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[Music] welcome back everybody to another episode of the ideas exchange podcast presented by Express I'm your host Paul casbury this is the podcast we talk business we talk entrepreneurship being a franchisor or a franchisee Tech marketing whatever we could cram in between all those categories we try to talk about that here on this podcast and my guest today is another one of our very own from the in Express Network Mr Richie win Richie welcome to the show than for having me Paul I'm excited to be here I am as well we uh we had another one of your cohorts on previously Mr Tom Morris uh maybe we can dive into that a little bit further on the on the show but let's talk about you tell everybody a little bit about yourself your background all that good stuff yeah no for uh you know for those of you listening that you know may not be overly familiar with our franchise um my name is Richie win um I am a sales rep for franchise 147 here out of Provo Utah um I started with Tom about six years ago did lead generation for for about a year and a half while I was finishing up a statistics degree um and then once we got towards the end of that he talked me into coming to sell for him and now uh now here we are we're we're growing the business and uh we have a couple more reps that I'm managing and it's uh it it's been great he's he's being very modest and he's not touching on the fact that I wanted him to you're one of the top sales guys account Executives in the organization congrats to that that's that's a huge win thank you Paul yeah it's uh like I said it's been a fun ride we've had a lot of success we got a great team over here you most certainly do and and it keeps growing like you said so the topic I wanted to touch on with you today and I can't think of anyone else who could really dive into this with me other than yourself is just sales cycle and and when I was researching this topic I pulled up the just kind of the typical definition of a sales cycle I'm going to read that really quick uh it says a sales cycle is the repeatable and tactical process salespeople follow to turn a lead into a customer with a sales cycle in place you always know your next move and where each lead is within the cycle it can also help you repeat your success or determine how to improve so Richie let's let's start with that as that that's our definition of a sales cycle what's your knee-jerk reaction to that and and this kind of and this kind of a topic yeah that's a really good question you know salespeople and you know those of that us that have been doing it for a while you know we we can if you look at every individual interaction relationship with each customer it seems so different so unique but if you do boil it down you know to its Bare Bones you know the relationships start and continue the same way you know for all of them um when we talk about sales cycle there's a you know obviously a process we follow over here at our franchise we we you know really heavily emphasize um consultative selling um more kind of a I guess you could say an empathetic um approach to the customer you know putting the customer um being in those in the customer's shoes you know looking at their business as if were our own and then following up with them like crazy um So within that I mean that that's just stuff we emphasize within it um the sales process really for us you know from the first time you talk to them till the time you close the business um and we don't you know an activation is not know the end of the sales process you know in our business you sales process really never ends you know it's a it's a residual business you know people ship every day you're really selling to new customers and your existing customers every single day you know you're selling them to continue to shipping with you whether that's through service or new products um and speaking to new products you know you know adding new products and really kind of fleshing out what we can do for them um and really that all kind of that happens um from the time that you introduce yourself to them whether you're talking to them on the phone or you're talking to them in person you know the very first thing that you got to sell is yourself you know they the person on on the the other end of the phone um the person you're shaking your hand they gotta like you um if they don't like you they don't really care what you have to say um so um really just be personable um like I mentioned you try to be empathetic you know be polite don't be overly pushy pick up on social cues um and from there it kind of goes downhill you know you get to know them um you you you sell them on the company and the idea of what it is um figure out what products that they may need um kind of you know as you're talking to them your kind of running through that your head of the uh the service type menu like all right you know they do that XYZ you know we can help them with you know th this that and the other yeah um so you go through product and then one thing we really emphasize um and that's been really successful for us that we've emphasized with our our newer reps is try to save price the for the last thing that you talk about um price and then um honestly the e-commerce side um we try to save um the software integration for the in2 um I know it's a it's you know I'm sure other sales reps can empathize and know exactly what we're talking about with ship station block and live ratings and that um and whatnot um it's pretty crazy you know once if the person really likes you if you you know tell them about a product or service you have that feel they can really you know help um if you've done it right it may not always work out but they're much more motivated to find a stock Gap solution or present something that may not be as smooth as long as you're solving a bigger pain Point yeah um that's a really long winded answer to um what is the sales process but you know it's just something I think about a lot and that we practice a lot so yeah no that I think that was great there was a couple of things couple of nuggets I got out of there one is you're not really going through a step-by-step process rather you're you're building a relation ship versus a sale if you if you will you know if we put that in quotations uh and then the next thing which I thought was pretty cool and maybe there's a lot of salespeople out there that don't think of it this way but that that price aspect of it or that integration part that you were talking about save it for the very end because I I think a lot of people want to do that right out of the gate or you're saying no let's let's put that at Bay let's build the relationship first and then go from there yeah is that did I follow that right yeah and that's something you know I've really learned from Tom honestly that that that's what he does that's how he operates um you know before I wasn't you know as well trained by him as I as I have been now I'd go into those e-commerce appointments be like in the back of my mind be like oh we don't have the software Integrations and know we don't have this and that um when you know you're worried about it but your customer is not worried about it right now so why are you wor worrying about it yet um and that's the whole thing that really carries the whole sale is is the relationship and you you're still moving it across you know moving the ball across different yard lines um but you're doing it through the relate relationship not necessarily pure persuasion it's still persuasion you know still sales but you're doing it based off something really solid you know these people trust you they find you credible and they want to work with you um and that is you know an ex a very very solid foundation you'll have customers for years upon years if you path if you can build that at the beginning yeah I think I've heard Tom say uh before it's your solution providers you're finding the solution that that in user needs and and and solving that or filling that Gap if you will um one of the things that I wanted to touch on uh when we were reading the definition or looking this up uh it talks about determine how to improve in the sales cycle and I I kind of wanted to ask you that because I remember back in October uh at one of our sales conventions you were talking about improving the process and and trying different things and and building upon what you were doing how do you improve your sales cycle or your sales process um you know it's really just trial and error you know if if you don't do it if you're if you uh if you don't go out there and and fail and find out what doesn't work you you never know you know what does um and you know it's just a matter of getting over that call avoidance or you know being nervous about walking in that door oh I don't want to tell this customer something bad happened if you're just if you kind of tiptoe around it and you're like oh well I put this process I think it's great but I I don't know if it works if you don't put it to practice you'll never know if you're headed the right way and I think really just through trial and error you know different approaches with um you know different types of people and customers too you know like I mentioned earlier you know you break down everything down to the Bare Bones the process is the same at its core but whether it's a different industry different person different personality there's different approaches you know there's you know soft approaches you can be be a bit more aggressive maybe a bit Bolder uh maybe a bit more you know reserved and you you'll never know what's going to work for who until you try it and more often than not you're going to get it wrong the first few times but just because you get it wrong the first few times doesn't mean that customer is not going to work out and that kind of leads back to the relationship to where you know you don't have to be perfect as a sales rep or an organization um but if you have that relationship there it really all just ties back to that yeah it's kind of crazy yeah I I like the term fail fast so you can move forward right fail fail as fast as you can yeah well you you were talking about uh your the approach you know if it's a new client new person whatever the case may be how do you determine that approach I mean is it something you do some research beforehand or do you just kind of feel it out when you're there what what's your take on that um you know really whether it's over the phone or in person I don't do a lot of research on the companies before um I have tried it before I don't really find it overly effective um and here's the reason why is because I'll approach it initially the same say Hey you know mine's Richie um with in Express you know I you know help know companies with you know all different types of shipments and I'm curious you know what do you guys do as a business you know I'd love to see what areas we may be able to help you out with um and I I want them to tell me like I could go up and see oh you know ABC company they ship um pressure gauges all over the world and here's what they ship to this is a shopping cart um I found sometimes when I've done that it kind of pigeon holds my thinking on what opportunities we can get I'm like all right I'm going to ask these guys about their you know International exports they might only be doing you know three to four a week but you may miss out on an opportunity of them you know they import all the stuff from China and it could be tons of different Imports and um I really just like to get a full picture painted by them because they're the ones there every day doing it um and they typically bring up their most you know the biggest pain Point within the logistics process so so you're kind of leaving it open-ended right to to let them kind of uncover the the pain point I like that yeah I've never really heard it approached that way before um so you know there's there's typical steps in a sales cycle like looking up the definition again it it listed out find leads connect with leads qualify leads present to prospects overcome objections close the deal nurture new customers rinse and repeat are you that rigid in your sales cycle like do you follow a step-by-step process or you keep it kind of nimble I try to keep it Nimble um you know if like I said they're they're all free flowing they're all a little bit different but at the end of the day when I whatever I close they follow those exact steps you know you just you just mentioned and it is sequential it's not jumping out of order but I don't like I said every customer is going to work you know move at their their own pace I may walk into somewhere or call someone they're like yes I had this shipment right now I've been looking for someone to move it I need you to move it right now it might sound crazy but it does happen does happen well and I I was a skeptic too when when people used to tell me that it doesn't happen every day but you know if you're out there calling you know pounding the pavement whatever it'll happen especially if you're just asking people for shipments hey what can I move today for you they're like oh well now that you mention it um and then you know they may ship once and then you have to go back and develop them a bit more because um or you know there's customers I've pursued for a year not aimlessly but just because we've been working on projects or they were getting started a little bit they may have not been ready at that time um now I'm not calling them every single day for a year or every other day or even every week um because I'm sure that would be really annoying for my customers if I did that um but you know you develop them over time those steps one of the step may happen every other month but know it can get there and some of those people are you know my top customers and me took me about 18 months to develop and two and a half years later they're right at the top and they're solid as ever so um it'll all follow the steps eventually um there is you know you have to kind of funnel them towards there but if you try to H them too aggressively you may push them away a little bit and then the relationship starts off a bit rockier like okay you know this guy's just here here to push shipments um so that may not be true you know for everyone's experience in in the network but here that's that's the approach we take love it that's that's fair is it fair to say that's the Unicorn I've got 700 pallets got to go out today and I do this every week take care of it yeah well that type of volume no I wish that would happen it's usually your guy who's never shipped the pallet before and he has no idea what to do with it yeah well you guys step in you handle it so with your with your new sales reps and your your account Executives what's uh what's some of the advice or maybe the pitfalls you you steer them to avoid or yeah talk about that a little bit um kind of what you were you know you were alluding to the the fail fast um you know with new sales reps um everyone's gung-ho everyone's ready to go everyone wants to have their you know email template drafted everyone who gives them an email address they want to email them right away and they're super bummed out when they email 100 people know response um so you know we come in we train them about the products Services um you know give them advice make calls with them go on appointments with them um but really kind of give them you you know the freedom to sell in their own way um and then as we go through prospects we go through um you know opportunities quantify that talk about relationships they're building um we talk about what what's working for them um what they're stuck on maybe why what they're doing isn't working um and usually they you know they can see oh yeah I remember when you told me that probably be a waste of a time waste of my time few weeks go and I was like yeah no I I knew it was a waste of time but I told you so I told you so yeah like but the only way you can know that and internalize that U for the most part um you know hopefully lessen to some things that we say um is to go out and fail and realize it doesn't work um and you know I'm a strong believer in everyone's everyone sells a little bit different so pushing a very rigid um method of it as long as they're following those steps that we're talking about like under you know um everything they're doing it's still following that and they're building strong customers um you know that are solid pay consistent you know who cares how you're selling right if it's if if the numbers are there doesn't matter yeah yeah great advice well we're coming up to the end of our time together uh I just want to kind of leave it open for you any other thoughts or piece of advice you want to throw out there for anyone that's sitting in your seat or are you know aspiring to be uh the next Richie win what what do you have for him um you know I actually do have something um you know I I've been thinking a lot about goals um and setting goals and you know it's uh you know it's a little bit slower to start out the year than it has been you know relatively the past couple years um because economic reasons um Chinese new year started a little bit earlier this year plora at things um so I kept thinking about you know setting daunting goals like I like to set goals that scare me um you know I feel like a lot to chew off and you know I've been talking about this with you know Cameron and Lizzy my other two reps is you know set a big goal um but set small goals to be able that lead up to that you know if you want to grow $500,000 in margin this year that's great find out how much and margin you need to add monthly how many accounts that equates to uh and find out who's in your pipeline quantify your pip pipeline choose who you're going to Target every week pick a close date follow up with them follow up is seriously the most important thing you could do um and just execute you know don't spend too much time planning just go out and do it um and so that's been heavily on my mind as we push toward big goals this year um and you know I've reflected and you know I've every year I've hit my goal that's what done you know what can I do today what can I do in a week what can I do in a month not what do I have to hit by December 31st 2023 so as long as eventually leads to that you know just set small interm goals to be able to accomplish that I love that great way to great way to close out that conversation I love ending these with a random question if you've listened to the podcast before uh people tend to look forward to this and they have no idea where I'm going to go with it that's why it's fun for me but great uh hardest sale you've ever had to make so I I guess there there could be a couple different categories that is there a certain like I'm leaving it open-ended I'm leaving it open-ended oh man hardest sale for those that are watching the video he's sweating a little bit so I am sweating a little bit I've had people yell and scream at me a lot I'm trying to think of one that was yelling it screamed at me that's now a good customer of mine okay I do have one um I got a a customer of mine he manufactures different types of vending machines um and I was connected to him he's in California I was connected to him through one of my customers here in Utah um he was you know he owns a CBD company he ordered some vending machines to uh you know disperse his CBD product um and so I called him the guy was just rude he's like yeah I I don't care you know stop calling me yeah um and but I had to move these machines for my customer you know he's hey I need these machines so I called them every day and he's like stop calling me I'll let you know when it was ready and then my customer on the other end was pulling me the other way but know eventually got him moving you know I'd call you know my goal with him was try to make him laugh every time he's he's the mo one of the most crotchy guys that you'll ever talk to um did a great job on the shipment and now you know he calls me pretty much every other day you know he usually complain about something you know like an ironic sarcastic way not that I've done but got a great relationship now and uh you know he's going to have his biggest year ever that's awesome Richie thank you so much for your wealth of knowledge your time really appreciated and uh just keep keep crushing out there man hey thanks Paul thanks for having me on uh you know anyone if you know you're struggling or need needs some help you know feel free to reach out always pick up Richie win everybody thanks buddy we'll talk to you later hey see you Paul thank you so much for listening to the ideas exchange podcast presented by in Express if you enjoyed this episode and you want to show us some love and support please share it out with others on social media or leave us a rating in review if you want to know more about what in Express is visit in express.com to find out what they do and how they can help you and your business that's INX p r s.com thank you so much and we will catch you in the next episode