Episode 46

Finding Your WHY in Sales with Rick Barnett

Published on: 17th November, 2021

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In this episode of the Science of Selling STEM, I’ll be talking to Rick Barnett, The Founder and President of Rep-Lite, a company that helps medical manufacturers build qualified sales and service teams through a proven talent management model that revolutionizes healthcare. Rick is responsible for spearheading a strategic development process that allows manufacturers to experience maximized potential with limited resources. He has initiated and instituted his process to allow several manufacturers to experience exponential growth within the division that it was applied to. With over 30 years of experience, Rick serves a diverse range of clients seeking cost-effective solutions that increase efficiency, build customer loyalty, and improve operational models. 

He is experienced in minimally invasive surgical procedures, management, technology, manufacturing operations, quality, finance, customer support, and strategic planning. As a participative executive, he thrives on improving performance through innovative, strategic thinking and engaging individuals in the success of the business. Join us as Rick shares his wealth of experience on how every business can instill customer success, strengthen operational capabilities, and build strong, talented individuals and teams that contribute to long-term success.

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

  • A long journey in sales starting out with insurance sales (01:43)
  • Building a growth-oriented team and succeeding in servant leadership (05:02)
  • Why every business should define the WHY behind their daily activities (07:50)
  • Balancing the tactical side of STEM sales with the human element side of it (10:30)
  • The inspiration behind starting Rep-Lite (12:10)
  • How having a minor league sales team helps their customers (16:01)
  • The time it takes for a new technical sales rep to become autonomous (18:38)
  • What to do to start developing a junior sales rep team internally (20:43)
  • Fulfillment from helping junior sales reps to achieve long and successful sales careers (23:54)

Connect with Wesleyne Greer:

Connect with Rick Barnett:

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Transcript
Wesleyne Greer:

As a sales manager, you are judged by the

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

how to get everyone on your team consistently hitting quota every

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

science of selling stem sales leadership in the science,

Wesleyne Greer:

technology, engineering and manufacturing fields is

Wesleyne Greer:

difficult. You will learn from sales managers just like you

Wesleyne Greer:

that will give you actionable insights and tips on how to

Wesleyne Greer:

develop as a leader and achieve your revenue targets every

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

inspiration to ensure that you have actionable insights that

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

episode of the science of selling stem. Today I have Mr.

Wesleyne Greer:

Rick Barnett. How are you, Rick? Awesome. Thank you. Mr. Barnett,

Wesleyne Greer:

currently serves as founder of rep light. He's responsible for

Wesleyne Greer:

spearheading a strategic development process that allows

Wesleyne Greer:

manufacturers to experience maximize potential with limited

Wesleyne Greer:

resources, Mr. Burnett has initiated and instituted his

Wesleyne Greer:

process to allow several manufacturers to experience

Wesleyne Greer:

exponential growth within the division that it was applied.

Wesleyne Greer:

Okay, growth manufactured. Tell us about how did you start your

Wesleyne Greer:

career? And how did you come to have this amazing company?

Rick Barnett:

Yeah, well, thank you first, for having me, I

Rick Barnett:

appreciate it. So as you can tell, I've got a lot of tenure

Rick Barnett:

and experience. So my career's a long journey, I really started

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in sales, believe it or not in insurance sales. And did that

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for a little bit. And then just decided that there was something

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else in life that I wanted to do so went back and ended up

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becoming a first assistant in surgery. So I've switched into a

Rick Barnett:

clinical role did that for a few years. And then really, because

Rick Barnett:

of the way that technology was evolving, a sign made for

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basically people to help support technology in and around the

Rick Barnett:

operating room. So I created that inside of a hospital. That

Rick Barnett:

was a team within the the LR, and I had one of my clients

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actually come to me and say, you know, when we sell things into

Rick Barnett:

this hospital, we sell our technology into it, things just

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work. And we're not having to send a rep in, we're not having

Rick Barnett:

to support it. And they're like, so how was this happening here?

Rick Barnett:

So I explained to them what I had seen and the need that I

Rick Barnett:

had, and they said, Well, can you come to the industry and do

Rick Barnett:

it with us. So that was many years ago, I went to work for

Rick Barnett:

Stryker, I was employed one on one, and Stryker has a huge

Rick Barnett:

medical device company. And we were basically in charge of

Rick Barnett:

building a junior sales team, if you will. And so started there.

Rick Barnett:

If you fast forward, then about 14 years later, there's about

Rick Barnett:

800 of us. So grew it from one to 100. I was recruited by

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another medical device company called Intuitive Surgical

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intuitives, known for their DaVinci Robot. They had kind of

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seen what happened at Stryker, they said, Hey, we've got

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disruptive technology that's in the LR, we spent a lot of time

Rick Barnett:

supporting it. Do you think that it's applicable for us to put a

Rick Barnett:

junior rep program together and really the the junior rep

Rick Barnett:

programs kind of look like a minor league baseball team to

Rick Barnett:

their Major League affiliate? Right. So we started that

Rick Barnett:

intuitive, I did that for four or five years, grew that from

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employee, one to one to about 120. And then just decided that

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what we were doing for those companies, we could really

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expand out and go to many different companies. So about

Rick Barnett:

eight years ago, obviously saw a need, and we started reply. And

Rick Barnett:

basically what we do is we create modeling teams for our

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clients. We're a contract sales service company. And so we

Rick Barnett:

primarily play in the medical space, medical devices,

Rick Barnett:

pharmaceuticals, although we do some work in the business, the

Rick Barnett:

business, just plan out there. Anyway. So that's about a 30

Rick Barnett:

year journey.

Wesleyne Greer:

Wow. So I really want to kind of rewind and go

Wesleyne Greer:

back to going from one to 800. Because there are a lot of

Wesleyne Greer:

people that are in either that beginning stage or the middle

Wesleyne Greer:

stage. Right. And I think that the beginning, I'm not gonna say

Wesleyne Greer:

it's easy, but it's like, okay, we see a vision, we see growth,

Wesleyne Greer:

but then you start getting these people and the growing pains,

Wesleyne Greer:

right? So it's like when you get from 50 to 100 or 100 to 300.

Wesleyne Greer:

Right. So talk to us about those growing pains when you guys were

Wesleyne Greer:

experiencing that rapid growth and really, what things did you

Wesleyne Greer:

do to ensure that the team everybody who came on was on

Wesleyne Greer:

boarded the same way that you had the team camaraderie that

Wesleyne Greer:

you needed? to really help sustain the culture?

Rick Barnett:

Yeah, it's a great question I would tell you that

Rick Barnett:

Stryker as an organization has, has a great culture. I mean,

Rick Barnett:

it's they pride themselves on. I think for us early on, as we

Rick Barnett:

started the growth of ethic, you're right, when you got a new

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concept grows kind of easy. It's, you know, you, I will tell

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you, the first 75, people are probably fairly easy. But when

Rick Barnett:

you do start to scale, there are some complexities. And I think

Rick Barnett:

the key takeaway for me was, and still is, you know, I think a

Rick Barnett:

lot of people talk about servant leadership. But I do think that

Rick Barnett:

if you're leading an organization, or you're about to

Rick Barnett:

grow, or skill and organization, we certainly believe in here

Rick Barnett:

that the folks that you work with, your job is to serve not

Rick Barnett:

only your client, but also the people that you work with. And I

Rick Barnett:

think if you go about it, in the mind frame of, you know, my job

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is to serve the people that work here with a set rep life, that

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is why I come to work every morning to do and that's what I

Rick Barnett:

leave here every evening intending to do is to basically,

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I want my body of work to be so that I am setting people up to

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be able to thrive and have success. And that's just kind of

Rick Barnett:

the nature that I took in the mid 90s. And it still seems to

Rick Barnett:

be a good method for success.

Wesleyne Greer:

So how do you really help the internal

Wesleyne Greer:

stakeholders understand that, hey, customers are important,

Wesleyne Greer:

but your colleagues are also important. We're here to serve

Wesleyne Greer:

each other. If I asked you to expedite this is not just

Wesleyne Greer:

because I want to do it for my health. It's because there's

Wesleyne Greer:

somebody else down the chain that actually may need that.

Rick Barnett:

Yeah, I think it's about being bought into the

Rick Barnett:

mission, right? You know, there's times that we talk about

Rick Barnett:

the why, okay, and I'm gonna give you an illustration, so

Rick Barnett:

let's just use a medical device company, okay? If they create,

Rick Barnett:

you know, a new device, right, they've got this great new pen.

Rick Barnett:

And, you know, they put that out to the Salesforce and say, Hey,

Rick Barnett:

this pens really cool. Go sell a lot of them. I think that only

Rick Barnett:

drives those cells to a certain point. I think if you take that

Rick Barnett:

new device, we'll call it our PN as an example. And you really

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articulate to the team, how this pins going to improve the lives

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of patients that are actually you this pins is used for, I

Rick Barnett:

think that sets a different tone through the organization. So

Rick Barnett:

it's not a product and trying to hit a number hit your quota and

Rick Barnett:

grow the revenue. It's why are we doing what we're doing? And

Rick Barnett:

how, what's the outcome of that? So you kind of you know, I hate

Rick Barnett:

to say, use a cliche, you know, start with the end in mind. But

Rick Barnett:

you certainly need to know the why behind your daily activity.

Wesleyne Greer:

The why I love that, how do you as the

Wesleyne Greer:

president, the CEO of the company, define the why.

Rick Barnett:

So here, you know, when we start an engagement with

Rick Barnett:

the client, and they tell us their needs, you know, they want

Rick Barnett:

to build a sales team, or they want to grow a different

Rick Barnett:

division of their sales team, we kind of take a deeper dive and

Rick Barnett:

ask, what are they trying to accomplish with this? Right? Is

Rick Barnett:

it launching a new product? Is it support for a different

Rick Barnett:

division? Or, you know, what is it because I think for us, we

Rick Barnett:

need to get an alignment with what they're wanting. So that

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helps us build that why, for each particular client, because

Rick Barnett:

every clients different, and their Why is different, what we

Rick Barnett:

really don't waver on here, we have a couple just pillars of

Rick Barnett:

things that that we just, we look for people who have strong

Rick Barnett:

moral compass or have integrity, they have to have that they

Rick Barnett:

certainly have to have energy. And they have to have bandwidth

Rick Barnett:

or intelligence because, you know, in the medical space, or

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whatever space we're in, we feel like those three things are just

Rick Barnett:

core pillars that they need before we can move forward. And

Rick Barnett:

I think what happens when you find people like that, if it had

Rick Barnett:

those three things, then it it really brings the chasm of

Rick Barnett:

alignment really tight. So you can really start to build that

Rick Barnett:

why and that culture around what you're trying to accomplish.

Wesleyne Greer:

How has understanding your Why are

Wesleyne Greer:

really developing this? Why how has that helped you see this

Wesleyne Greer:

tremendous growth that you've talked about throughout your

Wesleyne Greer:

career?

Rick Barnett:

I think it goes back to the fact that, you know,

Rick Barnett:

I believe that the work that I get to do, you know, I love the

Rick Barnett:

statement, find what you love to do and call it work. Right? I

Rick Barnett:

love that statement. And I think it's it goes back to what I said

Rick Barnett:

earlier, if you really go about your your body of work with a

Rick Barnett:

servant mentality, I think is when I would use I mean, you can

Rick Barnett:

call it whatever you want. But really, I think I'm serving the

Rick Barnett:

why. Right? And that means whether it's people technology

Rick Barnett:

processes, my job is to serve and support the why of the

Rick Barnett:

organization, whether it's our client or its rep life, either

Rick Barnett:

one.

Wesleyne Greer:

So I love this. I'm serving the why and I think

Wesleyne Greer:

that so often when people within our field, these technical

Wesleyne Greer:

fields of STEM sales, they're so focused on the tactical aspects,

Wesleyne Greer:

right? They forget the human element of sales of selling of

Wesleyne Greer:

business. So how are you able to really bridge that gap? Because

Wesleyne Greer:

to be successful in this field, you have to be doing some of the

Wesleyne Greer:

tactical stuff. But you're so focused on that human element?

Wesleyne Greer:

How can you really bring those together?

Rick Barnett:

Well, it's, I think, you know, I'm sounding

Rick Barnett:

redundant here. But I think, you know, again, if there are

Rick Barnett:

things, you know, let's just use technical sales, right? There's,

Rick Barnett:

there's aspects of things that that you have to know and be

Rick Barnett:

knowledgeable on, right. And those, you have to know your

Rick Barnett:

product, you have to know the industry or whatever it is. But

Rick Barnett:

I think it goes back to that les bond, a common mission

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statement, let's find what we're trying to do that really

Rick Barnett:

resonates with people, because those technical things, I think,

Rick Barnett:

are a part of learning. I think that if you take someone who has

Rick Barnett:

a strong desire to succeed, and is willing to apply themselves,

Rick Barnett:

we can teach them, the technical aspects of it. But the thing

Rick Barnett:

that I can't, I can't really teach is the motivation to go,

Rick Barnett:

you know, for whatever you're wanting, I can't teach you that

Rick Barnett:

motivation, there has to be internal. But if you have that

Rick Barnett:

internal motivation for success, and you have a desire, and we

Rick Barnett:

marry that with the why, and educate, then you've got a

Rick Barnett:

pretty good recipe for success.

Wesleyne Greer:

Hmm, I love that. I just don't understand

Wesleyne Greer:

why everybody wants they, I love calling them the competitors

Wesleyne Greer:

rejects. And they won't just find the strong salespeople. And

Wesleyne Greer:

what you just defined was really a recipe to identify a strong

Wesleyne Greer:

sales person, teach them the technology, help them to be

Wesleyne Greer:

propelled, and then really allow them to take off. And when you

Wesleyne Greer:

started red light, I feel like you there was something in the

Wesleyne Greer:

industry that you said something is broken, and I want to fix it.

Wesleyne Greer:

How did you really even decide eight years ago to start the

Wesleyne Greer:

company? So

Rick Barnett:

I'm going to be a little bit corny here and go

Rick Barnett:

back to a sports analogy, right. So if you look at major league

Rick Barnett:

baseball, okay, Major League Baseball, which I got to put in

Rick Barnett:

a plug, we're in Atlanta, so Go Braves just have to put that

Rick Barnett:

plug in their

Wesleyne Greer:

revenue in revenue.

Rick Barnett:

It's been a long time since we've been to the

Rick Barnett:

show. So we have a 26 year drought thing. But here's what I

Rick Barnett:

know about baseball, and this may be a hell. So if you look at

Rick Barnett:

the this past World Series, both teams had players that were

Rick Barnett:

called from the minor leagues and actually got the start or

Rick Barnett:

play in the World Series. That's only because they had modeling

Rick Barnett:

teams that are affiliated with each organization. So if you

Rick Barnett:

think about naming the company, or whatever, but look at a major

Rick Barnett:

league organization, so all these major league teams, they

Rick Barnett:

have these modeling affiliates in these little small towns

Rick Barnett:

around the US, right? If a player gets hurt, or something

Rick Barnett:

happens to a player, they can have a replacement player within

Rick Barnett:

a day on that major league team. Now, it's truly for the most

Rick Barnett:

part, a plug and play player, because they've been in the

Rick Barnett:

organization. They know the playbook. They know the offense.

Rick Barnett:

They know the strategy, because they've been in a part of the

Rick Barnett:

organization. The thing that I noticed that years ago is is

Rick Barnett:

that in, especially in the medical and the pharmaceutical,

Rick Barnett:

we don't have a modeling team. And when I started socializing

Rick Barnett:

this and asking why the two things that are hard most often

Rick Barnett:

was, well, we can't afford a second layer. And then I would

Rick Barnett:

hear something like, we need people to be provide value or

Rick Barnett:

provide revenue. So again, let's go back to this modeling concept

Rick Barnett:

in Major League Baseball. All of those minor league teams are

Rick Barnett:

developing players day in and day out, they're getting ready

Rick Barnett:

for that major league opportunity. They are supporting

Rick Barnett:

local communities with entertainment and revenue. So

Rick Barnett:

it's no different in sales. If you don't have a junior sales

Rick Barnett:

program that you are nurturing, developing. Anytime you lose a

Rick Barnett:

rep, a rep quits, a rep gets fired, you've got a vacant

Rick Barnett:

territory, for however long it takes you to field. And I can

Rick Barnett:

tell you in our field, depending on the product segment, we say

Rick Barnett:

that an empty territory, cost anywhere from 150,000 to

Rick Barnett:

500,000. Just an open territory. So I don't know how you can not

Rick Barnett:

afford to be developing a modeling team for your

Rick Barnett:

organization.

Wesleyne Greer:

This I mean when I heard about what you did, I

Wesleyne Greer:

was like oh my goodness, it's genius. Because the problem is

Wesleyne Greer:

and I'm not sure if it is the same in your industry, but in

Wesleyne Greer:

industries that I touched manufacturing petrochemical, you

Wesleyne Greer:

know those heavy industrial size the workforce is aging. So it's

Wesleyne Greer:

not even that somebody is gonna quit, they're gonna retire. And

Wesleyne Greer:

once they retire, they taking 1015 20 years of product

Wesleyne Greer:

knowledge, customer knowledge with them. And you don't start

Wesleyne Greer:

to think about the replacement until the person says, Oh, I'm

Wesleyne Greer:

retiring at the end of the year, and you're like, oh, it's June

Wesleyne Greer:

or July, it's gonna take me three months to find somebody.

Wesleyne Greer:

And then I only have three months of overlap. And like you

Wesleyne Greer:

said, the problem is that the empty territory is not

Wesleyne Greer:

producing, right, so you run out the pipeline. But after the

Wesleyne Greer:

pipeline is run out, there's nobody backfilling it, and it

Wesleyne Greer:

takes people time to learn. And so really having that I love the

Wesleyne Greer:

analogy, even though you had to rub them raise my face, I'll

Wesleyne Greer:

accept it. Because when the Astros won the World Series, we

Wesleyne Greer:

celebrated that probably for like two or five years, we've

Wesleyne Greer:

just not even stopped celebrating. Yeah, right. So I

Wesleyne Greer:

get that tells me with this minor league sales team that you

Wesleyne Greer:

guys work with and develop in half are your customers, how has

Wesleyne Greer:

that help them?

Rick Barnett:

So I'll give you an example. So we have a client

Rick Barnett:

that's in the cardiac space, and medical devices, and they were

Rick Barnett:

experiencing, and when, when a rep leaves, it's not only the

Rick Barnett:

loss of productivity in the sales, right, but it's

Rick Barnett:

competitive threats, it's employs around that territory,

Rick Barnett:

they're having to pitch and so it's burnout, there's a lot of

Rick Barnett:

things that go into when a rep either retires, or, or leaves or

Rick Barnett:

whatever. And what they were experiencing was, you know, it's

Rick Barnett:

our current client, when a rep left, HR then got engaged, it

Rick Barnett:

took them anywhere from three to six months to find a candidate,

Rick Barnett:

which that's normal, and especially in today's job

Rick Barnett:

market, right. But the problem is, is they had $250,000, of

Rick Barnett:

missed opportunity during that timeframe. So when they engaged

Rick Barnett:

us three or four years ago, the VP of sales is like, Okay, we

Rick Barnett:

need to stop this bleeding, this revenue, you know, even if you

Rick Barnett:

have a normal rate of attrition, right, call it 10 to 15%, which

Rick Barnett:

is kind of normal out out in the space you're talking about, it

Rick Barnett:

comes up into the millions of dollars every year that you're

Rick Barnett:

losing. So what they did is they engaged us, and we basically put

Rick Barnett:

25 territory associates around the country, these territory

Rick Barnett:

associates, young, bright professionals with no knowledge

Rick Barnett:

of cardiac equipment, but they bring them in and they attach

Rick Barnett:

them to a senior rep. And so they're developing these people.

Rick Barnett:

And what happens is, our program says our model says that anytime

Rick Barnett:

after 12 months in our engagement, you can take a

Rick Barnett:

person directly, right. So that's part of our value

Rick Barnett:

proposition. So what happens now is, when they lose a rep, they

Rick Barnett:

refill it within days, because they call me and say, Hey,

Rick Barnett:

you're employed this working on contract with us, your territory

Rick Barnett:

associate has been with us on contract for 18 months, they're

Rick Barnett:

knowledgeable, they understand the process, they've been with a

Rick Barnett:

really good senior rep. So bam, they plug the position in days,

Rick Barnett:

not weeks, not months.

Wesleyne Greer:

I love that. And while we're on this topic, I

Wesleyne Greer:

would really like you to help me dispel this, I would have a

Wesleyne Greer:

misnomer from the audience. Because people have a very

Wesleyne Greer:

unrealistic view of what it takes, or how long it takes for

Wesleyne Greer:

a new technical sales rep to really become autonomous. Give

Wesleyne Greer:

me some stats based on what your experience is for them to really

Wesleyne Greer:

understand and learn the business and be able to do it on

Wesleyne Greer:

their own.

Rick Barnett:

I think the fastest out there is probably 90

Rick Barnett:

days. And I think that's an exception, I think you're

Rick Barnett:

probably looking at more like 180 days to 12 months. And now

Rick Barnett:

I'm saying that's when they are, you know, as autonomous as that

Rick Barnett:

can be from an organizational standpoint. But it's rare that

Rick Barnett:

anyone in a highly technical field can produce on their own,

Rick Barnett:

I would say six months to a year.

Wesleyne Greer:

I love it. It's right on target with what I tell

Wesleyne Greer:

people I say six to 18 months, right? Because sometimes you

Wesleyne Greer:

have these really complex products, and it takes a little

Wesleyne Greer:

bit longer, but six to 18 months. So you cannot expect a

Wesleyne Greer:

person that you hire to come in and get rid of them in 60 days

Wesleyne Greer:

because they haven't closed the deal. I mean, come on people.

Wesleyne Greer:

Let's give people a chance to learn the business. And the

Wesleyne Greer:

thing is, even if they come from a similar industry, or your

Wesleyne Greer:

competitor, your products are a little bit different. Your

Wesleyne Greer:

processes are a little bit different. Your customers are

Wesleyne Greer:

different. We have to allow people to learn

Rick Barnett:

and whoa, you know, if we don't sell it rep

Rick Barnett:

like we don't need either, right like but here's what I will tell

Rick Barnett:

you. I think as leaders, we need to not forget the development

Rick Barnett:

piece for people. Every person needs to be developed and you

Rick Barnett:

can't expect someone to be Mr. Magic Man or girl, right? It's

Rick Barnett:

just it man or lady. It's just not there. So that's the reason

Rick Barnett:

I use this baseball analogy. So Well, every night in the summer,

Rick Barnett:

the Houston Astros is the Atlanta Braves and some small

Rick Barnett:

town are developing their future all stars. And I think as

Rick Barnett:

important as hitting revenue is as important as you know,

Rick Barnett:

hitting your quota or whatever your KPIs are, what your KPIs

Rick Barnett:

should be certainly developing the next gen. But just I think

Rick Barnett:

you're missing a few not.

Wesleyne Greer:

So if there's someone and they're like, Okay,

Wesleyne Greer:

I think I want to get started, I want to dabble my toe in this,

Wesleyne Greer:

what is the first thing that they need to do to start

Wesleyne Greer:

developing their minor league team internally?

Rick Barnett:

Oh, call us.

Wesleyne Greer:

Okay, okay, we will let since you're such an

Wesleyne Greer:

excellent salesperson, tell me why they would call you instead

Wesleyne Greer:

of trying to do it themselves? Well,

Rick Barnett:

that's, and thank you for that question. Because

Rick Barnett:

that's a question I get asked all the time. And it's lovely to

Rick Barnett:

have it. So one of the things that companies can do when

Rick Barnett:

trying to embark on this is you can really drown your resources.

Rick Barnett:

I mean, you're asking HR to take on a whole new thing. You're

Rick Barnett:

asking your talent acquisition people, you're asking your field

Rick Barnett:

management to really take on, call it a separate division, if

Rick Barnett:

you will. I mean, that's not really what it is. And you're

Rick Barnett:

asking them to do that with a current workload. So it's not

Rick Barnett:

like they're just sitting around named stuff to do, they're

Rick Barnett:

blasted, you know, 60 hours a week already. So why would you

Rick Barnett:

not get the best of both worlds when you can have a partner like

Rick Barnett:

us, we go through all the interview process, we do all of

Rick Barnett:

that. We hand them to our client for one final interview, they

Rick Barnett:

say, yep, we like them. We onboard them. And then the day

Rick Barnett:

that they're supposed to start, they show up ready to go. So I

Rick Barnett:

think it's having a trusted partner that has done it has

Rick Barnett:

done it with, you know, fortune 50 companies down to the two

Rick Barnett:

guys in a garage or two girls garage, right? I mean, it's

Rick Barnett:

we've done it with all kinds. And so I think it's about

Rick Barnett:

efficiency, it's about de risking, too, one of the things

Rick Barnett:

that we tell people all the time is, when you go to build a

Rick Barnett:

junior Salesforce or you go to build a Salesforce, there's a

Rick Barnett:

ton of risk in that, right? It cost a lot of money. And you

Rick Barnett:

hope that everyone works out with us, we removed that risk

Rick Barnett:

for you, because it's up to us to make sure that they work out,

Rick Barnett:

it's up to us to make sure that we hire good people. So I would

Rick Barnett:

say anytime you start a new venture like that, you try to

Rick Barnett:

find a partner that can remove as much risk to your business as

Rick Barnett:

you can.

Wesleyne Greer:

I love it. You know, I like to say I tell

Wesleyne Greer:

people, you're an expert at what you do, you might be an expert

Wesleyne Greer:

at Field Sales, outside sales, whatever you want to call it.

Wesleyne Greer:

But when you're doing something like this, the amount of time

Wesleyne Greer:

research effort is going to take for you to figure it out when

Wesleyne Greer:

you don't have to be I like to say no need to be a jack of all

Wesleyne Greer:

trades and the Master of None find someone a trusted resource

Wesleyne Greer:

that you can really use to help feel this somebody who's done

Wesleyne Greer:

it. And like Rick said, you know, hey, they have done it.

Wesleyne Greer:

They do it all the time. And they have great success with it.

Wesleyne Greer:

So I guess the first step is to, I would say the first step I

Wesleyne Greer:

would recommend would be to do an inventory of your internal

Wesleyne Greer:

resources. And once you realize that you don't have the

Wesleyne Greer:

bandwidth for this, but you choleric

Rick Barnett:

That's good advice. But I would I think that

Rick Barnett:

the folks who are listening to this will probably do in that

Rick Barnett:

interview interview process or the internal review, I don't

Rick Barnett:

think many of them are going to find that they've got the

Rick Barnett:

resources to do it. Because everyone's running hard and run

Rick Barnett:

it fast right now. Absolutely. It's, that's that's the reason

Rick Barnett:

we're in business.

Wesleyne Greer:

So tell us about give us a success story, you

Wesleyne Greer:

gave us some little nuggets of some things that have happened

Wesleyne Greer:

throughout your career, but give us something that you're really

Wesleyne Greer:

proud of accomplishing.

Rick Barnett:

You know, it's kind of a humbling thing. But I

Rick Barnett:

think from a professional standpoint, obviously from a

Rick Barnett:

personal, you know, my family, my faith, that's what I'm really

Rick Barnett:

proud of. But from a professional standpoint, I think

Rick Barnett:

the thing that that really motivates me is there's people

Rick Barnett:

that I have hired 25 plus years ago, that I still speak with

Rick Barnett:

weekly on the phone, and they are either CEOs or VPs of sales

Rick Barnett:

and a higher demand and a entry level junior position. And I

Rick Barnett:

still communicate with so many of those folks, right? And

Rick Barnett:

people asked me so you know what gets you fired up when we hire a

Rick Barnett:

young professional or when we extend an offer to a young

Rick Barnett:

professional and they sign our offer letter. That's when I feel

Rick Barnett:

success. Because I know if they apply themselves they're going

Rick Barnett:

to have that long 10 year run have been successful you know

Rick Barnett:

it'd been fruitful being good for their family and their

Rick Barnett:

lives. So it sounds a little maybe a little cheeky ish but I

Rick Barnett:

love when someone signs an OP letter from us because it I know

Rick Barnett:

what the I know what's gonna happen,

Wesleyne Greer:

huh? That's good. And I love that what you

Wesleyne Greer:

said you're most proud of, it's not you know, the big sales that

Wesleyne Greer:

you've won, or the big teams that you've created. It's each

Wesleyne Greer:

person's life that you're impacting, because we know how a

Wesleyne Greer:

career in sales can really change your trajectory of your

Wesleyne Greer:

life, change your family history, change your legacy. And

Wesleyne Greer:

so really, like he said, that first signature on a paper or

Wesleyne Greer:

knowing that somebody who you hired in an entry level, you

Wesleyne Greer:

know, Grant sales person is now a VP of sales or a CEO.

Rick Barnett:

So I do want to give you one example of this.

Rick Barnett:

And I think this just illustrates it, and it doesn't

Rick Barnett:

happen with everyone. But we hired a young lady into one of

Rick Barnett:

these territories. So she had roles, you know, low entry

Rick Barnett:

level, so let's say 60,000, a year, right compensation. And

Rick Barnett:

she got in with one of our clients, and she just, she done

Rick Barnett:

things that were asked for a ride, she learned, she, you

Rick Barnett:

know, worked hard, fast forward about 19 months, and our client

Rick Barnett:

took her own directly, because she had gotten to the point you

Rick Barnett:

and I talked about, right where she was, she knew what to do.

Rick Barnett:

Fast forward about two months after that, she calls me and

Rick Barnett:

she's in tears. And he's like, Oh, my gosh, what's going on,

Rick Barnett:

and she goes, I'm gonna make over $250,000 this year, and

Rick Barnett:

you've, you've changed my life, and my family's life. And

Rick Barnett:

that's, that's our wife. But that's what we do what we do,

Rick Barnett:

because we give people that opportunity, really cool,

Wesleyne Greer:

awesome, amazing in two years to go from 60,000

Wesleyne Greer:

to 250. And you know, there are so many people that are scared

Wesleyne Greer:

of sales, or they think sales is this or that. But really, sales

Wesleyne Greer:

is one of the only careers that the amount of effort you put in

Wesleyne Greer:

directly impacts the output, the sales, your commission, how much

Wesleyne Greer:

money you make, right. And so that is one of the most exciting

Wesleyne Greer:

things about a career in sales.

Rick Barnett:

That's the only profession I know that you're in

Rick Barnett:

charge your raises.

Wesleyne Greer:

Absolutely. I like to say you work as hard or

Wesleyne Greer:

as little as you want to, and your income, your output is

Wesleyne Greer:

directly correlated to that if you work 100 hours a week, that

Wesleyne Greer:

means you're gonna close more sales if you're doing the right

Wesleyne Greer:

thing. Now. If you're doing the right thing, you're gonna close

Wesleyne Greer:

more sales, like you said, one of the only careers that you can

Wesleyne Greer:

actually control how much money you make you control your

Wesleyne Greer:

income, you control your destiny. Yeah, that's true. So

Wesleyne Greer:

Rick, this conversation has been amazing. I am curious, I know

Wesleyne Greer:

that there are going to be people who are going to be like,

Wesleyne Greer:

Okay, well, I listened to what Wesleyne says, and she said, do

Wesleyne Greer:

my inventory. Alright, so what is the best way for people to

Wesleyne Greer:

get in contact with you?

Rick Barnett:

I mean, obviously come to our website, it's RP

Rick Barnett:

hyphen, li te so rep hyphen lytx.com. You can also send an

Rick Barnett:

email at info inf o at rep rip hyphen Li te.com I think those

Rick Barnett:

are probably the two of the easiest ways to get in touch

Rick Barnett:

with us. If you go to the website, there's a contact form

Rick Barnett:

you can fill it out, you will be responded to in under 24 hours.

Rick Barnett:

Unless you do it on Saturday night at 10 o'clock then it

Rick Barnett:

might be Monday but for the most part you will be responded to

Rick Barnett:

within 24 hours but we look any of your audience we'd love to

Rick Barnett:

help them if what we talked about today is something that

Rick Barnett:

they believe could serve you know their customers well, we'd

Rick Barnett:

love to be a part of their their journey.

Wesleyne Greer:

Awesome. Awesome. Well, I thank you so

Wesleyne Greer:

much for providing your insight on how you're really able to

Wesleyne Greer:

help companies grow those minor league sales teams and really

Wesleyne Greer:

expand and show how you started from one person to 100 person

Wesleyne Greer:

team I mean if nothing else that kind of shows your experience.

Wesleyne Greer:

So thank you so much again for joining me today.

Rick Barnett:

You're so welcome. Thank you for having me again. I

Rick Barnett:

really appreciate it.

Wesleyne Greer:

And guys, that was a another episode of the

Wesleyne Greer:

science of selling stem please leave us a review drop me a note

Wesleyne Greer:

W Greer at transform sales comm let me know how do you like the

Wesleyne Greer:

guest? Is this resonating with you and remember in all that you

Wesleyne Greer:

do transform your sales. Until next time.

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About the Podcast

Transformed Sales
Transforming Sales Managers to Lead Using Behavior-Based Skills Development
As a sales manager, you are judged by the performance of your team. And you're praised when they do well. But one thing that you've not been able to figure out is how to get everyone on your team consistently hitting quota every single month. Sales leadership is difficult.

The Transformed Sales podcast equips sales leaders with the skills to develop high-performance teams. We provide coaching strategies for improving sales team performance, mentoring developing sellers, and providing ongoing support for best practices. As a result sales leaders can guide, create, and nurture long-term relationships with their teams.

You will learn how to enhance your ability to engage in productive conversations with internal team members, resulting in a collaborative, dynamic environment where sellers feel supported.

Transformed Sales assists businesses in developing and building the culture necessary to build high-performing sales teams. In this leadership coaching program, coaching strategies are offered that can be used to improve the performance of sales teams. These strategies provide ongoing support and reinforcement of best practices