In this episode of the Ryan Dohrn Business Show, host Ryan Dohrn introduces his "one‑up, one‑down" sales philosophy, a systematic approach to protecting client accounts when a primary contact departs. He explains how to map the hierarchy around a main contact—identifying superiors (the "one‑up") and subordinates (the "one‑down")—and offers concrete tactics for building relationships with these individuals through events, emails, Zoom calls, and leveraging fellow salespeople. Dohrn then addresses two listener questions: Robin from Pennsylvania, who is being ghosted after promising meetings, receives advice on granting permission to say no, setting explicit follow‑up schedules, understanding the prospect’s buying cycle, and using a multi‑channel, consistent follow‑up cadence; Terry from Florida, who is frustrated with younger sales reps, is counseled to embrace the energy and learning opportunities they provide, re‑inject fun into his sales life, and balance seriousness with mentorship. Throughout, Dohrn promotes his Sales Coach app and speaking services. The episode blends instructional sales tactics with motivational coaching, aiming to help listeners retain clients, avoid being left behind, and improve team dynamics.
Questions this video answers
Ryan advises three main causes: being overly nice (people avoid saying no), unclear follow‑up process, and not understanding the prospect’s buying cycle. He recommends giving prospects permission to say no, always scheduling the next meeting before ending a call, uncovering the decision‑making process, and using a consistent follow‑up message across varied channels (text, call, email). After 5‑8 attempts without response, reassess and possibly ask for a clear refusal.
Ryan suggests embracing the younger reps’ energy, learning from them, and re‑injecting fun into his own sales approach. He advises balancing seriousness with mentorship, using heart‑to‑heart meetings to set expectations, and, if unprofessional behavior persists, escalating to a supervisor. Overall, he encourages viewing younger reps as a source of vitality rather than a problem.
Chapters
Live from the Brain Swell Media Studios, this is the Ryan Dohrn Business Show. What is going on, friends and fans? Welcome to another edition of the podcast and the show on YouTube. We appreciate all of you being here each and every month. This month, our main topic we're focusing in on is what I like to refer to as my one up, one down sales philosophy. So unbelievably important. I've made a lot of money, recovered a lot of money with this concept, and I'll talk in some detail next on that. And then of course, what you love— I know you love this— the questions that are sent in here to me at ryan@ryandohrn.com. Keep those questions coming. We've got a question from Robin in Pennsylvania, and she's getting seriously ghosted, needs to get some signatures or she's going to be in big trouble. So we have some thoughts for Robin and all of you on that. Also, a listener question from Terry in Florida. Terry is struggling with some of the younger sales reps on his sales team. What can Terry do to stop the hate? Uh, we got some thoughts for you coming up next. Hey friends and fans, thank you so much for listening to the podcast, watching the show over on YouTube. And hey, by the way, if you haven't had a chance to download my sales app called The Sales Coach over on the App Store for iTunes, be sure to get that done today. Every day I'm uploading motivational tips just like you're seeing here and listening here. And then we also put sales training and all kinds of other things available to you on that app. Don't worry, friends. Google Play friends, that's going to be coming on May 1st. But iPhone users, you've got no reason not to be motivated every single day. So head over to the App Store for that. Search for Ryan Dohrn, D-O-H-R-N. All right, so let's dig in our main topic of the month, and I call this my one up, one down strategy for never getting left behind. All right, so let me lay some brief foundational work for you so you kind of know where I'm coming from. With this concept. All right, have you ever had a great relationship with one of your clients? I hope the answer is yes, many of those. Okay, now, so all of a sudden this client that you've had forever, the contact, your main contact leaves the company for whatever reason. It could be just going on maternity leave. It could be somebody that's left because of retirement. In some cases they get let go, in other cases they just move on. Then what do you do? A lot of times, maybe a new person will slide into that position with whom you've got no contact at all, no relationship at all, and then you are what? Fill in the blank. Stuck, right? Or whatever word that you want to put in there. Okay, so here's what I like to do. I make a consistent and concerted effort at trade shows, events, email correspondence, phone calls, Zoom calls, you name it. I'm paying attention to the people that are around the person that I have the contact, contract, or relationship with. So let's just say the good old Bob is right there in the middle, and we all like Bob, right? Everybody's got a friend named Bob. All right, so we've got Bob right in the middle. Bob is my main contact. Now let's just say that Julie is the person that is above Bob. Do you know Julie? Then there's probably some support people or others that are below Bob. Let's just say as an example, the person below that I see on emails and things, let's just say that his name is Brandon. So Bob is here, Julie is here, Brandon is here. How well do I know Brandon and Julie? Just in case all of a sudden Bob leaves, do I have an in with Julie or with Brandon? Now you've got to be asking yourself, what can I do strategically to make this happen. A lot of it is just about paying attention. So have you ever been in an email correspondent with a client, they start CCing other people? Pay attention to that, make notes of that. You're at an event, make sure you're not just spending time just with Bob. Make sure you get to know Brandon. If Julie happens to be there, ask for introductions to these people. Take time out of your day of what you're trying to do at that event to get to know those people. Pay attention on Zoom calls. Who's on those Zoom calls? When I'm on a Zoom call, The first thing I'm doing is making note of all the different people that are there. What's their first name? What's their last name? What do they look like? What are they talking about? How long have they been with the company? And all of those different types of things. Now, I would hope that Bob is going to be around forever. That would be great. And then we'll call him good old Bob or whatever. But the circumstances are, friends, that a lot of times people change. And when your contact changes, you're just left holding the bag. What do you do? Well, then you're reaching out to Julie and you're reaching out to Brandon. Now, another little side tip for a lot of you, and this works out very well in my sales life. If I don't know somebody above and I don't know somebody below, then I'm going to go know some people on the sales team. Because in almost every organization you're going to work with, there's going to be salespeople. And salespeople are great for other salespeople. It's like a fraternity, if you will, or a sorority, if you will, or an association or a club of salespeople. We all are kindred spirits. I know this is true because I've sat in plenty of airport bars and commiserated with other salespeople that are traveling. Typically, sales brethren will help other sales brethren out, or the sales sisterhood, or whatever it is that you want to call it. But if you don't have the one-up-and-one-down sales philosophy as an important part of your sales strategy, then friends, you're missing out on On one of the most important things you can do to make sure that when your contact leaves, that you still have a connection to that company. If nothing else today, friends, pay attention to the one-up, one-down sales strategy, put it into practice, start paying attention, and start making notes so that as you build your dossier around that company, you won't just have one little finger, if you will, in the, in the dam to stop the water from leaking out. You've got multiple ways when something happens, you've got multiple ways to be able to protect yourself. Friends, never forget, this job is not easy. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it, and they're not. We're not crazy, friends. We just need to be more strategic in our sales life if we want to get further and faster. All right, we got your listener questions coming up. We've got Robin of Pennsylvania trying to figure out how to stop being ghosted, get some signatures. And then we've also got a question from Terry down in Florida. He's just hating the younger reps on his sales team. Terry, you got to stop the hate. We've got some answers for Robin and Terry and all of you, and that'll be coming up next. All right, welcome back, friends. Here we go with our listener questions of the month. Send those listener questions into ryan@ryandohrn.com. And friends, I love to get all of your listener questions. We're either going to answer them here on the show, on the podcast, or I'm going to send you a reply via email. I'm going to record you a video. If we don't respond, if I don't respond, then guess what? The email did not come through. So keep them coming, ryan@ryandohrn.com. All right. First question comes in from Robin in Pennsylvania. Hey, Robin. Hey, Ryan. I'm getting ghosted a lot for some odd reason. Even when I have great meetings, I'm also having people say I'm ready to sign, and then I just can't get them to sign. What do you think I should do? Is it me or is it them? That sounds like a bad breakup letter from high school, Robin. It's not; it's not you; it's me, right? So, Robin, there's all kinds of things we could talk about as relates to ghosting. So let's talk about that first. One of the main reasons that people like you and I get ghosted is because we're nice people. Very often, clients, prospects, whatever—they don't want to say no to. Us because we're nice people. And so because we're nice, people don't like saying no to nice people. That could be number one. The second thing could— I'm not saying don't be nice, I'm gonna give you a strategy. The second thing could be you were not clear and defined on what the follow-up process actually looked like. So it's probably one of those 2 particular things. Now the third thing could be you didn't vividly understand what their buying cycle, what their process actually looks like. And so that could actually be One of the bigger problems, one of those 3. Okay, so let's talk about you being nice. I'm not suggesting that you don't be nice. Instead, what I'm suggesting is that you say to someone at that actual meeting, if at the end of our conversation you're not interested and your answer is no, please feel comfortable telling me that. You have to give people permission. Now, most sales trainers out there would tell you, never give somebody a chance to say no. Well, Okay, I know that sounds good in theory and philosophy, but if the answer is no, like, just tell me no. Who's with me on that, right? I don't want to get a no, but if the answer is no, just, just tell me no. So that's the first thing about, you know, being nice. Okay, the second thing is setting a schedule for the follow-up at the end of every meeting. A meeting doesn't end until a next meeting is in place. Does that make sense? At the end of every meeting, a meeting's not over until the next meeting is set on the calendar. Then what I want to do is get out my phone, want to get out my calendar, my day planner, you know, whatever the circumstances. Do people still use day planners? I know some of you do. Get out your phone, set that next meeting, and then also figure out if you miss each other, what's the best way to really engage with them. Now, the third thing could be you did not ask about what it takes to make a decision at their company. So, a lot of times what I need to do is find out what is your decision-making process actually look like, Robin? What does it look like? Or to your client, what does it look like? Is it multiple people? Is it just talking to their accountant? Do they need to get spiritual advice? I mean, what's the circumstance that you're going to be walking through so that you know that? Then knowing what their process is, then you want to get out your phone, you want to set up a meeting with them right in front of them and make sure you get that really airtight. So, probably it's one of those 3 things. Now, but Robin, I got one more thing for you that I'd love for you to consider, and that is your message and your method of follow-up. Your message should always be consistent, like for example, what's a good next step together? But on Monday, you might send that message via text. On Tuesday, it might be a phone call, or Wednesday, it might be a phone call. On Thursday or Friday, it might be an email. If your only way of following up is with email, that's very easy to ignore, right? Because we get hundreds of emails. So your message The message should be very consistent, like, what's our next step together? Any update on this project's appreciated. The message is consistent, but you vary the method of the follow-up. And then, you know, just basically at the end of 5, 6, 8 attempts, if you're not hearing something, then something else is amiss. You might need to go back to the previous advice and give them permission to say no, or ask them if they want to be let go out of this situation. Thought or whatever the circumstance is. So Robin, I hope that's helpful to you. Listen to this a couple of times, take some notes, and then strategically make some changes to the way that you're following up or setting those follow-ups with people. Good luck, Robin. I have faith in you, so make sure you have faith in yourself as well. All right, next listener question comes from Terry down in Florida, and Terry is saying, Ryan, may I be blunt? Sure... I hate the younger salespeople on my team. I feel like all they want to do is joke around and we need to get things done. Any help is appreciated. So, Terry, this is a hard one because a lot of times what I find is when I get messages like this, it's because the person that's writing you have— perhaps you've lost your sales mojo. Perhaps you've lost a little bit of fun in your sales life. So you're looking around like, why are all these people goofing around? We need to be a lot more serious. It could be, Terry, that you need to embrace the people that are there around you and let them help you find the fun that sales used to be in your life. That could be one scenario. The other scenario could be that, Terry, you need to embrace those around you because there's so much to learn. So, in the last 6 months to 2 years, I have really learned a lot from my younger sales reps. I've learned that I rely way too much on relationships to get deals done. I have found that I need to speed up my process, make it just a smidge more transactional. And then the other thing is I just kind of lost my fun spirit. And Terry, I kind of feel that might be where you're at. I mean, I'm not gonna ever be 25 again. That would be awesome. Maybe not for everybody, but for me, that would be awesome. But I've really embraced just the thought process of every day is a great day. Let's have a great day. It's a great day to have a great day. And I've just tried to find that fun back in my sales life. So the younger people around me, Terry, I feel like they help keep me young. Now, if you have a circumstance where the activities are just unprofessional, if you have a circumstance where things just aren't getting done, then that's a whole different question. In that circumstance, I think you need to go to a supervisor or whatever. You need to say, hey, we're not getting the sales goals. Here's what I think's going on. We might need to be a little bit more serious. But I would say in most circumstances, and because you used the word In the email that you sent, it is highly possible that you yourself, just like me, had become a little bit jaded in the total sales process, and maybe you need to reach out, embrace the circumstance, and have a little bit of fun as well. Now, Terry, what I can tell you is sitting down and having these little heart-to-heart meetings and trying to get them to be less fun, more than likely that's not going to work out for you. So I wouldn't leave this circumstance. I would embrace the circumstance and figure out what you can do to leverage that energy of your younger reps To help you stay young, to help you stay vibrant, and to help you get further faster. So, Terry, I don't know if that was the information or advice you were looking for, but Terry, I truly believe I have learned way more from younger sellers around me than from the veteran sellers that are around me. I would encourage you to consider that as well. Robin, Terry, thanks for your listener questions sent in to ryan@ryandohrn.com. Thanks, Ryan. All right, friends, that's our show for the month. We sure appreciate you so very much. If you haven't had a chance to download the sales app from the App Store on your iPhone, head over to the App Store, search for Ryan Dohrn, D-O-H-R-N, and get signed up for that. Android users, it should be coming to you here on May 1st or sometime pretty close. Love to come to your office, love to motivate your sales team or speak at your national sales conference. I've got over 40 talks We can use to motivate your sales team to peak performance. Learn more online over at ryandohrn.com. Otherwise, God bless you. Get out there and sell something. Make us all proud. And never forget, if sales was easy, everybody'd be doing it. And they're not, friends. This is a great career. It'll feed your family for a lifetime. All right, friends, we'll see you out there on the street. Go out there, sell something, make us all proud. Thank you.
