Mark Harris on Helping and Teaching – Time To Get Great At Business Development

Mo asks Mark Harris: Tell me a story of when you realized that you needed to focus on business development.

• Mark takes us back to the summer of 1994 when he took on a job selling books door-to-door, a path that some of the most successful rainmakers have followed.
• It started off as a way to make more money than working at the local McDonald’s but it became a skill that Mark learned he could get better at.
• All skills are both learned and earned. Mark was initially not good at sales at all and after 12 hours of hearing no, he decided to flip his approach and try to make a connection with the person first.
• He also learned that he needed to create little wins throughout the day to manage his energy and motivation.
• The steps to a purchase are the same no matter what you’re selling. Connect with the person first and find out if you can solve their needs.
• Mark also learned how to deal with his emotions at that time, and when he figured out how to do that he became a lot more relatable and fun to be around.
• That whole first summer was all about being more relatable to people immediately after meeting them. After a couple sales, Mark figured out what he was really providing people with, and it wasn’t a book. When he took the focus off the money and made it about helping the other person, the sale became much easier.
• By breaking the process into each individual piece, Mark created a series of small wins that were under his control. Even a rejection can be a learning experience.
• When you put yourself outside your comfort zone, you become more capable emotionally of handling the experience and more likely to overcome the next hurdle, and every hurdle you jump builds your confidence.
• Think about what you can do every single day to get you closer to your ultimate win. You don’t know when your next sale is going to happen, but if you can focus on what you can control it will happen.

Mentioned in this Episode:

GrowBIGPlaybook.com

Mark_C_Harris@glic.com

linkedin.com/in/mark-harris-9ba1b53