Episode 56

Science to Sales 101 with Tom Slocum

Published on: 9th February, 2022

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

In this episode of the Science of Selling STEM, I spoke to Tom Slocum, the Program Director at RevGenius, a community for those in revenue-generating sales and marketing roles. Tom is also the Co-Founder of RevLeague, an exclusive community within RevGenius that helps SDRs and AEs become proficient at their jobs and blow past goals to outperform their peers. He is a sales leader with over a decade of sales experience. He finds his passion in helping startups scale their go-to-market teams and enabling sales reps to be more human in their outreach. 

Tom has had an incredible sales career that has evolved multiple times between operating within diverse industries (Including being a car salesman). He will be sharing the valuable takeaways that enabled him to grow into a sales leader and now an incredible sales coach. He will also teach us how to master the science of sales so we can consistently hit quota and succeed in sales regardless of the role or industry we are in. Stay tuned for that and so much more. And if you ever need help with a sales or leadership issue, don't hesitate to book a complimentary clarity session with me HERE.

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

  • Being a car salesperson and the crazy ups and downs of building his extensive sales career (01:39)
  • Why there is a science to sales and why every salesperson should master their sales success formula (06:10)
  • Sales Leadership 101 - How a sales leader can coach their team to find their individual strengths and the sales formula that works for them (10:53)
  • Transitioning from sales in a business and consumer space to a corporate B2B space (12:24)
  • Breaking down how sales works in the SaaS industry (14:42)
  • Leaving the 9 to 5 to become a coach and build a community around helping people with sales development (18:20)
  • Differences between being a sales leader and being a sales coach (21:03)
  • The power of the third party outside opinion in accelerating a salesperson’s growth (22:53)
  • How companies are increasingly investing in the development of their salespeople (24:04)
  • The fulfillment he gets from helping people level up (27:03)

Connect with Wesleyne Greer:

Connect with Tom Slocum:

Rate, Review, Learn, and Share

Thanks for tuning into The Science of Selling STEM! If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn even more about what it takes to transform your sales, don’t forget to tune into our other episodes and share your favorite episodes on social media!

Join The Science of Selling STEM community on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and visit my website for even more content, information, and resources.

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 am so

Wesleyne Greer:

excited that I have Tom Slocum here with me. How are you Tom?

Wesleyne Greer:

I'm doing good. Wesleyne How are you? Hi, I'm doing awesome. Let

Wesleyne Greer:

me tell you guys a little bit about Tom. He is a sales leader

Wesleyne Greer:

with over a decade of sales experience. He finds his passion

Wesleyne Greer:

in helping startups scale their go to market teams and enabling

Wesleyne Greer:

sales reps to be more human in their outreach. He is currently

Wesleyne Greer:

the community manager of Rev genius, which is where b2b

Wesleyne Greer:

communities come to scale. So how did you start 10 years ago

Wesleyne Greer:

in sales, and now you have this amazing community? What was your

Wesleyne Greer:

journey? Oh, that's a good one. You know, it's not linear. It's

Wesleyne Greer:

always crazy and out of the ways. You know, I started early

Wesleyne Greer:

on when I was 1718 years old, I had the opportunity to get an

Wesleyne Greer:

outbound cold calling for Discover card. My stepmother was

Wesleyne Greer:

working there for about over 15 years, got into it started doing

Wesleyne Greer:

balance transfers, and got into calling people up, right you got

Wesleyne Greer:

credit cards, move your balances from there, kind of dove into

Wesleyne Greer:

car sales, I went into car sales. So I started selling cars

Wesleyne Greer:

for a couple years, one and two real estate and just kind of

Wesleyne Greer:

bounced around in his sales atmosphere until about 2010,

Wesleyne Greer:

where I kind of jumped into the corporate kind of Phil's world

Wesleyne Greer:

of real cold calling all the terminology by getting into for

Wesleyne Greer:

profit education. So I worked for a company called Argosy and

Wesleyne Greer:

was an admissions counselor found the first time ever kind

Wesleyne Greer:

of using an auto dialer, just having conversations with people

Wesleyne Greer:

that filled out like contact us forms, when they were trying to

Wesleyne Greer:

go through to get to like the stuff they were looking for, you

Wesleyne Greer:

want to learn more about college, and we would call them

Wesleyne Greer:

find the real ones, you know, the diamonds in the rough.

Tom Slocum:

And so I did that for a couple years and then

Tom Slocum:

moved into yo GoDaddy and kind of progressed through the sales

Tom Slocum:

world to where now I got into building and scaling self

Tom Slocum:

development teams back in 2017. I found self development my

Tom Slocum:

niche that top of funnel prospecting, getting into that

Tom Slocum:

beginning top of funnel focus. That's what I started doing for

Tom Slocum:

the last five years. And now I've had the privilege to build

Tom Slocum:

a community and coach from the side and help SDRs you know,

Tom Slocum:

with their messaging with the way they're doing things, and

Tom Slocum:

now I run a community and doing so. So it's just been a fun

Tom Slocum:

ride. I've done a lot. I've worked all over learning from

Tom Slocum:

different places. And yeah, it's been a great journey. But here I

Tom Slocum:

am, you know, calling everything under the sun. And I love cold

Tom Slocum:

calling. It's a good time for me. So question for you. Because

Tom Slocum:

so often when people talk about sales, or I talk about sales, we

Tom Slocum:

compare it to being I'm not a used car, salesperson, I'm not

Tom Slocum:

as car salesperson, so you actually work our salesperson.

Tom Slocum:

So tell us how that actually helped you to do what you're

Tom Slocum:

doing today. It was really such a good foundation for me,

Tom Slocum:

because you know, you had to grind the phones, you had to

Tom Slocum:

call people you had to learn follow up my very first time,

Tom Slocum:

you know, they teach you to work within your network. So I

Tom Slocum:

already started tapping into my friends that were graduating

Tom Slocum:

high school, their parents were looking for cars, all of my

Tom Slocum:

junior class friends that were still there. So I started

Tom Slocum:

calling them and saying, hey, I can help you out. You know, let

Tom Slocum:

me give you a deal. And so it just really taught me about

Tom Slocum:

boots on the ground, the hustle of the game, it really helped me

Tom Slocum:

understand that there is a science to sales. It's not

Tom Slocum:

always an art, there is science to what we do. And and there's

Tom Slocum:

ways to word choice. There's waves of the athlete and

Tom Slocum:

questions. And my biggest takeaway I learned in sales is

Tom Slocum:

something that's very hard at cold calling, is I had a

Tom Slocum:

tangible I had a car, okay, I have the ability to put you in a

Tom Slocum:

car, take you for a test drive, let you see and test the product

Tom Slocum:

while I'm pitching you in discussing with you. You can't

Tom Slocum:

do that in a cold call. Right? You're pitching just with words.

Tom Slocum:

There is no we're not getting to do this face to face. It's all

Tom Slocum:

words. So what I learned how to do from selling cars is create

Tom Slocum:

the car for them. Get my buyer get my prospect and the idea of

Tom Slocum:

they are in the car. What would it be like Wesleyne If you had

Tom Slocum:

better podcasting tools talk me through that. What would you use

Tom Slocum:

them for? Oh, I would do it and you start visually

Tom Slocum:

think what it would look like to be in that vehicle or that new

Tom Slocum:

solution, that now I'm able to kind of get you to use your own

Tom Slocum:

words and be bought into it, that when you go home back to

Tom Slocum:

your old products, you're like, Darn, Tom showed me this thing

Tom Slocum:

today. And I tested it. And that was just so cool. I wish I had

Tom Slocum:

it. Now you're coming back to me. And we're talking, because I

Tom Slocum:

was able to put a thought to a visual to help you see, that was

Tom Slocum:

my biggest takeaway from car selling is how to get that same

Tom Slocum:

element. But on a cold call. Wow, you actually reminded me of

Tom Slocum:

something because I started my career in capital equipment. So

Tom Slocum:

I sold the tangible, right. And now I'm selling more like a

Tom Slocum:

service. There's like some people call it a warm fuzzy when

Tom Slocum:

you're selling training or consulting. And a lot of times,

Tom Slocum:

what I do is I do think about that experience, right? It's

Tom Slocum:

like, okay, when I sold the tangible I would demo it. And

Tom Slocum:

during the demo, it's like, this is what you have to see, this is

Tom Slocum:

what you have to do in order for them to check the box. And

Tom Slocum:

that's the same thing that I do now in a service based business.

Tom Slocum:

And you touched on something that made me get excited. You

Tom Slocum:

said that there is science in sales? Yes, yes, yes. That's

Tom Slocum:

what this is all about. So tell me, why do you say that? Why do

Tom Slocum:

you say that there is a science to sales, because I'm all about

Tom Slocum:

formulas, frameworks data, to empower an individual to find

Tom Slocum:

where to succeed, there is an art, I agree there is an art to

Tom Slocum:

what we do sometimes. And it is a creative market, that you've

Tom Slocum:

got to be creative on the phone, you got to be creative in your

Tom Slocum:

messaging, and there is a little bit of an art, but we can't deny

Tom Slocum:

the fact that there is a secret to success, there is a formula,

Tom Slocum:

there is a method to the madness and why you're seeing the

Tom Slocum:

success that you're seeing. And too many people can't see it.

Tom Slocum:

Sometimes you'll ask him what's helped you be so successful? I

Tom Slocum:

don't know. It just kind of happens. No, it doesn't really

Tom Slocum:

go inward and really understand the science to what you do.

Tom Slocum:

There are repeatable steps that you take. There are repeatable

Tom Slocum:

things that you do that lead to what you're seeing as success.

Tom Slocum:

It's not just falling into your lap, it is those things. So when

Tom Slocum:

I coach, when I train, I teach formulas, I don't want to create

Tom Slocum:

repeat people, I'm teaching you a formula. And if you learn it

Tom Slocum:

today, you're going to be able to take it to everywhere you go,

Tom Slocum:

small plug, I have my cohort program going and a member said

Tom Slocum:

that to me this morning, Tom, what I love about what you're

Tom Slocum:

teaching me as these worksheets I'm going through, I might get

Tom Slocum:

promoted in six months ago to a different company. But guess

Tom Slocum:

what, I can go through these again. I said, Yes, you get it.

Tom Slocum:

These are repeatable. I'm teaching you how to be

Tom Slocum:

successful as an SDR across multiple companies not just a

Tom Slocum:

place to work on too many people, they only get good at

Tom Slocum:

where they're at. And if you put them in another position, they

Tom Slocum:

fail. And they're like, why can I find the same success. And

Tom Slocum:

it's like, because you just use frameworks and scripts and never

Tom Slocum:

found out your method and your science to what you do to make

Tom Slocum:

it repeatable. No matter where you go, salespeople should be

Tom Slocum:

able to pick up anything and sell in your own way, Sell me

Tom Slocum:

this pen, you should be able to do on a click of a dime. Because

Tom Slocum:

that's just what you do. And you have a formula in your mind. And

Tom Slocum:

there's a science to what you're going to do. There's going to be

Tom Slocum:

some iterations and some levers you're going to pull, but you

Tom Slocum:

know your core, and you know your science to it. I also

Tom Slocum:

believe in data pulling the levers, I love metrics. I don't

Tom Slocum:

lead with metrics. All right, Wesleyne. I'm not one of those.

Tom Slocum:

I lead with people over metrics. But there is a science to it,

Tom Slocum:

there is knowing what your numbers are, and making sure

Tom Slocum:

that you're at least practicing those behaviors. A basketball

Tom Slocum:

player knows, hey, my first five baskets are my warm up, I might

Tom Slocum:

not hit all of them. But I need to get the motion, I need to get

Tom Slocum:

going. I know that once my fifth shot comes from there, I can

Tom Slocum:

start getting you know, I gotta warm up, I gotta get the legs

Tom Slocum:

going. And so you need to know what those minimums are, you

Tom Slocum:

know, if it takes you the last quarter 50 dials to get a

Tom Slocum:

conversation, but you make 30 dials a day for a week. And

Tom Slocum:

you're like what happened? I can tell you what happened. You

Tom Slocum:

didn't hit your science, you didn't hit the math, if you hit

Tom Slocum:

the map, now we can pull some levers and play with it. That's

Tom Slocum:

my long winded answer to why I believe there's a science to

Tom Slocum:

what you know, is behind the door of sales. I couldn't have

Tom Slocum:

said it better myself. I am a chemist by trade. And so when

Tom Slocum:

you say there's a formula, that's that was totally hard. I

Tom Slocum:

was like, yes, there is a formula, there is a formula.

Tom Slocum:

Right? There is a method to the madness. And you know, I

Tom Slocum:

actually just had a very heated discussion today with the CFO at

Tom Slocum:

a company because he was saying, well, this person didn't work

Tom Slocum:

for this sale, so they shouldn't be paid commission on it. I said

Tom Slocum:

no, I don't believe that just because they didn't send the

Tom Slocum:

quote, does it mean that they didn't work for it, they had to

Tom Slocum:

follow up. They had to call somebody, they had to send an

Tom Slocum:

email, they had to do something in order for the company to cut

Tom Slocum:

a PO right. And so I think there is so much a science to what we

Tom Slocum:

do, especially in these very, very technical fields that we

Tom Slocum:

use. And as leaders, what we should hope that we are doing is

Tom Slocum:

imparting on our sales people, our eighth our sales reps, every

Tom Slocum:

sales person that we touch, we want to give them a repeatable

Tom Slocum:

formula where they can be excellent here and anywhere

Tom Slocum:

else, right. That is the goal. That's the goal is is we can't

Tom Slocum:

confine somebody to only be good at one place. We've got to

Tom Slocum:

empower them to just That's why

Wesleyne Greer:

done a lot. You heard my story. In the

Wesleyne Greer:

beginning, I've worked everywhere. But I've never

Wesleyne Greer:

failed for performance ever. And it was simply because I had a

Wesleyne Greer:

repeatable process. And it took me a few years to figure it out.

Wesleyne Greer:

I'm not saying it was easy. I was one of those people that I

Wesleyne Greer:

don't know, I just do it, right. It's just me. But it took me

Wesleyne Greer:

some time to understand that there is a science, there is a

Wesleyne Greer:

formula, you have to dig in a little bit and understand your

Wesleyne Greer:

subconscious is running on repeat and kind of going through

Wesleyne Greer:

those formulas. You just don't get it. But once you sit down

Wesleyne Greer:

and go through it, you're like, oh, yeah, I do always say that

Wesleyne Greer:

one liner. Yeah, this is kind of what I do every day, or how I at

Wesleyne Greer:

least mindset wise go into every call, okay? That's a formula

Wesleyne Greer:

that is a science to what's making it happen. Because if you

Wesleyne Greer:

remove that part of the formula, boom, that chemists lab is blown

Wesleyne Greer:

up, right? You missed an ingredient. And now it's

Wesleyne Greer:

splattered all over the wall, your mom's mad, the kitchens got

Wesleyne Greer:

spaghetti everywhere. And you blew up the whole, you know,

Wesleyne Greer:

volcano on the counter, because you got to have those formulas

Wesleyne Greer:

and those repeatable things. And there's a science to it. And

Wesleyne Greer:

then you coach to it. Now you tweak the formula, right? Like,

Wesleyne Greer:

now we're in the lab, and we're going at it and we're saying,

Wesleyne Greer:

Okay, let's sprinkle a little bit of this in there. Alright,

Wesleyne Greer:

let's pull this one a little bit. Oh, look at that balance

Wesleyne Greer:

there. Perfect. Right, there's your sweet spot, or oh, you know

Wesleyne Greer:

what, humor isn't something you can do with me, let's just kind

Wesleyne Greer:

of take that piece out, right, it's gonna cause an explosion,

Wesleyne Greer:

or you know what I like where that tip was going. But I don't

Wesleyne Greer:

think it works best for you, right? Let's try to make it a

Wesleyne Greer:

little bit, a little bit more sprinkle of this and that and

Wesleyne Greer:

kind of make it yours. Now try this. So it's just a matter, you

Wesleyne Greer:

know, managing that learning your people that you work with,

Wesleyne Greer:

they are your unit, they are your team, get to know them on

Wesleyne Greer:

that level. Because that way, either they might not be able to

Wesleyne Greer:

see it, but it's your job to coach them to it and find it and

Wesleyne Greer:

say, Hey, from what I've seen, here's your strengths. Here's

Wesleyne Greer:

where you are good at, here's where we need to, you know, mess

Wesleyne Greer:

with the ingredients a little bit and kind of find a better

Wesleyne Greer:

formula for you.

Wesleyne Greer:

Absolutely. That is awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. My

Wesleyne Greer:

magic little formula, which is not really magic is people post

Wesleyne Greer:

process equals profit, simple. Get the right people on the bus,

Wesleyne Greer:

give them a process. And the company will be profitable every

Wesleyne Greer:

day, all the time. So you transition from being really in

Wesleyne Greer:

a business to consumer space into the corporate b2b space. So

Wesleyne Greer:

talk us through that transition, when you went into the corporate

Wesleyne Greer:

space? Did you immediately start managing teams? Or did you start

Wesleyne Greer:

as individual contributor.

Tom Slocum:

So I started as an individual contributor, I was

Tom Slocum:

about the third or fourth team member on there, I had Jeff made

Tom Slocum:

the big jump, I got through the VP questioning on you know, hey,

Tom Slocum:

you're SMB How you gonna kill it? And enterprise space, you

Tom Slocum:

know, convinced me right? So I nailed that got in. And then I

Tom Slocum:

showed up, right? I showed them that, hey, talking to an SMB

Tom Slocum:

owner is the same as talking to a CEO, I look equal to you, I'm

Tom Slocum:

not looking up. I'm not looking down. You're a person. I'm a

Tom Slocum:

person. Let's have a conversation. It's and again, I

Tom Slocum:

knew my formulas Wesleyne, right. Like, it didn't matter. I

Tom Slocum:

knew give me anything. I know my formula. And I'm promise you,

Tom Slocum:

I'll get you the results you're looking for. And so I did

Tom Slocum:

mmediately took an ownership and building out the team, right,

Tom Slocum:

moving up coaching, teaching others because I was getting

Tom Slocum:

really fast wins. And I was very aggressive beta called minimum

Tom Slocum:

of about $35 a day, I was doing 125 a day. And I was pushing and

Tom Slocum:

I was team was mad at me very early on. They're like, Dude,

Tom Slocum:

can you chill out like our minimum of 35, you're going over

Tom Slocum:

here and never ever do at 50. You know, they're hanging back

Tom Slocum:

bucket of wine every couple of days. And here I am. From an SMB

Tom Slocum:

world where I had to book three meetings a day, I had to pitch

Tom Slocum:

once a day, I had to close a deal a day, I knew how to hustle

Tom Slocum:

because it was SMB. So unfortunately, it didn't click

Tom Slocum:

for me to slow down or be like, oh, I need to take this

Tom Slocum:

enterprise space a little different. I was out there, I

Tom Slocum:

use my formula, and I was aggressive. So I got that

Tom Slocum:

leadership role. And I started building out the team, we ended

Tom Slocum:

up getting to 30 reps in three years and you know, closed over

Tom Slocum:

15 million and did a really good job with the team and put us in

Tom Slocum:

a position to win. But it was hard at first enterprise with

Tom Slocum:

different I had to adapt to multithreading, I had to find a

Tom Slocum:

science behind the math, lean on the customer success team lean

Tom Slocum:

on the account executives understand and I take my formula

Tom Slocum:

and apply it now to this space, using those same functions and

Tom Slocum:

finding a formula that would work.

Wesleyne Greer:

So one thing I kind of want to pause just

Wesleyne Greer:

because it seems like you're pretty good at breaking things

Wesleyne Greer:

down and explaining I have a very wide range of listeners. So

Wesleyne Greer:

not everyone is from this tech space that understands what an

Wesleyne Greer:

SDR or an AE or customer success is. So walk us through in

Wesleyne Greer:

typical SaaS company, which is software as a service. I tried

Wesleyne Greer:

to not do acronym software as a service. How does that work? You

Wesleyne Greer:

mentioned STR top of the funnel. You mentioned ae you mentioned

Wesleyne Greer:

customer success. How does that work?

Tom Slocum:

Oh, this is a fun space. SAS right is a really

Tom Slocum:

great industry. It's booming. Everybody's transitioning into

Tom Slocum:

it. We have an influx of rules everybody. It's a wild west out

Tom Slocum:

here to anarchy and a world of SaaS, but it's basically a

Tom Slocum:

service a product that is a service that helps somebody

Tom Slocum:

along in their market. Right. So it could be lead data, were a

Tom Slocum:

service that provides lead enrichment for you that if you

Tom Slocum:

have Wesley, I can enrich that and give you her phone number,

Tom Slocum:

her mobile number, her email, I could tell you a little bit more

Tom Slocum:

information about her. So that's a service they sell to help

Tom Slocum:

their sales development rep that top of funnel folk who's doing

Tom Slocum:

the outreach, be empowered with word formation, right? Simple

Tom Slocum:

SAS product, but most of the companies are built where you

Tom Slocum:

want to buy that product, you go on their website, you put in a

Tom Slocum:

demo request, or you get luck of the draw. And an SDR calls you

Tom Slocum:

an SDR is a sales development rep who is out there cold

Tom Slocum:

calling and going to market pitching this service. So

Tom Slocum:

instead of waiting on inbound, and the company waiting for

Tom Slocum:

people to come to them, these people are out there bringing

Tom Slocum:

awareness, having conversations, hearing objections, hearing

Tom Slocum:

everything that the market is saying, and then bringing that

Tom Slocum:

back to the team with the intent to book a meeting and bring

Tom Slocum:

prospective buyers into the pipeline. Once they end there.

Tom Slocum:

They book a meeting. So I called you Wesleyan, it's Tom, I'm

Tom Slocum:

calling you know about this, you say yes to a meeting, let's say,

Tom Slocum:

I'm now going to book that meeting and pass it to my

Tom Slocum:

account executive. And the account executive is now going

Tom Slocum:

to demo you have that discovery with you talk with you find your

Tom Slocum:

pains guide you through their amazing product and service and

Tom Slocum:

how great it is and not really talk to you. Right, they're

Tom Slocum:

gonna talk at you. I'm just kidding. No shock that my 80s I

Tom Slocum:

love y'all. But you know, they'll give you that rundown.

Tom Slocum:

And then you're passed off to a customer success manager if you

Tom Slocum:

do close, right. So you by now your hand it off, and you will

Tom Slocum:

have an account manager like most people know it, your

Tom Slocum:

customer success team, that's going to be there to guide you

Tom Slocum:

in your journey with this company now. So that's kind of

Tom Slocum:

the main SAS industry is you've got that SDR entry level role.

Tom Slocum:

That's where you're coming in to kind of learn the market, learn

Tom Slocum:

the buyer, be out there testing messaging, and working with

Tom Slocum:

marketing. And then he is the closer they're eating, they're

Tom Slocum:

helping the customers and then you've got customer success,

Tom Slocum:

which is managing that account moving forward. And being that

Tom Slocum:

resource for that that new client. So it's a crazy

Tom Slocum:

industry, it's tech sales. It's awesome. You know, you're

Tom Slocum:

providing great tools are starting I mean, a new software

Tom Slocum:

is coming up by the day, it is insane. Now in 2022, how many

Tom Slocum:

companies are coming up, you got the startup world, and then

Tom Slocum:

you've got, you know, seed stages you got to look at and

Tom Slocum:

what's an enterprise verse, another term is mid market,

Tom Slocum:

small business, there's a lot, but it is a fun environment,

Tom Slocum:

there's a lot of opportunity within it. But that's a little

Tom Slocum:

bit of a five year old explanation of how that customer

Tom Slocum:

journey would go in the SAS world.

Wesleyne Greer:

I love it. I love it. And you know, I simply

Wesleyne Greer:

put it, sales is not just sales, right. And so when we think

Wesleyne Greer:

about having our sales seem if you're outside of the SAS world,

Wesleyne Greer:

and you don't have those three distinct buckets, I always say

Wesleyne Greer:

sales is broken into three things you have the prospect and

Wesleyne Greer:

nurture and the close. And that's literally what you just

Wesleyne Greer:

went through and talking about how ser prospects, the A is

Wesleyne Greer:

nurturing, and then the customer successes, once they close,

Wesleyne Greer:

making sure that everything is going well. So as you stepped

Wesleyne Greer:

into leading this team, you were number three on the team, you

Wesleyne Greer:

grew it to be 30 people $15 million. Why did you decide

Wesleyne Greer:

that, hey, I really enjoy what I'm doing. But this isn't what

Wesleyne Greer:

my final purpose is, this is what I want to do for the rest

Wesleyne Greer:

of my life.

Tom Slocum:

You know, the universe wouldn't leave me

Tom Slocum:

alone, you never realize how often that things around, you

Tom Slocum:

keep pushing you back to the direction you need to go, you

Tom Slocum:

know, I was running these teams, I was having a time of my life.

Tom Slocum:

And then COVID happened. And, you know, I got empowered to

Tom Slocum:

realize my worth my value, what I couldn't really do in my

Tom Slocum:

career, because I was in this little silo of my own kind of

Tom Slocum:

here in the states in Arizona, doing my thing, killing it with

Tom Slocum:

these companies. And I stepped out in front of building a

Tom Slocum:

social brand on LinkedIn. And I started getting around other

Tom Slocum:

like minded individuals that were like, Yo, what are you

Tom Slocum:

doing, like you should be over here doing this kind of stuff.

Tom Slocum:

And I was like, Really, and I kind of got unlocked with my

Tom Slocum:

potential. And I started just helping people one off talking

Tom Slocum:

with them. And then it kind of just stumbled on, you're really

Tom Slocum:

good coach, you're really good at applying these things and

Tom Slocum:

helping them now here I am running a community with it.

Tom Slocum:

Right. I jumped into REM genius a year and a half ago, July of

Tom Slocum:

2020. And I built a channel within there for SDRs. So like

Tom Slocum:

we mentioned in the beginning, right rev genius is a Slack

Tom Slocum:

community where companies come to scale, b2b companies come to

Tom Slocum:

scale. We've got marketing, rev off all those roles you've

Tom Slocum:

talked about right? And people get to come in there and

Tom Slocum:

collaborate in a big environment. Well, I started

Tom Slocum:

handling the self development side because that was my role. I

Tom Slocum:

wanted to stay there with the peeps I was in four walls. I was

Tom Slocum:

like, Hey, can I hang with the homies? So I hung out with the

Tom Slocum:

SDRs right? And then it got bigger and more people kept

Tom Slocum:

coming and we started collaborating a lot more. And

Tom Slocum:

next thing you know, I was building out this mini micro

Tom Slocum:

community and now it's a paid program and it's like yo just do

Tom Slocum:

this full time. And I was like oh my god, I love this. And so

Tom Slocum:

it kind of stumbled for me. I finished my junction with

Tom Slocum:

milestone I got them in a position to win with my team. We

Tom Slocum:

work together they were in a good place. And I said you know

Tom Slocum:

I'm out, I'm going to quit the nine to five, I'm going to try

Tom Slocum:

this. You know, it's scary. But I had a network, I had friends

Tom Slocum:

and I didn't feel I was doing it alone. And so I took the dive.

Tom Slocum:

And now I'm all in with Rev genius building this amazing

Tom Slocum:

community and coaching, you know, self development from the

Tom Slocum:

side, never would have thought this was the end destination. I

Tom Slocum:

was trying to go VP of sales continue that journey, right.

Tom Slocum:

The startups I was at, I was kind of in those roles. And I

Tom Slocum:

was like, you know, I want to keep going up. I was a sales guy

Tom Slocum:

at heart. People say they didn't grow up to be in sales. But But

Tom Slocum:

Tom Slocum did, I love those movies. I love the suit. I love

Tom Slocum:

the business. You know, I loved all of that. But that's what I

Tom Slocum:

wanted to do. So it's a little bit different, but I'm loving

Tom Slocum:

every minute of it, it's been good to just feel like I'm

Tom Slocum:

making an impact and helping people get better at the job day

Tom Slocum:

by day.

Wesleyne Greer:

The impact of coaching, it is so so important.

Wesleyne Greer:

And you've been on the inside as well as on the outside, how is

Wesleyne Greer:

it different, actually being that manager working with those

Wesleyne Greer:

reps day in and day out, versus being on the sideline kind of

Wesleyne Greer:

being their coach on the outside?

Tom Slocum:

Gosh, a less stressful at the end of the day,

Tom Slocum:

I get to be a little bit more free with them. Because I have

Tom Slocum:

nothing invested. But genuine investment and care and helping

Tom Slocum:

them succeed. I don't have a manager on top, I don't have

Tom Slocum:

people that I'm answering to I just get to freely coach these

Tom Slocum:

people on what actually is their problem right now, versus

Tom Slocum:

actually owning my team, right, which I still love. I had a team

Tom Slocum:

of 30 we had a team of seven, when I finished that milestone,

Tom Slocum:

you know, we've been able to coach these teams, but you got

Tom Slocum:

to worry about numbers, you got to worry about firing people

Tom Slocum:

hiring people, the personal element of all of that, right

Tom Slocum:

and understanding that. And you don't always get to be there for

Tom Slocum:

the people like you'd like to be, there was days where I

Tom Slocum:

couldn't be there for them. And it bugged me right because I

Tom Slocum:

have fires to put out and things. But doing this now where

Tom Slocum:

I'm not with the company tie, I am just there for the individual

Tom Slocum:

and coaching them personally. And whatever that might be life

Tom Slocum:

I've had some coaching calls where it's just shooting the

Tom Slocum:

shit, we're just talking they needed to soundboard to where

Tom Slocum:

some days were deep into lab. Alright, show me what you're

Tom Slocum:

working on. Let's let's fix some things. And then they go out and

Tom Slocum:

win. And I don't have to worry about the other parts of it. So

Tom Slocum:

it's a big different walk of life, I feel that I have the

Tom Slocum:

opportunity to spread my wings and fly be a lot freer and my

Tom Slocum:

coaching and really be invested in individual versus, you know,

Tom Slocum:

when I was doing it from a company level, and the politics

Tom Slocum:

and all this stuff within the company side of stuff.

Wesleyne Greer:

Yeah, one thing that I often hear from my

Wesleyne Greer:

clients, as well as other coaches is that people really

Wesleyne Greer:

like having that third party unbiased opinion. And it's like,

Wesleyne Greer:

I know that you are telling me to do this, because it's gonna

Wesleyne Greer:

help make me better, not because it's gonna help the company in

Wesleyne Greer:

any way, which again, as a manager, that's what you have to

Wesleyne Greer:

do. But when you take a step and invest in yourself, or your

Wesleyne Greer:

company invest in you, to give you a third party outside

Wesleyne Greer:

opinion, it just helps accelerate your growth,

Tom Slocum:

it really does, because you're able to go all in

Tom Slocum:

deep in it. And I don't have to worry about the goals and the

Tom Slocum:

other stuff, I can just generally help this person win

Tom Slocum:

and some capacity. So it's a fun ride, I have a lot of wins, it's

Tom Slocum:

been great to just watch people come back a few days later. And

Tom Slocum:

you know, say what you did help me and there's a lot of great

Tom Slocum:

coaches out there, there's a lot of great opportunity out there.

Tom Slocum:

And I've always believed in being you know, I hate to say

Tom Slocum:

sports again, but you see the head coach on the side of the

Tom Slocum:

court field. But then they have other eight coaches with them.

Tom Slocum:

It's not just them, they have a wide receiver coach, they have a

Tom Slocum:

running back coach, they have a defensive, I think we should all

Tom Slocum:

be working together to help the individual and coach together. I

Tom Slocum:

don't know everything, but I'll do my best to help you. And if I

Tom Slocum:

don't, I'm going to plug you with other coaches that I have

Tom Slocum:

within my community and niche down on you know, hey, at the

Tom Slocum:

email, great, I got an email coach for you. Let's talk about

Tom Slocum:

that somebody who's a subject matter expert that can really

Tom Slocum:

coach you to that I can give you some high level, but let's get

Tom Slocum:

you in the lab with the right person. So it's all about that

Tom Slocum:

ecosystem and being able to just coach from the side.

Wesleyne Greer:

So I'm curious, typically, SDRs are kind of like

Wesleyne Greer:

the lowest person on the totem pole and not compensated that

Wesleyne Greer:

highly. Are you typically getting companies sponsor these

Wesleyne Greer:

SDRs? Or are they investing in themselves?

Wesleyne Greer:

So it's a great question. So what we've been testing for a

Wesleyne Greer:

couple months now, it looks like what we're seeing is the

Wesleyne Greer:

companies, they're sponsoring the individuals, they want it,

Wesleyne Greer:

they're digging it, they're really enjoying the extra

Wesleyne Greer:

support on the side. You know, we're talking to startups, we're

Wesleyne Greer:

talking to some really early on companies that are just

Wesleyne Greer:

deploying their team, and they're trying to put out all

Wesleyne Greer:

the other fires, their VP of sales, their marketing, they're

Wesleyne Greer:

doing it all and unfortunately, the demand for film development

Wesleyne Greer:

right now is so high. Most of the season people are plugged

Wesleyne Greer:

in, they're good, they're at where they're at. So everything

Wesleyne Greer:

that's coming in is new college graduates teachers transitioning

Wesleyne Greer:

a lot of people transitioning in so I'm kind of finding this lane

Wesleyne Greer:

where oh man I could take that risk bring that person in but

Wesleyne Greer:

I've got this community and Tom kind of coaching from the side

Wesleyne Greer:

to get them up to speed oh all day, like yes, I sponsor that

Wesleyne Greer:

I'm gonna bring these people in, and then I'm gonna throw them in

Wesleyne Greer:

your community and let's go right and let's get going.

Wesleyne Greer:

Individuals are doing it as well, but it's just a little bit

Wesleyne Greer:

lower $500 per year for the rep right now. And so not all of

Wesleyne Greer:

them are like, Oh, I got 500 lying around, right, because

Wesleyne Greer:

they're not getting the coaching and development they need.

Wesleyne Greer:

They're not getting it. So and they're not getting paid company

Wesleyne Greer:

whales. So we're kind of going on a company angle, they're

Wesleyne Greer:

getting sponsored. We're using their training and learning

Wesleyne Greer:

development budgets to come in and apply. And then we're

Wesleyne Greer:

bringing them in that way. So it's been really great companies

Wesleyne Greer:

are awesome. We've partnered with a few. And our programs,

Wesleyne Greer:

even for seasoned vets, I have a lot of seasoned people, this

Wesleyne Greer:

isn't a boot camp, this isn't just, you know, the novice, I've

Wesleyne Greer:

got that die in for attention looking to level up in their

Wesleyne Greer:

career, some of them are looking to go into AE other roles, and

Wesleyne Greer:

they need that support. That's where my community is helping

Wesleyne Greer:

them. We've had a career Learning Development Series

Wesleyne Greer:

every Friday, I bring in people that used to be SDRs. That went

Wesleyne Greer:

into other things, customer success, rev ops marketing, and

Wesleyne Greer:

have them come for an AMA and ask me anything for one hour.

Wesleyne Greer:

And they share their story. And we talk about it. And these

Wesleyne Greer:

people can ask, how did you do this? How did you find what

Wesleyne Greer:

skills worked for you? So they can start learning, you know,

Wesleyne Greer:

what's next for them, because that's what they're dying for.

Wesleyne Greer:

They want that next step not, I'm already thriving into

Wesleyne Greer:

meetings booked and stuff, but I need more, I've got that for you

Wesleyne Greer:

come in here. And let's help you. So my reps are getting new

Wesleyne Greer:

jobs, they're moving on, they're finding opportunity. They're

Wesleyne Greer:

getting progress. Progression is really what's happening within

Wesleyne Greer:

the community. From day one on you're progressing

Wesleyne Greer:

growth. And so I hope that all of the CEOs, VP of sales, ser

Wesleyne Greer:

managers, you realize how important it is to invest in

Wesleyne Greer:

your people, right? Like, if you invest in your people, my

Wesleyne Greer:

LinkedIn banner actually says, Do you want to tap perform team

Wesleyne Greer:

invest in your people, literally, that's what you have

Wesleyne Greer:

to do. You can't just throw money at ads, or this or that,

Wesleyne Greer:

like, you literally have to invest in your people. And so I

Wesleyne Greer:

love that you have a space where people can come no matter if

Wesleyne Greer:

it's their first day, or their 500th day doing this job, and

Wesleyne Greer:

they can really learn from each other. You've given us so much,

Wesleyne Greer:

but I want to see is there one thing within your career within

Wesleyne Greer:

your journey that you are especially proud of,

Tom Slocum:

oh, this, what I've been able to achieve here truly

Tom Slocum:

has been the biggest one of my life is being able to finally

Tom Slocum:

just invest in people. I love giving, I love helping, and I'm

Tom Slocum:

passionate about being able to do this. Now, I never would have

Tom Slocum:

thought I would be not in the corporate world on a paycheck

Tom Slocum:

doing all this life. And, you know, worrying about where my

Tom Slocum:

next job was gonna come from now I'm kind of building my own

Tom Slocum:

little lane, within the community with the support of my

Tom Slocum:

team at Red genius. And now here I am investing in people and

Tom Slocum:

it's been a year and a half, I've impacted at least 200

Tom Slocum:

people, like as a friend of something that's genuine and I

Tom Slocum:

hang my hat on it in a prime story is one of my members,

Tom Slocum:

Elliot Garcia, you know, shout out to him. He's kind of my

Tom Slocum:

poster child. And he knows it. He's out there all the time

Tom Slocum:

making a lot of noise. And he was a guy that a year ago joined

Tom Slocum:

the community with me and was you know, working at a service

Tom Slocum:

industry business, booking 3040 meetings a month, but like going

Tom Slocum:

nowhere, it was a very really unknown company, very small

Tom Slocum:

place when he was in the big leagues with all these people in

Tom Slocum:

SAS, all these other SDRs crushing it. And he came in and

Tom Slocum:

just started killing it learning, networking with the

Tom Slocum:

members, you know, and in really saying Tom helped me like, How

Tom Slocum:

can I level up and he leaned in, and a few months later, he three

Tom Slocum:

exes who come and broke into SAS, and was able to kind of

Tom Slocum:

position himself and now is showing others that that's

Tom Slocum:

possible. And he's been my poster child since day one. And

Tom Slocum:

he knows it. And I can't thank him enough. And he took on and

Tom Slocum:

now he's given back. And now he coaches in the community. And

Tom Slocum:

now he helps others any, you know, is always are hype man.

Tom Slocum:

And so that's my biggest accomplishment is having

Tom Slocum:

multiple of those stories, and the people that have helped at

Tom Slocum:

the company that I've scaled. Now being here and doing it for

Tom Slocum:

a living, I couldn't be more proud of it. And I love hanging

Tom Slocum:

my hat on it.

Wesleyne Greer:

Ah, Spoken like a true coach, the thing that

Wesleyne Greer:

you're most proud of is a person that you've impacted a car that

Wesleyne Greer:

you have given to, it's not that I've made millions of dollars,

Wesleyne Greer:

I've closed so many deals, but I impacted this person's life. And

Wesleyne Greer:

we all know that being in sales, a sales career can absolutely

Wesleyne Greer:

change the trajectory of your life, right? Because the harder

Wesleyne Greer:

you work, the more you make, the more you make, the more you can

Wesleyne Greer:

do, right, whether it's your individual family, your extended

Wesleyne Greer:

family, if you have family overseas, wherever that is you

Wesleyne Greer:

are able to impact lives. And so you're doing that each and every

Wesleyne Greer:

day.

Tom Slocum:

You're 100%, right. It's you know, closing deals is

Tom Slocum:

always still a thrill to me getting that yes, on a book

Tom Slocum:

meeting. I still love every part of the sales aspect. And like

Tom Slocum:

you said, I tell people all the time, I'm working with a teacher

Tom Slocum:

right now transitioning into SAS, I'm working with him. He's

Tom Slocum:

gonna try to break in in May, but he's already in my community

Tom Slocum:

learning and evolving. So he's ready, right? And he personally

Tom Slocum:

made that investment and so I'm helping him and he's a teacher.

Tom Slocum:

And he's like, I could do the best work with these students.

Tom Slocum:

And the teacher across the hall can do the worst job and we make

Tom Slocum:

the same impact or same money. Right and It's just awful when I

Tom Slocum:

watch everybody you know, and I'm like, Man in sales, you want

Tom Slocum:

to work harder, you're gonna get compensated for being harder

Tom Slocum:

there, it's uncapped, and they really mean that the company

Tom Slocum:

will pay you if you win 100% You want more money? Great, bring me

Tom Slocum:

more money, I got you. Like, let's, let's get you paid, but

Tom Slocum:

like, let me win first, let me get my money. So you bring it

Tom Slocum:

in, they're gonna take care of you. And that's why a lot of

Tom Slocum:

people freak out about bass and comp. And that's a whole nother

Tom Slocum:

combo, right? And we talk about it, but it's okay, what come it

Tom Slocum:

means that it's uncapped, go out and hustle. And if you want to

Tom Slocum:

make more money, that's how I lived my whole career. Me and my

Tom Slocum:

family wanted to go on vacation. I planned it three months ahead,

Tom Slocum:

I worked backwards on how much I needed to make. I did the

Tom Slocum:

science West lead on where I needed to be. And I hit my

Tom Slocum:

money. And then I made my trip, right. And I was like, Alright,

Tom Slocum:

I got to book 10 more meetings for the next three months. And

Tom Slocum:

if I do that, I don't break my bank. I'll just go make more

Tom Slocum:

money. And then I would take that trip and go, right, you can

Tom Slocum:

always plan you want to go buy a new couch, cool. Run your

Tom Slocum:

numbers, what do you need to make go buy your new couch when

Tom Slocum:

you can do that? So it's just a great industry, but it's about

Tom Slocum:

impacting the people. That's where we're falling right now is

Tom Slocum:

the people.

Wesleyne Greer:

Yeah, that is awesome. Awesome. Awesome. This

Wesleyne Greer:

has been an amazing conversation, Tom, I think we

Wesleyne Greer:

could go on and on for hours. This has been so rich. And I

Wesleyne Greer:

feel like you're a kindred spirit doing what I do for sales

Wesleyne Greer:

managers really doing it at the grassroots level. Those people

Wesleyne Greer:

who are stepping their toe into sales, like okay, I want to

Wesleyne Greer:

transition I want to try I want to do and because of what you're

Wesleyne Greer:

doing, you make sales manager's job easier. So keep doing the

Wesleyne Greer:

good. That's it.

Tom Slocum:

That's it. I'm here to help. That's all it is here

Tom Slocum:

to help align and do anything I can to make, you know, help you

Tom Slocum:

all out. That's it. We just got to get back to people. You got

Tom Slocum:

stuff to work on. You can always answer that. But don't make it

Tom Slocum:

an ego thing. Don't let your team suffer, invest in them. If

Tom Slocum:

you can't do it, find them to help that can write and win for

Tom Slocum:

them. Hey, I can't give you this much one on one time. But you

Tom Slocum:

know what? Check out this community. Tell me what you

Tom Slocum:

think I could drop you in there. And they'll help you right as I

Tom Slocum:

navigate what I need to navigate with you. It's super easy stuff.

Tom Slocum:

Or hey, check with Wesleyne. Right, good coach, I think you

Tom Slocum:

should talk with her. I'm going to talk with her if you like her

Tom Slocum:

will align make sure you're getting what you need. And like,

Tom Slocum:

I'm gonna get you that support. That's a good leader. Just like

Tom Slocum:

when you're selling stuff. You don't always have to solve the

Tom Slocum:

problem or be the hero. Make them the hero. Show them where

Tom Slocum:

you can direct them. I don't always my tool may not be great

Tom Slocum:

for you. Wesleyne. But I've got five friends who could be good

Tom Slocum:

for you. Okay,

Wesleyne Greer:

I love it. I love it. I love it. And Tom, if

Wesleyne Greer:

people want to get in touch with you, what is the one best way

Tom Slocum:

my communities I'm all over? Rev genius is free. So

Tom Slocum:

Rev. genius.com is the big community. So if you're in

Tom Slocum:

sales, come join us, you're gonna get 20,000 Friends, it's

Tom Slocum:

no cost to you. I'm there. I'm the community manager. Again, I

Tom Slocum:

have my other community and then LinkedIn. LinkedIn is where I'm

Tom Slocum:

always at. I'm big on there. I love it. So LinkedIn or my

Tom Slocum:

community is probably where you're going to get the quickest

Tom Slocum:

response from me.

Wesleyne Greer:

Thank you so much for sharing your time, your

Wesleyne Greer:

talents and your energy with us today. I have thoroughly enjoyed

Wesleyne Greer:

it.

Tom Slocum:

I have as well. Thank you so much for having me.

Tom Slocum:

I'm honored. This was really really fun. You made it easy.

Tom Slocum:

This was just conversational on a good time.

Wesleyne Greer:

Awesome. And that was another episode of the

Wesleyne Greer:

science of selling stem. Remember and all that you do

Wesleyne Greer:

transform your sales. Until next time.

Wesleyne Greer:

Thank you for joining us today on the snack sized sales

Wesleyne Greer:

podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe and leave us

Wesleyne Greer:

a review. Learn how to continue increasing your bottom line by

Wesleyne Greer:

getting simplified sales strategies delivered to your

Wesleyne Greer:

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

Wesleyne Greer:

your bank account will grow and love you

Next Episode All Episodes Previous Episode

Listen for free

Show artwork for Transformed Sales

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