Mark Hunter's Blog, page 58

Your Sales & Prospecting Assessment

Ask yourself the following 10 questions to help assess how you’re doing with prospecting and selling:

What do I feel is the #1 reason holding me back from being more successful? What is my plan to do something about it?
What would I say is the strongest part of my sales process, and what can I do to leverage it more?
What is the weakest part of my process and why?
How much time do I spend customer facing? What can I do to increase that?
What would my professional life be like if I could increase my sales performance by 50%?
What can I change in my day to give me more time to prospect?
What does my perfect customer look like?
What outcomes do I help my customers achieve?
What do my customers say about me?
What can I do to shorten my sales process?

I trust these questions will push you to seriously think about how you’re doing. Honestly evaluate yourself and your work. Without a doubt, sales is a great profession. Why? Because you get to help others see and achieve things they didn’t think were possible. This is exactly the reason why I gave you this survey, so use it to your advantage! Ask yourself how you can improve at selling and prospecting today.

Don’t forget: A coach can help you excel in your sales career. Invest in yourself by checking out my coaching program today!

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 Results

Monday Motivation Video: Celebrate Success!

Look back at all that you accomplished last week. Take a moment to celebrate your successes! Don’t dwell on your failures. Keep your mind focused on the good and positive. This will give you the jumpstart you need to be successful this week!

Don’t forget: A coach can help you excel in your sales career. Invest in yourself by checking out my coaching program today!

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 Results

Sales Leadership is About Creating Momentum

We should never underestimate the power of momentum and what happens when we allow things to come to a stop. It’s winter right now and for a lot of us, that means there is often snow on the ground. With snow comes a change in how you drive. For those of you that live in warm climates and never get to experience driving in the snow, let me give you a quick lesson.

If you’re driving on a snow packed or icy street, it is much more difficult to accelerate after being at a complete stop. As your tires spin and nothing happens, you tend to want to give the engine more power, but that only makes your wheels spin more. Still, the car doesn’t move. The best way to drive on snow packed or icy roads is to never allow the wheels to stop turning. It is all about making sure they are always in continuous motion. If the wheels are turning even just slightly, you’ll be amazed at how much easier it is to increase speed.

Being successful in sales is the same way. It’s all about creating momentum just like keeping your wheels moving when driving in snow or ice. The key is to never allow yourself to come to a complete stop. This is why I believe so strongly that you must always be prospecting. You cannot allow your pipeline to ever become empty, otherwise you’ll be like the car stuck on a snow packed or icy road unable to move.

Are you committed to prospecting each week? You might be an account manager who doesn’t prospect, but that does not exclude you from working on opening up new opportunities in your accounts. The same goes for every other step in your sales process / sales pipeline. You must ensure there is at least some kind of opportunity at every level.

When there is a complete lack of momentum, your brain will flip out. You’ll suddenly panic and think you need to do something drastic to make it. The panic causes you to freak out, like slamming your foot down on the accelerator. That’s not helpful; however, because your wheels have already come to a dead stop. It also doesn’t help that at this point you’re in a rush. The clock keeps ticking and you constantly have tasks to complete and deadlines to meet. You’ll find it difficult to get moving again and notice yourself just becoming more stuck. Whenever you find yourself in this type of situation without momentum, the key is to look for the smallest opportunity to capitalize on. Don’t worry about its size. Don’t look at the clock. Your goal is to simply gain the slightest bit of momentum to help get you rolling again. By achieving a tiny bit of momentum, you’ll then be able to seek out slightly larger opportunities. Don’t panic and think you don’t have time. The more you panic about the lack of time, the more your wheels will just spin and not get you anywhere.

Creating momentum in sales is identical to driving in snow or ice. If you remember how to drive in those conditions, you’ll be just fine whenever you find yourself at a low point in sales.

Don’t forget: A coach can help you excel in your sales career. Invest in yourself by checking out my coaching program today!

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 Results

OutBound By The Numbers!

OutBound is big! It is the only sales conference committed to prospecting, pipeline and productivity, but just how big is it? See the numbers for yourself:

1 Location: Atlanta

2 Days of main stage

3 Days when you stay for the extra day full of Elite breakout sessions

4 Co-founders who are passionate about helping you succeed: Anthony Iannarino, Mike Weinberg, Jeb Blount and Mark Hunter

6 Best-selling sales experts joining us on the main stage: Jeffrey Gitomer, Bob Burg, Andrea Waltz, Colleen Francis, Victor Antonio and “Waldo” Waldman

10+ Countries where people are traveling from to attend this world-renowned sales conference

14 Video cameras

16 Elite breakout session speakers including Shari Levitin, James Muir, Larry Levine, Meridith Elliot Powell, Lee Salz, Jennifer Gluckow, Sam Richter, Max Altschuler, Bernadette McClellan, Chris Beall, Bart Ratliff, Gene McNaughton, Mike Weinberg, Anthony Iannarino, Jeb Blount and Mark Hunter

19 Breakout sessions

29 Microphones

100% Pitch-free

100% Content driven

120 People working behind the scenes producing the event

650 Gallons of coffee

1000+ People in attendance

2,500+ Lunches served

4,434 feet of cable and wiring to produce the event

$10M+ Dollars made in additional sales by those attending OutBound in using what they learn

Wow! That’s a heck of a lot of numbers! Yes, but you know the only number that really matters? The number one. That stands for you! Will I see you at OutBound? None of the numbers above mean anything, unless you decide to attend. Register today!

Oh, and I have one more number for you: 100! This is how much you will save in dollars, when you use my special code, “mark100.” I’ll see you at OutBound!

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 Results

Social Selling & Prospecting: Truths 31 – 40

It’s time for me to call the baby ugly and believe me, it is ugly! Social selling is neither social nor selling. Ok, phew! I feel better now that I got that off my chest. I’m sure I upset some of you, though. I’m not sorry. I said these were prospecting truths, so part of that means that I can’t skate past social media or email. Too many salespeople fail in sales, because they want to take the easy way out. They think that if they just send out emails or post enough on social media that the world will somehow find a path to their door.

Myth busted! It’s time to do the work! Go ahead and call it the hard work. It’s a cop out to think that you will meet your sales number with social media and email. You’re just scared to engage in a real conversation. You’re afraid to hear “no.” My favorite rule is #39 and I’ve been saying it for years. I’ll continue to say it until the myth of social media and social selling are finally put to rest.

If you disagree with me, go ahead and fire away. I’ll come right back at you with dozens of examples of companies where we’ve embraced the telephone, relegated email to a secondary role and made social media just an afterthought. In the each of these examples, the numbers prove themselves. The bottom line is that if you want to be successful in sales, you have to engage and that means you cannot be scared to use the phone for what it is.

Before you read part 4 of “5o Prospecting Truths,” be sure you go back and read truths 1-30 or if you have already, re-read them! Here are the links:

Part 1: Truths 1 – 10

Part 2: Truths 11 – 20

Part 3: Truths 21 – 30

Here is part 4 with truths 31 – 40 related to using social media and email for prospecting:

31. Bring new value with each message whether it be on the phone, voicemail, text or email.

32. Your goal with any email is to provide not quite enough information. Allow the prospect to make the decision to call you or not.

33. There’s always time to make one more call.

34. Don’t hide! Email must not be your primary or your only prospecting tool.

35. When in doubt, pick up the phone and make the call.

36. You will learn far more about your prospect in one short phone call than you will in exchanging five emails over a two-week period.

37. Never allow the need to do more research get in the way of making the call.

38. Each minute spent on social media must earn its way.

39. You can’t take “clicks,” “likes,” or “shares” to the bank.

40. Your goal with an online connection is to create an offline conversation.

Did I shake you up with these 10? I’m sure I did. I don’t think I’ve ever used one of these truths with a client and not have somebody get upset with me. I’m ok with that, though, because that’s part of my job. I am here to help you help others. Learn how to set yourself up for success with truths 41-50 coming next week!

Don’t forget: A coach can help you excel in your sales career. Invest in yourself by checking out my coaching program today!

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 Results

Do You Have Your Ticket?

OutBound is just two months away! The four of us have been working hard to create the strongest schedule filled with the most helpful content for this conference. Our goal is to help take your sales to the next level. You are going to leave the conference with some of the best tips and tricks that you can immediately start to implement to be more successful. Also, I guarantee you there won’t be any sales pitches. Not one speaker is going to try to talk you into buying or enrolling in anything.

Go here to register, and use code “mark100″ to save $100!

Anthony Iannarino, Mike Weinberg, Jeb Blount and I founded this event together. Let me tell you, it’s been such a kick planning alongside them! We’re excited about what have planned! Take a look at the schedule of events:

The main event begins Wednesday, April 24 with Waldo Waldman as our first keynote speaker. He’ll get you fired up with his speech titled, “Push It Up.”

Next up are TED-style talks, each being fast-paced and to the point. You can expect nothing but straight content. No fluff! Check out the speakers and topics below:

Mike Weinberg talking on “Why Opportunity Creators Own the Future”
Jeb Blount with “The Relentless Pursuit of Yes,” and how to ensure that’s what you get.
I will share about how “Prospecting is a Muscle” and give you the exercises necessary to keep it strong.
Anthony Iannarino will present, “Adversity is Your Greatest Teacher,” which will include some practical and tactile advice on improving your prospecting, pipeline, and productivity mindset.
Mike will come back to share why “No One Defaults to Prospecting” and will give ways to prospect with greater consistency and to a greater effect.
Jeb will close us out before lunch with “The Only Question That Really Matters.”

Wednesday afternoon:

First up after lunch is Jeffrey Gitomer. He will definitely give you more to chew on and challenge your thinking. As the winner of “The King of Sales” award and author of “The Little Red Book of Sales,”  Jeffrey will talk about “The Manifesto Mindset – Getting from I Think I Can to I Did It!”
Next, Jeb is back for a small, quick, and powerful guide to “Getting off the Feast or Famine Roller Coaster.” You know how some quarters are better than others? Let’s try to level that out a bit, shall we?
Then, Anthony returns to share “Motivation is for Amateurs,” with direction on how you can fuel your results and do good work with purpose and meaning.
Following Anthony, I will talk about how “You Have the Ability, so It is Your Responsibility.”
Our keynote Speaker Andrea Waltz will give you a new lens on prospecting with “Go For No!” I think you’re going to really love her as she helps you reframe rejection.

After Andrea, it’s time for you to prep for the final segment of Day 1. Stay tuned to find out what special event we’re planning. In the meantime, prepare to have a lot of fun and shift your thinking.

Tuesday, April 25:

Our keynote speaker Colleen Francis will open up Day 2 at 8AM. You don’t want to miss out, because her ideas and strategies are sure to get you to 7-figures.
Anthony Iannarino comes to us with his brand new keynote on “Level 4 Value Creation and the 10 Commitments.”
Mike Weinberg is up with “Breaking Free of the Commodity Trap.” This keynote will up your game in 2019.
Jeb Blount closes our morning session with “Sales EQ and the Four Immutable Laws of Sales.” This content will change the way you think about selling.

After lunch on Tuesday, we’ll start off with:

Keynote speaker: Bob Burg who is “Mr. Go Giver” himself. Bob is in the NSA National Speaker Hall of Fame, in addition to Waldo from day 1. Bob’s values-based approach will be  a rare treat.
Next, I will share about “The Confidence Factor.” This talk is designed to improve your effectiveness and secure everything you do.
One of the strongest keynote speakers, Victor Antonio, will close out the conference. Not only is he one of the smartest people in the game, but he is one of the very best speakers.

We can’t let you leave without a little Q&A and a big send off! Jeb, Mike, Anthony, and I will come back to close the main event.

Go look for a sales conference with a main-stage rock-show-like event mixed with Cirque de Soleil stitched together with real sales content, and you won’t be able to find it. This event is like none other! The pace is faster and the delivery is more energetic. Over the two days, you’ll have 10 headliners and some of the biggest names in sales development. You and your sales career won’t want to miss out on this event, so register now! Use code “mark100” to get $100 off the main event.

You really should think about staying for Day 3 to get an extra day full of workshops from 15 other world-class sales experts plus bonus sessions from Mike, Jeb, Anthony, and me. When you buy the Elite ticket, you’ll gain access to this extra day and special seating for the two main-stage days.

Better yet, go all in and get the whole VIP experience! This includes VIP seating, training tracks, a private book signing, VIP plated lunch, and more. There are only a few special VIP tickets left, so get your ticket today!

OutBound is the very best, content-driven sales conference on earth. This year, it is taking place at the World Congress Center in the Georgia Ballroom on April 24th and 25th. An Elite ticket includes a full day of workshops on April 26th. If you want the greatest package deal, be in Atlanta on the 23rd and you’ll get the full VIP experience. I promise that you won’t find an experience this great anywhere else!

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 Results

Sales Motivation Video: Take More Risks If You Want to be Successful

Are you a leader? Are you a risk-taker? If you answered yes to the first question, you need to be willing to say yes to the second one. Leaders are risk-takers. Be brave, go out on a limb and take a risk this week. Ask yourself: what’s the worst thing that could happen? You’ve got nothing to lose!

Don’t forget: A coach can help you excel in your sales career. Invest in yourself by checking out my coaching program today!

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 Results

If You Have the Ability, You Have the Responsibility

I’m tired of people shrinking their responsibilities and assuming somebody else will take care of them. Next time you see a task that you don’t believe you’re responsible for, ask yourself if you have the ability to deal with it. If so, then it is your responsibility.

Let’s flip this concept over to sales and particularly sales leadership in how you manage your sales pipeline. The 3 biggest issues salespeople have are prospecting, following up and closing the deal. A successful sales person has always mastered every one of these areas. When I talk with those salespeople who are struggling, it usually comes down to a failure to execute at least one of these important tasks.

If you believe that you can help customers, it is your responsibility to prospect. They need your help! You can’t allow yourself to sit back and just wait for them to come to you. They are your responsibility and your responsibility is now.

If you believe that you have solutions that will help them, you owe it to them to follow up. Even if they don’t respond, be persistent, and keep reaching out and following up with them. You must do this, because you have the ability to help them.

The same concept goes for closing the deal. You know that you can’t ultimately help them until they buy from you. Because you have the ability to help, it is your responsibility to do so but helping them must involve getting them to buy from you.

Sales is a process made up of multiple activities. Sales is not a single item. Taking responsibility for others is the same thing. You have the ability and you know what it takes. Therefore, it is your responsibility to not allow anything to get in your way of helping prospects and customers benefit from you and what you sell.

You have one job and that is to be responsible for helping your customers see and achieve what they didn’t think was possible. You have the ability, but it’s up to you to have the willpower and determination to follow through.

Don’t forget: A coach can help you excel in your sales career. Invest in yourself by checking out my coaching program today!

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 Results

The Art of the Sales Call: Truths 21-30

We are now on part 3 of my series called “50 Prospecting Truths”. This one is all about you and your sales calls. Yes, that means you need to get serious about engaging with the customer. Prospecting is far more than just building a plan or thinking about it. Too many salespeople suffer from that disease. You probably know the person I’m talking about – one who claims that if they only had a decent process, then they would be successful. The problem is that they’ve never even executed the process that they have, so they don’t know its potential.

I shared with you last week that you shouldn’t think that these truths hold all the answers. They are just truths that will help if you follow them, but you still need to push yourself to create your own plan.

If you missed the first two parts, I suggest you go back and read them. I’ve posted the links below:

Part 1: Truths 1-10 – It’s Your Job

Part 2: Truths 11-20 – Your Prospecting Plan

Here is part 3 which includes truths 21-30. These 10 are focused on the art of the sales call.

21. Know what your goal is before contacting anyone.

22. When you have something to offer, a prospecting call will never be an interruption in someone’s day. Any interruption has the capability of becoming an intervention when you can offer help. You owe it to them and to yourself to make the call.

23. Believe it or not, the telephone still works as a prospecting tool. Pick up the phone and call.

24. When kept short and concise, voicemails can be an effective prospecting tool.

25. Allow your personality to come through on every phone call and in every voicemail.

26. Those who believe “cold calling” is dead are the same people who don’t like talking on the telephone and want to hide behind social media to sell.

27. Maintain both prospect specific notes and industry/segment notes to help you with your long-term goals.

28. Never forget your objective with each prospecting call is to move the process forward. Start by building on a previous piece of information that was shared with you. Each call, seek to gain one new insight. Always end the call by securing a set time to talk again in the near future.

29. Do not fall for the myth that calling doesn’t work, send more emails. Those who believe this myth are the ones who are already afraid of the phone and should not be in sales in the first place.

30. Never allow a call or email response to derail you emotionally. Don’t underestimate the power you have to help others.

Are you feeling uncomfortable? Even if you’re a top performing prospecting machine, you are probably at least a little uncomfortable. I would imagine a couple of the 10 are causing your leg to twitch or your mouth to go dry right now. Your goal isn’t to just read these but to actually apply them so you can challenge yourself every single day.

Coming next week are truths 31-40. I’ll be discussing prospecting using social media and email, so get ready to be even more challenged and convicted.

Don’t forget: A coach can help you excel in your sales career. Invest in yourself by checking out my coaching program today!

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 Results

50 Prospecting Truths- The Art of the Sales Call: Truths 21-30

We are now on part 3 of my series called “50 Prospecting Truths”. This one is all about you and your sales calls. Yes, that means you need to get serious about engaging with the customer. Prospecting is far more than just building a plan or thinking about it. Too many salespeople suffer from that disease. You probably know the person I’m talking about – one who claims that if they only had a decent process, then they would be successful. The problem is that they’ve never even executed the process that they have, so they don’t know its potential.

I shared with you last week that you shouldn’t think that these truths hold all the answers. They are just truths that will help if you follow them, but you still need to push yourself to create your own plan.

If you missed the first two parts, I suggest you go back and read them. I’ve posted the links below:

Part 1: Truths 1-10 – It’s Your Job

Part 2: Truths 11-20 – Your Prospecting Plan

Here is part 3 which includes truths 21-30. These 10 are focused on the art of the sales call.

21. Know what your goal is before contacting anyone.

22. When you have something to offer, a prospecting call will never be an interruption in someone’s day. Any interruption has the capability of becoming an intervention when you can offer help. You owe it to them and to yourself to make the call.

23. Believe it or not, the telephone still works as a prospecting tool. Pick up the phone and call.

24. When kept short and concise, voicemails can be an effective prospecting tool.

25. Allow your personality to come through on every phone call and in every voicemail.

26. Those who believe “cold calling” is dead are the same people who don’t like talking on the telephone and want to hide behind social media to sell.

27. Maintain both prospect specific notes and industry/segment notes to help you with your long-term goals.

28. Never forget your objective with each prospecting call is to move the process forward. Start by building on a previous piece of information that was shared with you. Each call, seek to gain one new insight. Always end the call by securing a set time to talk again in the near future.

29. Do not fall for the myth that calling doesn’t work, send more emails. Those who believe this myth are the ones who are already afraid of the phone and should not be in sales in the first place.

30. Never allow a call or email response to derail you emotionally. Don’t underestimate the power you have to help others.

Are you feeling uncomfortable? Even if you’re a top performing prospecting machine, you are probably at least a little uncomfortable. I would imagine at least a couple of the 10 are causing your leg to twitch or your mouth to go dry right now. Your goal isn’t to just read these but to actually apply them so you can challenge yourself every single day.

Don’t forget: A coach can help you excel in your sales career. Invest in yourself by checking out my coaching program today!

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 Results