0:01
Welcome to the Sales Lead Dog podcast hosted by CRM technology and sales process expert Christopher Smith.
0:09
Talking with sales leaders that have separated themselves from the rest of the pack.
0:13
Listen to find out how the best of the best achieved success with their team and CRM technology.
0:20
And remember, unless you were the lead dog, the view never changes.
0:26
Welcome to sales lead dog.
0:28
My guest today is Steve Shearer of CCB Technology.
0:32
Steve, welcome to sales lead dog.
0:34
Thanks for having me.
0:35
I’m excited to be here and I hope hope it goes well.
0:39
If it does well, you know, you got great, a bunch of other great episodes.
0:43
So people, it’s going to go great.
0:45
So Steve, you’re the VP of sales and marketing at at CCB.
0:49
Tell what does CCB technology do?
0:51
Tell me about the great question.
0:54
So what we do now has the same heartbeat that it did over 30 years ago, but what people pay us for has changed a lot over that three plus decades span.
1:04
So initially we got our start with serving just five O 1C3 nonprofits in the IT space for discounted software through Microsoft, and now we’re known nationally as one of the top 250 outsourced IT providers.
1:20
So protecting in, you know, layman’s terms, we make sure that there’s somebody to pick up the phone to answer questions when something goes wrong in your IT environment.
1:29
That’s us.
1:30
We keep bad guys out from hacking your data phishing emails.
1:35
We do trainings for employees.
1:37
So data backups, cybersecurity and helpdesk is the three big buckets.
1:43
And then long term management.
1:44
If people need Co management and of their IT environment, we’d help with that as well.
1:48
But a heartbeat stayed the same.
1:50
It’s on the wall actually outside my my door here.
1:52
Still says serving those that serve others.
1:55
And that’s been that’s been the, the lifelong heartbeat of the company.
1:58
Yeah, yeah.
1:59
That’s awesome ’cause it comes right down to it.
2:00
If we’re selling right, we’re serving others.
2:03
That’s right.
2:04
I think so.
2:04
Yeah.
2:05
Yeah.
2:05
You’re serving everybody.
2:06
If we’re doing it the right way, I think so, yeah.
2:09
Yeah.
2:10
So let me ask you a quick question about the company.
2:13
What do you guys see today?
2:16
I know things have changed a lot with technology, with AI and just all the, the, there’s just so much happening that’s very dynamic in the market right now.
2:25
What are you seeing right now?
2:26
Like why are people reaching out to CCB and saying, hey, we need help?
2:31
Good, good question.
2:33
I think it depends on the person themselves or the organization itself.
2:37
Primarily though, if it was one big bucket, what’s the most that people are asking about?
2:41
It’s security and that can hit AI or that can hit cyber insurance or that can hit phishing emails or fraudulent texts.
2:54
But it’s a lot to do with security.
2:57
And then it stems into these other things that people wanting their their data to be protected and how do I make sure that my employees don’t click on the wrong thing?
3:05
And what if they do, what happens?
3:07
But primarily people are reaching out to us about security and they want somebody that they trust.
3:11
And so we have a legacy, but when people don’t know us, we have to prove it.
3:16
So we give them statistics and that kind of thing.
3:19
But then if we zoom in a little bit more below just the the security things that people are asking about, a lot of nonprofits are reaching out to us because of our legacy, our history, our knowledge of nonprofits and being able to work within their budgetary constraints and cycles.
3:36
Yeah, I love that you guys are focused on nonprofits.
3:39
That’s a segment I’m particularly passionate about just because anything we can do to help them, they’re all struggling with budgets and, you know, always, you know, we need more money to operate.
3:50
And because they’re, you know, if they’re doing it right, they’re spending their money on their constituency, not themselves, you know, and, and so anything you can do to help them, I think that’s awesome.
3:58
Yeah, we do.
3:59
In short, I even when I was a Rep a while ago, I saw it as not just dollars saved, but if I can save them money, sure, that’s great.
4:08
But if I can help them move forward in iti know I’m in a roundabout way, help them move forward with their mission.
4:16
And that drives me.
4:17
I’m a mission minded kind of guy that that if the lights are blinking, that’s great.
4:22
But what does it do for you?
4:23
Well, it helps you have a healthy baby be born or helps you deliver water, or it’s a blood bank or whatever.
4:30
That’s what I get fired up about.
4:32
It’s not how much throughput a switch has, you know, that’s the stuff.
4:37
But what’s, what is it leading to, you know?
4:39
Yeah, 100% awesome.
4:43
So Steve, when you look back over your career, if you had to boil it down to three things that have really driven and LED to your success to get you where you are today, what would those three things be?
4:58
Big question.
5:01
First it would, it would be other people that believed in me.
5:06
So putting a name to it or a section header, it would be mentors, A mentorship.
5:14
I didn’t realize there was one guy in particular.
5:16
I won’t tell the whole story.
5:17
One guy in particular, I didn’t realize he was mentoring me until years after we were getting lunches.
5:25
He’s a family friend and, and one, one of my growing up, one of my best friend’s dads.
5:29
And it just seemed natural to me.
5:31
And then all of a sudden it dawned on me.
5:32
Oh my goodness, this guy is he has my best interest in mind and starts checking those boxes of the mentorship stuff that you read about on LinkedIn or in books and things like that.
5:40
And yeah, so mentorship is a is a huge thing.
5:43
And so others, I mean, there’s no way I could say I got where I am.
5:48
If people deem me being a success, I can’t leave that out.
5:53
So other people.
5:54
The second thing I think would be if you’re wanting something that’s a little bit more specific to the person, I think my, my curiosity has gotten me pretty far asking questions.
6:11
I, I thought it was just like who I was and not anything until other people like mentors pointed out or bosses that I respect saying, man, you ask, you ask good questions.
6:25
And how did you figure that out?
6:27
Well, I just, I didn’t know what the answer was.
6:28
So I just asked.
6:30
And then I think, I think the third thing, I’ll tell you what somebody else told me, I did not end up taking this job.
6:38
I was in an interview process.
6:39
I didn’t end up taking the job.
6:40
And the guy said, I get it.
6:42
It’s not a good fit for you and your family, but I just want to tell you what I see in you.
6:46
And then he told me this thing that I’ll say and then multiple people, others have said it.
6:50
I give all of that because it feels weird to say this next thing, which I think is authenticity.
6:57
You kind of get, you get what you get.
6:59
I’m not the flavor that everybody’s looking for, but I think those three things combined together have have really lent themselves to what people might consider success.
7:11
I’m willing to say no, Sure, there’s competitive nature and I don’t like losing and all that kind of stuff too.
7:17
But I think those other things really, really lend themselves well to to the success of it of, you know, being in a position that I’m in now.
7:24
Yeah.
7:24
That’s also, you know, to me, authenticity is just so important, both in sales just to, but also especially as a leader.
7:32
Yeah.
7:33
Because like, as soon as you lose that with people that that trust, that bond of trust and respect is broken.
7:38
And Dan, it’s super hard to recover from that.
7:41
That’s it.
7:41
I mean, you, you, John Maxwell has said lots of things, but one of the things that I latched onto, momentum is very, very easy to lose and very, very difficult to gain.
7:53
And in what you just said is absolutely true.
7:56
If trust is the foundation of any really healthy relationship and you just blow it because you’re faking it, that’s hard to get back ’cause momentum’s law.
8:08
So anyway, I believe it.
8:09
I’m with you.
8:10
Yeah.
8:10
Authenticity is a big deal.
8:12
Did you always want to be a vice president of sales and marketing?
8:16
No, no, no.
8:17
This position was created last year.
8:19
So yeah, my dreams came true last year.
8:22
I can’t believe finally they could.
8:23
Yeah.
8:24
So what was your early dream then?
8:26
No, that’s good.
8:26
When you’re just getting started in your career.
8:28
What was your dream?
8:29
I’m glad you got put that qualifier.
8:31
I was going to say like a helicopter pilot that played baseball on the weekends or something as like a well, as a dream when I was a kid or something like that.
8:38
But in my career, this is going to be cliche.
8:44
I just wanted a shot.
8:46
I didn’t know.
8:48
I knew I could.
8:49
I knew I could work.
8:50
That wasn’t a question.
8:52
I was already, I had multiple jobs.
8:54
I was paying for school myself, the college I was going to school full time.
9:00
I I knew I could work so early on in my career.
9:04
I just needed a shot.
9:06
Somebody that I told, I actually told my wife that she was a teacher.
9:09
She was she’s we’re very different that way.
9:11
She was very put together.
9:12
She had multiple degrees before I even had one.
9:14
And she said, what do you think about after graduation?
9:17
I just need somebody to give me a chance so early on.
9:22
Truth.
9:22
Truthfully, I just, I just wanted to get in somewhere and that’s awesome.
9:27
Your story is very similar to mine that like I grew up.
9:30
My dad told me, I think it was like 14 or 15, like, hey, I have eight siblings, right?
9:36
And six of nine children.
9:38
And he was like, there’s no way I can even help you pay for college.
9:44
So find start looking for a job as early as you can.
9:46
As soon as someone will hire you, get a job and start saving up your money because I expect you to go to college.
9:53
And so I is the same thing.
9:57
You got to scrap and scramble and work hard.
9:59
I wasn’t afraid of hard work and, and it sounds like that experience has served you pretty well in your career.
10:06
Yeah.
10:06
I, I there’s a little bit of desperation early on.
10:09
I’m not going to sugar coat it at all.
10:12
You know, I’m, I’m, I’m at school, University of Wisconsin, Parkside is where I was at.
10:16
And that just is, is just to say that I’m Wisconsin guy and from Wisconsin family that parents were going through bankruptcy while I’m in college.
10:27
And then what do you do?
10:28
Yeah, it’s brittle.
10:30
Do you?
10:30
So, I mean, everybody’s got their story and their origin story and their back story.
10:34
Mine’s not worse than everybody else’s.
10:36
I just know that you’re right.
10:37
It didn’t.
10:38
It served me well, but not in the sense of giving me a vision of ultimately, I want this title.
10:45
I never really cared, even now, like if my title changes.
10:48
But my the function of what I’m doing is clear of how I bring value to people.
10:54
That builds me up, that energizes me.
10:57
Early on, I would have said just give me a chance.
11:00
Now I would say something completely different, which is, you know, because of experience.
11:03
But yes, that’s a little bit of desperation, a little bit of moving forward that that it has served me.
11:09
Scrappiness or resourcefulness or whatever you have to do when you need to make some money.
11:13
Oh, yeah.
11:14
So thinking about when you got your first job in sales, how much of you was excited?
11:19
How much of you was scared to death?
11:21
So I’ll be as succinct as I can, but 90% of me was excited.
11:32
That’s good.
11:33
But that’s 90% of me that’s excited because the other 10% was my wife.
11:41
Though I do, I am optimistic.
11:43
I don’t see where the problem’s going to happen.
11:45
I’m like, look, I’m stepping in the batter’s box.
11:48
I got the bat.
11:49
Either I can hit or I can’t or I’m going to swing really hard.
11:52
And my wife is not built that way, which is, you know, there’s, there’s other things, but we’re very different that way.
11:57
Like I said before, but my earliest, earliest sales experience was actually selling Jolly Ranchers when I was in like 7th grade.
12:08
You’re not the first person who shared a similar story selling case.
12:11
I didn’t have dreams of being in sales or anything.
12:14
It was just like my parents didn’t have a lot of extra money.
12:17
If you want extra stuff, figure it out.
12:19
Kind of.
12:20
They weren’t harsh about it, but it’s just what it was.
12:22
So I went with my dad to Sam’s Club and we bought a bag of Jolly Ranchers and I added up what would it cost for 10-10 cents apiece.
12:28
No one taught me any of this stuff.
12:29
I just was trying it.
12:31
I was very excited.
12:32
I was 0% nervous and I figured out I could make 1516 bucks a bag if I sold them at that thing.
12:38
And that that’s the first thing.
12:39
But when it really, really mattered was when you know, you got a wife, you got a young kid at home and that was when I first stepped in to the sales direct sales role.
12:49
That was the 10% of my life when I stepped into sales leadership as AVP of sales.
12:54
You know, six years ago ish, I was probably 5050 nervous to excitement, but that had a different weights to it.
13:04
I felt like these people’s families now are dependent on my decisions versus individual contributor versus, you know, kind of directing how the how this process goes.
13:13
If I give the wrong goals to people, then what?
13:15
Yeah, it’s a totally different kind of pressure.
13:19
I remember when I hired my first employee, it’s like now I’m responsible for this person’s financial well-being.
13:26
I can’t control what they do with their money, but at least I’m supplying them the money.
13:30
That’s right.
13:31
Yeah.
13:31
That that’s, I get it, that that’s a totally different kind of pressure.
13:35
And so.
13:37
Yeah.
13:38
So tell me what was behind your motivation to accept this VP role and become a sales leader?
13:47
What were you hoping to accomplish?
13:50
Good, good.
13:51
Just one qualifier because I want to make sure I’m answering the question right or as best I can.
13:56
The VP of sales thing or just it’s your first sales leadership role.
14:00
Oh, OK.
14:03
Other people.
14:04
I, I again, it’s the the my, my 2 step.
14:06
I guess I didn’t realize that I didn’t put notes down about that.
14:10
It’s just, I guess other people, somebody noticed something in me.
14:14
I have my head down.
14:15
I’m working hard.
14:15
I got a shot.
14:17
OK, fine.
14:17
I got a shot.
14:18
I’m going to provide for my family.
14:19
And then somebody taps me on the shoulder and is like, man, you might be able to do really well.
14:25
The the sales team is listening to you.
14:26
What do you mean?
14:29
Not really.
14:31
You have influence.
14:32
Oh, and then again, John Maxwell doesn’t, you know, leadership is influence kind of a thing.
14:36
But at that time, I wouldn’t have put it that way.
14:38
So someone else tapping me on the shoulder and saying, you might have what it takes here to think about this, me asking questions, What does that mean?
14:47
What’s expected of me?
14:48
What does success look like?
14:49
What are the goals?
14:50
How would that change?
14:53
One of the last things that I remember to ask about is money.
14:56
I just figured money’s going to come if you do a great job.
15:01
So yeah, what what motivated me, I guess, beyond the tap on the shoulder to actually take the position, is I really like the bringing of people together and moving them towards something for their good and the good of an organization.
15:22
But again, I wouldn’t have said it back then.
15:24
I just knew I liked working with people.
15:26
I understand ish, the sales stuff.
15:29
That person whose job depends on me doing well above me is saying, I think you do well.
15:33
So they have some, you know, skin in the game.
15:37
Let’s try it.
15:38
So I didn’t have some grand idea of this is what I should do this whatever practically.
15:46
I went to someone else who’s in HR.
15:48
He’s a buddy of mine.
15:48
He’s still in HR asked him what he thought and he said, I think it’s a great idea for you to move from direct sales and sales management back and forth, get as much exposure to the business as possible.
16:01
That’ll make you even more influential a couple moves from now.
16:04
And there’s wisdom in that.
16:05
I won’t, you know, that’s good to leverage that with people that I’m in.
16:09
Oh, I’ve been here before.
16:10
Yeah, yeah, that’s, that’s a problem we’ll get through together kind of a thing.
16:13
So.
16:14
So tell me.
16:15
I think one of the big things that people underestimate early on in in their first leadership role is the understanding that you have to develop your identity, your personal identity as a leader.
16:30
That’s right.
16:30
Tell me about how you did that in the early days as a leader, how you establish that early identity and how has your identity evolved as your role has evolved over the years?
16:41
That’s good.
16:43
I love this stuff.
16:44
So cut me off.
16:45
That’s what I’m trying to say because when I get excited, clock is ticking, go ahead.
16:49
So so cut me off early on.
16:51
How did I well not to get preachy?
16:56
My job is a portion of who I would somebody would describe me as, but again, not to get preachy.
17:03
I felt like when I stepped into this role, I was pretty solid and I’m so I’m a Christian and I have priorities based on what I say I believe.
17:13
And then mentors like coming back to that again saying to me, well, you need to figure out what you’re willing to not do.
17:20
What does that mean?
17:21
Well talent.
17:22
Do people get squeezed?
17:24
What do you mean?
17:25
Well, you’re going to be working a lot.
17:27
If you’re doing a good job, you’re going to be working a lot.
17:29
And there might be money tied to it, but there’s purse strings.
17:32
So figure out who you are, what you’re not willing to do, what you’re not willing to sacrifice for your family, and then make your decisions based off of that.
17:41
That’s interesting.
17:42
So early on in my leadership, I wanted to extend that to other people by asking them the same questions.
17:50
And so the Fast forward how how it’s evolved, it’s tied to that.
17:57
But I had another person, a friend of mine say, have you ever thought about what you want your life to be defined by a decade from now?
18:06
And I said, I don’t know if I’ve ever heard that question strung together that way before.
18:10
What do you mean?
18:11
OK.
18:11
And this whole same, same, same song and dance of me asking questions.
18:15
And he said, what would you want somebody else to describe you as 10 years from now?
18:19
Have you thought about that?
18:20
I don’t know.
18:21
So that spent me down this road.
18:22
And as succinct as I can be without even talking to him, I just started chasing that that rabbit early mornings, quiet time, thinking through, man.
18:33
I got to the point of saying I don’t want my kids to describe me as I don’t want my wife to describe me as you know, and where I landed.
18:41
And this is what has shaped me as my as my role has evolved.
18:43
I’ve needed to be more specific about who I am because who I am drives my priorities and then my priorities Dr.
18:55
The decisions that I make and the decisions that I make drive the results that I see.
19:00
What bad stuff happens when I start with results and don’t know who I am and trust isn’t established.
19:07
Bad things happen.
19:09
You get all out of whack and five years later, you know you’re never seeing your kids, but you’re super successful in your job.
19:15
So I identified my top five things.
19:18
So I called him my top five for 10 ’cause it was 10 years and that, you know, not that smart.
19:22
So God, family, church, outdoors and work in that order.
19:28
And I started telling people that.
19:32
And come to find out, a lot of people benefited from that guy asking me that question and then me telling them that.
19:39
And so I started doing that with my team.
19:41
So how is my identity shifted?
19:43
It shifted to knowing, OK, this is what my life is about.
19:48
My life is about these five things.
19:50
So how do these five things are they lined up?
19:52
And then I could use that as a as a test for Beth.
19:55
How my wife’s name is Beth.
19:56
Beth, how am I doing?
19:59
One cool side note is I was saying it enough apparently, that my oldest heard me talking about it and he said, Oh, I know what those are.
20:11
So what do you mean?
20:12
He’s like, I know what you’re.
20:13
Five and at that time he was like 10.
20:15
I know what your 5 things are.
20:17
So what are they?
20:18
He and he said it.
20:18
He said I’m out of order, but he said the five things.
20:21
And so I think that identity has helped again shape how I prioritize where my time goes.
20:31
Money comes and goes, cars come and go, your time is gone.
20:37
And so that has had a ripple effect on other things.
20:40
So more people that find out about how I structure my life, I’m not the best at this.
20:45
I’m just a guy.
20:47
The more they realize I try to take this seriously to the point of saying no to really good things so that I’m not just a yes man on the things that I know I have the capability to do, but I don’t have the capacity to do because now I’m squeezing out the top three things for the bottom two or something in my office.
21:06
You won’t be able to see it over there.
21:08
The only thing that’s hanging on the wall over there is a poster and it has those five things up on top.
21:12
God, family, church, outdoors and work.
21:15
And underneath that is a bunch of dots.
21:18
And it’s from this company, 4K weeks.
21:20
I have no association to anything with them.
21:22
But basically 4000 weeks is what you got.
21:25
Live your life.
21:26
And each week I have to fill in one of those dots.
21:29
And so it’s, it’s essentially a death poster, that’s all.
21:32
But it’s sobering.
21:33
Every week I come in and I fill in one of those dots and like, OK, how did I spend my time?
21:38
So I love that, Steve.
21:41
Well, that’s shaped it.
21:43
I, I don’t know if that actually answers the question.
21:44
No, it answers it extremely well.
21:46
And I’d love that you incorporated your faith into your answer that I’m surprised at how many people are unwilling or scared to talk about their faith because it is for a good portion of us.
21:58
It’s not everybody, but a good portion of it’s a very important thing to who we are.
22:01
I mean, my faith is incredibly important to me.
22:04
And like growing up, I would tell my kids, it’s like you have to have that center, You have to have that identity of of who you are.
22:12
Like you said, that defines who you are, what you’re willing to do, what you’re not willing to do.
22:17
But I’ve told them, look, I can trace all the times I’ve had trouble in my life just because I strayed away from who I was and I didn’t wasn’t able to get that back under control until I acknowledged that and had to recenter myself and get back to, you know, living between my guardrails that I set up for myself.
22:37
That that is what I’m that’s exactly what I’m talking about.
22:43
Because what I think would happen to me since I have this in a I’ve got this competitive nature and I like to succeed and whatever.
22:51
Nobody had to teach me that stuff.
22:54
If I wasn’t surrounded by people that love me enough to say you’re off and I didn’t care or didn’t establish that or whatever about the identity thing, I would chase the results.
23:07
I would just naturally go because that’s the path of least resistance to me for me.
23:10
I want to be a performer or, you know, now the center of my universe is me.
23:16
And that’s off in my, in my opinion, my, you know, at the end of my days, I don’t want it to be that I was the center of, of the universe.
23:24
And so, yeah.
23:26
And, and to your point, like I, I, I don’t have a metric or anything of how many people wish they could say something about their faith or not.
23:34
I agree with you.
23:35
I think, you know, some people shy away from it because it’s a hot topic thing, but some of the best conversations that I’ve had are with people that don’t believe anything that I believe and we’re able to just talk.
23:47
Exactly.
23:48
It’s like, that’s the thing where I think people have to understand is like, hey, just because I talk about my doesn’t mean I’m trying to impose anything on you.
23:54
No, One of my very best friends is an atheist who I had lunch with two weeks ago or last week.
23:59
And he says it makes no sense on paper that we’re even friends.
24:04
You know what I’m saying?
24:04
To me, that’s some of my best friends, that it’s like, hey, I respect you or who you are.
24:09
Yeah.
24:10
I’m not trying to pose or shift or model you.
24:12
I’m just I’m a live my life.
24:13
You live your life and we’ll be in harmony.
24:15
And, you know, that’s all that.
24:18
That’s what matters.
24:19
And, and I also love that, you know, thinking about how you want to be described 10 years from now, That’s super important that I think it’s short attention or not enough attention, especially early on in, in your life.
24:35
And I remember, I, I feel glad that I don’t who where I heard that from, but I shared that with my kids.
24:42
I mean, like, you know, when they’re first going to high school, my mantra was, is world number one is you’d be nice to everybody.
24:50
If you have no idea what’s going on in their life, you don’t know their stories.
24:53
You have no, they could be having the worst possible day.
24:56
You have no idea.
24:58
And just be nice to everybody.
25:00
You want to be that person.
25:01
When they think back to high school and they think of you, the first things you want them to say is, my gosh, they were so nice.
25:10
That’s what people remember.
25:12
Yeah.
25:13
You know, and they’re not going to remember what activities you did or whatever.
25:16
They are going to remember how you treated them.
25:18
That’s that’s right.
25:19
You know, how they how you made them feel versus the things that you said.
25:22
And that, I mean, it’s you’re right to give credit to somebody else that I did not come up with this.
25:28
But that, you know, in James Clear’s book that, you know, sold at this point 7 billion copies or whatever of Atomic Habits.
25:36
It was reassuring to me that he talks about identity as well.
25:41
What would a person who runs do?
25:44
Oh, they would get running shoes rather than starting with my marathon time’s going to be no, let’s start with your identity and let your actions come out of that.
25:52
So, yeah, no, I think that’s so important.
25:54
And because it’s once you’re able to establish that identity and you’re able to live by that identity, you’re creating a culture as a leader that is in your team.
26:07
I think that’s so important.
26:09
So my mentor has said the most important things, keep them the most important things.
26:16
Not the only person to say that, but John has told me, keep the most important things, the most important things and let the results be a byproduct of the most important things remaining the most important.
26:25
So culture has been a byproduct and it is a, it is a product of lesser value than the main thing.
26:32
But the culture on the team, they know that I’m trustworthy because of the way that I’ve lived my life.
26:35
I didn’t tell them, trust me, I’m saying watch me, you know.
26:39
So I again, I know there’s other things we need to talk about, but I get fired up about this stuff.
26:44
One of the culture things that I’ll say, and I, I hope people do steal this.
26:49
It comes just from, again, what I think is important is asking questions.
26:54
And this question in particular has helped a lot.
26:56
How would your spouse or significant other describe your role at our company?
27:03
And do they enjoy that you work here?
27:06
Oh man, that’s important because once somebody that you love more than anything in life hates where you work, you better start applying other places.
27:15
No, because it’s, it’s so important.
27:17
And it’s also like, I, I, it’s your spouse, it’s your children, the people in your life that are most important to you.
27:24
I mean, I the times that have shook me up where I again, thinking back to when I wasn’t living by my values is when my kids would come to me and they’re like, are you going to be working tonight, Dad, with that just look of expecting disappointment in the way they asked the question.
27:41
And man, that’s just like a it was a gut punch for me that I’m like, I am out of balance.
27:46
I need to get back in balance.
27:47
And you made an adjustment, though.
27:49
Yeah.
27:50
But you got to, you have to be open to be able to see those and hear those and then act on those.
27:56
I think that’s it.
27:57
Could you talk about that part of it in terms of how you formed your identity as a leader?
28:03
Well, how do you, what advice do you have someone that you’re saying like, you know, you know, figure out who you are?
28:08
Yeah, got it.
28:09
But how what advice do you have someone to really be open to feedback in terms of, you know, what advice do you have for someone like that?
28:18
And and if you find yourself getting into off center, how to come back?
28:23
It’s good.
28:25
Couple things.
28:26
First, you have, I think a huge mistake is to think that you have to have all of the answers, regardless of your position or your title, that points to something other than insecurity or not just what we stereotypically would say.
28:43
Insecurity, which wears up in me all the time.
28:46
Specifically, it points to something I would think is very, very sneaky, which is pride or a lack of humility.
28:53
And so if you want to cultivate humility, I think inviting people in to give you candid feedback is a scary thing that starts to exercise the muscle of humility and realizing, oh, there’s blind spots here.
29:08
Blind spots are by nature something you can’t see.
29:12
So how do you cultivate that willingness to be open?
29:17
You have to go for it.
29:19
Like you.
29:21
What if Brené Brown, she says a lot of things, but one of her things, courage, every act of courage that she studied 13,000 points of data or whatever, Every act of courage is underpinned by vulnerability.
29:31
What is vulnerability?
29:33
And taking a step, not knowing the end result, Someone that you trust that that you know, you can tell them the hardest thing and they’ll still be your friend even if you’re wrong or whatever.
29:43
Start there.
29:44
It could be your spouse, could be a friend, whatever, and just let them come with questions and let them answer those questions.
29:51
I want to be, here’s why I’m asking this.
29:53
I want to be better.
29:54
I want to grow.
29:57
If that’s not your motivating factor and it purely is, I just want this next paycheck.
30:02
I don’t think you need to demonstrate humility in order to get a bigger paycheck.
30:07
You can manipulate the heck out of people to get a bigger paycheck, but if you really are motivated, if someone’s really motivated by I, I want to see growth happen.
30:16
What are some steps?
30:17
Start with candid conversations about potential blind spots that you may have.
30:22
360 reviews are great.
30:23
They cost money.
30:24
You might not have disposable income to do that kind of thing.
30:27
If you’re not familiar with 360 review and somebody’s listening to this.
30:30
In short, it’s a personality assessment and so much, but it gives people a view of you all the way around 360.
30:36
You send it to people you work with, send to people that you don’t work with, your spouse, whoever, and they anonymously answer questions about you and then you get the feedback.
30:44
I did that once.
30:44
It’s stung, but it helped.
30:47
So I would start with aspects of humility and exercise and muscle of getting that feedback and being open to that ’cause then it won’t be as awkward the next time.
30:58
Also, why why are you wanting to do this?
31:02
I talked about it a little bit, but just putting a point on it.
31:05
What is your motive?
31:07
Are you motive by self promotion?
31:08
Are you motivated by a bigger paycheck?
31:10
Are you motivated?
31:11
It’s OK, but just start naming this stuff because if you start, as others have said, like Simon Cynic and others, if you start with that motive or that why, at least you’re being truthful about what you’re trying to get after.
31:26
So if someone’s out there wanting to do that, I, I would, I come back to my number one thing, get somebody from the outside for your success.
31:35
What is a mentor?
31:36
Somebody that’s a few steps ahead of you in some area of your life.
31:39
They don’t have to be older, but usually they’re a few years older.
31:42
My go to guy that I talked about before, he’s going to turn, I think 72 this year.
31:47
He, he’s what I’m shooting for as a, you know, as a dad and he still plays hardball baseball in senior leagues and things like that.
31:54
But there’s resources on mentorship, but just I don’t, don’t overcomplicate it.
32:00
Look around, see what somebody’s AT and then just ask, can I ask you a couple questions?
32:05
That kind of thing.
32:06
I think if you start there, that gives you enough to chew on.
32:10
And then you can go to someone that you haven’t met with and say, hey, here’s some feedback that I got recently.
32:14
What do you think about this?
32:16
So checks and balances.
32:17
Don’t take what one person says is gospel about you and then run with that.
32:20
I’ve done that and that’s not a good idea.
32:23
For example, if John was to say something to me, I’d take it to my wife and say, what do you think about this?
32:28
You know, balance.
32:28
And she might say, yeah, that’s true.
32:29
And this other stuff.
32:31
Yeah, yeah.
32:32
BIB ready for the and part.
32:34
Yeah.
32:35
So, yeah, there’s a lot of words to say.
32:40
I like, I like analogies.
32:42
Everybody wants a six pack.
32:43
I’ve told my sales team this a bunch over the years.
32:45
Everybody wants a six pack for the summertime.
32:47
You can download 10,000 different ways to get a six pack.
32:50
You still got to do the sit ups.
32:51
Yeah, and so the first sit ups really, really hurt.
32:55
I think it’s getting candid feedback and then pondering, you know, and then build those muscles.
33:01
Yeah, transitioning a bit.
33:03
CRM, Do you love it or do you hate it?
33:07
I love what CRMS produce.
33:09
I personally hate taking the time to click a bunch of stuff.
33:15
It’s not too dissimilar from how I feel about mornings.
33:20
I hate waking up early.
33:22
I love what the morning produces, though.
33:25
And I know that I need guardrails.
33:27
You use the term guardrails.
33:28
I love that.
33:29
It’s great.
33:29
Yeah.
33:29
It keeps you from ending up in a ditch on either side.
33:33
So I know ACRM is much like the morning routine and and alarm clocks.
33:40
It’s not necessarily what it is that you fall in love with.
33:43
It’s what it produces.
33:44
So for me, that’s, again, I didn’t write anything down.
33:46
I’m just gut reaction.
33:47
That’s fine.
33:48
What’s your biggest struggle both for you and you think your team when it comes to CRM?
33:55
Putting the information in well, for my team it I don’t want to be have to be reflective of the services team or others ’cause they’re really, really good about putting their time into that.
34:06
For my team, I would say not having a reminder just go off for that next activity and then snoozing in or closing it out or saying lost.
34:17
So putting in accurate information in a timely manner.
34:20
Yeah, it’s so common stereotypical salespeople like it’s yes, what?
34:24
I still struggle with that.
34:26
I got 800 reminders on my phone right now.
34:28
So Oh yeah, no, it’s insane.
34:30
And, and that’s why I’m personally not a fan of reminders because eventually they become white noise and and then it becomes this thing that induces guilt and like, ah, crap, I’m not keeping up on these and you get these negative things.
34:44
And I’m just not a big fan of those.
34:46
And, and because if you’re doing any kind of sales, it’s fine when you’re not doing much volume, but if you’re really moving and shaking, you’re going to get overwhelmed fast.
34:57
So it’s a spin out just waiting that yeah, no, unless you’re, unless you’re hiring assistant to do it for you.
35:04
It’s not right.
35:04
Yeah.
35:05
That’s why clients are like, hey, can we get notifications for this?
35:07
And I’m like, OK, let’s think about this for a second.
35:12
And you know, then and once I talked to them about they’re almost always like, yeah, you know, you’re right.
35:17
We I never read those emails that come in.
35:19
Like I never, I see them come in, but I’m like, I don’t have time to read that.
35:23
And so it’s like that’s where dashboards are, you know, if you just let’s train them to come to a dashboard or some other mechanism that here’s my list of to do’s, I’d rather work off of that.
35:35
That’s right.
35:36
You have to click, you know, you know, deferred delay, whatever snooze I was looking for, or just ignore or just ignore.
35:48
You’ve got a bunch of yeah, we just ignore it, you know, and which is usually what happens.
35:54
So yeah, no, I get it.
35:56
We are at our time.
35:57
This always goes by sticking fast.
35:59
Every single episode I’m looking at my clock.
36:02
Steve, if people want to reach out and connect with you, what’s the and learn more about CCB technologies, what’s the best way for them to do that?
36:09
So for CCB or yourself?
36:12
Yeah, yeah.
36:13
So for CCBCCB technology.com, there’s a ton of information there.
36:19
And then you could find CCB on all major social media platforms as well.
36:23
LinkedIn is where we have our most influenced, largest following and that kind of thing.
36:28
YouTube included in that social media for CCB.
36:30
And then for me, I would direct people to, to LinkedIn, not just because it’s easy for me, but I, I love connecting people to people and people to ideas.
36:42
It doesn’t have to lead to a sale.
36:44
I promise I don’t like hit me.
36:48
It’s yeah, it’s just Steve Shearer on LinkedIn.
36:50
Yeah, that’s great.
36:51
So if you didn’t catch any of that, no worries.
36:53
We have it in our show notes.
36:54
You can get that at impellercrm.com/sales Lead Dog, where you’ll get not only this episode, but all our hundred plus episodes of sales Lead Dog.
37:03
Be sure to check that out and subscribe so you get all our future episodes.
37:08
Steve, it’s been great talking to you.
37:10
I love today’s topic.
37:11
I think it was just terrific.
37:13
I really appreciate your candor and sharing.
37:17
And welcome to the Sales Lead Dog pack.
37:19
Thank you.
37:21
Do we howl now?
37:21
Is this what?
37:22
Yeah, you can.
37:23
I’ve had some people howl like now that they’re in the pack.
37:29
As we end this discussion on Sales Lead Dog, be sure to subscribe to catch all our episodes on social media.
37:36
Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
37:39
Watch the videos on YouTube and you can also find our episodes on our website at impellercrm.com/ Sales Lead Dog.
37:49
Sales Lead Dog is supported by Impeller CRM, delivering objectively better CRM for business guaranteed.
