0:01
Welcome to the Sales Lead Dog podcast hosted by CRM technology and sales process expert Christopher Smith.
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Talking with sales leaders that have separated themselves from the rest of the pack.
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Listen to find out how the best of the best achieved success with their team and CRM technology.
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And remember, unless you were the lead dog, the view never changes.
0:26
Welcome to sales lead dog.
0:28
In today’s episode, I have joined in me Greg Banning of Service Express.
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Greg is the VP of sales and channels for North America.
0:36
Greg, welcome to Sales lead dog.
0:38
Hey, Chris, thanks a lot.
0:39
It’s my privilege to be here with you today.
0:42
I’m excited to have you here.
0:43
We’re going to have a good discussion.
0:45
Greg, tell me a bit about Service Express.
0:48
Sure, absolutely.
0:49
So I joined January of last year and Service Express is the recognized leader worldwide and 3rd party maintenance and within the data center.
0:59
So for all the the big brands of storage, servers, networking software that you can think of, we order, we offer third party maintenance for that.
1:08
Addition to that, we’re an IBM Platinum partner, which is pretty big.
1:13
And what comes along with that is, is our managed service offering worldwide as well.
1:19
Yeah.
1:19
What do you see is the biggest opportunity or or topic in your world these days right now?
1:29
Oh, it’s the economy, so many challenges right now.
1:33
It’s very obviously fluid economy.
1:34
There’s a lot of uncertainty out there.
1:37
You know, if you, you look at the latest, you know, kind of feedback or research around the, the C-Suite, they’re, they’re, they’re searching out predictability and, and doing everything they can to mitigate the uncertainty.
1:49
And whether that’s, you know, the, the tariffs, the marketplace in general policy, whatever it might be.
1:55
That’s, that’s what we’re hearing over and over again.
1:57
And for us, that plays perfect into what we do because especially your enterprise customers, your large customers, but all size customers are going to look in this kind of a climate to really mitigate, manage their capital expenditures as well as our operational costs.
2:12
So that’s, that’s getting a longer life out of their equipment, which is, by the way, also environmentally sound, as Amazon and, and, and Google and others have have demonstrated.
2:22
And that’s where we come into play.
2:23
So we can really, we can really help them out, dealt with that, that kind of certainty to some of that capital expenditure and operational costs.
2:31
Yeah, that’s what it’s all about these days is like in times of unpredictability, you want your core systems, your these platforms you’re relying on to be as predictable as possible.
2:41
So that’s like 1 less thing you have to worry about.
2:44
Absolutely.
2:44
Yeah.
2:45
So Greg, when you look back over your career and listeners, please check out his LinkedIn profile.
2:51
Greg, he’s got a pretty impressive track record resume here.
2:56
What are the three things that you feel have really driven and led to the success that you’ve been able to achieve?
3:05
That’s a great question, Chris.
3:08
You know, one, one thing I’ve just said over and over and I was aware of it very, you know, young in my my career is I would tell you the first thing is, is grit perseverance.
3:17
So I’ve never been afraid to work hard and I, I’ve always, you know, strive to outwork the person next to me.
3:26
And that’s, that’s been a corner, one of the cornerstones of the three legged stool, if you will, is that grit, perseverance.
3:36
And then secondly, you know, I’ve been a lifelong learner in, in my opinion.
3:41
So I’ve, I’ve in an ongoing way of nurtured a positive growth mindset.
3:46
So study that, practice that.
3:50
And then finally, you know, I bet on myself early on.
3:55
And I think just believing in myself and, and, and taking some calculated risks, you know, based on that.
4:03
I those are, I’d be the, the three that they’re top of mind for me.
4:08
What I like about those 3 is they’re all really connected.
4:12
You know, when you think about that, you know, when you think about grit and just perseverance and hey, I’m not going to give up.
4:18
That is directly connected to I believe in myself, like I’m a bet on me, you know, and then to really support that, you have to be a lifelong learner, right?
4:28
You can’t be, you can’t stand still.
4:30
You got to keep driving forward, especially in the world of technology, because that is not standing still at all.
4:37
No.
4:38
Very true.
4:39
Yeah.
4:40
No, I love that.
4:40
That’s terrific.
4:41
So did you like when going through college with early in your life, did you envision the path you were on or did you have different plans for yourself?
4:53
Oh, yeah.
4:53
I mean, so you know, for me, getting into career sales or sales profession was, was really one more out of necessity.
5:01
And I’ll kind of explain that, you know, my earliest memories of childhood and what I want to be was a veterinarian.
5:08
And I hold on to that for a long time.
5:10
But you know, life will throw curveballs at you.
5:13
So, you know, I’m the oldest of three siblings.
5:15
And again, my father passed away when I was I was 16 and we were literally my mother and my two siblings were, were literally left with nothing.
5:25
And so First off, I just had to get out and start working full time while finishing up high school.
5:32
After high school, there was there was no money to go to, to go to college.
5:36
That all, you know, died and passed away along with my my father.
5:40
And so I was in desperate need to make more money.
5:45
And I had a friend that had found, you know, a, a sales job, 100% Commission, cold calling and basically telecells for a lot of peripherals related to printers at the time.
6:00
So all the, you know, components, parts pieces and accessories that went along with that.
6:05
But I was, I was fascinated.
6:07
I was at the time just getting ready to turn 19.
6:11
And this friend of mine was, you know, making between 40 and $50,000 a year.
6:16
And I just thought that was, wow, that’s huge money at that age.
6:19
Like you’re involved.
6:22
And so I, you know, I said, yeah, can you, can you introduce me, you know, to the hiring manager?
6:28
At any rate, Long story short, I got, I got hired on there and it was a great way to, to cut my teeth in, in sales.
6:35
But many ways, you know, sales.
6:37
That’s why I’m so passionate about it.
6:38
And I believe so much in the, in the profession of it.
6:41
I try to never take myself too seriously, but I do take my, my role in, in my position, you know, seriously is in many ways, it kind of, you know, saved my life and, and really, you know, help my family out quite a bit.
6:55
And it was a struggle at first, you know, 100% Commission, cold calling over the phone.
7:00
But yeah, made it, made it work.
7:01
And it all worked out in the long run.
7:04
And I was later able to afford College in my early 30s.
7:08
And I financed that myself and put myself through college at that time.
7:12
Yeah, Yeah.
7:13
No, I’ve ever, my dad had a conversation.
7:16
I’m one of nine kids, and my dad, I think I was 15 and said, hey, look, I expect you to go to college, but you’re going to have to figure it out on your own.
7:30
I can’t afford to pay for everybody to go to school but you.
7:34
I expect you to go to school.
7:37
And so that was like, OK.
7:40
And so, yeah, I started working full time after school nights, every nights, weekends.
7:49
And that was my life all the way through.
7:53
And I was telling my son, just this weekend I, I got a job 1 summer where I was making 6 bucks an hour.
8:01
And I’m like, Oh my God, I hit the mother lode.
8:04
I’m going to be able to pay tuition from what I’m going to be able to learn this summer at 6 bucks an hour.
8:10
I’m going to be able to pay tuition this year.
8:12
You know, Amazing.
8:14
Yeah.
8:15
It’s like builds.
8:16
It builds character.
8:17
It does.
8:18
It’s like you got to figure it out.
8:20
No one’s going to hinge anything.
8:21
You got to figure it out and it, it definitely made me way more committed to my school because I’m the one paying for it.
8:29
I want to make sure I’m getting what I what I want out of that.
8:34
When you think back to those early, early days, are there any takeaways, lessons learned that really have just been a theme for you the the rest of you know where you’re at today?
8:48
Yes, well, you know, I, I can say there’s three that I, I, I guess lack of better term as you preach on a regular basis and one on ones and monthly sales rallies any chance I get.
9:03
And the first one is never burn a bridge.
9:06
You know, when, when, when you’re, I think when you’re young in your career and, and especially if you experience some early success, you’re maybe not as as self aware or maybe your EQ needs some work.
9:18
And even without knowing it, you can burn, burn bridges and it just never serves a purpose.
9:24
Anything positive, it just never does.
9:25
And so I, I tell people you know, that never burn a bridge.
9:30
And, and 2nd to that is, you know, your networking and your network is, is key.
9:34
I don’t, you know, if you go all the way back to that telecells job, I’ve, I’ve never, you know, applied for a position, if you will.
9:42
I’ve always it’s been through my network and, and referrals through my network.
9:46
And then lastly in, in as important, if not more than the other two, is you got to protect your inner circle.
9:53
The, the, the, the folks that you hang around professionally, personally, you, you can’t help but you, you become those, those people.
10:01
And so you want to hang around people and your inner circle that are maybe smarter or talented, maybe they’re where you want to get to, but it’s a positive inner circle and you have to be cognizant of that and protect.
10:14
I’d say those are the early learnings for me.
10:17
Oh, I love that.
10:18
And I imagine that impacts especially your current role.
10:21
You have a really big team, Greg, for those of you listening, Greg manages A-Team over 160 sales people right now.
10:28
I imagine this is really formative in terms of how you want to define the culture within your teams as well.
10:33
Is that correct?
10:35
Yeah, no, that’s that’s that’s 100% correct.
10:39
I think, you know, foundational like, yes, this is my opinion as a leader in in for the length of time I’ve been doing it.
10:47
But I think if you, if you build a culture, I, you know, your, your sellers, your employees, the people in your organization, really, if you boil it down, want three things.
10:58
And sometimes they don’t even realize it consciously.
11:00
They, they, they want to know what are the expectations?
11:04
What, what are the expectations?
11:05
The, or what do they expect?
11:06
My expectations are my role, you know, our team, etcetera.
11:10
They want clearly defined expectations.
11:13
They want to know what success looks like in the path forward.
11:17
And that’s more 1-2.
11:19
They want to be challenged and they really do now they want to be challenged, I think in a supportive, you know, manner, but they do want to be challenged.
11:27
They want you to, you know, bring out their, their best.
11:31
And then finally, I want to be valued.
11:33
I mean, I think we all want to be valued.
11:34
You don’t want to feel like you’re, you’re, you’re number.
11:36
You want to know where you fit into the, into the whole, whole of the picture and that know that you’re a valued, you know, person within that and not just a number.
11:46
You know, what role is mentorship played in your career development?
11:52
Oh, you mean receiving mentorship?
11:55
Yeah, receiving mentorship.
11:56
Yeah, it’s, it’s played everything.
11:57
I, I have a, a laundry list.
12:00
I, I did a, a post about a year ago thanking so many of the folks that have, you know, that have that have been such a positive influence to me and my, my career.
12:10
And these are people that understood and taught me about, you know, servant leadership and, and just really giving back.
12:19
And and, you know, I liken it to a visual, you know, just reaching a hand down and in, in raising, raising you, raising you up and helping raise you up.
12:28
And it’s, it’s played a major, major impact.
12:32
Yeah.
12:33
Was there one person in particular that you feel like really put you on a path to where you are today?
12:41
And the follow up to that is, why do you think they took the time?
12:47
What was it?
12:47
What did they see in you?
12:49
Did they ever share with you why they felt like, hey, Greg, someone I want to help that I, I want to do reach down, as you said, and help up.
12:58
Yeah.
12:59
You know, like I said, there’s been a lot.
13:01
I guess, you know, if you want to go back to early in, in, in my career, I would tell you my first sales manager, Barb Johnson was, was instrumental in, in helping build my confidence and myself esteem, you know, in, in my sales career, in my sales role, she was the, the type of leader that was not afraid to get her hands dirty.
13:23
She wasn’t afraid to get in there with you, strategize on calls, get on calls, you know, support you and then coaching counsel you both on the wins and, and the losses.
13:34
And so she was instrumental, you know, early in my career and, and then I tell you just briefly, if you know, as my career, you know, kind of, you know, evolved and started to mature, you know, I would say Pete Peterson, he he gave me a a great shot at an international position and running a 600 person international operation down in Costa Rica.
13:56
He took a chance on me, but he saw some things to me that I didn’t even see at that particular time and, and help to bring bring those things out of me.
14:04
So yeah.
14:05
Did he share with you what those were and and why, you know, I was like, because that stuff doesn’t just happen.
14:12
They’re just randomly saying, hey, I’m I’m a tap Greg.
14:15
They’re they’re thinking about this stuff.
14:18
They have criteria they’re looking for.
14:19
Right?
14:20
Yeah.
14:21
So you know, Pete over, over the, you know, and I’ve known Pete for 25 years, but the five years that I, I was working with him, you know, here, here’s what Pete saw.
14:29
We’ve talked about this.
14:31
So listen, I’m a high energy, very, very positive individual.
14:35
Sometimes I don’t, you know, my wife has to remind me that, you know, I can be fairly overbearing with my, my personality.
14:41
It doesn’t doesn’t seem like that to me, but I’m definitely, you know, a go getter, very driven, impatient that I’ve I’ve worked on throughout the career.
14:52
And Pete saw all those things and what he helped me do is, is, is harness those.
14:57
So it wasn’t a double edged sword.
14:59
And, you know, I think one of the best things he ever said to me, yeah, because I’m always pushing so hard.
15:05
He it was on a certain, you know, strategy or topic.
15:08
And he says, Greg, you know, making a basketball reference, sometimes you got to let the ball come to you and just stop forcing, forcing, forcing the shot, you know?
15:19
And so he saw these things and, and he, he, he nurtured them in a positive manner and helped me become more self aware, you know, about the, the flip side of that.
15:30
Yeah.
15:30
Sometimes you have to let things develop organically.
15:33
I’m the same way.
15:34
I always want to push, push, push.
15:37
Sometimes you just have to take, sit back and let it develop organically, you know, and that that could be hard to do for people.
15:43
That’s the truth.
15:45
That’s the truth, yeah.
15:49
AI is a huge topic everywhere these days.
15:52
I think especially in sales.
15:56
It is there a part of the sales process, sales skills that you think AI will never be able to replace or replicate, that you’ll always need salespeople for?
16:10
And what would that be?
16:13
Creativity, I, I believe that’s that, that for a long time to come will be the challenge of, of AI to overcome.
16:22
So it is the, the, the creativity of the salesperson and, and what’s connected to that right is, is the very unique, you know, personality style and approach that come comes along with that.
16:35
So I think that’s the aspect that, you know, we’ll continue to make sales people, you know, a necessity, invaluable in, in in many ways to sales, in the sales process, in the company’s bottom line, top line.
16:52
Yeah.
16:53
Now I I get asked this stuff all the time and in, you know, for me, AI is like anything else.
17:01
It’s a tool.
17:03
It will be a tool.
17:04
It’s going to be AI.
17:06
Think a pervasive tool, but not too long.
17:09
But you still, it’s people dealing with people.
17:13
And that’s the part to me that a is never going to be able to replace that.
17:21
You still, it’s still relationships, it’s still having conversations, It’s understanding and like creativity, like you talked about that, you know, every client is unique in their own way.
17:35
And, you know, there’s no cookie cutter approaches, especially, you know, in the world you’re in.
17:40
There’s definitely no cookie cutters.
17:42
Yeah.
17:42
And I think, I think salespeople have to be very careful where and when they use AI today because, you know, I think it’s becoming more and more evident of who who’s having AI write an e-mail or a script or something along that lines.
18:00
And, and you undermine the very sales, you know, process around, you know, trust in, in reliability when that that happens.
18:08
So I think it’s very, it can be very useful.
18:10
And I think you said it, you know, and very helpful, but I think you have to be careful when and, and where you use it.
18:15
Yeah, yeah.
18:17
Have you guys, have you begun leveraging it in, in your business in your selling process?
18:23
Yeah, we’re, we’re, yeah, we’re, we’re leveraging it around, you know, things around sales, you know, job descriptions and really outlining, you know, specifically what you know, we’re, we’re looking for.
18:38
We’re, we’re leveraging it in helping us map out various, you know, sales methodologies, processes, you know, best practices from kind of a rinse and repeat, you know, perspective.
18:52
We do use it in, in, I think in enhancing or at least giving us a different perspective on some talk tracks that might be useful or, or beneficial, especially, you know, our first time sellers that might be, are coming up through the SDR ranks or they’ve come out of college and got their first sales position or job.
19:10
It can be, it can give you, you know, some good, you know, directionally, you know, important.
19:15
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
19:17
I, I also think there’s a real opportunity when leveraging AI with data.
19:23
You know, I think that’s really where we’re going to see the big push over the next few years is how do we, we’ve got all this data around our customers, around our markets, our segments, etcetera.
19:35
What are we not seeing that we should be seeing things like that where I think AI is really going to be a helpful tool.
19:41
That’s huge.
19:42
I agree.
19:43
Exclamation point on that.
19:45
Yeah, Yeah.
19:47
So let’s go back to constructing your team.
19:52
What do you look for in future leaders, people that you want to tap on the shoulder and say, hey, I think leadership should be something you should consider.
20:03
You know, I’m looking I’m I’m looking for people that they’re taking an assumptive leadership role.
20:10
They don’t have the title.
20:12
But you know, they’re, they’re taking that assumptive leadership role and the peer group around them is responding as such.
20:19
And, you know, going to them in kind of that leadership capacity, some of the attributes and, you know, skill sets, you know, always looking for somebody that has a strong IQ and EQ, growth mindset is, is very important.
20:36
The ability to relate and, and influence folks.
20:40
And, you know, I think, I think being empathetic and in inauthentic, I think those are all foundational things that I’m, I’m looking for that can be cultivated and that are are, you know, I think critical to to effective leadership.
20:58
What was the biggest mistake you think you made early on in your leadership career learning opportunity or rephrase from the you know, I think there’s a couple.
21:09
I think, boy, this was a long time and, and, and I think it, you know, John Maxwell, right, 5 levels of leadership, positional leadership.
21:18
I think a lot of leaders young in their career, first time leaders can get caught in the trap of, of positional leadership, meaning that I’m, I’m the boss out of the title.
21:28
So do what I say right in along that vein, I think for myself, you know, I was of the mindset early in my leadership career that my people needed me more than I needed them.
21:41
And that’s simply not the case.
21:43
You need your people more than they actually need you.
21:47
And, and I think some of the other things I did earlier in my my, you know, career was I was inconsistent and that that ran the gamut, inconsistent with processes, messaging, emotions.
22:00
And then, you know, finally, I think lack of setting, either setting expectations or clear expectations and then and then effectively communicating that ongoing.
22:10
Yeah, yeah, that’s good.
22:12
I like that.
22:13
That’s some good stuff in there.
22:15
I wish we had more time in the episode.
22:16
We could dive into that.
22:17
Pretty good, I think.
22:19
But I think those are pretty common mistakes early leaders, you know, young leaders make.
22:24
So when you’re developing your young leaders, what advice do you give them?
22:30
Number one, about setting expectations that start with setting expectations of what leadership is really like.
22:38
How do you go about that?
22:39
Yeah.
22:40
So, you know, I believe in, in, in storytelling, right.
22:44
And, and so, you know, any, any new leader, first time leader, a few things first.
22:49
I, I tell him, I, I, I let him know.
22:51
Listen, you know when your leadership career is over your whatever 90 years old rocking chair in the front porch, you’re looking back on your leadership.
23:01
You know career you’re not going to remember or dwell on the titles, the paychecks, you know the leadership positions you necessarily held.
23:09
You’re going to see the faces of those folks that you LED that, you know, you had a positive impact on their careers and in a byproduct that you have positive impact on their personal lives.
23:20
And, and that’s really what leadership is, is, is all about is, is having that, that positive impact.
23:27
And like I said earlier, really drawing out and pulling out the, the, the, the best in, in people, their best, you know, and, and so any new leader that, that I get on board, the first thing I have them do is write a leadership eulogy, believe it or not.
23:44
So at the end of your leadership career, what, what would the people you, you LED?
23:49
What do you, what would you like him to say about you?
23:50
How would you like him to, to, you know, describe you and your leadership style, principles and, and all that?
23:59
So, you know, that that’s where I kind of, you know, wrap it around there.
24:04
And then we we go from there around, you know, ego, free leadership, you know, being authentic, being the real you that that is, that is essential.
24:14
All right, 100% if you’re not authentic and establishing that level authenticity, authentic self with your team, people see through that so fast and it is hard to recover from that 100%.
24:30
Yeah, Yeah.
24:32
What a what role does vulnerability play in that for you?
24:37
Oh, it’s it, it is, it is everything, especially given my personality.
24:42
It’s everything.
24:43
And you know, I made the conscious decision at our, I hosted our, our SKO this past February in Dallas.
24:51
And, you know, as you said, we 160 folks plus in, in, in my organization and you know, as I alluded to earlier, my dad’s death, etcetera, you know, I didn’t, I didn’t have the best, you know, childhood And, you know, through grit and determination, you know, I had to figure it out.
25:08
As you kind of said earlier, I like that.
25:10
And I had to, I had to figure things out all all along the way.
25:13
And, and well, I’m not embarrassed of, of any of it.
25:16
And, and I’ve definitely shared it in, you know, a dinner party or in small groups or, you know, one-on-one.
25:22
I, I never in, in all of my times leading sales forces or, you know, giving presentation, you know, shared that story.
25:30
But I thought it was important on the last night of our banquet, our awards banquet, to share that with, with, with, with the group.
25:37
And there was a purpose to it and everything.
25:41
And I had so many people come up to me afterwards and they one-on-one and had similar stories or experiences and how much they appreciate sharing.
25:50
When you’re authentic, you’re able to touch people in in such a real way.
25:57
And as a leader, that’s where you’re able to actually, you know, influence them, build that trust and ultimately help them realize their best.
26:06
And so, yeah, I think it’s so important to normalize our life experiences, that we all have our journeys.
26:16
And like you said, you can’t be embarrassed about it.
26:19
It’s your story.
26:20
It’s what got you where you are and made you who you are.
26:24
Why would you be embarrassed about that?
26:26
You know, and, and to me it’s, it’s so often, especially when you’re long young and you, you see the, the person at the top of the hierarchy, you put them on kind of the ivory tower, you know, you give them attributes and, and you create a story about them that more often than not has nothing to do with reality.
26:51
You know, and, and you’re, you’re based on what you’re seeing externally.
26:56
That’s why I think it’s so important to expose what’s the, what’s behind the curtain so that they understand.
27:02
Hey, look, wow, they had a sit like I, my path is like, I’ve got a similar back story.
27:08
Whatever.
27:08
I maybe I can achieve what he’s achieved.
27:12
To me, that’s what it’s all about.
27:14
Is, is normalizing this stuff.
27:17
You know, hey, we’re all people, We’re all dealing with stuff and it’s not always sunshine and roses and champagne.
27:24
Yeah, we all have our ups and downs.
27:26
That’s life.
27:27
Yes, yes, 100% yeah.
27:31
What motivated you to share that?
27:35
So listen, I’ve got a large sales org.
27:37
We’ve had a couple of, you know, acquisitions recently.
27:41
There was, you know, and, and we’re in, you know, we’re in the midst of transformation or rebuild of the sales org etcetera, brought in a lot of new folks and just we’ve got to move fast and effectively.
27:58
And, you know, trust is foundational in, in any culture, in any winning team, you know, if you’re going to go out and do great things, if you’re going to go out and do the impossible or attempt it, you got to have the underpinnings of, of, of trust.
28:12
And I just thought to myself, so many great people out there, we have so much potential and we got to get after it quickly.
28:20
And if these people don’t know me and I’m at the helm, you know, they’re going to take months, maybe longer trying to figure out who I am, what are my motives?
28:28
Where do I come from?
28:29
What are my principals beliefs?
28:31
And I just waited, but you know, risk reward and, and decided that it was just better for the entire team.
28:38
And I have a hashtag I’m always using on my on my e-mail communications and trivia.
28:43
It’s it’s one team, it’s one goal.
28:45
And I just thought that it, it would play a authentic catalyst for us all, you know, getting to where we want to go.
28:53
Yeah, OK.
28:54
Reminds me of Tom Hanks character in Saving Private Ryan, where everyone in his squad, they all want to, they’re all got a pull going on.
29:02
What did he do before the war?
29:05
You know, they all wanted to know the back story.
29:07
Only knew the back story.
29:09
You know, I think people want to know when you’re following someone.
29:13
You want to know the back story.
29:14
You want to know what makes them tick.
29:18
Yeah, that’s awesome.
29:20
That’s awesome.
29:20
I love that what it what’s your prediction with going back to AI?
29:29
What’s your prediction in terms of how AI is going to impact the sales world maybe over the next three to five years?
29:38
What what are you guys seeing And and what what are you feeling in that space?
29:43
Yeah, I think, you know, you’re, you’re things will be expedited all the way around.
29:49
Things will, you know, run at a much faster pace, much, much more efficient and probably effective manner, you know, today, depending on, you know, what you want to read.
30:02
But you know, customers today, you know, they’ve they’ve done, you know, 70 to 80% of the research on the, you know, decisioning before they even speak to a salesperson.
30:13
Well, I mean, AI is, is only going to, you know, grow that exponentially, you know, I believe so you’re going to have even better, more educated audience that you’re selling into.
30:25
So for sales people and goes back to the creativity, it’s already important today to be a great storyteller.
30:33
It’s going to be far more important as, as AI really takes hold and, and takes off.
30:39
And what customers won’t be able to get from AI by and large are real life case studies and stories that you can tell them in a story form about like customers, like problems, like situations and how they used your services, your solutions, your products to, to solve those in, in being able to paint the story and tell the story around that.
31:03
And so, you know that that’s how I, I see things going.
31:07
It’ll be like anything.
31:08
They’ll be the good, the bad, the ugly.
31:10
Yeah, what do you see in terms of your, you know, right now you’re you’ve got this terrific role.
31:19
Where do you want your career to go, you know, for whatever time you have left doing what you’re doing?
31:24
Would you like to, you know, pursue or or develop?
31:29
Yeah, That’s that’s, that’s, that’s great question.
31:32
Well, you know, for, for me, I, I’d see, you know, CRO role would, would be and has been on my, my, my vision board for a little bit now.
31:43
So that would be the next step.
31:46
I’d, I’d love to run, you know, a, a company as ACEO after that.
31:52
And then I think, you know, for me, I’ll never quote UN quote retire, you know, per SE, but I I could see down the road having my own, you know, my own business around, you know, keynote consulting, just just helping out organizations get from wherever they are, you know, to to where they want to go.
32:14
Those those would be the next things that are on on the horizon.
32:17
You strike me as an educator, someone that really enjoys that.
32:21
Is that true?
32:22
Yeah, Yeah.
32:23
It’s, you know, it’s like I said earlier, lifelong learner.
32:27
I, I start every morning, 30 minutes with some kind of a develop me a book, audio book or what not.
32:34
I and I appreciate it.
32:35
And and yes, I like to, I like to do that.
32:37
Yes, yeah, yeah, I’m the same way.
32:41
That’s like at, at this point in my career, I find myself, that’s a huge part of what I do when I’m talking to customers, I’m educating and teach, like you said, and tell them stories and trying to help them through their journey.
32:58
But I’d love to do it in, in other aspects.
33:00
And I get asked that question.
33:02
And I also like, I can’t see myself ever retiring because of that portion of my personality.
33:10
I could see myself working as like maybe an adjunct professor at a university or people or volunteering for nonprofits and or, you know, anything like that where I can help grow or develop or or, you know, improve an organization.
33:28
I think that’s that’s part of, you know, our DNA.
33:34
Do you do you talk about that with your team at all in terms of when you meet with them, like what are their career goals or past?
33:43
What are their career dreams as you develop the leaders in your team?
33:48
Yes, so we actually have, you know, we, we’ve got a, a 5/15 program here at, at Service Express, which is absolutely great.
33:57
So it’s, it’s, you know, basically a, a format which all of our employees actually put their vision goals into the system, right.
34:09
And so it’s their, you know, financial, professional personal goals and then everybody has access to it.
34:14
So I can see our CE OS, I can see everybody, everybody can see, see mine.
34:19
And then we have these vision talks and you know, they typically happen 3 or 4 times a year.
34:26
And typically it’s over a breakfast or a lunch or a cup of coffee.
34:30
And it’s just that it’s a conversation around, around the visions, right?
34:34
And so, you know, in making sure you’re understanding the people that work with you in, in, in for you, what’s their why?
34:44
And that’s what the, the, the vision, you know, goals and statements are all, all about.
34:48
That’s, that’s their why at the end of the day.
34:50
And, and you really need to understand that in, in their, in their words and in their, their minds and in their stories.
34:56
So that’s awesome.
34:58
Shifting topics a bit, CRM, do you love it or do you hate it?
35:05
Yeah, yeah, I’m actually going to tell you that I that I love it.
35:09
Awesome.
35:09
I don’t get too many of those.
35:13
Yeah, yeah.
35:15
And yeah.
35:16
And, and any of my sales org that that’ll listen to this will probably roll their eyes.
35:21
Great.
35:21
Of course he says he loves it.
35:25
Yeah.
35:26
So yeah, if I had to tally it up, I think loves it is probably the least love.
35:32
Hate is the most common.
35:34
And then hate, you know, so like love, it is usually at the bottom.
35:38
But love, hate is, is the is the leader by far.
35:42
Yeah.
35:43
What do you love about CRM?
35:44
What makes you love CRM?
35:46
Well, listen, and this isn’t going to change anytime soon.
35:49
It takes a village now nowadays it really does takes a village to close, to close deals to, to keep customers happy, to keep the business, you know, growing and going in that direction.
35:59
And so, you know, being your most effective and efficient, especially, you know, when you’re managing customers, when you’re acquiring new customers, you know, the CRM is critical in the organization’s connective tissue.
36:15
And listen, if, if you approach it right, if you, I believe at least you message it right, you, you get really people bought into the Y, you run a much more effective and efficient organization on the sales side.
36:29
And, and who benefits from that?
36:31
Yep.
36:31
You know, most importantly the customer or the prospect and definitely the, the internal organization.
36:37
So I just view it as the connective tissue that’ll help us run, you know, more efficient and, and faster, more effective.
36:44
I love that term, the connective tissue.
36:46
That is so true that I talk about that all the time.
36:49
You know, CRM, when it’s done right, it’s, it’s extended throughout your whole organization.
36:53
Yeah, that it, it really is that platform that connects everything else together.
36:59
It’s at the middle of all your core systems and that’s and that I can’t stress enough what you said about the why, because I love you guys have those vision goals and it tells you the why of the person, what’s motivating them.
37:13
But you have so have to have a why when it comes to your tech, technology, especially CRM, because it can be a chore.
37:23
But if you’re able to align CRM to support the why and where, it’s a personal why.
37:29
It’s not a why for the organization, but it’s how this is going to help you achieve your own personal vision.
37:36
That’s what it’s all about.
37:38
100% yeah.
37:40
What’s your biggest frustration or struggle with CRM?
37:45
I’d say the, you know, the, the adoption and therefore, you know, the hygiene.
37:50
So everything that I said, you know, in front of that really starts to fall apart.
37:55
You know, when, when you don’t have that, that consistency, you know, from, from the masses, you know, then you’re not able to rely on as the connective tissue and the one source of, of truth.
38:11
And so that’s probably my biggest, biggest frustration.
38:14
Yeah, I agree that that’s garbage in, garbage out.
38:17
You know, it’s only as good as the data.
38:18
Data is the foundation of everything in CRM and, and it’s getting people to understand, look, this data is not just for you.
38:27
We’re making downstream decisions, big decisions based on what’s in CRM.
38:32
You’re not giving us good data.
38:33
We’re making bad decisions.
38:35
Absolutely 100%.
38:37
Oh yeah.
38:38
And it’s getting people to understand that this is, they’re just part of that connective tissue, you know, that this is we’re all interconnected and we’re all dependent upon each other and, and everybody has to do their part.
38:52
Yeah.
38:53
Greg, thank you so much for sharing your insights.
38:56
This has been a terrific time.
38:58
But unfortunately, every, all good things have to come to an end.
39:00
And same thing here in sales lead.
39:02
Doug, if people want to reach out and connect with you, they want to learn more about Service Express, what’s the best way for them to do that?
39:11
Absolutely.
39:12
So serviceexpress.com, anything related to Service Express, just go there again.
39:18
And then for myself, please hit me up on on LinkedIn or Gregory Banning at Gmail.
39:25
That’s awesome.
39:25
Yep.
39:26
So if you didn’t catch that, no worries.
39:27
We’ll have it in our show notes.
39:29
You can get that at impellercrm.com/sales Lead Doug, where you’ll get not only this episode, but all our close to 150 episodes now of Sales Lead Doug.
39:40
So be sure to check that out.
39:41
Be sure to subscribe so you get all our future episodes as well.
39:45
Greg, thank you so much for coming on Sales Lead Dog and welcome to the Sales Lead Dog Pack.
39:51
Yeah.
39:51
Thanks a lot, Chris.
39:54
As we end this discussion on Sales Lead Dog, be sure to subscribe to catch all our episodes on social media.
40:02
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40:15
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