Full Transcript below. Here you can find the condensed show notes.
Intro:
You are listening to the Sales Success Podcast where we deconstruct sales performance to provide insight and strategy to help you improve and learn more visit us at top1sales.wpengine.com here’s your host Scott Ingram.
Scott Ingram:
Today I am joined by another top one percent DeJuan Brown is an account executive and Bloomberg BNA, welcome to the Show DeJuan
DeJuan Brown:
Thank you very much I appreciate the privilege to be here I look forward to our discussion.
Scott Ingram:
I am looking forward to digging in and for those who are new to the show well typically these episodes they run pretty long our average is a little over an hour but we try and frontload the value on the sales front so even if you hang around here for the first 5 or 10 minutes you get a lot of value and hopefully you get some reasons and want to stick around and here some more of what DeJuan has to share, so as always I have asked DeJuan to prepare kind of the top three things that have separated him and allowed him to get to the top, I will talk about it isn’t the first time that he has been at the top so we look forward into digging into that so DeJuan I want you to tackle the three things however you like.
DeJuan Brown:
Yes sure I think I will start with what’s most at anonomoulis I believe and that is a sort of wide to narrow thinking, so that is when thought process goes from wide to narrow and that leaves me asking the wide to narrow questions of my prospects and clients and if we look at that sort of I guess the equation that X will be equation of the information that I will need to get in order for the meeting to be a success and then from there I think what are some nonlinear ways I can get to that information so as an example, suppose I am asking what time do you want to eat lunch, you know I might ask you that question to get that information in a variety of other ways. I might say are you at your best when you have a full stomach after one or before 12 right you know it is the goal to get that information about time but I want to do it in a way that doesn’t lead to sought of the idea of the question that I am trying get to if that makes any sense. The second would be never ending quest for a better way I don’t think that in anything I have done or activity I have undertaken there has not been a better way to do it, a better way to kind of approach it so I am always on a quest in finding that better way, with regard the sales with regard the relationship building with regard to service. That assumes that I can’t be the best in every area and I think that lends to itself to humility which is a treat that I really covert. The third would just be belief, right some people will call that passion, some people would say it sort of a mission statement so to speak but I kind of borrow from some and select regard as to why I am in the golden circle, I am a big proponent and that is one of the things that has helped me to get to the top ranks where I have been.
Scott Ingram:
Very cool that was fast, I mean basically that defines the next step there are utube videos out there you can check that out, I want to go back and check out each one, so the wide to narrow I assume what you mean by that is your asking some broader questions to begin with and understanding maybe the broader landscape and then really drilling in from there is that accurate?
DeJuan Brown:
Yeah that would be accurate so the goal is okay I need this piece of information and I can go linear and very straightforward to a question that gets to that a yes or no or even an open question that gets to that information but my goal is to think that the most I dare say the most creative ways to come about that information and that conversation so that it is not just the run of the mill interview or conversation with the prospect or the client and it really keeps them engaged and I think that is a great way to do things and I think a lot of my competitors have not done, so that sets me apart.
Scott Ingram:
And what is the under arching, underlying goal is it, is it to connect in a different way or is it a more authentic conversation are you trying to get them off balance in some way what’s driving that?
DeJuan Brown:
Yeah initially I think when I began to do that, the driving factor was differentiation you know the industry that I am in and the industry I have been in for 14 -15 years a lot is run of mill, a lot is just standard, a lot is expectations meet reality and there is no deviation from it between the two and when you dealing with as a sales person you already have some preconceived notions, that you need to overcome things like that I want my conversations A-to be as you mentioned authentic and the B- just be different you know so to hear things like yes and this is something I learned a long time ago well when you in a meeting or having a conversation with someone for them to say I agree or yes that makes sense or no not their head, and they see that as a circle of success I don’t see that as success for me success is I have never thought of it that way, or I have never heard that, I have never heard it put that way or mmm give me a minute let me think about that so those are the things I am trying to drive towards I am trying to drive towards actual thought engagement of a mental level with the time I spend with any client or prospect.
Scott Ingram:
I like that and you also mentioned that for you to determine the meeting a success how do you decide if a meeting is a success what you going for?
DeJuan Brown:
I am going for teachable points I want to be seen amongst those I engage with as a source of information, new or different information I wanna be I want to the meeting and the things that are said and done within the meeting to confirm that there has been something learned from our time so that there is value from that perspective, and I want to have the person that I have met with to desire more meetings with me, whether it be one more meeting whether it another meeting or whether it be right then we do business or post business, post signing I want to be the type of person you reach out to for information and it has to be based on the fact that you got information from me from our first meeting.
Scott Ingram:
Nice, and then with the never ending quest for a better way how are you approaching that, how are you constantly trying to improve and find new areas to work on?
DeJuan Brown:
That’s a good question, I think it starts with that question right, so you have as sales people we have an endless number of processes that we engage in on a day to day basis, sometimes when those processes seem to bring success we tend to do them mindlessly and so what I try to do is to avoid that and ask the question is this the best way possible to do X, right that can be from prospecting, that can be from how I actually dial it could be from a voicemail leaving or e-mail drafting, every process that I engage in on a day to day basis at some point and hopefully continuously I am always asking the question is this currently the best way? And that just sets me up on a quest for research right so I mean is Google is a beautiful thing when it comes to this type of research because you could literally Google the best way to do whatever that it is you engaged in, and continually reading new articles, listening to new podcasts, new angles and directions on everything that we are doing and never believing that we haven’t sewn the market cornered on proficiency or productivity.
Scott Ingram:
I like it, we are going to be unpacking that a whole bunch more with some of those processes you are using and some of the better ways that you have found, I am looking forward to that part of the conversation, and then lastly the belief piece what is that for you what do you believe, what is it and why?
DeJuan Brown:
Yeah I believe that, I deal in research right so the product that I bring to clients is a product that allows them to do research quicker, access to better content, and I believe that even though that seems to be sort of a must have for most organizations with professionals in it will find it necessary to be compliant body, governing body. What gets missed in that is the profitably in that research right so for me my belief statement is really in two parts.
1.   If you are doing research which every professional is in some degree, you should be able to do all the research that you need to do in one place right, I really believe that and that takes various forms depending with which platform I am dealing with or the audience that I am speaking to but that is one of my beliefs
2.   another belief is if you are spending money in you should be able to draw a line to a dollar spent coming back into the business this is where profitably of research comes in and again in the research market it is not something that is either discussed or believed or if it is believed it is not something that is realized as often as people would like, and I am here to sort of state these are my beliefs and then on the basis of those beliefs we have created as an organisation a platform that actually accomplishes both of these things and showing you what that is at the end.
Scott Ingram:
And are your working with your clients to actually quantify that?
DeJuan Brown:
I am, I am and there are a number of ways to actually quantify that from, again this goes back to the wide to narrow thinking when we talk about okay one of the questions I have asked many of my clients who I now call clients but were prospects at the time and have become clients is, who is your ideal client, right then of the amount of clients you have how many of those fit the profile of real client and inevitably everything from 10% to maybe 20% and rarely do I hear anything over 50% and the next question is why is that? And it boils down to bandwidth or capability, resources and so follow up is typically who are you turning away and where are you sending them to and why right and then we get to the place where we start to discover over long experience that many of my clients turn away business that they don’t feel like they are equipped to take in on a basis of either now or resources or whatever now if we define what each client is worth when they come in to that practise and then we actually add into what it means to you to be doing the work that you actually signed up to right, so these people are in business, in love xyz with the people they deal with yet they find themselves doing what they love very small percentage of the time they actually doing their work, now we talking about okay we are able to allow you to attract those that you love, and actually serve them because you have the resources to do so in one place and you can rely on it. So that sort of thinking drives what I am talking about as far as quantifying so who are you turning away and what is the value of those that you are turning away what will be the value of actually increasing the amount, the percentage of clients that you work with, your ideal client, what does that mean for your life, help you to do more for the business you love to begin with.
Scott Ingram:
Great stuff, obviously it is very clear you have a very different approach I look forward to digging into that some more and lots more, but before I do a quick shout out to our sponsor which is Nudge, Nudge is a modern sales platform that develops relationship strength to help you find and keep your best customers, I have been using Nudge myself since the very early beta version, and they continue to add a lot more to that solution over time. So if you value your relationships the way I do then you going to want to check out Nudge and sign up for free at neednudge.com.
Alright DeJuan talk about your role and a little bit more specifics and maybe give us context around Bloomberg BNA and how you got to be in the top 1% from what I have read it happened very early.
DeJuan Brown:
Right, yeah so, yeah so Bloomberg BNA so some context Bloomberg BNA as many know yeah Bloomberg LP based in New York City, Michael Bloomberg is the mayor of New York runs that company and BNA (Bureau of National Affairs) was founded in 1929 and was purchased by Bloomberg in 2011, so what we have always done and continue to do is to provide news obviously from the Bloomberg angle you know that and then more manner of content of really every industry so when people ask me for an elevated speech of what I do. I basically help all my clients see around corners if you have a body you are compliant to you need to keep track of, regulations, rules, laws, and those sorts of things then I am your guy, and that does not matter what industry you are in.
Scott Ingram:
Awesome and then just a little more detail about your role and how you climbed to the top.
DeJuan Brown:
Sure so what I do I am what’s called an Accounts Executive, I started here just really two years ago as a, November 3rd I believe and what I do is I call on directors, VP’s in corporate environment so Directors of HR and VP’s of HR, payroll, tax, legal and corporate counsel and then law firms as well to get meetings with them to discuss some of the things we have already talked about in terms of profitability around the research that did and how we can increase the productivity and the profitability around their undertaking.
Scott Ingram:
Beautiful can you quantify your results for us, I know you have done it very well, I would really love you to put some context around that.
DeJuan Brown:
Sure, so in my first year which was last year, first full year which was last year I think I finished the year at 212% of quota and this year where we have literally one month left, this month ends today so we have literally one month left and I am currently at 218% of quota.
Scott Ingram:
Excellent and that’s, that has you in the number 2 slot gunning for number 1 right? I think about 150 on a team.
DeJuan Brown:
Absolutely I think there are about 150 on a team.
Year I think the total lumped into one we have what we call strategic reps, we have myself, then we have some specialized reps as well also I think that total is around 150.
Scott Ingram:
Excellent, and what is your origin story, how did you get into sales in the first place?
DeJuan Brown:
I and if I have to think my origin within the sales industry will have to be when I waited tables for about 7 or 8 years prior to actually getting into what most people would see as actually sales but it was there that I kind of understood the value of service, and what that meant to all, what that meant to people hearing you out and giving you an opportunity to actually speak and to make suggestions about the way that they live their lives, right so when you waiting tables for most during my time and in the restaurant that I was in, it was really about what do you need, what do you want, I’ll go get it, I’ll bring it to you but for me I found that it was a direct tie between on how I served, how proactive I was in anticipating needs, how good I was at making suggestions that actually tied to how much money I could make, and so that is kind of where I owned my skills communication with people, reading people, emotional intelligence if you will, starting there lead me to my actual first sale jobs which was Intuit, pretty widely known company as well and that is where everything started for me.
Scott Ingram:
Yeah and talk us through your track record at Intuit because you have simpler pretty good results there, I would love to know a little bit more about that.
DeJuan Brown:
Sure, so when I first started at Intuit it was at the request of a friend of mine who said look you need to be in real sales instead of waiting tables which obviously didn’t understand what I thought or what I understood of the two, I said you know I will try and he said just get your foot in the door, so I started telling and cutting in I was hired 16 hours a week part-time to sell basically forms and supplies, envelopes invoices that sort of thing, and there I really built very quickly I was promoted twice within the first year in terms of the internal teams that they had. Staff was there and just continued to move through it and I don’t think I ever ranked less or lower than 2, 2nd place across three maybe four business units, different levels of responsibility, different client bases, different activities over the course of twelve and a half years.
Scott Ingram:
And knowing what you know now is there anything that you would have done differently in terms of getting into sales, where you got into sales or just getting that career started?
DeJuan Brown:
Well I certainly think I would have been more clear about what the hierarchy of and this is in quotes “hierarchy of sales” if you will the career path of a sales rep, so I think I would have spent far less time than a decade or so in an inside sales room to just know what I know now.
Scott Ingram:
Yeah, so just working not getting into the field quicker?
DeJuan Brown:
Yeah right absolutely.
Scott Ingram:
Yeah awesome, and what that is a pretty good history lots of really, really consistent results is there a particular story that you most proud of through that time with Intoit or Bloomberg BNA?
DeJuan Brown:
I am thank you for that question I think it is a good one because for me consistency is a big deal for me and so over the course of nearly 15 years with 2 companies, several business units I have I think probably I can count on one hand how many months I have missed right and when I say months I mean by quota right so I have this monthly quota over the course of 15 years and on one hand I can count how many times missed that quota and it right now with the current role I am in, since my very first month in the field which is November 2014 I have not missed a month and that is really important to me because it kind of shows to me personally the things that I value and the things that I say are important in terms of service and really over serving our community they pay off and so that is really, really something I am proud of.
Scott Ingram:
Awesome, what about the flip side when has it been the hardest?
DeJuan Brown:
I think what has been the hardest and the biggest challenge is continual, that is convincing in the principles of any organization or business that what I am here to do is actually serve you right and so that is a hard pill to swallow and that is not really, really easy to convince or convey someone of it takes a lot of convincing it takes usually a longer time than just I want to sell you what you need but that’s for me the biggest challenge because number, quotas and goals at the risk of sounding somewhat I guess cocky those haven’t been issues or challenges for me.
How to do the work has not been a challenge for me what has been a challenge for me has to really convince those I work with and work for that my primary goal is to serve.
Scott Ingram:
And how do you take that on, what, what is the process that helps you help them understand that your really are out for them?
DeJuan Brown:
I have to make sure and it is a very big effort and it is something I have to clearly articulate that what I say matches what I do. And that is over time right it is not I said I was going to send you an e-mail 8h00 and I sent it at 8h00 o clock you that once and now you convinced I am here serve you, it, it really just over and over feeling you know and thinking through how can I actually bring value here with no strings attached, and how many times can I do that over the course of six months, how many times can I do that over the course of a year, how about when people don’t buy from you how then is my service, so those are the sort of things that I find actually make an impact again from an organisational aspect the people that hired me and gave me an opportunity to do this lovely work,  and the people I actually work for, being my clients my prospects, those that are in my community and those that are in my district or territory what does it look like when a sales is over what does it look like when I have said no to him, what does it look like when I don’t reach out to him so the assumption is all is well what does it look like for, what does his service look like holistically. And so that is how I do it I just make sure that every step pre, during, post, engagement, sale, non-sale all of those things I am always seeking to serve.
Scott Ingram:
Excellent, and it sounds like your role, you mostly responsible for opening up your own opportunity and getting that ball rolling, is that accurate?
DeJuan Brown:
That is, that is accurate.
Scott Ingram:
How are you going about that, what’s working best for you when it comes to creating new opportunities?
DeJuan Brown:
Well the first step to any new opportunity would be a meeting and the way I kind of locate the people that I want to meet with it is through one of my favourite tools which is LinkedIn sales navigator it is literally what I use 100% for my prospecting but from there I just make calls and everything is sort of foundational within a particular territory and you just build on it and so if I am doing what I just described in a question prior right which is serving rapidly then it leads to people wanting to help you and so over the first year and some change of working here my goal was just to over serve my community to over serve this district that I work in such that even if I just called to say hey, hey Scott we met we have not been able to do business that’s great hopefully you can introduce me to such and such whom I see you connected to on LinkedIn. Those are things that people want to do for you, so the first hand it me doing my own prospecting and me and the second is to serve the community which is able to feed my pipeline as well, these are the two things I do and I feel I do them fairly well.
Scott Ingram:
And I think that works really well the longer you in that territory right? The stronger those relationships are the more opportunities are creeping up right. How do you take it one in the very beginning when you don’t have any of that?
DeJuan Brown:
Sure, so in the very beginning it is again just the diffierention a service first mentality makes the walk from don’t know you at all to I absolutely want to help you, I much shorter walk but you start by doing that excessively, the second thing is you know LinkedIn Sales Navigator is what I would recommend to any sales person out there who has specific people they are trying to reach because it actually puts you into contact with anyone you want to be in contact with, and so that is the first step that I took and that was one of the questions right and so at the beginning we talked about you know there must be a better way, and so for me the from ways people gave me to prospect I utilized all of them but I continually asking there must be a better way. What is a better way to do this I stumbled upon LinkedIn Sales Navigator and that has been the way that I have actually done and built the most relationships in the shortest amount of time?
Scott Ingram:
Talk a little more about that, how specifically are you using the sales navigator?
DeJuan Brown:
I am using the LinkedIn Sales Navigator really to do there’s a functionality within it called E Builder and really you can go in and say here is the geographic area, here’s the function I am looking for whether it is human resources or tax or accounting or legal or whatever it may be then you can breakdown to the level of the seniority you are looking for VP or manager, or above or below down to, you really can get really, really narrow and precise in terms of who you looking for, where they are, business etc., etc. And it generates a list for you but beyond that you have an alert for that and every time someone comes into that, that system that matches the criteria that you have set, they send an e-mail and most times those e-mails are multiple which says we have one new lead that matches your criteria it is usually 5, 10, 30 and then there is a tool I use that moves that lead from LinkedIn Sales Navigator into sales force which is what we use on the CRM.
Scott Ingram:
And how are you, you got a pretty good sized geographical territory so how are you managing that from a scale perspective do you focus on different areas, different times or do you build around Inca meetings, what’s your approach there?
DeJuan Brown:
Yeah I think the latter, that is a good question because you know I didn’t quite get there at the beginning of my career here but yes Anker meetings have been extremely helpful for me, so you know as I am, you know again the Sales Navigator is extremely helpful in that way because if I say I want to be in Virginia Beach as an example, twice next month then I can simply go into Sales Navigator and pull all of leads from Virginia Beach area and I can actually dig even deeper and say I just want HR related leads or Tax related leads, then I have a list that I can call on in Virginia Beach around what I actually what to talk about and spend time doing so it gives me a lot of freedom in that way as well.
Scott Ingram:
And with Sales Navigator are you only using it for identification, or are you also using e-mails and some of the searching capabilities as well?
DeJuan Brown:
In-mails has been hug for me, in terms of having people, in mails is a last resort right so that the first goal is to get them on the phone have a conversation but in the, in the when that fails and I am unable to do so the in-mails has been sort of lifesaver because it will go to the persons in box and I have got a lot of good response and a lot of meetings set up that way.
Scott Ingram:
Awesome, so let’s talk about routines and habits a little bit. Do you have a specific morning routine that you follow?
DeJuan Brown:
I do, it is relatively simple, I do cross fit, I drink the cross fit cool aid, so I do cross fit in the morning so I wake up at 5.30 every morning I am at cross fit by 6.30 I do that until 7.30 come home on a way to cross fit and on the way back from cross fit a total of about 40 minutes I am listening to a podcast or audible books so it can a very, very broad variety there is no kind of set genre that I know it may be Tim Ferris on one day an it, it could be Planet Money on another day or it could be a book, biography, autobiography it could be anything. So I do that on the way to and from cross fit but then I get home I spend a little bit of time with my family and my children and I get ready for work and I kinda attack the day.
Scott Ingram:
And speaking of children you have a few of those?
DeJuan Brown:
I do, I have 6 total children, one is almost not qualified as a child because he is more in college but he still, he is still my child, he is still my baby.
Scott Ingram:
Awesome, it is great to hear that is still possible, you still are at the top of your game at work and still a great family man and you are out working from a children’s stand point 3 to 1.
DeJuan Brown:
Laughing you have some catching up to do, I’m rooting for you Scott.
Scott Ingram:
As much as I need to do in that area I have, I have met my quota and I am not going to surpass it, (laughing)
What about the cross fit that is everyday 5 days a week.
DeJuan Brown:
Yes 5 days a week, 5 days on and 2 days off absolutely.
Scott Ingram:
Okay so what you kind of wrap up with the family and you start your day, how does the work day start?
DeJuan Brown:
I think it varies and that is best for me, my personality type will be if that aspect of life were redundant I would fall apart, so you know it could be a day of, starting off the day by saying you know what I have a meeting at 11 am so I will spend an hour sending in-mails, I am going to spend an hour calling these people who came and sought meetings with me, reschedule it can be I am going to spend time putting together a tech for a teammate or so it really varies for me so that I like it that way monotony is my enemy so that is really something that I could quantify in a consistent way.
Scott Ingram:
How do take that o, do you just kind of take it as it comes or look at I have this hoping today, how are you thinking about that is it a daily approach, is it a weekly approach, what does that look like?
DeJuan Brown:
Gosh, it is a daily approach for me, what I won’t allow, so this is what to be inconsistent for me is e-mails or voicemails left for me or sent to me to dictate to me how I must start my day right, so at the beginning of the day after I have worked out and I have come home and I have done those things, you know at that point I am thinking you know what does my day look like from a meeting perspective, and then is there any prep that I need to do for those meetings then beyond that it is always in the effort to get more meetings obviously so that the goal is the same every day, how I approach that is what is going to differ.
Scott Ingram:
Got it, are there other habits or daily things that you do no matter what?
DeJuan Brown:
Well besides cross fit you know definitely checking LinkedIn, reading or those people I am connected with care about what they have posted what they have responded to in seeing that same content and information from those that I hope to reach out to at some point. So one of the important things to me is just knowing that the people I care about in the community or territory what they care about, so that I can craft and make sure that I drive content that matters to them, so that is something important perspective many of us have twitter, many of us have facebook, many of us have LinkedIn, not many of us counter intuitive think how can I serve those that I am connected with better and more, and I have gone so far as to ask that question what do you want to see more me of me to follow me on twitter, those that follow me on LinkedIn or twitter on a very regular basis so that I can make sure I serve.
Scott Ingram:
And what are those, how are you serving those audiences or networks?
DeJuan Brown:
Well I post a lot of content and I engage in a lot of the content that is posted by either prospects, clients or friends, in these various social networks, so I don’t post arbitory comments right that is sort of a rule of thumb for me, like I could post what I ate this morning, and I could post you know how happy I am to be the father of 6 children, and the husband of 1 beautiful wife, but I don’t know that adds value to the people who have followed me and there is a reason that they have followed me, my goal is to understand that reason and then post content that supports it and furthers it and, and brings value again with no strings attached.
Scott Ingram:
Yeah, and how are you finding that content or maybe an extended question is what is that overall information , we already talked about the morning, you listen to podcast, you’re listening to audio books, what are you primary sources of content for yourself and for your networks?
DeJuan Brown:
Sure, so this is a great question it kind of dabbles into trade secret but I’ll, I’ll expose some of it, (laughing) so you know there is an app and its available and its web and its application based on smart phones, it’s called buffer right, and so what buffer does, bufferapp.com what buffer does it allows you to take content from wherever you consuming it from and then put it into a queue to be delivered to you various social networks at specific times of a day or a course of a week at your discretion, so that’s number one kind of jumping the gun a little bit I am going to talk about tools a little bit, buffer app is huge because it means I don’t have to sit and post to twitter, facebook and LinkedIn all day, yet those who follow me is still getting value from me from periodic posts during the course of everyday, now how do I feed that buffer, so that I have a substantial amount of content with the buffer, well that comes from apps like flip board and the news app actually if you an IPhone user the news app has been enhanced to you can actually go by news and content area and have it aggregate the news and the articles and the contents right there on your phone, you can look at these things and read through these articles and get that information out, right so there’s a variety of news apps and they can all be integrated with buffer right on the computer, there are plug ins to say buffer some article to send this out later so that’s the kind of first half right, then the second half is there’s another app called blink gist, and blink gist is phenomenal for those buffs like me or for those that are just really, really busy otherwise they want to consume good content what blinked does it actually takes the most cogent points from every chapter of a given nonfiction book breaks them down to what they call blinks so the goal is not to avoid reading books in whole the goal is understand which books will bring high value to readers so there are 2450 books on the best way to respond on an e-mail as an example, you don’t have to read everyone from cover to cover but there are some you might want to, so what blinks allows you to do in 15 minutes is get a clear understand of what’s important and the most important parts of that book so that you can make a determination whether it is valuable enough for you to read as a whole.
Scott Ingram:
That is really interesting, that is a new one for me, so it is blinkist.com right
DeJuan Brown:
Yes BLINKIST
Scott Ingram:
So we will definitely have that on the website pages, on top1sales.wpengine.com so that will be great, what are some of the other tools we have talked about buffer and blinkist, and flip board, I’m not sure did I get that one right?
DeJuan Brown:
Yes I think it is flip board I must go and check that one out, flip board if that is indeed the name I can check very quickly, yes flip board it is an app very similar to the news app it again allows you to say these are the areas of content that I care most about and it aggregates therefore curator which allows you to read articles on the bases of what you care about, and the actually assemanate those through buffer.
Scott Ingram:
I just want to back off my question just for a second, and follow up with I think one of the traps, of all of the social and internet information is that it can be really consuming, do you have a way of kind of limiting yourself, I assume buffer is kind of part of that but how keep this from consuming your life, and keep you from being at the top of your game?
DeJuan Brown:
Sure, so buffer is a huge, huge one but we all have downtime where we would you know of I am honest when I look around at my friends and family that I am close with, you know during these down periods we browsing facebook or maybe we are going onto twitter or instagram, we do have our phone and we looking at it, so what I do I make sort of a concerted effort and an intentional choice you know if I am at a dr’s office waiting to go back for my appointment as an example I can take that time and actually go through flip board, put 5, 6, 10 things into my buffer so that they go then I am done, right so, so buffer the key to making sure I am not consumed with social media because I don’t have to be in front of my computer, I can do it at times when you in a traffic jam and in still traffic I can load up 5 to 10 things in buffer right then and there and it takes all of 15 minutes right because these are short articles they not posting thesis’s oh short articles to read see man this is a article my audience would like this, throw it into my buffer so, that app is how I maintain sanity in this world and to make sure I am not consumed.
Scott Ingram:
Very cool, so what other apps I cut that question off, let’s go back there?
DeJuan Brown:
Sure so I mean beside from those blinkist, and then whatever standard podcast app you use I think podcasts are extremely valuable and I do enjoy the podcast so that would be an app, the news app, LinkedIn sales navigator and LinkedIn itself, those would really be the key things that I would go to that I can’t live without in this work that I do.
Scott Ingram:
Awesome, what other podcasts are you listening to? I know you listen to our friend Donald Kelly on the sales of an evangelist, here’s a shout out to Donald. Anything else in the sales realm beyond what you have already mentioned?
DeJuan Brown:
Yes so I do listen to the sales evangelist, I actually listen to my first few episodes of something called philosophise this which is just a podcast around philosophy and different schools of philosophy and though, planted money, Tim Ferris is a great podcast to listen to because some of the questions that we engaging here as far as habits and tips, tricks and tools, he is asking of the outstanding people in all areas of live right, whether it is a chess master or navy seal so that kind of constructive and excellent, it is a phenomenal I don’t do a lot with regard to sales specific or sales centric podcasts because one of my goals is to be as broadly read and listened as possible because the conversations I have with people that I am engaging with aren’t if I am going to differentiate myself of going to be all sales related, so I am just how people think, people formulate their opinions and ideas, then what peoples perspectives are holistically and across large variety of subject matters.
Scott Ingram:
And from a book stand point, so obviously you using blinkist to search for kind of the crème of the crop in what you do, what you want to read, what’s been most impactful in the last year or two for you in terms of your reading or obviously listening on audible?
DeJuan Brown:
Nothing has impacted me, I don’t think more than start with a while by Simon Linsik, that has just been, it has totally transformed my paradigm it just totally transformed the way that I approach relationships and the way I approach business and it continues to pay dividends you know to this day and far into the future.
Scott Ingram:
Good stuff, now speaking about philosophy and that shaping is, is there a particular sales philosophy that you subscribe to?
DeJuan Brown:
Good question, there is I think this is you know almost cliché my philosophy is help as many people get what they want and need and you will get what you want and need by default,
Scott Ingram:
Good Zig Ziglar.
DeJuan Brown:
Yeah that’s it.
That is it I mean literally. I am asked this question quite often and I have been asked this question quite often over the course of the last decade or so, and that is it, I think it is so simple it is like easy but it is simple,
Scott Ingram:
Yeah without a doubt, and that probably leads typically my next question I ask is about your own style but I have thin you have really talked about it, it’s really a kind of servant leadership that is really serving your community, your company of those that you work with, am I missing anything in that?
DeJuan Brown:
No I think that is spot on, you know and with that you know we talk about nuance here, other areas the effort is in figuring out and actually sitting with yourself and asking the question how could I do that? In whatever context it is right, so you know if I asked a question, if I wanted to serve this person and let them know that my goal is service to them with no string attached, what are the sorts of things I would do, what would I say to them how would I approach them, how would I go about post sales communication and planning, how would I communicate that to them in a way that is truthful and in a way that is integrity and actually hammers home the point. That’s the hard work though, because that is not easy. To think of these ways that have various contexts with various people, and personality types, but that is the difficult work so again when I say it is simple my philosophy is simple but actually executing against that philosophy on a day to day basis to a multitude of people and organisations, is extremely difficult.
Scott Ingram:
Well then let me dig into that and talk to you a little bit more and really curious about how you managing the gap, between that service which could be endless, right that could take you into a thousand different directions and potentially away from sales and revenues, so how do you bridge the gap, between the way you serving your clients and get autographs on contract,?
DeJuan Brown:
Sure, so you know if I could, I know this is against etiquette typically ask you a question in return and that is have you ever said to someone call me anytime?
Scott Ingram:
Sure
DeJuan Brown:
It could be anybody
Scott Ingram:
Yeah
DeJuan Brown:
Now let’s say you said that to 100 people of that 100 people how many people called you after a couple of hours?
Scott Ingram:
Very, very few single digits.
DeJuan Brown:
There you go, so at the end of the day no matter how much I express my desire to serve you and over serve you and serve you infinitely very, very, very few are going to attempt to waste your time to take you up on that and it is not because they don’t believe you it’s because the is something in all of us has level of what we redeem to be respectful, what we deem to be obnoxious or nuisance and no one wants to cross that threshold, that threshold is to themselves. So it does not matter I can literally tell everyone whether they buy from or not specifically those that don’t buy from me, hey I want to be a resource to you, if there is anything that you need that your think I might have access to whether it be people or tools or processes, maybe you just have a question about who is the best person to come and fix your, your h-vac I know people and I want to be a resource to you one way or another please call me, please e-mail me. In two years here 3 people have taken me up on it, so I think what we deal with often is my goodness I don’t want to give anyone a rope, I don’t want to give anyone an inch because they may take a mile, many people don’t take miles, not a lot of people will actually take a mile,.
Scott Ingram:
Awesome, and that is a pretty good transition one of the things I would like to ask is, something that you believe the average seller would think is crazy?
DeJuan Brown:
Yeah, in that again it kinda all ties in, I can mention I think that you know, again if I desire to and express and actually execute against my desire to literally serve you, over serve you and out serve my competitors, out serve anyone you have ever worked with I believe that, that is nearly the, I don’t want to say that is the only thing I need to worry about or be concerned with but I really need to put some focus on this into that and when I do success follows right so I, its, its 100% so far, 100% from the time I have been in sales that I have said my goal is to serve you how can I do that better, how can I make sure that you understand that, that is the truth and my goal and how can we work together with that, with that from that perceptive it has always led me rushing goals, and you know maybe there are some things, everything is art and science so maybe there’s some science piece, for me that’s the science maybe there is some art piece something that I have or have inherited or some aspect of my personality that kind of lends itself to those outcomes, but for me and having to define what the science is I do it is really just service again it is a hard pill to swallow for those who believe that it’s really just about beating the concrete getting your numbers and activity up and if you do that then these things will come right if I may I also want to make another deferation that flows from that namely that because of activity the number of calls the number of e-mails will increase the number of meetings you will have it will inevitably increase the number, that is sometimes can hold mentally into but if my goal is to serve you and I believe what it is that I am offering to you is of supreme service to your organisation and to you and your lifestyle and accept which I do passionately then it is going to be very, very much difficult for me to hear you say now and settle for that, right so there’s this you know there is this your house is on fire I’m not going to knock lightly on the door and you going to say I’m sleeping go away, then I just say okay he just doesn’t want to talk now I walk away, there is a, there is a your house is on fire you don’t know it not only can I help you put the fire out but I can actually make you more money while we do it, it will be a great experience, you need to meet with me, I don’t feel like people should meet with me if they want to, I really feel like people need to meet with me, and there is a lot that goes into my understanding of what the value is that my company brings and what my sale brings and what we bring, and so it means that even with less activity, I’m getting meetings that propose to and advancing sales that they weren’t supposed to buy, in theory does that make any sense,
Scott Ingram:
It does and keep going on that, let’s stick to that a little more, what I hear you saying is that there’s a common belief that this is just a numbers game, activity trumps all and what you are saying is if you smarter about that activity that the kind of level of quality, the approach, the passion that you bringing to the table is going to tell a different story and convert better than just going through the motions a lot of the times is it?
DeJuan Brown:
Yes, yes I mean Scott if you have say as a sales executive, let’s say you have a list that you call, you have two call days a week and you have a list of 150 people well you have a list of 150 people, so if you called and someone said I’m not interested, you have 149 more people to call, your goal is not to convince them that you are interested at that point, you just going to say thank you can I call back in 6 months and you move onto the next call you have 150, right my, my understanding of that is if I get you on the phone right you are the only one I am concerned with right now we can take as much time as necessary, for me to really convey to you that I think I am bringing really how important it is that we talk, and we at least meet so no is not here and say great can I call you in three to six months. Like no means ok obviously I haven’t been clear about what my priority’s and goals are, right my priority and goal is you, and your business and the improvement of it, certainly there is not a blanket disinterest in those things right, cause you run a business so that true I really believe that like I really believe that if I am going to call on you it is because I believe that I can help you, and maybe you don’t know it or understand it but we have to meet for at least 5 minutes right 10 minutes so I think that is a differentiator it definitely differentiates activity, activity, activity, you will land on gold, you will land on gold, you will get a diamond in the rough here and there, and it changes the whole thought processes, to every time I get onto the phone I expect I am putting the value I bring forward and I am letting you know I am definitely passionate about helping you and I think I can do it and we just need to meet and in fact at the end of that meeting you thought initially that was disinterest accurate then I leave. No problem but we have to have the meeting.
Scott Ingram:
Yeah so the difference between hoping to find a diamond whereas you just going to squeeze the damn coal until there is a diamond.
DeJuan Brown:
There, there you go. You have to do that you have to believe you have a diamond somewhere in the making to begin with as opposed to stumbling on one,
Scott Ingram:
Yeah absolutely, what else, what is, what are the other 99% wraps in your organisation? That you think is just nuts that’s keeping them from competing with you at the top?
DeJuan Brown:
Yeah some of the same thing that we are talking about that activity 100% it right so if you make 300 calls in a week you going reach your goal right I don’t think that is not true but I think it is crazy, cause who really wants to, who really wants to make 300 calls in a week, I, I make a lot of calls don’t get me wrong I am a activity animal as well though but again the belief and the understanding that, that is what it is going to take Is I think stymie growth and development and up the areas like the good questioning and the good conversation and, and service orientation and you know true concerns for your prospect, now don’t get me wrong the organisation I work in there are a lot of phenomenal stuff and sales people like literally it is very difficult from month to month to know who is going to come out on top, anywhere in the country it’s just that type of environment, yet holistically across the scope of sales people that I have worked with over the 15 years I have been in the business I, the idea that there is a mechanical way to do the work and the outcome will be what it, optimal I think it’s just no longer the case right, so as much as we need to understand how sales people are educated and trained there is also this training and education that continually are those biased and if we not aware of that and kind of tracking with that we stand the chance of falling into sort of dinosaur world no matter what amount of activity you put into it you get in front of people and there is no value that you bring that’s specific and explicit.
Scott Ingram:
So really it is keeping your contact, keeping your approach and communication that you bringing current and relevant by stagnating on that, that is what I have heard, you just say?
DeJuan Brown:
Exactly so you know one of the examples we work with a lot of HR people, Directors and VP, HR managers, we have a platform that really serves the HR community extraordinarily really well better than I have ever seen, anything that my clients have ever seen however if I don’t know about what is changing abut HR in the United States just generally it’s going to be a pretty stale conversation where I go in and say well do you do this do that, do you do this how are you currently doing it well this is how we do it do you want to buy, as opposed to let’s just have a conversation about what you love about HR and what is changing about it, there is some very drastic changes in the HR realm some of which is related that we don’t have a labour crisis where years and years ago someone was related in HR specifically corporations and in large corporations all these things that you pick up and listening to podcasts on that these are the kind of conversations again differentiate and not being able to have those conversations you can get as many meetings as you want but you will continue to drive yourself into harder work and not shorter sales cycles because you don’t know what you need to know about the organisations or the industry that you are serving.
Scott Ingram:
Exactly, so DeJuan what motivates you?
DeJuan Brown:
That is a very, very good question what motivates me is being, being as valuable as I possibly can that us to the organisation again that hired me and gave me an opportunity to do the work that I love, that is to those who have taken the time out of their busy schedule to meet with me or talk with me on the phone that is to those that I love around me my family I just really want to be a man of value, right that motivates me and so I drive toward that through the information that I consume and the effort that I put behind learning about people and things and places, and, and industries etc. all of that is driving me to be the most valuable man that I can be on this earth. The time that I am here and that is always profitable.
Scott Ingram:
And not that I am going to take the other one away but if you could only pick one do you choose cash or do you choose recognition?
DeJuan Brown:
That’s a phenomenal question and very difficult if you could take one away do I choose cash or do I choose recognition, you know I am going to be tricky I am going to be difficult I am going to say I choose cash because the way that I earn as much cash as I possibly can inevitably will get me recognition because it is different and its anomalous and it’s you know unseen and kind of new and a fresh approach right so me saying cash doesn’t mean I won’t get recognition I have to get recognition because of the way I am going to get the cash is going to drive recognition so I cheated.
Scott Ingram:
You totally cheated. (Laughing) alright I don’t feel like getting out the rope so I am not going to tie you down, (Laughing) so DeJuan one of the things that I think is really interesting about what you have done is, is you got off to a really good strong start at Bloomberg BNA what advice do you have, what approach did you take to getting off on that right foot and, and I think that is applicable whether you changing jobs or your territory has changed or getting into the season of change sometimes massive so what can we learn or think about as, as those things are changing to getting results quickly?
DeJuan Brown:
Yeah, again other excellent question I appreciate that, I think that being in every man or an every woman right is being in every person, and by that I mean learn everything, from everyone, everywhere, every time, you engage with them like that for me is, is, is super key right so when I first started with this organisation I think in fact during my interview one of the questions was you going to have a successful start and my answer to my interviewing manager at the time was I am going to do whatever you say right you know it’s quite frankly I know nothing and you know all, right and that is the fact that we have to bring, learning is very difficult but unlearning is very necessary right and when I say unlearning I don’t mean forgetting what you have already learned I mean like this is, these are the people I engaging with and meeting with at this organisation know far more than me, and they in it way longer than me, everything that they have right before I start to tweak and change and make more productive and even ask the question that we asked at the beginning another call which iss there a way before I answer any of those questions is a way, right so that is to me I see a lot failure in that area from new reps that maybe necessarily not here but over the course of my career I have seen new reps come in and really just try to start their first foot forward with all preconceptions and they bring from wherever they came from.  and that is not necessarily the best route to take so we are just learning again everything from everyone and every time you engage with them was really, really key for me because I heard so many perspectives, I was kind of concomlerate into one big ball, and then execute as I was told to execute in the same order and priority I was told to execute and then get that right first and then I was kind of able to branch out, out and it was really a quick, quick process from okay I am doing everything that you said and in every way you said to do it and at every time you said to do it and I am having said level of success we are now four months in and it is basically a quarter of the year through, just over a quarter of the, the year a third of the year and now I want to start seeing how I can improve some of these areas personally only so that I can have more success in my region, so you can have a very long walk to success by saying I am going to start with my own ideas, paradigms and perspective first and then as those begin to fail I’ll go and ask secondly and tertiary
Scott Ingram:
So you can prove them wrong
DeJuan Brown:
Right I will start asking people how to do better these things or you can take the short cut which is I’m going to hear from those who are sent here to train me, teach me, lead me before I start on my own stuff and that is very much a short cut to success in any organisation I believe.
Scott Ingram:
Wow that’s really an interesting and obviously ties back to your second point right, if you take a really, really humble approach and figure there is always the better way and I think the dynamic there of glaring in even though you had 15 years of experience of coming and it is a new company and a new approach saying look we are going to try do it your way first and see how far that gets me and then, then improvising it’s kind of like let me get really good at this sheet of music and the way it is written and then once you have got that fundamental piece then you can start to have fun with it verse hey let’s just improvise this whole thing.
DeJuan Brown:
Right, yeah that is just a recipe for disaster (laughing)
Scott Ingram:
Yeah but how many people cook (laughing) with so
DeJuan Brown:
So reversing that is a very helpful.
Scott Ingram:
Awesome I’m keenly interested in your thoughts on this question which is the fun of this podcast for me I get to do exactly what you describing right I get to talk to a lot of folks that are at the top of their specific game about what they are doing what would you ask them. If you were behind my microphone you know what, what would you want to learn from them?
DeJuan Brown:
Yeah that’s again a good question I appreciate it because it, it’s thought provoking and I would have to say really how do the top sellers in other organisations I would be very curious how they avoid sort of letting what’s next affect, you know what’s now because if they are the sort of the same personality type at least adjacent you there is always this what’s next right and that is what I experience and to it over the twelve and a half years sort of experienced that and experienced that in life what is the next step that is the next level and things like that I don’t want that opt kind of take away from or subtracting any way from the work I am doing currently and how well and efficient I do that, how will they manage that, how do they manage so that this angst that’s always like there has to be the thing because we forward thinkers in that way, how do we manage and stay very, very focused and kind of stay focused on things and the priorities of today that a question I really want to hear and answer from those who think that way.
Scott Ingram:
And you say what’s next are we talking about the small world are we talking about the detraction or are you talking about, what are you talking about?
DeJuan Brown:
I am talking about the earth that the squirrel has his nut under. I am talking about the whole shooting match you know when I was in, when I was selling envelopes and invoices there was a building across the street from us where they sold software but in my building no one ever walked over there and I would see people outside all the time and I would think what is over there, and they would say you don’t want to go over there they sell software it is hard, and so I literally walked over and had a conversation with a couple of the managers and said I am interested in coming over here what do you guys do right and once I said it that seed was a renewal seed for transactional and then consultative it got to a point where I was I did the work there well, very well excelled and I was asking questions the management of the acquisition team was more consultative and acquiring, like what do you guys do what, what how can I get into that like, what do I need to learn to get here, then there was another business unit there is always like if I look up and I see a group of people or an organisation or a business unit that I am unfamiliar with I have a habit of not only wanting to know more about it but wanting to work in it and excel in it, I have to temper that right so how do people who think similarly temper that drive to conquer something new, with the fact that hey you here right now and there are ways to improve here and do better here, before you think about the next world to conquer. And so that’s a very, very thin line that I walk on regularly I think it keeps me driving forward but at the same time it could be a bit distracting so I’m interested to hear how others deal with that if they do at all,
Scott Ingram:
Yeah and how are you, you managing is it a pep talk and keeping yourself and forcing yourself to focus or it means it sounds like it at some level that awareness has also created opportunity for you and it has been the right thing some times.
DeJuan Brown:
Sure, yeah and I would never say that it is serve d me you know negatively I think right now having the type of manager that I do the manager I have right now literally is phenonomil right in every way possible so I can have this conversation with him and not be afraid that he, his main goal is going to be talk me off the ledge right he listens well and he talks me through the things when they come up and I am good for another several months right.
Scott Ingram:
So you have a sounding board someone that you can speak to,
DeJuan Brown:
Yeah, where I am not where you know we have a group of friend that we call unflinchable so I can go to my friend and say you I was thinking, I think I might be able to go tomorrow and not today and have a friend that says wow that’s awesome lets talk about that, as opposed to what
Scott Ingram:
Not immediately reacting.
DeJuan Brown:
Right immediately reacting so my boss is not a flinching manager and so I am able to have that conversation and move forward from it without any fear of being pigeon holed into that this is the type of guy he is he is going to end up leaving like that’s not the goal at all I am really saying what is next can we talk through that, what does that look like, how do I act work well enough here get or maybe that’s not the position now what we can talk through me and educate me in that way as well,
Scott Ingram:
I am glad you brought up your manager, how significant of a role do you think that your director / manager has in your success now and in the past lets speak more broadly without putting anyone directly on the hot seat.
DeJuan Brown:
Yeah sure my direct manager in every position that I have had, in sales has been very integral in my growth, validating sort of directions that I think I should go as an individual and encourage me to say more, about it and think, think through it more right I can recall a particular manager where I said listen what we doing this, this way I was wondering if there is any way I can help actually let me back up what I actually said was I think this process sucks right and what he said to me was ok let’s talk about how we can frame that positively and then put you in a position where you can help with it, that was phenonomil it was life changing right there because at that point I learned complaint is frames you as a detractor unless you frame it in a way that you can actually ask the question positively and you put yourself in a position to, to the solution.
So I learned that right there, and one of the things I said was I think we can do this a little bit differently I would love to be part of it the team that is going to pilot that you know what he said? He said there is a process called, process excellence sig sigma there is an awesome sig sigma course that is given through Pella nova you learn about a 4 block you learn about CPS, the Toyota production system these sort of things why don’t you take that course we will pay for it, and after that we will talk about how we can then move the TPA process toward our team that way when you have ideas like this can just put them on a fore blocker and try it for 2 weeks and if it works we can roll it out broadly how does that sound? I mean that changed my life, I took the class right you know the organisation paid for it but every time I had idea about how to advance the team, grow the business and all these things he would say put it on a fore blocker TPS it for 2 weeks if it works we will roll it out to everybody.
Scott Ingram:
You know I am trying to not laugh my head off, because you keep saying to me TPS and I instinctively think of office space, sit here and think so let’s see you complained about your something and your boss told you go right to the TPS report not go one out (laughing)
DeJuan Brown:
Yeah that is exactly, what you saying.
Scott Ingram:
So DeJuan what is again let’s look a little bit further afield so has not to freak out manager / company but looking 5 or 10 years down the road what’s next for you, do you think how what does this involve and start to play out.
DeJuan Brown:
Yeah great question not one that I haven’t thought about I think that the things that I have (excuse me) the things that I have learned the way is that I kind of impact my own individual day as an individual contributed to the company that I am in and the clients that I serve, the prospects that I meet with right, though all of those ways we have just had a conversation about, my goal would be to scale that right so you would think your business is making t-shirts you sell 5 t-shirts to your friends like how do you make that I company? Right so my goal is to scale that so I hope to do that within the context of the organisation that I belong to now and by scanning that I mean how can I impact that with more people, to think similarly we not saying we want robots and clones but how can we change sort of the linear of thought and action, to something more wide to narrow, broader scale like how can I impact an entire team. Right how can I impact an entire business unit, how can I impact all with the goal of serving again I want to serve more, more, more people and in order to do that well you going to have to scale, and impact larger swaths of people right now I am individual contributor maybe I kind of contribute to my team in some degree but I want to contribute more broadly to the company. Some of these ideas, some of these learnings and experiences so that our entire organisation is impacted by which will impact more nationally with the clients and prospects you deal with on a regular basis.
Scott Ingram:
Love it, so just to make sure that covers our conversation broadly. What’s the one thing that you hope they would take away right if you could broaden that influence and impact one specific area that you think would make the biggest difference? What would that be?
DeJuan Brown:
its, it’s not about us right there’s, there’s literally nothing that we can do that starts and ends with us it is always and outward thinking and outward focussed perspective, and I think that will have the biggest impact because it will impact what we ask it will impact the responses, we give to questions that was asked of us, it will impact the ways that with which we frame the things that we present it will impact how we hear, what we are hearing right, the times we hear things and we hear them from such an impressionable perspective that we get hurt when someone is trying to help. so if we can kind of shift all that by means of focus and motive then I think we will impact an entire team of sales people and entire company an organisation and an entire industry.
Scott Ingram:
Ah I love this, I mean for me it just aligns so well with my philosophies because I am a very client success driven it is about the outcome not the agreement that we start with right that’s, that’s I feel like we have been thinking through the tools we use, to celebrate sales. And this idea of we bang a gonger or we do something to celebrate something and in a lot of ways is, is the close or the end and I feel like it shoud be a starters pistol.
DeJuan Brown:
Yeah,
Scott Ingram:
It’s like I just got us to the starting line now the race is on, and we want to deliver and we want to help them and now you almost move into a coaching type of role where I want to help my client run faster and achieve more and anyway I am totally geeking out on what you about we immersing ourselves in this but I love it.
DeJuan Brown:
You absolutely right.
Scott Ingram:
So last 2 questions one is who is the most successful sales person you know personally ideally an individual contributor.
DeJuan Brown:
Yeah you know there is a gentleman I know his name is Jason, he was with me at Intoit for a lot years and I have never met anyone who is as good as he is, during my time at Intoit we were finally on the same team and I would really glean from him and we wrestled back and forth 1 and 2 nearly every year right, however there is something about his approach, his concern, for people is getting to like life questions with clients and prospects but how can we improve your actual life, outside of the office these sorts of things where the was a complete concern that drove him to an empathy, that drove him to a rabbits service and success model. He is literally the best and i have said it for years when anyone asks me like who is, is there I have heard this question is there another DeJuan anywhere I don’t, I won’t say, we are vastly different in the way that we selling the way that we approach a lot of those things, but he is nearly the only person that I can say I have always been super impressed with him, that I know personally, that I have always been super impressed with his capabilities and skill level are unparalleled in his ability to ask the questions that everyone thought was coming yet drive toward a goal of serving you is, is the best I have ever seen.
Scott Ingram:
Very cool, alright so this is the last and probably the very hardest question right, if we were to really boil this all down I think there is some very strong important themes that you have brought to bear but if we, we turn that into something actionable, create sort of a challenge on this what would you have the person listening to right now to take what shared and put it in place and benefit from it?
DeJuan Brown:
Great question, great question so I think this is product for service agnostic right so my answer would be think about is it that you are, I am assuming that the people that are listening to this are into sales so what is it that you deliver, what is it that you bring to the table so or product and what do you typically present as benefits and advantage s or value points some people call it value proposition, but all of those things take those things write them down and then prepare each point that you going to bring up in a presentation or demo or discussion and rewrite the question so what, and the put a question mark there and then break down the answer to so what and a few different categories like personal, business, profit, you know experience you know be free with the categories but answer the question so what to every category and everything you think is great and if you do that it will force you to think, this is what it does for me it forces me to think outside of wow you are house on fire here’s the fire extinguisher it will put the fire out do you want to buy it, it takes you outside of that realm that you showing things and explaining things and talking about things without and understanding really why you think it would be holelistickly valuable to the person that talking to, so you know that exercise as a actionable item I think will help in different ways for different people but I think inevitably it will help with our thought process with the line or questions with the broadness and sort of overarching scope, that we then bring to conversations that we have but all of that has helped with asking so what.
Scott Ingram:
That’s awesome, DeJuan thank you so much for all of your time and for all of your insights I can’t wait to share this with our audience.
DeJuan Brown:
Thank you I appreciate your time and look forward to listening to the, and many more of your podcasts.
Outro:
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