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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.
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Welcome to sales lead dog.
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On today’s episode, I have joined in me Tommy Panacetti of Techworks Consulting.
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Tommy, welcome to sales lead dog.
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Chris, thank you for having me.
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Very happy to be here.
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Happy new year.
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Happy new year.
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Tommy.
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Tell me a bit about Techworks.
0:46
All right, so Techworks Consulting, we’ve been around for over 20 years now.
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We’re located in Ronkonkoma.
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We’re a full service IT company.
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We do everything local to the cloud, everything in between.
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The big thing about tech works and what I love most about what we do here, although we service usually anybody who comes in, as long as you’re a good fit with us, we will take care of you.
1:09
The big thing we do though, other than the tri-state area, everywhere else in New York and all over the states, the big thing we do is service Long Island.
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We have a very big presence in Long Island.
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If you know this or not.
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And if you’re not familiar with the area, Long Island could be pretty expensive.
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And you know, as we’re growing and as you know, people are, you know, gaining and, you know, as we’re growing families here, one of the big issues is affordability out here.
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So instead of these other companies coming in, these larger companies, we really promote mom and pop shots, local companies as well, privately owned.
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We really want to support their businesses to ensure, you know, you have a future here.
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You can raise a family here and really just grow and keep your family on Long Island.
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We love the place we live.
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It’s absolutely beautiful and we just want to keep thriving and growing.
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One of the biggest things we do other than, you know, obviously service technology, it’s more than that.
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We are true partnership to where we promote your businesses as well.
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And whether that be a client we work with or even a vendor, we will always do what we can to make sure you’re shown in the best light and you have a chance to display your value to the world.
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One of the other things we do is our tremendously awesome CEO, Chris Coluccio.
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And no, he didn’t plug me to do this.
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He’s just such a great guy.
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He is also, he’s a man of many hats and he juggles a lot.
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Not only is the CEO of this company, he’s also the president of what’s called the MacArthur Business Alliance.
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And it’s a business networking group, one of the largest ones on Long Island.
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And what we do is just that we promote Long Island businesses.
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We get very active in our community and we right try to grow everything we can to make sure we’re all having a happy life out here.
2:48
That’s awesome.
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I love that.
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That’s what it takes.
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It takes a community, it takes a village, and we have to support each other.
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We have to.
2:56
I’m huge in the entrepreneur, I’m in Colorado.
3:00
I’m very big in supporting the local entrepreneurs.
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I really believe we’re the backbone of the economy.
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We don’t get a lot of attention or support.
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That’s OK because we’ll do it ourselves.
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We’re used to bootstrapping and making things happen, so I’d love that you guys are doing that.
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One of the greatest rewards I get being in my position, I’m the vice president of consulting and business development.
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So it’s not just, you know, new business coming in, it’s also retaining.
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The greatest thing I get back is really seeing the results and watching other companies grow with me.
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They had problems, they come on, we help grow together and as they flourish, we do.
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And it’s honestly the most rewarding part of my job.
3:42
Yeah, that’s awesome.
3:43
What do you think is the biggest misconception that people have about companies like Techworks?
3:50
Well, I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that we’re just like everybody else.
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You hear the word MSP and it’s kind of like a buzzword, you know, when everyone offers a full service or an all inclusive, you can get that everywhere.
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Something that I see and I have a vast amount of experience and other companies as well.
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What really differs with us is the level of how much we support and take care of our clients and the communication that comes along with it.
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I feel every company fails when they just want to collect a dollar.
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You know, you’ll get on, you’ll be onboarded, you know, and it’s a big thing to get onboarded onto a new MSP or an IT company.
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You’re onboarded in there and then basically sometimes they just let you sit.
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There’s no proactive, there’s no vision planning.
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We offer our VCI OS, who I’m in charge of, we offer a strategic vision plan.
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We do about two to three a year and then we’ll sit down and we’ll make you a one to three to five year plan with cost analysis.
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We want to give you a whole outlook of what your IT cost spend would be all the way through and a full plan with steps on how we’re going to hit your goals and our goals.
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And it’s really listening to the client as well and understanding what their goals are.
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And I feel a lot of companies don’t do that, but it’s something we do better than most at this point.
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Yeah, that’s that’s what you want.
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Because it’s, I think the biggest thing that from what I see, and I don’t totally live in your world.
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So I’ve I’ve, I’m, I’m a little bit skewed, I’d imagine.
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But people don’t under, I think they underestimate that.
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Oh, I’ll just outsource my IT and then I don’t have to worry about it.
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But yeah, I mean, that’s what you want.
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But to get there, you need a partner, someone who truly is going to be that trusted advisor attached to your hip and engaged in supporting you like, hey, we’re truly part of your business.
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We’re here to help you thrive.
5:43
But that’s what I love about your message.
5:45
I can really get that sense from you guys.
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It’s basically, and I say this a lot and my team will probably hear this, price is what you pay, value is what you get.
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And there’s a lot of things that you know, a lot of people want to be competitive.
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We offer a top tier white glove product, but it’s custom to everybody.
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When we’re listening to a client, no clients needs are the same.
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We could go on and they might use the same programs, they might use Office 365, but no client truly is the same and no business is the same.
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But it’s our goal to figure that out and show them why day in and day out, what we can do value wise and what we can provide you and give you that effortless experience, but a real one at that too, to where you’re actually getting value for what you’re spending with us.
6:29
You know, again, a lot of companies out there, and I’m not knocking any of them.
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It’s just that, you know, usually it’s the meat and potatoes, all that.
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When you come to Tech Works, again, we do a lot of vetting and this is another part.
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It’s not just from our employees that we bring here, it’s also our clients.
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You know, we invite them and it actually helps more.
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Come to our location, come see us.
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And, you know, we’re a fun group around here.
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We have, you know, a game room.
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We do have a mini bar that’s set up.
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Come have a drink.
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Come hang out a bit with us.
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You know, learn us.
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You know, we’re all humans.
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If you want a true partnership, a real partnership, we can give you that.
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And relationships are paramount.
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And this is what we grow.
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And I feel that’s stronger than anything.
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But of course, at the end of the day, we have to provide you value, and that’s what we do here.
7:10
Yeah.
7:10
Now, I love that Tommy, when you look back over your career and this is a hard question, I think for people, I, I think I’d have a hard time answering this because how do you sum your career up?
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I’m asking you to sum it up into three things that have really driven and LED to your success.
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What would those three things be for you, Tommy, that have gotten you where you are?
7:34
So the three things that would sum up, that is a great question.
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One right off the bat would be perseverance.
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Things get better, things get hard, people tend to fail.
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I have failed over and over in my career.
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When I actually started in my IT career very young, I, I did started out as a tech and literally I think it was like the first or second week I plugged a hard drive in wrong and I broke the whole hard drive and everyone kind of made fun of me and I was an intern.
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I was young.
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We’re talking 20 years ago.
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I’m telling you, I would not do that again.
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Maybe, but you know, again, not giving up, you know, constant failures lead to successes and I have failed over and over again.
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So the perseverance of keep going is where I got to where I am now.
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And it wouldn’t happen without the failures that I’ve experienced.
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And I feel that is the most important lesson for everybody.
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That’s the most important lesson, especially if you’re starting out.
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You can’t give up.
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You have to bet on yourself and the perseverance.
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Just keep pushing through.
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I promise you we’ll get better The next one.
8:37
I would say mentors, having great mentors and finding the right ones.
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This is also what I look at when I want to hire people or when I know it’s time for that next person to take the next step in their career.
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How motivated are you and how much are you absorbing what you’re learning?
8:55
I have someone I’m working with right now, one of my employees.
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He’s phenomenal.
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He’s doing great on the sales aspects side and what I love is his growth.
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And it’s not even about closing deals and he’s doing great.
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But one of the big things, my favorite part about him is the fact he’s listening to the way I have conversations.
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He’s listening to the way I’m engaging with clients.
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He’s listening how I follow through on promises and doing things.
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And I want him to make it his own.
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I don’t want to have him, you know, I’m not trying to make a bunch of robots.
9:24
That’s not what we do here, find the words.
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And when I hear him speaking like me, when I hear him use my words, my contacts are showing my level of urgency towards clients to get things done and delivering for them.
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I love that and that’s what makes them such a star.
9:38
And yeah, I would say the last one we had, perseverance.
9:42
We had, you know, I would say the last one would just be really having faith and being a positive positivity.
9:50
Positivity is probably the most important thing, especially in sales because really, let’s be honest, like, you know, you could have the perfect pitch.
9:59
You can do everything correctly and at the end of the day, you know, it could just fall through.
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Maybe it wasn’t the right price.
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Maybe it’s something beyond your control.
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That doesn’t mean you did a bad job and you can’t spend time beating yourself up about that.
10:13
The past is the past, and I said it, we’ve all made mistakes, but really having the positivity on the next one, it’s like a relationship.
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If you had a bad relationship, you know, you could talk about it all you want, but don’t walk into your next relationship with that baggage.
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You know, I’m married, so I know I’m not allowed to do that and I would never do that, you know, and that’s what it is.
10:32
You can’t walk in with the past problems on there.
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You have to look at it with a fresh clean slate and be happy about and be optimistic.
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And that’s one of the most important things.
10:40
So having those three things very big key to my success.
10:43
Oh, I bet.
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And what I like about the positivity and, and it’s a decision.
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It’s not a byproduct.
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It’s something you have to consciously embrace and decide.
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I’m going to approach it this way.
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It’s a way to live your life.
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And I, I really embrace that.
11:01
I can remember where I heard it.
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I was listening to radio somewhere and someone was talking about the difference between happiness and being joyful or positive.
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Happiness is a byproduct.
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It’s something you get just as a byproduct of being whatever, you know, I’d, I’d say the Broncos win the Super Bowl, but it come on, it’s not going to happen.
11:24
Happened before.
11:25
Yeah, it might happen again.
11:26
Yeah, it might happen again.
11:28
It’s it’s that decision you make that I’m going to live my life this way.
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I’m going to live it with this attitude and from this perspective.
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It’s such a better way to live.
11:39
There’s really no choice when you think about it.
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Life is so short.
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We were talking earlier, you know, you having your kids, you know, then also again, me having a family and even my team around me, it positivity and negativity I feel are toxic and, and it could be good.
11:54
It’s infectious.
11:55
That’s probably the better word to use.
11:57
It’s infectious.
11:58
So if you have someone who’s constantly negative, I’ve watched it spread like wildfire around everyone and that’s very bad for a company.
12:05
If you have infectious positivity, it gets leadership.
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It makes leadership easier.
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It motivates other people around you.
12:12
They want to be around you, they want to absorb that.
12:14
And it’s a quality that, you know, again, it is a choice, but it’s something that has to be worked because as, you know, in sales and as, you know, just in the world today and, you know, the world we’re living in, it gets harder and harder to do that.
12:26
So if someone who has that and consistently does it, that’s another big word.
12:30
Consistency of consistently doing that.
12:32
That is a game changer for your organization and you as a person.
12:36
Oh, yeah, totally.
12:36
And that goes back to you being, again, being persistent.
12:40
Yeah.
12:40
All that.
12:40
It’s like, this is the way I’m going to live.
12:42
And I’m, I’m embracing it.
12:43
No matter what happens.
12:45
This is my path.
12:46
Yep.
12:47
Tommy, did you choose sales or did sales choose you?
12:52
I’m so happy you worded it like that.
12:55
Yeah, so I did see that and I was like, this is going to be a fun conversation.
13:00
So no, I actually did not choose sales.
13:04
I didn’t want to do sales.
13:06
So how I started out with my career is again, I was a level one network administrator as an intern and through the ranks, growth, maturity and experience over a very long time, over years.
13:18
You know, I feel eventually and for the IT people out there, they’re going to understand this really well when you might too.
13:23
Chris, you hit that crossroad.
13:25
It’s the famous crossroad in the IT path and there’s two ways you go really there.
13:30
The first one is you go into a networking, a full-fledged IT technical person.
13:35
That point, you know, you’re more behind the scenes, not saying anything bad about this company would not survive without these people.
13:41
They do a tremendous job here.
13:43
We need them.
13:44
The other path is more on the social aspect and what I value.
13:49
And like I said before, what brings me the most joy is having those conversations with a client, you know, providing them solutions, giving them what they need to run their business, but then also gaining the reaction from them, feeling the happiness, the joy, the trust and the build of the building of growth in our relationship.
14:08
Having that is paramount to me.
14:11
That is one of my favorite things.
14:12
So naturally, as we go through this path and as I kept climbing up that ladder, it comes to a point where sales is a portion of it, whether it be just retaining the client, whether it be, you know, providing a new solution.
14:26
So it was part of it, but if anyone was to ask me, no, I’d still even to this day, we don’t sell you anything.
14:32
You know, again, a mechanic is not selling you something.
14:35
You have an issue, you’re bringing it to him, he’s fixing it.
14:37
Your doctor is a surgeon and that’s really what it is, especially for your business.
14:41
It’s like being a surgeon.
14:43
You bring it to you, you only get one shot.
14:45
You know, your company is like a body and you know if you need a really good heart surgeon, you don’t want to go to the wrong one.
14:51
It could only be done right the first time and it could cripple a business.
14:54
Same thing like heart surgery or any type of surgeon.
14:56
So.
14:57
So it is very important.
14:58
Really.
14:59
I really value that.
15:00
And this is how, you know, I grew.
15:03
And then sales was just a portion of that.
15:05
And I still look at today, I’m not making a sale.
15:07
It’s not even about that.
15:08
It’s more about taking care of the clients and growing each other’s business as we grow.
15:12
Yeah.
15:12
I get that sense from you that, you know, listening to you #1 I think you definitely chose the correct path.
15:19
You definitely are a people person.
15:22
So yeah, I can totally see it.
15:24
Just listening.
15:24
And I’m like, oh, thank you.
15:26
Yeah, I I totally understand why you chose this path.
15:30
But I also get the sense that you really are not trying to sell people when you work with them.
15:36
What’s your approach when you’re meeting with customers or prospective customers for the first time?
15:42
That’s a great question.
15:43
And it’s something that’s always talked about, but it’s rarely followed what we really do, especially as consultants.
15:50
It’s even in our name, asking the questions.
15:53
It’s more about my sales approach.
15:55
I’m never going to sell you something that you don’t need.
15:58
So one of the big things that we do is really ask the questions.
16:02
Why are we here?
16:03
What’s going on?
16:04
What are the pain points you’re having?
16:06
Tell me more about your business.
16:07
Where are you trying to grow?
16:09
Like, what are you trying to accomplish?
16:10
What are your goals?
16:11
What are your deliverables?
16:13
And now we come up with a plan and a strategy for that.
16:16
Typically what we do, we have a pretty cost effective system where we do a network assessment.
16:20
This can be and we range our clients or mom and pop shops all the way to government entities.
16:26
We have multiple industries.
16:27
One of our largest clients is like over 3000 users, 80 locations.
16:32
So depending we have an assessment that we come in and we do, we’ll take care of everything.
16:36
We’ll make a full debrief, if you will, and presentation on your problems that you’re having where you can kind of, you know, maybe adjust and do something a little bit better.
16:47
And then what we really need to fully just RIP out and replace.
16:50
And then they see that and if we’re giving you the value and you see the value in doing that, we’re painting the right picture, then that’s really what we end up doing and that’s where we go from there.
16:59
So really the conversation itself starts off with questions, but then after we get through those questions, the next step would be an assessment.
17:07
And then from there, we’ll start growing in a partnership at that point.
17:11
Do you ever run across prospects where after you’re doing everything you just talked about, do you realize like this really doesn’t feel like a good fit for us?
17:20
Do you ever run into that?
17:21
So yes and no.
17:23
So sometimes we do run into that.
17:25
And there have been instances where, you know, something might not have been a great fit.
17:30
And we’re honest, we’re open and transparent about that.
17:34
Let’s say, you know, it could be.
17:36
And again, this is mostly a communication issue.
17:38
Again, we have to, for lack of a better word, we have to vibe with our clients.
17:42
We have to organically be on the same page.
17:44
We’re not a pushcart peddler.
17:46
We’re not a vendor.
17:47
We’re not Best Buy.
17:48
No offense to Best Buy, but you know, we’re not, you’re not ordering something off of there.
17:52
We’re providing you value.
17:53
If you don’t see that, then it might not be a great fit.
17:57
If we don’t see if we can offer you something, we’ll be open and transparent.
18:01
Does that happen a lot?
18:02
No, because usually what ends up happening is they’re coming to us with problems.
18:06
And I know a lot of companies, they have maybe a set way or standard solutions.
18:11
Well, you know, we go above and beyond and we do everything like we say, from local to the cloud.
18:16
If we don’t know how to do it, we will get you either that partner we will or introduce you to that correct entity who would be able to support you at that point.
18:26
Yeah, Yeah, I think that’s the right thing to do, right.
18:28
It’s like, hey, I still want to help you.
18:30
May not help you in a partnership, but I’m at least help you on your journey, guide you to maybe someone that’s a better fit.
18:37
And you never know where that goes.
18:38
You know, they might, they may not be the right fit, Chris, They might not be that one, but they might know someone like, hey, these guys are really great.
18:45
They know their stuff.
18:46
They weren’t the right fit for me, but hey, check these guys out, check out Techworks, call Tommy.
18:51
And then we get on that path.
18:52
It never hurts to, you know, keep relationships alive and just do the right thing.
18:57
That’s one of our core values.
18:59
Yep, I love that.
19:02
So tell me you’re, you’re in tech sales and now you’ve got another crossroad in front of you.
19:07
Hey, I can stay in sales or I can move into sales leadership.
19:13
What was that decision like for you?
19:15
Was that easy to make or did you struggle with that decision?
19:19
And, and why what, what made it easier?
19:21
What made it hard?
19:22
Yeah.
19:23
So how it worked out because I was already.
19:25
So as I grew and when we hit that crossroad, I like to say it ended up being the next step of that was an account manager, if you will.
19:33
So I was an account manager for a while and that had semi sales in it.
19:37
It wasn’t full control over everything yet like a VCIOA virtual CIO would be, which was my next step after that.
19:44
But you know, that was my first step into it and really getting my feet wet into sales.
19:49
And you know, again, when it came to helping the client and making sure it was fun to provide the right solutions and do that.
19:55
And it was really organically that next step.
19:57
And what happened was then it was the vcio.
20:00
When it came to leadership at that point as a VCIO and even as an account manager still, you still have a responsibility to your team and your client.
20:08
So I like to look at it, not to get away from your question.
20:12
Leadership always starts, I feel you don’t need a title for it.
20:16
And that’s a big thing, I believe.
20:18
I have level 1 service desk people right now that display constantly in and out leadership.
20:25
You know what makes a great leader?
20:27
Are you commutative?
20:28
Are you rallying the troops behind you?
20:30
You know, are they willing to go to war with you?
20:33
Are you pushing them?
20:34
You know, but you have to be there with them.
20:36
Are you pushing them forward?
20:38
And if you’re doing those things, it doesn’t matter what your role is.
20:41
You’re a leader.
20:41
And that’s, I feel very important.
20:44
But again, as we got to my path, the leadership role, it was more more of organically built into it.
20:50
So, you know, the vcio had that portion of it for the clients, had it for our internal staff.
20:57
And then, you know, when I came over to tech works, they’re like, well, you have this resume, what do you want to do?
21:02
And I’m like, I want to help my clients, but you know, there is a need to hear, you know, we’re trying to drive growth in revenue, whether it be through the clients or acquire new business.
21:12
And it really was the job for me.
21:14
And I told them to, I told, you know, my C level team, as long as I still have the opportunity to work with the clients and grow them and help them go, I’ll do whatever else you want.
21:24
And you know, we did phenomenal this past year.
21:27
So it was definitely worth the right.
21:29
It was definitely the right move.
21:31
What were some of the state, excuse me, what were some of the mistakes you made early on as a leader?
21:37
How did you learn from those?
21:39
No, that that’s a great question too.
21:41
So some mistakes I made early on, one I would say is taking it personally.
21:46
So you have a loss, you would sit there and again, it, it’s only natural perseverating on that loss.
21:53
And then so you start and it, it’s, it happens.
21:56
Just the negative thinking that comes on.
21:58
I didn’t hit my goals for quarter one.
22:00
Let’s say what’s going to go on quarter two?
22:02
What goes on with quarter three?
22:03
Just getting scared and starting to have a fear of failure and just thinking the worst.
22:09
And that’s the worst thing you can do as a salesperson.
22:12
But again, it’s very young and we’re talking years back, but it took some time, you know, again and skill to really pull that optimism and positivity back.
22:21
And we was like, hey, it’s only one quarter, let’s do this.
22:23
And it’s always worked out.
22:25
And it came to the point I realized every time I failed, you know, it only I ended up on my feet and I always succeeded more.
22:32
So don’t ever hold on to those failures.
22:35
That was one that was, I feel probably the biggest one.
22:38
That was like one of the negative sides.
22:41
Yeah.
22:41
Yeah, I, to me, I my best, the most important things I’ve learned have been through failure, honestly.
22:53
And I think most people share that sentiment.
22:57
So yeah, I think that’s really important.
22:59
What do you do to create a culture in your team to help people understand what you just said that hey, it’s going to happen, you know, so just be ready for it and it’s OK.
23:12
But how do you create that culture in your team around, you know, failure is a learning opportunity.
23:19
Failure is always a learning opportunity.
23:21
They it’s going to happen.
23:22
It’s a part of life, whether it be at work or not.
23:25
And, you know, just talking about before with your son, you know, you being such a good friend, almost like buddy, buddy.
23:31
You know, the first thing is you want to be there for them.
23:34
It’s not easy.
23:35
We all have failed.
23:36
We all need to have compassion, empathy for it.
23:39
And, you know, sometimes people doubt.
23:42
And, you know, in that moment, they might feel really upset.
23:45
But you know, you can be that person said, yeah, I was in those shoes too.
23:49
And look where I am now and look where you’re going.
23:52
Look at all the great things you’re accomplishing.
23:54
And you know, when you have that and when you give them the support and you empower them.
23:59
And I challenge them to fail more.
24:01
And that’s something I do.
24:02
You’re going to fail.
24:03
Go ahead.
24:04
Nobody grows out of just winning all the time.
24:07
You don’t grow like that.
24:08
You grow out of failure and you grow bigger.
24:12
You learn more lessons.
24:13
You get more skilled at that point if you fail.
24:16
But you have to fail 1st.
24:17
And it’s actually, it’s one of the most important lessons of life.
24:20
And it’s something I think we all work on all the time.
24:22
But, you know, hopefully we all get there and it just gets easier as we go.
24:26
Oh, yeah, yeah.
24:27
Without a doubt.
24:29
Tell me about the most successful person you ever hired and what was it, What attributes did they have that made them so successful?
24:39
We spoke about it a little bit.
24:40
And that same person, it’s really when you’re acting like a sponge, when you’re absorbing.
24:46
The best example I could give.
24:48
I don’t know if you’re a basketball guy.
24:50
I know you mentioned football before.
24:51
You can’t tell I’m 65 sitting down, but OK.
24:54
All right, all right.
24:54
There you go.
24:55
But yeah, I’m a basketball guy.
24:57
Awesome.
24:57
All right.
24:57
So do you remember back in the day when it used to be good, Sorry, with Jordan used to play and Kobe Bryant was just coming out of school.
25:05
He just got into the NBA.
25:06
And I used to watch those games and Jordan would hit like a crazy drum shot, make some insane move.
25:11
But then if you were actually watching, you know, either a timeout or something, Kobe would run over to him.
25:17
Didn’t even matter that they weren’t on the same team.
25:19
And you see him sneak up.
25:20
How did you do that?
25:21
Like, what was the move?
25:22
What were you looking for?
25:23
Just the knowledge of asking questions.
25:26
I want to be better.
25:27
I want to be better at this.
25:28
I want to hone my craft to the best of my abilities.
25:32
You know, Fast forward a decade later, if you really watch Kobe Bryant play, it’s like Michael Jordan 2 point O with the way he’s turning around.
25:38
Some people might have a problem with me saying that, but you know, again, you can see the art behind it and what we do really, it’s an art.
25:45
It’s not a skill.
25:46
Like, you know, a lot of the stuff we do, it’s an art form.
25:49
So when you’re having conversations, when you’re doing that, you know, watching that grow and watching that happen is really what gets you to that next level.
25:56
And I seen that within my team and seeing when someone wants that they have that hunger and and they’re listening to me and they really perfect the conversation or they try to get better out of each day.
26:08
That’s when I know we have a winner.
26:10
Yeah, that’s awesome.
26:11
I love that analogies too, that that like I’ve I’ve listened, I listen to a lot of sports radio and all that.
26:19
And one show in particular, they there was a period where they would, you know, when they’re interviewing guys from that, you know, are retired playing basketball.
26:28
They asked them, what’s your Jordan story?
26:30
What’s your Kobe story?
26:32
Oh, I love those.
26:32
And they’re awesome to listen to because they parallel what you just said is that Kobe was perfectly willing to go to people and say, teach me how you did that.
26:44
And he’d work with them and he’d work it into his game.
26:47
But then he was also willing to do the same for younger guys that I remember listening to this guy saying, you know, he reached out to Kobe and said, like, could we work out together?
26:58
I would love to get my game to the next level.
27:02
Kobe’s sure show up at this school at this.
27:06
It was like 6:00 AM, something like that.
27:08
And he got there.
27:10
Nobody’s there.
27:12
They had to find a Jan or whatever to let them in the gym.
27:14
Kobe’s not there.
27:16
They’re trying to figure out what’s going on.
27:18
And they finally got a hold of Kobe, and he’s like, hey, I’ll be there in 15 minutes.
27:24
And he gets there.
27:25
They have a great workout.
27:27
And he said it was just incredible just trying to keep up with Kobe and the stuff he was working on.
27:33
He really put me through my paces.
27:36
And then, you know, but the whole time I’m trying to figure out like, what the heck’s going on?
27:40
Like, why was he late and all that?
27:42
And, and he at the end of the workout, they’re like, hey, can you know, I’m here for three days, Can we do this again tomorrow?
27:50
And.
27:51
And he’s like, yeah, same time.
27:54
And I’ll be here at at 6:00 AM.
27:56
And when they showed up at 6:00 AM, Kobe had already been there for like an hour working out.
28:02
And and then he realized he’s like, he wasn’t messing with me.
28:08
He wanted to see how committed I was before he committed his time.
28:12
He wanted to make sure that, hey, I’m going to give the gift of my time and do what I can to help you.
28:18
But you better show up and you better give it your all.
28:21
So that’s my very long question, but what what’s your thought around that?
28:27
That it’s a two way street, right?
28:30
And so when you’re not seeing that commitment from someone, they want to learn, they say they want to learn, but the commitments not there, how do you handle that?
28:39
So really it could be multiple factors, inexperience.
28:44
Sometimes it’s the right person, wrong seat.
28:47
We follow an EOS model here, so it could be that they’re the right person, but maybe they’re not in the seat they need to be in.
28:54
And you know, one of the biggest things I want, like when I speak to my team, I can’t wait for them to get on my level.
29:00
I have a bar and I’m a firm believer.
29:02
And you can’t move up anywhere if you don’t train the guy below you to be where you’re at and do your job.
29:08
So I’m constantly looking for that.
29:10
I believe in sharing knowledge, sharing wealth.
29:14
I want them to come up and do it.
29:15
But if I ever ran into that situation, I did once or twice before to where, you know, maybe they have the motivation or they say they want to, but they don’t do it.
29:24
Actions speak louder in the words, at least for me, and I make that very clear.
29:28
I’m very transparent about that.
29:30
I will do whatever it takes to help you get there.
29:33
I will force you if you have to.
29:34
You know, we will do different things, but sometimes it comes down to not the right, right person, right seat.
29:39
You’re great for the company, but maybe there’s another role.
29:42
Maybe you’re not a sales guy, maybe you’re an account manager, maybe you have the technical skills you want to be a VCIO or a consultant.
29:48
We could work that out.
29:49
And that’s the key.
29:50
You know, sometimes we have great people, but they have to be put in the right seat for them to shine.
29:55
Yeah.
29:55
I so those of you who mentioned the OS, that’s the Entrepreneur operating system.
29:59
If you don’t know anything about that, Google it.
30:01
There’s, I don’t care what size organization you are.
30:03
I think it could be applied anywhere, but I’d love that you guys are doing that.
30:08
Oh, it’s great.
30:08
Yeah, it really is.
30:09
It, it’s a phenomenal way to run a business.
30:14
What do you do to, I mean, you mentioned this a little bit, but I’d like you to dive a little bit deeper.
30:19
What, how do you identify the first part and then cultivate future sales leaders?
30:26
So really what it comes down to, we have a process and remember Long Island, if you can remember, Long Island’s pretty small.
30:34
So you know when we’re recruiting it, it’s a very small community.
30:37
I don’t like saying it’s like a Hollywood, but everyone basically knows.
30:42
Everyone from Manhattan to Montauk, if you will, some of the big names and key players, you are well known throughout the industry.
30:50
So at that point, if we don’t know, let’s say, or if it’s a young person coming in again, what I just want to see, I want to see the determination, the motivation and are you absorbing?
30:59
And again, what we do And back to circle back to what I said originally, we have a rigorous process.
31:06
It was, it’s not like, hey, you have a pulse, you have a great resume.
31:09
Come work at Techworks.
31:11
That’s not what we do at all Here.
31:13
It is a process is maybe a month or maybe two months.
31:15
I think it was 2 1/2 months before they hired me.
31:18
What we do is first of all, we got to get through the technical.
31:21
What’s your background?
31:22
You have to go through everyone you know, you have to meet them again, it’s a vibe.
31:26
It’s we’re committing, just like you said with Kobe Bryant.
31:30
We’re committing our time, our energy, our money, our effort.
31:34
We’re investing in you.
31:35
Will you invest back with us?
31:37
Is this someone?
31:38
Because let’s be honest, life happens sometimes.
31:41
We’re not a company.
31:42
This is not a revolving door.
31:44
I think the amount of tenure around here is insane.
31:48
How many people we have that you know, have been here, you know, 1012, fifteen, 1620 years.
31:54
We have a lot of longevity here.
31:57
You know, we’re not a revolving door.
31:59
You’re going to go through some stuff sometimes and we’re going to be here for you.
32:02
We’re going to see you through that, but you need to do that for us.
32:05
So after that time, you know, we got the right vibe, you’re the right personality, you’re the right fit at that point.
32:11
We’re going to do everything to make you grow and be successful here.
32:14
And that’s something that my CEO, my CEO and all the sea levels and the VPS here try to really emulate around here and really tell everyone else that, you know, this is how it’s going to be.
32:25
We’re going to look after you, we’re going to take care of you.
32:27
It’s going to be OK, but just invest in us back.
32:30
Yeah.
32:30
And that speaks volumes, I think, to your culture that you guys have created that kind of culture around here.
32:37
Yeah.
32:37
In the tech world especially, you just don’t see that.
32:41
And so I have that.
32:42
That speaks volumes to your culture.
32:45
And I imagine your customers really appreciate that too, to have that level of stability that they know when they call, they’re going to talk to the person or whoever answers the phone.
32:54
It’s someone they know.
32:55
Well.
32:56
Often times, Chris, and a lot of IT companies are like this with the revolving door method.
33:02
The client gets very frustrated because they’re never talking to that same person again.
33:07
You want to do is bring a level of intimacy, if you will, to where you have a set team.
33:12
These are the five to 10 guys you work with day in and day out.
33:16
These are your people.
33:17
They know your business, they know your pain points, your urgency.
33:21
They know who’s who to where.
33:22
They know your birthday, they’re wishing you happy birthday.
33:24
This is the level we that we bring and we provide, you know, that sometime overlooked at other companies and it’s something that we really, you know, cherish inside to make sure that we’re really connecting and having that intimate relationship with our clients.
33:39
Yeah, now it’s so important.
33:41
I mean to me that’s the only way you truly grow a business.
33:45
Yeah, is that it can’t be transactional.
33:47
It’s got to be about long term relationships and wins and values for both sides.
33:54
I feel the money will come.
33:55
The money exactly.
33:56
You know, and again, there’s sometimes, you know, we have some clients that have been through some hardships and you know, again, just like our employees, we have given deals.
34:05
We have given.
34:05
OK, we’ll give you a break right now.
34:07
I know things are tough.
34:08
Let’s work out something later on.
34:10
We are a true partnership and some companies, you know, you know, you don’t, you’re late or you know, you’re going out of business or something happens, you know, still send me the check.
34:18
You know, screw you, pay me.
34:20
We’re not like that.
34:20
You know, we will work with us.
34:22
It’s a true partnership, in and out.
34:23
No, no, I love that shifting conversation a bit.
34:26
CRM.
34:27
Do you love it or do you hate it?
34:30
Do I love to hate it?
34:31
Got it though.
34:32
Yeah.
34:32
Do you love to hate it?
34:33
There you go.
34:33
So how I look at CRM, it is really there’s so much that goes into it when it has to be the right time, it has to be the right company, it has to be the right process for that particular CRM and it might have to be a custom job.
34:51
There are so many components.
34:53
It has to fit the process of the company.
34:55
So personally, right now we’re still vetting them.
34:58
You know, we haven’t had, we haven’t found that perfect solution yet and that’s OK.
35:03
But the big thing is, you know, what we do is, and you know, the process is we’re going through, does it fit our process?
35:09
How I envision it being ran, It needs to be an extension of our team.
35:13
It needs to be an automated tool.
35:15
If we’re spending too much time in putting information and doing so much manual stuff, it’s not worth it because I rather have my guys either contacting clients, working with them or being on the phones to talk to new clients and bringing them in.
35:28
I rather that be the case.
35:29
So it has to be the right fit, the right time.
35:32
Everything has to align perfectly.
35:34
It really depends the model, yeah, yeah, No, it and you said it, it has to enable your team.
35:40
To me, if it’s not enabling your team, I see this all the time, it’s not enabling your team.
35:44
It’s a tool.
35:46
I think people look at CRM the wrong way.
35:49
They don’t look at it as a tool.
35:52
And it’s like any other tool.
35:54
If it’s the wrong tool for the job, you’re not going to use it.
35:58
You’re going to go find something else, another way to get your work done.
36:01
Or you’re just going to waste a lot of time or you waste a lot of time and a lot of money, right.
36:05
And, and, and there’s just, yeah, it shouldn’t be that way.
36:10
When CRM is done correctly, it’s enabling your team.
36:14
It’s giving them something to make them better at their job or at least support them in, in being better at their job.
36:20
It’s helping them be proactive.
36:21
It’s helping them engage with the customer in a better way, a deeper way that that’s what it’s about, right?
36:29
That’s 100% what it’s about.
36:31
You know, again, it’s finding.
36:32
And again, like I said before earlier in the podcast, no one business is the same.
36:38
So you know, you can have successes with one CRM for one particular business.
36:42
I have plenty of clients that use CRM and it might not be the next, the best fit for that next business, depending on vertical, depending on style, depending on process.
36:52
So you know, it can be painstaking, but if it’s used correctly, if you know the planets align, if you will, if it’s utilized correctly, if it’s set up, if it matches your process to be used as an effortless tool, then it’s worth the investment.
37:06
No, it really is.
37:07
And, and, but it takes work.
37:09
It’s like everything else.
37:10
There’s no silver, silver bullet.
37:13
You’ve got to have like you were talking about before.
37:16
You have to understand the business that this tool is going into.
37:19
What are we trying to do with the business?
37:20
What are our goals?
37:21
Where do we want to be in three years or five years?
37:25
What are the things we’re doing to get there?
37:26
Then how can this tool help us?
37:28
How can it enable us?
37:29
How can it maybe accelerate some things or make things easier or allow us to go to new markets that we can’t go into today?
37:39
You know, that’s what you should be talking about when you’re making that decision.
37:46
You said you, you guys are still trying to figure out the CRM.
37:49
What do you think has been, if you could boil it down to one thing, I know it’s never one thing, but is there one thing that you would say is probably the biggest struggle that we’ve had with getting CRM to work for your business?
38:01
The CRM, That’s a great question.
38:03
The CRM changing the process that we know is tried and true and effortless on my team side as opposed to us making a CRM work for us and utilizing it, as you said as a tool.
38:16
You know, us changing what has been working and what has been successful to now accommodate this has been more difficult and has, you know threw off the flow, if you will, instead of the other way around, which is to just be an effortless tool on our end.
38:31
And we’re still vetting, we’re still looking.
38:32
You know, we’re not done.
38:33
Our job is never done.
38:35
And you know, the, the crazy thing about technology, the the, the biggest frustration in the world is change.
38:40
And we all know technology is constantly changing.
38:43
So at that point, you know, it might be evolving into something else in five years.
38:47
So, you know, we’re still going to vet and still look.
38:49
But again, as long as we still have our true process, our core beliefs, we have our core systems that we’re working on, we’ll still be fine.
38:55
It doesn’t stop operations at all.
38:58
Yeah.
38:59
What advice do you have for someone that’s in your situation where like, hey, look, we know we don’t have the right CRM for us yet.
39:07
We’re still optimistic.
39:11
What advice do you have for them to help them in their journey?
39:14
Well, if you hire a company like Techworks, we do the, we do the vetting for you.
39:20
What we would end up doing is we would demo, we would schedule if it has to make sense for your business, but also we have to understand your business.
39:27
So then we could start eliminating some things.
39:29
We know it’s not going to work.
39:31
When we get down to a few, we see what works or not.
39:34
So you can hire a company like Tech Works to make sure that’s done for you and you can pick the best one.
39:39
At that point, you just have to keep looking.
39:41
You have to do and find something that works for you and is good.
39:44
And you know, again, don’t be married to it.
39:46
Something else would come down the line.
39:47
That’s the biggest thing.
39:48
I’m married to my wife and that’s about it.
39:50
After that, you know, when it comes to programs, you know, it doesn’t matter at that point.
39:55
I would not stick with it.
39:57
And what could work today might not work in a few years.
39:59
So you always got to constantly be looking.
40:01
What we do, especially on my VCIO team, we stay ahead of the technology curve.
40:06
So we’re constantly testing out new products, new solutions because again, as I said, what worked before may not work tomorrow.
40:12
So that’s what we’re doing constantly now.
40:14
I agree.
40:15
And I the one thing I like that you said too is really understanding what is your core processes that we’re trying to support.
40:22
When I see that a lot where people don’t really have their arms around their processes yet and they’re trying to install the core system like CRM, it’s hard.
40:31
Very, very hard.
40:32
If you don’t have those processes defined, if you don’t truly understand what the business needs, it makes it harder.
40:39
100% Chris.
40:40
Tommy, we’re at our time here on sales lead.
40:43
Doug.
40:43
It always goes by so fast.
40:45
I see it every episode, but I’m it goes by every time so fast.
40:49
If people want to reach on connect with you, Tommy, if they want to learn more and and say, hey, we need help with our business, what’s the best way for them to do that?
40:58
Absolutely.
40:59
So first and foremost, the best way to do that make techwork.com.
41:04
And then you go so reach me on LinkedIn.
41:06
Tommy Panacetti Yep.
41:08
And if you didn’t get any of that, don’t worry, we have it in our show notes and we’ll we’ll have a link to Tommy’s LinkedIn profile, their website, [email protected]/sales Lead Dog, where you’ll get not only this episode of Sales Lead Dog, but all our hundred plus episodes of Sales Lead Dog.
41:29
Be sure to check that out and subscribe so you get all our future episodes as well.
41:33
We greatly appreciate that, Tommy.
41:35
Thank you again.
41:36
It’s been great talking to you.
41:37
Thank you again for coming on Sales Lead Dog and welcome to the Sales Lead Dog pack.
41:42
Thank you so much.
41:43
Absolute pleasure.
41:44
Thank you for having me, Chris.
41:45
Thank you.
41:45
Appreciate it.
41:47
Awesome.
41:49
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41:57
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42:00
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42:10
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