Episode 66: Craig Nishizaki of UpTop on How to Get to the Top

Craig Nishizaki is the Senior Director of Business, Design and Development at UpTop, a user experience design and development agency based in Seattle. UpTop aims to solve clients’ problems and maximize their success by applying design thinking and technology. Craig is a problem-solver, connector, and evangelizer who is passionate about bringing value to everything he does. Craig has accrued a bevy of sales and technology knowledge from experiences throughout his career. His specialties include User Experience Design (UX), User Research, Product Management, Consulting, and Business Development, among others.

In this episode, Craig talks about his career arc in sales, from an early desire to be an entrepreneur to working within the telecommunications industry for nearly fifteen years, to becoming a top performer within the User Experience (UXX) industry. Craig shares a couple of his favorite sales stories, including one where he learned a valuable lesson about business strategy and mentality. He identifies the three things that have attributed to this success. These include mastering sales methodologies, constantly learning, and taking pride in his work.

Craig is a true believer in self-motivation and providing value to his employer, his sales counterparts, and his customers. In fact, he considers this ability to enhance his clients and organization as one of his greatest accomplishment. Craig brings this mentality into his daily routine as he notes while taking the audience through a typical day in the life. His day-to-day consists of early morning yoga, cleaning out his inbox, scheduling the remainder of his day, and asking two essential questions every day without fail. Finally, Craig speaks to the importance of leaving behind a successful legacy. He believes that a positive legacy built on hard work and dedication is the result of a successful career and life.

What We Covered:

00:24 – Scott takes a moment to thank the sponsor of today’s episode, Dale Carnegie
00:45 – Scott Ingram welcomes to the podcast, Craig Nishizaki
01:03 – The top three things Craig attributes to his success
01:17 – Number 1: Learning and following sales methodology
02:02 – Number 2: Constantly learning
03:23 – Number 3: Taking pride in the work
05:51 – Scott talks about an upcoming webinar he is doing in partnership with Dale Carnegie
07:02 – Craig’s role at UpTop
08:38 – Craig’s sales results
10:11 – The sales methodology that Craig follows
11:58 – The importance of asking the right strategic questions
13:13 – How Craig uses situational case studies to help serve his clients
15:12 – The Challenger Sale questions
17:54 – Craig talks about the mix of new and returning clients
18:57 – The primary sources of industry learnings for Craig
21:01 – How Craig utilizes information to spark new sales conversations
21:45 – How Craig got his start in sales
26:55 – Why Craig never left sales
27:56 – Advice Craig would give to sales people looking to get outside their comfort zone
31:07 – What Craig would do differently in his career if given the chance
33:03 – Craig shares a couple of his favorite sales stories
35:14 – Craig’s proudest accomplishment
36:37 – The biggest challenges of Craig’s sales career
38:49 – The most important piece of advice Craig has for those looking for more sales opportunities
43:45 – Craig describes a typical day in the life
46:32 – Tools and apps Craig uses on a daily basis
48:33 – The process of getting stories built out on Trello
50:10 – What motivates Craig
53:21 – One of Craig’s beliefs that the average medical device sales rep thinks is crazy
56:04 – An average sales rep’s belief that Craig believes is crazy
1:00:12 – Advice Craig would give to an upstart sales professional
1:03:19 – Finding the right coach or mentor
1:06:45 – Advice Craig would give to an average middle-of-the-pack salesperson
1:09:04 – One thing Craig would like to know about top sellers in other organizations
1:11:05 – Craig’s actionable challenge to the Sales Success Stories Podcast audience

Tweetables:

• “Separation is in the preparation.” (04:20)

• “I’m of the belief that you can talk someone right into a sale and you can talk them right out by talking too much.” (16:06)

• “Our biggest competitor is status quo.” (16:32)

• “In a roundabout way, I did become an entrepreneur by owning my portfolio of customers.” (27:48)

• “Hope is not a business strategy.” (34:55)

• “I think, ya know, sometimes success can be your failure.” (56:10)

What We Covered:

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