Mark Harris Outlines How Helping and Teaching Always Beats Sales

<p>Mark Harris went from selling books door-to-door in 1994 to one of the most effective rainmakers at Guardian Life Insurance and he shares the exact framework he used to become great at business development. Learn about the difference between following up on a work level versus an emotional level and why an emotional connection always wins, how to create small wins every single day that snowball into big accomplishments, and why doing business development right leads to happiness and long-term success.</p> <p> </p> <p>Mo asks Mark Harris: Tell me a story of when you realized that you needed to focus on business development.</p> <ul> <li>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.</li> <li>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.</li> <li>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.</li> <li>He also learned that he needed to create little wins throughout the day to manage his energy and motivation.</li> <li>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.</li> <li>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.</li> <li>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.</li> <li>By breaking the process into each individual piece, Mark created a series of small wins that were under his control.