How to Find Better Leads That You Can Close at Full Price – in Just 7 Minutes with Mark Hunter

Check out episode
  • Find out how being client-centric and customization will dramatically make a difference in the outcomes you desire in there of your client acquisition and prospecting
  • Learn why you need to identify qualified leads, get in front of prospects with relevant messages, gain permission to ask challenging questions and provide high value
  • Learn new ideas to help you identify sales opportunities make an incredible impression so you can close clients at full-price

Resources/Links:

Summary

Mark Hunter is known as “The Sales Hunter”. He travels 200+ days per year speaking and consulting with companies. He is a LinkedIn Top Voice and a Top 30 Global Sales Guru. His book, High-Profit Prospecting has been ranked as one of the top 100 sales books written.

In this episode, Mark shares his expertise in helping clients find and retain better prospects they can close at full price.

Check out these episode highlights:

  • 02:29 – Mark talks about his ideal clients: Any salesperson or sales team that is struggling to find great prospects
  • 03:18 – Problem he helps solve: They wind up closing too many sales having to discount and not closing deals in its full-price
  • 03:32 – Typical symptoms that clients do before reaching out to Mark: They spend too much time negotiating
  • 05:09 – Mark’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): “You’re not selling anything. What you’re doing is you’re helping customers see and achieve something that they didn’t think was possible. Now how do you go about doing that? That’s by focusing on the outcome.”
  • 09:00 – Mark’s Valuable Free Resource(VFR): https://thesaleshunter.com/weekly-tips
  • 09:00 – Q: Why does salespeople have this high-profit prospecting problem, to begin with? Don’t they want to close at a full price? A: People get excited because they feel every lead is a good lead. Every lead is a great prospect. What you really want to be doing if you want to be able to qualify and eliminate. You want your prospects to earn the time, to spend time with you. What does that mean? That means you have fewer prospects but you’re spending more time with them. Spend more time with them, you create more value. Create more value, you close at full price.

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“Sell first, negotiate second.” -@thesaleshunter Click To Tweet
“If you understand better what the customer is looking for it’s amazing how little you have to negotiate.” -@thesaleshunter Click To Tweet
Spend more time with them, you create more value. Create more value, you close at full price.” -@thesaleshunter Click To Tweet

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Tom Poland: Hello everyone. A very warm welcome to another edition of Marketing the Invisible. My name is Tom Poland beaming out to as ever from, on the sand next to the waves a Little Castaways beach in Queensland Australia, joined today by Mark Hunter. Mark a very, very warm welcome. Where are you calling in from?

Mark Hunter: Well I’m calling in from Nebraska which is right in the middle of the United States.

Tom Poland: Yeah. So very close to me. So, for those of you don’t know Mark. He’s known as The Sales Hunter. He travels more than 200 days a year. Right now, we are keeping him from dinner with his wife which doesn’t happen that often I imagine. We’ll get straight to it. He’s speaking and consulting for those 200 plus days a year with some pretty big names, Kawasaki, Sony, BP, American Express, just to name a few. He’s a LinkedIn top voice. He’s a top 30 global sales guru. Top 30 in the world on his book high-profit prospecting is being ranked as one of the top 100 sales books ever written. So, it’s a real privilege and a pleasure to have you here. Mark, our title today is “How to Find Better Leads That You Can Close at Full Price” and Mark’s going to tell us how to do that in just seven minutes. Mark your seven minute starts now. Question number one, who is your ideal client?

Mark Hunter: Well, my ideal client is really any salesperson or sales team that is struggling to find great prospects because here’s the thing. So many times, companies wind up, salespeople wind up, with prospects that are nothing more than people with a heartbeat. What you want is you want that ideal prospect who matches up with the outcome that you can, you can deliver and where you can close them at a full price.

Tom Poland: Absolutely. So, question number two, six and a half minutes left. How would you describe the problem that your clients have before they get to you?

Mark Hunter: Well sure. This is the problem because they wind up closing too many sales having to discount. It’s a question I love to ask salespeople. Hey, how often do you have to discount your price to close a deal? “Ooh, ooh, too much! Wait, a lot!” I see and that’s because you’re starting off with the wrong prospect. Get the right prospect. You close at full price.

Tom Poland: Absolutely. Thank you. So, question number three, six minutes left. What are some of the typical symptoms that your ideal client would experience before they find your service?

Mark Hunter: Well a lack of profit. Simply going out of business. What I find happening, one of the symptoms is, people, sit there and say, “Well, you know, we’re gonna give them a discount this deal. And then, when they come back and buy more then we’ll be able to increase their price”. Bad idea. Because as soon as you give a lower price to somebody one time, guess what, that becomes the price they expect every time. If you don’t establish the right value from the beginning you have little chance of ever being successful. So that’s one of the big symptoms. The second big symptom is the fact that they just can’t close the deal. They can’t close the deal because they spent all their time negotiating. Again, because they failed to prospect properly.

Tom Poland: Right. Thank you. Very clear. Five minutes left and this is question number four. Some of the common mistakes that people make, they’re going to try and solve this problem of having to discount. They’re going to try to solve the problem of not hitting sales quota and targets etc… What are some of the mistakes their gonna make before they find you and high-profit prospecting?

Mark Hunter: One of the biggest mistakes they make is they spend far too much time negotiating. It’s interesting I have a line, “Sell first, negotiate second”. If you do a really good job of selling out. What is selling? That’s understanding what the customer is looking for. If you understand better what the customer is looking for it’s amazing how little you have to negotiate. So that clearly is one of the big problems that they have. The second big problem is the fact that they just have this sales pipeline that has just jammed up in the middle. They can’t get stuff to move because they want to put too much stuff into it but they don’t know how to pull it through the bottom. You know what, that’s a sewer pipe. What you want is a water tap, flows right through.

Tom Poland: Very nice. There’s not a, it’s not a pipeline at all. It’s a sewer pipe.

Mark Hunter: It is a sewer pipe. A backed-up sewer pipe.

Tom Poland: It sounds like one of the mistakes is that they’re putting more prospects, it really just suspects into that sewer pipe.

Mark Hunter: Ooh, no doubt they are suspects. You know they have a heartbeat. But you know I got a dog. My dog has a heartbeat. My dog’s not buying anything from me.

Tom Poland: And so you don’t like the plumber that comes along and unblocks the drain and start showing how to stick some decent prospects in that pipeline.

Mark Hunter: I am the plumber. It’s a little sticky pun. Ok, we’ll forget the puns. We’ll forget the puns.

Tom Poland: Not the, not the Watergate plumber. And those of you who are under 30 will probably not understand what that means but google it ok.

Mark Hunter: There you go.

Tom Poland: Just over three minutes left and we’re doing well on time. Question number five is what’s one valuable free action that an audience member can take that might not solve the whole problem, they might need you for that, but it’s going to help them take a step closer to solving it?

Mark Hunter: Well one of the best free things is, first of all, you’re not selling anything. You are not selling anything. What you’re doing is you’re helping customers see and achieve something that they didn’t think was possible. Now how do you go about doing that? That’s by focusing on the outcome. It’s amazing when you focus on the outcome that the customer is looking for. It’s amazing how they’ll begin to see the value. They’ll begin to see more reason and guess what, they will begin to realize that they are willing to pay you full price and even more because if I can help you solve the problem that you have and it’s a big enough problem you’ll pay me any amount of money for it. That’s what salespeople need to be focusing in on.

Tom Poland: So focus on the outcome and that comes back to your point before that this is predicated on having the right prospect.

Mark Hunter: Right. Because if you start off with the right prospect it’s amazing how much easier it is to move them through.

Tom Poland: Because your solution is aligned to the outcome that they’re seeking.

Mark Hunter: Right.

Tom Poland: Terrific. Thank you. Just under two minutes left. Question number six. What’s one valuable free action that you could direct people to that, sorry, valuable free resource that you could direct people to that’s going to help them a little more?

Mark Hunter: If you go out to my website “The Sales Hunter”. You know it is great when you get the last name “Hunter”, you got to use it. And yes, that’s my real last name, check the birth certificate. There’s a little piece up there, “free resources”. Tons and tons of things that people can grab and all website is just littered, I don’t want to say it’s plugged up because I’d be too much of a reference to a sewer pipe. We’ll just say it’s littered with all kinds of free things that you can grab.

Tom Poland: I’ve been there. There are blogs, there are weekly tips, there are eBooks, there are infographics. You name it, it’s their folks. So, get your digital butt over to www.thesaleshunter.com. Now we’ve got a whopping one-minute left, Mark. So, question number seven is, what is the one question I should have asked you but didn’t?

Mark Hunter: Well the one question that you should have asked is, “Why do salespeople have a problem with this to begin with because don’t they want to close at full price”. Let me, let me go ahead and answer because I know that was on your mind.

Tom Poland: It was. You’re right.

Mark Hunter: It was on your mind. Here’s the whole thing. People get excited because they feel every lead is a good lead. Every lead is a great prospect. No! You use the word suspect and it’s amazing. What you really want to be doing if you want to be able to qualify and eliminate. You want your prospects to earn the time, to spend time with you. What does that mean? That means you have fewer prospects but you’re spending more time with them. Spend more time with them, you create more value. Create more value, you close at full price.

Tom Poland: Less is more. Mark, I want to thank you so much for those words of wisdom.

Mark Hunter: Thank you. Great selling.

Tom Poland: Thanks for checking out our “Marketing the Invisible” podcast. If you like what we’re doing here, please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.

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