Artwork for podcast Transformed Sales
The Psychology of Sales with Robert Arauco
Episode 773rd August 2022 • Transformed Sales • Wesleyne
00:00:00 00:35:26

Share Episode

Shownotes

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

Highlights

  • [00:44] - His journey to becoming a leadership guru.
  • [04:20] - Lessons he learned in B2C sales that he still applies today.
  • [07:00] - Moving from selling knives for Cutco to selling insurance, and beyond.
  • [10:55] - Why having 1099 salespeople could be the secret to your success.
  • [12:29] - What it’s like working for a bootstrapped startup.
  • [18:19] - How to build yourself up enough to be able to navigate your career challenges.
  • [22:22] - Going from being the one-man sales department to building a team.
  • [28:51] - Focusing on the NOW as a core life philosophy and the power of being forward thinking.

In this episode of the Transformed Sales Podcast, I had a chat with the Executive Vice President of Sales at HomeStack, Robert Arauco. HomeStack is a rapidly growing tech startup headquartered in Los Angeles, CA with one goal in mind: To reinvent the way real estate is done today. They do that by designing personalized apps for real estate agents. The apps provide agents with live and accurate data, where they are the only point of contact for their users. This allows for agents to directly communicate with their clients and incubate long-lasting and profitable relationships.

 

Robert kicked off his career working as a 1099 salesperson for Cutco where he was able to master the psychology of sales. He then went into selling life insurance and later transitioned into the W-2 world working in social services. He eventually realized that he needed to get back into entrepreneurship and managed to get a role in a new tech startup (HomeStack) as its sole salesperson. They managed to bootstrap the company into the success that it is today. Tune in as Robert talks to us about what the psychology of sales is all about, the importance of continual learning in sales, why a salesperson's overall health is a big part of their career, what it’s like working for a bootstrapped startup, and how to build an effective sales team.

Quotes

“Emotional intelligence is important. Listening is important. Figuring out how to handle objections and not argue with people is important” - Robert Arauco

“Listening and asking the right questions is very important so that you can really discover the truth to solve problems” - Robert Arauco


“The psychology of sales is not just about reading the person” - Robert Arauco


“The only time you really fail is when you stop, when you give up” - Robert Arauco


“Sales is the bloodline of any company, so if you’re not brining in any revenue, how are the employees gonna feed their families, and how are you gonna grow to bring in more help so the company gets to where it needs to be” - Robert Arauco


Learn More About Robert Arauco in the Links Below:

  • LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-arauco-4a00a810/


Connect with Wesleyne Greer:

  • Wesleyne’s Website - https://transformedsales.com/
  • Wesleyne on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesleynegreer/
  • Wesleyne on Facebook - https://web.facebook.com/wesleynegreer
  • Wesleyne on Twitter - https://twitter.com/wesleynegreer
  • Email Her at wesleyne@transformedsales.com

Transcripts

Wesleyne Greer:

Hello, and welcome to another episode of

Wesleyne Greer:

the transforming sales podcast today I am so excited to be

Wesleyne Greer:

interviewing Robert arou. CO How are you, Robert?

Robert Arauco:

Very good. How are you?

Wesleyne Greer:

I am doing awesome. Let me tell you a

Wesleyne Greer:

little bit more about Robert. He's an entrepreneur at heart

Wesleyne Greer:

with a deep understanding of sales, reading human patterns,

Wesleyne Greer:

and has a true appreciation for leadership. Staying true to the

Wesleyne Greer:

numbers is needed to be successful. But a leader that

Wesleyne Greer:

can connect with people can take you far, a combination of the

Wesleyne Greer:

two makes you unstoppable. And that you didn't just pop out of

Wesleyne Greer:

the womb with this amazing leadership concept. Tell us

Wesleyne Greer:

about how you kicked off your career and how you got to where

Wesleyne Greer:

you are today with this nice formula for leadership success,

Robert Arauco:

for sure. Yeah, I know the leadership definitely

Robert Arauco:

came kind of later in life. In the beginning it was more of

Robert Arauco:

like all me, me me, how much money can I make, you know, all

Robert Arauco:

that kind of stuff. And it molded into building a tech

Robert Arauco:

company and but I started at first I realized I was good at

Robert Arauco:

like selling to my neighbors when we had the school

Robert Arauco:

fundraisers and all that I'm like, Alright, I see a dog here.

Robert Arauco:

How can I start the conversation and get them to actually talk to

Robert Arauco:

me right now? Other than being just a cute kid, right? So you

Robert Arauco:

still always win those contests. And then I got like a letter in

Robert Arauco:

the mail from vector marketing. They're the management branch to

Robert Arauco:

sell Cutco knives. So I know a lot of your listeners probably

Robert Arauco:

that was one of their first jobs in college or like around that

Robert Arauco:

time they mass recruited, but at first I was like, I'm gonna sell

Robert Arauco:

knives. But then they cut a penny in front of me. And I'm

Robert Arauco:

like, oh, yeah, I could sell this all day. So the beginning,

Robert Arauco:

you know, was neighbors and referrals, learning how to build

Robert Arauco:

relationships. And the thing I learned about from Cutco really

Robert Arauco:

was just like the psychology of sales. And this is in person at

Robert Arauco:

the time, right. So don't sit across from someone sitting next

Robert Arauco:

to them. Because there's natural like barriers. When you do that,

Robert Arauco:

and people drop their guard. When you sit next to them. Make

Robert Arauco:

sure when you're done presenting a knife, put it in the correct

Robert Arauco:

position and roll it. So now it's not a messy table and the

Robert Arauco:

person's like I don't want all these freaking eyes on my

Robert Arauco:

counter like it's a clean presentation. So I did learn a

Robert Arauco:

lot of the psychology of that which did translate into my

Robert Arauco:

career starting home stack. We build apps for realtors

Robert Arauco:

brokerages and teams that look very similar to like the Zillow

Robert Arauco:

is Redfin's of the world from like a user experience

Robert Arauco:

standpoint, but we personalize it to where they can add it to

Robert Arauco:

their marketing and all that but that's why I went from selfish,

Robert Arauco:

Robert to making tons of money 1099 Traveling working 25 hours

Robert Arauco:

a week to now you know, averaging 60 to 80 hours a week

Robert Arauco:

running the tech company. Hmm.

Wesleyne Greer:

I really love those lessons that you gave us

Wesleyne Greer:

from your experience with Cutco is Cutco even still around.

Robert Arauco:

Number one, still number one, number one

Wesleyne Greer:

still number one, like sometimes when I'm

Wesleyne Greer:

walking in Costco, I see somebody from like, cowork Oh,

Wesleyne Greer:

company there.

Robert Arauco:

Yeah, most of their sales are driven by

Robert Arauco:

recruiting college kids, getting them to first introduce this to

Robert Arauco:

their family and friends. And then maybe 10% of them move on

Robert Arauco:

to the next phase of like learning how to build referrals

Robert Arauco:

and you know, getting deeper into the into the game.

Wesleyne Greer:

Ah, so their whole strategy is get them young

Wesleyne Greer:

and hungry, get their close network, and then it's like,

Wesleyne Greer:

okay, we know your neck probably gonna last six months, we'll

Wesleyne Greer:

just get a new batch.

Robert Arauco:

I mean, it's up. They don't fire you unless you

Robert Arauco:

do something crazy. Like I've heard some stories but. But

Robert Arauco:

like, naturally, if you run out of referrals, like you got to

Robert Arauco:

now go and sharpen knives to then build your base that way.

Robert Arauco:

But a lot of people just don't make it after a month or two. It

Robert Arauco:

gets harder. What

Wesleyne Greer:

kind of sounds like some companies I've heard

Wesleyne Greer:

about lately. If you don't produce well, you're, we're

Wesleyne Greer:

booting you out. So the lessons that you learn the psychology of

Wesleyne Greer:

sales, I don't think we talked about that often enough. Right?

Wesleyne Greer:

So it's those subtle things that you mentioned that a lot of

Wesleyne Greer:

sales people they forget, right, they forget the human element.

Wesleyne Greer:

So share with us some more of the things the core lessons that

Wesleyne Greer:

you learned and that you still use today in your early career

Wesleyne Greer:

in b2c sales.

Robert Arauco:

Well, at the end of the day, like you can be the

Robert Arauco:

salesperson that just talks and talks and talks and feature

Robert Arauco:

dumps and you know, everything under the moon about the product

Robert Arauco:

you're selling, but that's not going to get the deal closed

Robert Arauco:

most of the time like Occasionally you will run into

Robert Arauco:

the person and they're just want the knives or they want the app.

Robert Arauco:

And it's an easy sale. Emotional Intelligence is important.

Robert Arauco:

Listening is important. Figuring out how to handle objections and

Robert Arauco:

not argue with people is important and how to like, best

Robert Arauco:

dig out the real objection. Like, Hey, I just, you know,

Robert Arauco:

don't want to do this for this reason. And then you dig in by

Robert Arauco:

asking certain questions to really discover what the truth

Robert Arauco:

is, and offer a solution to that problem. So the psychology of

Robert Arauco:

sales really is not just reading the person. And now we all have

Robert Arauco:

to evolve after COVID I actually used to thrive in the person a

Robert Arauco:

person because I like there's an energy element to that, like you

Robert Arauco:

can see their body language a little differently. Now, people

Robert Arauco:

don't always have their zoom cameras on, right, there's not

Robert Arauco:

that like, Oh, I see them like their arms, sweating, or like,

Robert Arauco:

those elements are gone now. So when it comes to digital

Robert Arauco:

listening is even that much more important and asking the right

Robert Arauco:

questions so that you can really discover the truth to solve

Robert Arauco:

problems.

Wesleyne Greer:

Listening, really paying attention to the

Wesleyne Greer:

person sitting next to you or sitting across from your in

Wesleyne Greer:

front of you on the camera. And again, I think that it's the

Wesleyne Greer:

subtleties, right. Like one thing that I tell salespeople,

Wesleyne Greer:

when we're working on a training session is a person looking

Wesleyne Greer:

down. Are they looking away? Are they looking at you? Are they

Wesleyne Greer:

leaning in? Are they leaning back, right? It's like the small

Wesleyne Greer:

subtle things, the cues you pick up on. And one thing that I

Wesleyne Greer:

really love is I like when people start using my words, I'm

Wesleyne Greer:

like, Yay, I've been graded in your mind. You're using the

Wesleyne Greer:

words I'm using

Robert Arauco:

exactly. matching their body language, their tone.

Robert Arauco:

And sometimes though, like you got you got the guy that's just

Robert Arauco:

like so low energy, and you almost want to like give them

Robert Arauco:

energy. So like you hype him up a little bit, not too much to

Robert Arauco:

where you intimidate him, right. I can get him excited about

Robert Arauco:

something you see a little smirk and then you build off of that.

Wesleyne Greer:

So did you go directly from Cutco to launching

Wesleyne Greer:

your own company or how what happened in between?

Robert Arauco:

So I got over selling knives. It took six

Robert Arauco:

years and I was like you know I onto something new. My buddy who

Robert Arauco:

used to actually sell with me, Cutco started selling life

Robert Arauco:

insurance. He's like, bro, you can make so much money. It's

Robert Arauco:

like easier, you get residuals and blah, blah, blah. So I got

Robert Arauco:

licensed to sell that. I personally didn't like it. I do

Robert Arauco:

find life insurance and those products very important.

Robert Arauco:

Especially now that I have a family of three daughters and a

Robert Arauco:

wife. I'm like, Dude, if something happens to me, like I

Robert Arauco:

need to know they're gonna be okay. At least financially,

Robert Arauco:

right? So did learn a lot from that ended up jumping into the

Robert Arauco:

corporate world because my dad's aerospace engineers, he's like,

Robert Arauco:

Hey, man, like you've been 1099 Your whole life? Like, why don't

Robert Arauco:

you just give the W two world a shot just to see it. So, yeah, I

Robert Arauco:

was like, alright, you know, this is a time where I don't

Robert Arauco:

want to do life insurance. Let's try that. And I got a job at a

Robert Arauco:

skilled nursing facility. Luckily for me, I applied for

Robert Arauco:

the marketing position, but they didn't give that to me. There. I

Robert Arauco:

don't want to offend anyone. But like, I found out later why I

Robert Arauco:

didn't get that position. Because I wasn't a girl or and

Robert Arauco:

or gay. I found out later, like I wasn't a girl was a gay. And

Robert Arauco:

that was, I guess, the prerequisite for that manager to

Robert Arauco:

hire me. But it was a blessing in disguise. Because like that

Robert Arauco:

didn't work out. I ended up doing social services. But I

Robert Arauco:

ended up meeting two of my best friends because of working

Robert Arauco:

there. One was my boss. One was the guy that I met briefly and

Robert Arauco:

then got me the job. And then a girl that I was in class with to

Robert Arauco:

get my social services certificate while I had the

Robert Arauco:

position. I don't even know if that's ethical. I was like,

Robert Arauco:

literally in school, I had the social services position that

Robert Arauco:

ended up later introducing him to my wife. So that little six

Robert Arauco:

month period was a huge part of like where I am today, which

Robert Arauco:

then made me realize I'm an entrepreneur, like I need to get

Robert Arauco:

back into this space. And I remembered one of my buddies

Robert Arauco:

growing up was starting a tech company. So hit him up that same

Robert Arauco:

day, his business partner who I didn't know posted on Facebook

Robert Arauco:

that they were looking for someone in sales, so it ended up

Robert Arauco:

being one of those serendipitous things and, you know, when I met

Robert Arauco:

him, I was like, Hey, guys, I'm already making six figures like

Robert Arauco:

I know you're starting up. So I just want a $40,000 base and

Robert Arauco:

then commission opportunities and we're good to go. And

Robert Arauco:

they're like, Dude, you're probably gonna make like 10 to

Robert Arauco:

$15,000 the next two years, but here's where we're going. Right

Robert Arauco:

here's where we're gonna be one day but right now you're not

Robert Arauco:

you're not gonna make anywhere near that. So at the time, no

Robert Arauco:

family talked to my dad about it and will gray wall who's the CEO

Robert Arauco:

of Homestuck I've known the guy since I was five like we've

Robert Arauco:

always kind of been that like, quarterback to receiver

Robert Arauco:

connection. The guys just is brilliant and good at what he

Robert Arauco:

does. And Matt Potter, the other business owner. His father owns

Robert Arauco:

a real estate company here. And he's kind of like that Steve

Robert Arauco:

Jobs. Elon Musk ish, like, has social skills, but also kind of

Robert Arauco:

like is like, what the hell's this guy thinking about right

Robert Arauco:

now like always outside the box thinking, the stuff that he

Robert Arauco:

comes up with is something you just don't think is gonna land

Robert Arauco:

right now. But then when it does land later, you're like, That

Robert Arauco:

was genius. So building apps 10 years ago, for iPhone and

Robert Arauco:

Android was not the thing to do. BlackBerry was the big phone.

Robert Arauco:

And Realtors thought I was gonna go out of business. So we were

Robert Arauco:

like, way ahead of our time, even now, like it's slowly

Robert Arauco:

getting there where Realtors like, No, I have to have this.

Robert Arauco:

Yep, hmm.

Wesleyne Greer:

You gave me a lot, there's a lot to unpack. So

Wesleyne Greer:

in your adult life, you literally lived as a 1099.

Wesleyne Greer:

Person, literally. Because when you said you were with cutover,

Wesleyne Greer:

six years, I was like, I wonder if that wasn't a 1099? Was it a

Wesleyne Greer:

W two, and then we all know insurance is usually a 1099

Wesleyne Greer:

position. And so you had like a stint of about six months where

Wesleyne Greer:

you were a W two? And you say, Yeah, this is not for me. So as

Wesleyne Greer:

a 1099. And one thing that I love telling sales leaders, when

Wesleyne Greer:

they're hiring people, and like, oh, they don't have industry

Wesleyne Greer:

experience, they don't have this, they don't have that. I'm

Wesleyne Greer:

like, Yeah, you know, some of the best salespeople that I've

Wesleyne Greer:

ever met, a successful 1099 salesperson is gonna be so good,

Wesleyne Greer:

because they're hungry. They know they have to eat, they

Wesleyne Greer:

kill. That's what you do every single day. If you don't kill

Wesleyne Greer:

it, you don't eat that day.

Robert Arauco:

Yeah, it's, you know, it's not for everyone,

Robert Arauco:

obviously, there's people that want the safe route. And it's

Robert Arauco:

just not in my DNA. I like taking risks. You know, now I'm

Robert Arauco:

now I'm a dad, right? Like, I gotta take more calculated

Robert Arauco:

risks. If I had the family at the time, I don't know if I

Robert Arauco:

would have taken that exact position. But it was literally a

Robert Arauco:

situation where I'm like, I know, I'm gonna see will the

Robert Arauco:

rest of my life. I don't want to be that guy that wondered what

Robert Arauco:

if, right, like, I know, I'll probably make half a million

Robert Arauco:

dollars a year, be a VP of Sales somewhere else, you know,

Robert Arauco:

corporate world in the sense. But that was my chance to start

Robert Arauco:

a company from scratch. And then eventually, you know, get to the

Robert Arauco:

point where we're selling this thing for hundreds of millions.

Wesleyne Greer:

Hmm. So talk to us about really starting at a

Wesleyne Greer:

startup like the grassroots stages like those early days,

Wesleyne Greer:

because, you know, everybody sees these big SAS tech

Wesleyne Greer:

companies like, Oh, they're so amazing. They're so great. But

Wesleyne Greer:

that's not where they started. Talk to us about what that was

Wesleyne Greer:

like,

Robert Arauco:

Oh, this was completely bootstrapped. We're

Robert Arauco:

still even to this day, self funded, no seed money, like we

Robert Arauco:

are getting to the point now where the seed money starting to

Robert Arauco:

make a little more sense, just for rocket fuel for growth. Now

Robert Arauco:

that like everything, you just can't, you can't throw money at

Robert Arauco:

a problem, like something that's not tested, you know, a proven

Robert Arauco:

concept. You can't just throw money at it and hope it works

Robert Arauco:

out. It just usually doesn't. So the bootstrap days was like,

Robert Arauco:

alright, well, I know how to make phone calls. I know how to

Robert Arauco:

connect with people. I have zero idea about real estate. I'm

Robert Arauco:

like, 24 at the time, no idea that real estate. So let me

Robert Arauco:

learn this. Let me dive in. Let me read books. Let me talk to

Robert Arauco:

man whose dad owns a company. Let me just sit with Matt's dad

Robert Arauco:

for two hours and like, absorb as much as I can about the

Robert Arauco:

industry so that when I talk to them, these people, I have the

Robert Arauco:

lingo down, escrow closing deals, open houses, like those

Robert Arauco:

types of things, right? But I'm not gonna lie, like the first

Robert Arauco:

six months were extremely difficult, getting hung up on

Robert Arauco:

all the time. What are you talking about? I don't even have

Robert Arauco:

an iPhone. And it was that learning curve. But, you know,

Robert Arauco:

like, I understand in sales that as long as you put in enough

Robert Arauco:

effort, and you do take the time to like, dive in and improve

Robert Arauco:

your your game and learn like what is happening in the

Robert Arauco:

industry. The numbers always play out, make enough calls,

Robert Arauco:

need enough people, the numbers are gonna play out eventually.

Robert Arauco:

So just the early days was just really learning.

Wesleyne Greer:

It was learning, right? And that's what so many

Wesleyne Greer:

companies, salespeople, sales leaders, they don't do is they

Wesleyne Greer:

don't get into the customers world, they stay in their world.

Wesleyne Greer:

They learn all about their products and how great their

Wesleyne Greer:

products are and what it can do. But like you said, it's like I

Wesleyne Greer:

need to learn their language. I need to learn what matters to

Wesleyne Greer:

them. And that's really what sets you up for success to be

Wesleyne Greer:

like, we're self funded. We because once you start taking

Wesleyne Greer:

investors money, they control what you do, and then you

Wesleyne Greer:

they're like, We want you to grow, grow, grow, grow, grow,

Wesleyne Greer:

and you don't hit those growth targets. And then like we've

Wesleyne Greer:

seen in the news, what happens you have to cut 20 3040 50% of

Wesleyne Greer:

your workforce, right? And so it's better to say we know that

Wesleyne Greer:

we have a good customer base, we have a good product with the

Wesleyne Greer:

kinks worked out. And we believe in this before we started taking

Wesleyne Greer:

outside money.

Robert Arauco:

Oh, yeah. And you know, 90% of startups go out of

Robert Arauco:

business after like two or three years? I think it is. We did

Robert Arauco:

almost a few times. Like there's literally the first year on the

Robert Arauco:

job, we started getting things rolling. And then Apple decides

Robert Arauco:

to change their mapping system from Google Maps to Apple Maps,

Robert Arauco:

broke the app completely, like you couldn't search for homes

Robert Arauco:

anymore, which was like the main thing it did. So we had a

Robert Arauco:

decision to make it was like, alright, well, do we try to fix

Robert Arauco:

this? Or do we build a new app? So the logical thing at the time

Robert Arauco:

was like, We got to build a new app. But now we also need

Robert Arauco:

equity. So I'm literally selling the app with slideshows,

Robert Arauco:

presale, hey, this is where it's gonna be, this is the concept,

Robert Arauco:

you're gonna get a huge discount, we only want half of

Robert Arauco:

the build fee now to secure your name and the different things

Robert Arauco:

and it'll be ready in six to eight months. Trust me, you got

Robert Arauco:

to trust me, this is where we're going. So there was multiple

Robert Arauco:

stories like that. But you know, and life in general, like, the

Robert Arauco:

only time you really fail is when you stop. When you give up.

Robert Arauco:

Right?

Wesleyne Greer:

You've given us you know, three great lessons,

Wesleyne Greer:

right? The first one is get into your customers. Well, the second

Wesleyne Greer:

one is you don't have to build it before you start getting

Wesleyne Greer:

customers. Like some people like develop, develop, develop,

Wesleyne Greer:

develop and have zero customers. And then they're like, oh, yeah,

Wesleyne Greer:

now we need investment. And they're like, Okay, well, how

Wesleyne Greer:

many customers? Yeah, it's like, no, no, no, don't build it and

Wesleyne Greer:

think they will come. And when life throws you lemons and

Wesleyne Greer:

oranges and squash, you had to figure out how to make something

Wesleyne Greer:

edible out of it. What can I do next? How can I make this

Wesleyne Greer:

better? And I can imagine that starting from scratch probably

Wesleyne Greer:

made the product even better, made it stand up even stronger,

Wesleyne Greer:

because you had already had a year of development. So you knew

Wesleyne Greer:

what not to do you knew the things that you did, and that

Wesleyne Greer:

covered it up a little bit. Right.

Robert Arauco:

Yeah, no, I definitely played into the

Robert Arauco:

different phases of each app that we built. But yeah, I mean,

Robert Arauco:

you know, there's a difference between, like, accepting certain

Robert Arauco:

things, right? Like, there are things out of your control. And

Robert Arauco:

there are things you just like, you know, like it happened,

Robert Arauco:

like, I just gotta get over it, I gotta move on. But there's

Robert Arauco:

certain things like when you're super passionate about,

Robert Arauco:

especially like a business doesn't matter if you started

Robert Arauco:

the company, or you just want to climb your way somewhere else.

Robert Arauco:

The only thing that's gonna get you there, aside from luck, is

Robert Arauco:

you. So I'm a big believer that if you really want something,

Robert Arauco:

the answers will come. As long as you put in the effort and

Robert Arauco:

have the passion behind it.

Wesleyne Greer:

Yes, it's all about knowing that the person

Wesleyne Greer:

who I am, what I contribute to this world to this company is

Wesleyne Greer:

worth it, right? And whether I feel like I'm making a

Wesleyne Greer:

contribution today or not, I'm moving the needle for you one

Wesleyne Greer:

step at a time. It's one day at a time, sometimes it's an hour

Wesleyne Greer:

at a time, I've had weeks where it's like when people like oh,

Wesleyne Greer:

it's just one day at a time, hour by hour, what next hour

Wesleyne Greer:

what's coming up next on my calendar, okay, and I can candle

Wesleyne Greer:

that then what's next. But I know that really as when you're

Wesleyne Greer:

in the growing phase of either a company or a team, there are

Wesleyne Greer:

those moments that get tough. And so as you had these ups and

Wesleyne Greer:

downs, these hills and valleys, what are some methods that you

Wesleyne Greer:

use at times where it thought that, hey, we're not going to

Wesleyne Greer:

make it out of this? How did you build up yourself enough to work

Wesleyne Greer:

through that?

Robert Arauco:

I mean, it's evolved over time. In the

Robert Arauco:

beginning, it was more of an ego thing. Or it's like, hey, oh,

Robert Arauco:

no, I'm not letting this happen. Like, it's not happening to me,

Robert Arauco:

like, I know, I'm good. I know a company is good. We got the

Robert Arauco:

right group of people like it, then I don't wanna say like, I

Robert Arauco:

forced the change I wanted, but like, it was more like, it just

Robert Arauco:

was egocentric. Right now, I'm realizing the difference between

Robert Arauco:

like, when you shift your goals to like, only about you like,

Robert Arauco:

it's just temporary, like it phases away. It just doesn't

Robert Arauco:

last, when you shift your perspective to doing it for the

Robert Arauco:

company. For the people that work there. The employees like

Robert Arauco:

we have health insurance. Now we have all these, we have 401k

Robert Arauco:

plans, like sales is the bloodline of any company. So if

Robert Arauco:

you're not bringing in revenue, how are they going to feed their

Robert Arauco:

families? How are you going to grow to bring in more help. So

Robert Arauco:

the company gets to where it needs to be and we have a lot of

Robert Arauco:

salary base people in the company now they don't

Robert Arauco:

contribute towards the revenue necessarily, but they're

Robert Arauco:

necessary to keep this thing flowing. And if the revenues are

Robert Arauco:

coming in, they're not feeding their families. They're not

Robert Arauco:

providing the insurance that they need. And, you know, my

Robert Arauco:

family is my motivation to so how I Get out of any slump now

Robert Arauco:

is meditations a big part of it like you gotta breathe. If

Robert Arauco:

you're in the wrong state of mind, every call is going to be

Robert Arauco:

in that state of mind. Like, yeah, something and turn it

Robert Arauco:

around, you have a great conversation and like you

Robert Arauco:

flipped your own script because of that. But I'm a big believer

Robert Arauco:

in taking even like two to five minutes to just stop, just stop,

Robert Arauco:

meditate, breathe, refocus your perspective on what's important

Robert Arauco:

in life, and where you want to be, and then go back to

Robert Arauco:

attacking, and building relationships. And, you know,

Robert Arauco:

taking it on that way, and it's just a lot less stressful to

Robert Arauco:

like your health is the biggest part of sales, you're not

Robert Arauco:

getting enough sleep, you're not happy with your, you know, maybe

Robert Arauco:

your physical appearance, you're not doing certain things that

Robert Arauco:

like are going to translate into how you talk to others, how you

Robert Arauco:

present yourself how you feel, in general, because energy is

Robert Arauco:

contagious. If you're in a bad mood, it's not hard for someone

Robert Arauco:

to pick up on that. You try to hide it all you want. But

Robert Arauco:

eventually, they're going to catch on to that when you're in

Robert Arauco:

a great mood when you're passionate. It's contagious. And

Robert Arauco:

who knows, like, maybe you're the person that uplifts that

Robert Arauco:

person that day, to now do what they need to do on the other

Robert Arauco:

end, nothing. So,

Wesleyne Greer:

so good. That's so good. And I really liked what

Wesleyne Greer:

you said in the beginning thinking about, hey, sales is

Wesleyne Greer:

the lifeblood of the organization. I was actually

Wesleyne Greer:

telling an employee recently, I was like, they're 15 people

Wesleyne Greer:

whose lives I'm responsible for. And she was like, Wait, hold on,

Wesleyne Greer:

did you have a hiring Blitz? I was like, No, you and your two

Wesleyne Greer:

kids. And then I listed all their employees and their

Wesleyne Greer:

passions, like, oh, because as leaders, that's what you think

Wesleyne Greer:

about it's not just me, it's not just my family. It's not just

Wesleyne Greer:

the employee, it's your family. It's how you're gonna pay your

Wesleyne Greer:

mortgage and your bills, right. So all of those things good

Wesleyne Greer:

leaders really think about and because of that, the stress or

Wesleyne Greer:

the pressure sometimes comes down on us. And so we have to

Wesleyne Greer:

know how to disconnect, take a moment to say like, sometimes

Wesleyne Greer:

you might just be like, Oh, I don't have meetings for a couple

Wesleyne Greer:

hours. I don't have anything pressing, I think I'm just gonna

Wesleyne Greer:

take a nap, right? And that's okay. Because you know what you

Wesleyne Greer:

need to refresh and reboot. So as the company was going, you

Wesleyne Greer:

went from being the sales department, to building a sales

Wesleyne Greer:

team. Tell us about your trajectory from being an

Wesleyne Greer:

individual contributor to growing your team.

Robert Arauco:

It was tough, even weird, like, my co workers

Robert Arauco:

are like, Alright, we just got to find more Robert or alcoves,

Robert Arauco:

right, like we need to replicate you. And like that would always

Robert Arauco:

fall flat on its face. Like we just everyone's unique in their

Robert Arauco:

own way, right. And when you're in a situation where you're

Robert Arauco:

1099, and your paycheck is like, mainly dependent on your

Robert Arauco:

efforts, you're like, well, now I'm giving this attention in

Robert Arauco:

this time to this person who's not like even listening to what

Robert Arauco:

I'm saying, like recruiting is tough. Even now, like to this

Robert Arauco:

day, like we've had times where we've recruited like five sales

Robert Arauco:

reps in a row, and train them together, and got them going,

Robert Arauco:

and then they all failed. So now it's like, Alright, we're gonna

Robert Arauco:

take our time we, for anyone that recruits SDRs out there,

Robert Arauco:

satellite is a very good program. It's kind of like a

Robert Arauco:

recruiting agency, but it's basically a two month college

Robert Arauco:

for STRS. And they dive into psychology and like cold

Robert Arauco:

calling, and like, the path to tech sales and different things.

Robert Arauco:

But anyways, like we interviewed six people from them this week,

Robert Arauco:

all of them are polished, all of them are asking the right

Robert Arauco:

questions, but and it's tough. Like now we have a grading

Robert Arauco:

system, like we have to grade each of these people based off

Robert Arauco:

of like culture fit, you know, remote selling setup, like

Robert Arauco:

different things like that. And what I've learned most lately of

Robert Arauco:

being a leader is the empathy side of things is very

Robert Arauco:

important. Because if you don't connect with your people,

Robert Arauco:

they're going to leave. That's the beauty of like connecting

Robert Arauco:

with your people, they can get a job offer that may even be

Robert Arauco:

20 50,000 more, which is probably the right move, you

Robert Arauco:

know, for their family or whatever it is, but like they

Robert Arauco:

don't want to leave, because they love working with you the

Robert Arauco:

organization notation, they see the upside of growing within the

Robert Arauco:

company. But that was my weakness at the same time.

Robert Arauco:

always been good with connecting with people, even at that

Robert Arauco:

skilled nursing facility. I didn't know how to do all the

Robert Arauco:

paperwork because it was brand new to me. But me connecting

Robert Arauco:

with the patients was what I was good at taking them outside for

Robert Arauco:

some fresh air, making sure their day was right. I even had

Robert Arauco:

a lady that she had dementia. I bring her a flower every day.

Robert Arauco:

She called me on her deathbed. After I was already gone from

Robert Arauco:

the company. Her daughter called me like hey, my mom wants to see

Robert Arauco:

you. She misses you. I'm like, do you she has dementia. And she

Robert Arauco:

remembered me like that. Anyways, connecting is the most

Robert Arauco:

important thing. But what I've learned lately is you got to

Robert Arauco:

have accountability. He got to stay true to the numbers, the

Robert Arauco:

Northstar. It's gotta be a healthy mix of the two. Like,

Robert Arauco:

are you running a bunch of groupie sales people, everybody

Robert Arauco:

just gets along and has fun and there's not as much

Robert Arauco:

accountability to like hitting metrics. Are you running like a

Robert Arauco:

bullpen or it's all about numbers turn and burn. You know,

Robert Arauco:

whatever revenue first. I don't like that. So the healthy blend

Robert Arauco:

of the two. And to be honest, I think when you hold someone

Robert Arauco:

accountable, you actually care about them. Like that's a sign

Robert Arauco:

of caring, in my opinion.

Wesleyne Greer:

Yeah. Wow. A scorecard for hiring. It's like

Wesleyne Greer:

all the makings of the things that we need to do to really

Wesleyne Greer:

ensure that we're getting the best people for the positions.

Wesleyne Greer:

And I love to say hire slow fire fast. And some people like oh,

Wesleyne Greer:

wow, why do you say that? But Mike, because of you take your

Wesleyne Greer:

time and hire the right people. And if they don't hit the

Wesleyne Greer:

metrics, the things that you know that they should be in week

Wesleyne Greer:

two, if they're not doing this, let's have a conversation, get

Wesleyne Greer:

you up to speed. And week three, if you still aren't getting it,

Wesleyne Greer:

then there's something that's not right here. Because you're

Wesleyne Greer:

right, having that empathy and that compassion. Sometimes it

Wesleyne Greer:

hurts us as leaders, because we hold on to the wrong people too

Wesleyne Greer:

long, right? And so we have to find that balance between, yes,

Wesleyne Greer:

I need somebody who's driven who's driving, but I have to not

Wesleyne Greer:

push them too much. Push them just enough. And really having

Wesleyne Greer:

that individualized coaching plan for each person on the team

Wesleyne Greer:

is so so important.

Robert Arauco:

Yeah, definitely. Another little strategy I've

Robert Arauco:

been implementing lately, too, is like, as that team grows,

Robert Arauco:

it's just harder to like, Give everyone that one on one

Robert Arauco:

attention that, you know, people like it, like, they're looking

Robert Arauco:

up to you. They're growing, they're trying to become you

Robert Arauco:

sometimes in a sense, right. And what's been really working

Robert Arauco:

lately is not just we use stack for our whole company, or sorry,

Robert Arauco:

slack for our whole company to interact. So shout outs to the

Robert Arauco:

whole team, like, Hey, Christian, just set up three in

Robert Arauco:

a row. You know, they love that, and quick videos to like, quick,

Robert Arauco:

like 32nd to one minute videos that are high energy, either

Robert Arauco:

directly to the person, right? Like, Hey, I know you've been

Robert Arauco:

struggling to talk to 10 people so far, but that's okay. It's

Robert Arauco:

all about the next call. It's, you know, how can you improve

Robert Arauco:

your strategy? Think about the 10 people that just said no to

Robert Arauco:

you, and what could you have done different there? You know

Robert Arauco:

what to say? So let's connect, like those small things

Robert Arauco:

sometimes make the biggest difference. And from a time

Robert Arauco:

standpoint, now, I don't have to spend 15 minutes with that

Robert Arauco:

person trying to like get them back on track emotionally. And

Robert Arauco:

you know, from a driven standpoint, that one minute

Robert Arauco:

video did the trick. Obviously, you need the FaceTime by like,

Robert Arauco:

that has been something I've implemented lately, that's made

Robert Arauco:

a huge difference.

Wesleyne Greer:

proactive versus reactive leadership. That is

Wesleyne Greer:

amazing. Having setting the stage for people to know that

Wesleyne Greer:

this is an environment where we're not just shouting you out

Wesleyne Greer:

for closing a sale, because I think a lot of times,

Wesleyne Greer:

salespeople, that's why I call that that's a lagging indicator,

Wesleyne Greer:

what are the leading indicators? What are the behaviors we need

Wesleyne Greer:

to drive to ensure that we're hitting these revenue targets?

Wesleyne Greer:

Let's encourage those small things along the way. So even a

Wesleyne Greer:

brand new person in their third week, and they just made their

Wesleyne Greer:

first call, right? Hey, team, guess why such says just did

Wesleyne Greer:

this, they booked this meeting, they did that that helps

Wesleyne Greer:

motivate them because they feel like I'm a valued part of the

Wesleyne Greer:

team, even though I'm brand new. Exactly. So you have had a very,

Wesleyne Greer:

very diverse career and you have three wonderful kids and you're

Wesleyne Greer:

married. What is the one thing that you are most proud of

Wesleyne Greer:

accomplishing within your life, whether personally or

Wesleyne Greer:

professionally,

Robert Arauco:

that's a tough one because like, I'm always the

Robert Arauco:

guy that's like, looking forward, but I've put a huge

Robert Arauco:

emphasis and now I've noticed like that's one of the tricks to

Robert Arauco:

life. Like, you dwell on the past. Like that's the problem

Robert Arauco:

with salespeople, too, is like there was a time of Cutco

Robert Arauco:

crushing it number one, number one in the nation winning

Robert Arauco:

trophies, blah, blah, blah. And then I had some personal stuff

Robert Arauco:

in my life that happened that affected my sales. And then when

Robert Arauco:

I tried to get back into it, I was like wondering why it wasn't

Robert Arauco:

happening anymore. It's because I was focusing too much on the

Robert Arauco:

past. Right? Not on the now. And then there's people that get too

Robert Arauco:

caught up in the future. And they're just like, hey, you

Robert Arauco:

know, this is where I want to be. This is where I want to be

Robert Arauco:

and they're only focusing on that. And especially when you

Robert Arauco:

have a family, like now you're a lot of times you're in

Robert Arauco:

neglecting them, because they're next to you in the living room,

Robert Arauco:

and they want your attention and you're too busy, like planning

Robert Arauco:

something on your phone or whatever the case. So a big

Robert Arauco:

thing that I focus on now is focusing on the now. Because you

Robert Arauco:

don't know what's next. You can have the biggest Plans of the

Robert Arauco:

World you walk outside, something happens. You're gone.

Robert Arauco:

Right? Yeah. Sorry. Can you repeat the question? You are

Robert Arauco:

tight? I just want to make sure. I'll make sure I'm answering it

Robert Arauco:

the right way.

Wesleyne Greer:

You did, you did. And I think that really to

Wesleyne Greer:

round that out the past two years, if it taught us nothing

Wesleyne Greer:

else, it taught us that nothing is promised to you and nothing

Wesleyne Greer:

is in your control. Because literally people had these grand

Wesleyne Greer:

plans for 2020. In March, it's like, no, like, Okay, I'll do it

Wesleyne Greer:

in three months, six months, then a year, it is like 18

Wesleyne Greer:

months. And it's like, okay, I guess this is a new normal,

Wesleyne Greer:

right? Because we're whilst like, we're living in this space

Wesleyne Greer:

where we're just holding on. And then you're like, I have to

Wesleyne Greer:

start adapting, I have to start changing. And those that didn't

Wesleyne Greer:

adapt the businesses that went out of business, they're the

Wesleyne Greer:

ones who didn't adapt. They're the ones who didn't change. The

Wesleyne Greer:

people who may have been laid off, unfortunately, during that

Wesleyne Greer:

time, and they're still not able to find a new position is

Wesleyne Greer:

because, again, they're still living in what I used to do, or

Wesleyne Greer:

what I my last position was, and they're not really trying to

Wesleyne Greer:

think about, well, what can I do now? Where am I today? And how

Wesleyne Greer:

can I impact the world with where I am today? And what I'm

Wesleyne Greer:

doing?

Robert Arauco:

Yeah, that's a must. And our business grew

Robert Arauco:

during COVID. Like, that was one of that forward thinking type of

Robert Arauco:

things like we were using zoom, three years before COVID hit. So

Robert Arauco:

like, getting a realtor on the Zoom call in the beginning was

Robert Arauco:

what am I downloading, like, this is gonna change my

Robert Arauco:

computer. And I don't want to do this compared to like, now

Robert Arauco:

everybody knows what to do. They click a link they're in. And we

Robert Arauco:

were already perfectly set up for that. And the pitch changed.

Robert Arauco:

How are you going to stay in front of your clients? If you

Robert Arauco:

can't be face to face? It's on this thing. Right? Stay on their

Robert Arauco:

phone

Wesleyne Greer:

is good. That's good. Yeah, you guys had that?

Wesleyne Greer:

Like you said that Elon Musk. Tim, lat whole bit of all these

Wesleyne Greer:

forward thinking people that we think about if we think about

Wesleyne Greer:

Tesla, and SpaceX, and even Apple, you know, like, 10, like

Wesleyne Greer:

1520 years ago, what was apple? So remember, big box that I had

Wesleyne Greer:

an elementary school that I would be typing on, right, like,

Wesleyne Greer:

that's the Macintosh that I remember. And now it's a

Wesleyne Greer:

household name. And so I think that really what your

Wesleyne Greer:

organization has done is you've always been forward thinking.

Wesleyne Greer:

And so when the time came for you guys to step up and accept

Wesleyne Greer:

the hey, we've always been here, it was easy to captivate the

Wesleyne Greer:

market.

Robert Arauco:

Yeah, no, we, we doubled down on everything. We

Robert Arauco:

went from one state to 48 within about two years, of where we can

Robert Arauco:

offer the product because wow, yeah, well, it's it's a very

Robert Arauco:

complicated thing, because like, there's what's called the MLS.

Robert Arauco:

So this is like a data company where the realtors upload their

Robert Arauco:

listings. And it's Yeah, I don't know, it was gorgeous. It's

Robert Arauco:

like, there's some mafia style aspects to it, where it's like,

Robert Arauco:

we don't want to let you and like you got to pay, you got to

Robert Arauco:

do this, she's got to follow these rules. And like, you have

Robert Arauco:

to be able to adjust to each market, you have to be able to

Robert Arauco:

get that data in and pay these fees and everything. And it's

Robert Arauco:

unheard of to go for a startup to grow that fast. In times,

Robert Arauco:

yeah. But we were able to do it.

Wesleyne Greer:

Yep. And knowing that you're in the housing

Wesleyne Greer:

market during the housing, boom, I really, really, and now we're

Wesleyne Greer:

about to go into that low and people still want to be ahead of

Wesleyne Greer:

their customer, they still want to be in front of the customer

Wesleyne Greer:

so they can be top of mind. So you definitely are set up for

Wesleyne Greer:

success. This has been an amazing conversation, Robert,

Wesleyne Greer:

what is the one best way that people can get in touch with you

Wesleyne Greer:

if they're wanting to connect? If you're

Robert Arauco:

a realtor broker or something like that home

Robert Arauco:

stack.com That's like stack of paper will build you your own

Robert Arauco:

app. We'll walk you through the process. And we have coaches

Robert Arauco:

that assist with marketing and teaching you the system if you

Robert Arauco:

want to reach out to me directly. I do have a LinkedIn

Robert Arauco:

account. That's probably the best route. Robert Ralco. My

Robert Arauco:

last name is Ara. You. C is in cat. Oh, the only Robert Ralco

Robert Arauco:

in the United States. won't be hard to find me there.

Wesleyne Greer:

I'm only Wesley. I gotcha. So again, thank you so

Wesleyne Greer:

much for spending your time with us today and enriching us with

Wesleyne Greer:

all the ins and outs of being a 1099 going into startup SAS and

Wesleyne Greer:

into growth mode. We definitely appreciate all of your

Wesleyne Greer:

expertise.

Robert Arauco:

Thank you. We really appreciate you for having

Robert Arauco:

yawn and, and all of your listeners like this lady knows

Robert Arauco:

what she's talking about. So keep listening. Keep coming

Robert Arauco:

back.

Wesleyne Greer:

Thank you so much for the shout out. And that

Wesleyne Greer:

was another episode of the transformed sales podcast.

Wesleyne Greer:

Remember and everything that you do find a way to transform your

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube