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Um, really just the, my love for helping people grow personally and professionally

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and why I'm a coach, right?

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It's really that how can I help people become the best version of themselves and

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ultimately taking their career to the next level?

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I love it.

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I think a lot of people forget to ask that when they're choosing coaches, um,

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you know, whether they interview or just skip straight to a contract for some

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reason, like why are you a coach?

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You know, figuring that out, it seems like something that somebody could blanket

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over easily, but, um, what are these secrets that we're going to talk about

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for sales success?

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What are some of your top ingredients for that?

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Revealing the secrets.

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So really the biggest secret is how do I find my happiness?

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How do I find that place where my glass is full and diving into how I help sales

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leaders, salespeople and executives get to that place?

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And there's always this sort of, you know, idea of, I need a job where I'm happy.

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Well, certainly, you know, we can't all just bounce into a role where we're

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happy, but we're doing, as we're doing our job, we find happiness in our lives.

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We find happiness.

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And once we feel the happiness and we acknowledge that happiness, then

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we want to do more of it.

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And so I encourage people to go there.

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How do I encourage people to go there?

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What's that?

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What's one of those big takeaways for how to drive happiness?

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I feel strongly about values and so digging in.

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All right.

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Welcome in to Vision Pros Live with Jackson Calame.

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I'm your show host.

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We'll be doing interviews for visionary entrepreneurs and guest leaders who are

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building fantastic visions out there.

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Hey, what's up and welcome into Vision Pros Live.

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I'm your show host, Jackson Calame, founder and CEO of First Class Business.

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And I'm excited to have Megan Dimmer on today.

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Megan is an executive coach, fantastic at helping sales organizations and making

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sure to help you as well with your growth and achievements in sales.

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That's what great leaders do is they build you up and help you with what you need.

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So we're going to talk about some of the secrets of sales success that she's

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experienced and we'll also dive into the methodologies.

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We'll get really clear too about what types of entities that she serves.

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Before we dive into that, I always like to, of course, give a shout out recognition

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to some of my favorite companies.

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So these right now, these are not paid sponsors.

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We've had a few, but these are people who I also really appreciate because

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they provide services to us.

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And so what better thing can I do for the audience and help you see some of

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the secrets that go behind the scenes of what we do at Vision Pros and First Class

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Business.

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So ColdClick, ColdClick is run by Art Hoffman, good friend of mine.

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I like to mention too, he's a former D1 football player.

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One thing I've learned about athletes is that they're super dedicated to their

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craft and what they do.

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So beyond the field, they often carry that into their work environments and they have

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this discipline about driving towards champions, championships that bodes well

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for those of us who are striving to build championship level organizations.

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So ColdClick helps us maintain our LinkedIn automation, make sure that both

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we optimize the amount of people we can reach as well as abiding by the rules of

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the algorithms so that our accounts don't get shut down.

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Of course, any account, any time is at risk of getting shut down for any number

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of reasons, by the way.

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It's not just automation that can lead to that.

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But what we want to do is make sure we reach as many people as possible who are

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aligned with what our vision's like so that more of the right people come into

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place, perhaps with the opportunity to say, wow, I really need to be on a show

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like this or I really need the support of a company like this.

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That's really what the automation factor is about.

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It's up to you and me to design messaging that's attractive, intriguing and it

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respects the space of somebody who's perhaps a stranger and doesn't know how to

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trust us yet.

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It just makes sense to build it up holistically.

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But that's a tool we use.

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Tap Mental is run by Dave Goodall.

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He's a client of ours and very good at executive level coaching for

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entrepreneurs specifically and the blue collar space.

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So if you have a construction company, a general contracting company, anything

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where you're out in the sun a lot or your workers are and that's the type of

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environment you have, you have systems that you need to maintain and operate.

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You probably don't care too much about the technology or really probably don't

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have a passion for it.

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Dave does as well as the finances, as well as more importantly, in my opinion,

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what's going on in your head and heart that maybe somebody is touchy and

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feely like me.

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Maybe you don't want to talk about that with me, but he's a good old boy that

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can get inside what's going on in here so they can help you translate that into

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creating systems that make sense to your operations.

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It's amazing how much the mind trash that we have can hold us back from being

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able to operate a company that is successful.

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So I've been very impressed with Dave, what he does so much so that I put him on

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the sponsorship and said, hey, you guys should go look at these case studies

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that he has, put him to the test and see what he can do for you.

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I hope that helps at least one person out there.

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If it does, my job's done.

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The water project, the water project is a phenomenal opportunity to give back.

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We are all so blessed.

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Anybody listening right now, you're blessed beyond measure.

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I usually have my water bottle right next to me.

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I can go to the next room and get water and it's great water.

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I don't have to worry about it.

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We have billions of people in the world who don't have access to that.

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This is an opportunity to give a dollar to $10,000, $100,000, whatever you have.

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But what's cool is when you give it to these communities, you get to see the

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impact on the community itself.

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You get to see that they actually utilize it to build the sand dam or the borehole well.

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Could they be more effective?

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Probably, but so could you.

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So let's stop judging.

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Let's start giving and building.

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If you have a charity or a cause that you would love to see us promote because you

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know that they would benefit, by all means, send it my way and give me the chance.

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Just drop it in the comments.

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We're happy to give to more entities, raise awareness for great causes at the

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end of the day.

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For me, that's what life's all about.

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So without further ado, again, I'm going to bring Megan Demmer on board.

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We're going to talk secrets of success and sales.

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We'll talk about her vision as well as a coach and we'll keep going.

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So Megan, thank you so much for joining me on Vision Pros Life.

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Thanks, Jackson.

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I'm excited to be here.

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Absolutely.

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So let's quantify for the audience a little bit.

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I did my best, but I think you're going to do an even better job.

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Who should be listening and why do you feel they should be listening to you?

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I think the key people that should be listening are salespeople, sales leaders, and executives

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within organizations that have sales teams, right?

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So as well as I coach CEOs and founders.

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A lot of what we have to do as founders and CEOs is sales.

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When we look at the term of sales as a form of service, and I've seen you recognize that

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ability to have happiness, the ability to care about others.

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So I'm glad you include them in the reality and recognize that.

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I hope more of them recognize too how much.

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And let's talk about that a little bit.

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So CEOs and founders, what are they selling?

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Why do they need to know about sales?

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Oftentimes they're selling their business, they're selling their product or their service.

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They're selling the business not only externally, but internally.

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And so the ability to articulate what they're selling and get it across in a way that's

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concise, that makes sense, and ultimately that makes customers or clients and employees

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want to jump on board and stay on board.

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Absolutely.

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And so you digital marketers out there who have teams that you need to convince to get

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things done, an analogy you may not think about often is how do you sell somebody on

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the idea of keeping the bathrooms clean?

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But when you're working at a fast food restaurant or an environment where a lot of people use

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the bathroom, you got to inspire people to help out with those things.

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Even if it's the people who are hired to do the job or it's the type of team members who

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say, well, that's not my job.

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I don't want to do that.

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It's an environment where it's very good to have diplomatic skills and know what to do

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with sales.

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But let's dive a little bit more into your vision for those you serve, perhaps outside

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of the bathroom.

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So what's your vision for those that you serve?

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What do you want to see them accomplish?

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Happiness, really at the core of it.

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Jackson, I love human beings.

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I think I told you this in previous conversations.

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But I am here to serve and the reason that I do what I do and I've always done what I

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do in terms of coaching people and bringing people along is I want them to achieve happiness

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and to achieve the happiness that I've achieved.

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And so my vision is for people to become a better version of themselves professionally

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and personally.

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And that starts with do I think I need to be a better version of myself?

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So how do I become that best version of myself?

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And then as a result of that, taking their career to the next level, you talk about CEOs

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and business owners, founders, and you know, well, maybe their career is at the next level.

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But really, when we go back to clients and customers and employees, are we serving them?

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And answering that question in have I actually taken my career to the level where I'm surrounding

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myself by people who are happy working with me and working in my organization?

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Absolutely.

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Now, you've you've also been a CEO at a pretty high level.

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And that's one of the things I want to talk about.

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I'd like you to define that role a little bit better, though, in terms of how long we

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there what what did you gain in terms of experience in that role?

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And and what did it why did it lead you to eventually become a coach?

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So I'm you know, currently the CEO of my own smaller company.

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But I was at an organization, an architectural firm based in Dallas.

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I moved my way up through business development, right to the sales organization and the strategy

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and then into the CEO role.

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And my career dream was in my leadership development plan was to become a CEO.

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And so I pivoted from technology.

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I was in the same technology company, spin off of IBM Lexmark for 15 years.

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I worked my way up through business development.

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And I saw that kind of the story of how I got there, right.

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But it kind of helps to answer the question.

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So I saw that I could not get to that next level to where I would become a CEO within

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the tech space.

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Right.

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Two things wasn't an engineer.

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And I'm not a man.

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So two things that really I could see writing on the wall that in that time and that place,

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that was what I needed to be to get there.

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I was crushing it.

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I was at the top of my game like a lot of my clients.

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Right.

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So a lot of my clients, most of them are high performers at the top of their game and trying

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to figure out how am I going to get to that next level.

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And I saw I wasn't going to.

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I saw an opportunity in a different industry.

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And I said, I got to navigate this thing.

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And so that's when I pivoted into the architecture firm.

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And it was 450 employees.

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It was around 100 million in revenue.

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And it was a big job.

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And it was a big job where I was surrounded by a lot of people who were wildly talented,

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who needed what I had to give.

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And when I say that needed the love, needed the support, needed to know, needed to hear

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that they were important and what they were doing was important.

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And knowing how what they were doing was impacting each other from an accountability perspective.

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Right.

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So I really, truly brought it all brought it all to that role.

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Absolutely.

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That's awesome.

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And so, yeah, there's a there's a huge depth in terms of experience that comes from being

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at an organization that large and also running an organization that large.

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Very, very different perspectives and paradigms that are helpful for scale oriented companies.

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So tell me about your vision for you, Megan.

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What is your vision look like?

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What you can do five years, 50 years, 500 years.

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Don't me box you in here.

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What what do you see for yourself on the horizon?

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Exactly what I'm doing, Jackson.

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My vision for me was I wanted to retire at 50.

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And I'm not quite 50.

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Pretty close, closer to 50 than 40.

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But I wanted to in my mind retirement, I didn't really know what it was.

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Right.

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So what does that look like?

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How does it all kind of go into this long term goal?

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What does retirement look like?

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From my perspective, what I can do for the rest of my time on this planet is help others

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achieve success.

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And definitionally, success is what people believe it is themselves.

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It's not how I define it or how you define it or how whomever else defines it.

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So yeah, vision for myself.

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And you know, we've talked about keeping my glass full.

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Right.

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00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:42,280
So my glass is full when I'm helping other people accomplish their goals.

240
00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:43,840
And I'm doing it.

241
00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:45,040
And I'm going to continue to do it.

242
00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:47,760
So that's if that's five years, that's 10 years.

243
00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:50,040
It's something that I think I can carry on forever.

244
00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:51,760
So yeah, absolutely.

245
00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:53,760
I love that.

246
00:13:53,760 --> 00:13:54,760
Okay.

247
00:13:54,760 --> 00:13:58,320
And let's dive into a darker area.

248
00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:02,000
So we're going to talk about your worst business experience ever.

249
00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:05,280
The deeper you dive, I think the more it will help more people in the audience.

250
00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:08,240
But at the same time, I know it's a lot to ask.

251
00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:14,880
So what would tell us what's your worst business experience ever look like?

252
00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:21,280
Wow, I've been thinking a lot about the best and the worst.

253
00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:22,280
Right.

254
00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:27,440
Because when you go to the space of like, what makes me happy and what doesn't, there's

255
00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:30,400
a theme.

256
00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:36,360
And the worst business experience actually has happened more than once.

257
00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:40,480
So I don't know if you were expecting that answer.

258
00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:44,120
But I think that my clients can also learn from me.

259
00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:46,680
And I bring this into my coaching.

260
00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:47,680
Right.

261
00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:50,280
So I talked about values.

262
00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:56,760
And it's truly important to me to have an understanding of what our values are and what

263
00:14:56,760 --> 00:15:04,360
my values are and to really be intentional about knowing that and reflecting on that

264
00:15:04,360 --> 00:15:06,960
when I've compromised my values.

265
00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:14,320
So when I've entered organizations that don't hold themselves and others accountable, when

266
00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:22,360
I've entered organizations where transparency is not a thing, two of my really core values

267
00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:29,200
from an accountability and transparency perspective is when my business experience goes off the

268
00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:31,360
rails.

269
00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:35,560
And I have experienced it more than once.

270
00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:41,400
And I'll tell you that this recent pivot back into just focusing on coaching is because

271
00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:46,920
I want to help other people stay true to their values, not compromise their values and achieve

272
00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:48,040
what I know now.

273
00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:49,040
Right.

274
00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:53,800
And I can do in my single business where I can help others.

275
00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:59,560
So those are dark experiences and you feel stuck.

276
00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:01,560
I have felt stuck.

277
00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:06,040
And like I look around and say, oh, this is not where I want to be.

278
00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:08,680
You know, these people don't represent me.

279
00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:11,720
This brand is no longer representing me.

280
00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:13,640
And those are big things for me.

281
00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:14,640
Right.

282
00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:15,640
Reputation and brand.

283
00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:16,640
And so.

284
00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:17,640
Absolutely.

285
00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:18,640
That's it.

286
00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:23,760
Well, I think a huge part of that, too, is recognizing that, you know, as you're alluding

287
00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:25,760
to it, everybody has values.

288
00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:26,760
Right.

289
00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:29,520
No, I don't think there's anybody in the world you can say like, you don't have any values

290
00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:30,520
and they're going to go, you're right.

291
00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:31,520
I don't.

292
00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:37,560
You know, but we have different values and we have different levels of caring about those

293
00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:38,560
values.

294
00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:41,600
You know, some people want more TV time.

295
00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:45,600
You know, some people don't want a TV in their home.

296
00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:51,200
And that's an extreme difference, but it doesn't make anybody lesser than but it would make

297
00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:55,680
those two individuals lives very hard if they try to work together.

298
00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:59,640
You know, if one wants TV all the time and one doesn't want it, like that's going to

299
00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:02,700
create a disaster of an experience in most cases.

300
00:17:02,700 --> 00:17:06,680
So I think that's very helpful to have your values defined.

301
00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:08,180
Accountability.

302
00:17:08,180 --> 00:17:16,100
I am a pain in every way, shape or form for people who who don't like accountability.

303
00:17:16,100 --> 00:17:21,240
My right hand man said, Jackson, sometimes when you speak to people, it's kind of like

304
00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:23,780
you hit them with a steel bat.

305
00:17:23,780 --> 00:17:25,280
And I was like, I know.

306
00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:28,560
I was like, oh, I was like, I don't want that to be the case.

307
00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:29,560
But like, why?

308
00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:30,560
He's like, I get it.

309
00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:32,360
So that was years ago.

310
00:17:32,360 --> 00:17:38,140
I just got through my first divorce and I was learning a lot about relationships and

311
00:17:38,140 --> 00:17:47,320
a lot about the reality that some people don't want feedback very much or want good feedback

312
00:17:47,320 --> 00:17:48,460
at all times.

313
00:17:48,460 --> 00:17:49,460
And that's OK.

314
00:17:49,460 --> 00:17:54,320
But we got to recognize where we are on the spectrum of that and do you know what types

315
00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:56,440
of people do we gravitate towards?

316
00:17:56,440 --> 00:17:58,560
Sometimes we overlook that we need somebody to coach.

317
00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:01,080
We need somebody to help us open our eyes to that.

318
00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:03,720
You also mentioned transparency, right?

319
00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:07,540
Some people would say a privately held company is not transparent.

320
00:18:07,540 --> 00:18:12,480
But other people would say, you know, the relevancy of my pro forma is not important

321
00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:14,360
to the conversation at hand.

322
00:18:14,360 --> 00:18:15,360
Right.

323
00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:17,000
So they're both great values.

324
00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:20,840
If you're listening in, I think it's a very wise concept.

325
00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:25,640
Make sure that you define your values and what that level of value looks like to you.

326
00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:26,880
So thank you for sharing that, Megan.

327
00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:30,720
Before we go into your best experience in business, actually, you want to double down

328
00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:31,720
on anything?

329
00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:32,720
I love what you said.

330
00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:35,720
I kind of took the mic from you.

331
00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:48,120
So, um, fundamentally, when we compromise those values, we as human beings know that

332
00:18:48,120 --> 00:18:52,680
it's either not going to feel good, it's not going to look good, there's going to be something

333
00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:56,920
that smells not kind of funky.

334
00:18:56,920 --> 00:18:57,920
Right.

335
00:18:57,920 --> 00:19:09,400
But sometimes we let the dollars or the people, you know, you've got a relationship internally,

336
00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:17,360
we let those things cloud our vision to that important value, the important thing.

337
00:19:17,360 --> 00:19:23,960
And so what I try to help people do is go back to those values.

338
00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:28,120
And if you make a decision personally and professionally outside of that, you know,

339
00:19:28,120 --> 00:19:29,840
you're going to compromise it.

340
00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:30,840
Right.

341
00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:35,080
You know that you've said these things are important and it's okay.

342
00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:36,600
We all are human beings.

343
00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:43,680
We are going to stumble, but to look at it and say, was the money more important than

344
00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:48,760
the values was that thing that whatever the target was more important.

345
00:19:48,760 --> 00:19:52,800
And my job as a coach is to help people work through that.

346
00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:55,560
So sure, certainly we're going to make mistakes.

347
00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:57,880
We are human, but how do we get there?

348
00:19:57,880 --> 00:19:59,640
How do we get back to that?

349
00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:01,920
And so I think doubling down there is important.

350
00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:05,720
And I double down on that consistently as a coach.

351
00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:12,280
Again, I can't, that's something that I'm going to make a little side note on because

352
00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:15,800
while I've made the, I would say I've made a little bit of a self-awareness discovery

353
00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:17,960
for our brand for that.

354
00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:24,480
Over the last couple of months, there's nothing more important to me right now than securing

355
00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:26,080
that I keep doing that.

356
00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:27,080
Right.

357
00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:29,160
And it's, it's been a huge breath of fresh air.

358
00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:33,400
So we, our values are love, patience, persistence, reliability and consistency.

359
00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:34,400
Right.

360
00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:42,040
So we've got our five and we do most of what we do in relation to those principles or values,

361
00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:46,040
but we don't do everything that we do in relation to those.

362
00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:49,680
Because we've shifted that realization more to saying, you know what?

363
00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:51,160
No, we're not making concessions.

364
00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:54,520
You know, these, these are the cores.

365
00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:58,960
And yes, some people have weaknesses related to one of those, those five, but that's what

366
00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:00,200
we need to hone in on.

367
00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:04,360
Not, not say, Hey, you're, you're bad at this, but there's an opportunity there to make sure

368
00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:06,200
that are we aligned?

369
00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:09,960
You know, do we really want to grow the same way and making space for that?

370
00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:13,320
And when you're thinking that way, it helps everything.

371
00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:17,880
It helps the whole operation move forward and more fluidity.

372
00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:19,240
So we can definitely be better on that.

373
00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:21,120
So let's switch gears a little bit though.

374
00:21:21,120 --> 00:21:23,300
What's your best experience in business?

375
00:21:23,300 --> 00:21:24,300
What does that look like?

376
00:21:24,300 --> 00:21:25,300
Yeah.

377
00:21:25,300 --> 00:21:29,440
My best experience in business.

378
00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:31,440
It looks like a huge hug.

379
00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:32,440
Yeah.

380
00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:35,440
It looks like a really big hug.

381
00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:38,360
High five languages, physical touches up there for you.

382
00:21:38,360 --> 00:21:39,360
Got it.

383
00:21:39,360 --> 00:21:41,560
It looks like a big high five.

384
00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:44,280
During COVID it was hard for me to not be able to high five.

385
00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:45,280
I high five.

386
00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:47,280
I'm doing them all the time.

387
00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:48,280
Right.

388
00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:54,240
So I was an athlete, kind of still an athlete.

389
00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:55,240
That Peloton is still athletic.

390
00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:56,240
What sports?

391
00:21:56,240 --> 00:21:57,240
What sports?

392
00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:00,000
Year round volleyball.

393
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:02,840
And I threw the discus little secret.

394
00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:08,440
I set the high school record as a freshman throwing the discus.

395
00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:09,440
And then I dropped the mic.

396
00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:10,440
I was like, no more of this.

397
00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:11,440
I got to get back to volleyball.

398
00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:12,440
Set the record.

399
00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:13,440
I'm done.

400
00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:21,000
So I am a teamwork person.

401
00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:28,120
And so my best work experience, I'll tell you what it was.

402
00:22:28,120 --> 00:22:29,760
It just came to me.

403
00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:33,000
So when I was in that CEO role, it wasn't all paths.

404
00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:34,000
Certainly.

405
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:35,120
There was a lot of fun.

406
00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:39,620
I had the opportunity to build my executive team.

407
00:22:39,620 --> 00:22:43,600
And there were legacy people there that brought tremendous amount of value.

408
00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:44,960
And they were on the team.

409
00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:45,960
We had some gaps, right?

410
00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:50,280
From a financial perspective brought in a CFO that I was able to hire.

411
00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:55,880
I was able to bring in a COO who was actually my sorority sister.

412
00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:59,240
You know you've arrived when you have been tracking.

413
00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:02,520
We were leadership roles together in the sorority.

414
00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:05,920
We both went and did our own thing and accomplished a lot in business.

415
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:07,360
We came back together.

416
00:23:07,360 --> 00:23:12,640
I brought her in to be my right hand at the architecture firm.

417
00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:18,400
And I had the most collaborative team of professionals.

418
00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:21,240
And it was a lot of high fives and it was a lot of fun.

419
00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:24,680
So that was my best business experience.

420
00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:25,680
That's awesome.

421
00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:33,560
That incorporates past relationships as well as the opportunity to put the A team together.

422
00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:38,360
How many people have the opportunity to do that especially with a multi-million dollar

423
00:23:38,360 --> 00:23:39,360
company?

424
00:23:39,360 --> 00:23:46,360
So, yeah, I can see why that feather in the cap stands out as special.

425
00:23:46,360 --> 00:23:48,040
You're welcome to hang on to that thread.

426
00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:52,920
You're welcome to move us in another direction as we go into the powerful lesson that other

427
00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:54,720
visionaries can learn from your experience.

428
00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:59,880
So what powerful lesson would you like to share that will help other visionaries on

429
00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:03,800
their path of building out their own visions?

430
00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:07,000
Oh, being a visionary, right?

431
00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:12,320
So there's the good, the bad, the sometimes ugly.

432
00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:21,720
And because I've coached so many founder CEOs and hired gun CEOs, a lot more founder CEOs,

433
00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:24,680
right, who I've worked with.

434
00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:27,400
And I've been a hired gun and I've been a founder.

435
00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:37,960
So I'm going to pull all this together into one little bucket and say, as a visionary,

436
00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:43,840
it's our job to come up with the thing, the vision of the company, right?

437
00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:44,840
Yeah.

438
00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:51,200
And to iterate on that and come up with a lot of spitball, whatever it is you call it

439
00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:55,440
on that vision and to get people on board with that vision.

440
00:24:55,440 --> 00:25:04,320
But when you bring people on board to accomplish that vision and they are subject matter experts,

441
00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:06,800
you better damn let them do what they're great at.

442
00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:10,520
Get out of the way.

443
00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:16,600
Like all of these games are playing like the contest of who has the biggest whatever in

444
00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:17,600
the room.

445
00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:18,600
Oh, geez.

446
00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:21,200
Yo, no more time for that.

447
00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:25,020
Like you brought, you brought everybody to the table, right?

448
00:25:25,020 --> 00:25:29,440
You selected those people because they're bomb ass at their job.

449
00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:34,080
And now let them do their job for right.

450
00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:37,540
Otherwise the risk.

451
00:25:37,540 --> 00:25:42,120
We second guess ourselves as leaders on our team, right?

452
00:25:42,120 --> 00:25:46,240
On that team, the visionary put together the leaders and now the leaders are like, am I

453
00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:47,240
not good at this?

454
00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:52,800
Because I feel like every time I'm asked to bring my idea to the table, it's like great

455
00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:56,560
idea, but you should probably do it this way does not work.

456
00:25:56,560 --> 00:26:00,400
And all it does is create the opposite of that big hug in the room.

457
00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:07,720
So the powerful lesson is you create a team and you have your quarterback and you have

458
00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:13,720
your, you know, whatever sport it is that you're down with, let the people do the job.

459
00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:17,640
You just, you just set the failure house on fire.

460
00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:19,840
Megan, you just set it on fire.

461
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:23,560
Thank goodness you talk about people who, you know, who want to compare the size.

462
00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:27,960
You know, we know the P word, uh, the purses that everybody's carrying around in that room.

463
00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:28,960
All right.

464
00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:30,760
It doesn't matter what the size of your purses.

465
00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:35,960
What matters is are we, are we allowing people who are awesome at what they do to do what

466
00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:37,600
they're awesome at?

467
00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:40,440
Or are we trying to control it or micromanage it?

468
00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:43,320
And you, you know, I'll hit some of those head on, right?

469
00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:48,220
You bring in that awesome chief marketing executive and they're supposed to be the chief.

470
00:26:48,220 --> 00:26:51,360
The next thing you know, instead of having them be the marketing director, the chief,

471
00:26:51,360 --> 00:26:53,560
you're telling them, I want you to do this.

472
00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:54,560
Just shut up.

473
00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:55,760
You just screwed it up.

474
00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:57,480
I want you to run this.

475
00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:00,480
No, get out of the way.

476
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:04,440
Let that chief marketing officer come up with the plan that makes sense.

477
00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:06,940
Why the heck did you hire them otherwise?

478
00:27:06,940 --> 00:27:10,200
If you just want to control them and make them your little robot.

479
00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:11,840
Am I right?

480
00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:12,840
Totally right.

481
00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:13,840
I'm wrong.

482
00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:18,600
Tell me you haven't sat in that seat, right?

483
00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:19,600
Where you're like, and then.

484
00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:21,480
That's the only seat that exists for chief marketing officers by the way.

485
00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:26,600
There's a great cartoon on that and it has a desk for the CEO, a desk for the COO and

486
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:28,320
a revolving door for the CMO.

487
00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:30,560
I was like, that's awesome.

488
00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:31,560
That's hilarious.

489
00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:34,560
Now, and that's, that's, that's okay.

490
00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:36,680
You know, it's part of the process.

491
00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:43,560
You have to, as a CMO, you have to be willing to deal with the heat of that and inspire

492
00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:46,840
that office to not behave like that.

493
00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:52,400
And if you become the yes man, which most CMOs do, most marketers do is, and yes, you

494
00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:53,600
have a slide to be a yes man.

495
00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:55,160
You can't just be obvious about it.

496
00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:58,480
You know, you got to like, oh yeah, you're, you know, you're probably right on that.

497
00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:01,840
You know, I can, I can make that concession, but you know, when you look at this too, but

498
00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:05,960
if you go along with the game plan, you sacrifice your values and your quality, there's a reason

499
00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:07,460
there's a revolving door there.

500
00:28:07,460 --> 00:28:11,000
So it's, it's, it's a problem of both sides, but we got to fix it.

501
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:17,280
And the entrepreneur side of that is find somebody that you can actually trust.

502
00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:21,880
And if that means you have to stop saying, oh, I don't really know enough about this

503
00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:23,760
marketing stuff, then figure it out.

504
00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:25,160
Then learn it.

505
00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:28,280
You know, like you don't stop acting like a victim.

506
00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:29,280
Go learn it.

507
00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:30,280
Sorry.

508
00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:33,360
I don't get, I'm not coaching anybody so I can, I can scream at the mic a little bit,

509
00:28:33,360 --> 00:28:37,440
but I just feel bad because if entrepreneurs don't figure that out, you know, they don't

510
00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:43,120
start listening to you on that, then you know, they're, they're kind of destined for, for

511
00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:45,120
failing in that department, at least.

512
00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:47,520
Not kind of, not kind of.

513
00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:48,520
Well said.

514
00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:51,080
I'm trying to cushion it a little bit, Megan.

515
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:52,080
There's no cushion.

516
00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:53,080
Good for you.

517
00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:54,080
Good for you.

518
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:55,080
Absolutely.

519
00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:56,080
All right.

520
00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:59,320
So you know, you know, Jackson, that's right.

521
00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:06,800
And so you know, the organization size that you had to, I'm curious, did the sales department

522
00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:10,960
all within the marketing department?

523
00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:13,880
Or were they more in the operations department or did you guys not think about it?

524
00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:16,840
Like, you're not really care from an org board standpoint.

525
00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:20,880
So are you referring to when I was 750 employees?

526
00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:23,760
Oh, so 450, right?

527
00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:29,400
And we had sales and marketing.

528
00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:34,600
I actually ended up leading sales and marketing together.

529
00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:41,840
And although there were leaders in both, and I'll tell you that the reason that from a

530
00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:46,120
fractional and I'm jumping on this because I feel pretty passionate about it.

531
00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:50,640
I've got a big one of these about how do you get become most successful.

532
00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:55,040
I believe that the chief revenue officer role when you have sales and marketing together

533
00:29:55,040 --> 00:30:01,340
under one roof works the best because collaboration is key.

534
00:30:01,340 --> 00:30:06,360
And when you have, if you have, for example, a founder who's telling marketing that they

535
00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:11,720
want to do this and then sales, they want to do this and it's not all together, then

536
00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:15,200
you're running in separate directions and you're not accomplishing the same goal.

537
00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:19,920
So it's like, how do we row the boat together to get to that revenue goal to get to those

538
00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:22,200
targets to hit those KPIs?

539
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:25,720
So they were one separate in that organization.

540
00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:29,920
And then there, you know, became under one sort of department.

541
00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:31,040
Team, right?

542
00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:35,440
So teams playing together and there's lots of analogies.

543
00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:37,080
There's lots of ways to look at it.

544
00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:41,840
The reason why I ask is in my experience, I've seen that, well, one, no organization

545
00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:43,080
and industry is the same.

546
00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:44,080
Right?

547
00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:48,600
And so if you have a marketing company or a company that's built more on digital marketing,

548
00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:57,360
for instance, your sales department is likely best incubated within your marketing department

549
00:30:57,360 --> 00:31:00,480
because they should be learning from your marketing team.

550
00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:02,200
They're a damn marketing team.

551
00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:03,560
Like that's what you're great at.

552
00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:08,960
So the sales department should not be superior to the knowledge of the marketing that in

553
00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:10,200
that situation.

554
00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:16,240
But if you were, if your company is more built around selling operations or the fulfillment

555
00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:20,800
of a physical structure, like a solar system, for instance, for solar roofing or whatever,

556
00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:25,720
then it might make more sense for your sales department to be managed underneath the operations

557
00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:32,240
and fulfillment, the COO's role and have a COO who's strong in sales while the marketing

558
00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:37,080
is a smaller division that is still a division and department.

559
00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:38,780
And they still should work together.

560
00:31:38,780 --> 00:31:39,780
I love that.

561
00:31:39,780 --> 00:31:40,780
Like, absolutely.

562
00:31:40,780 --> 00:31:44,620
They should be working together and learn to harmonize for the sake of both winning

563
00:31:44,620 --> 00:31:47,100
to greater capacities.

564
00:31:47,100 --> 00:31:52,640
But that's one of the reasons I asked is because I've seen how flexible that needs to be based

565
00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:53,640
on the different types of company.

566
00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:57,360
So I was just curious how you guys did it and you solved that.

567
00:31:57,360 --> 00:32:05,320
They're almost both not apples and bananas, or apples and oranges, but two different teams

568
00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:10,600
working in harmony on the same plane underneath the direction of yourself, correct?

569
00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:11,600
Right.

570
00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:17,040
So from my perspective and my experience, the strategy is set, right?

571
00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:23,520
So you set that strategy and then the planning part comes together with sales and marketing

572
00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:28,760
and so the only way that you can really accomplish whatever that strategy is to make sure that

573
00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:32,640
the plan is, like you're saying, is harmonized.

574
00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:37,920
And when you're trying to, you know, what I've found is when you're not doing that,

575
00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:40,480
you miss a lot.

576
00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:43,280
You absolutely there's opportunity.

577
00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:49,000
And frankly, in a startup scenario, which that was not, but I've been in a lot of that

578
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:52,040
in a lot, you don't have time.

579
00:32:52,040 --> 00:32:53,880
You don't have time to mess up.

580
00:32:53,880 --> 00:33:00,160
Certainly you're going to, but in order for you to scale, right, and to put the things

581
00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:04,200
in place to get there, you got to work fast.

582
00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:08,240
And the only way you can work fast is and be efficient is to not be working in separate

583
00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:09,240
silos.

584
00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:10,240
Right.

585
00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:11,980
You got to have great communications between those team members.

586
00:33:11,980 --> 00:33:18,160
So were you the, was there in chain of command terms, was there somebody in between you and

587
00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:25,120
the sales and marketing departments or were you the direct leader for both departments?

588
00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:34,080
So when I was a CEO, right, when I rolled into that space, they rolled up to COO, like

589
00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:35,080
we were talking about.

590
00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:36,080
Okay.

591
00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:37,080
You were talking about.

592
00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:38,080
Yeah.

593
00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:39,080
So sales and marketing reported directly to COO.

594
00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:40,080
Right.

595
00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:41,080
Interesting.

596
00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:42,080
That's awesome.

597
00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:43,640
And that's, that's a curious.

598
00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:47,360
It makes me curious because again, all those startups that are out there that are trying

599
00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:52,400
to pigeonhole themselves into a specific structure, I'm ultimately just trying to expose the fact

600
00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:55,280
that it's successful companies that are out there.

601
00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:57,160
It's not a cookie cutter.

602
00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:02,360
Um, you know, and, and if you can get to a hundred million dollars, um, without that

603
00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:06,640
cookie cutter process, it should make us stop and think, well, wait a second, you know,

604
00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:08,760
is this cookie cutter necessary?

605
00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:11,920
You know, are there other things that we should be focused on and concerned about?

606
00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:16,640
So I think from a, uh, unveiling sales secret standpoint, I feel like you've unveiled a

607
00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:22,160
very massive secret because you're talking about the leadership that exists and the confidence

608
00:34:22,160 --> 00:34:26,960
of having that leadership in place so that you can operate, which, which gives people

609
00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:31,960
a strong foundation to firm foundation to, to, to stand on rather than shaky ground where

610
00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:36,280
they're like, Oh, shouldn't we be doing this with an organization?

611
00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:37,440
Like shouldn't we, we do that?

612
00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:39,920
So that's my next question for you.

613
00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:46,600
Um, considering you didn't have a chief marketing officer in that role, um, how do you, how

614
00:34:46,600 --> 00:34:54,000
do you instill confidence in that team that from an organizational structural standpoint,

615
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:55,720
you guys knew what you're doing.

616
00:34:55,720 --> 00:35:03,720
Um, so that they focused on selling and marketing, doing the jobs at hand.

617
00:35:03,720 --> 00:35:07,320
So without a chief marketing officer, so I understand your question.

618
00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:14,720
How did, did I build the confidence or, um, create an environment where people thought

619
00:35:14,720 --> 00:35:16,640
we knew what was going on?

620
00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:17,640
Yeah.

621
00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:20,440
Where they, where they felt that exactly.

622
00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:21,440
Exactly.

623
00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:30,080
Um, because the people that I brought into the organization came from big places with

624
00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:35,720
big jobs that had been in marketing, that had been in, you know, sales leadership and

625
00:35:35,720 --> 00:35:37,680
that sort of thing.

626
00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:40,440
Um, that was what instilled the confidence.

627
00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:45,240
When I say big companies, right, it was fortune 500 companies.

628
00:35:45,240 --> 00:35:55,080
And so when you've had, um, the roles in those sized organizations and you, you know, for

629
00:35:55,080 --> 00:36:00,640
example, when you bring in somebody who has a marketing degree, right.

630
00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:06,540
So it just so happened that there, my COO background was business and marketing.

631
00:36:06,540 --> 00:36:11,800
And so that really can't be challenged, right, when there's been success and proven success,

632
00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:13,640
it is, it is what it is.

633
00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:22,120
And so I didn't need to have a chief marketing officer to prove to the business that we knew

634
00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:23,120
what we were doing.

635
00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:24,120
Right.

636
00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:28,760
It was the success and experience and proven track record that said, all right, they know

637
00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:30,240
what's going on.

638
00:36:30,240 --> 00:36:32,520
I'm so happy that you exposed that.

639
00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:37,720
Um, it's a, it's a hard and painful truth for those of us who don't have a degree, but

640
00:36:37,720 --> 00:36:42,280
it's also an important reality, uh, that you, you can't, and that's why I don't work with

641
00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:43,280
corporate.

642
00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:45,400
It's the exact reason it's changing now that I've got gray hair coming in.

643
00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:52,640
Um, and I've got four kids and the experience of life, but as a young, um, chief level

644
00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:58,960
officer, um, I could go into those environments and within a matter of weeks, the team would

645
00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:05,080
have shredded me, um, by planting seeds of doubt with the, with the owners of, well,

646
00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:06,080
what does he know?

647
00:37:06,080 --> 00:37:10,400
You know, he's only 22, you know, or 24, what he doesn't even have a degree.

648
00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:16,560
Um, you know, and, and they would utilize that to counter anything I tried to do.

649
00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:20,920
And so I share that because anybody who, uh, you know, is still at the phase, the young

650
00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:25,840
phase, anybody that's listening in and thinking about the value of a degree, there is a massive

651
00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:29,120
value and I think it's bull crap by the way.

652
00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:35,160
Um, but at the same time it's from a, because people can piss away their education and,

653
00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:38,400
and get that piece of paper on their wall and not mean a dang thing.

654
00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:43,680
However, on the flip side, the harmonic side of it, if they did use their time responsibly

655
00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:50,080
and they have that, when you're growing a company that has to make quick public impressions,

656
00:37:50,080 --> 00:37:54,840
like for the organization of a hundred people, you need a mic drop.

657
00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:56,240
You need something to stand by.

658
00:37:56,240 --> 00:37:59,440
It wasn't until working with video power, um, you know, and saying, Hey, we're with

659
00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:00,760
the YouTube ad experts of the world.

660
00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:04,840
We took on campaigns of less than, or nobody could work with us that had less than $10,000

661
00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:05,840
per month on YouTube ads.

662
00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:06,840
Right.

663
00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:09,840
We did some of the top YouTube ad campaigns in the decade.

664
00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:15,160
One of ours won the number one YouTube ad of the decade with Kobe Bryant, Lino Messi.

665
00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:17,120
You know, it's like, okay, now I get it.

666
00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:18,120
Right.

667
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:20,040
And that's a lot longer than just saying, Oh, I went to Stanford.

668
00:38:20,040 --> 00:38:21,640
Um, and here's my marketing degree.

669
00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:23,200
I mean, I'm with you, Jackson.

670
00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:24,920
I don't have an MBA.

671
00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:26,200
Like I didn't go to grad school.

672
00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:28,880
I went to Michigan state Spartan, right?

673
00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:33,720
I'm a state school girl who worked hard like you, right.

674
00:38:33,720 --> 00:38:36,760
Brought the grit and figured it out.

675
00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:40,120
And so I, I've had a lot of that in my career.

676
00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:41,120
Like, wait, you don't have an MBA.

677
00:38:41,120 --> 00:38:42,920
And I'm like, right.

678
00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:43,920
But I had to earn that.

679
00:38:43,920 --> 00:38:52,720
I unfortunately had to prove to whomever a lot of whomevers that I can crush it.

680
00:38:52,720 --> 00:38:58,440
Or you had to prove that, yes, I am a woman, which you shouldn't have to, um, you know,

681
00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:01,120
but you've mentioned having to face that.

682
00:39:01,120 --> 00:39:04,720
Um, and knowing how to go about that, overcome that reality.

683
00:39:04,720 --> 00:39:06,560
That's just something that I can't relate to.

684
00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:07,560
Um, right.

685
00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:12,880
So it's very important to know our strengths, know our weaknesses, but also know our perceived

686
00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:16,800
strengths and how those inhibit us and our perceived weaknesses.

687
00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:20,760
And from the market standpoint, what they, what they think about us, um, knowing how

688
00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:22,160
to communicate through that is important.

689
00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:27,520
So let's dive a little bit deeper into some of those secrets of success that maybe, maybe

690
00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:28,520
the audience was anticipating.

691
00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:31,880
Um, you know, maybe, you know, that you also would love to talk about.

692
00:39:31,880 --> 00:39:33,760
We've got a couple of minutes left.

693
00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:39,760
So what are, what are some of the sell secrets that, um, we can, we can blow people's socks

694
00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:40,760
off with right now.

695
00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:42,760
What do you got?

696
00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:51,920
Well, um, the number one secret by the way, in selling is listening and knowing your customer.

697
00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:52,920
Yeah.

698
00:39:52,920 --> 00:40:00,080
If you don't know your audience, you might as well not show up.

699
00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:06,000
And I have coached salespeople and sales teams in lots of different industries, right?

700
00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:12,920
Where I sat in-house or I was an outsource consultant and not knowing your ideal customer

701
00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:19,160
profile is a bad place to be.

702
00:40:19,160 --> 00:40:25,280
And so A, understanding like my ideal customer profile is this.

703
00:40:25,280 --> 00:40:27,280
Demographically they look like this.

704
00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:28,960
So that's who I should be targeting.

705
00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:30,320
That's my target audience.

706
00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:39,640
And then taking it a step further and saying, what do I know about this organization that

707
00:40:39,640 --> 00:40:44,400
I can prove that whatever I'm selling is going to solve a problem.

708
00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:48,720
And if I don't know that, I have to ask the questions and I have to listen and I have

709
00:40:48,720 --> 00:40:50,760
to be able to bring it back to that.

710
00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:54,120
Otherwise it is game over.

711
00:40:54,120 --> 00:41:02,360
And really, truly it is crazy to me that there are salespeople out there that don't listen,

712
00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:03,360
right?

713
00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:06,920
And you can tell they're not listening and oh, by the way, the customer and the prospect

714
00:41:06,920 --> 00:41:08,760
knows you're not listening.

715
00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:11,880
And you walk in and you don't know anything about that company.

716
00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:14,840
You don't know anything about their business and you don't know anything about how what

717
00:41:14,840 --> 00:41:16,840
you sell can solve their problem.

718
00:41:16,840 --> 00:41:20,920
You're not a salesperson.

719
00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:22,400
You're not a salesperson.

720
00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:28,240
If you didn't turn up your mic, turn up your volume a little bit if you didn't hear that.

721
00:41:28,240 --> 00:41:29,240
You're not.

722
00:41:29,240 --> 00:41:31,000
It's one thing to hear it.

723
00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:33,140
It's one thing to hear it though.

724
00:41:33,140 --> 00:41:36,240
It's another to understand it.

725
00:41:36,240 --> 00:41:40,480
And that's one of the key differences in this listening skills that Megan's talking about.

726
00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:41,480
Three levels.

727
00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:44,880
You can react to what you're taught.

728
00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:49,980
And like an animal, we can respond to what we're told.

729
00:41:49,980 --> 00:41:51,840
Or we can take a step back and listen further.

730
00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:54,080
Megan, what do you mean by that?

731
00:41:54,080 --> 00:41:59,640
Right, Megan, how do I apply that to my current situation?

732
00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:00,920
Asking questions is a good indicator.

733
00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:05,080
If you don't ask a lot of questions, it's actually a pretty good indicator that you

734
00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:07,880
don't listen or know how to listen.

735
00:42:07,880 --> 00:42:08,880
Well said, Megan.

736
00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:10,200
I love that.

737
00:42:10,200 --> 00:42:13,080
We are out of time for our show.

738
00:42:13,080 --> 00:42:15,120
I would love to just continue for another hour.

739
00:42:15,120 --> 00:42:16,120
I really would.

740
00:42:16,120 --> 00:42:17,120
We do.

741
00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:20,160
I would love to continue to gain insight into more self-success secrets.

742
00:42:20,160 --> 00:42:22,800
And if you want that, then of course you can reach out to Megan.

743
00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:23,800
You can find her on LinkedIn.

744
00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:24,800
Right, you're on LinkedIn?

745
00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:25,800
I am on LinkedIn.

746
00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:26,800
I'm going to make sure that's how we connect.

747
00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:27,800
Oh yeah.

748
00:42:27,800 --> 00:42:28,800
There's other...

749
00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:29,800
That'll be on LinkedIn.

750
00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:31,480
By the way, another real quick.

751
00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:32,480
Yeah, hit it.

752
00:42:32,480 --> 00:42:36,280
If you are not connected with a lot of people on LinkedIn and you are not out there and

753
00:42:36,280 --> 00:42:42,560
you don't have a presence, it's going to be hard for you to resonate as a true sales leader.

754
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:44,840
So, work on it.

755
00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:46,840
Well said, Thority Credibility.

756
00:42:46,840 --> 00:42:50,320
It is another portion of that paper on the wall, so to speak.

757
00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:54,280
And if you have the opportunity to have the asset, then don't make this excuse, make it

758
00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:55,280
happen.

759
00:42:55,280 --> 00:42:56,280
Get the asset.

760
00:42:56,280 --> 00:42:58,460
So, Megan, thanks for dropping all the value that you did.

761
00:42:58,460 --> 00:43:02,480
It's obvious to see that you're ready to give as much as possible.

762
00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:05,560
So anybody who's listening in, feel free to drop in the comments.

763
00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:09,720
Any questions that you have for Megan, we'll be happy to distribute those back to her.

764
00:43:09,720 --> 00:43:12,520
And if you want to be on the show, if you want to share your vision, don't hesitate

765
00:43:12,520 --> 00:43:14,800
to apply as well.

766
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:19,760
We're looking for great visionary entrepreneurs and visionary leaders to come in and do just

767
00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:20,760
that.

768
00:43:20,760 --> 00:43:21,760
But Megan, this was an absolute privilege.

769
00:43:21,760 --> 00:43:25,520
I hope to have you back on the show or we can dive in even deeper now that we've laid

770
00:43:25,520 --> 00:43:29,160
such a great foundation and hope you have a fantastic day.

771
00:43:29,160 --> 00:43:31,360
Anything else you need from us before we go?

772
00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:36,000
I'd love to come back and I highly recommend engaging with Jackson.

773
00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:38,880
You've made me think critically and deeply about what I do.

774
00:43:38,880 --> 00:43:41,840
And so, I'll come back anytime.

775
00:43:41,840 --> 00:43:43,840
The feeling is mutual on that Megan.

776
00:43:43,840 --> 00:43:44,840
Vision Pros, you guys have a great day.

777
00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:47,340
In fact, we have another episode coming up in a few minutes.

778
00:43:47,340 --> 00:43:48,340
We will see you all soon.

779
00:43:48,340 --> 00:43:49,800
Thank you for being here today.

780
00:43:49,800 --> 00:43:52,280
I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.

781
00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:57,120
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward.

782
00:43:57,120 --> 00:43:58,680
This is going to get more and more fun.

783
00:43:58,680 --> 00:44:00,720
We'll have more and more engagement as well.

784
00:44:00,720 --> 00:44:03,120
We'll invite people to participate in the show.

785
00:44:03,120 --> 00:44:16,700
And thank you for giving