MMS #114 - From Bar Bouncer to Tech President: Leveraging Your Network with Nabil Aitoumezian

[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.

[00:00:50] All right, welcome back to episode number 14 on Thanksgiving Eve, Mastering Modern Selling. Tom Burton, Brandon Lee, Carson Heady, and Nabil.

[00:01:03] You've got to say episode 114 with a little bit more excitement than that. Like, episode 114.

[00:01:11] Oh, um...

[00:01:12] Should we start over?

[00:01:13] I mean, it's not like Joe Rogan, where he's got like 2,000 episodes.

[00:01:17] Right, should we start over?

[00:01:18] Well, he just goes live every day for three days and, you know, for three hours and talks.

[00:01:23] Right.

[00:01:23] Yep.

[00:01:24] Anyway, that's all right.

[00:01:25] So, the field should go live every day for three hours and just talk.

[00:01:30] We found a new job for you, Nabil.

[00:01:33] Thank you.

[00:01:35] I think Nabil already does that. Don't you talk for at least three hours a day, my friend?

[00:01:41] Even in my sleep.

[00:01:45] Ask my wife. I can shut the hell up.

[00:01:50] All right, well, we've got a lot to cover, a lot to talk about here.

[00:01:53] Tom's going to try to keep us on the rails.

[00:01:55] Man, I feel like I should practice a little bit more of a year.

[00:02:00] Tom, you've got...

[00:02:01] It's the night before Thanksgiving.

[00:02:03] You've got me, Nabil and Carson, and it's 3.30 in the afternoon.

[00:02:07] Good luck, my friend.

[00:02:09] Yeah, and I don't know what Carson's drinking either, so...

[00:02:12] Hey, I'm actually 75 days...

[00:02:15] You saw the Dirk Beverage episode.

[00:02:17] I'm 75 days, no alcohol, so...

[00:02:21] Wow.

[00:02:21] Are you going to make it to 76 or...?

[00:02:24] That's the plan.

[00:02:25] Okay.

[00:02:26] Unless you guys give me a reason to change my mind, but...

[00:02:29] All right.

[00:02:31] Well, hey, Brandon, I want to again thank Fistbump and all the team there for

[00:02:37] all the production work and getting this all to happen.

[00:02:40] You had a webinar last week, right?

[00:02:42] We did.

[00:02:43] Yeah, was it good?

[00:02:44] Did it turn out well?

[00:02:45] It was good.

[00:02:45] I got Reem stepping up, and she's been helping clients with their live shows and personal brands

[00:02:53] for over a year now, and now she's moving into a strategy consultant role, and so she and I did

[00:02:59] a webinar.

[00:03:00] It was awesome.

[00:03:00] We had fun.

[00:03:02] Okay.

[00:03:03] Yep.

[00:03:03] Talking, helping people understand, like...

[00:03:05] This is the fun part I have.

[00:03:07] And, Carson, you had a big part of this over, like, whatever that was, a year plus ago.

[00:03:11] We were talking about your framework, your salesman on fire, like, how do you just...

[00:03:16] Really, the best thing around these live shows is that we take a 45-minute show and we create

[00:03:23] 28 pieces of content that are used for outreach purposes.

[00:03:27] They're used for marketing purposes.

[00:03:29] We get shorts for social media.

[00:03:32] We have newsletters.

[00:03:33] We have blog articles.

[00:03:34] We have all this content that we can create.

[00:03:38] And this type of content, you can't AI it.

[00:03:41] Like, we can use AI to use the transcripts to do all kinds of things, but so many people are using

[00:03:47] AI for everything.

[00:03:49] You can't fake this humanity, and that's what I really like about this type of content.

[00:03:53] And you don't have to prepare that much, right?

[00:03:55] We're having a chat.

[00:03:57] It's all about chatting, correct?

[00:04:00] That's it.

[00:04:02] That's it.

[00:04:02] Talking about not being able to fake humanity.

[00:04:04] You know, our guest today is one of a kind.

[00:04:08] That's it.

[00:04:09] So I'll show that.

[00:04:11] Tom, sorry you're not involved, but Nabil and I in DC holding Carson's book.

[00:04:16] I love it.

[00:04:16] What a great way to go on.

[00:04:19] It must.

[00:04:20] It's perfect for the show.

[00:04:22] By the way, just to start, if you haven't picked up a book from Carson, please go ahead and get it,

[00:04:29] because this will change your sales life as a salesperson.

[00:04:33] So go on Amazon.

[00:04:35] It's going to be on my LinkedIn later again.

[00:04:37] Go ahead and get yourself a copy, because you're going to learn a lot from the master here.

[00:04:43] So that's a great book.

[00:04:47] Some people think I'm insane for publishing my entire billion dollar LinkedIn playbook where my

[00:04:52] competition can go out and just read it and know exactly what I do.

[00:04:56] I say bring it on.

[00:04:57] If somebody else wants to do that stuff to that level, do it.

[00:05:02] But just to tell you, for somebody like me who is dyslexic, who does not like to read at all.

[00:05:08] I mean, when I tell you I do not like to read, it was an amazing rate because why?

[00:05:14] I've learned so much.

[00:05:16] I picked so much from it.

[00:05:17] I think any salesperson needs to pick up that book and read.

[00:05:21] I mean, you're sharing the whole, I mean, secrets.

[00:05:26] There's a secret sauce inside the book.

[00:05:28] And they think, hey, we should call you the billion dollar man, salesman.

[00:05:33] I got a lot of secrets.

[00:05:34] It's a thick book.

[00:05:35] So it's here we go.

[00:05:36] By the way, I will suggest that you have it in audio as well, because I think we can you can have it all over.

[00:05:44] This is, you know, people.

[00:05:45] I'm recording now.

[00:05:47] That would be awesome because I think people are really going to listen to it in their cars every day.

[00:05:52] Salespeople now are getting lazier by the day.

[00:05:54] So this will help out to get it out there where they are driving to work.

[00:05:58] They're going to get all the secrets out of it.

[00:06:01] So we need to dive into that comment.

[00:06:03] So salespeople are getting lazier by the day.

[00:06:05] What do you mean by that?

[00:06:08] I can actually great, great comment.

[00:06:12] What I see back in the days, the way salespeople are doing, they were hungry.

[00:06:15] They were doing everything.

[00:06:16] I mean, from soup to nuts.

[00:06:19] These days, I'm just talking about it in general.

[00:06:21] It's what I see through my experience.

[00:06:24] You give them everything from leads to opportunities, whatever.

[00:06:28] It feels like it's almost you have to take the food, chew it and put it in their hands.

[00:06:33] Like it is the truth.

[00:06:37] I mean, the way salespeople used to be not even SDR.

[00:06:43] You were everything as a salesperson.

[00:06:45] You were the SDR.

[00:06:46] You were the inside salesperson.

[00:06:49] You were the outside salesperson.

[00:06:50] You were the marketing person.

[00:06:51] You were the everything.

[00:06:53] And you were able to close.

[00:06:55] These days, salespeople have all that and still they cannot take it to the touchdown line.

[00:07:02] So yeah, the hustle and the scrappiness and the resourcefulness.

[00:07:07] Sometimes these are a lost art, unfortunately.

[00:07:09] And it's how an aging guy like me can still be successful in sales because I came up in an era where you had to really, you had to really bring it.

[00:07:21] Like I take nothing for granted.

[00:07:23] We can't take anything for granted nowadays.

[00:07:25] And nothing is.

[00:07:28] Go ahead.

[00:07:29] The assembly line approach works for Ford and creating cars, but assembly line doesn't work for sales because they're limited.

[00:07:38] Like this is what they do as a BDR, but they're totally unprepared to do anything else except that one thing.

[00:07:47] And they're not learning.

[00:07:48] I think Bob Britton has said this on our show a few times because you have all these BDRs, SDRs and different categories.

[00:07:55] They're not learning holistically.

[00:07:58] And after five or six years or two or three years when normally they would advance to the next stage, they're not prepared to move into the next sales stage.

[00:08:06] I was going to say there's one thing.

[00:08:09] It's so simple for me.

[00:08:11] It's funny throughout this past three years, it's been kind of just a change in my life in sales.

[00:08:18] LinkedIn.

[00:08:19] I know we're jumping in or whatever, but it is the simplest tool you can have for a salesperson.

[00:08:26] Now, when somebody is researching you, customer, people you work with over, it's LinkedIn.

[00:08:32] That's like the major platform we're living in.

[00:08:35] It's the Facebook of like this next, I think, three to five years.

[00:08:41] It's going to be the main platform for professionals.

[00:08:45] And you see salespeople who are not even posting, not even once a week about their product or service.

[00:08:56] This is like the simplest thing.

[00:08:58] It boggles my mind.

[00:09:02] We got a timeout, man.

[00:09:04] We got so excited that we never even introduced you and let you tell everybody who you are.

[00:09:09] This guy sounds pretty smart, but I don't even know who he is.

[00:09:13] That's right.

[00:09:13] We got to get back on the rails.

[00:09:15] That's what we need Tom for.

[00:09:16] That's it.

[00:09:18] Tom.

[00:09:18] All right.

[00:09:19] Let me introduce you.

[00:09:20] Welcome, everybody, to episode 114, where Nabil is our guest.

[00:09:26] 114.

[00:09:27] Tell us a little bit about yourself in the background.

[00:09:30] So my name is Nabil Leitoumezian.

[00:09:33] I've been here in the U.S. since 1997.

[00:09:37] I've been here for about 28 years.

[00:09:40] I'm from Algeria.

[00:09:41] I grew up in France as well.

[00:09:43] Moved from France here.

[00:09:45] Have two boys and a wife.

[00:09:47] Her name is Jennifer.

[00:09:48] She's actually the rock of my life.

[00:09:50] Without her, I wouldn't be standing right here today.

[00:09:54] Like the title said, that I'm from bouncer to tech president.

[00:09:58] So we can start the story from there just to start.

[00:10:01] So when I moved here in 1997, when I was still a student, whenever I started working in the bar,

[00:10:06] why being a bouncer in the bar has to do something to do with sales.

[00:10:12] Because I've used my social skills.

[00:10:15] Working in the bar, I realized that that was the way into my clients.

[00:10:20] So when I moved here in 1997, I worked for a company called OptiGlob.

[00:10:26] It was a data center that was hosting.

[00:10:30] So by the way, my background, I have a degree in international business specializing in marketing.

[00:10:36] When I moved here, I wanted to get into the IT business in 1997 from France.

[00:10:41] Starting to work in 1999, I got hired to this company called OptiGlob as an intern

[00:10:47] and ended up working for a service desk because I had no experience howsoever into the IT world.

[00:10:55] You could have talked to me about email.

[00:10:56] I had no idea what an email meant coming from France.

[00:11:00] So starting to work on a service desk, I met this gentleman which we became very close friends

[00:11:07] and we started a company together called LDM in 2000, starting to support small offices, dental offices.

[00:11:16] He was the brain.

[00:11:17] He was the IT guy.

[00:11:18] I was the sales guy.

[00:11:20] At that time, I started to work in the bar as a bouncer on Thursday, Friday, Saturday night.

[00:11:26] But we had a few dental offices that we were supporting.

[00:11:30] I was the sales guy.

[00:11:31] Like I said, he was the brain.

[00:11:34] Started meeting people at the bar.

[00:11:37] Every customer they walked in into the bar, you know how I looked at them?

[00:11:40] They were all customers.

[00:11:41] They all worked for somebody.

[00:11:44] They all were either an assistant or an engineer, whatever.

[00:11:46] So I always, I was so social with people and a nice guy and people, nobody wants to wait in a line, correct?

[00:11:54] When you go to a bar and there's a big line, you have to know the bouncer like to cross the line, whatever.

[00:12:00] So I started to get their business cards, building relationships.

[00:12:03] And they looked at them all as customers.

[00:12:07] That's how I started my business to grow it.

[00:12:10] I started to get the business card asking them, hey, can you get me a meeting with your office manager?

[00:12:16] Can you get me a meeting with the director?

[00:12:18] Who does your IT support?

[00:12:20] I started, we have grown the company just like that and still have few customers until today with FSI strategy that I met from the bar days, which I'm talking 2000, 24 years ago.

[00:12:35] So that's...

[00:12:36] Tell us a little bit about FSI before you get too far.

[00:12:40] And I want people to know you're...

[00:12:42] Absolutely.

[00:12:43] So FSI, I joined FSI in 2007.

[00:12:46] All right, FSI, when it started in 2003, FSI strategy was called Fed Solutions.

[00:12:52] It was 100% a federal government contractor.

[00:12:55] When I joined in in 2007, they brought me in to bring in the commercial side of it.

[00:13:02] So I came in to bring in more business on the commercial, which they already had three federal government contracts they were working on.

[00:13:09] But my job when I came in as a partner is to bring in more of the commercial side of it.

[00:13:14] But once I joined in, we started to get more sales within the commercial.

[00:13:19] So we decided to abandon the federal government contracts.

[00:13:25] And by the way, our name used to be FSI stands for Fed Solutions Incorporated.

[00:13:32] Amazing thing that the FSI had was the name, Fed Solutions.

[00:13:36] Everyone thought they knew who we were and we were nobody.

[00:13:39] Ah, Fed Solutions, we've heard of you.

[00:13:41] Why?

[00:13:42] There was a company called FedSource, which was huge.

[00:13:45] And he was on the radio all the time, whatever.

[00:13:47] So it was an easy way to get in, to get business.

[00:13:52] But in 2007, when I came in and started the commercial side, by 2012, we stopped doing federal government contracts.

[00:13:59] We want 100% commercials because we get more revenue in the commercial side than federal.

[00:14:07] So I decided to abandon that.

[00:14:08] And then it was hard for us to sell to clients when he calls like, hey, this is Fed Solutions.

[00:14:14] They're like, hey, we're not a federal government.

[00:14:15] We're not working.

[00:14:16] I'm like, okay, so it's time to change the name so that we have changed it to FSI.

[00:14:21] So it's kind of like the S and Harry S. Truman.

[00:14:24] It doesn't stand for anything.

[00:14:26] It's just...

[00:14:26] There we go.

[00:14:27] But what we like, we added the strategies to it because we are more here now to strategize for clients, like customers.

[00:14:36] We're more of the consultants.

[00:14:37] We're here to help customer, you know, move forward with the new technologies that's out there.

[00:14:43] So strategizing, helping them strategize.

[00:14:47] So about 2017, I would say actually 2017, fully zero government contract.

[00:14:54] We were 100% all commercial.

[00:14:57] By 2019, we decided to go 100% and not just your regular MSP, which is a managed service provider, but an MMSP.

[00:15:08] Microsoft managed service provider, only Microsoft.

[00:15:12] Like if you're not into the Microsoft ecosystem, we're not a match.

[00:15:16] Like I joke about it.

[00:15:17] I know on a live show, I said, you know, if you like your girls blonde, stick into blondes.

[00:15:22] That's what I wanted.

[00:15:23] It's kind of, that's what we were very good at.

[00:15:25] That's where we are.

[00:15:26] So we've been moving 100% only.

[00:15:30] We only take customers who are like within the AWS, like Amazon or whatever, who are planning to move to Microsoft.

[00:15:37] Otherwise, we're not.

[00:15:39] We like that.

[00:15:40] Yeah.

[00:15:41] We're not.

[00:15:41] Look, like I tell people, I just, you know, Microsoft is everywhere.

[00:15:49] So that's the world what I live in.

[00:15:52] Bill, it just dawned on me.

[00:15:53] What happened to your fist bump polo shirt that you have?

[00:15:57] It's in the closet.

[00:15:59] I promise you on the next one.

[00:16:01] No, it's funny.

[00:16:02] Today we went to take some Thanksgiving pictures with the family.

[00:16:05] So I had to get my hair done.

[00:16:09] Look at this.

[00:16:10] You look good.

[00:16:12] So what I was saying, like about moving into the Microsoft thing, it made a lot of sense to us as a company because also for us to grow the people within the company, we became more of an SME, subject matter expert.

[00:16:24] You know, I have about 70 people in the company, all of them.

[00:16:28] Every single employee at FSI is a Microsoft certified.

[00:16:32] Even if we had a janitor, we'll definitely as well, he's going to have to be certified to be working with us.

[00:16:38] Microsoft certified.

[00:16:39] So for us, it just became like a, you know, an easy way.

[00:16:43] And just to tell you guys what happened to me, I had a Jesus moment going to Microsoft Ignite in Seattle.

[00:16:50] I was not a true believer of Microsoft before until I heard Satya Nadella live when I was at MS Ignite.

[00:16:59] We came back the way he is changing the world.

[00:17:04] Now you can live within the Microsoft ecosystem.

[00:17:08] Even for sellers, it's easy.

[00:17:10] Like, you know, the word we say, lend and expand.

[00:17:13] It's the perfect word.

[00:17:14] Like, you know, the wheel that I have, Brandon, in my office, all the Microsoft things.

[00:17:20] That's the perfect word because I feel like some business, most of the businesses, they can run their business just through Microsoft ecosystem.

[00:17:29] You do not have to go out.

[00:17:31] And even if you have to work with a third party now, everything works, integrates well.

[00:17:37] Microsoft has changed the way they do business.

[00:17:40] I think now it's just the, what I was going to say, it's, there's no limits to what we can do anymore.

[00:17:49] I mean, I can walk into any customers.

[00:17:50] I love when they say, oh, we don't use Microsoft.

[00:17:53] You know what I say?

[00:17:54] What do you use for your email?

[00:17:56] I use Outlook.

[00:17:56] Ha!

[00:17:57] How do you do your resume?

[00:17:59] It's, you know, it's Word.

[00:18:02] How do you do your accounting, whatever?

[00:18:05] Like, oh, Excel.

[00:18:06] So somehow you are Microsoft somewhere.

[00:18:11] And what I've been loving about the whole thing with the Microsoft 365, that a lot of customers don't know that they have a license and they don't know what to do with it.

[00:18:20] And they don't know how much they can do if, you know, like you pay for an E5 license.

[00:18:27] The amount of stuff that you can do with it, you already pay for it.

[00:18:31] But having companies like FSI or other Microsoft partners to help you explore the world through the security world or, you know, your SharePoint, how you can like communicate through Teams.

[00:18:45] People just, the noise is not there.

[00:18:47] And they love that.

[00:18:48] Like, you know, you know me, Brandon.

[00:18:49] You have met me.

[00:18:50] And you know how excited I always am because I know that there's limitless things that we can do for customers with this, with the new, I call it the new Microsoft.

[00:19:02] Because it's just the AI world now is just unbelievable.

[00:19:08] I'm like a heavy user of co-pilot.

[00:19:10] Why people think I'm a crazy co-pilot person?

[00:19:14] It has changed.

[00:19:14] Guys like Nabil out there in the world, I feel like my stock price is going to continue to go up.

[00:19:19] I want to make sure we talk.

[00:19:21] You know, I want to hear about things that you've kind of gleaned.

[00:19:24] You've got a unique background, Nabil.

[00:19:26] I want to hear about things that you've gleaned around networking and relationship building.

[00:19:31] Especially, I'm intrigued by the bar, you know, the bar lessons.

[00:19:36] I'm a huge fan.

[00:19:36] I don't hide it.

[00:19:37] It's one of my guilty pleasures.

[00:19:38] I'm a huge fan of the movie slash script slash book Cocktail.

[00:19:43] And I actually had the opportunity a few years back to interview Haywood Gould, who wrote Cocktail, was the director, was the writer, the producer of the movie Cocktail.

[00:19:54] And so, you know, he talks about how within this saloon lies the greatest concentration of wealth in the world.

[00:20:01] I think if you tap into, like you did, with some of your relationships in the bar business, there's a lot of lessons.

[00:20:06] There's a lot of things that you can learn.

[00:20:08] I'd love to hear kind of, you know, what have you learned over the years around networking and relationship building that helps you today?

[00:20:13] Okay.

[00:20:14] So I can tell you, it's analyzing people.

[00:20:17] When you work in a bar business, you know, you can watch people.

[00:20:22] You don't have to talk to them and, you know, exactly what they think and what they are about to do.

[00:20:26] That's from experience.

[00:20:27] I've done it for 12 years.

[00:20:29] You know, a sober person and a drunk person, they are two different people.

[00:20:33] You know, you know, so it is the truth.

[00:20:36] And that's, you know, it changes your character as well on how to behave around people because people are different.

[00:20:42] That's one thing that you learn working in an environment like that.

[00:20:46] It's the same thing like when you walk into customers.

[00:20:48] Some of them are very welcoming.

[00:20:50] Some of them are very tough to crack.

[00:20:53] So you have to try different ways on communicating with them.

[00:20:57] In the bar business, it's the same thing.

[00:20:59] The approach to somebody that's aggressive, somebody that's nice,

[00:21:01] you have to change the way you approach the situations.

[00:21:05] And that's what one of the best things I've learned.

[00:21:08] It's how to handle different situations, how to pivot from one, you know,

[00:21:14] you can talk to somebody who is just calm and then can get aggressive into a moment.

[00:21:20] I've learned how to handle that.

[00:21:22] And it goes the same thing in the day-to-day business today.

[00:21:25] You can go into a customer and you start talking to them about a product or service

[00:21:31] and they're like, ah, I don't need it, whatever.

[00:21:33] But you need to learn how to pivot.

[00:21:35] It's the same thing goes when you're dealing with a customer at the bar.

[00:21:39] If they're, you know, it's so you learn how to deal with different behaviors,

[00:21:46] different people, different situations.

[00:21:48] And that's one of the best thing.

[00:21:50] The other thing as well, networking.

[00:21:53] Through my entire life, I could not figure out what was very good about me as a person.

[00:21:59] Like, okay, I have a little degree in college, but what am I good at?

[00:22:05] What is the best thing that is about me and Nabil?

[00:22:08] Like I ask myself all the time.

[00:22:11] I realized, you know what?

[00:22:12] You're very social, very likable.

[00:22:15] I think so, by the way.

[00:22:16] This is what I think about myself.

[00:22:19] But I said, how can I utilize that to help me with my business?

[00:22:25] Because I'm a social bee.

[00:22:27] I talk to everybody.

[00:22:29] I'm always nice to everybody.

[00:22:31] You know.

[00:22:32] And they said, I need to use it to grow my, not only my brand, but myself,

[00:22:39] my business, the company that I started, I came into, whatever.

[00:22:43] It was through people.

[00:22:44] Oh, what I was like.

[00:22:46] That's what we're going to get into.

[00:22:47] The point is like from the bar going to LinkedIn.

[00:22:50] Because I honestly, I look at LinkedIn as well.

[00:22:53] It's kind of the same platform, but it's a digital platform than being in a bar

[00:22:58] when you're doing a face-to-face.

[00:22:59] I call LinkedIn was my bouncing days, basically, in a way.

[00:23:04] It's just because through COVID, people were not meeting face-to-face,

[00:23:09] that we had to learn how to start being in a different world,

[00:23:13] which is, you know, the new digital world these days.

[00:23:16] In the bar, you're dealing with the person every day.

[00:23:19] Only LinkedIn is just through a different way or doing business these days.

[00:23:24] That's why for me, working at the bar was easier, and LinkedIn now made it my new bar.

[00:23:30] It's like I feel like I'm a new bouncer within the internet now because people are approaching me

[00:23:36] to ask me for things through messaging, and people are approaching me at the bar.

[00:23:41] When I was outside, trying to get in, not waiting in line.

[00:23:45] It's the same thing.

[00:23:46] It's like the more I was in front of the people, the more I get the attention of people.

[00:23:53] And that, you know, like when I used to, at the bar, how do you get attention when you have last call?

[00:23:59] As a bouncer, you're there and you have to scream to everybody, everybody, it's last call.

[00:24:05] You need to get the hell out of, you know.

[00:24:08] Same thing goes for me now on LinkedIn.

[00:24:10] Again, my approach to my services or my product or my, it's through LinkedIn the way I write things every day.

[00:24:20] But for me, the secret for selling, you need to be authentic and you need to love what you do

[00:24:27] because I feel like for any seller, if you do not believe on the product or the service that you sell,

[00:24:36] you will never succeed.

[00:24:37] You can maybe make a little bit money, but it's going to add in certain point

[00:24:42] because loving what you do, that's the only way you can take the message to the, you know,

[00:24:50] to the customer, the end, the person that you're trying to sell to

[00:24:54] because you have to believe on whatever you're selling.

[00:24:57] Otherwise, it's not going to go anywhere.

[00:25:00] I think for me, my success, I'm very authentic.

[00:25:05] What you see, it's what you get.

[00:25:06] It goes the same thing for my customers.

[00:25:09] I care.

[00:25:11] The way I do not like to be screwed, I do not want my customer to be screwed.

[00:25:17] And Brandon knows me.

[00:25:18] Everybody will kill me for it.

[00:25:20] I remind everyone every day.

[00:25:23] I say it a million times.

[00:25:25] We're all going six feet under.

[00:25:28] No one has a date of their expiration.

[00:25:30] It can happen tomorrow.

[00:25:32] So everybody, I believe in two things.

[00:25:35] I need to be very good to people, help when they can,

[00:25:39] and try to be the best at what I'm doing.

[00:25:42] I love it.

[00:25:42] I'm telling you, the Jesus moment with Satya Nadella,

[00:25:46] and actually my business partner can attest to it,

[00:25:49] Reda Morsley and then John Firth, who were with me in Seattle,

[00:25:53] they were shocked how I changed.

[00:25:56] They were like, whatever the drugs you're doing,

[00:25:58] whatever you're doing, you are a different person.

[00:26:01] I came back and I'm like, I'm all in for Microsoft.

[00:26:06] Because somebody resonated with me for once.

[00:26:09] No, I was going to say very quick, my brain, the way it functions,

[00:26:13] which is in the show today, I'm going to say it openly.

[00:26:16] I got diagnosed last year with dyslexia at my age.

[00:26:21] I'm 48 years old, about to turn 49 in February.

[00:26:24] My entire life I was having a hard time reading.

[00:26:28] My parents were spanking the hell out of me to read a book,

[00:26:32] whether they thought I didn't want to study.

[00:26:33] I saw it in my little son, who's six years old.

[00:26:37] I started seeing the same behaviors I had when I was younger.

[00:26:40] So I had to go to the doctor to get, I said, hey.

[00:26:44] And she said, absolutely.

[00:26:45] After a couple of visits, she was like, 100%.

[00:26:50] That it explains why.

[00:26:53] So what I was going to get into,

[00:26:55] it's that what we call a disability,

[00:26:57] which I don't think it is,

[00:26:59] because I've done well with my life.

[00:27:02] I had to hide from things that I didn't know,

[00:27:05] but use whatever I thought I was very good at,

[00:27:09] and go push with it.

[00:27:10] And that's the talking.

[00:27:12] You guys can say, you can tell.

[00:27:13] I can shut the hell up.

[00:27:15] Like even if somebody comes right now,

[00:27:16] go, take me out, we'll fight them to death.

[00:27:19] I'll use my bouncing power just to talk.

[00:27:23] Go ahead, Tom.

[00:27:24] Well, I have a question that kind of relates

[00:27:27] to a number of things you were saying,

[00:27:29] in particular about Microsoft.

[00:27:31] You know, I'm in the B2B world, sales world as well.

[00:27:33] One of the biggest challenges I'm seeing nowadays

[00:27:36] is companies are overwhelmed with the number of technology choices

[00:27:41] that they're being presented with.

[00:27:43] And I would think in the Microsoft world, right,

[00:27:45] you're walking in with this gigantic portfolio of products

[00:27:49] and things that you could help a company with.

[00:27:51] How are you communicating to them today

[00:27:54] in a way that gets them to want to maybe discover new technology

[00:28:00] and really understand some of the things?

[00:28:03] Because I'm seeing right now, maybe more than ever,

[00:28:06] a bit of a resistance, if you will,

[00:28:08] because they're a bit overwhelmed with,

[00:28:10] especially with AI and everything else.

[00:28:13] So from a sales perspective, how do you break through that

[00:28:17] and get them to be more interested in discovering new technologies,

[00:28:21] in particular the Microsoft suite?

[00:28:24] Great question, and I love it.

[00:28:26] I'll tell you, the biggest mistake that's happening out there right now,

[00:28:30] it's people are trying to push technology on the clients.

[00:28:32] You got to go back to basics.

[00:28:34] For example, Copilot.

[00:28:36] That's what I've been the person I talk about every day.

[00:28:40] I sleep Copilot, I eat Copilot,

[00:28:42] because at 16 months it has changed my life from my personal to professional.

[00:28:48] So your question about how do I take it to customers,

[00:28:51] I said go back to basic.

[00:28:53] Don't rush into Copilot.

[00:28:55] Copilot, for example, AI these days, it's cutting to three.

[00:28:58] You have data, security, training, and adoption.

[00:29:01] You got to tell the customer, before you jump into anything,

[00:29:04] first of all, clean up your data.

[00:29:06] We're in the AI world these days.

[00:29:07] Start doing house cleaning.

[00:29:11] Before you sell your house, whatever, you need to clean it,

[00:29:13] make it look good, whatever.

[00:29:14] So go take care of your data.

[00:29:17] Clean up the stuff that you don't need.

[00:29:19] Archive the stuff that you're not going to be using,

[00:29:22] because garbage in equals garbage out.

[00:29:24] So you're not going to be ready for AI if you're not already cleaning up the thing.

[00:29:31] Then once you clean your data, secure it.

[00:29:34] Make sure it's secure.

[00:29:37] Once you secure it, here we go.

[00:29:39] Thank you, Brandon.

[00:29:40] Here you go.

[00:29:40] It's our T-shirt.

[00:29:41] You see the garbage in equals garbage out.

[00:29:44] If you don't clean it, here we go.

[00:29:47] So, and then the last part, I always tell the customers,

[00:29:50] because everyone is overwhelmed, technology is moving so fast,

[00:29:53] is to train your people.

[00:29:56] If you do not train your employees,

[00:29:59] they will tell you whatever technology you give them,

[00:30:02] they're going to tell you it sucks.

[00:30:04] This is the first thing that comes out of the user.

[00:30:06] So for me, you have, when you talk to customers,

[00:30:10] that's what I said, what I'm loving about the Microsoft ecosystem today.

[00:30:15] Like, for example, at FSI, we specialize mostly in the modern work and security.

[00:30:22] Those are the two worlds.

[00:30:23] Those are the ones that we live in.

[00:30:25] We are the pros.

[00:30:26] We're the true SMEs.

[00:30:27] We don't want to go outside or more than that.

[00:30:30] We want to help the customers.

[00:30:32] This is what I don't like about a lot of partners.

[00:30:34] You try to be jack of all trade and master of none.

[00:30:38] You choose two, three things that you're very good at,

[00:30:41] and you're very good at.

[00:30:42] Like, I mean, you live by it, and that's where you go.

[00:30:46] And you just don't go, by the way, what you said about the customer.

[00:30:49] You just don't go to sell.

[00:30:51] These days, sellers need to understand one thing.

[00:30:54] It's very hard to get a customer to start with.

[00:30:57] So when we get a customer, it's to lend them for a long time.

[00:31:01] So we have to believe whatever we sell to them.

[00:31:05] We're not selling.

[00:31:06] We're actually helping them to move up, to move forward,

[00:31:10] to be ready for this AI era that's happening.

[00:31:13] Copilot.

[00:31:14] It has changed my life.

[00:31:17] I will use something here on the live show.

[00:31:20] I know it's going to sound kind of funny,

[00:31:21] but it turned a donkey into a horse race.

[00:31:24] It has, I have struggled doing so many things before to manage my time,

[00:31:32] whatever.

[00:31:33] And I'm, like I said, a heavy user of Copilot.

[00:31:36] It has helped me manage my schedules, my calendar, my team's calls.

[00:31:42] When I am on team's call, that's why sometimes I wonder how Carson is living.

[00:31:47] I'm like, my God, if I was Carson, just come and hold me from jumping from the bridge.

[00:31:52] I mean, I have my schedule.

[00:31:54] Now it's more, I have an assistant.

[00:31:58] Copilot.

[00:31:59] Copilot.

[00:32:00] Microsoft was very smart on calling it Copilot and not Pilot because it's your personal assistant.

[00:32:05] You are the pilot.

[00:32:07] It learns your behavior.

[00:32:09] It learns what you do.

[00:32:11] It learns how you write.

[00:32:13] Let's not forget over here.

[00:32:14] Let's just face it, guys.

[00:32:16] I'm an immigrant.

[00:32:17] I've been here 28 years.

[00:32:18] I'm still sure have a big accent.

[00:32:20] My kids don't.

[00:32:21] My wife don't.

[00:32:22] I do.

[00:32:23] But you know what?

[00:32:24] Copilot doesn't show my accent.

[00:32:26] But what Copilot does, it's right exactly like me.

[00:32:29] It's just in a better way.

[00:32:30] And it doesn't let me overthink stuff.

[00:32:33] It puts my true ideas into words.

[00:32:38] True example here.

[00:32:39] My business partner for 15 years, when we go to meetings, people see how enthusiastic I am, the energy I bring in, and they love me.

[00:32:49] Always at the end of the meeting, he tells the other executives, let me tell you what Nabil means by that.

[00:32:55] He was my translator.

[00:32:57] Do you know what I told him about a month ago?

[00:32:59] I said, you're fired.

[00:33:00] Copilot now is translating for me.

[00:33:01] I don't need you in meetings to translate what I'm trying to say to the customer.

[00:33:07] So my point, I feel like we're living in a world right now of the AI world, which is for me, it's a Microsoft, because my simple explanation, by the way, Tom, I love this explanation that I explained to a lot of executives about Copilot.

[00:33:24] It's ChatGPT embedded into Microsoft product.

[00:33:30] But what is the best part out of it?

[00:33:33] It's secure.

[00:33:34] That's what you don't have in ChatGPT.

[00:33:37] Within Microsoft, it's secure within your environment.

[00:33:40] That's exactly what it is.

[00:33:42] And that's what customers want to hear.

[00:33:45] Because you can lock it without having to go to the internet, only within the work framework that you have within SharePoint.

[00:33:52] It's just simple explanation.

[00:33:56] Nabil, as much as Carson loves this infomercial for Microsoft, I want to move you into the sales side.

[00:34:06] And I'd love to hear, as the president of a Microsoft partner, the president of a company, and you've talked about how much you like LinkedIn.

[00:34:15] It becomes a network.

[00:34:16] How specifically are you using LinkedIn to meet potential new customers?

[00:34:24] I think in your case, meet a lot of Microsoft sellers that are your partners.

[00:34:30] What advice, how are you using it?

[00:34:32] And what advice do you have for other CEOs and presidents of company around using LinkedIn for your networking and relationship building purposes?

[00:34:42] So, I live on LinkedIn.

[00:34:44] Like, you remember, like, just to just bring it back where the wives used to be like, get out of Facebook.

[00:34:50] I'm the one of, like, my wife almost to pick up the phones, like, get out of freaking LinkedIn.

[00:34:55] You know, like, I have relationship.

[00:34:59] I think in today's world, if you are not on LinkedIn, this is the true belief that I have, like, you know, you will not go anywhere.

[00:35:11] Because I think that's the main professional platform.

[00:35:15] So, I'll tell you how I use it.

[00:35:17] LinkedIn became my first, like, the ideas I have, the love of the technology that I use.

[00:35:24] Even myself, because I'm learning.

[00:35:27] I'm not, it's not, like, this is not a Facebook, but it's also you want your buyers to know you, to feel like they know you.

[00:35:37] So, whatever I write about stuff that I'm very passionate about, when I'm talking, I'm talking about business.

[00:35:42] This is a professional platform.

[00:35:44] I am not talking.

[00:35:45] So, for me, in my world is Microsoft.

[00:35:48] It can be someone else's world.

[00:35:50] It's Amazon or Google or whatever product they sell.

[00:35:54] But, for me, that's what I share.

[00:35:58] That's the platform where I go and share about what I'm doing, what I'm passionate about, what I'm selling, what are my companies doing.

[00:36:07] And I like to share, like, about my stories about Copilot, what it has done for me.

[00:36:12] And proof is in the pudding.

[00:36:14] Brendan, when I met you for the first time when you came into D.C., I felt like I've known you forever.

[00:36:21] Same thing goes for Carson.

[00:36:23] When I met him for the first time, it was last year in Dallas.

[00:36:27] It felt like I've known him for years.

[00:36:29] I've known about his family.

[00:36:32] I've known about your family, Brendan, as well.

[00:36:34] It felt like, honestly, I was your friend forever, guys.

[00:36:39] And they feel this is what bothers me to see a lot of these days.

[00:36:43] A lot of executives or even sellers or anybody within the professional world not using LinkedIn as a platform to help you not only lend.

[00:36:55] And because, like, lend customers or even make, you know, like I was telling earlier, because that's good that we're talking about the bar and LinkedIn.

[00:37:04] LinkedIn is the new bar.

[00:37:06] That's why all the social also, you know, meeting people.

[00:37:10] When people go to bars, usually it's not only about alcohol.

[00:37:14] They go and meet new friends and new people.

[00:37:17] LinkedIn is that platform today.

[00:37:20] It's like cheer.

[00:37:21] Everybody knows your name.

[00:37:23] Exactly.

[00:37:24] And that's the whole point.

[00:37:26] I mean, for me, it's like you have to be present because people are searching us today on that platform.

[00:37:34] If a customer is looking for you, they're going to go and see what are you doing?

[00:37:39] What are you all about?

[00:37:41] Now, if somebody goes to my LinkedIn, they're going to know that Nabil Aitoumizian, he's always a Microsoft guy.

[00:37:49] Everywhere that I work, like everywhere, every conference I go to, I'm the Microsoft guy.

[00:37:53] I don't even know, like, how people know.

[00:37:55] They think I work for Microsoft, which I don't.

[00:37:58] Same thing goes for you, Brandon.

[00:37:59] But first of all, everything it is about, you know, what you're doing.

[00:38:04] That's how I've known about what you do.

[00:38:06] That's how I've known about what Carson was doing.

[00:38:09] It was through me researching the LinkedIn.

[00:38:14] Go ahead.

[00:38:16] You had mentioned that you publish and you talk about things like Copilot.

[00:38:20] What else do you do on LinkedIn?

[00:38:22] And Nabil, I'm thinking there's CEOs, there's president of companies out there listening.

[00:38:27] They're scared.

[00:38:28] Like, I mean, Carson, you and I have talked about it.

[00:38:30] We hear about it a lot.

[00:38:31] They're like, oh, no, I don't have time for LinkedIn.

[00:38:34] But what they really mean is I don't really know what to do and I don't want to look stupid.

[00:38:39] You've embraced LinkedIn as a president of a company.

[00:38:43] It's done well for you in opening up relationships and new business opportunities.

[00:38:49] You mentioned publishing content.

[00:38:51] What else do you use?

[00:38:52] How else do you use LinkedIn?

[00:38:54] I put my life out there because that's the kind.

[00:38:58] You have to be authentic in this business.

[00:39:00] Like I said, it's 2024.

[00:39:01] I bring in my family.

[00:39:03] I bring in the things that helped me get here.

[00:39:06] It's my family.

[00:39:07] I have to, you know, be personal.

[00:39:09] I want people to know who I am.

[00:39:13] No one will buy from a stranger.

[00:39:16] No one.

[00:39:17] People need to feel like they know who they are working with.

[00:39:20] And, you know, this platform has opened up that now to me.

[00:39:24] It's not only about the professional part of it, but it's also the personal part of it.

[00:39:29] They need to know who Nabil is.

[00:39:31] That's why I'm coming out on this show right here about dyslexia.

[00:39:34] I don't care.

[00:39:35] If I can help somebody else, I want people to know my kids, my wife.

[00:39:40] That's the world we live in.

[00:39:41] People need to feel comfortable.

[00:39:43] They need to feel like they know who you are.

[00:39:46] They're just not going to be buying.

[00:39:48] Like I said, Brandon, you and I, the first time we met, we hugged each other right away.

[00:39:52] You know what?

[00:39:54] Five years ago, it would have been like, what are those two weirdos doing?

[00:39:57] Yeah.

[00:39:58] Like, yeah, I don't know if I've met with a killer or whatever.

[00:40:02] You know what I mean?

[00:40:03] But through LinkedIn, we had, we learned how to talk, you know, like I've learned a lot about you.

[00:40:10] And then, you know, we talked on the phone.

[00:40:12] We had teams calls.

[00:40:13] And then when we met, it felt like we had a relationship for years.

[00:40:17] Like, no joke.

[00:40:18] I felt like I was with a body of mine.

[00:40:22] Like, you know, so that's what I'm saying.

[00:40:24] I think I will say to any C executive out there, you need to utilize LinkedIn because you are the voice of your company.

[00:40:34] You are everything in the company.

[00:40:37] You need to be out there.

[00:40:38] People need to know who they are buying from.

[00:40:40] So any, like I said, C executive, you need to be out there sharing what your company is doing.

[00:40:46] Share about yourself so people can know who they are dealing with.

[00:40:50] Because people, like I said, they don't go, you know, in our business today, it's not Wikipedia.

[00:40:58] It's LinkedInpedia, whatever.

[00:40:59] That's what it should be.

[00:41:00] Because when you search most of the people right now, their name will come.

[00:41:06] If they're not on Wikipedia, first thing that's going to come, it's their LinkedIn profile on Google search.

[00:41:12] That's the first thing you'll see.

[00:41:14] So we need to be out there as executives.

[00:41:17] We need to be sharing not only, you know, our professional life, also personal because people need to know who we are.

[00:41:24] And also what I've learned through you and Carson, it's how much you can create out of a content of a little something.

[00:41:33] You can get so much out of it.

[00:41:35] I mean, you know, now I can't get out of it.

[00:41:38] I'm like hooked because that's where my life is.

[00:41:42] That's where I work.

[00:41:44] That's where I get leads from.

[00:41:46] That's where people reach out to me from.

[00:41:49] It's the place.

[00:41:50] And that's why I want the world to know I'm very authentic about stuff.

[00:41:55] I am not here only to sell, but I want people to see who I am because that's how people are comfortable with.

[00:42:02] I'm not here, you know.

[00:42:04] Hey, Nabil, how much do you think like your success, whether you were leveraging your role as a bouncer in a bar to meet people and ask them like,

[00:42:14] oh, could you get a meeting with, can you get me a meeting with your boss?

[00:42:18] All the way to using LinkedIn now as a president of FSI.

[00:42:23] How much of that is personality and how much of that is also strategy?

[00:42:29] Look, I will be very candid here.

[00:42:32] LinkedIn has changed my freaking life in the past two years.

[00:42:36] I mean, it has changed it, period.

[00:42:39] Let's put it out there.

[00:42:41] Because you know what?

[00:42:42] I have, I think, one of the best personality.

[00:42:45] I'm loud.

[00:42:45] I'm 6'4", and, you know, I can be around the room and people can hear me.

[00:42:50] I can be annoying to some.

[00:42:52] And, you know, that's what it is.

[00:42:55] But LinkedIn, the past two years, that's what I've been living in.

[00:42:58] Everybody was in the COVID world.

[00:43:00] We were all in the same world.

[00:43:01] That was the – but what I discovered, and no joke what I'm going to say, guys, live over here.

[00:43:07] You, Brandon, and you, Carson, made that difference for me because I saw how much you guys – I was like, how are these people living?

[00:43:15] Do they have a life?

[00:43:16] That's how I looked at it.

[00:43:18] But – and then I learned there is a whole strategy around how you can manage your LinkedIn.

[00:43:24] It is so important.

[00:43:26] But that's the problem.

[00:43:27] I think people just don't know how to use it.

[00:43:31] I think if you realize how you can use it towards your advantage, to advance you, so you can get your message out there, it is the best platform out there.

[00:43:44] So my answer to you, it's 100%.

[00:43:46] I give it to LinkedIn, not 80%, not my personality because the first connections that have been happening in the past two years before, we just started to go out now to conferences and meet people again.

[00:43:59] It was through LinkedIn.

[00:44:01] So now I'm out and about again that I'm traveling every week.

[00:44:06] But it's all through LinkedIn.

[00:44:09] When you go somewhere and somebody comes to you, Brandon, I've heard it from you and I'm hearing it, people come to me.

[00:44:15] They're like, oh, my God, Nabila.

[00:44:17] And I'm like, who are you?

[00:44:18] And they're like, I know you from LinkedIn.

[00:44:21] And then they are snatching a picture with me or whatever.

[00:44:25] I'm like, so that tells you everything.

[00:44:28] That means I'm doing a good job sending my message out there.

[00:44:34] And that's what I want to become, the evangelist.

[00:44:36] Like, you know, I want to get that message of mine is a Microsoft.

[00:44:40] This is what I'm in.

[00:44:41] But that's what I want.

[00:44:42] It's working.

[00:44:44] I feel like every C executive needs to get on board now because the next, I think, this is my opinion, three to five years, it's going to become the next Facebook.

[00:44:56] People are going to start signing off from it because it would be too much, too many people doing that.

[00:45:03] So I think for any company, even look, not only as an individual C executive, but companies need to be more involved and promoting more on LinkedIn.

[00:45:13] It's your new marketing platform.

[00:45:16] It's your new branding platform.

[00:45:18] It's all of that.

[00:45:20] It will change.

[00:45:21] It has changed my life.

[00:45:23] I can tell you this.

[00:45:25] It has made me a better executive.

[00:45:28] It has everything about it that happened for me so far has been positive.

[00:45:35] Only a plus.

[00:45:36] Like, nothing negative that came out of this.

[00:45:39] So for me, that's what I would, you know, ask anybody.

[00:45:43] And I don't know if everyone, when I walk in today, everywhere, I tell people, that's my first message.

[00:45:50] Are you on LinkedIn?

[00:45:52] Are you doing enough?

[00:45:53] Are you promoting yourself?

[00:45:55] Do people know exactly what you're doing?

[00:45:57] Do people know you?

[00:45:59] You know, those are the questions that I ask people.

[00:46:03] And most of them, people, oh, I don't know how to.

[00:46:05] People don't even know that they can, you know, write something and have it scheduled to be posted in the simplest things.

[00:46:16] People don't even know how to utilize AI today to do things for you.

[00:46:22] Like I told people again and again, I'm freaking dyslexic.

[00:46:25] But you know what?

[00:46:26] I'm a smart person.

[00:46:28] I have great ideas.

[00:46:30] Now I have my assistant.

[00:46:32] Her name is Copilot.

[00:46:33] Copilot.

[00:46:34] She writes things for me the way I want them to.

[00:46:37] And they keep changing.

[00:46:38] I just tell her what I want.

[00:46:39] And she puts it into words for me.

[00:46:42] So people, they have no reason to be joining this movement.

[00:46:47] No joke of LinkedIn.

[00:46:49] It's a movement.

[00:46:51] That's what people need to do because we have the tools today.

[00:46:55] Back in the days, I would say it will take you two, three days to write something to post it about Copilot.

[00:47:02] Now we have AI, for God's sake.

[00:47:04] We have this whole technology that's in our fingertips right now.

[00:47:09] And people are not even putting it.

[00:47:11] You don't need to put that much effort.

[00:47:13] And I will tell you again, guys.

[00:47:15] Brandon Carson, thank you so much.

[00:47:17] Because of you people, because of you guys, it has changed my life.

[00:47:23] Seriously.

[00:47:23] Seriously.

[00:47:24] It has changed my professional life.

[00:47:27] It has.

[00:47:29] Because I think I was late into this game.

[00:47:32] Brandon, you made a comment earlier that I think there's some serious value to it.

[00:47:37] There's a lot of people that are out there that are thinking to themselves like, hey, how do I get started?

[00:47:42] I don't have time for this.

[00:47:43] I talk to people all the time, too, that are like, they say things like, I'm planning on getting out there.

[00:47:50] I'm planning on getting out there on LinkedIn.

[00:47:52] I've been creating some material.

[00:47:54] And I'm going to start posting on such and such a day.

[00:47:58] Or another one.

[00:48:00] I talked to somebody the other day that I work with.

[00:48:02] And they're like, I've got this idea for a podcast that I really want to do.

[00:48:06] And I've got the equipment.

[00:48:07] And I've got the scripts for multiple episodes.

[00:48:11] And I'm like, just do it.

[00:48:13] Just get out there.

[00:48:14] I think the best thing is sometimes don't overthink your efforts.

[00:48:19] It's progress over perfection.

[00:48:21] It's put something out there.

[00:48:24] I've absolutely made posts that nobody liked.

[00:48:28] I mean, the vanity stats were nonexistent.

[00:48:31] But it doesn't matter.

[00:48:33] You put stuff out there.

[00:48:36] You take the signals.

[00:48:38] You pivot.

[00:48:39] You adapt.

[00:48:39] You adjust accordingly.

[00:48:41] I mean, the key element is your target audience is out there.

[00:48:45] So no matter what you're trying to do, whether it's creating, embellishing a personal brand,

[00:48:50] whether it's meaningful connections with customers,

[00:48:52] whether it's taking charge of your career,

[00:48:55] you can literally do anything with LinkedIn.

[00:48:59] Absolutely.

[00:48:59] And like I said, your target market is on LinkedIn.

[00:49:05] That's what I was saying earlier about sellers.

[00:49:10] They are there.

[00:49:12] Like if you are trying to go after an account, for example,

[00:49:15] they are on LinkedIn.

[00:49:16] Connect with them.

[00:49:18] Build it.

[00:49:19] Build that relationship.

[00:49:20] They see what you're doing, what you're up to.

[00:49:22] They'll follow you.

[00:49:23] That will all help you through your journey.

[00:49:26] But that's what I said earlier, Carson, when we started about saying laziness,

[00:49:31] the new way of doing it.

[00:49:32] These are like you.

[00:49:33] We have the technology these days.

[00:49:35] We have everything in our fingertips to be successful.

[00:49:39] It's just about how you handle it.

[00:49:41] Go ahead, Carson.

[00:49:42] Brendan.

[00:49:43] Yeah, I think, Nabil, you should probably get a check from Microsoft.

[00:49:48] You've promoted Microsoft.

[00:49:50] You've promoted LinkedIn.

[00:49:51] Like you should be one of their paid influencers.

[00:49:56] Hey, like I tell people, as far as I'm concerned,

[00:49:59] my mortgage is paid from Microsoft, what I get business from.

[00:50:03] So this is who I work with every day.

[00:50:05] There you go.

[00:50:06] But to be honest with you, that's something that for me,

[00:50:11] it has changed my life because it's for once.

[00:50:14] We're going to talk about sales again.

[00:50:17] Authenticity.

[00:50:17] It's something that I believe in.

[00:50:19] It's the same thing like, Brendan, what are you doing?

[00:50:21] Like we discussed even with First Bump, what do you do about helping CEOs?

[00:50:25] I believe in that because I'm in it.

[00:50:28] I'm the first person to be becoming successful through that.

[00:50:34] So like I cannot go and say something that I don't believe in.

[00:50:38] I'm the product of that success.

[00:50:41] Yeah.

[00:50:42] I think what I like about your story too, Nabil,

[00:50:44] and you say this all the time, you're like, I'm an immigrant.

[00:50:47] I've been here 28 years.

[00:50:49] You started out, you came here and your first job you could get was at a bar as a bouncer,

[00:50:55] but you've leveraged that through relationship building, networking,

[00:51:00] a personality that's not scared for people to reject them.

[00:51:04] And you've gone from the bar bouncer to the president of a very thriving,

[00:51:10] growing partner with the largest company in the world.

[00:51:12] It's a tremendous testimony to you.

[00:51:16] But I think the reason I liked having you on the show is to talk about that you networked offline

[00:51:22] and now you're networking online.

[00:51:24] Everything you're focused on is that authenticity to build relationships

[00:51:29] because opportunities come from those relationships.

[00:51:33] And you know, I've learned, Brendan, like I said, my dad always told me something.

[00:51:39] Always respect someone who's older than you.

[00:51:42] So whoever is one day older than you knows one more thing than you do.

[00:51:47] Again.

[00:51:48] Did you just call me old?

[00:51:49] Did you just call me old?

[00:51:50] Is that what you were doing?

[00:51:51] No, no, no, no.

[00:51:52] But I'm going to bring it back.

[00:51:53] You see, this is not like age before beauty.

[00:51:55] I'm learning all those things.

[00:51:56] After 28 years here, I'm learning.

[00:51:58] Like, you know, but what I was going to tell you, it's I've learned by seeing you,

[00:52:04] what you guys were doing and other people on LinkedIn.

[00:52:08] And that's what I like to do.

[00:52:10] I always want to learn from somebody that's better than me.

[00:52:14] You know, like I'm always looking at someone that's more successful than me

[00:52:19] or done something better than me.

[00:52:21] Those are the people that I looked at.

[00:52:23] Like I was watching you guys on LinkedIn and that's how I've learned on my own,

[00:52:30] watching you, you guys' behavior, where you were posting, how you were posting.

[00:52:33] I had to learn it.

[00:52:34] Following you guys on the show on the modern, you know, mastering, modern selling,

[00:52:39] like all the time I kept picking up ideas.

[00:52:42] That's how you learn.

[00:52:43] It's by listening to others.

[00:52:44] What's working these days?

[00:52:46] You just don't learn about thinking you know it all.

[00:52:49] You got to see what others who are being successful, what they're doing.

[00:52:52] And that's why like, you know, when you talk to me about this,

[00:52:55] Pam, I told you I'm a true believer because I think people are behind.

[00:52:59] If you do not join this whole social selling today and being part of the LinkedIn world,

[00:53:07] you are going to be left behind.

[00:53:10] I can promise you that.

[00:53:12] That's the world that we are living in right now between the AI

[00:53:15] and everything is in artificial intelligence today.

[00:53:19] Everything is in the AI world.

[00:53:21] Yeah.

[00:53:22] Yeah, I think that's how you're doing it through AI,

[00:53:25] how you are managing your customer through the AI world.

[00:53:31] So, hey, I have one as we wrap up here.

[00:53:33] I have one question that you've touched on.

[00:53:37] You even touched on when you talked about sales.

[00:53:39] People are getting lazy or lazier.

[00:53:42] They have been lazier.

[00:53:43] And this is a question for all of us, actually.

[00:53:46] Carson, Brandon, Naveel.

[00:53:48] As we go into next year, what do you think is the world of sales?

[00:53:52] How is it going to change?

[00:53:54] Do you think that the assembly line where, hey, I'm waiting for leads and I'm waiting

[00:53:59] for things to be dropped in my lap and all that stuff, do you think that's going to change

[00:54:04] to go, Carson, to what I think more of what you probably just wrote about in your book?

[00:54:08] As a salesperson, you've just got to hustle, build the relationships and kind of do a lot

[00:54:13] more of this.

[00:54:14] Take more responsibility for it yourself.

[00:54:17] Do you think that that's changing the world of sales from the assembly line more to, hey,

[00:54:23] I've just got to be fully responsible for my job, which is to procure customers and increase

[00:54:29] customers?

[00:54:29] It's like a pendulum, Tom.

[00:54:31] I mean, I think that we're going to continue to see this shift where the tools, the tech,

[00:54:38] the hybrid work settings, we're going to go back to valuing those things more and more

[00:54:46] and more because of this influx of technology and AI.

[00:54:49] Because the lazy are going to go for the easy.

[00:54:52] The things that are going to flood the ecosystem with noise, the AI written mails, the LinkedIn

[00:55:00] content.

[00:55:01] Daniel Disney, who I love, he makes this post regularly about, it's a joke meme, but it's

[00:55:08] very true and accurate.

[00:55:10] It's all about this sales manager conversation with a sales rep and it's about the lack of

[00:55:14] responsiveness of the customer.

[00:55:16] And it's like, just give them a call.

[00:55:17] And then they keep saying, well, I'll just email them again.

[00:55:20] I'll just email them again.

[00:55:21] And the reality of the matter is it's easier now than ever to just get a hold of somebody

[00:55:26] on the phone.

[00:55:27] I mean, I have almost a 100% success rate just picking up the phone, calling a customer.

[00:55:32] Their phone numbers are on their signature lines and their emails and things of that stature.

[00:55:36] I mean, they're very easy to get a hold of.

[00:55:38] The scrappiness and the resourcefulness, the face-to-face, these things are going to matter

[00:55:43] all the more.

[00:55:44] And the greats in 2025 are going to embrace the resourcefulness, adding value, doing the

[00:55:51] types of stuff that Matt Dixon talks about in the jolt effect, getting to the customer,

[00:55:57] de-risking their decision, adding value, being with them on the journey, doing the hustle

[00:56:03] stats that don't show up in the box score.

[00:56:05] Those are going to be the winning salespeople next year.

[00:56:08] They're going to use the tools to get the meetings, to arm themselves with data, to prep for the

[00:56:15] meeting.

[00:56:15] I mean, I can prep for a meeting in seconds flat now with AI, but they're going to do it

[00:56:20] the old-fashioned way by getting in, meeting the customer, knowing enough about them in

[00:56:26] advance, getting to the heart of what matters to them, asking great questions, being responsive,

[00:56:32] being communicative, being transparent, following up.

[00:56:36] Those are what the greats are going to do.

[00:56:37] They're going to do the fundamentals better than anybody else.

[00:56:40] So what you're saying is that is modern selling for 2025.

[00:56:45] Yeah.

[00:56:45] That's what I'm hearing you say.

[00:56:48] So now we know what we can talk about.

[00:56:49] You heard it here first.

[00:56:51] You heard it here first.

[00:56:52] That's right.

[00:56:53] That's right.

[00:56:54] Yeah.

[00:56:54] And that's, you know, it's interesting is that we did a, we did an episode coming into

[00:56:58] 2024 about what's, what sales going to look like.

[00:57:01] And we talked about AI and I don't, I don't think our conversation will change as we do

[00:57:05] this for 2025 and you just kind of kicked it off.

[00:57:10] It's leveraging the AI without losing humanity.

[00:57:15] And what we've seen because so many people love the easy button and they think if I just

[00:57:22] turn this thing on, it's going to work and POs are going to fly out of the sky and follow

[00:57:27] my pocket.

[00:57:29] But what, what Carson keeps saying, what Carson demonstrates, that's why I joke around.

[00:57:34] I'm like, Carson's a machine.

[00:57:35] And I think the reason why Carson can write the book that he wrote and give away his entire

[00:57:40] playbook is because he's confident that 99% of the people that read it won't do the

[00:57:46] work.

[00:57:46] Come at me.

[00:57:48] Seriously.

[00:57:48] Come at me.

[00:57:49] I put the entire book out there.

[00:57:51] You want to generate a billion dollars using LinkedIn with social selling and AI.

[00:57:55] There's the playbook.

[00:57:56] Go to it.

[00:57:57] Come beat me.

[00:57:59] But most, and you're, and you would welcome people and you'd love for people to be successful.

[00:58:05] It's good for sales.

[00:58:06] If people would do these things, it's good for sales.

[00:58:09] It's good for customers because at the heart of this process is the customer.

[00:58:12] It's all about adding value for them, actually earning the right to be the trusted advisor.

[00:58:18] I mean, whatever happened, really earning a good quality relationship and staying with

[00:58:23] them wherever they went and to different organizations and sending each other Christmas cards.

[00:58:29] And I just, I think that's the key is we got to get back to, we got to get back to basics

[00:58:33] like never before.

[00:58:35] And you know what I look at?

[00:58:37] I go with the three Ws.

[00:58:38] It has to be the win, win, win.

[00:58:41] Customer wins, you win and your vendor, whoever you were, wins.

[00:58:45] Because at the end of the day, it's all about the customers.

[00:58:47] That's it.

[00:58:48] Three dollars.

[00:58:49] Jennifer, good to see you on.

[00:58:50] Jennifer liked your comment, Brandon.

[00:58:53] Hey, Jennifer.

[00:58:54] Thank you.

[00:58:55] Yeah.

[00:58:55] And I think, and let me, I want to finish that though, because Carson, you set it up

[00:58:58] and I just want to expand upon it a little bit.

[00:59:01] I think going into 2025, like we had Amy, Amy Franco last week as our guest in her book

[00:59:07] on the modern seller.

[00:59:08] She talks about sell modern sellers are entrepreneurial and Carson, to your point, they're going to

[00:59:15] figure shit out.

[00:59:16] They're going to figure out a way to be successful.

[00:59:19] And they may, and now they've got tools with AI to do things a lot faster.

[00:59:23] Like Carson, I, you know, you just said that you could do your research in a matter of seconds.

[00:59:28] Like we've just built a GPT that allows our sales team to do research on companies in seconds

[00:59:35] where it used to take them.

[00:59:37] We, we carved out, do the 10 to 15 minutes or 12 minutes to actually do the research,

[00:59:42] to know what the heck you're talking about.

[00:59:44] Don't reach out and go, well, what do you guys do?

[00:59:48] But now the, the GPT does it for them in seconds.

[00:59:51] So that, that modern seller is going to be entrepreneurial.

[00:59:54] They're going to figure things out.

[00:59:56] They're going to have to try things.

[00:59:57] They're going to test things.

[00:59:58] I think the, the time of the SDRs, here's your script, do these things, go repeat it

[01:00:05] 50,000 times in a day.

[01:00:07] I think that's dead because that, that one size fits all is just not working.

[01:00:14] And to Nabil's point with everything, LinkedIn is just a tool, but the actions that you do

[01:00:21] in the tool are about being social.

[01:00:24] And I don't mean social media, but just being social, being talkative, being communicative,

[01:00:30] listening to what other people are sharing and saying and commenting, adding your own

[01:00:36] spin into the conversation with your own words and being seen.

[01:00:42] And Nabil, you said it earlier, the, I feel like I already know you.

[01:00:45] I see you all over the place when they know your name, but they know your company name,

[01:00:51] or they're familiar with you.

[01:00:52] If your email ends up in their inbox, you know what people are looking at now?

[01:00:57] They're looking at names like the human filter.

[01:00:59] We got to go through, we get so much emails.

[01:01:01] The first thing we're going to do is come through and go, any name in here that I don't

[01:01:06] know is someone I don't know, which means they're sending me an email that I didn't ask

[01:01:10] for, click, click, click, click, click, delete.

[01:01:14] And now start.

[01:01:16] Now, I was going to add something to what Carson said, and you spoke about as well.

[01:01:20] Carson, you said about pick up the phone and call, but you know, to do that, it's actually,

[01:01:26] I believe in it now it's back.

[01:01:27] But you got to build up that whole LinkedIn and email because then you have all the information,

[01:01:35] the direct dial, and people know who you are.

[01:01:38] So when you dial, it's much easier because you're already part of that social setting.

[01:01:43] Your name is out there.

[01:01:44] They know who they're talking to.

[01:01:46] They know, you know, so just pick up that phone and talk now, like dial that number because

[01:01:51] you already built, did all the hard work before like, you know, promoting yourself on LinkedIn,

[01:01:57] be out there.

[01:01:58] People know who you are.

[01:01:59] You get that phone number, pick up that phone, call that customer, go after them now because

[01:02:06] you had the ground, you know, built for you.

[01:02:09] Like you have everything built out for you and the AI is already doing all that.

[01:02:13] We have all that information.

[01:02:15] So now it's kind of funny.

[01:02:17] We're back to old school, not the cold calling, but this time it's, I call it more of the warm

[01:02:22] call because you are already known through the social world, which they know if they check

[01:02:29] you, when you pick up and call the phone, they feel like they know you.

[01:02:32] They know who they're talking to.

[01:02:34] That's why I said, sellers, don't get lazy.

[01:02:38] Start promoting yourself.

[01:02:39] People are searching you on social media.

[01:02:42] Go at it.

[01:02:43] Get on LinkedIn now, not tomorrow.

[01:02:46] Tomorrow, today, start posting about what you're doing.

[01:02:51] Make sure people know who you are.

[01:02:54] So that's my message to the sellers.

[01:02:57] That's a great day for us to end.

[01:03:00] Nabil.

[01:03:01] Nabil.

[01:03:03] No, go ahead.

[01:03:03] Sorry, Brandon.

[01:03:05] No, go ahead.

[01:03:06] You got it.

[01:03:06] You wrap this up.

[01:03:07] No, I was just going to say if people wanted to connect with Nabil, it's pretty obvious,

[01:03:12] right?

[01:03:12] Find you on LinkedIn.

[01:03:14] So.

[01:03:14] That's what I did.

[01:03:16] Way to go.

[01:03:18] And thank you.

[01:03:19] I mean, this is one of those we have to listen to a couple times.

[01:03:21] I think there was a lot we covered.

[01:03:24] Brandon, sorry, you were going to say something, but I didn't want to cut you off.

[01:03:26] No, no.

[01:03:27] I was going to do what you just did.

[01:03:28] I was going to ask Nabil to tell everybody where to find him.

[01:03:32] Give us the URL for FSI strategies if someone's out there and needs your Microsoft expertise.

[01:03:38] Look, if somebody is looking for me, it's very easy.

[01:03:42] It's Nabil.

[01:03:43] And then the last name, I'm still learning the alphabet.

[01:03:45] It's all of it.

[01:03:46] So it's too much.

[01:03:47] iTunes or whatever.

[01:03:48] People, they always mess it up.

[01:03:50] So Nabil, iTunes.

[01:03:50] But you can find me on LinkedIn.

[01:03:53] You put Nabil and put Microsoft and they'll be there.

[01:03:57] Okay.

[01:03:58] So, but thank you.

[01:03:59] I just want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.

[01:04:02] Guys, I'm blessed.

[01:04:05] Thank you so much for having me.

[01:04:06] And I look forward to doing more with you about talking about this.

[01:04:11] Because like, again, like I said, LinkedIn, social selling is the way to go.

[01:04:16] If you did not buy Carson's book, go check my LinkedIn.

[01:04:21] It's going to be there.

[01:04:23] Brandon, keep going at it, man.

[01:04:25] Fist bump.

[01:04:26] I don't even have it.

[01:04:27] I left it at home when I'm nervous.

[01:04:29] Here we go.

[01:04:30] That's what I want to say.

[01:04:31] Tom, thank you so much for keeping us in line.

[01:04:34] I don't know how good you did because they can't shut up.

[01:04:37] Like you can tell, but maybe next time.

[01:04:40] Thank you guys so much.

[01:04:41] Thanks for having me.

[01:04:42] Happy Thanksgiving.

[01:04:43] Carson, wrap us up.

[01:04:44] Happy Thanksgiving, guys.

[01:04:45] Happy Thanksgiving.

[01:04:46] Very thankful for you guys and for the audience.

[01:04:48] And until next week.

[01:04:49] Thank you.

[01:04:49] Same thing.

[01:04:50] Happy Modern Selling.

[01:04:52] Thank you.

[01:04:58] Thank you for joining us today on Mastering Modern Selling.

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