Mark Hunter's Blog, page 60

Sales Motivation Video: Prospecting Leads You are Forgetting About

Have you lost touch with some of your old customers? I know I have. Thankfully, it’s only January so there’s still time to reach them. However, it may take three to six months to reconnect, so don’t procrastinate. Pick up the phone and make that call now! Talk to somebody you haven’t heard from in one, five, maybe even ten years. Take the time to initiate and rebuild your relationship with that person or company. That’s what is important, because that is what will get you that next sale.

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 Meetings: 10 Secrets to Making Them Excellent and Last Less Than One Hour

It’s the time of year when companies put on full-day or multi-day sales meetings and everyone jumps in to help make it a huge event. This is all great except for one thing: there is so much time and effort put into the big annual meeting that nobody pays attention to the weekly sales team meeting.

I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. This is the weekly snooze-fest many sales managers have for the sake of keeping their managers happy. Trust me, I remember all too well forcing myself to stay awake during pain-filled meetings when I was a sales representative. The only good thing that came out of those boring meetings is I learned to drink coffee. Can you relate? Now, let’s get serious.  Are you a sales manager whose salespeople dread attending your meetings?

There is no reason why the weekly sales meeting can’t be beneficial for everyone and there is no reason why they can’t be brief. If the meeting is only for the benefit of management, something is wrong. If the meeting drags on and is nothing more than updates, something is wrong. Salespeople are only making money for themselves and their company when they’re with customers.

One year ago, I was with a sales manager who claimed his meetings were only 90 minutes long and a huge benefit to the team. These comments were misguided, because I did not hear the same thing from the sales team. The team said the meetings were pain-filled because they were nothing but the sales manager droning on about what they didn’t do the week before. As for the length of the meetings, they rarely went longer than 90 minutes. But in reality, they killed a half-day. Each person spent, on average, two hours in travel time getting to the office. Additionally, they had to update numbers before the meeting and provide the manager with follow-up info after each meeting. Two salespeople said that they have to block out 6 hours to be safe! Add all this up, and it was clear why they had tons of turnover and far too many salespeople missing their quotas.

To help end the madness, I’ve put together an E-book that outlines 10 things you can do quickly and easily to have a great sales meeting. The sales manager mentioned above began implementing the 10 things, and I’m pleased to say he’s lowered his turnover, and he just finished the quarter with 7 of his 9 salespeople meeting their quotas.

Here’s the link to download the E-book. For your benefit and the sake of the sales team you lead, download it now! Once you begin putting the steps into practice, I’d love to know your results. I can’t guarantee you’ll have the same results as this other sales manager, but maybe you will wind up with even better ones!

Let’s make this year the best it can be by starting to up your game with better sales meetings!

If you are having a sales kick-off meeting, let’s talk!  I would love to help get things rolling. My keynote and training session based upon my book, High-Profit Prospecting, continues to be a huge success.

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

10 Ways to Accelerate Your Sales

How are you doing with making your quota? Are you allowing yourself to get stuck where you are and to not progress up to the next level? If you’re not challenging yourself to get better, it’s amazing how quickly you can become stagnant. Being stagnant is not an option for anyone in sales.  Being stagnant is settling for mediocrity.  You shouldn’t settle for anything but being in a state of constant improvement.

Your goal each day should be to end at least a little better than when you started. Life can quickly consume you and when it consumes you, each day will become nothing more than reacting to what’s going on around you. If you are intentional about ending the day better than when you began, you’ll have more control over your day.

Below are 10 things you can do to accelerate your sales and avoid merely being average. You can start doing these things right now!

1. Establish a dedicated time to prospect each day and follow through. Don’t use this time preparing to prospect or thinking about prospecting. Your dedicated time must be when you’re actually talking with prospects either on the phone or in person.

2. Never allow yourself to believe you can’t or your customer won’t. The biggest naysayer you have is your own mind and it can be quick to tell you something can’t be done.

3. Create a peer group / mastermind with other high-achievers. We become like those who spend time with associate with the most so it only makes sense to make sure we’re associating with other high-achievers.

4. Following up with a prospect/customer is always your #1 or #2 priority. Along with prospecting there’s nothing else that is as important. Too much business is lost because salespeople fail to follow up.

5. Never stop realizing the most valuable asset you have is your time and your #1 objective is to make as much of that to be “customer facing” time.

6. Before you do anything ask yourself if what you’re about to do is going to produce revenue. Ask yourself after you get done with every activity and everyday if what you did generated revenue. Being busy is not your issue, being productive is.

7. Always be finding new ways you can demonstrate value with prospects / customers with the insights you share and the questions you ask. The who customer who chooses not to buy from you, or seeks a price reduction is one who does not yet fully understand the full value of how you can help.

8. Build out the profile of your perfect customer and update the profile each year. The more you can be focused on selling those most like your perfect customer the more sales you will make.

9. Begin each with the confidence of to help others, uncover new opportunities and seek out the unexpected. Our outlook on the day will determine our outcomes from the day.

10. Accept the fact not every prospect you speak to will appreciate you. View them as people who are not ready to accept how you can help them.

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

Copyright 2018, 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: How Can Last Year Positively Impact This Year?

Happy New Year! How are you going to make this your best year yet? I will tell you how in this short video. Just take 5 minutes to do what it says and you’ll be well on your way to achieving more than you think you can in 2019!

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

Copyright 2018, 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

New Year Leadership: Are Your Goals Big Enough?

Followers set small goals, leaders set big goals.  How do your goals measure up?  Are you aligned with being more of a follower or a leader? If your goals are safe, small goals you know you can achieve, then why would anyone other than small thinkers want to follow you? There is zero chance a big thinker would look at you as a leader.

Leaders set big goals and they know accomplishing them will take the efforts of others. Leaders know the value of a team and they know how to create them. The bigger the team you create, the bigger the goal you can create. And most importantly, the bigger the outcome you’ll create.

This year, I want to challenge you to not just set goals but set BIG goals that push far beyond what you thought was possible. To achieve goals of this size is going to require focus.  It is going to require a plan.  It is going to require the involvement of others. Don’t be alarmed by any of these. Remember, you’re a leader and leaders rise to the occasion.

Looking at your goals for 2019, are they big enough? Will they make an impact and will they drive you to an even bigger outcome in the years to come? One of the things I believe firmly in is having multiple levels of goals. What do I mean by this? Most people set some annual goals.  But I firmly believe in the practice of setting 5-year, 10-year and yes, even 25-year goals. My objective is not to go through life reacting to it. I want to go through life acting on it. Nothing disappoints me more than seeing people who fail to achieve their potential. We’ve been given a gift of opportunity and like anything else, it doesn’t last forever. It’s our job to seize on opportunities that arise and to create other opportunities.

This coming year has the potential to be your best year ever. I’m looking at the year ahead and am nothing but jazzed for what it will bring. My goals are BIG and I’m not wasting a day in accomplishing them.

If you are serious about goals, you can still take part in the Master Class I created around goal setting and how to maximize your performance. Check it out here!

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

My Sales Resolutions

What sales resolutions are you making for this new year? The beginning of each year brings new opportunities for you to shift your mindset and take your game to the next level. How you approach each day will determine the results you get from each day. If you’re intentional about looking for the positive in the situations you encounter, it’s amazing how many great things you’ll find!

Here are 15 “sales resolutions” for you to think about and put into practice this new year:

1. I will never put off a call that needs to be made.

2. I will pick up the phone and call rather than just sending an email.

3. I will always start the day by having a list of prospects to call that same day.

4. I will never start off a sales call talking about myself or how great our products are.

5. I will make sure all notes are recorded in my CRM system; I will not trust my mind to remember everything.

6. Regardless of how bad a sales call might go, I will not allow it to negatively affect me.

7. After I make a sale or simply have a great sales call, I will immediately move forward and work on making the next sale.

8. I will never talk negative about a customer regardless of what they may or may not have done.

9. I will not talk bad about my competitors or what they sell.

10. I will begin each day with the mindset that there are always opportunities to help others.

11. I will end each day with thankfulness for the day and each conversation I was able to have.

12. I will never allow myself to speak with “commission breath.” Rather, I will be 100% customer centered.

13. I will stay in contact with every customer, even those I’m no longer doing business with.

14. Each day, I will look to improve my skills and become a better salesperson.

15. I will do my part to improve the sales community, give back to others and help them improve their selling skills.

What will 2019 hold for you? None of us know for sure, so all we can do is try to make the most of each day. This is the approach I take every day, week, month and year.

Remember that nothing happens in business until something is sold and nothing is sold until somebody prospects. May this be the year you do more prospecting than ever, and may you have your best year yet!

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

Copyright 2018, 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: Be All In With Everything You Do Today and Everyday

Be all in with everything you do this week. If it is worth doing then it is worth being all in to do. Forget doing things halfway or not being focused. This is the week to be all in 110% in everything you do.

Check out this short video to see what I mean:

Are you planning a sales kick-off meeting for 2019?  If so, give me a call and let’s talk about how I can help your team not just achieve 2019 goals, but blow past them.  I still have some available dates, so call and we will make it happen.  Sales is not a solo activity. Sales is a team sport. Let’s make your team the best it can be. You can call me at 402-445-2110 or email me: Mark@TheSalesHunter.com.

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

Copyright 2018, 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

Leadership Begins With You

If you can’t lead yourself, how can you lead anyone else? At this time of year, we all take time to reflect on what’s happened through the year coming to a close and what our expectations are for the year to come.

Earlier this month, I began the process of reflecting on my year and my leadership skills. Expecting greater outcomes in anything requires us to expect greater outcomes from ourselves. It’s easy to pass blame on others; doing so allows us to move onto something else. The problem is, we can’t pass blame onto someone else or some other thing. Leaders accept ownership and responsibility.

Look back on what you accomplished and what you were not able to accomplish this year. Can you be honest when you ask yourself about your level of leadership in each area? The more leadership we assume in ourselves, the greater the level of leader we will be with others.

Whether you are leading a team or leading customers, it first requires you to lead yourself. I’m passionate about leadership because I feel most shortcomings in business and life occur due to a leadership gap.  Next year, I want you to be committed to increasing your level of ownership and accountability. The first thing I want you to be aware of  is not passing blame on anything or anyone at any time. The next time a customer order gets messed up, don’t go telling the customer somebody else blew it. Your response is: “My mistake. I will get it corrected for you.” You be the change agent. You take the lead.

Recently, I was with the CEO of a company who commented how they dropped a major supplier. The supplier was an integral part of this company’s business. They dropped the supplier because the account manager they were working with was always making excuses and passing blame. The CEO shared how he knew mistakes happen and it was part of doing business in their industry.  But what he was most concerned with was the attitude of the account manager and others. Each time an issue arose, blame was quickly assigned to some obscure person or department. Switching suppliers was not an easy decision, but it became a have to due to a lack of accountability and ownership. Leadership is ownership of the good and the bad.

How effective are you at leading yourself? As you enter into the new year, please ensure your goals are in place for next year and you have a personal plan to achieve them.  To help you get off on the right foot, I’ve put together a Master Class focusing on, ‘Setting and Achieving Goals and Mapping Your Plan for Success in the New Year.’  I feel it’s important for you to take advantage of it! It is $197 and if you’re committed to 2019, you’ll view the investment in your leadership as cheap.

To gain access to the Master Class content and ensure you are preparing yourself for 2019 and beyond, check out the Master Class: https://lp.thesaleshunter.com/order-mc

Are you planning a sales kick-off meeting for 2019? If so, give me a call and let’s talk about how I can help your team not just achieve 2019 goals, but blow past them. I still have some available dates, so call and we will make it happen. Sales is not a solo activity. Sales is a team sport. Let’s make your team the best it can be. You can call me at 402-445-2110.

Great Selling!

Mark Hunter, CSP

The Sales Hunter

mark@thesaleshunter.com

Thank You For the Privilege to Share With You the Past Year

I can’t say thank you enough. I am grateful for the opportunity to share my insights on sales, business and life. I count it an honor and I take it very seriously, because I know how important your time is. My hope is that what I share has and will continue to help you grow professionally and personally.

Looking ahead, my biggest goal is to be more insightful in my blog posts and articles. I want to be able to share useful messages with each and every one of you, messages that will leave you thinking. The list of topics is long, but I would still love for it to grow as you share topics with me, too. Let me know if you have a topic!

I hope and trust that you have your goals in place for next year. I’ve been working on mine for some time. Trust me, they’re big! And honestly, the biggest one of all is being able to help you. My constant goal is to be able to greatly influence and impact others.

Let’s learn from one another this next year. I’ll learn from you, you’ll learn from me and collectively we will both be better off. It’s hard to believe how quickly 2018 flew by! 2019 is right around the corner and will pass just as fast, so don’t waste a day. Make 2019 your best year yet!

Thank you once again, and please keep in touch. I’ll be right here all year long.

 

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

Copyright 2018, 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: Is Being Average Hurting You?

Is being willing to be average doing anything for you? When we allow ourselves to settle for average, we are saying we will never achieve greatness. Average is the bane of greatness. If something is worth doing, then isn’t it worth doing at a level worthy of greatness?

Check out this short video to see what I mean:

Are you planning a sales kick-off meeting for 2019?  If so, give me a call and let’s talk about how I can help your team not just achieve 2019 goals, but blow past them.  I still have some available dates, so call and we will make it happen.  Sales is not a solo activity. Sales is a team sport. Let’s make your team the best it can be. You can call me at 402-445-2110 or email me: Mark@TheSalesHunter.com.

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

Copyright 2018, 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