The Bunnell Idea Group founder and CEO visited Elon on Nov. 4 as part of the Chandler Family Professional Sales Center Speaker Series.
Mo Bunnell, founder and CEO of Bunnell Idea Group (BIG), gave an overview of his book, “The Snowball System: How to Win More Business and Turn Clients into Raving Fans,” focusing on how to manage relationships, opportunities and oneself during his presentation to Elon students on Nov. 4.
In terms of managing relationships, Bunnell explained the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument, which is used to decode the structure of the brain between emotional, value individuals versus analytical, logical ones. Bunnell said it is important to, “learn what the other side thinks and how they prefer to receive information and make decisions so that we can talk about what we are going to propose in a way that they would love.”
He also shared his “path to a raving fan,” which starts out with a target relationship then moves to acquaintance, curious skeptic, new client, solid working relationship, trusted advisor, and finally, ends in a raving fan through improving likeability and authority. Companies should write down their top 10 most important relationships necessary for success and know where they are along the path, Bunnell said. It is necessary to always be investing in these relationships in order for them to progress.
Bunnell then moved on to managing one’s opportunities, advising students when selling to someone, it is important to give them the “birthday experience,” meaning making it all about them – asking about their goals and what they want to accomplish, and then saying what you can do for them.
In order to accomplish this, Bunnell outlined four steps:
- Listen and learn about the company and its goals.
- Create curiosity, which appeals to the pleasure center of the brain when people talk about their own opinions and thoughts.
- Build everything together, which deals with selling ideas such as goals, process, team, and investment.
- Gain approval, which comes easy if the three prior steps are followed.
Additionally, Bunnell shared three steps to help in managing oneself. The first step is to set goals. There is a strong correlation with goal setting and prior performance and Bunnell suggested that writing down goals that are slightly out of one’s reach. The second step is to celebrate incremental progress. Science shows that the happiest most successful people in the world are people that do not just celebrate the big wins, but those that celebrate getting tasks done on a daily and weekly basis. Thirdly, is to build psychological momentum, which is done by not rushing to do the maximum effort, but building up goals over time.
Writing is an important tool for managing oneself, Bunnell shared. He suggested writing down the opportunities that one has and one’s most important relationships, and reviewing these lists once a week to help figure out what to do.
When asked what the best piece of advice that suck with him throughout his professional career, Bunnell answered someone once told him something along the lines of, “A great sale might make your year, but great relationships will make your career,” and that has perpetuated into the work he does today.
Bunnell’s final piece of advice and closing statement was: “Don’t be the drifting person that just lets life happen to you. Don’t be a driven type because you will succeed here and fail there. Be the design person that will commit to what you want your life to be like and every single week just make little incremental progress and ultimately you will be able to change the world in the way that you are meant to change the world.”
Bunnell helps organizations grow by teaching their highest performers how to bring in more clients and more revenue. Over the course of his career he’s worked in every area of business development and used this knowledge and experience to build the GrowBIG business development system, resulting from years of testing and peer-reviewed research into why people buy and what makes the buying process happen faster, in greater volume, and with more enjoyment. BIG has trained nearly 15,000 seller-experts in various roles all over the world—working solo, in high-end professional service firms, and in large, global Fortune 500 companies, including Aetna, Sotheby’s and TransUnion.
The presentation was hosted by the Chandler Family Professional Sales Center and part of the center’s speaker series.