by Mike Brunel | Mar 7, 2023 | Leadership, Sales, Strategy
If you’ve read my last few posts. You’ll see that I’ve been discussing the mistakes business owners make ( I have made every one of them- no kidding!) when it comes to getting the right salesperson on your team.
I want to give you as much value as possible, so here are three essential hoops (as I call them) that you might want to consider when it comes to employing new salespeople.
Structure Not Gut
Hoop 1- Company Culture Fit
Company Culture– While we believe that fitting in with the company culture is essential, as demonstrated in the graph on our FREE report, it makes up only 10%.
Don’t get too caught up in ensuring this is a significant part of recruiting.
Create a good job description.
This is a critical factor in hiring good salespeople. When you advertise for a salesperson, what do you ask?
How do you define the role? What are you looking for? What is the remuneration?
*Chet Holmes, one of my early mentors, always did this exercise when advertising for super salespeople.
Write down three initiatives that you would love to hire someone to do in your business.
Three only. Next to each one, do this:
What would it mean to your business?
How would it change your business?
Now list what you could afford to pay such people if they performed.
Do the exercise. This forms the foundation of a good job description.
Hoop 2- Structuring an interview – History of Success.
Once you get the CV’s for the position, look for a history of success. Somewhere, you can see a challenge, a life experience they overcame.
Structuring an interview- A structured interview process makes up 30% or a third of the process (FREE report). That’s a lot. In your structured interview, you should have some questions to ask after reading the CV. Here are a few to start with.
How do you function as a team?
How do you feel about operating in a team environment?
Do you like working on your outside of that team?
Can you tell me when you were asked to do a project independently? What was it?
These questions might get the process moving.
Challenge the candidate– You are hiring salespeople to do a specific job. Human beings inherently will do anything to avoid pain. However, in the business of selling, rejection is part of what selling is, and it can be painful.
If everyone got 100% of the business every time they presented a product, the salesperson would be out of business.
If you are hiring a salesperson to sell your product and prospecting is part of that, would you not at least ask them, “What happens when you get a ‘ No!’ – How do you react?”
Ask them this, and see what happens: “ You know what, I’m not convinced you are the right person for this job.” Observe their reaction. Do they sit there? Or do they do something that indicates they might do the same with a client?
Hoop 3- Assessment Tools
This also makes up 30% of the job evaluation- We take a lot of guidance from these types of assessments and go into more detail here: Download my FREE report. We used to call these the B.S. detector.
We carried these assessments out in my company specifically for the roles we were looking for, in salary and performance-based positions.
Our salespeople had to work alone. We had salespeople sprinkled worldwide, usually unmanaged, working in an unstructured environment.
We had to be clear on what we were looking for. That’s where traits/ behaviours come into play. We knew we had to hire for the task, not just the attitude.
In my next post, I explain what I look for in a salesperson and how I came to that.
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, and expanded it into a global media sales and training powerhouse. He 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 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, including rugby and travel. His promise: “I can find thousands of dollars in your business within minutes – GUARANTEED” TRY ME!
by Mike Brunel | Feb 14, 2023 | Leadership, Strategy
£25 and a Dream
Down under the under, a term I used to tell my American clients to describe where New Zealand was to Australia.
This time of year is a chance to reflect on the year thus far.
It’s a chance to reflect on what makes this part of the world special.
And why I think that we Kiwis are a clever bunch of people regarding innovation and following our dreams. (Even if I say so myself)
Every year down under the under, most of us get to take a few weeks away to enjoy our summer. I get to go to a family beach house I have been going to for 20 odd years.
Most of my partner’s family have been going to this part of the world much longer, probably three generations.
The beach is a five-minute walk; it’s a daily ritual with two children and Maude, the dog.
Part of the summer holidays is reading; I usually find fiction an easy read about not much.
Kind of takes your minds off things if you can sprinkle that with the odd nonfiction; it gives you some balance.
Those that have read some of my thoughts on goal setting know that I am not big on doing these in the New Year… I tend to set them at different times of the year, so they overlap.
I was looking through some of my posts from years ago, and I came across this one, £25 and a Dream.
I always look at and add some more thoughts to the story around this time of year.
It’s essential, I think, in this day and age when our young folk think that they are the only pioneers of entrepreneurship, that we did have trailblazers paving the way, with as much passion and determination dating back a year or two.
Over the last two years, Covid has taken away our young ones yearning for travel; this story is a good reminder to dust off the travel bug and explore again.
To the post, one of the books I read on my summer holiday a few years back was: “Only Two Seats Left”, the story about Contiki.
Its author and Contiki founder, John Anderson, blends his autobiography and tales of travel into a great read its New Zealand’s great untold business stories.
A story about a company that started on just £25 pounds and became a worldwide travel company.
For those that do not know about Contiki, it’s a travel company for the 18-35-year-olds.
You can explore Europe and other parts of the world with other young people your age. Many friendships are formed that have lasted years. He says that he thinks the company is responsible for over 5000 marriages.
It impacted so many young people, and these are told in this great read.
There are also some great lessons we could all take note of if we are in sales,
I will explore a few with you with a few revamped posts and lessons I learned from John’s book.
PLUS: WHENEVER YOU’RE READY…
- Here are 4 ways I can help you make more sales in your business – whether your business is big or small.1. Want to become a Sales Mindset Blueprint Member? You get access to an exclusive coaching session with me and full access to my sales programme every month. Get the deets here.
- Try the new ‘7 Days to Sales Success’ framework. Make more sales in 7 days. The framework of everything you need to start making more sales in your business. The Sales Success Framework is based on a simple 7-day challenge. Click here to find out how you can grow your business by increasing sales.
- Join our private Facebook group – The Sales Mindset Inner Circle. Get all the latest up to date sales ideas. Every week we do Facebook Live updates on all things sales. Tips, ideas, free coaching, and much more. Join me by clicking here
- Work with me one-on-one. If you’re a small or large business owner or in professional services, you might have a few strategies, tactics and tools away from doubling your lead flow, revenue and impact. Jump on a FREE 15-minute brainstorming call with me by clicking here.
Good Selling
Mike Brunel
by Mike Brunel | Jan 16, 2023 | Strategy
Six Obstacles Preventing You from Achieving Your Goals at Media Sales (Part 2)
In my last post, I talked about what I thought might be obstacles to achieving my goals for the past 12 months.
Here they are again.
- The goal might have been too much of a stretch.
- I did not give myself a realistic time to achieve it.
- I did not allocate the right time and resources to make it happen.
- I was not committed emotionally to it.
- I did not WORK AT IT WITH THE SAME PASSION AS THE ONES I ACHIEVED.
- I did not monitor it.
I hope to set big goals using these solutions by changing my mindset a little this year.
- The goal might have been too much of a stretch – Maybe it’s just working out a way to simplify it. Instead of saying, “I’m going to generate 50% more in sales for 2023”, why not say “, 25% in first 6 months, balance for the rest of the year.” It’s perhaps just as simple as chunking it down.
- I did not give myself a realistic time to achieve it – I set up small time frames, I might have expected to achieve it sooner, and when I realized that I did not have a show of getting it, perhaps I should have stopped and re-evaluated it.
- I did not allocate the right time and resources to make it happen. Set time aside to work on that specific goal. Even if it is only an hour at a time.
- I was not committed emotionally to it – get involved; if you are not committed, then it’s not a goal; it’s a wish.
- I did not WORK AT THE GOAL WITH THE SAME PASSION AS THE ONES I DID ACHIEVE- This is where you chunk it down if your goal is to have 5 new clients a month and you are finding that challenging, then scope it back to 2.
- I did not monitor it- Keep a journal. I got a great tip from an article I read on running up a journal of what you do each week. Just a summary. I use these headings –What I am grateful for, What opportunities I see- What I did- What I will do that week.
In my next article, I will talk about my one-hour-a-day idea.
Until then.
MIke (Goals are dreams on paper) Brunel
P.S.
Are you a salesperson? Probably – but not everyone here is. This is just for working salespeople among us.
Are you struggling to grow your clientele, ask the right questions, be better at presentations, build rapport quickly with your clients, close deals, and get real sales leads?
I used to be like that, but then I stopped doing the stuff that everyone else did and stopped vomiting over my clients and telling them how wonderful I was. I changed my own game.
Put yourself on a different level. It’s not more complicated. It’s not more work than you already do, and it pays way more.
I’m offering everyone here in my group a Free Coaching Call. It’s recorded and can go on as long as you need to get the best value.
The only condition is you invest in my Sales Blueprint Foundation Offer. Limited to the first 10 in my group.
Let me help you kick off 2023.
Here is the link…
https://www.thesalesmindsetblueprint.com/SMB-Course
Thanks!
PLUS: WHENEVER YOU’RE READY…
Here are 3 ways I can help you make more sales in your business – whether your business is big or small.
1. Try the new 7 Days to Sales Success Framework.
Make More Sales in 7 days. The framework of everything you need to start making more sales in your business. The Sales Success Framework is based on a simple 7-day challenge. Click here to find out how you can grow your business by increasing sales.
2. Join our Private Facebook Group – The Salesmindset Inner Circle. Get all the latest up-to-date sales ideas.
Every week we do Facebook Live updates on all things sales. Tips, ideas, free coaching, and much more. Join me by clicking here.
3. Work with me One-on-One.
If you’re a small or large business owner or in professional services, you might have a few strategies, tactics and tools away from doubling your lead flow, revenue and impact. Please jump on a FREE 15-minute Brainstorm call with me by clicking here.
Have fun selling your stuff in 2023.
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 OUT!
by Mike Brunel | Jan 9, 2023 | Strategy
Six Obstacles Preventing You from Achieving Your Goals in 2023.
As the year begins, I want to talk about the “thing” that gets in the way of you achieving your goals.
The holiday break is a great time to reflect on my achievements for the year and look towards the next 12 months.
Once I go through the goals I have achieved and assess where my success came from, I go about setting new goals for the coming year.
I make sure that I pat myself on the back and congratulate myself for the goals I have achieved.
Whenever I do this, the question always comes up “How come I achieved some goals while others were not?”
They were all important to me, or I would not have written them down in the first place.
No matter how much I tried to reach those goals, for some reason, they eluded me.
What did I learn?
- The goal might have been too much of a stretch.
- I did not give myself a realistic time to achieve it.
- I did not allocate the right time and resources to make it happen.
- I was not committed emotionally to it.
- I did not WORK AT IT WITH THE SAME PASSION AS THE ONES I ACHIEVED.
- I did not monitor it.
In my next article, I hope to give you some of the solutions to help overcome these obstacles to get you off to a good start in 2023.
Until then
Have fun selling your stuff in 2023.
P.S.
Are you a salesperson? Probably – but not everyone here is. This is just for working salespeople among us.
Are you struggling to grow your clientele, ask the right questions, be better at presentations, build rapport quickly with your clients, close deals, and get genuine sales leads?
I used to be like that, but then I stopped doing the stuff that everyone else did and stopped vomiting over my clients and telling them how wonderful I was. I changed my own game.
Put yourself on a different level. It’s not more complicated. It’s not more work than you already do, and it pays way more.
I’m offering everyone here in my group a Free Coaching Call. It’s recorded and can go on as long as you need to get the best value.
The only condition is you invest in my Sales Blueprint Foundation Offer. Limited to the first 10 in my group.
Let me help you kick off 2023.
Here is the link…
– https://www.thesalesmindsetblueprint.com/course
PLUS: Whenever you’re ready…
Here are 3 ways I can help you make more sales in your business – whether your business is big or small.
1. Try the new 7 Days to Sales Success Framework.
Make more sales in 7 days. The framework of everything you need to start making more sales in your business. The Sales Success Framework is based on a simple 7-day challenge. Click here to find out how you can grow your business by increasing sales.
2. Join our Private Facebook Group – The Salesmindset Inner Circle. Get all the latest up-to-date sales ideas.
Every week we do Facebook Live updates on all things sales. Tips, ideas, free coaching, and much more. Join me by clicking here.
3. Work with me One-on-One.
If you’re a small or large business owner or in professional services, you might have a few strategies, tactics and tools away from doubling your lead flow, revenue and impact. Jump on a FREE 15-minute Brainstorm call with me by clicking here.
by Mike Brunel | Dec 5, 2022 | Sales, Strategy
80%……….Of all sales made after the fifth call
48%……….Of all salespeople, call once and quit
25%……….Call twice and quit
10%……….Keep on calling
These statistics are close to the mark in all selling forms, be it a service or product you sell.
I think that we all know…
SALES DON’T JUST HAPPEN.
I have created a diagram to illustrate the real-time that your buyer is available to sell to.
Just email me at mikebrunel.com for a copy.
Why do many salespeople thrive when others do not? Here are some ongoing practices I observe every day.
1. Always add to your pipeline.
Not continuously adding to your pipeline is often a mistake that salespeople make once they have established a solid ongoing sales funnel. If you continue to add to your sales pipeline, then if that long-established client decides that this month they will not buy this, then it does not matter because you have more potential opportunities in your pipeline.
If you are always taking the position of helping and assisting your client, then your pipeline will increase. If you are only filling up your pipeline when you are desperate, many clients will sense that, and you will come across as desperate.
2. Never assume they need you.
I have noticed that many salespeople leave a message with a client or a voicemail, and they think it ends there. They think they have done what they had to and then move on. Depending on your relationship with that client, they may or may not call you back. If you want to do business with them, you have to plan that call and decide the ongoing strategy to get the person to respond. Create a proactive message for them to call you back.
3. Sales potty training.
For those that may have had young children, there was a time when you had to train them to go to the toilet. In my experience (a while ago), I always used to say, “Pee or get off the pot”. In other words, make a decision. There will be times when you have to make a decision to get off the pot.
Some clients need to be let go. You need to figure out whether a prospect is serious about working with you. A promising pipeline is full of qualified prospects, not “tyre kickers.”
All pipeline activities have to support your key messages, and understanding who your client is and where they play is vital to successful sales.
Good selling
Mike
PLUS: Whenever you’re ready…
Here are 3 ways I can help you make more sales in your business – whether your business is big or small.
1. Try the new 7 Days to Sales Success Framework.
Make More Sales in 7 days. The framework of everything you need to start making more sales in your business. The Sales Success Framework is based on a simple 7-day challenge. Click here to find out how you can grow your business by increasing sales.
2. Join our Private Facebook Group – The Salesmindset Inner Circle. Get all the latest up-to-date sales ideas.
Every week we do Facebook Live updates on all things sales. Tips, ideas, free coaching, and much more. Join me by clicking here.
3. Work with me One-on-One.
If you’re a small or large business owner or in professional services, you might have a few strategies, tactics and tools away from doubling your lead flow, revenue and impact. Jump on a FREE 15-minute Brainstorm call with me by click here.
by Mike Brunel | Oct 31, 2022 | Strategy
In our blog last week, we talked about keeping the client talking and asking questions that opened up a conversation.
Are you Asking Open-Ended Questions?
One way to do this is to ask open-ended questions. What are open-ended questions?
Definition: Open-ended questions are ones that require more than one-word answers. The answers could come in a list, a few sentences, a clarification, or more information about a need.
Asking questions that require more than a Yes or No Answer. Here are some open-ended questions: Ask these this way and see what happens.
Q: What do you expect from your salesperson?
Q: When they answer, ask them to be more specific. Q: Or ask this question.
Q: If you could describe what you wanted, how would you do that?
Q: How did you go about purchasing your last product like this one?
Q: What is the matter with the current product you have?
Q: Can you tell me what you are specifically looking for?
Q: Do you like red, pink, or blue in that product?
Q: Would you like it delivered to you on Monday or Thursday?
Q: Why do you like that pink colour?
Every question here requires more than a No or a Yes. This is why open-ended questions require lengthier responses than close-ended questions. They also allow you to move away from a simple price negotiation.
If you can train yourself to ask more questions and your client is talking, it gives you time to look for clues. Clues are problems; problems require a solution.
Next week we look at some great advice on practice.
Have a great week selling your stuff.
Mike
Have a great week, and talk soon.
PLUS, whenever you are ready…here are ways I can help you grow YOUR business.
1. Join my free Facebook group
My favourite thing is to 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? Please make an appointment, and let me take you through the past, present, and future templates.
3. Work with me one-on-one.
If you want 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, 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.
