by Mike Brunel | Oct 12, 2021 | Sales
Throughout my recent posts, my message has been: hire the wrong person and it’s going to cost you money…Heaps! Simple really.
The old chestnut ‘Hire attitude and then train’, in this brave new world of data and measurements, is an old belief.
Don’t get me wrong, a good attitude makes a difference, but traits or behaviours are key, in my view.
These were our main trait preferences:
- Able to work on their own
- Good prospector
- Motivated by the Challenge
- Understood what we did and how to sell it- then got on with it
- Good people person
- Curious
- And many more.
How did we know:
We put all our people through the hoops that we talked about in previous posts. Then, after searching high and low, discovered an assessment to find those traits. ( LINK to FREE report)
This product provided us with a comprehensive objective assessment of a potential salesperson’s core character traits, and how they relate to success in a competitive sales position.
Simply put, it assessed how natural a fit to a sales career would be for this person.
Download my FREE report to learn more, or email me… mike@mikebrunel.com
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. His products and services are now sold in 23 countries and in 11 languages generating $350 million annually in sales for his clients. Mike sold the company in 2015 and now spends his time following his passions which include rugby, travel. His promise: “I can find thousands of dollars in your business within minutes – GUARANTEED” TRY ME!
by Mike Brunel | Oct 5, 2021 | Sales, Strategy
What not to do when Hiring Salespeople.
Hire in your own likeness- A potential salesperson comes in to meet with you, and within a short time you have hit it off, you may have even shared some key rapport-building facts about each other.
Of all the applicants that you have spoken with, this one is the one that you like the most. Your gut feels great, you like him, he reminds you of a younger you. You hire you.
Now you might be the best salesperson in your business, but if you want to grow, you better make sure that you do more than just hire on your gut.
It’s a good feeling to have, but there are other factors that come into play.
Fill a hole, find a salesperson.
This is a big mistake that I see all the time. Hiring under stress. As the saying goes “Hire slowly Fire quickly.” As a business owner, we do feel the pressure of getting a position filled.
Maybe, as a Sales Manager, you may feel the pressure to fill the quota and get the sales back on track. It’s natural that you push them through quickly. I have been guilty of this myself until I learned that hiring to fill a hole is a recipe for failure. How do you learn? Watching that money flush down the “you know what”!
“No one can sell as well as you do”
This one is a beauty. You are afraid to hire because they might just not be as good as you. I remember taking on a position of Sales Manager in a company, to find that the amazing sales manager I replaced had all the top clients, held onto them, and starved the team of success.
No one could sell like him I was told. Well, guess what? When I gave some of his clients to the other members of the team, the business never looked back.
If your business is going well and you want to grow, this attitude will stop you in your tracks.
Growth only comes in a business if you are prepared to hire more ‘how’ people that can free you up to help you make better decisions around what you are good at.
I can pretty much guarantee my clients a foolproof way to multiply their business tenfold. Hire more people to do the how and you do what you get excited about.
Those are the big three mistakes that business owners make when it comes to hiring salespeople.
Download my FREE report to learn more, or email me… mike@mikebrunel.com
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. His products and services are now sold in 23 countries and in 11 languages generating $350 million annually in sales for his clients. Mike sold the company in 2015 and now spends his time following his passions which include rugby, travel. His promise: “I can find thousands of dollars in your business within minutes – GUARANTEED” TRY ME!
by Mike Brunel | Sep 28, 2021 | Sales, Strategy
How to hire a Superstar Salesperson each and every time
Today, I released my free report on How to Hire a Superstar Salesperson each and every time.
To coincide with releasing this free report, I wanted to share some of my thoughts around how I have hired salespeople and some key takeaways I have learned, through good and bad hires.
Who is this for?
It’s for any business owner, Sales Manager, or a startup who needs to hire a salesperson who is rewarded by a salary and performance-based performance-based
If you’ve ever hired any salespeople, like I have, you’ve usually made or have made one of these mistakes.
Just so you know, I’m fully qualified to be writing about this stuff – I’ve hired, fired, coached, or managed hundreds of salespeople, over too many years to remember, in many different countries and languages.
It’s fair to say that I’ve been through the school of hard knocks.
I hired magnificent salespeople beginning with one wonderful amazing woman, a single mum, who through sheer hard work and effort exceeded her targets in her job as a sales manager in a small media company in New Zealand.
With my main business, I was lucky to find two brothers for my U.S. operation who brought in millions of dollars.
These two superstars have certain traits, talents, and habits, that we knew would leverage our sales systems worldwide, if we could duplicate their process…. which we did.
As a result, I noticed traits in these people, secrets that I always look for. I think I know by now, what they are.
Before I go into that, let’s talk about two of the mistakes that we often make, when we go to hire salespeople.
What not to do
What’s the cost of Hiring Badly?
Think about these stats for a moment. According to a Harvard Business review article, the cost of replacing a salesperson that was hired badly ranges from $75,000 to $90,000, while other sales positions can cost a company as much as $300,000.
These figures don’t reflect the lost sales while a replacement is found and trained.
One of my good friends who owns a telecommunication company has told me a bad hire for him costs a least $1 million over time.
That’s horrendous. This may not change as we enter this new world of communication. As a company or small business, you simply cannot afford to hire on gut alone.
Is Fit Important? Maybe.
A culture fit in any business is important, there’s no doubt about that, but what you need to discover firstly is “Does this person have the ability/talent to do the job?”
That is the underlying question that needs to be asked by you as an employer of salespeople.
In the next blog, I am going to cover off some of the common mistakes that we made when we hired a salesperson for our business.
Download my FREE report to learn more, or email me… mike@mikebrunel.com
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. His products and services are now sold in 23 countries and in 11 languages generating $350 million annually in sales for his clients. Mike sold the company in 2015 and now spends his time following his passions which include rugby, travel. His promise: “I can find thousands of dollars in your business within minutes – GUARANTEED” TRY ME!
by Mike Brunel | Sep 7, 2021 | Sales
The Fast and the Furious: Sales Edition
Have you heard of Speed Selling?
It’s a great way to launch a company, and I have participated in it several times.
Over the years, it has become more sophisticated, and my old company, NRS Media, (since sold) has fine-tuned it to launch a brand new media company into profit from day one. I’ll delve more into that idea later.
How a small town radio station became the birthplace of Speed Selling.
My first experience with Speed Selling was at a part-time radio station in a small town with a population of 15,000 people.
As FM radio developed in my country, many potential operators were given temporary licenses to run 90-day radio stations, usually in tourist towns.
The potential bidder who was proposing a full-time license used this temporary 90-day station concept to build credibility and see if a format they used would be accepted by the community. If they did, they were granted a full-time FM license.
Each salesperson was given a specific “show to sell,” such as the “Top Ten at Ten,” the “American Top 40 with Rick Dees,” sponsorships, and any generic music program that could be sold off for 90 days.
The trick was that there was no set price on the program, just a guideline.
The sales rep could not go below the number, but they could go above it. The highest price got the sale, and the sales manager was the final judge.
The competition was held for an hour for each show, and each rep had to go out and cold call, sell the product, and get the client to sign an agreement with the time and price they were prepared to pay. If the price was acceptable to the sales manager, the rep got the next sale, and off they went with a 15-minute bonus.
The other reps had to sit around for 15 minutes before they could go out and sell the next program. It proved very successful and loads of fun.
How Bootcamps Helped NRS Media salespeople become confident and Effective.
One to Many is another tool for Speed Sell.
This idea built my previous company NRS Media from zero sales to $350 million annually.
It was a seminar-based model where business owners were invited to a hotel to hear the latest trends and ideas on advertising.
Usually, there were groups of 15-20 advertisers. At the end of the presentation, every attendee was offered an advertising package, usually a 12-month investment. On average, we could generate $600-$1 million in sales using this model over a week!
Taking action and speed in selling is very important.
How Bootcamps Helped NRS Media Salespeople Become Confident and Effective.
Often the one ingredient missing is training, which cannot be ignored.
I wrote all the sales and marketing manuals (playbooks) at NRS Media and perfected the execution, but without our famous Bootcamps, our people would never have had the success they achieved.
(I am going to expand on the power of Bootcamps in a future blog. )
Training is the one neglected tool that gets you the most sales.
Many companies ignore it because it takes time, but as the saying goes, “We could not afford not to do it.”
In conclusion, Speed Selling is an effective way to sell products and launch a company. It can be adapted to any business if you have a product launch that requires speed. There are a few more Speed Selling ideas that I would love to share, so find a way to sell more of your stuff.
As always.
Find a way to sell more of your stuff….
Mike (speed sell ) Brunel
PLUS, whenever you are ready…here are four ways I can help you grow YOUR business.
My favourite thing to do is show you what’s working right now. It’s not as good as being a client, but it’s close.
2. Take advantage of a FREE 45-minute consultation
Need some sales support? Make an appointment, and let me take you through the past, present, and future templates.
3. Work with me one-on-one
If you are wanting to take your product or service from face-to-face to virtual selling, then I have a product that may be able to help you. You can get started for as little as $250 a month. If you’re interested then email mike@mikebrunel.com and put ‘Virtual Selling’ in the subject line…tell me a little about your business and I’ll get you all the details.
Mike
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. His products and services are now sold in 23 countries and in 11 languages generating $350 million annually in sales for his clients. Mike sold the company in 2015 and now spends his time following his passions which include rugby, travel. His promise: “I can find thousands of dollars in your business within minutes – GUARANTEED” TRY ME
by Mike Brunel | Aug 31, 2021 | Leadership, Sales
Start a Conversation with Yourself
A successful sales relationship hinges on the ongoing conversation you have with your customer. The dialogue starts, strangely enough, with the conversation you have with yourself.
You can listen to others more effectively when you know how to listen to yourself. I first learned this years ago at that first media company job.
They sent me to a conference in Houston, Texas. I had just come out of a long-term relationship and to be totally honest, I felt a little bit lost.
I remember sitting in a hotel room and coming across an infomercial featuring a very youthful Tony Robbins promoting something he called “Personal Power.”
I was intrigued enough to buy what Robbins was selling. When I got back to New Zealand, there was a box waiting for me with Tony’s signature on it.
Love of Knowledge.
I devoured the material; it re-ignited my love of knowledge and showed me how to improve my outlook and my self-talk.
I did all the exercises and kept a journal. One skill I learned was how to ask quality questions of myself. It started with questions recorded in a journal and culminated in a completely new focus that brought better results. The disparity in the quality of people’s lives often comes down to the difference in the questions they consistently ask.
You prime your mental computer to look for a particular type of answer. If you’re asking, “What’s wrong with me,” your mind will come up with an answer—you are stupid or you don’t deserve to do well.
On the flip side, if you ask questions like “How can I take this experience and use it to contribute to others’ lives,” your brain will come up with much more constructive answers.
You will be able to see the path forward, rather than feeling like you have reached a dead end.
Conversation Questions to help your Self Talk
Here are some examples from my long-ago journal:
• What am I happy about in my life right now?
• What about that makes me happy and how does it
make me feel?
• What am I most excited about in my life right now?
• What makes me excited?
• What am I grateful for in my life?
• What am I committed to in my life right now?
Conversations Matter.
Asking these questions helped me see clearly how positive questions lead to a growth mindset, which leads to better results down the road. When you think in terms of constructive, positive questions, your brain goes off and works on
them even when you’re not thinking about the answers consciously.
For example, consider the difference between “Why does this always happen to me?” and “How can I learn from
this experience?” They are simply worlds apart in terms of choosing your next step.
Develop a pattern of questions that empower you. If you seek a shift in your life, make this part of your daily routine.
Over time, asking these types of questions changes how you question your clients.
Have fun selling your stuff.
Mike Brunel started Mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. His products and services are now sold in 23 countries and in 11 languages generating $250 million annually in sales for his clients. Mike sold the company in 2015 and now spends his time following his passions which include rugby, travel. His promise: “I can find thousands of dollars in your business within minutes – GUARANTEED” TRY ME OUT!
by Mike Brunel | Aug 17, 2021 | Sales
Reducing your business expenses is easier than you think
A leading manufacturing company based in Japan is said to have saved a quarter of a million dollars just by turning off the lights.
The company ran a competition with a reward asking people to answer this question:
How can we save money in our company without damaging, effecting or interrupting the day to day operation of the business?
It’s as simple as flicking a switch
The staff at the company embarked on a weeklong program in groups from senior management right down to the factory workers. Once the final entries were collated the prize went to one of the lowest paid workers.
Their suggestion was simple: turn all the lights out in the computer room and factory where automatic robots assembled parts for major components. The worker was awarded 20 percent of those first savings as their reward.
The solution is right in front of you
Sometimes the best solution to a problem was right in front of you the whole time. The answer doesn’t always need to be complicated and simpler is often better. Management doesn’t exclusively have the answers so put your problem to all your employee’s. You might be blown away by the responses from you lower-skilled departments.
Happy selling everyone!
Mike
About the Author:
Mike Brunel started Mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in
London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota.
His products and services are now sold in 23 countries and in 11 languages
generating $250 million annually in sales for his clients. Mike sold the company in 2015 and now spends his time following his passions which include rugby, travel. His promise: “I can find thousands of dollars in your business within minutes – GUARANTEED” TRY ME OUT!
