Get FREE Sales Leadership Resources at go.transformedsales.com/pod

In this episode of the Science of Selling STEM, I spoke to Tom Slocum, the Program Director at RevGenius, a community for those in revenue-generating sales and marketing roles. Tom is also the Co-Founder of RevLeague, an exclusive community within RevGenius that helps SDRs and AEs become proficient at their jobs and blow past goals to outperform their peers. He is a sales leader with over a decade of sales experience. He finds his passion in helping startups scale their go-to-market teams and enabling sales reps to be more human in their outreach. 

Tom has had an incredible sales career that has evolved multiple times between operating within diverse industries (Including being a car salesman). He will be sharing the valuable takeaways that enabled him to grow into a sales leader and now an incredible sales coach. He will also teach us how to master the science of sales so we can consistently hit quota and succeed in sales regardless of the role or industry we are in. Stay tuned for that and so much more. And if you ever need help with a sales or leadership issue, don't hesitate to book a complimentary clarity session with me HERE.

On Today’s Episode of the Science of Selling STEM:

• Being a car salesperson and the crazy ups and downs of building his extensive sales career (01:39)
• Why there is a science to sales and why every salesperson should master their sales success formula (06:10)
• Sales Leadership 101 - How a sales leader can coach their team to find their individual strengths and the sales formula that works for them (10:53)
• Transitioning from sales in a business and consumer space to a corporate B2B space (12:24)
• Breaking down how sales works in the SaaS industry (14:42)
• Leaving the 9 to 5 to become a coach and build a community around helping people with sales development (18:20)
• Differences between being a sales leader and being a sales coach (21:03)
• The power of the third party outside opinion in accelerating a salesperson’s growth (22:53)
• How companies are increasingly investing in the development of their salespeople (24:04)
• The fulfillment he gets from helping people level up (27:03)

Connect with Wesleyne Greer:

• Wesleyne’s Website
• Wesleyne on LinkedIn
• Wesleyne on Facebook
• Wesleyne on Twitter
• Email Her at wesleyne@transformedsales.com

Connect with Tom Slocum:

• Tom on Linkedin
• Find Tom at RevGenius

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Thanks for tuning into The Science of Selling STEM! If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn even more about what it takes to transform your sales, don’t forget to tune into our other episodes and share your favorite episodes on social media!

Join The Science of Selling STEM community on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and visit my website for even more content, information, and resources.

As a sales manager, you are judged by the

performance of your team, and you're praised when they do

well. But one thing that you've not been able to figure out is

how to get everyone on your team consistently hitting quota every

single month. On the Snack size sales podcast, we discuss the

science of selling stem sales leadership in the science,

technology, engineering and manufacturing fields is

difficult. You will learn from sales managers just like you

that will give you actionable insights and tips on how to

develop as a leader and achieve your revenue targets every

single month. So pop your headphones in and get ready to

listen to my guest today. They will give you information and

inspiration to ensure that you have actionable insights that

you can put into place today. Hello, and welcome to another

episode of the science of selling stem today. I am so

excited that I have Tom Slocum here with me. How are you Tom?

I'm doing good. Wesleyne How are you? Hi, I'm doing awesome. Let

me tell you guys a little bit about Tom. He is a sales leader

with over a decade of sales experience. He finds his passion

in helping startups scale their go to market teams and enabling

sales reps to be more human in their outreach. He is currently

the community manager of Rev genius, which is where b2b

communities come to scale. So how did you start 10 years ago

in sales, and now you have this amazing community? What was your

journey? Oh, that's a good one. You know, it's not linear. It's

always crazy and out of the ways. You know, I started early

on when I was 1718 years old, I had the opportunity to get an

outbound cold calling for Discover card. My stepmother was

working there for about over 15 years, got into it started doing

balance transfers, and got into calling people up, right you got

credit cards, move your balances from there, kind of dove into

car sales, I went into car sales. So I started selling cars

for a couple years, one and two real estate and just kind of

bounced around in his sales atmosphere until about 2010,

where I kind of jumped into the corporate kind of Phil's world

of real cold calling all the terminology by getting into for

profit education. So I worked for a company called Argosy and

was an admissions counselor found the first time ever kind

of using an auto dialer, just having conversations with people

that filled out like contact us forms, when they were trying to

go through to get to like the stuff they were looking for, you

want to learn more about college, and we would call them

find the real ones, you know, the diamonds in the rough.

And so I did that for a couple years and then

moved into yo GoDaddy and kind of progressed through the sales

world to where now I got into building and scaling self

development teams back in 2017. I found self development my

niche that top of funnel prospecting, getting into that

beginning top of funnel focus. That's what I started doing for

the last five years. And now I've had the privilege to build

a community and coach from the side and help SDRs you know,

with their messaging with the way they're doing things, and

now I run a community and doing so. So it's just been a fun

ride. I've done a lot. I've worked all over learning from

different places. And yeah, it's been a great journey. But here I

am, you know, calling everything under the sun. And I love cold

calling. It's a good time for me. So question for you. Because

so often when people talk about sales, or I talk about sales, we

compare it to being I'm not a used car, salesperson, I'm not

as car salesperson, so you actually work our salesperson.

So tell us how that actually helped you to do what you're

doing today. It was really such a good foundation for me,

because you know, you had to grind the phones, you had to

call people you had to learn follow up my very first time,

you know, they teach you to work within your network. So I

already started tapping into my friends that were graduating

high school, their parents were looking for cars, all of my

junior class friends that were still there. So I started

calling them and saying, hey, I can help you out. You know, let

me give you a deal. And so it just really taught me about

boots on the ground, the hustle of the game, it really helped me

understand that there is a science to sales. It's not

always an art, there is science to what we do. And and there's

ways to word choice. There's waves of the athlete and

questions. And my biggest takeaway I learned in sales is

something that's very hard at cold calling, is I had a

tangible I had a car, okay, I have the ability to put you in a

car, take you for a test drive, let you see and test the product

while I'm pitching you in discussing with you. You can't

do that in a cold call. Right? You're pitching just with words.

There is no we're not getting to do this face to face. It's all

words. So what I learned how to do from selling cars is create

the car for them. Get my buyer get my prospect and the idea of

they are in the car. What would it be like Wesleyne If you had

better podcasting tools talk me through that. What would you use

them for? Oh, I would do it and you start visually

think what it would look like to be in that vehicle or that new

solution, that now I'm able to kind of get you to use your own

words and be bought into it, that when you go home back to

your old products, you're like, Darn, Tom showed me this thing

today. And I tested it. And that was just so cool. I wish I had

it. Now you're coming back to me. And we're talking, because I

was able to put a thought to a visual to help you see, that was

my biggest takeaway from car selling is how to get that same

element. But on a cold call. Wow, you actually reminded me of

something because I started my career in capital equipment. So

I sold the tangible, right. And now I'm selling more like a

service. There's like some people call it a warm fuzzy when

you're selling training or consulting. And a lot of times,

what I do is I do think about that experience, right? It's

like, okay, when I sold the tangible I would demo it. And

during the demo, it's like, this is what you have to see, this is

what you have to do in order for them to check the box. And

that's the same thing that I do now in a service based business.

And you touched on something that made me get excited. You

said that there is science in sales? Yes, yes, yes. That's

what this is all about. So tell me, why do you say that? Why do

you say that there is a science to sales, because I'm all about

formulas, frameworks data, to empower an individual to find

where to succeed, there is an art, I agree there is an art to

what we do sometimes. And it is a creative market, that you've

got to be creative on the phone, you got to be creative in your

messaging, and there is a little bit of an art, but we can't deny

the fact that there is a secret to success, there is a formula,

there is a method to the madness and why you're seeing the

success that you're seeing. And too many people can't see it.

Sometimes you'll ask him what's helped you be so successful? I

don't know. It just kind of happens. No, it doesn't really

go inward and really understand the science to what you do.

There are repeatable steps that you take. There are repeatable

things that you do that lead to what you're seeing as success.

It's not just falling into your lap, it is those things. So when

I coach, when I train, I teach formulas, I don't want to create

repeat people, I'm teaching you a formula. And if you learn it

today, you're going to be able to take it to everywhere you go,

small plug, I have my cohort program going and a member said

that to me this morning, Tom, what I love about what you're

teaching me as these worksheets I'm going through, I might get

promoted in six months ago to a different company. But guess

what, I can go through these again. I said, Yes, you get it.

These are repeatable. I'm teaching you how to be

successful as an SDR across multiple companies not just a

place to work on too many people, they only get good at

where they're at. And if you put them in another position, they

fail. And they're like, why can I find the same success. And

it's like, because you just use frameworks and scripts and never

found out your method and your science to what you do to make

it repeatable. No matter where you go, salespeople should be

able to pick up anything and sell in your own way, Sell me

this pen, you should be able to do on a click of a dime. Because

that's just what you do. And you have a formula in your mind. And

there's a science to what you're going to do. There's going to be

some iterations and some levers you're going to pull, but you

know your core, and you know your science to it. I also

believe in data pulling the levers, I love metrics. I don't

lead with metrics. All right, Wesleyne. I'm not one of those.

I lead with people over metrics. But there is a science to it,

there is knowing what your numbers are, and making sure

that you're at least practicing those behaviors. A basketball

player knows, hey, my first five baskets are my warm up, I might

not hit all of them. But I need to get the motion, I need to get

going. I know that once my fifth shot comes from there, I can

start getting you know, I gotta warm up, I gotta get the legs

going. And so you need to know what those minimums are, you

know, if it takes you the last quarter 50 dials to get a

conversation, but you make 30 dials a day for a week. And

you're like what happened? I can tell you what happened. You

didn't hit your science, you didn't hit the math, if you hit

the map, now we can pull some levers and play with it. That's

my long winded answer to why I believe there's a science to

what you know, is behind the door of sales. I couldn't have

said it better myself. I am a chemist by trade. And so when

you say there's a formula, that's that was totally hard. I

was like, yes, there is a formula, there is a formula.

Right? There is a method to the madness. And you know, I

actually just had a very heated discussion today with the CFO at

a company because he was saying, well, this person didn't work

for this sale, so they shouldn't be paid commission on it. I said

no, I don't believe that just because they didn't send the

quote, does it mean that they didn't work for it, they had to

follow up. They had to call somebody, they had to send an

email, they had to do something in order for the company to cut

a PO right. And so I think there is so much a science to what we

do, especially in these very, very technical fields that we

use. And as leaders, what we should hope that we are doing is

imparting on our sales people, our eighth our sales reps, every

sales person that we touch, we want to give them a repeatable

formula where they can be excellent here and anywhere

else, right. That is the goal. That's the goal is is we can't

confine somebody to only be good at one place. We've got to

empower them to just That's why

done a lot. You heard my story. In the

beginning, I've worked everywhere. But I've never

failed for performance ever. And it was simply because I had a

repeatable process. And it took me a few years to figure it out.

I'm not saying it was easy. I was one of those people that I

don't know, I just do it, right. It's just me. But it took me

some time to understand that there is a science, there is a

formula, you have to dig in a little bit and understand your

subconscious is running on repeat and kind of going through

those formulas. You just don't get it. But once you sit down

and go through it, you're like, oh, yeah, I do always say that

one liner. Yeah, this is kind of what I do every day, or how I at

least mindset wise go into every call, okay? That's a formula

that is a science to what's making it happen. Because if you

remove that part of the formula, boom, that chemists lab is blown

up, right? You missed an ingredient. And now it's

splattered all over the wall, your mom's mad, the kitchens got

spaghetti everywhere. And you blew up the whole, you know,

volcano on the counter, because you got to have those formulas

and those repeatable things. And there's a science to it. And

then you coach to it. Now you tweak the formula, right? Like,

now we're in the lab, and we're going at it and we're saying,

Okay, let's sprinkle a little bit of this in there. Alright,

let's pull this one a little bit. Oh, look at that balance

there. Perfect. Right, there's your sweet spot, or oh, you know

what, humor isn't something you can do with me, let's just kind

of take that piece out, right, it's gonna cause an explosion,

or you know what I like where that tip was going. But I don't

think it works best for you, right? Let's try to make it a

little bit, a little bit more sprinkle of this and that and

kind of make it yours. Now try this. So it's just a matter, you

know, managing that learning your people that you work with,

they are your unit, they are your team, get to know them on

that level. Because that way, either they might not be able to

see it, but it's your job to coach them to it and find it and

say, Hey, from what I've seen, here's your strengths. Here's

where you are good at, here's where we need to, you know, mess

with the ingredients a little bit and kind of find a better

formula for you.

Absolutely. That is awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. My

magic little formula, which is not really magic is people post

process equals profit, simple. Get the right people on the bus,

give them a process. And the company will be profitable every

day, all the time. So you transition from being really in

a business to consumer space into the corporate b2b space. So

talk us through that transition, when you went into the corporate

space? Did you immediately start managing teams? Or did you start

as individual contributor.

So I started as an individual contributor, I was

about the third or fourth team member on there, I had Jeff made

the big jump, I got through the VP questioning on you know, hey,

you're SMB How you gonna kill it? And enterprise space, you

know, convinced me right? So I nailed that got in. And then I

showed up, right? I showed them that, hey, talking to an SMB

owner is the same as talking to a CEO, I look equal to you, I'm

not looking up. I'm not looking down. You're a person. I'm a

person. Let's have a conversation. It's and again, I

knew my formulas Wesleyne, right. Like, it didn't matter. I

knew give me anything. I know my formula. And I'm promise you,

I'll get you the results you're looking for. And so I did

mmediately took an ownership and building out the team, right,

moving up coaching, teaching others because I was getting

really fast wins. And I was very aggressive beta called minimum

of about $35 a day, I was doing 125 a day. And I was pushing and

I was team was mad at me very early on. They're like, Dude,

can you chill out like our minimum of 35, you're going over

here and never ever do at 50. You know, they're hanging back

bucket of wine every couple of days. And here I am. From an SMB

world where I had to book three meetings a day, I had to pitch

once a day, I had to close a deal a day, I knew how to hustle

because it was SMB. So unfortunately, it didn't click

for me to slow down or be like, oh, I need to take this

enterprise space a little different. I was out there, I

use my formula, and I was aggressive. So I got that

leadership role. And I started building out the team, we ended

up getting to 30 reps in three years and you know, closed over

15 million and did a really good job with the team and put us in

a position to win. But it was hard at first enterprise with

different I had to adapt to multithreading, I had to find a

science behind the math, lean on the customer success team lean

on the account executives understand and I take my formula

and apply it now to this space, using those same functions and

finding a formula that would work.

So one thing I kind of want to pause just

because it seems like you're pretty good at breaking things

down and explaining I have a very wide range of listeners. So

not everyone is from this tech space that understands what an

SDR or an AE or customer success is. So walk us through in

typical SaaS company, which is software as a service. I tried

to not do acronym software as a service. How does that work? You

mentioned STR top of the funnel. You mentioned ae you mentioned

customer success. How does that work?

Oh, this is a fun space. SAS right is a really

great industry. It's booming. Everybody's transitioning into

it. We have an influx of rules everybody. It's a wild west out

here to anarchy and a world of SaaS, but it's basically a

service a product that is a service that helps somebody

along in their market. Right. So it could be lead data, were a

service that provides lead enrichment for you that if you

have Wesley, I can enrich that and give you her phone number,

her mobile number, her email, I could tell you a little bit more

information about her. So that's a service they sell to help

their sales development rep that top of funnel folk who's doing

the outreach, be empowered with word formation, right? Simple

SAS product, but most of the companies are built where you

want to buy that product, you go on their website, you put in a

demo request, or you get luck of the draw. And an SDR calls you

an SDR is a sales development rep who is out there cold

calling and going to market pitching this service. So

instead of waiting on inbound, and the company waiting for

people to come to them, these people are out there bringing

awareness, having conversations, hearing objections, hearing

everything that the market is saying, and then bringing that

back to the team with the intent to book a meeting and bring

prospective buyers into the pipeline. Once they end there.

They book a meeting. So I called you Wesleyan, it's Tom, I'm

calling you know about this, you say yes to a meeting, let's say,

I'm now going to book that meeting and pass it to my

account executive. And the account executive is now going

to demo you have that discovery with you talk with you find your

pains guide you through their amazing product and service and

how great it is and not really talk to you. Right, they're

gonna talk at you. I'm just kidding. No shock that my 80s I

love y'all. But you know, they'll give you that rundown.

And then you're passed off to a customer success manager if you

do close, right. So you by now your hand it off, and you will

have an account manager like most people know it, your

customer success team, that's going to be there to guide you

in your journey with this company now. So that's kind of

the main SAS industry is you've got that SDR entry level role.

That's where you're coming in to kind of learn the market, learn

the buyer, be out there testing messaging, and working with

marketing. And then he is the closer they're eating, they're

helping the customers and then you've got customer success,

which is managing that account moving forward. And being that

resource for that that new client. So it's a crazy

industry, it's tech sales. It's awesome. You know, you're

providing great tools are starting I mean, a new software

is coming up by the day, it is insane. Now in 2022, how many

companies are coming up, you got the startup world, and then

you've got, you know, seed stages you got to look at and

what's an enterprise verse, another term is mid market,

small business, there's a lot, but it is a fun environment,

there's a lot of opportunity within it. But that's a little

bit of a five year old explanation of how that customer

journey would go in the SAS world.

I love it. I love it. And you know, I simply

put it, sales is not just sales, right. And so when we think

about having our sales seem if you're outside of the SAS world,

and you don't have those three distinct buckets, I always say

sales is broken into three things you have the prospect and

nurture and the close. And that's literally what you just

went through and talking about how ser prospects, the A is

nurturing, and then the customer successes, once they close,

making sure that everything is going well. So as you stepped

into leading this team, you were number three on the team, you

grew it to be 30 people $15 million. Why did you decide

that, hey, I really enjoy what I'm doing. But this isn't what

my final purpose is, this is what I want to do for the rest

of my life.

You know, the universe wouldn't leave me

alone, you never realize how often that things around, you

keep pushing you back to the direction you need to go, you

know, I was running these teams, I was having a time of my life.

And then COVID happened. And, you know, I got empowered to

realize my worth my value, what I couldn't really do in my

career, because I was in this little silo of my own kind of

here in the states in Arizona, doing my thing, killing it with

these companies. And I stepped out in front of building a

social brand on LinkedIn. And I started getting around other

like minded individuals that were like, Yo, what are you

doing, like you should be over here doing this kind of stuff.

And I was like, Really, and I kind of got unlocked with my

potential. And I started just helping people one off talking

with them. And then it kind of just stumbled on, you're really

good coach, you're really good at applying these things and

helping them now here I am running a community with it.

Right. I jumped into REM genius a year and a half ago, July of

2020. And I built a channel within there for SDRs. So like

we mentioned in the beginning, right rev genius is a Slack

community where companies come to scale, b2b companies come to

scale. We've got marketing, rev off all those roles you've

talked about right? And people get to come in there and

collaborate in a big environment. Well, I started

handling the self development side because that was my role. I

wanted to stay there with the peeps I was in four walls. I was

like, Hey, can I hang with the homies? So I hung out with the

SDRs right? And then it got bigger and more people kept

coming and we started collaborating a lot more. And

next thing you know, I was building out this mini micro

community and now it's a paid program and it's like yo just do

this full time. And I was like oh my god, I love this. And so

it kind of stumbled for me. I finished my junction with

milestone I got them in a position to win with my team. We

work together they were in a good place. And I said you know

I'm out, I'm going to quit the nine to five, I'm going to try

this. You know, it's scary. But I had a network, I had friends

and I didn't feel I was doing it alone. And so I took the dive.

And now I'm all in with Rev genius building this amazing

community and coaching, you know, self development from the

side, never would have thought this was the end destination. I

was trying to go VP of sales continue that journey, right.

The startups I was at, I was kind of in those roles. And I

was like, you know, I want to keep going up. I was a sales guy

at heart. People say they didn't grow up to be in sales. But But

Tom Slocum did, I love those movies. I love the suit. I love

the business. You know, I loved all of that. But that's what I

wanted to do. So it's a little bit different, but I'm loving

every minute of it, it's been good to just feel like I'm

making an impact and helping people get better at the job day

by day.

The impact of coaching, it is so so important.

And you've been on the inside as well as on the outside, how is

it different, actually being that manager working with those

reps day in and day out, versus being on the sideline kind of

being their coach on the outside?

Gosh, a less stressful at the end of the day,

I get to be a little bit more free with them. Because I have

nothing invested. But genuine investment and care and helping

them succeed. I don't have a manager on top, I don't have

people that I'm answering to I just get to freely coach these

people on what actually is their problem right now, versus

actually owning my team, right, which I still love. I had a team

of 30 we had a team of seven, when I finished that milestone,

you know, we've been able to coach these teams, but you got

to worry about numbers, you got to worry about firing people

hiring people, the personal element of all of that, right

and understanding that. And you don't always get to be there for

the people like you'd like to be, there was days where I

couldn't be there for them. And it bugged me right because I

have fires to put out and things. But doing this now where

I'm not with the company tie, I am just there for the individual

and coaching them personally. And whatever that might be life

I've had some coaching calls where it's just shooting the

shit, we're just talking they needed to soundboard to where

some days were deep into lab. Alright, show me what you're

working on. Let's let's fix some things. And then they go out and

win. And I don't have to worry about the other parts of it. So

it's a big different walk of life, I feel that I have the

opportunity to spread my wings and fly be a lot freer and my

coaching and really be invested in individual versus, you know,

when I was doing it from a company level, and the politics

and all this stuff within the company side of stuff.

Yeah, one thing that I often hear from my

clients, as well as other coaches is that people really

like having that third party unbiased opinion. And it's like,

I know that you are telling me to do this, because it's gonna

help make me better, not because it's gonna help the company in

any way, which again, as a manager, that's what you have to

do. But when you take a step and invest in yourself, or your

company invest in you, to give you a third party outside

opinion, it just helps accelerate your growth,

it really does, because you're able to go all in

deep in it. And I don't have to worry about the goals and the

other stuff, I can just generally help this person win

and some capacity. So it's a fun ride, I have a lot of wins, it's

been great to just watch people come back a few days later. And

you know, say what you did help me and there's a lot of great

coaches out there, there's a lot of great opportunity out there.

And I've always believed in being you know, I hate to say

sports again, but you see the head coach on the side of the

court field. But then they have other eight coaches with them.

It's not just them, they have a wide receiver coach, they have a

running back coach, they have a defensive, I think we should all

be working together to help the individual and coach together. I

don't know everything, but I'll do my best to help you. And if I

don't, I'm going to plug you with other coaches that I have

within my community and niche down on you know, hey, at the

email, great, I got an email coach for you. Let's talk about

that somebody who's a subject matter expert that can really

coach you to that I can give you some high level, but let's get

you in the lab with the right person. So it's all about that

ecosystem and being able to just coach from the side.

So I'm curious, typically, SDRs are kind of like

the lowest person on the totem pole and not compensated that

highly. Are you typically getting companies sponsor these

SDRs? Or are they investing in themselves?

So it's a great question. So what we've been testing for a

couple months now, it looks like what we're seeing is the

companies, they're sponsoring the individuals, they want it,

they're digging it, they're really enjoying the extra

support on the side. You know, we're talking to startups, we're

talking to some really early on companies that are just

deploying their team, and they're trying to put out all

the other fires, their VP of sales, their marketing, they're

doing it all and unfortunately, the demand for film development

right now is so high. Most of the season people are plugged

in, they're good, they're at where they're at. So everything

that's coming in is new college graduates teachers transitioning

a lot of people transitioning in so I'm kind of finding this lane

where oh man I could take that risk bring that person in but

I've got this community and Tom kind of coaching from the side

to get them up to speed oh all day, like yes, I sponsor that

I'm gonna bring these people in, and then I'm gonna throw them in

your community and let's go right and let's get going.

Individuals are doing it as well, but it's just a little bit

lower $500 per year for the rep right now. And so not all of

them are like, Oh, I got 500 lying around, right, because

they're not getting the coaching and development they need.

They're not getting it. So and they're not getting paid company

whales. So we're kind of going on a company angle, they're

getting sponsored. We're using their training and learning

development budgets to come in and apply. And then we're

bringing them in that way. So it's been really great companies

are awesome. We've partnered with a few. And our programs,

even for seasoned vets, I have a lot of seasoned people, this

isn't a boot camp, this isn't just, you know, the novice, I've

got that die in for attention looking to level up in their

career, some of them are looking to go into AE other roles, and

they need that support. That's where my community is helping

them. We've had a career Learning Development Series

every Friday, I bring in people that used to be SDRs. That went

into other things, customer success, rev ops marketing, and

have them come for an AMA and ask me anything for one hour.

And they share their story. And we talk about it. And these

people can ask, how did you do this? How did you find what

skills worked for you? So they can start learning, you know,

what's next for them, because that's what they're dying for.

They want that next step not, I'm already thriving into

meetings booked and stuff, but I need more, I've got that for you

come in here. And let's help you. So my reps are getting new

jobs, they're moving on, they're finding opportunity. They're

getting progress. Progression is really what's happening within

the community. From day one on you're progressing

growth. And so I hope that all of the CEOs, VP of sales, ser

managers, you realize how important it is to invest in

your people, right? Like, if you invest in your people, my

LinkedIn banner actually says, Do you want to tap perform team

invest in your people, literally, that's what you have

to do. You can't just throw money at ads, or this or that,

like, you literally have to invest in your people. And so I

love that you have a space where people can come no matter if

it's their first day, or their 500th day doing this job, and

they can really learn from each other. You've given us so much,

but I want to see is there one thing within your career within

your journey that you are especially proud of,

oh, this, what I've been able to achieve here truly

has been the biggest one of my life is being able to finally

just invest in people. I love giving, I love helping, and I'm

passionate about being able to do this. Now, I never would have

thought I would be not in the corporate world on a paycheck

doing all this life. And, you know, worrying about where my

next job was gonna come from now I'm kind of building my own

little lane, within the community with the support of my

team at Red genius. And now here I am investing in people and

it's been a year and a half, I've impacted at least 200

people, like as a friend of something that's genuine and I

hang my hat on it in a prime story is one of my members,

Elliot Garcia, you know, shout out to him. He's kind of my

poster child. And he knows it. He's out there all the time

making a lot of noise. And he was a guy that a year ago joined

the community with me and was you know, working at a service

industry business, booking 3040 meetings a month, but like going

nowhere, it was a very really unknown company, very small

place when he was in the big leagues with all these people in

SAS, all these other SDRs crushing it. And he came in and

just started killing it learning, networking with the

members, you know, and in really saying Tom helped me like, How

can I level up and he leaned in, and a few months later, he three

exes who come and broke into SAS, and was able to kind of

position himself and now is showing others that that's

possible. And he's been my poster child since day one. And

he knows it. And I can't thank him enough. And he took on and

now he's given back. And now he coaches in the community. And

now he helps others any, you know, is always are hype man.

And so that's my biggest accomplishment is having

multiple of those stories, and the people that have helped at

the company that I've scaled. Now being here and doing it for

a living, I couldn't be more proud of it. And I love hanging

my hat on it.

Ah, Spoken like a true coach, the thing that

you're most proud of is a person that you've impacted a car that

you have given to, it's not that I've made millions of dollars,

I've closed so many deals, but I impacted this person's life. And

we all know that being in sales, a sales career can absolutely

change the trajectory of your life, right? Because the harder

you work, the more you make, the more you make, the more you can

do, right, whether it's your individual family, your extended

family, if you have family overseas, wherever that is you

are able to impact lives. And so you're doing that each and every

day.

You're 100%, right. It's you know, closing deals is

always still a thrill to me getting that yes, on a book

meeting. I still love every part of the sales aspect. And like

you said, I tell people all the time, I'm working with a teacher

right now transitioning into SAS, I'm working with him. He's

gonna try to break in in May, but he's already in my community

learning and evolving. So he's ready, right? And he personally

made that investment and so I'm helping him and he's a teacher.

And he's like, I could do the best work with these students.

And the teacher across the hall can do the worst job and we make

the same impact or same money. Right and It's just awful when I

watch everybody you know, and I'm like, Man in sales, you want

to work harder, you're gonna get compensated for being harder

there, it's uncapped, and they really mean that the company

will pay you if you win 100% You want more money? Great, bring me

more money, I got you. Like, let's, let's get you paid, but

like, let me win first, let me get my money. So you bring it

in, they're gonna take care of you. And that's why a lot of

people freak out about bass and comp. And that's a whole nother

combo, right? And we talk about it, but it's okay, what come it

means that it's uncapped, go out and hustle. And if you want to

make more money, that's how I lived my whole career. Me and my

family wanted to go on vacation. I planned it three months ahead,

I worked backwards on how much I needed to make. I did the

science West lead on where I needed to be. And I hit my

money. And then I made my trip, right. And I was like, Alright,

I got to book 10 more meetings for the next three months. And

if I do that, I don't break my bank. I'll just go make more

money. And then I would take that trip and go, right, you can

always plan you want to go buy a new couch, cool. Run your

numbers, what do you need to make go buy your new couch when

you can do that? So it's just a great industry, but it's about

impacting the people. That's where we're falling right now is

the people.

Yeah, that is awesome. Awesome. Awesome. This

has been an amazing conversation, Tom, I think we

could go on and on for hours. This has been so rich. And I

feel like you're a kindred spirit doing what I do for sales

managers really doing it at the grassroots level. Those people

who are stepping their toe into sales, like okay, I want to

transition I want to try I want to do and because of what you're

doing, you make sales manager's job easier. So keep doing the

good. That's it.

That's it. I'm here to help. That's all it is here

to help align and do anything I can to make, you know, help you

all out. That's it. We just got to get back to people. You got

stuff to work on. You can always answer that. But don't make it

an ego thing. Don't let your team suffer, invest in them. If

you can't do it, find them to help that can write and win for

them. Hey, I can't give you this much one on one time. But you

know what? Check out this community. Tell me what you

think I could drop you in there. And they'll help you right as I

navigate what I need to navigate with you. It's super easy stuff.

Or hey, check with Wesleyne. Right, good coach, I think you

should talk with her. I'm going to talk with her if you like her

will align make sure you're getting what you need. And like,

I'm gonna get you that support. That's a good leader. Just like

when you're selling stuff. You don't always have to solve the

problem or be the hero. Make them the hero. Show them where

you can direct them. I don't always my tool may not be great

for you. Wesleyne. But I've got five friends who could be good

for you. Okay,

I love it. I love it. I love it. And Tom, if

people want to get in touch with you, what is the one best way

my communities I'm all over? Rev genius is free. So

Rev. genius.com is the big community. So if you're in

sales, come join us, you're gonna get 20,000 Friends, it's

no cost to you. I'm there. I'm the community manager. Again, I

have my other community and then LinkedIn. LinkedIn is where I'm

always at. I'm big on there. I love it. So LinkedIn or my

community is probably where you're going to get the quickest

response from me.

Thank you so much for sharing your time, your

talents and your energy with us today. I have thoroughly enjoyed

it.

I have as well. Thank you so much for having me.

I'm honored. This was really really fun. You made it easy.

This was just conversational on a good time.

Awesome. And that was another episode of the

science of selling stem. Remember and all that you do

transform your sales. Until next time.

Thank you for joining us today on the snack sized sales

podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe and leave us

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