Latest / The Rookie On Fire / Danny Pessy | Your Pitch Matters Least
Transcript
- @dannypessy: Ninety-nine percent of door-to-door companies do not have a system to get someone from good to great. They just hope that they do it intrinsically on their own. They do not have a progression. I have this skill set where I can go make money anytime, any place, anywhere. in a world that's changing so much, that skill set's worth more than anything. Brad Mortensen: Welcome back to another episode of the Rookie on Fire podcast. Today we have a special guest, a good friend of mine, someone that I'm glad to be connected to honestly. We got connected years ago at D to DCon 2 from Sterling Clark, one of the OG's Vivint dogs. So Danny, @dannypessy: Mm-hmm. Brad Mortensen: welcome to the Rookie Fire dude. Glad to have you. @dannypessy: Yeah man, thank you for having me, Big Brad, big rep card advocate. I'm pretty deep in the rep card game, been using it. Literally last weekend I got booked for a a company. they were using a competitor one and I was like, yo dude, I I I dude, I still have the login, so you gave me logins from years ago. They logged in super easy. I'm like I haven't knocked in like two years, pulled it up, literally was pulling it up. I was like, Wow, this thing is money. So it was pretty cool to see how good the stuff works Brad Mortensen: It's been a long time coming. it's just been a c accumulation of everybody's feedback. thank you. Thank you. @dannypessy: Mm-hmm. Brad Mortensen: So you know, as always, we'd like to hear your journey. You've been in door to door sales, you know, direct to home sales for a long time. How many years has it been? @dannypessy: I started in two thousand eight. So I'm on Brad Mortensen: Dang. @dannypessy: my season, probably I think nineteenth season of Door to Door. So, yeah. Brad Mortensen: Geez, dude, that's that's crazy. it's an industry where people do it for one day and burn out, you know, and we're here years later. So @dannypessy: Yeah yeah, correct. Brad Mortensen: I what we wanna hear is the recruiting journey of Danny Pessy. What were you doing right before Some bro, some somebody, some I guess it wouldn't be Instagram back then, some something catches your attention @dannypessy: Didn't have it, no. Brad Mortensen: and you start getting into door-to-door shells. We want to hear how did they get you? How did they get you to pause? How do they get you out for the summer? Tell us about that story. @dannypessy: Well it was in high school and this was like the first real job I ever had and I was like, shoot, I am going to be having all of these auditions, I am running a comedy club, how am I going to make money to be able to do all of that? And so I was like looking at waiting tables and being like a server and I'm like, Well, dude, the hours I have to put in versus doing a summer job and then my buddy gets home from Utah and meanwhile while I'm like thinking of what to do, he's like, hey dude, this guy from Utah wants to meet up with us and he wants to talk about this job a summer job. I'm like, okay. All right, let's do it. And I'm like, is he gonna buy us dinner? And he's like, yeah. I'm gonna probably end up not doing it, but if he's gonna buy me dinner, I'm interested. So Brad Mortensen: Yeah, I'm at least going. @dannypessy: Yeah, it was at the nicest restaurant in our hometown. And I was like, cool. So me and my boys, we roll up six deep. We were called the deck, right? The deck of cards. We had the king, the queen, the joker, the ten of clubs, and then the jack. And you guys obviously know I was the Joker. So we all roll up, Brad Mortensen: Make it @dannypessy: right? And this guy's like teeming at the mouth, like what a home run. He gets a random guy at a campus booth and he brings back all of his boys. And so we sit down to table at dinner and he starts telling me about the job. He's like, Yeah, dude, I got a bunch of money and he had true religions on at the time and I was like, Bro, what Brad Mortensen: Dude, not not just sevens, bro. True religions. @dannypessy: So he had the true religions with the thick lettering and the thick threading, bro. So, dude, the white thread. The more exp yes, dude, the big bucks. I was like, Brad Mortensen: Yeah. What color, dude? Do you remember what color the the friggin dude, take my money, bro. Yeah. @dannypessy: Wow, dude. And I was like telling him, Bro, you can make a lot of money. He's like, Yeah, man, I made a couple hundred grand last summer. And I was like, my goodness. So I was like, Yeah, I mean right now, what's the most I can make in a summer? And he's like, Yeah, probably like twenty grand and then meanwhile I was like hoping to make three to four grand waiting table. So he was like twenty and I was like, my gosh, this sounds sick. And then I was like, What how what do you say? Like, what do you do? And then he's like, Well you go to the door and say, Hey, I'm giving out free alarm systems, free alarms. And I was like, Wait Brad Mortensen: Yeah. @dannypessy: a second, you can make money and it's free? And he's like, Yes, it's free And I was like, Brad Mortensen: Ha ha ha. @dannypessy: Dude, this This is too easy. And so Brad Mortensen: Yeah. @dannypessy: Yeah, I couldn't believe it. And so then all of us were in except for the Jack. The Jack was he was more of an installer, but he he wasn't much of a salesperson, Brad Mortensen: Yeah. @dannypessy: but everybody else was in. And afterwards we're like, Bro, we're gonna get rich this summer, let's go and then yeah, we all signed in two thousand eight and then went out for the summer of two thousand nine and we drove Brad Mortensen: Dang. @dannypessy: up to Seattle, yeah. Brad Mortensen: Yeah, so let's unpack this for a second. I want to know who the buddy was that that brought that like said, dude, let's go meet, and then who was the bro that you met with? @dannypessy: So the guy that brought me in was named Daniel Huddleston. still a good friend of mine to this day. And then the guy that recruited him was Jason Strife. And Jason Streif was the one that recruited John Frampton into the space. Brad Mortensen: Love it. So for you guys listening to the podcast, it sounds like you got recruited through a college campus table, the six-foot @dannypessy: Yes. Brad Mortensen: table, the drape, the whole thing. You go to the campus, you sit there, and you just talk to people about sales or opportunities, whatever. It works. Danny's been around for 19 years from a campus table from that his buddy went to. So if you're looking for ways to recruit, that is still to this day one of the best ways to do it. I love hearing people's @dannypessy: Yeah. Brad Mortensen: journeys of how they get into door to door because it's such a unique space. It's such a hard opportunity. You know, it's got this wrap of like the scum of the earth. But yet finds people like you and I that are, you know, just normal dudes looking to to get an edge, to go and, you know, we grew up in middle class and we're just want to go and you know, just just do something that we're passionate about. So @dannypessy: Yeah. the the guys that do really well in it are the sharp and the smart ones. Brad Mortensen: so I wanna hear about what made you actually go. Do you remember the thought process that you had? You go to the the dinner, it's all hype, free dinner. It turns into a little bit more serious at dinner. You're like, do you 20 grand? but then that typically fades. You know, you get home from dinner, you're joking with the buddies, it kind of, you know, fade now it's just you. It's you talking to your dad, it's you by yourself, and you're like, Am I really gonna go do like this summer? Like, do you remember anything around that? And then like you actually driving @dannypessy: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I did. Brad Mortensen: out, getting out there. I wanna hear about that. @dannypessy: Yeah, I had a really good reasoning and I found it young and thinking back on it, I was like, dude, why did I stay? Why am I still here? Because my first year going into it, I n I was using this to get what I wanted. And that was what did it. I didn't want to do this. I wanted to do that, so I needed to make this work so I could do that. The thing I Brad Mortensen: Gotcha. @dannypessy: wanted was time to do what I really wanted. And this job gave me that time because I could take my income and shorten it to a small amount of time, max effort, max amount of income, so I could do what I wanted most. So when I went into it, I'm like, dude, I need to figure this out because I was already making auditions to get on like there's like a runway to make it on Saturday Night Live. And so I was like going up the steps of what I need to do to make Brad Mortensen: Yeah. @dannypessy: it on that. And it was expensive. It's time and money. And those are things that this job can give you in a short amount of time. And so for me, that's what made me stick was is I knew what I wanted. And then I had my group of my boys with me. Like if I didn't have my friend Parker and like who else? Like just a Greg Blade in guys like that my first year, I don't think I would have made it. Ace was a big reason I stuck it out. Like I wasn't gonna go home and not outsell my friends, so yeah, it's my boys. Brad Mortensen: Right. Yeah. Yeah. Well we'll get into that your rookie year here in a minute and those are already so many good nuggets. I I appreciate you sharing that and it's it's it's cool to hear that because everybody's journey into door to door is different and sometimes door to door is just the path. And it doesn't mean you have to stay on it forever. If you're listening to this podcast and you've been doing door to door for less than a year, or maybe you're in year six right now and you're feeling a little burnt out, like maybe it's time to transition to like what can door to door do for me in the next 18 to to 24 months to then get me where I want to go. and so that's for up to you to figure out. But I love your story because it started out as that and obviously it changed to being a little bit more permanent. @dannypessy: Yeah. Brad Mortensen: but yeah, I I share a little bit of that same story with you where I did door to door kind of for just like just to like have a summer job that first time and then it turned into dude, I can make more @dannypessy: here we are. Brad Mortensen: I can make more with like a shorter amount of t money or a shorter amount of time and And it just got me hooked. So well sweet dude. So now we're gonna do a the rapid fire questions that we always do. I'm gonna ask you five questions, short answers, and then we'll jump into your rookie year. So number one is your biggest month ever. Do you remember what you took home? @dannypessy: Selling rookie year or was this like in general? Brad Mortensen: No, just all time in your sales career. your your rough biggest month ever. @dannypessy: two hundred grand. Brad Mortensen: Dang bro, in a month? Let's go. Bi your biggest @dannypessy: Yeah. Yeah, we were doing my best mo we had five I had five hundred installs in my downline. Yeah, that's crazy. Solar installs. Yeah, yeah, that was good money. Brad Mortensen: Let's go let's go. Yeah. Let's go. Okay, your biggest single commission check. Like what's that biggest number you've seen? Like a a deposit for like a @dannypessy: Three hundred and twenty thousand. Brad Mortensen: bam. Your biggest number of sales in a day in what product? @dannypessy: Nine and alarms. Brad Mortensen: What drives you more cash or clout? @dannypessy: Clout for sure. Come on, dog. Brad Mortensen: Yeah. And then the last one is your rookie year all over again. Yes or a hell no? @dannypessy: yeah, dude. yeah. Bro, that's when you find that's when you find yourself. Brad Mortensen: Let's go. Okay, let's jump in. Yes, let's jump into that rookie year. So, you know, did door to door for a year, everybody's kind of a little different. Looking back now with all the 19 years of sales experience you have, what are the one or two things that you would do different that you would change about that rookie year? And what's one or two things that you would be like? I would recommend that to everybody. Like, for sure, do this. @dannypessy: it's funny because my business is now built around what I wish I had when I started, but an actual training and learning system to do this. I it took me four years to figure this out. And there was no training back then. There was a clipboard and a pat on the butt and an hour-long meeting and and talking heads. That was it. And I wish there was a little bit more training that I could have done to cut down that learning curve. And the the pitch is one thing, the the presentation, but there's so much more stuff that managers and companies don't understand that goes into keeping and retaining reps that I just got lucky, I think, because of you know my upbringing. I knew like I was gonna be successful at everything I did, so there was no chance of me failing on it. But a lot of people don't think like that, you know? And so like they don't have the confidence that good training and systems can instill in new. people. everyone wants to get new blood in the door, but what if your new blood you've trained them so well that they bring the new blood in on the door? And that's why so Brad Mortensen: Right. @dannypessy: many reps just use this job and they just try to find the big fishes. But the big fishes work for someone else and you're waiting for them to have a bad experience and then grabbing them. Ninety-nine percent of door-to-door companies do not have a system to get someone from good to great. They just hope that they do it intrinsically on their own. They do not have a progression. They do not have a step process to get there. And so I would like to say outside of one guy in the space, I'm probably the only dude that set that up for companies. And him and I both run it the same way and train people the same way because we both got it from the same source. But it's it's that process of how do you make someone who's no good and turn him into a champion. Like it's not an art form these days. People don't like doing that work. And they wonder why they have high attrition. It's 'cause you never trained you never put the time into it. And if you did train it was all in person sit down. Like that's half the battle. you also have to train them to teach teach them how to learn on their own outside of the in person trainings, because otherwise it's it's the baby on the teat. As soon as you stop breastfeeding, they're off to the next teat. And you never Brad Mortensen: Yeah. @dannypessy: taught them to be independent and people want them on their teet because it's it's a way of micromanaging them and scaring them to leave. But in reality, when you give them the bandwidth to learn on their own, they're smart enough to do it on their own. but they've gotten enough value to where they stay with you long term. And so that's that's basically what I wish I would have done my first year. Brad Mortensen: Yeah, so so tell me a little bit more about the first part of that flow. So you you get a new guy in, what would you say are one of those things that you teach now but that you also wish you would have had? @dannypessy: Yeah, the vision. the vision of what this job can do for you. And so many people tie in the vi their vision and the company's vision. But reps don't work for your vision or your company's vision. Eventually they get into it like we did at Vivint, after a while, but it's it's the good manager finds what the rep wants and shows them how to use this job to get out of it. Like me, I already knew what I wanted, 'cause I'd consider myself an above average intelligence in life. But and it wasn't always that way, but I'd like to consider that. But yeah, so it's it's yeah, it's the Street Smarts. Brad Mortensen: Yeah, it's street smarts. It's a real thing and and some people are kinda born with it and and it comes a little more natural and we all know a dude that just got zero street smarts and it's fun to be around him, but y it's wild, @dannypessy: that's basically what it is is you ta you you figure out the vision of what they want, then you prepare them with their mindset. How do you get their mindset ready to take this much rejection? And people work on their presentation, like the presentation is the least important part of the whole process. you gotta teach these guys getting them ready for battle. And so they're used to not getting a lot of rejection. And so they're going from getting more rejection. projection in one day than they've had in their entire life, if you're not training them pro properly for that, you've wasted all of that money marketing, advertising to get new people in the door. 'cause they're gonna they're gonna be gone. The attrition is so high. So people aren't training their reps effectively to to be prepared for that. And so it's not only you telling them, but realistically, if you're watching this and you're a manager, the trainings that your reps are on that you think they're on, they're not paying attention to you. And not only are they not paying attention to you, but they are pretty distracted doing other things. So if you really wanna know how good they are, is you give them a a a login to a platform, see how much they do, see their score, and then come in the next day and Drill them on everything that they just did. It's called a checkout. You run checkouts on your reps to see really how much that they do. The problem is, is most managers don't know number one how to do it. They don't know how to train their people. And number two, they in their mind, that reps are already gonna quit. So why put any effort into them until he starts selling and making money? They're gonna Brad Mortensen: Right. @dannypessy: he thinks they're gonna quit because he doesn't have he's not working for a real company. He's working for a group that's crossing their fingers and hope they find. a lay down who knows how to sell. Brad Mortensen: Yeah, we're hoping they come across the Danny Pessy and and that he'll just who kinda already has that figured out. Someone else taught @dannypessy: Yeah. Brad Mortensen: him that and I get to go and just make some overrides on on what @dannypessy: Yeah, that's Brad Mortensen: his dad taught him or the the basketball coach. @dannypessy: Dude, ninety nine percent of the companies out there. Yeah, that's why this industry is so sick just the coaster, bro. Brad Mortensen: Dude, totally. is there anything else that you want to say about your rookie year and what you would change or do before we wrap up? @dannypessy: to somebody that's never done it, Brad Mortensen: Yeah, yeah. it a lot of these principles apply across the board. we may have people listening to this podcast that have been doing sales, whether it's door-to-door or not, for six years, but they hear something you say and they're like, Holy crap. I mean, one of the other podcasts we were on from Jeremy Rose was just talking about how he was buying cars and crap with his money. @dannypessy: Mm. Brad Mortensen: And hit one of his buddies, lived off of his commission and on his overrides he invested. And he's like, I'm pretty well off nowadays. But he's like, My buddy's in a whole different league. He never @dannypessy: Yeah. Brad Mortensen: touched his overrides. And just those little things that @dannypessy: Little nuggets here and there. Brad Mortensen: I wish someone that's in year six could adopt that today and and and start carving a new path. So anything else that that comes to mind of just things that you would say to a rookie, whether it's financial advice or anything around just what what you would want them to do if is your little brother doing sales. @dannypessy: this is fun. this is so much fun. Don't forget how much fun this job is. You get to go around and meet people and make them laugh, give them a good product and service. dude, this is an art form that is really what humanity is about. Connecting with other people and solving a problem. Like in a world full of computers and technology, like, dude, this is what makes life fun. And that Brad Mortensen: Yes. @dannypessy: chilling reality of that shakes you to your bone, getting into the ice bath and all of the voices go away. That time when you knock the door and you're waiting for the customer to answer and you're sitting there with yourself. Brad Mortensen: Ha ha ha. @dannypessy: bro, that's what life is about. And it's like it's such a fun experience that this is going to be continuing forever. And it's like the skill set will always be with you. always be with you. It's so funny, I went out last week, I got booked to go do a a a knocking gig with a client And so I went out there knocked and dude, I was getting into every single home like instantly. And it's like, wow, dude, it's like riding a bike, bro. I have this skill set where I can go make money anytime, any place, anywhere. Give me a clipboard and a pen, and I'll come back with a signed contract. Like in a world that's changing so much, that skill set's worth more than anything. And if you don't figure that out, you're gonna have a very hard time in life because if something happens and an emergency happens and your back's against the wall. You can quit now when it's comfortable, but when your back's against the wall, you're gonna force yourself to figure it out. you don't wanna ever put yourself in that situation. And so like figure it out now, but don't do it when you have wife and kids and everybody's counting on you and your last memory of hard sales was, it got tough and I quit and left. Like Yeah. Brad Mortensen: Dude, so true. So true. That is some of the best advice we've had on the podcast. Just remembering that it's fun and that connecting with humans and solving a problem is is like the crux of life. sometimes you're creating a problem or creating a little urgency or whatever, but like it that is so fun and it's a skill that you just you have to have. @dannypessy: Yeah, dude, all these are just random people. It's like everybody here, somebody's friend, everybody here, somebody's parents, and they're all there's only seven bad people in the world. And when you find one of them you'll know. Right? But there's only seven, so don't worry. But the other one, dude, everybody's Brad Mortensen: Yeah. Yeah. @dannypessy: super chill. And it's about Brad Mortensen: Yeah, they @dannypessy: timing and making it make sense and then getting them to feel good about making a decision. Brad Mortensen: Yeah. @dannypessy: That's ultimately what you're doing is you're getting people to feel good about making a decision that as long as you're in the right product and service and you're doing it the right way, it's like, dude, you're providing a solution to people and if it wasn't for sales, the entire world would stop. Brad Mortensen: Yeah. True. People make products and they just sit there. very few companies can get away with not selling, like Apple. I mean, they're selling, @dannypessy: Yeah. Brad Mortensen: but they're really just marketing and and they don't pay their reps on commission because it sells itself. But most @dannypessy: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Brad Mortensen: door to door companies aren't there. So as you wrap up, dude, where can people find you? What are you up to these days? Door to door opens up so many doors. What are you doing today? @dannypessy: Yeah, so I've recently built out that system that helps new people come in the door and keep them there. And I've really spent a lot of time dialing it in, working in with my team to give a tool to that company owner that is dealing with that problem. And so it's one thing to get people in the door, it's one thing to retain them. So getting them in the door, plugging into what I've built is probably the best on the market that I've seen. And you know, there's there's a lot of stuff that I've seen over the years that works really well and I've taken it all and built it into one program. But not only have I built into a program, but I also consult people and companies to do that now. So I I work specifically with sales business owners now and helping them get their company to the next level. And so basically business consulting and then I build out a whole company C RM to help them scale. So that's basically Brad Mortensen: Awesome. And that's at Danny Pessy dot com. Is that the site? Yeah. And that's your handle on Instagram. When is @dannypessy: Mm-hmm. Yep. And then I've got a live event coming out next month. Yeah. Brad Mortensen: that event? @dannypessy: November 20th. It's for solar business owners. And we're going to teach you how to open up a virtual program. We're going to teach you how to run an effective blitz. We're going to teach you if you've lost all your reps, how to scale it back up to a hundred installs. And then number four is how to use social media to build your business. And so I've brought the four best people in there. to it and then now fifth, I just locked down Rich Fiola. He's gonna teach us on how to get ads online to supplement your door to door business. So that's gonna be in Q Cell's headquarters Brad Mortensen: Love it, dude. So much value. @dannypessy: in Orange County. Brad Mortensen: Awesome. If you're in solar, you gotta get there. tons of value. So Danny, thanks for joining the Rookie on Fire podcast and sharing your story, man. Really appreciate it.