THE SECRETS TO CLOSING ENTERPRISE DEALS

If you've been listening to this podcast for any period of time, you probably noticed when I talk with great salespeople, they don't sound like salespeople because they've learned that the most effective way of communicating with people is to sound natural. Some people call it authentic, but it depends what your authenticity is. What pretty much everybody agrees with in sales is people buy from people who they know, Like, and trust. Now, on the list of people you know, like, and trust, where does a salesperson stand? You know, if we weren't salespeople, we'd probably say pretty close to the bottom. Because when we think of salespeople, we think of somebody who's got commission breath, who's out for themselves, who's pushy, uh, trying to close us. But when we want to buy something, when we want help, who do we talk to? We talk to people who have some expertise in that area and that we enjoy talking with about that topic. Not just talk in general, but talk about that topic. And this is something I was really lucky to have learned early in my career. And it's something that most people don't learn until they're well into their mid-career. And then it's a tough transition because you got that smile, smiley uptick sales voice so ingrained in you that it's hard to remove that business voice. And maybe your partner or your kids have noticed that. Oh, it sounds like mommy or daddy's talking business. Because it sounds different. If you're able to have natural, organic conversations with people about what they care about and what they're facing, that is the magic circle of selling. Too many of us think it's our insights, our sales-ready messaging, This stuff puts us backwards, puts us into the rep zone. Once you're in the rep zone, you're a commodity. Tell me what it is. How's it work? How's it different? What's it cost? If you're getting treated like that, it's because you sound like a salesperson. I keep using this term partners in crime. It is more of a metaphor For how I've always found that perfect relationship in B2B sales. We're not committing a crime. We're not, we're not doing anything underhanded or sneaky. It's a mode. It's a feeling. It's an alignment that you have with your client, meaning that we're both working for what's our in our company's best interest, theirs and mine. And we also understand that the straight line from where we are to what we want is the hardest, the most difficult way to do it. What we want to do is get it done in a way that is effective. Now, there's such a big difference between the simple sale and the Complex sale. The complex sale has many different people. That simple sale, that's the individual. If you're listening to this podcast, I hope you're in the complex sale. Otherwise, this stuff may seem overdone, overly complicated, when it really is overly— or trying to make things simple for you. These conversations are the difference between the A and the B player. And often in my career, I'd always see, you know, the young people, the young entry-level people in sales talking like salespeople. And they'd have to work twice as hard as the more senior people who'd be sitting on the phone and they'd sound like they're talking to a friend. Not because they were talking about the movies or baseball or politics or current events, but because they were having An open dialogue with the other person. Now, this may be a skill. It is an advanced skill of sales. The stupid stuff they give you to read off on the script, that's entry level. That's rookie league. And managers do it because they want to save money on base salaries. Because everybody thinks that selling is just talking. It's connecting with another person. It's getting the other person talking, not us. Yeah, always like 2 ears and one mouth. Okay, you know what? The people who most often say that are the people who are not listening because they're just trigger eventing. Listening is an incredibly powerful skill That it's not just hearing the words. This is what the call recording companies don't get. They think it's talk-to-listen ratio. Yeah, yeah, that, that's like entry level. But are you really getting what the other person is saying? And are you able to pull it out? Because they don't know how to put words to it often. We have to get them into that state of mind and then build them up. This is what Start the Conversation, Get the Meeting is all about. And what most people who really get into it, not just like attend it, play the videos while they're walking their dog, really take the course, dig in, become passionate about it, apply both their time and their energy to develop it. The number one statement I hear is this is game-changing. Because what I've tried to do is take those conversations and break them down into Tiny little steps that anybody can learn. You do have to practice them though. I can't put it in your head. I can only present it to you and encourage you and show you distinctions and talk you through it. You still have to do it. Sorry. I wish I could.

I'd be happy to give everybody this magical skill.

Go to b2brevenue.com. Check it out. Now, a lot of people were looking for more of a tactical podcast. If that's your bag, Sales Questions, Brutally Honest Answers is a daily show, 7 days a week, where I answer your questions. So they are very tactical, very quick, very to the point, uh, question and answer. So check that out, Sales Questions, Brutally Honest Answers. Let's get into the interview. I'll sum it up at the end.

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

Yeah, thanks, Brian. Hey, Kishan Patel. I am a regional sales manager here for Splunk. Background is in— interesting background in biomedical engineering and then somehow ended up in sales.

Me too.

Right? So it was a good fallback, but I cover our strategic accounts on the sales side house at Splunk here, based in the Midwest.

Now, how do you go from biomedical engineering to sales?

It's an interesting story there. You know, I was finishing up, finishing up school, and a buddy of mine was in software sales. And I had 2 offers coming out of college, one for Siemens, working 60, 70 hours behind a desk, no travel, and one for a small software company that I'd never heard of. Never knew what software sales was. But my first week of training was in Vienna, Austria. And that became a no-brainer for me.

And how'd you explain that to your parents?

You know, that was an interesting one. They said, hey, once, you know, you studied 4 and a half years, I said, you know what, let me try this out as a good fallback. Because I did, you know, throughout college, I did a little bit of kind of the door-to-door sales. If you're familiar with Amway, I did kind of MLM, was getting and got the sales bug a little bit, but knew that that wasn't what I wanted to do. But yeah. So it sounds like the travel, the adventure, the Yeah, I was very fortunate in my early career as a BDR. I traveled to Austria, Vienna. I traveled to Germany. We had a lot of travel involved as an inside sales rep for a very small company. So, you know, I think coming out of college and all that travel, just that excitement, going to events was kind of right out of the gate was awesome.

But what attracted you to biomedical then? Because that's typically kind of the introvert, brainy type thing.

You know, I was very much of an introvert. I was very much, you know, put me in a box, but I quickly realized amongst my peers, it doesn't work. And I always— I started as kind of the later part of college, I started to kind of come out of Started reading a lot of personal development books and money was what attracted me, the lifestyle, the way that people thought, the way that executives kind of commanded a room. And so that's really what started to draw me to wanting more rather than— I really liked leadership is kind of what got me into it. And I saw sales as a path to do that.

And that control over your income, was that—

That was a big piece. I've got— I always joke, I got some expensive hobbies. I like to race cars. And so And I'm a big adrenaline junkie. So one of those things was like, all right, sales was what, what I contributed and what I brought to the table was really what drove me. It's kind of like those school projects when, when, you know, you have one person doing the work, but everybody else gets the grade. Just didn't sit well with me.

No, no, I can empathize with that. Now, how about the The car racing, how'd you learn or become attracted to that?

I always had a, just a love for cars. And what I really wanted to go to college for, so I didn't really choose my career path for college. That was not, that was not my choice. My choice was to go for business, to understand, kind of take that MBA route. And it ended up being, hey, if I was chasing a girl at the time, so they said, go-to, uh, you know, parents were like, hey, go be a biomedical engineer. And cars has always been one of those things growing up that I was always helping fixing cars with my dad. And so that just kind of, you know, as a young teenager burning, burning rubber and, and just starting to get that need for speed, I started going to some race, race events at the track, and that just started to snowball from there.

And it also sounds like you've got kind of an adventure Edge to you?

That's the travel, right?

Yeah, yeah, the travel brought another perspective. I always love to see other cultures because I think that's one of the biggest things is just being able to see somebody else's perspective and the way that they see the world. Everybody has a reason for the way that they do things. And so being able to see that was— I got a chance to travel to Africa back in 2014. I got a chance to travel In many places just to see the world in a different view than what we're wired as humans and individuals.

And I think that's helpful in sales because people either look at the rejection as a learning experience, an opportunity, or they look at it personally like, oh, I'm not good, they don't like me.

Yeah. I always took it as I have nothing to lose, right? If they said no, it just, it didn't mean no right now. It could have been no, you know, for another time and the timing was off. There's so many reasons that could have been a no and beating yourself up about it was, you know what, it's almost thank you. Thank you for not wasting my time and I'm grateful for not wasting yours.

And your view of sales, did that change when you were doing the Amway thing? Because for people who don't grow up in a sales world, you see TV, you see the movies, it's not exactly glamorous, right?

No, I think that the Amway piece, you know, I didn't really enjoy the— I learned a lot, right? The door-to-door is rough. But as a college kid, I was able to make, you know, 7 grand a month. And it was It was, as a college kid, you know, that was— you're kind of the king of the college.

Yeah.

But what taught me was the books that came associated with it, of how to think, how to, you know, interact with individuals. And there was a lot of one-to-one human interaction and understanding what people's goals were, what they wanted to get out of it. Because at that time, we weren't selling a product, we were selling a vision, right? Being the entrepreneur, being able to give back and just have that extra income and having that perspective of what extra income did for families and for people, that made the world of a difference.

And what got you out of your shell as an introvert? Was it just, you knew it wasn't gonna serve you? You weren't gonna have the life you wanted?

That's right.

No one was knocking on the dorm door? Hey, come on out, party.

No one was knocking on the door. You know, it was, it was kind of a self-reflection of, there has to be some change here, right? If you want something better, you have to kind of go and change the way you look at the world, the way, what you read, what you put into your mind, etc. So that forced me to change that.

And when you get out of your comfort zone, did that excite you? Was that kind of an adrenaline rush? Or was it—

It was nerve-wracking. It was nerve-wracking. Because, you know, growth comes outside of that comfort zone. We've all heard that, you know, that saying. But at the first, when you first kind of take those baby steps, it becomes nerve-wracking because you're really not sure if you're doing it right. But what I've learned is you just keep stumbling forward and you'll find your groove.

And how long did it take you to feel at home in B2B sales?

So that's interesting because, you know, I took my sophomore year to my senior year of college doing Amway. Once my senior year of college came, I think I grew out of that shell and became kind of that extrovert. And once I hit— once I was traveling to Vienna and once I was traveling to Germany and I had friends that were kind of teaching me and showing me the ropes, that just kind of started to progress. And I would say probably took 7 months to move out of that BDR role. Yeah. And so it was a very short time, but it was 2 years of kind of progressing that.

And how did you adapt to the The account exec role where it's multiple meetings, it's not a door-to-door sale where it's transactional.

Yeah. A lot of, so I was fortunate enough on the software side where the deals were long sales cycles. So being that BDR role, I really took to being a part of every account meeting that I could be when I was setting meetings for my AE and just learned of how they commanded the room. You know, try to learn from some of the best sales reps that made the 7-figure W-2s and what did they do and why were they so great? And I found a couple things that they did that was just, you know, above and beyond than what we're normally taught, right? Prospect, demo, POC. That's not—

That's not the 7-figure formula, is it?

Right.

So what were those things that you noticed?

Yeah, yeah, those things were, you know, Everyone comes in and does slides, everyone comes in and does demo, and what I noticed was it was more of a mind shift, mindset shift on how these AEs approached the account. First, that they did a ton of research. They understood who they're talking to and they understood what point of view they're coming in from. What is the day in the life of that individual like? What do they care about? And then product and technology always came last. I mean, it would be so many meetings that we would sit down and it would be conversational. It wouldn't be a presentation. I mean, we may have one or two slides as a backdrop, but it would always be a conversation of, well, you know, thought-provoking. Have you thought about this? Here's what I'm hearing. Here's what I'm seeing in the market. And that really pulled someone else in because it enticed them to really think.

Yeah.

You know, they came with the expectation, I'm going to see another demo and Nobody bought off of a demo. Nobody has. And it's like, they just, they fundamentally ran that cycle where I remember a rep closing a 7-figure deal and he touted he'd only had done 6 demos. And it was mind-boggling, but he was like, show it, sell it, hide it. And that started to really drive because it just, it didn't make sense. And sell at the right time was kind of the key.

And that's it. We all get trained to do the present, demo, propose, negotiate, close.

Right.

But, you know, how many people want to buy that way?

We don't buy that way. We don't, right? Like we as individuals, we go and look at reviews, right? We look for a social, you know, associate from our social circle. Like, are we actually like, are other people buying this stuff? In today's world, all the information, it's like everybody's stimulus rich but context poor.

Yep.

And that, that really starts to kind of come to light of we as individuals, we're humans, we're talking to another individual and they just so happen to— that's their job that they do. And trying to sell them and say, here's the product that will solve this problem. It's like in today's world, everybody's got problems. You know, we're not— everybody has problems. And so helping them find the problems that they didn't even know about becomes the difference, the difference maker that I think has really helped kind of over my career of just sales.

Yeah, because I think you made a great point there with the high stimulus, but you talk to the people you trust.

People buy from who they like and trust, right? Yeah.

Because Yeah, I mean, if you were, let's say, in the market for a car and you have a friend who has a Tesla, you talk about why he picked the Tesla. What do you like about it? What don't you like about it?

And then you start to see it in your realm of, well, I do— I take trips A and B, I can do that. Um, you know, I don't take as much road trips, but if he's able to take a road trip, that's a check in the box that I may want to do later on. And the, uh, you start to build up the criteria in your head. And a lot of individuals are— I mean, even when you go buy a car, you already know what you're walking in. You know, you know, typically the price, you know, the car you want. You just need somebody to help facilitate a transaction.

Yeah, by the time you get there.

By the time you get there, that's right.

Yeah, but like, if it's something that you can't see on the internet, like redoing your kitchen or something, and you've got a friend who's a A cabinetmaker.

That's right.

You know, you just, you know, just pull them aside at a party and like, you know, tell me what's the difference between this and this and why this, why that.

That's the context piece that really comes in that I think I've seen really, you know, admire some really great reps of being able to say like, you know, your competence, you know, competence is highly dependent on context and everybody's getting hit with marketing that says almost the same thing. And so, you know, as many, many times, you know, I've done it as a rep, is we do the demo and they're like, I don't really see the difference between this and what they're doing. Yeah, the way you guys are doing. And, and I think the, the setup to that of reframing of, hey, here's what you're going to see, here's what you're going to, you know, see in the market, here's what it probably means to you, but let me peel back the onion for you a little bit. Let me give you that additional flavor, just like that cabinet, those cabinets of Here's what you know. You don't really want to go with this wood versus you want to go with that wood. Like those are the types of things that add value that become tremendously impactful.

Yeah. Now, as a either a junior rep or first starting, people feel overwhelmed by that. But those meetings aren't what they're an hour.

They used to be right. I think nowadays it's like yeah fifteen minutes. Nobody nobody has time for hour-long meetings right? And if they're spending an hour, there's a reason that they're spending an hour.

Yeah.

And I think that's been a massive shift since COVID but even when you're starting out as a junior rep, just know that it's okay. Just put in the effort, right? And you'll— the effort and showing up sometimes, you know, is one of the hardest parts. It's just like, just show up and just be prepared, you know, put in the effort and that comes through. That comes through when you're genuine and you're authentic about it and you really care about the customer.

Because I think they do want to talk all day about themselves, their issues, what they're facing. And they want to learn, but they don't want a commercial.

That's right.

How long did it take you to get comfortable doing that?

I think it's an iterative process, right? Throughout my career, I've, you know, when somebody looks at the resume, they're like, man, you've jumped quite a bit. But when I look at it, I look at it as strategic thoughts of moving from one spot to another. And I've always, I've always pushed myself for a bigger role. Started out as a BDR, went to, you know, to be— I was rubbing elbows with the CEO in the same building and he's like, hey, come be an AE for me for services. I figured out I didn't really like services, but I knew that realm and I was able to round out that, that kind of, you know, after a year there, then I went back for software at a company called Monster that wasn't the energy drink and had some of my best years there closing, you know, $1.8 million in 8 days. And it was fantastic. But that was the progression of just year after year of wanting to be better and wanting to do more. Just dove into books, dove into things that What my end customer was going through and then backing into how I could, how I could help them.

Because a lot of reps don't get the better part. They get the more, and they look, they look for the perfect way of doing it, the silver bullet. And then they look for the outcome. And if they don't get the outcome, they go back and try and find another silver bullet. It's that middle piece of how well you do it.

It's falling in love with that boredom and routine, right? Just as like any professional athlete, like they— so I don't know if you've seen Formula 1 on Netflix, like they have routines, they have the boredom that they get, you know, enjoyment out of. It's that middle part of that makes that outcome so great. You know, some of the greatest, like Kobe and Michael Jordan, they put in the work. And all of that, you know, sales is a profession. So I'm trying to be the best version of myself and all the outcomes will follow. And I was kind of able to kind of flip that of make the outcomes like the sales and the closed deals just a byproduct of what you do.

That's the difference, right? See, people think the outcome is solely dependent on the performance. But it's not. Sometimes the performance could be awesome and the outcome mediocre.

But sometimes they leave it up to chance. It's like, I checked all the boxes.

Right. Yeah, I see that, the, you know, the list all the time. And it's like, okay, you get all the boxes, but so did the competitor. And so did no decision. And what tends to happen after like 5 years, people get in the, I don't have to practice because I know how to sell.

That's when some of the other reps that have been, you know, putting in the work and doing these video emails, they're latching on, following them on Twitter, following them on social. understanding them at a whole different level end up beating the product seller, right?

Yeah, and I had the great opportunity to work with a great CEO, and we would go out the night before his presentation, which was less than an hour. He had it written down, he had all these pieces of paper, and then it was like midnight, we're ready to go home, and he goes, okay, I'm gonna go back and go through this a couple more times. Let's meet for breakfast and do it one more time. This is a Stanford MBA. You know, it was that level of commitment. And he'd given the same talk 100 times.

There's always room for improvement, right? There always is.

Yeah, because he was thinking like, what do you— what would you say to this? How could you misinterpret this? How can I make this clearer?

How does that make someone feel?

Yeah.

And when they walk away from that, right? How does that make someone feel? Because we've been in experiences where we walk away like, man, I remember how I felt. I don't remember what he said. I remember how he felt. And what was that impact of that? And I think that was, you know, what they're thinking, what they're feeling. I think that goes a long way.

And building that conversation is such a critical skill that no one either teaches Or helps coach. Everybody's like, how to handle an objection. Well, by the time you get an objection, that conversation's already messed up.

That's right. That's right. And, you know, no one really teaches that. And it's almost digging deep to, you know, in a book or, you know, being able to say, how do I handle this? Like getting, you know, having some self-reflection, being able to have those types of conversations. Also, just, I think the books have been impactful, right? Not just sales books, but, you know, some personal development books of how do you as a human become better and then being able to then reverse that out.

And what's the routine you go through?

Let's say you have an A meeting later today or tomorrow.

Yeah. So the, you know, just the way that I run that is, A, I try to understand Obviously, you know, who's in the meeting, what's the objective, what's our meeting control plan, what are we trying to achieve out of the meeting. But prior to that, I do a lot of research on the customer, right? Where's that customer? What's the market? Where are they headed? What is this individual responsible for? And if I've had enough time, if let's say I'm meeting with— typically majority of my meetings are with, you know, VPs and C-suite. I would say probably 70% of my meetings are right around there on a weekly basis. And it seems high, but honestly, like, that's where, that's where a lot of my focus has been. And that I start to realize who was in that role prior. And so I'll reach out to them on LinkedIn. Hey, I'd love to hear about your role and your experience at where, you know, at that previous company. I've got, you know, and build that connection because when you're reaching out to somebody to find just information and share, And then I take that, what I learned, and I apply that into the meeting of, hey, you're probably feeling like this. And I try to use the same language, right? The language that that individual uses, that language and thought of the way that they talk, because I want to be able to come understand what is actually going on. How can we help? What are the problems that they're trying to solve? And then bring some thought leadership to it. I think that's the other piece of it. Here's what I'm seeing with all my other customers. Are you experiencing the same thing? And so that meeting control is where kind of running it from top down of what do we want to achieve? You know, what's the purpose objective? And we reinstate that in the beginning. Hey, the purpose of why we're here today, the objective of when you walk away, this is what I'm hoping you walk away with. And getting that pulse check, just slowing down to speed up.

And using that word feel. Versus think.

Right. That's right.

I think we're giving humans too much credit by assuming they're thinking about it.

I think a lot of us, and I still, you know, it's an innate ability because we're just so taught to, what's your next step? Where are you going with it? Like, you gotta get them to a demo. And when that's the only thing that's on your mind as a rep, everything else comes out of your mouth becomes Like that. It just naturally, that connotation, that tone, it feels like you're trying to get me to that demo, like you want to show me something. And instead of what is it that we're peeling back the onion on, what have you tried already? Because they've probably already tried a lot of things. They already know about your product. They went to the website. And there's multiple buyers in the room. It's not just one person making a decision anymore, especially in enterprise.

Yeah. And I like the point about getting to the next step, your next step, not theirs.

That's right. And that's right.

And when you do that, who do you sound like? Do you sound like a partner or do you sound like a sales rep?

You sound like a sales rep, right? You're just trying to get them to the next step and trying to progress them on your own timeline. I love the process of like, you know, we have a sales process, correct? But you're not going to dictate the customer because the customer is not going to bend to your sales process.

Why would they?

They have no incentive, zero incentive. Yeah.

It's like when you go to buy a car and they want your license and your keys and you're like, I know why you want them. So I can't leave.

That's right. That's absolutely right.

And I think when you start acting like a salesperson, you get treated like You get the ghosting, you get the, we got to think about it. You get the shield that gets put up instead of the openness.

Yeah. Yeah. And you just, you kind of fall in another bucket, right? Another bucket of someone that, you know, if you're consistent, they'll follow up and say, yep, well, you know, grab some time, but it doesn't really go anywhere.

Yeah. Was there any other epiphanies that you had? And developing your skills?

You know, I would, I would go back to what context are you coming in with, right? Coming in with like the epiphany for me was people buy from who they like and trust.

Yeah. So you were talking about people buy from the people they know, like, and trust.

Right.

And what got you to either realize that or internalize it? Because I think everybody knows it, but few people internalize it.

Yeah, I think, you know, just noticing how I buy, noticing how my friends and sphere of influence buy. At the end of the day, we're still selling to people and knowing that, hey, how do I buy? Whether I'm buying expensive software that is going to help my team or whether I'm buying something that You know, as a material personal thing, I've somehow, some way done the research. I've somehow, some way have reached out to friends of whether they thought I've reached out to trusted confidants. So whether I'm reaching out to my best friends about using a contractor or I'm talking about a big software purchase, there's a sphere of influence. What that sphere of influence is, is typically of trusted advisors. And who are those trusted advisors that help steer that person in the right direction. And so being able to understand that if I'm on the outside looking in, and they have some strategic vendors that they rely on, why don't I reach out and understand what they care about first? And what are those strategic vendors saying? How are they aligning to that person's goals? And then starts to really kind of put together and formulate a plan.

And if there was one skill that you would like to take to the next level that you think would get you from where you are today to where you want to be, what would that be?

I think that's effective communication. I think, you know, getting really good at what is the message, being concise, what is that 1% I want them to walk away with, and focusing on that 1% and getting really good at that. There's a lot of noise out there. And so sifting through that and getting— being an effective communicator through stories, that's one of the things that I try to do is tell a story, make them feel different, make them think different. That's, that's a skill that I'm still trying to round out and still trying to get better at. Yeah.

And have you seen people either at your company or that you've worked with in the past be really good at that?

I have, I have. And, and it's not a skill that they've learned overnight. They have practiced just like that CEO. You practice this pitch, you practice delivery of it, the performance of it.

Yes.

Of how you say things, how you're going to act when something happens, and sticking to that. That's the other aspect of like, there's one thing practicing sticking to and saying something, but then when it actually happens in the meeting, sticking to those— what you know, right?

Yeah.

I've seen that over and over. They've practiced. They've just— A players always practice. Doesn't matter how, you know, how many years they've been in the game, they practice. Cool.

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

I'm on LinkedIn, LinkedIn and Twitter. So LinkedIn, uh, backslash 1K Pat.

Now, isn't it great that he learned that skill such— or so early in his career when he watched 7-figure salespeople having these organic conversations. They weren't discovery calls. They weren't presentations and demos and sending in a proposal. All the traps of the complex sale that we're taught to do, that we're almost enforced and mandated to do. And when we find out that there's a smarter way, a more natural and organic way, because Guess what? That deal is most likely to stall. I'd say 80% of the time, not because you didn't do a great job. It's because you just gave a proposal to somebody who has never really quarterbacked or run back that into a company. They're going to get nothing but roadblocks. Think about getting your company to try and buy something. I'm telling you, there's probably 5 to 10 roadblocks, and you're most likely to either give up or believe Those roadblocks are insurmountable. They are completely avoidable if you know what you're doing. This is the critical element. And what I don't get about salespeople is that they're very comfortable wasting tens, hundreds of thousands of dollars of their time. What's a year of your life? Worth. Let's say you, you make $150,000, but you could make $250,000 if you really applied yourself. Now, I'm not talking about hard work. I'm talking about, you know, solid work, you know, the same 40, 50 hours a week you're putting in now, but you did it with better judgment, with a better skill set, with a better process. Could you make $200,000, $250,000?

$500,000?

Well, let's say the difference is $50K. You're willing to lose that? Comfortable? Sure, I got my vacation, I got my base salary, I'm comfortable. Very easy. But to spend some of your own money and time becoming better at it? Well, give me a book, Brian. What's the best book? Oh God, throw the freaking book out the window. How many books have you read about sales and really applied anything? You know, everyone tells me, oh, I love that book. Tell me one thing you learned from it. And they stall because yes, they read the book or they listened to the book, but did you apply any of it? Did you have a year of excellence, a year of developing the core skills of the great salespeople? No, I'll spend 5 or 10 years. Now you will. Most do. Some never get it. I talked to a lot of reps 30 years into it, and I can't blame them. They should have seeked it out, yes, but the company doesn't give it to you. I talk to these enablement people all day. You know what they want? They want a known quantity to teach the same 20-year-old stuff that even the companies admit Don't work anymore. I heard a podcast the other day from a company that was admitting what they teach doesn't work anymore. Surprise, it hasn't worked in 10 years. I guess somebody should tell you that. And they're telling the customer it doesn't work, but the customer still buys it. Okay, well, is it effective? I know what I teach works because I teach it every day. And when you hear the epiphanies that the reps have, but so many people are willing to spend $100K, $200K a year of wasting their opportunity cost because they don't feel it coming out of their bank account. No one, you don't see a deduction, but it's there. Ask yourself, you know, if you're making $150K and you didn't lose those deals or you won a few more, Or you didn't have to spend your day doing stupid KPIs that aren't producing anything, and you could spend your day doing things that would, would you make $50K, $100K more? Yeah, pretty much all the people on those 15-minute calls would, but they're shy about spending their time and money. Brian, this is my— I'll see if my manager will pay for it. Is your manager gonna get that $150K? No, they're gonna get a small percentage of it. And they're like, well, we already put you through the stupid training that doesn't work anymore. You should be doing well with that. Yeah, if you turn the clock back to 1999, it will work fine. How much spam do you get every day? How many unknown calls do you get? Oh, we're gonna spoof them by calling in their local area and tricking them into picking up. Oh, you think they're going to be any more open to listening to your commercial? The world's changed. And I got to give you a hint. In the next year to 3 years is going to be the biggest economic boom in history. Why? Because the government is just throwing money at this problem. And the vaccines are working. Look at Israel.

Okay.

You know, they snuck in some vaccines quickly and they, instead of like rationing them out, they said, get over here, get a needle. And look at them now, they're wide open. Getting what, 50 cases a day? The world is changing and you can sit back and save your pennies or you can invest in yourself. You are the means of production. You can blame your company, your territory, your— I Marketing all you want. They're not changing. They might change one percent, but you can change you. You have control over you. You can close those deals in the pipeline. You could learn to have these level of conversations, but you're choosing not to. Ask yourself why. That's all. How much do you want to make? Why are you in sales? It's a miserable job to be a B-minus player in sales. You're not making your number. And guess what? The comp plan's designed that way. I talked to people who design comp plans. They design them for about 50% to make it. That means if you're a B player or below, you got a coin toss of making your number or not. The A players, they're going to do fine. They're crushing it. They don't need leads. They don't need territory.

They just—

they got a couple of accounts. They know how to close this stuff. The C players, they're just hiding out hoping they don't get fired. It's the B players. You either step up or you hope, and hope's not a strategy. So step up. It's your life. Put that $100K in your, in your bank instead of wondering why it isn't there. Go to b2brevenue.com. I'm going to do some additional videos on the courses because the 15-minute calls are overbooked, um, and they're becoming a little annoying, honestly. It's like I did the frequently asked questions video and everyone asks the same questions. The number one question is, what course is right for me? Here's the answer: what's your pipeline look like? Well, it's Pretty thin, mostly made-up stuff. Then you need to start the conversation, get the meeting. Well, my pipeline's pretty good. We get a lot of calls, get a lot of leads, but the deals aren't closing. They're stalling. They're going to no decision, status quo. Winning the complex sale. Get those deals done. The default is to go to status quo. The exception is to go closed won. Which one do you want? If you don't get closed one, it's all a waste of time. Just throw that time out. Take that hourly rate.

What's your OT?

Say it's $200. You're $100 an hour. Every hour you waste is $100 out of your income. But say you double or triple that, or you could if you were effective. It's $200 an hour. You're gonna sit on those calls, blah blah blah blah blah. Send me a proposal. Don't get ghosted. Oh, you're ghosting me? Surprise! Come on, don't waste your time. Sign up.

We'll see you there.