How Drew Secured a Six-Figure Remote Income Through Sales Operations

All right guys, welcome back to another community member interview. This time we're here with Drew. Drew, are you based in Kansas City or where are you at again?

Yep, Kansas City, Missouri.

Drew out of Kansas City. It's probably pretty cold out there right now.

Oh yeah, we're sub-40 now.

So yeah, that's, it's treacherous out there with the wind too. But anyways, Drew's a community member, I think like right about 6 months now, if I'm not mistaken.

Yeah.

And Drew's been able to do something that if you clicked on this video, you probably saw it. It's a little bit outside the norm for people that come into the community or even come into high-ticket sales. And so I figured shine a little spotlight on what he's been able to do because it's pretty amazing, to be honest. Drew, I guess, can we open it up with you giving us perspective over what you were doing before you got into this industry? And some of the skill sets that you had at that time?

Yeah. So before I'd gotten into high ticket, I was pretty typical, like corporate sales. My last job that I was doing for about 2 years was healthcare recruiting. So definitely different than the other stuff, but I did have like a skill set in terms of like, I knew how to, you know, relate to people, talk to people. Um, had developed kind of that bulldog mentality because if you know anything about recruiting, like you have to still call people and sell jobs and you got to cold call a lot in order to build up a, um, client base. So, um, that was actually helpful coming into the space and having that type of experience that I think Matt Ryder calls it like cutting teeth experience. So.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What, what was it about that specific corporate job that started to, started to make you feel like it wasn't for you? And how long, how long had you been kind of looking into this space before you really decided to go all in?

Yeah, so I'd been looking, I had heard about high-ticket sales probably for about a year before had actually made the jump. Um, the biggest thing that, you know, moved me into that direction was corporate's very, uh, bureaucratic. Um, I didn't like how it did not matter what I did in terms of performance. Um, I like— there was no growth opportunity. Like, you go to a lot of these established companies and they'll tell you there's growth opportunity. But then next thing you know, you're 2 years in and like your prospects are for growth are minimal, especially in an industry like healthcare where it's so economically driven. And so like a post-COVID like market in that space, like it was dramatically shrinking. And so Ultimately, with that and kind of just the bureaucratic politics of corporate, that ultimately is kind of what I had had enough. And I ended up just jumping in to high ticket.

What, uh, so once you made the decision in your mind, like, okay, I want to pursue this between then and when you joined the community, how, like, what had you gone and done on your own or was joining the community kind of like the start of that process?

So I had actually, I was in a different cohort, um, just for like the creator economy, like the typical, like build a personal brand. And I'd actually connected with a guy who had previously, previously done like high ticket, but in like the real estate mortgage broker space. And I just messaged him and I was like, hey, like, What, like, what's your best advice in terms of, you know, getting into the space? And he basically just sent me a few different people and he sent me you. And this was all within 2 weeks. And so as soon as he sent me you, I went through like your content that you already had online, went and looked up testimonials and basically just made the jump right there from that point.

Yeah. I think, uh, I mean, so the testimonials and the content is such a big thing because they're— you being in the space, you mentioned Matt Ryder, right? Super smart dude, really competent. I think he runs a cold call agency center kind of thing now, and he does really well. But there's like a couple of different ways that people will like sell this opportunity online, and I feel like The types of people, like the types of people that I have these interviews with are the exact people that I want to attract, which is just like someone who's educated themselves and knowing everything that they should know about the industry are still deciding to come into it. And those people usually end up getting the best results too, which is kind of refreshing instead of trying to be like, oh no, this industry is for everyone. Regardless of what you're looking for, like, like mass market selling it. So it's interesting to hear that. Um, okay, so now let's, let's like jump into— okay, you get into the community and you're probably watching stuff, talking to people, seeing jobs and all this stuff. Um, what was it like? Okay, so to set context too, you started with this company as a closer. Did you have other roles between when you like came into high-ticket space and then started closing for this company that you're still with, or was that the first one?

This was the first one. Okay.

And then just like really jumping into it, got in, it's a solid team. There's other people that you and I both know that are there, have been there, are still there. Um, but you kind of found your own lane. So we talked about it a little bit before, uh, Turning on the recording, and we hinted at it earlier, but you really started to run with things that— not to say you weren't running with closing, you were— but you started to provide value in other ways that was potentially more valuable than just being a good closer. What, what were some of the things that you started doing? You mentioned show rate, which we can dive into on here, but like, what were some of those things as a closer that you were doing that really like solidified your spot in that company?

Yeah, um, and just for, I guess, a little bit of context, like, I'm now the head of operations for the company. Um, so like, as a closer, the first thing I noticed was there were just kind of inefficiencies in different areas of the business that, um, I knew I could provide value for. And, you know, the first one that really, uh, marked, you know, one, showed the value of me to our CEO, but also that provided value to everybody else was like show rates. So show rates historically were only at about— by the time I got on, it was about 49%, 49 to 50%. And we'd had all these leads information and I just noticed nobody had done anything about reaching out to people prior. There wasn't like a clear method to actually getting people to show up. So I just started kind of experimenting. And over the course of about 2 weeks, 2 to 3 weeks, my show rate was at about 70%. And everybody else's was usually between about 52 to 53, like the team average. And so I immediately documented everything, put it into something like basically an SOP, and everybody else started following it. And then our show rate jumped up to about 62%. as a team, which ultimately led to us going from $500K in May. And then by July, we were at $675K.

Yeah.

So pretty significant value add there. And then, uh, over time, there were just other things I noticed, like in terms of how the marketing. So like there was certain things in the marketing that were, you know, a little bit, um, questionable in terms of like it was attracting the wrong types of prospects. So I would give my 2 cents worth on those things. They would get implemented and we would see like an improvement in terms of lead quality. Um, and so over time, and this is just, I ended up landing the role as head of ops when our previous guy left. And within, from that first month Ended up adding an additional $100,000. So we went from about $805K to $980K in that next month with me kind of running the ops. So, uh, yeah, that's kind of the main things that happened. But my mindset the whole time was like, how can I just make things work better to make my job easier, but then also to make everybody else's job easier?

Yeah. So you've seen this, this company basically double in size in— how long have you been there now?

Uh, June, July, August, September, about 5 and a half months.

Okay, so you, you landed there fast too, which is freaking— which is crazy. So doubling a company in size, uh, in 5 and a half months, or let's call it maybe like 4 months of you being operator, or however long it actually was, I mean, that's so valuable to, uh, to a business. And that's why, I mean, I don't know how much we're going to dive into it, but you basically now are in a position where you're not heavily commission only. Like, you have a base that's comparable to the, the best, like, W-2 corporate kind of stuff, the stuff that people will work 10 years in a company to hope to achieve. Um, and all you had to do is double the company in 4 and a half months or 4 months. I'm curious though, what— so you were closing, you were improving your own stuff, which led to the team improving their stuff. And then you mentioned you're head of operations now, but before you were kind of focused on just like the sales operations. What do you think it was from the company or the business owner's perspective to where they started to actually listen to your insights around other departments? So we mentioned before we turn on the recording, you're doing work with marketing, you're doing work with the fulfillment and pretty much every side of the business. Why did they care what you thought about the ads or like other parts?

A lot of it was just like they gave one, just the show rate protocol was enough to start to have them to where they would listen to some of my insights. But I think the biggest factor was I just went in and just grinded my face off. Like, I wasn't like the typical, like, kind of what I think Cole Gordon calls them, licks, like lazy incoming closers or something. And like Matt Ryder mentions, baby bird closers. Um, and I think like that's something that a lot of like new people in the space needs to consider is like, even though everybody's you know, spouting like, oh, work smarter, not harder, which absolutely you need to. But like, there is a ton of value for being somebody that just knows how to fucking work and like put in, you know, put in some effort. And so that held a lot of weight. Um, but also like, I just kind of assumed the role, which I think is super important in the space. And I also The most important thing was if I identified a problem, I didn't just tell somebody about the problem. I actually went in, came up with a potential solution because the founder and a lot of founders on these offers, like they, they don't, they don't have the decision-making bandwidth to be able to think through everything every day. So by me Basically coming in with data, having it all like mapped out in terms of steps, when we would implement it and everything. It, the founder didn't have to make any decisions other than yes or no based on that.

So that's— That's so valuable. Yeah. It kind of sucks putting someone in a position of authority, but they don't act like they, maybe it's because of poor training, poor hiring. systems and processes, whatever. But putting someone in a position of authority that's supposed to truly take a lot off of your plate, and then you're still having to be involved. And so like, if you just kind of assume that role, no wonder they offered you this job, right?

Yeah.

Um, but I now, like, after having talked a little bit about you're just like grinding your face off and, you know, People listening here, you kind of know what you're talking about when it comes to making a difference and tracking and implementing. When you were— we hinted at it, but like when you came into the community and when you were starting to look for that first role, I'd assume you kind of implemented some of these practices for your own job search, for your own application interview strategy. What were some of the things that you did that let, like, I don't even remember if it was actually just 2 weeks until you landed, but like, what were some of the things that you did that got you this role that fast?

Um, so one, um, I, my eyes were always in the community in terms of like looking at offers, but then like kind of your, um, your course or modules on like how to vet offers out, keeping track of everything that you've applied to. Those were big, but also like understanding how to properly do like a Loom video or some sort of pitch to business owners. Um, that was a, that was a big one because I had seen a lot of other people's and they were very, I guess, general. Is a lot of the terms. So like, you can't— in my opinion, you should not use the same Loom for all offers. It needs to be specific to the person you're talking to, um, the spec— like doing research on the offer itself and being able to add that into your introduction, the way that you'll provide value, the experience you have and how that relates to the offer, uh, and then just making sure that you're prepared actually prepared whenever you get on. So like most high-ticket offers are going to have a pretty relatively similar like cadence in terms of how interviews are structured, but just making sure you do the prep work prior. And then not— I think a big one was I didn't act like I was somebody that I wasn't. So I was still me. But I didn't try to act like this, like hard-ass or anything like that. I was like, hey, these are the results I've gotten in corporate. This is the value I can add. And then it just kind of sold itself.

Yeah. I was telling you before, but you, like the way that you've gone about it really reminds me of this other member, Gary, who I recorded an interview with about a month ago. If you're watching this, I'm gonna link his interview at the end of the video so you can check it out. But what you 2 guys have done is you're kind of talking through this, and I was trying to figure out like, what, what is— what are these guys doing that other people aren't doing? It's like you are hyper-focusing on the strategy and nailing that down, and then you're executing, simply put, way more than everybody else. And if you can just do that over like literally a week or 2 weeks, I mean, you're, you're looking at a different life within 60 days, like totally. How, how was it for you too? Um, leaving corporate, like how long were you stacking jobs for a while?

So my plan was to at first, but then like I start, I had taken a couple calls for high ticket and I was like, I'd, I think I closed like my first 2 out of 4. And so at that point I just burned the boats because I'm pretty risk tolerant. And so I'm at a place in my life where I kind of could be, but I also knew if I wanted to get to the level that I wanted to get at, I needed to just burn the ships and just go all in. And, um, so yeah, I ended up not stacking jobs or anything. Um, just betting on myself.

Yeah. I mean, and that's the, that's the thing too. Like if you're, unless you're like a business owner who's like, you know, has a ton of leverage and connections and all this stuff. Like, if you— let's just say you value your time at $10K per month in the beginning, maybe based on an old job or based on the market or whatever. It's like a lot of times you're kind of just better off going all in versus like half and half and your performance dips over here. Maybe it wasn't as good in the job that you want to excel in. So I've noticed that as a common trend too. A lot of these guys, they get just enough proof of concept for For me, it was one month. I made just under $5,000 part-time and I was like, okay, I did this with this much time and I know there's kids way dumber than me doing way bigger numbers. This is my proof of concept. Like, let's go. Okay. Yeah, that's interesting. I'm curious too now. So like you went from corporate sales recruiting.

Yeah.

High-ticket sales, like you were talking about Cole Gordon, Matt Ryder, like you've done a good amount of sales training, you've gone through the stuff in the community. No doubt that you can't close at like a distinguished level, I would call it. You did sales operations, now you're head of operations. I'm curious now with your perspective on things and your experiences in this space, if you woke up tomorrow and the offer that you were on ceased to exist, What's, what's your game plan? Like, what, what do you do?

Uh, first thing is I go back into your community. I start, you know, reaching out to all the connections that I have made. Um, I take everything that I have done and the value that I've provided through all these companies, and I basically, you know, just mass reach out to as many people as possible. I apply to as many high-ticket offers as I can and then make sure I spend, you know, the hours I need to, to prep for all of those. Um, because I mean, at the end of the day, like, it is a numbers game in a sense.

Yeah.

Um, in terms of like applying, but you can, and I know you've, you know, made some pieces of content on this, but like It is a numbers game, but if you also improve the quality of your submissions and applications, the return on that's exponential.

Yeah.

So if like everything just goes to shit out of nowhere, like now I've gotten to a place where I know the process, I have a track record. All it is is framing that on paper and then getting involved in making sure you're networking with people because I still see people struggle to find offers. And all of those people are people that are not involved with some form of a community. And it's like, that is the single one of the biggest levers that you can pull.

Yeah. And then especially like, even you mentioned the community, but like the team that you're on. So obviously they're, you know, you mentioned somewhere in that ballpark of a million a month, might be over, might be under now. But like, I guarantee there's probably 5 people on that team to where if everything went to shit and you stayed in touch with them, they're gonna vouch for you anywhere they go. And it's just like, as time continues on, if you, if you can be that key player on 1, 2, 3 teams and be in a community, it's like, it's actually harder for you not to have work. Yeah.

Um, so our, uh, our head of sales, um, he's got experience. He's done multiple offers in the past and grown them to ranging anywhere from $300K a month up to a mil a month. And I mean, he's already told me, he's like, hey, everything goes to, you know, goes to hell in a handbasket. He's like, I've got 3 offers just kind of sitting back, like toward that he could launch at any point. And he's like, I would want you as my head of ops immediately.

Yeah.

So there's always opportunity.

Yeah. Last thing, I guess. Um, if you look at your day to day now, and if I'm not mistaken, you were remote when you were in corporate. Yeah. Okay. So you're still remote, but like, what, what are the biggest differences that you've realized, like doing what you're doing now versus like your day-to-day when you were in corporate? Like, what are some of your favorite things? What are some of your least favorite things? And just some of the biggest things that stick out.

So one is in this space, it kind of, for the most part, people are going to be a little bit more receptive. To your ideas, and things can. My biggest thing about corporate that I hated was it took like six months to do any sort of initiative for anything. Whereas in high ticket, it's like if it's clearly valuable, like people can put those things into practice immediately. So speed, like I just like to move fast, and so I think like. for me, high ticket complements that, whereas corporate beforehand just did not do that. Um, the other thing too is like, I guess you could— for some people this is a pitfall. Like, yeah, it's, it's more risky, but like, one, if you have a community that you're a part of and you know how to interview and you know all of that, like, it's really not that risky to find something else. Especially once you have proof, like kind of proof and numbers to back you up. But also just, I've noticed people are less filtered in a good way. Like people aren't trying to put on a face and like it's kind of fake in corporate, whereas in here it's like you can kind of relax a little bit and it, that in itself allows me to be able to go even harder on my things. And like, now I don't mind working 12 to 14 hour days if I have to.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you're, you're pretty much describing what it seems like. It's like, it is really, I've talked about it a little bit, but it's like, if you have any inclination inside of you to one day, or maybe now, like be an entrepreneur, like you basically came into that company and you became an intrapreneur. And by doing that, it like you're, you're realizing some of the upside without, you know, the corporate downsides and waiting for other people just because they're so big they can't do anything too fast. So it's definitely interesting. Are you— and I'm just curious too, are you with the position that you're in, like, is a lot of your time kind of just Grinding in the Google Sheets? Is it, is it tech? Is it meetings? Like, what does that actually look like?

So a lot, I would say it's split. I've got it to where it's split pretty evenly at this point. Um, so like, we're not like a super meeting-heavy, um, thing, but a lot of my time now, um, since we've kind of been able to dial some things in, is, uh, doing a lot more like strategy stuff and just kind of working with marketing in terms of new angles and campaigns for that. But I intentionally make sure I'm probably spending about, I'd say about 5 to 10 hours a week in terms of either digging into data or setting up like new systems for things. Everything else is my focus anyway, is just like what's going to drive revenue. And what's gonna increase sales, because at the end of the day, like, that's the mo— the most important metric.

Yeah. Well, man, I'm excited to see, like, one, where you can take this— the way I see it as a case study, like, that's the way I look at everything. Like, if some people are like, oh, how do I make as much money right now, today, this month? I'm like, dude, imagine the case study that I could build to land the bigger client down the road and just keep rolling it up into something bigger and bigger. That's what gets me excited. So I'm excited to see like what you can achieve here and then what that can turn into in 6 months, a year, 2 years. Um, yeah, for those of you guys that are watching, I'm gonna link Drew's Twitter down below. He's not like a crazy sales content kind of guy but does have a personal brand. I think it's a, it's a pretty good one. Um, and yeah, I guess, Drew, any like Last words for someone, or perhaps for you 7 months ago, or you 8 months ago, like what kind of, what kind of words would you give yourself around high-ticket sales, what's possible and all that?

If you're the type of person that you feel like you haven't been put in an environment where like, you know, you can work your face off, And you just feel like you haven't been recognized for those things, immediately jump into high ticket sales because there is like, it's actually rare to have somebody that can go like hard. And so I'd say like, it's not as risky as you think once you get your first one. Like after that, like you're going to have more opportunity and you're actually going to have Proof in the pudding, per se. Yeah, yeah.

We were talking about before we turned it on, but like, the bar is— it's really low, guys. It's really low. Like, you just be a little bit decent at sales and just work harder than these 18-year-old kids that want laptop money from the beach, um, and in 6 months maybe you could be doing something similar to Drew, maybe, if you're good enough. I don't know, maybe that's a bold claim. But anyways, uh, yeah, so I'll link your Twitter below. Um, if you guys are watching this and you've considered the community, uh, maybe watch a few more of these until it feels like a no-brainer. Um, and yeah, Drew, I appreciate you coming on, man.

Yeah, absolutely.