June 5, 2025 • 39 mins
Looking to master oil and gas sales or make a bold career pivot in the energy sector?
This episode is a masterclass in building trust-first sales relationships and developing the self-leadership skills to lead like a CEO, even when you're not one yet.
Justin Vandenbrink has lived the full spectrum of the energy business, from icy oil fields to Houston boardrooms.
He explains why the best salespeople aren't 'closing deals' but are solving complex problems, how to balance hustle with mental wellness, and why the future of energy work might not include full-time jobs at all.
Timestamps:
00:00 – From Geologist to CEO Whisperer
05:00 – Taking the Leap: Canada to Houston
07:00 – Sales Isn’t Selling—It’s Strategy
11:00 – Navigating Tech Shifts & Client Needs
15:00 – High-Trust Selling for High-Stakes Clients
18:00 – Wellness in the Hustle
22:00 – Lead Yourself First
28:00 – When Selling Looks Effortless
32:00 – Rethinking the Sales Process
36:00 – Future of Work in Oil & Gas
Guest:
Justin Vandenbrink
President, Mercenary Sales
Host:
Melissa Aarskaug
Executive Connect: https://www.executiveconnectpodcast.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ExecutiveConnect
Connect With Us:
Podcast Website: https://www.executiveconnectpodcast.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ExecutiveConnect
Social:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-aarskaug/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@melissa_aarskaug
X: https://x.com/melissaaarskaug
This episode is a masterclass in building trust-first sales relationships and developing the self-leadership skills to lead like a CEO, even when you're not one yet.
Justin Vandenbrink has lived the full spectrum of the energy business, from icy oil fields to Houston boardrooms.
He explains why the best salespeople aren't 'closing deals' but are solving complex problems, how to balance hustle with mental wellness, and why the future of energy work might not include full-time jobs at all.
Timestamps:
00:00 – From Geologist to CEO Whisperer
05:00 – Taking the Leap: Canada to Houston
07:00 – Sales Isn’t Selling—It’s Strategy
11:00 – Navigating Tech Shifts & Client Needs
15:00 – High-Trust Selling for High-Stakes Clients
18:00 – Wellness in the Hustle
22:00 – Lead Yourself First
28:00 – When Selling Looks Effortless
32:00 – Rethinking the Sales Process
36:00 – Future of Work in Oil & Gas
Guest:
Justin Vandenbrink
President, Mercenary Sales
Host:
Melissa Aarskaug
Executive Connect: https://www.executiveconnectpodcast.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ExecutiveConnect
Connect With Us:
Podcast Website: https://www.executiveconnectpodcast.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ExecutiveConnect
Social:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-aarskaug/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@melissa_aarskaug
X: https://x.com/melissaaarskaug
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I started out in Canada as a geologist.
(00:02):
I got into geology because I loved being able to be in science,
but not in the pure science in the sense that I was never a mathematician,
or I was never interested in physics.
They were just too pure for me.
I like combining the outdoors with a possible vocation
that would allow me to make some good money in every career.
And I had to start from the bottom and work my way up.
And that's one of the lessons that everybody learns when they get out of school.
(00:26):
I just didn't really like what I was doing.
I needed more stimulation, and then I put them together with the right people.
That's where I get all my fun.
Watching my clients accelerate and be more successful in Jermore wells.
So for the people out there, don't worry if you don't have a full-time salary guarantee job
because you can make more than you're already making
(00:47):
as like a consultant or a freelancer if you're doing the right things and doing the network.
So stay connected, tend your local societies,
and just do more for other people than you expect them to do for yourself.
And you'll have success.
Have you ever wondered how to go from an oil rig to the boardroom
(01:07):
of a super major oil company?
What are the skills needed to jump from the field to the office?
We may have the secrets for you here today.
Today we're talking to Justin Van Den Brink,
the president of mercenary sales, who used his education and experience
to move from working on rigs as a geologist to working with CEOs
(01:33):
of major oil and gas companies.
Whether you're looking to close deals or navigate complex corporate landscapes,
Justin Insights will help you sharpen your strategy,
build trust, and lead with confidence. Welcome Justin.
(01:53):
Hey there, Melissa, how are you doing?
Great. I'm excited to talk to you today.
Now, Justin, your career has taken you in a lot of races
from a physical grit of working on the rigs to working on the boardroom.
Let's talk a little bit how you were able to do that and share your story with us.
(02:17):
Yeah, sure. Please excuse the background behind me.
I had to move locations for this shoot.
I've got two Bernie's dogs on the bed behind me.
So if you hear yelping, it's not me and I don't think it's you, Melissa.
Yeah, bottom line, I started out in Canada as a geologist.
(02:41):
I got into geology because I loved the thought of being able to be in science,
but not in the pure science in the sense that I was never a mathematician,
or I was never interested in physics. They were just too pure for me.
I liked combining the outdoors with a possible location
that would allow me to make some good money and have a career.
(03:03):
So I got into geology instead of going the arts route,
and it turned out to be very valuable for me.
So I started out in Vancouver, got my degree there,
and then moved into the actual, it was trained as a mining geologist, structural,
and then moved and wanted to be in oil and gas.
(03:24):
I moved to Calgary, and there were no jobs for what my head thought I should be doing
because I was young and dumb.
And I had to start from the bottom and work my way up.
And that's one of the lessons that everybody learns when they get out of school.
So I started the way most people started, you know, 30 years ago, and that was
(03:47):
going up to the rigs and learning the trade the hard way.
And I was a well-signed geologist on the rigs in the Western Canadian sedimentary basin,
and actually had a lot of fun doing that. I was on the rigs off and on
with the company I was with for about seven years.
And then as the years went on, I spent more and more time with my clients back in the office
(04:14):
towers in Calgary. And my boss started to see that there was a benefit to having me do more business
developments and get jobs for his company instead of do the actual science and well-signed geology
on the rig. There was a multiple there for him and for me.
So I moved into a business development role. I understood the job that I was now selling
(04:40):
operators on, which was hire some really quality well-signed geologists to be your eyes and ears
at well-sight while you're drilling wells. So that took me about 11, well, about eight years,
around 2008. It's a funny story. The company I was working for was basically owned by the Brits.
(05:07):
And the big boss from the Brits came over one day and walked around the office and poked his head
in my office and said, "Hey, Vanden Brink, how are things going?" And at that time I was single
doing really well in his company and bored out of my mind. I just didn't really like what I was doing.
(05:31):
I needed more stimulation. So I told him the truth as anybody who knows me kind of knows that's
what I do for good or bad. And I just said to him, I said, "Mec, I'm not good." And Mac is a very proper
put together a well-dressed man and he wasn't expecting that answer. And that led to him and me
(05:53):
having a good conversation. He said, "Well, what do you want to do?" And I said, "I want to get the hell out of
Canada. I want to get the hell out of Calgary and I want to apply my skills internationally."
So he said, "You're in luck. We've got a guy who's about to retire in Houston. Have you ever heard of
it?" And in six months I was down there working for that company, doing Deepwater International
(06:14):
work for them. And it was a placement agency as well. We were putting geoscientists all around the
world on Deepwater Rigs to help with a 10X level of exploration. And long story short, I moved from
that company to a couple other companies within Houston, gaining experience in different areas of
(06:38):
upstream oil and gas, continuing to do business development, continuing to work around the geology
and drilling areas until present day where I've taken all of that information, all of that experience
and I run my own company now doing the same thing, but more boutique style. So I connect people
(07:01):
in upstream oil and gas business to business, if that makes sense. Yeah. I love your story. I love
talking to you because so much of my young, young years in the trade, our stories are so aligned
on how we flipped from field to sales. So sales in is not just about selling things. It's putting the
(07:29):
deal together, understanding the client and actually creating a relationship. I think a lot of
times people look at sales like they're transactional, go out, get somebody a sign of paper and
it's really easy. I know you have so many strategies for professionals that are working in sales and
(07:50):
high-stake environments. Can you share a little bit about some insights you've learned in sales?
Ready to lead smarter and invest wiser? On the Executive Connect podcast, we unpack executive
strategies for wealth and influence. Hit the subscribe button now. Don't just watch acts.
(08:11):
Yeah. I mean, it's a broad subject, right? Depending on the industry, sales are very different.
So I think a lot of people in their everyday life are used to getting sold by their mechanic
or buying a car or getting sold by their realtor or having to deal with air conditioning guy
who wants to upsell you on a unit you don't need and those all have negative connotations. And I think
(08:37):
in upstream oil and gas and just the energy industry, the sale is much different. It's more of a
solution sale. So it's very technical what is happening in upstream oil and gas software is becoming
a very big component of how you drill well and how you produce. And so in order for operators to do
(09:02):
that to the very best of their abilities, they have to have a lot of pieces working together.
And so any vendor who is approaching operators wanting to sell their solution, their service,
their product has to know how to integrate into the operators overall game plan. And they also have
(09:25):
to know they have to spend a lot of time on selling and understanding the project. So you can't just
pull something off the shelf. You can't just get $4.99 for it and you can't just go home at the end
of the day and watch TV and go, oh, let's do it all over again tomorrow. So the sale is not really
the sale. It's just a relationship. You are building relationships. You're on the same boat,
(09:48):
going in the same direction to the same destination. And you're just hopefully giving them
what your product or service is. You're giving them a better version of what they might not be able
to get if you aren't around. So that's kind of how I look at sales and upstream oil and gas.
(10:08):
I don't really sell. It's greasy to me. The word sales is kind of greasy to me.
What I do is I find out what problems they have that my experience can maybe help solve.
And then I put them together with the right people. And that's where I get all my fun is
(10:33):
watching my clients accelerate and be more successful and drill more wells.
Yeah. And one thing I love in talking with you is you're changing with the times. You're changing
on how you respond to your clients and interact with your clients. You're understanding their pain
(10:53):
points. And like you said, you're creating that relationship. So when they have a problem,
they don't even think anybody else. They just think to call you Justin and really the sales
kind of are walking in their door. So I want, do you think it's changed? Like has that been something
that's changed for you on how you're dealing with operators over the last several years?
(11:15):
Is it like a new way of dealing with them? I think software has made a huge impact on the upstream
oil and gas community. I think a lot of a lot of the sales now are not just everybody knows the hard
work part, but the software links it all together. So yeah, it is changing and the younger generation
(11:40):
is doing a great job figuring that out. What I really like to do is to bring, I'm kind of in the
middle. So I'm Gen X. So I still understand what the baby boomers, how they did things, what they need.
So I understand where they're coming from, but I also understand that there's a bridge that they
have to cross to get to relate to the younger generation that's coming in. And so I'm in a unique
(12:06):
position to be able to look behind me, understand what they're doing and also look forward and relate
to the younger kids in front of me and kind of bridge that. But sales and business development
is always a comes down the same thing. It's just trusting the person like building that relationship.
And there's a lot of times I can't help a lot of my clients. And I'll just refer them to other people
(12:30):
that can. So you don't always win, but you know, your reputation is very important in this industry. And
so far, I've had a good one. Oh, that's so good. I have to repeat it. I think a lot of times people show
up to a client and they're like, okay, here's my things I sell, which one do you want? And your case,
(12:52):
you're saying I can't provide the thing and here's somebody else who does. So you're building trust
within that client. It's so, so important. I think in long term relationship building, because you
don't just want to build a relationship today for that one thing. You want to build it long term.
(13:12):
And I think that's so different. It takes the transactional relationship away and you're actually
building a long term relationship. And I think the companies that do this really well,
building a high performing sales team and high performing sales people isn't something that just
(13:33):
we're going to hire a salesperson. They're going to go out and visit our customers and things
they're going to happen. I want to talk a little bit about how you help leaders and drive that kind
of culture to people and where you actually have continual sales from clients where they're
(13:54):
coming to you and thinking of you. Are you a high income professional? Looking for smarter ways to
protect your wealth? The Texas Freedom Fund gives you the opportunity to invest in energy assets
leveraging proven fracking technology and prime access to global markets. With strategic oil and
gas investments, you can build real wealth while benefiting from tax advantages under laws,
(14:15):
dating back to the Reagan era. Take control of your financial future. Visit Texas Freedom Fund.
executiveconnectpodcast.com. Yeah, right. So it is interesting driving that
that culture and how things have evolved. You know, I've done a lot of reading too as the older you get,
(14:36):
you get to these plateaus. What depends what it doesn't depend, it doesn't matter what career you
in. You get to these plateaus and you've got advance. You've got advance. And talking to what we
said in the last little segment there, I've found in some of the best business development people
(14:57):
that I've been around and sales people, if there's one thing that is consistent throughout that,
is when an operator comes to you or when a vendor comes to you or somebody that is hiring you to
(15:17):
do some work for them, you have to be really honest with them. They don't want to pay you
for lies. You can give them lies and you can get paid and that's a three month contract.
Or you can tell them the real truth because they're coming to you because they think you know what you're
talking about. And it might hurt in the beginning, but in the end it's beneficial for them. And I
(15:44):
prefer to do that and I've lost some clients like that, but they have come back to me. So in terms of
leaders, I find that the leaders that I work with in the companies have to, you know, I deal with CEOs
in super majors, I deal with CEOs in very high end vendor based companies, service companies.
(16:07):
And I find, and I think we were talking about this previously last week,
they're very good at knowing what they don't know. And I think that's really important for a leader.
You have to be able to defer to the expert in the room at the right time or else you're really in
(16:29):
trouble and you can get in a lot of trouble. Some of the best sales people I know are just focused on
really niche things and that's all they know to sell and they will make sure that their clients know
that and then their clients come back to them and they have a great relationship. In my business right
now at MercSales, I know a lot about a little and if I don't know because I only know that little,
(16:57):
I am one degree or six degrees of Kevin Bacon separation away from putting you in touch with a person
who does. So fear not, even if I don't know, I do know how to get you to the person who does know if
that makes sense. Yeah, absolutely. I think that makes a lot of sense. I think, you know,
that whole analogy, fake it till you make it doesn't work in sales because people really
(17:21):
yeah, they really sense when you're you know, you're not being straightforward with that.
You know, you might be able to trick some of the CEOs temporarily but over time people can sense it
and they it just doesn't work and I know, you know, I've been in sales for a long time. I've led people
(17:42):
for a long time. It's a lot of pressure right now in today's world to make sales, to lead people.
It's a very unique time in our world. I find I want to get some of your insights on, you know,
balancing selling high performance, going out and getting getting the business with, you know,
(18:05):
mental health, your wellness, so you're not, you know, burning out and struggling on, you know,
I find that sometimes people spend their career making a bunch of money, then they get the money
and then they're spending that money on getting their health back. So what we're I want to talk about
(18:26):
is how do we manage and juggle that so we're not spending our money to recover our health?
Well, one of the benefits of being in any type of sales or business development role is you are,
you are somewhat your own boss and you're in control of your time a lot more. It's not a 9 to 5 factory
job. It's a 24/7 job. So if you are a self-starter and you can compartmentalize and do work in bursts,
(18:57):
it's somewhat easier on your overall psyche and I don't think there's as much burnout. I will say I
have worked for employers where they were publicly traded companies. They were running their business
from quarter to quarter to quarter and the last week before the quarter and the earnings
announcements came out as a sales director, super stressful. And that's not really, it is definitely
(19:25):
not a way to sell because all of our clients knew that and they knew they could hold out and wait
and get a big best deal at the end of the month type thing car salesman type stuff.
So yeah, I have gotten away from that style of selling. It just doesn't work. It's very,
it's very transactional and commodity driven. So luckily I don't do that. Have you ever watched a movie
(19:51):
with Hugh Grant in it? It was called A Boat-A-Boy. I have it. Tell us about it. So Hugh Grant's halfway
through his career. He had already done Notting Hill. He was successful. He took on this project.
It was set in London and he was a failed musician, songwriter. And he had one hit song and everybody
(20:15):
knew him for that one hit song. He had a lot of money and he basically had no ambition. So after he made
that money, he had in front of him the prospect of just living off the money and not doing anything
ever again. And he was very selfish, very introspective and the interesting thing in how it relates to sales
(20:40):
is he literally had nothing to do every day. So he devised a program to keep himself from going crazy
because he was so bored. So he would live his life in one hour or half hour segments. So he knew that
getting a haircut was one hour and he knew that if he built a haircut into his week, he could take
(21:02):
that block and it would always be there and he would have some semblance of sanity. And he built all
these blocks like lunch was an hour meeting this guy was half an hour all this stuff. That is kind of how
sales is you have to focus on blocks of time and be very, very productive and very efficient very
quickly and then there's a lot of time that's downtime. So you have to learn to maneuver these blocks
(21:26):
so that you have this continuous workflow in your in your sales life and you can have days where
you're going super hard and then you can have days where hardly anything seems to be happening but what
you're doing is you're building the blocks later down that week that month when you get the meetings,
(21:46):
when people get back to you and then you really have to rush and hurry. So it's kind of fun that way
if you like working in bursts it's a great job. So mental health wise getting back to that question
you have to kind of have you have to be able to tell yourself that everything's going okay even when
there is nothing happening around you. You cannot affect when a customer or a company will get
(22:15):
back to you and you have to be able to be okay with that. Yeah I love that you talked about the blocks.
I think that's a really good point. I think a lot of times I know I've experienced it myself in sales
where you know I shut down my inbox like I literally shut the inbox down and so I can do exactly
(22:41):
what you said I could focus on what my plan I need to put a plan together and I need to focus
and what's really interesting to me and maybe you can talk a little bit about this is we've become a
like a world that needs everything immediately right now today. You started today's your first day,
where's your sales. And so what you were saying is such an important point if you're not managing
(23:06):
yourself and leading yourself and working in blocks you're getting to the end of the month
because you're only answering emails taking calls you're you're not really working your plan
and solving the clients problems to make the sales. So I think that's such a really good nugget is
working in blocks in managing yourself because if you don't you can get kind of caught up in the
(23:31):
minutiae of paperwork answering all these emails of all these popups we're getting I know I'm
subscribed to like a thousand things that I've never subscribed to nowadays with you know people
scanning my bag to conferences or or what have you but I want to I want to kind of talk a little
(23:51):
bit about what you started to talk about is leading yourself as a sales person and how one could do that.
Give me a little more insight leading in what sense because really as like you were saying at the
beginning if if you're a doer you're boss is saying I need you to do this thing by Friday when you're
(24:16):
in sales how you're measured is what you're selling right so there's not like okay Melissa was
online at eight and she she finished at five it sales really if you're a salesperson you're closing
deals if you're not closing deals therefore you're on a salesperson so in sales you have to really
lead yourself manage yourself so let's talk about how a salesperson could lead themselves and what
(24:43):
strategies they need to have in play to be a good salesperson. Well I think I'll ask you this question
before I answer the one you want me to answer do you think sales people are created from nature or from
nurture? I think sales well I would not identify as a salesperson I was like you I was you know a
(25:12):
technical person I was an introverted kind of doer and on paper nobody would have hired me as a
salesperson because I was an engineer and an introvert so I was grown as a salesperson but like you
I had the technical knowledge to communicate with people therefore it made me a very dangerous sales
(25:38):
person. Right right I think in upstream specifically in the oil and gas industry I was just on a call
with a client today and she's a CEO and she needs some sales support and marketing support and she's
technically very good at selling her product but she's not really good at like opening doors getting
(26:01):
in to do the sale and following up so that's where you know she might need my company. It's
to me I think there is no need for a salesperson in upstream oil and gas. What there is is a need for
people who have been doing the science of upstream oil and gas whether they're geophysicists,
(26:25):
drilling engineers, reservoir engineers, geologists but who are tired or burnt out from that part of
their of their job and are just curious and just like to talk because that to me really is how you
how you get things done in oil and gas you ask a lot more questions and listen a lot more than you talk
(26:49):
and eventually the person across the table from you will come back to what you were there to do which is
to kind of enlighten them on what your company does. Maybe it's a fit maybe it's a nod.
So the nature and nurture thing is very interesting because I've handled a lot of
(27:10):
a lot of I've inherited a lot of sales people in my time as a sales director and I've been a sales
person for sales directors and as a sales director I also have a boss which is usually the CEO
and kind of the reason why I started Merck Sales is when you're doing it right it seems like it's
(27:32):
a job that doesn't need to be there all the time. When you're doing it wrong it seems like an
awfully tough job and there's somewhere in between where it's just the right type of job. So when I'm
really good at selling I'm not selling it all and the bosses in the past that have paid me a lot of
money to work for them have thought that it breaks not doing much that seemed way too easy for what he
(27:55):
brought in. That is actually when you're at your peak of selling it's kind of like watching Michael
Phelps swim you're like it doesn't look that hard he's just going through the water but it is
and you're just doing it on auto and making it look fun but there's a lot like for example
(28:17):
when I take clients golfing my wife will say oh you went golfing again oh what a great life.
Let me tell you some of my clients I would rather talk to a bag of hammers and they have the same
personality. Four hours in a golf cart on a lonely strip of grass with somebody who doesn't want to
(28:38):
be engaged that's work. I don't care a thousand dollars an hour is too little for that type of job.
So you have to be curious you have to be knowledgeable and that's about it and then you get in
and the sale will take care of itself. Yeah I think that's a really another fantastic point.
(29:01):
It made me think back when I was a young engineer and the field the actual doers were saying
you need to get out in the field to see how to actually do this as opposed to shooting your
education to the thing it's going to just magically show up but it's like you were just saying with
sales is a lot of time people looking out into good sales people they want to make judgment on how
(29:27):
they're selling and how they're getting deals and a lot of people think oh it's so easy to do sale
they just magically come and I think the one secret to sales is exactly what you said at the beginning.
Sales isn't sale that's a relationship and kind of correlating it back to what you're saying now is
(29:48):
sitting and talking to people that don't want to talk to you and getting information out of them
is like wizard stuff right because a lot of people like you were also saying if they're beginning
like a car salesman or how we deal with being sold to nobody wants to tell the car salesman
(30:10):
all the information the car salesman needs to get the information out of the person
and so being so shut down from your vendors actually hinders company companies long term
but it's really up to the sales people to get that information like you were saying on the golf
course you're sitting there asking questions getting information from someone and he's like one word
(30:37):
answering you right yeah and and I think we were talking about that in the pre-call too and we
are both an agreement and I think this is important the industry knows this you know the operators
rely on the vendors to to be successful the vendors are stalking the kitchen that the operators have
(30:58):
built in their house so an operator might have the best kitchen in the world but if they don't have a
microwave or they don't have the right knives or they don't have a fridge that works they ain't
making a meal yet there's this common theme where the operators don't tell the vendors what they really
want or they do this dance where they make it so hard for the vendors to find out exactly what they need
(31:23):
I've many times thought there's got to be a better way there's got to be and you know sometimes
that's my job is to be the broker between the two but I almost feel like there should be a job
out there in upstream oil and gas and this applies to like say military for contracts procurement
big big bids big deals like we have requests for bids and proposals that are hundreds of pages long
(31:48):
right and they they outline the drilling the completions the geology all the stuff that they need
I almost feel like instead of me picking up the phone as a vendor and trying to get a hold of my
expiration manager for the hundredth time and he doesn't want to talk to me he doesn't want to pick
up that phone even though he knows he's got to make a decision on say hiring or picking up a piece
(32:12):
of equipment for this job that's about to come up instead of all this you know I've always thought
what if there was a way where an operator or a group of operators would perform a consortium
and they would pick one broker say in the city of Dallas there's one broker that they give all of
their war plans to so this broker knows when the wells are starting how many wells are going to be
(32:37):
what services they need and all of that and then he holds an open an open call he he rents out a
convention center and holds an open call and says today it's like a casting session
today we're going to be casting for the role of xyz and you line up in all of these lines
(32:58):
and you lay out all of the requirements for the role of wireline logging so now the now the salesman's
kind of taken out of the picture the salesman doesn't have to talk to the expiration manager anymore
because the expiration manager has already given that broker all the information that he wants on his
desk the broker interviews all of these actors and then picks the top three actors for every category
(33:23):
then brings it back to the operator and says you didn't have to do any of that I've dealt with
crazy people I've dealt with smart people I've dealt with people in the middle and I've picked the
top three in every category now it's up to you and your team to look at the prices to look at the
service and make your choice that kind of sounds like a way to do it too right? Yep I love that you
(33:48):
said that I think that's such a good point um but that I great point right I I've been on so many
RFP processes where the client has 150 companies submitting for a whatever and they're just
just too much they're just taking it all day long they're getting fired out. Yes and your point is
(34:11):
spot on pick a number of vendors give them you know definitely don't just go with one like I agree
with you I think get more than one quote you know do your due diligence yeah then give them the
opportunity to know what the operator is thinking half of the battle in sales is figuring out what
(34:31):
your client wants right and they don't always give that to you unless you're good at getting it from them
100% like I know a lot of times in my space I put things that were not in an RFP in the RFP
of value add and and the clients are like yes can we have more of that and we want just because I
(34:53):
added something in an RFP that wasn't even part of the RFP and so you know I that's such a good point
I think you know don't give all your vendors some information so they can best serve you the more you
give them the better they can rally around what you need I think if we're playing this guessing game
(35:17):
you know it's like going to the doctor if you go to the doctor and you don't tell your doctor
what your symptoms are they can't diagnose you and properly treat you and so think of it that way
and I think the better you'll get from your the more you'll get from your your providers and so that's
kind of what you know what I've done with Mercsales and what I've done in all all of my jobs in the past is
(35:39):
I indirectly know what the operators need even if they're not telling me and then I can I can clutch
down or clutch up and talk to the vendors in a specific way to make sure that they might have what
what is needed or might not so we can be a valuable asset to the operator to call the herd before
(36:04):
the herd runs them over and conversely we can be very beneficial to vendors and their sales teams
as one of my favorite sales guys always told me the second best response I want from anybody is no
right because if you're telling me no it means I'm not wasting my time selling to you anymore
and I can go on to somebody who needs my services so if I can do that on the on behalf of the
(36:29):
operators to vendors and say you're not right for this job but I'll tell you there's another job
that might be perfect for you and they're doing this up in the balkan where they're down you know in
Eagleford you might want to talk to these people so I like being that in between and helping both sides
you know make some money such great insights just and I want to ask you any final thoughts or anything
(36:57):
that you want to share about sales listeners um no not really I think I think the the industry is
is morphing though and I think what's happening just like the professional careers like the geologist
the geophysicist the petrophysicist the the reserves uh engineer we are we are peace-mealing as an
(37:23):
industry these jobs and they are no longer becoming salaried positions they're becoming project
based positions and I think that's actually beneficial so for the people out there who are in sales
and for the people out there who are in sciences for upstream um don't worry if you if you don't
(37:47):
have a full-time salary guaranteed job because um you can make more than you're already making
as like a consultant or a freelancer if if you're if you're doing the right things and doing the
networking so so stay connected attend your local societies um and uh and just do more for other people
(38:11):
than than you expect them to do for yourself and you'll have you'll have success
that's great Justin now how can we connect with you how can our listeners connect with you and
where could they find you so uh the best way is linkedin is my tool of choice and my phone to be honest
I love just being on the phone you can call me and text me so you go to linkedin and you can find
(38:35):
me on there and then you can also see our uh business page on linkedin mercenary sales and we're
in the process of redoing our website and you can find that on linkedin as well so um I'm sure you
will have some on the bottom of this podcast as well emails to contact me with and that's about it
pretty simple. Justin I want to thank you so much for being here and sharing your time and your
(38:58):
knowledge and with them with our listeners that's the executive connect podcast.
I started out in Canada as a geologist.
(00:02):
I got into geology because I loved being able to be in science,
but not in the pure science in the sense that I was never a mathematician,
or I was never interested in physics.
They were just too pure for me.
I like combining the outdoors with a possible vocation
that would allow me to make some good money in every career.
And I had to start from the bottom and work my way up.
And that's one of the lessons that everybody learns when they get out of school.
(00:26):
I just didn't really like what I was doing.
I needed more stimulation, and then I put them together with the right people.
That's where I get all my fun.
Watching my clients accelerate and be more successful in Jermore wells.
So for the people out there, don't worry if you don't have a full-time salary guarantee job
because you can make more than you're already making
(00:47):
as like a consultant or a freelancer if you're doing the right things and doing the network.
So stay connected, tend your local societies,
and just do more for other people than you expect them to do for yourself.
And you'll have success.
Have you ever wondered how to go from an oil rig to the boardroom
(01:07):
of a super major oil company?
What are the skills needed to jump from the field to the office?
We may have the secrets for you here today.
Today we're talking to Justin Van Den Brink,
the president of mercenary sales, who used his education and experience
to move from working on rigs as a geologist to working with CEOs
(01:33):
of major oil and gas companies.
Whether you're looking to close deals or navigate complex corporate landscapes,
Justin Insights will help you sharpen your strategy,
build trust, and lead with confidence. Welcome Justin.
(01:53):
Hey there, Melissa, how are you doing?
Great. I'm excited to talk to you today.
Now, Justin, your career has taken you in a lot of races
from a physical grit of working on the rigs to working on the boardroom.
Let's talk a little bit how you were able to do that and share your story with us.
(02:17):
Yeah, sure. Please excuse the background behind me.
I had to move locations for this shoot.
I've got two Bernie's dogs on the bed behind me.
So if you hear yelping, it's not me and I don't think it's you, Melissa.
Yeah, bottom line, I started out in Canada as a geologist.
(02:41):
I got into geology because I loved the thought of being able to be in science,
but not in the pure science in the sense that I was never a mathematician,
or I was never interested in physics. They were just too pure for me.
I liked combining the outdoors with a possible location
that would allow me to make some good money and have a career.
(03:03):
So I got into geology instead of going the arts route,
and it turned out to be very valuable for me.
So I started out in Vancouver, got my degree there,
and then moved into the actual, it was trained as a mining geologist, structural,
and then moved and wanted to be in oil and gas.
(03:24):
I moved to Calgary, and there were no jobs for what my head thought I should be doing
because I was young and dumb.
And I had to start from the bottom and work my way up.
And that's one of the lessons that everybody learns when they get out of school.
So I started the way most people started, you know, 30 years ago, and that was
(03:47):
going up to the rigs and learning the trade the hard way.
And I was a well-signed geologist on the rigs in the Western Canadian sedimentary basin,
and actually had a lot of fun doing that. I was on the rigs off and on
with the company I was with for about seven years.
And then as the years went on, I spent more and more time with my clients back in the office
(04:14):
towers in Calgary. And my boss started to see that there was a benefit to having me do more business
developments and get jobs for his company instead of do the actual science and well-signed geology
on the rig. There was a multiple there for him and for me.
So I moved into a business development role. I understood the job that I was now selling
(04:40):
operators on, which was hire some really quality well-signed geologists to be your eyes and ears
at well-sight while you're drilling wells. So that took me about 11, well, about eight years,
around 2008. It's a funny story. The company I was working for was basically owned by the Brits.
(05:07):
And the big boss from the Brits came over one day and walked around the office and poked his head
in my office and said, "Hey, Vanden Brink, how are things going?" And at that time I was single
doing really well in his company and bored out of my mind. I just didn't really like what I was doing.
(05:31):
I needed more stimulation. So I told him the truth as anybody who knows me kind of knows that's
what I do for good or bad. And I just said to him, I said, "Mec, I'm not good." And Mac is a very proper
put together a well-dressed man and he wasn't expecting that answer. And that led to him and me
(05:53):
having a good conversation. He said, "Well, what do you want to do?" And I said, "I want to get the hell out of
Canada. I want to get the hell out of Calgary and I want to apply my skills internationally."
So he said, "You're in luck. We've got a guy who's about to retire in Houston. Have you ever heard of
it?" And in six months I was down there working for that company, doing Deepwater International
(06:14):
work for them. And it was a placement agency as well. We were putting geoscientists all around the
world on Deepwater Rigs to help with a 10X level of exploration. And long story short, I moved from
that company to a couple other companies within Houston, gaining experience in different areas of
(06:38):
upstream oil and gas, continuing to do business development, continuing to work around the geology
and drilling areas until present day where I've taken all of that information, all of that experience
and I run my own company now doing the same thing, but more boutique style. So I connect people
(07:01):
in upstream oil and gas business to business, if that makes sense. Yeah. I love your story. I love
talking to you because so much of my young, young years in the trade, our stories are so aligned
on how we flipped from field to sales. So sales in is not just about selling things. It's putting the
(07:29):
deal together, understanding the client and actually creating a relationship. I think a lot of
times people look at sales like they're transactional, go out, get somebody a sign of paper and
it's really easy. I know you have so many strategies for professionals that are working in sales and
(07:50):
high-stake environments. Can you share a little bit about some insights you've learned in sales?
Ready to lead smarter and invest wiser? On the Executive Connect podcast, we unpack executive
strategies for wealth and influence. Hit the subscribe button now. Don't just watch acts.
(08:11):
Yeah. I mean, it's a broad subject, right? Depending on the industry, sales are very different.
So I think a lot of people in their everyday life are used to getting sold by their mechanic
or buying a car or getting sold by their realtor or having to deal with air conditioning guy
who wants to upsell you on a unit you don't need and those all have negative connotations. And I think
(08:37):
in upstream oil and gas and just the energy industry, the sale is much different. It's more of a
solution sale. So it's very technical what is happening in upstream oil and gas software is becoming
a very big component of how you drill well and how you produce. And so in order for operators to do
(09:02):
that to the very best of their abilities, they have to have a lot of pieces working together.
And so any vendor who is approaching operators wanting to sell their solution, their service,
their product has to know how to integrate into the operators overall game plan. And they also have
(09:25):
to know they have to spend a lot of time on selling and understanding the project. So you can't just
pull something off the shelf. You can't just get $4.99 for it and you can't just go home at the end
of the day and watch TV and go, oh, let's do it all over again tomorrow. So the sale is not really
the sale. It's just a relationship. You are building relationships. You're on the same boat,
(09:48):
going in the same direction to the same destination. And you're just hopefully giving them
what your product or service is. You're giving them a better version of what they might not be able
to get if you aren't around. So that's kind of how I look at sales and upstream oil and gas.
(10:08):
I don't really sell. It's greasy to me. The word sales is kind of greasy to me.
What I do is I find out what problems they have that my experience can maybe help solve.
And then I put them together with the right people. And that's where I get all my fun is
(10:33):
watching my clients accelerate and be more successful and drill more wells.
Yeah. And one thing I love in talking with you is you're changing with the times. You're changing
on how you respond to your clients and interact with your clients. You're understanding their pain
(10:53):
points. And like you said, you're creating that relationship. So when they have a problem,
they don't even think anybody else. They just think to call you Justin and really the sales
kind of are walking in their door. So I want, do you think it's changed? Like has that been something
that's changed for you on how you're dealing with operators over the last several years?
(11:15):
Is it like a new way of dealing with them? I think software has made a huge impact on the upstream
oil and gas community. I think a lot of a lot of the sales now are not just everybody knows the hard
work part, but the software links it all together. So yeah, it is changing and the younger generation
(11:40):
is doing a great job figuring that out. What I really like to do is to bring, I'm kind of in the
middle. So I'm Gen X. So I still understand what the baby boomers, how they did things, what they need.
So I understand where they're coming from, but I also understand that there's a bridge that they
have to cross to get to relate to the younger generation that's coming in. And so I'm in a unique
(12:06):
position to be able to look behind me, understand what they're doing and also look forward and relate
to the younger kids in front of me and kind of bridge that. But sales and business development
is always a comes down the same thing. It's just trusting the person like building that relationship.
And there's a lot of times I can't help a lot of my clients. And I'll just refer them to other people
(12:30):
that can. So you don't always win, but you know, your reputation is very important in this industry. And
so far, I've had a good one. Oh, that's so good. I have to repeat it. I think a lot of times people show
up to a client and they're like, okay, here's my things I sell, which one do you want? And your case,
(12:52):
you're saying I can't provide the thing and here's somebody else who does. So you're building trust
within that client. It's so, so important. I think in long term relationship building, because you
don't just want to build a relationship today for that one thing. You want to build it long term.
(13:12):
And I think that's so different. It takes the transactional relationship away and you're actually
building a long term relationship. And I think the companies that do this really well,
building a high performing sales team and high performing sales people isn't something that just
(13:33):
we're going to hire a salesperson. They're going to go out and visit our customers and things
they're going to happen. I want to talk a little bit about how you help leaders and drive that kind
of culture to people and where you actually have continual sales from clients where they're
(13:54):
coming to you and thinking of you. Are you a high income professional? Looking for smarter ways to
protect your wealth? The Texas Freedom Fund gives you the opportunity to invest in energy assets
leveraging proven fracking technology and prime access to global markets. With strategic oil and
gas investments, you can build real wealth while benefiting from tax advantages under laws,
(14:15):
dating back to the Reagan era. Take control of your financial future. Visit Texas Freedom Fund.
executiveconnectpodcast.com. Yeah, right. So it is interesting driving that
that culture and how things have evolved. You know, I've done a lot of reading too as the older you get,
(14:36):
you get to these plateaus. What depends what it doesn't depend, it doesn't matter what career you
in. You get to these plateaus and you've got advance. You've got advance. And talking to what we
said in the last little segment there, I've found in some of the best business development people
(14:57):
that I've been around and sales people, if there's one thing that is consistent throughout that,
is when an operator comes to you or when a vendor comes to you or somebody that is hiring you to
(15:17):
do some work for them, you have to be really honest with them. They don't want to pay you
for lies. You can give them lies and you can get paid and that's a three month contract.
Or you can tell them the real truth because they're coming to you because they think you know what you're
talking about. And it might hurt in the beginning, but in the end it's beneficial for them. And I
(15:44):
prefer to do that and I've lost some clients like that, but they have come back to me. So in terms of
leaders, I find that the leaders that I work with in the companies have to, you know, I deal with CEOs
in super majors, I deal with CEOs in very high end vendor based companies, service companies.
(16:07):
And I find, and I think we were talking about this previously last week,
they're very good at knowing what they don't know. And I think that's really important for a leader.
You have to be able to defer to the expert in the room at the right time or else you're really in
(16:29):
trouble and you can get in a lot of trouble. Some of the best sales people I know are just focused on
really niche things and that's all they know to sell and they will make sure that their clients know
that and then their clients come back to them and they have a great relationship. In my business right
now at MercSales, I know a lot about a little and if I don't know because I only know that little,
(16:57):
I am one degree or six degrees of Kevin Bacon separation away from putting you in touch with a person
who does. So fear not, even if I don't know, I do know how to get you to the person who does know if
that makes sense. Yeah, absolutely. I think that makes a lot of sense. I think, you know,
that whole analogy, fake it till you make it doesn't work in sales because people really
(17:21):
yeah, they really sense when you're you know, you're not being straightforward with that.
You know, you might be able to trick some of the CEOs temporarily but over time people can sense it
and they it just doesn't work and I know, you know, I've been in sales for a long time. I've led people
(17:42):
for a long time. It's a lot of pressure right now in today's world to make sales, to lead people.
It's a very unique time in our world. I find I want to get some of your insights on, you know,
balancing selling high performance, going out and getting getting the business with, you know,
(18:05):
mental health, your wellness, so you're not, you know, burning out and struggling on, you know,
I find that sometimes people spend their career making a bunch of money, then they get the money
and then they're spending that money on getting their health back. So what we're I want to talk about
(18:26):
is how do we manage and juggle that so we're not spending our money to recover our health?
Well, one of the benefits of being in any type of sales or business development role is you are,
you are somewhat your own boss and you're in control of your time a lot more. It's not a 9 to 5 factory
job. It's a 24/7 job. So if you are a self-starter and you can compartmentalize and do work in bursts,
(18:57):
it's somewhat easier on your overall psyche and I don't think there's as much burnout. I will say I
have worked for employers where they were publicly traded companies. They were running their business
from quarter to quarter to quarter and the last week before the quarter and the earnings
announcements came out as a sales director, super stressful. And that's not really, it is definitely
(19:25):
not a way to sell because all of our clients knew that and they knew they could hold out and wait
and get a big best deal at the end of the month type thing car salesman type stuff.
So yeah, I have gotten away from that style of selling. It just doesn't work. It's very,
it's very transactional and commodity driven. So luckily I don't do that. Have you ever watched a movie
(19:51):
with Hugh Grant in it? It was called A Boat-A-Boy. I have it. Tell us about it. So Hugh Grant's halfway
through his career. He had already done Notting Hill. He was successful. He took on this project.
It was set in London and he was a failed musician, songwriter. And he had one hit song and everybody
(20:15):
knew him for that one hit song. He had a lot of money and he basically had no ambition. So after he made
that money, he had in front of him the prospect of just living off the money and not doing anything
ever again. And he was very selfish, very introspective and the interesting thing in how it relates to sales
(20:40):
is he literally had nothing to do every day. So he devised a program to keep himself from going crazy
because he was so bored. So he would live his life in one hour or half hour segments. So he knew that
getting a haircut was one hour and he knew that if he built a haircut into his week, he could take
(21:02):
that block and it would always be there and he would have some semblance of sanity. And he built all
these blocks like lunch was an hour meeting this guy was half an hour all this stuff. That is kind of how
sales is you have to focus on blocks of time and be very, very productive and very efficient very
quickly and then there's a lot of time that's downtime. So you have to learn to maneuver these blocks
(21:26):
so that you have this continuous workflow in your in your sales life and you can have days where
you're going super hard and then you can have days where hardly anything seems to be happening but what
you're doing is you're building the blocks later down that week that month when you get the meetings,
(21:46):
when people get back to you and then you really have to rush and hurry. So it's kind of fun that way
if you like working in bursts it's a great job. So mental health wise getting back to that question
you have to kind of have you have to be able to tell yourself that everything's going okay even when
there is nothing happening around you. You cannot affect when a customer or a company will get
(22:15):
back to you and you have to be able to be okay with that. Yeah I love that you talked about the blocks.
I think that's a really good point. I think a lot of times I know I've experienced it myself in sales
where you know I shut down my inbox like I literally shut the inbox down and so I can do exactly
(22:41):
what you said I could focus on what my plan I need to put a plan together and I need to focus
and what's really interesting to me and maybe you can talk a little bit about this is we've become a
like a world that needs everything immediately right now today. You started today's your first day,
where's your sales. And so what you were saying is such an important point if you're not managing
(23:06):
yourself and leading yourself and working in blocks you're getting to the end of the month
because you're only answering emails taking calls you're you're not really working your plan
and solving the clients problems to make the sales. So I think that's such a really good nugget is
working in blocks in managing yourself because if you don't you can get kind of caught up in the
(23:31):
minutiae of paperwork answering all these emails of all these popups we're getting I know I'm
subscribed to like a thousand things that I've never subscribed to nowadays with you know people
scanning my bag to conferences or or what have you but I want to I want to kind of talk a little
(23:51):
bit about what you started to talk about is leading yourself as a sales person and how one could do that.
Give me a little more insight leading in what sense because really as like you were saying at the
beginning if if you're a doer you're boss is saying I need you to do this thing by Friday when you're
(24:16):
in sales how you're measured is what you're selling right so there's not like okay Melissa was
online at eight and she she finished at five it sales really if you're a salesperson you're closing
deals if you're not closing deals therefore you're on a salesperson so in sales you have to really
lead yourself manage yourself so let's talk about how a salesperson could lead themselves and what
(24:43):
strategies they need to have in play to be a good salesperson. Well I think I'll ask you this question
before I answer the one you want me to answer do you think sales people are created from nature or from
nurture? I think sales well I would not identify as a salesperson I was like you I was you know a
(25:12):
technical person I was an introverted kind of doer and on paper nobody would have hired me as a
salesperson because I was an engineer and an introvert so I was grown as a salesperson but like you
I had the technical knowledge to communicate with people therefore it made me a very dangerous sales
(25:38):
person. Right right I think in upstream specifically in the oil and gas industry I was just on a call
with a client today and she's a CEO and she needs some sales support and marketing support and she's
technically very good at selling her product but she's not really good at like opening doors getting
(26:01):
in to do the sale and following up so that's where you know she might need my company. It's
to me I think there is no need for a salesperson in upstream oil and gas. What there is is a need for
people who have been doing the science of upstream oil and gas whether they're geophysicists,
(26:25):
drilling engineers, reservoir engineers, geologists but who are tired or burnt out from that part of
their of their job and are just curious and just like to talk because that to me really is how you
how you get things done in oil and gas you ask a lot more questions and listen a lot more than you talk
(26:49):
and eventually the person across the table from you will come back to what you were there to do which is
to kind of enlighten them on what your company does. Maybe it's a fit maybe it's a nod.
So the nature and nurture thing is very interesting because I've handled a lot of
(27:10):
a lot of I've inherited a lot of sales people in my time as a sales director and I've been a sales
person for sales directors and as a sales director I also have a boss which is usually the CEO
and kind of the reason why I started Merck Sales is when you're doing it right it seems like it's
(27:32):
a job that doesn't need to be there all the time. When you're doing it wrong it seems like an
awfully tough job and there's somewhere in between where it's just the right type of job. So when I'm
really good at selling I'm not selling it all and the bosses in the past that have paid me a lot of
money to work for them have thought that it breaks not doing much that seemed way too easy for what he
(27:55):
brought in. That is actually when you're at your peak of selling it's kind of like watching Michael
Phelps swim you're like it doesn't look that hard he's just going through the water but it is
and you're just doing it on auto and making it look fun but there's a lot like for example
(28:17):
when I take clients golfing my wife will say oh you went golfing again oh what a great life.
Let me tell you some of my clients I would rather talk to a bag of hammers and they have the same
personality. Four hours in a golf cart on a lonely strip of grass with somebody who doesn't want to
(28:38):
be engaged that's work. I don't care a thousand dollars an hour is too little for that type of job.
So you have to be curious you have to be knowledgeable and that's about it and then you get in
and the sale will take care of itself. Yeah I think that's a really another fantastic point.
(29:01):
It made me think back when I was a young engineer and the field the actual doers were saying
you need to get out in the field to see how to actually do this as opposed to shooting your
education to the thing it's going to just magically show up but it's like you were just saying with
sales is a lot of time people looking out into good sales people they want to make judgment on how
(29:27):
they're selling and how they're getting deals and a lot of people think oh it's so easy to do sale
they just magically come and I think the one secret to sales is exactly what you said at the beginning.
Sales isn't sale that's a relationship and kind of correlating it back to what you're saying now is
(29:48):
sitting and talking to people that don't want to talk to you and getting information out of them
is like wizard stuff right because a lot of people like you were also saying if they're beginning
like a car salesman or how we deal with being sold to nobody wants to tell the car salesman
(30:10):
all the information the car salesman needs to get the information out of the person
and so being so shut down from your vendors actually hinders company companies long term
but it's really up to the sales people to get that information like you were saying on the golf
course you're sitting there asking questions getting information from someone and he's like one word
(30:37):
answering you right yeah and and I think we were talking about that in the pre-call too and we
are both an agreement and I think this is important the industry knows this you know the operators
rely on the vendors to to be successful the vendors are stalking the kitchen that the operators have
(30:58):
built in their house so an operator might have the best kitchen in the world but if they don't have a
microwave or they don't have the right knives or they don't have a fridge that works they ain't
making a meal yet there's this common theme where the operators don't tell the vendors what they really
want or they do this dance where they make it so hard for the vendors to find out exactly what they need
(31:23):
I've many times thought there's got to be a better way there's got to be and you know sometimes
that's my job is to be the broker between the two but I almost feel like there should be a job
out there in upstream oil and gas and this applies to like say military for contracts procurement
big big bids big deals like we have requests for bids and proposals that are hundreds of pages long
(31:48):
right and they they outline the drilling the completions the geology all the stuff that they need
I almost feel like instead of me picking up the phone as a vendor and trying to get a hold of my
expiration manager for the hundredth time and he doesn't want to talk to me he doesn't want to pick
up that phone even though he knows he's got to make a decision on say hiring or picking up a piece
(32:12):
of equipment for this job that's about to come up instead of all this you know I've always thought
what if there was a way where an operator or a group of operators would perform a consortium
and they would pick one broker say in the city of Dallas there's one broker that they give all of
their war plans to so this broker knows when the wells are starting how many wells are going to be
(32:37):
what services they need and all of that and then he holds an open an open call he he rents out a
convention center and holds an open call and says today it's like a casting session
today we're going to be casting for the role of xyz and you line up in all of these lines
(32:58):
and you lay out all of the requirements for the role of wireline logging so now the now the salesman's
kind of taken out of the picture the salesman doesn't have to talk to the expiration manager anymore
because the expiration manager has already given that broker all the information that he wants on his
desk the broker interviews all of these actors and then picks the top three actors for every category
(33:23):
then brings it back to the operator and says you didn't have to do any of that I've dealt with
crazy people I've dealt with smart people I've dealt with people in the middle and I've picked the
top three in every category now it's up to you and your team to look at the prices to look at the
service and make your choice that kind of sounds like a way to do it too right? Yep I love that you
(33:48):
said that I think that's such a good point um but that I great point right I I've been on so many
RFP processes where the client has 150 companies submitting for a whatever and they're just
just too much they're just taking it all day long they're getting fired out. Yes and your point is
(34:11):
spot on pick a number of vendors give them you know definitely don't just go with one like I agree
with you I think get more than one quote you know do your due diligence yeah then give them the
opportunity to know what the operator is thinking half of the battle in sales is figuring out what
(34:31):
your client wants right and they don't always give that to you unless you're good at getting it from them
100% like I know a lot of times in my space I put things that were not in an RFP in the RFP
of value add and and the clients are like yes can we have more of that and we want just because I
(34:53):
added something in an RFP that wasn't even part of the RFP and so you know I that's such a good point
I think you know don't give all your vendors some information so they can best serve you the more you
give them the better they can rally around what you need I think if we're playing this guessing game
(35:17):
you know it's like going to the doctor if you go to the doctor and you don't tell your doctor
what your symptoms are they can't diagnose you and properly treat you and so think of it that way
and I think the better you'll get from your the more you'll get from your your providers and so that's
kind of what you know what I've done with Mercsales and what I've done in all all of my jobs in the past is
(35:39):
I indirectly know what the operators need even if they're not telling me and then I can I can clutch
down or clutch up and talk to the vendors in a specific way to make sure that they might have what
what is needed or might not so we can be a valuable asset to the operator to call the herd before
(36:04):
the herd runs them over and conversely we can be very beneficial to vendors and their sales teams
as one of my favorite sales guys always told me the second best response I want from anybody is no
right because if you're telling me no it means I'm not wasting my time selling to you anymore
and I can go on to somebody who needs my services so if I can do that on the on behalf of the
(36:29):
operators to vendors and say you're not right for this job but I'll tell you there's another job
that might be perfect for you and they're doing this up in the balkan where they're down you know in
Eagleford you might want to talk to these people so I like being that in between and helping both sides
you know make some money such great insights just and I want to ask you any final thoughts or anything
(36:57):
that you want to share about sales listeners um no not really I think I think the the industry is
is morphing though and I think what's happening just like the professional careers like the geologist
the geophysicist the petrophysicist the the reserves uh engineer we are we are peace-mealing as an
(37:23):
industry these jobs and they are no longer becoming salaried positions they're becoming project
based positions and I think that's actually beneficial so for the people out there who are in sales
and for the people out there who are in sciences for upstream um don't worry if you if you don't
(37:47):
have a full-time salary guaranteed job because um you can make more than you're already making
as like a consultant or a freelancer if if you're if you're doing the right things and doing the
networking so so stay connected attend your local societies um and uh and just do more for other people
(38:11):
than than you expect them to do for yourself and you'll have you'll have success
that's great Justin now how can we connect with you how can our listeners connect with you and
where could they find you so uh the best way is linkedin is my tool of choice and my phone to be honest
I love just being on the phone you can call me and text me so you go to linkedin and you can find
(38:35):
me on there and then you can also see our uh business page on linkedin mercenary sales and we're
in the process of redoing our website and you can find that on linkedin as well so um I'm sure you
will have some on the bottom of this podcast as well emails to contact me with and that's about it
pretty simple. Justin I want to thank you so much for being here and sharing your time and your
(38:58):
knowledge and with them with our listeners that's the executive connect podcast.
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com