July 9, 2025 • 25 mins
Caroline Biesalski introduces Bryan Charleau, emphasizing the significance of a positive sales mindset. Bryan shares his transformative journey from mentorship to achieving sales mastery, offering valuable strategies for handling rejection and overcoming fears in the sales field. The discussion explores the evolving landscape of the sales industry, with insights on how to adapt to changes. Bryan discusses ways to connect with his work and hints at future endeavors. The episode wraps up with reflections on applying sales skills to everyday life, a sponsor mention for a Breakthrough Session Promo, and a call to action for listeners to subscribe and follow for more inspiring content.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
So you might as well just start today.
(00:01):
You know, you might as well hear those noestoday and start moving forward and getting that
tangible information that you can progress andget better and learn from so that the next time
you hear that objection, you're more preparedfor it.
The next time something's thrown at you, younow have some experience to fall back on to
progress further within that sales cycle.
(00:23):
So, again, you're gonna hear it, so you mightas well hear it today and get started.
Right?
Pick up the phone or knock on the door becauseit's coming no matter what.
So might as well jump in.
Welcome to Inspired Choice Today.
I'm your host, Caroline Biesalski, here tobring you authentic stories, surprising
lessons, and powerful takeaways to fuel yourjourney in business and life.
(00:45):
In each episode, I'll take you from oneinspiring guest to the next, blending their
experiences with my expertise to uncoverpractical strategies you can use right away.
Whether you're starting out or stepping up,stay tuned for insights and actionable tips
that make a difference.
And stick around until the end for a specialfreebie just for our listeners.
(01:12):
Hello, and welcome, Inspired podcast community.
This is your new episode.
My name is Caroline, and my today's guest isBryan Charleau.
And I'm so happy that he said yes to ourinterview.
How are you doing today?
I'm doing great.
Thank you for having me.
I really appreciate it.
Oh, I love it.
(01:32):
And I would like to introduce you to theaudience, of course.
So you specialize in mentoring aspiring salesprofessionals, offering practical guidance to
help them navigate the challenges of startingtheir careers.
Your approach focuses on overcoming commonstruggles, frustrations, and fears new
(01:54):
salespeople face using personal experience andinsights shared by seasoned professionals.
Through your work, you provide a valuableresource for those entering the field or
seeking to accelerate their growth.
Welcome to the "Inspired Choice Today" podcast,Bryan Charleau.
Again, that was a nice introduction.
(02:14):
I appreciate that.
Thank you.
Okay.
So you recognized yourself.
This is very important because yesterday, Imixed up a bio.
It was very funny, but it was not live, so tosay.
It was behind the scenes, and so I could savethis moment.
Okay.
My first question for you is what inspired youto take a mentorship approach in writing
(02:38):
pitching sales?
Yeah.
That's a good question right off the bat.
The big factor for me was being in thisprofession for over a decade now.
It's a unique community when you are in sales,and you really come across, obviously, a lot of
(02:58):
other salespeople out there.
And once that starts, the amount of stories youstart to hear from experienced salespeople, as
you kinda continue your own journey, it'salmost like a rite of passage that you have to
have these horror stories about when youstarted, where you started, the struggles that
(03:19):
you had, bosses, managers, atmospheres, allthese things, you know, come out sometimes over
a couple of drinks or over a seminar whereyou're all getting together.
And it really dawned on me that the people thathave got to that stage in their career in this
profession all have some sort of navigationthat you can look back on jokingly.
(03:46):
You can look back on and kinda laugh at whattook place and how you got through it.
And it dawned on me that there's probably forevery success story that you're hearing,
there's probably 10 other failures wheresomebody came across the same type of hardships
that these people are now talking and laughingat and joking about, but decided to exit the
(04:10):
profession.
They ran into these roadblocks, and theyprobably thought sales isn't for me.
This isn't a professional career that I reallywanna take on.
And that is what inspired me to write this bookbecause everybody has those stories.
And what I wanted to do is just kind of help,almost a cheat sheet for those newcomers to the
(04:31):
profession to let them know they aren't theonly person that's struggling with this.
Every single salesperson has struggled withsomething similar to what they're going
through.
And it's almost like a little cheat sheet orroad map to help them get over that proverbial
hump to get to the other side of it and reallyunderstand the beauty of this profession and
(04:53):
the possibilities that you can get from it.
So that's what really inspired me to start, towrite this book and take it seriously and try
to help people out that are getting into it.
Wow.
What a great answer.
Thank you so much.
And while you were talking, I thought aboutbecause you talked about the sales profession,
and, yeah, it is the profession.
We know this.
(05:14):
On the other hand, isn't everyone sellingsomething?
They are.
And I think that it's a mindset.
I think that what a lot of people go back tothis story too about talking to people that
were, that are in this profession and havetaken sales on in a career no matter what
industry, what sector that they're doing.
(05:37):
I mean, because, you know, sales is such abroad term, that as you kinda mentioned there,
and there's different versions of it.
But a lot of people didn't start thinking thatthis was gonna be their career.
They thought it was maybe a job out ofuniversity, a job while in university,
something to get them kick-started in anindustry, and then they were gonna go on maybe
(05:59):
to marketing, maybe to any other aspect of it.
But they've kinda continued on that pathbecause they were able to find that success and
get over that early hump that we talked about.
And to me, it's a mindset that once asalesperson takes it from a job into a career
(06:20):
and they shift, they make that narrative shiftto themselves, and realize the aspect of what
they can do in this career is when theyactually start to really see that success
because they realize this is something that'sgonna help them provide for themselves, for
their family, for the people around theminstead of just taking it as a short-term job.
And that's when you start to flip things andreally see that success.
(06:43):
So, you know, long answer long, everyone isselling something.
But this is when you look at it and what I'mtrying to convey to the reader is that this is
and can be a career if you really put yourtime, thought, and effort into it.
(07:03):
But on top of what you're saying, everybody'sselling something, and that's a great way to
get started, and think about this career longterm.
Yes.
Thank you so much.
So what I did was I sold you the idea to becomemy
A hundred percent.
You know, you're selling yourself.
You're selling your brand, your character, yourpodcast, your information.
You know?
Everybody's doing some sort of selling ineveryday life, and it's that's what makes this
(07:27):
such a, to me, a beautiful profession andsomething you can really get good at if you put
the time and work in.
Yes.
That is so true.
Thank you so much for sharing again and alsowhat you said about people wanting to leave or
to quit because they don't see the results yet.
So it's worth staying and learning, I assume.
(07:50):
Yes.
And my first question my next question is, canyou share a personal challenge you faced in
your early sales career and how you overcameit?
Yeah.
I kinda tell the story in the book, and I tellit to a lot of people.
It's my first sales job that I got right out ofuniversity as I have a pretty decorated sports
(08:14):
background, and I came across this job thatwas, it was in a sports hospitality market.
The industry was great.
I thought all these great aspects of it.
If you sold the product, you got to accompanyyour guests to this event, these sporting
events, and I thought it was just this perfectscenario.
And when I walked in, I got completelyblindsided by this environment, high-pressure
(08:37):
excuse me.
High-pressure managers, sales, unrealisticexpectations of what we were trying to do.
And I wanted to leave two weeks in, if notsooner.
They a man you know, people are gonna if theyare in sales, they're gonna laugh at this
(09:00):
because they probably, again, had a similarexperience.
But we would get customers on the phone.
The manager would pick up on his end, connectto your call, listen in, be telling you what to
do as you're trying to balance listening to thecustomer, listening to your manager, and all
this kind of crazy high-pressure stuff, andthey were asking you to ask very uncomfortable
(09:21):
questions, or what I felt to be at the time.
And we saw such an—the average, I would say theaverage time that a new person came into this
job is two weeks.
They would leave.
I saw a person leave on their first day.
Somebody left at lunch.
They just didn't come back on their first day.
They kinda saw what we were up to.
So I took that and I really tried to learn fromit.
(09:44):
I stuck it out for about a year, learned a tonfrom it.
It was the best and worst experience all inone.
And that's, again, part of that inspiration ofwhy I did this because there are companies like
that all over the place.
There's tons of good companies, but there arealso these ones out there that people are
running into and really get a sour taste intheir mouth from sales.
(10:06):
I had a good friend of mine that joined withme.
I kinda got the job, and they were looking forone.
They kinda piggybacked on top of it and theyleft in two months.
They're like, I'm never doing sales again.
So just odd experiences.
As I said, that's happening all over the placeto people, and it's unfortunate, but it's
something that we can learn from.
And if they really know and they can get theirexpectations set properly early on, they can
(10:29):
overcome that and really find a goodenvironment, instead of thinking that that's
what the average sales job is like.
Yes.
That's so true.
Thank you for sharing.
And what you said about because you help peopleto overcome their fears as well.
And I thought about this quote about feel thefear and do it anyway.
(10:50):
Mhmm.
Yeah.
A good quote that you hear from the Marines isget comfortable being uncomfortable, and that
really stuck with me in terms of thisprofession.
I really just talk about the fact that you'regonna face rejection in sales on a daily basis.
You can't avoid it.
And I think another thing is before you getinto the sales profession, you actively try to
(11:16):
avoid rejection.
You're looking for ways to comfort yourself,mitigate risks, things like that.
Whereas in sales, you're actually looking forrejection because that means you're out there
and you're talking about your product orservice and you're getting in front of
prospective buyers.
And it's a mind shift to do that.
And what I say to people that are getting intosales is that you're gonna get rejected
(11:42):
whenever you start.
So you might as well just start today.
You know, you might as well hear those noestoday and start moving forward and getting that
tangible information that you can progress andget better and learn from so that the next time
you hear that objection, you're more preparedfor it.
The next time something's thrown at you, younow have some experience to fall back on to
(12:04):
progress further within that sales cycle.
So, again, you're gonna hear it, so you mightas well hear it today and get started.
Right?
Pick up the phone or knock on the door becauseit's coming no matter what.
So might as well jump in.
That's so true.
And I just realized something while you weretalking, about myself because I'm really good
(12:26):
at dealing with rejections, I would say.
But I always thought it is, not a disadvantage,but it is a bad feeling, you know, and I wanted
to get rid of that.
But now while you were talking, I realized it'smy greatest gift.
So I continue.
It's like that's such a mindset shift.
(12:48):
Right?
As you talked about, you came to thatrealization that it is uncomfortable.
No one likes to be rejected.
It doesn't matter what it's in.
It doesn't have to be in sales.
It could be in life.
It could be in relationships.
It can be career-wise.
It could be in so many different facets.
But if you can learn to embrace that and moveforward from it and not fear it, you're just
(13:09):
gonna have so much more success because if youcan take that same feel, that rejection, learn
from it, and then take it to your next call, itjust starts to dissipate more and more.
And you should always feel something.
Like, that's part of it.
And you again, don't avoid and try to shuteverything off and just become a robot, but
(13:30):
make sure that you learn from it and that fearis gonna dissipate and that gut feeling that
you get is gonna dissipate and your skinbecomes better and better and progress.
And then, coincidentally, you're gonna hear itless.
The better that you get at it.
Again, you're not gonna avoid it completely,but you're gonna hear it less, and you're gonna
grow from it.
And that's really part of it.
Wow.
Thank you so much.
(13:50):
So I learned something already.
I have to relisten to this episode again.
Yes.
Perfect.
And my next question is, what advice or this isthe same question.
What advice do you have for someone strugglingwith rejection or fear in sales?
We dealt with that.
And then how do you think the sales professionis evolving, and what skills are most critical
(14:15):
for newcomers today?
Look at that.
That's a great question.
And the thing to touch on that first one, it'sreally just building up what we were just
talking about.
That fear of rejection is that you have torealize that you're not the only one feeling
this.
Every single person, whether they're 30 yearsinto this or it's their first day, has some
(14:39):
sort of fear.
As we said, it can dissipate over time.
It becomes your new norm that you're facing it.
But the biggest thing that you have to take isrejection is not failure in sales.
It's quite the opposite.
Rejection—the only way to get rejected is to beout in front of a prospect and get told no.
(14:59):
You can't get rejected sitting at your deskwithout picking up the phone.
You can't get rejected lying in bed, not infront of a prospect, at their office or so that
means that you've already overcome the hardeststep, which is to get moving and get in front
of them and to pitch your product or yourservice.
So you're already ahead of the game.
(15:20):
That rejection part is just a natural evolutionof the sales process and your growth.
And the failure comes from if you don't learnfrom that rejection.
And the failure comes if you walk away fromthat call and you blame the prospect or you
blame some other outside factor that you can'tlearn from.
(15:41):
You know, if you take everything that you'velearned, you take that objection.
You're like, oh, what did you say?
You know what?
I haven't heard that before.
Maybe I should go talk to somebody, my manager,maybe another experienced person within the
company.
Something to learn from that objection.
Learn, have faith because I guarantee somebodywho's been in that company longer than you has
heard that before, and they can help you.
(16:02):
And they've overcome it in the past, and nowyou have that tangible information to bring to
them.
They can help you out.
And the next time you're in front of a prospectto come across a similar thing, you're gonna
have a better rebuttal.
You're gonna have a better example to get pastthat and grow from there.
So the only failure comes from if you don'tlearn from that experience.
So don't take that rejection as a failure.
(16:23):
Use it as something that'll spring you forward.
And to get to that second part of yourquestion, in terms of the evolution of sales,
one thing that I have noticed is thatsalespeople are sometimes getting a little bit
complacent when it comes to making these salescalls.
Now everyone's gonna have a differentenvironment again.
(16:45):
There's 1,000 different types of jobs thatpeople have in sales.
And sometimes it's over the phone.
Sometimes it is virtual.
Sometimes your prospect can be across thecountry, the city, the world, and there are
factors that you can't overcome.
Excuse me.
But one of the biggest things I find is thatbecause virtual calls and virtual meetings have
(17:09):
become the norm, we get complacent about doingour sales calls and really learning about our
prospects and developing a better relationshipwith them by going to their sites, by going to
their offices, by talking to the other peoplein the offices, not just the person that you
believe is a decision-maker or the buyer andlearning about the environment that they're
(17:31):
facing.
And they just do things virtually and thinkthey know everything about the company or the
person because they had a couple of virtualcalls.
So I think some people are losing, and somenewer people to the industry, which is the
thing, is maybe they've joined in this, youknow, in the last six months, year, two years,
where this is kind of a norm now where itwasn't before.
(17:53):
You wouldn't do a virtual meeting unless youhad to with somebody.
You would get in your car.
You would get in front of that prospect, andthey're losing that interaction and that
personability with the people in the company.
And they're losing on cues, and people aregetting distracted because you're not in front
of them.
And I think that that's an important part toremember, is at the bare basics.
(18:14):
It's about relationships and having thatpersonal relationship, bringing them a coffee,
sitting down in their office, looking at theenvironment, saying hi to the people as you
walk in to go see them, seeing the backdrop.
That's all part of the full sales scope.
And I think that we're starting to lack that,and it's something that I really like to harp
on to make sure you keep doing that.
Take that time, get there, see them, and be infront of them.
(18:37):
Yes.
This is really important.
No one told me before.
I totally forgot we had this time period before2020.
Mhmm.
And I started, so I was, like, quiet.
Or before, I had an accounting company hidingin the cave, and then I started to do this
(18:57):
podcast.
So this is so true what you said about gettingin front of the client, in person.
Yeah.
I think this is great advice you gave to all ofus.
Thank you so much.
And where can we find you when people want toreach out to you after listening to this
episode?
Oh, there's a couple of different ways.
(19:19):
The easiest is just, so the book is calledPitching Sales: A Complete Guide to Becoming a
Sales Professional.
So I have an Instagram account for that that Irun myself.
So if they want to message on that, it's adirect link to me.
PitchingSalesConsulting.com is a website thatthey can reach out as well when they do.
(19:41):
And if they're interested, you know, again,they can ask me anything.
I just have this pleasure in helping peopleanswer questions, subside any fears that they
have.
So I'll just answer any questions they have.
I really enjoy doing that.
Or if they're interested in anything that I'msaying, they can reach out and find that book
on Amazon.
(20:01):
And if that spurs any questions, by all means,they could always reach out.
I'm not that hard to find if they know my name,and I'm always happy to answer questions, help
people out.
And I love hearing stories too.
Some people just send me some whack storiesabout their first jobs, and I love hearing that
stuff too.
It makes it fun.
And it's always fun if they've progressed andthey've got past it and developed their career.
(20:26):
I don't like hearing that it got them out ofsales.
But, you know, in the end, I do like hearingfrom everybody when they reach out.
Oh, thank you so much.
Yes.
It's very inspiring to hear those stories andto celebrate together.
Of course, please reach out to Bryan.
He's amazing.
He shares his wisdom, and I'll check out yourInsta.
(20:47):
Of course, I do.
I have one last question for you.
It is about your goals and intentions.
Do you set goals, and what is one of your nextprojects?
Things are always kind of moving forward, Iguess.
At least I try to, but I do like to setlong-term goals.
I actually talk about that from a motivationstandpoint in the book.
(21:10):
It's more of a personal side of it.
Motivation is such a personal thing to a lot ofpeople, whether it be intrinsic or extrinsic,
for how they get it and what they're lookingfor.
But in terms of goals, first off, I was kind ofgetting things off from, like, a personal
consulting standpoint, having people reach out.
That was really the side of it that I guess Ididn't put my expectations too high when I did
(21:35):
write this and having people reach out afterthey've had a chance to read it and asking
questions.
So that's what kind of spurred that consultingside, from an individual basis, but I actually
want to get into a training program that workswith businesses that actually hire new
salespeople.
Because I think that that's the biggestdownfall right now is that companies don't put
(21:55):
enough effort into training people that are newto the profession in general because we kind of
get looked at from a standpoint where we'regoing to hire 10.
And if two of them work out, great, nextquarter, we're going to hire another 10, and
we'll put effort into the people that stickaround instead of actually really training to
get people started on the right foot.
(22:17):
Because if you actually put some effort intothat training, maybe you get 4 people that made
it or 5, right, instead of just 1 or 2 everysales cycle.
So that's one of the biggest things is creatingthose programs for companies so that they can
save money and put more effort and resourcesinto training and finding those good people
instead of just thinking it's a big turnovergame for us.
So, yeah, that's a big thing on my list, movingforward now.
(22:41):
Wow.
I love it.
Thank you so much.
I will follow you, and then I'm updated aboutthis, what you are doing.
And we can learn so much.
Thank you for our interview.
Now it's time for your final thoughts to theaudience, please.
I hope I got most of that out.
I think the biggest thing is a lot of thisstuff isn't just about sales.
(23:07):
A lot of it directly applies to sales.
But as you mentioned, every day somebody isselling themselves, whether it be their
personal traits, their characteristics, theirgoals, their inspirations, all these things.
So when we talk about rejection and when wetalk about trial by fire by getting out there
and doing that, that can be any idea or goalthat you've had festering.
(23:29):
I'm sure when you were starting your podcast,you had doubts about yourself and you worried
about, oh, who would listen?
What advice could I give to them?
This kind of imposter syndrome that can takeover, and I felt all these same things.
So for any of the listeners, this stuff appliesto a general sense of life.
And you can be taking these, and just becauseyou're not in the sales profession or not
looking into it, doesn't mean you can't takesome of these traits that we talk about and
(23:55):
apply them to your own life and really start tosee success if you have that mindset shift.
Let that rejection dissipate, get out there andstart facing the things that you've been kind
of festering and inspiring to do.
Get out there and do it, and it applies just ingeneral.
So that's the type of thing that I like topreach.
It's not just sales.
(24:16):
This is life stuff, and I hope that helps thelisteners, anyone that's listening.
It helps a lot.
Thank you so much.
It's life stuff.
It's also lifestyle, and I love this episode somuch.
Thank you.
Well, thank you for having me.
I really appreciate this.
This was a lot of fun.
And I see you in the next.
Thank you for listening to "Inspired ChoiceToday." I'm thrilled to have you on this
(24:40):
journey of growth and transformation.
Don't forget to hit follow or subscribe to stayconnected and never miss an episode.
And here's something special.
Grab your free 20-minute breakthrough sessionwith me.
It's designed to help you kick-start or levelup your business.
Just check out the show notes for more.
(25:01):
Until next time, keep making those inspiredchoices.
See you in the next episode.
So you might as well just start today.
(00:01):
You know, you might as well hear those noestoday and start moving forward and getting that
tangible information that you can progress andget better and learn from so that the next time
you hear that objection, you're more preparedfor it.
The next time something's thrown at you, younow have some experience to fall back on to
progress further within that sales cycle.
(00:23):
So, again, you're gonna hear it, so you mightas well hear it today and get started.
Right?
Pick up the phone or knock on the door becauseit's coming no matter what.
So might as well jump in.
Welcome to Inspired Choice Today.
I'm your host, Caroline Biesalski, here tobring you authentic stories, surprising
lessons, and powerful takeaways to fuel yourjourney in business and life.
(00:45):
In each episode, I'll take you from oneinspiring guest to the next, blending their
experiences with my expertise to uncoverpractical strategies you can use right away.
Whether you're starting out or stepping up,stay tuned for insights and actionable tips
that make a difference.
And stick around until the end for a specialfreebie just for our listeners.
(01:12):
Hello, and welcome, Inspired podcast community.
This is your new episode.
My name is Caroline, and my today's guest isBryan Charleau.
And I'm so happy that he said yes to ourinterview.
How are you doing today?
I'm doing great.
Thank you for having me.
I really appreciate it.
Oh, I love it.
(01:32):
And I would like to introduce you to theaudience, of course.
So you specialize in mentoring aspiring salesprofessionals, offering practical guidance to
help them navigate the challenges of startingtheir careers.
Your approach focuses on overcoming commonstruggles, frustrations, and fears new
(01:54):
salespeople face using personal experience andinsights shared by seasoned professionals.
Through your work, you provide a valuableresource for those entering the field or
seeking to accelerate their growth.
Welcome to the "Inspired Choice Today" podcast,Bryan Charleau.
Again, that was a nice introduction.
(02:14):
I appreciate that.
Thank you.
Okay.
So you recognized yourself.
This is very important because yesterday, Imixed up a bio.
It was very funny, but it was not live, so tosay.
It was behind the scenes, and so I could savethis moment.
Okay.
My first question for you is what inspired youto take a mentorship approach in writing
(02:38):
pitching sales?
Yeah.
That's a good question right off the bat.
The big factor for me was being in thisprofession for over a decade now.
It's a unique community when you are in sales,and you really come across, obviously, a lot of
(02:58):
other salespeople out there.
And once that starts, the amount of stories youstart to hear from experienced salespeople, as
you kinda continue your own journey, it'salmost like a rite of passage that you have to
have these horror stories about when youstarted, where you started, the struggles that
(03:19):
you had, bosses, managers, atmospheres, allthese things, you know, come out sometimes over
a couple of drinks or over a seminar whereyou're all getting together.
And it really dawned on me that the people thathave got to that stage in their career in this
profession all have some sort of navigationthat you can look back on jokingly.
(03:46):
You can look back on and kinda laugh at whattook place and how you got through it.
And it dawned on me that there's probably forevery success story that you're hearing,
there's probably 10 other failures wheresomebody came across the same type of hardships
that these people are now talking and laughingat and joking about, but decided to exit the
(04:10):
profession.
They ran into these roadblocks, and theyprobably thought sales isn't for me.
This isn't a professional career that I reallywanna take on.
And that is what inspired me to write this bookbecause everybody has those stories.
And what I wanted to do is just kind of help,almost a cheat sheet for those newcomers to the
(04:31):
profession to let them know they aren't theonly person that's struggling with this.
Every single salesperson has struggled withsomething similar to what they're going
through.
And it's almost like a little cheat sheet orroad map to help them get over that proverbial
hump to get to the other side of it and reallyunderstand the beauty of this profession and
(04:53):
the possibilities that you can get from it.
So that's what really inspired me to start, towrite this book and take it seriously and try
to help people out that are getting into it.
Wow.
What a great answer.
Thank you so much.
And while you were talking, I thought aboutbecause you talked about the sales profession,
and, yeah, it is the profession.
We know this.
(05:14):
On the other hand, isn't everyone sellingsomething?
They are.
And I think that it's a mindset.
I think that what a lot of people go back tothis story too about talking to people that
were, that are in this profession and havetaken sales on in a career no matter what
industry, what sector that they're doing.
(05:37):
I mean, because, you know, sales is such abroad term, that as you kinda mentioned there,
and there's different versions of it.
But a lot of people didn't start thinking thatthis was gonna be their career.
They thought it was maybe a job out ofuniversity, a job while in university,
something to get them kick-started in anindustry, and then they were gonna go on maybe
(05:59):
to marketing, maybe to any other aspect of it.
But they've kinda continued on that pathbecause they were able to find that success and
get over that early hump that we talked about.
And to me, it's a mindset that once asalesperson takes it from a job into a career
(06:20):
and they shift, they make that narrative shiftto themselves, and realize the aspect of what
they can do in this career is when theyactually start to really see that success
because they realize this is something that'sgonna help them provide for themselves, for
their family, for the people around theminstead of just taking it as a short-term job.
And that's when you start to flip things andreally see that success.
(06:43):
So, you know, long answer long, everyone isselling something.
But this is when you look at it and what I'mtrying to convey to the reader is that this is
and can be a career if you really put yourtime, thought, and effort into it.
(07:03):
But on top of what you're saying, everybody'sselling something, and that's a great way to
get started, and think about this career longterm.
Yes.
Thank you so much.
So what I did was I sold you the idea to becomemy
A hundred percent.
You know, you're selling yourself.
You're selling your brand, your character, yourpodcast, your information.
You know?
Everybody's doing some sort of selling ineveryday life, and it's that's what makes this
(07:27):
such a, to me, a beautiful profession andsomething you can really get good at if you put
the time and work in.
Yes.
That is so true.
Thank you so much for sharing again and alsowhat you said about people wanting to leave or
to quit because they don't see the results yet.
So it's worth staying and learning, I assume.
(07:50):
Yes.
And my first question my next question is, canyou share a personal challenge you faced in
your early sales career and how you overcameit?
Yeah.
I kinda tell the story in the book, and I tellit to a lot of people.
It's my first sales job that I got right out ofuniversity as I have a pretty decorated sports
(08:14):
background, and I came across this job thatwas, it was in a sports hospitality market.
The industry was great.
I thought all these great aspects of it.
If you sold the product, you got to accompanyyour guests to this event, these sporting
events, and I thought it was just this perfectscenario.
And when I walked in, I got completelyblindsided by this environment, high-pressure
(08:37):
excuse me.
High-pressure managers, sales, unrealisticexpectations of what we were trying to do.
And I wanted to leave two weeks in, if notsooner.
They a man you know, people are gonna if theyare in sales, they're gonna laugh at this
(09:00):
because they probably, again, had a similarexperience.
But we would get customers on the phone.
The manager would pick up on his end, connectto your call, listen in, be telling you what to
do as you're trying to balance listening to thecustomer, listening to your manager, and all
this kind of crazy high-pressure stuff, andthey were asking you to ask very uncomfortable
(09:21):
questions, or what I felt to be at the time.
And we saw such an—the average, I would say theaverage time that a new person came into this
job is two weeks.
They would leave.
I saw a person leave on their first day.
Somebody left at lunch.
They just didn't come back on their first day.
They kinda saw what we were up to.
So I took that and I really tried to learn fromit.
(09:44):
I stuck it out for about a year, learned a tonfrom it.
It was the best and worst experience all inone.
And that's, again, part of that inspiration ofwhy I did this because there are companies like
that all over the place.
There's tons of good companies, but there arealso these ones out there that people are
running into and really get a sour taste intheir mouth from sales.
(10:06):
I had a good friend of mine that joined withme.
I kinda got the job, and they were looking forone.
They kinda piggybacked on top of it and theyleft in two months.
They're like, I'm never doing sales again.
So just odd experiences.
As I said, that's happening all over the placeto people, and it's unfortunate, but it's
something that we can learn from.
And if they really know and they can get theirexpectations set properly early on, they can
(10:29):
overcome that and really find a goodenvironment, instead of thinking that that's
what the average sales job is like.
Yes.
That's so true.
Thank you for sharing.
And what you said about because you help peopleto overcome their fears as well.
And I thought about this quote about feel thefear and do it anyway.
(10:50):
Mhmm.
Yeah.
A good quote that you hear from the Marines isget comfortable being uncomfortable, and that
really stuck with me in terms of thisprofession.
I really just talk about the fact that you'regonna face rejection in sales on a daily basis.
You can't avoid it.
And I think another thing is before you getinto the sales profession, you actively try to
(11:16):
avoid rejection.
You're looking for ways to comfort yourself,mitigate risks, things like that.
Whereas in sales, you're actually looking forrejection because that means you're out there
and you're talking about your product orservice and you're getting in front of
prospective buyers.
And it's a mind shift to do that.
And what I say to people that are getting intosales is that you're gonna get rejected
(11:42):
whenever you start.
So you might as well just start today.
You know, you might as well hear those noestoday and start moving forward and getting that
tangible information that you can progress andget better and learn from so that the next time
you hear that objection, you're more preparedfor it.
The next time something's thrown at you, younow have some experience to fall back on to
(12:04):
progress further within that sales cycle.
So, again, you're gonna hear it, so you mightas well hear it today and get started.
Right?
Pick up the phone or knock on the door becauseit's coming no matter what.
So might as well jump in.
That's so true.
And I just realized something while you weretalking, about myself because I'm really good
(12:26):
at dealing with rejections, I would say.
But I always thought it is, not a disadvantage,but it is a bad feeling, you know, and I wanted
to get rid of that.
But now while you were talking, I realized it'smy greatest gift.
So I continue.
It's like that's such a mindset shift.
(12:48):
Right?
As you talked about, you came to thatrealization that it is uncomfortable.
No one likes to be rejected.
It doesn't matter what it's in.
It doesn't have to be in sales.
It could be in life.
It could be in relationships.
It can be career-wise.
It could be in so many different facets.
But if you can learn to embrace that and moveforward from it and not fear it, you're just
(13:09):
gonna have so much more success because if youcan take that same feel, that rejection, learn
from it, and then take it to your next call, itjust starts to dissipate more and more.
And you should always feel something.
Like, that's part of it.
And you again, don't avoid and try to shuteverything off and just become a robot, but
(13:30):
make sure that you learn from it and that fearis gonna dissipate and that gut feeling that
you get is gonna dissipate and your skinbecomes better and better and progress.
And then, coincidentally, you're gonna hear itless.
The better that you get at it.
Again, you're not gonna avoid it completely,but you're gonna hear it less, and you're gonna
grow from it.
And that's really part of it.
Wow.
Thank you so much.
(13:50):
So I learned something already.
I have to relisten to this episode again.
Yes.
Perfect.
And my next question is, what advice or this isthe same question.
What advice do you have for someone strugglingwith rejection or fear in sales?
We dealt with that.
And then how do you think the sales professionis evolving, and what skills are most critical
(14:15):
for newcomers today?
Look at that.
That's a great question.
And the thing to touch on that first one, it'sreally just building up what we were just
talking about.
That fear of rejection is that you have torealize that you're not the only one feeling
this.
Every single person, whether they're 30 yearsinto this or it's their first day, has some
(14:39):
sort of fear.
As we said, it can dissipate over time.
It becomes your new norm that you're facing it.
But the biggest thing that you have to take isrejection is not failure in sales.
It's quite the opposite.
Rejection—the only way to get rejected is to beout in front of a prospect and get told no.
(14:59):
You can't get rejected sitting at your deskwithout picking up the phone.
You can't get rejected lying in bed, not infront of a prospect, at their office or so that
means that you've already overcome the hardeststep, which is to get moving and get in front
of them and to pitch your product or yourservice.
So you're already ahead of the game.
(15:20):
That rejection part is just a natural evolutionof the sales process and your growth.
And the failure comes from if you don't learnfrom that rejection.
And the failure comes if you walk away fromthat call and you blame the prospect or you
blame some other outside factor that you can'tlearn from.
(15:41):
You know, if you take everything that you'velearned, you take that objection.
You're like, oh, what did you say?
You know what?
I haven't heard that before.
Maybe I should go talk to somebody, my manager,maybe another experienced person within the
company.
Something to learn from that objection.
Learn, have faith because I guarantee somebodywho's been in that company longer than you has
heard that before, and they can help you.
(16:02):
And they've overcome it in the past, and nowyou have that tangible information to bring to
them.
They can help you out.
And the next time you're in front of a prospectto come across a similar thing, you're gonna
have a better rebuttal.
You're gonna have a better example to get pastthat and grow from there.
So the only failure comes from if you don'tlearn from that experience.
So don't take that rejection as a failure.
(16:23):
Use it as something that'll spring you forward.
And to get to that second part of yourquestion, in terms of the evolution of sales,
one thing that I have noticed is thatsalespeople are sometimes getting a little bit
complacent when it comes to making these salescalls.
Now everyone's gonna have a differentenvironment again.
(16:45):
There's 1,000 different types of jobs thatpeople have in sales.
And sometimes it's over the phone.
Sometimes it is virtual.
Sometimes your prospect can be across thecountry, the city, the world, and there are
factors that you can't overcome.
Excuse me.
But one of the biggest things I find is thatbecause virtual calls and virtual meetings have
(17:09):
become the norm, we get complacent about doingour sales calls and really learning about our
prospects and developing a better relationshipwith them by going to their sites, by going to
their offices, by talking to the other peoplein the offices, not just the person that you
believe is a decision-maker or the buyer andlearning about the environment that they're
(17:31):
facing.
And they just do things virtually and thinkthey know everything about the company or the
person because they had a couple of virtualcalls.
So I think some people are losing, and somenewer people to the industry, which is the
thing, is maybe they've joined in this, youknow, in the last six months, year, two years,
where this is kind of a norm now where itwasn't before.
(17:53):
You wouldn't do a virtual meeting unless youhad to with somebody.
You would get in your car.
You would get in front of that prospect, andthey're losing that interaction and that
personability with the people in the company.
And they're losing on cues, and people aregetting distracted because you're not in front
of them.
And I think that that's an important part toremember, is at the bare basics.
(18:14):
It's about relationships and having thatpersonal relationship, bringing them a coffee,
sitting down in their office, looking at theenvironment, saying hi to the people as you
walk in to go see them, seeing the backdrop.
That's all part of the full sales scope.
And I think that we're starting to lack that,and it's something that I really like to harp
on to make sure you keep doing that.
Take that time, get there, see them, and be infront of them.
(18:37):
Yes.
This is really important.
No one told me before.
I totally forgot we had this time period before2020.
Mhmm.
And I started, so I was, like, quiet.
Or before, I had an accounting company hidingin the cave, and then I started to do this
(18:57):
podcast.
So this is so true what you said about gettingin front of the client, in person.
Yeah.
I think this is great advice you gave to all ofus.
Thank you so much.
And where can we find you when people want toreach out to you after listening to this
episode?
Oh, there's a couple of different ways.
(19:19):
The easiest is just, so the book is calledPitching Sales: A Complete Guide to Becoming a
Sales Professional.
So I have an Instagram account for that that Irun myself.
So if they want to message on that, it's adirect link to me.
PitchingSalesConsulting.com is a website thatthey can reach out as well when they do.
(19:41):
And if they're interested, you know, again,they can ask me anything.
I just have this pleasure in helping peopleanswer questions, subside any fears that they
have.
So I'll just answer any questions they have.
I really enjoy doing that.
Or if they're interested in anything that I'msaying, they can reach out and find that book
on Amazon.
(20:01):
And if that spurs any questions, by all means,they could always reach out.
I'm not that hard to find if they know my name,and I'm always happy to answer questions, help
people out.
And I love hearing stories too.
Some people just send me some whack storiesabout their first jobs, and I love hearing that
stuff too.
It makes it fun.
And it's always fun if they've progressed andthey've got past it and developed their career.
(20:26):
I don't like hearing that it got them out ofsales.
But, you know, in the end, I do like hearingfrom everybody when they reach out.
Oh, thank you so much.
Yes.
It's very inspiring to hear those stories andto celebrate together.
Of course, please reach out to Bryan.
He's amazing.
He shares his wisdom, and I'll check out yourInsta.
(20:47):
Of course, I do.
I have one last question for you.
It is about your goals and intentions.
Do you set goals, and what is one of your nextprojects?
Things are always kind of moving forward, Iguess.
At least I try to, but I do like to setlong-term goals.
I actually talk about that from a motivationstandpoint in the book.
(21:10):
It's more of a personal side of it.
Motivation is such a personal thing to a lot ofpeople, whether it be intrinsic or extrinsic,
for how they get it and what they're lookingfor.
But in terms of goals, first off, I was kind ofgetting things off from, like, a personal
consulting standpoint, having people reach out.
That was really the side of it that I guess Ididn't put my expectations too high when I did
(21:35):
write this and having people reach out afterthey've had a chance to read it and asking
questions.
So that's what kind of spurred that consultingside, from an individual basis, but I actually
want to get into a training program that workswith businesses that actually hire new
salespeople.
Because I think that that's the biggestdownfall right now is that companies don't put
(21:55):
enough effort into training people that are newto the profession in general because we kind of
get looked at from a standpoint where we'regoing to hire 10.
And if two of them work out, great, nextquarter, we're going to hire another 10, and
we'll put effort into the people that stickaround instead of actually really training to
get people started on the right foot.
(22:17):
Because if you actually put some effort intothat training, maybe you get 4 people that made
it or 5, right, instead of just 1 or 2 everysales cycle.
So that's one of the biggest things is creatingthose programs for companies so that they can
save money and put more effort and resourcesinto training and finding those good people
instead of just thinking it's a big turnovergame for us.
So, yeah, that's a big thing on my list, movingforward now.
(22:41):
Wow.
I love it.
Thank you so much.
I will follow you, and then I'm updated aboutthis, what you are doing.
And we can learn so much.
Thank you for our interview.
Now it's time for your final thoughts to theaudience, please.
I hope I got most of that out.
I think the biggest thing is a lot of thisstuff isn't just about sales.
(23:07):
A lot of it directly applies to sales.
But as you mentioned, every day somebody isselling themselves, whether it be their
personal traits, their characteristics, theirgoals, their inspirations, all these things.
So when we talk about rejection and when wetalk about trial by fire by getting out there
and doing that, that can be any idea or goalthat you've had festering.
(23:29):
I'm sure when you were starting your podcast,you had doubts about yourself and you worried
about, oh, who would listen?
What advice could I give to them?
This kind of imposter syndrome that can takeover, and I felt all these same things.
So for any of the listeners, this stuff appliesto a general sense of life.
And you can be taking these, and just becauseyou're not in the sales profession or not
looking into it, doesn't mean you can't takesome of these traits that we talk about and
(23:55):
apply them to your own life and really start tosee success if you have that mindset shift.
Let that rejection dissipate, get out there andstart facing the things that you've been kind
of festering and inspiring to do.
Get out there and do it, and it applies just ingeneral.
So that's the type of thing that I like topreach.
It's not just sales.
(24:16):
This is life stuff, and I hope that helps thelisteners, anyone that's listening.
It helps a lot.
Thank you so much.
It's life stuff.
It's also lifestyle, and I love this episode somuch.
Thank you.
Well, thank you for having me.
I really appreciate this.
This was a lot of fun.
And I see you in the next.
Thank you for listening to "Inspired ChoiceToday." I'm thrilled to have you on this
(24:40):
journey of growth and transformation.
Don't forget to hit follow or subscribe to stayconnected and never miss an episode.
And here's something special.
Grab your free 20-minute breakthrough sessionwith me.
It's designed to help you kick-start or levelup your business.
Just check out the show notes for more.
(25:01):
Until next time, keep making those inspiredchoices.
See you in the next episode.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.