July 2, 2025 • 33 mins
This week we are joined by Paul Neuberger: Entrepreneur, author, and founder of C-Suite for Christ, for a powerful conversation about redefining success, embracing authenticity, and mastering the art of sales with integrity.
Paul shares his journey from burnout to breakthrough, revealing how surrendering control to God transformed his definition of success and leadership.
He dives deep into sales strategies that focus on connecting authentically, selling yourself first, and truly listening rather than pushing transactions.
Key takeaways include:
Resources Mentioned:
Paul shares his journey from burnout to breakthrough, revealing how surrendering control to God transformed his definition of success and leadership.
He dives deep into sales strategies that focus on connecting authentically, selling yourself first, and truly listening rather than pushing transactions.
Key takeaways include:
- Why obedience to your higher purpose trumps worldly definitions of success
- The power of embracing your authentic self and living vulnerable leadership
- How to break out of the “comfort zone prison” and embrace challenges that grow you
- Sales as relationship-building, not manipulation... mastering emotional connection and differentiation
- Practical cold calling tips that focus on quality, connection, and story-driven persuasion
- Leveraging faith and authenticity as leadership superpowers in a noisy world
Resources Mentioned:
- C Suite for Christ: csuiteforchrist.com
- Connect via Email: paul@paulmneuberger.com
- Paul Neuberger’s Book The Secrets to Cold Call Success
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This podcast is a proud member of the Teach Better
podcast network, Better Today, Better Tomorrow, and the podcast to
get you there. You can find out more at Teechbetter
dot com slash podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Even though I was a believer, even though I loved
God and knew God loved me, even though I accepted
God as mine and Jesus Christ is my personal.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Savior, I was still trying to please too many people.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I was trying to achieve a certain amount of professional status.
I was trying to make a certain amount of money.
I was trying to be the perfect husband. I was
trying to be the perfect father. I was trying to
be the perfect employee. And when you get pulled in
that many directions, at some point you're going to snap.
It's just like a rubber band that keeps getting stretched, stretched, streatch, stretch.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
At some point it's going to snap. And I snapped.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Do you want to be a leader in a constantly
changing world? Our emerging leaders look different, come from various
backgrounds and from all different age groups.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Leadership is changing and it's hard to keep up. But
the good news you can be a leader too.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
You can be an emerging leader. Welcome to the Limitless
Leadership Lounge, try generational conversation for emerging leaders. Come spend
some time with us to discuss leadership from three angles.
The coach, Jim Johnson, the Professor, Doctor Renuma Kareem, the host,
John Geering, a monthly guest, and you get in on
(01:20):
the conversation on Facebook and Instagram, and be sure to
follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Speaker. So come
on in and make yourself comfortable.
Speaker 5 (01:29):
Another week of the Limitless Leadership Lounge. We are excited
to welcome in yet another guest as we start a
new month. Here, I'm John Gearing. Thanks for having us
on today. Coach, you brought on another guest as you
always do. You're doing a lot of great networking for us.
So let's see who we invite today into the Lamitless
Leadership Lounge and get some more actionable leadership tips for
those young and emerging leaders.
Speaker 6 (01:50):
Yes, I'm really excited. Paul Neuberger and I started building
a nice relationship. He's doing some great things in the world,
and I read his outstanding book, which I'll talk a
little bit about, and he has started a real great movement.
I'm going to share a little bio of him and
then welcome to the show, and we're really excited to
(02:12):
have him.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
So.
Speaker 6 (02:12):
Paul Neuberger, a Wisconsin native, graduated from Ripping College in
two thousand and five and Marian University in two thousand
and seven. He started his career as a professional fundraiser
in the collegiate level upon his graduation from Ripon. Following
the death of his father in law on twenty twelve,
Pol followed a new path, becoming a financial advisor with
Thrivan Financial. It was where he realized the passion for
(02:35):
sales and started his first business, The Cold Call Coach.
Paul loves spending quality time with his wife, Tanya and
their three children, Kennedy, Hudson, and Reagan. He also immerses
himself in politics, reading biography, biographies, and watching movies. Paul,
thanks for joining us.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Yeah, of course, coach, it's a blessing to be here.
Speaker 6 (02:56):
Well, thank you, so, Paul. I'm going to you know,
getting to know you and do some research on you.
In twenty seventeen, it was a pretty difficult time in
your life when a doctor said, Paul, you're killing yourself.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
I know.
Speaker 6 (03:10):
Young leaders also struggle sometimes in balancing work life, however
we want to call it. Tell us that story and
how that really woke you up?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, And for me it doesn't now that I've gone
through that and I've got the ability to have twenty
twenty hindsight. It's not work life balance. And I think
work life balance is not something we should strive for
because it's almost impossible to measure that. You know, people
kind of define balance differently. Well, for every eight hours
I spend to work, do I spend eight hours at home?
(03:43):
Probably not? Well, if I do twelve hours at work,
should I have you know, two or three really good
quality hours at home?
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Maybe?
Speaker 2 (03:50):
But again I think the notion of work life balance
as a misnomer. Instead, what I now try to do
is who am I accountable to? Basically who am I
living life for? And the incorrect answer is your spouse,
The incorrect answer is your kids, the incorrect answer is
your boss. The only correct answer is God. And up
(04:11):
until that point, I was trying to be all things
to all people. And even though I was a believer,
even though I loved God, I knew God loved me.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Even though I accepted God as mine and.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Jesus Christ is my personal savior, I was still trying
to please too many people. I was trying to achieve
a certain amount of professional status. I was trying to
make a certain amount of money. I was trying to
be the perfect husband. I was trying to be the
perfect father. I was trying to be the perfect employee.
And when you get pulled in that many directions, at
some point you're going to snap.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
It's just like a rubber band.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
That keeps getting stretched, stretched, streatch, stretch, at some point
it's going to snap.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
And I snapped.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
And I was just having these weird physical ailments. Every
two or three weeks. I would just vomit for four
days in a row, and I always knew when it
was coming, you know, I would just kind of feel
something in my stomach. And on a couple of occasions,
I got sick while presenting. One case, I was giving
a talk to a group of financial advisors and I
passed out on stage. I've never blacked out before Coach
(05:06):
up until that point. I've never blacked out since. And
I woke up in a hospital and that's when the
doctor again. I was going to the doctor every couple
of weeks again, because I was getting sick and they
were running tests and they said, man, for them, maybe
cholesterol is a little high, maybe BP could be a
little bit lower, but otherwise, dude, you're in great shape.
I don't know what's going on. This doctor after I collapse,
said I know what's going on. You're killing yourself. Your
body is dying in breaking down under all this stress.
(05:31):
So what I decided to do shortly thereafter is I
was trying to look for solutions in the world. I
was trying to find something in the world that would
cure it. Well, we all have a God shaped hole
on our hearts, and I wasn't filling mine. I totally
and utterly surrendered my life to Christ, started giving my
talents to him, my abilities to him.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
It's your way, not my way, and I haven't.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
I didn't have any vomiting instances since.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
I sleep like a baby every night. It wasn't an
overnight thing.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
But what I just came to realize is sometimes rock
bottom can be a really firm foundation, and God had
to bring me down to mind. So the only place
I could look was up. And once I started looking up,
I said, Okay, I think I know what I'm missing.
I started putting my life back together and haven't had
those episodes since.
Speaker 6 (06:19):
That's awesome.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Wow.
Speaker 7 (06:20):
Yeah, Paul, I can relate to you being a Muslim
and I'm also a person of faith. I myself have
experienced those rock bottom moments. And I think what you
are mentioning that sense of purpose. When you have that
sense of purpose towards serving your God, that takes away
(06:41):
all those buffers, all the other ailment. So my question
to you, like, when you're serving and I saw your video,
the success is different for person to person, for each
person is different. So once you became so tuned, tuned
towards God, how do you define success now at present?
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Yeah? For sure.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
And it's a lot easier now that I've surrendered everything
to him. It's a lot more straightforward now that I've
surrendered everything to him. And it's really just I'd say
one or two key points. Number one, did I fully
surrender my time, talents and abilities to him? And his
scripture says I need to be diminished so that He
(07:26):
can be exalted. So my first definition of success is
was I obedient to God? And if the answer is no,
then it wasn't a good day for me. It doesn't
matter how much money I make. I mean mean that
that used to be the ultimate measuring stick. How much
money did I make? How many appointments did I run?
How full is my pipeline? Am I closer to getting
(07:46):
that promotion?
Speaker 3 (07:48):
I mean?
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I am in this world, but I am not of
this world. And when I started to use worldly definitions
to define success, it just made things worse. It's like
putting a square peg in a round hole. Once you
surrender your life to Christ, your definition of success is
totally different. So number one was I obedient? And he
might be pushing me in a totally different direction. I
(08:09):
may want to go left, but he's telling me to
go right.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Am I obedient? Did I go right? If I can
check that box? Okay, good, then that was a successful day.
And for me, the other one is am I? Rather
than telling the world who I am? Did I tell
the world whose I am?
Speaker 3 (08:29):
I don't want that.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I don't This based sounds stupid, especially as a guy
that runs several businesses. I'm on stages a lot. I've
got to create a lot of content so people naturally
know my name. I really don't care if I'm forgotten
after I die. I don't need the name Paul M.
Neuberger to live in infamy. I need the name Jesus
Christ to live in infamy. So am I telling the
(08:51):
world whose I am? Am I giving him the credit?
Am I giving him the glory? Am I giving him
the honor? Am I starting conversations about him? I don't
have to be able to explain the mysteries of the Bible.
I just need to be available to start conversations about Christ.
So as long as I'm being obedient, that's number one.
And number two, as long as I'm doing my part
(09:11):
to make him known and to start conversations about him
and let the world know whose I am.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Those are my two definitions of success.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
And thankfully, as of late, I've had a lot more
successful days than unsuccessful days.
Speaker 6 (09:25):
I'm going to change because I do want to come
back to C suite. But I do got to ask
you about your book, and you said hard things. Well,
the book is called The Secrets to Cold Call Success,
and I know for many people in business that is
a very scary thing. So I'm just interested. Can you
share you know for young leaders that you know in
(09:46):
trying to build connections like you're doing very well, can
you give us some advice on what you shared the
book about being more effective in that cold called success.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Yeah, it's a lot I could say there, and I
don't want to take up too much, but the first
thing that you had said, I would challenge everybody who's
listening to this to do a bit of a name substitution.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
I hate the word comfort zone. I say it.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Because everybody knows what I'm talking about. But again, comfort,
for the most part, has a positive connotation in this society.
But I'll tell you when it comes to addictions. You know,
when people think of addictions, they think of addicted to
drugs or alcohol, or pornography or whatever the list is, workoholism.
(10:30):
I think the worst addiction we have is a society
is this addiction to comfort. We don't want to be disturbed,
We want to live an easy life. Seventy percent of
this country is either overweight or obese. I mean, we
just have this addiction to comfort. You got to get
rid of the word comfort zone. In fact, I don't
so what I would say from a word substitution, replace
(10:51):
comfort with the word prison. I call it prison zones
because that's what a comfort zone is. It imprisons. You
it keeps you from growing, It keeps you from learning,
It keeps you from trying new things. It prevents you
from experiencing potentially game changing, life changing moments. They are
going to make you a different person, all because you
just want to be comfortable.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
So, like you said, cold con is hard. Well, if it.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Ain't hard, it ain't worth doing. I mean, how many
jobs are you going to get by putting.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
On your resume.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
I'm an excellent stamp liquor, I'm an excellent email replier. Oh,
come on in, you're gonna be the new CEO of
our company. Too many people are afraid to get out
of their prison zone, and they end up shackled. They
end up not learning the things they need to learn.
Cold Calling is a life skill. It's not a luxury.
Oh I'm not in sales, So wouldn't it be nice
(11:40):
to be able to pick up the phone and get
in front of who you want, when you want, for
whatever reason you want or it's not my job. Yeah,
but don't you volunteer for your church or your kids
football league or Girl Scouts? Wouldn't it be cool to
be able to help your kids raise money? Wouldn't it
be able to be cool to help the organization that
you support, so real quick, and then if you have
any follow up, let me know. But for me, it
(12:01):
really boils down to three main philosophical principles. Number One,
people buy people first, not companies. And most people get that, well, sure,
I want to know, like and trust this person. Once
I do, I'll do whatever they want. Yeah, but then
you listen to them cold call. Hey, I'm Bob Smith
with Smith Financial.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
This is what we do.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Blah blah blah blah blah, and they hang up. So
what we're really good at is teaching people how to
sell themselves first, as opposed to their company. Number two,
people are emotional buyers, not logical buyers. People use logic
to justify an emotional purchase. Now, again, it's got to
be in their best interest. I'm not saying we manipulate them,
(12:40):
or we dupe them or whatever else, but it's all
about how you make them feel. People won't always remember
what you said, but they'll never forget how you made
them feel when you set it. So we teach our
clients how to connect with somebody at a deep emotive
level instantly. And last, but not least, it's all about differentiation.
Most people sound like every other salesperson. Most people sound
(13:03):
like every other insurance company or real estate organization or
whatever company that you're representing. We show you how, in
a matter of five seconds, to sound different, to approach
the call different, to separate yourself from all of humanity. So,
if you're selling yourself first, if you're connecting at a
deep emotive level, and you're really putting an emphasis on differentiation,
(13:24):
a forty to fifty eighty percent co call success rate
is well within your grasp.
Speaker 6 (13:30):
Can you just dive in a little bit deeper at
how a strategy or example of differentiating yourself.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Look at coach trying to get giving away all my
proprietary information I'll give you without going too deep, because
it's how I pay the mortgage. I will say that
the overall the number one thing when it comes to
how do you separate yourself from all of humanity while
also hitting people at a deep emotive level. Really kind
(13:59):
of set around your story, your motivations, in other words,
your why why do you do what you do? Why
do you get up every day passionate about going to work?
Why of all the things that you could be doing today,
why is this the way that you choose to make
a living. Now, I didn't make this concept popular. I
(14:19):
give credit to Simon Sinek for that. But one of
the things that I think, for as much as I
appreciate what Simon Sinek is contributing to the world of
sales and leadership development, I thought he's done a pretty
crappy job of telling us how.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
You know, he'll lead with your why.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Great, But then you know, one of the things that
I would experience as a coach is one of two
things people would say, I don't have a why. Well,
first of all, let's bees on a stick. Everybody's got
a why. You mean, you just get out of bed
and you just, like a robot, you go to work.
So whether you know it or not, there's a why there.
But number two, some people might say, I have a
why to my kids. I have a why. It's providing
for my family. Again, that doesn't differentiate you. That that's
(14:55):
what everybody says. Again that that, but that still doesn't
explain why you're in financial services. You could provide for
your kids, in real estate, you could provide for your kids.
As a doctor. That still does not cut to the
core of it. So what I had to do because
things like that outside of my control hurt my ability
to coach. I had to come up with a six
step process on how to build the world's greatest why,
(15:17):
which I've done so in the cold call.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Even though our coal calls are really really short, you.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Know, coach, because you read the book, you don't have
time to say, well, let me tell you about my
story and go on for ten minutes. So we work
with our clients to identify the why craft, the why,
poke holes and the why message the why and get
it to a point where we can execute a powerful
why in just two or three sentences, and the cold
call gives us a great way to introduce that. Once
(15:43):
folks get in the habit of doing that, now it's
you're connecting with them at a deep level.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Your story is totally unique.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
There's a lot of credibility because they could see themselves
in your story, and all we're trying to get them
to do was say yeah, I'll take a follow up call,
because that starts the entire sales press.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
You have also the challenge now of not only just
cold calling, but also some of the automated reachouts that
we have right now. And some of the opportunities to
reach even a more mass quantity of people. How does
that factor into an effective sales strategy or does it
at all? Is it an ineffective way of reaching out?
Speaker 2 (16:21):
So when you're doing cold calling correctly, it should be
quality over quantity. So, first of all, these people that
put an emphasis on quantity, they don't know what they're doing.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
I'm sure they're great people.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I'm not being judgmental, but just think about quantity versus quality.
You know, how many people like going out and having
a low quality meal. How many people love going out
and watching a low quality movie?
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Answer is nobody. But we're supposed to accept that. In sales, you're.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Supposed to just hit the easy button. This is one
of the things that really irks me more than anything else.
It's you know, oh, I got this really cool LinkedIn
pro gram. It allows me to send out a billion
messages in five minutes. Hitting the easy button is never
a solution to anything, like we talked about earlier.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
If it ain't hard, it ain't we're doing now.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
I'm not saying it shouldn't be inconvenient, like you know,
I mean, go to the grocery store and get butter.
Don't go in the backyard and churn your own butter
like that. That's not what I mean about hard, but
quality over quantity. If if you focus on the things
that we had talked about again, strategy, philosophy, making sure
that we're doing the right things on the phone, connecting
(17:31):
with someone at a deeper mode of level. My clients
can do more in ten cold calls than most people
can in five hundred because we're getting all of those
things in place. But a lot of people are gonna say,
I don't want to do the research, or I don't
want to refine my script or I don't want to
do role playing.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Can I just automate it? Sure?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
And then you're gonna be at a job pretty soon
because not only do those things not work, again, that
is not a life skill for you to learn. It
does kind of remind me when I was in professional
fund for about a six month period, I stopped at
a high school, a Christian high school called Mesmer Catholic Schools.
This thing was just a complete model of efficiency. Ninety
(18:10):
eight percent black in terms of the student population inner
city youth, eighty nine percent graduation rate, which was through
the roof compared to that demographic, and the majority of
these young men and women came from broken homes.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Dad was dead, both.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Parents in jail, they were living with grandparents. Said my gosh,
how are you guys able to do this? Well, one
of the things that I learned is in order for
those kids to graduate, they had to go through four
years of swimming. I said, this is the stupidest thing
I've ever heard. Like, I understand math and geography and
whatever else, but swimming. And I eventually went to one
of the administrators. I said, sorry, can you help me
(18:49):
out here? Why do these kids need to go through
four years of swimming to graduate? And they said, well,
because again because of who these young people are don't
have mom and dad or on impoverished that have been
dealt every hard hand known to man. Most of them,
by the time they come to us, have never seen
a body of water. And if we don't teach them
to swim, we're sending them out there to potentially be
(19:12):
in a situation where they could easily die by falling
in a lake or whatever the case is. They were
more interested in developing them as people than teaching them
certain subjects, and that's what co calling is, so you
got to focus on the quality. You can't lose that
personal touch. And the last thing that I'll say is
to be honest, it's a good development for me and
(19:32):
the people that do what I do, which again isn't
a lot. But when these things are outsourced, when it's
quantity over quality, when it's robodials or whatever else, that's
just more opportunity for us because that means fewer people
are taking the time to pick up the phone, Fewer
people are doing one on one cold calls, Fewer people
are spending time in this lane, which means we're one
(19:56):
of the few people in the lane, which means we're
taking up all the oxygen in the room, which means
while everybody else is hitting the easy button, robodials, mass
LinkedIn messages, we've got the personal touch and to the
victor go the spoils.
Speaker 7 (20:08):
I guess, Paul, one of my questions is, in this
era of social media, when everybody's comparing each other, observing
what's going on in Instagram and everything else, what are
some tips you will be you might be giving to
the younger generation on getting out of that mindset of
(20:32):
comparison and trying to be authentic.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Well, I think the last words you hit is key,
And this kind of goes back to the start of
the conversation, who are you ultimately accountable to? And if
you're a Christian, the answer should be God. So if
you're accountable to God, you should live a life according
to the way that God wants you to live. And
He wants us to be authentic. He wants us to
be true to ourselves. He wants us to be vulnerable,
(20:57):
he wants us to be who He create.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
He aided us to.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Be warts at all. So number one, if you're trying
to create a social media presence, if you're trying to
get attention to some degree, just be yourself because so
few people in this world are. They're robots, their sheep,
they're that. If you've ever seen the movie American Beauty,
it's kind of an older movie. I'm kind of dating
(21:22):
myself now, back when Kevin Spacey was still in movies
and you got that little plastic bag blowing in the wind.
So number one, you got to be yourself because it's
so refreshing to find somebody who is. Yeah, this goes
against the societal narrative, but I'm gonna say it anyway.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Yeah, I'm not saying be rude.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Or disrespectful or belligerent or don't pick fights on purpose.
Is just be your true, authentic self that is going
to shine, that is going to stand out in a
world that It's like a meme where you've got one
hundred people in an image and everybody is gray, and
then this one person is in technicolor. Yeah, because they're bold,
(21:58):
because they're the person standing out, that's naturally going to
get a decent amount of attention. And the other thing
is too. This is kind of my philosophy. But if
you want to again, make sure that you believe it,
make sure that this is part of who you are,
but not only be true to yourself. I like to
do things that society says I can't do because ninety
(22:18):
nine percent of the people are going to listen to that.
And if I'm the one that doesn't that, that's a
little bit more oxygen for me. That's a little bit
more me and my own lane. You know that they
always say, don't talk about politics, don't talk about religion.
I talk about both every single day. I'm not going
to be rude by doing that. There's this what I
call this super silent majority, the people that believe what
(22:40):
you believe, the people that support what you support, the
people that are just waiting for somebody to stand up
and say, you know, I hear you. But I'm going
to talk about this anyway because the vast majority of
people are followers. There are very few leaders in this world.
That doesn't mean they're bad people, because we need followers.
Could you imagine if everybody in society was a leader,
Oh my gosh, be like big game of bumper cars
(23:01):
when we're all tripping over each other. But the vast
majority of people are followers. They need someone to give
them a voice. They need someone to publicly share their
ideas that they're too scared to share. And if you
can get comfortable being uncomfortable, if you can get out
of your prison zone, if you can remember whose you are,
and you can say, well, you know conventional wisdom, be darned,
(23:22):
I'm going to give voice to this anyway. Don't don't
be surprised if you gain a massive following, you get
a lot of support, You will get some haters that
that's part for the course. But it's a great way
to stand out. It's a great way to be authentically truly.
Speaker 6 (23:38):
You Well, I got to dig in because you know,
helping young leaders. You know, you started your own business
and now you've started c suite. Tell us a little
bit about c suite, but and but also give us
a foundation of how you built this, you know, like
bringing in the right people, you know, whatever, you know,
whether it's having a mission state, I mean, what are
(24:01):
the things that you've found have been good foundations in
building your business, you know, and now into c suite
since twenty eighteen.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Number one is just to kind of revisit a theme
I said earlier, being obedient. When I tried to make
life about me, my plan, my goals, my future, my passions.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
I was horribly depressed.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
I was suicidal, My marriage was falling apart, and I
was an absentee dad, even though on paper things looked
that look great at a good job, was making good money,
was always getting promoted.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Paul, what the heck is your problem? What do you
have to be sad about? I wasn't.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I wasn't fulfilling God's purpose for my life. So number one,
being obedient, Just where do you think he's leading you?
What do you think he's asking you to do. For
some of us, we want to start our own businesses.
But if that's not God's plan for your life, it's
going to be like a square peg in a round hole.
So number one is just being obedient. But number two,
as you're obedient, and as you see, you're getting a
(25:03):
series of green lights. Wow, this thing is really taking off. Wow,
this thing is really working, starting to be able to
modify with the changing conditions on the ground. I'll look
at SA Suite for Christ for example. Again, this just
started off as a support group for me because I
was depressed and suicidal.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
I needed people to talk to. That was it.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Well, turns out a lot of people needed people to
talk to and after a couple of monthly get together
somebody had said, Paul, we should make this a formal group. Okay,
So again being nimble, how do we do that? What's
the next step bringing in one or two people that
might have experience in doing that.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
So we created a formal entity.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
We started to charge brief membership dues just to cover
our costs. The thing exploded and then we encountered COVID
and for two or three months we couldn't meet.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Is this the death of c Suite for Christ.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
And a lot of us just started to think, you know,
well we need this, This fellowship is too important. So
rather than meeting in person, change with the conditions on
the ground. And for us, it was, well, why don't
we go virtual? So when we went virtual, we were
able to have that fellowship. But now we recognize, Gosh,
if we're virtual, this doesn't just have to be a
southeastern Wisconsin group anymore. We can invite people all over
(26:16):
the country to participate in this. So people from Texas, California, Illinois,
et cetera, we're all partaking in this. Well, when the
COVID restriction started a lift, we said, okay, we're done
with virtual, let's go back to in person. Well not
these people all over the country said well what about us.
I'm in New York City. I'm not going to fly
to Milwaukee. That's stupid. Okay, Well, how do we bring
groups of c Suite for Christ out there? So we
(26:39):
thought about it, we created a business plan, then we
started this nationwide expansion. We're at almost thirty physical chapters
right now. When growing so, I think one of the
main takeaways is again not only being obedient generally speaking,
but also just monitoring the conditions on the ground, being nimble,
being flexible, being able to to change, being able to
(27:02):
modify the way that you thought this was going to go,
modify your five or ten year plan.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
To say, well, this is the direction I was going in.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
These are the opportunities that are now here. How do
I become flexible enough to take advantage of them? Because
there are opportunities put in front of young people, put
in front of all of us all day, every day.
Most of the time we miss them because we got
blinders on. We were so desperately focused on our plan
and our goals and our next step that it's literally
(27:31):
walking right.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
In front of you.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
And sometimes once that door closes, it closes forever that
we miss them. Or number two, we send them, but
we don't know what to do, We don't know how
to jump in, we don't know how to take advantage
of it. So I think if we're looking for those
opportunities and when they're there, pounce and bring the people
with us to help us take advantage of them. I
think that's the best advice I can give anybody who's
(27:54):
trying to further their career.
Speaker 5 (27:56):
And sales is such an important thing, not just for
sales people, but for anybody selling their brand, even as
a leader. So my final question for you is about
sales and how we can take this the skills that
you've learned in sales or as any of us, even
non salespeople, can take what we know about sales and
(28:17):
apply that to other areas such as spreading our message
to the world as well as making you know, a
positive brand associated with ourselves. How can we use those
tactics that we know about in sales.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Yeah, and I'll say the word sales just like you
use the word sales because everybody knows what it means.
But I hate the word sales. I hate it because
what the way what I think of when I talk
about sales is me trying to convince you that you
need something that you might not otherwise need.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
So, John, I see you got a microphone there. It
works because I hear you.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
It's it's not defective, it's not causing you physical harm
or bodily harm. But I'm gonna try to convince you
why you need this microphone as opposed to that, for me,
that's sales. We shouldn't be salespeople, we should be facilitators
And what I mean by facilitators is I know you
have a need, whether you know you have it or not,
(29:16):
and I just want to share with you how I
can help fulfill that need if that's something you want
to take advantage of, which again goes back to the
things that we talked about. In any kind of relationship
and any kind of new introduction, what are you doing?
Most people are trying to gain intelligence. Well, you know,
imagine imagine going to a coffee shop with somebody and
(29:38):
you meet with them two times, you meet with them
for an hour apiece, and all they do is talk
my life, my kids, my dreams, my goals.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
You don't even get a word in. Are you going
to keep meeting with them? Are you going to keep
spending time with them? Yet?
Speaker 2 (29:50):
That's what we do in sales, my product, my services.
This is why I'm the best fit for you. Blah
blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
It's not listening.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
It's not finding their needs, it's not understanding their goals,
it's not understanding their passions. It's not understanding some of
the things that keep them up at night. We just
turned sales into this transactional deal. Hey, I got a
microphone for you.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Do you want it?
Speaker 2 (30:12):
I don't know who you are. We haven't connected at
a deep level. I don't like you yet. No, no, no,
I don't want the microphone. But instead, if we can
just go about it the old fashioned way, if I
can see what synergies exist between the two of us,
if I can get to know you better, if I
can see commonalities, if we can connect at a deep
emotive level, if I can learn more about your hope, streams, passions,
(30:33):
and if there's a way I can facilitate some of
those things. Great, because at the end of the day,
the last thing I'll say about that sales too often
is put into the transactional category, when instead it should
be in the relational category. Paul, I'm selling widgets to companies.
These are just some little things, and people are buying
(30:54):
tens of thousands of them. What do you mean relationships? Well, sure,
but you're not the only place that sells widgets. Sure,
but you're not the only organization that does what you do.
I could get this widget in a thousand different places.
If you win on cost one year, you'll lose on
cost the next year. If you win on the shiny object,
this year, you're going to lose on the shiny object
next year. What you want people to eventually say, because
(31:17):
they're always competing for your business, they're always hounding your clients,
they're going after the same prospects you are, you want
them to say those magical words, thanks but I got
a guy, or thanks but I got a gal. And
as long as if we know each other, trust each other,
like each other, there's a lot of synergies. We've connected
(31:37):
at a deeper motive level.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
You've got a client for life. That's what we need
to do.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
But it takes time, it takes energy, it takes effort,
it takes going outside of your prison zone to get
to that point. And too many people are too lazy
to do that.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
They lose.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
And the people that are willing to do that, those
are the people that are going to not only stay
in business, but thrive in business.
Speaker 5 (31:58):
And you can learn more of at c suite for
christ dot com and Paul, how can we if we're
interested in learning more, get in touch and get involved.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Yeah, well you pretty much just said it.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Our our website is the central repository for all of
our information.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
So that's c suite s U I t E. F O. R.
Christ dot com.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
If if individuals are interested in getting in touch with me,
all my information is there as well. Otherwise, very quickly,
my email is Paul at Paul my middle initial M
as in Michael Newburger dot com. Between that website, between
that email address, we are humbly at your service.
Speaker 5 (32:40):
All of the info down in the show notes. Paul,
thanks so much for your time today and for staying
true to your authentic selve and sharing tips for young
and emerging leaders did. We definitely appreciate your.
Speaker 7 (32:52):
Time and your insight today.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
Thanks, thanks for having me, Thank you for joining us
this week at the Limitless Leadership Lounge. To listen to
this episode again and to find previous episodes, check us.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
Out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Spreageer.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
You can also get into the conversation find us on
Facebook and Instagram. Then tell three of your friends to
join in as well, Coach Numa and John. We'll be
back again next week for another try generational leadership discussion.
We'll talk to you then on the Limitless Leadership Lounge
This podcast is a proud member of the Teach Better
podcast network, Better Today, Better Tomorrow, and the podcast to
get you there. You can find out more at Teechbetter
dot com slash podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Even though I was a believer, even though I loved
God and knew God loved me, even though I accepted
God as mine and Jesus Christ is my personal.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Savior, I was still trying to please too many people.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I was trying to achieve a certain amount of professional status.
I was trying to make a certain amount of money.
I was trying to be the perfect husband. I was
trying to be the perfect father. I was trying to
be the perfect employee. And when you get pulled in
that many directions, at some point you're going to snap.
It's just like a rubber band that keeps getting stretched, stretched, streatch, stretch.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
At some point it's going to snap. And I snapped.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Do you want to be a leader in a constantly
changing world? Our emerging leaders look different, come from various
backgrounds and from all different age groups.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Leadership is changing and it's hard to keep up. But
the good news you can be a leader too.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
You can be an emerging leader. Welcome to the Limitless
Leadership Lounge, try generational conversation for emerging leaders. Come spend
some time with us to discuss leadership from three angles.
The coach, Jim Johnson, the Professor, Doctor Renuma Kareem, the host,
John Geering, a monthly guest, and you get in on
(01:20):
the conversation on Facebook and Instagram, and be sure to
follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Speaker. So come
on in and make yourself comfortable.
Speaker 5 (01:29):
Another week of the Limitless Leadership Lounge. We are excited
to welcome in yet another guest as we start a
new month. Here, I'm John Gearing. Thanks for having us
on today. Coach, you brought on another guest as you
always do. You're doing a lot of great networking for us.
So let's see who we invite today into the Lamitless
Leadership Lounge and get some more actionable leadership tips for
those young and emerging leaders.
Speaker 6 (01:50):
Yes, I'm really excited. Paul Neuberger and I started building
a nice relationship. He's doing some great things in the world,
and I read his outstanding book, which I'll talk a
little bit about, and he has started a real great movement.
I'm going to share a little bio of him and
then welcome to the show, and we're really excited to
(02:12):
have him.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
So.
Speaker 6 (02:12):
Paul Neuberger, a Wisconsin native, graduated from Ripping College in
two thousand and five and Marian University in two thousand
and seven. He started his career as a professional fundraiser
in the collegiate level upon his graduation from Ripon. Following
the death of his father in law on twenty twelve,
Pol followed a new path, becoming a financial advisor with
Thrivan Financial. It was where he realized the passion for
(02:35):
sales and started his first business, The Cold Call Coach.
Paul loves spending quality time with his wife, Tanya and
their three children, Kennedy, Hudson, and Reagan. He also immerses
himself in politics, reading biography, biographies, and watching movies. Paul,
thanks for joining us.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Yeah, of course, coach, it's a blessing to be here.
Speaker 6 (02:56):
Well, thank you, so, Paul. I'm going to you know,
getting to know you and do some research on you.
In twenty seventeen, it was a pretty difficult time in
your life when a doctor said, Paul, you're killing yourself.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
I know.
Speaker 6 (03:10):
Young leaders also struggle sometimes in balancing work life, however
we want to call it. Tell us that story and
how that really woke you up?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, And for me it doesn't now that I've gone
through that and I've got the ability to have twenty
twenty hindsight. It's not work life balance. And I think
work life balance is not something we should strive for
because it's almost impossible to measure that. You know, people
kind of define balance differently. Well, for every eight hours
I spend to work, do I spend eight hours at home?
(03:43):
Probably not? Well, if I do twelve hours at work,
should I have you know, two or three really good
quality hours at home?
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Maybe?
Speaker 2 (03:50):
But again I think the notion of work life balance
as a misnomer. Instead, what I now try to do
is who am I accountable to? Basically who am I
living life for? And the incorrect answer is your spouse,
The incorrect answer is your kids, the incorrect answer is
your boss. The only correct answer is God. And up
(04:11):
until that point, I was trying to be all things
to all people. And even though I was a believer,
even though I loved God, I knew God loved me.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Even though I accepted God as mine and.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Jesus Christ is my personal savior, I was still trying
to please too many people. I was trying to achieve
a certain amount of professional status. I was trying to
make a certain amount of money. I was trying to
be the perfect husband. I was trying to be the
perfect father. I was trying to be the perfect employee.
And when you get pulled in that many directions, at
some point you're going to snap.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
It's just like a rubber band.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
That keeps getting stretched, stretched, streatch, stretch, at some point
it's going to snap.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
And I snapped.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
And I was just having these weird physical ailments. Every
two or three weeks. I would just vomit for four
days in a row, and I always knew when it
was coming, you know, I would just kind of feel
something in my stomach. And on a couple of occasions,
I got sick while presenting. One case, I was giving
a talk to a group of financial advisors and I
passed out on stage. I've never blacked out before Coach
(05:06):
up until that point. I've never blacked out since. And
I woke up in a hospital and that's when the
doctor again. I was going to the doctor every couple
of weeks again, because I was getting sick and they
were running tests and they said, man, for them, maybe
cholesterol is a little high, maybe BP could be a
little bit lower, but otherwise, dude, you're in great shape.
I don't know what's going on. This doctor after I collapse,
said I know what's going on. You're killing yourself. Your
body is dying in breaking down under all this stress.
(05:31):
So what I decided to do shortly thereafter is I
was trying to look for solutions in the world. I
was trying to find something in the world that would
cure it. Well, we all have a God shaped hole
on our hearts, and I wasn't filling mine. I totally
and utterly surrendered my life to Christ, started giving my
talents to him, my abilities to him.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
It's your way, not my way, and I haven't.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
I didn't have any vomiting instances since.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
I sleep like a baby every night. It wasn't an
overnight thing.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
But what I just came to realize is sometimes rock
bottom can be a really firm foundation, and God had
to bring me down to mind. So the only place
I could look was up. And once I started looking up,
I said, Okay, I think I know what I'm missing.
I started putting my life back together and haven't had
those episodes since.
Speaker 6 (06:19):
That's awesome.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Wow.
Speaker 7 (06:20):
Yeah, Paul, I can relate to you being a Muslim
and I'm also a person of faith. I myself have
experienced those rock bottom moments. And I think what you
are mentioning that sense of purpose. When you have that
sense of purpose towards serving your God, that takes away
(06:41):
all those buffers, all the other ailment. So my question
to you, like, when you're serving and I saw your video,
the success is different for person to person, for each
person is different. So once you became so tuned, tuned
towards God, how do you define success now at present?
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Yeah? For sure.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
And it's a lot easier now that I've surrendered everything
to him. It's a lot more straightforward now that I've
surrendered everything to him. And it's really just I'd say
one or two key points. Number one, did I fully
surrender my time, talents and abilities to him? And his
scripture says I need to be diminished so that He
(07:26):
can be exalted. So my first definition of success is
was I obedient to God? And if the answer is no,
then it wasn't a good day for me. It doesn't
matter how much money I make. I mean mean that
that used to be the ultimate measuring stick. How much
money did I make? How many appointments did I run?
How full is my pipeline? Am I closer to getting
(07:46):
that promotion?
Speaker 3 (07:48):
I mean?
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I am in this world, but I am not of
this world. And when I started to use worldly definitions
to define success, it just made things worse. It's like
putting a square peg in a round hole. Once you
surrender your life to Christ, your definition of success is
totally different. So number one was I obedient? And he
might be pushing me in a totally different direction. I
(08:09):
may want to go left, but he's telling me to
go right.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Am I obedient? Did I go right? If I can
check that box? Okay, good, then that was a successful day.
And for me, the other one is am I? Rather
than telling the world who I am? Did I tell
the world whose I am?
Speaker 3 (08:29):
I don't want that.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I don't This based sounds stupid, especially as a guy
that runs several businesses. I'm on stages a lot. I've
got to create a lot of content so people naturally
know my name. I really don't care if I'm forgotten
after I die. I don't need the name Paul M.
Neuberger to live in infamy. I need the name Jesus
Christ to live in infamy. So am I telling the
(08:51):
world whose I am? Am I giving him the credit?
Am I giving him the glory? Am I giving him
the honor? Am I starting conversations about him? I don't
have to be able to explain the mysteries of the Bible.
I just need to be available to start conversations about Christ.
So as long as I'm being obedient, that's number one.
And number two, as long as I'm doing my part
(09:11):
to make him known and to start conversations about him
and let the world know whose I am.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Those are my two definitions of success.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
And thankfully, as of late, I've had a lot more
successful days than unsuccessful days.
Speaker 6 (09:25):
I'm going to change because I do want to come
back to C suite. But I do got to ask
you about your book, and you said hard things. Well,
the book is called The Secrets to Cold Call Success,
and I know for many people in business that is
a very scary thing. So I'm just interested. Can you
share you know for young leaders that you know in
(09:46):
trying to build connections like you're doing very well, can
you give us some advice on what you shared the
book about being more effective in that cold called success.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Yeah, it's a lot I could say there, and I
don't want to take up too much, but the first
thing that you had said, I would challenge everybody who's
listening to this to do a bit of a name substitution.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
I hate the word comfort zone. I say it.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Because everybody knows what I'm talking about. But again, comfort,
for the most part, has a positive connotation in this society.
But I'll tell you when it comes to addictions. You know,
when people think of addictions, they think of addicted to
drugs or alcohol, or pornography or whatever the list is, workoholism.
(10:30):
I think the worst addiction we have is a society
is this addiction to comfort. We don't want to be disturbed,
We want to live an easy life. Seventy percent of
this country is either overweight or obese. I mean, we
just have this addiction to comfort. You got to get
rid of the word comfort zone. In fact, I don't
so what I would say from a word substitution, replace
(10:51):
comfort with the word prison. I call it prison zones
because that's what a comfort zone is. It imprisons. You
it keeps you from growing, It keeps you from learning,
It keeps you from trying new things. It prevents you
from experiencing potentially game changing, life changing moments. They are
going to make you a different person, all because you
just want to be comfortable.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
So, like you said, cold con is hard. Well, if it.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Ain't hard, it ain't worth doing. I mean, how many
jobs are you going to get by putting.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
On your resume.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
I'm an excellent stamp liquor, I'm an excellent email replier. Oh,
come on in, you're gonna be the new CEO of
our company. Too many people are afraid to get out
of their prison zone, and they end up shackled. They
end up not learning the things they need to learn.
Cold Calling is a life skill. It's not a luxury.
Oh I'm not in sales, So wouldn't it be nice
(11:40):
to be able to pick up the phone and get
in front of who you want, when you want, for
whatever reason you want or it's not my job. Yeah,
but don't you volunteer for your church or your kids
football league or Girl Scouts? Wouldn't it be cool to
be able to help your kids raise money? Wouldn't it
be able to be cool to help the organization that
you support, so real quick, and then if you have
any follow up, let me know. But for me, it
(12:01):
really boils down to three main philosophical principles. Number One,
people buy people first, not companies. And most people get that, well, sure,
I want to know, like and trust this person. Once
I do, I'll do whatever they want. Yeah, but then
you listen to them cold call. Hey, I'm Bob Smith
with Smith Financial.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
This is what we do.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Blah blah blah blah blah, and they hang up. So
what we're really good at is teaching people how to
sell themselves first, as opposed to their company. Number two,
people are emotional buyers, not logical buyers. People use logic
to justify an emotional purchase. Now, again, it's got to
be in their best interest. I'm not saying we manipulate them,
(12:40):
or we dupe them or whatever else, but it's all
about how you make them feel. People won't always remember
what you said, but they'll never forget how you made
them feel when you set it. So we teach our
clients how to connect with somebody at a deep emotive
level instantly. And last, but not least, it's all about differentiation.
Most people sound like every other salesperson. Most people sound
(13:03):
like every other insurance company or real estate organization or
whatever company that you're representing. We show you how, in
a matter of five seconds, to sound different, to approach
the call different, to separate yourself from all of humanity. So,
if you're selling yourself first, if you're connecting at a
deep emotive level, and you're really putting an emphasis on differentiation,
(13:24):
a forty to fifty eighty percent co call success rate
is well within your grasp.
Speaker 6 (13:30):
Can you just dive in a little bit deeper at
how a strategy or example of differentiating yourself.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Look at coach trying to get giving away all my
proprietary information I'll give you without going too deep, because
it's how I pay the mortgage. I will say that
the overall the number one thing when it comes to
how do you separate yourself from all of humanity while
also hitting people at a deep emotive level. Really kind
(13:59):
of set around your story, your motivations, in other words,
your why why do you do what you do? Why
do you get up every day passionate about going to work?
Why of all the things that you could be doing today,
why is this the way that you choose to make
a living. Now, I didn't make this concept popular. I
(14:19):
give credit to Simon Sinek for that. But one of
the things that I think, for as much as I
appreciate what Simon Sinek is contributing to the world of
sales and leadership development, I thought he's done a pretty
crappy job of telling us how.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
You know, he'll lead with your why.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Great, But then you know, one of the things that
I would experience as a coach is one of two
things people would say, I don't have a why. Well,
first of all, let's bees on a stick. Everybody's got
a why. You mean, you just get out of bed
and you just, like a robot, you go to work.
So whether you know it or not, there's a why there.
But number two, some people might say, I have a
why to my kids. I have a why. It's providing
for my family. Again, that doesn't differentiate you. That that's
(14:55):
what everybody says. Again that that, but that still doesn't
explain why you're in financial services. You could provide for
your kids, in real estate, you could provide for your kids.
As a doctor. That still does not cut to the
core of it. So what I had to do because
things like that outside of my control hurt my ability
to coach. I had to come up with a six
step process on how to build the world's greatest why,
(15:17):
which I've done so in the cold call.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Even though our coal calls are really really short, you.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Know, coach, because you read the book, you don't have
time to say, well, let me tell you about my
story and go on for ten minutes. So we work
with our clients to identify the why craft, the why,
poke holes and the why message the why and get
it to a point where we can execute a powerful
why in just two or three sentences, and the cold
call gives us a great way to introduce that. Once
(15:43):
folks get in the habit of doing that, now it's
you're connecting with them at a deep level.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Your story is totally unique.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
There's a lot of credibility because they could see themselves
in your story, and all we're trying to get them
to do was say yeah, I'll take a follow up call,
because that starts the entire sales press.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
You have also the challenge now of not only just
cold calling, but also some of the automated reachouts that
we have right now. And some of the opportunities to
reach even a more mass quantity of people. How does
that factor into an effective sales strategy or does it
at all? Is it an ineffective way of reaching out?
Speaker 2 (16:21):
So when you're doing cold calling correctly, it should be
quality over quantity. So, first of all, these people that
put an emphasis on quantity, they don't know what they're doing.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
I'm sure they're great people.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I'm not being judgmental, but just think about quantity versus quality.
You know, how many people like going out and having
a low quality meal. How many people love going out
and watching a low quality movie?
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Answer is nobody. But we're supposed to accept that. In sales, you're.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Supposed to just hit the easy button. This is one
of the things that really irks me more than anything else.
It's you know, oh, I got this really cool LinkedIn
pro gram. It allows me to send out a billion
messages in five minutes. Hitting the easy button is never
a solution to anything, like we talked about earlier.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
If it ain't hard, it ain't we're doing now.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
I'm not saying it shouldn't be inconvenient, like you know,
I mean, go to the grocery store and get butter.
Don't go in the backyard and churn your own butter
like that. That's not what I mean about hard, but
quality over quantity. If if you focus on the things
that we had talked about again, strategy, philosophy, making sure
that we're doing the right things on the phone, connecting
(17:31):
with someone at a deeper mode of level. My clients
can do more in ten cold calls than most people
can in five hundred because we're getting all of those
things in place. But a lot of people are gonna say,
I don't want to do the research, or I don't
want to refine my script or I don't want to
do role playing.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Can I just automate it? Sure?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
And then you're gonna be at a job pretty soon
because not only do those things not work, again, that
is not a life skill for you to learn. It
does kind of remind me when I was in professional
fund for about a six month period, I stopped at
a high school, a Christian high school called Mesmer Catholic Schools.
This thing was just a complete model of efficiency. Ninety
(18:10):
eight percent black in terms of the student population inner
city youth, eighty nine percent graduation rate, which was through
the roof compared to that demographic, and the majority of
these young men and women came from broken homes.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Dad was dead, both.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Parents in jail, they were living with grandparents. Said my gosh,
how are you guys able to do this? Well, one
of the things that I learned is in order for
those kids to graduate, they had to go through four
years of swimming. I said, this is the stupidest thing
I've ever heard. Like, I understand math and geography and
whatever else, but swimming. And I eventually went to one
of the administrators. I said, sorry, can you help me
(18:49):
out here? Why do these kids need to go through
four years of swimming to graduate? And they said, well,
because again because of who these young people are don't
have mom and dad or on impoverished that have been
dealt every hard hand known to man. Most of them,
by the time they come to us, have never seen
a body of water. And if we don't teach them
to swim, we're sending them out there to potentially be
(19:12):
in a situation where they could easily die by falling
in a lake or whatever the case is. They were
more interested in developing them as people than teaching them
certain subjects, and that's what co calling is, so you
got to focus on the quality. You can't lose that
personal touch. And the last thing that I'll say is
to be honest, it's a good development for me and
(19:32):
the people that do what I do, which again isn't
a lot. But when these things are outsourced, when it's
quantity over quality, when it's robodials or whatever else, that's
just more opportunity for us because that means fewer people
are taking the time to pick up the phone, Fewer
people are doing one on one cold calls, Fewer people
are spending time in this lane, which means we're one
(19:56):
of the few people in the lane, which means we're
taking up all the oxygen in the room, which means
while everybody else is hitting the easy button, robodials, mass
LinkedIn messages, we've got the personal touch and to the
victor go the spoils.
Speaker 7 (20:08):
I guess, Paul, one of my questions is, in this
era of social media, when everybody's comparing each other, observing
what's going on in Instagram and everything else, what are
some tips you will be you might be giving to
the younger generation on getting out of that mindset of
(20:32):
comparison and trying to be authentic.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Well, I think the last words you hit is key,
And this kind of goes back to the start of
the conversation, who are you ultimately accountable to? And if
you're a Christian, the answer should be God. So if
you're accountable to God, you should live a life according
to the way that God wants you to live. And
He wants us to be authentic. He wants us to
be true to ourselves. He wants us to be vulnerable,
(20:57):
he wants us to be who He create.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
He aided us to.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Be warts at all. So number one, if you're trying
to create a social media presence, if you're trying to
get attention to some degree, just be yourself because so
few people in this world are. They're robots, their sheep,
they're that. If you've ever seen the movie American Beauty,
it's kind of an older movie. I'm kind of dating
(21:22):
myself now, back when Kevin Spacey was still in movies
and you got that little plastic bag blowing in the wind.
So number one, you got to be yourself because it's
so refreshing to find somebody who is. Yeah, this goes
against the societal narrative, but I'm gonna say it anyway.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Yeah, I'm not saying be rude.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Or disrespectful or belligerent or don't pick fights on purpose.
Is just be your true, authentic self that is going
to shine, that is going to stand out in a
world that It's like a meme where you've got one
hundred people in an image and everybody is gray, and
then this one person is in technicolor. Yeah, because they're bold,
(21:58):
because they're the person standing out, that's naturally going to
get a decent amount of attention. And the other thing
is too. This is kind of my philosophy. But if
you want to again, make sure that you believe it,
make sure that this is part of who you are,
but not only be true to yourself. I like to
do things that society says I can't do because ninety
(22:18):
nine percent of the people are going to listen to that.
And if I'm the one that doesn't that, that's a
little bit more oxygen for me. That's a little bit
more me and my own lane. You know that they
always say, don't talk about politics, don't talk about religion.
I talk about both every single day. I'm not going
to be rude by doing that. There's this what I
call this super silent majority, the people that believe what
(22:40):
you believe, the people that support what you support, the
people that are just waiting for somebody to stand up
and say, you know, I hear you. But I'm going
to talk about this anyway because the vast majority of
people are followers. There are very few leaders in this world.
That doesn't mean they're bad people, because we need followers.
Could you imagine if everybody in society was a leader,
Oh my gosh, be like big game of bumper cars
(23:01):
when we're all tripping over each other. But the vast
majority of people are followers. They need someone to give
them a voice. They need someone to publicly share their
ideas that they're too scared to share. And if you
can get comfortable being uncomfortable, if you can get out
of your prison zone, if you can remember whose you are,
and you can say, well, you know conventional wisdom, be darned,
(23:22):
I'm going to give voice to this anyway. Don't don't
be surprised if you gain a massive following, you get
a lot of support, You will get some haters that
that's part for the course. But it's a great way
to stand out. It's a great way to be authentically truly.
Speaker 6 (23:38):
You Well, I got to dig in because you know,
helping young leaders. You know, you started your own business
and now you've started c suite. Tell us a little
bit about c suite, but and but also give us
a foundation of how you built this, you know, like
bringing in the right people, you know, whatever, you know,
whether it's having a mission state, I mean, what are
(24:01):
the things that you've found have been good foundations in
building your business, you know, and now into c suite
since twenty eighteen.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Number one is just to kind of revisit a theme
I said earlier, being obedient. When I tried to make
life about me, my plan, my goals, my future, my passions.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
I was horribly depressed.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
I was suicidal, My marriage was falling apart, and I
was an absentee dad, even though on paper things looked
that look great at a good job, was making good money,
was always getting promoted.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Paul, what the heck is your problem? What do you
have to be sad about? I wasn't.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I wasn't fulfilling God's purpose for my life. So number one,
being obedient, Just where do you think he's leading you?
What do you think he's asking you to do. For
some of us, we want to start our own businesses.
But if that's not God's plan for your life, it's
going to be like a square peg in a round hole.
So number one is just being obedient. But number two,
as you're obedient, and as you see, you're getting a
(25:03):
series of green lights. Wow, this thing is really taking off. Wow,
this thing is really working, starting to be able to
modify with the changing conditions on the ground. I'll look
at SA Suite for Christ for example. Again, this just
started off as a support group for me because I
was depressed and suicidal.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
I needed people to talk to. That was it.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Well, turns out a lot of people needed people to
talk to and after a couple of monthly get together
somebody had said, Paul, we should make this a formal group. Okay,
So again being nimble, how do we do that? What's
the next step bringing in one or two people that
might have experience in doing that.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
So we created a formal entity.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
We started to charge brief membership dues just to cover
our costs. The thing exploded and then we encountered COVID
and for two or three months we couldn't meet.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Is this the death of c Suite for Christ.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
And a lot of us just started to think, you know,
well we need this, This fellowship is too important. So
rather than meeting in person, change with the conditions on
the ground. And for us, it was, well, why don't
we go virtual? So when we went virtual, we were
able to have that fellowship. But now we recognize, Gosh,
if we're virtual, this doesn't just have to be a
southeastern Wisconsin group anymore. We can invite people all over
(26:16):
the country to participate in this. So people from Texas, California, Illinois,
et cetera, we're all partaking in this. Well, when the
COVID restriction started a lift, we said, okay, we're done
with virtual, let's go back to in person. Well not
these people all over the country said well what about us.
I'm in New York City. I'm not going to fly
to Milwaukee. That's stupid. Okay, Well, how do we bring
groups of c Suite for Christ out there? So we
(26:39):
thought about it, we created a business plan, then we
started this nationwide expansion. We're at almost thirty physical chapters
right now. When growing so, I think one of the
main takeaways is again not only being obedient generally speaking,
but also just monitoring the conditions on the ground, being nimble,
being flexible, being able to to change, being able to
(27:02):
modify the way that you thought this was going to go,
modify your five or ten year plan.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
To say, well, this is the direction I was going in.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
These are the opportunities that are now here. How do
I become flexible enough to take advantage of them? Because
there are opportunities put in front of young people, put
in front of all of us all day, every day.
Most of the time we miss them because we got
blinders on. We were so desperately focused on our plan
and our goals and our next step that it's literally
(27:31):
walking right.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
In front of you.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
And sometimes once that door closes, it closes forever that
we miss them. Or number two, we send them, but
we don't know what to do, We don't know how
to jump in, we don't know how to take advantage
of it. So I think if we're looking for those
opportunities and when they're there, pounce and bring the people
with us to help us take advantage of them. I
think that's the best advice I can give anybody who's
(27:54):
trying to further their career.
Speaker 5 (27:56):
And sales is such an important thing, not just for
sales people, but for anybody selling their brand, even as
a leader. So my final question for you is about
sales and how we can take this the skills that
you've learned in sales or as any of us, even
non salespeople, can take what we know about sales and
(28:17):
apply that to other areas such as spreading our message
to the world as well as making you know, a
positive brand associated with ourselves. How can we use those
tactics that we know about in sales.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Yeah, and I'll say the word sales just like you
use the word sales because everybody knows what it means.
But I hate the word sales. I hate it because
what the way what I think of when I talk
about sales is me trying to convince you that you
need something that you might not otherwise need.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
So, John, I see you got a microphone there. It
works because I hear you.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
It's it's not defective, it's not causing you physical harm
or bodily harm. But I'm gonna try to convince you
why you need this microphone as opposed to that, for me,
that's sales. We shouldn't be salespeople, we should be facilitators
And what I mean by facilitators is I know you
have a need, whether you know you have it or not,
(29:16):
and I just want to share with you how I
can help fulfill that need if that's something you want
to take advantage of, which again goes back to the
things that we talked about. In any kind of relationship
and any kind of new introduction, what are you doing?
Most people are trying to gain intelligence. Well, you know,
imagine imagine going to a coffee shop with somebody and
(29:38):
you meet with them two times, you meet with them
for an hour apiece, and all they do is talk
my life, my kids, my dreams, my goals.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
You don't even get a word in. Are you going
to keep meeting with them? Are you going to keep
spending time with them? Yet?
Speaker 2 (29:50):
That's what we do in sales, my product, my services.
This is why I'm the best fit for you. Blah
blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
It's not listening.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
It's not finding their needs, it's not understanding their goals,
it's not understanding their passions. It's not understanding some of
the things that keep them up at night. We just
turned sales into this transactional deal. Hey, I got a
microphone for you.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Do you want it?
Speaker 2 (30:12):
I don't know who you are. We haven't connected at
a deep level. I don't like you yet. No, no, no,
I don't want the microphone. But instead, if we can
just go about it the old fashioned way, if I
can see what synergies exist between the two of us,
if I can get to know you better, if I
can see commonalities, if we can connect at a deep
emotive level, if I can learn more about your hope, streams, passions,
(30:33):
and if there's a way I can facilitate some of
those things. Great, because at the end of the day,
the last thing I'll say about that sales too often
is put into the transactional category, when instead it should
be in the relational category. Paul, I'm selling widgets to companies.
These are just some little things, and people are buying
(30:54):
tens of thousands of them. What do you mean relationships? Well, sure,
but you're not the only place that sells widgets. Sure,
but you're not the only organization that does what you do.
I could get this widget in a thousand different places.
If you win on cost one year, you'll lose on
cost the next year. If you win on the shiny object,
this year, you're going to lose on the shiny object
next year. What you want people to eventually say, because
(31:17):
they're always competing for your business, they're always hounding your clients,
they're going after the same prospects you are, you want
them to say those magical words, thanks but I got
a guy, or thanks but I got a gal. And
as long as if we know each other, trust each other,
like each other, there's a lot of synergies. We've connected
(31:37):
at a deeper motive level.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
You've got a client for life. That's what we need
to do.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
But it takes time, it takes energy, it takes effort,
it takes going outside of your prison zone to get
to that point. And too many people are too lazy
to do that.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
They lose.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
And the people that are willing to do that, those
are the people that are going to not only stay
in business, but thrive in business.
Speaker 5 (31:58):
And you can learn more of at c suite for
christ dot com and Paul, how can we if we're
interested in learning more, get in touch and get involved.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Yeah, well you pretty much just said it.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Our our website is the central repository for all of
our information.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
So that's c suite s U I t E. F O. R.
Christ dot com.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
If if individuals are interested in getting in touch with me,
all my information is there as well. Otherwise, very quickly,
my email is Paul at Paul my middle initial M
as in Michael Newburger dot com. Between that website, between
that email address, we are humbly at your service.
Speaker 5 (32:40):
All of the info down in the show notes. Paul,
thanks so much for your time today and for staying
true to your authentic selve and sharing tips for young
and emerging leaders did. We definitely appreciate your.
Speaker 7 (32:52):
Time and your insight today.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
Thanks, thanks for having me, Thank you for joining us
this week at the Limitless Leadership Lounge. To listen to
this episode again and to find previous episodes, check us.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
Out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Spreageer.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
You can also get into the conversation find us on
Facebook and Instagram. Then tell three of your friends to
join in as well, Coach Numa and John. We'll be
back again next week for another try generational leadership discussion.
We'll talk to you then on the Limitless Leadership Lounge
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