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Firing The Man
THANK YOU TO OUR 25,000+ LISTENERS! We are so thankful to be one of the TOP E-Commerce Podcasts delivering high-quality authentic content to you! Serial Entrepreneur’s David Schomer and Ken Wilson share tips, advice, and insider knowledge about all things Amazon FBA, Walmart WFS, and E-Commerce. Discover how you can create multiple income streams by selling physical products online so that you can have the time and freedom to do what you love - whether that is spending more time with family or traveling the world. Ken and David have successfully created several six and seven figure online business ventures. During the journey, they have had major wins, losses, and lessons learned. This podcast will teach you about selling physical products online through platforms such as Fulfillment by Amazon, building a team, outsourcing, listing optimization, pay per click (PPC) advertising, driving traffic to your listings, and productivity tips / life hacks that will provide a path to be successful in building your online business. It’s a mix of interviews, special co-hosts and solo shows from Ken and David you’re not going to want to miss. Hit subscribe, and get ready to change your life.
Firing The Man
Sales Secrets with The Sales Whisperer: Insights from Wes Schaefer
Ever wondered what it takes to excel in sales? Join us as Wes Schaefer, the renowned Sales Whisperer, shares his insightful journey from the Air Force to becoming a leading sales strategist. In this episode, we explore the pivotal moments in Wes's life that transformed him from a novice salesperson to an industry expert, including the invaluable role mentorship played in shaping his career.
Wes emphasizes the vital distinction between common misconceptions about sales and the underlying science that drives successful interactions. He explains that effective selling hinges on empathy, asking the right questions, and genuinely listening to clients' needs. By redefining the approach to sales, he inspires those who may feel intimidated by the prospect of selling.
We also delve into the evolving nature of sales amid the pandemic, discussing how personal interaction and human connection remain paramount in a world increasingly reliant on digital communication. Wes champions the idea of tailoring outreach efforts to be more personal and engaging, reinforcing the need for trust and relationship-building in modern business environments.
This captivating conversation doesn’t just provide strategies; it also challenges listeners to reflect on their career paths and consider whether they are ready to embrace their inner entrepreneur. Wes advocates for always blooming where you are planted, and he provides compelling arguments for why stepping into the entrepreneurial world may be a fulfilling and rewarding avenue to explore.
Don’t miss this chance to learn life-altering insights about sales and entrepreneurship that can inspire you to reach your goals! Subscribe, share, and leave a review to support the show!
Welcome everyone to the Firing the man podcast, a show for anyone who wants to be their own boss. If you sit in a cubicle every day and know you are capable of more, then join us. This show will help you build a business and grow your passive income streams in just a few short hours per day. And now your hosts, serial entrepreneurs David Shomer and Ken Wilson.
Speaker 2:Welcome everyone to the Firing the man podcast. In today's episode, we are thrilled to have Wes Schaefer, also known as the Sales Whisperer, join us. Wes is a sales expert, speaker, author and entrepreneur who has dedicated his career to helping professionals and businesses succeed in sales and marketing. With experience in the Air Force and nearly three decades in sales, he has developed proven strategies to help people sell professionally, predictably and profitably. Wes has authored two books, produced over 700 podcast episodes since 2009, and spoken worldwide on sales and marketing. His expertise in connecting with customers, leveraging automation and integrating marketing into the sales process has made him a sought-after mentor in the business world. Today we'll discuss his journey, his approach to sales and the key insights he shares with business leaders looking to improve their sales process. Wes, welcome to the show. Hey man, thanks for having me Absolutely. So, to start things off, can you share with our audience a little bit about your journey from serving in the Air Force to becoming the sales whisperer?
Speaker 3:It was a bumpy journey. I got out of the Air Force in 97 and jumped right into sales. We'd been married barely two years, we already had an infant son. We had another on the way we didn't know about. And I did my five years and jumped into commission sales. And it was bumpy, lots of ups and downs. I got into high tech right as the as the dotcom bubble was imploding, we just didn't know it. After six years of that chaos I was like man, being on my own cannot be any more chaotic than working in high tech. Working in high tech.
Speaker 3:So in 2006, I had actually I bought a course, a guy I didn't even know him. I knew the guy that referred him and you're talking about know, like and trust, right. So it was a good referral. It was an affordable class. It was a 12-week teleclass, so you had to sign up in 05 and it didn't start till early 06. They limited the seating, like 35 people. It was $600. It was a conference call.
Speaker 3:You know, this is before social media, right Before Facebook groups, before school, before Discord and telegram and slack and everything else, right, whatsapp. So you, you got a PDF, you got 12 phone calls and um, and it changed my life and I ended up hiring the guy that taught that class as my mentor became his first licensee. My mentor became his first licensee and so by the end of 06, I think it was September 1st of 06, I bought the domain name the sales whisperer. I was literally watching the dog whisperer and I remember distinctly he said I I rehabilitate dogs and I train their owners. And I thought I rehabilitate salespeople and train their managers and I bought the name. Ten days later somebody emailed me, asked me if I would sell that URL. I was like man, I just bought it, you know. Then I trademarked it and so that began the journey. You know, I became a licensee of Steve's. I had his content and just started cold calling locally teaching, sales training, very nice, very nice. And now here we are, 19 years later.
Speaker 2:Outstanding. Well, I'm looking forward to diving into that. One of the things that you had mentioned was you were working in high tech. It was highly stressful and you said to yourself going out on my own could be no more stressful than what I'm currently doing and the show's called Firing the man. I would say that was your Firing the man moment, and we've got a lot of people listening that are in a high-pressure job, high-stress job, and it's something that they're contemplating, and so what advice would you give to those people who are thinking about going out on their own and betting on themselves?
Speaker 3:To be accurate, I said it was chaotic, you are right. Yes, not stressful. Yes, I was actually doing well in sales. I was laid off from two jobs or three jobs. What was that? Three jobs and within a few years I forget. But twice on my birthday I was like I need to change my birthday. I was over quota in 04 when I got laid off from my first high tech job Before my severance ran out. The former president of that company had become the CEO of a tech company in Austin, which is where I was living, and he picked me up right away and I worked for them for three years. That moved me out to California and so I was one of three out of 33 salespeople that had made my number. The previous year. I still got to let go, so I kind of cracked the code on sales. I was making good money.
Speaker 3:But yeah, it was totally chaotic, like nobody knows what they're doing. You look around it's like I'm almost 55 years old, about to have my fourth grandkid. I don't know what the hell's going on. You look around and go oh, when I'm that guy's age, I'll have my stuff together, like, hopefully, maybe you know. It's like there's no owner's manual. Man, we're all figuring this stuff out. This is the first time I've ever been this age, so I mean, we're all figuring it out, and so, yeah, it was chaotic.
Speaker 3:Always there's stressful times, regardless of what you're going through. But my advice would be, like my dad always says, if you think you're desperate, you are Okay. So calm down. People do allow themselves to get stressed and it's like look, there's no saber-toothed tigers out there. Okay, you are not going to be eaten.
Speaker 3:We don't live in a war-torn country. You know, we're not in North Korea. Figure it out, right, there are options out there. There are free resources, there are paid, affordable resources. You can start your own right. So you've got to take a step back and look, firing the man is fine, and from an entrepreneurial standpoint, you know, the US is a great country.
Speaker 3:It's what separates us from everybody else, is that entrepreneurial spirit, and you can't really explain it Like you're born into it, like it seeps into your blood, kind of like when you're in Texas, right, it's like. You know, I lived in Texas for many years and, and it's a, it's a state of mind, right, it's like what this feels different here, and so being entrepreneur is great. I think sometimes, though, there's too we, it's romanticized too much and and almost we almost look down on people like that aren't doing their own thing. It's like the greatest salesman I know. He's a friend of mine, a mentor. I worked with him at a couple of different companies and he's never been on his own. He tried it for a minute, hated it, and he's literally the number one salesman at one of like a fortune 100 company. He's probably like literally the best salesman in the world right now. It makes a lot of money, okay, so you know.
Speaker 3:So, first of all, bloom where you're planted, okay, if you do want to fire the man, if you do want to go out on your own, pissing everyone off, you know, and leaving a bad taste everyone's mouth as you leave, is not really a good exit, right. So do all you can where you are, and you know if you do, plan on leaving. So here's the beauty of it is that you can do what you must do to win in anything, and that is to detach, detach from the outcome. You know, and it sunk into me when I started to learn how to play golf my dad bought me golf lessons for my 23rd birthday and I didn't know if he loved me or hated me for doing that. Cause golf is addictive and, um, I remember I get.
Speaker 3:When you watch golf, you watch these professionals. You know two foot three foot putt. They take the same amount of time lining it up as a 40 foot putt. Why are they doing that Same routine? Because that routine, like a basketball player, you know dribble, dribble, dribble on the free throw line, spin, spin twice. You know bite your tongue, close your right eye, shoot the shot. Getting into that rhythm helps them detach from the outcome. It puts them into the proper state of mind to execute the task at hand. Okay and so. So I tell people all the time the task at hand, okay and so. So I tell people all the time we, we're not in charge of sales, we're not in control of it.
Speaker 3:Selling like weight loss is a lagging indicator. Okay, if you want to lose 20 pounds in 90 days, when you get on the scale in 90 days, it's only going to be proof of the work you did or did not do. Same thing with selling. At the end of the quarter you'll look back. Did you hit your numbers Meaning? Did you prospect? Did you call? Did you email? Did you direct mail? Did you knock on doors? Did you go on trade shows? Did you engage properly on social media? Did you send good emails? It's a lagging indicator. So you must detach from the outcome. Oh, this guy might yell at me when I call them. Call them anyway. That is your job. Detach from the outcome.
Speaker 3:So if you're somewhere that you want to leave and I'm not saying, don't care about the results or the quality of your work, you want to make that putt, you want to sink that free throw. But worrying about it, stressing about it, won't help. So calm down and say how can I put my best foot forward? And if you're going to leave anyway here's the ironic thing when you're not all bound up and worried about the results and the outcome, you relax and a lot of times you end up doing better. Then you start doing better and you maybe make more money, you get more accolades and recognition from the company, maybe you get a promotion.
Speaker 3:Now, all of a sudden, you're in a position to make the change that you wanted. Now you may not want to leave. Wanted now, you may not want to leave, okay. So but just understand that and look and the attitude and the reputation and the work habits that you ingrain and put into practice while you're working for the man you're going to carry over with you when you got on your own, you know so to leaving some bad blood, getting it bad blood, being pent up and frustrated.
Speaker 3:It's not a good way to enter going out on your own. So calm down, do good work, detach and again, if you truly want to leave and they're grinding you to dust, once you detach and say you know what, I'm going to give you 40 hours. You're going to give me for eight hours a day. You're not getting me for 10 hours a day, 12 hours a day. You're not getting 70, 80 hours out of me a week. If you want to leave, right, start to put your foot down and you never know, they may be asking 70, 80 hours of you because you're a pushover and you allow it, you know. So there's a lot you can unpack there. So you know, if you're going out on your own, go out for the right reasons, in the right way.
Speaker 2:You know there's a lot of great, great parts of your response, and one of them I want to take note of is that working for the man is not a bad thing and it's not evil.
Speaker 3:You're not a punk, right, but you watch the Andrew Tate's of the world. No, you're not making a million dollars. You're a worthless human being. I'm like you're a worthless human being, yeah, yeah, we're even saying that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and while the show is called Firing the man, I have worked for the man and I've learned a tremendous amount. I've worked with awesome people and it's that idea of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship and I like your analogy bloom where you're planted and so, yeah, really good stuff there. Now, to move on, you had mentioned when you took that sales course with Steve I believe was the instructor you said it changed your life, which is a dramatic statement. Explain that. What about it changed your life?
Speaker 3:So it changed for a lot of reasons. One, the company that put on that workshop is in Austin and the guy's name is Roy Williams. He owns the Wizard of Ads and I've been reading his stuff and he would do like once a month he did a free seminar down at his office and back then he was just in a commercial building kind of a strip mall sort of. You know like four or five offices just you know an insurance place, you know his office, or five offices just you know an insurance place, you know his office, just kind of an industrial, um, little strip mall kind of open air area. Um, when you attended one of his classes once you attend one I don't know if you can tell I'm talking funny Yesterday in jujitsu this black belt put his knee in my chin, I bit my tongue, so I'm fighting this call for three and a half weeks, got a swollen tongue, so anyway, hey, you haven't been punching the face lately. So you know what, make the next call. They're not going to eat you, but anyway, once you attend one of his classes, all future classes are 50% off because you're a graduate. So this was by far the cheapest class he ever offered and it was the one at the time. It was the only teleclass he ever offered, because by that point I was living in Southern California, where I am now, my wife's from here and I was covering the West Coast now my wife's from here and I was covering the West Coast. So from like early 2001, maybe until 04, I went to his monthly thing like all the time, so being able to do a $600 class, and I couldn't get my company to officially pay for it. But my manager, because I was doing well, he let me kind of bury my kind of pad my expenses over like four or five months so it eventually got paid for it. I just couldn't do it outright, so hey. So now I'm an alumni and I've gone to at least a dozen classes ever since and it's a. He's built a campus, lodging is free when you sign up and food and great drinks. I mean it's awesome. So that changed my life, hanging out with good people, seeing that evolve, get smart, smarter on sales and marketing.
Speaker 3:But then working with Steve, steve gave me a process and a system. I was a good salesperson, a lot of that was natural. System I was a good salesperson, a lot of it was natural. I went to the Air Force Academy so I had good leadership training, communication training. I'd gone through a lot so I carry myself well in a crowd, whatever. So I had all that. But Steve showed me the science of sales. But Steve showed me the science of sales Right, and that's what I learned.
Speaker 3:Selling really is scientific, selling is a skill. It is the profession of sales. Anybody can literally learn sales and my first paying client was an architect'm an architect. I don't know sales Like you're going to know sales, and he was a great client and great results because selling is very scientific, it is very specific. People are very predictable when you know what to look for, how to elicit the responses, and so that's why it changed my life, like I said, then I started working with Steve one-on-one and that kind of in-depth mentorship from somebody that knows what they're doing. Because Steve, like he's as old as my father, you know in his generation. So having an experienced person, you know, calm, but old school, right, he's hard ass. He would rip me up, man. I'd have to record my calls, he'd break them down with me. I mean just brutal. But if you want to get good, you know, watch, game, film you. Someone's asking themselves. Am I good at sales.
Speaker 2:What I've, at least in my experience. What I found is being a personable person doesn't necessarily mean that you're good at sales. And so what are some of those like foundational building blocks for building up your sales acumen?
Speaker 3:Yeah, Well, you always hear the adage oh, you have the gift of gab. You've never met a stranger. You know you should get into sales. No, you should get into HR.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Right, I'm good with people. I want to work with people. Well, as a salesperson, you're not going to work with many people. You have a lot of alone time, you know. Conversely, as you get to, you need to sell within your company. So, if you're still at a company, then you know you're working with operations, you're working with finance, You're working with all the leadership staff, you're working with marketing. So you're working with a lot of internal people, right. But you know the gift of gab and all that. You know you can sell ice cream to an Eskimo. Those are all wrong, 100% wrong. No, those are all wrong, 100% wrong.
Speaker 3:Great salespeople are empathetic, right, which is vastly different than sympathetic. Sympathetic, you know, is oh, look you. You know you fell down and hurt your ankle. I'm going to twist my ankle and lay down with you. How does that help either of us? You know, oh, you fell off the boat. I'm going to jump my ankle and lay down with you. How does that help either of us? Oh, you fell off the boat. I'm going to jump in the boat with you or jump in the water with you, unless you have a life jacket. Why so? Empathetic means I understand your point of view. I see things through your eyes, from your perspective, but I know how to help you alleviate the pain and the frustration that you're going through.
Speaker 3:Great salespeople ask great questions. Great salespeople listen to the answers. Okay, great salespeople are not worried about the outcome. Okay, steve taught me. You know.
Speaker 3:Selling is a calling serving God. I haven't said this in a long time. Selling is a calling. Serving is its purpose. Serving is its purpose, questioning is the process and a sale may be the solution. Okay, I have told more people no than yes. Over all my years of selling, at least on my own right, I've sold a lot of software. People come to me I want to buy that. Why do you want to buy it? Well, you know, I saw Alex Hormozy uses that software. I want to get it. Tell me about your business. Well, it's just me, you know, and I do like one hour a day on the side. Okay, you're not ready for Alex Ramosi's tools, you know. So I've literally told more people no than yes. So so I say I'm not worried about the outcome.
Speaker 3:You know, let's, let's see what's going on. It's just like a doctor. You know what is a good bedside manner? A good bedside manner is just the doctor listening and not rushing. Now they may come in and let's say there's an outbreak of measles. Let's say, and you show up, the doctor looks at you and you're covered in red bumps and fever and cough or whatever. I mean he knows, in one half of one second you have the measles. Ok, but and maybe you know you're like man, I'm just here, I made my copay, can I just get a prescription? Ok, good, get out. Great, you'll love that doctor.
Speaker 3:But you know, usually you go in with some symptoms like I'm not sure it could be sinus infection, it could be bronchial, like I've been going through some. Right, I ended up with a sinus infection. You know, my son had the flu. I had the flu. He got sick again literally two weeks later. Another fever. I just got a sinus infection, which I always do.
Speaker 3:So you want the doctor to listen. Tell me what's going on. How long has this been a problem? Have you gotten this before? Oh, you have a history of this. How have you treated it in the past? You know, on a scale of one to 10, how does this compare to the last time you had it? Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Do you have any allergies? On and on and on. Okay, here's what I think. Here's my recommendation. Okay, it's that listening People, you know, nobody ever changes their mind.
Speaker 3:We reach a new conclusion when we are given new information and can process it right. Right, turn it into knowledge, wisdom that exposes the truth to us. Ok, so that's why I hate the word pitching. Hey, pitch me. You know, I'm like I'm not pitching, I'm literally not trying to sell you anything. I'm trying to help you come to your own realization.
Speaker 3:Okay, again, using the doctor analogy, if I well, actually, a few months ago, my knee was just swollen, gushy you know, but it didn't hurt. But I'd had surgery when I noticed it and I'm like, damn, what is going on here? Right, so I go see the doctor. So I had to treat my other stuff. Then I went to an orthopedic surgeon. He's like, oh, it'll just get better on its own. Like what, the how? Do you know that? Now, he was a cool dude. I mean, he, they took x-rays, he wiggled it, he jiggled it, he poked it, he prodded, it said, yeah, you're going to be fine. I'm like, okay, I trusted his diagnosis and recommendation, right, but in prescription, and I was thankful. But it's like, all right, I did feel heard, I felt understood and, again, because there was no pain, I was okay. But he couldn't have called me and said imagine getting a cold call. Hey, how do your knees feel? Are they swollen? Do your ankles pop? Do you have stiffness when you get up and down? You should come see me, you weirdo. No, okay, so it wasn't the pain what brought me to the hospital.
Speaker 3:I went to the ER three times in September and October and ended up having surgery, and so nobody had to sell me to go to the ER, to the ER, right, the pain was bad enough. I'm like, help me. So when we're talking with our prospects, we have to get them to start to recognize, because when we're calling them, when we're emailing them and they're not calling us, they have not recognized the pain that they have, its seriousness and its ramifications, because we all only have so much time, time, money, energy. So we're dealing with usually we're dealing with the urgent and not the important, okay, so, as we start to talk with the prospect, so, using the doctor analogy, right, a chiropractor could run some ads and say hey, you know, you, you a man, you know over the age of 40, maybe used to be athletic. But you're fighting. You know you're stiff stairs maybe just not quite lifting as much as you used to. Maybe you're sitting in a chair long hours throughout the day and you notice you're getting tired, lack of focus, some brain fog, hip tightness, blah, blah, blah, and it's affecting playing with your kids doing chores around the house. Yes, would you like to address that, naturally, without the harmful effects of medication and prescription drugs or surgery? Yes, come on, in. First visit is free. Okay, so I'm bubbling up the issues, but the prospect has to say, yes, that's an issue to me and I'm willing to take time out of my day for the appointment and I recognize it may be a $200,000, $500,000, $5,000 treatment plan over the next six or 12 months to get me to a point where I don't have that stiffness, don't have that pain, don't have those migraines, blah, blah, blah. Right, so you got to follow that process and get. So you ask good questions and listen and make the prospect go huh, you know you're on the right track. When the prospect says huh, that's a good question. Wow, I've never been asked that before. Wow, I never looked at it from that angle. Right, because that's our job is to bring some value and we prove our competency by the questions that we ask.
Speaker 3:You know, I can show up and say, hey, david, you need this Bose speaker. It's got a rubber cover, a non-slip, it's got a D-ring. You can put it on your backpack. It's Bluetooth, it's Bose, it's got a USB-C port. It's oh. But you're like, I don't even get out of my, I don't need a speaker, what you know. But now if you ask, hey, I'm looking for a speaker, I see this on Reddit all the time.
Speaker 3:I'm in the CRM subreddit, literally every day. Somebody says, hey, what CRM should I buy? It's like saying, what woman should I marry? What car should I buy? Do you live in the snow? Do you live on the beach? Do you have a long commute? Do you have kids? Do you have a dog?
Speaker 3:I mean, there's 27 questions I've got to ask you before I can make a recommendation. So, but if you ask, I'm like, hey, do you need it to be portable or is it going to be, you know, stationary? Okay, portable. Do you need it to be, you know, waterproof, water resistant, whatever? Yes, okay, now we can start diving in, narrowing it down and so.
Speaker 3:But by asking those questions, you know what about charging. Do you want traditional, like lightning bolt, you know USB or the new USB-C? What's the USB-C? Well, you've probably seen it. Oh, yeah, the new one? Oh, I didn't even think about that. Yeah, that would suck to buy last year's model and now everything's. Yeah, I need the new reports, okay. So, because I ask a forethought, like a forward-looking question, something you haven't considered and you know USB-C's been around but you just didn't think about it because it's not your world. Now you're like oh, that's such a good point. Now they're liking me because I'm proving my competency by asking questions they haven't thought of. Now they're trusting me.
Speaker 3:You know, everybody buys from people they know, like and trust. Everybody focuses on knowing, being known and liked. So everybody's a professional visitor. Being trusted is really about the only thing that matters. Knowing you is 1%, liking you is 1%, trusting you 98%. If I don't trust you, if I know you, I know, and like a lot of people, that I won't give them money. I won't let them watch my kids. They're fun to have a beer with. They're fun to go golfing with. They're fun to do jujitsu with, okay. So you need to understand the value of trust and how do you build that trust in your prospects. It's it's all that really matters.
Speaker 2:Very nice. I really like that approach and the know, like and trust. That's key to the sales process. All right, wes. Now, one thing I want to talk about is it seems like there was a big inflection point during COVID on just how business is done, how communication happens, and I'm interested in your thoughts on in know. In my opinion, you can't beat face-to-face personal interaction. However, zoom has been one of the fastest growing stocks in the S&P 500, and there's a reason for that. And so what have been some observations you've had and what are some ways people can excel in this post-COVID era?
Speaker 3:Yeah, things changed a little Since I got into high tech in the summer of 2000,. I've making a decision. There were demos, there were trials, so we would meet in person, but the initial was always a call, email, setting things up remotely, then showing up in person. When I launched the Sales Whisperer in 06, I didn't have a website then, so things were done in person. But I would cold call, invite them to a workshop, which was, of course, done in person, and then we would do they'd sign on for ongoing training.
Speaker 3:2008, I became an Infusionsoft partner, so they're called KeepNow. So I started selling software for marketing automation, sales and marketing automation. I built my first website and from that point on I probably met 1% of my clients ever. Okay, so this is going back to 2008. I first started podcasting in 2009. Started the sales podcast in 2013. I didn't continue it from 2009. I had a partner and we're still friends, we just weren't good co-hosts. In 2013, I started a sales podcast and have done it nonstop ever since and it's always been remote.
Speaker 3:You know I was using Skype back in the day, I mean whatever the free tools were. So I still I mean I very rarely sell in person. I meet very few of my clients face to face, so people are a little harder to reach now because of COVID and so many work from home and people forwarding their office line to their working off the cell and spam calls and you know, unknown calls. But still, at the end of the day, we're still selling to humans. You know the human brain and how you connect has not changed in thousands of years and so you may have to do more touches, but I mean Zig Ziglar was training this 60 years ago. You may have to leave, do more touches, but I mean Zig Ziglar was training this 60 years ago. You know takes, you know five, five nose. For you to yes, right, you gotta take seven to 14 touches, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But that's still true.
Speaker 3:Um, leave a good voicemail, send a good email. Um, engage with them on social. Don't be a stalker, don't be a me too Lead with value. Mail them something physical. I don't get much stuff in the mail. I don't get very many good voicemails. I get mostly spam emails.
Speaker 3:And I can tell because in my LinkedIn account I have a dash after my name Wes Dash because I learned just coincidentally, years ago I put a red phone in my name. A sales guy in the UK had one. I was like I like that kind of stand out in the crowd and I noticed how many emails and LinkedIn messages I got that would say hi, wes, and then like a bunch of dashes, question marks, stars, because it couldn't transcode or translate that little red phone Right. So I knew they were scraping and I knew it was a mass email, you know, but I still I literally every single day. All right, wes Dasher, this is a personal message to you. I'm like this is not a personal message. You know, delete. So stand out right.
Speaker 3:Use technology to sword, sift and separate, then take the time to connect. Butift and separate, then take the time to connect. Make a real video and don't just go hi, because we're all we don't trust. I know, if you don't say my name, I know it's probably not right and they have the things now right. They'll hold up like a whiteboard. You'll see the GIF, right, the screensaver, and your name will be on it. Hi, wes. Well, you know, dude, that's 10-year-old technology. At least it's doing some mass merge. It was fine 10 years ago and some people still don't know the game. But when you get caught, when you get caught. I talk about know, like and trust. Now, I know you, I do not like you and I do not trust you. Delete and dude every day, about 10 times a day. Report is spam. You want to block? Yes, block, these people Now. Granted, they probably have a hundred email addresses, but they'll get back to him later, but he's not making it one little tiny bit harder? You know to stand out, so be human.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, one last question I want to ask before we get to the fire round is tell us a little bit more about Sales Whisper.
Speaker 3:Who's the ideal candidate to join the force, people with a whole lot of money that don't want to hear from me yeah, yeah, actually, those irritate me. I hate. I have people they've given me money and I had one guy just last year and I know him. I know him and his wife and for three weeks we didn't talk. He was traveling, whatever. And I called his wife. She said here's his calendar, just start booking calls. I literally booked like nine calls over three weeks. You know, like dude, we got to talk. You're paying me money to help you grow and you're just back in your old routine. I'm not going to let you throw this money away and I'm not going to take it for free. So it's crazy, but people will do it. We do it all the time, right, we get a book. We don't read it by a course, we don't log in. So there's a few different types.
Speaker 3:You know I still sell a lot of software, mainly still Keep and HubSpot Keep since 08, hubspot since 2014. So I help people upgrade and downgrade. You know, I had a client just end of last year. He had four Infusionsoft accounts and a servicing ticket account and it was just he needed HubSpot. So we're helping him port everything over. It's like a nine month project, huge deal. But sometimes you outgrow some software. Sometimes people jump into HubSpot and it's too much, but they lock you in for a year. They're like man, I need to downgrade to something that's more affordable. So I'll help them do that. So I'll help them find tools, optimize their tools.
Speaker 3:I've worked with damn near all of them Go, high level, nimble, entreport, active campaign, salesforce, you know. So I can help people. So if you've got tools, you're not sure what to buy next. I've got a crmquizcom so you can put that in the show notes. A free tool. You ask you like 23 multiple choice questions and it spits out results and gives you links to like six or seven popular tools for small businesses. It's not good for like an enterprise, but for the solopreneur to an SMB. So I help them find tools. I help them create cadences right, it's kind of a popular term, but that make the call, send the email, write a handwritten note, connect on social media. Send the email, write a handwritten note, connect on social media. Wait two days. Call number two needs to be different. Email number two needs to be different. So help them create those cadences.
Speaker 3:Role playing for salespeople. I do a little bit. It turns into executive coaching. You know I don't consider myself a coach, I'm not a life coach, but I mean I'm 54 years old, I've got seven kids About that, my fourth grandkid.
Speaker 3:I just know stuff. So people have hired me and I do like working with folks on just you know they're an executive or an owner and it isn't only at the top, you know, and they can't talk to people. They can't talk to a peer, they can't talk to people. They can't talk to a peer, they can't. They can't talk to staff. You know there's things maybe they're embarrassed about. I should know this, but I don't. I don't know to turn to, or it's just something new, like I don't know where to turn, what I need to. There's a lot of times I tell people, look, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. And yeah, I know stuff, but at the end of the day I'm more helping you pull out of yourself and be confident in just following your gut.
Speaker 3:You know, so often we get into trouble. Every time I've gotten into trouble in business and for so long I didn't trust myself. I did great in sales but then I would invest in a cigar franchise and invest with a guy. We bought an apartment complex. I mean stuff I didn't know about and I couldn't control. But I'm like, oh, those guys are older, they got some gray hair, they know what they're doing. They didn't. And there was always a little part of me like maybe I shouldn't do that. But then it's like, well, we like cigars, I like these guys and this guy. He owned 10 single-family homes, so an apartment's not really any different, it's a whole lot different.
Speaker 3:So people need someone just to bounce ideas off of someone, to just kick them in the butt and say you're right, your intuition is right, go, Go forward with abandon. You know so. And then in my inner circle it's super affordable. That's for individuals. It was like me with Steve Clark back in the day. You know you can join for $50 a week, you can join for $500 a week, you can join for $500 a quarter. You know I've got it stupid affordable. I don't want anybody to say I can't afford it. Live calls every week, video series on demand. You get my book. I mean you can ask questions at any time. So you know, I try to help the beginner, I try to help the intermediate, try to help the high level. It's truly what I love doing, right.
Speaker 2:I love sales training, marketing, a little bit of life coaching, helping people just clear out the cobwebs and go kick ass. Very nice, very nice. Well, we'll definitely post a link to the CRMquizcom as well as Sales Whisperer. Now, before we wrap up the episode, we have something called the Fire Round. It's four questions we ask every guest at the end of the episode Are you ready? Bring it All right? What's your favorite business book?
Speaker 3:It would be that series from Roy Williams. So he's got three. So look up Roy Williams, the Wizard of Ads. It'd be too much to say the three, but Roy H Williams, the Wizard of Ads, he's got three of them.
Speaker 2:All right. What are your hobbies outside of sales and business?
Speaker 3:Getting my chin kicked in jujitsu. I've trained jujitsu eight years now. I go five or six times a day, so I'm a little bit hooked.
Speaker 2:Nice, nice, nice. What is one thing you do not miss about working for the man?
Speaker 3:Stupid, redundant reports. You know I always use technology. I remember we deployed Salesforcecom at that tech company that moved me out here and I kept it updated. And my boss man he'd call me I need that deployed Salesforcecom at that tech company that moved me out here and I kept it updated. And my boss man, he called me I need that Excel spreadsheet. It's in the CRM, you know. Are you telling me it's 100%? Why do I have to create a report and email you a spreadsheet when I'm just logging into the tool? Are you saying it's 100% accurate? Yes, it is up to date, because you told us to keep it up to date and I was, like I guess, the only one that kept it up to date. So don't bog me down with redundant tasks.
Speaker 2:I like it, you and me both. And last question what do you think sets?
Speaker 3:apart successful entrepreneurs from those who give up, fail or never get started. All of sales and business is finding a need and filling it. So maybe alluding like what I was talking about before, because we hear this adage you know, do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life. It's like bull crap. I think one of the worst things is to have a hobby, something that you love, and it becomes your source of income, and then it's a grind. Okay, that's real misery. So, you know, bloom where you're planted, seek to serve.
Speaker 3:You know, I've sold mobile homes, I've sold stocks and bonds, I've sold high tech and I loved all of those things. I don't know if the world conspired or God had a plan for me, you know, but I got all of those ended. So, but when you, if you know how to just find a need and fill it, it doesn't matter what you do right. You're working with people, you're helping them solve problems, you're making the world a better place. So I think that's it right. If you can find a need and fill it, you'll always feel satisfied that you're on the right track. You're doing the right things for the right reasons.
Speaker 2:Very nice, very nice. And if people are interested in getting in touch with you, what is the best way?
Speaker 3:I'm all over the web. Like you said, the sales whisperer is what I've trademarked, but I'm everywhere LinkedIn, Instagram. I'm on those two the most. I'm on Twitter a good bit, so if you like any of those, find me there. You can email me. You can get my 12 Weeks to Peak habit tracker. That's free 12weekstopeakcom, but you get emails from me my cell phone's on there and it's me right. It's not no VAs, there's nobody acting like me. You get me.
Speaker 2:Very nice, very nice. Well, you give me Very nice, very nice. Well, wes, I want to thank you for being a guest on the firing man podcast and looking forward to staying in touch. Yeah, man, thanks for having me.
