174: It's Your Road: Others Can Walk It With You, Nobody Can Walk It For You with Chris Beck

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0:46 Scott Ingram: You're listening to the Sales Success Stories podcast, where we deconstruct world-class sales performers to provide insights and strategies to help you improve. To learn more, visit us at top1.fm. Here's your host, Scott Ingram.

1:01 Scott Ingram: Today on the Sales Success Stories podcast, my guest is Chris Beck. Chris is the top performing SDR at Modern Health and a longtime listener. Welcome to this side of the show, Chris.

1:11 Chris Beck: Hey, Scott, great to be here. Thanks for having me.

1:13 Scott Ingram: So I know you know the show well and we always jump in with some immediate value. Let's talk about the 3 things that you believe have contributed the most to your success in sales. What are those?

1:22 Chris Beck: Yeah, absolutely. So I think really caring about this role has helped me the most, and I think caring is the most important factor to do well in anything. I think when you care about doing well and you care about getting better and learning, a lot of really good things come from that. The second most important thing that's helped me is trying my best to be intentional. So being very intentional with my time, being intentional with how I'm using my energy, and then also being intentional with my messaging, my calls, who I'm reaching out to. And then lastly, asking for help and learning from others, but at the same time, taking ownership of my own process and really believing in myself. And so there's this quote from one of my favorite philosophers, Rumi. Let me pull this up. It says, it's your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you. And I think that's such a powerful way to think about ownership because we can have amazing support and a ton of people by our side, but ultimately we have to be the ones to put in the work.

2:24 Scott Ingram: Love it. Love it. That is so well said, right? It's one of those, I think that's the challenge with listening to the podcast sometimes, right? Like hopefully my hope is that if you are listening to this, you're being inspired, you're getting some ideas, but at the end of the day, just listening or knowing, hey, that's a good idea. I should do that is one thing. Actually doing it and taking ownership of it is a whole different thing to actually get the result that you're looking for.

2:48 Chris Beck: Yeah. It's all about getting the reps in, like trial and errors. Been big for me and just like trying to see what works and practicing.

2:54 Scott Ingram: Love it. Love it. I'm sure we'll get back to some of those themes as we go through this, but let's contextualize just a little bit. Why don't you talk about what exactly is your role and who is Modern Health?

3:05 Chris Beck: Yeah, so I work at Modern Health and we're a global mental health company and we offer a platform where we make it super easy for employees to proactively take care of their mental health. So we provide everything from therapy coaching meditations to over 500 global organizations like Uber, Lyft, the NBA, Gong, and Yelp. And I work in strategic sales development, and that just means that I start conversations with employees that have 5,000 or more employees.

3:36 Scott Ingram: Nice. And then put your results in perspective for us. What did it take to be the top performer last year?

3:41 Chris Beck: Yeah, 100%. So last year our quota was 7 SCOs, and SCOs are Sales qualified opportunities. So achieving our goal was 7 of those a month. A SCO would usually be a call with some sort of decision maker. So VP of benefits, VP of total rewards, and then some sort of next step after that first call. And last year I was able to achieve 148%. It's my number.

4:05 Scott Ingram: Very nice. Very nice. And not your first year there. I know you had a really strong year before that. So you reached out to me a long time ago. I was looking back through that LinkedIn thread. You got off to a great start in your very first SDR job. I was I was like, you know, I look for a little bit more consistency. So really awesome that you reached back out and have continued to be really consistent in your performance. Let's go back to the very beginning though. Like, what is your origin story? How did you get into sales in the first place?

4:33 Chris Beck: Yeah, so I started my career as an SDR at a software company based in Reston, Virginia called GoCanvas. I feel like most people on this podcast and just most people in sales, I didn't really have any plans to be in sales post-graduation. But at the same time, I just honestly just really wanted a job, so I was down to do pretty much anything. So yeah, I was an SDR at GoCanvas for 6 months. I did pretty well there, as you just mentioned, and then I was promoted to an AE position, which I was also able to do pretty well at. So I was SDR of the Year for 2018. I averaged around 155% of my number. I was P-Club for Q1 as an AE, which just meant I was over 110% for the quarter. And then crazy enough, one day I just realized I wasn't really happy and I was pretty stressed. And it was weird because I was doing really well, but I just wasn't happy. And so I felt like I had to make a change. And so I left that role at GoCanvas and I took some time off that summer just to reflect on why was I unhappy? What would make me the happiest? And I found this really cool role or this cool job in Spain, in the south of Spain as a high school English teacher. Probably one of the best decisions I've made in my life. I love traveling. Up until that point, outside of Iceland, I had never been to Europe and I always wanted to go to Spain. And yeah, super fun year. That was cut short because of COVID So I came back and then in that reflection, I did sort of realize that sales was for me. I wanted to come back, find a company I was super passionate about working at, was a little bit more challenging with COVID It was really hard to find a job, but I found a leader in this guy, Pat Healy, at LeanIX, this company based up in Boston where I started as an enterprise SDR, eventually becoming a team lead. I was there for a year and a half, and then I made the move to Modern Health. It was around like, I think 2 years ago, maybe back in December of 2021. So a little bit over 2 years now. And yeah, it's been great.

6:35 Scott Ingram: Nice. So you've had a series of different companies that you've worked for. You took that break in Spain. Given the perspective that you now have, if you were starting over, is there anything that you would do differently if you were being a little bit more intentional about your sales journey, your sales career?

6:51 Chris Beck: Yeah, I mean, you know, the cliché answer is no, just because like it got me to this company that I really love working at. And, but, you know, in terms of this answer, I feel like, you know, and I did quit my first job and it was challenging in that respect. So I feel like if I was to go back, yeah, I would probably just like take things slower. I feel like I was just so fast-tracked on getting promoted and not really enjoying the process and having fun. So I would probably try and create like a process that's more sustainable and try and think like more long-term and not just how fast I can get promoted.

7:26 Scott Ingram: You talked about in your first point, right, was about caring. How big of a factor is being at a company that you care about, like that you really believe in, in the results that you've seen and maybe just the overall kind of enjoyment that you've had?

7:41 Chris Beck: Yeah. I mean, I think I'm really privileged to work at a company where I'm able to spread out mental health benefits to employees. I'm pretty aware of that, but I do feel like you have to really believe that your product is making an impact at the organization and have some passion around what you're selling. I think that's super important. And yeah, I just didn't find a lot of alignment in terms of what, you know, my first org was selling and what I was passionate about. So yeah, I think it's super important, especially long-term when you're thinking like, you know, where you want to be for a while. I don't think it's possible to find like the perfect first job. So I just want to add that caveat in there. Yeah.

8:20 Scott Ingram: Yeah. I mean, at some point you don't really know what you want until you have an opportunity to experience some of these things. Right. But I think, you know, just Recognizing that it's going to be a journey. You're going to learn things at each step and you're going to get more and more clear about what is it that I enjoy? What sort of environment do I want to be in? Where am I going to thrive? You know, what kind of people do I want to surround myself with? Right.

8:41 Chris Beck: Yeah, exactly. Like, I think asking yourself, like, you know, is this somewhere where I could be happy in this role for the next 10 to 20 years? Like, without a promotion, I think that's like such an important question to ask because those aren't promised, you know? And I feel like you have to be happy today. You can't be, you know, always looking forward to, you know, 2 years down the road. You know?

9:00 Scott Ingram: Yeah, that's a great insight. So what are you most proud of? You've done a lot, a lot of good consistent success. What is it for you?

9:07 Chris Beck: You know, I feel like it's probably the consistency. So the last 4 years as an SDR, I've been able to have an average of 150% to my number. And I hear all the time about how hard it is to be an SDR and to stay consistent in this role. And I think the fact that I can sort of disagree with that helps me know that I found something that I'm really good at.

9:28 Scott Ingram: Nice. Nice. Yeah. So it's, it's really amazing. And just the opportunity to feel proud when on average people are underperforming and you're consistently overperforming, which is fantastic. What about the flip side? What have you found to be kind of the biggest challenge or what do you struggle with the most?

9:45 Chris Beck: Yeah, I think it was that probably that first job, it was really frustrating, like doing really well and like on the outside and just being like, why am I like not happy? You know? And I think I was like, kind of, you know, sales is a really competitive job, right? Like, you're… the numbers are very clear, right, and how everyone's doing. And I feel like I always told myself I had to be number one. And when I joined, you know, my next company after that, that break in Spain, I said, hey, like, as long as you're doing well, like, being number 2 is totally fine. And I think that is… that's helped me a lot, you know, because I feel like you have to check your ego in sales and you want to work with like some of the best in some of the best sales companies or sales Orgs, and to do that, you have to be around like a lot of really good talent. So I feel like, you know, you have to set a high goal for yourself, but at the same time, like just not be so pressed on being like number one. Yeah, just being like content and grateful for the job that you have.

10:41 Scott Ingram: This is such an interesting topic, and maybe we can dig into it a little bit more because I had a very similar experience in my first real sales role. So I worked for ADP. I've got this is over a decade ago, and on paper. Like, I did great. I was just shy of Rookie of the Year in kind of a large multi-state region in my first year, made President's Club, did all of this stuff. But like, just mentally, it was so freaking hard. And, you know, just riding the roller coaster and being up and being down, and it really took me a while to kind of settle into it and figure out how to moderate that. I mean, honestly, it took years, right? I think it's the psychological side of this role is really hard to help people understand. Say more kind of about that journey. Like how much of it was just figuring out yourself and your own way versus also making sure that you were in the right kind of a role and the right kind of position, or was it all of the above?

11:42 Chris Beck: Yeah, you know, I feel like as an SDR, we're sort of measured in a monthly quota, right? And in this strategic role. Oftentimes I'll talk with HR leaders and they won't want to connect in 6 months. So I've had months where I'm as low as 40% of my number, and I've had months where I'm as high as 300% of my number. So I don't try and let either of those get me too high or too low because ultimately it's like, where am I ending up in the quarter? Where am I ending up in the year? I think, yeah, just trying to think like, bigger picture, I feel like is really important and not getting so caught up on like one, you know, bad month on paper because in reality you might have set yourself up to crush it the next month, you know?

12:25 Scott Ingram: Yeah. How much of a factor do you think the longevity piece is? Right. So you talked about 2 things. I'm going to tie 2 ideas together here. Right. One is I think a lot of SDRs are in a really big hurry. How do I blast through this role so that I can get promoted and get to the next job? But I think there's also the advantage of what you just talked about in terms of timing is a huge huge factor. And being able to have that big pipeline of people who are open and receptive, and now just wasn't the right time, right? And you're able to call back in 6 months, and then it's an easy meeting, you know, once you get back to that point because you've been consistent and you've done what you said you were going to do. And, you know, a lot of people aren't still in the position that you're in, right? That opportunity gets lost. So how much of a factor is that for you, just that you've been in this role for a chunk of time?

13:11 Chris Beck: Yeah, I mean, it's definitely pays dividends to my success. I have over 4,000 connections via LinkedIn in the benefits and HR space in the strategic segment. So I feel like the longer I'm in this role, the better I'm going to continue to do. My number my first year was 125%. This past year I was 148%. Next year I'm hoping to get higher. So I feel like just the longer you're doing something, the better you're getting at it. You're figuring out ways to make it easier on yourself and just kind of like clockwork. Yeah. But I do think there's a lot of value and I've heard your podcast before. Obviously it's a huge factor of why I feel like I've done so well. And I have heard you talk about the sort of SDR as a career before. That is kind of where I think I may be heading. Open-minded to potentially becoming an AE again, but I feel like I found a really good sweet spot as an SDR here at Modern Health.

14:09 Scott Ingram: Yeah, that's awesome. And just to kind of recap what I've talked about in the past on this front is just being well suited to a role. I mean, I see, I think the value of being able to be a great consistent SDR that consistently generates pipeline, that is, again, it just has really measurable value to an organization. And the AE role or a leadership role or anything else, I mean, they're very different. Things, right? And sometimes just like, I mean, I call myself an intentional individual contributor. I love this role. I love the work that I do. I love selling. I've had opportunities to lead, but it's just not where I feel like I am the best. So, you know, there's just that recognition. And you talked about the intentionality, right? As one of those things to where, you know, get comfortable, do really well. And I think that over time, and certainly my experience in sales, and I've been at this a little bit longer than you have. It's gotten easier and easier and easier over time. And I've found more and more success over time. Part of that is the skill development, right? And the development of the mindset, but a lot of it is the development of experience and the relationships. And like you said, you're starting to build a brand and a reputation. You've got this great network that starts to support you over time.

15:27 Chris Beck: Yeah, 100%. I think that is just like invaluable, like having those connections. You know, I think there's been times where I've booked like maybe 3 meetings with like the same person and there's always been some sort of potential for a sale in each one of those opportunities. So I feel like just kind of like staying on top of, you know, the people that potentially can convert and potentially partner with us. Yeah, I think that's absolutely huge.

15:51 Scott Ingram: Yeah, I think that's part of the reason why it gets easier because you develop that, I don't know, for lack of a better word, it's like relational pipeline. Right? And when you're not so transactional where everything is new and everything is cold, but you've been at it for a while and like we've had a conversation before and now we're able to come back to that. I mean, heck, we're an example of that. You reached out to me years ago and now here we are, right? And it wasn't completely cold and I've kind of watched your journey to a degree. And now we have this opportunity to have this conversation. So it's really interesting stuff. Let's talk about, I want to really get into kind of your process and your structure, starting with the way that you kind of work through and set up your day. So you know how I like to ask this, right? So alarm clock goes off. Tell me what time that happened and give me a pretty detailed blow-by-blow till your head hits the pillow again.

16:42 Chris Beck: Yeah. You know, it's funny, I used to not be a morning person, but like 2023, I sort of became one. So I've been recently waking up around like 7 or 8 a.m. I'll usually do some meditation or breathwork in the morning. And then after that, like on a perfect day, I'll do some journaling and just reflect on what's on my mind. Like what's, what's going well? Like what are some things that are maybe stressing me out? And then I'll usually go to the gym. I go for a bike ride, go swimming, or go for a run, like any kind of physical activity. Scott, I know we talked about this in our pre-talk, but yeah, I'm training for a triathlon over in Austin, which I'll be doing in around a month. So I've also been doing like a ton of like SoulCycle. I was on an unlimited 2-week run there. Unfortunately that expired. But yeah, big fan of spin class. And what else? Also really into yoga. I try and do that like 2 or 3 times a week, usually in the mornings. So after I do some sort of workout, I'll come home, shower, have breakfast, and then have some sort of caffeinated beverage before I get to work.

17:45 Scott Ingram: Nice. And then what's the structure for your workday?

17:48 Chris Beck: Yeah, I mean, so usually I'll start my workday around like 10 or 11-ish. Usually some sort of like team meeting that we'll have. And then after that, I'll sort of pull up my LinkedIn. I'll have like maybe, ideally have like 5 tabs open. I'll have like LinkedIn, my Trello board, some sort of like dialer. So we use Outreach, salesforce.com, and then like my calendar. So I just try and go on LinkedIn, see if there's anyone in my messages that I may have replied to one of my messages I sent them, see if I have any new good connections that have accepted my invite, and then just try and reach out to my low-hanging fruit. So I'm really big on Trello. I think I use Trello for what a lot of people would normally use Excel for, and I feel like it's just a better like more like user-friendly way to manage my pipeline. So yeah, pretty big on LinkedIn and just calling and emailing, but I actually don't use sequences. So that's like one of my like weird things that I do that I've, you know, I feel like not many SDRs don't use sequences. I've never used sequences, you know, across my 4 years as an SDR. And I feel like I've been able to do pretty well without them.

19:06 Scott Ingram: So yeah, talk through the philosophy there, right? Because that has become like very standard practice that folks are leveraging some type of sequence. Sequencing. So why don't you do that and what do you do instead?

19:16 Chris Beck: Yeah, you know, I think with sequences, like, I feel like I can be a pretty lazy person and I feel like they sort of enable me to be lazy, if that makes sense. And so I feel like just taking the time to write, like, you know, for 2 or 3 minutes or 4 minutes, whatever it is, to write a good message, like, not only are you going to be developing your writing skills and writing better messages, But also I think people can pick up on that. I think if someone feels like they're just in a sequence and you're just sending this same message to 100 people, why would they take the time to reply to that message? And ultimately that's what my job is, is trying to get people to reply and to want to engage with me. So yeah, I think, I mean, there's a world where potentially in the future I can see myself adding sequences and it could be helpful, but At least for right now, I feel like it just helps me be more intentional.

20:10 Scott Ingram: Man, this really resonates with me a lot. And it's probably no secret. I'm a big believer in general in quality over quantity, right? I think it's really easy to blast out generic stuff. And the 2 things I sort of lean on, one is my own experience. And I have kind of a little bit of a weird lens, right? Because lots of people reach out to me because of the podcast. And so it just exposes me to a lot of cold outreach and the vast majority of it, I mean way over 90%, 96% is just undifferentiated garbage, right? It all looks the same. I can tell that you did no work. You know nothing about my show, even though you probably opened with a lie. This drives me crazy and I call people out on it all the time. Like, you're saying that you've listened to my show? Like, you would never pitch this person to me if you listened to my show. You have no no idea what this is about. I'm like, you've lost all credibility. So one is just that generic thing. I also ask, I like when I talk with executives and my customers, I want to understand, particularly from a sales perspective, like what is your experience? And folks that I know are getting prospected like crazy because they're at a well-known company, they've got a really significant title. And I like to ask them, I'm like, how do you deal with all this? Like what actually breaks through? And one of the things, and I got this data point years ago, but I've heard it from a lot of other people since, is their process is essentially, look, if I get one of these completely undifferentiated garbage messages, or I see the sequencing, right? Like I see your messages starting to stack up and I can see that you're putting no effort into that. What this particular executive told me is he just builds a filter usually for the entire organization, not even that person, not even Chris who's been reaching out to me. Like, we're not going to hear from Modern Health again. And he just builds a filter for that domain so that he never sees any of their emails ever again. So, you know, I think to me what you are doing, and again, from my own personal experience, when somebody really genuinely does listen to the podcast and they really make a specific pitch for a specific reason, they're in the top single digits of percentage. It's that big of a thing. So sorry, I'm on a little bit of a soapbox here, but I think that there's a reason why your approach works, even though it's counter to what everybody else is doing.

22:43 Chris Beck: Yeah. And I think like when we think about like why salespeople still have jobs, like there's a reason why like AI can't do what we do and AI could easily sequence a bunch of messages. That's not what makes Salespeople special. What's special is like our nuances, like our weird little things that we might add to a message that help us stand out. And I feel like it's really good to like lean on that and let that help you stand out.

23:06 Scott Ingram: Yeah. Anything else to your approach when you're doing that outreach? It sounds like you said you're primarily using a combo of email, the phone, LinkedIn. Anything else that you feel like is different or significant in what's working in your approach?

23:20 Chris Beck: Yeah. I mean, you know, I'm trying to like think back if maybe we've had any outreach or interaction with that account before. So, you know, maybe even like a reply or if I can find out like maybe what they're using so I can sound more relevant. I feel like that just helps warm it up when you come across and you kind of know what they're using and you're still reaching out. Like maybe if they're using one of our competitors and you sort of mentioned that on that message and you're still reaching out compared to like a very generic, like, hey, we do X, Y, and Z, like you should talk to us. I feel like that understanding of what they're using and still reaching out kind of lets them know that it's probably worth a conversation, if that makes sense. And also just like, I think this is super basic, but just trying to spread good energy, not trying to be too pressurey, trying to always leave the door open for a conversation down the road, do my best to book that meeting as soon as possible, but at the same time, trying to think long-term as well. And Scott, I think we talked about this a little bit in the pre-talk, but yeah, just kind of the short and the long game is what I like to call it.

24:32 Scott Ingram: Yeah. Yeah. I love that mindset. So what about the back half of your day? How are you wrapping up the workday and how are you spending your evenings?

24:39 Chris Beck: Yeah. So back half of the day. So after, you know, after like maybe 12 o'clock, doing a lot of phone calls. When you ask this question, do you mean like During work or after work?

24:51 Scott Ingram: Well, both. Like, so let's talk through the rest of the workday and then keep going from there.

24:54 Chris Beck: Gotcha. Yeah, so kind of my prime time for dialing is probably around 2 to 6 PM. I think that just works best with my schedule, and I feel like people are more likely to pick up. I feel like people have most of their meetings in the morning, and maybe I just tell myself that, and so it's kind of like manifesting. And then usually after I do that. I try and set myself up for the next day so I don't have any recurring dials at 12 o'clock or LinkedIn messages at 1, because I feel like if it comes around to 1 PM and I just don't have the energy to do that, it kind of brings me down. And then if I'm supposed to call someone at 2 PM and I have no energy to be calling someone at 2 PM and I try to do it, I feel like it's just not going to be as effective. So I try and manage or just be very aware of my energy throughout the day and try and build my calendar or schedule around my energy, if that makes sense. And it's usually afternoons I feel like I have the most energy for dials. And usually in the morning I'm doing more admin work and LinkedIn messages, setting myself up for success to hopefully catch some of those people on the phone later in the day.

26:12 Scott Ingram: Yeah. So is that a consistent thing that you're just generally structuring your day that way because that's the way that your energy typically flows, or do you adjust depending on how you're feeling each day?

26:22 Chris Beck: I think it's normally how my energy typically flows. And also I feel like I just have better days when I start my mornings with the workout. Kind of gives me just like a good, you know, positive momentum going into the day. And yeah, so I feel like it's just sort of how my calendar typically works itself out.

26:41 Scott Ingram: Yeah, I'm really big on this idea. I read a Harvard Business Review article years ago that was about like managing your energy, not your time, for all of these reasons, right? It's like, well, it's one thing to try and time block and do this other stuff, but if you're really low and you're trying to do a task, to your point, that doesn't really match the level of energy that you typically have in that point of the day. And I've certainly used that a lot in the ways that I try and structure my day is knowing You know, I'm much more of a morning energy person, so I'll try and do kind of the hard, difficult stuff then, right? Which tends to be a little bit more administrative in nature. And then, you know, when I've got my lull in the afternoon, like if I'm having conversations, conversations with other people are going to bring me up. I sort of am mindful of those situations and try and build my days similarly. I think our approach is quite a bit the same in that way.

27:32 Chris Beck: Yeah, it's so funny you say that because I feel the exact same way about managing your energy and not time. And I've, I was like wondering where I learned that from. And obviously I learned it from your podcast just through osmosis, it seems like. But yeah, I definitely agree with that. Like time just happens, you know, time is constantly happening and I feel like the thing we actually have control over is our energy. So I think it's such a great point.

27:54 Scott Ingram: Yeah. The other part of that article is this idea that it is somewhat counterintuitive, right? If you think about, okay, my energy is a bucket. Right? And I have this much energy throughout the day that I'm going to spend. You would think that working out would take away some of that energy, but it's the opposite. Like, working out actually gives you more energy that you're able to then expend through the day. So I think you're kind of reinforcing that concept as well.

28:19 Chris Beck: Yeah. Plus, like, what I've found is that working out in the morning, I typically fall asleep at a more reasonable time, like 9 or 10 PM compared to like 2 or 3 AM. Like I used to a few years ago. So I feel like just working out in the morning has just been a total game changer for me.

28:34 Scott Ingram: Yeah. So walk us through kind of the rest of the day. What time are you wrapping up your workday and what's the evening look like?

28:39 Chris Beck: Yeah, so I'm on the East Coast, so normally I will wrap my day up around 5:30. And then after that, I usually just sort of try and unplug from work. I feel like that was One of the things that I learned that I really wasn't able to do as well in my first job, I was constantly thinking about where can I get my next meeting? Just who else should I be reaching out to? I feel like in sales it can be kind of hard to unplug, especially with every meeting you're booking, you're getting a higher number and you're getting paid more money. So I think it's really important to be able to unplug and yeah, so I'll usually just hang out with some friends, do some yoga with my mom, hang out with my dogs, just pretty basic generic stuff. Yeah.

29:29 Scott Ingram: Nice. And are there other habits or routines that are kind of core to the way that you operate?

29:35 Chris Beck: I'm getting really into breathwork. There's this guy at Modern Health, he's the absolute man. His name is Jaleel Mackey and he's sort of like a breathwork guru. So we connect biweekly and we just do breathwork. Stuff together. Like, it can be conversations about breathwork, it can be actual breathwork itself. But yeah, so I'm trying to do more breathwork and more meditation.

29:57 Scott Ingram: Wow, super interesting. What about your information diet? What are you reading, listening to, and watching, and when does that happen?

30:04 Chris Beck: Yeah, I mean, Scott, this podcast has 100% been like my main, like, bread and butter throughout these past 4 years. And I think it's just because I'm getting tips from people that are having massive success. So I feel like it sounds pretty obvious that's what would work the best. I try and tell myself, if it's working for them, it can work for me as well. So yeah, this podcast has probably been the biggest thing that I'll listen to, maybe one episode a week. And then this other book that I feel like has been instrumental for me, it's not really a sales book, but it's called Peak Performance. And I listened to this audiobook on Audible when I was in Spain, and I feel like it really validated my belief that creating a structure where work, where you have a good work-life balance is super important. So just being very intentional with taking time to recharge, I feel like that's really helped me show up as my best self at work. Other areas that I'll sort of use as maybe inspiration for messaging or for calls is Slack. Our team, does a really good job of sharing what's working via Slack. Like we'll share maybe calls that we've maybe struggled with and like we'll ask for help on, or we'll share calls that went really well or messaging that worked. So yeah, Slack is a big one. And then this last one's kind of a unique one. It's called On Writing Well. So this is a book to improve your writing skills. Have you heard of that one?

31:32 Scott Ingram: I think I've heard of it. I can't say that I've read it.

31:33 Chris Beck: Yeah. And the reason I have this one on here is I feel like in sales, like good writing is such a powerful way to break through the noise and get people's attention. And I feel like it's not like emphasized enough as a really powerful way to do that. So yeah, like being able to effectively write clear and concisely has been super important for me. And I feel like it's helped, you know, bring me on this podcast today.

31:56 Scott Ingram: Nice. Nice. That's a pretty old school book, right? It's been around for a while.

31:59 Chris Beck: I feel like it is, but it still has some good stuff in there. I feel like I read it like 4 years ago, but it's been… I feel like it's still like my sort of like fundamentals or my foundation for writing.

32:13 Scott Ingram: Yeah. Yeah. Listening to this show, what have been some of the most impactful things that you have kind of taken and incorporated into your approach?

32:21 Chris Beck: I feel like every time I listen to a podcast, I'll try and do like one thing, or at least it could be something as simple as even that Peak Performance book that I mentioned, that was mentioned on an episode from this guy from Chili Piper. He mentioned that was one of the books that their entire sales team had to read. So I actually went out and read all 3 of those books that he mentioned there or listened to the audiobooks. And so I feel like there's just a lot of that, just maybe the information diet piece, as well as just maybe techniques or little silly messages that have worked to get a meeting. I'll try them out and I don't normally live or die by those, but I'll try it out for a week and I'll usually find pretty much always I'll get 1 or 2 meetings from that. And sometimes even I'll look back and I'll hit my number just barely. And if I kind of tell myself I wouldn't have tried like that technique, I would have missed my number for that month. So I think just kind of like looking at this podcast is sort of like all these different ingredients and like, all right, like which one of these ingredients will work well for like my, my dish?

33:36 Scott Ingram: Nice, nice. I love that approach. And I'll also share because we'll be adding your episode to the list. If you go to top1.fm/sdr, we've got the list of SDR specific interviews listed there. You can also go to top1.fm/chris-beck or this episode number, which I don't know what it is. Both of those will have the full show notes. So the links to the books and everything else that have been called out here. Chris, what about, are there tools or apps or other things that are kind of core to your approach? You mentioned Trello earlier, which is a pretty unique one. I don't typically hear that from a sales perspective. Anything else along those lines?

34:12 Chris Beck: Yeah, I mean, honestly, pretty basic stuff. I try not to have too many tools because I feel like if you have too many things like going on in the background, it can get kind of overwhelming. It's like, hey, I should be doing this. I should also be doing that. And I think in sales, you want to have a clear mind. So my number 1 is just LinkedIn and SalesNav. I would say those 2 are super key. Trello, which if you guys don't know what Trello is, it's a project management tool and it's basically my way of managing the accounts that I'm working and just being able to visualize and see where I'm getting traction into different accounts. I use that mainly because I feel like Salesforce is like pretty laggy and it's like hard to edit stuff there. So just, it's kind of like my own like personal way to visualize my accounts. Google Suite, we use at Modern Health. So, you know, big fan of color coding my calendar. So yeah, Google email, Google Calendar, and then the last one would just be the phone. Nice.

35:05 Scott Ingram: Very cool. Now, do you have a particular either sales philosophy or prospecting philosophy that you follow?

35:11 Chris Beck: When you ask this question, if you're thinking back to things like Sandler, Sandler's one that we've had a few Sandler trainers come in a few of my organizations I've been a part in. I feel like those have always been super helpful and I feel like I've really resonated with what they've shared. So I feel like if I was to align with any sort of philosophy, it would be Sandler. I try and be consultative. I try not to be too pressurey, always trying to to learn more as I'm reaching out or doing research into any account. I don't know if that's what Sandler does, but I know the consultative part is definitely on there. But yeah, I feel like it's just trying to build trust and trying to be helpful with who I'm reaching out to, always trying to provide value, the basic stuff. And I think maybe one thing that maybe sets me apart a little bit is because I'm not so set on like kind of my next role and I'm really just like investing in this role, I'm also able to like think more long-term like we talked about earlier and trying to set myself up for the future. So I'm always okay. Like obviously I want to book the meeting as soon as possible, but if I feel like they are open to chatting in 3 months and we have like a really good ICP on there and I don't want to push that like to try and get it a month or 2 earlier, if it feels real. So I try and think long-term as I'm reaching out to these people.

36:38 Scott Ingram: Yeah, love that. Love that. What about just motivation? What motivates you? How do you think about motivation in general?

36:45 Chris Beck: Yeah, I mean, I think being in sales, definitely very money motivated, I think. And when I say money, I think what motivates me about money is just having freedom and flexibility to live the lifestyle that you want and be able to support your family and being able to provide for any future family that I might have. So yeah, money is definitely a big one. A few other things, I think on a day-to-day basis, I just try and have fun, try and have fun with my team, try and make things easy for myself and just really trying to enjoy my day-to-day. I used to think outbound sales development, I started as an inbound SDR and I used to look at the outbound SDRs and I was like, wow, that looks super hard. And I feel like I found a way to make it pretty easy. At least that's what I tell myself. And I feel like if I didn't feel that way, I don't think I would still be doing it. So I think what keeps me motivated, like, you know, ultimately is really just having or trying to have like a lot of small wins throughout the day. I feel like that helps give me energy. Just like, yeah.

37:52 Scott Ingram: Love that. Love that.

37:53 Chris Beck: Yeah.

37:53 Scott Ingram: Well done. And maybe we've already touched on this with the cadences, but I wonder if there's something that you believe that the average or typical SDR would think is crazy?

38:02 Chris Beck: Yeah, I mean, you know, the cadences is one, but I think you also don't need to make like 100 or 200 phone calls to have success. I think, you know, if you treat your accounts and prospects like they're just a bunch of accounts and prospects and you call them at random, like they're going to feel that and it's not going to help you stand out. So I think like, yeah, you're going back to my second thing. It's just being very intentional and strategic about what you're doing is super important. I've never been, like, even my first role, like in that inbound role, I was usually making around like 20 or 30 calls. And I think most people on the team were doing like 100-ish a day. And so I feel like if you try and think about it, like, how can I have the most impact and how can I like sort of, yeah, just make this process easier on myself. That's going to help you have more success than just calling a bunch of people.

38:53 Scott Ingram: Yeah. 2-part question. Like, what does your typical volume look like today? And like, what do you think about, what do you measure? Like, is there a certain level that you're trying to get to? And maybe it's just the meeting. Like, what are you just thinking about over the course of your day and in terms of goals?

39:10 Chris Beck: Yeah. You know, I think like there's a lot of small things like, you know, getting some sort of reply via LinkedIn is a huge win for me. Having an email get a lot of opens is a huge win for me. Having a good conversation with someone is a huge win for me. So I think there's all these little things that add up. Yeah, it's something as small as someone accepting my LinkedIn connection request, which is usually a 50/50. It doesn't happen all the time, but it happens good enough. I'll have 3 or 4 or 5 a day. And yeah, I think those are some of the small wins that sort of add up. And then obviously booking a meeting is the holy grail. But yeah, those are some of the things.

39:55 Scott Ingram: Yeah. Are there other metrics that you're kind of looking at over the course of the day?

39:58 Chris Beck: I'm always prospecting into these accounts as much as I can. So I'm constantly on LinkedIn sending out invites because a lot of times there's a lot of movement. In these accounts. So like if you just do it once, right, and you do it once and you're done for the year, then maybe if someone starts as, you know, an ICP, just meaning like the ideal customer profile, if someone starts that role like a month from now or 2 months from now and you haven't reached out to them, then you're going to miss that. And I feel like when someone starts in a new role, there's like, they usually want to make some sort of change or sort of make an impact. So that can be like a really good opportunity to book a meeting and hopefully like, you know, get them to partner with your organization as well. But yeah, and I do want to add the caveat here. Like, I know I said initially that, you know, you don't have to have a lot of calls to have success. I do think there's like, you know, there's a lot of people at Modern Health that have done really, really well in making a lot of calls. So I feel like what I really want to sort of articulate is that there's like no one path towards success in sales. And it's really about like finding your strengths and really double downing on that.

41:13 Scott Ingram: Yeah, absolutely. What about the flip side of my earlier question? Is there something that the typical SDR believes that you think is crazy?

41:21 Chris Beck: Yeah, I mean, I feel like it's probably… well, definitely it's definitely because of my past experience in my first role, but I feel like success in this role like is not getting promoted as fast as possible. It's… I think success in sales is finding something that you can and you want to do for a a long time. And then also, like, being successful is about enjoying what you're doing and just having fun. And then also, hopefully, ideally, making good money.

41:46 Scott Ingram: Yeah, well said. Love that. Love that. So what have been the most important decisions you've made or the lessons you've had to learn to get to this point where you are today?

41:57 Chris Beck: Yeah, Scott, I think it has to be like quitting that first job and just like really being honest with myself there. I think if I would have like tried to push through it, like I don't really know where I'd be at today. And I feel like it's just, it's really important sometimes to like take a step back and reflect. I'm not, you know, kind of making the recommendation for anyone to quit their job by any means, but I think it's really important to just like ask yourself like, hey, like what is going to make me happy in this role or at this company or in my career? And so I think just like being okay with like taking things slowly because like your career is not a competition. And like I mentioned earlier, it's super important that you love what you do today. So yeah, I think it was quitting that first job.

42:42 Scott Ingram: You know, that brings sort of an interesting question and I'm interested in how you would think about it. So if you're in one of those spots, right, you're in this tough spot, you're not feeling it, you're burnt out, or you're not having the success that you want. How do you figure out, like, is it this job? Is it sales? Is it me? Like, how would you guide somebody kind of in working through that?

43:03 Chris Beck: Yeah, I mean, I think journaling is a really powerful tool to do that. I feel like it helps sort of take yourself out of your own head sometimes. Another way to do it would be to maybe talk with a friend. I feel like it can kind of help you to sort of bounce ideas back and forth. You know, if your company offers something like Modern Health, like we offer coaching, which is more like forward-thinking compared to where therapy is more like clinical and sort of like, you know, based around things like anxiety and depression. Coaches can be really helpful for like professional development and helping you sort of figure out what you want to do with your career. And then also like finding mentors is really helpful. I think that can be a very powerful way just to, you know, have conversations with people that have been in your shoes and sort of give you that old man wisdom. Nice.

44:01 Scott Ingram: Nice. So, and no, you're not an old man yet, but what advice would you give to somebody that's just starting out in their sales career today?

44:08 Chris Beck: Yeah, I hope this doesn't sound like contradictory to sort of my vibe on this podcast so far, but I think like work super, super hard for your first few months and connect with and learn from people that you want to be like. I think at first you might be working in a way that feels a little bit unsustainable initially, but that's most likely just like a learning curve. In that book Peak Performance, it mentions that stress plus rest equals growth. So if you're uncomfortable at first to some degree, that's to be expected. And then once you have a handle on things, I think try and find a way to make it sustainable. Find your strengths and double down on those. But yeah, I think you have to just work really hard starting out in a new role.

44:53 Scott Ingram: I meant to ask this earlier. You've mentioned kind of the rest and the recovery component a couple of times. What is that for you? Like, what do you use to kind of recharge and reinvigorate?

45:03 Chris Beck: You know, it's kind of crazy because I feel like this training for this triathlon has really given me like a ton of energy, which, like you mentioned, it sounds kind of like paradoxical. But yeah, I'm training for this triathlon and I feel like it really just helps me just to sort of… like, running to me has always been such a powerful way to sort of like meditate. I've sort of always struggled to like really sit still and I feel like running just allows me to sort of like be alone with my thoughts and do that. Swimming, used to swim when I was younger and being able to do that again has been, it's been really nice. Yeah. I feel like triathlons, like I don't want to push everyone to do triathlons, but like, you know, why not honestly? Like triathlons have been, are a pretty cool way to sort of like take care of your physical and mental health. Yeah. So for me, it's really just trying to do things like outside and being active.

45:52 Scott Ingram: Nice. The way you described the phrase that came to mind, I don't know if that I've heard. I can't possibly be inventing this, but I was thinking of it as like moving meditation. Like the idea of like when you get into that rhythm, whether you're running or swimming or whatever it is, right? It's meditative.

46:07 Chris Beck: 100%. Yeah, definitely. And I bought these like underwater headphones and I'm like kind of pushing back against myself about using them. First of all, they're called Shokz, which is like a terrible name for an electronic headphone that you wear in the water. Yeah, exactly. And part of me doesn't want to wear them just because like, I'm kind of like wondering why I bought them. I love music, so that's probably why. But yeah, I feel like when you're swimming, like there's a lot of, again, you can't breathe and you're just like going and you kind of really focus on your breath. It kind of does feel like its own like kind of way of doing breathwork and physical activity, which is kind of cool. So yeah, maybe I'll return those. I think I still have like the 30-day thing on there.

46:52 Scott Ingram: There you go. There you go. So you don't electrocute your brain.

46:55 Chris Beck: Yeah, exactly.

46:58 Scott Ingram: What about advice that you have for those in the SDR role that are a little bit further in and either like they haven't found that groove yet, right? They haven't figured out how to find that consistent success, or maybe they're there, but, you know, I'm at 100%. How do I get to 150%? What's your advice for them?

47:15 Chris Beck: Yeah. So I think like an underlying foundation, what really helps like keep people motivated is going back to like my first thing is really caring. So I think thinking about that is like, you have to care about your job. So I think it's really important to think back to your why, like you have to really, you know, be passionate about something in your role. You have to be happy with what you're doing. And so I think it's really important to just take some time to ask, is this really what you want to do? And then if the answer is yes, then go all in and try and find a way that works well for you to be successful. And you're already doing the right things by listening to this podcast. So use that momentum, try some strategies that worked well for others. Like I mentioned earlier, maybe off 3 or 4 4 or 5 episodes. And I feel like if you do that, you're going to see some really good results. Also, just to maybe re-spark some confidence, I think it's really important to remember everything you've been through to get where you are today, everything you've accomplished. I feel like that can be very powerful. Think back to that test in college that you studied for 3 or 4 weeks for. I feel like those little things can sort of give you that confidence to be like, hey, I can do this.

48:28 Scott Ingram: Nice, nice. So building on essentially the psychology of previous wins and successes that you have had.

48:34 Chris Beck: Yep, exactly.

48:35 Scott Ingram: Love it, love it. So we've covered some pretty good ground. Is there anything else that you had hoped that we would touch on, or a question I should have asked but I haven't?

48:45 Chris Beck: Yeah, I mean, I can't think of anything specifically. Let's see here. Yeah, I really can't think of anything specifically. I feel like you do a really good job of being pretty in depth with these podcasts. And yeah, it's such a thrill to be on here. Like, it feels like full circle. This was the first thing that I was listening to when I was first graduating from college. Like, I had a philosophy degree, like I mentioned earlier, just wanted anyone to hire me. And I found sales and I was super nervous because I don't like not doing well at things that I do, which is my own problem that I need to work through. Yeah, so I found this podcast and I feel like it was just super helpful for me. So yeah, I just really appreciate you having me on here today, Scott.

49:31 Scott Ingram: Brilliant. Brilliant. Well, thanks for taking the time to pay it forward. And the way I always like to wrap these up is let's find a way to make it actionable. So what would you challenge our listener to do over the course of the next, you know, call it 1 to 2 weeks to improve themselves and improve their results? What would you challenge them to do?

49:47 Chris Beck: Yeah, great question, Scott. So I feel like the challenge I would recommend to people, and I feel like I sort of mentioned this a few times on how it's been pretty helpful for me, is just take some time in the morning, whether it's… it can be the morning, it could be in the afternoon, doesn't really matter. But I feel like it does help if it's in the morning just because it kind of sets a good intention for your day. But it's just to take some time, like 10 to 15 minutes, and journal. Like really reflect on your life, reflect on your job, how you're feeling. I think journaling can sort of pull yourself out of any habits that aren't really serving you. And I feel like it can help you get back on a path that is more fulfilling and sustainable. If we want to make this like SDR focused, we could also journal about why do you enjoy being an SDR? What's working really well? What do I need to do more of? What do I want to do less of in this job? So I think just taking some time to journal and reflect.

50:48 Scott Ingram: Love it. Love it. So cool to bring this full circle. Chris, thanks for taking the time.

50:52 Chris Beck: Yeah, Scott, thanks so much for having me on. Thanks for listening to the Sales Success Stories podcast. To be sure you never miss an episode and for an invitation to our Sales Success Community powered by Influitive, subscribe to our newsletter at top1.fm.