{"id":23396241,"date":"2024-02-14T21:35:59","date_gmt":"2024-02-14T21:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vendasta.com\/blog\/?p=23396241"},"modified":"2026-01-21T19:57:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T19:57:22","slug":"unleashing-the-secrets-of-sales-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vendasta.com\/blog\/unleashing-the-secrets-of-sales-success\/","title":{"rendered":"704: Unleashing the Secrets of Sales Success | Doug C. Brown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section fb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; admin_label=&#8221;section&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][et_pb_row admin_label=&#8221;row&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;|||&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; custom_padding__hover=&#8221;|||&#8221;][et_pb_code _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;]<script async defer onload=\"redcircleIframe();\" src=\"https:\/\/api.podcache.net\/embedded-player\/sh\/4f451305-e5b4-4878-b293-63e3057356b8\/ep\/2d5a2e83-3827-4d8f-98a2-5efae83449f4\"><\/script><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->    <\/p>\n<div class=\"redcirclePlayer-2d5a2e83-3827-4d8f-98a2-5efae83449f4\"><\/div>\n<p><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->    <\/p>\n<style><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->    .redcircle-link:link {<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->        color: #ea404d;<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->        text-decoration: none;<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->    }<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->    .redcircle-link:hover {<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->        color: #ea404d;<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->    }<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->    .redcircle-link:active {<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->        color: #ea404d;<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->    }<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->    .redcircle-link:visited {<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->        color: #ea404d;<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->    }<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --><\/style>\n<p><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --><pee style=\"margin-top:3px;margin-left:11px;font-family: sans-serif;font-size: 10px; color: gray;\">Powered by <a class=\"redcircle-link\" href=\"https:\/\/redcircle.com?utm_source=rc_embedded_player&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_campaign=embedded_v1\">RedCircle<\/a><\/pee>[\/et_pb_code][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; hover_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; sticky_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p>Ready to unlock the secrets of sales success?<\/p>\n<p>Join us on the\u00a0<a href=\"\/blog\/podcasts\/\">Conquer Local Podcast<\/a>\u00a0as we welcome\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/dougbrown123\">Doug C. Brown<\/a>, CEO of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ceosalesstrategies.com\/\">CEO Sales Strategies<\/a>\u00a0and a Sales Revenue Guru. Ever wondered how to achieve an 864% boost in division sales in just six months? Doug, with an impressive track record at Intuit, CBS Television, and Procter &amp; Gamble, shares his success strategies.<\/p>\n<p>From leading high-impact web seminars for Tony Robbins to pioneering the game-changing\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/vibitno.com\/\">Vibitno software<\/a>, Doug\u2019s insights are valuable for scaling your business.<\/p>\n<p>Tune in as he shares top-performing strategies via the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/resources.ceosalesstrategies.com\/academy_invite\/\">Top 1% Academy<\/a>, helping businesses skyrocket in revenue and profitability!<\/p>\n<p><em>Conquer Local is presented by\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"\/\"><em>Vendasta.<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0We have proudly served 5.5+ million local businesses through 60,000+ channel partners, agencies, and enterprise-level organizations. Learn more about Vendasta, and we can help your organization or learn more about\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"\"><em>Vendasta\u2019s Affiliate Program<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0and how our listeners (like yourself) make up to $10,000 off referrals.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Are you an entrepreneur, salesperson, or marketer? Then, keep the learning going in the <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/academy.vendasta.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Vendasta Academy.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Unleashing the Secrets of Sales Success<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Welcome to the Conquer Local Podcast! Our show features successful sales leaders, marketers, thought leaders and entrepreneurs who will inspire you with their success stories. Each episode is packed with practical strategies, as our guests share their secrets to achieving their dreams. Listen in to learn the highlights of their remarkable accomplishments and get tips to revamp, rework, and reimagine your business. Whether you\u2019re a small business owner, marketer, or aspiring entrepreneur, the Conquer Local Podcast is your ultimate guide to dominating your local market. Tune in now to take your business to the next level!\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m Jeff Tomlin and on this episode, we\u2019re pleased to welcome Doug C. Brown.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Doug is the CEO of CEO Sales Strategies and a Sales Revenue and Profit Growth Expert.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He has led client award-winning, high-performance teams and pioneered profitable development programs for companies. He has advised companies such as Intuit, CBS Television, Procter &amp; Gamble, and thousands of other businesses and entrepreneurs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As an independent division head, creating, training, and presenting high-impact, results-oriented web seminars for prospects of Tony Robbins and Chet Holmes, Doug increased division sales by 864% and close rate by 62% in just six months.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Today, he helps businesses to increase revenue and profitably acquire clients by using strategies of top performers through the Top 1% Academy and advisory work. His newest venture is Vibitno, a software focused on sales efficiency and productivity for owners, managers and sales professionals.<\/p>\n<p>Get ready Conquerors for Doug C. Brown coming up next on this week\u2019s episode of the Conquer Local Podcast.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Entrepreneurship Started at a Young Age and Built Successful Businesses.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Doug C. Brown, welcome to the Conquer Local podcast. Hey, thank you so much for taking some time out of your busy day to join us here. How are you doing, man?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019m doing great, Jeff. Thanks so much for having me here. I\u2019m very grateful that I\u2019m here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Now I understand you\u2019re coming to us from the Boston area. You must be a Bruins fan.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:\u00a0<\/strong>Is there any other fan when it comes to hockey?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah, I\u2019m an original six fan favourite, but I\u2019ll usually cheer for the teams that are a little north of the border.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:\u00a0<\/strong>Uh oh. Uh oh. All right. We\u2019ll see how this goes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah, I know, I know. You\u2019ve been taking a round out of us for a couple of years now, so it\u2019s tough on me.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:\u00a0<\/strong>Well, I\u2019m sorry, but this year might be a little different because I\u2019m a little, trepidatious is probably the word that I have for the Boston Bruins team this year.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah, well, our team\u2019s doing good. Wherever I end up going now, we\u2019ve had a drought north of the border, so I tend to now just cheer for any Canadian team that can make it into the playoffs and make a run. I think it\u2019s back in \u201993 is the last time we had a cup north of the border.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah, but you folks have great food. It\u2019s real food, and you have healthcare. Very calm people.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Well, the food we have everything that you can clog your arteries with, and that\u2019s why we have the free healthcare up here. Hey, thanks again for joining us. I was going through your resume and you\u2019ve had a storied career and went through it here in the intro a little bit, but you\u2019ve got some really huge clients that you\u2019ve had over the years and you\u2019ve got a pretty incredible track record. So I\u2019d be remiss if I didn\u2019t get you just to tell us a little bit about the journey, how it started and how you got to the level that you\u2019re at now.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:\u00a0<\/strong>Well, it all started when I was age three. My father actually had us all working in his business when we were young. So at age three, I was sweeping floors, for 25 cents a week. I loved it. I got to buy all kinds of candy at the end of the week because back then candy literally was a handful for a penny, and we stayed with my dad\u2019s business through pretty much the first 18 years of my life, and I always built little side businesses. I had a music business, a paper route. I wasn\u2019t old enough to get a paper route, so my brothers went out and they got paper routes and I took their paper routes, and then I hired deliverers and they would do that. We\u2019d all split up the commission, so I kind of learned entrepreneurship early on. By age five, we were selling to clients at my dad\u2019s business. I still don\u2019t know if my dad did this because he wanted to teach us or he just could get low-cost labour. I never had the chance to ask him.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Probably both.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah, probably both, and it was a great atmosphere to learn. And then I just kept building businesses all the way through my life, all the way through high school, different ones. I had a body shop, a Christmas tree retailing store or location I should say, and I just kept building businesses on the side. I didn\u2019t really know what I was doing, but I was trying to find myself. And then I was in the military in my 20s and I had side businesses through that, came out of that and figured, geez, I need to have a college education. You can\u2019t make money otherwise, which I really didn\u2019t realize back then. So my 30s, I did that, graduated in my 40s. I started having a family in my late thirties, and I started working for companies and I was working for my own businesses and then all of a sudden one business just really took, and I left the corporate world and I never looked back at that point. It was just once I got my first good solid seven-figure plus business, I just was like, this is for me. I like having what I have and living the lifestyle I live, and I just kept building from there. Eventually, I worked, as you said, into some very large companies and had them as clients. I helped a guy named Jay Conrad Levinson who wrote a book series called Guerrilla Marketing, and he introduced me into the training world and I ended up eventually as an independent working with Tony Robbins, Chet Holmes and Russ Whitney on Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Deepak Chopra, Brian Tracy, all these brand names and helping them grow their revenues. I was the guy behind the scenes turning the dials of optimization, helping them grow their companies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Very, very cool. I think it\u2019s cool that your father started you from such an early age, so that entrepreneurship was, it probably just came naturally to you because a lot of people, it\u2019s a leap to move out on your own and to move into the world of entrepreneurship. If you decide to do it a little later on, it seems like it must\u2019ve been just natural for you.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:\u00a0<\/strong>I think it was. I think it was very natural \u2026 I did the same with my daughters. I got them very involved very early. I loved it because all my friends were still in school, and I got out by 11:00 AM and I went to work and I was making money. I always had money at the end of the week, and they didn\u2019t have as much, not because that\u2019s a braggadocious thing, but it was just more of a, I loved having the freedom to go buy stuff, even for my friends. So we would just go out and they\u2019d be like, \u201cWell, I\u2019m a little short.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cI got it.\u201d And I didn\u2019t know any better because I was just a kid back then, but I knew that gave me leverage and that\u2019s what I was looking for.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Vibitno is a Software Company Focused on Personalized Automated Prospecting.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019m going to jump around in the timeline a little bit here and fast-forward to where you\u2019re at now because I was really interested in reading your background and whatnot. What you\u2019re currently doing right now, you\u2019ve started a software company and the name\u2019s Vibitno, and I believe you\u2019re focusing on automated prospecting and personalization and automated follow-up process. And the first question that I had, all great products, they\u2019ve got a story behind the name, and so I wanted to ask you about the name, where\u2019d it come from? How\u2019d you come up with it?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah, so it\u2019s a Slavic name, and I came up with it because I was trying to come up with something that represented what the product would actually be. And so the Slavic name is You Matter, it\u2019s like the Sublime or You Matter, and I really liked the name Vibitno, but that really encompassed what I was trying to do. The business started between myself and a friend of mine who we were both top players in selling for pretty good-sized companies. And we went to a place called Panera Bread, and we sat down and we were just complaining about all the stuff we couldn\u2019t get done because I had 62 incoming leads a day coming into me and I couldn\u2019t get back to people. And I was like, \u201cMan, if I just had a system that would do X, Y and Z,\u201d and he\u2019s like, \u201cOh, that would be great if it could do A, B, and C.\u201d So we wrote it all down on the back of a napkin and I was like, nothing like this exists. There\u2019s nothing personalized, meaningful, or relevant in the pursuit of follow-up. There\u2019s nothing that really helps people at the time with prospecting. How can you automate that process without getting away from You Matter? I don\u2019t know about you, Jeff, but I get bombarded today with emails and I just looked at them. I just quickly, about 72% of the emails that came in to me today actually were completely irrelevant. Then I had emails come in last night, which were saying, Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays or whatever. Now one of them is for a vendor for our company, and he sent it three times. He doesn\u2019t even know he sent the same email. So it\u2019s like the personalization is completely gone out of that email at this point because it\u2019s like I\u2019m looking at it and I\u2019m going, \u201cMy God, why did he send this three times?\u201d And I look at it\u2019s the same email, but the first time he left my name out of it, the second time it had the wrong name, and the third time it had my wife\u2019s name. So it\u2019s like there\u2019s no connection in the communication. Vibitno was built for that purpose because sometimes sales cycles are long. It\u2019s taken me sometimes two, or three years to close sales that are very large. So how do we stay in touch with somebody, make that automated as much as possible, personalized and meaningful and relevant to what\u2019s going on? That\u2019s what Vibitno was.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Identify Ideal Buyers, Create Contrast, Ask Tough Questions to Close Sales.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>I like that. We used to say about marketing automation and that space because it sounds like the guy you\u2019re talking about, some automations went rogue on him, and he\u2019s lost track of what he\u2019s got firing in a system. We used to say that the biggest piece of marketing automation is writing content, and the only thing that isn\u2019t automated is actually content creation. And it\u2019s the biggest piece of the puzzle. And by the way, that\u2019s what we\u2019re sort of focusing on in the small business side with our snapshot over at Vendasta. So I really like that approach. Messaging is really important, talking about the content, and one of the things that I was curious and wanted to ask you about was the work that you\u2019ve done in and around messaging with your clients. And because I find a lot of people, they struggle in that area and the businesses that really stand out are ones that can really create contrast between themselves and what else is out there in the market. So talk a little bit about the work that you do with your clients and how you help them stand out.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:\u00a0<\/strong>The first step out of all of this is identify really who are the true ideal buyers. So part of the reason that companies don\u2019t stand out is because they\u2019re trying to market too wide of a message. They\u2019re throwing a message out in which they\u2019re saying, \u201cOh, we\u2019ll get all the fish in the sea,\u201d so to speak. And the reality is that if we look at this, we\u2019ve identified five characteristics of people on this when it comes to the buyer, and if you have others, please let me know, Jeff. But firstly, there\u2019s a percentage of the audience that\u2019s going to be indifferent to any message or indifferent to an offer. They just don\u2019t care. One way or another, it\u2019s not for me. Then there\u2019s going to be the pretender market. So if we look at this in five pillars, if you will, the pretend-to-market is those people that are going to say yes, but they\u2019re thinking no. So again, if we\u2019re crafting messages to people like that, we\u2019re not going to stand out. It\u2019s going to be one of those things that they go, \u201cOh, that\u2019s cool. I don\u2019t want it.\u201d Then there\u2019s the potential category, which is the third category, and this is where people get confused. Half that category roughly is still thinking toward the pretenders. Half that category is thinking toward, I\u2019m actively looking for a solution, but they don\u2019t really have it well identified. And so then what we get is the fourth category, which we call Kaizen players. Kaizen players are those people that are looking actively for the solution. And then the fifth category is the eager beavers, if you will, and those are the people that are like, I\u2019m looking for the solution, I\u2019m ready to go, et cetera, et cetera. The big challenge for most people when they\u2019re creating messaging is they\u2019re not creating it for the upper two categories because they\u2019ve never really identified what these people are really looking for, and then taking half of the potential category that will go that direction through that messaging. So that\u2019s step number one. We must identify what they\u2019re looking for, and a lot of times they\u2019re not. You\u2019re in different people, you pretenders and part of the potentials, they\u2019re looking for something that is usually a lower end or they\u2019re looking for something that\u2019s not quite what the Kaizen players or the upper eager beavers are looking for. So I find that\u2019s where most people miss the messaging and can\u2019t differentiate is between not being able to identify who the true buyer is and marketing to that specific.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>And so formulas are really, really important and having frameworks to work from. And so are those five components that you\u2019re talking about the framework that you work from to help close sales faster and focusing on those top categories?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah, number one is the first step would be to identify the right buyer. So many people are talking to people who just aren\u2019t going to buy regardless, and they\u2019re not qualifying that or disqualifying that, but they don\u2019t do it upfront. So it\u2019s kind of like I have a friend, Dave, super nice guy. He used to walk around telling me all the time, \u201cThere are no good women out there. I can\u2019t find a good date.\u201d And so I sat with him one day and \u201cDave, out of whatever, hundreds of millions of women in the world, there\u2019s not one that\u2019s a good date?\u201d And he\u2019s like, \u201cOh, I got your point.\u201d I said, \u201cWell, let\u2019s talk about what you\u2019re looking for.\u201d And so we did, and he said, \u201cI\u2019d like a church-going woman. I\u2019d like somebody with a master\u2019s degree who\u2019s highly educated. She wants a family, she wants this many kids, she wants that.\u201d And I said, \u201cWell, Dave, tell me where you\u2019re marketing for this.\u201d He goes, \u201cWell, I go to the bars,\u201d and I go, \u201cDave, brother, what kind of church-going woman, firstly, there might be some, but they\u2019re not going to be.\u201d And so I said, \u201cWell, what are you saying to these people?\u201d And then he\u2019d walk up with his cheesy line and I\u2019d be like, \u201cNo, no.\u201d So I\u2019d said, \u201cWhy don\u2019t we try this? Why don\u2019t we find a university or college that has a religious affiliation like Holy Cross or something which we live near, and you go to a social there and instead of asking her this cheesy line, why don\u2019t you just walk up to her and say, \u2018I don\u2019t know if you find me attractive, I find you attractive. I was wondering if we could have a cup of coffee to see if you\u2019re looking for some type of relationship down the future.&#8217;\u201d Just something as simple as that. And Jeff, sure as heck, he goes to the social, first night finds the lady, he was with her four and a half years down the line and they were getting married.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>He just needed a lesson in marketing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:\u00a0<\/strong>He did, he did. So, finding the right target buyer is the first step in this process. And that\u2019s why you don\u2019t go to the pretender category. You don\u2019t go to the indifferent category, stay out of the bottom half of the potential category and get up to the people who are actually looking for what we are. And then we have to determine their business return on investment and personal return on investment. That\u2019s step two. The business personal thing is really important because most people forget the personal return on investment, especially when we\u2019re dealing with people who are corporate buyers or whatever. A lot of times they have self-interest. So do business owners, self-interest as well as a business interest. And most people are selling to the business interest. They\u2019re not taking into consideration if this doesn\u2019t go right, what happens after the fact? Some people like buyers, they get fired or they don\u2019t get promoted. I once talked to a CFO who said, \u201cI\u2019d be interested in doing this, but if it doesn\u2019t go right, I don\u2019t get my quarterly bonus.\u201d Well, that\u2019s a personal return on investment that they\u2019re looking for because that bonus represents something at home. And so we as sellers need to know. The third thing is to determine how they want to be communicated with because a lot of people don\u2019t really think about how to communicate with somebody. Believe it or not, people have a discussion language like we have and then they have a preferred mode of buying. And so we want to identify that. We do that through asking questions. And I think the most important thing that people miss though, Jeff, they don\u2019t determine their own value in the sale and ask the question like, \u201cOkay, is my value actually supporting this business ROI and this personal ROI?\u201d And if not, they don\u2019t disengage. And that\u2019s where you get buyer\u2019s remorse. That\u2019s where you sell something that maybe it works out, maybe it doesn\u2019t work out. And then I think probably the most important thing for people to actually do once they\u2019ve identified all these is really ask the tough questions. The questions that make people go, \u201cI want to hear more about that.\u201d So what, have them saying things to themselves like, \u201cGeez, I didn\u2019t know that. Wow, tell me more about that.\u201d Because those are engaging points of view where that differentiates more than anything in a sale, in a selling capacity because when we can make people think beyond and stretch their abilities, then we\u2019re actually giving them the opportunity for growth. And that\u2019s a human need. We all have it. So what I find that most people can\u2019t close the sale many times. They\u2019re just not asking the tough enough questions to get people to actually raise their eyebrows and think. So that\u2019s kind of a five-part framework to it.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Scaling too Quickly without Stability and Preparation can Lead to Implosion.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>I like that a lot. One thing that you made me think about there is the personal investment that someone has in a potential transaction. And what I\u2019ve seen a lot when even here at Vendasta or other people that we work with, as they build out their ideal customer profile and they actually document what that looks like, there\u2019s functional benefits and emotional benefits, and I find those emotional benefits, they really gloss over those. The team, they kind of check the box to say okay, we put some things down here, but they don\u2019t really deeply understand for that type of buyer what is really making them tick in a lot of cases?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:\u00a0<\/strong>Right, yeah. I had one time when I was selling telecommunication services and wireless services on the corporate side. I literally had a buyer say to me, \u201cListen if this doesn\u2019t go well if this goes bad, I\u2019m not going down alone.\u201d It was like right out. And so we had to figure out at that moment, I had to, what is this personal ROI that he\u2019s looking for? And so we should be asking questions of ourselves, of the buyers, what do they want? What do they value? What do they fear? What\u2019s most important to them, what\u2019s least important to them? We want to figure out those answers to those questions because those are going to give us a pretty good indication of what the personal ROI is. And if we\u2019re having meaningful, relevant conversations and building trust, then they\u2019re going to tell us stuff anyways. I\u2019ve had people tell me, \u201cHey, I\u2019m going through a divorce.\u201d \u201cMy child has cancer,\u201d whatever it might be. I mean sad stories, but they trust enough so that they open up and now you know or have a better idea of how this is going to impact them. And that\u2019s the key in selling because we\u2019re human beings. We\u2019re not titles, but people are always trying to sell to the title, oh, they\u2019re the CEO. They must think like this. Well, yeah, but you know what? The CEO, I\u2019m sure Steve Jobs on his deathbed or prior to that was probably thinking more about quality of life than he ever had. So he\u2019s still a human being. All these people are not, you\u2019re not selling to directors, folks, you\u2019re not selling to VPs, you\u2019re selling to human beings who have titles. So that\u2019s where the personal ROI comes in, the human being side.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Super, super insightful. Doug, I wanted to ask you about organizations now, because I imagine that you\u2019ve come across this a lot with the clients that you\u2019ve worked with. A lot of companies start trying to scale too quickly before they have fit, and I wanted to ask you about maybe some of the common mistakes that you see companies make in trying to scale their sales.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah. Well, the first mistake is they scale it too early before they\u2019re even stable. So you talk to budding entrepreneurs, let\u2019s say, and they\u2019re like, \u201cI want $52 million in my first year.\u201d And it\u2019s like, \u201cOkay, are you a million-dollar company yet?\u201d \u201cNo.\u201d So the thing is, when we scale too early, we can actually implode the company because everything has a cost to it. There\u2019s a cost of sale. And a lot of people, when they\u2019re selling and they\u2019re not realizing how to run the division or a company, they got great aspirations, but they\u2019re not figuring in that cost of sale. And the reality is, I watched one company one time, they would do what they call a Midnight Madness sale twice a year. And basically, they would open their company up at midnight. They were a retail music company. They would bring their clientele in and they would sell everything at cost, and it was not even marked up. And so what happened in that case is they never realized there\u2019s a cost to the sale. So they trained their people, even though they grew by millions of dollars that year, they trained their people to come to these two-midnight madness sales per year, and they were actually selling at a loss, and they put themselves out of business. And so when we try to scale something, we want to make sure not only do we have profit margins into it, but we also have operational processes and customer service and everything that needs to support that growth. That doesn\u2019t mean we have to have it in there 100%. There is a time to kick off regardless. But the reality is that most companies are trying to do it too early and they\u2019re not prepared to do it, Jeff. And so what ends up happening is something or the company itself implodes in the process of scaling too fast, and that would be what I see as the biggest mistake because they\u2019re not budgeting for it. So let\u2019s say that we have a tangible product that we\u2019ve got to actually buy from a manufacturer, and then we got to bring in. Well, if we scale too fast, we can\u2019t fulfill orders. And so then we get a reputation out in the industry like, \u201cOh yeah, they\u2019re good people, but they\u2019re not reliable,\u201d and that can spread throughout the community, and that can hurt us as much as anything. So we want to make sure that we have our financials in order, the operations in order everything as much as we can to anticipate the growth if we\u2019re going to truly scale.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>I really like the example that you have of the bricks-and-mortar store that put itself out of business because, in the software as a service industry, metrics around and sort of the model around SaaS is largely figured out now, over the last few years that there\u2019s a conclusion that we\u2019ve sort of figured out what are the key metrics and how to grow it. I see a lot of companies focus on really measuring their cost of revenue and how much does it cost to generate a lead, and how much does it cost eventually to acquire a customer and then acquire that revenue, whether you\u2019re expanding existing customers or acquiring new customers. But one metric that I see a lot of companies not paying attention to is the cost to serve, which is sort of what you were talking about, \u201cHey, what are all the other things, the costs around running the business,\u201d and cost to serve focuses on your support costs, software maintenance costs, the foundational costs that it costs the business to actually serve the customer after you\u2019ve got them. And so anyways, that\u2019s just a side anecdote that your story resonated there with me 100%.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:\u00a0<\/strong>Well, yeah, thanks. I mean, too many companies try to do it too quickly without the correct parameters in place and it gets them in trouble.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Selling Mindset is Crucial for Success in Sales.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah. One of the things that you write about is the importance of a selling mindset. So I wonder if you could just take a second and talk a little bit about the selling mindset and its importance, whether we\u2019re talking B2B or a B2C type businesses.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:\u00a0<\/strong>So the selling mindset\u2019s so important on the process of success within a company or an individual seller, and it never ceases to amaze me. We can have the components of activity, we can have the components of skill, but when we don\u2019t have the right mindset around that process, what ends up happening in that whole process is it falls apart. Because I\u2019ve seen people do things specifically like undo their sale due to the fact that they\u2019ve got the sale closed, but then what ends up happening is they say something that will unravel that sale. Let me give you an example. I was watching a real estate person at one time, and the husband and wife were going back and forth. Now, this house was almost $5 million, and so at a 6% commission, it\u2019s a pretty healthy commission for most people. And so what ended happening was the husband was like, \u201cI don\u2019t know if I want to buy the house. I\u2019m not feeling it.\u201d And she\u2019s selling it like crazy, and I\u2019m watching this happen. She\u2019s like, \u201cWell, honey, let\u2019s look it out here where the pool is. The kids could be out here, they could be having barbecue, and we could be doing this and how happy we are the family.\u201d And he\u2019s like, \u201cWell, I really don\u2019t know.\u201d She\u2019d take them up to the bedroom and it overlooked this beautiful vista, and she\u2019d be selling it hard. She wanted this house, and he in turn was just like, \u201cI\u2019m really not sure.\u201d And she said these words to him, Jeff, \u201csweetheart, I will go back to work and I will pay the mortgage myself from my law practice, and you don\u2019t even have to worry about it.\u201d That\u2019s how much she wanted this house. And right in the middle of this, the real estate agent said to them, You know, guys, I see you going back and forth. It is a pretty big decision. I think you ought to maybe take some time and go out and have lunch and think about it.\u201d Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And I was like, \u201cOh my goodness.\u201d And so this person had some high need to please people on the mindset side of this process that they let the sale walk out there. Now, here\u2019s literally what happened. They said, \u201cWell, we\u2019ll get back to you in a couple of days then.\u201d Okay, two days come by. They\u2019re now ghosting this real estate agent. The real estate agent finally gets them, I think it was three days later, and they said, \u201cOh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry, we didn\u2019t get back to you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYeah, well, hey, what did you think of the house?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLoved the house. But you know what? We bought another house.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDown around the corner, same neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow much?<\/p>\n<p>\u201c$6 million.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a million dollars more than they actually were going to buy this house for. And so the point being is when we allow our mindset to get in the way, then what we end up doing is we end up undoing sales. We say things we may not want to, but we do anyways. And this all stems pretty much from childhood all the way up. So from childhood, what happens is we\u2019re conditioned as human beings, we learn how to act, think, we\u2019re rewarded, we\u2019re not rewarded. And some of the things that we do when we\u2019re a child, for example, we get a little older and we go, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t really feel right.\u201d If you grew up in a household that needed to negotiate everything, but you get a good deal on a sale and your dad or mom is still negotiating, you\u2019re like, \u201cWell, this was good enough,\u201d but you don\u2019t say anything. So we end adapting these behaviors and habits as we get older. And when we bring them into selling, then what ends up happening is we actually negotiate after we close the sale and we unravel the sale type thing. And so this is where it all comes from, I have found. But yeah, we want to have the thought process of do the right thing by them, do the right thing by us, and make sure it\u2019s a good fit. And if it is, we have a moral obligation to do everything we can to make sure that they acquire it. And if it\u2019s not, we have a moral obligation to walk away to be the first, but we don\u2019t want to unravel the thing unnecessarily.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Importance of Selling Mindset and Customer Service in Organizations.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Doug, I\u2019m going to pile onto your idea because I\u2019ve also seen this in organizations like software organizations like us, where there\u2019s other people that support the sales process post-sale, that don\u2019t have the selling mindset, and they unravel the deals, whether it\u2019s the people that are doing onboarding or customer support, people on the software side of things, if they\u2019re providing professional services on the back end of the deal. So I would say that that selling mindset\u2019s critical for everyone in the organization as well that supports that sale.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:\u00a0<\/strong>Absolutely. And it needs to come from the top down throughout. So I would call him a friend, and he as a CEO, his motto is, how do we do business with you? And we\u2019re a pleasure always to do business with. That is the mindset that he infuses through his organization. And you\u2019re absolutely right, actually with a SaaS product, it just happened to some of the people who work here. We were investing in a new SaaS product, but their customer service was not getting back to us for three days and we were trying to implement the thing in the company and they just weren\u2019t getting back. So it actually trickled back up to me, and they said, \u201cWell, what do you want to do?\u201d I said, \u201cFind another one because we can\u2019t wait three days. It costs us X amount of dollars every time this happens.\u201d Customer service can certainly unravel it. And one of the biggest challenges that companies have, and I think SaaS companies, most of them are terrible at doing this. Sorry if you get some hate mail off this one, but they think they\u2019re only supposed to communicate electronically, and they think that they can communicate whenever timeframe that they want. Not all, but a lot of them. And so what ends up happening is they have introduced doubt into the process at that point by doing so, and please remember, SaaS companies, including mine, we all have competitors. And unless they\u2019re in a very tight contract, which many of them are not, they\u2019re just going to move. You know what I mean? If they can move, and so they\u2019ll move from point A to point B, and then we lose that, and all we\u2019ve done at that point is prep our competition for a very high profitable, easy acquisition sale.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Yep. 100%.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:\u00a0<\/strong>I got a client right now who\u2019s got a CRM system and they\u2019re pulling their air out and they\u2019re asking me, \u201cWhat should I do?\u201d And I\u2019m like, \u201cLet\u2019s just move it, move it.\u201d And it\u2019s like CRMs, there\u2019s so many out there, and for what they\u2019re looking for, there\u2019s literally hundreds or thousands that could possibly do what they want. So it is just one of those things. And the client\u2019s at the point now, and it\u2019s all a customer service thing, Jeff, they\u2019re not getting back to the client. It\u2019s taking them sometimes upwards of a week to get a response back.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah, it\u2019s just not acceptable, and there\u2019s too much competition out there. You know what, Doug, I could talk to you all day long about this kind of stuff, and I think a bunch of this stuff is so insightful, and I\u2019ve got you for free on the podcast. I don\u2019t even have to pay you right now to do this. I\u2019m going to squeeze every bit I can.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:\u00a0<\/strong>Well, you can send money. We\u2019ll take it.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>The Top 1% Academy Teaches Sales Skills and Leverage Techniques.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>Hey, but before we go, I did want you to tell us a quick story about the Top One Percent Academy, because we hadn\u2019t touched on that. So give us a quick story about that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah, so we developed something called the One Percent Academy because what I was finding was a lot of people are teaching sales training, but they\u2019re not really teaching how to think and act like a 1% earner. And so what we did is we took and we infused the concepts of how do you think a 1% earner, act like a 1% earner, and then infuse conversational conversion and massive prospecting. The three things, the activity, the skillsets, the mindset, plus the fourth, which most people are not teaching, is how do you create leverage in your day-today? How do you create leverage in your selling activities and selling in your process?<\/p>\n<p>Because when I studied the 1% and then my team studied the 1%, the one thing that the 1% has is leveraged activities in everything that they do, everything that they think about. And so we put this academy together where we literally take people in on a bootcamp style and we\u2019re meeting on a very, sometimes two to four times a week, and we\u2019re drilling and drilling and drilling in skills and activities and mindset and leverage techniques into the process so that they can take them and infuse them back into their sales business or their company in general and infuse it through their selling team. And just crazy with the charts results that we\u2019ve been getting in the original runs that we did, I had one guy in his first year, he went from 140,000 in commissions to 2.1 million, at the same company, same job. We had another person who was selling average ticket items at $15,000, and in her second month, she sold a $300,000 ticket item, and then she upped her game where she\u2019s now selling $100,000 ticket items on a regular basis. Just off the chart stuff, where people were just getting all of this fantastic end game results out of doing this, and I was like, \u201cAll right, well, these were trial runs that we were running.\u201d And I\u2019m like, \u201cWell, if it\u2019s this good now, why don\u2019t we just bring it out into the world?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So many people out there who want to make more money, but they don\u2019t have the leverage in the process. We act as sales accountability partners, so literally they\u2019re turning in sales sheets, we\u2019re discussing a deal flow, all of that stuff that would go on that sales managers are supposed to be doing, but some of them don\u2019t. Many of them don\u2019t. We\u2019re coaching their people through and providing the leverage component, and they love the leverage component because that\u2019s what gets the hockey stick curve, if you will. Not to go back to hockey, because I know we talked about that at the beginning, but \u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:<\/strong>\u00a0We can talk about hockey all you want.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s been very gratifying.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Getting in Touch with Doug C. Brown<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:<\/strong>\u00a0Doug, it has been an absolute pleasure spending a few minutes with you here on the podcast and picking your brain and learning from you, and I hope that we could do this again in the future. Hey, if people wanted to reach out to you and continue the conversation, how do they connect with you?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:<\/strong>\u00a0There\u2019s a couple of ways. If they send an email into you Matter, Y-O-U-M-A-T-T-E-R @ceosalesstrategies.com, I\u2019ll definitely get it. My team will pick it up first. If they want to send it directly to me, it\u2019s doug@ceosalesstrategies. They want to learn more about me, my LinkedIn is Doug Brown 1234 \u2026 I\u2019m sorry, I do this every time. It\u2019s Doug Brown 123 on LinkedIn, and they can check out our website at ceosalesstrategies.com. We got eBooks that they could download. I wrote one call The Nonstop 1% Earner. If they\u2019re interested in the academy, I\u2019ve got one on objections. I\u2019ve got different things that they can pick up for free there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:<\/strong>\u00a0I love it. Doug C. Brown, thanks for joining us on the Conquer Local podcast. I wish you the best and look forward to doing this again in the future.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug C. Brown:<\/strong>\u00a0Thanks so much, Jeff. I\u2019m very grateful to be here today and you\u2019re a great interviewer, so thanks again.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Jeff Tomlin:\u00a0<\/strong>I love the anecdotes! We talked about implementing personalization in Sales Messaging. Doug discussed how crucial it is to personalize sales messages. From identifying ideal buyers to tailoring messages for specific buyer categories from keen players to eager beavers, this personalized approach ensures your communication stands out. According to Doug, it\u2019s a game-changer for engaging potential clients and closing sales effectively.<\/p>\n<p>Moving on to the second takeaway is Doug\u2019s 5 Essential Components for Closing Sales. These components cover everything from identifying the right target buyer and determining their ROI to understanding their preferred communication method, asking the right questions, and presenting engaging points of view. Focusing on these help to build trust, understand buyer motivations, and ultimately achieve successful outcomes.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019ve enjoyed Doug C Brown\u2019s episode discussing Sales and Revenue , keep the conversation going and revisit some of our older episodes from the archives: Check out Episode 647: Leverage the Lighthouse Strategy to Attract High-Profile Clients with Dennis Yu or Episode 639: Key Steps and Strategies to Prepare Your Agency for Sale with Richard Parker.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Until next time, I\u2019m Jeff Tomlin. Get out there and be awesome!<\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ready to unlock the secrets of sales success? Join us on the\u00a0Conquer Local Podcast\u00a0as we welcome\u00a0Doug C. Brown, CEO of\u00a0CEO Sales Strategies\u00a0and a Sales Revenue Guru. Ever wondered how to achieve an 864% boost in division sales in just six months? Doug, with an impressive track record at Intuit, CBS Television, and Procter &amp; Gamble, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":23396244,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1864],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23396241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcasts"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.4 (Yoast SEO v26.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Unleashing the Secrets of Sales Success<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Doug C. 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