July 18, 2025 • 30 mins
Glenn Poulos is a seasoned sales leader and entrepreneur with over four decades of experience. He began his career in 1985 as a technical sales rep and quickly found his passion in customer-facing roles. In 1991, he founded his first company, mmWave Technologies Inc., and later served as President of Anritsu Electronics Ltd. for nine years. In 2007, Glenn founded Gap Wireless, which became a leading distributor for the mobile broadband and test & measurement equipment markets. He successfully sold the company to NWS in 2022.
Throughout his career, Glenn has spent thousands of hours in the field, working closely with customers and mentoring sales teams. His hands-on experience has given him a deep understanding of what it takes to start, scale, and succeed in business. Glenn is particularly passionate about sales strategy, consumer behavior, and the emotional drivers behind decision-making, which has helped him create and lead several successful companies.
Now, Glenn is exploring new opportunities to share his expertise. Whether through collaborations, podcast appearances, or speaking to sales teams, he brings a proven, results-driven approach. In his personal life, Glenn enjoys hiking, skiing, and playing pickleball near his home in Toronto, Ontario.
During the show we discussed:
- Use the WSP method to make your product more attractive
- Get sales reps to dig deeper at the start of each call
- Handle 10 types of tough customers with ease
- Avoid common sales negotiation mistakes
- Stop costly sales mistakes before they happen
- Keep your sales reputation strong under pressure
- Turn objections into closed deals
Resources:
https://glennpoulos.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Welcome to the Business Credit and Financing Show.
Each week, we talk about the growth strategies
that matter most to entrepreneurs.
Listen in as we discuss the secrets to
getting credit and money to start and grow
your business.
And enjoy as we talk with seasoned business
owners, coaches, and industry leaders on a variety
(00:22):
of topics from advertising and marketing to the
nuts and bolts of running a highly successful
business.
And now, to introduce the host of our
show, financial expert and award-winning author, Ty
Crandall.
Hello, thanks for joining us today.
Super excited you could be here because today
we're talking about making sales and this is
like the essential thing you have to do
(00:44):
in your company.
And when you get past the point that
you're making sales, then you're gonna want to
know what we're gonna be diving into today
for your sales team members.
Look, it all comes down to sales and
conversion.
You can get all the leads in the
world.
Even if you figured out that part of
the puzzle, converting those leads is what brings
in the money.
So we make it happen today.
And with us is Glenn Poulos.
(01:04):
Now, Glenn is a seasoned sales leader and
entrepreneur with over four decades of experience.
He began his career in 1985 as a
technical sales rep and quickly found his passion
in cutting and customer-facing roles.
Now in 1991, he founded his first company,
MM Wave Technologies Incorporated, and later served as
president of Antwerp, I might mispronounce this, Anritesu
(01:28):
Electronics Ltd for nine years.
In 2007, Glenn founded Gap Wireless, which became
a leading distributor of mobile broadband and test
and measurement equipment markets.
Now, he actually successfully sold the company to
NWS back in 2022.
And throughout his career, he has spent thousands
of hours in the field working closely with
customers and mentoring sales teams.
(01:49):
Now, his hands-on experience has given him
a deep understanding of what it takes to
start, scale, and succeed in business.
Now, Glenn is particularly passionate about sales strategy,
customer behavior, and emotional drivers behind decision-making,
and which has helped him create and lead
several successful businesses.
Now, Glenn is exploring new opportunities to share
his expertise with the world, right?
(02:10):
And so, whether through collaborations, podcast appearances, or
speaking to a sales team, or his book,
Never Sit in the Lobby, he brings a
proven results approach.
In his personal life, Glenn enjoys hiking, skiing,
and playing pickleball near his home in Toronto,
Ontario.
And he also spends his time down here
in Florida by me as well.
Glenn, what's up, man?
You've done a lot of cool stuff.
(02:30):
Hey, thanks a lot.
Thanks for that great intro.
Yeah, so I think we were talking before
we jumped in, and I think you've got
a bunch of steps in your book, Never
Sit in the Lobby, about making sales.
But let's start here with, there's something called
the WSP method.
Can you give me some more insight about
what this is?
Yeah, winning sales presence.
So, in a way, it's kind of like
a bit of a metaphor or something like
(02:51):
that.
And so, a lot of what I talk
about in the book is how to get,
act, and stay in front of your customers,
and to be a pleasure to do business
with always, right?
And so, one of my huge tenets is
like, don't be a pain in the ass,
right?
Like, you don't wanna be that guy, right?
And where it's like, oh, that guy's coming
again.
Like, they run the other way, right?
Because I sold to big companies, and still
(03:12):
do, in fact, and we tend to visit
those customers repetitively.
It wasn't just one and done kind of
a thing, right?
And so, even if you lose a deal,
you wanna get invited back, right?
And so, it's good that that's why I'm
so, what would you call it, verbose about
talking about rapport and being a pleasure to
do business with, literally, right?
(03:32):
Because if you deal with big customers, you're
gonna be doing it over and over again.
So, the WSP is essentially the whole concept
behind attraction is not a choice, right?
And I mean, it's sort of a common
saying out there in the industry, but more
so when it comes to like, sort of
interpersonal dynamics, right?
If someone's attracted to someone else, you don't
(03:52):
need to tell them that they're attracted, right?
And if they're not attracted to someone else,
you don't need to tell them that either,
right?
And so, in other words, you need the
trigger natural attraction triggers in your customers.
And you do that by not doing certain
things and doing other things, right?
And that's, the book goes into it in
great length and gives some examples and what
have you, but essentially, you don't wanna be
(04:14):
going in and pounding your chest, and we're
the best in the business, and you're dumb
if you don't buy our thing.
And you really wanna figure out a way
of interviewing the customer during the dialogues that
you're having with them to figure out what
is it that they really need?
Do they need something that's bigger, faster, wider,
deeper, 20% cheaper, or whatever, and figure
out all those things upfront and not really
(04:34):
brag about it, but just show your product
in its most attractive light relative to the
need that you've already determined the customer has.
In other words, like for instance, we all
love cars, right?
And I mean, some more than others, I'm
not super passionate about them, but I'm kind
of guy where I like the gadgets in
the car, right, I like the adaptive cruise
control and the auto steering and things like
(04:57):
that, and nice stereo.
I like that it's peppy, but I don't
really care how fast it is, right?
And so if a sales guy starts telling
me, hey, get in this new car, this
is zero to 60 in 3.9 seconds
or whatever, he hasn't even determined whether or
not I care about how fast I get
to 60 miles an hour.
I used to like 20 years ago and
20 tickets ago, right?
But now at my age, I'm more, I
(05:19):
don't mind getting to 60 in a comfortable
six or seven seconds and staying under the
radar.
But I like to see the fancier side
of the car, right?
The gadgets that make it special.
And so it's up to the salesperson to
figure that out up front and then present
that to the guy.
So it's like, oh, wow, that's amazing, right?
And that's showing them the winning sales presence.
(05:42):
And it's what we call it, show them
the WSP, right?
Show them whatever it is that's going to
like get them excited about the product.
But in order to do that, you have
to be doing your homework up front, right?
You have to be figuring out what do
these guys do?
What part's important to them?
And really that's the whole idea behind that
chapter is, yeah.
You ever see a show called Car Lot
Rescue?
(06:03):
No, no, I've never even heard of it.
Because like, this is really obscure show where
you see Bar Rescue and you know, all
that stuff like that.
These people go into car lots and they
rescue.
Oh, car lot, car lot rescue, okay, sorry.
Yeah, okay, no, I haven't seen it, there's
only a couple episodes I ever saw.
But it's interesting because one of the episodes
I saw hit on exactly what you just
(06:23):
said, where they're teaching salesmen that you have
to figure out, like moms don't care about
speed, they care about safety.
I'm not, that's a general, you know, generalization.
And I think it's interesting you say that
because it reminded me, I love the show,
it's only two episodes I saw and then
I could disappear.
But here's the problem I have, is that
every sales team I've ever worked with stocks
at this.
I mean, they are freaking horrible at interviewing.
(06:45):
Like they just wanna pitch, they just wanna
pitch.
And it's a place where we get stuck
because like the investigation is where you determine
what you sell them.
Are they qualified to buy?
Should you even be talking to them?
But no matter, even when we try to
tell them, look, you shouldn't even be pitching
this person, they're not qualified.
They just wanna skip this investigation step.
(07:06):
So what do you find is the best
way from somebody that leads sales teams to
get their team that really dive in and
dig in in this investigation phase?
Yeah, so, well, first of all, a few
things.
So one, I always lead with telling them
that God gave him two ears and one
mouth, so you do the math, right?
But you should be listening twice as much
as you're talking.
Everyone loves the sound of their own voice,
(07:26):
not particularly other people's voices, right?
These are just sort of little golden rules
that you learn along the way.
And so you definitely wanna be listening twice
as much.
But I mean, and in the book, I
spent a great amount of time talking about
active listening and how you can practice active
listening.
And there's exercises in the book that work
both at work and at home, right?
(07:46):
And I mean, one of the most sort
of common stereotypes for men is that when
they go home and their wife's got an
issue, they never handle it correctly because they
don't know how to listen, right?
So the wife's like, oh, I had a
thing with the neighbor.
The dog was barking and she came over
and she started snipping, snapping at me about
the dog.
And you immediately sort of jump in and
(08:07):
start to try to give them a solution
to the problem, to your wife's problem, right?
And she's probably already solved the problem with
the neighbor and she just wanted to vent
to you, right?
And so through active listening, it's a series
of techniques where it prevents you from really
offering anything back to the person because you're
really just acknowledging what they're saying by, oh,
(08:28):
really?
Okay, what happened?
What happened next?
Oh my God, how'd that make you feel,
right?
Things like that and allowing them to get
it all out.
And it's like, oh, I didn't know that
was important to you.
Okay, what else can you tell me about
where you're gonna use that product?
And you have to practice it.
And so there's a good exercise in the
book where you can use it either with
a customer or with your partner, spouse, whatever.
(08:50):
Whatever they say to you, you can only
say like five or six things like, oh,
really?
Oh my God, what happened next?
No way.
How did that make you feel?
And those are the only sort of things
you can say.
And you're like, you can't have a conversation
and say only those six things.
I'm like, try it.
Just force yourself to try it.
And at the end, it's amazing how you'll
see how people respond when it's genuine, right?
(09:12):
And so that's my advice is like, learn
how to listen and practice the techniques in
listening because that's really where the rapport is
developed.
And there's other stories in there about rapport
where a mistake I made where a guy
had a fishing, a photo of a fishing
picture behind his desk.
And I made some kind of an asinine
(09:32):
comment about, oh, we should go fishing.
I love fishing, whatever, right?
And the guy's like, what are you talking
about?
I'm like, oh, that photo.
And he's like, he says, oh my God.
Yeah, he goes, that's my ex-father-in
-law.
And he goes, yeah.
And my wife used to make me go
fishing with him.
I had forgotten that it was still there.
I hate fishing.
I hate that guy.
Can't stand my ex-wife.
And grabs the photo, chucks it away.
(09:54):
And I completely disrapport the customer, right?
And I brought him to a place in
his life where he didn't want to remember
being with a person he never wanted to
go, doing a sport that he didn't like,
right?
And so what I should have started with
is like, what's the story behind that fish
you're holding up, right?
And again, he might've gone to that place
quickly, but the point is to find out
whether he really cares about fishing, right?
(10:16):
Another common one is where people that love
golfing are constantly asking people to go golf,
where they don't take the time to ask
them if they're a golfer, right?
It's like, oh yeah, we should go golfing.
I got a membership at Club Lynx and
this and that, whatever, it's like, I don't
care, I don't golf.
Even the thought of golfing to me is
like, like I just can't be that cooped
up for 18 holes, right?
(10:38):
And so people need to do the, they
need to be asking questions and finding out
where people are coming from genuinely in order
to establish rapport.
Because when you're taking sort of, how do
I want to say it?
Like when not taking advantage, but where you're
assuming things with people, it really offends them
and it causes them to pull back and
(10:58):
really not wanting to be interacted because it
makes you look not genuine, right?
And so, yeah, those are some of the
ideas behind what goes into WSP and what
goes into active listening and what goes into
building the rapport, right?
You've got 10 types of challenging customers.
I don't necessarily know if you want to
hit all 10 of them or not, but
can you hit on some of these challenging
(11:19):
customers, the types of challenging customers and how
we navigate dealing with each of those types?
Not say you have to hit on the
10, but at least the most common ones
we may see.
Sure, sure.
So there's like the aggressive customer, right?
And they're loud, demanding, confrontational.
They want things done now and they're often
verbally abusive and what have you, right?
And so you have to value your own
(11:42):
self and your own time when you're there
and you need to be calm and firm
and be professional, but you don't want to
act in like a subservient manner in that
situation, right?
Where it's like your parents yelling at you
and you're cowering down, right?
You're just as valuable as they are and
your time being there for them is just
as valuable as you there for their time,
(12:03):
right?
You might be saving them hundreds of thousands
of dollars on their systems that they're deploying
or a new production line or a set
of equipment they're deploying.
You may be more valuable than they are.
So for them to be loud and aggressive
and it's really not in balance and so
you want to reestablish rapport in that way
and not accept it, right?
And the indecisive customer, that one's very frustrating,
(12:27):
right?
Can't make a decision, tons of questions.
Then they second guess themselves and they sort
of need patience and guidance towards a decision
where you need to be finding out what
it is they needed up front and then
guide them back to that decision that they
originally said and remind them.
Well, you said that speed was important.
You said that time was important, delivery or
(12:48):
price was important, whatever the issue is, right?
Depends on what product you're selling.
The know-it-all customer, those ones can
be frustrating as well.
They believe they know more than the sales
person or expert and sometimes they do, especially
if you're selling technical or sophisticated products.
This person might use this kind of thing
all day long for the last 20, 30
years, right?
They probably do know more than you, right?
(13:10):
And they can be dismissive of your advice
and your recommendations and so I find it's
best to double down on their knowledge then.
So what can you share with me about
it?
When you're gonna be buying this product, what's
gonna be the most important thing and what
should I be looking for even when I'm
selling it, right?
And sort of drop into a role that
allows them to mentor you for a few
minutes and try to pull out what is
(13:32):
most important to them and I allow them
to share some of their knowledge, right?
Within reason, right?
I'm not there for a university degree, right?
The complainer, they're never satisfied, they're always finding
something wrong.
They may have valid concerns but sometimes they're
exaggerating them but a lot of times, those
people just need to be heard and validated
(13:53):
and flush out what their real issue is
and then look towards where the resolution might
lie, right?
And again, they just wanna be heard, right?
And one of the, so if I can
just branch off, so that's like three, four,
whatever.
And there's impatient customer, high maintenance, the entitled
customer, et cetera but there's a great story
(14:15):
that's a true story in the book about
where my co-sales guy and I went
to, it was his customer but he brought
me along because we had a lot of
vendors and I was kind of the expert
on that vendor and when he, there were
lines that he was the expert on and
he would buddy up with me often and
help, so we didn't need to bring in
a factory person or an apps engineer or
(14:35):
something like that, right?
So we went to this customer and it
was clear from the moment we got there,
we had the instrument, I was setting it
up, the guy's like, ah, your stuff's no
good, I wanna buy this other product, we've
been using it for years and it was
just like, and he was being very belligerent
and kind of know-it-all and aggressive
and the most shocking thing happened where the
(14:55):
guy I was with, he kind of like
just sort of, kind of just got set
up, right?
And he basically grabbed the power cord from
about three or four feet back from the
wall and he just ripped the cord out
of the wall and he said, you know
what, Glenn, let's pack this thing up, I
think we should get going, right?
And the customer's like, what's going on?
I was just in the middle of berating
you about your product, right?
(15:16):
And he goes, it's obvious you don't wanna
buy our product, we're probably just here to
keep you honest, keep the vendor you wanna
buy from honest, so just tell me what
price it is you want me to quote
you and you can show that to your
boss and then you can go and buy
the product that you wanna buy, but we're
not gonna waste our time getting yelled at
and abused by you when we feel we've
got a great product and the guy just
completely didn't wanna eat.
(15:38):
And now a quick break to hear from
our sponsor.
Hey, it's Ty Crandall with Credit Suite.
Many of our subscribers wanna build business credit
that's linked to their EIN without a personal
guarantee or credit check.
Now, if you're looking to get no-doc,
high-limit business credit cards that report to
the business reporting agencies without a personal guarantee
or credit check, give us a call at
877-600-2487.
(15:59):
That's 877-600-2487 or schedule your free
consultation online to talk more at creditsuite.com
forward slash consult.
And it turned out like that, the product
he was talking about was the one that
the engineers used when they were designing prototypes.
What we were selling them was the one
that they needed for the production line where
(16:19):
they needed to do it in volume, right?
So he said, okay, fine, let's start over.
No harm, no foul.
Show me your thing and whatever.
And we were able to flush out.
It was for product.
We were able to show him that our
system was, yes, it was less sophisticated than
the engineering one that he uses, but it
was also 10 times faster and it was
significantly cheaper tool.
And he ended up buying like five, six
(16:40):
of these boxes.
And of course it was a very dramatic,
I probably couldn't pull it off, right?
I probably couldn't rip the cord on the
wall and say, I'm out of here.
But what he taught me was the behavior,
right?
And so oftentimes I'll adapt that where I
came up with a sort of a secondary
rule from that, which is lose quickly, right?
(17:02):
I'd rather be last than second, right?
Because the guy that comes in last gets
to move on and sell to someone else.
The guy who came in second is battling
it out probably in a deal that at
his true heart knows he's not gonna win.
And he just wants to fight and fight
and fight, see if he can win it,
come from the underdog position or whatever.
But a lot of times in a deal,
(17:22):
you know you're not gonna win the deal.
Like there's a point that comes, it might
be right at the end or it might
be 10% of the way into the
deal.
You know, you know what?
Like these guys are already signed a contract
with the other vendor.
They're not gonna like go off program to
buy my thing.
They just wanna keep the guy honest or
whatever.
And so what I'll do is I'll excuse
myself as gracefully as possible and retract all
(17:44):
my efforts.
And for instance, let's say he says, you
know what, we're looking at three or four
boxes.
We wanna have a shoot off next week.
And I'm like, oh, next week, no, no,
no.
I said, my box is tied up for
the next four weeks.
So I can't keep these things on the
shelf.
It will, if you can't bring it here
next week, you're not gonna be able to
participate.
Well, I already know I'm not getting the
deal.
And so I'm not gonna go out of
my way to come and deliver a box
(18:05):
to demo to him only so I can
lose later.
I just make myself unavailable.
And then I race to my next customer
before all my competitors can get there with
me.
And I find my next deal where I
have a more highly probable chance of winning
the deal, right?
And that's my whole rule.
I'd rather be last than second because second
really is just the first loser, right?
(18:25):
Yeah, makes sense.
Quinn, what about covering objections and actually causing
sales?
What's some of your best advice here?
Well, so covering objections really is, again, you
have to think about it from the backwards
way, right?
Because you wanna know that you're presenting the
right product before you present it, right?
Because I have a worksheet that I share
(18:47):
with people.
You can get it on my website.
It's called the punch, perfect pitch and close,
right?
It's a scenario where when you're presenting the
product, you wanna start with a punch that
grabs their attention.
Then you wanna give them the perfect pitch
and the close.
And by the time you get to the
close, which is where these objections come in,
the customers really should be telling you like,
how do I buy your product?
(19:07):
What's the price or what have you?
And if they're not asking those kinds of
closing questions, you didn't actually present the product
correctly.
And the objections are really just an excuse
for them to extricate themselves from the situation,
right?
But if you've done the interviews upfront, you've
found out, hey, we need this much throughput.
We need this much speed.
(19:28):
We need this much memory.
We need this much handling or whatever it
is you wanna be determining and positioning your
product so that you're showing them exactly what
it is they need.
Let's say they need, you sell the economy
brand that's slow but it's reliable or whatever,
but they need the one that's fast and
this and that.
You shouldn't actually, you should actually be losing
fast and move to the next deal and
(19:49):
find a more appropriate customer, right?
Cause you're trying to put a square peg
into a round hole.
But I mean, so handling the objections, you
gotta be listening, not interrupting, let them get
them out.
It's sort of acknowledge and validate their feelings.
Oh, it's too expensive, right?
And so, yeah, I understand.
Yes, it's expensive, but expensive compared to what?
And again, like it's expensive because it's faster.
(20:12):
So how important is speed to you guys,
right?
If we can do it two times faster,
is it really more expensive?
And when they specify objections, ask them to
elaborate on them.
Can you tell me more about that?
And try to flush out the real reason
behind the objection, right?
And you typically wanna be responding with value,
address the objection directly and reframe it by
(20:33):
emphasizing the benefits and successes that your product
has brought, perhaps other people in their company
or other companies that do similar things to
them, right?
And then you wanna sort of re-acknowledge
and move forward from those objections, right?
And yeah.
Yeah, and you made a lot of references
to basically mistakes that are kind of made
by the salespeople.
(20:54):
But what do you think are some of
the most common mistakes that you're seeing salespeople
make that they can correct to be better
at selling?
So yeah, whenever you say that, I often
wanna just go right to my rules on,
these are all the things to do so
you're not making mistakes, right?
And so one of my rules, right?
Is never forget a face, right?
So you're saying like, what is a common
mistake?
(21:14):
A common mistake is the sales guy forgets
a face.
So, and of course the name of the
book is never sit in the lobby, right?
That's another rule, don't make that mistake, right?
In other words, don't go to the lobby,
introduce yourself and then sit down to wait
for your customer.
Because you often will find yourself getting distracted
and you could even get distracted to the
point where you don't even notice the customer
walking in.
Me and the wife's like, oh, don't forget
(21:35):
to pick up the milk and bread and
don't forget we got the tickets to the
play tonight and be home early.
Oh, don't worry, honey, I'll be there.
The guy comes in and you don't even
notice that he's there and he's towering over
you, waiting for you to like wake up
and realize that he's standing there.
That's not a good look, right?
And so that's why I never sit in
the lobby.
But before I get to the lobby, if
(21:56):
I've called on that customer before, I check
my CRM and I look at the names
that are listed for that particular location or
what have you, right?
And I say, oh yeah, it's Bob, Sally,
George, Paul.
And I re-remember their faces, right?
I bring their face to the forefront of
my memory, right?
If I can't remember their faces, I'll go
to LinkedIn and I'll look at their photo
and I'll say, oh, right, yeah, yeah, Sally's
(22:18):
the redhead, Bob's the tall guy, Sam's the
bald guy or whatever, right?
And bring all that memory, because your memory's
good, it's just slow.
And I mean, if you bump into those
people while you're making, trying to build rapport
with a new guy in the building and
you forget that they're gonna see that pause,
everyone's gonna notice the pause.
And even if you catch yourself, we all
(22:40):
know what that pregnant pause feels like when
you've forgotten the name and you gotta think
back and those moments are lost forever, right?
The guy's like, ah, I didn't remember my
name and he doesn't feel good, right?
But when you do remember their name, they
remember it for hours and weeks on end
actually.
Oh yeah, that guy came and he always
remembers my name and he's always polite and
he's great.
He's such a pleasure to do business with.
(23:01):
It's always nice to see him when he
comes by, right?
And so the mistakes are don't forget these
things, right?
Like practice these rules of rapport and engagement
that are tried and true and don't not
do them.
Like, of course, I said it at the
beginning, two ears, one mouth, right?
So talking too much.
Like the worst thing is like the guy's
buying whatever.
(23:21):
It could be a car or whatever, right?
It's like, when you say something about the
word fast and what you really meant to
say was, I wanna get through this deal
fast.
He goes, oh, cars are so fast, right?
And I mean, I didn't even get my,
you're just saying you're getting through half through
a sentence.
And before you can finish your sentence, the
guy's like, oh yeah, we do that, great.
We do that, oh yeah, you won't even
believe it.
Then they go off on this tangent.
And it's like, this guy's not listening to
(23:41):
me, right?
The biggest thing is a mistake is not
researching the prospect and what they're doing, right?
And you really wanna figure out, and I
always tell people that the best way to
sell to a customer is to actually figure
out how they make their money, right?
What do they do?
What do they make?
How do they serve?
(24:02):
What do they do, right?
Are they a hardware company, a software company,
a manufacturing company, a delivery company?
Like, what are they?
What do they do?
Who pays them and why do they pay
them?
And what do they pay them for, right?
And then figure out why they're talking to
you.
Like, what is my product fit into the
ecosystem of what they deliver to their customers?
Because they don't care about your product.
(24:24):
They care about their product and how your
product can make their product better, right?
Deliver it better, make it better, serve it
better and whatever, right?
So by learning and taking notice of that,
you can both show the person that you're
on the ball.
It's just like researching companies before you go
on a job interview.
Like, oh, what can you say?
What have you learned about my company?
(24:44):
Oh, nothing.
I didn't even check you out.
I just showed up, right?
Not a good look, right?
But you can often sometimes, you know, think
of or find unique ways of opportunities.
Like one of the, when someone says, oh,
what if you can't get into a customer,
right?
You wanna talk to the engineering manager, the
software manager, the IT manager, HR manager, whatever,
right?
The best way is call one of the
(25:06):
salespeople, right?
Say, hi, can I talk to someone in
sales?
When has a company ever said, no, you
can't talk to someone in sales, click, right?
They will always and say, you know what?
I've been selling you guys for quite a
while.
I had this great idea that so-and
-so might be a, and I just wanted
to share with you guys.
Oh, by the way, who's the manager of
HR these days, right?
It's a reciprocity thing, right?
(25:27):
Because salespeople, they're sort of, they feel sorry
for you because they go through the same
thing every day.
And oftentimes, nine times out of 10, they'll
put you through to the person, put you
through or connect you to the person you
need to connect to, right?
And so it's sort of a way of
getting past that.
I can't find anybody in the department that
I need, right?
So, and so I talked earlier also about,
(25:49):
you said about mistakes, right?
So one of the mistakes is staying too
long and not losing early, right?
When you realize you've lost, you wanna leave.
But the other one is sort of giving
up too soon, right?
Where you're, oh, you know, they're there, they're
probably gonna win.
Like, you need to be unequivocal that you're
losing the deal.
Like you, through one means or another, like
a contract, a price, a delivery, a performance
(26:11):
specification, a weight, a measure, something that you
know you can't win the deal, that's when
you leave early.
Everything else is giving up too soon.
You don't wanna give up too soon, right?
And yeah, so, and the other part is
not starting, starting high enough in the stack,
right?
And there's a great story in the book
about a tow motor salesman who starts with
(26:31):
the CEO and he works his way down
from the CEO, the vice president of warehousing,
to the director of warehouses, to the warehouse
manager, to the shop foreman and to the
warehouse supervisor, right?
And all through all these people, but he
started with the CEO and the guy's like,
I don't get involved in buying tow motors.
(26:51):
But the reality is these tow motors are
$100,000 because they're super whiz bang, huge
machines, and there's no way he doesn't sign
the PO.
Like he's the one that signs off on
that kind of money.
If it's the director that signs off on
that kind of money, start with the director.
You don't need to go to the CEO.
So you need to figure out, hey, I
sell a thing that costs 10 grand, 50
grand, 100 grand, 500 grand, a million dollars,
(27:13):
and then figure out in the business that
I'm calling on with 10 people, 100 people,
1,000 people, 10,000 people, who signs
the final thing for the things I'm selling
at the price I sell them at, right?
And start with those people and get pushed
down the ladder, right?
Like, oh, I don't deal with that.
Talk to Jack.
He's the VP, blah, blah, blah, right?
And then you call a VP and it's
(27:34):
like, oh, Jack was just talking to the
CEO.
He said, you really need to try out
our new things and have a look at
them, right?
He's like, I don't deal with that.
That's handled by the director.
Call Bob, right?
You call Bob.
So I've been on the phone all day
with your guys, the CEO, the VP.
They can't wait to get our stuff into
the bill.
Oh, okay, fine.
Well, I don't get involved in that.
Call the supervisor, right?
And then at the final thing, sort of
(27:55):
the piece de resistance is when you're delivering
the tow motor to the warehouse to show
the guys, right?
You call the CEO and you say, look,
I know you're not involved in these things
or whatever, but man, we're turning on a
dime.
We're giving a nickel change.
We're doing it 20% faster for 20
% less energy.
You need to pop down here and have
a look at this thing.
I know you're gonna sign off on it.
So take two minutes, come down.
I wanna show it to you.
(28:15):
And nine times out of 10, that person
will come down to see $100,000 piece
of gear that they know they have to
sign off on.
And then, you know, that's how you won.
And the whole idea behind it all and
why you wanna do that is so that
at any point in the food chain, you
can call those people and get their coaching,
right?
Like they're gonna tell you, hey, you did
(28:36):
a great job.
You do have a much better tool system
or whatever, but we're gonna be going with
something else for this other reason.
That's way beyond your control, right?
The supervisor's not gonna tell you that.
The director's not, the foreman's not gonna tell
you that.
You gotta get to the VP or the
CEO or someone else that'll finally just say,
hey, Glenn, you're a cook, man.
You're not getting that deal, right?
(28:56):
Like we have to go with Kawasaki because
we don't use Toyota's tow motors, right?
And that kind of concept, right?
So.
Glenn, great stuff today.
We've talked about a never sit in the
lobby many times, your book.
Where can everybody go to be able to
learn more from you and then also to
be able to grab your book?
So go to my website, glennpoulos.com.
Links to the book.
You can do the downloads are there for
(29:17):
doing presentations.
And if you wanna talk to me about
any kind of concepts or collaborate in any
other way, you can just connect with me
on LinkedIn.
I'm very active on there every day and
looking forward to meeting new people.
That's good, thanks, Glenn.
Thank you.
So if you're watching this, go to glennpoulos
.com.
Now that's G-L-E-N-N-P
-O-U-L-O-S.com.
(29:38):
And if you go to Glenn's website and
scroll down just a little bit, you'll see
a picture of him and you'll see a
social media links right there.
So you can connect real quick, takes less
than a minute to do that.
All kinds of really cool sales tactics that
you're able to get that way.
You're also able to learn more about him.
You're also be able to talk about, be
able to access the podcast.
And then you're also able to get the
book right there.
And it all happens at one place, which
(29:58):
is glennpoulos.com.
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Welcome to the Business Credit and Financing Show.
Each week, we talk about the growth strategies
that matter most to entrepreneurs.
Listen in as we discuss the secrets to
getting credit and money to start and grow
your business.
And enjoy as we talk with seasoned business
owners, coaches, and industry leaders on a variety
(00:22):
of topics from advertising and marketing to the
nuts and bolts of running a highly successful
business.
And now, to introduce the host of our
show, financial expert and award-winning author, Ty
Crandall.
Hello, thanks for joining us today.
Super excited you could be here because today
we're talking about making sales and this is
like the essential thing you have to do
(00:44):
in your company.
And when you get past the point that
you're making sales, then you're gonna want to
know what we're gonna be diving into today
for your sales team members.
Look, it all comes down to sales and
conversion.
You can get all the leads in the
world.
Even if you figured out that part of
the puzzle, converting those leads is what brings
in the money.
So we make it happen today.
And with us is Glenn Poulos.
(01:04):
Now, Glenn is a seasoned sales leader and
entrepreneur with over four decades of experience.
He began his career in 1985 as a
technical sales rep and quickly found his passion
in cutting and customer-facing roles.
Now in 1991, he founded his first company,
MM Wave Technologies Incorporated, and later served as
president of Antwerp, I might mispronounce this, Anritesu
(01:28):
Electronics Ltd for nine years.
In 2007, Glenn founded Gap Wireless, which became
a leading distributor of mobile broadband and test
and measurement equipment markets.
Now, he actually successfully sold the company to
NWS back in 2022.
And throughout his career, he has spent thousands
of hours in the field working closely with
customers and mentoring sales teams.
(01:49):
Now, his hands-on experience has given him
a deep understanding of what it takes to
start, scale, and succeed in business.
Now, Glenn is particularly passionate about sales strategy,
customer behavior, and emotional drivers behind decision-making,
and which has helped him create and lead
several successful businesses.
Now, Glenn is exploring new opportunities to share
his expertise with the world, right?
(02:10):
And so, whether through collaborations, podcast appearances, or
speaking to a sales team, or his book,
Never Sit in the Lobby, he brings a
proven results approach.
In his personal life, Glenn enjoys hiking, skiing,
and playing pickleball near his home in Toronto,
Ontario.
And he also spends his time down here
in Florida by me as well.
Glenn, what's up, man?
You've done a lot of cool stuff.
(02:30):
Hey, thanks a lot.
Thanks for that great intro.
Yeah, so I think we were talking before
we jumped in, and I think you've got
a bunch of steps in your book, Never
Sit in the Lobby, about making sales.
But let's start here with, there's something called
the WSP method.
Can you give me some more insight about
what this is?
Yeah, winning sales presence.
So, in a way, it's kind of like
a bit of a metaphor or something like
(02:51):
that.
And so, a lot of what I talk
about in the book is how to get,
act, and stay in front of your customers,
and to be a pleasure to do business
with always, right?
And so, one of my huge tenets is
like, don't be a pain in the ass,
right?
Like, you don't wanna be that guy, right?
And where it's like, oh, that guy's coming
again.
Like, they run the other way, right?
Because I sold to big companies, and still
(03:12):
do, in fact, and we tend to visit
those customers repetitively.
It wasn't just one and done kind of
a thing, right?
And so, even if you lose a deal,
you wanna get invited back, right?
And so, it's good that that's why I'm
so, what would you call it, verbose about
talking about rapport and being a pleasure to
do business with, literally, right?
(03:32):
Because if you deal with big customers, you're
gonna be doing it over and over again.
So, the WSP is essentially the whole concept
behind attraction is not a choice, right?
And I mean, it's sort of a common
saying out there in the industry, but more
so when it comes to like, sort of
interpersonal dynamics, right?
If someone's attracted to someone else, you don't
(03:52):
need to tell them that they're attracted, right?
And if they're not attracted to someone else,
you don't need to tell them that either,
right?
And so, in other words, you need the
trigger natural attraction triggers in your customers.
And you do that by not doing certain
things and doing other things, right?
And that's, the book goes into it in
great length and gives some examples and what
have you, but essentially, you don't wanna be
(04:14):
going in and pounding your chest, and we're
the best in the business, and you're dumb
if you don't buy our thing.
And you really wanna figure out a way
of interviewing the customer during the dialogues that
you're having with them to figure out what
is it that they really need?
Do they need something that's bigger, faster, wider,
deeper, 20% cheaper, or whatever, and figure
out all those things upfront and not really
(04:34):
brag about it, but just show your product
in its most attractive light relative to the
need that you've already determined the customer has.
In other words, like for instance, we all
love cars, right?
And I mean, some more than others, I'm
not super passionate about them, but I'm kind
of guy where I like the gadgets in
the car, right, I like the adaptive cruise
control and the auto steering and things like
(04:57):
that, and nice stereo.
I like that it's peppy, but I don't
really care how fast it is, right?
And so if a sales guy starts telling
me, hey, get in this new car, this
is zero to 60 in 3.9 seconds
or whatever, he hasn't even determined whether or
not I care about how fast I get
to 60 miles an hour.
I used to like 20 years ago and
20 tickets ago, right?
But now at my age, I'm more, I
(05:19):
don't mind getting to 60 in a comfortable
six or seven seconds and staying under the
radar.
But I like to see the fancier side
of the car, right?
The gadgets that make it special.
And so it's up to the salesperson to
figure that out up front and then present
that to the guy.
So it's like, oh, wow, that's amazing, right?
And that's showing them the winning sales presence.
(05:42):
And it's what we call it, show them
the WSP, right?
Show them whatever it is that's going to
like get them excited about the product.
But in order to do that, you have
to be doing your homework up front, right?
You have to be figuring out what do
these guys do?
What part's important to them?
And really that's the whole idea behind that
chapter is, yeah.
You ever see a show called Car Lot
Rescue?
(06:03):
No, no, I've never even heard of it.
Because like, this is really obscure show where
you see Bar Rescue and you know, all
that stuff like that.
These people go into car lots and they
rescue.
Oh, car lot, car lot rescue, okay, sorry.
Yeah, okay, no, I haven't seen it, there's
only a couple episodes I ever saw.
But it's interesting because one of the episodes
I saw hit on exactly what you just
(06:23):
said, where they're teaching salesmen that you have
to figure out, like moms don't care about
speed, they care about safety.
I'm not, that's a general, you know, generalization.
And I think it's interesting you say that
because it reminded me, I love the show,
it's only two episodes I saw and then
I could disappear.
But here's the problem I have, is that
every sales team I've ever worked with stocks
at this.
I mean, they are freaking horrible at interviewing.
(06:45):
Like they just wanna pitch, they just wanna
pitch.
And it's a place where we get stuck
because like the investigation is where you determine
what you sell them.
Are they qualified to buy?
Should you even be talking to them?
But no matter, even when we try to
tell them, look, you shouldn't even be pitching
this person, they're not qualified.
They just wanna skip this investigation step.
(07:06):
So what do you find is the best
way from somebody that leads sales teams to
get their team that really dive in and
dig in in this investigation phase?
Yeah, so, well, first of all, a few
things.
So one, I always lead with telling them
that God gave him two ears and one
mouth, so you do the math, right?
But you should be listening twice as much
as you're talking.
Everyone loves the sound of their own voice,
(07:26):
not particularly other people's voices, right?
These are just sort of little golden rules
that you learn along the way.
And so you definitely wanna be listening twice
as much.
But I mean, and in the book, I
spent a great amount of time talking about
active listening and how you can practice active
listening.
And there's exercises in the book that work
both at work and at home, right?
(07:46):
And I mean, one of the most sort
of common stereotypes for men is that when
they go home and their wife's got an
issue, they never handle it correctly because they
don't know how to listen, right?
So the wife's like, oh, I had a
thing with the neighbor.
The dog was barking and she came over
and she started snipping, snapping at me about
the dog.
And you immediately sort of jump in and
(08:07):
start to try to give them a solution
to the problem, to your wife's problem, right?
And she's probably already solved the problem with
the neighbor and she just wanted to vent
to you, right?
And so through active listening, it's a series
of techniques where it prevents you from really
offering anything back to the person because you're
really just acknowledging what they're saying by, oh,
(08:28):
really?
Okay, what happened?
What happened next?
Oh my God, how'd that make you feel,
right?
Things like that and allowing them to get
it all out.
And it's like, oh, I didn't know that
was important to you.
Okay, what else can you tell me about
where you're gonna use that product?
And you have to practice it.
And so there's a good exercise in the
book where you can use it either with
a customer or with your partner, spouse, whatever.
(08:50):
Whatever they say to you, you can only
say like five or six things like, oh,
really?
Oh my God, what happened next?
No way.
How did that make you feel?
And those are the only sort of things
you can say.
And you're like, you can't have a conversation
and say only those six things.
I'm like, try it.
Just force yourself to try it.
And at the end, it's amazing how you'll
see how people respond when it's genuine, right?
(09:12):
And so that's my advice is like, learn
how to listen and practice the techniques in
listening because that's really where the rapport is
developed.
And there's other stories in there about rapport
where a mistake I made where a guy
had a fishing, a photo of a fishing
picture behind his desk.
And I made some kind of an asinine
(09:32):
comment about, oh, we should go fishing.
I love fishing, whatever, right?
And the guy's like, what are you talking
about?
I'm like, oh, that photo.
And he's like, he says, oh my God.
Yeah, he goes, that's my ex-father-in
-law.
And he goes, yeah.
And my wife used to make me go
fishing with him.
I had forgotten that it was still there.
I hate fishing.
I hate that guy.
Can't stand my ex-wife.
And grabs the photo, chucks it away.
(09:54):
And I completely disrapport the customer, right?
And I brought him to a place in
his life where he didn't want to remember
being with a person he never wanted to
go, doing a sport that he didn't like,
right?
And so what I should have started with
is like, what's the story behind that fish
you're holding up, right?
And again, he might've gone to that place
quickly, but the point is to find out
whether he really cares about fishing, right?
(10:16):
Another common one is where people that love
golfing are constantly asking people to go golf,
where they don't take the time to ask
them if they're a golfer, right?
It's like, oh yeah, we should go golfing.
I got a membership at Club Lynx and
this and that, whatever, it's like, I don't
care, I don't golf.
Even the thought of golfing to me is
like, like I just can't be that cooped
up for 18 holes, right?
(10:38):
And so people need to do the, they
need to be asking questions and finding out
where people are coming from genuinely in order
to establish rapport.
Because when you're taking sort of, how do
I want to say it?
Like when not taking advantage, but where you're
assuming things with people, it really offends them
and it causes them to pull back and
(10:58):
really not wanting to be interacted because it
makes you look not genuine, right?
And so, yeah, those are some of the
ideas behind what goes into WSP and what
goes into active listening and what goes into
building the rapport, right?
You've got 10 types of challenging customers.
I don't necessarily know if you want to
hit all 10 of them or not, but
can you hit on some of these challenging
(11:19):
customers, the types of challenging customers and how
we navigate dealing with each of those types?
Not say you have to hit on the
10, but at least the most common ones
we may see.
Sure, sure.
So there's like the aggressive customer, right?
And they're loud, demanding, confrontational.
They want things done now and they're often
verbally abusive and what have you, right?
And so you have to value your own
(11:42):
self and your own time when you're there
and you need to be calm and firm
and be professional, but you don't want to
act in like a subservient manner in that
situation, right?
Where it's like your parents yelling at you
and you're cowering down, right?
You're just as valuable as they are and
your time being there for them is just
as valuable as you there for their time,
(12:03):
right?
You might be saving them hundreds of thousands
of dollars on their systems that they're deploying
or a new production line or a set
of equipment they're deploying.
You may be more valuable than they are.
So for them to be loud and aggressive
and it's really not in balance and so
you want to reestablish rapport in that way
and not accept it, right?
And the indecisive customer, that one's very frustrating,
(12:27):
right?
Can't make a decision, tons of questions.
Then they second guess themselves and they sort
of need patience and guidance towards a decision
where you need to be finding out what
it is they needed up front and then
guide them back to that decision that they
originally said and remind them.
Well, you said that speed was important.
You said that time was important, delivery or
(12:48):
price was important, whatever the issue is, right?
Depends on what product you're selling.
The know-it-all customer, those ones can
be frustrating as well.
They believe they know more than the sales
person or expert and sometimes they do, especially
if you're selling technical or sophisticated products.
This person might use this kind of thing
all day long for the last 20, 30
years, right?
They probably do know more than you, right?
(13:10):
And they can be dismissive of your advice
and your recommendations and so I find it's
best to double down on their knowledge then.
So what can you share with me about
it?
When you're gonna be buying this product, what's
gonna be the most important thing and what
should I be looking for even when I'm
selling it, right?
And sort of drop into a role that
allows them to mentor you for a few
minutes and try to pull out what is
(13:32):
most important to them and I allow them
to share some of their knowledge, right?
Within reason, right?
I'm not there for a university degree, right?
The complainer, they're never satisfied, they're always finding
something wrong.
They may have valid concerns but sometimes they're
exaggerating them but a lot of times, those
people just need to be heard and validated
(13:53):
and flush out what their real issue is
and then look towards where the resolution might
lie, right?
And again, they just wanna be heard, right?
And one of the, so if I can
just branch off, so that's like three, four,
whatever.
And there's impatient customer, high maintenance, the entitled
customer, et cetera but there's a great story
(14:15):
that's a true story in the book about
where my co-sales guy and I went
to, it was his customer but he brought
me along because we had a lot of
vendors and I was kind of the expert
on that vendor and when he, there were
lines that he was the expert on and
he would buddy up with me often and
help, so we didn't need to bring in
a factory person or an apps engineer or
(14:35):
something like that, right?
So we went to this customer and it
was clear from the moment we got there,
we had the instrument, I was setting it
up, the guy's like, ah, your stuff's no
good, I wanna buy this other product, we've
been using it for years and it was
just like, and he was being very belligerent
and kind of know-it-all and aggressive
and the most shocking thing happened where the
(14:55):
guy I was with, he kind of like
just sort of, kind of just got set
up, right?
And he basically grabbed the power cord from
about three or four feet back from the
wall and he just ripped the cord out
of the wall and he said, you know
what, Glenn, let's pack this thing up, I
think we should get going, right?
And the customer's like, what's going on?
I was just in the middle of berating
you about your product, right?
(15:16):
And he goes, it's obvious you don't wanna
buy our product, we're probably just here to
keep you honest, keep the vendor you wanna
buy from honest, so just tell me what
price it is you want me to quote
you and you can show that to your
boss and then you can go and buy
the product that you wanna buy, but we're
not gonna waste our time getting yelled at
and abused by you when we feel we've
got a great product and the guy just
completely didn't wanna eat.
(15:38):
And now a quick break to hear from
our sponsor.
Hey, it's Ty Crandall with Credit Suite.
Many of our subscribers wanna build business credit
that's linked to their EIN without a personal
guarantee or credit check.
Now, if you're looking to get no-doc,
high-limit business credit cards that report to
the business reporting agencies without a personal guarantee
or credit check, give us a call at
877-600-2487.
(15:59):
That's 877-600-2487 or schedule your free
consultation online to talk more at creditsuite.com
forward slash consult.
And it turned out like that, the product
he was talking about was the one that
the engineers used when they were designing prototypes.
What we were selling them was the one
that they needed for the production line where
(16:19):
they needed to do it in volume, right?
So he said, okay, fine, let's start over.
No harm, no foul.
Show me your thing and whatever.
And we were able to flush out.
It was for product.
We were able to show him that our
system was, yes, it was less sophisticated than
the engineering one that he uses, but it
was also 10 times faster and it was
significantly cheaper tool.
And he ended up buying like five, six
(16:40):
of these boxes.
And of course it was a very dramatic,
I probably couldn't pull it off, right?
I probably couldn't rip the cord on the
wall and say, I'm out of here.
But what he taught me was the behavior,
right?
And so oftentimes I'll adapt that where I
came up with a sort of a secondary
rule from that, which is lose quickly, right?
(17:02):
I'd rather be last than second, right?
Because the guy that comes in last gets
to move on and sell to someone else.
The guy who came in second is battling
it out probably in a deal that at
his true heart knows he's not gonna win.
And he just wants to fight and fight
and fight, see if he can win it,
come from the underdog position or whatever.
But a lot of times in a deal,
(17:22):
you know you're not gonna win the deal.
Like there's a point that comes, it might
be right at the end or it might
be 10% of the way into the
deal.
You know, you know what?
Like these guys are already signed a contract
with the other vendor.
They're not gonna like go off program to
buy my thing.
They just wanna keep the guy honest or
whatever.
And so what I'll do is I'll excuse
myself as gracefully as possible and retract all
(17:44):
my efforts.
And for instance, let's say he says, you
know what, we're looking at three or four
boxes.
We wanna have a shoot off next week.
And I'm like, oh, next week, no, no,
no.
I said, my box is tied up for
the next four weeks.
So I can't keep these things on the
shelf.
It will, if you can't bring it here
next week, you're not gonna be able to
participate.
Well, I already know I'm not getting the
deal.
And so I'm not gonna go out of
my way to come and deliver a box
(18:05):
to demo to him only so I can
lose later.
I just make myself unavailable.
And then I race to my next customer
before all my competitors can get there with
me.
And I find my next deal where I
have a more highly probable chance of winning
the deal, right?
And that's my whole rule.
I'd rather be last than second because second
really is just the first loser, right?
(18:25):
Yeah, makes sense.
Quinn, what about covering objections and actually causing
sales?
What's some of your best advice here?
Well, so covering objections really is, again, you
have to think about it from the backwards
way, right?
Because you wanna know that you're presenting the
right product before you present it, right?
Because I have a worksheet that I share
(18:47):
with people.
You can get it on my website.
It's called the punch, perfect pitch and close,
right?
It's a scenario where when you're presenting the
product, you wanna start with a punch that
grabs their attention.
Then you wanna give them the perfect pitch
and the close.
And by the time you get to the
close, which is where these objections come in,
the customers really should be telling you like,
how do I buy your product?
(19:07):
What's the price or what have you?
And if they're not asking those kinds of
closing questions, you didn't actually present the product
correctly.
And the objections are really just an excuse
for them to extricate themselves from the situation,
right?
But if you've done the interviews upfront, you've
found out, hey, we need this much throughput.
We need this much speed.
(19:28):
We need this much memory.
We need this much handling or whatever it
is you wanna be determining and positioning your
product so that you're showing them exactly what
it is they need.
Let's say they need, you sell the economy
brand that's slow but it's reliable or whatever,
but they need the one that's fast and
this and that.
You shouldn't actually, you should actually be losing
fast and move to the next deal and
(19:49):
find a more appropriate customer, right?
Cause you're trying to put a square peg
into a round hole.
But I mean, so handling the objections, you
gotta be listening, not interrupting, let them get
them out.
It's sort of acknowledge and validate their feelings.
Oh, it's too expensive, right?
And so, yeah, I understand.
Yes, it's expensive, but expensive compared to what?
And again, like it's expensive because it's faster.
(20:12):
So how important is speed to you guys,
right?
If we can do it two times faster,
is it really more expensive?
And when they specify objections, ask them to
elaborate on them.
Can you tell me more about that?
And try to flush out the real reason
behind the objection, right?
And you typically wanna be responding with value,
address the objection directly and reframe it by
(20:33):
emphasizing the benefits and successes that your product
has brought, perhaps other people in their company
or other companies that do similar things to
them, right?
And then you wanna sort of re-acknowledge
and move forward from those objections, right?
And yeah.
Yeah, and you made a lot of references
to basically mistakes that are kind of made
by the salespeople.
(20:54):
But what do you think are some of
the most common mistakes that you're seeing salespeople
make that they can correct to be better
at selling?
So yeah, whenever you say that, I often
wanna just go right to my rules on,
these are all the things to do so
you're not making mistakes, right?
And so one of my rules, right?
Is never forget a face, right?
So you're saying like, what is a common
mistake?
(21:14):
A common mistake is the sales guy forgets
a face.
So, and of course the name of the
book is never sit in the lobby, right?
That's another rule, don't make that mistake, right?
In other words, don't go to the lobby,
introduce yourself and then sit down to wait
for your customer.
Because you often will find yourself getting distracted
and you could even get distracted to the
point where you don't even notice the customer
walking in.
Me and the wife's like, oh, don't forget
(21:35):
to pick up the milk and bread and
don't forget we got the tickets to the
play tonight and be home early.
Oh, don't worry, honey, I'll be there.
The guy comes in and you don't even
notice that he's there and he's towering over
you, waiting for you to like wake up
and realize that he's standing there.
That's not a good look, right?
And so that's why I never sit in
the lobby.
But before I get to the lobby, if
(21:56):
I've called on that customer before, I check
my CRM and I look at the names
that are listed for that particular location or
what have you, right?
And I say, oh yeah, it's Bob, Sally,
George, Paul.
And I re-remember their faces, right?
I bring their face to the forefront of
my memory, right?
If I can't remember their faces, I'll go
to LinkedIn and I'll look at their photo
and I'll say, oh, right, yeah, yeah, Sally's
(22:18):
the redhead, Bob's the tall guy, Sam's the
bald guy or whatever, right?
And bring all that memory, because your memory's
good, it's just slow.
And I mean, if you bump into those
people while you're making, trying to build rapport
with a new guy in the building and
you forget that they're gonna see that pause,
everyone's gonna notice the pause.
And even if you catch yourself, we all
(22:40):
know what that pregnant pause feels like when
you've forgotten the name and you gotta think
back and those moments are lost forever, right?
The guy's like, ah, I didn't remember my
name and he doesn't feel good, right?
But when you do remember their name, they
remember it for hours and weeks on end
actually.
Oh yeah, that guy came and he always
remembers my name and he's always polite and
he's great.
He's such a pleasure to do business with.
(23:01):
It's always nice to see him when he
comes by, right?
And so the mistakes are don't forget these
things, right?
Like practice these rules of rapport and engagement
that are tried and true and don't not
do them.
Like, of course, I said it at the
beginning, two ears, one mouth, right?
So talking too much.
Like the worst thing is like the guy's
buying whatever.
(23:21):
It could be a car or whatever, right?
It's like, when you say something about the
word fast and what you really meant to
say was, I wanna get through this deal
fast.
He goes, oh, cars are so fast, right?
And I mean, I didn't even get my,
you're just saying you're getting through half through
a sentence.
And before you can finish your sentence, the
guy's like, oh yeah, we do that, great.
We do that, oh yeah, you won't even
believe it.
Then they go off on this tangent.
And it's like, this guy's not listening to
(23:41):
me, right?
The biggest thing is a mistake is not
researching the prospect and what they're doing, right?
And you really wanna figure out, and I
always tell people that the best way to
sell to a customer is to actually figure
out how they make their money, right?
What do they do?
What do they make?
How do they serve?
(24:02):
What do they do, right?
Are they a hardware company, a software company,
a manufacturing company, a delivery company?
Like, what are they?
What do they do?
Who pays them and why do they pay
them?
And what do they pay them for, right?
And then figure out why they're talking to
you.
Like, what is my product fit into the
ecosystem of what they deliver to their customers?
Because they don't care about your product.
(24:24):
They care about their product and how your
product can make their product better, right?
Deliver it better, make it better, serve it
better and whatever, right?
So by learning and taking notice of that,
you can both show the person that you're
on the ball.
It's just like researching companies before you go
on a job interview.
Like, oh, what can you say?
What have you learned about my company?
(24:44):
Oh, nothing.
I didn't even check you out.
I just showed up, right?
Not a good look, right?
But you can often sometimes, you know, think
of or find unique ways of opportunities.
Like one of the, when someone says, oh,
what if you can't get into a customer,
right?
You wanna talk to the engineering manager, the
software manager, the IT manager, HR manager, whatever,
right?
The best way is call one of the
(25:06):
salespeople, right?
Say, hi, can I talk to someone in
sales?
When has a company ever said, no, you
can't talk to someone in sales, click, right?
They will always and say, you know what?
I've been selling you guys for quite a
while.
I had this great idea that so-and
-so might be a, and I just wanted
to share with you guys.
Oh, by the way, who's the manager of
HR these days, right?
It's a reciprocity thing, right?
(25:27):
Because salespeople, they're sort of, they feel sorry
for you because they go through the same
thing every day.
And oftentimes, nine times out of 10, they'll
put you through to the person, put you
through or connect you to the person you
need to connect to, right?
And so it's sort of a way of
getting past that.
I can't find anybody in the department that
I need, right?
So, and so I talked earlier also about,
(25:49):
you said about mistakes, right?
So one of the mistakes is staying too
long and not losing early, right?
When you realize you've lost, you wanna leave.
But the other one is sort of giving
up too soon, right?
Where you're, oh, you know, they're there, they're
probably gonna win.
Like, you need to be unequivocal that you're
losing the deal.
Like you, through one means or another, like
a contract, a price, a delivery, a performance
(26:11):
specification, a weight, a measure, something that you
know you can't win the deal, that's when
you leave early.
Everything else is giving up too soon.
You don't wanna give up too soon, right?
And yeah, so, and the other part is
not starting, starting high enough in the stack,
right?
And there's a great story in the book
about a tow motor salesman who starts with
(26:31):
the CEO and he works his way down
from the CEO, the vice president of warehousing,
to the director of warehouses, to the warehouse
manager, to the shop foreman and to the
warehouse supervisor, right?
And all through all these people, but he
started with the CEO and the guy's like,
I don't get involved in buying tow motors.
(26:51):
But the reality is these tow motors are
$100,000 because they're super whiz bang, huge
machines, and there's no way he doesn't sign
the PO.
Like he's the one that signs off on
that kind of money.
If it's the director that signs off on
that kind of money, start with the director.
You don't need to go to the CEO.
So you need to figure out, hey, I
sell a thing that costs 10 grand, 50
grand, 100 grand, 500 grand, a million dollars,
(27:13):
and then figure out in the business that
I'm calling on with 10 people, 100 people,
1,000 people, 10,000 people, who signs
the final thing for the things I'm selling
at the price I sell them at, right?
And start with those people and get pushed
down the ladder, right?
Like, oh, I don't deal with that.
Talk to Jack.
He's the VP, blah, blah, blah, right?
And then you call a VP and it's
(27:34):
like, oh, Jack was just talking to the
CEO.
He said, you really need to try out
our new things and have a look at
them, right?
He's like, I don't deal with that.
That's handled by the director.
Call Bob, right?
You call Bob.
So I've been on the phone all day
with your guys, the CEO, the VP.
They can't wait to get our stuff into
the bill.
Oh, okay, fine.
Well, I don't get involved in that.
Call the supervisor, right?
And then at the final thing, sort of
(27:55):
the piece de resistance is when you're delivering
the tow motor to the warehouse to show
the guys, right?
You call the CEO and you say, look,
I know you're not involved in these things
or whatever, but man, we're turning on a
dime.
We're giving a nickel change.
We're doing it 20% faster for 20
% less energy.
You need to pop down here and have
a look at this thing.
I know you're gonna sign off on it.
So take two minutes, come down.
I wanna show it to you.
(28:15):
And nine times out of 10, that person
will come down to see $100,000 piece
of gear that they know they have to
sign off on.
And then, you know, that's how you won.
And the whole idea behind it all and
why you wanna do that is so that
at any point in the food chain, you
can call those people and get their coaching,
right?
Like they're gonna tell you, hey, you did
(28:36):
a great job.
You do have a much better tool system
or whatever, but we're gonna be going with
something else for this other reason.
That's way beyond your control, right?
The supervisor's not gonna tell you that.
The director's not, the foreman's not gonna tell
you that.
You gotta get to the VP or the
CEO or someone else that'll finally just say,
hey, Glenn, you're a cook, man.
You're not getting that deal, right?
(28:56):
Like we have to go with Kawasaki because
we don't use Toyota's tow motors, right?
And that kind of concept, right?
So.
Glenn, great stuff today.
We've talked about a never sit in the
lobby many times, your book.
Where can everybody go to be able to
learn more from you and then also to
be able to grab your book?
So go to my website, glennpoulos.com.
Links to the book.
You can do the downloads are there for
(29:17):
doing presentations.
And if you wanna talk to me about
any kind of concepts or collaborate in any
other way, you can just connect with me
on LinkedIn.
I'm very active on there every day and
looking forward to meeting new people.
That's good, thanks, Glenn.
Thank you.
So if you're watching this, go to glennpoulos
.com.
Now that's G-L-E-N-N-P
-O-U-L-O-S.com.
(29:38):
And if you go to Glenn's website and
scroll down just a little bit, you'll see
a picture of him and you'll see a
social media links right there.
So you can connect real quick, takes less
than a minute to do that.
All kinds of really cool sales tactics that
you're able to get that way.
You're also able to learn more about him.
You're also be able to talk about, be
able to access the podcast.
And then you're also able to get the
book right there.
And it all happens at one place, which
(29:58):
is glennpoulos.com.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.