MMS #110 - Beyond the Bottom Line: Purpose-Driven Leadership in Modern Distribution with Dirk Beveridge

[00:00:01] Welcome to Mastering Modern Selling, Relationships, Social and AI in the buyer-centric age. Join host Brandon Lee, founder of Fistbump, alongside Microsoft's number one social seller Carson V Heady, and Tom Burton, author of The Revenue Zone and co-founder of LeadSmart, as we explore the strategies and stories behind successful executives and sales professionals.

[00:00:24] Dive into business growth, personal development and the pursuit of excellence with industry leaders. Whether you're a seasoned executive or an aspiring leader, this podcast is your backstage pass to today's business landscape. This is Mastering Modern Selling, brought to you by Fistbump.

[00:00:48] All right, welcome back. Episode number 110, Mastering Modern Selling. We got the band full back today. Brandon's here, Carson's here, and Dirk Beveridge, who is an amazing, I mean, it's an amazing, he's an amazing guest anyway, but to get him at the last minute, I don't know how you pulled this off, Brandon.

[00:01:09] He bailed us out.

[00:01:11] I begged.

[00:01:11] No, hey, it's, look at what, it's the power of community. How's that for a setup for our topic today?

[00:01:17] The power of community.

[00:01:19] Home run.

[00:01:20] Right?

[00:01:21] So, yeah, we had a little bit of a logistical foupa, I guess you could say, and our guest, we were planned, didn't show up, and then here comes Dirk. Like, wow.

[00:01:32] To the rescue. You should be wearing a cape today, Dirk.

[00:01:36] I'm speaking to you.

[00:01:37] I'll tell you from my...

[00:01:38] I mean, especially in the spirit of Halloween. I mean, you need a superhero costume of some sort.

[00:01:42] That wouldn't go good with me, but I'll tell you what this means to me.

[00:01:45] I'm really fortunate. Twice a year, I get to go and speak at Lake Forest College to undergraduates for one day in their marketing class.

[00:01:56] And my neighbor is the professor.

[00:01:59] And for like three years, I watched him bringing somebody in to speak to this marketing class.

[00:02:06] I'm not saying, God, I'd love to do that.

[00:02:08] Well, his adjunct professor moved to Denver so he could no longer be there.

[00:02:15] Then he asked me to come in and speak.

[00:02:17] So I was always the second choice.

[00:02:21] And it sounds like the same thing happened here today.

[00:02:25] There's a theme going on in terms of where I'm asked to participate.

[00:02:30] So I happily hear as your second choice.

[00:02:33] Number one in our hearts, Dirk.

[00:02:36] Brandon, I'm going to give you one guess what I am for Halloween.

[00:02:42] Marty McFly, maybe?

[00:02:44] I was that three years ago.

[00:02:46] That looks like Indiana Jones.

[00:02:47] Is it Indiana Jones there?

[00:02:49] The fedora?

[00:02:50] You did it.

[00:02:51] I didn't even look.

[00:02:53] I just said Marty McFly.

[00:02:54] But yeah.

[00:02:55] Yeah.

[00:02:56] Good stuff.

[00:02:57] I want to say hey to Bob.

[00:02:58] I want to say hey to Andrew.

[00:03:00] See you guys.

[00:03:01] Feel free to post in the comments where you're joining us from today.

[00:03:06] And any questions for Dirk?

[00:03:09] Yeah.

[00:03:10] And Andrew, speaking of community, Andrew and I met each other online.

[00:03:13] We found out they were both Manchester United painful supporters.

[00:03:18] And so yeah.

[00:03:20] And they're kicking off right now.

[00:03:21] So he's got one eye on us and one eye.

[00:03:23] Andrew, I expect you to give me score updates throughout the show.

[00:03:28] All right.

[00:03:29] Well, we're going to be talking about purpose-driven leadership among other things here today.

[00:03:34] Dirk, take a minute.

[00:03:36] Tell a little bit about, and I know this could take like three hours to go through some of your background

[00:03:40] on what you do, but you know, tell everybody a little bit about who you are and your focus in life.

[00:03:47] Yeah.

[00:03:48] Thanks.

[00:03:48] Hi, Brent and Kim.

[00:03:49] Thanks for having me.

[00:03:51] Love being your runner-up.

[00:03:53] Yeah.

[00:03:54] I absolutely love being here.

[00:03:56] So I'm Dirk Pfeffer, founder of Unleashed WD, executive producer of We Supply America.

[00:04:01] For 40 years, our efforts, our hearts, our mind has been geared towards helping distributors remain profitable, relevant, sustainable in what we call the age of disruption.

[00:04:14] And over the years, we've gone through a number of phases really based on where we believe the market needs to go.

[00:04:21] So years ago, we really led much of the conversation with a research project I did for the National Association of Wholesalers called Driving Distributor Sales Beyond,

[00:04:33] where we defined the best practices of distributors who outperform the marketplace.

[00:04:38] And really, we were a leading voice in terms of the need to move from transactional selling, from commercial visiting and product peddling,

[00:04:47] to truly become that consultative and who we call sustaining resource trusted advisor.

[00:04:54] Over the years then, as things happened, I found myself at an innovation summit in Providence, Rhode Island.

[00:05:01] And I said, oh, my God, these TED Talks talk about innovation in 18-minute cycles.

[00:05:08] The people coming across this stage talk about how they innovate as a social entrepreneur during Katrina or the VP of Innovation for Intel and 30 others over two days.

[00:05:22] I'm sitting there in the audience.

[00:05:23] This is probably 15 years ago.

[00:05:25] And I realized that the conversations happening on this stage are different than what's happening in the typical boardroom of the typical distributorship.

[00:05:34] And it was at that moment that I realized that innovation was bypassing distribution.

[00:05:40] So my heart led us to the conversation to really talk about this age of disruption and the need to innovate throughout distribution.

[00:05:48] And the research that I did in my book called Innovate, How Successful Distributorshiply Change in Disruptive Times.

[00:05:53] Then COVID happened.

[00:05:55] And I was called to buy a 38-foot RV, wrap it with the brand We Supply America.

[00:06:02] And for the last four summers between Memorial Day and Labor Day, I've left home and I've crossed this country each of the four summers from sea to shining sea,

[00:06:11] championing the noble calling of distribution and reminding distributors and the 6 million employees in distribution.

[00:06:19] From the C-suite to where my heart is, the deskless workers in the warehouse or the accounts receivable clerk or what have you,

[00:06:29] reminding everybody about the essentialness of what you all do and the nobleness of what you do.

[00:06:36] And that's led me to what I truly believe right now is that business is nothing if it's not about the people.

[00:06:44] I love it.

[00:06:45] And going forward.

[00:06:46] Derek, I want to say something.

[00:06:47] I got a vision just now.

[00:06:49] So with this travel across America, doing a show, distributing across America, you know, from every location you stop in, broadcasting.

[00:06:59] I've got a CEO that I work with very closely, one of our customers.

[00:07:02] And she does this amazing show like Where's?

[00:07:04] And then she has her name.

[00:07:06] And then she just broadcasts from her different locations.

[00:07:10] That would be an amazing show.

[00:07:12] I'd watch that.

[00:07:13] Love it.

[00:07:13] I appreciate that, Carson.

[00:07:15] And we are thinking about, yeah, what we're going to do.

[00:07:19] So I'll build that in.

[00:07:20] And, you know, we created 36 documentary films over the last four years.

[00:07:24] So not quite where it is.

[00:07:26] But, yeah.

[00:07:28] That would be an amazing idea.

[00:07:29] So thank you.

[00:07:30] Love it.

[00:07:31] And, Carson, these films, those 36, these are like high professional films.

[00:07:36] These are amazing.

[00:07:38] Yeah.

[00:07:38] You have a whole crew, right, Dirk, that's with you?

[00:07:40] A whole film crew and all that?

[00:07:42] At eight stops.

[00:07:43] At eight stops.

[00:07:44] Eight stops.

[00:07:45] The video creates me.

[00:07:47] And we produce these films.

[00:07:50] That's powerful.

[00:07:51] Yeah.

[00:07:52] So I wanted to touch on one thing, you know, because we have a broad range of listeners here that are in different types of sales.

[00:07:59] You know, when you say the word distribution, Dirk, not everybody may know what that is and how that kind of fits into the economy.

[00:08:07] Can you talk a little bit about, you know, what is a distributor?

[00:08:10] And, you know, I think you even pointed this out in the keynote I saw you in yesterday.

[00:08:15] The size of this market or the size of the volume of transactions that's going through this market or with these organizations called distribution.

[00:08:24] Yeah.

[00:08:25] Yeah.

[00:08:25] So, you know, when people ask me what I do and I say, you know, I'm out championing the mobile calling distribution, they say, what is a distributor, right?

[00:08:31] And for me, the easiest way for me to understand is that there's a manufacturer of toilets or electrical goods and that toilet or electrical good has to get in the hands of a contractor to be installed in your own.

[00:08:44] In between that contractor, the manufacturer is a distributor who buys in bulk, breaks that bulk down and then ships it out to the user and user or the contractor or what have you.

[00:08:57] How do you earn the right to be the trusted advisor in that space?

[00:09:00] I mean, that seems to be your sweet spot.

[00:09:04] From a sales perspective, Carson?

[00:09:06] Yes.

[00:09:07] Yeah.

[00:09:08] So I'll sum it up with one word or no, one statement.

[00:09:15] I love this mission statement that some of our clients have adopted over the years.

[00:09:20] And the mission says we won't ask for your business unless we have a plan to help improve your business.

[00:09:29] And, you know, the evolution of sales over the years, there has been an evolution.

[00:09:35] Right.

[00:09:35] And that evolution has been, you know, years ago, it was all about commercial visiting.

[00:09:39] Who could stop by with more donuts more times than anybody else?

[00:09:46] Right.

[00:09:47] And then that evolved over to product peddling.

[00:09:49] And product peddling says, man, I hope I got the best price.

[00:09:52] I hope I got the best product.

[00:09:53] I hope we can deliver on time because it all comes down to product and price.

[00:09:57] And, guys, still today, still today, 90% of the world salespeople are still using these antiquated, outdated selling skills of commercial visiting and product peddling.

[00:10:08] And it's evolved beyond that to what we've all called over the years consultative selling.

[00:10:14] And I think about 8% of the world salespeople are there.

[00:10:17] And then there's 1% or 2% that truly are the trusted advisors, those individuals who understand the customer's business better than the customer understands it and truly can bring solutions to that customer that they never even knew that they needed.

[00:10:34] And, man, when you see that happen, when you go out in the field with one of these trusted advisors and they walk you into their office, which happens to be in their client's business, you know something's happened there.

[00:10:46] That's a poignant stat, too.

[00:10:48] 1% to 2% that you believe are actually trusted advisors that know the business and know the industry so well that they're not only camped out with the customer, but they can guide them and counsel them on the industry and they know it better than the customer themselves.

[00:11:03] That's powerful.

[00:11:04] Do those numbers resonate with you, Carson?

[00:11:07] I'm surprised it's that low.

[00:11:09] But at the same point, you're probably right.

[00:11:12] In my experience, I've seen a lot, especially over the last decade, in technology and in cloud sales.

[00:11:20] And I would say that because a lot of it is so product and solution focused, people lack the ability to speak the customer's language around industry verticals.

[00:11:34] And there are some that know the industry very well, but they've not wrapped their head around how to actually align these solutions with the industry.

[00:11:44] So you've got a hodgepodge.

[00:11:46] You've got people that know the industry.

[00:11:47] In your case, they may know distribution.

[00:11:49] But on the flip side, I don't know how to make my sales skills applicable to align needs and match them to solutions.

[00:11:58] And that's where I think people get stuck.

[00:12:00] But 1% to 2%, you might be right.

[00:12:03] We'll figure it out.

[00:12:04] Yeah.

[00:12:05] Yeah.

[00:12:05] Well, in the world of distribution, too, a distributor may have tens of thousands of SKUs or products they're selling.

[00:12:14] They have many different customers, right?

[00:12:16] The customers have different needs, different use cases, all of that.

[00:12:21] So it's not like a software where you have a couple products or whatever.

[00:12:27] There's a lot to understand and a lot to learn to be able to go in and be that trusted advisor.

[00:12:34] I would agree.

[00:12:35] And I mean, I'm in an ecosystem where we've got a lot more than one or two products.

[00:12:39] Right, right, right, right.

[00:12:40] Oh, you are.

[00:12:40] I can sympathize with the situation, how challenging and complex it can be to earn that right to be the right advisor.

[00:12:49] Dirk, what do you think are some of the key attributes of the people that you see that are the best?

[00:12:54] Talk to us more about the folks that are camped out with the customer and their business.

[00:13:00] Tell us more about that trusted advisor.

[00:13:02] What do they look like?

[00:13:03] Yeah.

[00:13:03] So I'll answer it in two ways.

[00:13:05] First, I would challenge every salesperson that's listening here to ask themselves a question.

[00:13:10] First question, how does the customer see you?

[00:13:13] And if you answer that they see you, if your answer is related to your product, they see me as a source for cloud computing.

[00:13:24] They see me as a source for products or electrical goods.

[00:13:29] Please understand, you've just stepped into a world of hell, quite frankly.

[00:13:33] You've stepped into a world of commoditization because of the rule that says, no matter what business, no matter what industry you're in, is the rule says that you'll never again long term have a competitive advantage in product or price.

[00:13:48] Somebody who will always have a better price than you.

[00:13:53] And if that's your identity of product and price, you're dead.

[00:13:57] So how does the customer see you?

[00:14:00] And I think if you answer that they see you as a source for product, you're on your way out of business.

[00:14:06] And I think that's for the individual salesperson and the company itself.

[00:14:10] Right.

[00:14:11] And so I believe the only answer can I do air quotes on here?

[00:14:15] I believe the only answer is we can't be viewed as a source.

[00:14:19] We've got to be viewed as a resource.

[00:14:21] Right.

[00:14:21] And a resource, I think, has three key component parts.

[00:14:26] Empathy, expertise and problem solving skills.

[00:14:29] Empathy.

[00:14:30] We have to have the mindset.

[00:14:32] We have to have the desire.

[00:14:33] We have to be driven.

[00:14:34] We have to be driven to serve our customers.

[00:14:38] Right.

[00:14:39] That we are in this to help them succeed, to make them better than they were or would be without me.

[00:14:46] My definition of the word innovation is leading customers to a better future for which they are willing and capable of rewarding.

[00:14:55] And what that means is I must have the empathy to truly understand that customer situation, their business, what they're trying to achieve.

[00:15:03] Second is expertise.

[00:15:05] Right.

[00:15:06] I can't just be great at questioning, observing.

[00:15:09] Right.

[00:15:09] I've got to have the expertise to bring real ideas and real solutions.

[00:15:13] And sometimes that means being an orchestrator.

[00:15:15] Sometimes it means building relationships, not only with the customer, but internally as well so that I can pull in that expertise that I need when I need it and orchestrate the conversation within the customer's business.

[00:15:29] And then third, it's problem solving skills.

[00:15:32] I love what Jeff Bezos said one time, guys.

[00:15:36] I wish I would have used these words before Bezos.

[00:15:38] What he said was your customers are wonderfully, beautifully disaxialed.

[00:15:44] If they know it or not, if they know it or not, they are wonderfully, beautifully dissatisfied.

[00:15:50] What that means is as soon as you've solved one problem for a customer, please understand another problem has immediately risen to the top.

[00:15:58] So we have to always be prepared to bring real solutions that solve real problems for those customers.

[00:16:08] I feel like Carson and Dirk speak the same exact language.

[00:16:12] Talk from the same book.

[00:16:13] And what I like about this is so often in sales right now, especially on the tech and service side, it's much more focused on the speed.

[00:16:25] How many calls can you make?

[00:16:27] How many people do you have that are ready for demos?

[00:16:31] And it's just a totally different language.

[00:16:34] And I think to Bob's earlier comment is how are these different problems before I existed 20, 30, 40 years ago?

[00:16:43] My opinion is they're not really any different.

[00:16:46] It's just that companies and I think this speed of startup has caused a lot of companies to do really bad sales because they're in a hurry.

[00:16:58] They got to get there before their funding goes out.

[00:17:01] And then they skip the steps and the stages of being that resource instead of just being a source.

[00:17:08] Can I comment?

[00:17:10] Of course.

[00:17:11] So what you bring to my mind, Brandon, on that is I'm going to bring up another Bezos quote that I love relative to strategy.

[00:17:17] And, you know, one of the things he says is, you know, people always ask me, you know, what's going to change?

[00:17:24] How is this world going to be different in the next 10 years?

[00:17:26] And that's similar to the question that was just asked, right?

[00:17:29] What has changed over the last 10, 23 years?

[00:17:31] So we want to and rightfully so we need to get our arms around these disruptive forces and all that.

[00:17:38] But what Bezos says is the question he seldom gets is.

[00:17:43] What's not going to change in the next 10 years?

[00:17:47] And when you zero in on what's not going to change for your customers in the next 10 years,

[00:17:53] this is when you can now build a strategy, right, that can be sustained over a long period of time.

[00:18:01] And I'll share with you what I believe is one of those things that will not change,

[00:18:06] has not changed in the last 10, 20, 30 years and will not change again in the next 10, 20, 30 years

[00:18:11] with a great case study from Berlin Packaging.

[00:18:15] What I learned from Andrew Berlin, the former CEO of Berlin Packaging,

[00:18:20] who turned this when he bought this company in the mid 80s from a losing packaging company to a worldwide joggernaut.

[00:18:28] All right.

[00:18:31] He built it for a lot of reasons.

[00:18:34] But one of the reasons is because he identified what the customers would need today and tomorrow.

[00:18:40] And what they need is net income.

[00:18:43] What they need is profitability.

[00:18:46] And he built an entire sales process with our help to help his sales team focus in on and understand that they were not in the business of selling widgets,

[00:18:57] of selling packaging.

[00:18:58] They were in the business of improving their customers' net income, EBITDA,

[00:19:02] and that there were only three ways that they could do it.

[00:19:05] These customers of theirs could improve their profitability by reducing their costs,

[00:19:10] improving their sales or improving productivity.

[00:19:12] Anyone know something that was true 20 years ago?

[00:19:15] It's true today.

[00:19:15] And it's going to be true 20 years from now.

[00:19:18] There's a strategy that we can develop a sales and a marketing.

[00:19:22] There's a point of view that we can develop a sales and marketing strategy.

[00:19:27] And you know what I really like about that, Dirk, is,

[00:19:30] and Tom, you have the caveat of explaining what distribution was at the beginning.

[00:19:35] But what you just said there, that's applicable to any company.

[00:19:39] It doesn't really matter what you're selling.

[00:19:41] I mean, we talk about it.

[00:19:42] I think one of the biggest challenges for a lot of companies, especially salespeople,

[00:19:47] is they give lip service to understanding their ICP,

[00:19:51] but they don't really understand the ICP.

[00:19:56] And what you just said there was he went in and his company and said,

[00:20:00] what do they really need?

[00:20:01] They need net profit.

[00:20:02] Notice everybody.

[00:20:03] He didn't say what product.

[00:20:05] They needed net product.

[00:20:07] And then he built a strategy around selling products,

[00:20:11] but based on what the customer needed, which was net profit.

[00:20:14] And I'm sure what happened, the reason he became a billion-dollar company

[00:20:17] or billions of dollars, as you say,

[00:20:20] is because customers came to them because it was that,

[00:20:24] oh, my gosh, you get me.

[00:20:26] And they had a plan there.

[00:20:28] They had paths to help them get where they needed to be.

[00:20:30] I love that.

[00:20:32] I love that.

[00:20:34] I think it's important that you call that out.

[00:20:36] And, you know, Dirk, you said earlier the piece about being,

[00:20:39] you know, in essence, being a problem solver,

[00:20:41] that ability to go out and not talk about product.

[00:20:44] I don't get meetings with customer executives, board members.

[00:20:48] I don't get meetings by talking about products.

[00:20:50] I get meetings by talking about what matters to them,

[00:20:53] what I'm hearing from others in their organization,

[00:20:55] from the challenges that are happening in their industry.

[00:21:00] And by talking about ways maybe that we've helped others like them or by offering to have a conversation with them about strategy that is going to be unique to that organization.

[00:21:13] And there's so many different ways of doing it.

[00:21:16] But at the end of the day, if you seek to solve the problem and you seek to deliver a win and add value for these customers,

[00:21:22] that's how you're going to get these meetings.

[00:21:24] That's how you're going to earn your rights to get in the room.

[00:21:26] And once you earn your right to get in the room and you create and nurture a relationship,

[00:21:31] ultimately your goal is to earn that right to be the trusted advisor.

[00:21:34] But it starts out with seeking to actually solve problems as opposed to talking about products.

[00:21:40] Without question.

[00:21:41] I love it, Carson.

[00:21:42] Beautiful.

[00:21:42] You know, I wanted to add one thing to that and tie it to Bob's comment here.

[00:21:47] Bob's saying too many people talk about solutions.

[00:21:50] Not all problems are solvable, only manageable.

[00:21:53] Sometimes what your clients need is learn how to play whack-a-mole.

[00:21:57] What I'm, I think this ties into what you just said, Dirk, is in some cases,

[00:22:02] it's not that you're going to have an exact solution for a problem,

[00:22:06] but you may have a strategy to make that problem or that situation manageable.

[00:22:11] To your point about net income, right?

[00:22:13] There's no perfect solution to net income, but there's a strategy that can be put into place

[00:22:18] that makes your process of generating net income manageable.

[00:22:23] And I think that's an important point because sometimes we're,

[00:22:25] we're not always just going to have a perfect solution.

[00:22:28] It's a longer term play and a process that we have to go through.

[00:22:32] Yeah.

[00:22:33] And I think, and I, and I think also I've experienced and heard that when,

[00:22:38] I know for me, when, when I'm trying to, when someone's selling me something there,

[00:22:42] it's product, product, product, I feel like I'm not being heard.

[00:22:46] And I feel like they're just trying to shove, you know, their, their square peg into my round hole

[00:22:51] and trying to figure, you know, I, I just sit there and go like, this isn't, this isn't going to work.

[00:22:57] You don't get it, do you?

[00:22:58] Right.

[00:22:58] Exactly.

[00:23:00] Yeah.

[00:23:00] Hey, Tom, can I ask a favor?

[00:23:01] Would you put that last statement up again?

[00:23:04] And then, and then I want to ask us all this.

[00:23:06] See, so too many people talk about solutions.

[00:23:08] Not all problems are solvable.

[00:23:10] Only sometimes, sometimes what your client needs is to learn how to play rock.

[00:23:15] Cool.

[00:23:15] I get it.

[00:23:16] I'm going to push back a little bit.

[00:23:21] Can we, should we really accept the belief, the mindset that at best we can help them play rock.

[00:23:31] I don't know about you, but when I have a to-do list and I've got things and I'm playing whack-a-mole,

[00:23:38] man, that's when I go drinking.

[00:23:40] Right.

[00:23:40] That's when, that's when I'm not feeling good.

[00:23:43] That's when things aren't getting going.

[00:23:44] And I got to tell you something.

[00:23:46] If, because I, I'm thinking off the top of my head here and I'd love your input on this, but I, to me,

[00:23:54] there's, you just identified a significant challenge that customers have that they're playing whack-a-mole.

[00:24:00] There's the problem.

[00:24:01] Let's put that up on the whiteboard and say, do we have ideas?

[00:24:05] Do we have capabilities to help them stop that?

[00:24:08] So that they do, in fact, have a workable strategy rather than whack-a-mole.

[00:24:15] I think a consultative sustaining resource would take that statement and would dive into it, would lean into it and say,

[00:24:22] well, my job is to solve that problem.

[00:24:26] I don't know.

[00:24:27] Thoughts?

[00:24:27] My.

[00:24:29] Yeah.

[00:24:30] Yeah.

[00:24:30] Look, I, working in an environment that is, you know, a behemoth of an organization, you know,

[00:24:37] there are a lot of processes and there are some times where you do have to accept the fact that,

[00:24:43] pee on me and my little role.

[00:24:45] I'm not going to be able to buck the system, change the situation.

[00:24:50] And a lot of times you've got to accept like, hey, I work for a big organization with a lot of people playing a lot of different roles.

[00:24:56] There are processes that are, you know, very stringent for a reason that are challenging, tough to navigate.

[00:25:02] You're not going to be able to take on the entire world.

[00:25:05] But I do admit that, you know, when I see something is a problem, often that's where I gravitate toward.

[00:25:13] And I believe that a lot more problems are solvable perhaps than we give credit for.

[00:25:17] There are going to be some that you're not going to be able to eradicate.

[00:25:19] Yes.

[00:25:20] But I do say when I see a problem, challenge accepted.

[00:25:23] What do I, what do we need to do to go out and, you know, tackle this, break it down to your point, Dirk,

[00:25:29] and really look at, you know, the foundational elements of the problem.

[00:25:33] And, you know, how can we look at it in a different way?

[00:25:35] Those are the types of things that I think, you know, we can as organizations and as leaders do.

[00:25:41] So much better said than me, Carson.

[00:25:43] Great.

[00:25:44] I disagree, but thank you.

[00:25:47] No, I love it.

[00:25:48] And what came to my mind is one of the best salespeople that I've ever had a chance to ride with and spend a day with.

[00:25:54] A gentleman by the name of Scott Monteagle, who was key account salesperson for Southern States Toyota,

[00:26:00] Toyota Forklift dealer down there.

[00:26:01] Spent a day with him.

[00:26:02] Oh, my God.

[00:26:04] He was a sustaining resource.

[00:26:06] And I identified with him at the end of the day, what set him apart.

[00:26:10] There were seven things.

[00:26:11] It's been so many years, I can't remember all seven.

[00:26:13] But one of them, listen to this.

[00:26:15] One of them, he said, he said, Dirk, I don't know why, but I love forklifts.

[00:26:22] I go to bed thinking about forklifts.

[00:26:25] Right.

[00:26:26] And this is what I was meant to do.

[00:26:27] And he says, what that means is I'm going to outwork anybody in my space because this is who.

[00:26:34] And he says, most people are selling forklifts to earn a living.

[00:26:39] He says, no, this is what I love to do.

[00:26:41] The second thing he said of the seven.

[00:26:43] The second thing he said was, Dirk, I run to problems.

[00:26:47] Carson, that's what you're saying.

[00:26:48] I run to problems.

[00:26:50] If I caused it or not.

[00:26:52] Right.

[00:26:52] If I hear a problem, I run to it when most people run away from it.

[00:26:57] Well, I think that's where a lot of sellers fall flat or become average or status quo is they don't run toward those problems.

[00:27:08] Or they try to look the other way and be successful in spite of a problem.

[00:27:12] And the reality is, if you sit in it, if you sit in the angst with a customer that you've been in a crucible with them, you've earned their trust.

[00:27:21] They're going to work with you because you were there during the dark times when it would have been very easy to look away.

[00:27:26] Same thing internally in an organization.

[00:27:28] If I see a problem where my leadership is saying this or that is a problem, we don't have enough relationships with board members.

[00:27:34] We don't have enough relationships with C-levels.

[00:27:37] We've got process problems here.

[00:27:38] Let's go right in and fix it no matter how long it takes because that makes our foundation stronger.

[00:27:44] That is how I catapulted myself within my organization from a social selling perspective was because I created a process to go and create relationships with these different lines of business.

[00:27:54] And then I trained it to everybody else.

[00:27:56] Those are the types of things.

[00:27:57] If you go out and you solve big problems in your organization, you're going to go far.

[00:28:01] You're going to develop a very strong brand that is going to catapult you wherever you want to go.

[00:28:06] Beautiful.

[00:28:06] So I have a question for everybody.

[00:28:10] Why?

[00:28:12] Very weighted question.

[00:28:15] But why aren't more salespeople selling this way?

[00:28:20] Like we know it works.

[00:28:21] We know it creates long-term success, creates relationships that are nearly unbreakable when all the competitors come in.

[00:28:30] Is it a leadership issue?

[00:28:31] Is it a training issue?

[00:28:33] Is it a salesperson issue?

[00:28:36] What's the challenge?

[00:28:38] I'm going to be very brief and then I want to hear Dirk's thoughts.

[00:28:40] I have two major thoughts on this.

[00:28:42] Number one, it absolutely comes down to leadership.

[00:28:44] They're not being trained that way.

[00:28:46] And number two, it's not easy.

[00:28:47] It's not easy to go out and eradicate these problems or they wouldn't be problems.

[00:28:52] Yeah.

[00:28:53] Yeah.

[00:28:53] I love it.

[00:28:54] The third one I'll add is the metrics.

[00:28:57] How are we measuring the sales team?

[00:29:01] And too often, it's only the quantified measures rather than, as Carson says, that leadership, that coaching.

[00:29:07] You know, where's the training guidance checklist that says, here's how we have defined our sales process.

[00:29:14] And by the way, as a sales manager, I'm going to spend the majority of my time out in the field, riding with, working alongside with you if it's virtual.

[00:29:24] And please understand, I'm not coming in there to rip off the Superman cape and save the day.

[00:29:28] I ain't going to do that.

[00:29:30] Right?

[00:29:30] What we're going to do is we're going to coach beforehand.

[00:29:33] We're going to see if you have a plan, if you have an objective.

[00:29:34] And I'm going to be observing you using those skills.

[00:29:40] And when we come out, we're going to have a conversation, not about the quantified numbers, but about your adherence.

[00:29:47] That's a poor word.

[00:29:48] You're leaning into our sales process and then the skills and capabilities that you are committed, committed yourself to developing your skills around us.

[00:30:00] So I would say metrics is another one.

[00:30:04] So does this take us back to looking at team members as assets instead of what was the word you used earlier, Dirk?

[00:30:15] Well, you're setting them up.

[00:30:17] You're setting them up.

[00:30:17] Can you take this one for me?

[00:30:20] Yeah.

[00:30:20] So, Brandon, you have to understand, right?

[00:30:23] People are not your greatest assets.

[00:30:25] They're your greatest strength.

[00:30:26] There it is.

[00:30:27] Because an asset can depreciate, whereas an individual generally is not going to depreciate, right?

[00:30:33] Or lose value in the organization.

[00:30:36] Dirk, am I writing for your keynote yet?

[00:30:38] Am I getting there?

[00:30:39] Yeah.

[00:30:39] Thank you.

[00:30:39] As I say, so let me, Tom, thank you so much.

[00:30:41] And let me just jump in there.

[00:30:43] Guys, as you know, I traveled across this country the last four summers, right?

[00:30:48] Stopped at 90 different distributors, made 36 documentary films, championing the noble calling of distribution.

[00:30:55] And as I say, get in that RV, come with me for a summer.

[00:31:00] I've done it for four summers.

[00:31:01] And you come back a different person.

[00:31:02] I'm a different person.

[00:31:03] My worldview has shifted.

[00:31:06] And I have to tell you that I am unapologetically absolutely sure that the future is human.

[00:31:16] We can talk about AI.

[00:31:18] We can talk about technology.

[00:31:20] We can talk about cloud.

[00:31:21] We can talk about all of that.

[00:31:23] But the future is human.

[00:31:25] And one of the false narratives that I have seen in business is this false narrative that our people are our greatest asset.

[00:31:36] And it's been said for decades that we all embrace that and shake our head yes and proudly say Joe and Susie over there is our greatest asset.

[00:31:46] Well, I got to tell you something.

[00:31:47] Susie and Joe do not think that they're an asset.

[00:31:50] They are a human being with goals, dreams.

[00:31:53] They have a soul.

[00:31:55] They want to step into their full potential.

[00:31:59] And they're not an asset.

[00:32:01] If you want to term anything, in my mind, it is all about them being your greatest strength.

[00:32:08] And I think when you strengthen your people, that's when you strengthen your business.

[00:32:13] When you help your people fulfill and accelerate, when you help your people fulfill their potential, that's when you accelerate your business fulfilling its potential.

[00:32:24] And when you help your people through the coaching that you've talked about, Carson, right, in terms of helping them achieve personal breakthroughs, personally and professionally, that's when your business has breakthroughs as well.

[00:32:37] But when we believe that our people are assets, man, that's when it's all about, man, I'm going to push.

[00:32:43] I'm going to grind.

[00:32:44] I'm going to metric, metric, metric, metric, metric.

[00:32:47] And that's why a lot of people get burnt out.

[00:32:53] Here's the thing.

[00:32:53] There's a challenge around, like I think a lot of sales managers enter the arena with these special hopes and dreams.

[00:33:02] And they set forth to do it the right way.

[00:33:05] But then there's these, there's not a sales culture.

[00:33:09] And so they're the ones getting the pressure, go after the metric, go micromanage, go get total control.

[00:33:15] And so they're like caught in the middle.

[00:33:17] And then they go to their teams and they show up the wrong way.

[00:33:20] They're not in the field with them.

[00:33:21] They're micromanaging.

[00:33:23] They're going after the metrics.

[00:33:24] They're back to Brandon's point.

[00:33:26] They're like, how many dials did you make today?

[00:33:28] Total misguided management.

[00:33:30] But the reality is it's the lack of sales culture that creates that in sales managers.

[00:33:34] And sales managers, if you're out there today, which I know you are, you've got to have that wherewithal and that impetus to level up, to strengthen, to look at the reason why you earn the right to be in the role you're in.

[00:33:46] It's because you are great at what you did.

[00:33:48] But what got you here is not going to get you to the next level.

[00:33:51] You've got to spend time with your team.

[00:33:53] You've got to help them see around corners.

[00:33:55] You've got to bring value to them in the fact that you've had the experiences already that they're about to have or that they're having so that you can help them and you can strategize with them.

[00:34:04] And it's kind of like parenting.

[00:34:06] I can't force.

[00:34:07] God knows I can't make my kids do anything I want them to do, but I can try to set the best example possible.

[00:34:13] Then they go forth.

[00:34:14] They do.

[00:34:15] They come back.

[00:34:16] They did great.

[00:34:17] I praise them.

[00:34:18] They didn't do great.

[00:34:19] We reconvene.

[00:34:20] We debrief.

[00:34:21] We try to go back and we huddle and we strategize.

[00:34:23] But the sales manager's job is one of the most important that there is in sales.

[00:34:28] But there's got to be a culture that's conducive for them to be their best.

[00:34:33] And Kirsten, if you don't mind, 100%, man.

[00:34:35] 100%.

[00:34:36] And what I'm going to suggest here, I think, might be the hardest thing that I'll suggest.

[00:34:41] Okay?

[00:34:42] And let's take your premise, man.

[00:34:44] Because what you said is they step into that role of sales manager because of who they are, because they want to serve, right?

[00:34:50] They want to do right.

[00:34:51] But then here's this culture pushing them away.

[00:34:55] What I challenge us all, the four of us, the sales managers, the greatest gift we could give our people, our company, ourselves, is to be authentically us.

[00:35:11] And what that means is, and I'm not saying it's easy.

[00:35:14] What that means is the sales culture might be telling you to be this policeman, for example.

[00:35:21] But in your heart, but in your heart, in your soul, you're there to serve.

[00:35:27] You're there to grow individually.

[00:35:30] One of the hardest things you're going to have to do in your career is to push back on that culture, which is waiting.

[00:35:37] Because the day you step away from being authentic to who you are is the day you fall into depression.

[00:35:46] It's the day you fall into being overworked.

[00:35:49] It's the day you hate your job.

[00:35:50] It's the day you start pointing fingers up and down.

[00:35:54] It's the day when you spiral into a black hole.

[00:35:57] And so what I encourage, what I encourage you to do is write down the word authenticity.

[00:36:06] And if you're not authentic, if you're being driven, sorry, I'm going to go off base here just for a second.

[00:36:14] Guys, we live in a society right now.

[00:36:17] We live in a society right now that is trying to tell all of us who we should be.

[00:36:23] Right.

[00:36:24] I talk to mothers every day of my life.

[00:36:26] Right.

[00:36:27] And they say, man, they're they're either going to homeschool their kids or send them.

[00:36:30] And no matter what choice I make, 50 percent of society is going to tell me I'm not a good mother.

[00:36:35] Right.

[00:36:36] The same thing.

[00:36:37] Right.

[00:36:37] With us as well.

[00:36:39] And we're we're being told not to be who we are.

[00:36:42] I tell you what, guys, I am on a mission.

[00:36:44] The people I have a chance to meet.

[00:36:47] I use the analogy rise.

[00:36:49] Remarkable individuals, significantly empowered.

[00:36:51] Sales managers in the room.

[00:36:53] I'm asking you, push back on the man, push back on society.

[00:36:58] And I understand you got a living to make and all of that type of stuff.

[00:37:02] But if you want to flourish and if you want your people to flourish, man, you got to look in that mirror every day and say, am I being true to who I am?

[00:37:09] And that is hard, hard, hard to do.

[00:37:13] It's hard to even figure out who you are, especially in a culture that's all speed, speed, speed, do, do, do, achieve, achieve, achieve.

[00:37:22] Without question.

[00:37:24] Yeah.

[00:37:25] So, Turk, related to that, I have a, you know, one of the things that you talked about yesterday when I heard you talk and I think you talk about in your book is the innovative distributor.

[00:37:36] Yeah.

[00:37:36] Right.

[00:37:37] And the importance of innovation.

[00:37:38] Right.

[00:37:39] How do you balance?

[00:37:41] You know, people hear the word innovation and I think they look at that as the opposite side of humanity.

[00:37:45] Right.

[00:37:46] Humanity and innovation are two different things.

[00:37:48] How do you merge those two things together?

[00:37:51] How do you really balance the innovation in an organization, whether you're a distributor or otherwise, with the humanity?

[00:37:59] And how does the humanity facilitate the innovation that you want to achieve?

[00:38:03] Yeah.

[00:38:04] What a brilliant question.

[00:38:05] I don't think I've ever been asked it before.

[00:38:07] So here you go.

[00:38:08] Ready?

[00:38:08] Okay.

[00:38:09] So the three of you know, on Friday, two days from now, I'm getting on a plane and I'm going over to Athens, Greece, to spend a week with 125, 150 other people diving deep into ancient wisdom.

[00:38:25] And merging it with modern day philosophy to really think about what we need to do in today's day and age to truly live fully alive.

[00:38:37] And by the way, I'm broadcasting live each day next week on that.

[00:38:43] So I'm really excited to share what I learned.

[00:38:45] I'm registered.

[00:38:46] I'm signed up.

[00:38:47] Thanks.

[00:38:48] Send me the link.

[00:38:49] I'm going to head there now.

[00:38:50] Yeah.

[00:38:51] I'm so excited for it.

[00:38:52] So long-winded story.

[00:38:54] So, Tom, 2,500 years ago, Aristotle talked about the virtuous mean.

[00:39:03] And what he said is any virtue, we could have a deficiency of excess, too much of that virtue.

[00:39:13] If the virtue is courage, we could have too much.

[00:39:16] We could be rash.

[00:39:17] Or we could have a vice of deficiency and says we have no courage and we're a coward.

[00:39:23] Right?

[00:39:24] So I think the answer to your question about this innovation and what was the other one you said?

[00:39:30] Humanity.

[00:39:31] Humanity.

[00:39:32] Right?

[00:39:33] Is it can we in our business be family-oriented and caring, yet also innovative and driving future results?

[00:39:44] And the answer is yes and yes.

[00:39:47] But we have to think deeply based on our culture, based on where we're going, based on our employee value proposition, based on our customer value proposition.

[00:39:58] What is the virtuous mean there?

[00:40:01] Right?

[00:40:02] And to me, just riffing, because I've never been asked that question, I believe off the top of my head that virtuous mean is centered around my definition of innovation.

[00:40:14] Right?

[00:40:15] Which I think I shared a little bit earlier ago.

[00:40:18] Leading customers to a better future for which they are willing and capable of rewarding you.

[00:40:21] But when I wrote this book where I defined innovation, that was the definition.

[00:40:27] And today I changed that definition to add two words.

[00:40:30] To me, the definition of innovation now is leading customers and employees to a better future for which they are willing to.

[00:40:38] So how do we get innovation and humanity?

[00:40:42] It's by being true to this North Star that we are in the business.

[00:40:46] We are in the business to lead our customers and our employees to a better future.

[00:40:51] All right.

[00:40:52] Now let's get to work to figure out how it's going to be done.

[00:40:56] So the innovation and even AI, right, is a great example.

[00:41:01] AI can be used to lead that employee, as you just said, or your customer, to that better future.

[00:41:07] It doesn't necessarily going to replace that employee or make his future worse or her future worse.

[00:41:14] But the whole idea is to look at it as how you look at it to help one plus one equals three, is what I think I'm hearing you say.

[00:41:22] I love it.

[00:41:22] And if I just digress real quick, I'm on the opposite side of this whole conversation that AI is not going to replace jobs.

[00:41:28] Bullshit.

[00:41:29] AI is going to replace jobs.

[00:41:30] Right?

[00:41:31] It's going to replace jobs.

[00:41:32] And so what that means is as a leader, I have to understand how AI is going to impact my people.

[00:41:40] And I've got to have that development mentality to help them grow the capabilities.

[00:41:45] And yes, now use AI in a sales role, maybe using a great CRM system, right, that uses AI as the core to help me better understand the territory, better understand the customer.

[00:41:56] So now I can bring strategic thinking to the table with the help of AI, rather than just, here's my line card.

[00:42:06] Do you see anything that you want?

[00:42:08] I can send you something.

[00:42:11] Great.

[00:42:13] Did I answer the question at all times?

[00:42:15] Sorry.

[00:42:16] No, it answers, I think it's, there's a lot to think about there.

[00:42:22] Because I think that a lot of the companies that, you know, obviously the world I live in within the tech world, and working with distributors even with our technology, they hear the word innovation, and it immediately, their mind goes to technology.

[00:42:39] It goes away from people, and it swings to the other side of the pendulum.

[00:42:46] And usually it's, oh, but our people don't like technology, or they're not going to want to do that, or whatever.

[00:42:53] And I keep trying to come back, and even in the meetings, Dirk, I had at the show that we were both at this week, I was really trying to reinforce, hey, this is how it's helping to enable your sales team to be, to have, I didn't use your words, but I should have, to have a brighter future.

[00:43:09] And it's hard for people to grasp those things.

[00:43:12] It's, technology and humanity seems to be really at the opposite end of the spectrum.

[00:43:18] But I think once you start to look at them as more of a Venn diagram coming together, it opens up a whole new mindset on how you look at innovation, which is what I think is really cool.

[00:43:29] And I think AI is going to open that door even a bit more, because AI does have, I don't know, it definitely has more, has the potential to really help that humanity aspect of it move to another level if it's used in the right way.

[00:43:46] And Tom, how do you see it?

[00:43:47] How do you see it?

[00:43:48] Can you give one example of how you see it to be used in a way that will enhance humanity, if you will?

[00:43:56] Well, it's what I tell our prospects and customers all the time, right?

[00:43:59] Our, you know, again, we're selling to the same people, these salespeople that have to know tens of thousands of SKUs with potentially thousands of customers, right?

[00:44:08] If I'm in a territory, I may have 1,000 customers and 10,000 SKUs.

[00:44:13] I'm supposed to go in and be a consultative, trusted advisor to all these different customers with all these different products.

[00:44:19] AI can help you do that.

[00:44:21] AI can help you before you go to the meeting, set the stage so you walk in and you are the smartest and you are the, you know, the smartest person in the room helping them guide you along.

[00:44:31] How is that bad for you?

[00:44:33] Love it.

[00:44:33] Tom, you're bringing to mind, I think the three of you know, we supply America the last four years.

[00:44:41] The only reason why we've been able to do that is because our primary sponsor over the four years has been in four, right?

[00:44:48] They're an ERP company.

[00:44:49] Yeah, an ERP.

[00:44:50] And then enable them.

[00:44:51] They rebate side this year as well, as long as we're a professional services organization.

[00:44:56] We couldn't do it without those three.

[00:44:58] And thank you all.

[00:45:01] I was at the In Four Velocity conference out in Las Vegas a month ago.

[00:45:07] And I heard a case study, which happens to be from one of our 36 We Supply America film companies, Midwest.

[00:45:16] And the story is I'm going to butcher the numbers.

[00:45:19] All right.

[00:45:19] Steve McInerney, the chief technology officer, talked about how they can use now using AI in a way that their counter sales people can answer the questions as you're talking about, Tom.

[00:45:34] Right.

[00:45:34] Right.

[00:45:35] In almost real time on their first day of work.

[00:45:38] So think about this.

[00:45:41] Think about a counter salesperson coming to work for a distributor with 10,000 or 100,000 SKUs.

[00:45:48] Contractors are coming in, right?

[00:45:50] On day one saying, I need this or can this product do this or that.

[00:45:53] Think about that poor individual for the last 50 years getting that question, having to say, I don't know, and start sweating.

[00:46:02] And then go home and tell her husband or his wife about how they hate this job, how they'll never be able to get it.

[00:46:09] There's too much to learn.

[00:46:10] I can't overcome it.

[00:46:11] I've got to tell you something.

[00:46:12] That ain't good for humanity.

[00:46:14] But if we use AI in the way you described, where they have reduced that learning time by 97% with that in four technology and AI at Midwest Wheel for that counter salesperson.

[00:46:27] Tell you what, I can see, I didn't talk to the individual there, but I can see that individual going home with a little bit more step in his or her stride, chest a little bit higher, feeling really proud and real confident.

[00:46:42] Yep.

[00:46:42] Yep.

[00:46:43] It's funny you say that because I tell, that's one of the things I tell our prospects is by using, you know, what we do in our AI, I could go take your job as a salesperson in a day or two because I could learn your product, your customers that quickly, right?

[00:46:59] That's a big advantage.

[00:47:01] And I want to hit Bob's comment here before we move on.

[00:47:04] He says, AI can actually be the enemy of innovation.

[00:47:09] AI tech tries to remove air.

[00:47:11] Once equilibrium homeostasis is achieved, there's no impetus to innovate.

[00:47:17] What's your guys' take on that?

[00:47:19] What do you think about that?

[00:47:20] Too many big words in there for me.

[00:47:22] I'm going to turn it over to you guys.

[00:47:23] All right.

[00:47:26] I was hoping you were going to answer.

[00:47:30] Carson, what's your take?

[00:47:32] I mean, I guess the question is who's reached equilibrium and homeostasis.

[00:47:37] I mean, here's the thing.

[00:47:39] Like, people are going to use whatever the new shiny toy is.

[00:47:44] Some are going to use it right.

[00:47:46] And that's going to be a very small percentage.

[00:47:48] I mean, it's going to mirror the percentage of the people that are using it and earning the right to be a trusted advisor.

[00:47:53] It's going to be very small, single-digit percentages that are going to use it the best optimal way.

[00:47:59] You know, as you were talking, I was thinking about the different ways that I'm leveraging AI in sales today.

[00:48:03] I mean, my team has hundreds of customers.

[00:48:06] You know, we're going in.

[00:48:07] I can put an Excel spreadsheet into AI, into ChatGPT, into Copilot.

[00:48:11] I can have it spit back, you know, what are these customers' industry vertical?

[00:48:15] You know, what are some talk tracks that I could have with these executives?

[00:48:19] So there's step one.

[00:48:20] As I prospect, as I send a message to people, I can have it think of some bullet points.

[00:48:26] Now, it's never going to replace the humanity, but it's prompting some things that if I sat and thought about it for 10, 15, 20 minutes,

[00:48:33] I could probably think of five really good bullet points.

[00:48:35] It could do 10 in 20 seconds.

[00:48:37] So, you know, being able to arm me with that, it cuts down on all that time of prepping, prospecting, personalizing,

[00:48:44] and then the messaging, getting the meeting.

[00:48:47] You know, the goal is I just need to earn the meeting.

[00:48:49] I've got to get in the room.

[00:48:50] And then even being in customer meetings on the fly, as soon as I hear that a customer has an interest in data or in security or in AI,

[00:49:00] I can start to ask AI, like, give me 10 potential use cases of where this customer might want to work with my organization around this.

[00:49:11] And I mean, he can arm me with that in seconds flat.

[00:49:13] I can weave it into the conversation that I'm having.

[00:49:15] Is every seller out there doing that?

[00:49:18] No.

[00:49:18] And so here's the thing.

[00:49:20] Do I think AI can be the enemy?

[00:49:22] Absolutely.

[00:49:22] I think a lot of things can be the enemy of innovation.

[00:49:25] You know, there's a lot of can'ts out there.

[00:49:27] There's a lot of people doing stuff the wrong way.

[00:49:29] There's a lot of sellers that are out there trying to go for widgets and KPIs.

[00:49:33] And there's a lot of sellers that are out there just trying to line their pocketbook and make money instead of taking care of their customers and earn the right to be the trusted advisor.

[00:49:42] So if our pendulum is over here, equilibrium is here.

[00:49:46] Can AI get us, you know, a little bit closer?

[00:49:49] Yes.

[00:49:49] But I don't know that we're ever going to reach a full balance.

[00:49:52] And by the time we get closer to it anyway, there's going to be a net new shiny tool out there that somebody else is going to be gravitating toward.

[00:49:59] Think about the advancements that AI has even made in the last year.

[00:50:03] It's absolutely insane.

[00:50:04] What are they going to be able to do in a year?

[00:50:06] What are meetings going to look like in the future virtual hybrid world?

[00:50:10] How are we going to be able to leverage tech?

[00:50:12] So tech used right, innovation used right, AI used right makes us better.

[00:50:17] But very few people are doing it right.

[00:50:19] And it's how a guy my age is still somehow able to stay on top of all of this stuff and be effective in sales, more effective than most.

[00:50:27] Because at the heart of it, I'm using it to connect with customers meaningfully.

[00:50:32] Love it.

[00:50:33] Love it.

[00:50:34] Yeah.

[00:50:34] I mean, I think the basic human nature fear of change is the biggest challenge to innovation.

[00:50:42] It has nothing to do with technology.

[00:50:46] Interesting.

[00:50:47] Yeah.

[00:50:48] Yeah.

[00:50:50] All right.

[00:50:52] So, man, we've covered a lot of ground in 50 minutes.

[00:50:57] Can I, are you wrapping this up, Tom?

[00:51:01] Well, not unless you want, I can, but I wanted to hit some final thoughts because there was a lot that we covered today.

[00:51:08] Yeah.

[00:51:09] Go ahead, Brandon.

[00:51:09] I was, no, I was, I was just going to show this real quick.

[00:51:17] I got to, I got to spend a couple of hours with Dirk.

[00:51:21] Is my screen showing?

[00:51:23] No screen.

[00:51:25] No?

[00:51:26] No.

[00:51:27] No.

[00:51:28] I just see Tom really big.

[00:51:30] Yeah.

[00:51:31] How's this?

[00:51:32] Is this better?

[00:51:33] I thought I was showing, it says I'm sharing my screen, but I got to spend a couple of hours with Dirk on his We Supply America tour when he was here in Georgia.

[00:51:43] And so I was, I was trying to show the picture, but I guess I couldn't do that.

[00:51:49] You can put that in the comments.

[00:51:51] Hey, if you come to St. Louis, let me know.

[00:51:54] Got it.

[00:51:54] We'll go down to the hill, get something to eat.

[00:51:57] Talking my language.

[00:52:00] Can we stop at the Missouri Bakery on Edwards to bring a dessert home?

[00:52:05] You know, you know the area well.

[00:52:07] I think actually, Dirk, you and I were talking before I went to go see Carson in St. Louis,

[00:52:12] and you told me I had to go there, and it was a little further out of my way, and I didn't make it.

[00:52:19] Next time.

[00:52:21] All right, Tom, get us back on track.

[00:52:23] Are you still sharing or no?

[00:52:25] No, I stopped.

[00:52:26] Oh, you want to?

[00:52:27] Can I?

[00:52:28] Let's see.

[00:52:29] No matter what I do, it just keeps coming back to me.

[00:52:32] Oh.

[00:52:33] The system.

[00:52:34] All roads lead to you, Tom.

[00:52:36] I guess.

[00:52:38] Not sharing.

[00:52:39] I was trying to share again.

[00:52:41] There it is.

[00:52:41] There you go.

[00:52:43] There you go.

[00:52:44] There we go.

[00:52:45] Beautiful.

[00:52:45] There we are.

[00:52:46] I got to share a beer in the We Supply America RV, and Dirk bought me dinner.

[00:52:53] We had a good chat, and I left motivated and excited, Dirk.

[00:52:56] I mean, your content for anybody that you're not following Dirk, you should be.

[00:53:04] It's human inspiration besides just business, and the passion is contagious.

[00:53:11] Thanks, bud.

[00:53:12] Thanks.

[00:53:12] Love that we get connected to what we do for each other, and love that time.

[00:53:18] Love that time.

[00:53:19] Except for now, going forward, a beer I won't drink that highlight.

[00:53:23] It'll be the athletic beer because day 54 for me, guys.

[00:53:28] Day 54 of no real beer.

[00:53:31] So there you go.

[00:53:33] No real beer?

[00:53:34] Does that mean you're drinking fake beer?

[00:53:36] Non-alcoholic.

[00:53:38] Ah, okay.

[00:53:39] The popularity of 0.0 right now is amazing.

[00:53:43] Yeah.

[00:53:44] Yeah.

[00:53:45] So can I just share a comment on that real quick?

[00:53:48] So, guys, I was in the shower.

[00:53:50] Too much information a little bit ago, and I'm 63 years old.

[00:53:53] Wait, wait, wait.

[00:53:53] Where's this going, Dirk?

[00:53:55] I'm 63 years of age, right?

[00:53:57] And, you know, like all of us, right, life is hard.

[00:54:01] There are struggles in life.

[00:54:03] I love what a guy by the name of Phil Stutz says is, you know,

[00:54:06] we'll never be exonerated from pain, uncertainty, and hard work.

[00:54:11] And so, you know, in life, in family, in our careers,

[00:54:15] in our relationships, there's things like this, right?

[00:54:18] And some people have termed it, you know, there's a weight of them.

[00:54:22] There's an umbrella of pain over us, maybe with the election,

[00:54:27] maybe with relationships, maybe with demands of society and the like.

[00:54:32] And, yeah, and about, I don't know,

[00:54:37] something clicked about a month ago in the shower,

[00:54:39] and the words that came to me were, I am just getting started.

[00:54:44] And at 63 years of age, at 63 years of age,

[00:54:47] when, guys, a couple years ago, I thought I was done.

[00:54:51] I thought I was over, right, in more ways than one.

[00:54:54] And, Brandon, as you said, you know, in our LinkedIn post yesterday,

[00:54:59] I said, hang on, buddy,

[00:55:01] because there is just too much work to get to be done.

[00:55:03] There's too much good to do here.

[00:55:05] There's too much that we all have an opportunity to impact,

[00:55:10] not only our businesses, not only our customers' businesses,

[00:55:13] but all of those around us and individually.

[00:55:16] And that's why I say the future is human.

[00:55:18] And I am, I love it.

[00:55:20] I am just getting started at the age of 63 in terms of the impact that we plan to make

[00:55:26] for all of us.

[00:55:27] That's why I'm going over to Athens.

[00:55:29] That's my commitment to myself.

[00:55:32] And last thing on that, I know I'm digressing,

[00:55:34] but, you know, I love Joseph Campbell.

[00:55:38] He talks about the human, the hero's journey.

[00:55:40] And what he tells us is he says the hero goes on the hero's journey,

[00:55:45] not to save the world, but to save himself.

[00:55:48] And in so doing, saves the world.

[00:55:52] And this is what we all have an opportunity to do.

[00:55:55] We all have an opportunity to focus more and harder on ourselves than we ever have before.

[00:56:02] That whole conversation of authenticity that we had a little bit earlier as a sales manager,

[00:56:06] it starts with yourself.

[00:56:08] If you're not whole as an individual, you ain't going to be a good sales manager.

[00:56:11] You're not going to be a great salesperson.

[00:56:13] And we have that opportunity to work harder on ourselves.

[00:56:18] And the world is asking us to.

[00:56:21] Without saying it, our companies and our customers, our wives, our spouses, our kids,

[00:56:27] are asking us to be that best version of ourselves.

[00:56:32] And while there's a lot of people and a lot of efforts and society trying to tell us to be something that we're not,

[00:56:38] would I encourage every single one of you that are listening?

[00:56:42] By the way, I'm not talking to anybody that's listening.

[00:56:44] I'm talking to myself.

[00:56:46] Step into.

[00:56:48] Step into doing what it takes moment to moment to moment to become that best version of yourself.

[00:56:55] Because that's what your soul is asking of you.

[00:56:57] That's what you're individually asking of yourself.

[00:57:01] And that is what leads to joy.

[00:57:04] That's what leads to love.

[00:57:06] That's what leads to us being the best version of ourselves.

[00:57:09] And I just encourage all of us to just stop and pause maybe over the weekend to say,

[00:57:14] am I as happy as I know I should be?

[00:57:16] Am I as productive as I know I should be?

[00:57:18] Is my energy what it should be?

[00:57:20] Am I as good in my work as I should be?

[00:57:23] Are my relationships as strong and as loving as they should be?

[00:57:27] And if the answer to any one of those is anything, but it absolutely hell yes.

[00:57:31] And by the way, it's not a hell yes for all of those, for any of us.

[00:57:34] Because we all have work to do.

[00:57:36] I encourage you to step into working on yourself to become that best version of yourself.

[00:57:42] I'm just getting started, man.

[00:57:43] And I'd love for you all to join me.

[00:57:46] Goodness gracious.

[00:57:46] That was amazing.

[00:57:47] I got to say, Dirk, a lot of poignant things that you said there.

[00:57:52] And I can't wait to go back and read the transcript and get the quotes and whatnot.

[00:57:56] But very poignant.

[00:57:57] I've got a birthday coming up this week.

[00:57:59] And it's always a time to reflect.

[00:58:01] And I was racing the clock to get my new book published before my birthday for some very specific personal reasons.

[00:58:09] And I did it.

[00:58:10] It launched it this week.

[00:58:11] It's called The Show Must Go On.

[00:58:13] I'm on day 47.

[00:58:15] No booze.

[00:58:16] Longest in a long time for a variety of reasons.

[00:58:19] I swear by these recess drinks.

[00:58:21] If you've never seen them before, you can get them on Amazon.

[00:58:24] They're great.

[00:58:25] Adaptogens.

[00:58:27] But it's amazing the clarity.

[00:58:30] And I love that you challenge the norm.

[00:58:35] Step outside the box.

[00:58:37] Don't try to keep up with or be like the Joneses.

[00:58:41] Be you.

[00:58:42] Be your authentic self in every step of the word.

[00:58:45] Don't let anything tell you how you should do something or that it has to be a certain way.

[00:58:50] Challenge conformity.

[00:58:52] And be your best self.

[00:58:53] I love it.

[00:58:54] Thank you, man.

[00:58:55] And congratulations.

[00:58:58] But congratulations on that day 40-something.

[00:59:00] Congratulations on that new book, man.

[00:59:02] I'm a hugger.

[00:59:03] If I was together, I'd be hugging and living shit out of it.

[00:59:05] Love it.

[00:59:05] Yeah.

[00:59:06] I couldn't do it without my wife.

[00:59:07] Well, find hashtag cancel average right there.

[00:59:11] Yes.

[00:59:12] From Dr. Hill.

[00:59:14] Let's make that go viral.

[00:59:15] That's right.

[00:59:16] Hey, I have one last question for you, Dirk, before we head out here.

[00:59:21] If I'm thinking about going to buy a 35-foot or so RV, should I talk to my spouse about it first or just go buy it?

[00:59:31] Tell the story, Dirk.

[00:59:34] Because I did it without telling my wife, man, and that was a long fucking night.

[00:59:40] I liked what you said yesterday.

[00:59:41] You had a place to stay, though.

[00:59:43] A place to stay.

[00:59:44] Right.

[00:59:45] That's right.

[00:59:46] All right.

[00:59:47] Well, thank you very much.

[00:59:48] We'll definitely keep track of you in Athens.

[00:59:50] Maybe we'll have you come back and share some of your learnings there.

[00:59:54] That would be great.

[00:59:56] But awesome show, awesome comments, as always, from everybody.

[01:00:00] So thank you, Dirk.

[01:00:01] And Brandon, Carson, any final words before we wrap up?

[01:00:07] No.

[01:00:07] Cancel average.

[01:00:09] Yeah.

[01:00:09] Cancel average.

[01:00:10] Thank you, Dr. Joe.

[01:00:12] Yeah.

[01:00:14] All right.

[01:00:15] Carson, wrap us up.

[01:00:17] Yeah.

[01:00:17] Dirk, thank you.

[01:00:18] And to everybody listening, until next time, happy modern selling.

[01:00:23] Thanks, everyone.

[01:00:29] Thank you for joining us today on Mastering Modern Selling.

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[01:00:58] Go to get any latest.

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