89: Chance Favors the Prepared Mind with Michele Trankovich

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.

0:21 Scott Ingram: Here's your host, Scott Ingram. This episode is sponsored by the 2020 Sales Success Summit that will happen here in Austin on October 12th and 13th. For complete details, click over to top1summit.com. Today on the Sales Success Stories podcast, my guest is Michele Trankovich. Michele is a senior sales director and team lead at PatientPop, where she is the top revenue producer of all field sales reps and an incredibly consistent contributor. Welcome to the show, Michele.

0:53 Michele Trankovich: Thank you so much for having me, Scott.

0:54 Scott Ingram: So, Michele, we've had a lot of fun getting everything set up so that we could sound great on the podcast today. And I know that you are a longtime listener, so why don't we jump in like we always do and get to some immediate value by talking about the top 3 things that have contributed the most to your consistent success in sales?

1:12 Michele Trankovich: I have to say that the thing that really helps me the most is to be organized and prepared. Super important. So when I'm meeting with a doctor, for example, or a practice, I have all my research done. I know exactly who I'm meeting with. I know exactly, you know, how many people work there, you know, as far as how many providers. I've got everything that I am going to go over because I get a little bit nervous sometimes in front of people. I found that if I'm not prepared, it just goes bad from there. So, that really makes a huge difference for me. It gives me much more confidence and I'm able to give them more information that they're looking for in order to make a decision on whether to work with us or not.

1:51 Scott Ingram: Perfect. And so, organization's number one. What's the second thing?

1:54 Michele Trankovich: Preparation. So, I like to prepare the night before. That way, you know, there's always something that's gonna kind of come in the way the next day. Somebody calls or a customer needs something or whatever, or my manager calls me. There's always something. So, I like to prepare the night before so that way the next day I'm starting fresh. So, you know, if there's additional information that I need or whatever, I can find that out the night before.

2:17 Scott Ingram: And, it sounds like that probably contributes to the organization, right? Oh, absolutely. Doing that prep, you're ready, you know exactly what's gonna happen. You've kind of done… are you doing dry run kind of stuff? Like, what all Does that prep look like?

2:27 Michele Trankovich: No, it's more research on what's going on with the practice. So what PatientPop does is we're an end-to-end solution for healthcare, medical and dental. So what I'm doing is researching kind of where there's gaps and inconsistencies in their online presence, where they're losing patients to other practices so that I can go over that with them and show them kind of what it is that we do compared to what it is that they have done in the past and how we can make a difference to, you know, their bottom line. So I go through. All of that research ahead of time so that way I know it inside and out, so I'm not like seeing it for the first time and stumbling around with that.

3:04 Scott Ingram: Perfect. And then what's the third thing?

3:06 Michele Trankovich: Drive. My friends say that I'm more driven than anybody else that they know, and I guess I have to kind of think about that. It's an inside motivation. Failure is not an option. I mean, can I tell a story?

3:18 Scott Ingram: Please. That's why we call it Sales Success Stories.

3:20 Michele Trankovich: Okay, so when I first started with PatientPop, I went to this, you know, our sales training and it was kind of all about a little bit about PatientPop and a little bit about, you know, what we were selling the product. And every day I thought, oh my gosh, what have I done? I was the worst one, the worst. And I thought, there is no way that I'm gonna be able to do this. And everybody else was getting up and, you know, doing their presentations and stuff. And I was a wreck. I mean, truly. So I thought, You know, I can't fail here. I can't. I've got to make this work. So because of that, I started listening to other people that were successful. I was listening to their demos. I was reading everything I could about PatientPop. I was, you know, asking questions of successful performers that were there, asking questions of my managers, writing things down, you know, doing dry runs, as you put it, with myself. So I didn't sound, you know, stupid when I was talking in front of the providers. And it really made a huge difference. I learned a ton about the patient pop and our solution, which helped me to feel confident about that and confident for any questions that might be presented to me. But it also, because I was not going to be allowed to fail, I didn't. And I'm the only one left from that training class, by the way.

4:40 Scott Ingram: Wow. So we've talked a couple of times and you've said this more, more than once, right? This failure is not an option. Like, what's behind that? Like, what's the core of this drive?

4:49 Michele Trankovich: Well, I guess that, you know, if I think back to where I was in my life, you know, and I think about living from paycheck to paycheck and just, you know, struggling, you know, to make my bills and struggling, you know, to take care of my girls and, you know, not really being able to do any, you know, fun things that cost money and stuff like that. And I didn't have any health insurance. And I mean, it was just, it was just pathetic and not to be, you know, and I don't wanna be a victim. So I said, you know what? I've gotta make a change. This is just awful. I can't just live like this. It's not good. So lots of prayer. And one day somebody from PatientPop came out and did a presentation at the practice that I was working for. And I thought, oh my gosh, I've been doing marketing for years. I've been doing, you know, SEO and websites and things. This is the best thing since sliced bread. And so I encouraged the practice I was working for to, you know, sign up. And they're like, well, we have you. And I thought, ugh, I might be the best marketing person in the whole world, but I don't have the tools. I don't have the relationships. You know, there's no way that I can compete with software, right? An individual can't compete with software. So I went around and, you know, when I was trying to drum up business for this practice that I was working for, a lot of referral practices said, well, if we had more patients, we would refer more people to you. So I said, well, you might want to try PatientPop. I thought it was really cool. And I guess enough people signed up that soon I was being pursued to work for PatientPop. And I took that job purely because I totally believed in what they were doing. But even more importantly, I needed the health insurance. And really, that's why I took it. And when I took that job, I was so scared because it was the first sales job I've ever had. So, I took a leap.

6:43 Scott Ingram: Wow! This story is even more. It's even better than I thought it was going to be. This is super fun. So, let's talk about just the role a little bit and maybe the evolution of it. So, you've told us a little bit about PatientPop, but talk about what is your day-to-day and what's the team lead component to your title?

7:00 Michele Trankovich: Well, those are two so totally different questions. So, my day-to-day. Well, it's kind of changed. It's kind of evolved a little bit because a couple months ago I noticed that, I don't know, I felt like I was losing my edge as more and more people, you know, learned more about how to sell PatientPop. And, you know, I gave away all my little secrets that worked for me and, you know, people were getting better and I felt like, oh my gosh, I've got to keep my edge. I've got to be number one. Right. So, I made some commitments to myself to be able to, you know, to, to get up, early every day to work out 3 days a week, you know, get out of the house first thing and get out there. And so I really am trying to stick to that, where I'm going to bed, getting a reasonable, you know, amount of sleep, getting up, going out, working out. You know, there's a lot of metrics in order to be successful. And truly, it's, you know, I know what I need to do in order to be consistent every single month, and I do that in order to know what kind of results I'm going to get. So, you know, I've got to be knocking on doors. I've got to be making phone calls. I've got to be doing presentations. And so I get out of the house. That way there's no excuse. So as far as team lead goes, though, it kind of started for me where people were coming to me because I was kind of the senior rep and I'd been the one that withstood time. And so people were coming to me with questions and help. You know, when I first started, there weren't really a whole lot of people for me to go to to ask for help. And so I kind of, you know, felt like I wanted to impart anything that I've learned and make it easier for the new people. So I started doing that and then PatientPop decided, you know, this should be an initiative. Team Lee, that sounds like a great idea. So each quarter I get new 3 people. Who maybe need some additional help or could use some additional help, or they're brand new to the company. And then my job is to, you know, help them succeed, give them what it is, be available. And it kind of offloads some of the day-to-day stuff from my manager as well. And so now we have numerous team leads across the company. So, you know, everybody's getting some additional help. And as we grow, and the company's grown a ton even since I've been there, You know, we have a good number of team leads out there. And so, we all have training with each other as well. And then we help, you know, new people and people who are struggling. So, it's been really great.

9:34 Scott Ingram: And this is something that I know you and I've talked about this a bit as well, where you have aspirations to potentially move into a leadership role. So, it sounds like this is a great way to really start to get a taste of and experience a little bit of what that might be like and make sure this is the right thing for you and allow you to develop some of those skills. So that you'd be successful in that next role.

9:54 Michele Trankovich: Right. It's that try before you buy, right?

9:56 Scott Ingram: It's a free puppy, right?

9:58 Michele Trankovich: Well, I mean, it is kind of because it allows me to learn more and more about what's going on on the company level. And, you know, if I come across anything that needs to be escalated, you know, I'm right there talking about it with my management.

10:12 Scott Ingram: That's fantastic. Now, before we talk about the specifics of Michele's results, let me tell you just a bit more about the Sales Success Summit. This is our 3rd annual event built for the Sales Success Community that's happening here in Austin on October 12th and 13th. This event is different from every other sales conference out there because it exclusively features the top-performing sales professionals you've heard here on this podcast. And my rule for guests on this show is they have to be active quota-carrying individual contributors who are either the outright number one top seller in their organization or at least in the top 1% of performers on a very large team. You won't find any gurus or quote-unquote sales experts on the stage at this event, only real practitioners like Michele. It's an intimate experience with a max of just under 200 participants where we all get an opportunity to learn from each other. I could go on and on, but the details are available for you at top1summit.com, and the sooner you register, the better your price as tickets increase $50 per month until they're sold out. Again, all the details are at top1summit.com. All right, Michele, let's talk about the results that you've been able to achieve. And let's also talk about the consistency, because I can tell that you are very proud of that. And obviously, your organization really values the consistent performance that you've been able to achieve.

11:35 Michele Trankovich: So, as far as consistency goes, I think I mentioned a little bit about You know, there's definitely metrics that we follow in order to get the results. So, you kind of have to start with what it is that you want to achieve, right? And then, work backwards from there. And, this would be, you know, kind of what I would recommend that anybody do that's in this type of sales role, right? So, I know what my quota is. I know how many doctors I need to sign up in a month, how much ARR I need, right? So from there, if I take the most conservative close rate, let's say I wanna sign up, just for example, I wanna sign up 10 doctors in a month, and I take the most conservative close rate of like 25%, right? So I know in order to sign up those 10 doctors, I have to have meetings with 40 doctors that month. So if I conservatively assume that they're all one-doctor practices, which they're not, right? I need to set 40 meetings a month. Right? Is that… you follow me?

12:35 Scott Ingram: Yep.

12:35 Michele Trankovich: So then in order to get that, I know I need to make 25 calls or visits a day, which is very achievable, which are going to result in 125 a week, which are going to result in 500 a month. You know, some are going to cancel, some are going to be multi-doc practices, but I know what I need to do. So if I want to achieve more, the way that I can affect that is I either need to make more calls per day, or I need to meet with multi-doc practices. So I can absolutely impact what it is that I'm doing. I can only control myself. I can only control what I do. I can't control anything else. So this is kind of what I do on a daily basis, what I think about each month.

13:20 Scott Ingram: And how do you set those targets? What's the goal? Like, are you sort of backing into, I want to do X percent above my quota, and now I'm going to work the numbers backwards from there. And I know what my close ratios are, and I know what my call-to-meeting ratios are, and, and those kinds of things. Like, how do you think about that as you embark on that journey at the beginning of each month?

13:40 Michele Trankovich: Well, of course I want to make as much money as I can, right? So, but I want to at least make my quota. So if I go for what my quota is, anything above that is great. So I don't ever just want to make my quota, so I pick something higher than that. So let's say I want to do 20 doctors, right? I know that I need to pretty much double what it is that I just went through.

14:05 Scott Ingram: Is that what you're typically doing? Are you shooting for 2 times your, your number?

14:10 Michele Trankovich: Well, I really am, because then if anything falls out or people, you know, change their mind or they don't sign when you expect them to, which, you know, of course never happens, but then, you know, you're okay. You're still covered. You're still gonna at least make your quota, right? But just making your quota isn't going to make you top rep. It's not gonna get you to President's Club, you know, and these are the things that I definitely wanna achieve. So, you know, I think where it really comes in is the more multi-doc practices that I can meet with, the better. But my single docs, I love them too because they not only help me make my quota, but I feel like I'm helping them to become multi-doc practices.

14:49 Scott Ingram: Nice, nice, nice. And, you know, one of the things I want to call out, because I speak to a lot of the themes that I hear on this show, and, and you've really tackled a lot of them already, right? And the first is just this: there's a huge mindset component. And I put a lot of things in that bucket, but I feel like at the core, you have to believe in what it is that you're selling. And clearly, that's the case. I mean, your transition to coming into PatientPop And coming into sales is so aligned with that because you loved the solution. You were already referring it without being compensated.

15:22 Michele Trankovich: Yeah, you are so right. The biggest challenge, the biggest challenge for me is myself, right? So it's really easy when something doesn't go the way you want it, or if somebody doesn't, you know, sign up, or if somebody isn't nice to you, or if somebody is doing better than you, you know, another sales rep. It's really easy to start looking at yourself and feeling like, oh, you know, I don't know what I'm doing. There's no way I'm going to sell this guy. There's no way I'm going to sign this up, this practice. You know, you start blaming yourself and you can really get into a big funk. You can really go down a dark path. And I feel like, you know, with salespeople anyway, and I know with me, you know, you feel like you're bipolar half the time anyway. You're either on top of the world jumping up and down or you're ready to jump off a bridge, right?

16:09 Scott Ingram: So there's a lot of jumping going on.

16:12 Michele Trankovich: Well, I mean, is that not true?

16:14 Scott Ingram: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Riding the roller coaster.

16:17 Michele Trankovich: So, it's our choice every single day when you wake up, you know, which path are you going to go down? And I know sometimes, you know, it's really easy and you literally, you literally have to regroup when you find yourself going down that dark path of, you know, I can't do anything right and look at me, poor me, you know, and all that. And, you know, talking to your friends, talking to your boss, you know, prayer, all those things, you know, play into it to get yourself out of there. Sometimes, you know, you just, you need the next win, or you need to like feel good about something that you've done. And like I said, I am my worst enemy without a doubt.

16:52 Scott Ingram: So 2 things: how does that manifest, right? How does you being your worst enemy show up, and, and how do you combat that?

16:58 Michele Trankovich: Sometimes, you know, when you're struggling, meaning like somebody that you expected to sign up A practice that you expected, you know, maybe a big win, right? You expected to sign up and they didn't. And like I said, you start blaming yourself. We have a Slack channel that we use, and when you see people, you know, one after another, yay, you know, so-and-so, you know, $12,000, $50,000, and the more people that you see going on there getting wins, you know, you can really start beating on yourself. And so I find like something that I do, it's kind of like maybe like a little game. When I don't feel like I'm performing where I want to, I stay off that Slack channel for a while because I really, you know, I don't want to see all those congratulations all through the day. I need to, you know, focus on what it is that I'm doing. I go back to basics. I go back to the things that I can control. What can I control? I can control how many people I call. I can control how many doors I knock on. I can, you know, those are the things that I can control. And so I go back to that and that ends up giving me what it is that I need in order to get success.

18:13 Scott Ingram: Yeah, that's so good. David Weiss sent me a tip that I hope that I will have shared before this comes out. And he was just talking about You know, sales is hard, right? This is just a super mentally challenging profession that we've chosen. And he was talking about how you really shouldn't go this alone. And one of the other things, kind of ideas that he shared, it was such a, such a good tip. It was so heartfelt because David just, just cares, right? And it's, you've got to go back to the inputs and the fundamentals and, you know, motivation sometimes is really hard to come from. Instead, it's about Doing the things, right? All you can control is the inputs. But if you do the inputs, you start to get the outcomes that you were hoping for and it starts to feel good, right? At the very least, it feels like, you know what? I'm making progress, right? Maybe I'm not getting the volume of meetings that I was hoping to, but dang it, I'm making the calls. I'm doing the work. And you kind of start to feel better. And I mean, I think you're right. I think you need to also be aware of like, what are those triggers that are going to send you down a negative spiral? And if it's everybody else winning while you're not winning, like shut it off, right?

19:22 Michele Trankovich: Right? Well, I mean, I know what works. So, let's duplicate that.

19:27 Scott Ingram: Yeah.

19:27 Michele Trankovich: Every single day. And if I'm not making my goals, you know, sure, I could go down that path and start blaming. Well, it's that guy. It's marketing. It's this, that, and the other thing, right? I could go down that path, but where does that get me? Nowhere. I become the victim. And as long as I'm the victim, I'm never going to be a winner.

19:45 Scott Ingram: Oh, gold, gold, gold. So, I'm fascinated by the fact that this is your first sales role.

19:52 Michele Trankovich: Maybe I shouldn't say that too loud, but yeah, No, it's, it's amazing, right?

19:55 Scott Ingram: When you're having good, consistent success, I would love to know a whole bunch of things. Like, what do you wish you knew before coming into sales, right? Knowing what you know now, like, what would you have told Michele who was just getting ready to embark on this brand new, I've never done this before sales journey?

20:15 Michele Trankovich: Oh, that's really hard because I gotta tell you, if I had known that this is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, I'm not sure I would've gone there. But now that I'm here, What I would have done differently is I would have, you know, at first, like I said, I was listening to everything. I was talking to people. I was, you know, trying to take bits and pieces of things. And then what I did is I stopped. I stopped listening to other people's demos. I stopped really asking for a whole lot of advice until I felt like, like I said, I was losing my edge. There got to be more competition as more people were able to, you know, catch up to me kind of thing. Right. And now, you know, I'm back, I'm listening to podcasts, you know, I'm trying to get bits and pieces from, you know, sales trainers, sales professionals. I'm, you know, back to reading books, you know, on the latest and greatest sales tactics and things, you know, and I feel like if you can get one thing from a podcast, or you could get one thing from a book, it's certainly worth it. I've tried a lot of different tactics, and I feel like it helps to keep me focused. You can't ever just become… what's the word I'm looking for? It begins with a P. What I'm trying to say is that I got to a point where I thought, okay, you know, I got it going on, right? You know, I'm doing better than anybody else. You know, I don't need to work as hard now. Right? You get to that point, and that's so wrong because you always have to keep your foot on the accelerator. You always have to try to do better. You always have to try to learn. You can't just sit back and think, okay, it's just going to come to me. You know, good enough is good enough. You can't do that.

22:00 Scott Ingram: Yeah. Yeah. Would you have gone into sales earlier knowing what you know now? Like, was this the right decision?

22:08 Michele Trankovich: Yeah, I think it was the right decision, but I don't know if I'd wanna just sell anything. I mean, it has to be something for me. I'm all about being honest and integrity. It has to be something that I believe in 100%. I mean, I believe that what I do is helping these doctors. I see it every single day. It's the best thing since sliced bread, right? And I say that, and, but I really mean it. And I don't know if I could sell something that I thought was just kind of a so-so product.

22:34 Scott Ingram: Yeah.

22:35 Michele Trankovich: I don't know.

22:35 Scott Ingram: Yeah, I totally agree with that. I mean, it's one of the first things I sort of coach people on when they're considering new roles is, you know, do you really believe in this? Can you be passionate about this? Because you can't fake that. Like, somehow people see right through that if you're blowing smoke on, on what this is and the impact it's going to make. Like, for me, that's fundamental.

22:57 Michele Trankovich: Oh, absolutely. I mean, and how could I live with myself? I mean, can you imagine? I mean, I guess people do, but I couldn't live with myself because I have a lot of integrity, you know, and I'm gonna tell you straight up what it is. Yeah, I couldn't lie to people and then feel good about myself, go to sleep at night. Couldn't do it.

23:17 Scott Ingram: Yeah. So what are you most proud of?

23:19 Michele Trankovich: That I went from the absolute worst possible rep in the company to be able to succeed. And not just succeed, not just be part of mediocre, but to actually be able to excel. You know, I've got 2 wonderful girls that, you know, I'm able to, you know, put them through college. I'm able for them to do activities myself. I mean, just to go from that really crappy place that I was to, you know, thriving.

23:52 Scott Ingram: I love that. I love that. Now, what advice do you have for somebody that is in that place that you were in, right? So, they're like, I am just in a hole. I am not good at this. But they have enough desire that they made it to this conversation. They're listening to us. They're listening to you. You've inspired them to know that, hey, there is a way through. What would you suggest that they do to get from the worst to the best?

24:21 Michele Trankovich: So, this is another little saying. I'm sure you've heard it before. But if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Right. So true. So I feel like you've got to have a goal. If you don't have a goal, you're never going to achieve it. Right. You've got to have a goal. And if your goal is to just survive or you don't have a goal, you're never going to do better than that. So rather than being a victim and thinking, well, you know, I never got good training or I never, you know, marketing doesn't know what they're doing and all the other stuff that goes through salespeople's heads. Right? You can only take care of yourself. Get your goal together, figure out what it is, and then back up from there. What do I need to do to make that goal? What do I need to do? Because you are responsible for you. No one else is responsible for you. You have to take responsibility, which means also if you screw it up, it's up to you too. So it's like, it's your responsibility.

25:17 Scott Ingram: That's awesome. That's awesome. You know, I think there's so much to that, just personal accountability, right? To your point, you're responsible for your life, right? You've got to take ownership for it, whether or not you've got the right leadership in place or, or the right resources to help you do this. And I mean, it's so much of the reason why we do this show, right, is to help them find people like yourself that have been through it, have gotten through it, have found the other side. Let's go back and talk more about… you started in the beginning to talk about your morning routine and some of the discipline that you have there. Go through that in just a little bit more detail, right? What, like, when does your day start? And give us the blow-by-blow through the whole of a typical day. When are you doing your prospecting? Just all the stuff.

26:00 Michele Trankovich: Okay. So, 3 days a week, like I said, I've committed to getting up and going to work out, which, like, I've been really bad about staying up really late. Like, I'm a night person, so I could be 2, 3 in the morning still working. So it took a big commitment for me to say, okay, I'm going to bed. I actually have to set a little alarm on my phone to tell me to go to bed. I know it's pathetic, isn't it? But that's what I have to do because otherwise I won't go to bed. So I've been getting up at like 5:15, which gives me the chance to get to the gym by 6. I work out from 6 to 7. I'm going to Orangetheory. It's killing me, killing me. Anyway, after that, I come home, get showered. And I get out of the house, right? So I'll either drive to my prospect meeting early, and then I either sit in the car or I make calls and do emails, or I knock on doors that are around the prospect meeting. The reason that I go out there early is because you just can't rely on traffic, right? So there's nothing worse than racing into an appointment. You're late. It sets a bad tone for the whole meeting. I'm like panting, carrying in my stuff. That's just a mess. It's set up for failure. So I like to get there early and then I can review what it is that I've prepped the night before that I'm going to talk about again, make phone calls, handle anything that needs to be handled, knock on doors next door, whatever it is that I need to do. And then I'm ready when I walk in and do my meeting. So it's part of that whole planning situation that I was talking about. You have to look at your day. You have to see how long it's going to take you to get from A to B and what you're going to do in between. And rather than setting aside a whole day for prospecting, because, well, that's not much fun, it's kind of nice to be able to knock on doors right around where you're going. So you're maximizing your time as well as not being late for your appointment. So I do that pretty much every day. 3 days a week I go and exercise. Like I said, the other 2 days I sleep. I get an extra 2 hours. It's awesome. But yeah, pretty much all my days look like that.

28:02 Scott Ingram: And you and I are wired so much the same way. I can't tell you what percentage of my life I have sat in a car because I'm ridiculously early to a meeting because I, I refuse to be late. To me, it is the most important thing or one of the most important things. And it's just a sign of respect, right? Like, be there early, be on time. To me, being late is an unforgivable offense and I won't allow myself to commit it. But to your point, you can do productive things in that time, right? You can, you can be in that car, you could be going and talking to the neighbors and things like that. And that just, that just works. So once you've done that, I mean, talk us through the deeper parts of the day after you've done that first appointment and series of calls and door knocks. Like, what does the rest of the day look like?

28:48 Michele Trankovich: Well, I usually have more than one appointment in a day, so it seems like wherever I go, it takes an hour. I don't know, wherever it is that I'm going, whether it's 15 miles or 30 miles, it takes an hour. So usually what I do is as soon as I finish that meeting, I go to the next meeting and then I sit in the parking lot and I do what I needed to do from the meeting before. So, if it's sending out a proposal or marking it demoed or whatever it is that I need to do in Salesforce, I take care of that right then because, well, frankly, by the end of the day, I might not remember. Could very well happen I wouldn't remember. So, I do it right then and there. Plus, people like that. They want to see that proposal right away. I mean, it really does. I think it helps.

29:31 Scott Ingram: Yeah, that's a good tip. What about the end of the day? I mean, do you have kind of particular routines and a process that happens until the go-to-bed-now alarm goes off?

29:42 Michele Trankovich: When I get home, it's usually dinner, and then I'm prepping for the next day. You know, I do some things, you know, kind of for myself. I read some books. I have a Bible study I go to. You know, I talk to friends, my kids. You know, that kind of thing. So I try to have some downtime as well because I think that's important.

30:00 Scott Ingram: Are there any other routines or habits that are really central to your success beyond the prep and the organization and things we've talked about already?

30:08 Michele Trankovich: I'm militant about logging stuff in Salesforce, okay? And like, a lot of people are like, oh, I hate that.

30:16 Scott Ingram: They don't…

30:16 Michele Trankovich: I don't want people, you know, I don't want the company to know, you know, who I'm talking to or whatever. But here's what I think. Is first of all, I don't have to remember everything that happens if I put it in Salesforce, because then all I have to do is look back. So that's kind of nice. I don't have to clog up my brain with extra stuff. But also because we have, you know, inside sales reps calling and we have other people, you know, around us and we have, you know, referring doctors and things like that and referring affiliates. If it's not in Salesforce, it didn't happen. So I put everything in Salesforce because I'm not going to lose something like that. So that is a big thing that I spend a lot of time doing. Every call, every conversation, every email, you know, everything that I do goes in Salesforce.

31:02 Scott Ingram: And do you use that then later beyond just kind of the spot check, look things up? I mean, does that, does that flow into your prep that you're doing in the evening and things like that?

31:11 Michele Trankovich: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Because like I said, I don't have to remember everything that happened. All I have to do is look back. For example, let's say I'm meeting with somebody that I've met with before, last year. Now, after a while, if I don't write stuff down, how am I going to remember that person over somebody else? I mean, really. So, if I look in Salesforce and I look to see what my notes are, I remember meeting that person. I remember what their objection was. I remember where they were with, you know, timing wasn't right because they were in a contract, or whatever it happens to be, whatever the situation was. They were looking to hire people, you know, all that stuff is in Salesforce. So I remember, and it kind of gives me one up when I go out to meet with them that I actually remember them.

32:03 Scott Ingram: Yeah, I so have to do that myself. It's so funny, like, in the moment I always think Oh, I won't forget this. Of course I'll remember this. And it's always those things like that I, for whatever reason, decided not to take that note that I cannot for the life of me remember what that thing was. And personally, I live in Evernote for just that reason. And especially because I can search for anything. And the way my brain works is I might remember like a particular phrase, or there was something else that happened in that meeting and being able to search deep into my notes like that. Because I might not remember who the conversation was even with. Like, I've mixed up people, I've mixed up companies at this point, but I know we were talking about this particular topic and being able to search deeply into that and then surface it back and go, oh my gosh, it was Michele. Of course it was Michele. Now I remember, to your point.

32:54 Michele Trankovich: I also have a book, and in that book I write the date, who I met with, you know, information about the practice, what they said they liked about what they were doing currently, what they said they would change if they wanted, you know, had the ability to change something. And what my follow-up is so that, you know, if I don't get to do it right then before the next meeting, because sometimes I'm rushing, I know exactly, oh, this person's expecting a proposal. This person wants a reference. You know, this person wants to look at some websites, right? So I have that right in my book so I don't forget because, you know, that kind of goes along with integrity for me. If I tell you I'm going to send you something, I want to send it to you because otherwise, why did I say it? Right?

33:35 Scott Ingram: Absolutely. Let's talk about your information diet. I know that you're listening to podcasts and seeking out this stuff. So what are you reading, listening to, and watching, and, and when does that happen?

33:46 Michele Trankovich: So I spend a lot of time… remember I said it's like an hour in the car from point A to point B? So I have been listening to a lot of podcasts, and I started, you know, I don't want to… should I name names? I don't want people to get big heads.

33:59 Scott Ingram: Yeah, absolutely you should name names. I already have a, I already have a big head. You already reached out to me and said you listened.

34:06 Michele Trankovich: All right. So I, back when, when I started, pretty much everything that I learned about sales, I learned from Jeffrey Gitomer. Okay. So, cause I'm kind of a funny person and he's pretty funny as well. So I read a lot by him. So I started with my first podcast. I listened to him and then he had some people on that he was interviewing. So I kind of. Catapulted from there to, you know, branching out to a lot of different podcasts like Gabe Larsen, of course you, that's how we met, right? Gary Vaynerchuk, I probably said it wrong, Steve Benson, Ian Altman, Michael Pedone, et cetera, et cetera. There's so many fantastic people out there, you know, it's impossible to name them all. But again, if I learned one thing from them, it was so worth the listen. So I spend a lot of time, you know, doing that while I'm driving. Because if I were to try and, you know, sit home and turn on a podcast, I wouldn't listen. I would be distracted. But this way it kind of gives me the ability to do that. Now what I found though is that a lot of times I want to pull out a notebook and start taking notes and I'm driving. That's not cool, you know. So I'll save it and then pull that information up later. But I feel like it's helping me a lot to kind of stay focused and helping me to try out different things, you know, so that I can get better.

35:28 Scott Ingram: Yeah, absolutely. What about the tools and apps that are core to the way you function? So we heard about Salesforce. What else is there?

35:37 Michele Trankovich: Okay, so passwords are like my worst nightmare. I hate those things. And when you are getting ready or you're in the middle of a presentation and up pops the stupid password thing, asking for your password and you can't remember your password. It's like, it never happens at a good time. That makes me crazy. So I use a tool called Keeper now. All I have to do is remember one password, just one, and it fills in the passwords for everything else. It's the best app ever. So that helps me a lot. I also like Zoom. We use Slack a lot, kind of as texting with people at the company. So, you know, I like that a lot, but, you know, Keeper has saved me a bunch of times because it autofills those passwords.

36:24 Scott Ingram: So usually when we do these episodes, I try and just let it ride, right? And we just, we have a whole conversation and Michele and I are having just way, way too much fun. And half of this is ending up on the cutting room floor as we cut out and talk about Far Side comics. And we've just been having a blast on this Saturday afternoon as we record, but We have to get back to the show and talk about some of the things that I try and include pretty consistently. And one of the things I like to ask is, is there something you believe that the average sales rep would think is crazy?

36:58 Michele Trankovich: Besides putting everything in Salesforce?

37:01 Scott Ingram: That's a good one. That's a good one.

37:04 Michele Trankovich: I think that's the main one. You know, I have found that a lot of sales reps try to wing it. You know, so I've had people tell me before, like, Really? You're spending time at night, you know, prepping for your demos? I do that while I'm in the waiting room. And I'm like, oh, wow, I couldn't do that. But I also think that, you know, that's one of the things that helps to make me successful is to prepare. But, you know, I think that they think I'm crazy when I do stuff like that.

37:31 Scott Ingram: You know, that's interesting. I think that people probably divide pretty cleanly. I mean, everything's kind of a continuum, but if you had on one side, like, super prepared and on the other side, complete improv. I think a lot of folks would sort of lean in that direction of improv. But, you know, honestly, if you do the prep, it doesn't mean that you're not in the moment and doing some of that improv. And in fact, I think because you've done the prep, you're able to react a little bit better and absorb what's going on because you don't have to think so hard about what am I going to say next.

38:05 Michele Trankovich: Well, exactly. But I also think that I'm kind of an introvert, believe it or not. And so if I'm not prepared, I'm unsure what might come out of my mouth, right? I could easily not know what to say. I could say something that's not right. So I feel like for me, it helps with confidence to be able to present myself properly and be able to do the very best job that I can do. When trying to give value on why it is that I'm there in the first place, I don't want to waste anybody's time, including my own, right? So, you know, that's why I prepare. Because first of all, it's not just about selling something to somebody. It's about, I want to make sure we're a good fit as well, you know? Because if we're not a good fit, like, why would they want to change? So, I feel like, you know, part of it, when I'm asking questions and I'm doing, you know, discovery or whatever at the beginning, it's helping me to know what to talk about. It's helping me understand why it is that they would even want to make a change in the first place, or if they would. And it helps them to understand it as well, because maybe some of those questions I'm asking are things they never thought about before.

39:25 Scott Ingram: So good. So good. So, let's talk about the flip side then. Is there something that the average sales professional believes that you think is crazy?

39:33 Michele Trankovich: Well, yeah, I mean, that's the wing it thing. You know, I think they're nuts. I think that's absolutely out of control.

39:39 Scott Ingram: Nuts.

39:40 Michele Trankovich: Another thing that I see sales reps do, which makes me uncomfortable, especially as team lead, right? Makes me uncomfortable when they have stacks of business cards that they haven't entered into Salesforce. I think that's crazy. So, I feel like somebody's going to come along and they're going to get a referral to one of those doctors that they have there in that stack of business cards, and there's no proof that happen.

40:04 Scott Ingram: Excellent. Okay, so, and maybe this ties back to the little tidbits that you've picked out from all the different podcasts you've listened to, but I'm curious, like, what have been the most important decisions you've made or lessons you've had to learn to, to really get to where you are today?

40:19 Michele Trankovich: So the biggest lesson I've learned is not to freak out on somebody without kind of taking a breath and thinking, you know, I have to think through Like, how's my response going to impact the other person on the other end? Right. So knowing how to phrase things, you can phrase things that come out, especially over email or text, that are taken incorrectly. So it's reading and rereading things. It's not freaking out right away until you get all the information. Sometimes it's talking it through with your manager or talking it through with another rep, another team lead. That's a big lesson that I have struggled with every day, is making sure that I'm coming across properly. Because, you know, if you say something, for example, that could hurt somebody, you can't take it back. It's like that piece of paper, you crumple it up, right? You can't uncrumple the piece of paper. You've made an impact on that person. So, it's making sure that what you're saying is not attacking, making sure that what you're saying is maybe a direct quote from a customer. Instead of saying, this is messed up, this needs to be fixed, so-and-so needs to be fixed, it's better to say, the customer is concerned that they see this. It now is very different than me attacking them. Does that make sense?

41:50 Scott Ingram: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. The other thing that you said earlier that really resonated with me, because sometimes you'll get an email, and especially if there's, there's just something triggering about it, right? You get wrapped around a component, and it's that going back, like, wait, let me read this again. And oftentimes I find, like, I totally missed the point. Like, I read this wrong. Like, had I replied right then with what I wanted to and what I thought made sense, it was totally out of context, and I would have hurt myself. And it's just sometimes you got to reread things a couple of times and go, okay, what are we really getting at.

42:28 Michele Trankovich: Absolutely. Like I said, it's a daily struggle with me, but it's something that I'm aware of and that I'm working on. And so the thing is, is that I'm also open. And I guess this would be kind of something I would recommend that people think about, is that be open to constructive criticism, because there's no way that I can make a change if I don't know I'm doing something Right. So, you know, luckily for me, I have managers that are there to help me, to give advice, to give constructive criticism, and to help me be better. And then I turn around and I do that to the people that I'm leading.

43:10 Scott Ingram: And do you intentionally seek that out? Right. Are you giving that direction and asking that of your managers or even others to get that feedback to improve yourself?

43:22 Michele Trankovich: Sometimes. I mean, you know, the truth is, you know, sometimes. So there will be times when I feel like a meeting didn't go the way I expected it to, and I will ask my manager to take a listen to what it is that, you know, went on on the call. Or, you know, let me go through this with you, you know, what could I have done differently? You know, and I want to know because I don't want to do that wrong again. But sometimes they offer it up.

43:52 Scott Ingram: Sometimes it comes unsolicited, right?

43:56 Michele Trankovich: So, you know, we chatter in different accounts. So, you know, sometimes if a customer calls and has a question or concern, you know, I want to put down exactly what that question or concern is from the customer's perspective. And so I have to make sure that I do that and not be accusatory, right? So my management will see that. And if they see that I've written something that could be taken the other way, whether it was intended like that or not, you know, they bring it to my attention because I want them to. I've already said, please tell me, because it's the only way I can get better.

44:29 Scott Ingram: Yeah. And that especially around the communication, right? I mean, at the end of the day, like, that's really all we do, right? We talk to people, we're communicating in writing, maybe we're occasionally doing it in video. And how that's coming across and how that's being perceived, a lot of times it's different than the way it sounds in your head.

44:48 Michele Trankovich: Well, exactly. Especially when you're writing, when you're texting, or when you're writing an email. I mean, think about it. There's like jokes that go around where you could read something and it could mean something totally different than the way it was meant, right? Just because of the way it was written or the way that the, you know, the sentence was structured, right? So you really do have to reread stuff before you send it. You really do have to do that. Yeah.

45:10 Scott Ingram: Yeah, excellent.

45:10 Michele Trankovich: You know, so that's important to me that I learn how to do that. So that's something that I've learned and something that I continue to learn and work on.

45:17 Scott Ingram: Yeah, so we kind of talked about this, but I want to ask the question again because you're so full of wisdom. And so that is, what advice would you give to somebody that's just starting out in their sales career today?

45:29 Michele Trankovich: Always keep your foot on the accelerator. You always have to be filling your funnel. You always have to look to better yourself. And if you don't, if you just kind of sit back, good enough is good enough, or you got a, you know, a big whale of a sale, you can't just like check out because otherwise you're gonna have nothing after that. So, you know, I kind of laugh about it and say, you know, in sales it's like, oh, that's great, you just sold a $10 trillion deal, but what have you done for us today? And it's kind of like that because you can't just stop. You always have to be moving forward. Because if you're not moving forward, you're moving backward.

46:08 Scott Ingram: Now, the question I usually ask here is the advice that you'd give to somebody that's kind of further into their career, and maybe they're good, they haven't made it to great, but I'm going to change that for you. I'm going to let you speak to yourself, because this is really how we connected, right? So, what about somebody who, say hypothetically, was at the top of their game, right? They're number one in the organization, but they feel like everybody else is catching up, and they've got to find another gear and that next level.

46:33 Michele Trankovich: What are you trying to say there?

46:34 Scott Ingram: To stay ahead. I'm just, I'm just saying hypothetically.

46:38 Michele Trankovich: Hypothetically, Michelle.

46:39 Scott Ingram: What advice would you give to that particular Michelle?

46:44 Michele Trankovich: Well, I have to do something to get better because, you know, think about it. If you keep doing what you're doing, you keep getting what you're getting, right? So if I'm not changing and everybody else is, pretty soon I'm going to be behind. So that's where I have to look to do something to make myself better, whether it's training, whether it's retraining, whether it's, you know, focusing, listening to the podcast, reading books, whatever it happens to be, or asking my manager, you know, what I can do to do better or whatever. It has to be done. You know, I saw that happening to me. I saw it, you know, and of course the first thing I started to do, which is what salespeople do, is start blaming other people. And I was like, no, no, no, it's me. It's me. I've got to make a change. And as soon as you accept that, as soon as you realize it's you, then you can make that change. As long as you blame other people, you'll never change.

47:34 Scott Ingram: Wow. And the other thing that I know that you did, and I haven't shared this with you, but I was talking with someone. You can name them if you want, or maybe there's more than one someone, and I just happened to talk with one of them. But I was catching up with a friend, and I was sharing with him that we were going to have this interview. I'm like, oh, I'm so excited about this interview. Michele reached out to me. And they said, you know what, she reached out to me too. What you're doing isn't just the passive learning. It's not just listening to podcasts. You're also seeking this input and reaching out to folks.

48:04 Michele Trankovich: Yes, because I don't know everything. And the moment I think that I know everything is when I'm going to get smacked down for sure. Right? So, you always have to be learning because again, if you're not moving forward, you're moving backward.

48:17 Scott Ingram: Absolutely. So, I know you've been listening to the show for a while. What would you want to know about the top sellers in other organizations that I'm not already asking about?

48:28 Michele Trankovich: All these darn questions you're asking me. I want to know their answers too. I mean, these are some great questions, you know, and each person is going to answer them differently. Each person is great in different ways, right? I mean, again, if I learn one thing from somebody, it's worth it. And that's one of the reasons why I'm listening to all different people on these podcasts, because Everybody's got a different perspective. Everybody's got different things that they're great at.

48:57 Scott Ingram: Absolutely, absolutely. And I mean, it's one of the things that I work so hard to seek out is the diversity in so many different ways, right? Obviously, I am working really hard and I'm on a great run here that we are featuring a whole bunch of women on the podcast, which I love. But it's the diversity of thought also. You know, I had a, and I can't remember if I've shared this story on the podcast. I don't think I did. But as we build towards the summit, a particular organization reached out to me and they said, hey, Scott, we want to set up the summit in our development program so that folks can come and attend. And, you know, we were just kind of trying to figure out how do we establish a set price point for that and this and that. I'm like, that's great, but how many people are you thinking would attend? And they said, Oh, probably between 35 and 60. And I went, well, wait a minute. This is an event for only 200 people. Like, I can't have it be your summit. We need to have some diversity of thought.

49:56 Michele Trankovich: Well, no, you could. You just create a different summit.

49:59 Scott Ingram: Well, and I did go back and said, you know what, we could actually do… we'll build you your own custom summit and we'll bring it to you and you tell me who you want to have. And so, we're having that conversation. But I really just made that decision that, you know what, no, any one company can only send a maximum of 10 people, right? That's 5% of the audience. And that's enough because we need, we need that diversity of thought. We need different perspectives. If we all think the same way, then what do we get from that? We don't grow because we're not challenging each other to think differently and in new ways and to grow beyond what we know today.

50:33 Michele Trankovich: Right.

50:33 Scott Ingram: This has been So much fun. I had been looking forward to it, but it certainly exceeded all of my expectations. And I think that, like I said to you in, in one of our sidebar rants, I think just your authenticity, right? And just how you just speak the truth and say what's on your mind and talk about everything is so refreshing. And I think people are really, really going to benefit from this. And we always try and end on something really actionable. So, what is the challenge that you would issue to the person listening to this right now? What would you have them do over the course of the next, say, 1 or 2 weeks to improve themselves and improve their results?

51:14 Michele Trankovich: I think it goes back to goal setting. I mean, a lot of people, you know, especially if they've been doing sales for a while, you know, it's the same kind of thing. They're going to get up tomorrow. They're going to go to their appointment. They're going to do that. But unless you're really pushing yourself, unless you're setting maybe those reach goals, you're not gonna get there. So, set a reach goal, set a reach goal, and then figure out how you need to get there, and then work backwards from there to figure out what you need to do. I think everybody should do that, 'cause again, if you're not moving forward, you're moving backward, right?

51:44 Scott Ingram: Absolutely. Michele, this has been amazing. What I'm gonna do, in the show notes, we always try and include lots of good stuff, right? So, there's links to everything that we've talked about, all the tools and everything else. And I think the surprise little bit that we can insert in there, if you go to top1.fm/imtrending, pretty sure this will be episode 88. I never know for absolutely sure, but that should be it. It's top1.fm/whatever this episode number is. I'm gonna put either the actual images, or if that's not okay, we'll put links to the 2 Far Side comics that you and I talked about. That'll, that'll be our little Easter egg for the folks that listen to the whole conversation. Thank you again for your time. This really was a blast. I really do think that you are going to inspire Inspire a lot of people, and we'll have to talk a little bit more about whether or not we get to see you at the Sales Success Summit.

52:33 Michele Trankovich: That would be awesome. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it, and it was a lot of fun once we got past all the microphone issues. All right. 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 top. Top1.fm.