75: Take The Lead with David Weiss

0:08 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.

0:24 Scott Ingram: This episode is brought to you thanks to the generous support of Vidyard GoVideo. If you're not already familiar with GoVideo, I'll tell you more about it. It in a few minutes, or just click over to top1.fm/v and get started right away for free. Today on the Sales Success Stories podcast, I'm thrilled to welcome David Weiss back to the podcast. David was the star of episode 24 almost exactly 2 years ago. Since then, he spoke at the Sales Success Summit, contributed to the first Sales Success Stories book, and most importantly, moved into a leadership role at ADP where he is killing it. He's also just finished a book his own along with Andy Racic, who is a great friend of the show and introduced me to David in the first place. And that book is called Your Sales Career Guide, which is what a fair amount of our conversation today will be focused on. Welcome back to the show, David.

1:18 David Weiss: Thanks, Scott. Good to be back.

1:19 Scott Ingram: So let's take my traditional opening question, but turn it around just a little bit. What do you think have been the top 3 contributors to your success now as a sales leader?

1:31 David Weiss: I mean, without question, I need to give a huge shout out to my people. I mean, as a leader, I try and surround myself with great folks that, of course, you know, we work strongly together to help them be successful. And then very similarly to what I talked about when I did my podcast, it's a scientific methodology to leadership, to sales, to just what I do. And a lot of that goes back to building processes, measuring results, executing on things in the right way. Stuff like that. And if I had to pick a third, I would say an ample amount of coffee and espresso every single day.

2:05 Scott Ingram: Got it. You got to keep the people in the process caffeinated, right?

2:08 David Weiss: Absolutely. And myself, most importantly.

2:11 Scott Ingram: So just to dig into those a little bit more, I mean, from a, from a people perspective, how much of the team did you inherit? How much did you build yourself?

2:21 David Weiss: Sure. So I have 2 people One has been with ADP for 8 years, the other closer to 12 years. And then I've got 3 folks that I'd consider, you know, year or less.

2:36 Scott Ingram: Excellent. So, so pretty homebuilt or homegrown team from, from your perspective. And we'll talk about your results here in a little bit because you're doing quite well.

2:46 David Weiss: Yeah. And then the 2 folks that have been with ADP for a while, I'm happy to say one of them This past year, and we just ended our fiscal three weeks ago, was our board of directors winner. He finished the year almost 300% of plan. He had his best year ever. I mean, and by the way, we're not talking small quotas here. We're talking you know million and a half dollar quotas. This person doing you know upwards of almost four million in sales. So yeah, very, very, very successful year for for that one person.

3:15 Scott Ingram: That's fantastic. And and we'll come back to kind of your process as a as a leader. But before I continue the the conversation, let me give just that quick shout. Out to our sponsor, Vidyard GoVideo. Now, email isn't dead, but it sure can be boring. With Vidyard GoVideo, you can send personal video messages instead to connect, convert, and close. Vidyard GoVideo helps you easily record, send, and track who's viewing your video content in 3 simple steps. First, you capture your screen or tab, and you can add a personal touch by recording yourself on camera too, right from your browser. Next, share that video through email, social, or anywhere else with just a few clicks. And then finally, see when someone watches your video through browser notifications. GoVideo will let you know who clicked play and how much they watched. Install GoVideo for free by visiting top1.fm/v. And now that I'm back from vacation, or at least I will be by the time you listen to this, if you send a personalized video to me at scott@top1.fm, I promise to send you a personalized video back. Just one more reason to get started with Vidyard GoVideo today. So, David, let's, let's put this into perspective a little bit first and talk about the performance and the results that you and your team have generated. Because obviously when we last talked about 2 years ago, you were number 1 in the division. And remind me when you made the change. When did you step into this leadership role? And then how did you finish up here at this last fiscal year end?

4:45 David Weiss: So I was asked to pick up the bag right around May of last year, but the role officially kicked into place at the beginning of last fiscal. So we just wrapped up our fiscal, so a year and a month ago.

4:57 Scott Ingram: Perfect. And so just, I mean, that's, that's a pretty clean delineator. And just to note, we are recording this about a month, almost exactly a month before the episode will release. So, I mean, you basically were in the role for one full fiscal year. Yep.

5:12 David Weiss: That's accurate.

5:12 Scott Ingram: And what did you guys do?

5:14 David Weiss: So we finished the year at 139% of plan. Very, very proud to say we were the top channel sales team in ADP Field Sales, which is our global enterprise sales group. So that's the 1,000-employee space and up. So our channel, we compete from a team perspective with everything else ADP does that's non-core human capital management technology. And we were the number one team. So, I mean, just fantastic results. Again, hats off to my team. Couldn't do it without them. Finished at 139% of plan, $11 million in sales, over 15 new logos. Our average deal size, which we increased over previous years by a few hundred thousand dollars, was over $768,000. So, I mean, it just, again, phenomenal year. Couldn't be more proud of the team and what we've all accomplished.

6:10 Scott Ingram: That's fantastic. Well, congrats on all of that effort. And one of the things, one of the reasons I wanted to talk with you again, not only did you call this out, you sort of requalified to be on the show, although that said, you know, I almost exclusively… not almost exclusively, I exclusively have focused on the individual contributors. But as we start to gear up for the Sales Success Summit coming up here in October, a big part of that conversation is going to be around sort of proactively managing your career. And, you know, one of the perspectives that I want to make sure that we get is really touching on the folks who… and about I went back through and kind of looked at who's been on the show and what's happened with them. About 10% of the folks that I've interviewed here on Sales Success Stories have taken that step up and moved into a leadership role. So, you know, it's certainly a fairly common path, but one I think that you have to really consider carefully. Right. And not everybody does really well in this role. And I think what's great about your story and your success is not only did you go from a top individual contributor, but you really carried that forward and have proven that you can also lead a team. And so first, let's just start with why. Like, why did you decide this was the right move for you at this point in your career?

7:33 David Weiss: So I think I got the first glimmer of it when I started mentoring people, supporting people on deals, folks within, you know, ADP and as well as other businesses that I'd been part of in the past. Started coming to me and asking me for help. And I got to a point where I really liked seeing other people win. And I think that was my first glimmer of leadership where it was no longer about my success and I no longer just cared about my number and me winning. I really got enjoyment and pleasure out of seeing other people be successful. So I think that was probably when I first knew that I wanted to do something that was more than just, you know, individual contributor.

8:19 Scott Ingram: Awesome. And as you went down that path, I mean, one of the things that I ask, I'll turn around another pretty common question is just what advice would you give to somebody that is considering that same path? So they're carrying the bag today, they've got a quota, they think that sales leadership might be the right path for them. What should they ask themselves? What should they consider? What should they know that maybe they don't know from the outside looking in?

8:49 David Weiss: So I think the first is, are you ready to give up control? Are you ready to put your, you know, your livelihood in other people's hands? Do you really enjoy seeing other people win? Are you willing to kind of adapt your personality and who you are to fit other people's strengths, because how you're successful and how someone else is successful is not the same. And so you've got to pull that out or help other people discover what makes them great, not just what you do and replicating what you do to be great. Hope that makes sense.

9:31 Scott Ingram: It totally makes sense. And I think that's, that's a really, really strong point. And I don't know if I've had this conversation on this show, and I know I've had it in other places where I think poor sales managers really try and push their style and their way on people where, where it's probably not a stylistic fit for those individuals rather than helping them find their own way and find their own answers.

9:59 David Weiss: Yeah, man, I, I totally agree. What I've seen others and I, and frankly, I still struggle with it myself. Is that I can tell folks what to do. And if they do it, they probably will show some level of success. However, how happy are they? And how happy are they going to be long-term? And then I'd even compound it. How self-sufficient are they going to then be long-term? Because the more I just tell someone what to do and the more they see success just doing what I tell them to do, the less they think on their own, the less they can problem solve on their own, and the more they need me to figure things out themselves. And at the end of the day, I may not always be there, whether I'm in a different role or whether I'm on vacation or whether I'm sick or, you know, I may be on the phone and they need an answer immediately. If I can teach someone how to problem solve, figure out themselves and be successful themselves, they'll ultimately be more successful and happier in their job Yeah, that's so fantastic.

11:01 Scott Ingram: So one of the things that this ended up becoming a part of a secret track, and I haven't finished editing that secret track from my conversation with Evan Kelsay, but I talked to him after our main interview and I asked him what he saw as the difference between the top performers on his team and the average performers. What is that dynamic? Look like? Like, what, what do you see? I mean, obviously you've got a… you've got one incredible performer at 300% on your team. What's the difference between that level and what you see the others doing?

11:40 David Weiss: Oh, by the way, another guy was 270% of plan, and then we had another person that was right at plan, and then, you know, a couple of folks, of course, below plan, unfortunately. So what is the What's the difference? People that are putting up those types of numbers and doing it consistently, they're just better at every part of the process. There's no one thing. And here's what I mean. When I think of a sales process, and I've got it up on my board right now, and I keep it because, you know, I help stage manage with deals in cycle with my team, is, you know, they've… you've got new adds to the pipeline, you've got your discovery, You've got your overall demo and alignment of the solution to the problems that someone's having. You've got your late stage when it comes to negotiating the deal itself and making sure that there's mutually beneficial trades and wins on both sides and that the deal integrity and scope creep is not happening. And then you've got closing the deal, implementing the deal, and ensuring that you've got a happy, referable customer that you can then grow long-term. So if you think of those pieces as just pieces of a process and then break down each piece of the process in itself, the folks that are constantly exceeding it, have done that, have mapped it out for themselves and are constantly getting better and trying to be better at every single individual piece.

12:57 Scott Ingram: So let's, let's break that down sort of tactically, right? I can't run with, well, just be better, right?

13:04 David Weiss: Better at everything. Just be better at everything.

13:05 Scott Ingram: Right, right. If I could just be better at everything, that would be, that would be, I would be 300% better. But what is, what's the process, right? What's, what's the process from getting where you are to getting better at everything?

13:17 David Weiss: Sure. So there seems to be a lot of sales folks that are focused on, hey, I need to get better at prospecting, or, and they focus a lot of energy on that, or they, you know, buy AI tools. Nothing against AI tools, they're fantastic. Or they, you know, rely on their, their SDR, BDR to just get them leads and bring them into deals. And there are a lot of people that, you know, focus on, I need to conduct a really good demo, really good presentation, or that I need to, you know, ask for the business more. I hear all these things and I'm like, you're right, you do. But that's not all of sales. And that's, those are only pieces of sales. So, so many people get work to get really, really, really good at a component. It's like you just practice on hitting the ball really hard. Well, great. You're just, you're going to hit the ball really far, but it may be in someone else's fairway. So, you know, you got to get good at all the components to be great.

14:14 Scott Ingram: You've clearly watched me golf before, David.

14:16 David Weiss: I'm just, I'm personal experience. Great answer. So, you know, you got to get better at all parts of the game. So how do you do it? For me personally, when I was in the role and when the folks I've seen really be successful in the role, they really do break it down into every single component and then focus on mastery at each piece. It's not that they're just getting better at prospecting. It's that, look, prospecting is a part of it. So what are the best practices in prospecting for me, for my team? We're doing mug drops to executives, college mug drops. It works incredibly well. The success rate is over 30% meetings set. We're with senior executives. We, it's simple. We profile, and I've talked about this on my last one. We pick the top 100 accounts per person. We then pick the people that we want to talk to at those accounts. We then go to LinkedIn and see what schools they went to. We then write that down, order, like they're called turvuses or mugs or what have you on Amazon, and we get them shipped to us and we write a little handwritten note and put the mug in the FedEx box and mail them to them and then follow up. And we get phenomenal results because it's personal, it's customized. Most of this time we're using a case study or a story that directly pertains to their industry with a business impact specifically for them. And they know that this isn't just another piece of company swag that everybody gets and everybody gives out. It's real and people care about it. Like if you send me something from my school, I went to RIT, you send me something from RIT, I'm going to talk to you because that's just neat because you did your homework. So that's one component. Then you've got your analysis and your discovery. You're digging in, you're figuring out what the best questions are. You're working with your operations partners, your implementation partners. You're working with the people who do really good discovery in your business that you found, and you're layering that together to make sure you're asking all the right questions, you're covering all your bases, and you're building the right solution. And then you're being a business person. So you're making sure that you're building a business case upfront during your discovery that's socialized and validated, and that your solution can really actually do what you say it will do and have a positive ROI to it. And then, you know, you're getting great at your demos and you're watching TED Talks and listening to podcasts and reading books on the secrets and best practices when it comes to presenting information. And then, you know, you're doing the other components like strong alignment and you're reading books on negotiation. It's that You're breaking it down and you're getting, you're getting a level of expertise and mastery at every single point in the process, not just working on hitting the ball harder. So hopefully that answers the question and is tactical enough.

16:44 Scott Ingram: Yeah. So let's go just one step further, and that is what's the best way to tackle that, right? So does it make sense? I mean, you opened up saying that folks kind of focus on getting really good at one area. You have to get good at all of it. But does it make sense to focus on one piece at a time? Do you focus on an area where you're weak? What's the best way to really tackle that in an intentional way?

17:09 David Weiss: You know, I think people need to figure this out a little bit on their own. You know, where are you already great and super strong and how do you get better? And then where are you weak? And then you need to spend the most amount of time to get yourself up to a fair baseline or above it. For me, if you just spend all your time focused on one area, you'll forget the rest. So I think it needs to be a concentrated effort and working on all of them all the time. If that's a day a week, an hour a week, I mean, people need to figure out… I mean, look, first just figure out your process and what you're good at and what you're not and where you need to get better. So I mean, step one, and I think I talked about this, it was like one of the first things I said on last podcast, treat this like a science, treat this like, you know, something that's incredibly important. Don't just go through the motions. Don't just go through your life. Be intentional. So intentionally break down the steps in your process and then intentionally get better and hold yourself to task on which ones that you need to get better on and then focus there and focus on all of them.

18:09 Scott Ingram: Yeah. You know, I think that makes sense. And if you think about sort of the 10,000-hour theory, I think most people think it's just 10,000 hours, but it's not, right? It's 10,000 hours of… and now I'm forgetting the term, but it's sort of dedicated practice, right? It's, it's being really thoughtful about the work that you're doing. And I think as you're going through all of this, it's, it's just how can I get better at every single piece as I'm working through it and, and just being regimented about the way that you're documenting things and the way that you're running process. And, and that's, it's a good transition to have you talk just a little bit about, well, I'll set you up a little bit better here because I'm, I'm bringing you back into the, the stage or onto the stage at the Sales Success Summit really to help with 2 things. Right? One, you'll be a part of the sales leadership panel as we talk about sort of the career management piece. But the other element is, as we go through the first day and we really start to dissect the sales process, you'll be talking about building real business plans and accounting for and closing the gaps in your sales process. Do you want to talk about those ideas just a little bit more? Maybe give us a more advanced preview of what's to come?

19:25 David Weiss: Sure. So from a leadership perspective, the thing that I'm going to be talking about is Ken Blanchard's situational leadership. So when you're managing people, you need to understand it. And it kind of goes back to the point we just made, break down every piece of a process. People are not inherently good or bad. People do good or bad things. So you need to understand where someone is in their development. So someone may be really, really, really good at prospecting, but really, really, really bad at discovery. So if they're really good on prospecting, I'm going to ask them, you know, what's your plan and how are you going to execute on it and what do you need my help with? But if they're not so good at discovery, I'm going to say, here are your discovery questions and here's how you ask them and here are the, the, what what good responses look like and here are what not so good responses look like. And here's where you need to peel the onion and dig into your second and third layer questions. Like, I'm going to be very prescriptive with exactly what I expect, where if someone's already good at something, I can more just validate the plan or really just tell them, I want you to go set 5 meetings and I don't care how you do it because I know you will. So it's understanding where someone is and everything that you're And all the components of the job, and then applying a level of situational leadership to them where you're meeting people where they are in their development at each task. So that, that's a big one. The next one is Marcus Buckingham talks a lot about check-ins and that the best way to lead people is to understand what their strengths are and give them opportunities to do more of where, what they're strong at. And that the number one job of a leader is to get out of people's way. And support them when they need support on the things they need support on. So I really believe in those 2 things when it comes to making that transition into leadership and doing it right. Because like I have one-on-ones with all my folks every single week, and there are a lot of leaders that… and I did this myself in the past… that show up to one-on-ones with a bunch of things that they're going to tell their people to do. And that's, you know, That's great. But I like to ask my folks, what are your priorities this week? What are you trying to accomplish and why? And how will you accomplishing those things help you further hit your objectives and your goals? And great. Where do you need help on accomplishing those things? And where are you strong? And what do you, you know, no problem gonna succeed? And where do you maybe need some additional support and what can I do? And those are our one-on-ones. And at the end of the day, people accomplish their priorities and they get their things done. And if they don't, they tell me because I see it and we work on a way to fix whatever the issue was. So I'm going to be talking about those 2 things. And then from building a business case, I mean, you guys have heard me talk about MEDDPICC. Scott, I mean, I did one of my Sales Success Stories was on it. Part of the podcast was on it. I'm a big believer in MEDDPICC. MEDDPICC is all about running a really good sales process and identifying your gaps. And one of the big parts of MEDDPICC, which is the M, is metrics. And that's all about your business case. So it's about really identifying the hard and soft costs and value that your solution brings to an organization, quantifying those, helping a business quantify those, and then making sure you're building it and leading with it and using that throughout your sales process to accelerate it, overcome roadblocks, and close deals.

22:50 Scott Ingram: Awesome. And that is such a popular asset that, that MEDDPICC page from you gets thousands of visits. I think it's the 2nd most popular video Of the, I think I just looked at this today, of the 477 that are posted from all the different clips and things that we've shared, it is, it is the second most popular. So I know that there's been a ton of value in that. And I think this will just be an extension and a continuation of that conversation. And I think the variety is important too, because I do get the feedback. There's, there's some folks who are drunk on the David Weiss Kool-Aid and are all about the process. And there are others who are don't have as much of a strong process orientation, right? So I think getting that variety, seeing different ways and different approaches and being able to take different elements from each of those is going to be really valuable. And I, for one, am looking forward to your presentation yet again.

23:50 David Weiss: Me too. I'm looking forward to actually figuring out what I'm gonna say and what I'm gonna say and how. So I got a few months. I'll figure it out.

23:56 Scott Ingram: We got a couple months. We got a couple months. So one of the other things that I always love digging into is just the realities of the day-to-day. And what I'm curious about for you now is how has, how has that changed, right? So you went from being a quota carrier and you already kind of called out this idea that there's, in some senses, there's a loss of control. And a lot of that probably has to do with your own schedule. Walk us through in kind of the traditional way, right? Alarm goes off. What time did that happen? What happens from there? Just to give us a sense of what's an effective sales leader's day look like?

24:35 David Weiss: Yeah, so my team covers the West. I've got 2 folks in the West. I've got 1 in Texas and I've got 2 on the East Coast. So I effectively cover all time zones and I split the country between me and 1 other colleague of mine. So my mornings typically start around 6-ish these days. They wrap up around 7-ish most days. And I'm way more reactive than I ever have been. So I've got a team of 5 as of last Friday. So yeah, 2 days ago I was given an additional 2 people. So we're kind of folding them into the team. So my typical Monday is one-on-ones with everybody. Again, and I mentioned this, it's all focused on what are your priorities this week? How are you going to accomplish them? Where do you need my help? I may bring a business update or 2, but it's mostly there. Then it's a lot of, I consider almost reactivity. So I act as the executive sponsor on deals for my whole team. So I, on average, probably go on anywhere from 10 to 20 sales meetings per week. They're virtual, 30 minutes to an hour over the phone, but I'm tagged in as kind of at some stage in the process, whether it's while we're presenting to be an executive sponsor, whether it's towards the end of the deal to support in our negotiation posture. There's just lots of different ways that the team uses me based on what they need. Then it's a lot of putting out fires. So whether it's implementation issues or someone needs help with something, there's just a lot of me being reactive. It's actually one of the parts I love about the job because every single week, literally every single week is so different because it's me supporting 5 people, 7 people now, just helping them do whatever they need done. So it's deals, it's fires, it's one-on-ones. Once a month we do our forecasts. So there's a lot of meeting at the beginning of the month to understand what people are forecasting, how they're forecasting it, making sure that the deals meet MEDDPICC and the different qualifications. Then it's a lot of check-ins, just, you know, seeing how deals are progressing, things like that. So most days are just a blur of people calling me with things that they need help with, and I get excited about that and then just go solve problems all day.

27:12 Scott Ingram: I was going to ask, I think it probably starts with just your mentality because you've, you've obviously taken sort of an optimistic outlook on all of it. But I have to imagine for you, especially just given you're, you're very organized, you've got these great processes to be thrown in such a reactive environment. Was, was that a hard transition for you?

27:34 David Weiss: No. So one of the main reasons I got into sales is because I like solving problems, period. I just, I like figuring out ways to get things done. It's just something that's really exciting. Like, I'll give you an example. For the Sales Success Summit, we decided, or we were kicking around where people were going to stay. And while we're on the phone talking about where are we going to stay, I'm like, you know what would be really cool? Let's all get an Airbnb. And, you know, Bajorik hits me up. Yeah, we talked about that. We don't know if we can make it work. While I was on the phone, I found an Airbnb, got 9 people to commit to it. 7 of them have already paid. We found out, you know, we got an awesome place. Like, it's just, I saw a problem and I'm like, what's the best way to handle it? And then I just went and figured it out. I've got a lot of stories in my life where someone throws something at me and I just find a way to get it done, to solve the problem, whatever it is. It's why I got into sales. Do I like having more methodical processes around things?

28:37 Scott Ingram: Yeah.

28:37 David Weiss: There are a lot of things that I can prep for, like when we do have meetings, how do we make sure that meeting is as successful as it can be? And when we do forecasting, how do we make sure we do it in a very methodical way that, you know, we know that a deal's not going to slip and we're going to get signatures at the right time? Like there's a lot of stuff like that that is methodical, but then there's a lot of the day-to-day that's just like, hey, this just happened. What do I do? And people are constantly coming to me asking me for advice or asking how to handle situations. And that stuff invigorates me because I'm just, I'm not just solving problems for myself. I'm solving problems for a whole team. So, you know, I like it. Reactivity isn't a bad thing.

29:10 Scott Ingram: Yeah, that's, that's, that's awesome. And it was, it was fun to watch the David Weiss Downtown Austin mansion process come, come together. And, and, you know, the, the 8 other folks that are staying with you, I know are going to have an even better experience because of that. So that's, that's awesome. And not to mention, I think they're, they're probably all saving $100, $150 a night in the process. So that was a very Very, very well executed.

29:31 David Weiss: $380 for 3 days at a baller mansion in Austin. Pool, you know, multiple, like 9 rooms, all like, I mean, it is gonna be so much fun. I'm so excited.

29:42 Scott Ingram: Frankly, I'm kind of jealous. Like, I'm sad that I have to go home. I should have reserved one of those spots.

29:48 David Weiss: I got a couch, man. I now have a couch. Just bring some bourbon.

29:51 Scott Ingram: Oh, that's greatness. That is greatness. So you talked about Ken Blanchard. You talked about Marcus Buckingham. I know you're a big reader. What's kind of top of the stack right now? Or let me ask it a different way. What, in the last year or 2, what's been the most impactful book that you've read?

30:08 David Weiss: So, you know, I like to read a lot and I'm kind of just like staring at my bookshelf and you know what? It's a book I'm probably about 3 quarters of the way done through right now. It's written by Kim Scott. It's called Radical Candor. And as a leader, it may have been one of the best books and I'm not all the way through it, but so far. It's one of the best books I've read because when you lead people, your job, and at least I see it as constantly helping them achieve their goals, see their blind spots, live a better life. Just, you know, there's a lot of things that to me are altruistic about being a leader that I, that I really love. And like the folks on my team that, that did 300% and 270% of plan, they, they, they're paying for their their kids, you know, colleges, like 3 kids, multiple kids' colleges and new cars and houses. And it's just to see their lives transform is really, really cool. But those things and their accomplishments didn't come with or without their fair share of pain and growth and the need to look at things differently and do things differently and get uncomfortable. And Radical Candor is a really good story about Google and Apple and how they… in Silicon Valley… and how they build high-performing cultures that are built around helping people bring their best selves to work and get better at what they do every single day. And Kim really does a nice job of building a framework for communication where she helps someone not be a jerk when they give feedback and come across like an asshole? Because a lot of people can. And the 2 things that she talks about is you need to make sure that people understand you care about them. If you're giving feedback and if you're saying something that's coming from a place that isn't totally empathic and totally, you know, caring about someone's well-being and you're just telling them they suck at something, you're not going to get very far. So the first step is making sure the person you're talking to really knows that you care. And then the second step is being just brutally transparent about what they're doing and the impact it's having. And she says, if you can do both of those things and just be, you know, not beat around the bush and be honest and transparent with people, they will respond well to it and they will improve. And to me, that's a lot of how I've been working on my leadership style because I've had bosses many times in my life that were either too nice and they just told me everything I did was great. And I've had bosses in my life that have just berated me and told me I suck at everything. And then I didn't do anything good, even when I thought I was doing a lot of really good stuff. And then the best leader I ever had, shout out to Jeff Walker. Jeff, I love you, man. And unfortunately, Jeff transitioned recently out of ADP and I miss him. He would always make… be like, David, you know, I care. You know, I'm doing this to help you be better long-term. But here's what you just did. Here's how it came across. And you can't do it that way. You need to do it this way. And that type of feedback and that type of connection is one of the things that made him one of the great leaders.

33:19 Scott Ingram: Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Great, great, great story. It reminded me as you were talking, because I watched this, this TED Talk just shortly before we got on to have this conversation. One of the listeners to Daily Sales Tips, I think I have converted him. He'll probably be listening to this conversation. Great guy that works kind of in the sales enablement side of CDW, pointed me at a TED Talk. And I'm forgetting the title, but one of the core themes of it is this idea of rigorous authenticity. And it's a great, great talk. We'll get it linked up in the show notes. And with any luck, I've actually asked him to create a sales tip around it. So being that this is about a month out, hopefully folks will have already heard that and know the TED Talk that I'm speaking of. But I think, you know, there's something to this. I mean, one of the things that I have seen so consistently consistently among all of, of the top performers that I interview on, on this show is they're just the most real, humble, kind of best version of themselves type of people, right? There's, they're not wearing a mask. They're not pretending to be, you know, some, I'm a sales rock star, right? That's, that's not what this game is at, at all. And, and I love that you're sort of bringing that kind of an idea to the, to the sales leadership role, because I, I think it suffers from the same kind of misconceptions and approaches and, and things like that as well.

34:38 David Weiss: Yeah, man, I totally agree. I mean, there's, there's so many people that will, especially in business, especially as you get higher up in leadership, that, that play the game or try and say all the right things. And that's, that's just never been me. That's never been me with my clients. That's never been me with the people I work with. I kind of am just going to say what I think. And God forbid, I hope I'm thinking the right stuff and I'm saying the right things in a real sort of way. And my wife, psychologist, I probably am too honest with her and could have more empathy. But one of the things that she's always saying is make sure you understand the other person's perspective and have a lot of empathy for where they're coming from before you make your statements. Because it's not just about what you say, it's about how… and people will often forget what you say. They will always remember how you made them feel. So you can say just about anything to someone and be so brutally tough if you need to, but if they walk away feeling like you were real and that you cared and you did it from the right place, they, they will forgive you and appreciate it more and probably be better for it.

35:54 Scott Ingram: Yeah, such, such great stuff. Again, I'm confusing all kinds of conversations. I've got just too much stuff in my head right now. So again, I don't know if it was talking with Evan or some other sales tip, but I think, I think it was a recent sales tip and, you know, just this idea of, you know, the, it might've been Bajorek if I'm thinking about it now, who was talking about, you know, have you ever had that sales manager who you could tell was just managing to the number and then that's their number, right? Like we all get it. We all have numbers, right? Those, those numbers roll up and you have a bigger number than, than I do. And I'm a component of that. And, you know, that conversation is so different when somebody is managing to the person and, and helping them develop and grow. And you know what, if, if that… if they're successful in that, the numbers kind of come, don't they?

36:45 David Weiss: Absolutely, man. I, I tell my folks and, and I tell anyone that, that asks, it's, it's not their number, it's, it's our number. And it is, it is you and me against your… against their number, your number. And that's how I look at it, because look, if I can support… if I can treat each individual like the unique, special person they are, and I can help them achieve their goals, and they're a member of my team, and everyone on my team achieves their goals, I achieve mine. So it's never about my number. I care about my number. I always want to hit it. I'm always going to commit to the business. I'm going to find a way to do it. But it's not actually my number. It's my team's number. I don't I support them on their sales. I help them in every way, shape, form I possibly could think of. But at the end of the day, they need to do the majority of the actions to be successful. I can guide, I can coach, I can support, I can, I can do everything. I can beg, plead, I can do everything to support them. But at the end of the day, they have to do it. So it's their number. So I never look at it as what are you bringing me? I look at it as what are you doing for you? And how can I help you do that better? And if they're successful, I will eventually be successful. And yeah, that's all, that's all I was ever approached to, man. It's, it's, I feel like it's, that's the right way.

38:01 Scott Ingram: Love that. Love that. So we talked about what you've been reading. I know you've been busy writing too. So talk about the, this is hard to say because it starts with your, so I'm saying the your, talk about Your Sales Career Guide, this, this new book that you and Andy have just finished writing.

38:18 David Weiss: Yeah, so I give a lot of credit to Andy, and I give him a really hard time because for a variety of reasons. He's also my best friend, so I feel like I have to. But he had a phenomenal idea. It was his idea, and he came to me and he said, David, there's tons of books on sales, but there isn't on why someone should go into our profession and why they shouldn't, and just the basic blocking, tackling things you need to do to get the job and then also be successful in your kind of first 90 days, first 1 year. It's not a… so that's what we wrote. It's not a book on process and it's not a book on how to be, you know, a sales rock star. There are a lot of those books. I can probably count close to 15 of those books on my sales, on my bookshelf right now. This is unique and it's really cool. So it's broken down into 3 categories. The first category is what is sales? And the basic kind of DNA of a salesperson, successful salespeople. Because our stance on that is if you have… if you wake up pre-sales, if you just wake up as a person with some of the fundamental characteristics that successful salespeople show every day, you will be a better salesperson and you will be more naturally inclined to the profession itself. And to me, playing to your strengths and being naturally inclined to something is so important because you can hear it in my voice. And I wake up every single day excited. Like, people who know me are like, David, it's 6:30 in the morning and you are already gung-ho, ready to go tackle whatever task needs to be tackled today. And I'm like, yeah, I wake up this way and I wake up this way because I'm doing something I love. And trust me, I don't wake up that way to mow the lawn. I don't wake up that way to, you know, do tons and tons of tasks in my life, but I do wake up that way for sales and helping people be great at sales and leadership and the things that I do every day. So that's kind of the first section of the book is let's make sure you're playing your strengths. Let's make sure you really understand this life, what it is, so you can wake up and be excited to live that life. The second is how do you get the job? So I talked about on one of the podcasts that I was on with you, Scott, you know, that I use Selling Power Magazine and And I took a thoughtful approach to finding my first few jobs in the career that I've had. So it talks about that. How do you find the right opportunities for you? How do you ask the right questions during the interview process? How do you follow up in the appropriate ways? How do you negotiate the offer and ultimately start with an organization? And then when once you've gotten the job, how do you ensure you don't mess it up and lose your job? The dream job, the dream career that you were just, you know, seedlings starting to grow in the first, you know, 90 days to a year. So that's the, that's the general idea.

41:09 Scott Ingram: Love it. Love it. You know, I think it is, it's so needed, especially somebody that is considering this as a career. And I think for, for most of the folks listening to this, my guess is the vast majority of you are already in sales. But I think this would be the perfect gift for somebody who is on the fence and maybe reached out to you, maybe as a mentor. That's considering the field, or you who you think would would just be great, right? And should consider it as a profession. I just don't think that there is anything else like this that exists. I will admit, as I get ready to go on a two-week vacation, life got the best of me, and I still have not finished the entire book. I've probably read two-thirds of it, but what I have read is really readable, very humanized because of the personal stories from both David and Andy. So a great, great resource. And David and I are going to go a little bit deeper into this topic as well in. A webinar, not just getting started in sales, but again, this idea of, because I think that this is, this information is missing as well. You know, just how do you, how do you manage your sales career? How do you be thoughtful about where you want to go and how you get there and what the various paths might be and what the, what the right steps are and the, and the knowledge that you need to attain and the skills you need to acquire, you know, what, what have you. And so we're doing this on the Sales Experts channel. The title of that presentation is Be the CEO of Your Sales sales career. And the way this works, this is actually happening 2 days after this episode goes live on August 24th. So if you're, if you're one of my quick listeners, you're awesome. Thank you. You've still got time to check into this thing live and ask us questions. But otherwise, the link will also, the link I'm just about to give you will take you to the recording as well. It'll both be on the same page. So if you go to top1.fm/career, -webinar. You'll find all those details. And of course, if you go to top1.fm, whatever this episode number is, that will have all the links. So all the books that we've talked about will have links to a couple of the sample stories that we've shared on the podcast that David wrote for the Sales Success Stories book. We'll have links to his previous episode. If you join the mailing list or the listener list, if you're not already on that, you can ask to receive David's video from last year's Sales Success Summit. So tons and tons and tons of great resources for you if you want to dig deeper. And then, David, just to wrap up, and this is incredible. It's very rare that I do an episode that's less than 60 minutes. But this feels nice and tight. I like it. And we always try and wrap up on something actionable, right? Tons of great ideas, tons of resources, tons of books. But what's the challenge that you would give to the listener to help them improve themselves and improve their career and their results? And maybe you can kind of give this in 2 directions, right? So what advice would you give to the quota carrier? And what advice would you give to the sales leaders who are listening to this?

44:12 David Weiss: So advice for a quota carrier, it probably goes back to, and I almost, I think I closed the last podcast with this, so I hate to be repetitive, but it's maybe the most impactful thing I could share. And it's maybe the thing that we all do the least, which is introspection. So do you have a methodical sales process? Do you know every single step that it takes you to close a deal? And do you know what good looks like in each of those steps? And do you know what bad looks like? And have you mapped out a plan for yourself to get better at every single step? Are you reading books on the best ways to prospect? Are you reading books on the best ways to do discovery? Are you getting better and honing your skills on presenting? Are you, when you're pitching, are you pitching to your significant other? Are you pitching to your friends? Are you pitching to people you don't normally pitch to so you can get different angles and opinions and ways of looking at things? Are you staring at yourself in the mirror when you do it? Like, you know, are you really trying to get better at that? Are you asking the right and tough questions around timing and business case and getting fully aligned with your buyers and why they would purchase your solution versus somebody else's? And are you, you know, managing a good negotiation in a deal? And then once you sell something, are you ensuring it's successful and that it gets off the ground and you build a referenceable client for life? I mean, are you doing all the things and do you even know all the things to do? So that would be my challenge is break your process down, break down what every single step of it, and then Do a fair, you know, assessment of yourself and a gap analysis on it, and then make make a conscious effort to improve every single piece of it and build a plan to do it. And if you need help with that, if you want me to ask you any questions, man, Scott knows. Just reach out to me, listeners. Like I probably get people reaching out to me at least once or twice a week just from the first podcast I did on Scott's show. And Scott, I don't know if they ever closed the loop with you, but I talked to every single one of them, and I'm happy to give anyone who needs time. Because I do this because I like helping other people and I like seeing the results they get from it. It's why I got into leadership. So I'm more than happy to be that informal, you know, leader, mentor, support person for anybody out there.

46:25 Scott Ingram: Love that. Love that. And I mean, it's obvious, right? You love this. The amount that you have contributed to this community and continue to contribute is huge. Now, what about for the sales leaders who are listening? What would you… what's your challenge to them?

46:38 David Weiss: Make it about your people. It's not about you. So if your people are successful, you will be successful. So truly understand them. If you haven't read Ken Blanchard's Situational Leadership, go read it. Like, to me, that it truly, it changed my life as a leader because I started to realize one size doesn't fit all. And just because someone needs help on something doesn't mean they need help on everything. So it's really understanding your people. People and understanding their strengths and their opportunities and who they are as humans, and then treating them accordingly based on where they are in their development. So it's very customized to each individual person. And then I talk about Marcus Buckingham and playing to people's strengths and prioritizing their priorities, not your priorities. So, I would challenge sales leaders on those 2 things and really to get to know their people as people. At the end of the day, most individuals in a company won't leave the company. They leave the leader they're working for. And if you want your folks to be their best selves and the most successful they can be and not only contribute to your team, but But in theory, your job is to get them to be promoted so they contribute bigger and bigger roles to the organization that you work for. Your job as a leader is to not keep people on your team forever unless they want to be. And if they can, that's fantastic, but to help them grow so that that's how they can have the most impact. So, you know, are you doing that? And are you developing those people to grow for the future? Or are you just trying to keep everybody where they are so it makes your life easier? And you consistently hit your numbers. So, you know, what are your motivations? And are you working for yourself? Are you working for them? Challenge that because if you are, I'm sorry, it's you're in the wrong role. Like change roles, go be an individual contributor. Like if you got into leadership for the right reasons, that will resonate with you and make sure you're leading that way.

48:46 Scott Ingram: Love that. Love that. Love that. And I'm going to layer on and issue one additional challenge and that is Come join us at the Sales Success Summit, right? If if you want to hang out with with guys that have the mindset that that David does and learn from him and and the results that he's seen. David, as as you said that, I was thinking about Mike Dudgeon's presentation last year at at the summit. Mike gave a presentation called Treat Your Sales Career Like a Franchise Owner. But what what I came away from that presentation thinking was damn, I just want to work for a guy like Mike because he had that same mentality. That you do, right? It's just this, I want to help my team get where they want to go, wherever they want to go, right? And getting clarity around what is that and what is it going to take to get there and how do I really support you through that journey? So, you know, if you are a sales leader, come out and join us, bring your team or bring the top performers on your team as a reward, however you want to structure that. We're doing a deal where you can get 5 tickets for the price of 4. So what is that, 20%? That's pretty good. And, you know, again, if this is something, if you are treating sales as your profession and this is your career and you want to get to the next level, then why wouldn't you invest in yourself and take on not just the learning? Again, I keep coming back to the content is going to be incredible, but the real value is the network that you'll build and being able to develop relationships with guys like David, with guys like Mike, with guys like Jeff, all the different folks that are going to be there. It's going to be massively, massively valuable. I can promise you that. And so if you go to top1summit.com, you'll find all those details. But as usual, top1.fm will get you everywhere. David, thanks for taking the time again and sharing your wisdom and insights. I learn a ton every single time we talk, and I'm fortunate to call you a friend and mentor, and I'm lucky enough that we Scott, the feeling is beyond mutual, sir.

50:51 David Weiss: I learned a ton of stuff from you, from all, from everyone that speaks on your podcast. I'm glad you and I are, I mean, and I'll just, I'll make a comment that piggybacks off of the one you just made. The amount of people that I still stay in touch with from the summit and that came up to me after the summit and that continuously reach out to me was fantastic. The content was great. The relationships were just so much better. No offense to the content, Scott, but you presented it.

51:18 Scott Ingram: I mean, it wasn't me.

51:19 David Weiss: It's my content. Just definitely invest in it. And to the sales leaders out there, I'll throw the same thing over the fence. I don't even think I'm that great of a leader. I can tell you I've grown a shit ton from… and that's a technical term… from where I was many years ago. I honestly feel sorry for the first team I ever led because I did not deploy these same ways of looking at the world as I do now. And I got out of leadership because of that. And it's one of the reasons I made the comment I made a second ago that get out of leadership if you're doing it wrong, because you're going to negatively impact so many more people than just yourself. So I got back into it. I feel like I got back into it for the right reasons. So if you guys, if anyone out there is struggling with that, please reach out. I'd love to see you at the summit and talk about that in person because it's been a journey for me and I'm very happy with where things are today. And a lot of it is thanks to the great people I've met along the way that have helped and coached me. Scott, you being one of them. So, so thank you. And, you know, looking forward to seeing this come out and then helping the other folks within your group. So thanks again. 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.