DO YOU KNOW THE FASTEST WAY TO BECOME SUCCESSFUL IN SALES?

When we talk about what makes up great salespeople, great selling, great sales skills, most of us kind of just come up with clichés: hardworking, uh, people person, relationship-oriented, solution, uh, persuasive. All of these elements, and they're all good, good ingredients. But today we're going to be talking about the real key to pretty much any performance-based profession. Now, when I say performance-based, the word performance may not be the right one, but it's the closest I've come to. When I say performance, what I mean is it's how well you do it. And in sales, it's how well you do it in the eyes of the client, the prospect. That's really all that matters. It's there. They're the audience. They're the receivers of our communication. And all communication is performance— written, oral, visual. It's all a performance. It's how well you do it, not just the words, the tonality, the inflection, the timing. Uh, it's this whole sequence of things, and that can seem overwhelming at the beginning. But that doesn't change it. We still have to do it. Today's metaphor will be martial arts. I've got a sales rep turned sales manager with a great history in martial arts. And the metaphor of martial arts is the repetitions, the practice, the feedback, and more repetition. That cycle, that learning cycle that we all go through. Now, where does this fall down in sales? In sales, we don't really get— we get the reps, but we don't get the feedback and the accurate feedback and the consistent feedback because the people on the other end are so different. Our manager may not really be up on what does work today. Or the difference between good and great. And we end up floundering, not knowing, is it what we're doing? Is it what we're doing it with? Is it the company that we're at? And we get these false positives and not really sure what to do. But in sales, much like in martial arts, the distinctions between an A-level activity and an A-minus is a world of difference. Most of us are out there doing probably B, B-minus activity. And thinking that they're A, A- activities and wondering why they're not working. The distinctions can only be recognized by people who really study this, who have no emotional attachment to what is going on. Your manager has got emotional attachment, right? Because their income is based off of Your performance. But the challenge becomes if they think one type of performance is better than another and it isn't, you get this false positive and people are pushing you in the wrong direction. And mostly in sales, we don't get good feedback. We get, do more, work harder, stay more focused.

Okay, thanks.

But show me the distinction. Talk me through it. Show me what could have been better. Let's spitball some ideas about what might be better. And this is what I try and do with the one-on-ones in the office hours with the courses. I don't have emotional attachment to your deal, so I can see it through the customer's perspective instead of What you're seeing is you're seeing what you want to see— confirmation bias— instead of seeing what is happening. How's that for an intro? This is a great interview. I'll tell you, I get excited talking to great salespeople. I've got the greatest job in the world. And today I got to talk with, um, this gentleman who has a great history, uh, a very interesting career shift. That I won't spoil. I'll let you hear it out. But if you took this martial arts mindset to selling, understanding that each motion, each play, each action is always room for improvement instead of the, I did it. And that's what most reps say. Oh, I sent that. I said that. I did that. Understood, you did. But how well did you do it? And then people get defensive. They get— their little feelings get hurt, and they can't separate their identity, their ego, from their actions. This is critical in sales, critical in any performance profession, because in martial arts, you've got your master there Telling you exactly what to do, readjusting your body, showing you in the mirror, giving you examples. Now, wouldn't that be nice? Wouldn't that be nice? Now imagine if you had access to that for a whole year and hundreds of hours of examples that are recorded in visual and video where you can get the Q&A from other people. Understand that Moment of enlightenment, and you can then apply it to your game. Or you can sit around thinking that you're an A-player, but the only one that counts is your client. They are the judge, and they will judge how much money you make this year, how well you do, how high up your career can go. Do you want that to happen, or do you want control over it? Check out the courses at B2B Revenue.

Hey, Alan, thanks for joining us today. As a way of getting started, give us a little background on yourself.

Oh, well, thanks for having me. First of all, Brian, I do appreciate it. And I am a fan of the content. So much appreciate the time. So in terms of my background, I've been in sales pretty much all my life. Started in a company called Pitney Bowes, you may have heard of it. Had some really, really good training there selling a small little franking machine at that time, very old school, if I can use the term, you know, $100, $150 a day. There wasn't really much tech. There wasn't really much enablement. It was more a case of, you know, here's your list, here's your phone, make some sales. So I still think that was a really good training ground, built myself up from there, and then felt the curiosity to move into more of a consultative type sell. So at that time, there was a dot-com boom. I then moved into telecommunications where I was selling more internet service, providing type services to businesses. And then interesting enough, maybe you want to unpack this a bit more, decided that I wanted to leave sales. So I was doing really well. You could class me as somebody who was performing, hitting targets, making quite good income as a result. And I decided just to quit and then go back and study traditional Chinese medicine for 4 years.

Wow, that's a switch.

Yeah, that is a big switch. And you could call that maybe a completely U-turn to where I was going. And there's a story behind that, as with all things. But then I got back into the workforce, actually starting as an SDR. So I felt like when I was studying, I was in a bit of a time capsule, similar to maybe Captain America, you come out and it's completely different.

Frozen for 30 years.

And exactly a different environment. And tech had really changed. Things were more accessible. Cultures were more open and transparent. And I came from quite a corporate background. So that was a bit of a shock to the system, to be honest. And then from being an SDR, built myself back up. And, you know, I was a sales rep and then started or rejoined my career as an SDR, which as you can imagine, was quite difficult. You imagine doing 360. And then you're just at the tip end of the spear booking appointments again. But I still think that was a very good learning experience for me. But then now in my current role, I currently head up a commercial team within EMEA for a company called PatSnap.

Yeah.

Well, what was behind that switch? Was it something you always wanted to study? Was it an epiphany, a life condition? What was the cause for it?

Yeah, so I'm quite heavily involved in martial arts, and I think I was at that point where, in all honesty, um, I was a little bit obsessive in my earlier days in sales, probably influenced by things like Wall Street. You know, it's all about the grind and how much you can push yourself. And I had that moment where I was looking around thinking, do I want to do this for the rest of my life? Um, and I always wanted to combine something in terms of like— and it's interesting how it's quite a big topic at at the moment, you know, mental well-being or well-being. And with the martial arts and the philosophy, I decided probably with the burnout, I needed some time out. Only to realize, in all honesty, when I returned to the workforce, and I did attempt to have my own alternative medicine clinic, which I'm happy to be upfront and say, you know, from a business standpoint, I failed. Not from a life standpoint, because I think I learned a lot there. But And then I realized what actually I was good at. And I'm actually very grateful for the experience because my mindset— and this is where I'm very big on sort of mindset and thinking— how I approach, how I restarted my sales career completely changed in terms of my, my thinking.

Well, let's dig into that because I think martial arts and sales has a lot more in common than people would normally think. And I don't mean the combat side of it, I mean the practice.

Sure.

Is it so repetitive and looking for tiny little distinctions to make it better? Is that accurate? Absolutely.

Yeah, I would say there's a quote from Bruce Lee who you're probably quite familiar with, you know, I don't fear the person that knows 1,000 techniques, I fear the person that's practiced 1 technique 1,000 times.

Yeah, because I remember doing it and it was like over and over and you're like, come on, it was pretty close, wasn't it? But no, it's like, and those distinctions in sales, a lot of people don't value, but they're critical.

Yeah, I feel like you're definitely speaking my language. I would say like, I can't be conclusive because, because I can only go by my experience. But I think the basics and the repetitions and the habits As something that we sometimes overlook in sales to this day. I think that's my opinion.

Yes, I, because I see it all the time on LinkedIn and people sending me notes. Oh, the presentation was perfect. The demo was perfect. But we didn't get the deal. And my manager was mad at me. And it's like, well, the objective is to get the deal. Right. And how well you do with the other things is an element, but not the whole thing.

Completely agree.

So going to the— going back to the SDR process now, was that humbling or was it educational? Was it—

I think it was both. So humbling in a sense that imagine you had been doing 360 sales for like 5, 6 years. And You know, you move into a role and it's a great role, but not necessarily for somebody who had been selling for 5, 6 years. It's a different experience, right? And I'm a big advocate of the SDR world. I have a lot of passion for that. And I know it's a big duty to raise, let's just say, young professionals who are starting off in sales. But from my standpoint, that was very humbling because as an SDR, and this is going out to a lot of SDRs, it's very interesting when you have to sometimes work with other salespeople. You know, when you're an SDR, it's not easy. You're doing a lot of the groundwork, a lot of research, a lot of cold calling, a lot of cold outreach. And I was just stuck at that when I was quite experienced previously as a top seller doing everything. So I think psychologically it did have a bit of an impact. So that was definitely a learning experience. But in terms of do I regret it? No, because I think what I also learned going back to the Captain America analogy, a lot of things have moved on in sales. There was a lot more of a tech stack available. You weren't looking through books this time. You actually had your ZoomInfo, you had your LucidShares, you had Salesforce. Back in those days, it was Goldmine, if you remember.

Yep.

So that had changed. But also, I think the biggest learning for me was how from a corporate environment that I was quite in, it was quite regimented. It was very much hierarchy. I do believe, like, especially within SaaS, which is where I play, it's less about hierarchy, more about networks. It's more about openness and transparency. And those things were a big shock to me. Like, for example, my first day when I started in that company, I had to hit a gong and introduce myself. And if you'd asked me to do that like 5 years previous, I would've thought like, what is going on here? Why am I hitting a gong? It's a different type of culture. So I'd say from those learnings, I kind of learned quite quick how to adapt and really interesting to see how technology as well as cultures within those businesses has evolved a lot from what I was used to.

And did you like it or you had no choice, I guess, but did you, how long did it take you to adjust to it?

Well, if you watch the Avengers, I think Captain America spent a lot of time underground. punching a bag. But I think I did learn to really appreciate it. And I definitely do appreciate it now because it is, it is the way moving forward. I'm definitely a fan of openness, transparency, the growth mindset, you know, not being afraid to fail and thinking more about experimenting rather than just pure planning. Yeah, definitely. Yes.

And how long did it take you to get back your groove where you started to feel like— was it the SDR role? Or was it the AE role after that?

Or Yeah, that's a really good question. And when I think about it, the data on my LinkedIn actually shows it. 3 years, because if you look at my LinkedIn, I was an SDR for 3 years in 3 different companies. I think that was a 3-year period which you really took— it took that time for me to really understand what it is in terms of SaaS and tech moving forward, but also like where I would be best suited in terms of where I thought I could play best.

Yeah.

And what was your motivation to get into leadership?

So it was more organic. I think for me, it was not really a case of, oh, I want to become a manager. But I think what did it for me was, I think, just to share a bit of my background. So I'm actually also not as active now. But at that time, I was very active as a martial arts instructor. So of course, when you're a teacher, there is an element of training and coaching. And I always, when I started to do quite well, when I found my mojo back again, I would have a lot of people ask me questions like, Alan, you know, how'd you do this? How'd you do that? And how come you know how to do this? And why is it so difficult for us? And I actually enjoyed that element. And, and business sort of backed me. And then, you know, I moved into a leadership role when I just thought there's just so much more fulfillment. And I think it maybe it's different for other people, but I think for me anyway, when I got to a certain age, I started to get more fulfillment from being less selfish and seeing others do better. So that's when I realized, well, you know, yes, we've got to make a number, but if my number comes through making people better, which is really what leadership is, then that's not a bad place to be.

So how did you handle those requests? Why is it so hard for me? Because that's probably That's what really what they're saying when they come to you. It's like, you seem to get this, I don't seem to get the same result, yet I'm doing the same thing. How did you help them through that?

So that's a really good question. I guess that's also from my standpoint, how I developed myself. I think a lot of things come through self-awareness to start with. Some people might think they're doing the right things and putting themselves into the right activity. But actually, when you unpack it through a combination of understanding the actual task they're doing versus the data to back that up, it doesn't always reflect what they think. That's the first thing. Because it's not easy to look in the mirror and especially— well, you can look in the mirror and you can have your eyes closed too. Because I think that opening up the eyes was a big part. And then after that, it was more about getting their mindset right, making sure they were coachable to then build a plan and put certain tasks and actions and habits into effect. And I think it really depends. There's 2 parts to this. I think I also enjoyed, I guess this was my martial arts influence. Sometimes the sales rep that you're working with has to number one, see it in action as well. Because as a martial arts instructor, we have a saying like, if you can't do it, then don't try to teach it. It's a simple thing. I know that's a bit black and white, but that's just my view. And the other side of it is they, they need to also feel you going on that journey with them. So yes, I can do it, but doesn't mean that person can then do it. But then slowly you can inject yourself and remove yourself at the same time, almost like a pair of stabilizers on the bike.

Yeah.

And how about the coachability part of it? Is it something that Let's say they're not coachable. Have you ever found a way to turn that around?

Yes, and I think every sales leader has probably experienced more than one or two reps that are not coachable in their time. Um, so do I believe everybody is coachable? I do, to a degree. I think some people are more naturally coachable, and there's the other side of the coin where you, you deal with a very coachable rep that just can't produce, even with the best amount of coaching. It works both ways. Well, I think, again, going back to that self-awareness, um, I think trying to also educate them around how to approach learning, the growth mindset, um, and also like taking them maybe from— if they're in a— normally sometimes when people need coaching, let's just say it's a struggling rep, they're in that sort of bad mental state.

Yeah.

It's all about trying to correct that through the right behaviors, you know. So I think to answer your question, um, yes, I have. But I think everybody is coachable. But what is also difficult— so there's being coachable, and there's also having the courage to actually make changes.

Yeah.

Because how many people, Brian, do you know, maybe, or you experience in life that know what to do but don't have the courage to do it?

Most of us.

Yeah, right.

I mean, because I always bring it back to like dieting, right? There's millions of diet books every year, and it all comes down to eating less, moving more.

Mm-hmm.

And everyone's trying to find some little hack that's where I don't have to move as much and I can eat more.

It's—

and selling's a lot Like that. There's the actions, but there's also that mindset of like empathy. Yeah, because it's so much about— in martial arts, it's about what's the opponent going to do, where's the weakness. In sales, it's about what do they care about, how do I get them talking.

Sure.

Because if you can get them talking and guide them to what you care about and they care about, You've, you've got the beginnings of a great sale.

Absolutely. And there's the other part where you do have to be able to do things in real time with the IQ, the EQ, and what I like to call the street smartness. You can get in the ring, but when you get hit, that could change your whole perspective, just like being on any call.

Yeah, yeah. Because, and that's why I believe in martial arts, the repetitions is so critical. What they want is your subconscious mind to have it as a habit. So that your prefrontal cortex doesn't have to think about it. It becomes instinct instead of execution. Absolutely.

And it's always easier to see from afar people doing it than you doing it yourself.

Yes. Yeah, because like, I'm a big-time runner. And every time I try and get to the next level, I know I'm there when I stop thinking about how much pain I'm in. When you can drift away and listen to a podcast or some music and And all of a sudden, what, there goes another mile, and I didn't even notice.

Absolutely.

What are some of the critical things that you've seen in early stage reps that are struggling that if they only tweaked this one thing or a couple of things would really take their game to another level?

So I think, I think when it Like, we have new starters joining. I think one part of this, this might be a bit of a general way of answering, but I think sometimes when people join organizations, take a new starter example, it's— there's so much going on. I think just that skill set to really prioritize the key things that you need to do. Like, often when a new starter might join a company, they need to learn about the product, They need to learn about, you know, how to do a demo in our case. But actually equally important, there's a number coming around the corner. They should be learning about the skills to build pipeline. So that's one thing, but then how do you actually even get building pipeline? You sometimes need to go back to basics. And I see this a lot. Sometimes you have account executives that will join an organization, but they underestimate the amount of SDR work. that he's also still needed to do at the beginning.

Yeah.

And, and that's it. And they've got to kind of own that and not blame other things for being in the way.

Yes. And I think that's one of the— I mean, I love your, your, your view on accountability as a quality. And I think that's true, because the blame game is probably the easiest one to play, but the hardest one to win.

Yeah, you never win it.

Yeah, exactly.

Feel like you're winning it until you found out you lost it.

Yeah, I agree. So it's really putting your efforts into those areas that are slightly uncomfortable, that requires hard work, because everybody wants to do smart work. And I agree with that. But even when you have smart work, you have to work hard at it as well.

Right?

Yeah.

It's just doing it smarter, but you still have to do it.

There's the doing part. Exactly. Yes.

Even when you become great at it, you still have to do it.

I think when you become great at it, you have to do it even more. That's the thing.

And what are some advanced skills that you see great reps have that okay reps are struggling with?

I think For me, I think what's— what I see quite often on a week-to-week basis is really trying to decipher what's actually happening within the sales cycle, really tuning in to understand the sale. And that's a hard skill sometimes to teach because with emotional intelligence, you know, you might have a prospect say to you yes, but they don't actually mean yes.

Right.

They might say to you no, they might not actually mean no. How do you really tell where the truth is in the sale? I think that's something that I see a lot of advanced or the most successful salespeople do. And that's a hard thing to train, I think.

It's very hard to train, yeah. Yeah.

I think it requires emotional intelligence. You have to have a certain level of competency as well, but then you wrap all that up and then you've also got to apply into real time. So, and that self-reflection, I'm a big believer in like listening to gone calls. You know, making sure that you— if you take the martial arts side of it, you could be a top fighter. And let's not make it too much about combat because that might sound quite violent to the viewers. But, um, you, you still have to work on the specifics, and you still need to recognize areas where you, you know, you might be going wrong. That unfortunately, when you are performing, you might be in that unconsciously competent zone, which is Also quite a dangerous zone to be in because you don't know when you might fail. And, you know, like boxing, you drop your guard once, you might be a world champion, but if you drop your guard, it could be the end of the fight.

Have you come up with any exercises or techniques to be able to judge those deals, to determine where the deal is?

Because— Yeah, that's a—

Because yes doesn't mean yes, we're buying. It means Yes, my opinion on the question when you're selling to a company.

Yeah, so there's different ways to try and decipher. That's a hard one. That's like almost having the blue pill, I guess, in The Matrix, isn't it? The ultimate answer. But I think ways in which you can sort of measure is like engagement levels. How much commitment, how much momentum do you actually have in the sale? Are you asking those key questions to validate, you know, early on and throughout? And also, you're doing the right type of discovery. I think a lot of reps think discovery is just the early part you do. No, you're discovering throughout the whole demonstration, having very much a clear— call it a closing plan, a project plan, or whatever— some sort of plan where you know everything you need to know. And I think that would depend on the type of sale that you have. Every business is different. There's different ways, like you can, you know, med— your medics and your med picks and your spins. But ultimately, really understanding what is needed for your sales cycle and then having those tick boxes and understanding how to move through those gates. Now, that's going to be different, um, so I can't be specific, but in our case, for example, our sales motion is quite high velocity. So it's really about understanding, you know, the champion, testing your champion, validating, really knowing if they're a real champion, but then also understanding the— what I've learned as well is when you're selling to a company, they don't even know their own buying process sometimes. So you need to even educate them on their own buying process. And so much is in the mix here and there's so many different stakeholders. So I think salespeople sometimes get overwhelmed and just believe they're running a sales cycle, but actually haven't really unpacked all the areas that they need to be focusing on. So it's, again, is that self-awareness, I think, Brian.

Yeah, because in martial arts, you're trying to anticipate how the other person is either going to attack you or defend against you. And you've got to visualize that.

Sure.

And I think it takes a lot of judgment and experience to be able to do that with a deal.

Agreed. And just like a human being, the deal is constantly moving and evolving in different ways.

And like interviewing a rep, you've got to kind of, in your mind at least, judge how much of it is accurate, what they're saying, and real. And that real meaning, this is the way they're going to behave when they get the job versus just the interview.

Sure. Yeah, 100% agree.

But it's like forecast management. You know, every sales leader I talked to complains about the rep's ability to forecast. Well, yeah, it's part of their job, but they don't get comped. They get comped if it closes. That's what they care about. The manager should own the forecast and use it as a teaching tool to teach the reps about what's, what's most likely going to happen next in this deal.

Yeah, I'm quite surprised actually, because sometimes when I speak to candidates that we're interviewing, um, sometimes— well, this is what I've been told— a lot of forecast meetings are more about, is the deal coming in, when is it coming in, nothing about how do we—

where is it and what has to happen, right?

Yeah, and what support do you need and how, how can we play a part in that in terms of team selling, you know?

Right, but the most important thing the manager can do is help the reps see the holes in the deal, right? If they're talking to one person, if they, they think it's overly easy, it's only going to take a day, do they understand what a purchase request is and who has to approve and what level of sign-off is required? Those are the, the real treasures of the forecast review, as opposed to just flipping it back on the rep who says, I was going to close last day of the month.

Yeah, like with most Salesforce close dates, right, Brian?

They're all there, right? That's one busy day.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I agree. And I think, you know, the art of— it's forecasting, but also it's deal coaching at the same time. And the better you deal coach, the more accurate, believe it or not, I think you can forecast.

Yeah, definitely, because they got to understand the full game. of the deals, because a lot of people give up on the game after the proposal is sent and they assume the customer knows how to get it done. But that's where it stalls.

Yeah, but that's almost like posting into a letterbox without an address. You don't know where it's going to go, right?

Yeah, it's going to go maybe to their manager. That's about as far as it goes.

100% agree. So yeah, I definitely, um, I think that's a key part. And forecasting is a very interesting topic. And I believe, you know, most sales leaders should, to some extent, know the principles of how to forecast. Because if you can't, how do you make a commitment or call to the business? And then how does the business invest? So it's a very, very serious topic when you think about it.

Yes, because everyone kind of like just tries to pass it along and blame the other person. And, but it should be a tool to really judge where deals are, to develop that skill of understanding.

Absolutely.

Well, what skill stack would you kind of recommend to new reps? Is it just slowing down, taking one step at a time, prioritization, learn to listen, learn not to get overwhelmed?

Yeah, I think it's a combination of everything you said. I would say like knowing what to prioritize and making sure you've got that prioritized plan with your manager, with your coach, who's your key sponsor. Um, very interesting enough, maybe I can share, like we've been doing a lot of interviews at the moment with our growth, and, um, I've flipped the process slightly where I would normally get involved in the panel, but I actually find myself doing a lot of the first interviews to start with because I put the accountability on me to make sure that I'm putting that candidate through to the manager that I think they would have the best fit with. Because I'm sure in your career, I've had it in mine, you know, I've worked with some of the best managers in sales, but I've also worked with managers maybe not to that standard. If you get that coach and rep relationship wrong, then it doesn't go anywhere either.

It's true. It kind of turns into this stalemate that— and the rep usually loses and everyone's unhappy.

Yeah, exactly. So I would say it's a combination of that and really getting to know your manager as well. But also, I think it's, it's really focusing on the key things. I think we get very caught up about revenue and the revenue game, but it's also equally important to make sure we're building the right competencies and the right habits into the the areas that make revenue happen, such as pipeline building, such as speaking to the right people, the buyer personas. You know, these things I think sometimes we overlook and we just think more about getting the rep to a certain number. But then when they don't get to the number, when you unpack it, actually they've not even got the skills to even get— make revenue happen, let alone hit their numbers.

Yeah, it'd be like, go, go win that match. without the training and the practice and the repetition and the feedback to win that match.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think what we've also learned is, you know, if you get that wrong and the rep's not able to, to be to some, uh, extent to that level of competency, then you run the risk of attrition, right? Because no one wants to stay in a role that they're not happy with, and everybody wants to be successful. So, um, there's been a lot of learnings there, um, and I think the pandemic has obviously shifted away a lot of companies, like onboarding in person is maybe different to onboarding online. But I would say because of that, it's very important that you focus on the specifics and the details earlier on.

Cool. Hey, Alan, I really appreciate your time today. Where can people go to connect and follow you?

So LinkedIn, feel free to LinkedIn with me. Yeah, I would say that's probably the best way to reach me.

See, this mistake that most salespeople make and get stuck in the B-player trap Is they say, I did that, I tried that, I said that, and they did. But what they don't understand is the power of repetition, the power of consistency, and the power of feedback and polish. Desiring those tiny little distinctions, hunting for them, and Not being happy until they find a little bit better way of doing it, maybe a different way, but equally as good way of doing it, and craving that feedback instead of cowering from it, uh, shying away from it, being sensitive to it. That is the difference that gets people to the A-player level. Because B players won't see the difference because they think it's good. They see— or, or they have the ownership. You got to do it my way instead of a better way. As mammals, we're really comfortable doing things my way, and that's okay, but there's always a better way. If you have the mindset that there is no perfection in performance, which there isn't— this is not gymnastics where you can get a 10.0. This is sales where in a lot of cases it's binary. You either get the order or you don't. And if you can get the order, could you make it bigger? Could you have made it faster? Could you have made it easier? Could you have done it without the SEAL Team 6 type of activities, which usually is how deals get done? Early in my career, there was always these, what I used to call MacGyver moments, where the CEO would fly in and they would do everything they could to get the meeting with the other decision maker, the Mr. Big Cheese at the account. Somehow, some way, we get the order. Now, that's nice. You did get it. But is that repeatable? I think if you can take anything from today's interview is add the power of repetition. Then put consistency on it where you do it consistently, not really good one day and like slacker the next. And then if you can crave feedback, switch your mind from I did it to how well did I do it, and that my performance is independent of my identity and my ego. You're still a good person. You're still alive and kicking. And this is something our mammal brain doesn't like. Our mammal brain assumes that if we did it, We did it good. You have to turn that off and turn on, how could I have done it better? Because those tiny little distinctions are going to take your game to the next level. About a year ago, I had this great insurance guy on, and he was clearly in his 50s, but he practiced his opener every day while he was in the shower. Out loud, not just in his head. Drove his family crazy. But he knew the power of the nuance, the power of tiny little improvements, the power of repetition and consistency. Now, you may see that that might be overdoing it. Whatever works for you is okay. That's one example. But just don't think that you know the words, that you've done it 100 times, that, you know, you've been selling forever. Well, it's a performance. It doesn't matter how well you did it yesterday. It matters how well you do it now. Now, if you want to become great at sales, take your game to the next level, your income to the next level, Check out the courses at b2brevenue.com. This is how they work. It's super simple. I've got a link to a video in the show notes below, but you basically have access to a year. You can pay for it all at once or in 12 monthly payments. It is not a membership, no matter how much you want it to be a membership. It isn't. That means if you commit to the 12 monthly payments, like anything else, you got to make the payments. So Don't come back to me and say, oh, I got what I wanted. Thanks, Brian. That's not how it works. You gotta pay for it. You get access for a year. You get office hours, which is our meetup every other Friday. They're all recorded and put back in the course. So for the last 4 years, I've been putting these back in the course. So the course has grown exponentially in value with essentially now 100 hours of office hours. And there's one-on-ones where you can schedule those. It's a half-hour meetup with me after you've taken the course, after you've applied it, to work through the issues and questions that you have, not that I have. I'm good with the one-on-ones. If you want one, you've got to come prepared and have questions. That's the value. And you can consume it at your pace. Start when you want. And I know you're coming up with all kinds of excuses why you shouldn't do this. Oh, I don't have time. Oh, my budget is tight. Yep. Come up, talk yourself into losing as much as you want. I call it rationalization. It's basically your mammal brain getting all nice and cozy where you are. Okay. Your mammal brain likes that. How about your prefrontal cortex? What's it saying right now? It's saying, no, no, I want to live in a better place. I want to save for my retirement. I want to put my kids through school. I don't want to have to worry about money. I want— I don't want to have to work for this jerk of a manager. I want career options. That's the brain you should be listening to. And that's the brain that's going to get the most out of this course. So go check it out, b2brevenue.com. Sign up. You can schedule a call and talk to one of my people and ask any question you want. But watch the videos first because 99% of the questions are answered there. And if you schedule that call, make sure you add it to your calendar and show up for it. Okay? Because a lot of sales is just showing up. And if you can't add it to your calendar and show up, There's a bigger problem there. Okay. Bigger, bigger problem. That's it. Check out our friends over at Scratchpad. Scratchpad's the easiest, funnest way to get your stuff out of your head into Salesforce. Check out the other shows, Sales Questions, Brutally Honest Answers. And I really appreciate everybody who likes, comments, and shares my content on LinkedIn. I'll see you next time.

I was just going to give a bit of a testimonial, if that's all right, just to kick it off. Just—

Only if it's positive.

No, it is positive. It was a— yeah. Just because I started the course, I think in June of last year, 2021. I got a few more months left of access, which is good. But I feel like it's been a transformative experience in my own personal and professional life. I was able to go from a period of a low sales slump in the middle of last year in the summer and early fall, and then really was able to then come back and exceed my target By the end of the, by the end of the 4th quarter. And so the only other thing I would say is that it's also really differentiated me amongst people on the sales team in terms of focus and clarity of what's important. And now I feel really good about what I'm doing in terms of the approach of reaching out to customers and having those conversations and being focused, as opposed to just doing a lot of the other busy work on the side, like organizing resources and doing business analytics and all this other stuff. And so It's really been a noticeable difference with our executive team at my company. And so I just want to thank you for the content and for these opportunities. And so I hope that helps if there's anybody new. It's— I'm a work in progress, but it's getting better.

Good.

Yeah. And you're selling pretty hard stuff.