In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews best‑selling author and sales consultant Chris Spurvey. The conversation opens with a sponsor plug for Authors Unite, then moves into Chris’s personal story of shifting from marketing to sales in the late 1990s, a period that ended in bankruptcy before he re‑engineered his approach to sales by treating it as problem‑solving and service rather than aggressive pitching. Chris emphasizes that all revenue flows through relationships, urging listeners to treat relationships as gold and to cultivate a tight circle of trusted allies. He shares that sustainable self‑motivation stems from a compelling personal vision, a lesson he attributes to the book Mach 2 with Your Hair on Fire by Richard Brooke, which also taught him the art of self‑motivation. When asked about happiness, Chris says it comes from defining success on one’s own terms rather than external expectations. He cites a favorite quote by Theodore Roethke about unseen paths over mountains, framing it as a source of hope and daily inspiration. The episode concludes with Chris directing listeners to his website (chrisspurvey.com), his book It’s Time to Sell: Cultivating the Sales Mindset, and his LinkedIn profile.
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Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner as always. Today's sponsor is Authors Unite, and if you want to become a successful author, Authors Unite is the place to go. So head on over to authorsunite.com to check out a free case study that will teach you how to do exactly that. And now let's jump into the episode. All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Chris Spurvey with us. He is a best-selling author and the founder of Chris Spurvey Sales Growth Consulting Inc. Where he helps business leaders become confident and effective sellers. So welcome to the show.
Yeah, thank you. I'm really grateful you have taken the time to invite me.
Of course, grateful to have you on. So Chris, we go deep pretty quick on this show. The first one I got for you is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
That is pretty deep, pretty quick. Yeah, I thought about many different ways I could go with this, but I decided to focus on what ultimately is my core competency, competency and that's sales. Back in 1997, 1998, I decided to make a major career shift and went from marketing into sales without any real experience in it and I became a manager of business development for a professional services company and anyway to make a long story short, I fell flat on my face because I approached sales in the way I thought sales was supposed to be, the stereotypical in-your-face, get out there, shake shake hands and try your hardest to make deals move themselves forward and really struggled, struggled for a couple of years, it led to a financial reset in my life, aka bankruptcy, and decided at that point in time it was something I needed to figure out, right, and so I started to read some good books on what sales actually is and I just reframed sales from being that pushy in-your-face type of person that I thought you had to be, to be being problem-solving, curiosity, being of service to your prospective customers and so on. And things really took off for me from there and I was able to make multiple quantum leaps in my life, so to speak, as a result of me embracing my own inner unique ability to sell, just like everyone listening has as well. So I thought I would focus on that. I have many stories, as I'm sure everyone listening does, you know, stories are ultimately what make us. But I thought I would focus on sales.
Absolutely, man. Dude, that's awesome too. And I think, uh, I really like what you said there where it's like we all have our own unique kind of style. So I think there is like sales tactics and all that stuff, and I think they can definitely work. But at the end of the day, at least for myself, what I found to work best is just being me. Like, I'm just like really myself when I talk to someone. If I can help them, I present it. If I can't, then I point them in another direction. And that's, you know, that works. So if you're just yourself, that tends to work.
Yeah, Bill, the great late Bill Gove, uh, he used to say— he was a major speaker— he used to say, uh, if I'm gonna be free, I've gotta be me. And I guess that's what ultimately it came down to for me. When I found myself and began to apply myself, my inner self, to what I was doing, uh, things started to flow.
Um, so next one is, what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Yeah, that's a pretty easy one for me, and I believe, and I have not been proven otherwise, that all revenue in all businesses grows through relationships. And relationships are our most important assets, and nothing flows in business. So whether it's trying to attract your next great hire, trying to attract an investor, or getting out there and meeting human-to-human contact with a prospect, Everything flows through building straight-line win-win relationships, and we need to treat our relationships like gold.
And I think it ties into the next one. What's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily—
Exactly, treat your allies like gold and be the hub of your network. You and I spoke just before we hit record about a mutual acquaintance who is very big on creating those genuine one-on-one relationships. You know, we need to be very proactive around that and, you know, we can all surround ourselves with 4 or 5 really good allies and, you know, who look out for you and you look out for them and strike that win-win relationship. And I really believe from 4 or 5 close allies, you can make anything happen in your life.
Yeah. And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
It would be that, you know, the secret to success is, you know, self-motivation. We need to be self-motivated, you know, and that looks— what does that look like? It's enthusiasm, creativity, it's persistence, and all those great words. That's what self-motivation is. And I have proven to myself that the only way to find that self-motivation that's sustainable is to have a vision for my life that's compelling, that I'm excited about, that wakes me up every morning and puts me out there beating the streets and having some fun. And so vision creates self-motivation would be ultimately what I wish I had known when I was young, because I would have created a more compelling vision for my life.
And then kind of going a little bit down a different path, in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
The key to happiness from my perspective is defining success based on what you want and what I want. You know, I mean, I'm speaking to myself or I'm speaking to you, but define success based on what you want in life and not what others believe success is. You know, I grew up in an environment where I have phenomenal parents. However, somewhere along the way, I was told that to be success— a definition of success is to be a doctor. And you know, you had to be a certain thing. You know, really what I've learned is you want to, you know, find your why and define success the way you want it to be and go after it. So defining success based on what you want is the most critical thing to being happy. And, you know, allowing some nice white space in your life to grow into. I think that's the way happiness will come.
And then, what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
I guarantee you it's not one that most, I'd say no one on the call listening has heard. It's called Mach 2 with Your Hair on Fire. It's by a guy who's become a friend of mine over the years because I took the book and really added, you know, created the life I wanted to create as a result. So, Mach 2 with Your Hair on Fire by Richard Brooke and it's, the subtitle The subtitle is The Art of Self-Motivation and Personal Vision. And this is where I learned through that book about the idea of vision creating self-motivation.
And what's your favorite quote and why?
I decided to just pick a quote that I love quotes, but I read one on Thursday of last week, so I'm not going to say even though the word favorite, you said that, but over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley. And it was a poet by Theodore Roelke, I think is how you say his last name. But, you know, for me, it's a quote that brings hope and inspiration. And, you know, every day we just got to get out there and be the best person we can be, put our best foot forward, and, you know, climb the mountain. Because on the other side of that mountain, there's a path. And you may not know today what that path looks like, but if you get to the top of the mountain, you may see it tomorrow. So every day you You got to get up and do your best.
Yes. Dude, thanks so much for coming on. The last one I got for you, where can our listeners best find you online?
Yeah. My website, chrisspurvey.com. You'll see the link to my book which it's called, It's Time to Sell: Cultivating the Sales Mindset. So, chrisspurvey.com. And LinkedIn is primarily the social network that I hang out on. So, just search up my name on that and you'll be sure to find me.
Perfect. Thanks again for coming on.
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