HOW TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN MOTIVATION AND ENERGY TO BE GREAT AT SALES

In sales, we face a lot of ups and downs, probably more downs than ups. And it's how we deal with those things that really matters, how we process them and how we keep moving forward. And a lot of people talk about will, and will is kind of innate in us and we can develop it. And it's usually based off of a lot of downs. The people who are able to be resilient usually have a lot of experience with the downs, with obstacles, with rejection. And how we process that becomes in and of itself a skill. What we want is to be able to manage those emotions, the situation, to think through it logically. And to have the motivation, the will to continue on to either the next one or fix the existing one. It's a lot. And how do we keep it going? You know, today people kind of want the world to work their way. The world works its way. We can either change ourselves or sit around waiting for the world to work our way. Here's the secret: it never will change. We have to change. And somebody asked me this week about, you know, what's the working on your business version for sales? The old saying, you either work in your business or on your business. The idea being, if you work in your business instead of on your business, You basically have built yourself a job and not a company. When you work on your business, you're working on building a company. Now, we should be doing this in sales too, but nobody talks about it. Everybody thinks it's just a bunch of motions and plays, and you can win today's game with yesterday's home runs. You can't. Customer doesn't care. You may use it to build up your self-esteem, which is good as long as it stays in check so that you remember the losses that that can happen. And we need to prevent it, not just make ourselves feel better after it happens. The working on your business part of sales is this: what you're doing right now. You're listening to a podcast. You're hearing other reps and how they have become successful in tough situations. But the other part is the practice part, the planning part, the strategizing part. Now, I did a video this week on Price's Law, where Price's Law is a very exaggerated focus On what causes the good stuff, being the, the square root of the number of hours in a year, which is about 45, a good solid week, generates half your revenue. Now, at first sight, this can't be true. It can't be logical, but it's a law of nature. You can check it out. It's all over YouTube. And if you know that, then why does everybody have their activity spreadsheet where it focuses you on doing what doesn't work? Mindless calling and spamming people who don't know you. Everybody says, well, show me you know me. They don't care that you know them. They care if they know you. You got it backwards. So if you want to become great at sales, you've got to work on your business, your process, your mindset, your skill set. You breaking down your game into the smaller pieces, the innings, the touchdowns, the plays, and figure out the long game. What is the full game? From prospecting to a happy, referable customer. It's a lot. So what do people do? They ignore it. And they become reactive to what comes to them. They let the customer run the sales process. What would you like to do next? Would you like another proposal? Another demo?

No.

They don't know. They're lost. Are you in the market for a car or a house? Do you know how to negotiate it? Well, you want the best price, right? You're going to have to negotiate. I don't know. Do you know the paperwork process? I don't know. Do you know the loan process? Huh? I don't. I forgot. I bought a house before, a couple, but I forget how to do it. I forget the process. I try and remember, oh, the last time I bought a house, how'd I do it? That's what we ask. It's our job to know. But nobody teaches us. Oh, until you met Brian. So, how do you become great at sales if you're not working on your business, your game, your process, your full and complete Process. This is one of the key elements of brevity pitch, is that you have a way of practicing the key parts of sales when we're talking and listening. And to do that, how do you do it today? Play ringy ringy with a friend?

No.

Oh, just tell yourself you're great? That's what most people do. I told you about doing polls last year on LinkedIn. Over 73% of reps said that they were the best salesperson they knew in the world. There might be a confidence hallucination going on. Maybe they're not— they don't know many salespeople. But it doesn't matter. All that matters is, are you getting the success that you want and that you're working for? To become better at sales, you have to work on you. You are the business. Yeah, you have the company, you have the customer, but it's you that has the responsibility to get the revenue. You may not like that, but that's, that's what's happening. So go to brevitypitch.com, grab your manager and say, boss, sales is a performance profession. It's not just an activity. It's not just knowledge. And your skills are only as good as your last call. Yesterday's home runs do not win today's games. Let's get into this interview. This one is probably a whole lot higher energy than most. Very entertaining. Great guy. I really enjoyed it.

Here we go.

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

Oh, goodness. Happy to be here, Brian. Larry Long Jr., CEO, Chief Energy Officer. I don't know who came up with that name, but just happy to be here. I love helping and supporting the sales community, the business community at large, and happy to be here.

And give us a little background. How'd you get into sales? Why'd you get into sales? What did you like about it?

First foray in sales, Lawns by Larry, knocking on doors in my neighborhood. I kept asking my parents for money. They said, you're gonna work for it. So my mom put together these little flyers and she said, go and knock on everyone's door and ask them, Can you mow their lawn? I said, uh-uh, no way, no way, Mama. She said, what's the worst they could say to you? I said, no. She said, is it really that bad? I said, yes. She said, boy, get on out there. So I was knocking on doors. Professionally, I got my start in sales making 150 cold calls every day to accounting firms. And that 500-pound phone, it was tough. Accountants get paid for time. So trying to get their time and their attention, it was tough. And I was reading off the script. Hello, this is Larry Long Jr. calling with Profit Click. What I learned is that when I spoke to people like, like people, and when I shared my story, it got me a long way. And I've been addicted ever since.

Yeah. And what were you selling to accountants?

Software. It took the numbers off the income statement, balance sheet, statement of cash flows, and it produced a written narrative. It was AI. Before AI. This was some 16 years ago, a company called ProfitSense. And, uh, I had a story. I was a failed business owner. My indoor baseball and softball academy had failed because we didn't know the right numbers. We knew stolen bases and batting averages and home runs. We didn't know the income statement and balance sheet.

Mm-hmm.

So when I shared my story with accountants and I said, hey, how many of your small business clients' eyes glaze over When you go through the financial statements, bingo, I guess they would say. So I was able to make that connection and have some success.

And how'd you figure that out? Did somebody tell you, hey, Larry, quit reading off the script and put some personality into this and connect with them like a human being?

Tale of two halves. My manager, and I'll use air quotes, called me into his office. He said, Larry, we need to talk. I thought I was getting a promotion. I'm going to Switzerland. He said, Larry, you made 148 calls yesterday. We expect you to make 150. He said, if that happens again, I'm going to tell you like the Dodgers and the Red Sox told you, don't let the door hit you where the good Lord split you. I said, savage. One of the other leaders who was also a manager, James Hatfield, said, Larry, come in here. He said, I like you. He said, you, you have potential. He said, you got to ditch the script, flip the script, rip up the script. and talk to people like you would talk to your homeboys. I said, James, you don't know how I talk to my homeboys. That might be an HR violation. He said, you're right, Larry, but find that happy medium and stop talking to people all stuffy. Hello, this is Larry Long. No one talks like that. He said, just connect with people like you're a real person. And lo and behold, success. Ah, now that's not to say there weren't bumps and bruises along the way. I had one, one, one, uh, accountant in New Jersey who said, Larry, I got something for you. I thought it was going to be a signup. He said, I want you to put on a pair of concrete shoes and jump off a bridge. I looked through our objection handling manual, I couldn't find how to overcome that one. So I said, God bless you too. And then I hung up.

Well, I think a lot of salespeople fall into this because we do what we're told and we almost want to do what we're told. Because we then we don't have to think, right?

Robots.

And I think the number one problem is when you act like a salesperson, you get treated like a salesperson.

That's right.

And how'd you get treated when you acted like a salesperson?

It wasn't good. It had me scared to pick up for that next call.

And wasn't when you let down the facade of Silliness that you felt organic and natural and authentic?

Brian, people can smell BS from a mile away. They can smell it. Hello, this is Larry. No, no, no, I don't care what you have. It could be a million dollars. Just no, I'm tired of it. And there's a sea of sameness. There's a sea of folks that are there, they're reading off the same exact script. And it's tired. And I'm hearing it from the folks that I work with now. It's so tough to break through the door to get people's attention because of all the bad messages. And yeah, guilty as charged. I've been there before. But we certainly have an opportunity that's knocking at the door for us to make some changes.

Right. Because you see what's going on out there. Is any of that cold prospecting customer-client focused, or is it all about, you know, enticing or intimidating? My product is so great, or you— your business is going to fail if you don't look at this. But we missed that first step, that trust, that believability. You didn't have trust or believability when you act like a salesperson.

Right.

But when you act like Larry Long, they open up.

You at least have a chance. You have a chance. And you've shared this before about people like to work with folks that they know, like, trust, and believe in. And how do you create that? I found— and Brian, I got to tell you, I got to use my fingers to add. So I'm calling on accountants. They're like, something doesn't smell right. But when I started getting into their trade journals, this was back when they had actual physical trade journals. When I started reading and hearing the lingo, when I started surrounding myself with other bean counters. I would never call them that. But now I started— I don't know if it's just osmosis or guilt by association, the power of proximity. I'm now starting to be accepted into their world and I'm able to share stories. Hey, when I was speaking with your colleague Duncan the other day, he shared that these were some of the challenges. Now it's like, come on in, Larry, come on in.

Well, You were starting to think like they think.

That's right.

Because you had no accounting background. So going from no accounting background to some accounting background is not easy, nor is it fun. It probably wasn't what you watch on TV when you go home at night, right? BalanceSheet.tv. Nobody does that, or at least nobody I know does that. And a lot of people don't want to do all that work. But what do they want to talk about? You? No. Them, themselves, their business, what they're going after.

So true. And so often we miss that. I call them me monsters. I'm the greatest. Our company is the greatest. Our product is the greatest. So what? Who cares? No one cares other than your mom and maybe your dog. Maybe. No one else cares. They, they care about themselves. They care about their problems, their issues. And they want to know, can you help? Can I trust you and believe that you can help? And if you can't, in the words of the great philosopher, Sweet Georgia Brown, ain't nobody got time for that.

But I bet you didn't have to do the 150 calls a day either.

Well, at that company I did because they, they did not play. 149 calls was not enough. And it was really, it was, uh, it was a lot of smiling and dialing. I learned a lot through that process. And, uh, I won't say that cold calls are easy, but I can tell you I'm not, I'm not scared to pick up that 500-pound phone, reach out and have a conversation. With someone else.

Okay, let's talk about the inner game because you've clearly got that mastered.

Ah, I wouldn't say mastered. It's a work in progress, Brian.

Giving you credit. How did that evolve? Were you always like this? Did you always have a little bit extra energy?

I was born this way. I was born a CEO, Chief Energy Officer, but it also takes work. And I attribute my parents, just watching them. My father grew up in Baltimore City surrounded by crime, violence, and it would have been easy for him to just give up. But instead he said, you know what, I'm going to find it inside of me, and I'm going to find strategic mentors that will help me get to where I want to get to. He ran track at University of Maryland, first one in his family to go to college, first one in his family to graduate high school. So that was a great example there. And Some people are glass half empty. Some people are glass half full. My father was a glass 100% full, and that attitude he shared with me. And I played baseball at University of Maryland. And in the game of baseball, if you're a 70% failure, meaning you're getting beat up 7 out of 10 times, you're, you're, you're striking out 7 out of 10 times, you're going to the Hall of Fame. Come on now. Sales is very similar. Life is very similar. So it's really, it's not about what happens to you, but what's your reaction and response? What's your learning and what adjustments do you make from getting knocked in the head? Next time you might, you might want to duck.

I think a lot of people today aren't taking that, that half, the lesson. The answer seems to be AI and do more.

They're not taking the lesson and they're not taking action. So we know that we're supposed to take action, but I see a big gap between knowing and the doing. And then people are befuddled. Why am I not having success? Well, it doesn't take a genius to know you're not doing the things that successful people are doing on a consistent basis. Hey, hey, Larry, why don't you have six-pack abs? Because I eat a lot of Bojangles fried chicken and I don't go to the gym. There, there's no mystery. Right.

You know what you need to do to get 6-pack abs. We all do, don't we?

That's right. That's right. I see you out there walking, Brian. I, I see you walking along.

Yeah, I know what it takes. Everybody else is like, well, my heredity and my genes are different. They, they like to hold on to that.

That's right.

No, no, no. Exercise and diet.

Very simple.

Doesn't feel good though, does it?

Very, very simple. The foundation, the fundamentals. So many folks are missing that great base. It's tough to build when your base is on shaky ground. It's almost impossible.

Because I think a lot that people look at just the 150 calls. They think the 150 equals success. Well, part of that is true. But it's the other part that Larry got. He learned, or he was told, quit acting like a salesperson and let the inner person come out. Not the full inner person, but kind of the appropriate inner person.

We don't want— no one wants that, Brian. That's definitely an HR violation.

This is a rated R podcast.

Oh, goodness.

And what did you do after the accounting software?

Oh, goodness. I've had quite the journey. I left the accounting software and went to healthcare software, patient portals, selling to doctors' practices. Yeah, it was super exciting. It's an interesting world. Practice administrators, office managers, trying to get them at the time to move off of paper charts into the electronic. It was, oh, it was Well, why? We love our paper. And it's funny looking back at it, all of the friction that we got, but educating and really painting the picture of what life could look like, not just for them, but their physicians, and most importantly, for their patients. Now almost everything is digital. It's like paper, fax machines.

You'd be surprised. There's still a lot of stuff. Now there you were really selling change, right? That was your competitor.

Yes, yes. The case with paper. That's right. Apathy. We've done it this way all the time. I, Brian, I spoke at the International Cemetery Cremation and Funeral Association. Oh, okay.

Quit bragging.

No, I killed him.

But someone told me that like a funeral in here.

Oh goodness. Someone shared with me that some of these funeral homes still use fax machines, and it's just, it's a, it's a terrible experience. They said, hey, we, we get people at their lowest. When you lose a loved one, you're at probably your lowest, and we make them sit through and fill out forms, and we go and we have to run off copies. Why don't we go digital to make the experience Somewhat easier for the user, for the client and the customer. But it's tough to break out of that mentality when folks are stuck. Sometimes it's tough to get them to break out and understand there's a better way.

And what do you see the best salespeople doing better than the, okay, the B players? What are the very best doing today?

It's consistency, it's discipline, it's focus. As well as it's adapting to change. What I think they say, what got you here won't get you there. What worked last year or what worked last month might not work this month. But what I see is that they're always working on their skills, on their knowledge, and they're not afraid to put themselves in uncomfortable situations, whether it's asking the uncomfortable, the tough questions that most people shy away from because we know sales professionals like to look through those rose-colored glasses. Everything is awesome. But we know that it's not. We have to ask the tough questions if we want to have success. Sometimes we have to ask folks for mentorship and help when we might want to have the ego. We, we don't want to ask for help. But the best sales professionals I see, they're doing the little things consistently, which are really the big things.

Yeah. And I think they're forgetting the most important activity is thinking. It's really analyzing your game.

That's right.

Because you need that epiphany that you had.

Yeah. The light bulb goes off.

And all of a sudden it went from drudgery to enjoyment a little bit, a little bit better.

A little. Nah, it was, it was fun. And it's enjoying the process. So often we get caught up on the end result. Well, let's go ahead and look at the process that you went through What did you learn? Who were you able to help? Did you share those learnings with others? There's some successful people out there that are selfish. I've worked with some me monsters that crush goals. But what I found is that to crush goals consistently in the long run, you've got to have a special— really be a special person because it's going to catch up to you at some point. I don't know when, but at some point, if you're all about you, you, you, you, you, a me monster, That's gonna catch up. Word gets around and something just doesn't smell right.

Well, it's hard to hide, right?

This is—

well, I mean, we all know that salesperson. I used to say, you're at a trade show, they're talking to you, and then somebody more valuable walks by. You're invisible. And you're like, okay.

And they think they're slick. They think they're slick because They're talking to you, but they're they're looking. One second. Better.

Yeah.

That's right.

And what were some of the other great lessons you learned along the way that people could learn from you?

The the power of relationships. And there there's a saying: It's not what you know. The traditional saying says it's who you know. Well, I'm gonna flip that. I'm gonna flip it and reverse it and say it's not what you know, and it's not even who you know. It's who knows you, who trusts you, who believes in you that really makes things happen. Very, very rarely do we see folks stick with the same organization for 20+ years. So you have folks that are moving. Generally, it's those relationships. And I, I see folks, I talk to folks that are resistant to leveraging LinkedIn. Oh, I only need to go on LinkedIn when I'm looking for a job. Well, if you want shade today, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.

Right.

The second best time is right now. Why are you not telling your story? Why are you not building your brand? Why are you not making connections and helping people when you don't need anything? When you add— I call it that relationship bank— when you add deposits and more deposits, now you can actually make a withdrawal without being overdrawn. When, when I had my business, Brian, I went to the bank, Bank of America. I said, I need to take out $500. They laughed at me. They said, Larry, you haven't made enough deposits. You don't have $500. So often we do the same thing with relationships. Hey, can I get— survey says, man, I only hear from you every 6 years when you need something from me. That's not gonna work anymore. So the power of relationships and the power of doing something to foster, to strengthen, to grow those relationships. For me is critical. And I'll give— I know folks are saying, that's good, Larry, but how? I'm gonna give folks something they can do right now. And I'll almost guarantee that not more than 10% will actually do it. It's the 3-minute challenge. Every day you've got 3 minutes. Put it in your calendar. Find one person in your Rolodex. I know some folks are like, is that the fancy watch? Nah, that's a Rolex. But find one person in your contact list in your phone. And all I want you to do is surprise and delight them. Brian, if you were my surprise and delight, I'm going to Google. I'm gonna find a northeastern husky, and I'm gonna send it to you. I'm gonna say, Thankful Thursday, Brian. I'm not asking you for anything. Like, you know, I was a husky. I'm just trying to make you feel good because people will forget what you said. Talk is cheap. They'll even forget what you did. They will never forget how you made them feel. 3-minute challenge.

Right, because everyone's got the law of reciprocation backwards. Everyone's very happy to give after they've taken.

That's right. That's right.

Talk to any salesperson. Oh, I'd be happy to spend more time with them once they're qualified. Well, they don't get qualified unless you Give something to them, help them, connect with them. And if you've ever helped a prospect, they help back. That's the law of reciprocation. You have to give first. But that doesn't feel intuitive, does it? It's counterintuitive.

Brian, you make it sound so simple and so easy, and it is. If folks actually take action. We know this, but so often we write it down and we know it up here. But our actions speak so loud.

Doesn't feel right.

I can't hear what you're saying. Yeah, we don't do it.

Because we know the other feel. Have you ever gotten a Christmas present from somebody that you didn't get a present for? How's that feel? I mean, you're going in and wrapping anything in the kitchen to get credit, right?

Big old mic for you.

But the other person doesn't care. They feel good about giving it to you.

That's right.

And I think that does work if you do it just, I mean, that's what, $20 a month, $240 a year.

That's right. So simple.

It's a connection because I think people look at prospecting wrong. They should look at it closer to networking.

That's right. Right.

I want loose connections that I help that occasionally will help me back. If they don't, that's perfectly fine. I'm cool with that.

That's right. That's right. And that takes a special person to actually, to actually believe it and actually live in it. Uh, it takes a really special person.

You know, because cold outreach is so different than getting warm inbound. But we treat cold outbound like warm inbound. We want to qualify them before they even pick up the phone. That's fine. If they're not qualified, don't call. That's okay. Why would you call on somebody who's not qualified? Don't— doesn't have money, is not big enough, not a match. I think the other thing is everyone feels like they have to sell everybody. We don't. How many deals did you need to crush your goal?

Uh, back, back then it was 4 deals a month.

That's it. 4.

4 deals a month.

One a week. You know, you didn't need 40 or 400 and everybody likes to feel comfortable with this fake pipeline that they build. You see on LinkedIn, we go, oh, we generated $50 million in pipeline this month. What the hell is that? How much of that will close? Are they the 4 or are they the 40? How do you sustain your energy though? I mean, because that's kind of your big thing. It is.

It's intentional, Brian. And it's a choice. We all, when our feet hit the ground, we all have the opportunity to make a choice. Am I going to make this A great day and for today, a thankful Thursday, or am I going to go the other way and kind of live without intentionality, without purpose, without meaning, without direction? I am intentional about where I'm going, who I'm going with, who I serve, what I do. And does it always go my way? No. But I realized that strikeouts are part of life. That was chapter 2 of my book. I wrote my book for me. I needed it. Hey, it's okay. Put yourself out there. Be okay with striking out. You'll get another at-bat. You'll have a story to tell. You'll be able to share that lesson with someone else. And who knows, you can try it again and build off of it. So every day it's with intention. I'm gonna make it a great day. It's my choice.

And I'm sure you're not like this all the time, that you have a down day or a down hour or down moment. How do you get yourself back?

Yeah, I'm human. I am human. For me, it's my family. My wife is amazing. My kids always bring a smile to my face. They, uh, my kids are wild. You think I'm wild? They're wild. They get it from their mama. But essentially, it's my family. It's music. I love music. I love comedy. I try to surround myself with things, whether it's images, whether it's in my ear, Going outside in nature. I love taking four-hour nature walks, aka golf. I don't know if you did your research, but Tiger Woods is my cousin, Brian. Long-lost cousin.

We all know that.

Yeah, I mean, they call me Larry Hit It in the Woods. So don't quote me. It's a bad dad joke, but it's life. Life hits me. It's a four-letter word for me, just like everyone else. It's just I realize that I'm going to get hit. I'm going to get knocked down, and It's my choice on how I handle it, and I just try my best. I don't know if you've ever done P90X, but Tony Horton says, "Try your best and forget the rest." And do you have morning habits that kind of get you in this state? Starbucks. I do. I'm strong in my faith. I try to be strong in my faith. So the power of prayer, the power of reflection, the power of gratitude to start off my day, and then hey, I am human. I hop on my phone, I play a little bit of Solitaire. I like playing games on my phone. It might not really stimulate the brain the best, but I've got a 14-year-old son, a 10-year-old daughter. When they're in school, I'm the carpool dad. That's my intention. That gets my day started off right. I'm more of an afternoon exerciser, so my wife and I go to the gym generally after she gets off of work. And yeah, we're certainly habits of routine. But also able to flex a little bit. I like to shake things up and kind of take things as they go.

And what advice would you have for somebody who's 25 out there who's doing the 150 calls a day and it's not getting the 4 deals a week?

Hang in there. Hang in there. That's my encouragement. Hang in there. Learn as much as you can, meet as many new people as you can, and then repeat and, and stick with it. And eventually what's meant to be will be. I encourage you to think about why are you doing what you're doing? Why are you making— I know why I was making 150 calls. I had a failed business and the rent was due. So you got to do what you got to do.

Totally.

But while I was there, I had the territory in North Carolina and South Carolina. I picked up Tennessee, picked up Florida. I said, hey, I want to call more. I picked up Alaska, picked up Hawaii. I was there late. I made an impression with the CEO, Mr. Brian Hamilton, and opportunities opened up for me. Everyone talks about working hard. That sounds good. That, that's a good soundbite right there. But, uh, I'm from Missouri, the Show-Me State. Show me what you're working with. Are you really working hard, or are you just yapping your mouth? Work hard, stick with it, and learn.

And I didn't hear any deflection from you, any victimization, or if I only had this opportunity, someone else's fault.

We control, we control. I truly believe that we control where we're going. And there's certain things that are out of our control. And I love it. I actually love it so much. I've got his His card, his his challenge coin here. We can control our emotions. We can control our actions and our attitude, and we can control how we treat other people. I love that, Brian. Real quick, I do want to share. There's a quote that I ask myself every morning when I look in the mirror. First, I say, "Uh oh, where's your hair going, Larry?" Going bald. But Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is." What are you doing to help others? If I don't have a good answer to that at the end of my day, shame on me. I'm not gonna shame anyone else, but shame on me. That was a day wasted. If I have an answer and answers of who, what I did to help others, that, that's a fulfilled life right there. And that's, that's a shift of perspective. I mean, I, I've got obligations. I've got a family that I've gotta feed and put clothes on their back and Make sure that we have a roof over our head. And I have an opportunity knocking at my door to help as many people each and every day. And what I found, the more people you help, it comes back to you in spades, 20x. I would say 10x, but there's another guy who talks about—

Another guy's got that one.

20x. Cool.

And where can people go to connect and follow you?

Please follow me on LinkedIn. Find my website, LarryLongJr.com. I would love the opportunity to serve and just if I can help you, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Larry sure has the energy, huh? I also put out a quote this week that I think we should all reflect on and it was Practice like you've never won, meaning like you really need to get good at it. Practice like you never won and play like you never lost. Now, let's think about that. That's kind of a great mindset, meaning that when you're not working on a deal, not in front of a customer, not talking with a client, What should you be doing? Some type of practice. Some type of analysis of your pipeline, your territory, your approach. Where do your deals get stuck? Break it down into tiny little pieces. Run it by somebody else. Get other people's eyes on it. You don't have to take their feedback, but look at it from a different vantage point. This is where you find holes in your game. And believe me, there are a lot of holes. We tend to go at the pace of our customer a little bit faster, and then things get stuck. That's natural, but it is preventable. If you want to become great at anything, you've got to become a student of that game. And what does that mean? That means you've got to study the game. You have to know the game. You have to be able to draw out The game. Where do you start? Where do you end? What are all the issues? How do you prevent the things from— the bad things from happening and keep the good things going so that the deals close? Now, if you are having problems with prospecting, go to b2brevenue.com and check out Start the Conversation, Get the Meeting. If your deals aren't closing or closing slower or smaller or with less predictability, Closing the Complex Sale is the course for you. And in them, I take pretty much like an MBA, Harvard MBA approach. It's case study based. You learn the lessons, you learn the game, you define your game, and then you execute that game and you see how other people define their game and how they did it. All based off the same core principles. You get office hours, which is an hour meetup every other week. They're all recorded. They've been recorded for the last 5 and a half, 6 years now. So there's over 100 hours of them, more than you could probably consume in a year. That's how you study the game. Not just one game. Many different games, hundreds and thousands of different situations, classic problems like multithreading, preventing a deal stall, getting it through the economic stage. And this is how crazy the world is. Everyone thinks the CFO is the economic decision maker. They're not. This is how stupid some people are. about sales. They just assume that, oh, finance is in their title, that they're the economic buyer. Wrong. If you've never really been on site at a big company closing an enterprise deal, you probably don't know what's going on behind closed doors. You need to know. Sending in a proposal Is probably the dumbest thing you can do. How do you get around that? How do you lead the sale instead of, what's your decision criteria? What's your decision-making process? They don't know. That's our job. Well, how do I know? Listen to the podcast. Take the course.

I don't need it.

I'm a genius already. Okay. How much are you making? Look at the space between your income and what you want to make. That's the skill gap. That's the mindset gap. That's what you need to fill in. Changing companies might help, might hurt, but that's what everybody thinks the solution is. Find a job where I can take an order better. That's not the strategy. Companies want to hire killers. They want to hire closers. They want people who understand the game. And unfortunately, most managers don't. How would they learn? They probably came from a unicorn where they were the order taker and had a nice territory. Congratulations. That's not everywhere. Is that what you're facing? Go to b2brevenue.com, check out the courses, sign up today, and let's focus on your game, getting you better. Thanks for listening. If you see my stuff fly by on LinkedIn, give it a like, a little comment, a little share. We'll see you next time.