Artwork for podcast Transformed Sales
Motivating a Billion Dollar Team with Curt Tueffert
Episode 5212th January 2022 • Transformed Sales • Wesleyne
00:00:00 00:29:48

Share Episode

Shownotes

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

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:

Connect with Curt Tueffert:

Rate, Review, Learn, and Share

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.

Transcripts

Wesleyne Greer:

As a sales manager, you are judged by the

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

how to get everyone on your team consistently hitting quota every

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

science of selling stem sales leadership in the science,

Wesleyne Greer:

technology, engineering and manufacturing fields is

Wesleyne Greer:

difficult. You will learn from sales managers just like you

Wesleyne Greer:

that will give you actionable insights and tips on how to

Wesleyne Greer:

develop as a leader and achieve your revenue targets every

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

inspiration to ensure that you have actionable insights that

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

excited because I interview people from all over the world

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

are you Kurt?

Curt Tueffert:

I am great. Wesleyne How are you this

Curt Tueffert:

morning?

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

distributor. He is also an adjunct professor at the

Wesleyne Greer:

University of Houston teaching sales and marketing as the

Wesleyne Greer:

winner of Stevie awards for sales development. Kurt brings

Wesleyne Greer:

both high energy and deep content to his audiences and

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

a book designed by a sales professional for people in

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

write books?

Curt Tueffert:

Wow, what a great leading question Wesleyne I

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

rich work ethic moved into sales. After I graduated from

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

designing code for the automotive dealerships. And then

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

in front of people and being energetic and having that sales

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

somebody his name was John neighbour, he was an Olympic

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

well go and get yourself a speech communication degree and

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

degree in speech communication, very passionate about the whole

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

then somewhere about 20 years ago, I just completely jumped

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

professional sales trainer, professional speaker. And in

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

opportunity. So I began writing the five stones for slaying

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

had the opportunity to meet a couple of people at the

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

work. Go try this.

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

that you're a recovering computer programmer. And I

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

accountant, you might want to sell accounting software to

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

And also the fact that you listened to what people told

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Curt Tueffert:

Great question. That's, that really makes me

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

these networking events and learn from people. And through a

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

accelerate my career.

Wesleyne Greer:

So coaching, training, you know, these are

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

sales training.

Curt Tueffert:

Well, what I realized was this gentleman,

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

had several Olympic gold medals. I started hanging out networking

Curt Tueffert:

at a association called National Speakers Association. And I felt

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

sales opportunities and being a sales professional and a sales

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

And it's a fascinating business.

Wesleyne Greer:

Awesome. So you started out as a computer

Wesleyne Greer:

programmer, you transitioned you became a speaker, a trainer

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

went from really being out there trying to explore and teaching

Wesleyne Greer:

companies how to do this teaching companies what to do to

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

was that for you?

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

professional speakers starting a business whether you were

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

consistent income and paying for a lot of different things that

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

I pursued that dream without really taking into

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

University because of my previous experience. And from

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

salespeople within exp, and help them achieve their sales

Curt Tueffert:

success.

Wesleyne Greer:

I love that it you know, so many times people

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

everybody's taking off for Thanksgiving or Christmas. And

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

working for dxp stopped your career path of speaking and

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

II really able to manage both,

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

And there's been some great opportunities to bring back

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

That is key. I call that your thought

Wesleyne Greer:

leadership. So a lot of times people think about thought

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

sometimes wrangling salespeople in our part of the world was as

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

you would share with the audience? Wow,

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

you think about people and asking them to do something,

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

ride alongs, or curbside coaching, any of these things

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

tragically, you know, manage these people rather than lead

Curt Tueffert:

them.

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

understand the why behind it, and then develop their

Wesleyne Greer:

individualized coaching program so that they can operate in

Wesleyne Greer:

their best selves,

Curt Tueffert:

agreed. And we see this in spades, from the

Curt Tueffert:

Michael Jordan documentary that came out on ESPN and then on

Curt Tueffert:

Netflix, how is Phil Jackson going to manage a Michael

Curt Tueffert:

Jordan, different than a Scottie Pippen different than a Dennis

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

team seasoned sales pros that the other people respected. And

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

give everybody a warm blanket and some hot cocoa in the

Curt Tueffert:

wintertime.

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

to make that big upgrade? Well,

Curt Tueffert:

great question. You know, I think there is a

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

But what got us here to a billion dollars with 2500

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

information information is moving at the speed of of light.

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

customers and our prospects are having for information, expert

Curt Tueffert:

information, we show ourselves as a technical expert

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

we've made in the last 20 years.

Wesleyne Greer:

Wow. And what I know is that when you whether

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

that you have, because you really focus on the sales

Wesleyne Greer:

development, the implementation, because we can spend hundreds of

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

it?

Curt Tueffert:

Great question. We struggle with the way to do

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

you wake up the next morning, and you become Salesforce

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

a periodic heartbeat of pushing the information out with baby

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

And then later on in the rollout implementation, accelerating

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

best practices, highlighting some tech calls, maybe we call

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

trying to just roll them out quietly and slowly, because

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

then integrating this in as part of the process.

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

helps you make money. And once people understand this is

Wesleyne Greer:

helping me make money and achieve my goals and become a

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

gave me a lot of accomplishments and achievements within your

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

things that you are most passionate about having

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

they wanted to roll out some business development training

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

Well, they wanted this to be done through third party

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

on this particular part of our business development course. And

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

the opportunity for two years worth of contracted income. And

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

with all these other professional trainers with

Curt Tueffert:

better pictures and better marketing sites, so much more

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

of their most favorite instructors. Because if I go

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

up a bunch of opportunities there. And it made everybody

Curt Tueffert:

happy. And that was my my big success.

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

amazing accomplishment.

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

And I actually have the skills in order to compete

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

best way for people to get in contact with you?

Curt Tueffert:

I'm on social media, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Curt Tueffert:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

Awesome. Awesome. Make sure that you

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

information and his diverse experiences will definitely help

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

episode of the science of selling Sam. Remember in

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Unknown:

Thank you for joining us today on the snack sized

Unknown:

sales podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe and

Unknown:

leave us a review. Learn how to continue increasing your bottom

Unknown:

line by getting simplified sales strategies delivered to your

Unknown:

inbox weekly by going to www dot snack sized sales.com. Trust me,

Unknown:

your bank account will grow and love you

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube