How To Make The Leap – John McDonnell

 

 

Transcript:

Wed, Mar 2, 2022

SUMMARY KEYWORDS 
people , sales , signum , displays , crm , lead , business , sell , marketing , learned , drive , early , person , company , thought , deal , create , career , opposed , pitch

SPEAKERS
John McDonnell & Christopher Smith

Intro
Welcome to the Sales Lead Dog podcast hosted by CRM technology and sales process expert Christopher Smith, talking with sales leaders that have separated themselves from the rest of the pack. Listen to find out how the best of the best achieve success with their team and CRM technology. And remember, unless you are the lead dog, the view never changes.

Christopher Smith
Welcome to sales lead dog today I have joining me John McDonell, John, welcome to sales lead dog.

John McDonnell
Hey, Chris, thanks for having me.

Christopher Smith
Good to have you here. John. John, tell me a bit about your current role in your company signum displays.

John McDonnell
So, I am the Director of Business Development here at second displays. And basically, what we do is we create point of purchase displays and sales samples for companies across the country, we found that company’s kind of have a tough time standing out in the retail environment, especially now. So, what we do is, you know, we have long standing relationships with big box stores and things like that. And what we do is we take an analytical approach and create eye catching affordable POV displays and sales samples that actually get results in ROI. I’ve been in the industry for 17 years. And you know, this is just a good fit for me.

Christopher Smith
Yeah, it was funny when I was researching your company. Before, you know, we had you on the show and doing all my homework. It kind of made me think for a minute that, you know, when you’re in the stores, you’re looking at stuff, you never think about what’s behind that display. What when all the work that went into it. Nobody ever thinks about that at all. They’re just like, oh, this stuff looks cool, or whatever. That’s probably intentional. on your part, right? You want them focused on the product? Yeah, exactly.

John McDonnell
But there’s definitely some support that can go into that product that makes it stand out a little bit more. And that’s kind of where we come in. But you’re totally right, Chris, when before I got to signum, you know, you go and you want to buy a faucet or you want to buy something, and you don’t really pay much attention to what’s going on? Or do you know what, what actually goes into making that sort of display, you just build the product. And there there’s quite a bit that goes into it.

Christopher Smith
It’s really, that’s it, I started paying attention, like the next time went into Lowe’s or Home Depot, and I’m looking at the big display of faucets or whatever. And you’re like, Yeah, you know, a lot, a lot of work went into putting this together instead of just winging it in the store, you know, know for sure. Yeah, that’s pretty cool. John, thinking back over your career, what are the three things that have really contributed and driven your success?

John McDonnell
You know, let’s see here. So, when, when I got started, you know, I, my, my first sales job was kind of like, like a board room, you know, we really, we had to make a bunch of calls, set a bunch of appointments, and then that really set the tone for some really good habits of mine. So, I think one of the biggest things was discipline. Number two, you know, having a short memory, not being able to, you know, let rejection, get you down. And then you know, much later in my career, you know, developing my own style and just being authentic, you know, that that really, that translates and speaks volumes when, you know, you’re not trying to wear a mask and be somebody that you’re not when you’re just yourself and you’re just honest, that’s really what it comes down to.

Christopher Smith
Yeah. You mentioned discipline is the first one was that something you had going into your sales career is that something you had to develop?

John McDonnell
Something I thought I had. But yeah, over time, I had to develop it, you know, I kind of gave myself structured routine, made little call sheets, and you know, set goals for calls per day, and just really picked up and dial got hung up on the door slammed in my face a lot. But you know, you figure that out. And if you can just push through that, you know, it’s cool, when you come to the other side, you know, in I guess there’s that there’s a fourth there too. And it’s being comfortable with being uncomfortable putting yourself in situations that you know, normally wouldn’t be in. And, you know, that’s where the magic is, man. That’s where That’s where it happens.

Christopher Smith
Yeah, I believe that, I believe that. You also mentioned, you know, kind of having a thick skin was that how long did it take you to get to the point where you really are able to deal with rejection?

John McDonnell
Well, early in my career, I really didn’t have a choice. You know, it was it was either sink or swim. So, you know, it’s you kind of had to you know, if I didn’t have thick skin, I had to put on a really thick jacket for a while and just, you know, kind of fake it. But you know that that probably took me a good couple years to really, really deal with that and get down to it. It just not really cared. Just pick up the phone again and go to the next call.

Christopher Smith
What was your first job in sales?

John McDonnell
Well, I sold a business a business telephone service. So, we did you know it was Scott, this is years ago. So, this is before Voice over IP. It was actually just starting to come out. So basically, I sold long distance service to a company to company just picking up a dialing and setting appointments. And it was, you know, it was ruthless, you know, you had to get in there and say your pitch and, you know, I had a boss who was he, he really, he was he was great, you know, he was set it out all for me. And that that was like the basis of my sales career, you know, just setting up that structure, setting five appointments a day, you’re making 70 to 100 calls a day, and then you that was it. So, you do that and all’s well with the world. And he was he wasn’t lying when he told me was a numbers game. Because once you started doing that, and doing that day in and day out, also the appointment start rolling it.

Christopher Smith
Nope. You’ve had a pretty good progression through your career, what motivated you to go from sales into sales leadership?

John McDonnell
You know, it was kind of a real natural progression when I started my next job, which was with Alexis exhibits, we did custom tradeshow exhibits. You know, it was actually my stepfather started the company, and it was really a ground floor. So, he needed a sales guy. And, you know, he came to me and just said, you know, what do you think, and we did it. And honestly, I thought that it would be something that I would do for a little while and ended up being 17 years. So, it turns out, I was good at it. And once we started growing, it got too much for him to handle. And I started slowly taking over a little bit more of the sales role. And then all of a sudden it progressed into sales leadership.

Christopher Smith
Yeah. You know, it’s one of the things that attracted me when I was looking at your profile to buy on the podcast is you were there for 17 years, you don’t see that very much anymore.

John McDonnell
No, it’s, uh, it definitely, it definitely is rare nowadays, to see that. And, you know, it was it was a great opportunity and a great company to work for when I was there. And I really enjoyed it and learned a lot. But you know, when a push came to shove, and I just had an opportunity to grow and see a new challenge, and I had to take,

Christopher Smith
how did you learn? Or how did you keep yourself into learning mode, when you’re at the same company like that for so long, and, you know, not necessarily, you know, having other people mentoring you or whatever?

John McDonnell
Well, I, you know, my, my boss, my mind, my stepfather was a pretty decent mentor for me, you know, he taught me and showed me the ropes really early on. But since it was custom tradeshow exhibits, things changed constantly, you know, styles changed, everything changed. And since we were growing, you know, we constantly had people coming in and out. So, it was what kept me motivated is just the different styles and the different trends that were going on at the time. And just, you know, kind of learning, you know, how, how to present those and, you know, what, what was going on in the industry and in presenting those to clients and prospects.

Christopher Smith
So really sounds like you’ve really had to spend as much time being an expert in the industry as it was an expert being in sales. Is that accurate?

John McDonnell
Yeah, you’ve really had to know what’s going on. And then you also have to know how to communicate that with clients, and prospects, for sure.

Christopher Smith
So, you were with them for 17 years, you were vice president of sales when you left? Alexis, can you talk a little bit or share with us a little bit about, you know, moving from Alexis, to signum?

John McDonnell
Yeah, you know, that that was, that was a hard transition. I mean, our hard decision to make the transition took care of itself once I decided to make it but, you know, it was it was a family business. So, it was real tough. But like I said, the opportunity presented myself presented to me here at Signum was just, I just couldn’t ask it up, you know, it was it was a is a way to kind of start over and start fresh and start from the ground and then kind of build a team, the way that I wanted to build a team. And, you know, it’s so far, it’s been awesome.

Christopher Smith
You know, it’s hard for people, I think, a lot of people to make a leap, like, especially when you’ve been at one place for so long, you really get a comfort zone established. Talk to us a little bit about what you were thinking about or your thought process around making that that leap. And what ultimately was there one or two things that that ultimately led you to pull that trigger and say it’s time

John McDonnell
you know, excuse me. I just kind of felt in a rut, you know, I felt like I’ve done all that I can do here. And you know, it’s just in order for me to grow in and you know, maximize my potential I suppose. I had to move on you know, in in that that was really it. And like I said there there’s no ill will towards the towards the Lexus or the or that it would it was it was really a great place to work, but it was just I’ve done all I could do there. And I had to move.

Christopher Smith
Yeah, I totally get that. That’s one of the reasons why I like being a consultant is I don’t think I could ever be a regular employee; I need so much variety. I like being challenged and having those new challenges all the time. So, I totally get that. What was the hardest thing about the transition? And what was the easiest thing about the transition?

John McDonnell
You know, the, probably the same thing, actually making the decision in in weighing, you know, the pros and cons of both. And once I finally was able to, you know, come to that crossroads, you know that that was the easy part. Just, you know, just but I guess I guess, to answer your question more directly, the hardest part was actually weighing the pros and cons in, in figuring out and getting over the unknown. And then, you know, just finally getting there and going, you know, what, I got to take this leap and do it, and that that part was easy. That was just taking one step. You know,

Christopher Smith
No, I was reading a book yesterday, where they, the author was talking about when you need to make a really, really hard decision, we typically drag our feet in, analyze and analyze, and we’re not really sure. But then once you make that decision, you move forward. And you think about it. In here is hypothesis, there’s about 36 hours of pain that you have to go through, around making that decision to go through the transition, all the things you have to do to tell people and whatever goes involved with that big decision. But then once you’re through it on the other side, you’re done. And thing was like, you know, a few years, if you added up all the pain you went through before that with all the pros and the cons and all the analysis. 36 hours really isn’t that bad? You know, not at all. Yeah, his whole thing was like, those tough decisions, make them and move on. Because it’s 36 hours of pain.

John McDonnell
Well, that that’s like the movie risky business, you know what I mean? It’s sometimes you just got to say what the what the blank and make your move? You know, that’s really what it is.

Christopher Smith
That’s right. That’s right. Yeah, I love that. The so now at Signum, you you’ve got this opportunity to build out your sales team, like you said, the way you want it, what’s your strategy for building out your sales team moving forward?

John McDonnell
Well, you know what I, truthfully, I am really busy with getting my bearings here. But truthfully, what we’re what I really want is I want I want young, hungry, go getters I want I want people who you know, can are coachable. In that that’s basically what I believe in, I believe in more of a player coach model, as opposed to a, you know, a carrot and a stick, you know, just I’m here to help you get done what needs to be done not to tell you what needs to be done. And, you know, so my strategy is to find people who are driven and share that same mentality, they want to learn, they’re hungry, and they want to, they want to, you know, get into a business that is, can be very lucrative and continue on that route.

Christopher Smith
People can say they’re hungry, and aggressive in an interview, how do you find out if they really, if they’ve got that fire in their belly,

John McDonnell
you give them a chance, that’s how you do it, you know, you, you can only do an interview, what you can do, you can only ask so many questions. And if a person’s good, a good salesperson, they’re going to, you know, try to sell, yeah, they’re going to sell themselves. So, the only way to do is they have the rubber meet the road and give a shot. You know, and I think that, you know, you could probably tell if a person’s doing what they say they’re going to do that upon, you know, 60 to 90 days, you’re going to see if a person is motivated or not.

Christopher Smith
If you find out, you get into that scenario where he, maybe this person isn’t what I thought or was hoping they would be? How do you handle that scenario?

John McDonnell
I think you let them know, you don’t I mean, you let them know up front, once you start noticing a problem, and you give him every chance to correct it. And then as soon as they don’t, you have to again, like we talked about earlier, you got to you got to weigh the pros and the cons, you got to make your decision, you got to do it as soon as possible. And that’s in your best interest, the company’s best interest and the person who is doing the jobs best interest, just let them move on.

Christopher Smith
So again, that’s where that coaching philosophy comes into to play. Do you have any particular area that you’d like to start with? When you notice someone’s having a problem? You know, how do you dive in and identify the root issue there?

John McDonnell
Well, I think it becomes pretty obvious, especially in sales, I mean, you’re either doing it or you’re not. And I think if there’s an issue with a certain aspect, like they’re just not getting enough people or there, you know, complacent or it’s a time management issue, you bring it to the forefront immediately. And you let them know what’s going on. I think that you know, being transparent and communicating clearly, especially with expectations up front is crucial. Because if you don’t do that, then you know you’re both kind of out there and you’re expected something they’re expecting something in, you both are starting to get angry and frustrated. And I think that, you know, just letting them know what’s going on immediately, as soon as you notice it in, you know, a professional cordial way. I think it serves everybody, you know, I’ve heard, you know, no, people being paraded, people being humiliated. And that’s just no way to do it, you know, you’re not going to get anywhere from that, you know, you have to give them a chance.

Christopher Smith
I agree with that. When you think back to young John, getting started in sales, if you’re hiring young John, into the, you know, in to join your team. Now, what would be that one or two things you would want to teach young John to be an effective sales person.

John McDonnell
Get out of your comfort zone more, I wasted so much time, you know, trying to mold my approach to what I thought somebody wanted instead of being authentic. And, you know, once I found that, and I was able to do that, it just opened so many doors. And it allowed me to close some doors to quite frankly, where, you know, we weren’t a good fit. And I would just say, you know, be yourself be authentic, you know, keep that drive keep being hungry. But just I heard you for a reason. I heard you I didn’t hire somebody you want to be be you.

Christopher Smith
Right. Right. What was your thinking back to young John? I mean, was there any particular obstacles that you struggled with? Early on that you leverage as a learning experience for any young team members you bring on now?

John McDonnell
Yeah, you know, I’ve won a lot of deals, and I’ve lost a lot of big deals, and the ones that I’ve learned the most from are the ones that I lost. You know, and I think that the experience from, you know, just really caring too much what people thought, especially in presentations, is, you know, that that was a big detriment. And I learned from that, that allowed me to develop a style that was just, you know, way, way more, way more me instead of trying to, you know, be somebody in a book I read or, you know, be my boss, you know, cause I’m just, I’m not that I’m me. And you get what you get, you know?

Christopher Smith
Yeah. Oh, yeah. People can tell when you focus on it. I mean, it’s so quick.

John McDonnell
Absolutely. I mean, that, that that is the truth. And that is just, I mean, you can see it when you’re buying a car or when you’re when you’re doing anything, if someone’s trying to be slick. You can we can see right through it. It’s just be yourself, man. That’s it. Relax, be yourself.

Christopher Smith
Yeah, I, I felt so bad for a guy called me yesterday. I answered the phone. No, it was probably a sales call. And this guy immediately launched into his pitch. And I was thinking, number one, the guy didn’t engage with me at all, like, Chris, are you doing? You have a good day or anything? He was just like, Chris, I’m gonna sell you. What would you say to that? You know, if that guy was on your, your team? What would you say to that person about their approach,

John McDonnell
you’re selling to a human being, be a human being. That’s it, you know it what’s on your mind is getting your pitch out as fast as humanly possible. So, you can either, you know, see if he’s gonna bite, or she’s gonna bite or move on to the next one. And that’s just not how people buy, you know, you got it, you got to relate, you know, you got to engage, you got to have a conversation as opposed to giving a speech,

Christopher Smith
right? It was clear to me the person had no idea what my business was who I was, I was the name on a list that you had to call in. Why do you think people are still trying to sell that way, these days?

John McDonnell
My guess would be because they have somebody a boss behind them, telling them, make the call, make the call, make the call, keep moving, keep moving, keep moving. Where you can get so much more for having 30 seconds of research, just going on a website and finding out what people are doing or checking your LinkedIn profile, and figuring out what these people are about, as opposed to just launching into your pitch right away. Because honestly, you don’t know what’s going on in my world. You I’m sure you were doing something else when you picked up the phone, you know, you gotta have some empathy for that, you know, just people are busy, especially now. If someone actually picks up the phone, you know, you got to at least engage them and, you know, understand that they’re taking time out of their day. You’re disrupting their day. Understand that.

Christopher Smith
Yeah, I feel bad for the guy. I’m like, Dude, you’re not getting the training. You need to be effective. I wanted to tell him that, but I was busy. I didn’t have a lot If you’re gonna call someone, let me tell you firstly, check out my LinkedIn profile, learn a little bit about my company and say, hey, Chris, I know you guys sell CRM, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know? Nothing. So, a something, anything.

John McDonnell
Yeah, yeah, you’re totally right. Maya, my old boss was he was a brutal what people would call I mean, just brutal. And, you know, and I would feel bad for people on the other end of the phone. You know? I mean, it was funny, but I feel bad for them. So yeah, I get it.

Christopher Smith
How do you react when people are trying to sell to you? Do you critique them as they’re selling to you? Or what do you do?

John McDonnell
No, I don’t I try to be nice, in a way, I guess, you know, I do on occasion, if an if the situation warrants it, if they’re really bad, it’ll say, hey, man, you might want to, you might want to try it this way. Just, you know, think about it this way. But yeah, I, it’s what really gets me and I’m gonna harp on this a little bit. It’s just when people just jump right into what’s on their mind without any consideration as to what’s going on at the other end of the phone. You gotta have that because everyone’s human man. That’s it. Yeah,

Christopher Smith
how much is selling changed for you guys in your market during COVID. And now that we’re coming out of cover to hopefully coming out of COVID have a selling change for you guys.

John McDonnell
Wow. So, like, 108, or they just complete and total 180. I mean, we went from, you know, referring a lot on retail referrals, show floor selling all that stuff during COVID. When I was with Alexis, and everything just completely changed, you know, people were not even in their office, you’re, you’re trying to engage people on Zoom, you can’t really get in front of too many people. And you know that you get the, you’re calling me during a pandemic, when you’re doing this is crazy, you know, so you really had to kind of be on your game and, you know, just kind of plant a lot of seeds, as opposed to trying to, you know, get opportunities. It was it was almost like, you got you got to understand what’s happening. And, you know, try to figure out when the next when the next deals gonna happen. It was it was it was just really a neat experience. And then you had to deal with downsizing and all that cool stuff. It’s just goes wild.

Christopher Smith
What do you think out of that experience is going to stay with us moving forward zeros to come?

John McDonnell
Well, I think people are going to engage platforms, like zoom in teams, and, you know, things like that way more than they did. You know, I think you can get, nothing’s ever going to replace face to face, you know, being in a room with a group of people. But this is pretty close. You know, it’s at least it as opposed to an initial call, you know, just getting somebody on the phone, you know, I’ve know, hey, let’s hop on Zoom real quick. And then you could actually see the person present things on the screen, it just makes it a lot easier. And I think that’s really what’s changed the face of selling and go during COVID.

Christopher Smith
For sure. No, for me, it’s there to since there’s no longer any breaks in between anything anymore. It’s all back-to-back to back to back. Because it’s so much easier now where it’s like, hey, let’s set up a zoom call.

John McDonnell
Exactly, exactly. Exactly. Are you available at 930? Tonight? Yeah, sure. Why not?

Christopher Smith
I don’t have a life. I’m stuck.

John McDonnell
Oh, it’s cool. Let’s do it.

Christopher Smith
Yeah, exactly. What do you think is the hardest thing about being a sales leader?

John McDonnell
Finding the right people, I think, you know, finding the right person and then developing your style that’s specific for that person. You know, if you have a team of five, you have five different personalities, and you have to understand how to, you know, work with those five different personalities. And so, I think the hardest thing about being a sales leader is a finding the right person and then be developing your style for each individual person and keep that straight ahead. That can get a little bit time consuming.

Christopher Smith
Is there anything about your job that you think is easier came easy for you?

John McDonnell
You know, I was always good at relating to people. So, what came easy to me is you know, relating to the people who were working with me and also related to clients, you know, it was it was very easy for me to you know, make friends. So, I was able to see what people wanted, I was able to see what you know how I can help people in that regard and you know, really capitalize on it.

Christopher Smith
So, we mentioned earlier about or you mentioned earlier about those losses you learned the most from Do you remember one deal in particular that was that one you thought you had it and you lost in it just hurt the most

John McDonnell
Totally, I remember, I worked for months on this deal. And it was actually a current client. And it was very big for me at the time. And we went to pitch, and I just botched the presentation, I was so nervous, and I let myself get in my head. And it was just, it wasn’t good. And just everything kind of fell out of place from there. And, you know, we will we lost that. And, you know, I had a lot of eggs in that basket. And a couple lessons I’ve learned, there’s a just chill out, relax, it’s not the end of the world and he don’t put your eggs in one basket, you got to diversify and get out there more. And, you know, I, when I took an honest look at myself, I became kind of complacent. And, you know, I just started from there, and just building and building and building. And it works.

Christopher Smith
What takes a lot of self-analysis and, and ownership to say, Hey, I screwed this up, that’s on me. What was that like for you? I mean, did that take days? Or was that something? You know? What was that process like for you?

John McDonnell
Well, you know, that particular process, there was nobody else who could have screwed up it was. But it as far as you know, really looking at myself that took Gosh, until recently, you know, it’s just, you know, and I think COVID had a lot to do with that. And I think a lot of people experienced personal growth during COVID. And, you know, it’s really something that I feel is incredibly valuable, just, you know, being able to look in the mirror and just, you know, be honest with yourself, you know, people have a tough time doing that, and I was one of them. And, you know, it’s just, it’s, that’s a tough road to get out of, you know, and you just got to you got to do it, but you’re better off when you do it, you know, your, you can actually analyze what you’re doing on a daily basis. And, you know, take in even just writing that down writing down what you’re doing. And, you know, it really, really helps you go back and say like, okay, I could have done this a little bit better. I could have, you know, this was a waste of time, I didn’t need to do this, you know,

Christopher Smith
do you have like a personal credo or mantra that kind of drives you forward?

John McDonnell
I’m trying to think of one that’s appropriate to say, on a podcast. You know, my, my stepfather had this, this mantra that I like, and it’s easy to do with your doubt. You know, you, you, you either you either are going to do it or you’re not going to do it. And you can make all the excuses in the world, you can make all the justifications in the world. But the bottom line is, you’re either going to or you’re not. And you actually make that decision relatively earlier, early, when, when a task or something comes about.

Christopher Smith
Yeah. I love that. Because that’s, that takes ownership to like they, if you’re going to do it, you got to own it. And do it.

John McDonnell
Exactly, exactly. Accountability is a huge deal. And unfortunately, I think it lacks, everybody’s looking to point the finger at somebody else. But you got to own your stuff, man that that’s really a

Christopher Smith
CRM, do you love it? Or do you hate it?

John McDonnell
I actually love it. You know, it had maybe an anywhere in that. But honestly, it helps. It helps me stay organized, it helps with, you know, it helps with the marketing, it helps with all kinds of stuff. And it’s really, it’s really been something I’ve been able to leverage in my career to really keep me on task, especially when my business growth.

Christopher Smith
Yeah. Let’s talk a bit about the marketing side of CRM. And that alignment that you really need to have between marketing and sales for sales to be effective. Do you have any thoughts or beliefs that you can share with us around that creating that alignment between marketing and sales?

John McDonnell
Yeah, you know that that’s another thing that happened during COVID, where we took a strong look at our marketing efforts and realized that it was lacking. And we, you know, we leveraged inbound, we leverage LinkedIn, we leveraged you know, just, you know, straight up taking pictures and putting them up on a LinkedIn profile. And what that ended up doing is driving things to our website. And when once that started happening, we were able to take kind of tweak that and, you know, use SEO and all that cool stuff. And that really developed into a giant lead source for us. So basically, what happened is, is marketing transitioned into sales that way and it was almost started just an automatic, you know, lead generation tool. It was it was it was killer.

Christopher Smith
What started that process was that everyone sitting in a room just saying, hey, look, we need to do something different or what how’d that start?

John McDonnell
It wasn’t necessarily sitting in a room it was I was taking a look at our sales during COVID and trying to figure out another way to You know, work these accounts. And what happened is, you know, there were things happening out there that we weren’t getting in touch with. And what we realized is that there was no brand awareness. No one really knew who we are. So, we just started, you know, doing your pay per click ads and things like that, and just started driving traffic and then ended up snowballing. And that led to, you know, things during COVID that we’re actually able to capitalize on, then post COVID are the ones they post COVID after 2020. You know, it actually turned in some pretty lucrative deals. Well, that’s pretty awesome.

Christopher Smith
Why do you think companies struggled to create that alignment between marketing and sales when it comes to that technology, as well as just the people side of it?

John McDonnell
I think that sometimes salespeople think that marketing is crap, you know, that it’s, you know, it’s, they’re out there doing the legwork, you know, but marketing’s the tools that help you get out there and do the link. And I think that there is a lack of a connection with that. And I don’t think there’s an appreciation for it.

Christopher Smith
Now, there’s a lot of hard work that goes into the marketing side of things. And but if it’s done, right, like you said, it can be a tremendous lead funnel, and, and really drive the business. Absolutely. If someone if there’s a listener list, you know, that it’s listening to us talk. What advice do you have them to address maybe the same issues they’re having that that you had when you started your process? Oh, you’re talking about the marketing process? Yeah. But to start to create that alignment with marketing and create building that lead funnel for their business.

John McDonnell
Just be patient and keep at it, and then get your stats together, you know, you know, get numbers are going to sell salespeople, that that’s really what it is. So, have those numbers and have those ready to go? And then once you know, they, when salespeople get a taste of it, it’s in how easy it ends up being for them. It’s, it’ll almost take care of itself.

Christopher Smith
What kind of a feedback loop did you create to help adjust what marketing was doing? Did you guys have to do any work?

John McDonnell
Well, um, one of the hats I wore was marketing there, too. So, the feedback loop was you? Yes. So yeah, that that was a that was that was pretty much it. But you know, I did, I did have to report I did have to show numbers. And I did have to let you know as to what was going on, so that there was usually a weekly thing where I would, you know, post results and things like that. But then I was the feedback.

Christopher Smith
Yeah, exactly. Well, John, we’re gonna add our time here on sales lead dog for this episode. I really appreciate you coming on the show. If people want to reach out, connect with you, they want to learn more about signum displays, what’s the best way for them to do that?

John McDonnell
Well, you can, you can hit me up personally on LinkedIn, and I’ll give you my email address. It is Jay McDonnell at Signum, displays.com Check out our website. Second display COMM And that’s probably the easiest way to get ahold.

Christopher Smith
And we’ll have all that in our show notes. If you want to get that info on I connected with John. John. Thanks again for coming on sales lead dog,

John McDonnell
Chris. It was a pleasure to have to be here. Thank you so much.

Christopher Smith
You bet. I’m glad now you’re part of our sales lead dog pack. So that’s cool.

John McDonnell
I love it. Awesome. I love it. All right.

Outro
As we end this discussion on Sales Lead Dog, be sure to subscribe to catch all our episodes on social media. Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. Watch the videos on YouTube and you can also find our episodes on our website at empellercrm.com/salesleaddog. Sales Lead Dog is supported by Empellor CRM, delivering objectively better CRM for business guaranteed.

 

Quotes

Links

John McDonnell LinkedIn
Signum Displays LinkedIn
Signum Displays Website

Empellor CRM LinkedIn
Empellor CRM Website
Empellor CRM Twitter