AI, Consistency, & the Power of Follow-Up with Syndi Sim

Episode Transcript
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Stefanie Couch (00:00):
The most important thing that you can do
as a personal brand is build onethat stands out, because if AI
levels the playing field, youronly competitive advantage now
is your company brand and yourpersonal brand.

Syndi Sim (00:14):
AI.
I think is one of the best usesin the marketing realm is the
follow-up, whether it'sfollow-up for emails, mass email
, follow-up on personal emails,follow-up on texts.
What is so crucial is theconsistency in the follow-up.

There is an in-between where we can use
humans and use AI, and thehumans that make AI products or
that use them every day will bethe ones that rule in five to 10
years in the market.
The ones that rule in five to10 years in the market.
Welcome to the Grit BlueprintPodcast, the show for bold
builders, brand leaders andlegacy makers in the
construction and buildingindustry.
I'm your host, Stefanie Couch,and I've been in this industry

(00:59):
my entire life.
Whether we're breaking downwhat's working in sales and
marketing, new advances in AIand automation, or interviewing
top industry leaders, you'regoing to get real-world
strategies to grow your business, build your brand and lead your
team.
Let's get to work.

(01:20):
Welcome to the Grit Blueprintpodcast.
I'm Stefanie Couch.
I'm the founder of GritBlueprint.
I'm an AI strategist and amarketing leader in the building
industry.
I've spent the last 30 years ofmy business really growing in
my dad's lumberyard and then ina Fortune 500 company, and now I
get to help other companiesleverage things like AI and

(01:41):
marketing to build their brands.
And today I'm super excitedbecause I'm talking to one of my
favorites,

Syndi Sim (01:48):
Syndi

Sim, and we're going to intro you in just a few
minutes, Syndi, thank you forjoining me on the show.
This show is exciting to mebecause it's one of my favorite
topics sales which I've loved mywhole life and I know you have
too, so this is going to be areally good one.

Syndi Sim (02:01):
Thank you so much, Stefanie.
It's an absolute pleasure to behere with you today.

I'm really excited Me too.
If you work in the buildingmaterials industry, the glass
industry or the constructionworld, this podcast is really
for you.
We're going to be talking aboutreal strategies that you can
implement today to sell more, togrow your business and your
career and stand out in anindustry that often is pretty
hard to stand out in.
So we're going to get startedwith some no fluff advice that

(02:28):
really works and, as I said,today we're talking about sales
and business developmentspecifically in the glass and
building industry, which, if youdon't know, is a field that is
over 1.5 trillion in the USalone.
It is a big space.
There is a lot of money, a lotof people play in this space and
it's also a very old schoolindustry, as we know, and a lot

(02:52):
of times, deals come down to alot more than just price.
It's about trust, it's aboutrelationships, and you've got to
be really smart to handlethings like objections and
really stay top of mind, andthat is why today I invited my
guest, Syndi Sim, who is anamazing sales leader.
She is the director of salesand business development at

(03:12):
Q-Railing, which is a companyknown for their top quality
railing systems.
We actually have met atmultiple events through the NGA
and you are a board member thereand you are not only selling
products and really building thefuture, but you're helping
shape the future of the industrythrough the NGA and a lot of
your work that you're doing.
And as if that wasn't enough,Syndi is also a confidence coach

(03:34):
for women and she helps otherprofessionals grow in their
lives and their careers.
So welcome to the show.
You know how to build salesstrategies and I'm excited to
talk to you about all of thesetopics today.

Syndi Sim (03:45):
Thank you so much.
Wow.
Thank you, Stefanie.
I'm thrilled to be here and Iecho your sentiment.
I've had such the opportunity.
I'm grateful to have met youthrough the industry events and
it is bringing women together,showing the industry what we can
accomplish, how we go about itand really just setting the path

(04:05):
for the future.
So again, thank you for havingme Absolutely.

In this industry we talk a lot about
relationship building andthere's a lot of books, there's
a lot of podcasts.
Everyone talks aboutrelationship building and sales
and it is important.
I personally like the solutionsselling base, where you're
actually helping customers anddecision makers and businesses
really trust you through thesolutions you're selling.
I really want to know what aresome of the most effective

(04:31):
strategies that you have foundthroughout your career for
really building and establishingtrust in these real trustworthy
sectors where people they get avendor, they stick with a
vendor until you mess up.
How do you break into theserelationships with people?
And you're a hallmarkrelationship builder, so I can't
wait to hear what you have tosay here.

Syndi Sim (04:51):
Well, thank you again .
I think, honestly, one of themost important, really, the key
is doing what you say you'regoing to do.
It's as simple as that.
I know that sounds cliche, butlet me expand.
If you do what you say you'regoing to do, by virtue of being
consistent in your follow-up,being genuine to who you are,

(05:16):
showing that you're trustworthy,it does come around to a solid
foundation of a successfulpartnership and relationship.
And when you do what you sayyou're going to do, it is far
more than most people do.
Okay.
So I know that sounds like wow,you know it's as simple as that

(05:39):
, but it is.
You know, and you'll hear metalk more, probably throughout
the podcast, about theimportance of consistency.
But consistency in life, andespecially consistency in
business there is nothing moreimportant.
And when you show up for yourcustomers, your clients, your
you know your suppliers, yourcolleagues, when you show up

(06:03):
consistently with a positiveattitude, genuine to you, who
you are, the relationships willcome and then the sales will
come.
If you don't start out with afoundation of trust and doing
what you say you're going to do,the sales will not come.
It's as simple as that.
Be consistent in what you sayyou're going to do and follow up

(06:24):
and you'll see.
The proof is in the pudding.

Yeah, I couldn't love that more, because my word
of the year is consistency.

Syndi Sim (06:32):
I'm a pretty consistent person.

You know I always try to do what I say I'm
going to do, but as anentrepreneur and a person who's
doing a lot of different thingsand going a lot of different
places, we're all busy Things.
Busy Things really do sometimesjust slip through the cracks,
and it's about figuring out whatcan I say yes to that I really
need to say yes to for myself,for my clients, for the people

(06:55):
that I care about buildingrelationships and business with,
and how do I make sure that Isay no to things that I don't
need to be saying yes to becausethey distract from my mission
of that focus point, right?
So it's like focus plusconsistency is the hallmark of
everything being successfulthroughout your life, personal
or professionally, and I thinkmost people are really, really

(07:17):
bad at consistency.
You know New Year's resolutionsare usually done by January
17th, and so it's.
How do you pick a small amountof things that you're going to,
like you said, actually show upand do so?
I love that.
I think it is so important, andone thing that I'll say is I
like to be thinking about myclient's business.
When they're not knowing thatI'm thinking about it, how can I

(07:41):
solve something for them or bethinking about a thing.
I see a product, even if itdoesn't have something to do
with what I sell.
There might be a solution thathas literally nothing to do with
me.
One example is like an ERPsoftware.
I don't sell ERPs, I don't wantto sell ERPs, but I know a lot
about them because I've been inthe game for so long and dealt
with a lot of different ones.

(08:01):
Along and dealt with a lot ofdifferent ones, and if I know
there's somebody that I can sayhey, you might want to go check
this software out and let mehelp do an intro for you.
It's thinking about solutionsfor them that will help make
their business better, or fortheir clients to have a better
experience when they don't payyou to do it.
That's how you really buildtrust and you're not just doing

(08:21):
it to build trust.
You're doing it because youwant to help them make their
business better.
It's a symbiotic relationship,a hundred percent.

Syndi Sim (08:29):
You know, I think one of the things that you just hit
upon is that a lot of peoplereach out to me to say hey, you
know people in the industry, I'mlooking to hire a salesperson
or I'm looking to hire an opsmanager.
So I a hundred percent agreethat this is the finest sense of
being a networker and usingyour resources and building

(08:51):
these foundations in theindustry.
And then I have people comingto me and saying gosh, I'm
looking for work.
And if I know them and if I'mwilling to risk my reputation to
send the resume, you know itspeaks volume.
So I always willing to help outsomebody else in the industry.
Most recently I had aphenomenal company and a

(09:13):
phenomenal person reach out tome to say I'm selling equipment
and I can you help me?
Just put the word out in theindustry.
And you know what a wonderfulthing for me to be that, that
liaison, and it has taken a longtime.

None of this happens overnight, you know 11
years in the industry.

Syndi Sim (09:32):
But it is about building those relationships and
helping one another.
You know, and what can we do tohelp one another in this
industry?
We're all in it to win but alsohelping each other along the
way.

So you said it well and knowing that, like
everything is not going to betransactional and it shouldn't
be, because if every single timeyour phone is calling my phone
and I'm like, oh, here's Syndito hassle me for whatever she
wants again, eventually I'mgoing to stop answering the
phone, or vice versa.
So it's figuring out how do youadd enough value?

(10:05):
I always like there's no 50-50or you know whatever, but how do
I always give more than I'mtaking from a client, from a
friend, from an acquaintance,from a speaking engagement, no
matter where I am, I would loveto say I'm giving 10x what they
paid for.
You know, that's always what mygoal is.
It's like that's hard to do,right?

(10:26):
I mean, if you charge a $10,000for something, they better get
$100,000 with the value out ofit, because in the end, that's
how you continue to get people,that's leverage, that's
compounding interest, which youknow Warren Buffett says the
most valuable thing we can have.
And there is a lot of leveragethat can be gained in
relationships by making surethat you're always on the short

(10:48):
end of the stick.
And I know that sounds crazy,but at the end of the day it
will come out in the wash and itwill probably be in your favor
and if not, then maybe that'snot a relationship you want to
continue in any way.
If you don't ever get anythingout of it, if it really is one
sided on their end, then maybeit's not the best fit for you.
You don't have to sell everyone.

(11:08):
I think that might be like thebiggest lesson.
Yeah, I agree.
Well, the next thing I want totalk about is really price, and
so I hate commodity productsbecause I just don't like
selling them.
I like selling custom stuff,high end stuff.
That's what my business isbuilt around.
My dad's business was builtaround it.
But there are a lot of productsout there that are very

(11:29):
commodity driven in our industry, lumber's one of them.
There's a lot of differentthings.
It's like, hey, this is theprice and you go a whole lot
higher.
It's really tough, and I waslistening to something the other
day, actually an audio book,and it was talking about there's
really no advantage to beingthe second cheapest person or
even the person that's in themid market.

(11:50):
You either got to be thecheapest and run on that, or you
should try to be a premiumproduct, which is kind of a
weird psychology, right, but thelowest bid often does win in
this industry and if you'realways competing on price,
margin starts to erode.
Problems start to happen.
If you have one little slip up,you have nothing left in the
project to take care of that.

(12:12):
But most of the top salespeoplethat I know, and I'm sure that
you would agree, they have someway to compete on something
other than price.
So how do you do that?
How do you go out in acommodity driven industry,
oftentimes where a few penniescould get the yes or no, and you
fight for more and you get moremargin for your value.

Syndi Sim (12:33):
Well, I think one of the most important things and
you actually said it is do notsell on price and you have to
have a differentiator and youhave to believe in your
differentiation to the market.
And with Q-Railing and I'mincredibly proud of this our
differentiation is that we offerproduct-based solutions.

(12:55):
Okay, so a really a cradle tograve approach.
And I think what's important asthat is, we come in as the
glass railing expert, we come inwith shot drawings, engineering
, prefab and glass.
There's not a lot of you knowrailing specialists that come in
with glass.
So we come in, we handhold theglazer, we handhold them through

(13:20):
the process, through the codesand the regulations, and we do a
cradle to grave approach.
And you would not believe, whenyou come to the table solving
their pain point, you give themthe entire project solution all
in one package.
It's a done deal because and Idon't want to simplify it as

(13:42):
much as we're not selling onprice, we're selling on value.
I believe in the value-basedselling approach.
That has to also do withrelationships.
So you're providing a value.
It's not on price, because, Ido agree, if you're talking
about price, it's going topossibly devalue your brand.
But when you come to the tablewith a solution, and let me tell

(14:04):
you you probably know this morethan a lot of people the
industry is craving a fullproject solution, specifically
the railing industry.
The folks are desperate foreducation, they are desperate to
have a partner in railing tohelp them get over the hurdles,
the humps, and once they seethat we can provide the glass,

(14:27):
it's a game changer.
And so, having now been atQ-Railing almost seven months, I
believe that it is all aboutselling the full project
solutions, and when you showthem what we are capable of,
they're like oh, my goodness,we've been looking for this,
we've been looking for a single,like a single supplier.

(14:48):
We can do it all in one fellswoop.
And so that is what I believein selling and doesn't
necessarily, at that point,matter.
On price yeah, price is veryimportant, but when you're
selling them a completedsolution packet and these people
are so grateful, yeah, sograteful, absolutely, you know.

I want to unpack that a little bit.
Yes, please, because here's afew things that I heard from you
that I love.
So the first thing is you aresaving people time in a myriad
of ways, really.
Number one, by not having tosearch for does this fit that
and work with this?
And if I do this thing, doesthis void the warranty on this?
And then all these things thathappen when you start to mix and

(15:31):
match products right that arenot made to go together by the
same manufacturer.
So, number one, you're savingthem time on that and probably
money, because it's a one sizefits all kit.
And then, secondarily, if youhaven't ever had the pain of
ordering something and it'swrong because this thing was
supposed to be compatible withthis other thing and then it
didn't work, yeah, that's notfun, and I sold windows and

(15:55):
doors and millwork for a longtime.
I still have a ton of clientsin that space.
And if you order the wrongthing and it delays a job by a
week, three weeks, five weeks,it doesn't matter the cost, the
time is what kills you.
I mean time is money.
So there's so much savingsthere.
And then you mentioned education.

(16:16):
So I want to just really hit onthat, because I believe the two
biggest problems in ourindustry right now are education
, the lack thereof, and alsoinnovation, and so I think
really combining those two isthe solution with the innovation
on the product side, for youguys having a one shop stop, and

(16:38):
then also you're educatingpeople and then using things
like AI or videos.
We need to educate people theway we want to learn.
Nobody's going to read a 15page, front and back 12 point
font pamphlet that you made in1993 about how to install your
thing.
They're just not going to do it.
I'm sorry, but I'm not going toeither.

(16:58):
So how do we make somethingpeople will actually watch,
learn?

Syndi Sim (17:03):
from.
Well, it's funny you say that,because one of the things that I
found, by coming here toQ-Railing as well, is we go out
into the field a lot.
I have an amazing sales teamand I call them our boots on the
ground and it's so important togo in front of the customers
and do a demonstration and whenwe do this Bay Shoe

(17:23):
demonstration it is like youshould see these folks.
They're so wide eyed, they'reso excited.
You know, these women and theseguys love touching the product.
They like to see and feel theproduct.
They like to feel the weight ofthe base shoe, of the standoffs
, they like to see the entireinstallation process.

(17:43):
When you are in front of aprospect, a large glazer showing
them how easy it is to installour product, and they can touch
and feel and we have the videosand we have everything they need
to be successful.
And, Stefanie, going back toyour point about saving time and
money, I have to quickly tellyou that just last week we were

(18:07):
at an industry event and a veryimportant, very large glazer
came up to me and said, Syndi, Iwas a bit skeptical of you and
your new product.
And I said, really.
And he said but our installersaid it was the best they've
ever seen.
It was a game changer.
And he said you saved me timeand money in the field.

(18:30):
Yeah, and it's exactly what yousaid.
When you show the customer thebenefit back to them, you show
the easy installation, you'reface to face with them.
You're building the foundationof a partnership, you're
building the foundation of trust.
You're building the foundationof trust, you're showing them

(19:05):
that we can work together to besuccessful, all the while
educating them.
Have a differentiation, becausewe go in and we do the whole
you know, dog and pony show tomake them feel confident, make
them feel that we have theirback and we will solve their
pain points.
And that point you know.
We're educating them along theway and we're going to have a

(19:25):
win-win ratio at the end of theproject.
So, again, it is abouteducating the industry about
railing projects and railingproducts, because I know there
is a huge architectural trendwith railing.
Glass railing is being speccedeverywhere and so it's only

(19:46):
going to increase.
So why not educate ourcustomers?

along the way.
Absolutely, and you know, Ithink more people should be
thinking about the turnkey model.
I talk to my clients all thetime that are.
I have a lot of window and doordistribution clients that are
selling to either homeowners orselling to contractors and
builders, or selling tocontractors and builders.
But even with these reallyhigh-end window and door

(20:10):
products that like bi-foldingdoors and all of these pivot
doors and these crazy thingsthat the average installer may
have never used, they may havenever seen, they may have never
wanted to touch because they arehard, if you can allow them to
hang this single you knowexterior back door and maybe
allow them to do the interiorsand the trim and all that, but
you come in and handle that 20foot sliding you know bi-folding

(20:33):
door on the very back patio.
That could be something that'sa competitive differentiator
because they don't want to messwith it.
Or second option is you findcontractors that you can trust,
help educate them the right wayand then they are a partner for
you as a distributor.
But a lot of what we're hearingis from a homeowner perspective
and I totally agree andunderstand this.

(20:53):
They don't want to have to gofind a place to buy the door.
They find the right door, andthen they got to stop and try to
find a person to install itthat they can trust, that isn't
going to show up and take themto the cleaners or mess
something up that's going toleak or whatever it is, and then
they probably have to find aprefinisher to paint it, stain
it, whatever.

(21:14):
So now you've got like four orfive people involved in this
process.
If you can take away thefriction and say you know what,
we'll prefinish that in thefactory so you don't have to
touch it.
We will install it with ourcrew or our contractors that are
, you know, installers for usthat we know are great and
they're going to be a great,reasonable price and all those
things, and we will do all ofthat and make sure it's good.

(21:38):
How could the homeowner say ohwell, you're $5 too high, you're
$20 higher, you're $500 higher,you've taken all that friction
away.
So I mean, I have this writtenon my computer how do I reduce
friction every single day for mycustomers?
And that trickles down to theircustomers.
And if you're not askingyourself that, if you're not
saying how can I make thisprocess less painful for them?

(22:00):
That's right.
You're missing the whole pointof sales, and it's got to
continue to innovate, becausewhat you fix now will be a
different problem in six months,18 months, with AI, it might be
a different problem.
That's right.

Syndi Sim (22:14):
We don't know.
That's right.
It's so interesting and I knowI don't want to keep going on
this, but historically theindustry has you buy your glass
here and you buy your hardwarehere, and that's historically
how the industry has been.
Well, exactly to your point,you can get it all from us and I
am telling you, Stefanie, ithas made a world of difference.

(22:37):
People don't want to do thatanymore, and so you're starting
to see the slow change.
But we are a turnkey solutionand it is incredible.
When we tell people this,they're like oh, my goodness,
you just solved so many of myproblems.
So absolutely turnkey is thefuture.

I agree, couldn't agree more, and I even
think the more manufacturers canfigure out how to.
I'm always saying, like threadthe channel all the way down
with one common thread.
You may not be the one doingthe installation, but you have
partners and all these thingsthat loyalty programs and that
are sticky.
It makes people want to keepcoming back and the products are
great and the service is greatand you're handling it all.

(23:18):
Why would they go look anywhereelse?
You know, if I have a favoritething, a favorite brand, and we
are so brand loyal as humans wedon't like change really, and so
if we are so brand loyal, thenif you can get a solution,
that's awesome and your customerservice and all that experience
is powerful.
Good luck getting them to leaveLike you are gonna have a

(23:40):
sticky product and a stickysolution and that is the best
thing in sales.
I love that.
Yep.
Well, I'm gonna pivot a littlebit from that hands-on customer
service-based thing that isstill so important in our
industry to artificialintelligence.
So AI is one of my favoritetopics.
I speak it.
I've spoken at Glassfield aboutit, spoken at BEC, done a lot

(24:02):
of things in the industry andother places about AI, because
everybody is kind of scared ofit and also intrigued and
curious by it.
Right, it's kind of the animalthat's in the cage that you
don't know if you should likelet out and cuddle with or keep
in the cage because it might eatyou, right?
And I'm still not 100% sure ifthe answer is one or the other,

(24:24):
but what I do know is it's hereand the companies that are
embracing it.
The people that are embracingit are going to have a strong
competitive edge in the nextyear to five years.
Before the other people decideto start playing with it,
they're going to be already inthe weeds with experts making
their customer experience andtheir quality better with these

(24:46):
tools and their quality betterwith these tools.
It can do so much, and I spenda lot of my time in my business
helping people automate salesfollow-ups things.
Truthfully, that our industry,but almost all other salespeople
, they're not doing.
So I like to hear this becauseit kind of makes me chuckle a
little bit.
They're like well, but this isgoing to take people's jobs.

(25:07):
I'm like, however, every singletime that I tell you I can get
you so a little bit.
They're like well, but this isgoing to take people's jobs.
I'm like, however, every singletime that I tell you I can get
you so many more leads, you'relike, well, who's going to
handle those leads?
Because your salespeople aren'tgoing to do it.
So you know that, I know it,they know it and that's okay.
Let them go do the thing thatonly they can do, that only a
human can do Shaking hands,talking to the people, doing all

(25:28):
those things like you talkedabout in person.
Those are so important to ourbusiness and will continue to be
.
Let the humans do that.
Let the AI send that automatedemail or text sequence saying,
hey, how was this product?
Can you give me a review?
Or haven't heard from you in afew weeks what's going on and I
love what's coming with AI.

(25:50):
I'm also scared by a little bit, but I'm in it, like I'm going
to be the one that is on theforefront and I mean, you know,
I don't know where you stand onit.
So what role do you see AIplaying in the future of,
specifically, sales and biz devin our industry?
Because obviously that's bothof our real expertise.

Syndi Sim (26:10):
Absolutely so.
I'm a huge fan of it and Ithink you know, one of the most
important aspects that you know,we've we've talked about, you
know, throughout this podcast sofar, is the follow-up and our
sales team.
Their number one job is to beout in the field seeing
customers and I ask them of that, you know, three to four days a

(26:32):
week.
Be in front of the sales, infront of the customers, that is
your job.
Therefore, ai what it can dowhile they are out in the field
is the follow up, is themarketing.
Emails is the.
You know, can I do anything foryou Because I always look at
marketing and AI, I think is oneof the best uses in the

(26:55):
marketing realm is the follow-up, whether it's follow-up for
emails, follow-up on personallike a mass email, follow-up on
personal emails, follow-up ontexts.
You know, what is so crucial isthe consistency in the follow up
, and what happens is you go toa face to face meeting and

(27:16):
you're busy out there.
You're busy chasing business,you're busy doing a million
things that you don't have thetime to follow up.
And when you can use AI in themarketing aspect to follow up on
all your prospects and yourcurrent customers, there is
nothing better.
And this is where I say let AIdo the work for you while you

(27:38):
are in the field.
Generally, as you said,salespeople are individuals.
They can't do it all.
Okay.
So when you set up an AIplatform to go out there and do
the follow-up and also makingsure the current customers are
satisfied, there's nothingbetter, and you and I both know

(27:58):
keeping current customers happyis the most important thing,
while also, at the same time,getting new business.
How do you manage that?
So that's where AI can come in,and so I think AI has a huge
benefit to the industry ifpeople are willing to look at
all that it could do, especiallyto me in the sales and

(28:19):
marketing realm, specificallyunder the follow-up category,
because if you don't follow uplike I was talking about this
event we went to last week.
We had so many great contacts,so many great business cards,
but it's all for naught if wedon't follow up.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, and Ican't say it enough times to the

(28:41):
sales team follow up, follow up, follow up and the consistency
and that's where AI, I think,can absolutely be used to such a
benefit for our industry.

Also in the training.
I see it being huge and that'swhere we're going all in on that
part of it.
I mean really helping peoplewith the AI stuff from the
marketing, sales perspective,but also that training of you.
Know you get I tell this storya lot 20 year old Stefanie
wasn't in the lumber businessher whole life and she somehow
decides to apply for a jobselling doors and she doesn't

(29:16):
know anything about sales ordoors and she certainly doesn't
know how to handle the industrywith all these technical jargons
.
You know someone calls it this,someone else calls it that.
It's really the same thing.
How do you know how to hand adoor?
All these crazy things thattake years to accomplish.
All this knowledge being builtup in your mind droves out of

(29:38):
our industry that do know allthat knowledge.
Even if they're still here,they're out on the road selling,
like you just said.
They don't have time to sitwith Stefanie for 20 hours a
week for six weeks to train her.
So let's build some coursesthat are engaging, that are like

(30:01):
YouTube and TikTok videos,which is where our entire
generation and Gen Z learnseverything, and then let's build
a companion bot that helps whenyou have questions to say, hey,
I want to learn about thisrailing and I know this, but I'm
not sure what to tell thecustomer about that.
And then you've programmed inthe answers you want it to give

(30:22):
and as QRailings bot it says hey, here's the answer to that, and
I don't have to wait until thecustomer I'll call them back.
I don't have to call you orsomeone else and bother you to
ask.
There are some things thatwon't ever be easy like that,
but there are a lot of things wecan automate training on.
And then the first six weekssomebody comes in.
They've got this plan.

(30:43):
Because what happens with Gen Zand millennials is they come in
and they're excited and theywant to crush it.
And then they sit besidesomeone and have to learn by
osmosis because there's notraining program.
That's right, and it's hard.
And they're like I'm nevergoing to get all this, like how
do you know this?
Well, the answer is I know itbecause I've been doing it for

(31:04):
30 years.
That's right.
That's right.
No-transcript.

(31:37):
Now there is somebody out thereusing that fax machine and that
carbon copy paper, like my dadused to use in 1992.
Somebody's out there doing it,but they're not growing their
business exponentially.
And so if you get the rightteam and the right innovation,
it's huge.
And I want to give you thisstatistic.
This is one of my favoritestats.
So this is about follow-up,which we just talked about.

(31:59):
It blows my mind every time Isay it.
So 44% of salespeople give upafter only one follow-up.
So they meet someone at aconference, they get the
business card.
I mean honestly, I think itmight be more than that that
don't even do anything with thebusiness card.
I've been guilty.
I mean, you get a thousandpeople's names off a list
somewhere and it's hard tofollow up if you don't have a

(32:21):
personal process.
Less than 8% of salespeoplefollow up six times or more.
So 92% don't do that at alltimes, or more.
So 92% don't do that at all.
But studies show that 80% ofsales require at least six times
to get the sale.

Syndi Sim (32:41):
So 80% are in it when the actual close is most likely
to happen.

The rest have all gone to lunch or whatever
they're doing on with their nextthing in the day.
That is insane to me and alsowhat I hear when I hear that is,
if I can just keep going andfigure out a process to do this,
I will win by default.
I don't even have to be thatdamn exceptional, I can just
keep going, and I think thatmight be the secret to life

(33:06):
truly Just keep trying wheneverybody else quit.
But it is a delicate balance.
When you follow up, are you tooaggressive?
Do you call too much?
Do you not call enough?
You know what follow-upstrategies would you give maybe
a young 20-year-old Stefaniesalesperson of being persistent
without being overbearing?
And how do you make sure youare doing those follow-ups,

(33:30):
those engagements afterwards?

Syndi Sim (33:33):
sure you are doing those follow-ups, those
engagements afterwards.
Well, you know so I have heardthat stat before and I 100%
agree with it.
And so what I like to teach ortalk about, I call it like the
seven touches of sales andmarketing.
And so seven touches of salesand marketing can be anything
from a face-to-face meeting, anemail, a phone call, a LinkedIn

(33:53):
post about them, a walk-in withStarbucks coffee, you know, and
it is those types of touches.
That is again going back tosetting the foundation of trust
and doing what you say you'regoing to do, because you are
correct.
So many people don't do thefollow-up, or they do one and

(34:14):
two time follow-up, but that'snot going to close a deal.
You know, if you're reallylucky, maybe, but I believe the
long-term relationships come outof how much you put into it.

Especially big deals Like we're not talking
about you know a happy meal here.
Some of these contracts aremillions of dollars, and also
I'm glad people don't switchthose over so easily, because
once I get them I'd like to keepthem, and so if so, if I know
most people aren't going to goin eight to 10 times to try to
steal that business, I'm notquite as worried about it.

Syndi Sim (34:46):
If I know I'm still doing what I'm supposed to be
doing, that's right and, like Isaid in the previous question,
is you have to keep your currentcustomers happy.
So a current customer in mymind is the same thing.
You bring them Starbucks everyonce in a while.
You take them to lunch everyonce in a while.
You bring stuff to their team.
You let them know howappreciative you are.

(35:09):
You also, you know, help themany way you can.
It is no different with aprospect, but you have to touch
them in different ways.
I always say five to seventimes and that is showing them
what you are capable of and youare not going to give up until

(35:29):
you have the sale.
I know how hard it is to closesome deals.
I know that it could take years.
Some of these big deals takeyears.
That means you are following uponce a month and doing
something different and assalespeople we always want
something new.

(35:49):
We always need a reason to walkin the front door.
So, whether you have a newproduct or a, you know something
new.
Like you know, it's a certaintime of the season, like I'll
take in different type ofStarbucks or different kind of
cookies, depending on the season, just to have a reason to walk
in the door.
But it is consistency, it isnot giving up, it is showing

(36:14):
what you are capable of.
And again it goes back tosetting the foundation for doing
what you say you're going to do.
And if salespeople, if they'reasked to be in the field that
entire day, it is relativelysimple in my mind to stop off
and pick up something and justdrop by.
You know and I was teaching thethe newer salespeople if you

(36:38):
want to get a thing of, you knowthe crumble cookies or the
cupcakes, but you know, tapeyour business card onto it.
You know, and just you know,bring it.
Or have lunch delivered.
You know, I'm a big fan oflunch and learns, you know.
And you just have to keepshowing up.
And to go back to yourstatistic, you know, it's like

(36:58):
that in life.
You said you just don't give up, you believe in yourself, you
don't give up, and then the goodwill come without a doubt.

All the time, things happen in our markets
that we don't know about.
And what if, on that 10th time,that person just got messed up
on a job by somebody else and,like you, happen to walk in or
call or whatever, really for noreason except just to show up,
like you said, and be thatperson that, hey, when you're
ready, I'm here.

(37:28):
Hey, when you're ready, I'mhere.
Here's the solution that I'moffering and that one day might
be the time they say yes.
And so I've always said no justmeans not yet to me, and you
have to believe that to be agood salesperson.
If you don't, my husband lovesand hates that about me and
maybe one of his favoritebittersweet qualities, because I
believe that in ourrelationship also.

(37:49):
But it's true, I mean I mightsuck at something, and if I keep
showing up and I keep workingto get better at it, or if I
keep trying to figure out theangle to say, how does this
person find this valuable?
Because we can't sell everysingle person the same.
You know, I'm aCliftonStrengths coach and they
have four leading domains.

(38:10):
So if you're trying to sellsomeone who leads with executing
, which is a get it done person,versus someone who leads with
strategic thinking, who's anumbers and analytics person.
You're not going to show upwith a spreadsheet for the
executing person and say, likecan I go over this 20 page thing
and tell you why our productdata is so much better?
But if you did that for theperson that leads the strategic

(38:32):
thinking, it'd be like handingthem a cake or something, so
they love it.
So you've got to figure out alittle bit how your customer
wants you to show up as asalesperson and understand that
that's not always your naturalinclination and it may not
really be how you your lovelanguage.
I think there's actually a lotof correlation in sales between
personal relationships with lovelanguages.

(38:54):
You know, if someone lovesgifts and you don't really love
giving gifts, does that mean youdon't give them a gift if
that's the thing that makes themthe most happy?
The truth is, you should lovethem the way they want to be
loved, and I think customers arethe exact same way.
Right, it's no different 100%,just a little less romantic,
that's right.
Right, it's no different 100%,just a little less romantic,

(39:15):
that's right.
More money involved, lessromance involved it's basically
the same.

Syndi Sim (39:20):
But the psychology of humans does not change.

That's right and that's also what I love so much
about things is people thinksales is so logical and that
it's so about price and allthese things and most buying
decisions from a project managerstandpoint, product manager
standpoint or the thing you buyat the grocery store.
They have some sort ofemotional correlation and
sometimes it's totally emotionalEven when a B2B decision seems

(39:43):
more logical from the front end.
So it might be that they lovethat you come in and you have a
great attitude and you're alwayswilling to help, and the other
person that comes in sellingthis similar thing is kind of
grumpy and just isn't really funto be around.
That could be the decidingfactor.
That's not really logical, butit is enough to make someone buy
from you.
So you got to remember thatwhen you're selling.

(40:03):
Yeah, I love it, love it.
All right, let's talk personalbranding.
I am a guru for anythingpersonal branding because I
didn't even think this was athing a few years ago and it has
literally changed my life,changed my business.
I started posting on LinkedInwhen I was at my corporate job
and then I really went all inwhen I started my business and

(40:26):
it has really changed everythingfor me, and one of the biggest
things about doing that is thatit is actually a great sales
tool.
Even if you don't want to be aninfluencer which you know, we
both post on LinkedIn.
Pretty often we might could besaid that we are trying to
influence people to do things.
I always say you may not wantto be an influencer, but I sure

(40:47):
as hell want influence becausethat is what makes the world go
around.
That's right.
People often ignore LinkedInbecause they think that it's
really only for just when youwant a job or it's your online
resume.

Syndi Sim (40:59):
How do you think that sales and biz dev people,
especially in our industry, canutilize and leverage LinkedIn
and their personal brands toopen new opportunities that
otherwise wouldn't be open tothem.
Well, you know I love thistopic and you know I am I'm a
huge, huge advocate of LinkedIn.
I think it is a very underratedtool, to your point, that our

(41:23):
industry especially hadn'tutilized in so many years.
I do think the industry isgetting much better, though, but
I think they're very slow tochange.
I can tell you that I have beendoing LinkedIn consistently,
for goodness, since 07, when itwas first launched, but it
wasn't until COVID, to be honestwith you, that I really found

(41:48):
it to be such a wonderful salestool, and it was something that
would allow me to show mypersonal brand, my personal side
, my personality, as well as mysales and my business
development skills.
So I thought, gosh, something Ienjoy, something that can

(42:10):
benefit the company.
I was with, something that canbenefit me and it's a win-win
for everybody.
So over the course of COVID, Ireally just kind of did a ton of
research.
I read a lot of books.
I read, you know, how tomaximize LinkedIn and, from
educating myself, and you knowhaving a lot of fails, I believe

(42:33):
in fails because it only givesme more ammunition to be more
successful.
So, having a lot of fails onLinkedIn, I saw what works and
what doesn't work.
I am a huge believer in thesales person using LinkedIn to
get more sales.
I am convinced I'm convincedthat people love to have their

(42:57):
name in the spotlight, whetherthey use LinkedIn or not.
So when I go out in the fieldand I say can I take a picture
of this customer or prospect,99.9% of the time people are
like, yeah, let's get everybodyin it.
You know they're so excited andso people may not use it
themselves, but they like theengagement.

(43:19):
They sure as heck like to seetheir company up there.

So I get a lot of owners saying yeah, take a
picture, you know.

Syndi Sim (43:26):
And so it is not only great for your personal brand,
which I think is very importantit is up to you to sell yourself
in the industry because nobodyis going to do it for you.
At the same time, when yourepresent a company, you utilize
this business tool.
It is such an awesome tool forbusiness, tool for business, and

(43:58):
I am convinced that I was ableto get on the NGA board by
virtue of my LinkedIn profileand my LinkedIn usage that I was
able to close a lot of businessTo this day.
I get customers and prospectsreaching out to me hey, I saw
this post, you have this product, you offer this service.
It happens all the time.
If I can just convince peopleto take a little time out of

(44:19):
their day post or even havesomebody else do it for you, it
will make a difference.
I mean, Stefanie, you and I arehere.
We're proof of it.
We are proof that you use thistool and good will come and you
use it consistently and you needto be authentic, and I think

(44:42):
that's really important.
I also use the 80-20 rule and Itell this to my team all the
time 80% business, 20% personal,and I encourage all of our
sales team to go out into thefield to post pictures, to post
product information, because themore the merrier, the more

(45:04):
opportunity for Q railing NorthAmerica, the more viral
opportunities.
But the 80-20 rule, and I willtell you, when you post personal
information, it does resonatewith people.
It really does.
And a lot of people say I don'tuse this for personal, but when
you post that, people know thatyou're human and there's

(45:28):
something beautiful about thathuman connection.
And we are all human after all.
We all want the same thing, weall are going through the same
struggles, we all have ups anddowns in life and we're all out
there trying to do well forourself and our family.
And when you can come across asa thoughtful, genuine person on

(45:51):
LinkedIn, it only enhances youropportunities, not only for
yourself but for your business.
So why not use LinkedIn foryour you know, just to better
your company and yourself?

Yes, and it's also a wide, open platform still
for growth, like Instagram isso hard to grow on, that's right
.
You almost have to pay to playnow on Facebook and Instagram to
really get much traction.
The organic reach on Instagramis like 4% right now and it's
trending down all the time.
But with LinkedIn, a few thingsthat I love about it.
There's over a billion peopleon LinkedIn, but only around 5%

(46:29):
posts Like that's within a year,5% posts one time.
So the people that are postinglike us every few days, every
day, it's very rare.
So you already are standing outin a really small category.
That's Blue Ocean.
And then the second thing thatI love is that people are on
LinkedIn in a business mindset.

(46:51):
They're not looking at TikTokvideos.
They're not looking at.
You know, whatever clothingthey want to buy, whatever it is
on Instagram, they're watching.
They're on there thinking aboutbusiness.
And one thing that I like totell people the most is you are
probably going to feel a littlebit uncomfortable the first you
post and it's probably going tosuck.
Honestly, you're going to beterrible.
The copywriting is going to behorrible.
You're not going to know whatpicture to post.

(47:11):
You're not going to know whatto say.
Keep showing up, because noone's seeing that anyway.
If you have no followers, noconnections, if you're not
showing it to very many people,you're just testing for free.
And so start trying somethingand keep consistency, like you
said, is the key, because if youposted one time every day for a
month and then never postedagain, you've done nothing.

(47:32):
You've got to show up.
So if you can only show uptwice a week for a year and you
can commit that, I'm going topost two times a week per year
you can schedule those out inadvance.
So maybe you write eight postson the first part of the month
and you schedule them out.
If you can do that for a year,it will change your business.
The second thing I'll say outand about sometimes on planes,

(47:59):
sometimes at shows, I have noidea who these people are.
I really never seen thesepeople before.
Because you have the littleLinkedIn face on the picture,
you know their name.
I'll look at their name tag.
I've never remembered and Ihave a pretty good memory.
If I'd seen that person likingmy post or commenting, I would

(48:20):
probably know that right, andthey'll come up to me and say
I've been following you foryears now.
I love your content.
I really liked that post, youknow, last week or last month or
whatever and you're like thisperson is a silent lurker.
They do not like things, they donot post, they don't comment,
but they see it and theyremember it and it's gaining and

(48:43):
garnering attention, which isvaluable.
It is the most valuablecurrency that we have in our
world today.
It used to be oil, it used tobe other things like technology.
Right now it is attention, andmost of that is through social
media or things like networkingevents where you're speaking and
things like that.
So if you are undervaluing thatattention which I think is

(49:04):
LinkedIn you're losing and withAI coming to the forefront, the
most important thing that youcan do as a personal brand is
build one that stands out,because if AI levels the playing
field on things that you usedto be competitively advantaged

(49:25):
with, your only competitiveadvantage now is your company
brand and your personal brand,and most companies and personal
people spend very little timethinking about that, yet it is
the most important value assetof any company 100%.

Syndi Sim (49:41):
I couldn't agree more , without a doubt.

Well, I'm going to keep posting, and so are you,
and if you want to see us everyday, just show up on LinkedIn
and we'll probably be there orat one of the NGA events.
All right, last question foryou, and that is what are some
of the emerging trends,strategies, mindsets that you

(50:04):
have that you believe have thebest effect on your sales career
, that you would give advice tosomeone out there, even if
they're not in sales, to reallyimpact their field and their
performance?

Syndi Sim (50:16):
Well, one of the things I really believe is you
have, first and foremost, youhave to have belief in yourself.
When you have a true belief inyourself and your skills and
what you bring to the table andyour worth, you're already ahead
of the game.
And when you show up confidentin what you bring to the table

(50:39):
you you know it goes back toalmost your statistic and your
LinkedIn quote you're alreadyahead of the game.
So to me it's very simple,although most people don't do it
, okay Belief in yourselfconsistently, be learning in
life consistently, be working onyourself via whether it's

(51:01):
podcasts or books or exercise ordiet.
You have to be evolving, youhave to be learning.
If you are taking anopportunity to read business
books, attend industry events,attend conferences, maybe

(51:21):
outside of your comfort zone, tolearn and to garner more
information, you're going to beahead of the curve.
It is up to you as anindividual to take this life by
the you know, bow by the horns,because if you don't do it again
, nobody else is going to do itfor you.
So when you believe in yourselfand you make a concerted effort

(51:45):
to be consistently evolving, togrowing and wanting to learn
and open to change, good willcome.
I know in this industry inparticular I was very fortunate.
I had a lot of great mentorsfrom the beginning.
I've now been in the industrygosh a little almost 11 years.

(52:07):
So during that time people havebeen so kind to me, so open
with their time, with theireducation, with their mentorship
, that I feel like now it's myduty and my obligation to pass
that on.
And when you have that sense ofconfidence, sense of self,

(52:29):
sense of belief in yourself, youpass that on to the next
generation and you will see thatthat will be a win not only for
you but for the generations tocome and the industry.
When you help somebody else inthe industry, then you will then
be elevating and evolvingyourself.

(52:50):
So again, I think ultimatelythe most important is believing
in yourself, believing you knowwhat you bring to the table and
knowing your worth and you willbe set.

Absolutely love that and you hit the nail on the
head with the fact that itstarts with you and you're your
own best advocate.
If you're waiting for someoneelse to come save you or help
you or do the thing, you may bedisappointed.
And even if they do come helpyou, what happens when you take
charge of your destiny is thatyou're going after things you

(53:23):
want with a lot of vigor and youjust can't be stopped.
And I think the biggest thing Iwould tell people and I've
learned this a lot in the lasttwo and a half years as I've sat
down on my own to start abusiness with my husband, you
know we went all in.
I got let go from a job he hadalready quit his job to start
our businesses on the side, andwe were like you know what?

(53:44):
We're just gonna do thisbecause if we fail, we can
always go back to the thing thatwe were doing before, which is
a job that we weren't happy in.
But if we want to do this,now's the time and I think,
failure being an option, peopleare like oh, failure is not an
option.
Failure is definitely an option.
It is an option that will cometo you and hit you in the face.

(54:07):
Often, if you're really doinghard things, what can't be an
option is quitting.
That's right.
Failure is definitely an option.
That will happen to you if youdo enough hard things in life.
Every day that I have my ownbusiness, I'm reminded of that
beautiful little lesson.
But the truth is that volumenegates luck, and when you do

(54:27):
things that are hard, you gainconfidence by courageously doing
it over and over and over untilit's no longer as hard.
It doesn't get easier, it'sjust you get better.
And so the thing that was likeimpossible two and a half years
ago for me when I started mybusiness, I was like I don't
know how we're ever going to dothis.
Now it's like I'm doing that by8.02 in the morning and I don't

(54:49):
even think about it.
It's a subconscious effort, butthe thing that is impossible to
me today in five years will bea laughing point because I will
continue to push.
And so that's the thing If youkeep pushing yourself to get
better, we are built as humansto do that, to go after things,
and I think when we getcomplacent, that's when we die.

(55:10):
Whether it's physically I mean,I actually think there's a lot
of science around that.
But even mentally, if you'rejust like I'm good, like what?
What do you mean?
You're good, we're made to work, we're made to challenge
ourselves and I think if youdon't have that mentality, you
can't be elite.
In whatever it is you're doing,whether that's singing opera or

(55:30):
selling railing or collectinggold retrievers you got to be
able to do whatever it is to thebest of your ability by
challenging yourself.
Yep, I love it.
I love it A hundred percent.
Well, this has been anincredible conversation.
I'm not surprised, because Ilove you dearly.
You're an amazing bright light.
I don't know how else toexplain that.
That's just who you are, and itwas very obvious the first time

(55:53):
I met you, and your insights onsales really are helpful for a
lot of people I know, and youare really making a difference
in the glass industry.
So thank you for all that youdo and if you know you want to
connect with Syndi, like wealready said, she is on LinkedIn
.
She also has a website,Synidsim.
com , and you can see all ofthat in the link in the podcast

(56:14):
bio here and for everyonelistening.
If you got value from thisepisode, I hope that you'll do
me a favor and share it withsomeone else in the industry.
Maybe share it on your LinkedInand, if you haven't already
done so, subscribe and like ourpodcast so that you can get
every week's insights and expertopinions.
This is the Grit BlueprintPodcast and I will talk to you

(56:36):
in the next episode.

Syndi Sim (56:37):
Thank, you very much, Stefanie.
I really appreciated your timethe next episode.

Thank you very much, Stefanie.
I really appreciated your time.
That's it for this episode ofthe Grit Blueprint podcast.
For more tools, training andindustry content, make sure to
subscribe here and follow me onLinkedIn and other social media
platforms To find out more abouthow Grit Blueprint can help you
grow your business.
Check us out at our website,gritblueprint.
com.

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