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Transformative Lessons from Jeff West: Elevating Your Leadership Game · Unstoppable Success Podcast

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the Unstoppable Leadership of Life.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_02: Influential leaders and their game changing and life.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_02: Unstoppable founder, studio and founder of Leap Tier Success.
• 0:15
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• 0:17
  SPEAKER_02: We have unconscious leaders and studios.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_02: We have unstoppable hypers and their careers and life.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: We believe uncommon and then the lead of the greatest success.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: So let's click around to the end of the show and we will share with you how you can be our next guest.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_02: So stick around in those 15 to 20 minutes.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: Let's be unless we're just going to be able to do that.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_02: Well, hello everybody, and welcome to another amazing episode of the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight podcast.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: I am your host, Jacqueline Strominger.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: On this podcast, we hear from amazing leaders and their game-changing insights and how their insights can propel great leaders to become even better leaders and to help those who may not be the best in their game to reach the top of their game.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: And today I want to welcome you.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: I have read one of his books, Jeff West.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: He is an acclaimed author of business parables such as The Unexpected Tour Guide, Said the Lady with the Blue Hair.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: I gotta read that.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: Streetwise to Sales Wise, which I have and absolutely love.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um he co-authored that with Bob Berg.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: And then he has turned storytelling into a tool for professional and personal growth.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: And these works have collectively earned five distinguished awards, and much to Jeff's delight and perhaps maybe to the amazement of his former college English professors, is quite funny.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway, you Jeff, welcome to the show.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: You've you've got over a million, 150 million in you know, recurring revenue in sales from your insurance, like from insurance business, correct?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: And you've just you you have a background in music, you live in Texas, Texas.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_02: So you know, welcome to the show, and I can't wait to talk about this and hear more about you.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um and where these come from.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Jacqueline.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: It is an honor to join you today.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're just a bubble full of joy, and I love this.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you for having me on.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: Oh so so all right.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: So, first of all, you know, I want to talk a little bit about your history, you know, in in sales of you know, street wise to sales-wise.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: And so where did this book come from?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, such a great question.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh uh Bob Berg, as you mentioned, uh is has been a friend of mine for 20 plus years.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I had already written two parables, I had actually won the first uh four awards at that point.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Streetwise has actually now won two more.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's it's growing as we speak.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: But uh Bob had and I were always discussing uh sales things, you know.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like he was about to put a post out on LinkedIn and he was getting my opinion about how he was wording a couple of things.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: And at the end of his email, this was around the end of 22, at the end of his email, he wrote, by the way, keep this because when we do our parable, this will be great material.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I had published two parables at that point, and Bob and I had never discussed it, even though we were great friends.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so I answered his question.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then I, at the very end of my reply, I said, Oh, and by the way, if you're serious, oh yeah, we're doing this book.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so we did.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: And we basically, Bob has some great material on um becoming objection-proof, and it it it's it's the best people skills you could ever use while you're working with a client's objection, and you come out the other end building what I call a fusion point, a way that that the bond is so good, and it's because of how you worked with them instead of trying to argue with them or debate them.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so we took Bob's material there.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: We took my sales training material as well on fusion points, and and uh that my background is 30 plus years in sales and sales management, the majority of that being in the insurance industry.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: I was actually a state manager for a Fortune 500 insurance carrier.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: And uh it was one of those positions you work your way up from the field up.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, so we took all of that material and we decided to write the parable.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: And anytime I start writing a book, I'm always the lead writer, and I'll come up with a story because I love writing fiction, and then we'll teach the lessons of whoever I'm working with at the time.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh said the lady with the blue hair, I did with Lisa Wilbur, and she's Avon's fifth highest producer in history.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: The woman is just as sweet as she can be and amazing, and she's built a team of thousands of salespeople.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's what that one was about.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: But on um, on uh said uh Streetwise to Saleswise, my wife and I were sitting in New Orleans.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: This was New Year's Eve going uh from 22 to 23, and we're sitting there at a uh having dinner at a little balcony restaurant looking over the fridge at Casterbury Park.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: And uh we're at we're about to leave, and and the waitress came out, she says, Oh, you guys are gonna love this.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And she's I said, What?
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: She said, Look, she pointed down at the street, and there was a young street busker getting ready to sing.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: She was setting up her equipment to sing, and she said, She's the best I've seen yet.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so my wife and I sat there another hour drinking wine and just enjoying the day, and the entire storyline came to me for streetwise because I've got a musical background, I love New Orleans.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um never literally.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: I get chills listening to this.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, and I sit there with my wife when we were ready to go.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: I said, the entire plot, the entire story arc just came to me for Streetwise, and I know exactly what I'm gonna do with it.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, that's amazing.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: So, listeners, you have to understand, this book is is, you know, as Jeff is sharing, you know, this book is a great story.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: It is there's it's kind of a love story in an interesting way.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, and it well, there's and there's there's such great passion in it.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: And when you read it, or I actually my first uh take with it was actually listening to it.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_02: And it was one of those books that I didn't want to get out of the car because I didn't want I didn't want to stop.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: I wanted to keep listening.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: Like my drive is too short, damn it.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: Because I I wanted to know what was happening next.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_02: And yet it's also filled with just amazing, you know, tips.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, going going back to those, like those tips, you know, and actually I'm gonna before I even get into that question storytelling, and and we hear this a lot.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: How do you or how does storytelling in your eyes really enhance learning and retention in in training and in sales?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_02: Like where does storytelling come in?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: That is such a great question.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and part of the sales training and the coaching that I do outside of writing, I teach a concept called fusion points, and it's basically this uh our br uh uh we humans, our brains tend to work exactly the same way when we're making decisions.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a decisions are a combination of logic and emotion.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: When it's a positive emotion that's happening, it makes it shoots a somatic marker down into our body, it makes us feel good, we like it, and we want to continue the process.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: So whether you're asking for a client, a prospect to take the next step and become like a client, or you're trying to work with a team member and getting them to be more successful, when you can combine that positive emotional experience with the logic that the brain's gonna do anyway, those are gonna connect and that's gonna produce the decision.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: What happens is it creates what I call a fusion point.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: And at that moment, it creates a bond, it creates loyalty, it creates acceleration.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: So what happens, and the reason I write business parables primarily, although I am working on a novel right now too, but the reason I write business parables is because of that principle.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because if I can write a story, that a reader will fall in love with the story and they and the kind of experience that they would say, Oh, I would have wanted to read that even if I didn't learn anything, and then combine that with the logic got some really good, solid leadership or sales training, or the new one I'm doing with Bill Cates, financial management training.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: If I can do that, then it sticks, it creates that fusion point about the material.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's why some of my favorite books are like The Go Giver, who's written by John David Man and Bob Berg, or uh Ogmendino's books, like the greatest salesman in the world, it teaches good solid principles.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's always been my favorite way to learn, and I never knew why until I studied how people make those decisions.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know, not that I want to go back to uh sixth grade, but I'm gonna go back to sixth grade for a minute here for, you know, it That means I'm gonna sit behind you and pull your hair.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna write notes to each other, right?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: So no, but what what I'm thinking about, you know, is is in sixth grade, seventh grade, you know, what what what I'm uh um aligning storytelling with is the visual, right?
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's it creates that visual picture.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: So I remember, you know, one of my sci both actually two science teachers, one in sixth grade, we were talking about uh, you know, what happened when coke got sprayed all over something and it became sticky, and they were trying to use all these different things.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, what do they end up using to take it off?
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_02: Was you know, good old H2O.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_02: But it was talking about the molecules, and I remember these two pictures.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_02: It's but it's the story that went with it.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: You know, yes, there were these images, and as you read your business stories and you know, these books, it creates this beautiful picture in your mind, and and you think about them.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_02: So you know, it's just it's really, really great.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_02: So you know, in the book, and we and you guys kind of mentioned this a little bit too.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_02: We you talk about being objection proof and describe objection proof and how not just sales professionals, but people leaders can apply that to navigate you know, the world basically today, as we know it.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's such an appropriate question at this day in time, isn't it?
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Bob's material on becoming objection-proof basically was using a good set of people skills to work through an issue.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, in sales, uh sometimes objections seem to become the bane of a salesperson's existence.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: And they don't have to be because if once you learn what to do and what not to do, you can actually build a relationship in it.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: And the first thing that we teach in the book, The First Stephen, is don't try to overcome the objection.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: The truth is, an objection, quite frankly, is very much like someone's opinion.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't have to look much further than our political process to know how much people just absolutely love it when you try to overcome their opinion.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so we say, don't try to overcome an opinion, don't try to debate it.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, work with that opinion.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: Work with the with the objection that you're getting at the time.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: We also teach to to handle common objections, of course, before they come up in the sales presentation, or we call it a sales conversation, because if it if it comes up, if you bring up certain things that you know are kind of baked into what do you you do anyway, if you bring it up then along with the solution, it's education.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: But if they do it later, it becomes an objection and you have to handle it differently.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, the objection-proof process basically is just a simple six-step process, but I work it into a story and we handle it in the story role.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: But it's it's first off, number one, controlling your own emotions.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: What an objection does inside us as a salesperson, you know, I talked about fusion points being the combination of positive emotion and logic, and it makes us feel good.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, an objection sets up what I refer to as a collision point.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's a negative emotion and logic connecting, and it makes you push back.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: You don't like the way that feels.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so when a salesperson, especially a newbie, gets an objection, it sets off an uncomfortable feeling inside of them.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: And if if they don't control that the fact that they can't respond to that feeling, they'll react and they'll they'll push or they'll argue or they'll debate, and it turns the other person off.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: They won't don't want to have anything to do with it.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: So the first step is to basically uh control your emotions.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: But then the second quote part is just ask the right questions so you get their perspective and just say that.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Can you you mind if I ask you a couple of questions?
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because I really want to understand your perspective on this, and then ask serious questions because you want to understand, not because you want to over to overcome the objection, but because you want to understand.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: That sets off a big positive emotional response in them because they are not uh being pushed like a lot of salespeople are.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, go ahead.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_02: I was just gonna say just but that that asking the question, I think that's I just kind of wanted to jump in there because so many times you know, you somebody gives an objection and and we a lot of people either don't respond and they just take it, or like or it could be something that they say, why on earth do you think that way?
• 14:27
  unknown: Right.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like and and and and not the right question, but you know, maybe asking the question, interesting perspective.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_02: Can you tell me more?
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, help me see it from your vision, help me see it from your perspective.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: And once you've done that and you listen, then you get the opportunity to reframe what they say.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: You'll never get that opportunity if you don't understand it and let them verbalize it with you.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you're uh doing that from like a great example of a what I call about reframing, is we all see the the the world through our own frame.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's our experiences, make up the the border around that frame, and that's what we see.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: So everybody has that.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: But if you'll move your head slightly to one direction, then it changes the perspective and you can see it from a different angle.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: So once you've you've gotten their perspective, you say, well, you know, you empathize with it, and you say, you know, I can see how that would be something you'd want to consider.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: That makes perfect sense to me that that's something that we we should talk through.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because that empathy is not what they're expecting.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: They're expecting a salesperson to push, and and when you did say, Oh, that makes perfect sense as you might think that.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then say, Do you mind if I shed a little different perspective on it?
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: They'll be open to you doing that.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when you give the solution, and then you you can move forward with providing their value proposition.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it a value proposition to me has absolutely nothing to do with your product or your service or your company, has nothing to do with how great you are as a salesperson, even though I know everybody in your audience is wonderful.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: It has everything to do with how that prospect's life gets better when they begin a relationship with you.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: In essence, it's really their value from your proposition.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're focused in that direction, once you get to the point where you can reframe it, you give a little social proof.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Other clients that have thought the same thing.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's basically a social proof version of the feel-felt found thing in traditional training.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then you can ask the simplest closing question I've ever known in my life is the one I always use.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: And it was because people naturally really would prefer to say no to salespeople.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: My closing question after doing all of that was say, well, let me ask you a question.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want to say no, please feel completely welcome to do so.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: Do you see any reason we shouldn't move forward?
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, no.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and and you know, that comes up to a couple of things that you know that are coming that come into my mind about you know, about sales and leadership in in particular, which is really helping people see how it is going to help them.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: So as a leader, and I and and and listeners, this is a huge insight.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_02: Like really think about this.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the people on your team, the people that your clients, the people that you're selling to, if you can make them feel really good, maybe you're maybe if you're leading a team and you have this great brand new vision about how the team should operate, you need to sell it to them.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_02: But you need to get not just their buy-in, you have to let them see how it's going to help them.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_02: If I know, for example, that Jeff wants to grow into exposition, I can say, hey Jeff, this position, this what we are doing is going the goal is to help not the team, but we want to help you get here, right?
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: So like see how it can help the other person.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and I say your clients because your employees or your team members as I call them, those are that's client number one, client number two are actually your clients.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_02: Team members come first.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: So you know, you we talked a little bit about fusion points, and I totally understand, but you talk about in the book there I call I'm gonna add an extra step, but you say three steps, and then I I'm making them four because I try to I actually do things in twos, so it's divisible by two in my brain.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_02: I talk about two steps to yes.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um but you talk about can you share that that three step plus one process?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_02: Because I think there's something about that that for me hits home really, really key, but I'll I'll share that after you discuss it.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the the basic premise uh when in a sales organization, when you're making that those prospecting contacts, whatever the industry, and it's gonna, of course, the the way you do it's a little different based on your business model, but you're gonna get one of three when you when it's a basically a cold call or the first contact, you're gonna get one of three responses responses.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: You'll get one group of people who uh they consider a contact from a salesperson that wasn't expected an annoyance.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so they have a collision point, their negative emotional response hits them and it combines with logic, and they don't give you the time of day, and sometimes they may not even be nice.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: You got a second group uh where it is a positive for them.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: They actually know they have a need, they know it maybe your brand or your company, so they see when you reach out, they see it as a positive thing.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: They actually have a fusion point just because you made contact, and those are the easiest ones to get an appointment with.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then you got a third group that's really not thinking about you all at all.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's no, you, there's no context, there's no emotional reaction.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: They just haven't had any reason to think about you because you haven't given on the one yet.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, what I teach people in the book is is a process that I'd really call priming the prospecting pump, but it works on everything.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: And it's basically before you even ask for the first meeting that you make three or four in this case of positive emotional touches with that prospect before you ever ask for the first meeting.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it can vary based on your industry.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, things I often suggest is if it in a business-to-business context, maybe you find some sort of positive press about the company or the person.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: You find a great Yelp review or whatever, you print the thing off, you handwrite, because people don't do that much anymore, you handwrite a little note saying, I saw this, I want to make sure you saw it too.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: I thought it was great press for you and your company.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Good job.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then add two sentences at the end.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: I would like to meet you soon.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: Please expect my call.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: And you that's one way to do it.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: You can send you can print off a picture of them on social media with their family and say, I just saw this.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: You got a cool uh-looking outing that you do with your family.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Send that to them.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Lisa Wilbur, my co-author on said the lady with the blue hair, sends out send out cards.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: And she does the same process, but she's sending out actual cards from a company.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: She puts in the picture, she types in the message, and it goes out.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: She sent literally over 20,000 cards over the last few years.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: But the reason you do that is because the percentages of people that will say yes when you request that first meeting go up if they have had positive touches, even if they don't know you.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you do this, what it amounts to is you give them a positive emotional touch three times or four, and with each of them you say, Hey, I'd like to meet you soon.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: Please expect my call.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: Then you follow that up with your call and your request for that first visit.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, when you do that, it does a couple of things, it makes them more likely to.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Say yes to the visit.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: But the other thing it does is it gives you the ability when you're uh visiting with uh the administrative assistant who's basically oftentimes in charge of protecting the person's time that you're trying to see, it's very easy and true to say they very well may be expecting my call.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: They're likely expecting my call, something of like that.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you've also told them that they're expecting your call.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_02: So you've you primed that pump.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's it's um sometimes when when you oh my god, I just like the words just went right out of my brain.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: When you're telling people what they're what to do, like you're so you've told them you're gonna expect my call.
• 22:38
  unknown: Right.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_02: You've told them.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: And each time you do it, it just makes that little positive emotional connection, and then sitting there waiting on you to connect it with a logic of why you want to do it.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then to make it even a little bit stronger, when you ask for that first meeting, make sure the verbiage you use is about their value from your proposition.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Don't ask for that meeting to explain your company and what you do and all that.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Ask for that meeting to see if they can explore, if they can take advantage of whatever they that you're gonna do that's gonna make their world better.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're gonna put them in the home of their dreams or help them get out, you know, like in a with a realtor.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: I use this as an example when I'm doing seminars.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm much more likely to give my time to someone who says, you know, I'd like to take help you use that equity in your home to in a big city in a higher crime area to get out in a in a smaller community where the crimes lower, the pace of life is better, and I think you'll enjoy that better.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm more likely to give that person my time than someone who says, I'm a great realtor with a great company, and I can sell your home for you.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because one connected with a positive emotional response because they talked about my value from their proposition.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I'm teaching the seminars, I'll teach that, I'll teach getting introductions because those three things, priming the pump into that, it makes a huge difference in the percentage that'll say yes to you.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, and I love that.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_02: And there's you know, in the book, you actually talk about, you know, it's it's and and you share, you know, and what you just said, it's like sending something in the mail.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, sending a card.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and I'm gonna share.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_02: It's also this.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_02: Do you understand what this is?
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's a phone.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_02: And oh, and by the way, the phone goes up to the ear, or this way, if you want to speak to it this way, because you don't want whatever use it, use it for the phone.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_02: I I cannot begin to tell people enough how many times when you send something and you say something, people get the emotion so much more those two ways than just a quick short text or an email.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_02: Send the email, send some of that information, but the fact that when people hear your voice and the excitement in your voice, it's like powerful.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, uh Jeffrey Gittimer is one of a great sales trainer from decades ago.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Decades ago, yeah.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and he had an article in Selling Power Magazine one time, and I've gotten it to visit with Jeff about this since he his article was talking about the more of the five senses you can involve in the sales process, the higher your percentage of chance of growing the sale or closing the sale are going to be.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so I utilize that in my sales, but it's the same reason.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: If I want to learn material really solidly, I'll get the audio book like you did.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'll have the physical book too, and I'll go through the audio book and the physical book at the same time.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm making notes as I go through.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: It just cements the lesson so much more solidly.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it does.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I it's funny, that's why I actually went and got the printed version because I love it, because I do that on the books that I love.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_02: So, so you know, you've had an amazing career, and so you know, I 30 years, you know, leading teams.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you you shared some amazing insights, but is there one key lesson that you've learned that you think is super crucial for developing those high-performing sales teams?
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you touched on it a bit ago.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's about creating that culture, creating that environment, creating that connection with your team that is that is personal.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's one-on-one, in addition to what you do in a group setting or in a massive setting.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and it, but it touches them personally, and you're combining that with the logic of what you're doing.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I was a I was uh in field sales management with a Fortune 500 insurance carrier for 20 years.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, started off as a district manager, it was decent, but then I actually read Bob Berg's book, The Endless Referrals, and it catapulted my career.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: But then I was a regional manager for two years, but I was a state manager for that company for 10 years here in Texas.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I had a team of hundreds of agents.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: They were all independent contractors, that none of them were my employees, and I would do things to connect with them.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like we would have big meetings where I would give awards and all that, but I would invite their spouses and we'd have hundreds of people in the room.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: And during that time, at some point, I was going to see every single one of them.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: I was going to touch them, I was going to shake their hand, put my hand on their shoulder, say, I'm so glad you're here.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: So nice to meet your spouse.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I would call them by name.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I would do those things.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then with my managers that reported directly to me, the regional managers, I would take 20% of my bonus every year, and I would spend it taking them, or my wife and I did this because we're a couple, I actually we would host them on a trip.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it would that for them and their spouses.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: We took them to the Virgin Islands one year.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: We spent a week at the Bitter End Yacht Club in Tortola.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: Miss that what basically the result of that is there was so much camaraderie and so much loyalty.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now I've been gone from that industry now 11 years.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: I still uh see a lot of the same people.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: And the the state manager that's there now is an awesome guy.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: He's doing a great job.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: He said, You've been gone, uh, I think we were playing golf about two years ago.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: He said, You've been gone nine years.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: Your people still love you.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's that kind of connection that grows an organization.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: It creates a fusion point for inside your organization.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: And like you said earlier, it's not just about sales.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, you need to create those fusion points and sales, and priming the prospecting pump does that.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: But it's also about how you grow a team, how you bring someone on board, how you help equip them to be successful.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's also how you make personal relationships work.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: It it works in so many areas of life that it it's uh that's the one lesson.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's got to be that connection.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and and so listeners, I really want you to really take note to that.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_02: Because I I mean, I could go through countless stories and I'm not gonna bore you with them.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_02: But but but one of those things that I really think that you know that if we can make it where people truly love it's not loving just what they're doing, but loving their environment and loving the company and the people.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's not about you, it's about your team.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I actually shared this with somebody.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_02: We were talking about this the other day, about um about knowledge, right?
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_02: The knowledge you have is is great, it's great wisdom.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_02: Don't hold it, share it.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_02: The more you can share it, the better the people will actually be attracted to you and love your team because you are giving into them and you're pouring into them.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's so important.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I think I I think about my career.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_02: What it would have been how different it may have been.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_02: Very interesting thing.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um I wanna because you mentioned this, but um someone on the way, did you play professionally in a Dixie band?
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: I actually did.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_02: Tell me about that.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: I have a bachelor's degree in music education and a master's degree in music composition.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: And by the way, those two degrees will get me a cup of coffee in Starbucks if I have ten dollars with me.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh during my master's degree, I actually played professionally in a Dixieland band here in Texas, and uh I doubled on string bass and tuba.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: And uh that I was making at times four or five hundred dollars a week cash in this.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I really I'm much older than you.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: This was in the early 80s, and that was a lot of money for a college kid.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, but we we played up in the East Coast, we played in the Texas Oil Marketers Convention, we played in a lot of places, uh, and so uh music and especially Dixie Land music is is near and dear to my heart.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: And as I say, why wouldn't it be?
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody loves the tuba player, you know.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_02: You know, that is so you know, so going back to that though, how do you think music has played a role in your sales and leadership?
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh if I were to, I guess the best way I could say that is it probably plays more of a role in two ways.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, to get a degree in music is a difficult degree to get because you are there would be times I'd be taking 13 classes in one semester.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: Some of them were one-hour courses because they were ensembles, and yet I had to take them because I had to get the degree.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so that it's a huge workload, and I did that in four years, and I did my master's in one, pulling all nighters doing pulling all nighters working on my stuff.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, so I think it helped you helped me develop that ability to stick with something, but the other side of it is the creativity side, because one of the things I've done in a leadership role in sales is uh utilize the stories, be creative with what I did as far as how to make the lesson stick.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it's exactly what's made my it's elevated me in my writing.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I have a wonderful writing coach.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, his name is John David Mann, and he is literally my hero when it comes to writing.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: He was the lead writer on the go-giver, the book he and Bob Berg did together.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: And he's he's the latte factor with David Bachman.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: He's written 40 books, and I think nine New York Times bestsellers.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, he's a personal friend and my writing coach.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it's the combination of the creativity side that I have, and then studying like a madman with John, it's really elevated my writing to where I'm getting recognized at a higher level.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like I say, we just won the gold medal from the Axiom Business Book Awards on Streetwise, and that's that's a good one.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's not the New York Times bestseller list by any stretch, but it's it's some really sweet recognition.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that that's really fantastic.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so you just mentioned two things, and we're gonna break them out into two different questions.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_02: Okay learning.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_02: You mentioned that you are learning obviously so much with John, right?
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: And right.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_02: So talk about learning and and how important that is in sales and leadership.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think if we stop learning, we stop growing.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: And if you stop growing, you're dying.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: And the the truth is in my sales career, I wasn't a natural at it, but I I had a very great mentor.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: Matter of fact, I I wrote him into the story of my first book, uh, The Unexpected Tour Guide.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's a man named Jack Amberson.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: And he was such a great mentor to me and as a person and as a father and as a sales leader.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: And he gave he he's the one who kind of gave me that thirst for learning.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: He gave me my first copy of uh The Greatest Salesman in the World by Ogmandino.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: He got me on that track.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: He got he gave me, uh, I guess it was Frank Butcher's How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to learn what to do.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so, but again, I guess getting the degrees in music, I wasn't I wasn't afraid to dive in there and learn things and apply them.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so it it literally took me from being probably someone who wouldn't have made it in sales to being someone that had a really nice long career and did well in sales.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: And the same thing when when I I retired from the insurance industry at 54 years old, and even though that was a nice position to be in, I started uh my wife, thank God she feels she supports me with this.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to do something else after that.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh I when I decided I wanted to be write and I wanted to speak and do do those things, and so I dove into the writing part in that same fervor, and I I became friends with John, met him through Bob, and uh I remember us having lunch up in Waco, Texas.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: He was doing a book signing at a bookstore up there, and I went, drove up and had lunch with him.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's around the corner in Texas, but it was about two hours from my house.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I get that.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: But I had lunch and just got to know him a little bit, and uh when he finally later put he was good, he was coaching me a little bit anyway, and he had put a free resource on his website called How to Write Good or At least Gooder.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: Love the title, right?
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: But I uh I got uh got a lot of benefit out of that.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's where I I had read that, and that's uh helped me on blue hair.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: But uh when he he started his writing mastery mentorship course, uh he it put some advertising about that in and he called me and I and I said, Okay, tell me the details about it.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Okay, how much is it gonna cost?
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Okay, you want it in check, credit card, what?
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I was it, I I was his first sale.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: I was a bit I'm the very first member of that class.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: When he's had tons of people in that class, that's when I said, but I don't want to spoil you because not all your sales are gonna be this easy.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: But he's a genius, and and he writes novels too.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: He's got a novel series now that's actually been optioned for more than just a book.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that's it, that's no more details than I can give than that.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, he's just my hero and he's a good man.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it it turns out too, this is I we're probably gonna bore your listeners here.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: No, but his father is was a man named Alfred Mann.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: And when I was in college majoring in music in my junior year in college, I had to study 18th century counterpoint, and the textbook was his father's book on 18th century counterpoint.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, that's so great.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so learning is obviously really key, and it's a again, always be learning.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but you also you know, he's also a coach.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_02: So so talk about how coaching goes along with sales success and success in general.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great question.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: And my answer to that is that it focuses on helping the other person get better at what they're doing.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: It it if I can coach them to do that, I I focus on their value from my proposition and helping that.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like that today we had a coaching call with a couple out of New York, and they their business is um they they have a a caregiver type business for babysitters and things of that nature, and it's a big business.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: They have 400-something employees.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_00: And uh we were coaching on that, and it was all about okay, let's get to know them, what they're looking for, where we might be able to help, and then uh come up with ways to help them connect at a higher level with their people.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it's about it's about focusing on what the other person needs, and then if I've got the expertise to get help them get there, helping uh equip them to to do that and to get side by side with them as they make it happen.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're doing a three-month coaching program with these folks, and it'll be Poncier's access and try to help them get these things.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: And they were so excited today, they were such a joy to be around anyway.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: They were very fun people.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_02: So that's really fantastic.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Jeff, I could talk to you for hours and hours because there's so many things.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but so I may have to have you come back on the show.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna have get another one of your books and and read that.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, how can the listeners connect with you, get in touch with you, get your books, all of those things?
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, well, thank you for asking that.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the the probably the most important or the easiest way is go to jeffcewest.com.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: And at the very top, you'll see a place where you can sign up for my newsletter.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_00: I send out a newsletter on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and one it's a combination of sales coaching, leadership coaching.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: Every now and then it's just behind the scenes sneak peeks at what it's like to write a book.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's uh hopefully it's appealing to a multitude of things.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_00: Everything, I always say everything from the entry-level salesperson to the CEO.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: At some point, I'm gonna be coaching them on that.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but also, and uh and you'll see the the button to do that right at the top, and you can find out about my books there too.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_00: But feel welcome to connect with me on places like LinkedIn or Facebook.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: Just look for Jeff C West.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: You have to put the C in because if you just Google Jeff West, somebody else comes up, and I'm not even gonna say what the subject matter is, but it's not necessarily something you want to send your audience to.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: And now they're gonna all go there.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: I shouldn't have said this.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's it's uh it's uh I'm now wishing you edit that part out because I know where it goes.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_02: So Jeff C West, go to Jeff C West, and I will make sure the link is proper um in the show notes.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_02: So, Jeff, thank you for being such an amazing guest.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_02: And listeners, please connect with him.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm going to put a link to this book also in the show notes.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_02: So please grab this book.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_02: Trust me, you will enjoy it.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_02: Get the audio version.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_02: I'll have that a link to the audio version as well.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um I would say, you know, get the digital e-version, but hold the book in your hand and listen to the audio.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_02: It really makes a difference, I do think.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so sorry to put my opinion on you.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um but I will.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Jacqueline.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's been an honor to be with you.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_02: This is the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight Podcast.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you, listeners, for being amazing listeners.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_02: If you have gotten value out of this, which I'm sure you have, please do me the best favor.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_02: Two, in fact, one, hit subscribe and two, share it with a friend or colleague or somebody that you know could benefit from hearing Jeff's message and for becoming an unstoppable leader.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_02: And again, I'm Jacqueline Strominger, and I thank you both.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for listening, and thank you for being a great guest.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Jaclyn Strominger, and I want to thank you so much for listening to the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight, Influential Leaders and Their Game Changing Insights podcast.
• 40:54
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• 41:03
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• 41:09
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• 41:21
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• 41:34
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• 41:39
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• 41:42
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• 41:47
  SPEAKER_02: Your thumbs up readings and reviews have a long link of help from yourself.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_02: They mean so much to me and my team.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_02: If you want to know more about the podcast or about leapture success, just go to the website leapsuresuccess.com or follow me at Commander on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
• 42:20
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• 42:23
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you so much for listening and remember.