🔶 Don’t forget to hit subscribe! 🔶 We all started somewhere. We were all new in sales at one point. With everybody having to reexamine where they are in their jobs and careers, it's a good time to sit back and think about what you would do if you had to start over. More importantly, what advice would you give your younger self or a sales newbie? Our first piece of sales advice, obviously, would be to take a DISC personality assessment. It's the thing that got all of us on the track to improvement that we're on. If you haven't taken one yet, now is the time! Email us at DISC@salesthrowdown.com. ✅ Sign up for our emails: https://www.salesthrowdown.com/ ✅ Connect with us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Salesthrowdown ✅ Check us out on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/salesthrowdown/ ✅ And keep up with us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SalesThrowdown
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Let's get ready to Throwdown.
What is up everybody? Welcome to the new version of Sales Throwdown. So we have been pretty swamped. So we decided to move this back towards doing it in the evenings when we had more free time. So we could go a little bit deeper and help you guys out. As always, we're not in person due to COVID stuff. And no, this is just kind of convenient. So same as always. And the topic today we're talking about if we were starting over, and we knew everything we know now we knew ourselves. We knew our tendencies, we knew where our comfort zones were and where we're going to struggle and where we weren't. And we're going to talk about very specifically for our segments or sections or teams, how to do it better with the knowledge that we have figured out. That's the game plan, right? Like it. That's what we agreed on. Before we started rolling. We'll see. We'll see how closely we stick to that agenda. So let's start with the D, right Clint, right. D's are, you guys take action. So if you're going to start over, but you have all this knowledge that you've gained along the way, what would you do like the first day, first week, first 30 days of starting over?
Well, I'll start I'll start by saying this, I actually wonder when you brought this topic up, if I would be where I'm at, if I didn't do what I did, so I have a hard spot in changing anything right? Because I did, I did make some pretty bold moves that my natural, you know, personality let me do and feel comfortable with it. Whereas I think if I, you know, know what I know now, I think I'd have been a little more hesitant, a little more filtered, and I don't think I would have made it the boost that I made so yeah, I'm curious about that. I do know that I would have had a longer thought into not burning bridges so fast, not, you know, just destroying relationships just to move to the next thing. You know, and really hearing people out just thinking that hey, hey dumb ass you're not right all the time, you know people have opinions, let's zero in on any filter. So I'm a little mixed feelings on this right? Because I mean, I'm here. And I got here for reasons but you know, I probably could have done a different way but I don't know that it would lead me hear a little mixed on that.
So I'm curious, right if you were to go back in time to Clint in that first, you know, 30 days when he's burning bridges and he's got it all figured out and everything. How do you communicate with him in a way to show him like, hey, maybe maybe tone it down just a little bit and have that actually land?
Yeah, that's tough because I don't think he got the point across. Since I'm the guy that has to, I have to touch the hot stove like five times, you know, that's just the way it goes. I mean, I touch it once I get burned, I think, Okay, well, that could have been right, you know, and touch it again. It's like, I shit, I gotta find it, different touch instead of away from the fire. That's just what I do. And, you know, as far as communicating, though, you know, there was there was so many instances where I probably lost a lot of sales and good relationships with good people that if I'd just focused on doing business, instead of keeping it in a personal zone, that's the biggest lesson for me is focusing on the business aspect of it. And, you know, not letting the emotions get involved. You know, just because I don't get along with somebody and I can't communicate with them. That's probably the biggest lesson that I'd have to sell myself. Hey, man, you know that you don't have to like this person to do business with em. It helps but you don't have to. And I probably burned a lot of those jobs.
Well, that's pretty deep, man. Good for you. I, when I think of D's, I don't ever go down that path of thinking that you're going to get that liking is important. I mean, because to me, it's just like, okay, like, Where's the task? Right? Like, like, you're my task oriented, buddy. So yeah,
I don't get hung up on it too much. But there is a few that I can remember in the past with somebody and it has to do with like, embarrassment and getting you know, just pissed off right? You said something to offend me. And I couldn't keep those personal emotions in check. Or maybe you said something about you know, something, I believe in: politics, military religion, maybe you've said something that just I should have looked past to keep the business going. I couldn't do that right. I got my I kept my emotions. So I just shun you and and I never looked back. And and like I said that those decisions, some of those, I think help You know, get past a lot of obstacles, a lot of people get stuck. They look at facts and figures and say, Oh, I can never do that. So I just need to stick here. No, and there'll be there forever, though. So those bold actions definitely get me somewhere in life, there's no doubt, I definitely would have had a little bit of tact, I think I actually think I'm sold a lot more. And I just kept it to business. So that's my, that's my nugget.
So okay, so continuing down that path, and just to make sure that we that we have an endpoint, right, so does that mean that you got to do business with everybody? I mean, I mean, where do you draw the line?
No, I mean, like, it has to make business sense, right for you and your business. That you can, you know, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna do business with somebody just to make a sale and and know that they're a crooked person, you know, that's just gonna try and screw you, and that that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that because they are a Democrat, and I'm a Republican. We can still do business together. like that's a silly.
No, we cannot.
Hey, you can go F yourself, doc. I'm just saying there, there's times and, you know, in sales and business, you know, how hungry are you? What do you what do you sacrificed a little bit of yourself to give up? I mean, because you have to.
Well, you know, you make a good point you you have to, you don't want to die death of a million cuts, but you're gonna have to take some, you know, some given take and kind of get, you know, have some empathy. So, you know, accept somebody else's position that you may not, you know, maybe they're not the most ethical business individual, or maybe they bring to light that, you know, they've screwed some people over in business. Yeah, you got some decisions to make them in there. Yeah, cuz I've faced them myself. You know, do I get in bed With this individual to do business or you know start selling a product to them only to know that I'm gonna have to be suspect that you know, this is gonna play out and some money may be left on the table that belongs to me that they keep in their pocket.
Yeah, it and you know, a good example of what I'm trying to say is, you know, the Shark Tank, right? You got Mr. Wonderful I can't remember his name but you know, Mr. Wonderful they call and when somebody doesn't go for his pitch, right? somebody doesn't take his offer. What does he say? You're dead? You're dead to me. It's over. And I come from that that like, that's my natural inclinations. You're just dead to me. I'll never talk to you I'll never look at you will never do business. There's so many of those deals that I could have repaired and done business down the road. Maybe not that route. I could have done business down the road and my, my inner, you know, personality just said screw it. Go find somebody else. So yeah, there's a there's some checks and balances there that you'd have to play out being being dominant or D personality.
But, you know, but you know, looking back on it, you've been quite successful. And that helps that whole equation of burning bridges, right, that you don't have to turn around and try to cross again, right? Because there's more going this direction. It's when you stumbled that you're like, Oh, shit, and maybe there's a lateral left hand turn, you could make that bridges burn, right?
You know? Yeah, exactly. COVID is a prime example. I was going through this COVID. You know, I before COVID, I had a very narrow focus of dealing with people that I knew we were always going to do business together because we've developed those relationships. And there's a few on the other side of it, that I want to do business with professional, but can't do it personally. And I need those people right now. So now how do you repair a relationship in the middle of it? thunderstorm that you can't even go see people, right? You can't even get face to face contact. How do you repair that now? So so those are those little ones. You know, they're not a there's not a bunch, but there's one or two.
Believe it or not, we actually have an account, an in house account here through the radiology side of things, that if that doctor knew that I owned the business, he was stopped doing business here and now. I My name is never said, I never go there. They called us and I was like, shocked. I'm like, You gotta be kidding me. They want to do this. And so I have to send somebody other than myself every time. I wasn't gonna say anybody's name.
Congratulations. He's phoning in. He's on the air.
He's yelling the MF word every time. Yeah,
The phone lines are lighting up as we are. We are crazy.
There's more than one out there. Oh my god, I'm losing my business.
I got one of those sweet 19 like 92 like office phones with all the lights and they're blinking and it is literally a strobe light right here, right here you can see it.
A bank of 21 light, you know, little punch button. Hey is so I call one of my clinics today. And I get put on hold, right. And I want to talk to the provider because there's some documentation issues. And so I just sit there and listen to the music. And Melissa keeps coming back to my office and I just get I'm getting more mad, and I go can no one see that I'm on hold. I said is the light not blinking? Because I don't think there are lights anymore. I go, well, somebody needs to fucking figure out how to get somebody off a hold. Man, it was horrible. I was in no man's land in my own damn clinic.
So that's the one rule about Al right, and then name you know, that's right. I was like, hey, when I call you answer, like that's the rule.
They did. Of course, though, here's what was happening to me. Ryder was on the telephone. Tell us tell him medicine Congress. So she texted me right so I'm on the phone, but I'm not looking at my text and I'm waiting to be for somebody to pick up or for her to call back. I mean, either one would have worked. And sure enough, I look afterwards the text is Hey, I'm on a telemedicine I'll call you right back and I'm just sitting there wasting my happy ass life waiting on somebody else.
Man you're being you're being especially quiet quiet about Clint's, Clint's version of what he'd be doing differently. Do you have any input, do you have any thoughts?
Well, I can. Go ahead.
I said she's a theory.
I actually did. I thought, me too. I said I look back and when I started, I would not change one single thing. And I because I did when I when I shifted from pharmaceuticals to medical I I think I went from my first day in pharmaceuticals. I was like, super organized, super positive. I mean, to nauseum almost because I'm, what's that movie? Jim Carrey? In Dumb and Dumber? And, you know, he's, like,
Classic.
So I still have a chance, you know? That's the way I am. I'm totally that person that I mean, I for sure was back then. I mean, I don't care what you said what you did, you were going to be writing for me and I, you know, that's just how I was. I think I lost some of that when I got into the hardware part. And so I feel like I'm getting it back a little bit. I, I guess I lost my confidence a little bit, you know, because I was just so solid in that Whole thing I didn't have any instruction. And so I just went off of what I wanted to do. And I think what I do I started doing in medical is completely put it all aside and listen to only instruction. And I think, you know, you have to be comfortable in your own skin and to do well, that's probably why everyone does well, in this the four of us we do well because we are comfortable in our skin and we do know what our characteristics how we thrive. And I think that is really smart to identify that. I wouldn't I wouldn't do anything different. I I would identify what makes you successful or what you're comfortable with and go with that. And I you know, I've never changed my Oh, I still have I still have a chance. I remember my boss used to get aggravated with me he would be like they told you no. And I was like so what what does that matter? There's always other things you can sell or.
Now they've got a restraining order. I think they're trying to make
You know, they then you said something you brought up something that is really important in there is the confidence side. And I think that a lot of us in sales tend to get confident in our industry instead of in sales, right? We all know that guy that can sell some, you know, ice to an Eskimo, widget to anybody, right? We all know a few of those guys. And to me, it's because they're confident in sales, not the widgets that they're selling. And I find myself doing that a lot where you know, when I have to sell something outside of something that I'm really confident in, and a product line that I know, which is what you're talking about coming from pharmaceuticals, you know, to what you're doing now, there's a loss of competence and now you're not competence in you know, in the selling cycle. So There's, uh, you know, you learn a process, something that we talked about on here all the time, let's get that process, get confident in it, and then it won't matter what you sell after that, I believe that.
I hundred percent agree. And I do think the process is so vital, you know, and not, I think, you know, when Alex said, What did you say? where, you know, you're just like, going crazy, like burning every I don't know, how did you say that? My thought was that you should or you know, for instance, I would take a zip code, and I would just go I would inundate that area, that zip code. And then I would add another zip code, you know, just methodically, you know, don't go in with.
Okay. But that brings up an interesting point. In one arena. You had a target on every corner, sometimes four corners, right, like gas stations. You know, the drug dispensary's. I mean, you know, they're there. Every Every, every every one of them was a target. When you move to the hardware side that probably went down to 25 people, right? In one side of the Metroplex, you know, or maybe 40, 40 that were, you know, reasonably attainable. And and so you, but, but the reward was so much bigger at each one of those stops, right.
But I'm not gonna fail at any level.
No, I would I don't think so.
When Clint was talking about not changing I was I thought, yeah, that I that's where it all began. And I don't, I have no regret. I love how I love how I made it happen. And I, I think it's good to identify that.
Well, so no advice for an S type who's starting out in pharmaceuticals or hardware like right now. Have any advice?
Yes. To organize, care about your audience like we always say, I don't know you want to open that because I can't even imagine. Yeah.
Pay no attention to the man digging in the frigerator for more beer.
Yeah, but the pay no attention to me. Well, yeah, please go on Nan.
My advice is just organized and go slow. Don't Don't be a maniac. Just like know what you're doing.
Albert?
I have, I have a feeling that, I have a feeling, john that you're going to be the one with the most?
Oh yeah, oh yes! Absolutely.
No doubt. So sorry.
Because I know you're at your right. Yeah,
I think that my quadrant is the most, or is the least likely to be successful in sales roles. right because we will just sit and sit and sit just a little bit more, a little bit more. One more. One more white paper. One more. One more data point one more blog. One more case study right. And it's so it's so prevalent. I don't even realize I'm doing it. Like, like,
Because that's you, it's that's your that's your fabric. It's such, you wrap yourself in it.
Yeah, it is ingrained on such a deep, deep level that like even I was talking to someone the other day and I was like, I was like, yeah, I'm trying to run fast at this to make sure that I don't slow down and get bogged down in the details. And the guy's, like, how do I tell you you've already done like, 30% more work than someone who was actually going to do that?
Yeah. Oh,
well, I just can't. And I try, right, because I'm like, I'm like, cool, I don't feel prepared. Let's go, you know, it's like as like an exercise in like getting out of my comfort zone and forcing myself to do these things which are difficult for me. But, you know, like, I might be knocking 10% off of that thing that's 70% more than you guys are going to do. So, I've got a lot.
When you think how important it is to team up. You know, like if we all I'm pointing to all of us. If the four of us got together and found something, you think we would be really successful.
So Al, sorry. Oh, I'll go last because I have the most things that I think I would change and different approaches and stuff. But I'm curious for Al.
Yeah, I mean, before the show, we actually, you know, I kind of threw it out there. I just started running with scissors and got excited. And, and, you know, I had a little bit of sale, I'd read some Zig Ziglar I'd read it, you know, along my travels prior to be really into sales. So, and I'd come through, you know, school so I could read and write and that kind of stuff. So, I, you know, they showed me the thing. I went through my training, I had my little manual and I was excited, and so on. I just started knocking on doors and talking to people and, and really, I think what happens is, you haven't had a hard no or you haven't gotten your first commission check, maybe you're on draw, and you're, you know, you're sort of sitting out there in that zone where you really haven't had to produce and you're still surviving. But bam, then comes, you know, but But hold on, okay. To my credit, I mean, within three months, I was on commission, because they were like, do you know, now you can't unflip the switch, if you go off the draw, and go on the commission book, but you've got a bunch of money banked here, and they were willing to let me run with it. So the group I worked with, they cut on the commission side of things, and I was like, wow, let's do this. And then I had a couple bad months.
So wasn't one of those things, though. Where there's like one lucky month and you're like, let's go. Well, you pull that ripcord.
When I hit medical sales. I started in July right middle of the year the deductibles are paid surgery start to ramp up. So I go all the way up and I so now that gives me till about October, November, November. So yeah, so July was nothing because I trained. So anyway, so I have three months, and then I get the last three months then I go into January and deductibles are still and that's when it dried up. And I was like, Oh shit, you know, because I'm spinning like a drunk sailor over here. You know, I've just conquered the world and I'm not looking back.
You know how much I got for this one screw, it was like ten thousand dollars.
Wait a second. They were going for $2800 a piece.
What do they go for now?
They go for 550.
As in as in $5.50.
Thanks Clint, yeah, 550. You know, we get 700 on some of them, but I used to get 2800 to $3200 a screw.
Yeah, that is so funny to me that like, God, what a what a, what an absolute kick in the balls like, you're like sweet!
I used to tell everybody like it you know, and I remember I used to go this is a diamond ring do not lose. So in the back of my car would be $600,000 worth of like hardware. And it's the you know, the I know people out there that have left at it to Starbucks on the side because you know, guys meet in the parking lot like tool sets to switch out and somebody drives off and they come back and it's not there. And it's full of equipment that you know, now you know, there's there's insurance and stuff like that for it. But yeah, you're running around with, you know, six, seven, I mean, I swear, I might have had a million dollars in my car at one time, just in hardware and screws, you know, because there's, you know, there's hundreds of them in every set.
It's crazy. Um, whenever I was working for you, I got to go train with this company that we were repping for called color effects, which is here in town. And so I got to go train and do some really cool training. I mean, they had cadavers. It was really, really awesome. And they had this kind of like, demo things that didn't pass like QA, right? But but they're the screw with the two lip and light and the whole thing for the minimal, minimally invasive, right. And I still have one in my, in my vehicle, right? Because like they gave it to me is like, Hey, we can't use these. So like, here have them or you know, they're like product demos. Okay, cool. So I still have this thing in my car, right? And one time Alice was, you know, we parked somewhere and she'd hopped in the front seat because I was waiting on something. And she goes, What's this? And she holds it up. And I was like, that's a reminder that it could be worse.
She's like, huh? I'll tell you when you're older.
Yeah, you know, to my, you know, I guess, you know, I, I've been I, you know, I got into a rhythm and I got my way a lot. I think you know, you get, you know, if you show up innocent, you get some blind luck on your side and it sticks you get a good feeling that the potential is there. I just wish that I had trained harder earlier at being a good salesperson, right?
Did you think are good when you started?
Well, I've always thought I was, you know,
influential?
Yeah, you know, I will no, I will I work hard. I mean, I get up early and I'll stay late, you know, and you know, I'll pound the pavement. I had a you know, self motivation. I had the self motivation to get out there. Now. There were weeks that I didn't leave the house Sure, like every good I got the big fatty the month before and so I'm you know, I'm kicking back. And I've got some accounts that are that are churning, and maybe the doc's out of town and not much is going on. And you know, so I, I took that time to kind of blow off as well. But for most of my life, I mean, I think you've got to get up and push yourself out the door to get stuff done. And not every day is a great day, but every day is an opportunity. And if you let it pass you by then guess what that's on you. And so I didn't let too many days pass me by.
That's the thing. I think, right? I've been, I've been really, really thinking about, you know, as we're goal setting for this, and I'm goal setting for the rest of my businesses. And I'm really trying to like hone my focus because I get distracted really, really quickly, because I'm always looking for the improvement, right? And the improvement is always being voiced by people who want to sell you something, right. So I fall down these rabbit holes of like, Oh, this is going to be the next big thing in consulting, and this is the next big thing tech, and this is the next big thing in sales and stuff. And so because I'm because I'm constantly open to that idea that there's improvement, right, especially in the software side of things, which is where I do like a lot of my business and a lot of my consulting, is I end up chasing, like shiny things that don't really serve me, right, and they take me too far off the path. And then what happens is I signed up for these email funnels, right, because you know, marketing and how, you know, in some sort of freebie, and all sudden I end up I'm like, Oh, I need this thing, right. And so what happens is I kind of get a little, a little bit caught in the improvement loop and not the not the doing loop. Right. So very, very specifically, recently, I got like a whiteboard. And I've been writing my days out and we've been doing this thing me and my buddy Jake, where we do a morning accountability call, like, Okay, what do you got to do today? We've been doing these weekly bets on ourselves, right? And we, if we don't do all the things, you got to pay a cause you don't like. But if you do win, depending upon how difficult that was, you get money back to go spend on whatever you want. So the idea is you you stay the path you see success, you can take bigger bets on yourself and you and you get confident about being able to focus on what you can control and how that impacts your world. And so we're a couple of weeks into that. And it's been really, really interesting. But, you know, I would say that maybe the, for me that that shiny thing is really apparent. And I always told myself that I had good focus, right? Because I was only around, you know, Geof and Al, who are both these huge I's who can appear to be very, very scattered, like, Al Al does a really good job of being of appearing scattered, but actually being pretty focused and doing the things that he needs to do and keeping a pretty firm handle the things that are super important. Nan is getting mauled by her dog right now, if you're not watching this on YouTube. So you should, but you know, I everybody deals with focus in their own way, right? And mine is, I can improve this. But really, I should just be doing it a little bit more, do it a little bit more, do it a little bit more, do it a little bit more own it, as opposed to getting marketed around, oh, let me You know, this is going to revolutionize everything. Most things that tell you that they're going to revolutionize something don't actually do anything at all. So that's my Newer, better, faster, stronger, you know, you know, it's marketing. So it's prevalent and we get marketed to so so so much, right? Especially if you're in business, it's crazy.
Well, I was gonna say, I mean, I'm sure Clint, you get the newest, greatest people telling you to use this product on your next construction. Do you run into any of that?
Every day, man, you know, I sat through a, you know, what was supposed to be an hour long phone, video, zoom chat, whatever, describing this new product. And this just happened like two days ago. And they were telling me that this new estimating tool is "trust me, you will love this tool. It is the best." And now, I'm not so dumb in the industry that I don't constantly look for new tools, right? So I'm always kind of forward searching. So, you know, the thought of somebody calling me and telling me they have a product that I've never heard of is you know, I'm al-, I'm already skinny. Feeling sketchy? And and so you know, the guy goes through about 10 minutes I said, Hey, just, you know, let me stop you there. Can it do this? Oh, we don't have that feature yet. Can it do this? No, we don't have that feature. Okay, well, those are the two most important things that I need. Oh, well...
What did he say?
He just went right on back to pitching the sale. Right? So there's
no self awareness. Yeah. And say, how important is that? Exactly.
And I, I gave him I gave him the rope the lifeline like, hey, maybe maybe I can help you develop these tools with you. And maybe in six months from now, we can talk again. He just he just went on selling, and and I just, I got it. I got something better to do. I got and I've gotten about five emails from him. What do you think of the sale or the pitch? What did you think of can we get some feedback and it's just, and I just type. I typed him back today, no. That was it.
Um, you got all your feedback on the call, sir.
And that that's kind of my point. I'm not trying, I wasn't trying to be a dick. It was just that, you know, people, people do this all the time, right? I have the best new tool, I have the best widget. The fact is that there's thousands and thousands of people in your industry trying to develop the brand best tool every day, every single day. And yeah, maybe maybe one of these days, you're gonna have a breakthrough and you might have the best, because somebody always says to somebody, but you also got to remember those tools are relative to the people using and so I'm gonna keep that.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna fight you a little bit on that, on that on that idea right there that that eventually somebody will have the best tool right because Salesforce is arguably the elephant in the room when it comes to CRM software. Right and I hate it. I hate it. I know Right, and a lot of people hate it, right? Because it because it's not, it's not a fit for everybody. And that's the thing, right? So when you're when you're trying to build that tool that's going to be perfect for everybody. You know, nobody really knows if they need it or not, because everybody wants to think that's very specific to them. Right? Like, you know.
That's why I say, it's all relative.
Exactly, yeah. So that's, that's part of my idea. Like, go figure out why the people who buy from you buy from you and not buy from somebody else, like, go go have that conversation that and I think that that's probably the biggest thing that I would change, right? It's because I get caught up in these loops of thinking that I'm especially clever and smart, and I'm not. But I feel this way because I tend to do a lot of research and I guess, like, Well, a lot of thinking and reading. But I will tell myself the story of like, I've got this figured out right, so it's easy for me to flinch to that "just shut up. I know what I know what you need. I've got it right here." Which is the thing that I hate the most in sales, right? Because whenever I run into that, I'm just like, oh man, we are done, like like, I don't even ask me any questions, you qualify about what I really want. You're just trying to get your needs met. And I was doing a version of that for a while without really realizing it. So, there's a there's always a market, there's always a market, right? If because there's this idea that if there's one end of the market, you the other end of the market is not being represented.
Well, and you just, you just brought up an important I you reserve your judgment for like cantaloupes in the grocery store, right. You know, basically, if you throw in judgment, you're just putting roadblocks up to sometimes the chaos that actually works out there. You know, maybe it doesn't resonate with you, but if you see success, recognize it right. And it may not make sense but if you see it working just because it doesn't make sense to you doesn't mean that you know, because we've seen like you say lesser products really fly off the shelf for unknown reason sometimes to me. People are just out there doing a good job with them. And so I sit back sometimes and I marvel at how successful some people are, and I just don't get it. Right. And that's the key to sometimes unlocking this paradigm of, do I have to know so much about the product? Do I have to do this? Do I have to... Just sometimes throw care to the wind and go have a conversation? Right? And and ask him if it makes sense to the it doesn't have to make sense to you. It has to make sense to the person you're talking to.
That's the nugget right there. Right? Because the inverse of that is also true, right? Because if they're going to buy for their their own reasons, and they're in their own value sets, they're also going to say no on those same value sets then and the best thing you can do is try to figure out it. Is that reason anchored in reality or is it just something due to like misinformation or bad expectations or something else like this, because they're going to buy and not buy for their own reasons and your job as a sales person is to help them figure out what that decision is. So that way they are clear about what they actually need at the end of the day.
And there's where don't throw the judgment, just ask the question. Hey, I'm a little confused here. What makes you, you know, think that way? or Why do you say what you just said? I'm really curious. And meaning, because they'll know if you're faking them on the judgment call, right? You know, because if you're trying to call them down on a bad choice, or bad way of doing things, because believe me, there's a bunch of old crusty folks at the top of these corporate structures that just want to do it the old school way sometimes, right. Or, and I'm Clint, I'm sure you run into it, right. I mean, if you got an old guard guy that yeah, that says, Well, we've been doing it this way. You know, it's like, you know, my grandfather was a railroad man, right? I mean, like, like, got the lantern with the light in the back of the caboose. Right. And man, he just could not change, that guy went to his grave that the best part of the railroad had died with innovation?
Well, and I tell I tell people that tell me that all the time because I in construction. I've been doing this for 30 years, and I say, Yeah, okay, now rewind yourself 30 years? And would you do it the same as the people before you? And the answer is always. The answer is always, no, of course not. We found a better way to do it. Well, guess what, I also have a better way than what you've been doing for 30 years, you're not wrong. I just have a new widget, I have a new way to do it. And to be honest with you, you know, new tools and new widgets and all that stuff are only only good for people that are willing to change with it. You know, these tools, these new, you know, apps, these new programs, if you've got a 70 year old sales guy that barely knows how to run a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, all these new tools and Salesforce and, you know, you know, these new apps to track CRM, they're not going to work for a guy that doesn't know how to turn a computer. So you gotta it's like I said, it's all relative, right? It's to what you do.
Yeah. The other thing is that if you have just been in kind of like the the at-least-ers, right, you know, you got the you got the high performers of people who kill it. You got the people who don't make it. And then you got like, like a bunch of people who were just like, at-least-ers, right? And these are the people who, who everybody talks about in sales is like negative, right? The sandbaggers, the people who are waiting and stuff like this. And a lot of those, like, older guys don't want guys like me, because I'm bringing an oversight, and I'm bringing in tracking and bringing data and I'm bringing, like, how effective are you in this role?
You're bringing it above board? Yeah, right. And it's huge.
So, we've been talking about process, and I think Clint said something about roleplay. And it's funny because I've been, I've been asking people like, hey, like, let's get on a call. And let's do a roleplay. And let me just give you some feedback. And nobody wants to do it. Right, like nobody at all right? So maybe like two people will be like, Oh yeah, sure I'll do it. And then they don't really do it very well. And it's kind of terrifying. And so I was like, Alright, cool. I'm gonna I'm gonna, you know, eat my own dog food here. I have a process, right? I think I can sell pretty much anything as far as having a qualifying conversation. So today, and, you know, my my circles that I run in, I put out a thing and I said, Look, you don't want to roleplay with me, that's awesome. But I can tell you I can sell your shit better than you. You want to get on the call. I'm gonna ask I saw that post. Yeah, I'm gonna ask you 10 questions, and then maybe maybe a couple of like mini questions, but like 10 minutes total. And then we're gonna have we're gonna roleplay qualifying conversation. And everybody, everybody likes it. And honestly, I'm a little bit nervous, but it's gonna be it's gonna be awesome. Right?
Hey. You should be.
You might have opened Pandora's box, my friend.
Here's the deal, I'm either, I'm either going to kill it or I'm going to improve.
Well, or you'll improve right? You can't, this is a win/win for you, John, you were putting yourself into a situation that you can't lose. Because if the only thing they're gonna do is verbally slap you or maybe say it didn't work, but screw them, right? If, it worked for me, you know you were a good sounding board so that I get better at doing my consulting. So I get better at talking to people who can't sell because you signed up bitch, you're the one who couldn't sell. That's why you wanted the conversation. You wanted improvement? I said I've you know no guarantees, maybe you improve, maybe I do, we'll see.
Yeah, it's funny. Um, the whole range of comments, some from like, yeah, to Yeah, we'll see. Right here I was like cool let's go baby. Let's I mean, because like, here's the deal if I ask you 10 questions right Who do you kill it for? Who do you not kill it for? Who's your upstream competitor, who's your downstream competitor, a couple of other ones other than that, I'm gonna I'm gonna kill it. I'm gonna destroy these guys who don't understand how that qualifying conversation. So what they're doing is they're pitching everybody, right? Just Just give me five minutes and let me talk to you. And then I'll send you a proposal and you can let in, you can let me know if you'd like it. And you don't actually know why you're not closing anything. It's really weird. Because there's no trust, there's no rapport and you're just, you know, putting it into an email without any attachment, or next steps or agreements or anything else like this. And you're confused while you're closing, like 10% it's pretty bizarre. So we're gonna see how that goes. It's gonna be awesome. So if you're listening to this, and you want to do this, message me, or Yeah, I'm all over everything. So or just message Sales Throwdown, we're on Facebook, Twitter, info@salesthrowdown. If you want to take the assessment, we have them assessment, or actually Sorry, I got Sorry, it's a bad habit. disc@salesthrowdown.com and we'll get you hooked up. We've had a couple of people really recently reached out to us take the assessment, they're getting some value out of it, it's helping them so if you're struggling right now, you're not really sure how to improve or how to shift or adjust. Reach out to us. That's why we're here. But yeah. We are trying to do these a little bit shorter. So does anybody have anything else left to add before we go?
If you guys are out there, any questions about COVID-19, cold, cough, and flu, musculoskeletal injuries, bring it to North Texas Clinic and Rehab. We have two convenient locations in the Metroplex. One of them off Bedford/Euless Road, 729 to be exact. The other ones at 1005 East Pioneer Parkway in Arlington. I have some great providers and ancillary staff ready to help you with any needs. Yeah, bring it.
Damn, Al just, Al just learned how to market himself. Like, like earlier today. It's crazy.
And I hate to tell you but, you know, in this partnership that just cost you $2200.
Damn it, and I thought about that Clint, I really, I'm on the hook for something after this little plug.
We all get 10% we all get 10%.
I just need somebody typing the numbers to the clinics underneath my little thing here.
Yeah I don't know for real to get that that overlay built in time for this for this episode to come out, Al.
Oh, it's coming though baby, it's coming.
Not if I have anything to do with it.
Hey, Clint, jealousy is an ugly emotion
Albert, you need to have the addresses behind you on the wall?
Yeah, just just pick up this phone and go to maps and just search for Al Daniel, it'll take you right to where he is right now. He's in his office. Hey. Yeah, yeah. For your, for your safety. Don't, do not Google search Al Daniel.
Especially on the images.
No, it's actually for the longest time on the web. If you googled owl Daniel or Albert Daniel, it was a kid getting a wedgie in the hallways of like some middle school.
I believe that.
That's all, that's all showed up. I was like wow, I'm thanks but I'm not.
Was I the one giving the wedgie?
Yeah, some bully like you. Yeah.
How do they pull that image right out of your brain and like put it in a Google. That's crazy.
Siri knows everything.
Okay, Nanette, do you have anything else before we leave? You've been really really quiet today and everybody wants to hear more from you.
With the three of y'all, do you think this little female is gonna get any word in edgewise?
Go on girl.
Here's the deal.
I still have a chance?
You would. You'd be getting in there more if you were a D, right. So so this is really important because like I don't know that everybody gets this but like on this show you can really see the differences in our in our styles, right and how we communicate in this stuff. And, you know, Nan is, Nan, is quiet and it's not because any, for any other reason other than like, this is kind of like how she is in situations because you know, she wants to get along. And the three of us tend to be pretty loud and boisterous and big personalities so that that's what you're going to see when you're talking to S types, right? So you've got to make sure they feel included.
But I can tell you guys out there that are listening and watching, Nan can walk into any business and get to the decision maker. I mean, she is phenomenal at that. So yeah, don't take her lack of, you know, going to banner against each one of us for granted because she's got her way of doing things and some people I know there are plenty of people out there that feel the power that she brings to the table in that there's not a gatekeeper she cannot connect with and well, they they vomit the keys to the castle to her.
And I'll tell you her, and well, an S's biggest strength but on this podcast especially, is Nan's strength is she can shut us up. She's the only personality that could shut all three of us up there's no doubt about that in my mind. If you put another type of personality on there and interrupt us it wouldn't happen right we railroad so yeah as an S that is your, it may not seem like it, Yeah, but that is one of your biggest strenghts.
Yeah. Clint is absolutely spot on there.
Yep. Usually am.
Keep telling yourself that. I'll send you all those great emojis in a second here. You're amazing, Clint. Wow
All right, guys, so we're gonna call this here. If you're watching on YouTube, please like and subscribe share this with other people. leave a review about what your thoughts are on the new on the new format. Do you want do you want us back in the studio? Are you okay with this? Does this work better? Do you miss you know, let us know because this is for you guys more than it is for us. So, we want to help, we want to bring value and we want to do it the best way possible. So let us know how to do that. Leave a review, share this with somebody else. That's how. That's how we get to keep doing this. So, thanks for tuning in. We'll see everybody next week. Go. Thank you. Be safe. Yeah.
Bye