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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:20):
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Speaker 2 (00:29):
Churchill said, those who failed to learn from history are
condemned to repeat it. Kevin Helenan believes that certainly applies
to business. Welcome to Winning Business Radio here at W
four CY Radio. That's W four cy dot com and
now your host, Kevin Helenair.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Thanks for joining in today. Everybody. I am Kevin Hallanan
and welcome back to Winning Business TV and Radio on
W four cy dot com. We are streaming live on
Talk for TV dot com. That's the number four Talk
for TV dot com. In addition, we're streaming live at
Facebook and that's on Facebook at Winning Business Radio, and
(01:12):
of course we're available in podcasts after the live show
on tons of platforms. Pretty much wherever you get your
podcast content, we are there, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple again, everywhere.
The mission of Winning Business radio and TV, as regular
viewers and listeners know, is to offer insights and advice,
to help people avoid the mistakes of others, to learn
(01:35):
best practices, the how tos, the what tos, the what
not tos, to be challenged, and I always say, to
hopefully be inspired by the successes of others. Those others
are consultants, coaches, advisors, founders and owners, entrepreneurs, people with expertise.
But you know, virtually every one of those successful people
I've ever had a chance to talk to has had
(01:56):
some form of failure in their lives or careers. So
while we all to get our knees skin once in
a while, every week I say, I'm driven to keep
those scrapes from needing major surgery. Let's endeavor to learn
from history so we don't repeat it. I've spent the
better part of my career equipping businesses to grow from
solopreneurs to small to medium sized companies all the way
up to the fortune fifty. I've seen some of those
(02:18):
companies win and to varying degrees. I've seen some fail
I've had the opportunity to rub elbows with some of
the highest performing people around and with some people who
probably should have found other professions. And my own businesses.
I've businesses. I've had lots of success, but some failures too,
So I like to think I've learned a lot from
those experiences. So you'll hear from me my opinions and insights.
But anybody, anybody who knows me, will tell you that
(02:42):
I sometimes have a hard time being quiet. So mostly
we're going to hear from experts, those consultants, those coaches, advisors,
founders and owners and entrepreneurs, And today is one of those.
Today my guest is Scott Yell. He's founder and president
of New England Sales Solutions and co founder of the
Jackson Yell Family Foundation. Here's his bio. Scott Yell is
the founder and president of New England Sales Solutions. He
(03:04):
brings twenty plus years of sales leadership experience to help
small to mid sized businesses, managing teams from seven to
two hundred. He helps grow company revenue and profits by
conducting a customized assessment of their business and helps to
develop a strategy and execution plan to achieve desired results.
Prior to starting New England Sales Solutions, Scott worked for
(03:26):
a Fortune one hundred global company and a variety of
leadership roles and distribution, procurement, marketing, and business to business selling.
He has a high integrity, hands on leader whose passion
is to coach and help people to succeed. He's turned
divisions around while performing excuse me, providing high customer service
and sales teams development at the same time. Prior to
(03:49):
his career in scales, yeah, let's try that one again.
Prior to his career in sales, Scott attended the Culinary
Institute of America. He also co owns a fish charter business.
Scott grew up in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate
New York and now lives in Cape Cod with his
wife Andrea and daughter Lexi. They have a love of
the outdoors, sports, great food, and travel. Scott's family started
(04:13):
the Jackson Yelle Family Foundation in twenty twenty three to
honor their son. Their late son, Jackson, who was killed
by a drunk driver and excuse me, a drunk hit
and run driver at the age of twenty one. Scott
recently finished a quest that his son Jackson, and he
had to visit every major league ballpark. The foundation donated
one thousand dollars to the Nike Reviving Baseball in Inner
(04:36):
Cities program at each of those remaining ballparks to support
the development of young men and women. Scott, Welcome to
Winning Business Radio and TV. Thanks for being here. I
know how busy you are.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Yeah, NOL, thanks for having me, Thanks for the intro,
and its good to see you again.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
You too, it's been a while. I know life changed
dramatically for you, and we'll get to that. I want
to talk about your background a little bit first, but
I think, well, I just want the audience to know,
and I mentioned it to you briefly that my wife
and I and another couple are actually doing that same
ballpark tour for very different reasons. Yours is a much
better reason. We're just doing it because we're about halfway
(05:13):
there though, so you you wrapped it up in pretty
short order. We had a few years left, so we
take about two to three trips a year.
Speaker 5 (05:20):
Yeah, it's interesting, you know, before the whole thing with Jackson.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
We'll get into it, but I didn't realize what a
big deal with it and how many folks are actually
doing it.
Speaker 5 (05:29):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
It was just kind of spur of the moment for
Jackson and I when we started. But yeah, you're you're
one of many.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Are you doing the passport or did you do with
him the passport little book?
Speaker 4 (05:39):
I did after the fact because they didn't know about it, right,
And so unfortunately, once Tim Parks, who started that company,
heard my story, he sent me one for free, and
so I have I have eighteen dons, and now I
have excuse to go to the other twelve the completely Yes.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
You do, maybe I'll run into you. It's funny. We
were I forget where we're Pittsburgh or somewhere we look over.
I mean we like to sit not in the seats
right on the field, but one aisle and then right
there a little up right for first baseline. Pretty much
every park. We've sat at third and stuff too, but
we try to sit anyway adjacent on the very back
row of that lower section. Yeah, our friend's son and
(06:16):
his then girlfriend now wife. Oh funny, pretty funny.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
Obviously, it's great because I've got to meet some other
people like you.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
My journey as well, so we'll dive into that.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Yeah, so let's start with your family. Tell us about Andrea.
I'm sure you're better half as we like to say.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Yeah, yeah, married twenty six years, maybe twenty seven, so
don't hold me to that. Andrea California girl, I got
it in the got it into the west to the east
coast here.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
So good for you.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
She again an entrepreneur and runs a company, you know,
for herself. She's the kind of the HR recruiting space
and yeah, we love our life here on the gate.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
That's awesome. Tell us about your kids. Tell us about Lexi.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
Yeah, daughter Lexi, she just left last Thursday. She's in
her sophomore year at Cornell. Nice so she got.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Her following her mother following. Yeah, mom's right.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Yeah, my mom went to Cornell as well and grandpa,
so she's a triple against.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
So she's she's enjoying college life.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
I got a fun video of a slipping slide down
the hill at outside the sorority house from Saturday, So yeah,
she's in good, good spot.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Well, I'll hold off on having to talk about Jackson
until little bit later. Sure, how did you make the
move from It's probably a process there from upstate New
York to Massachusetts in particularly Cape Cod.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Yeah, so it was a long journey. So it actually
went through Vermont in California, where I met my wife.
That's where I started with Cisco Foods, as it was
Cisco Foods for twenty one years, and where most of
my sales leadership came from.
Speaker 5 (07:48):
So and they wanted to get back to these coasts.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
I actually had a shortstop in Connecticut and then back
to the Cape full time. My mom and all my
mom's side of the failed me is long rooms to
the Cape. Always came here as a kid, and Andrew
and I knew we wanted to retire here at some
point and kind of sped that up and started my
business back in twenty seventeen and moved here full time.
(08:12):
Where were we in Connecticut just outset at hard for
a small town, Well I shouldn't, Tay's a talent, Glastonbury,
So we were there for about eight years.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Yeah. So my dad grew up in Plainville. My mother
grew up in Cheshire, so we used to go to
Cheshire and then she had a sister and brother in
law in Madison, so we used to go to Madison
a lot.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
As well, yeah, very close by.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Yeah, yep. What were your early interests? And I know
you went to culinary school. We'll get to that in
a moment. That may have been it, I don't know.
But what were you into when you were young?
Speaker 5 (08:39):
Yeah? Well, sports?
Speaker 4 (08:40):
So I mean I played three sports growing up behindh
school and then cooking, you know, for some reason, just
was gravitated to that.
Speaker 5 (08:48):
As soon as I could get a job. I watched
dishes and yeah, I just fell in love with the
kitchen life. And so I went to culinary school.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
And but you know, like any probably teenage boy, you know,
besides sports and chasing girls and hanging out with my buddies.
But yeah, and then you know, love the sports all
my life.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Uh particular, were you a New York fan?
Speaker 5 (09:11):
No?
Speaker 3 (09:11):
No, not so you care go up? You spend so
much time in New England. Okay, good, that's good. Yeah
we have a short. If you're a Yankees fan.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
Sorry, yeah, my dad trade me. Well, he took me
to a Red Sox game. First.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
I'm a Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins fan. I am
a Buffalo Bills fan.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
That's me.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
I'm in tough water here in New England.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
But yeah, you know, it could be worse, could be
a giant. I didn't used to mind the Giants.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
Yeah yeah, now man, Yeah for the Jets, so.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Well, Jets I wasn't too concerned about. Now I'm concerned again.
Speaker 5 (09:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Uh, you know, we have a first world problem with
our with our football team this year, don't we. We've
been spoiled for so long.
Speaker 5 (09:52):
So I think they're going to be vastly improved.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Well there, So I don't know I was talking. I'm
not even sure they're a playoff team. But yeah, it's
going to be fun to watch anyway.
Speaker 5 (10:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
So you sounds like you, uh kind of parlayed that
culinary experience to get into Cisco, and yet you ended
up on the selling side, the business side, versus the
food side, if you will. How did that happen?
Speaker 5 (10:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (10:16):
So I was actually working in Vermont and someone approached
me and said, hey, have you ever thought about being
a sales rep? And you know, family was always important
to me, and it came became quite apparent early on that,
you know, trying to work the hours of a head
chef and have a family, it's just not super conducive.
Speaker 5 (10:35):
And then again, tons of people have done and don't
knock them.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
But I just had I was, you know, didn't have
any family at the time, so it was easy to say, hey,
I'll try the sales thing, and and I don't like it,
I can always go back to cooking.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
I mean, how hard could it be. It's only you
just sell stuff to people.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Yeah, exactly right. So yeah, so I actually fell in
love with it, right, It was great. It was easy
in the sense that I could talk about products because
my cornary background. I had to learn how to sell
and learn how to you know, do my BIZDV and
learn how to take rejection and all that failure that
comes along with it, and you know, get my teeth
knocked out a little bit, and learned those school of
(11:12):
hard knocks.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
But you know, I excelled and did well at it
and actually really enjoyed it.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
So and then sales leadership, of course.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
Yeah, super thankful.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Right, So I left a small independent food service and
joined Cisco and was there for twenty one years and
a world of opportunities, you know, a couple of different
vice president roles, and then ran ran sales for a
very large division here in the Northeast. And yeah, I
mean just Without that experience, I couldn't have started my
own company.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
So yeah, it was you know, when you have a.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Thousand SOMEHD salespeople und your responsibility, it's sometimes hard to
move the needle.
Speaker 5 (11:47):
But yeah, I had no regrets and love my time there.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Yeah, so this is a big question you could take anywhere.
But what's one key lesson learned from your time at Cisco.
I mean, you had a ton of experience over twenty
one years, which one key takeaway you can share?
Speaker 4 (12:02):
Yeah, so from a salesperson standpoint, from the folks that
are out in the front lines, you know, you know,
with customers, and this may seem really simple, but I'm
amazed at how many people don't follow up. And to me,
it's like, if someone asks you for something, it's really
it's an open door for a selling opportunity.
Speaker 5 (12:21):
And it's amazing to me how many people don't follow up.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
So, if you're new into sales, have been in for
a long time, you know, just you know, if someone's
reaching out, take the time to follow out.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
But I'm not saying you got to follow up in
ten minutes, but you know, yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
It's a little too aggressive.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Yeah, exactly right. And then I think from a from
a leadership standpoint. For me, it was always about how
can I help you? How can I help coach you
to success? You know, you know I want to help
you get there without taking on that ownership and responsibility.
I'll be there to support you. Which you kind of
got to meet me halfway, meaning you got to put
(12:56):
in some of that work and effort too, and.
Speaker 5 (12:59):
And to me that was key, I think to my
success is trying to coach and manage people to be
successful at sales on their own two feet.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Absolutely, I'm gonna aimen that We've got about a minute
ish before we take the first break. You did a
lot of contract You've done a lot of contract work
as a as a sales leader. Talk about some of that.
And this is prior to the fractional work you do
with Wing sales solutions.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
Yeah, so, I mean it's you know, had some some
pretty big ones right stay in Connecticut.
Speaker 5 (13:29):
We we landed.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Some work and you know, so it's it's it's an
interesting different process. So when you say contract, you're meaning like,
you know, working independently with somebody or on here, getting
gaining contracts through Cisco.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Sorry, no, you as a contract provider, gotcha.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
Yeah, Yeah, So typically I'm working with that kind of
small to mid size family owned business. It's quite interesting
because the owners and that I deal with usually great salespeople.
They you know, we said up the product of the
service and they can really talk about it and be
really influential, but they don't necessarily know and understand how
to build and manage a sales team.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
And now kind of where I came in, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
And so I really would say I probably focused mostly
on operations and helping them build that foundation to be
able to grow and succeed and have repeatable sales.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
We are right at quarter after. We're going to take
our first commercial break right here, Scott, So everybody, we'll
be back in just a minute with Scott Yell. He
is founder and president of New England Sales Solutions and
co founder of the Scott of the Jackson Yelle Family Foundation.
Speaker 5 (14:39):
Be right back.
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Speaker 3 (15:53):
We're back with Scott Yelle. He is founder and president
of New England Sales Solutions and co founder of the
Jackson Yelle Family Foundation. We'll get to that in a
little bit. You were Franchi see for a while with
Sales Acceleration. Uh, very good organization. That's when you and
I met. Uh tell tell us about your time there. Well, yeah,
I acomlish we were able to do what your work was.
Speaker 5 (16:14):
Sorry. Yeah, it's a great organization and people don't know
what it is.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
It's really it's a group of seasoned vice presidents of
sales that decided to go into the consulting world, and
so there's some structure and organization there and it was
a great experience that you know, again no no regrets
at all, enjoyed my time as being part of the
the group. I met a lot of great people helped
(16:37):
with my foundation that I would say as I started
business for myself for the first time and you know,
hung my own shingle, and again there's a group of
people that support each other in helping small to mid
sized companies trying to have more repeatable sales and get
through some of those tough times when what it's like
to be a small business owner today.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
So as a franchise see and in particular with that organization,
if it even matters from this perspective, what are your
what was your experience as a franchise see in general
and some key lessons learned.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
Yeah, so it was it was very positive that again
I enjoyed my time there and would highly recommend it
to anyone that's in the sales arena who has a
VP of sales type background. Again, the reason I joined
was help in marketing my business and getting it off
the ground and putting some structure to you know, kind
(17:32):
of my consulting business. That's all the stuff that they provided.
So again it was a great network. There's six or
seven of us here in New England, so I could
lean on folks if I had questions or wasn't quite
sure about something. Again, just super supportive. We had an
HANDLE meeting every year, you know, you know, talked about
what's coming out and so as far as new products
(17:54):
and services and how to better position ourselves and how
to add value and service the customer.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
So then you founded tick the Clock a little bit
there some contract additional contract assignments in fractional sales leadership
interim better were a different word for fractional. Then you
found a New England Sales Solutions. So tell us about
the company, but first tell us what was behind the
decision to start New England Sales Solutions.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
Yeah, it's a little deceiving given so actually they ran
side by side.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
Yeah, I saw that.
Speaker 5 (18:27):
I was always there, but I left sales expiation.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
Mostly I just felt like I kind of outgrew them
in the sense that I was able to build my network.
I had a great referral network, people like yourself and
folks in the provisors group, and so I needed less
of what they were providing from marketing standpoint anymore, And
so it was hard. I mean I still miss some
of those folks and the friends. But yeah, the work
(18:52):
was essentially the same, but just doing it all on
my own and without the marketing support anymore.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Fair enough tell us about the company newing on sales solutions.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
Yeah, so I'm a solopreneur, like a lot of independence
out there, and again, working for anybody in the kind
of any vertical doesn't really matter. I don't have to
be the product expert or the services expert. It's because
I get I focused most of the time on operations.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Right sales specifically operations.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Yeah, you know, so things like, you know, the right
job descriptions, the right conversation programs, reviewing their sales process,
make sure the sales process is tied into their CRM,
you know, making sure those performance programs and the right KPIs,
and you know, teaching you know, owners or potential new
managers how to coach effectively. So all those sorts of
(19:46):
things that happen kind of behind the scenes that not
everybody is aware of, and just try to help them
find a way to have what I call repeatable sales. Right,
there's there's more of a system in place and some
great standard operating and then someone can take.
Speaker 5 (20:02):
The ball and run with it. So I find my
replacement and then move on.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
So how often, excuse me, what's the length of an
engagement if it's interim sales leadership, which you do quite
a bit of, if not every engagement, I'm not sure,
But how long does that interim term typically go on?
Speaker 5 (20:19):
Yeah, Typically, when someone engages me for an interim role,
which is where I commit and actually take over all
of the leadership of the sales team for them, typically
twelve months, okay, and about the nine month mark, we're
working to find my long term replacement, which may be
inside the organization or outside, you know, but it could
be a three month gig where it's really just want
(20:40):
some assessment done and helping hire the first person or
a client. I just I wrapped up with tomorrow and
that was really all by Hey, they hired their first salesperson,
you know, putting some stuff in place for them to
be successful and carry on.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
Right, So that was just a three month gig. So
one of the great things about working for yourself is
I can just kind of try to customize and help
somebody in any way, shape or form. Have a lot
of freedom of flexibility to pick and choose how I
help somebody. I've done just compensation programs for folks really
a wide, a wide variety.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
And you're at the point in your life. And we'll
talk more about the foundation after the next break, or
we'll probably get to it before the break. But yeah,
you're not trying to be this giant company. You're very selective.
You want to remain sort of nimble, so you can
do a lot of other things.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
Yeah, I would say one of the side benefits that
I probably didn't appreciate before I started was that I
get to pick and choose who I work with, and
so I I really fortunately, i would say, over the
last six years to have some really great customers and
some become friends, having dinner with one next week that
I haven't seen in two years, and.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
So that that's really really a plus, you know, to
doing this on your own.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
And so yeah, so I can again pick and choose.
Speaker 5 (21:54):
And I'm not sure I'm answering the question, but.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Ye know, yeah, that's it.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
That's it.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
Yeah, it's flexibility and having the right people. But I've
made some mistakes. Don't get me wrong.
Speaker 5 (22:03):
I've had some clients.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
That I probably shouldn't assigned with, but that unfortunately I
have to learn something there.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Take take a moment and talk about that, because that
this is really about, you know, helping people avoid those
types of mistakes, which I've made too, Scott, trust me.
Speaker 5 (22:17):
Yeah, no, absolutely right.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
And so I think I took on a client and
it started as I was helping coach their VP. Right,
He'd come from a really large corporation, and I was
in really the only salesperson that was in the organization.
And so then the owner let that person go and
had me take over the sales team. But there really
wasn't a sales team, right, And I probably shouldn't have.
I probably over committed to doing things that really need
(22:41):
to be done by somebody day in and day out.
I couldn't do.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Based on that you're not there forty hours.
Speaker 4 (22:46):
Right, and so based on that workload, I've probably over
committed to something. And and so it just ended and
kind of I would say poorly, but just you know,
it was ended. I need to go, and it was
a mutual, you know, separation, and yeah, just you know,
sometimes trying to take on too much and try to
you know, can't be everything to every customer.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Yep, So a little bit more motivation here for that change,
big switch. Your world must have ended last yearne in
some ways, right with with the passing of Jackson.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
Tell us about then, Yeah, so last April thirty or
twenty twenty three, unfortunately got that that call at nine
thirty in the morning that your child is gone and deceased,
as the as the corner had said, And yeah, I
think you've said it best, right.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
The sky yell that existed on April twenty ninth is
very different than the one that was you know, woke
up on April thirtieth and has been here ever since.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
And you just you know, priority change, right, And so
prior to his death, you know, I would have a
pretty hefty workload of four or five clients at a
time and just realize that, Hey, I'm fortunate I work
for myself.
Speaker 5 (23:52):
So I mean, that's probably one blessing.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
I'm not sure I could have endured all this had
I had my corporate gig, right, Yeah, but working for
myself gave me some free flexibility to work through the
grief and the pain, and but slowed down right, try
to have two or three clients at a time at
the most, and just take life at a little different pace.
And I love still working with customers and seeing the
(24:15):
fruits of my labor of helping them grow their sales
team and get their their sales growing, but not to
not to the stake of you know, four or five
clients in a pretty hefty sixty hour work week.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
So when did you guys figure out you wanted to
start a foundation? He passed in April of twenty three.
What's the timeline there.
Speaker 5 (24:35):
Yeah, it was really it was September of twenty grade three.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
So we got through the summer and just kind of
the craziness of all. I'd come in and get my
daughter off to school and then you know, my wife
and I said, hey, you know, let's do this right,
and kind of got the ball rolling from a.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Be able to I guess the answer is yes, I'm
kind of answering at myself. Lexi was able to finish
her freshman year.
Speaker 5 (24:57):
Yeah, yeah, so she well she was when it happened.
She was to graduate. So she graduated high school. Yeah,
and we took it a freshman We took her a
freshman year.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
So she she you know, I was four or five months, Yeah,
four or five months after his death. In some ways,
I think if you asked her, she'd tell you it
was a blessing, because you know, she can only tell
the story that people she wanted to versus kind of
everybody know, I'm here in town.
Speaker 5 (25:21):
Kind of scenario. So so, yeah, we started the foundation.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
You did all the legal peace, right, you gotta got
a file of the state, and then you send her. Yeah,
they buy all your paper with the I R S
and wait for that approval, and.
Speaker 5 (25:35):
And then you know, find some board members, and now
what do we do?
Speaker 7 (25:39):
Right?
Speaker 4 (25:39):
How do how do we? How do we raise money?
How do we you know, how do we? What do
we who do we partner with? All that kind of
fun stuff? And we haven't got a dial there and
we're not even a year old. But I mean I
think we've we've done some good work in the first year.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
For sure. Well, I did do some little bit of uh,
you know research, almost an opposition research. I don't know
where just not just phrases pop and it's certainly not
that uh. And I looked at the board members. I
know they're friends, but they look like some heavy hitters.
So it looks like you got some really good expertise there. Yeah,
but I understand that Lexi and Andrea are very heavily involved.
(26:13):
And I was really I smiled when I saw who
the president of the foundation is.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
Yeah, so Lexi is the president. So the goal there
was a give her some experience. She wants to go
into business, right, and so she is the youngest and
gets demands this group of adults. So we just thought
this was a good, good learning opportunity as well. But
also then she can helpfully carry on the torch even
after Unfortunately, Andrew and I aren't going to live forever.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
But yeah, wait, what.
Speaker 5 (26:41):
I haven't found that magic coach? You got it? You
got to share.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Although I've been to southern Florida and so talk about
the work you said fundraising, And I'm curious how you
figured that out if you, I mean, what you figured
out so far for fundraising, you've clearly raised money. But
talk about the work the foundation does.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
Yeah, so we see the foundation with the Elon Club
baseball team that Jackson was part of down at Elon University,
raised forty thousand dollars with about four days of Jackson's
passing so we took that money and made that the
seed money for the foundation. So that really kind of
gave us a little bit of a leg to stand
on as we got into things. So we knew we
(27:23):
wanted to do something at the high school for Jackson,
so we started a scholarship there. And because he was
a varsity baseball player, we you know, and a lot
of folks donated to the Nauset Warriors high school booster
team club, I mean, so we matched that and we
were able to help the baseball team buy a new
hitting turtle, you know, that cage that goes around home plate.
(27:44):
It started the Jackson Yale Scholarship at the high school,
and then we took off some of the We also
took some of the money and gave it back to
the club team. So the field that they play on
down Elon doesn't have a dugout. So the dougouts are
in the process of being built. They'll be up and
live before or November first of this year. We'll go
down for the for the dedication and Jackson will have
(28:06):
a place on campus for years to come. And then
I don't know, probably do we have time to get
into MLB and do you want to wait till after
the break.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
Yeah, we'll wait to Actually, let's take the break right now.
You know there's no fixed schedule right about now is good,
so let's do that. We'll be back in about one
more minute. Scott. Everybody will be back with Scott Yale.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
You're listening to Winning Business Radio with Kevin helenet on
W four CY Radio. That's W four cy dot com.
Don't go away. More helpful information is coming right up
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Speaker 7 (28:43):
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Speaker 2 (29:17):
And now back to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helene
presenting exciting topics and expert guests with one goal in
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is Kevin Helenet.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
We're back with Scott Yell, and in particular we're talking
about his role as secretary slash treasurer of the Jackson
Yelle Family Foundation. First, before we get into the RBI,
and I want folks to know about that because it's
I think it's undernown. But how do you go about
raising money? What have you figured out so far? I'm
sure you have a lot to learn yet, But how
have you raised additional money or how do you plan
(29:58):
on raising an additional money?
Speaker 5 (30:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (30:00):
So, first for mostly had friends and family, right and
as we started this baseball tour that we'll talk about,
you know, reached out to some people and had some
corporate sponsors.
Speaker 5 (30:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
And the next big thing in fundraising wise that's coming
up is we're having our first fundraising golf turn right
on October fourth down here on the Cape.
Speaker 5 (30:20):
We've already got a full field of.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
One hundred and forty four folks, you know, working on
tea sponsors and all that kind of fun stuff. So
that that's the next big fundraising thing for us. But yeah,
it's something that I'm sure every nonprofit, you know, worries
about and figured it out his struggles to find out.
Speaker 5 (30:36):
We don't know all the answers yet.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
You know, I think getting our name out in the press,
which you know, the RBI tour and the Baseball Tour
has really helped us, you know, kind of you know,
garner some attention.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
ESPN, Boston Globe and others.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Yeah, for sure, we'll get to how people can help
in a little bit. But you've really parlayed your and
Jackson's love for baseball sports, in particular baseball. So now
talk about Nike, RBI baseball.
Speaker 5 (31:07):
Yeah. So I'll back up a little bit.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
So Jackson and I baseball fans, and we had realized
one weekend and probably traveling to a baseball game, that hey,
we've been to three or four clubs or parks I
should say, already.
Speaker 5 (31:19):
And I said, hey, why don't we try to go
to all thirty? You know.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
It was said, Hey, something we can do for the
rest of our lives and someday we'll get done. There
was no timetable ending and He's like, yeah, let's go
for it. So and so, before he was killed, we
were able to get the twelve of the thirty cut
all over various parts.
Speaker 5 (31:37):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
It just kind of hit me last summer and I
was thinking about, you, it really cool to finish the
tour in his honor, a to help raise some money
for our foundation, but then also to give to something right,
to some sort of.
Speaker 5 (31:50):
An organization and get back.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
And so I just threw it out into the world
and a big believer, and you throw things down in
the world, things come back.
Speaker 5 (31:58):
And just said, hey, you know, what are some organizations that.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Maybe we could partner with from a baseball standpoint, and
good friend of ours, you know, Trey Wingo mentioned the
Nike RBI program, did a bunch of research and said, yeah,
it's a perfect fit. So then I put my salesman
hat on and and I started reaching out to the
folks at the RBI program. They have a form and
(32:21):
I was professionally persistent and a couple of phone calls
and they graciously got on the phone to listen to
my spiel.
Speaker 5 (32:28):
And but baseball.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
I would say, you know, they kind of take care
of their own and I would say, this kind of
really morphed into something way above what I ever imagined.
You know, when I got on The call with him
was like, all I'm asking for is I'll go to
these eighteen ballparks at Jackson I never visited. I'd like
to donate one thousand dollars to each of those clubs
RBI program. All they wanted was a ticket to get in.
(32:54):
And someone did take a picture with me light yeah,
with my big fake check. That was it, And it
turned into so much more. I mean they really just
embraced us all and the ivy R folks and MLB.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
And I will forget you got a jersey, you get it?
I mean not a jersey, a T shirt everywhere too.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
Yeah, So for the addicts in MLB made me a
custom jersey forevery They had the foundation logo on one side,
the RBI logo the number of the stadium on the back.
Speaker 5 (33:22):
So that was cool and.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
Oh that's why I saw the thirty Yeah, okay, yeah.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
So then every then some parks gave me jerseys of
their clubs. Some people had me throw out the first
pitch wow and again. Then MLB Central started to do
a Father's Day piece and actually had geographers at every
one of the stadiums. I went to New Jersey, to Secaucus,
to the studios and did some taping, and then they
met me in Detroit for Stadium number thirty and did
(33:47):
some taping and they did a really nice MLB piece
that came out on your Father's Day weekend.
Speaker 5 (33:53):
So yeah, it was it was they got they just
it was overwhelming.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
You haven't sung the national anthem anthem yet, No, I
don't want me to do that.
Speaker 5 (34:01):
You don't want me to do that. I don't sound
good to even the shower, so you definitely don't want
me to see the national anthem.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
So what is rb I Baseball?
Speaker 5 (34:12):
Yeah, so Nike rb I.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
You know, rb I stands for Reviving Baseball in inner cities.
And so there's MLB sponsored clubs and affiliates, but really
it's about you know, giving young men and women both,
so it's baseball and softball, right the chance to play
the game essentially for free. So uniforms and entry fees
and you know, you know, initiations and umpires, all that
(34:35):
stuff's all paid for.
Speaker 5 (34:37):
And so.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
I'm a believer and I think the rb I believes
in the program mbib is sports teaches kids so much
more than no doubt lose, right, and so and that's
what it's doing It's given these kids opportunities. Every time
I ask, you know, some of the kids that play
in the program, you know, what do they like about it?
The number one answers opportunities, you know, meeting new people,
(35:01):
being able to travel and do things that they never.
Speaker 5 (35:03):
Would have done.
Speaker 4 (35:04):
And and these are kids that don't have much and
so it's uh, it's they teach him not only baseball
and softball skills, but communication skills. You know, how to
how to fill out applications for college, how to fill
out a fast set. Yeah, you know, how to how
to overcome adversity, right, Yeah. So they just it's a
(35:25):
good program that tries to develop the whole kid, not
just their baseball.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
Yeah. As I mentioned through a friend of a friend,
uh my one of my younger son. Both sons played baseball,
both girls played softball, and you know we're big sports family,
so same you know. Uh, but one of them had
the opportunity, the younger one had the opportunity to be
on the Red Sox RBI team a couple of years.
And he was telling you pre show he we were
(35:53):
in Florida on vacation. He's up in Massachusetts or New England. Rather,
you know, playing a tournament that that tournament and we
get a call they won the game. Their next game
is like the next day at Yankee Stadium. So my
wife flew home and the rest of US state to
finish the vacation, and so he had a chance to play,
Like I mean, what kid has a chance to play
(36:13):
at a measor league ballpark?
Speaker 5 (36:15):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
Yeah, so quick aside, what's your favorite park so far?
Speaker 5 (36:21):
Well, fen is always gonna be number one, Sure you know.
Speaker 4 (36:24):
Number two I would say is Wrigley Again, a lot
of similarities if folks haven't been there, just a great
vibe the whole around the whole park too, not just inside.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Yeah, Wrigleyville. We had the opportunity to see the Socks
at Yeah Wrigley, which was cool. And usually when we
traveled for the ballpark tour, we don't try to follow
the Red Sox. It's too difficult to make the schedule
a couple of times. But so my favorite yep, I'm
with you on those two. But for other reasons, pet
Coo for sure, uh and the Tigers for what that
(36:56):
one is?
Speaker 5 (36:57):
Uh America?
Speaker 3 (36:58):
Yeah, yeah, cale America. Yeah that because they're beautiful Arlington,
the new Orleington. I like the old Arlington and the
new Arlington. Those are cool too, but again different reasons.
Speaker 5 (37:09):
Yeah. Number three is P and C and Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
It's a really beautiful run on the water.
Speaker 5 (37:12):
People haven't been there, highly recommend it. It's really.
Speaker 4 (37:17):
You don't think of a great ballpark in downtown Pittsburgh.
But I agree, Petco in San Diego and orangele and
San Francisco are probably.
Speaker 5 (37:24):
The top five.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
That was our most recent We just came back from
there a couple months ago. Yet, So how can people
help the foundation you and the foundation in the work
that you're doing.
Speaker 5 (37:37):
Yeah, well, a couple different ways.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
One obviously, the easiest is to go to the website,
you know, jacksonail dot com and donate.
Speaker 5 (37:44):
I mean that's simple. But you know, like I said,
we have a golf servant coming up.
Speaker 4 (37:48):
If people want to do a tea sponsor and support
the event, that you can do that. If they've got
a raffle item they'd like to donate, you know, whether
it's art or clothing or signed memorabilia or sports tickets,
they can can do that. But then we're also looking
for organizations to invest in and partner with right, if
(38:09):
we're due to this too, obviously we've got a relationship
with RBI, then we're going to work to try to continue.
Speaker 5 (38:13):
But we're open, right.
Speaker 4 (38:16):
The whole mission of the organization is to try to
help support the development of young men and women, and
sports is one avenue.
Speaker 5 (38:23):
Doesn't have to be sports, but what are some other ways?
And so.
Speaker 4 (38:28):
I tell my wife, I'll have a cup of coffee
with anybody if somebody wants to reach out and just brainstorm.
I'm not sure it's always a fit, but I'll talk
to anybody.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
And all right, so we're actually networking on live radio
and TV right now. Yeah, my guest two weeks ago
was a guest a bunch of years ago, has become
a friend. One of those clients that's become a friend.
I'm going to connect you with him. He knows a
bunch of I mean, he's plugged in in New York.
He's he's in Madison, Connecticut as it turns out, No, no,
(38:56):
just a coincidence from family. Yeah, but he's somebody should
definitely talk to. He's an entrepreneur and he knows a
ton of people, and I think he would just want
to help you. So I'll connect you with with Scott.
And this is the first time I think I've networked
and made connections on live on a live Yeah.
Speaker 5 (39:15):
That's awesome, appreciate it. So yeah, I mean it's it
could be sponsoring.
Speaker 4 (39:18):
An educational program, you know, maybe it's you know, I'm
a big believer not every kid has to go to college,
and so maybe it's something the trade, you know sector.
Speaker 5 (39:26):
So again we're we're open to a lot of different ideas.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
Fantastic. Where do you see the foundation going?
Speaker 4 (39:36):
Well, I mean, you know our dream would be the
you know, gets to a point where and sustain itself
and carry on even after you know, Andrey and I
are gone and like he continue to run it. And
again we're again like early days. You know, we're coming
up on our one year anniversary here and in a
few weeks and trying to focus on getting to the
golf tournament. But you know, we're having some discussions as
(39:58):
a new program with MAD those against driving. It is
called MAD Sports. It's fairly new, so we had a
call with them next week. But yeah, I think it
really is. But trying to help our mission and develop
young men and women, give them some opportunities and trying
to find those programs to try to hone in and
partner with, you know, kind of on a bigger scale.
Speaker 5 (40:18):
Long term.
Speaker 3 (40:18):
I want to read the mission for people, and I
want you to comment on any aspect of this. You
want to vision put good young people into the world,
just like Jackson, and that's a hashtag just like Jackson.
Mission to encourage moral character and positive growth in kind
young people. How we'll do this by providing financial support
to programs that encourage young people to become good humans
(40:41):
through character and growth, encouraging self awareness, good citizenship, self management,
resilience and perseverance, community creating community and making a positive
contribution to society by promoting kindness and inclusion, fitness and wellness,
and embracing a lifelong commitment to health and living our
best lives.
Speaker 5 (41:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (41:01):
So, sadly, sometimes you have to have something tragic happen
to learn something, and so in this case, you know,
we didn't realize the impact Jackson was making on his
community until he passed away, until he was killed, and
just to have that community share with us all the
positive impact that he made, it was overwhelming. And unfortunately
(41:22):
we've had to find out that way. But so we're
just trying to promote those same values, the kind of
the same moral character. And those kids are our future, right,
you know, they're they're the next generation of leaders and
business people and just want them to have a great
moral compass and fiber and and do some good things.
(41:44):
So that's that's kind of really what that's all about.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
So cool. I'll email you after, but I'd like something
I can send around in my contacts as well, you know,
something about the golf tournament and what help people can
help out and get involved in that and other just
to fund in general. All right, So the website is
Jackson well one of them he saw is Jackson Yell
(42:08):
dot com.
Speaker 5 (42:09):
Yeah, that's the foundation.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
Yeah yeah, and that's y E l l E. Everybody.
You can email Scott at Scott at Jackson Yell, Jackson
y E L l E dot com, New England Salessolutions dot com.
Is that right?
Speaker 5 (42:24):
Yeah? All one big word, Yeah, spell it all out.
Two s's in there.
Speaker 3 (42:28):
Great and we just love that you took some time out.
I thank you for being here again. I know I
say this, but I know you are busy. You're doing
multiple things on the go. So I appreciate you taking
some time.
Speaker 4 (42:41):
No appreciate you having me letting us share the story
Nolling Jackson that the work we're doing from a new
sales solutions. And I'm a sales guy, so you know
it's not hard to get me going talking about sales.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
Love. Same same, We'll learn out. We'll learn out later.
And thanks everybody. Thank you again Scott for being here,
Thank you all for listening and watching. This is a
show about business and business challenges. This was a unique program,
but there's still a business aspect to what Scott is doing.
If you've got concerns about the growth of your company,
feel free to reach out to me or Scott Facebook
(43:12):
or LinkedIn. You can reach Scott in the contact you
saw If you want to reach out to me. One
of my email addresses is Kevin at Winning Business Radio
dot com. Our company is Winning Incorporated. We're part of
Sandler Training. We develop sales teams into high achievers and
sales leaders into true coaches and mentors. By the way,
there's a little bit of overlap between what Scott does
(43:33):
and what I does. I do, I does, yeah, I
can speak sorry mom. What I do very little overlap.
I work with people more. He's really focused on kind
of the nuts and bolts, the things that we don't do.
So if we have a conversation and I can't help you,
maybe Scott can thank you once again to producer and
engineer one want to appreciate you. Thanks for another job
(43:54):
well done. Be here to join us in two weeks.
We'll be airing a previous episode on Labor Day, but
on Monday, September ninth, my guess will be old friend
Walker McKay, founder and principal of McKay Consulting Group, and Scott.
You might get a kick out of this the NOBS
Sales School and the NOBS Sales School Podcast. Until then,
this is Kevin Hallenan.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
You've been listening to Winning Business Radio with your host,
Kevin Helena. If you missed any part of this episode,
The podcast is available on Talk for Podcasting and iHeartRadio.
For more information and questions, go to Winning Business Radio
dot com or check us out on social media. Tune
in again next week and every Monday at four pm
Eastern Time to listen live to Winning Business Radio on
(44:39):
W four CY Radio W four cy dot com. Until then,
Let's succeed where Others have failed and win in business
with Kevin Helenan and winning business radio