In this episode, host Melinda Lee welcomes Ernie Bray, a dynamic entrepreneur and CEO of AutoClaims Direct (ACD), to discuss Ernie's personal communication journey to overcome stage fright and the critical role of communication in driving sales. Ernie shares his insights on how leaders can cultivate effective communication within their teams, the importance of adaptability in sales, and why every employee, not just the sales team, plays a vital role in representing the company.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

Aligning Your Team Through a Cohesive Message

Sales isn’t just for the sales team. Ernie discusses how involving employees in content creation, social media videos, and customer interactions strengthens brand consistency and communication across the entire company.

Preparation and Practice are Non-Negotiable

Success in sales doesn’t come from winging it. Ernie explains how structured role-playing and handling objections in advance help teams deliver a clear and confident message.

Leadership That Inspires Action

Great leaders don’t delegate and disappear, they lead by example. Ernie reveals how active involvement in sales and communication fosters motivation, alignment, and company-wide advocacy.

Adapting to a Changing Business Landscape

What worked last year might not work today. It's tough, but it's something every company that's been around for a while knows. Ernie talks about why being able to adapt and keep learning is key to staying ahead in a market that's changing quickly.

Memorable Quotes:

"As a business owner, you have to be the best salesperson in your company. That doesn't mean doing all the pitches, but it does mean being the champion of your message." 

“Every interaction with a customer is a chance to communicate, and the better you are at it, the more you elevate your company.”

“You don’t know it all, there’s always something new to learn about communication and leadership.”

Connect with Ernie Bray

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erniebray/ 

About the Guest: 

Ernie Bray is a dynamic entrepreneur, CEO, and business strategist known for his high-energy leadership and innovative approach to sales, marketing, and business growth. As the CEO of AutoClaims Direct (ACD), he has led the company to be recognized six times on the Inc. 5000 list and three times on Entrepreneur Magazine’s "Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America."

Fun-facts:

• Ernie has competed in over 35 endurance races, including half-Ironman triathlons, marathons, and open ocean swims.
• He can still sink NBA-range three-pointers like a pro.
• He has also been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, TechCrunch, HuffPost, and more.

About Melinda:

Melinda Lee is a Presentation Skills Expert, Speaking Coach, and nationally renowned Motivational Speaker. She holds an M.A. in Organizational Psychology, is an Insights Practitioner, and is a Certified Professional in Talent Development as well as Certified in Conflict Resolution. For over a decade, Melinda has researched and studied the state of “flow” and used it as a proven technique to help corporate leaders and business owners amplify their voices, access flow, and present their mission in a more powerful way to achieve results.

She has been the TEDx Berkeley Speaker Coach and has worked with hundreds of executives and teams from Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Caltrans, Bay Area Rapid Transit System, and more. Currently, she lives in San Francisco, California, and is breaking the ancestral lineage of silence.

Website: https://speakinflow.com/

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/speakinflow

Instagram: https://instagram.com/speakinflow

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpowerall

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Welcome, dear listeners, to the speak and flow podcast, where we dive into unique strategies to help you and your team unlock the power of their voice achieve maximum potential and flow.

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Melinda Lee: Today I have a master entrepreneur.

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Melinda Lee: fabulous communicator, Ernie Bray. He has been an entrepreneur and owner of autos claim direct for over 22 years. He's going to share with us the secrets to pitching your company and having better presentation skills. Welcome, Ernie.

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Ernie Bray: Hey? Thanks for having me on.

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Melinda Lee: I'm so glad this is exciting. I love your passion, and so can you share with the audience what you are passionate about when it comes to autos, claims direct.

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Ernie Bray: All right. Well, I started the company 22 years ago, and we actually service the insurance industry for auto claims processing. Now for a lot of you out there. That's boring, hey? Insurance claims. But what we did is started a company that helps use technology and service providers connected it all to create a smooth, streamlined technology solution for insurance companies. So

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Ernie Bray: we do that. So it's not something exciting for people. But I get passionate about business itself and the things behind it. So, but it's been over for 22 years. We've been building it to a very successful company.

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Melinda Lee: I again I mean your your energy and your passion exudes from out of you, and I still really appreciate that, and so tell me how? What was your journey like to cause? Now you have a podcast what was your journey like with regard to sharing what you do, and communication.

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Ernie Bray: Well, talking about speaking of flow, you're about all communications. I know that. And I think for the audience out there I'll kind of take you on a short, quick journey of the communication aspect. See, I was a basketball player when I grew up, and I was playing in front of thousands of people and crowds, and I used to get nervous doing that. But I could play the game. I played the sport, and I really wouldn't get that nervous after a while.

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Ernie Bray: But when I got in front of people, even in school, I remember in high school, when I was speaking in front of a civics class. We had to get up and give a short speech about, you know, the Government, or something related to that.

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Ernie Bray: And I remember freezing up literally, I started my presentation. I got up there looking at everybody in the crowd, you know, 30 students in a classroom. I started to speak, and then I just sort of got my voice started to tail away, and I was like, Oh, no. And then I just kind of like couldn't remember what I was gonna say, and then I just sort of ended up having to just go back to my desk and sit down. And

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Ernie Bray: at that time it felt like a horrible failure. But I have to remember at that time every student in class. They're probably feeling the same way they're looking, hey? I'm next. I'm thinking about what I'm going to say, but that for me was kind of a sort of an inflection point, saying, You know, I need to get better at speaking, but then I went off to college and then

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Ernie Bray: didn't really have to really learn how to speak in front of groups, because I was doing a job as an adjuster dealing with people face to face. But when I started the company started to build, you know autoclaims direct.

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Ernie Bray: You have to pitch your product. You have to get in front of, you know, customers you have to be able to effectively communicate. And that's where I really started to hone my skills. And

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Ernie Bray: what's really funny right now is, my son is taking an English class right now, and he has to do a poem, you know, reciting poems in front of the class, and I can tell he's nervous about that. And I'm telling him

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Ernie Bray: this is so so important in life, so important, because if you can hone those skills now, that will make you a better effective communicator when you're going out and trying to get a job. And so it's fun to sort of see him. I've given some advice on how to practice.

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Ernie Bray: So, going back to what I was saying.

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Melinda Lee: What are you giving him? I'm curious.

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Ernie Bray: I'm telling him to set up. Every kid has a cell phone, set up your cell phone, record yourself, record yourself talking and trying to practice what you're gonna do and have an open mind. See the mistakes you make. Try it again, because a lot of times the biggest challenge is being filmed in front of people. And so if you can take away some of that fear

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Ernie Bray: at that level, you can break through it. So I think I'm a big believer in practice. You have to practice, and and it's nothing to be ashamed about. Nobody's gonna be unless you're just naturally great at it is gonna go out and be able to speak in front of people, you have to practice those skills.

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Ernie Bray: So when we, when we got our company going.

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Ernie Bray: And I had to learn how to really pitch in front of people. What I did is I started to take our pitch and our main core focus and actually practice with the camera set up. I would even start to do videos at a time before people really were publishing a lot of videos out there, and I was using it sort of as a marketing tool. So I would, you know.

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Ernie Bray: take time filming over and over and over till I got it just right. And then we would put those videos out there which is kind

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Ernie Bray: made a name for ourselves.

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Melinda Lee: Not. Did you remember what was like to watch your videos? Yeah.

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Ernie Bray: It was horrible. I didn't like the way I looked. I didn't like the way I was saying things, because I think

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Ernie Bray: in general a lot of us are hypercritical of the way we communicate overly. So.

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Melinda Lee: Right. What did you think to yourself? What part of you you do not like? You're a good looking guy, you know what like, what was your criticism in your mind?

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Ernie Bray: Well, I have a tendency to speak fast now. I.

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Melinda Lee: But.

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Ernie Bray: Yeah, I speak too fast, and I can get going pretty quickly.

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Ernie Bray: But one of the things I'll tell you this right now is that if you bring energy and enthusiasm to what you do a lot of times, the mistakes that you think you make really are overlooked, and they're really not that important.

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Melinda Lee: Did you always have so much energy.

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Ernie Bray: Oh, yeah.

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Melinda Lee: You just like you just come out like I'm I'm here ready to go.

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Ernie Bray: Yeah, because because you know what I'm a believer. If you're out there when you're selling your product or service, if you're not passionate about it, and you don't truly believe in it. It shows through. It shows through to the customers, the vendors, whoever you are, out there, and whatever industry you're in. If you're not really all in on this, people can tell. And that's really important. When it comes to pitching your product.

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Melinda Lee: Yeah, and you and you've had people pitch to you. And what was that like.

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Ernie Bray: Well, when people pitch to me, I try to. I judge about what their

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Ernie Bray: enthusiasm is. If they're if they're dull

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Ernie Bray: and they're not bringing that energy. It makes me wonder. What value are they going to bring to my company, you know, and I think it really for us when it comes to the sales and business development side

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Ernie Bray: being able to really hone in on what we do as a company, and what we do with passion is important. So that's really something we try to instill in the business development side of our business.

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Melinda Lee: How did you do that.

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Ernie Bray: Well.

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Melinda Lee: Yeah, to hone in on what you do. Well.

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Ernie Bray: Well, I think you can. Any business one of the biggest challenges out there is overcoming obscurity. There's so much noise out there these days. I mean, you have so much competition. You have so many videos out. I mean, videos are everywhere. Everybody's on Tiktok, or whatever Youtube

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Ernie Bray: you have to compete with the noise. But in the business, to business, world or business to consumer, you got to stand out, and you have to be able to effectively get the. You know, information about what your company does to that potential buyer. In a way they know what you do. And one of the things, I think was a challenge for us

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Ernie Bray: is when we have people on our team, or people who are doing sales.

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Ernie Bray: If they're not effectively communicating the way we want to. Then it hurts your bottom line. It hurts your bottom line because your potential customers really don't understand what you're doing.

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Melinda Lee: and you've had people come to you. And they're not, prepared, first, st they're, not enthusiastic, they might be, afraid they might be nervous. Oh, my gosh! This is my moment! And then they enthusiasm, and then they might. They're not as prepared, and then they they lose the opportunity.

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Ernie Bray: Yeah. And I can tell you, some of the ways I've found is a lot of times salespeople or business development executives. They may come into a company.

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Ernie Bray: Okay? And they have been doing sales for 2030 years, and they think that they know what they're doing. And they come in, hey? You know what I know that I have relationships. I've been doing this for a long time. I don't need to practice. I don't need to do a pitch, you know. You give them a deck, you know. And you say, Okay, this is how we pitch our product. You know, I got the relationships. They never really sit down with the client and effectively pitch the product. Yeah, they may have a relationship, or they may have that. And that's super important

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Ernie Bray: in business. It's very important. Don't get me wrong. But a lot of times I found out over the years I would be at a conference, for example, and I would meet somebody that would be potential clients, and they would have. They have been in contact with our team. And I would be talking. And they would say, Wait a minute. I didn't know your company did all these different things. I thought you did only this one thing.

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Ernie Bray: and I'd be oh, no, no, no. We do all this like, Oh, yeah. Well, you know. So and so didn't tell. Didn't tell me about this. And they're like, okay. And it got me thinking, you know. Well, we're losing out on opportunity because we're not effectively getting the message out.

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Melinda Lee: Right? Right? So how do you do? How do you help your team? Prepare, then.

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Ernie Bray: Well, I'm a big believer that as a business owner

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Ernie Bray: you have to be the best salesperson in your company. Now, that doesn't mean you're gonna be out there necessarily doing all the pitches. But you have to be able to have that energy and passion like, I said, and also be able to effectively be the champion of what you're doing. And so I like to get with my team.

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Ernie Bray: And we have a great presentation. But then we practice we role play, and you talk about what are some of the objections? What are some of the things a client may say, and the better and the better you prepare, and the more you practice. And you get that consistent message.

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Ernie Bray: That's what's gonna make you successful, because every salesperson is gonna have their own style. There's nothing wrong with that, but you work within their style

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Ernie Bray: to help them master the message.

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Melinda Lee: Right right. How many salespeople do you have.

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Ernie Bray: We have 2 right now.

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Melinda Lee: Okay? And then how and do they like to do it? Are they in.

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Ernie Bray: Yeah.

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Melinda Lee: Enjoy it.

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Ernie Bray: Yeah. And I think they they feed off of my passion on this, too. And I'm very involved in in the sales process where I'm always. We're always doing check-ins monthly. Well, we have weekly meetings, but we're always all connecting to make sure that we're all on the same page.

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Ernie Bray: I agree, and being effective.

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Melinda Lee: Right? Right? Especially with so much going on. There's a lot of changes. So it's yeah, being on the same page with the cohesive message

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Melinda Lee: and hit.

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Ernie Bray: Yeah, definitely.

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Melinda Lee: And cause you're evolving, too. Your company's evolving.

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Ernie Bray: Yeah.

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Melinda Lee: New demands.

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Ernie Bray: You know, the one thing I can always say is, you always have to remember that what may have worked.

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Melinda Lee: Right.

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Ernie Bray: You know, a year ago.

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Ernie Bray: 3 years ago, may not be the same way that works now, so you have to always be adaptable as well. You have to be adaptable, and always try to keep learning from other people out there, because you never know it all.

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Melinda Lee: Yeah. And so how do you stay? How do you keep your teams aligned like in addition to beside, just the meetings? Are there other ways.

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Ernie Bray: Well, we manage everything through our through a Crm tool. What's going on? So we're always putting in our content.

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Ernie Bray: One of the things, I think, is important. That we do with our teams is we involve them in the process of building content for our company. We have them shoot videos, and one of the things beyond just pitching the product, you know, face to face. We have them shooting videos that we put out on Youtube. We put on an instagram we put out to our customers. And so they're able to hone their skills and putting individual videos out themselves.

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Melinda Lee: Oh, I love that. I love that. Yeah. Cause then they take ownership that they're able to speak about it and then put it on. Yeah, and then they can post whenever they have the moment to.

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Ernie Bray: Exactly. And also one thing we do in our company is we involve our employees. Now, we don't say you have to do this, but we actually tell our staff, hey, if any of you want to shoot a video and you want to get out there and talk about your job and how you help customers volunteer. And we have people that volunteer and we have.

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Ernie Bray: We help guide them through the communication process. And we practice and role play. So they get to actually, maybe do a 45 second to a minute video talking about how they help customers. So it really helps get the employees in the company involved

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Ernie Bray: in the communication process, because you could have a sales team doing it all day long. But who are the people in your business that are on the front lines that

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Ernie Bray: are actually the face of the company.

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Melinda Lee: Right, right, exactly. And me and there's there's so much opportunity for them to talk to other people, just their friends, their family, their community.

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Ernie Bray: You know what you're right. And when our employees talk and they get out there and they do these videos, it's so funny that the people they deal with on a day-to-day basis often say, Hey, I saw your video, and I think it creates a better bond with your customers, because the people who are working on a day-to-day basis are actually connecting on that aspect.

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Melinda Lee: Right? Right? I love it. I love it. I mean, I love how you're using communication, pitching as a strategy for your company

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Melinda Lee: everywhere, from like you mentioned having the passion like you do right? You're modeling with the passion and leading with that, and then, therefore, helping your teams also be prepared. I heard that, like being prepared, knowing your audience, knowing who you're talking to, having the right information before speaking, and then finally practicing.

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Melinda Lee: and then allowing your whole team not just the salespeople to practice shoot videos, do the pitching go, do presentations meet with people and then building the whole ecosystem around

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Melinda Lee: your company, and the way you pitch your company. Not just right. Yes, you're going to be the best salesperson, but you want to have your whole team

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Melinda Lee: and your whole company in alignment.

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Ernie Bray: Yeah, I totally. And I think as a leader of a company, you you can. Some people may just say I'm going to delegate that out to a sales team, and I just want to step away. But I mean, sure some people may be successful in that. But, like I said, I'm the believer that you have to be, you know, rolling. Roll up your sleeves and get involved yourself as a leader, because people will take the leadership is where it starts, and if people feel inspired from the top, that's important.

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Melinda Lee: Yeah.

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Melinda Lee: especially because, like the company is moving, it's evolving, it's changing. And so you had to continually. They want you want them to continually evolve with you.

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Ernie Bray: Right. And it's lifting every employee up, too, to be part of the sales, because people have to remember everybody in some aspect is a salesperson in a advocate for the company. Everybody has a every interaction with the customer is a great chance to communicate, and the better you can improve those communication skills.

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Ernie Bray: It all elevates the company.

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Melinda Lee: Yeah, love that.

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Melinda Lee: And, Ernie, what I can. I ask you the the last question I asked all my guests, what is that? One leadership, golden takeaway that you want the audience to remember.

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Ernie Bray: And it, okay, well, it's it's really so simple. Kind of goes back to what I've said before is as a leader.

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Ernie Bray: You have to be able to remember. You don't know it all, and I say this to any salesperson, any employee

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Ernie Bray: you can say, oh, I think I'm great at this you can always learn something, even some little nugget, something that you can do to make yourself a better speaker. Better communicator. And I'll tell you this, my takeaway is this, if you want to excel in the business world these days, you gotta be a great communicator. You got to work on those skills that's so important, very important. If you want to be successful. So.

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Melinda Lee: Love it, and you obviously have your great communicator. I love your passion and enthusiasm. Thank you so much for sharing that with our audience today, Ernie.

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Ernie Bray: Well, thanks, it's been great being on.

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Melinda Lee: It was really great. Thank you so much, and thank you. Audience, for being on board and listening, and until next time I see you remember anytime you have a chance to communicate, you have a chance to connect and also make an impact.

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Melinda Lee: Much love. See you next time, take care.