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In this episode of the Science of Selling STEM, I spoke to Curt Tueffert, the VP of Sales Development at DXP, a Houston-based business that is a one billion dollar industrial distributor. He is the 2016 winner of the Stevie Award for his work in sales development. With over 30 years in the art and science of professional selling, he has experienced a great deal of success while overcoming many obstacles. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Houston and his tenure includes teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the areas of Sales and Business Communication. 

Curt is the author of “5 Stones For Slaying Giants” and “201 Sales Motivators.” He is considered “America’s Master Sales Motivator” due to his high energy, enthusiastic audience presence, and knowledge of sales motivation. He understands that motivation and knowledge can be combined to create the outcomes required to be successful. He communicates a balance that gives people the right tools to get and stay motivated. Curt talked about his journey to sales leadership and shared why hard work and strong leadership are valuable. 

He also highlighted the importance of personal touches and creating an automated cadence to help deliver on a timely basis, and so much more. Make sure you tune in to sample some of Curt’s wealth of knowledge and experience. And if you need help with any sales or leadership issue don't hesitate to book a complimentary clarity session with me HERE. Stay tuned!

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

• Going after his passion and how it led him into award-winning sales leadership (02:18)
• How being tenacious contributed to his success (06:05)
• Getting started in the world of sales training and later on moving into the corporate arena (07:34)
• The freedom he gets from DXP to perfect his craft and how that adds value to the company when he shares what he learns with his team (11:55)
• Explaining why a sales manager’s role is to solely manage things and lead people (13:43)
• Implementing a new CRM system so they can spend more intelligent time in front of their customers and help their sales managers manage in the 21st century (19:11)
• His biggest and most memorable accomplishment (24:54)

Connect with Wesleyne Greer:

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

Connect with Curt Tueffert:

• Curt on LinkedIn
• Curt on Facebook
• 5 Stones For Slaying Giants By Curt Tueffert
• 201 Sales Motivators By Curt Tueffert

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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 guests 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 because I interview people from all over the world

recently I had somebody on the podcast from London, but today I

am so excited because I get to interview someone in Houston.

That doesn't happen that often. So my guest is Kurt toofer How

are you Kurt?

I am great. Wesleyne How are you this

morning?

I'm doing lovely. Let me tell you guys a

little bit more about Kurt. He is the VP of sales development

at dxp, a Houston based business that is a $1 billion industrial

distributor. He is also an adjunct professor at the

University of Houston teaching sales and marketing as the

winner of Stevie awards for sales development. Kurt brings

both high energy and deep content to his audiences and

students. He is the author of five stones for slaying giants,

a book designed by a sales professional for people in

business, customer service, leadership and sales. I mean,

like how do you even have time to breathe? You're doing so many

amazing things. Kurt? How did you start your career? And how

did you get to be a professor, a VP of sales development and

write books?

Wow, what a great leading question Wesleyne I

think I was one of those kids that knew growing up. And if I

wanted anything, I had to work for it. So I had a very deep and

rich work ethic moved into sales. After I graduated from

college, I was a computer programmer, and I found myself

designing code for the automotive dealerships. And then

I started training the users on that code. And then one thing

led to another and I kind of moved into what I thought was

something a little bit more in my wheelhouse, which was getting

in front of people and being energetic and having that sales

idea. I did a lot of that sales. And then from there, I met

somebody his name was John neighbour, he was an Olympic

gold medal swimmer. And I thought, Man, I want to be just

like you. And he said, Well, Kurt, I have seven Olympic gold

medals, what do you have? And I said, I got nothing. He said,

well go and get yourself a speech communication degree and

figure out something that you're passionate about. So I got a

degree in speech communication, very passionate about the whole

idea of selling sold a lot of technology as it relates to the

automotive game, and then the computer game and software, I

found myself doing a lot of part time professional speaking. And

then somewhere about 20 years ago, I just completely jumped

off the deep end. And I started my own business as a

professional sales trainer, professional speaker. And in

that small window, it's a publish or perish kind of

opportunity. So I began writing the five stones for slaying

giants. And then through a couple of networking events, I

had the opportunity to meet a couple of people at the

University of Houston. Then I said, Hey, I'm a sales guy, and

you guys teach sales classes. I would love to be in front of

your students. So I came in as a industry expert, which led to

the opportunity to start teaching there. And I'm still

teaching today, I teach a sales and marketing class at the

University of Houston, I guess, teach at the Texas a&m College

for industrial distribution. And yes, I have a lot of things

going on. In fact, I've looked at my book five stones for

slaying giants and it needs a fresh coat of paint. A lot of my

analogies are a little bit old for a younger audience. So I am

looking at doing a refresh on that one because I've learned so

much more about sales and about what works and what doesn't

work. And I don't want to be an academic guy. I want to be the

guy in the field with arrows coming out of my chest going

Hey, guys, this doesn't work. Don't do this at home. This does

work. Go try this.

Hi Love that. So a lot of times when I introduce

myself, I introduced myself as a recovering chemist. And I think

that you're a recovering computer programmer. And I

really enjoy learning about your journey, because so many people,

you know, if they're trying to dip their toe into sales,

they're like, I don't know how to sell anything. I don't know

how to do this, or I don't know how to do that. But it's like,

whatever you did in your past life, like, if you're an

accountant, you might want to sell accounting software to

accountants, right? You're a computer programmer. So I'm

going to start working in this world that I really understand.

And also the fact that you listened to what people told

you. Somebody said, hey, well, what do you have to show for

yourself, and you're like, I don't have anything, they said,

go get something, and you did it. And that is how you got to

where you are today. And then not just sitting back and

allowing things to happen to you are networking, you are saying,

I want to do this, and I'm gonna go after it. Where did you get

that really tenacious spirit that allowed you to say, I see

something I want, I'm gonna go after it.

Great question. That's, that really makes me

wonder, reflect on, you know, growing up, my parents didn't

really give me anything, they made me work for it to come from

a great deep and rich German experience. So it's all about

working. So in order for me to get what I wanted, I need to go

out there work for it, whether it was an allowance, or a part

time job, or self funding, my college, all of that, then I

started discovering this concept called networking. And it's not

so much who you know, it's who you are. So I started to attend

these networking events and learn from people. And through a

lot of ACA, a lot of athletics growing up, I realized the value

of coach, and so I just kind of submitted to the authority will

have people who are smarter than me. And that helped me

accelerate my career.

So coaching, training, you know, these are

things that so many times in our world of sales, people just

throw around, and it's like, I'm a coach, I'm a trainer. I'm

this, I'm that. And you said about 20 years ago, so not quite

the 1900s you guys who listen to my podcast know that my my

children? When I talk about my childhood, they're like, What do

you mean back in the 1900s? I'm like, sorry, for the stone

age's. So that's why then, but in the very early 2000s, when

the world was so different, you set out to really focus on sales

training. So tell us about how you got started in the world of

sales training.

Well, what I realized was this gentleman,

John neighbour who told me that I didn't have anything and he

had several Olympic gold medals. I started hanging out networking

at a association called National Speakers Association. And I felt

that I was good at this idea of selling or talking about sales.

And then when I started to hone that craft as a professional

speaker, I had a partner His name is Jim Jacobus from

Sugarland, Texas. And Jim said, hey, the reason we go after

sales opportunities and being a sales professional and a sales

trainers, because that's where the money is, why do people rob

banks, because that's where the money is. And so I'm not a

recovering chemist, and I'm not a recovering technical person or

a scientist, how ever I've heard them in TED talks, I've heard

them in places where they're passionate about what they're

doing. And if you're passionate about that, and you want to make

money at that, you can do that you would just need a coach or a

trainer in the speaking world, and perfect that craft. And

that's what I did, I got myself a coach. And I started to

listen. And I started to process the information that led me to

the academic side to teach it. And now at dxp as the VP of

sales development, I guess I come to work every day in a

laboratory. And I get to invent things. And I get to try new

things in marketing, and go on sales calls and listen to

customers and scratch my head to figure out what's not working.

And it's a fascinating business.

Awesome. So you started out as a computer

programmer, you transitioned you became a speaker, a trainer

coach, and then you went back into the world of corporate

America. So tell me that transition for you. When you

went from really being out there trying to explore and teaching

companies how to do this teaching companies what to do to

stepping back into that world. Were you the VP of sales when

you started? Did you start as the individual contributor? How

was that for you?

Oh, well, not every story is a rainbow and a

perfect to happy ending. So I was in the throes of

professional speakers starting a business whether you were

starting any type of business, you have your ups and downs, you

have your hills, you've got your valleys, you got your peaks.

Well, my family was having a hard time with not having a

consistent income and paying for a lot of different things that

you would do on a startup And tragically, I went off there and

I pursued that dream without really taking into

consideration, what would it take to raise a family, my kids

were very young at the time. So I realized, I might be a little

premature. And what I need to do is I need to provide for my

family consistent income. So off, I went, looking for work.

And dxp took a shot at me because of my time at the

University because of my previous experience. And from

there, I was managing a team and sales guys in the Houston area.

And for those of us who aren't from Houston, you know, you'll

understand this, that they're pretty egotistical, and it's

very much and boy was a tough vote for me. And I got through

it. And then as we started to expand into where we are today,

North American company, I went through the process of moving to

a developmental role. And now I can touch all the 200 Plus

salespeople within exp, and help them achieve their sales

success.

I love that it you know, so many times people

are like, oh, you know, I want to be my own boss, oh, I don't

want to work for a company. And I know firsthand as an

entrepreneur, it's not always easy, right? Like, oh,

everybody's taking off for Thanksgiving or Christmas. And

those are paid holidays. It's like, what is the paid holiday

when you're you are the CEO, right? It's like, hey, and so I

really commend you for realizing it. Yes, this is my dream.

However, at this point in my life, I need to do something

else. And I think so many people instead of catching themselves,

when they see that they need to make a shift change, they just

keep going down the path. And it doesn't seem that you know,

working for dxp stopped your career path of speaking and

being a professor and doing those things. So you remember,

II really able to manage both,

you are so spot on, this is a dream job they

understood, you know, we're not going to contain Kurt, he's

going to continue. And they said, You know what, we're going

to get the benefit of Kurt going out there and perfecting his

craft. And we don't have a problem with him speaking for

other companies, even for a fee, as long as he's not speaking to

the competitors. And he's not using up all of his structured

vacation time, and so on and so forth. So that's been such a

blessing for me to go out there and to do all these experiments.

And there's been some great opportunities to bring back

things that I've learned and share that with these with my

team here and allow them to get better at what they do.

That is key. I call that your thought

leadership. So a lot of times people think about thought

leadership, and you have to be like, the Mark Zuckerberg is or

the world or the Google CEO or whoever. But no, your thought

leadership is really Hey, I have a voice, I have a unique

perspective. And yes, I can exist as this person and still

do what I need to do for my company. And I really commend

your company for allowing you to continue to hone that. Because

at the end of the day, what is it doing? It's like, we have

Kurt that works for us. He's great doing all these things. We

might actually want to go do something with Kirk's company,

we want to see what are they doing behind the scenes of dxp.

So you mentioned something that I don't want to step over it,

you took over a team, and you said you had 18 salespeople, I

don't want to call it the Wild West. But I do know how

sometimes wrangling salespeople in our part of the world was as

a sales manager to a team. I don't know if you inherited it

if it was brand new, what are some of the lessons learned that

you would share with the audience? Wow,

lessons learned? You know, there's a couple of

things. And again, I learned this from my partner, Jim

Jacobus, when we were on the speaking circuit together, when

you think about people and asking them to do something,

either they don't know how to do it, they can't do it, or they

won't do it. So there's this teaching opportunity for all of

us on this call. If you're asking somebody to do something,

I don't know how to do that, that can be trained, I cannot do

that, that can be trained, we remove the obstacles. I don't

want to do it. That's a behavioral issue. And I found

that in my sales career, whether you're doing Call Reports, or

ride alongs, or curbside coaching, any of these things

that you're doing, whether it's a seasoned pro, who's been in

his territory, or her territory for 20 plus years, are you

bringing somebody new in, there's going to be a can't do

won't do don't know how there's going to be one of those three

things. And so my major takeaway is how do I build enough trust

and rapport with the individual, manage them as an individual and

then figure out is this I can't do won't do or don't know how,

and if they don't know how we can train them. If they can't do

it, we'll remove the obstacles, and if they won't do it, we have

issues and welcome to the pandemic. Are all of us on this

call who are struggling in a sales modality, I can't make a

sales call because they're all working from home, I don't know

how to make a sales call, because they're working

remotely, we can work on that I won't make a call, that's a

behavioral thing. You can't just sit there and wait for this

thing to end, we thought it was going to end in April of last

year. Well, we're now turning the corner into 2022, we still

have these issues. So the big takeaway is working with people,

people do things for their own reasons, and they're motivated

by their own things. And our job as managers is to come alongside

and, you know, we want to manage things and lead people,

sometimes we flip that around, and we tend to want to

tragically, you know, manage these people rather than lead

them.

Hmm. That's so good. I always say that, when

I'm talking to people, and I'm like wrestling with, what is

your ideal client? What is this? What is that? Yeah, we all have

our niche or the people that we like to work with. But I say,

for me, it's really one thing, the propensity to change, and

really what you were saying, It's so true, it's like, if they

don't know how to do it, okay, I can help you. If they say I need

help, they're asking for help. But the ones you're like, I'm

not gonna do it, I'm not going to change. I'm stuck in my ways,

as a sales manager, so many times you are knocking on that

door, and you're trying to change them and trying to turn

them in, you're doing everything that you possibly can, but

nothing is happening. And I think that what you said is key,

it's like, ask them, like, what is the problem? Why helped me

understand the why behind it, and then develop their

individualized coaching program so that they can operate in

their best selves,

agreed. And we see this in spades, from the

Michael Jordan documentary that came out on ESPN and then on

Netflix, how is Phil Jackson going to manage a Michael

Jordan, different than a Scottie Pippen different than a Dennis

Rodman, I mean, you can't manage them all the same. And you've

got to find your leaders. And so Michael was the leader who

helped manage the others. And I found people within my sales

team seasoned sales pros that the other people respected. And

those are the ones I tried to pour my life into, so that they

could help me manage now, in every sales group, if you have

10 people, if you look at the standard 2060 20 of 10 people,

two will be performers, six of them will be wondering where

they want to go, and two of them will just not make it and you've

got to determine do I manage them all the same? Or do I

somehow manage the ones that are making it and have the potential

and the ones who won't do it because it's a behavioral thing,

either cut them loose, or just let them flounder, that's a ugly

way to manage. But there's just not enough time that day to to

give everybody a warm blanket and some hot cocoa in the

wintertime.

I love that I have this as I call it a budget

effort graph. And I asked sales leaders every quarter, it

applies for people, right, and the ones that are down in this

bottom left quarter quadrant, they're low on their quota. And

they're not putting effort in my question is why are they still

here? Right? If they're not hitting their numbers, and

they're not even trying to hit their numbers, they're not

making phone calls or not updating the CRM, they're not

doing anything like, why are you here, right. And I think that at

the end of the day, as a leader, you have to realize that this

doesn't all fall on you, because you can do everything. And you

can ensure that you're giving that person exactly what they

need. But if they don't have the desire within themselves, then

nothing's going to happen. Well said. And so before we got on

our call, you told me that you're going through this huge

implementation of this brand new CRM system, you don't have to

say what it is. But one thing that I do know is when we get to

a point within our companies, and we're like, hey, we need to

kind of step up our game, whether we're using Excel

spreadsheets, or we're using that starter CRM. I'm curious,

what are some of the reasons that you found that you needed

to make that big upgrade? Well,

great question. You know, I think there is a

cliche, what got you here won't get you there. And here we are a

billion dollar publicly traded company. We started in 1908. And

we grow through organic growth, as well as through acquisitions.

But what got us here to a billion dollars with 2500

employees won't get us to the next level. And the reason it

won't get us to the next level is because technology as well as

information information is moving at the speed of of light.

And we just we need the tool set that helps us because the world

is so fast. It's so tech savvy. In fact, stem you're talking

about science, you're talking about technology, engineering,

you're talking about this amazing I need it. I need it

yesterday. I need it convenient So this implementation of a CRM

package, one reason we're doing it is to allow us to be spending

more intelligent time in front of our customers. And another is

to help our sales managers manage in the 21st century in a

way that will allow us to feed this massive hunger that our

customers and our prospects are having for information, expert

information, we show ourselves as a technical expert

distributor, not so much as a commodity, we're not an Amazon,

we're not those kind of folk, although we compete with that.

And so the reason we got CRM is to help us move and expand to

get to 2 billion to get to 3 billion, it requires new tools.

And so that's the investment. And it's the biggest investment

we've made in the last 20 years.

Wow. And what I know is that when you whether

you're a million dollar company, or a billion dollar company,

anytime you're implementing a new, I like to call it sales

Technology Package, right? Whether it's a CRM, or it's a

prospecting tool, or it's any of the above, because there's so

much out there now, you really have to think about, okay, this

is where we started, and this is where we want to go, this is

what's going to help us get there. But also thinking about

when you roll out something like this, I'm curious as to the plan

that you have, because you really focus on the sales

development, the implementation, because we can spend hundreds of

1000s of dollars on new sales tech stack, but if we don't get

the sales team to use it, then it's just sitting there. So what

are the plans that you have to really get everyone to implement

it?

Great question. We struggle with the way to do

this, this isn't something that you just put under your pillow,

you wake up the next morning, and you become Salesforce

literate, or CRM savvy. It's a cadence, and the cadence will be

a periodic heartbeat of pushing the information out with baby

steps. And then checking to make sure that people understand it.

And then later on in the rollout implementation, accelerating

that cadence just a little bit. And going back and highlighting

best practices, highlighting some tech calls, maybe we call

them Tuesday, tech calls where people can call in and go, I am

so frustrated, because I don't know how to enter a contact, or

what's the difference between a lead and an opportunity, you

know, what we're going to show you, we're going to help you

walk through this. And then eventually, at some point in

time in the rollout, we'll start measuring metrics and

quantifiers. To make sure we're getting adoption or getting

entry, we're reducing garbage in, garbage out. And we're

trying to just roll them out quietly and slowly, because

we're a company that makes money when we sell things. So if we

just decide to stop selling things, so we can get enamored

by this CRM package, we've lost all forward momentum. So again,

we've got to continue selling, and continue motivating, and

then integrating this in as part of the process.

I love it. I love it. One of the companies

that I worked with a couple years ago, they're probably

around the similar size as you and the district VP, he's had,

you know, we've invested so much money in the CRM, but nobody

wants to use it. So I really need you to get the Sales

Managers You see at Wesleyan. And so I literally sat down with

the sales managers, and they were like, it's a waste of time.

It's not helping me, it's just something that corporate wants

us to use, because they want to see what we're doing. And within

90 days, they're like, oh, okay, I see why. And I always say,

Hey, your CRM is really meant to help you make money, right? It

is made, so that you can really know everything you need to know

about that client. And if you get all the information, if you

have 510 1520 accounts, there's no way you can keep all that in

your head. You can't keep it on an Excel spreadsheet. So it

helps you make money. And once people understand this is

helping me make money and achieve my goals and become a

better salesperson, then they start using it. But I really

like your rollout plan where it's little bits and pieces,

right? It's I'm not throwing it all down your throat. I'm not

saying everything that you do. As soon as you step out a

customer, you get your app out and hammer it in, we have to

sell which is our number one goal because we are a sales

generating organization, which if you're not nonprofit you are

and then this helps you This tool helps you so one thing that

I always like to ask as we kind of wrap this session up is you

gave me a lot of accomplishments and achievements within your

career. But if you could think about one of the most notable

things that you are most passionate about having

accomplished within your career, what would that be? Wow,

I think I go back to when I started in my speaking

career, there was an opportunity Ready for us? Well, there was a

call, if you will, from the number one accounting firm. And

they wanted to roll out some business development training

for their partners. And of course, if you're talking about

a large public accounting firm, they don't want to be

salespeople. And so this was all covered as business development.

Well, they wanted this to be done through third party

independent trainers. So there was a call, and I was a part of

the shortlist. And my partner, Jim Jacobus had the deal

already, he put a good word in for me, and we all flew to

Dallas, Texas, and we had a train off, if you will. And we

would go into separate rooms, and then the people would show

up, and they would say, Okay, we want you to speak for 20 minutes

on this particular part of our business development course. And

I was coached a little bit, not a lot, because he didn't want to

be biased. And then toward the end, long story short, I got

that gig. And as a new speaker with young kids, this gave me

the opportunity for two years worth of contracted income. And

that gave me enough to pay my bills to pay my insurance and to

end breathe. And from there I went on, and I would say that

was the biggest accomplishment, because as I sat at that table

with all these other professional trainers with

better pictures and better marketing sites, so much more

experience, I didn't think I could compete at all. And sure

enough, I wanted and I wanted for two years, and that was one

of their most favorite instructors. Because if I go

back to the kind of person I am, I took every opportunity. I

said, Look, if you've got somebody who doesn't want this

date, or that date, or if you got somebody who's sick, and

they can't go, I don't want to be your first call. And I picked

up a bunch of opportunities there. And it made everybody

happy. And that was my my big success.

Wow, that just gave me so much. So much pause,

right? Because you were able to convince people who were not

sales see at all, like, even hearing the word sales properly

makes them cringe, right? And you were able to convince them

to not only take a chance on you, but to really say yes, we

want you not for a month or for two months or for two years. And

then you were really I would say you were scrappy. You were like,

oh, you can't show up that day. That's fine. Okay, I can meet

you the next day. Oh, you Saturday morning, fine. Wherever

you need me. I'm there. And so often we forget, as sales people

that we are there to serve, right? Like we serve first. And

then we sell. And that's really what you did. You're like, I'm

here to serve you and to help you become better. And in doing

that, it helped you it built your economy said, Hey, I was

comfortable. I had my salary. My kids were okay. All my bills

were paid. And I think that that is something that is just an

amazing accomplishment.

Well, thank you that, you know, I get back in

the moment, you know, just thinking about it. It was just,

it was a wonderful experience, knowing that I got picked. And

as I flew home, as I took off from the airport and flew back

to Houston, I was just like, wow, this is a great

confirmation that I'm in the right place at the right time.

And I actually have the skills in order to compete

at awesome, that is awesome. I thank you so much

for sharing your time, your talent, your expertise with us

today. It's been such a rich conversation, what is the one

best way for people to get in contact with you?

I'm on social media, LinkedIn and Facebook.

And that's about it. I'm still thinking about reenergizing the

websites and things of that nature, but there's only one two

for TUEFFER T. And it's not that difficult to find me. I

definitely have a face for radio. So once you see it,

you'll go yep, that's the guy.

Awesome. Awesome. Make sure that you

connect with Kurt pick his brain. He is a wealth of

information and his diverse experiences will definitely help

you achieve your success. So thank you again for your time

today, Kurt. You're welcome. Wesleyne And that was another

episode of the science of selling Sam. Remember in

everything that you do transform your sales. Until next time.

Thank you for joining us today on the snack sized

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