Mark Hunter's Blog, page 48

How Do I Build a Prospecting Plan That Will Work?

Whether you’re building a prospecting plan from scratch or reviewing your existing plan, ask yourself these 8 questions. I have said this before, but I will say it again- the biggest improvements you can make to your prospecting are to the little things. That will make the biggest difference. Too many people think the solution to their prospecting problems lies in having some massive new tool or a radical overhaul in what they do. Before you start entertaining either of these things, take some time to answer and work through these 8 questions. (If you need some help or want assistance, give me a call. Let’s talk!)

 

 

1. What about my prospecting process is compelling to the customer? This is not a trick question! If your prospecting communication is not compelling, why should the prospect engage with you? You have to ask questions that are important to your customer. Don’t ask how their day is going or if they saw your last email. You must use every communication opportunity to give a new piece of information that is important to your customer/prospect.

2. Does my prospecting process result in the customer having false expectations about what I sell, and thus force me to spend time later in the selling process reshaping them? This is a bigger issue and it shows in two ways. The first way is in lack of referrals and repeat business. If the customer feels they will get “x” because of what they’ve been told, and they only get “y,” you have an issue. There’s no way the customer will want to refer you or even buy more from you. The second problem is that you and your company will wind up having to do a lot of additional work for the customer to help overcome their sense of not getting what they wanted or expected. This results in you and your company spending a lot of money and time correcting mistakes made during the selling process.

This is why you have to know who your ideal customer is and only spend your time prospecting those who fit that profile. When you venture outside that profile, you will find yourself making false statements. You may make a sale, but it won’t last. Know your ideal customer and focus 100% of your efforts on that person.

3. Is my prospecting process focused on sharing with the customer what I have to offer, or is it more about uncovering information about the customer? The easiest way to answer this question is to ask yourself after each call what you learned from the customer. If you’re not learning insightful information, you’re not asking enough questions. If a prospect wants to learn about you, they will search the Internet. Don’t waste your time providing them info that they can get elsewhere.

4. Is my prospecting process segmented enough to allow me to uncover customer needs of difference types of prospects faster than if I used the same process for everyone? Earlier, I mentioned that you should know who your ideal customer is. Understand that you will most likely have 3 to 4 different “ideal customer profiles,” and that’s fine. You may sell to different industries and you may have customers that use your product/service in different ways. The more you can break your ideal customers into different segments, the more you can tailor how you prospect them. Modify your approach to the questions you ask and the cadence you use based on the segment you’re targeting.

5. How does the customer see me, and how I can help them? What do your customers say about you? More importantly, what do they know about you before your first meeting? I always say that your reputation arrives before you do; this is especially true in prospecting. It’s not all about social media; however, you certainly want to agree and be satisfied with what Google says about you. Also, it’s important to understand what your existing customers think about you. If you’re not getting referrals, you may need to do some soul-searching.

6. How long does it take for a lead or prospect to have confidence in me? The answer to this question is directly correlated to  how long it takes you to take a lead and convert them into a customer. The sooner the prospect has confidence in you, the faster you can get them into the selling process and turn them into a customer.

You create confidence by showing the customer that you place their interests above yours. What questions are you asking, and are you asking tough questions to engage the prospect and share important information with you? When the prospect shares information with you that is unknown to the public, this is a good sign. A prospect would not share confidential information about their company or themselves unless they had confidence and trusted in you.

7. Is my prospecting process effective enough to help reduce the amount of time I spend negotiating with customers? If you have to negotiate a better deal with every customer to close them, look at your prospecting process. You’re either prospecting people who don’t fit your ideal customer profile or you’re spending too much time allowing the prospect to have confidence in you. Either way, it comes down to sloppy prospecting. First, stay in your lane and only prospect perfect prospects. Second, make it a priority to create confidence. You will never close well until you do both.

8. Is it taking me less time to convert a lead into a customer this year than last year? You have to continually work at shortening your prospecting cadence. Always learn more about your ideal customer and what questions engage them.

There you have it! The 8 questions you need to answer to build a prospecting plan that will work. Keep in mind that your answers will not come fast. They may take you a few hours or maybe even a few days, but you owe it to yourself to answer all of them. If this is a challenge, let me know. I spend a great deal of my time helping companies work through challenges like these. Another suggestion is to check out my online coaching program- click here!

Copyright 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: The Power of Passion in Sales

Who are you going to show passion and focus towards today? Be passionate about helping somebody today. Help someone achieve success and you’ll achieve success. If you take your focus off yourself and focus on someone else’s needs, you’ll change your week for the better. Take off your coat, roll up your sleeves, and get after it!

Copyright 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

Should I Have a Presentation to Share When I Am Prospecting?

The answer to this question is a resounding, no! A few weeks ago, I received a prospecting email that contained over 15 different links. Rather than an email, it was a syllabus for a graduate course. I was floored at the email. I’ll admit that it captured my attention simply because of its stupidity.

Your focus while prospecting is on uncovering a need and creating confidence. It’s not the time to deliver a presentation. Not only am I anti-presentation in the prospecting phase, but I have a strong distaste for formal sales presentations at any time during the selling phase.

Watch this video on the best sales presentations:

 

 

Sure, there are a few exceptions when a presentation makes sense; however, they’re far fewer than we think. The presentation is to benefit the customer not to feed your ego. Still, this only applies to a long way down in the sales process. There is ZERO reason to do a presentation in the prospecting phase.

Sales managers and marketing fuel this obsession of presentations, because they feel it’s the only way they can bring value to the process. It should never be about bringing value to the process but all about bringing value to the prospect. All presentations delivered during the prospecting phase only create more open time on the salesperson’s calendar.

Prospecting is about creating an engaging conversation with the prospect. When you create conversation early, you set the ground rules for more discussion. The discussion becomes the central part of the process. Your goal is to be so comfortable that you never need a presentation to prospect or to sell. For managers and marketing personnel, you need to change your role from creating content to creating questions and coaching the conversation. You are doing the salesperson a disservice if you coach them on a presentation; this will only give them a crutch.

Skip the presentation! Create a conversation by asking questions to engage the prospect.

Copyright 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

What Is A Perfect Voicemail for Prospecting?

First off, don’t over complicate it. Your objective is first to generate interest and then get them to return your call. That’s it! Don’t think that your goal is to answer every objective or to even motivate them to immediately buy. You’re not going to do that by leaving one voicemail. That kind of thinking will only suck the life out of you when you don’t see it happening.

Watch the video to learn more insights:

 

 

Set your expectations on not using voicemail to close the sale, but rather, using voicemail to propel the process forward. Second, understand that the voicemail, by itself, that you’re leaving will have little impact; however, when used in conjunction with other messages, it will have a big impact.

The perfect voicemail builds the person’s confidence in you. Why? Because of these 3 things: the message is short, of interest to the person listening and spoken with confidence.

Your voicemail is broken into 3 parts:

-Greeting

-Message

-Call to action

Surprisingly enough, you can do all 3 of these things and still keep the message under 20 seconds. In my book, High-Profit Prospecting, I share voicemail samples and in this blog’s video, I break this process down even further. Here is a summary of the process and what it looks like:

The greeting is a very simple statement of you stating the person’s name, your name and your company. No need to bore them with your title or anything else. The key is to save as much time for the message part as possible.

Next, the message is the meat and consists of one sentence, most likely. In this part, you tell them that you have the information or insights to help them with whatever issue they’re dealing with. Or, ask them a question about a key item on their list. For example you may say, “Susan, I have new information regarding changes in the regulations set to take place next month, and I would be happy to share them with you.”

Finally, the call to action should be viewed as the bridge between your message and what you want them to do. Commonly, this part includes asking them to contact you. For instance, “Susan, call me at 555-555-5555 and I’ll share the information with you. Thank you again, this is Mark Hunter, with The Sales Hunter at 555-555-5555.”

Now, here is an example of a full length voicemail message with all 3 parts:

“Susan, I’m Mark Hunter, The Sales Hunter. I have new information regarding changes in the regulations set to take effect next month, and I would be happy to share them with you. Call me at 555-555-5555 and I’ll share the information with you. Thank you Susan, again, this is Mark Hunter, The Sales Hunter at 555-555-5555.”

Read the example and you’ll see that it can done in less than 20 seconds. It delivers on each part of a good voicemail including the greeting, the message and the call to action. It’s not complicated. All it takes is for you to be organized in your delivery.

The more voicemails you leave following this process, the more confident you will become in leaving them. You’ll also see how confident you sound and your prospect will pick up on it as well. With practice, you will start to see voicemail as a key part of your prospecting toolbox.

Be sure to grab my ebook, 50 Prospecting Truths here.

Copyright 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: Power Questions Get Better Answers

 

Leaders don’t really have all the answers, they just have all the questions. The best way to get the information you need is by asking questions. That it how you create dialogue. Start this week by asking power questions, and I promise you’ll get better answers.

 

Copyright 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

The Role of Marketing in Generating Leads

When it’s the end of the quarter and sales is missing their number, it’s easy to blame. Usually, sales will blame marketing for not giving them great leads. As a result, marketing is up in arms because the CEO decides to cut their budget for next year, since he/she is not seeing their return on investment. What department does marketing blame? Typically, it’s sales because they see them as a failure for not closing more sales with the “great” leads that they were given.

Do those two arguments sound familiar? Of course! Every person in sales or marketing has used that excuse or some variation of it at one time or another. I think many companies have separate marketing and sales departments just so that they have someone to blame for their own ineptitude.

Sales Vs Marketing: Who Owns the Lead Generation Process?

 

 

All of these arguments and every variation of it are bogus and a total distraction from the real issue at hand. The bottom line is the need to have great prospects that you can turn into customers quickly. If that’s the real issue, then what is the role of each department? It’s simple! Marketing creates the awareness by speaking to many. Sales creates the lead by speaking to a few.

Read that last sentence again, and you’ll see what I’m saying. The role of marketing is to create brand awareness and educate the marketplace. The role of sales is to come alongside them and build on the awareness and education with their prospecting. It is unrealistic to think that marketing is an a position to create highly qualified, motivated leads. Sure, they can do it sometimes, but if you expect that this is their primary mission, you’re setting them and actually yourself up for failure.

And the same goes for sales: it’s the role of sales to turn great leads into great customers. Since those in sales know better than anyone what a great customer is, then they will know better than anyone what a great lead is.

It’s time to quit playing the blame game, and focus on what you do best. Marketing creates the message for the masses, sales delivers the message to the individual.

Copyright 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

Prospecting and the 3 Traits You Must Have to Succeed

Effective prospecting can be summed up in three words. I refer to them as the 3 traits you need to have if you want to be successful at prospecting. The 3 traits are:

· Persistence

· Attitude

· Process

I call this “PAP.” Whenever I see someone consistently living out these traits, they are always successful.

 

 

 

The first trait is persistence. If you’re not 100% committed to making prospecting a necessary action – something you have to do – then you can kiss it goodbye, and you will need to be happy with the business that simply comes your way. The object that describes this kind of person, that lacks persistence, is a “rain barrel” because that’s all you are. If it falls in your lap great, and if you have to go get it, forget it.

Persistence means prospecting when you don’t want to or when you’d rather be doing easier, more enjoyable things. If you’re persistent, you will convince yourself that prospecting is more important. Persistence also means being diligent in knowing that it will take multiple contacts to get a prospect to engage, but you don’t give up because you know that you can help them. Persistence means staying focused on the mission at hand and not allowing yourself to get side-tracked with shiny objects or everything else in life.

Persistence can be summed in two activities – first is staying committed to the times each day/week you have set aside to prospect and second is not letting go of a prospect just because they won’t engage with you quickly.

The second trait is attitude. If your attitude towards prospecting is poor, I can tell you right now that you will fail at prospecting. You cannot hide your attitude. You won’t be able to fake it until you make it, not in sales! Sales is an emotional game, or really, it’s a mental game and it all starts with your attitude.

Zig Ziglar used to say, “your attitude will affect your altitude.” I believe that 100%. If you choose to wake up in the morning dreading the fact that you have to prospect, I guarantee you will not see the opportunities that are out there. Conversely, the person who begins the day seeing the day as a gift to help others and full of opportunities will uncover multiple opportunities.

The people you talk to on the phone will hear and feel your attitude. Don’t say it’s ok, because you only use email to prospect. I hate to pop your bubble and delete your email, but your attitude still shows. The canned emails you send out will never get the minor tweak you need to make to make it fit the prospect if you have a negative attitude. Your negative attitude slows your pace and will eventually wear you out. It’s amazing how having the right attitude gives you more energy to accomplish far more in far less time.

The final trait is process. This means that you have developed a plan. Your plan includes knowing who your perfect customer is and what you should lead with when you’re talking with prospects. You have the questions developed to ask when you engage with a prospect. This may surprise you, but this is the trait that actually causes more salespeople to fail than the other two. If you don’t have a process, you’ll find yourself chasing every shiny object that comes your way. Without a solid plan, you won’t stay focused and you’ll find yourself spending more time getting prepared than actually prospecting.

Your process doesn’t have to be complicated. Many of the most accomplished salespeople I’ve worked with have a very simple process. As of result of it being simple, they are able to replicate it time after time. They know their process backwards and forwards, so it has become as natural as breathing. There’s no need to complicate things; sales is not complicated. Sales is all about just engaging people, uncovering their needs and then helping solve them. That’s it! There’s no need to create a 34-step process, unless what you want a process that you can use as an excuse when you don’t make your numbers.

There are the 3 traits that I believe you must have to be successful at prospecting. Now, are you ready for the shocker? These same 3 traits apply to anything and everything! When you master these three, you’ll find yourself applying them to whatever activity you need to master and you will do just that, master it. Malcolm Gladwell may have the 10,000 hour rule; I have the rule of “PAP.”

Copyright 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: Why Worry About What You Can’t Control?

Do you worry about things that are out of your control? Most likely, you’re nodding your head yes! Stop doing that and relax, because guess what? You can’t really worry about traffic unless there is an alternate route. Worrying isn’t helpful, because all it does is take your focus off today. You’re paid to focus on the task at hand, what you’re working on now, but not on the weather,  traffic, etc. If you stop worrying about what you can’t control, you’ll achieve much more!

Copyright 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

Why Do I Have Bad Customers?

Are your customers really bad, or do their expectations just not line up with yours? Bad customers are a result of failing to establish expectations with the customer that align with what you deliver.

Watch this 35-second video: “Do You Have Lousy Customers?”:

 

 

At the end of a month, a quarter, or a year, it is crazy how quickly salespeople make far claims that go way too far all because they are chasing a number. This happens when the customer starts thinking the expectations are “x,” when in reality, they are “y.” I call this stupid selling on the salesperson’s part. The salesperson may make their number, but all they’ve done is set themselves up for a major problem in the weeks to come. Many times, the issue doesn’t come back to haunt the salesperson immediately. Instead, the problem hits customer service or others in the company first.

A customer makes a major purchase based on their belief that it will do something, because that’s what the salesperson told them. Several weeks later, the customer figures out that their expectations are not going to be met, so they complain to customer service. Too often, customer service just offers a kind gesture to appease the customer, and life goes on. The real problem is that nothing is done to call out the salesperson and ensure their behavior is corrected. Over a period of time, the salesperson becomes skilled at making claims that cannot be delivered on, but it doesn’t matter because they are still making their number. All the while, the company thinks that they have bad customers. Don’t laugh or say, “This could never happen in my company!” Trust me, I’ve seen it in play out in far too many companies and those that you’d least expect. The only reason I know this is because it’s these kinds of companies that reach out and ask me to come in and help fix the issue.

So, what’s the answer to bad customers? It’s simple- do not attract bad customers by doing these two things. First, only go after those customers that fit a profile that you can deliver exceptional value to. Second, prospect and sell with integrity. We attract customers that are like us. It’s no different than friends; you choose to befriend people that are like you. People do business with those they can relate to. Selling with integrity also means making claims that are 100% deliverable, that you will follow through on. When you sell with integrity, you will attract customers who have integrity. Truth sells!

Copyright 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

How to Turn Networking Into Prospecting

If you’ve been following me for a long time, you know that I don’t consider networking the same as prospecting. Too many people go to a networking event but call it prospecting simply to avoid prospecting.

Far too many prospecting events are nothing but a bunch of salespeople hanging out together trying to sell each other. Whether it’s an industry networking event, a local business open house, or a chamber of commerce event, they are typically a huge waste of time. You probably leave the event with a bunch of business cards and everyone tells each other, “yes we need to get together for coffee sometime.” If I could be very blunt, 98% of the time that’s a big fat waste of time and effort as well as a poor reason to order a low-fat mocha blend.

The issue I have is that networking by nature operates on a different timetable than prospecting. When you prospect, you want to begin seeing action in your pipeline on a timely basis. When you meet with people at a networking event, you create and build relationships. There’s nothing wrong with that, but at the end of the day, you have a sales quota to meet and there’s nothing in your quota that says anything about the number of relationships made.

Now that I have all of my frank comments about networking out of the way, let’s talk about how you can make the most of a networking event, because let’s be real, you and I are both going to attend a networking event in the near future. Watch my video on the subject here:

 

 

 

The key objective with a networking event is not the total number of people you meet; rather, it is about the one or two you do meet. Do not look at these people as prospects, look at them as people you can help. Your goal is to email them within 48 hours of the event sharing how great it was to connect and then build on something that they said. Your initial contact is not about you, it’s about them.

The best way to set yourself up for a productive follow-up during the networking event is to engage with the other person about their interests. When talking with them, make note of these 3 things. The first thing is the event in which you met them. The second is the date of the networking event where you met them. Third and lastly is the tidbit of personal information you learned about them. Don’t forget those 3 things!

Numerous times, I have met someone who has become a great client over a long period of time, and they always comment about how I came across different than most people. What sets me apart is the way that I focus on them and never forget the personal information they share with me. I use what they share to build my relationship with them. Here’s an example: during my first conversation with a VP of Sales I met at an industry event, he mentioned how he was just starting to build a new home. I could tell this was of importance to him, so I asked him about it in each subsequent conversation. I intentionally brought it up, and that meant a lot to him.

When we take a networking event that’s meant for connection and keep it personal without trying to go into sell mode, it’s amazing what can and will happen! Be prepared for it to take months or even years, though. This is why I do not like saying that networking is prospecting. The timelines just don’t line up.

The second most impactful way to nurture a networking relationship is to be proactive in helping connect your new connection with another person. Again, this is something I do regularly and the results are incredible. What I mean by results are the benefits that come to the two people I connected to each other, not my gain. Remember that networking is about creating connections.

Have you noticed that I haven’t once mentioned what you should do with the hundreds of names you gathered at a networking event? The reason is simple: they’re just names, and nothing more. Spend your time focusing on the two to three names before you focus on the 100. One key message I often share about prospecting is that success lies in the quality not the quantity. Your time is valuable, so use it wisely.

My summary on turning networking into prospecting comes down to one sentence: place the value in helping the other person achieve their goals, and in doing so, you will accomplish yours.

Copyright 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