Unique Genius Superhero Interview: Kevin Gaither, Founder - Inside Sales Recruiting

Here we go. Alright, Kevin Gaither, ex Unique Genius Superhero student and now founder of a whole bunch of cool stuff. So hey Kevin, I'd love for you to introduce yourself to us here.

Sure, I'm Kevin Gaither, the CEO and founder of Inside Sales Recruiting. Been in inside sales for nearly 20 years. I remember when Snickers bars were a quarter, that's how long ago it was, Aaron, and I have you to thank for this predicament that I'm in, in starting my own business.

Yeah. You've had a really interesting sort of path the last couple of years since— I don't remember how long it's been. It's been 2 or 3 years ago. So why don't you start from— you had a job.

Had a couple of jobs. So I was at a company for the past 10 years in Santa Monica. Wonderful company, fantastic learning opportunity, a lot of growth. Of course, there was always that part of me that was asking for more.. And that's certainly when you and I first came in contact with each other. And I remember one of the first questions that when we first talked over the phone was, that you'd asked me was, "So when you were growing up, what did you want to be?" And I of course was thinking of the ultimately trite answer of fireman or policeman or something like that. But I could never really answer that question. I had a hard time then. Fast forward to late last year and this year, I actually got laid off. All sales, all marketing, all operations let go from the company and I was walking down that path and took another job, a J-O-B, and being in that role for literally only a couple of months and I realized this isn't cool. I don't like this. This is not what I'm meant to be. And I went back to the Unique Genius Program and started evaluating what it is that I wanted to be doing and what's going to be meaningful. Where is my unique genius?

And also, by the way, you have a family too because that's one of the important things around a reason why you're interested in finding finding some work that fit your values more closely.

Well, absolutely. So the job that I had earlier this year in 2011—

The one you tried for a couple months and then left?

For a couple of months, was up in San Francisco Monday through Friday, away from the family 5 days a week, and I felt like a divorced dad that only got to see their kids on the weekends. It just didn't, like you said, align with my values of what's important to me in my life. So I started asking—

You don't need that kind of job to make money?

Well, theoretically, right? That's the traditional Well, that's what my mom would say. Yes, just go get a job. It's just easier to go get a job. But I realized what was easier for me was not in line with my values, although I was continuing to look for other jobs. And I actually turned down 4 different opportunities until I finally just said, you know what? Aaron's right. I need to go out on my own. What do I really— when I was growing up, what do I want to be or what did I want to be? Well, really, I realized in the last 10 years that I would watch shows like CSI and Lie to Me. I read Law Order. Lie to Me. Lie to Me, great. I actually read lie detection books. But it's this kind of thing that made me realize, "Wow, I want to be a detective." I like cracking that code in some way, shape, or form. And one of the things that I realized was that when I'm interviewing candidates, sales candidates, it's about cracking that code. It's about figuring out what's behind the scenes and digging down deep and uncovering evidence to identify whether or not this is a top producer or not. And once I came to that realization, it was as easy as pie to realize I need to start my own recruiting company. So that's when I started Inside Sales Recruiting. Yeah. Thanks to your help and guidance in that regard.

Oh, no, it's been really fun watching you go through all this. So you're doing Inside Sales Recruiting. I know one thing I'm a big fan of is doing interviews as a way to have fun, meet people. I don't know. So that's where we are now is in your interview studio. It's actually, you know, it's a pretty— it's with Mahalo. This is a real studio.

Mahalo. It's the real deal.

They got a studio. Yeah, exactly. So what's it like, so you do your sales recruiting, how are you getting the word out?

Well, this is certainly one way where I do.

You're fading to black here.

Well, that's a great Rolling Stones song, isn't it?

There we go, now you're back.

Well, so one of the ways that I certainly do that is through my own interviews. So I interview people for my blog, and I also do This Week in Sales, which shoots Wednesdays at 2 PM live on thisweekend/sales, I believe. And that's a great way to get the medium out as well. But of course, through networking and telling people what I do. So it's the blogging, it's doing the TV show, and—

I've seen you, you've interviewed me, it was fun. Yes. It's fun doing it.

You know, it's natural.

Yeah.

Asking those questions and people are just so interesting, right Aaron? It's like, if you just take the time to shut up and stop talking about yourself, you know, you really will find out some pretty darn interesting things about yourself. Of course, we found out that that you and I actually came from a similar background in the equipment leasing space with your experience with Lease Exchange, and we didn't know that before. Amazing what happens when you talk to people, right?

Yeah. Well, and so here's— some people might be thinking, well, how? Okay, interview show. Wow, it's a whole— that's cool. How do you get that? What's interesting is the story of even how you got this show. So let's share that because that is a perfect— it actually is a perfect unique genius story of planting, you know, working integrity, doing good work, planting seeds and they're coming back around to you years later.

Right. Well, Mo's heard this story a thousand times. So there's a guy that actually works here at This Week In, and his name is Mo. And Mo actually interviewed with me a couple years ago. And long story short, he didn't perform very well in the interview with me when I was looking to hire him.

Just say it nicely.

Yeah, say it nicely. He sucks. He blew it. He really blew it. And I stopped the interview and I said, look, timeout, dude. And I could have gone one way. The one way I could have gone was to be a jerk and walked him out of the room.

Get the hell out of here.

Yeah, just walked him out and of course was like, "Yeah, everybody else is busy in meetings, got delayed in meetings," and given him that excuse and walked him out. Instead, I took the time because I liked the guy and I took the time to start coaching him. So we spent about half an hour. Was it about half an hour or 45 minutes, Mo, that we talked?

Oh, we talked for a couple of hours overall. So yeah, it was about half an hour, 45 minutes where you coached me.

Yeah, and I started, you know, giving him coaching and guidance and advice on how he should approach his career later on. Now, I had no idea what effect it had on Mo at the time, but I was spreading the love. He's a nice guy, and he says to me now that that was a formative period or a critical, you know, turning point in his career. Fast forward, he gets hired here at This Week In, and Mahalo channel. Yeah, in the Mahalo offices here. And he starts pitching a show, This Week in Sales, because they already do This Week in Venture Capital, This Week in Startups, This Week in Comedy, This Week in Marketing, but they didn't have This Week in Sales. And so, so he called me up and said, Kevin, we've known each other for a long time. I think you'd be a great host of this show. And, and I didn't really take it seriously at first, but then I realized it was a great opportunity to give back and help other other sales professionals and of course get the word out about my company and help raise the professionalism of salespeople generally speaking. And I look back and go, God, if I hadn't treated Mo well and shown him the love, if you will, that would not have come back to me in spades.

Yeah. So, last thing, if you were going to give yourself, say, Kevin Gaither from 2 or 3 years ago some advice, this is before you got laid off or before you took that 2-month— the job for 2 months, it just was hellish. What kind of advice would you give to that old, that past Kevin Gaither?

Do more self-evaluation. A long time ago, and of course I look back and say, gosh, if I could have started my business on the side while I had the full, you know, my full-time job and started my business on the side— baby steps. Yeah, yeah, little things, you know, to get going. And now I know that there's a lot of people in the headhunting or the recruiting in the space that actually do that very thing. They make 6 figures a year just doing recruiting on the side, and they're effective at that. And I wish I would have done my own reflection back then to understand what was important to me, what turns me on, and take those baby steps to start a company.

So just act, just do it. Sure.

Hey, where can—

where are the best places for people to find you or contact you?

Thanks, Aaron, for that. Of course. So you can—

By the way, I would highly recommend Kevin as a recruiter. Yes, thank you.

No doubt. Yes, thank you. So being on the hiring side for as long as I have, I have a unique perspective on sales hiring for sure. You can email me to kevin@insidesalesrecruiting.com. You can also follow me on—.com..com, yes, of course. You can also find me on Twitter at either KevinSGather or Inside Recruiter. Of course, don't forget to tune in to This Week in Sales every Wednesday at 2 PM on thisweekend.com.

Yeah, and I think the last thing is that what makes you— one thing that really makes you a great recruiter is that you were a sales director for 10 years. And so you weren't a recruiter for 10 years, you were a director who actually ran a team and hired people and saw them perform before you went to recruiting. So, all right, hey, thanks very much, Kevin.

Great, thanks for having me, Aaron.