Andy Bounds, the UK's top-voted sales trainer, explains the "afters" principle: customers care about the outcome after an interaction, not the interaction itself. He stresses that time is really about priority and calendar placement, and recommends tackling your toughest tasks first.
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All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Andy Bounds with us. He is a sales expert voted the UK's top sales trainer. He's a best-selling author and has helped the world's largest and most famous companies sell more. So welcome to the show, man.
Hey, thanks, Tyler. Great to be here. Of course.
Great to have you on. So, Andy, the first question we ask on this show is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
My mother is blind, Tyler. That's my best story. So she lost her sight when she was 8. So when I was a child and I was learning how to speak, the person who taught me to speak can't see. Now, of course, when we sell and we communicate to other people, they can't see things from our point of view. So I've been communicating with blind people all my life, and that's what I help my customers to do.
And then what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
So the number one focus of the other person when you're speaking to them is what I call afters. So why are they better off afterwards? So just as a blind person also always needs the context of what's being said to them, so too does a customer need to know the after's context for them. So if I see an attorney, I don't want the attorney, but after seeing her, I'm no longer going to jail. You know, I might not want the CPA I'm talking to, but after speaking to her, I don't pay as much tax. When I speak to a marketing company, I don't want the marketing company, but after them I get more leads. I don't want it, I want more speed and more security. And my clients don't want me, after me they want more sales. So the thing to remember always is nobody wants you, they want why they're better off after you.
Mm-hmm. And then what is your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry-specific.
That would be to do with time, Tyler Wagner. Time is something we hear people say all the time. I don't have time, I don't have time. And I say time is never about time, time is about priority. So people say, I didn't have time to empty all these boxes I've got at home, but I did manage to play Call of Duty for 10 hours at the weekend. So it's not that we don't have time, it's what we choose to do, it's our priority. And so 3 words that mean the same thing: I don't have time, that means the same as I'm choosing not to prioritize it, which also means it's the same as it's not in my calendar. So time, priority, and calendar mean the same thing. So if you want to find more time to achieve stuff, you've got to get it in the calendar or you'll never be able to do it.
And then if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
It would be to keep seeking advice from experts. I was very good at that, but then don't just follow it without thinking. What I did is I spoke to people who I thought were cleverer than me, and because they were cleverer than me, I just did what they said, and that wasn't always the best thing for me. So, the advice I give my younger self is definitely keep speaking to experts. That has changed your life, Andy. You must do that. But when they say something to you, don't automatically follow it. Instead, reflect on it and tailor it so it fits your own values and your own priorities.
And then, kind of going down a little bit of a different path, in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
Two things, and I can easily remember them because they both begin in the letter P. P: Passion and priority. So by passion, find your passion. And what's that saying? If you do a job you love, you never work a day in your life. I love what I do. I wake up blessed I do it, and then I go home and play with my children, and I'm blessed to have them. So passion is really, really key. But priority is also important. I know I keep banging on about this, but if you don't prioritize the stuff you're passionate about, then you have to fit your passion around other stuff, and that's just the wrong way around to me. So the first thing to do is, you know, get the family time in the calendar to make sure that doesn't get taken away. Make sure that you, if you enjoy spending time with certain customers, put them in the calendar and make other people fit around that. Get your passion, prioritize it so it's your main focus, and you are guaranteed to have a more successful and happy life.
And then what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
So I've read just thousands of books, it feels, but an easy answer to this one will be Eat That Frog, a book by Brian Tracy. And basically Mr. Tracy says that if you're given a frog to eat, it's going to taste horrible whenever you eat it. So just eat it now. Don't pick it up, look at it, feel repulsed, and then put it down and then 10 minutes later pick it up again. Feel repulsed and put it down because you eat it in the end and it's still repulsive. So if you have something which is a real challenge, just pick it up, get it done. You might not enjoy the taste, but it's finished. And I really like the simplicity of that message. If you have something big, challenging, complicated, get up early, get it done, and everything's better.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
So my favorite quote would be by an author called Octavia Butler. And Mrs. Butler was asked by an interviewer how come she was so prolific and could write so much stuff. And she said this: "First, forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. It sustains you whether you're inspired or not." So what she was saying is don't expect inspiration is going to change your life. I mean, obviously it helps, but discipline and habits are the things that are dependable. So get yourself in good habits and you will always be successful.
I love it, man. Thank you so much for coming on. The last one I got for you before we let you go is where can our audience best find you online?
Thanks, Tyler. Two places. My website, andybounds.com. So that's B-O-U-N-D-S, andybounds.com. And I have lots of online videos which people are very welcome to look at as well, and that's on andyboundsonline.com.
Perfect. Thank you again, man.
You're very welcome. Thanks, Tyler.
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