Mark Hunter's Blog, page 43

Is Your Behavior Creating Integrity or Destroying Your Reputation?

It’s painful to write this post, because I’m calling out a major issue that I see in the sales community but really in society, in general. If you’ve been in sales for any length of time, you’ve had to put up with your share of people saying how they can’t trust salespeople. You probably hear things like, “they’re always trying to sell you something you don’t want,” and many variations of that line.

Sales is Not a Job, Sales Is a Lifestyle:

 

 

You can’t control what anyone else does. You can only control what you do, so you want to ensure everything you do is a positive reflection of the sales community; therefore, helping your reputation. Recently on LinkedIn, there have been discussions about how cursing can help you better connect with a customer. Excuse me, did I hear that right? Cursing helps you connect better with a customer? The argument is if everyone swears and if the customer swears, then it’s perfectly ok for you to swear. NO! That’s not right! And I don’t care what a prospect says, I’m not going to mimic them. If it’s your job to imitate a prospect, does that mean that if they jump off a bridge you’re supposed to follow them off the bridge?

Integrity matters, and it’s our duty to always take the higher road. Jumping in the pig slop of society is not going to help your integrity or do anything to elevate the sales profession. Regardless of what a customer does or does not do, you cannot allow yourself to do anything that lowers your integrity.

Now you’re probably asking where authenticity comes into play. If you normally swear, then by swearing on a sales call, you’re being authentic. The words you speak are a reflection of how you think, and how you think is a reflection of your heart. Swearing is an outward indication of what’s going on on the inside. Think about that the next time you’re sitting down to have conversation with a CEO ready to close the biggest deal of your life. Think about it the next time you’re sitting down with your 5-year old teaching them not to beat up their younger sibling. Think about it the next time you’re on the phone with an airline desperately trying to find a new connection after bad weather cancels your flight.

Integrity matters! Integrity and respect open more doors and create more opportunities than you realize.This means you need to take the high road not just some of the time but all the time.

So, I can’t control what you do. I can only control what I do. My constant objective is to take the high road, and I want to ask for your support. If you ever see me not seeking the high road, please call me out immediately. All of us are part of the sales community. It’s our mission to elevate sales as a noble profession, and it starts with you and me. The sales community is comprised of millions of salespeople, each with a different reputation. Will you join me striving to rise up in our respective reputations?

I’m pleased to announce my next book, A Mind For Sales releases on March 31. It’s full of ideas about what you can do to become a sales leader and on fire for helping others. In the coming weeks, I’ll share more about the book. Pre-order now and get Amazon’s low-price guarantee.

Cop yright 2020, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog.  Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Result

How Often Can I Contact a Prospect?

You can contact a prospect as often as you’re able to deliver new insights that they find interesting. Contacting a prospect is never about sending a stupid note that says “did you see my last email?” or worse yet, “I’m just checking in to see if you’re ready to talk.” Excuse me, but “checking in” is what you do at a hotel, not what you do with a prospect!

What you can afford to do when prospecting is to fall into the trap of believing that if you try to contact them more than a couple times, you’re bugging them or since they haven’t yet responded, they must not be interested. You can’t allow yourself to accept either one of these beliefs. The only belief you can have is that you have the ability to help them see and achieve what they didn’t think was possible; therefore, it is your responsibility to reach out to them. If you fail to reach out to them, you are doing them a disservice because you’ll never be able to help them. If you want to be successful in prospecting, you must always carry that belief with you.

 

 

The number of times and the methods you use to contact a prospect will vary based on what you sell, who you sell to and the frequency with which they buy. What you cannot allow yourself to believe is that the way you like to communicate to is the same way your prospects do. You may love social media, but that does not mean your prospect does. You might detest email or the phone, but those might be the two best tools that your prospect uses. The key is to use multiple tools at multiple times of the day and multiple days of the week.

One of the biggest traps salespeople fall into is over relying on social media. LinkedIn is a prime example of a tool that salespeople love to use for prospecting. Let me be blunt- the people who are active on LinkedIn are either salespeople, HR, recruiters, unemployed or soon to be unemployed people. Most other people don’t have time to be on social media. Why? Because they’re busy working! Unless you sell to one of these groups of people, don’t kid yourself into thinking that that’s where your prospects are. Trust me, I work with a variety of business leads, key decision makers, etc. and the last place they choose to invest their time is on social media.

Below is a sample cadence of what I use to start out my work with clients and salespeople. Often, I start with this framework and then tighten it up, adjust it, etc. as we begin to define who our prospect is and our specific messaging. Here it is:

Sales Cadence- 18 touches over a period of 75 calendar days:

18 touches are broken down into 10 Phone Calls, 6 Emails, and 2 Text Messages.

A Sample Cadence- 18 Touches / 75 calendar days (only 45 of which are working days):

18 touches are broken down into the following or similar:

1. Day 1: Email

2. Day 3: Phone

3. Day 4: Phone

4. Day 5: Email

5. Day 10: Phone

6. Day 12: Email

7. Day 15: Phone

8. Day 18: Phone

9. Day 21: Email

10. Day 23: Phone

11. Day 25: Text

12. Day 28: Phone

13. Day 32: Email

14. Day 35: Phone

15. Day 38: Text

16. Day 41: Phone

17. Day 44: Email

18. Day 45: Phone

The specific number of leads a salesperson can manage is determined by the amount of time they have to prospect each day. The key is don’t start what you can’t finish! Another words, if you can’t work a lead all the way through to the final step, then don’t reach out to them in the first place. A salesperson who does nothing but prospect is capable of 100 – 175 contacts per day, depending on the technology tools they’re using. This means that by using this 18-step cadence, a full-time prospecting person has the ability to add 10 – 20 new prospects to their pipeline each day.

If you’re only prospecting 3 hours per day, no more than 5 new leads can drop into your cadence. Regardless of the amount of time you spend prospecting, the key is to know how much time it will take to keep all of the prospects in your pipeline. Do not over stuff your pipeline to start! This is one of the biggest mistakes people make and then they wonder why they’re not getting results. It simple: they can’t stick with their plan! Remember that the majority of your conversations with a prospect will not happen until you get past 10 touches. If you think your prospect will respond to your first email or happen to be sitting by the phone ready to take your first call, you should start investing in lottery tickets- HA! It’s not going to happen!

As your leads move through the process, some will fall out and others you’ll engage. Here are the rules as you proceed beyond the 18 touches with your leads:

· If a lead doesn’t respond at all, put them aside for 90-120 days, and then start the process over again.

· If the lead has no potential, meaning the prospect has clearly stated he/she is not interested, move the lead to your email list to receive your marketing emails. This is a good way to keep your distance but not let them fall off the radar completely. Do not look to put them back into the cadence until there is a good reason / something has changed.

· If the lead is in the “working stage” showing potential, work them as long as necessary.

· If the lead becomes a client, great!

The key is to keep each of your messages different. In my next blog, I will break down what makes a great email, text, voicemail, etc.

If you have not read High-Profit Prospecting I suggest you do so. Click here to get it now! And stay tuned for my newest book titled, A Mind for Sales, coming March 2020. Pre-order on Amazon today!

If you want personal coaching or your sales team needs more direction and training, call or email me right away so we can talk. Don’t wait until late in the year to realize that you have a problem. Jump start and get the solution now, so you and your team can have the year you need.

Cop yright 2020, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog.  Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Result

Monday Motivation Video: Sell the Customer Trust Before you Sell What You Sell

Trust is currency! Why would a customer want to do business with you if they first didn’t trust you? Unless you’re the only solution to their problem or your price is so cheap, there’s little chance they will buy from you.

Trust is the foundation you build sales on:

In sales, no matter how much the customer wants to know your price, you can’t give it to them until there’s a level of trust between both parties. When you give a price to someone before trust is established, most likely, they will use your price as leverage to secure a lower price from whoever they want to buy from – not you. This is a key reason why you can’t just give a customer who calls you up a quick price quote simply because they want one. The only way you would ever want to give the customer a quick price is if they are already your customer, which means there is already a level of trust built between you.

Typically, when trust is established between two parties, truth is spoken. Salespeople are quick to fall into the trap of making assumptions based off of inaccurate information. This is what happens when you take a conversation between two parties that don’t trust each other and try to race to the close.

Trust is created by being genuine in your interest in helping the customer achieve the outcome they’re looking for. Trust is not created when you’re more focused on your own sale. Trust is the foundation from which all profitable sales occur. Notice I use the word “profitable.” I use it for a reason, profit cuts both ways, it’s the revenue you receive over and above your cost but it’s also the value your customer receives. If there’s no trust the customer may wind up with a product or service that does not suit their needs meaning they don’t get the profit they’re looking for. If this is the case there is little chance of you being able to turn that sale into another sale which means your profit potential is gone.

Our goal each day must be to create trust with those we meet and deepen our level of trust with those we already know. Trust is the foundation sales and for that matter business is built on. The bigger our foundation of trust the bigger our sales potential. I have yet to see a large building built without a foundation, you can’t do it. Show me a big building and beneath it you will see a big foundation. The level of trust you create in others will be a direct reflection of the level of sales you are able to achieve.

The salesperson who is known for their trust is the salesperson who garners the repeat sales, the referrals and the stream of new customers all wanting to do business with them. Yes, trust is the currency on which sales is measured.

A Mind For Sales is my newest book and I’m both excited and proud to release it because it is a roadmap you can use for creating trust with customers and many other things that will help you drive your sales to the next level. Look for the book later this year in your favorite bookstore or on-line.

How Many Goals Should I Set?

What’s your answer to the question, “how many goals should I set?” If you ask 10 people, you’ll probably get 10 different answers. My response is give me one goal I can blow out of the water, rather than 5 goals that I’ll struggle to accomplish and not do well.

The number of goals you set is meaningless. What you accomplish is what matters. More importantly, it’s what you accomplish that makes an impact on others that really matters. Look at your goals and ask yourself this: what impact will I have on others when I accomplish them? Bigger yet, ask yourself: will the goals I set now have an impact on me as a person in 3 – 5 years from now?

Today’s society is all about doing more. Everywhere we turn, the pressure is on to go, go, go and do, do, do. I’ll scream loud that it’s time we stop the madness and get focused! We’ll accomplish far more and achieve much better results when we focus on fewer things. Get real with yourself – the 14 goals you want to accomplish by the end of the year, how many of them actually matter long-term?

We’re all guilty of setting measurable goals that make us feel good; however, setting those types of goals are merely accomplishments. In the end, they will have little impact. This is my challenge for you: this year, narrow your focus and go for fewer goals but larger in terms of their impact. A few months back, I did a quick video on the importance of doing one thing 10x better rather than a bunch of things. It’s worth a watch…

What is the one item you could do 10x better than anyone else:

 

Take the time now at the beginning of the year to assess the number of goals you have. Don’t hesitate to trim your list down! As you do this, look for the one goal you will focus on at a higher level than every other one of your goals. This is your major impact goal. I’m referring to this one goal accomplishing a massive impact not just this year but for years to come.

Success is not found in accomplishing a bunch of meaningless goals. Success is about making an impact on others and that means being willing to push yourself to a level that others won’t. This is how you 2x, 5x, and even 10x your impact. Average is about other people. You’re not average and believe me, you don’t want to play that game. You won’t play the average game when you 2x, 5x, 10x your goal.

Go for it! There’s nothing stopping you but you. Your drive does not come from others. Your drive comes from your commitment to make things happen. When it comes to goals, don’t settle for average! Instead, concentrate on one goal and drive it all the way. That is how you’ll make an impact.

Cop yright 2020, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog.  Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Result

How to Fill an Empty Sales Pipeline in 30 Days

I’ve had three people reach out to me this past week with this question: “I don’t have anything in my pipeline, what can I do quickly to fill it?” It doesn’t need to be complicated. Best of all, you can do it in less than 30 days. Below is my 10-step process to fill your sales pipeline.

Watch my video where I walk through each of these in more detail: 

By looking at your current customers, identify specifically who your target customer is. Don’t focus on who they are are but on the outcome you give them by working with you. You must stay 100% focused on your target prospect, because you don’t have time get distracted by fake prospects that don’t fit your profile.
Know exactly how you help your customers. It doesn’t have to do with what you sell but how you meet the needs of your customer. Be sure to get this message tight as it will become your front door to invite prospects in.
Review all of your old customer records to identify both old customers and those who never moved forward to became a customer. Your review isn’t designed to create a massive list but a manageable list of contacts who you feel fit or come very close to your perfect customer profile.
As you review this list, ask yourself if you made it as easy as possible for customers to do business with you. Too often, sales are lost because the process is over complicated. Use your experience to date to simplify things. Your goal is to make it easy for a prospect to become a customer. With an empty pipeline and a hungry belly to feed, now is not the time to sell complicated solutions to elephants and whales. You want focus on prospects who you can close quickly. Once your pipeline is full, you can start looking at bigger, more complicated opportunities. I’ve watched too many salespeople starve to death chasing the big game that takes too long to close.
Review all of your existing customers and based on your knowledge of them, identify other prospects. Use the internet to find similar contacts that have the potential to become a perfect prospect. One specific tool I strongly recommend you use is the “Intel Search Engine.” To gain access to it, (and much more!), join my High-Profit Sales Coaching program here.
Blow up your calendar to carve a lot more available time than you thought you had. Be brutal on yourself. Trust me, customers do not fall into your lap – you have to go get them! The only way to go get them is by dedicating solid, quality time. Do not allow yourself to make excuses about needing other things. Your pipeline is empty, so your mission is to fill it and fill it fast! No prospecting excuses!
Prepare your mind to make it happen! The reason people don’t prospect is because their mind is not in the right place. This comes down to two things: first, if you believe 100% that you can help others, it’s all about how you help others see and achieve what they didn’t think was possible – that’s what drives you. If you have the ability to help someone, it’s your responsibility to do so. Second, you owe it to yourself; when you fail to prospect, the biggest person you’re letting down is yourself.
Build your prospecting cadence. This should consist of a minimum of 10 contacts, but don’t be alarmed if it goes to 20. Whatever number you think is enough reach-outs to someone, you have to be willing to double or triple that number! Email and phone will be your two primary mode of communication, but don’t forget about text, social media, snail mail, etc. The mix you create must be built around not what’s easy for you but rather but what works. Many salespeople discount the value of the telephone out of fear. Trust me, it works! I always advocate making the telephone your primary tool and adding other communication methods around it.
Start! Now! Once you have a plan, start making the calls. Don’t allow yourself to make excuses. You have remain disciplined not just on the first call but the 3rd, 5th, 10th, call. Don’t back off and never allow a negative perception of your list to hinder you from persistency. There’s a reason why you went through the earlier steps – to create great contacts you believe you can turn into customers.
As you work through your prospecting cadence, try to get have each message contain a compelling call to action. You may want to focus on the sale but the prospect doesn’t know you well enough yet. The goal of your initial call to action is to set up a meeting that is filled with a solid conversation to allow the prospect to gain confidence in you.

I’m here to help you! Reach out, download any of the ebooks on my website, watch my videos on YouTube, and subscribe to “The Sales Hunter” YouTube channel. Buy my book “High-Profit Prospecting”. If you’re really serious about making a difference and ramping up your sales and prospecting, you need to join the High-Profit Sales Coaching program. For those who join now, I’ll give you an extra one-on-one coaching session. Just click here!

Last but not least, if you’re a sales manager, we must talk! A key part of my business is helping people like you make your sales kick-off meeting extra special. Call me and let’s talk now! You can’t wait and neither will my calendar.

Cop yright 2020, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog.  Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Result

Monday Motivation Video: Working More Hours is Not the Only Way to Achieve Your Goals!

 

How are you doing with your 2020 goals? If you’re like the majority, setting goals includes a plan to work more hours. Achieving your goals doesn’t have to include more work. It’s simply about working more efficiently within the hours you have. Take a look at your day, and see if there are 20 minutes wasted on any number of things. It might look like browsing websites, reading emails that don’t pertain to you or discussing lunch plans with people. You get the idea – there are a variety of things you could easily cut out and free up some time. If you cut out 20 minutes of “stupid stuff” each day, you would gain 100 minutes per week. Multiply that over a year, and you’ll get two extra weeks. Think about all of the objectives you haven’t been able to reach because you didn’t have enough time. Think about what you could get done with a whole two extra weeks in the year. The opportunities are endless! It all comes down to one thing: using your time more effectively.

So, how will you use your extra 20 minutes each day? If you spent the 20 minutes prospecting or talking with high opportunity customers, imagine the additional sales you could close. When salespeople tell me they don’t have enough time to prospect or give some other lame excuse about why they didn’t make their number, I can’t help but question how they’re using their time. Most likely, time is being wasted. Yes, there are a lot of things you can’t control. However, one thing you can control is your time. And sure, there are plenty of things you have to do, but don’t think all of those things occupy 100% of your day. Just 20 minutes a day IS your secret sauce to giving you more time to sell.

Cop yright 2020, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog.  Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Result

Prospecting in 2020 – What Do I Need to Do Differently?

It’s the start of the new year! The number one question I get hit with this time of year is: what do I need to do differently related to prospecting?

Watch this video I made a couple months back about why most prospecting efforts fail:

 

 

The vast majority of prospecting efforts fail due to a lack of consistency in communicating a beneficial message to targeted prospects. There you go- that’s it! Go ahead and nail what I just said, and all of your prospecting problems will go away. Ok, I wish it were that easy. Ha! If it were, I would be out of a job. The trick is not in knowing what to do but in actually doing it and doing it right.

I want you to get very specific in 2020 with the three things I described above. Here are my thoughts:

1. When it comes to prospecting, be brutal with your time and your follow-up process.

2. Know exactly who your perfect prospect is and where you can find them.

3. Know exactly what’s most important to say to your perfect prospect in order for them to understand why they need to buy from you.

In the coming weeks, I’ll break these down and share specific insights that you can use to make 2020 all it can be. Last year has passed and all of its results, whether good or bad, are now historical numbers. You can’t live on them nor can you trade them in for cash. They’re history. Now it’s just about what you will do this year.

I want to invite you to do one of two things, depending on your role. If you’re a solo-salesperson, check out my coaching program. If you’re a sales leader, give me a call now so I can make arrangements to be at your next sales meeting. The main reason why I do a lot of sales kick-off meetings every year is because I consistently deliver results.

Call me at 402-445-2110. Let’s talk, and get things set up ASAP. You cannot afford to lose out on having your best sales kickoff meeting. Missing your annual number is not an option!

Cop yright 2019, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog.  Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Result

2020 Sales Goals, 10 Things You Need to Look At

What are your goals for next year? Here’s a list of 10 questions you and every salesperson needs to answer if you want to make 2020 the best year it can be. First, watch my video with all the details.

 

1. How can you add more time to each day without taking more time out of it? Your goal is to determine activities you’re engaged in that are not highly productive. It might be the 20 minutes you spend checking your social media account or the 15 minutes you spend talking sports. Let’s get serious here- there are things you do everyday that you don’t have to do. If you made just 20 minutes each day more productive, that would equate to 80 hours in a whole year. Think about the possibilities if you had an extra two whole weeks!

2. Which 5 customers have you not fully maximized your help towards? Take a moment and dig into your customer list to identify the 5 customers you’re already working with that could easily double or triple the business they’re doing with you now. If these 5 customers currently represent just 10% of your total business, your ability to grow them by 2 or 3x means a 20 to 30% increase for you!

3. What one product or service do you sell that you don’t understand as well as you maybe should? Yes, your lack of knowledge might actually be hurting you. Why? Because if you don’t know, your customers don’t know. If this one product represented 5% of your total sales, you could increase your sales by another 5% by just doubling your sales.

4. Which 5 customers do you need to spend less time with? I’m sure you have them. Yes, you have those customers who, for one reason or another, take up your time – intentionally or unintentionally. The time you spend with them each week is time that’s keeping you away from prospecting and other activities that will generate more revenue. My guess is that you can cut the amount of time you spend with them but still do the same volume. If you free up just one hour per week, in less than a year you will add an extra 40-hour week to your year.

5. What do you need to do to up-sell more on every order? Don’t think for a moment that you’re maximizing every order. Your ability to up-sell comes down to your ability to listen better. The better you listen, the more needs you are able to fill. If you could increase your average sale by 5%, you’ll sell 5% more in the same amount of time.

6. Who are the subject matter experts you need to learn from? The fastest way to learn is by teaming up with those who know more. Take a look at who you’re spending time and recalibrate. There are those people you need to dial down to allow you to dial up and more deeply connect with others. Learning doesn’t have to be difficult. It’s easy to learn when you surround yourself with smart people.

7. How frequently are you assessing the job you’re doing? Don’t wait until the end of the quarter to determine how your quarter went. Set aside 20 minutes each week to assess your performance and don’t hold back on your personal critique. Settling for average will never get you in the President’s Club or on the trip to Hawaii. It’s a lazy way to think that it’s other people’s job to evaluate your performance. Take control of yourself! That’s how you get to Hawaii!

8. Bring your boss to work with you. Yes, you read that right – bring your boss to work with you. This means having them participate in your sales calls. Your boss will hear things you don’t as well as ask questions that you haven’t thought of. Most of all, by getting your boss on your personal sales team, you’ll have another set of arms and legs to help you not just make your number, but blow past your number.

9. Build your sales plan to make it possible to go past your number by at least 20%, and do that in 11 months. If you build your plan to just make your number, you will fall short because something unexpected will happen. This shouldn’t be a shock to you, since you’re dealing with customers. People always do things differently than you expect. Notice that you should also build your plan based off an 11-month calendar – that gives you another cushion. We all know that strange things – both good and bad – can happen at the end of the year. It’s unpredictable; that’s why we can’t count on it.

10. Build your “moon shot” goal and plan. What’s a “moon shot” goal? It’s simply something outlandish and crazy, just like thinking you’re going to the moon, and that’s the point! You want it to be crazy and big, because pushing for something massive will still pay out even if you fall short. Your “moon shot” is the goal that will drive you to do things you never thought possible and along the way, you’ll see a wide number of other opportunities. If you want to win big, you have to start thinking and acting big.

There you go! Those are the 10 questions to ask yourself this New Year. 2020 is your year to achieve greatness! What are you waiting for? Let’s do this together! I’m taking the time to dig into all 10 of these, and now it’s your turn.

Oh, and by the way, are you having a sales kickoff meeting? If so, we need to talk. I still have some open days in my calendar, and I would love to work with you. Call me at 402-445-2110, and let’s ensure 2020 is the best year yet. Let’s make it happen!

Cop yright 2019, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog.  Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Result

Monday Motivation Video: How Many Goals are Too Many? Should I Set Just One Goal?

At the start of every year, it seems like we all sit down and create a list of goals that we’re determined to accomplish. Hmmm… so, how did you do with last year’s list?

 

 

Every year, I bet you say how the next year will be different and how you’re not going to repeat last year’s mistakes. However, how many times have you said that only to repeat it to yourself again the following year?

Goals are worthless. Yes, you read that correct – goals are worthless, unless you have a plan behind them. Not only do you need a plan but you need a plan that you can execute. The number of people who say they’re going to into shape by going to the gym every day this year is scary. Have you noticed how busy your gym is in January and how quiet it is come April? Oh, you probably can’t answer that question, because you’re one of those people who never made it back to the gym come second quarter.

Maybe the best goal you can make for yourself this year is to not make a massive list of goals but rather set one goal that you can build a plan around and truly accomplish. When I say truly accomplish, because again so many of us, myself included, often make goals and a year later claim to achieve them because we dumbed them down. A lot of time is wasted building lists and pseudo plans that end up being an exercise in futility, only to be repeated again next year.

Success is not a result of everything you accomplish, success is a result of the things you accomplish that actually make a difference. Make 2020 year that you stop focusing on the lengthy list but rather on the singular activity that will truly make a difference.

One year from now, I want you to be able to say that this was the year you made a difference – that should be your goal. To accomplish this, you might need to forgo activities that you thought were necessary; success doesn’t come easy. Success and focus are two words that support each other.

Your greatest thrill will not come from seeing long lists of goals accomplished. Instead, the thrill will come when you accomplish the one significant goal that you set for yourself.

Cop yright 2019, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog.  Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Result

A Christmas Message

Can you breathe? Can you stop long enough to appreciate the meaning of Christmas? I don’t know about you, but every year around this time I tell myself that next year I’ll be more prepared, more organized, and physically have more time and energy to enjoy the Christmas season. Unfortunately, each year only seems to get more hectic. It’s sad but true and probably isn’t just me. I suspect I am not the only one who feels this way.

You would think that overnight shipping would solve all of our problems related to Christmas shopping, wrapping and all of that. However, it’s just caused more problems. All it has done is allowed you (and me) to pack even more into less time. I believe that Christmas is much more than gifts, twinkling lights, endless cookie trays and connecting with distant relatives. Christmas is all about a message that our world has allowed to be crowded out by chaotic living. Christmas is about the birth of Jesus and the message of hope that He brings. This message is as relevant today as it was that first Christmas in Bethlehem thousands of years ago.

My wish for all of us this Christmas season is to force ourselves to slow down enough and realize the true meaning of Christmas. Let’s not allow it to be just one day of the year but rather a day that never ends.  Like me, many of you realize the true meaning of Christmas and seek to make each day like Christmas for each person you meet – the barista who serves your coffee, the clerk at the grocery store, and yes, even the TSA agent at the airport are part of our world. May we all strive to treat those around us with a Christmas-like spirit of love, kindness, and gratitude.

Luke 2:10 says, “But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.'”

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

Mark Hunter

I am excited to share that this year Ann Marie and I get to spend Christmas with the entire family. This is a special gift, and always will be despite the hundreds of miles between us. Thankful we can still find a way to gather for the important occasion.