Building Global Sales Teams with Gearoid Cox

Interactive Transcript

spk_0 The over-arc endpoint will always be the same.

spk_0 You need to be in tune with them.

spk_0 You know, you can't show up once a week,

spk_0 give a speech and walk away

spk_0 and expect things to work the way you want them to work.

spk_0 You're the one driving the culture

spk_0 and you're the one driving that direction of travel.

spk_0 And if you do, and you drive it well enough,

spk_0 everyone will come with you.

spk_0 This is Mental Selling, the sales podcast

spk_0 for people who are dedicated to making a difference

spk_0 in customers' lives.

spk_0 We're here to help you unlock sales talent,

spk_0 win more relationships,

spk_0 and transform your business with integrity.

spk_0 I'm your host, Haley Par.

spk_0 Let's get right into it.

spk_0 Welcome to the Mental Selling podcast,

spk_0 brought to you by Integrity Solutions,

spk_0 where we explore the human side of sales

spk_0 and what it really takes to build trusted customer relationships,

spk_0 drive performance, and create values-driven sales cultures.

spk_0 On today's episode, I'm joined by Geralt Cox,

spk_0 founder and CEO of salespipeline.io.

spk_0 Geralt has built and led sales teams around the world,

spk_0 and today he helps companies scale

spk_0 through outsourced and fractional sales leadership.

spk_0 In our conversation, we'll dig into what it really takes

spk_0 to train salespeople beyond onboarding,

spk_0 why appreciation is such a powerful mindset shift,

spk_0 and what top global sales talent actually needs to succeed,

spk_0 especially in small or remote teams.

spk_0 Geralt, welcome.

spk_0 Thank you for joining.

spk_0 Oh, thank you so much for having me.

spk_0 I'm very excited.

spk_0 How are you doing today?

spk_0 I'm Grace. I'm great.

spk_0 I've been very excited waiting for this podcast,

spk_0 because obviously, I think, as you all know,

spk_0 of Discuss Before, we have very aligned values cross-company

spk_0 and something I'm really passionate

spk_0 and my friends are sick of listening to me talking about,

spk_0 so I'm more than happy to be talking to somebody

spk_0 who's willing to listen.

spk_0 Absolutely, absolutely.

spk_0 And that was one of the things that you and I really zoned in on

spk_0 when we had our first conversation,

spk_0 where those shared values, and it made so much sense

spk_0 to bring you on the pod and dive in deeper,

spk_0 and that actually kind of brings me to the first topic,

spk_0 which is training beyond onboarding.

spk_0 I wanted to start here because it came up

spk_0 in such an interesting way

spk_0 when you and I were talking about having you on the show.

spk_0 I would love to have you share a bit about your journey

spk_0 into the sales profession and how some of those early experiences

spk_0 really set you up for success,

spk_0 because you mentioned that it showed you how important training is,

spk_0 especially as you encountered peers in the sales profession

spk_0 who had a bit of a different path and struggled a bit more.

spk_0 There was a market difference there,

spk_0 and it showed you how different a career can go

spk_0 based on the positioning of training.

spk_0 And I just, I found that really, really important to hit on,

spk_0 especially as it led the path for your career journey.

spk_0 Yeah, so what we had discussed,

spk_0 and what I'm always discussing is,

spk_0 this is why sales pipe planning exists.

spk_0 Early in my career, I was very lucky,

spk_0 and I got to work for big companies.

spk_0 Big name companies has deck listed companies

spk_0 who provided trading far beyond onboarding.

spk_0 It was regular training, regular one-to-one training,

spk_0 regular group training, topics, situational,

spk_0 and I thought everybody got this.

spk_0 I used to see those metrics of 70% of sales hires don't work out,

spk_0 and those kind of things, and I couldn't understand this,

spk_0 because for me, I had been really drilled

spk_0 that it was an attitude and actions thing,

spk_0 that you follow the process,

spk_0 that you look after your attitude,

spk_0 that you get to know your customers,

spk_0 you follow what you've been taught,

spk_0 and people would regularly check in on me with them,

spk_0 and they taught me the checkpoints and how to do that.

spk_0 They taught me how to have a more open conversation

spk_0 and actively listen and not be just pitching all the time.

spk_0 How to score leads, how to understand these things,

spk_0 and when I left those bigger companies as a top performer,

spk_0 and went out to work in other roles,

spk_0 and ultimately be in business myself,

spk_0 I saw so many positions don't have that,

spk_0 and it becomes a lose-lose situation.

spk_0 And what our company is all about is creating a win-win situation,

spk_0 where you're not only, we're going to touch on the other topics,

spk_0 you're not only appreciating your staff,

spk_0 you give them the training, you give them the time to develop,

spk_0 you give them the materials, and help that they need to develop.

spk_0 You help them with their motivation.

spk_0 It's so obvious what some of the gaps are in the sales industry,

spk_0 or what some of the gaps are for sales people.

spk_0 And for me, I think not enough companies

spk_0 are aligning to fill them for their people,

spk_0 and provide them the opportunity to become as successful as they can.

spk_0 I think you see so much out here,

spk_0 where really salespeople are working with their hands tied behind their back,

spk_0 or without enough information to succeed.

spk_0 And for me, my journey taught me that that was a lot of the answer,

spk_0 and that's what I went back to when I started my own business in Sofair,

spk_0 so good, you know, we're very, very happy.

spk_0 Our first topic is training beyond onboarding.

spk_0 So talk to me a little bit about the one-time aspect,

spk_0 versus it being a continuous training journey,

spk_0 as this competitive edge to the sales profession at all stages in their career.

spk_0 I mean, you've built teams in all markets,

spk_0 built global sales teams.

spk_0 Why do you believe, in your experience,

spk_0 where has a successful training program come in place,

spk_0 and what happens beyond onboarding in those most successful programs?

spk_0 I think it depends how you view it, right?

spk_0 So it's possibly the most important thing,

spk_0 because firstly, people are far too quick to start to look at the individual in sales,

spk_0 and not the actual business itself.

spk_0 Like, what's the ultimate goal of the sales team is to grow the revenue of the business,

spk_0 not to grow the revenue of an individual sales performer.

spk_0 It's of the whole team and the business as a whole,

spk_0 and training, especially when you give it just an onboarding,

spk_0 I view training a bit more like the theoretical side.

spk_0 Training is like the classroom.

spk_0 You have to go and then put it into practice.

spk_0 You know, you've got your onboarding out you go,

spk_0 or we gave you training six months ago, or we gave you training a year ago.

spk_0 Firstly, the most important thing about training is revisiting.

spk_0 It's understanding how it's been put into practices of being used,

spk_0 sometimes I think people have go to the idea that we gave that one training a year ago.

spk_0 Like, maybe view it a bit like a sports team,

spk_0 or maybe view it a bit like running.

spk_0 You went for run run.

spk_0 You're not ready for a marathon.

spk_0 That's not how this works.

spk_0 You know, like, you take the theory in and you learn from a trainer,

spk_0 then you try to put it in practice.

spk_0 And as someone who's been part of the same training,

spk_0 maybe 50 times, I get something new from it every time.

spk_0 Or a very good example is early in my career,

spk_0 a great sales manager taught me that sales was all about

spk_0 attitude and actions.

spk_0 You just follow the process.

spk_0 You have a good attitude.

spk_0 You do the right things and it will come.

spk_0 You know, you don't need to be so worried about it.

spk_0 I've relearned the meaning of that 50 times,

spk_0 you know, or applied it to a different situation.

spk_0 Or found myself falling into a bad habit or into a bad situation

spk_0 and realized, whoa, this is all I have to do.

spk_0 It's that simple.

spk_0 You know, it's the same lesson.

spk_0 You see in many sales trainings,

spk_0 don't sell features and benefits.

spk_0 I don't think there's been a week that I haven't been on a sales call since I started my career 15 years ago.

spk_0 I still fall into that track sometimes.

spk_0 And I have to revisit and say,

spk_0 girls, you're selling the features benefits again.

spk_0 You know, it happens.

spk_0 So for me, ongoing training is crucial,

spk_0 especially when you look at it from a team structure,

spk_0 because sometimes people think,

spk_0 oh, the top performers don't need it.

spk_0 Well, the people who want to become top performers

spk_0 should learn from your top performers.

spk_0 The people who are top performers should be revisiting

spk_0 because what happens when you become unmodivated

spk_0 or things fall out of sync?

spk_0 Are you lose a slight amount of confidence?

spk_0 Or there's a change?

spk_0 You know, if you look at it more like a fighting sport, like boxing,

spk_0 or you have seen or any of those things,

spk_0 when under pressure they fall back on their practice and training.

spk_0 And if you haven't done the hours on that side,

spk_0 it's going to be very difficult in practice for you

spk_0 to fall back to what you need to be doing to get the good results.

spk_0 When you're under pressure,

spk_0 you're going to make mistakes instead.

spk_0 For me, that's the crucial part of training.

spk_0 It's bringing your team together.

spk_0 It's having a cohesive message.

spk_0 It's driving the culture and direction of the business that you want to drive

spk_0 by putting those markers in place and then revisiting them.

spk_0 And ultimately, it's the rising table raise all boots.

spk_0 If anyone takes something from the training,

spk_0 the whole team will get better.

spk_0 I like how you mentioned not just the repetitive nature of training

spk_0 at onboarding and other stages throughout the career,

spk_0 but also within the event of training itself,

spk_0 the initial event and then the sustainment

spk_0 after putting the learnings into practice

spk_0 through real world application.

spk_0 That's something that we focus very heavily on at integrity solutions.

spk_0 And that's what really sets the teams that see the success

spk_0 and the outcomes and the return on investment of training apart from

spk_0 the one and done and hope that it works because it just simply doesn't.

spk_0 So I really like that you call that out.

spk_0 I mean, speaking of wanting to see a return on investment,

spk_0 there is an investment associated with training.

spk_0 And sometimes smaller teams can really struggle to find the budget.

spk_0 What are some ways that those smaller teams can keep their skills sharp?

spk_0 But maybe they don't have a huge budget.

spk_0 Are there practical ways that they can make the most out of maybe a training

spk_0 they've done in the past?

spk_0 Any tips for that regard?

spk_0 Yeah, so two-sided answer.

spk_0 One, especially at the founder level or at the executive level,

spk_0 put more budget for training because what you put in,

spk_0 you will get out 100 full of here.

spk_0 Like, this is your revenue generating team.

spk_0 If you have no interest in putting training or putting budget in place to do this,

spk_0 then you don't have much interest in getting what you're actually asking from these people.

spk_0 Obviously, for everyone, small team or big team,

spk_0 you should do the other pieces too.

spk_0 The manager or leader needs to do the same thing.

spk_0 They need to revisit the training.

spk_0 They need to give feedback.

spk_0 They need to revisit the process.

spk_0 They need to have their teams share the ideas.

spk_0 They need to have their teams share examples.

spk_0 How they're putting these things into practice.

spk_0 What they're struggling with.

spk_0 But long story short, I think you have to invest in training one way or another.

spk_0 If you want the long-term result,

spk_0 I've never met a founder who asked for less revenue or an executive who didn't want to grow their

spk_0 business, you want repeatable growth.

spk_0 You want to be able to onboard people in the same length of time.

spk_0 You want measurable results.

spk_0 All this comes from training, whether internally or externally.

spk_0 As much as I believe in external training and I think it's super important

spk_0 than something you should do regularly, we should always be learning.

spk_0 Like, from a management perspective, from a salesperson's perspective,

spk_0 and you need to create that environment,

spk_0 you need to drive that culture from a leadership standpoint.

spk_0 So I think for me, it's something that I do in every weekly sales meeting that we do.

spk_0 We spend a portion of it working on the training or working on the topics that we

spk_0 previously spoke about, sharing examples, sharing wins,

spk_0 and helping with the top performers and the leadership to point out why it works.

spk_0 And bring that theory on gradually.

spk_0 You know, Rome isn't built in a day and it's back to the same point that I made.

spk_0 You need to do the higher jides and hours of practice, which isn't just calls because

spk_0 it needs to be focused practice.

spk_0 So you need to give those reps to focus angles.

spk_0 Small pieces at a time, you know, you're building on a strong foundation.

spk_0 And ultimately in the long run, your revenue will show

spk_0 plenty, plenty more in terms of dollars than you've put in hours into it in advance.

spk_0 To be honest, by the time that you're struggling and the by the time that you're really searching for

spk_0 something, you've made mistakes long before.

spk_0 You know, this is a consistent process that everyone needs to be putting in to get better.

spk_0 And if you're not doing it for your reps and your reps are performing, they're doing it for

spk_0 themselves. You know, the process works. It's just about what you're putting in.

spk_0 Well, and not to mention engagement and putting integrity into action and investing in your people.

spk_0 And that's something we talk about a lot at integrity solutions.

spk_0 We're coming into fall. We're coming into Q4.

spk_0 A lot of teams have a training budget that expires at the end of the calendar year.

spk_0 And it's use it or lose it dollars.

spk_0 So why not make those dollars work for you?

spk_0 And it's a great time to be having those conversations.

spk_0 So I really appreciate your perspective on this, Carol.

spk_0 All right, Carol, I love to pivot to the practice of appreciation in sales.

spk_0 It's something that came up when we met earlier.

spk_0 And it works very nicely with something we talk about a lot at integrity solutions.

spk_0 It's a model within one of our training programs, which is the congruence model,

spk_0 essentially aligning beliefs, values, attitudes, and behaviors.

spk_0 Talk to me a little bit about appreciation as the hidden fuel of sales success.

spk_0 How do you see that shaping a reps daily approach to selling?

spk_0 Well, I think it kind of starts at my own journey.

spk_0 It's something that I had to find to become successful.

spk_0 I think every sales rep can understand this.

spk_0 It's easy to fall into negativity.

spk_0 It's easy to blame the leads.

spk_0 It's easy to blame the customers.

spk_0 It's easy to blame the software.

spk_0 It's easy to bend the product.

spk_0 The shipping times.

spk_0 We've all had that moment.

spk_0 And I think when I looked at a big part of my culture

spk_0 Irish culture, people are extremely appreciative.

spk_0 Right?

spk_0 People say, please, and thank you a lot.

spk_0 And it's something I notice.

spk_0 And as I travel the world more and more,

spk_0 I'm working in different places and work with different team members.

spk_0 I notice it was a bit of a gap.

spk_0 And Ireland has very, very strong sales people and sales teams.

spk_0 And I kind of told it the idea a little bit myself.

spk_0 And then as I discussed it with more and more people,

spk_0 I found it was a more common idea.

spk_0 If you appreciate what you have, what you've been given, the company,

spk_0 and the job that you have, the colleagues that you have,

spk_0 the customers that you have, it comes across.

spk_0 In every word you say, in everything you do, in every sales call you have,

spk_0 it makes you a far more approachable person.

spk_0 It allows you to see things to a very different eye

spk_0 and bring positivity into situations.

spk_0 And for me, one of the things I've noticed the most was the opposite.

spk_0 It's so easy to carry negativity into a sales call.

spk_0 It's so easy to create your own objection or create your own problem.

spk_0 Sometimes in all sales training I got was talking about selling yourself

spk_0 the solution first so that at least you were given yourself that credibility

spk_0 and how you spoke.

spk_0 And I think for me that comes from appreciation.

spk_0 Because I think the practice stops you ever miss selling someone,

spk_0 making sure that you fully understand you can never sell someone the wrong thing twice.

spk_0 And that every customer is another opportunity,

spk_0 whether it's this job or the next job or if it's for a case study or a referral

spk_0 or whatever it is, a reference,

spk_0 everyone needs to be treated with respect.

spk_0 And their truth, their solution needs to be appreciated.

spk_0 You need to sit down and understand someone who has depends on the product you're selling.

spk_0 If someone is trying to roll something out quickly,

spk_0 it doesn't mean they want to sacrifice certain types of quality.

spk_0 You have to become appreciative and not just dive on that.

spk_0 You have to dig a bit deeper and actively listen.

spk_0 And I think that's all driven from you appreciating what you have,

spk_0 where you are, where someone is coming from.

spk_0 This is one of those things that is so much easier said than done.

spk_0 When you have these thoughts, and again, at integrity solutions,

spk_0 we call it being out of congruence where you're like,

spk_0 oh, maybe I don't feel as strongly in this area as I should.

spk_0 I'm having questions about this area of the product.

spk_0 I'm not sure if I can sell it because I don't understand it.

spk_0 Or my activities are off.

spk_0 And it can be difficult if you're not in 100% congruence and you're misaligned

spk_0 to go into that sales conversation.

spk_0 In your experience or working with the teams that you place and coach and train,

spk_0 what are some practical tips or ways you move through feeling like when someone's

spk_0 not feeling appreciative and kind of fix that mindset or help move through that mindset to get

spk_0 to that place where they can be more appreciative to help see more success in that area.

spk_0 And even just not just see more success, but just have a better mindset,

spk_0 because it's a tough place to be and it can be really draining.

spk_0 It's hard to work in that space and feel like, man, is this the right role for me?

spk_0 It's hard to have job satisfaction. That's really difficult.

spk_0 Look, I think there's so many sites of this and this is something that I could not discuss more

spk_0 often, right? Because ultimately, what we do is help sales reps get new jobs and become successful

spk_0 from an early process and obviously work with people in the major in the long term.

spk_0 It starts at the start with hiring.

spk_0 You know, I think more often than not, when I'm faced with some of these problems,

spk_0 they didn't hire for what they actually wanted or they didn't know how to hire the right reps.

spk_0 Then they didn't provide the onboarding the way that they should have or the training that they

spk_0 should have or the support. And I think we're going to touch on this more when we talk about

spk_0 talent and retention and those kind of pieces. Support it, salespeople do better, appreciate it,

spk_0 salespeople do better, salespeople with more freedom do better. If you find yourself not being able

spk_0 to do those things, you're either wrong for the role or you're dealing with the wrong person.

spk_0 And a lot of the time, those questions should have been answered far before. I think it's

spk_0 an awful situation to find yourself in with sales reps that end in the right place or

spk_0 end in the right motivation, and especially if you can bring them back from there.

spk_0 Now, the other side is there's a big conversation here about perspective. You have to help them find

spk_0 perspective. That is your job. Too often, I see leaders give up on staff or not do the right things

spk_0 or not do anything at all. That's our job. Our job is to keep the show on their old. Our job is to

spk_0 keep people motivated, focused, keep them moving in one direction of travel towards a known goal.

spk_0 It's our job to help them understand our clients and our customers and our leads,

spk_0 mind frames and help them get to the nitty gritty of what's actually going on. We need to pull

spk_0 their head out of the clouds and put their feet on the ground a little bit and that requires

spk_0 constant interaction. You know what I found and it's kind of back to this appreciation piece.

spk_0 A simple thank you often enough will get you very far with a sales rep because a lot of the time

spk_0 they're the unsung heroes of business. And if you say those thank yous enough, every time they

spk_0 provide you something, if my staff provide me something, I ask for I thank them. I don't see why not.

spk_0 It doesn't cost you very much. And often what you can reap from the rewards is so much further.

spk_0 It also starts to build that trust, acknowledge what they actually do and it helps them when you

spk_0 want to point out something to them. You've already built up that level of trust. So for me, the

spk_0 overracking point will always be the same. You need to be in tune with them. You know, you can show up

spk_0 once a week, give a speech, walk away and expect things to work the way you want them to work.

spk_0 You're the one driving the culture and you're the one driving that direction of travel.

spk_0 And if you do and you drive it well enough, everyone will come with you.

spk_0 Absolutely. And I think this transition is really well into our next topic, which is all around

spk_0 the new era of the global force of sales talent and really what they need.

spk_0 Hi there. If you're listening to this show, it means you believe in making a difference in

spk_0 your customers' lives and are looking for tools to grow in your career at the same time.

spk_0 At Integrity Solutions, we're changing the stereotypes about sales training in ways your

spk_0 customers will feel and experience every day. If you want to learn more about how we could help you

spk_0 and your team, go to integritysolutions.com. All right, I'd love to talk a little bit about

spk_0 building distributed teams that perform especially globally. The pandemic changed so much.

spk_0 And now it's almost the norm to have remote teams, over teams that are in office, the majority of

spk_0 the time are even hybrid. And your perspective placing the teams that you do, how has the role

spk_0 of the remote salesperson evolved in recent years? What are some of the new demands that you're

spk_0 seeing from top global sales talent? To be honest, I love this question in some ways and it's a

spk_0 conversation that we have a lot. And I think it's often driven by people like us, right? Service

spk_0 providers and more senior management. I think the salespeople have been asking for the same thing

spk_0 long before the pandemic. They wanted flexibility. Like sales is an extremely demanding job, right?

spk_0 To do it very well, especially with more global teams where you can be battling times zones like

spk_0 often see salespeople have to stay after hours or get up early or maybe travel before they do

spk_0 something. And I think they've always been crying out as long as I've been in the industry for

spk_0 the flexibility that they show to be shown to them. And I think that more often than not, it's easy

spk_0 to give, right? To allow a top performer or a well-performing team to work remote. Isn't that

spk_0 hard anymore? You know, especially considering what you expect of them. If you're already in a situation

spk_0 where you're going to have said two hours late to take another call and you've an hour commune

spk_0 on the side of your day, it makes it difficult for people to have normal lives and families and

spk_0 the things that go between. Speaking to a salesperson from my in recent, a very strange example, but

spk_0 she was like, I'm so appreciative that we work from home because at lunchtime, I did my washing

spk_0 and she was like, I do not want to have to face a 45-minute drive home and start to wash my

spk_0 clothes. And I was like, it's the simplest thing you can give someone. And ultimately, if you're not

spk_0 creating the system where they're trustworthy or hiring trustworthy people or where they have enough

spk_0 to do and the tools to do it, I think that's on you now. You know, I think we've made it super

spk_0 clear worldwide. We could all do it from home. Really all jobs can and I understand the benefits

spk_0 traveling in office and having people in them. But right now, I think the best performing teams

spk_0 are the ones that are regularly appreciated like we touched on. We don't need to go into it again.

spk_0 They have the flexibility to have the lives they want and still do the job that you want them to do

spk_0 and perform the way they want to perform. And I think the last point and I won't spend too long on it

spk_0 is having the right tools. You know, nowadays there is a million and one types of tools that you

spk_0 can use for salespeople. There's a million in one communication tools. I think people want to be

spk_0 armed with a tech stack. One that isn't too complicated, but two actually solace the problems they

spk_0 need to solve and make their job and life easier. So it's either the team structure coupled with

spk_0 the tech stack to make their specific role possible in the time frame that they're supposed to do it

spk_0 and things that are supporting them. So support of people, support of tech stack, support of structure,

spk_0 a clear and defined role in process and the flexibility to do it.

spk_0 I'd love to hear what are some of the misconceptions that leaders think that teams want that really

spk_0 don't matter. Like where are some of the areas that we might be pouring resources in that we don't

spk_0 need to focus on if we can just get back to the basics of all the things, not the basics, but the

spk_0 the things that really matter and that can provide that work life balance and that job satisfaction

spk_0 that give our teams the flexibility to thrive and do what they need to do to be successful and

spk_0 happy sales professionals. You know what's funny? I think of it as a last because I have a lot of

spk_0 salespeople more than the average business reason. At least I'm a salesperson and I have an idea

spk_0 what I'd like and the way that our business works is a lot of feedbacks. We get an idea what they

spk_0 like and we've heard many varying reviews on the same things right and this is the problem. It's

spk_0 different for different people. You got to know your people and you got to align with what values

spk_0 that you want and what values that they have their culture and all those things. I think the basic

spk_0 misconceptions are that more is better. Let's take the monthly all hands meeting right. Every

spk_0 company that I've worked with for the last five years, two hours, three hours, hour and a half

spk_0 monthly all hands meeting about every single asset of the business it goes on all day. I've never

spk_0 met someone who enjoys this and in a more recent time I saw someone really drill a down into a very

spk_0 very well-produced video and everybody had nothing but good things to say about it and everybody

spk_0 watched it and everybody engaged. I think the monthly all hands is a very useful thing don't get me

spk_0 around but I think for a lot of people it's very loud and there's certain things that it's not

spk_0 caught right, it's not practiced right, the people who are presenting on it don't really cut it

spk_0 down to watch us needs to be known or done. It's the same with for example Jim Stevens. They're a

spk_0 great thing. Some people use them, some people don't. I think where small businesses have the

spk_0 advantage here is being more flexible. You know putting budgets in place and asking individual people

spk_0 what they'd like to do. If you know your people well or you get to know your people well, you can do

spk_0 things probably cheaper, probably smaller that they appreciate a lot more and in general in life

spk_0 and I think this goes into relationships to work to everything that you ever do. It's the small

spk_0 things people remember. It's the pleases and thank yous. It's remembering what you discussed the

spk_0 last time. It's bringing someone a coffee, it's giving someone a break. I think buying someone a

spk_0 big expensive present like watches a very common sales thing. I love watches like a lec watches I'd

spk_0 love one and it's a great thing to have. It's great to make your successes. I will say that but I

spk_0 think a coffee every week and a break every week and somebody just asking how you are consistently

spk_0 doing those small things every day or every week. That's what really matters. That's what really

spk_0 keep people with you. Startups find it easier to attract top talent than companies with all the

spk_0 benefits. It's exciting. It's fun and they get to engage with the leaders. You know, I think

spk_0 that's something I will always believe. And another thing that comes out of engaging with those

spk_0 leaders is it gives those leaders an opportunity to listen to their people and hear from them. What

spk_0 is it that you need? And I think something that came out of this is like it's not going to be the

spk_0 same. It's obviously not going to be the same. The key is knowing your people and you do that by

spk_0 listening to your people and don't you know send out a survey if you're not going to do anything

spk_0 with the results. Don't have an all hands and ask questions if you're not going to do anything with

spk_0 the feedback. So it's I think your spot on. It's the little things and it's getting to know your

spk_0 people so that you can tailor your response and what you offer to what's actually going to make a

spk_0 difference because you know your people and you know them because you listened. That's really important.

spk_0 So for a smaller business that either wants to maybe grow into a more global sales team or even

spk_0 just larger than they are now, where should they start or what are some of the pitfalls they should

spk_0 avoid? I think this is probably an unpopular opinion with a lot of people but stop hiring from

spk_0 your industry and your competitors. It's not something that I'm saying you should never do per se,

spk_0 but I think it's a common pitfall that people fall into. One, you think you're the same, but you're

spk_0 not the same at all. They have different text stacks, different tools. A lot of them have lead flow

spk_0 and you don't. They might focus on a different piece. You want to set yourself apart from them,

spk_0 then don't hire their staff. If you want to look at someone who's perfect for your business,

spk_0 I think you're looking for someone who honestly believes in your product and service and this needs

spk_0 to be fished out in the hiring process. If you're a smaller team, you want to look for somebody who's

spk_0 drive comes a little bit more from within than external things and I think again probably not the

spk_0 most popular thing with salespeople, but for smaller teams, this is really important. You're going

spk_0 to have less contact time with them. You're looking for them to go and find out and bring back

spk_0 information to you to learn. So you need someone who's driven when you're not watching. You need

spk_0 somebody who doesn't need to always be pushed. And if you're in a smaller team, the lead is probably

spk_0 selling or pushing and trying to drive something as well. I think what I would say is that for me,

spk_0 if we go back to the attitude and actions piece that I was taught by a good sales manager of mine,

spk_0 you can do a lap-editor with a good attitude than just corrections. And I would rather hire someone

spk_0 with the right attitude and teach them the process than have somebody who has a process that I

spk_0 don't want them to run in a bad attitude. So for me, it would always be find someone with the right

spk_0 attitude, decide the direction to travel like we discussed earlier, set it with them. And if they're

spk_0 self-motivated, let them go regularly speak with them, get the feedback, adjust as you go, and find

spk_0 somebody who's willing to go and work to find it out rather than someone who thinks they already know.

spk_0 I love that. All right, Geralt, we could go on and on and on. This has been an absolutely fantastic

spk_0 conversation, but we have to wrap, and I know it's much later in the day where you are then in

spk_0 Wisconsin at the moment. So if you don't mind, I'd love to close with some rapid fire, and then we

spk_0 will call it an episode. With that, we're just going to go boom, boom, boom. What is one misconception

spk_0 about sales that you would love to see disappear? I have one. The sales people are born and not

spk_0 met. I think this is the polarizing opposite. I think born, those people are damaging for your

spk_0 situation. I think the people who learn the process first, I would perform in the long run and stay

spk_0 longer. Okay, okay. I love that. I love that in training plays in their very, very well. What is a

spk_0 market trend that's catching your attention right now? The emerging of sales and marketing and

spk_0 what GTM strategy means and who's responsible for this? I see GTM strategy as like sales driven

spk_0 marketing almost at times or marketing driven sales. It's one or the other and it's probably split

spk_0 into again. I think that's the most interesting thing right now, and that's the thing that I think

spk_0 if you're concentrating on now, you're going to perform your competition. This one's my favorite

spk_0 because we've heard some really good ones. Do you have a favorite sales war story? Something went

spk_0 sideways or was really funny or maybe you just learned an invaluable lesson in the field that

spk_0 you're willing to share? I give you a very basic one because it's probably one that I think about

spk_0 the most. When I was very early in my sales career one time, I got an inbound lease, the guy rang the

spk_0 phone. This is when we had phones with cables and that was my job to pick up and dial in the phone.

spk_0 He basically just made an order. He was like, I want X of this product. I was like, great, young

spk_0 salespeople free sale. Took his details made the sale. I found out a couple of weeks later that he

spk_0 bought all of the accessories, the media that would work with these things, the other connected

spk_0 devices from someone else and it was worth way more money. I never stopped to ask. I never asked

spk_0 why did you want them. I heard money and I told us grace like here's a pill or get me the pill.

spk_0 Here's a quote. For me, that is a story. I tell all the sales people that work for me in many

spk_0 facets. If I can find someone who is a similar story, I constantly make them reach out. It's never

spk_0 over. You can never have too much information. You can never be too inquisitive. You should always

spk_0 understand why as opposed to what? You lost the source of the lead essentially.

spk_0 I lost most of the money being honest. I got a small sale. There was a very big sale staring me

spk_0 in the face. You never forgot it. While you learned from your mistake, that's the important part.

spk_0 That's what we'll say anyway. Last question. What's one mindset,

spk_0 shift or practice that you believe makes the biggest difference for sales people who want to

spk_0 thrive in the long term? I got this one from a podcast that wasn't about sales at all. It was about

spk_0 like spies and undercover agencies and those kind of things. It really stuck with me.

spk_0 It's the difference between your perception and their perspective. I think sales people

spk_0 spent more time trying to look at things from their lead's perspective. Rather than from what they

spk_0 think, you would make a lot more sales. I've seen this over and over again where you say it's

spk_0 going to be a fast solution and the guy wants a valuable one. He was looking for a robust and you're

spk_0 trying to sell him speed or voice versa. He's like, I don't need a robust solution. I need a

spk_0 solution now and you're trying to sell him the robust features. If you look at things from their

spk_0 perspective and you ask questions from their perspective and you put yourself in those shoes and

spk_0 you really model out what your ideal client profiles look like and what they care about. You

spk_0 continue to grow that knowledge. From one conversation to the next, you'll ask better and better

spk_0 questions. You get more and more information faster and you can help them solve their problem

spk_0 because their problem is in their perspective. It's not what you think it is.

spk_0 What I loved about that response is the examples you gave weren't even black or white. They were

spk_0 orange or purple. Totally completely different realms. That was such a cool way to frame it. You're

spk_0 thinking about speed. They're thinking about features and scalability and difficulty to adopt

spk_0 and how many stakeholders need to be involved in price. Even if you make the sale now, which is

spk_0 another big problem with salespeople, let's say I make the sale now, but I don't set up the future

spk_0 sales. What if I sell you something fast now but not scalable? I'm going to make the next sale when

spk_0 I come back and say, hey, what I thought you wasn't scalable. Actually, we should have discussed that

spk_0 the first time nine months ago or the first time we spoke, you should be trying to understand the

spk_0 future of this product, the future of this business, the future of the person who you're selling to.

spk_0 Are they going to be in this role or a new role? Are you helping them get to the new role?

spk_0 What's your job here? It's so much more robust than solving this conversational problem. It's

spk_0 what's something that's going to provide you the longest-term value in relationship and then

spk_0 the longest-term value in relationship and draw the line at the middle. That's a good place to

spk_0 end. Anything else you want to share with the listeners? Where can we find you? You can find me

spk_0 on LinkedIn under girl cox. You can find me at sales pipeline. It sales-pipeline.io. If you want to

spk_0 discuss hiring, scaling, growing sales efforts, outsourcing, sales teams, fractional leadership,

spk_0 management, or if you just want a friendly conversation about anything we discussed, more than happy.

spk_0 Thank you so much for joining. It's been a delight. Thank you so much, Ely. It's been a pleasure.

spk_0 Thank you for joining us on Mental Selling. If today's conversation resonated with you,

spk_0 be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your network. For more insights on how to go

spk_0 beyond winning deals and build real customer relationships, visit integritysolutions.com. See you next time

Building Global Sales Teams with Gearoid Cox

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