Mo Bunnell – GrowBIG Foundations

Do you remember the montage in the Karate Kid?

The master and the apprentice. The old man and the boy. “Wax on, wax off…” In a little over two minutes time, we see Daniel’s metamorphosis. No longer the aimless kid, he’s now respected and on his way to becoming an expert.

This hero’s journey is at the heart of most great stories. It’s a part of our cultural DNA.

Whether it’s sports, chess, or learning a musical instrument, we know that in order to be the best you need to work at it. You need to practice. You need to consistently improve to become great.

But why is business development so different?

For whatever reason, most people don’t see being great at bringing in business the same way they might see being a great concert pianist.

To the pianist, we credit training, practice, and focus.

But sales? Charisma, “A-personalities”, and a dash of bravado.

I know you probably don’t consider yourself to be a rainmaker.

You’re a professional in a specific field, like consulting or law, or an account manager leading important client relationships. Or maybe you’re an entrepreneur, running the business and also on the hook for growing it.

The point is, you’ve worked hard to be good at something. You love your core expertise. You’re good at it and want to keep doing it. But, if you don’t add the expertise of buy from you, you won’t keep rising.

You trained hard to be great at your particular field – after all, you weren’t born with that expertise. So the question stands: how can you become as great at bringing in business as you are with your core expertise?

How can you learn the science and steps of growth, to the depth you know your core expertise?

How can you practice those skills, bringing in more and more business while you continuously improve?

And how can you continue to focus on these newfound growth activities, even when you’re crazy busy doing the work?

I’m Mo Bunnell, and I’m a lot like you

And like you, I’m not a natural salesperson.

I started my career as a technician, maybe in the most technical profession there is. Yes, I was an actuary. For the first part of my career, success was measured by me ripping through numbers on my HP-12C calculator and massive spreadsheets.

Then everything changed.

After I passed the last actuarial exam, my consulting firm promoted me to a broad client management role. Before, client service and technical chops were the key to my success. After? Business development skills. Whoa! In one day, my life changed.

So even though I didn’t self-identify as a salesperson, I had to quickly learn to become one. I asked my boss “Where’s the manual? The one that I can use to learn business development?” He told me there wasn’t a manual. “You know, just treat the client right.”

I was petrified. (Thank goodness I had some great mentors, but I was lucky.)

I knew there had to be a better way.

The desire for that missing manual–a business development system I could use and be proud of–has become my life’s passion.

The result? A turnkey and repeatable framework rooted in behavioral science. Science + steps = success. It’s based on being proactive and helpful. It works even when you’re busy. And most importantly, you can be proud of implementing it, because you’ll always be treating the client right.

I want you to be your client’s secret weapon and I want them to tell the world about you. I want you to feel great about business development and I want to take your career to the next level.

This isn’t hollow, wishy-washy “you can do it!” motivation. This framework, my GrowBIG® Training, has helped over 15,000 professionals at over 400 internationally recognized organizations. And it’s based on over 130 peer-reviewed behavioral science, psychology, and neuroscience studies. (Remember I was a practicing actuary!)

Now I’m distilling this framework into a self-study course that you can take from the comfort of your own home.

Inside are over 3 hours of in-depth strategies that you can use immediately to reframe the way you approach business development.Introducing:

GrowBIG Foundations

Here’s why I’m so excited to share this new online course with you…

Our GrowBIG Training is intense – it’s 3-days of hands-on, highly interactive, in-person training at our headquarters in Atlanta. For many professionals, the cost (around $4,000 + flights and hotel) and time spent off work is a hard pill to swallow.

GrowBIG^® Training is intense because it’s designed to deliver a start-to-finish system that professionals can use to get bigger and better clients.

And, if I can be totally honest with you, it’s not something that everyone is ready for.

Many first need to fix a few fundamentals that most people get wrong: how they proactively advance opportunities, deepen relationships, and hack their own habits to stay on top of their progress.

That’s where GrowBIG^® Foundations can help.

By the time you complete this online course, you’re going to be ahead of the pack. You’ll know what rainmakers do and don’t do. You’ll be able to integrate simple, efficient activities into your day to day-to-day routine. And, you’ll see results.

The course is broken up into five modules:

GrowBIG Foundations is broken up into five modules:

MODULE 1: Building The Foundation

In this module, we’re going to prep your mind for a total overhaul.

What you’ll learn:

– You’ll meet me, and I’ll give an overview the entire GrowBIG® framework. Big picture first.
– You’ll learn why no one is a “born” rainmaker. You’ll learn that business development is a skill and not some innate trait that some have and some don’t.
– I’ll make sure we’re first on the same page, covering what business development is (and isn’t), and I’ll walk you through the essential sales skills you need to know.
– I’ll then going ask you to define your Why– what kind of impact would frictionless business development have for you, your clients, your family, and the people around you? (We’ll be revisiting your Why throughout this course.)

– Then I’ll get to a foundational tool that’s changed my life: the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI). It’ll help you better understand yourself and everyone else connected with your business development success, especially your prospects and clients. It’s the magic decoder ring that’ll show you how to communicate to others in the way they want to buy, instead of the way you would buy yourself.
– We’ll close out the module with an 100-point business development skill assessment that will give you a snapshot of where you are now and what areas you need the most help. At the end of the course, you’ll take this same assessment again to see how far you’ve come.

MODULE 2: Managing Your Opportunities

This module is all about bringing in the business. Sounds simple, but without training, nearly everyone gets it wrong.

What you’ll learn:

– First, we’ll start with the overview of getting to a yes. Whether you just need a verbal approval or a massive contract signed, the steps are the same. We’ll start with this overview of getting more yes’s.
– Then, we’ll go deep on the first step: Listen and Learn. I’ll cover the science of why you want to start with the prospective client and specifically how to ask questions that’ll light up their brain’s pleasure center, giving them a high by sharing their priorities and needs.

– After giving them the spotlight, I’ll teach you how to use curiosity to turn the focus back on you and your solutions. Curiosity is an intrinsic motivator–one of the strongest we have as humans. – You’ll learn how to create curiosity to have the client asking how you can help them. Since you know their priorities in their words, you’ll efficiently be able to show them how you can help.
Now, it’s time to get series: building the solution together. The science here is amazing–people buy into what they help create. I’ll show you how to build a solution with your client in a way they’ll love and has the highest chance of success. And, if they’re not really interested? You’ll know in 20 minutes instead of 20 hours of useless follow up.

– Lastly, closing. I’ll show you that if you’re following the steps above, this last one is the easiest. Sometimes curve balls can happen, and I’ll show you how to overcome them.
We’ll close this Module out with you creating your own Opportunity List, a place where you’ll capture every opportunity you have, what your next step is, and how you can proactively make it in a way your clients will love.

MODULE 3: Managing Your Relationships

Next, we’re going to turn our attention to your business relationships.

What you’ll learn:

– We’ll start with the power of relationships and how they differ from opportunities. For most experts, a big deal might make your year, but a big relationship might make your career. I’ll show you why it’s so important to invest in the right relationships, where science shows we get distracted and off track, and a simple way to stay focused.

– Then, we’ll dig deep into the science of likability. People spend more money with those they like, and I’ll cover the most important behaviors you can employ to be more likable.

– With this background, I’ll show you the first four of seven steps to deep relationships. These are the beginning stages, when things are the most fragile, and they deserve extra care.

– Then, we’ll go deep on deepening relationships–the last three steps. I’ll show you how to take solid working relationships and create raving fans, clients telling everyone they know about you. – Your raving fans are like a small salesforce working to help you, because you helped them so much.

– Like the last module, we’ll close with a practical tool to help you implement what you’ve learned. This is what will turn your soft skills into hard results.

MODULE 4: Managing Yourself

Finally, we’re going to talk about you.

What you’ll learn:

– What’s the interplay between your habits and business development? How do you Think Big, Start Small, and Scale Up?

– Here I’ll cover the research on goals, not just the old school “goals are important” research you heard in high school, but more nuanced research on what goals you should set and at what level.

– And, you’re going to learn about consistently making progress, focusing on what you can control and celebrating your incremental successes. Like learning a musical instrument, you can’t  pick up business development activities every other month for a few hours and succeed. I’ll show you how to keep moving forward, even when you are busy.

– Goals will help us choose direction. Consistent progress will start the flywheel. Next, I’ll teach you how to accelerate, using psychological momentum. Yes, psychological momentum is a thing, and I’ll show you how to use it to your advantage.

– Lastly, we’ll end by focusing on staying accountable. Look, I don’t want you to power through this course and complete it thinking “that was great!”… only to revert back to what you were doing. If you don’t apply what you learn in this course, I’ve failed as a teacher and you’ve failed to fix the problem that led you here.
We’ll finish by circling back to the beginning of the course and revising that self assessment. From there, you’ll then get to work building your rituals, both calendar-driven and the if-this-then-that episodic ones.

MODULE 5: Conclusion

We’re at the finish line!

What you’ll learn:

– How to avoid the common mistakes that new BD pros fall prey to

– Ensuring the right habits and systems are in place – and stay in place!
– I’ll equip you with a self-assessment that will help you see exactly how your thinking and systems have changed since beginning this course

Being great at selling isn’t something you’re “born with”

Remember: the Karate Kid didn’t wish his way into becoming great at martial arts. All the motivational posters and “rah, rah!” videos in the world weren’t going to teach him the Art of Karate.

And, like Daniel, you aren’t going to master the rainmaking by motivation alone. You just need to understand the expertise of business development, its core components, then to start using them. Just like your core expertise, you can learn to bring in business.

The first step is to take Business Development Breakthrough and have me help you better manage your opportunities, relationship, and yourself. Let’s get you successful with that first – and have you realize the results (more meaty work, more awesome clients!)

Ready?

The first step is to take action: to enroll yourself right now in Business Development Breakthrough.

But enrolling isn’t enough. You’re going to commit to acting on the material, and becoming an expert in business development.

And, hey, if an actuary like myself can do this, you can too.

I’m looking forward to seeing you on the inside.