, not the anniversary that they went into business, but the anniversary that they went into business with you. People have a basic need to be heard and remembered and acknowledged. When you celebrate the very first day that they ever did business with you and you let them know that you remember it, it is a really unique and innovative way to show that this relationship means a lot to you. And if it means a lot to you, it’ll mean a lot to them.

Mark Hunter: I’ll share with you one final one, send them some books sent in a book every now and then send them a book. That means a lot to you. Send it to them. Just unannounced. What you’re doing is  helping them learn. Meridith I think has a few good books. I’ve got a few good books, but hey, you know, we need to kind of start wrapping this up.

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 even 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: you turn uncertainty to your competitive advantage

Mark Hunter: and the sale becomes logical.

Meridith Elliott Powell: Thanks so much. Great show Mark!

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 Increase Your Motivation to Sell in a Pandemic

How do you increase your motivation to sell in 2020 in the midst of COVID-19? It’s a crazy time for all of us. This is not the year any of us expected. The big question is how do you improve and increase your motivation?

First of all, you have to realize that it’s your job to increase your motivation and nobody else’s. It all starts by watching these videos and reading these blogs from me. I put a new video out like this every week. Hit subscribe now and keep checking them out. No one else can motivate you, except yourself. Those around you can just create an environment to help you motivate yourself.

I am going to walk you through 10 things that you can do right now to help increase your level of motivation.

1. Get Focused!

Focus in. Get rid of all the other noise out there. You and I both know it’s noisy out there. It’s crazy! You can’t even begin to think straight with all of the background noise around you.

If you’re watching everything else going on around you, get focused in order to think long-term. There may be situations over the course of days, weeks, even months that just don’t look good. However, if that’s all you’re focused on, then that’s it. It will just bring you down.

2. Focus Long-Term

Where are you going to be in a couple of years? Where will you be in five years? In ten years? Highly motivated people focus on the long-term, so look ahead.

3. Forget the Past

Hey, everything that’s already happened, is done. You just have to forget it. I understand there has been some unbelievable, lousy stuff. Just let it go. Let it go, let it go!

Forget the past and focus on the future, because that’s the only area you are able to impact and/or change.

4. Peers

You may have some peers that you need to get rid of. Maybe you need to cut out some negative voices around you. I am not just referring to people, but also websites, news, radio shows, etc. There might be things you’re listening to or watching that are having a negative effect on you. Cut them out.

There may also be peers that are just plain negative. You can’t afford to spend time with those kinds of people. You want to make sure that you’re surrounding yourself with peers who lift you up, not tear you down. I have several people in my life, beyond my family, who absolutely lift me up. For that, I am grateful.

Your peers are absolutely essential, because we become who we associate with the most.

5. Stop Digging!

Did you know that the best way to get out of a hole is to stop digging a hole? A lot of people have allowed their motivation to drop so low and all they do is wallow in their own mud, add more water which just makes it turn into more dirt and eventually more mud. It’s a vicious, endless cycle.

Stop that habit right now. I sometimes find myself caught up and have to turn myself around in the right direction when I’m looking at so many news sites, etc. Some of it just has to stop. I have to tell myself, “no more, that’s it!” Stop!

6. Coach Someone

When you coach someone, it’s amazing how much it lifts you up. This is one reason why I enjoy doing these videos and writing these blogs. This is why I love getting to do a variety of things with so many different sales teams. As I coach others, my spirits are lifted for sure.

They always say one of the best ways to learn something is to train somebody else on how to do it.

I’m always amazed at what I learn when I coach someone. One of the coaching groups I’m involved in is called Piers, and it’s great. We support and help one another. We coach one another and help lift each other up. Find a coaching group to be a part of.

7. Value and Appreciate What You Have

I don’t care how much or how little you have. No matter what, it’s important to value and appreciate it. Personally, I’ve had several life situations where we’ve been right down on the end of things from a business standpoint, yet I still strive to value and appreciate what I have. Then, it’s amazing to see things turn around. When you begin to value and appreciate the big and little things, you realize that you have a lot more than you thought.

Another way to see that you have a lot more than you realize is to make a list. Jot down everything you have. If you’re struggling to motivate yourself, especially first thing in the morning, start your day off by writing down five things that you’re thankful for – just five. You can do this on an old-fashioned piece of paper, nothing fancy. List five things that you value and appreciate. When you begin doing that, you’ll be amazed at how quickly things turn around just by changing your attitude and perception to one of gratitude.

8. People Focused

Start making it your mission to life up others.

If you’ve been around me for any length of time, you know that my goal is to impact and influence others. That is what it means to be people focused. This is absolutely my focus every single day.

My objective is to influence and impact those around me whenever I run into them, regardless of where or in what context. Focus on people.

9. Set Yourself Goals

You may be missing your year big time. You actually may be missing something very significant. I don’t care what you do, but if that’s the case, you’re not going to make it. You’re just not.

You can sit there and mire in the mud, but that won’t get you anywhere. By setting yourself goals, it can be an easy goal. Complete the process, and then if you get that done, you can move onto the next goal – a bigger one. That will help you be successful.

10. You!

At the very beginning, I said that nobody else can motivate you but yourself. Yes, this is correct. It’s up to you. It really is you motivating you; therefore, you must take ownership. No blame game, no passing the buck. Be responsible for yourself and your actions. It is your job and your duty. Take ownership. When you do, you’ll be blown away by how much you begin to turn yourself around.

Don’t forget to pick up my latest book, A Mind for Sales, where I talk about a lot of different strategies to help motivate and lift you up.

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.

 

What’s Happening in the World?

Welcome to another Mornings with Mark! I want you to ask yourself, do you really know what’s going on with the people around you? It’s easy for us to get caught up in our world. It’s easy to get caught up in the news of the day, what’s happening on the political scene, the economic scene, or COVID scene.  It’s easy to find yourself wrapped up in all of these things and how it’s personally affecting you.

Then, we also get caught up in the big things. A lot of thoughts struck me yesterday as one of my grandsons started Kindergarten. To him, he could care less about the economy and what’s going on. He doesn’t know and he doesn’t care. He could care less about what’s happening in our world politically. Frankly, he could even care less about COVID. He doesn’t understand it. And hey, it’s just a mask that he has to wear. He’s in his own world.

I also can’t help but think about my in-laws. They are in their mid-80s and we’re highly considering moving them closer to family in the near future. Right now, they far away from family because they are in a retirement community in Phoenix, Arizona. Sadly, there’s no family there from anywhere. You know what’s interesting? That is where their concern lies, because that is their world.

Do you really know the world that your people live in? Do you know what truly matters to them or are you so fixated on your world? Are you too caught up in yourself? Today, I want you to take the time to listen, to care, to ask questions to those around you. I challenge myself to do this with my customers, employees, and various other people like you.

Do you really understand them personally? Do you care about them? Do they know that I care? Now, this may seem creepy to some, but I think it’s a huge advantage, especially right now because, more than ever people need relationships. They are craving them. People need that sense that people care about them.

Ask yourself, what’s really going on in the lives of those you come in contact with? What is truly going on in their life? There are probably people around you with kids going back to school. Have you asked them how it’s going, their stresses, how other family members are doing? When you do this, though, you have to be willing to share a little bit about yourself like I just did with you. I shared with you about my grandson and my in-laws.

When we take the time to share, it’s amazing how people will care. The same thing happens with us and with the people we talk to. Who will you reach out to today? Who will you take the time to listen to?

I’m Mark Hunter on another Mornings with Mark. Thanks for joining me. Take care.

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.