Episode 62

Why Purpose is Powerful in Sales with Jordan Benjamin

Published on: 23rd March, 2022

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In this episode of the Science of Selling STEM, I sat down with Jordan Benjamin, the Founder of My Core OS. He built My Core OS to help teams and top performers create their personal Operating System to enable them to sustain peak performance and harmony between work and life. My Core OS works with companies and specializes in working with sales teams to help drive a growth mindset and open the doors for more effective learning and growth for your team.

For 13+ years, Jordan has been exploring different tools and strategies paired with neuroscience to understand how we can create sustainable peak performance. As a top seller at HubSpot since joining pre-IPO, leading mental health, resilience, and mindfulness trainings in and outside of HubSpot, he is continuously focused on helping humans show up at their best at work and home. 

Tune in as Jordan shares the backstory of his illustrious sales career and talks about the many different ways we as salespeople and sales leaders can build a framework to sustain top performance and learn the skills to unlock even more greatness. And if you ever need help with a sales or leadership issue don't hesitate to book a complimentary clarity session with me HERE. You can also email us at podcast@transformedsales.com with any suggestions or comments about the podcast.

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

  • His unexpected start in sales and the incredible journey to date (01:55)
  • The experience of being laid off and how he picked himself up (04:00)
  • Starting from the bottom at HubSpot, going up the ranks, and doing things differently (05:59)
  • Achieving balance: Optimizing your mornings, time blocking, goal setting, and more (09:30)
  • Supporting his team to be their best and the valuable mindset-oriented conversations he has with sellers (13:29)
  • Helping people build their personal operating system so they can perform at their best (18:33)
  • The power of finding the WHY of your sales career (22:34)
  • How coupling his work with giving has impacted his life (28:42)

Connect with Wesleyne Greer:

Connect with Jordan Benjamin:

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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 am so so

Wesleyne Greer:

excited to chat with Jordan Benjamin. How are you doing?

Jordan Benjamin:

I'm doing great excited to be here.

Wesleyne Greer:

Awesome. Let me tell you guys a bit about

Wesleyne Greer:

Jordan. for over 13 years, he's been exploring different tools

Wesleyne Greer:

and strategies paired with neuroscience to understand how

Wesleyne Greer:

we can create substantial peak performance as a top seller at

Wesleyne Greer:

HubSpot since joining pre IPO leading Mental Health

Wesleyne Greer:

Resilience, Mindfulness Trainings inside and outside of

Wesleyne Greer:

HubSpot. He is continuously faced and helping humans show up

Wesleyne Greer:

at their best at work and at home. Wow, neuroscience. Okay,

Wesleyne Greer:

you know, I'm excited about our chat because we're all about

Wesleyne Greer:

science here. So how did you start your career and pre IPO

Wesleyne Greer:

HubSpot? That's like, you know, for us people, as my kids say

Wesleyne Greer:

born in the 1900s. Oh, like that's a long time ago. So tell

Wesleyne Greer:

us about how you started and how you got to where you are. Yeah,

Wesleyne Greer:

it's

Jordan Benjamin:

a weird journey. Anytime I talk to

Jordan Benjamin:

sellers, it's usually an interesting journey. I never

Jordan Benjamin:

thought I'd be in sales, went to school for business management,

Jordan Benjamin:

and had somebody say, Hey, you should go join the startup

Jordan Benjamin:

company. And this was a much smaller company in Boulder and

Jordan Benjamin:

got into sales did the whole BDR game 100 dials a day mark down

Jordan Benjamin:

on a legal pad. We did have Salesforce at the time, but it

Jordan Benjamin:

wasn't very integrated to what we were doing and then got laid

Jordan Benjamin:

off from a couple of startups within about 90 days of each

Jordan Benjamin:

other actually. So got a nice dose of reality. And luckily for

Jordan Benjamin:

me, my fiance was moving to Boston for grad school. And I

Jordan Benjamin:

knew somebody at HubSpot and said, Hey, are you guys hire?

Jordan Benjamin:

And then conveniently, they said, Yeah, we're hiring like

Jordan Benjamin:

crazy. And so I got there in 2014, learned a lot from getting

Jordan Benjamin:

laid off twice, but have been at HubSpot for Coming up on eight

Jordan Benjamin:

years now coaching different agency partners on how do they

Jordan Benjamin:

grow and develop their business. And really, throughout that

Jordan Benjamin:

entire time, I've done things like getting certified as a yoga

Jordan Benjamin:

instructor and taking a ton of education around mental health

Jordan Benjamin:

and all the things that I was never taught in school on how do

Jordan Benjamin:

I actually handle life? And how do I show up at my best every

Jordan Benjamin:

day. And so, you know, multiple Appspot accolades from you know,

Jordan Benjamin:

presidents clubs, and things like that, but then really

Jordan Benjamin:

spending a lot of time learning how can we perform at our best

Jordan Benjamin:

and, you know, around neuroscience, what's been

Jordan Benjamin:

fascinating is the evolution of that technology to understand

Jordan Benjamin:

the brain and how do things like meditation actually show up now

Jordan Benjamin:

through science, where before, it was just seen as some of this

Jordan Benjamin:

kind of like woowoo stuff. And now you're actually seeing

Jordan Benjamin:

science, talking about how gratitude or meditation actually

Jordan Benjamin:

help us manage our stress and manage ourselves more

Jordan Benjamin:

effectively.

Wesleyne Greer:

Wow. So you really develop resiliency early

Wesleyne Greer:

in your career, because you got laid off twice, in like three

Wesleyne Greer:

months. That's a huge thing. Some people get laid off once in

Wesleyne Greer:

a lifetime, and they never get back up from it. So you

Wesleyne Greer:

mentioned you learned a lot of valuable lessons. What are some

Wesleyne Greer:

lessons that you learned from getting laid off?

Jordan Benjamin:

Yeah, so the first time I got laid off, it

Jordan Benjamin:

was a big group of us, about 6080 of us got laid off at that

Jordan Benjamin:

point in time, and we went out in party. It was, you know, like

Jordan Benjamin:

a Wednesday afternoon, and we went to the bar as a group.

Jordan Benjamin:

We're like, I don't we don't have jobs. Now, what do we do?

Jordan Benjamin:

And that was okay, that was fun. You know, we had an okay time,

Jordan Benjamin:

then you wake up the next morning, you feel terrible. And

Jordan Benjamin:

you realize you don't have a job, and you don't know exactly

Jordan Benjamin:

what you're going to do. And luckily, I found a next role

Jordan Benjamin:

that thought was going to be my next thing for a long time. Got

Jordan Benjamin:

there for about three months and sat with the CEO. You know, it's

Jordan Benjamin:

a 90 day sales cycle. And I'd only been there three months

Jordan Benjamin:

hadn't closed anything yet. And he was there actually, with one

Jordan Benjamin:

of my good friends who also got hired at the same time. They

Jordan Benjamin:

were like, Oh, we're keeping him and letting go of you. And he

Jordan Benjamin:

was like, you know, I really wish we could keep you I know

Jordan Benjamin:

you're going to do great things. And I don't think I'm very

Jordan Benjamin:

egotistical at all, but sitting in that meeting with him. I

Jordan Benjamin:

said, I know I am and literally walked out to the computer and

Jordan Benjamin:

reached out to a guy that I knew at HubSpot and said, Hey, you

Jordan Benjamin:

guys hiring I think I might be moving to Boston. And what I

Jordan Benjamin:

learned from that was this concept of like, nobody's gonna

Jordan Benjamin:

do it for me, I have to pick myself back up, I have to be the

Jordan Benjamin:

one to take responsibility for myself to actually move forward

Jordan Benjamin:

and move in a direction that I want to go. Because whatever

Jordan Benjamin:

company you're at, are a part of, yes, they want to solve for

Jordan Benjamin:

you, yes, they want to help you. But at the end of the day, they

Jordan Benjamin:

have to solve for the business and the company, and nobody else

Jordan Benjamin:

is going to do it for you. So that was a big lesson for me

Jordan Benjamin:

around taking my own accountability, and really

Jordan Benjamin:

understanding that I'm going to have to do it for myself to get

Jordan Benjamin:

where I want to go in my life.

Wesleyne Greer:

Ah, betting on yourself. That's been a really a

Wesleyne Greer:

rolling theme of the podcast in the past few months, so many

Wesleyne Greer:

people have come on, and we've talks about their trials and

Wesleyne Greer:

tribulations, whether it was health related or family

Wesleyne Greer:

related, or they got laid off. And it was like, but I bet on

Wesleyne Greer:

myself, right? And so you said I Okay, I don't care. I'm gonna

Wesleyne Greer:

reach out to somebody and see if they're willing to take a chance

Wesleyne Greer:

on me. So you started in HubSpot, which was very a very

Wesleyne Greer:

different company back then than it is now. So tell us when you

Wesleyne Greer:

started, you were at the bottom of that totem pole. How did you

Wesleyne Greer:

go from being at the bottom of the totem pole to multiple

Wesleyne Greer:

Presidents Award winning, as well as how come you're still

Wesleyne Greer:

there? So many people don't stay at jobs for that long.

Jordan Benjamin:

I never thought I was going to be somewhere for

Jordan Benjamin:

eight years. And so for me, I think a lot of it has come down

Jordan Benjamin:

to an early lesson I learned from one of our sales leaders on

Jordan Benjamin:

bringing an attitude of curiosity to the table. It's

Jordan Benjamin:

enabled me and allowed me to not only show up and be excited and

Jordan Benjamin:

curious about every conversation that I have with every prospect

Jordan Benjamin:

even though a lot of calls and a lot of conversations with the

Jordan Benjamin:

business owners that I talked to an agency owners sound the same.

Jordan Benjamin:

But if I can maintain curiosity, not only does it helps me, stay

Jordan Benjamin:

engaged on my own right, it helps them feel seen and valued

Jordan Benjamin:

and heard. And so it's kept the conversations really exciting. I

Jordan Benjamin:

think the other piece at HubSpot is I've had this ability to go

Jordan Benjamin:

out and support some of these areas that I'm truly passionate

Jordan Benjamin:

about, you know, I lead meditation sessions a couple

Jordan Benjamin:

times a week, or a couple times a month, I helped coach a

Jordan Benjamin:

program that we run called rethinking resilience, where I

Jordan Benjamin:

get to give others skills and tools that again, most of us

Jordan Benjamin:

didn't get in school to understand how do I bounce back

Jordan Benjamin:

from failure or getting laid off or a bad month or quarter. And I

Jordan Benjamin:

think HubSpot does such a great job of building a culture of

Jordan Benjamin:

amazing people here to do really cool things that support each

Jordan Benjamin:

other, you know, there's freedom, there's autonomy, and

Jordan Benjamin:

there's just so many intelligent people that show up with what we

Jordan Benjamin:

call his heart, which is part of our cultural code for being

Jordan Benjamin:

humble, empathetic, adaptable, remarkable. And oh, gosh, T is

Jordan Benjamin:

blanking on me right now. I'll have to come back to you with T

Jordan Benjamin:

at the end.

Wesleyne Greer:

So how did you know that you could do these

Wesleyne Greer:

things? Because a lot of times when people are within

Wesleyne Greer:

companies, they just do their job, they just keep their head

Wesleyne Greer:

down. And they don't say, Hey, are you guys interested in

Wesleyne Greer:

bringing this in? Or I'm interested in leading this or

Wesleyne Greer:

doing this? How did you start climbing up the ladder.

Jordan Benjamin:

So one I got to throw out tea is transparent.

Jordan Benjamin:

It's a critical one. But for me, I think it really was that early

Jordan Benjamin:

day stage, you know, coming from the startup world, where you

Jordan Benjamin:

encourage creativity and encourage experimentation and

Jordan Benjamin:

trying new things is what started to open the door to

Jordan Benjamin:

where I started leading yoga classes and starting offering

Jordan Benjamin:

meditation and finding other groups of people saying, I have

Jordan Benjamin:

no idea how to do this, I'm scared to go into a yoga studio

Jordan Benjamin:

and actually pay a fee. But oh, we've got a gym in the office.

Jordan Benjamin:

And it's a free thing that's offered out. So I don't feel as

Jordan Benjamin:

intimidated to do that. And so it was really one finding people

Jordan Benjamin:

that were interested in similar things, and then to getting some

Jordan Benjamin:

buy in from different leaders like our wonderful head of our

Jordan Benjamin:

North American sales, Michelle Ben for she attended a new hire

Jordan Benjamin:

training I was a part of and she was like, Wow, this content,

Jordan Benjamin:

talking about growth mindset. And these other areas are how

Jordan Benjamin:

I've developed as a leader, and are so important for me. So I

Jordan Benjamin:

put together a curriculum for her small business sales team

Jordan Benjamin:

where I ran different sessions to help them really learn and a

Jordan Benjamin:

lot of it was by doing and actually just putting myself out

Jordan Benjamin:

there and showing up while making sure I you know,

Jordan Benjamin:

sustained top performance.

Wesleyne Greer:

So you're talking about resiliency and

Wesleyne Greer:

growth mindset. And really, it's like, you're kind of juggling

Wesleyne Greer:

multiple balls, right? It's like, Hey, I this is my day job.

Wesleyne Greer:

This is how I pay my bills. But I have this passion and people

Wesleyne Greer:

are tapping me to do these things. How do you balance? How

Wesleyne Greer:

do you balance the things that you're really passionate about?

Wesleyne Greer:

As well as, hey, I still have to hit my quota make these call do

Wesleyne Greer:

these things?

Jordan Benjamin:

Yeah, it's an ever evolving thing. You know,

Jordan Benjamin:

as a company has really grown and changed the role, the

Jordan Benjamin:

activities of what I've got to do in a given day continue to

Jordan Benjamin:

change. And so it's something that I don't think is ever set

Jordan Benjamin:

in stone, and I'm okay with that. And I've talked to a lot

Jordan Benjamin:

of folks that think, Oh, I've got to build my morning routine,

Jordan Benjamin:

and it has to say the exact same No, we learn new stuff every

Jordan Benjamin:

day. And so for me, it's about how do I make sure I optimized

Jordan Benjamin:

my mornings is one of my first things I do when I start the

Jordan Benjamin:

day, how do I do things that fill me up that make my morning

Jordan Benjamin:

for me. So whether that's meditation, journaling, working

Jordan Benjamin:

out incantations, to make sure that, you know, I change some of

Jordan Benjamin:

the negative self talk, or at least reinforce some things that

Jordan Benjamin:

don't serve me. And that's where I start. And then I get into

Jordan Benjamin:

time blocking. So great, I'm going to do a couple of my most

Jordan Benjamin:

important tasks, the first thing of the day, and then get into

Jordan Benjamin:

the sales meetings and some of the other activities that align

Jordan Benjamin:

better with when other people are working to. And then the

Jordan Benjamin:

other part for me is around really making sure I've got

Jordan Benjamin:

clear goals set, you know, I've got another screen over here,

Jordan Benjamin:

and I see my tasks of okay, what do I need to knock through

Jordan Benjamin:

today? What are my most important things? What are my

Jordan Benjamin:

nice to haves? And how does that align to what I want to do this

Jordan Benjamin:

week, this month, and this year, so those are a couple activities

Jordan Benjamin:

that have really helped me make sure I can stay focused on the

Jordan Benjamin:

things that drive the most impact in my own life.

Wesleyne Greer:

And when we think about, you know, balancing

Wesleyne Greer:

our time as a salesperson as a sales leader, and then we think

Wesleyne Greer:

about all of the stress and strain that we have from life

Wesleyne Greer:

and from work, what are some of those first signs that people

Wesleyne Greer:

can really tap into to know that they need to slow down and maybe

Wesleyne Greer:

take a midday yoga class, or stop and turn the lights off and

Wesleyne Greer:

meditate, not first thing in the morning, like most people do, or

Wesleyne Greer:

at the end of the day, but in the middle of the day, what are

Wesleyne Greer:

some of those signs that we should look out for

Jordan Benjamin:

so a lot of it happens in the body, our body is

Jordan Benjamin:

going to know when we're getting burnt out when we're getting

Jordan Benjamin:

overly stressed, even before our conscious mind will because so

Jordan Benjamin:

much happens within our feelings. And so a lot of folks

Jordan Benjamin:

will notice that maybe they're holding their shoulders really

Jordan Benjamin:

tight, and there's tension up in their shoulders, or their neck

Jordan Benjamin:

starts to hurt or back starts to hurt, and they start getting

Jordan Benjamin:

these body aches that don't necessarily come from anywhere.

Jordan Benjamin:

I also talked to folks that will feel you know, heart

Jordan Benjamin:

palpitations and their hearts going a little bit differently

Jordan Benjamin:

than it normally would. Or they just feel on edge in their

Jordan Benjamin:

different conversations. And their mind starts to be really

Jordan Benjamin:

distracted and is wandering. So as you start to notice the mind

Jordan Benjamin:

wandering, or you have this tension in your body is when you

Jordan Benjamin:

can maybe take a deep breath and say, what's going on? How am I

Jordan Benjamin:

feeling? And that's one of the other skills that I love to do

Jordan Benjamin:

with teams is just do a simple check in not how are you doing

Jordan Benjamin:

today? Because almost all of us are gonna say Good, fine. Okay,

Jordan Benjamin:

but how are you feeling? And I actually use this tool, I think

Jordan Benjamin:

it's called the feelings wheel. Because many of us don't have

Jordan Benjamin:

that many words for our actual emotions that we have. And if we

Jordan Benjamin:

can start checking in with ourselves and say, either, how

Jordan Benjamin:

am I feeling today? energized, excited, depressed, stressed,

Jordan Benjamin:

anxious, or a one to 10 scale can also be nice to say, Yeah,

Jordan Benjamin:

I'm feeling 10 out of 10 today, or right now in the moment, or

Jordan Benjamin:

you know what I'm feeling like a four or five, because once we

Jordan Benjamin:

measure something, we can actually manage it. But when

Jordan Benjamin:

it's just this very kind of ethereal, I'm good, I'm fine. It

Jordan Benjamin:

doesn't give us much context to work with. So those are some of

Jordan Benjamin:

the things that I look for, to say, when do I need to take a

Jordan Benjamin:

break and do something to recharge, refresh or renew

Jordan Benjamin:

myself?

Wesleyne Greer:

I recently went and got a massage. And the

Wesleyne Greer:

misuse was like, Wow, this feels like bone here. And it's

Wesleyne Greer:

supposed to be muscle. I was like, Really, it wasn't even

Wesleyne Greer:

hurting me. Right? And so it's like I but I consciously I

Wesleyne Greer:

literally put it on my calendar every single month. That's

Wesleyne Greer:

something that I do, because I know that this is something that

Wesleyne Greer:

my body needs. And even if I'm not hurting, and you don't have

Wesleyne Greer:

to necessarily be in pain, to stop and take a moment, right?

Wesleyne Greer:

Because the pain when you start feeling the pain, that means

Wesleyne Greer:

that you've been dealing with it and internalizing it, you had

Wesleyne Greer:

this really unique setup. I'll call it at HubSpot, where you

Wesleyne Greer:

have this job that you've been in for so many years. But you

Wesleyne Greer:

also have a whole separate company, how did you go to your

Wesleyne Greer:

management, go to your company and say, Hey, so I really love

Wesleyne Greer:

what I'm doing. But I really am passionate about this other

Wesleyne Greer:

thing. And I want you guys to support me. Yeah, I think

Jordan Benjamin:

it was probably a sign of the times being there

Jordan Benjamin:

earlier, again, because at an earlier stage company, you need

Jordan Benjamin:

to try and test and experiment. And now with 5000 some odd

Jordan Benjamin:

people, we need folks to work more in the swim lanes.

Jordan Benjamin:

Otherwise, if everybody's distracted, it's a little bit

Jordan Benjamin:

harder. So I think some of it was me being lucky being there

Jordan Benjamin:

early on. And also knowing that most of what I'm doing is giving

Jordan Benjamin:

you know, it's really about saying great, I've interviewed a

Jordan Benjamin:

lot of sellers at HubSpot. So now new hires can go in and

Jordan Benjamin:

listen to me interviewing a lot of the top sellers and it

Jordan Benjamin:

becomes a resources and an asset that supports what we're trying

Jordan Benjamin:

to do and gives more education and gives more value to folks

Jordan Benjamin:

across the organization. And I think there is also this sense

Jordan Benjamin:

in sales of if you can perform at a high level if you can do

Jordan Benjamin:

your job. Well, you should get this freedom and autonomy which

Jordan Benjamin:

I think hub spots, you know, been really kind enough to grant

Jordan Benjamin:

me that aligns it to give me a little bit of freedom to make

Jordan Benjamin:

sure great you're you're hitting your numbers. You're doing your

Jordan Benjamin:

job at a high level, do what you want with your time, as long as

Jordan Benjamin:

it's not, you know, competing against HubSpot. And luckily

Jordan Benjamin:

what I do is is quite nicely aligned to how we want to

Jordan Benjamin:

support humans to really be their best And is where I'm

Jordan Benjamin:

doing a bunch of this stuff internally as well.

Wesleyne Greer:

So you say you're in a lot of sellers, and

Wesleyne Greer:

you're using that as a training for new hires, what kind of

Wesleyne Greer:

conversations are you having with those sellers?

Jordan Benjamin:

For me, I love asking people about their

Jordan Benjamin:

mindset. You know, I, there's so much you can read about tactics,

Jordan Benjamin:

and so much of my sales training, from Sandler to spin

Jordan Benjamin:

to gap selling, all these other areas have been really

Jordan Benjamin:

wonderful, but they get into the tactics of selling. And what I

Jordan Benjamin:

love to learn is, well, how do you bounce back from that tough

Jordan Benjamin:

month? What do you focus on every day to perform at your

Jordan Benjamin:

best? What do you read? What do you like to learn? And what I

Jordan Benjamin:

find is so many folks study psychology, and how do humans

Jordan Benjamin:

operate and perform because that, to me is where we find

Jordan Benjamin:

that selling, and getting better at sales usually aligns with

Jordan Benjamin:

getting better as a human, you're a better listener, you're

Jordan Benjamin:

a better communicator, you have a better understanding of what

Jordan Benjamin:

people's goals are, and what they want to accomplish, and

Jordan Benjamin:

then work to bring solutions to the table for them. So that's

Jordan Benjamin:

what I really love to start learning from folks to

Jordan Benjamin:

understand how can you not only perform but really maintain that

Jordan Benjamin:

performance and sustain it over the long term, because I've

Jordan Benjamin:

talked to so many sellers that have done really great hit the

Jordan Benjamin:

top then number one, and then come back to say, well, well,

Jordan Benjamin:

now what do I do with myself, I just hit number one, but that

Jordan Benjamin:

doesn't have any meaning or purpose. And so that's some of

Jordan Benjamin:

the stuff that I'd love to work with folks on to really

Jordan Benjamin:

understand how do we find more connection to purpose, whether

Jordan Benjamin:

that is being? Yeah, I want to be number one. Well, why? And

Jordan Benjamin:

how do we get I want to be number one, because So that's

Jordan Benjamin:

some of the fun stuff that I love to learn and work with

Jordan Benjamin:

folks on.

Wesleyne Greer:

And so when you have these amazing

Wesleyne Greer:

conversations, and you guys are really digging deep, and you're

Wesleyne Greer:

right, a lot of sales training is focused on the tactical

Wesleyne Greer:

aspects of sales training. And I always say that all that stuff

Wesleyne Greer:

is great, because you have to know how to make a cold call how

Wesleyne Greer:

to do a discovery call, but it's also about what I like to call a

Wesleyne Greer:

behavior based sales strategy. Right? So what are those

Wesleyne Greer:

behaviors that drive the actions? So like you said, I

Wesleyne Greer:

lose, that's okay. I say it's okay to lose, but don't lose the

Wesleyne Greer:

same way twice. Let's do a post mortem, let's understand what

Wesleyne Greer:

happened, right, let's really understand, let's peel back some

Wesleyne Greer:

of those layers. So we can understand what happened and

Wesleyne Greer:

don't and, you know, hey, oh, I just got a big sale at the end

Wesleyne Greer:

of the month. And I'm just gonna do nothing for the rest of the

Wesleyne Greer:

month. That's on the opposite spectrum. And so incorporating

Wesleyne Greer:

those kind of learnings and trainings into onboarding new

Wesleyne Greer:

salespeople, how has that changed the trajectory of the

Wesleyne Greer:

type of onboarding that your salespeople have gotten?

Jordan Benjamin:

Yeah, so one of the things that I introduced

Jordan Benjamin:

really early on in training was talking about a growth mindset

Jordan Benjamin:

to your point of it's not win or lose, it's winter learn. And so

Jordan Benjamin:

how do we help folks understand not just, Oh, I lost the sale.

Jordan Benjamin:

But how do we find something and a course from MIT that I took on

Jordan Benjamin:

negotiation was, you know, a lot of folks believe negotiation is

Jordan Benjamin:

in those skills are something you have or you don't, that's

Jordan Benjamin:

not the case, this is something that can be learned sales, it's

Jordan Benjamin:

something that can be learned because it is a human skill. And

Jordan Benjamin:

so what I talk with folks about is at the end of every deal, or

Jordan Benjamin:

when we do this analysis, what went well, so we make sure we

Jordan Benjamin:

find something that went well, there's a little bit of a reward

Jordan Benjamin:

for ourselves, and then what can be improved upon? And not what

Jordan Benjamin:

did I suck at or not, you know, what do I struggle with? But

Jordan Benjamin:

where can I improve? Because that starts to create this

Jordan Benjamin:

growth mindset and reinforce that, okay, there's something

Jordan Benjamin:

that I did well, and there's something that I can improve

Jordan Benjamin:

upon.

Wesleyne Greer:

That's good. That's so good. So you have your

Wesleyne Greer:

your company core O 's, tell us a little bit more about what you

Wesleyne Greer:

specifically do within that organization.

Jordan Benjamin:

Yeah. So what I do over here is I work with

Jordan Benjamin:

folks to build your personal operating system, whether that's

Jordan Benjamin:

for you or your team. And so much of what we do every day is

Jordan Benjamin:

like we come in, we update our computers, we update our cell

Jordan Benjamin:

phones and the operating system to have that perform better. But

Jordan Benjamin:

most of us haven't consciously built or understood what is our

Jordan Benjamin:

operating system. So I've got a whole set of different

Jordan Benjamin:

curriculum that I run through with folks, sometimes it's, you

Jordan Benjamin:

know, 30 to 60 minute sessions, sometimes it's, you know, six to

Jordan Benjamin:

12 weeks of an hour session every other week, going through

Jordan Benjamin:

different components of building self awareness to understand who

Jordan Benjamin:

we are, what are the perspectives that we have that

Jordan Benjamin:

make us show up and see the world the way that we do and

Jordan Benjamin:

lead the way that we do and tools to help understand well,

Jordan Benjamin:

where do we want to go? Because so many folks don't really have

Jordan Benjamin:

a clear roadmap of what they want to do in their lives or

Jordan Benjamin:

what is valuable to them. So we help folks build values,

Jordan Benjamin:

understand their own self awareness, emotional

Jordan Benjamin:

intelligence, and then how can they actually create systems to

Jordan Benjamin:

enact or enable that change to take their life where they want

Jordan Benjamin:

to move? Hmm,

Wesleyne Greer:

so give us a mini case study. Tell us about

Wesleyne Greer:

somebody who came to you and they said, You know, I'd like

Wesleyne Greer:

the resistant people, not the ones who was gung ho. Tell us

Wesleyne Greer:

about that resistant person and the changes that you were helped

Wesleyne Greer:

able to help them see.

Jordan Benjamin:

Yeah, so I love working with top performers at

Jordan Benjamin:

find that that's really where we can get into it. Once folks

Jordan Benjamin:

understand that, yes, I can perform in sales. And I know

Jordan Benjamin:

that I can hit my targets. But there are many folks that say

Jordan Benjamin:

like, I don't need this many people that I talked to need to

Jordan Benjamin:

crash and burn before they start to open their eyes to saying,

Jordan Benjamin:

maybe I could live, maybe I could operate a little bit

Jordan Benjamin:

differently. And so I had a rep that was a top performing rep,

Jordan Benjamin:

multi time presidents club rep came to me and said, like, I am

Jordan Benjamin:

struggling outside of work, like I can do the job, I'm fine

Jordan Benjamin:

there. But I don't think I'm gonna be able to sustain that

Jordan Benjamin:

for very long. And I feel like a lot of this stuff is like very

Jordan Benjamin:

woowoo. And out there and like, I'm not interested in that. And

Jordan Benjamin:

I suggested, hey, like, why don't you just go take a yoga

Jordan Benjamin:

class? And he was like, No way, like, I'm an athlete, I'm not

Jordan Benjamin:

doing yoga, not a chance. And then finally goes like, two

Jordan Benjamin:

months later, and it's like, oh, my gosh, that was the best

Jordan Benjamin:

workout I've ever had. I felt amazing afterwards, and came

Jordan Benjamin:

back and said, Okay, what else can we look at? Or what else can

Jordan Benjamin:

we open up? And so we started just doing one on one coaching

Jordan Benjamin:

really starting to understand, okay, what are your values? You

Jordan Benjamin:

know, what are the areas of your life that you feel really good

Jordan Benjamin:

about right now? But what's missing? What's lacking? And so

Jordan Benjamin:

we started to work on understanding, really, where was

Jordan Benjamin:

he at? And why is this feeling of lack of joy missing out of

Jordan Benjamin:

his life when he's making more money than he ever thought he

Jordan Benjamin:

would, or anything of the sort. And so we spent some time

Jordan Benjamin:

working together over about a year really doing one on one

Jordan Benjamin:

sessions really kind of mapping. Great. Where are you at today?

Jordan Benjamin:

What are the areas that we can improve on, and we found out,

Jordan Benjamin:

hey, yeah, we need to get some more family time in there, we

Jordan Benjamin:

need to get some more involvement with a community

Jordan Benjamin:

around myself, because I feel a little bit isolated. And so many

Jordan Benjamin:

of us can resonate with that through COVID, especially that

Jordan Benjamin:

we had a really good time after he's like, this stuff's a little

Jordan Benjamin:

bit out there for me. Now, he's regularly practicing yoga. He's

Jordan Benjamin:

working on himself every day listening to different articles

Jordan Benjamin:

and podcasts to grow his mind and curiosity. So feels like

Jordan Benjamin:

he's learning every day, and really taking control now and

Jordan Benjamin:

sitting in the driver's seat to be the architect of his life,

Jordan Benjamin:

versus where most of us just kind of run on the hamster wheel

Jordan Benjamin:

that we've been set on. Hmm,

Wesleyne Greer:

the most resistant person and seeing

Wesleyne Greer:

their transformation. Those are the things that give me the most

Wesleyne Greer:

joy really seeing the person who is like, yeah, I don't need you.

Wesleyne Greer:

In my situation. It was somebody who said, Oh, yeah, you're my

Wesleyne Greer:

career coach. I'm like your career coach. They're like,

Wesleyne Greer:

yeah, you're my career coach, because I kept getting rejected

Wesleyne Greer:

for my promotion. And I'm like, and so you think that's what I'm

Wesleyne Greer:

here for a no, the problem is the way that you're leading your

Wesleyne Greer:

team. That is actually the issue. And once that was able to

Wesleyne Greer:

be turned on, we were off to the races. One thing that you said

Wesleyne Greer:

that I think so many sales people sales leaders don't do is

Wesleyne Greer:

we make money, right? You work as hard or as little as you want

Wesleyne Greer:

to and you make commission you make bonuses, but what are you

Wesleyne Greer:

working for? I always say it's important, you have to set the

Wesleyne Greer:

goal for Am I trying to pay off a student loan? Am I trying to

Wesleyne Greer:

go on a 14 day Alaskan cruise? Like why? What is the reason

Wesleyne Greer:

that you are working so hard?

Jordan Benjamin:

It's such a good point. And the thing that I

Jordan Benjamin:

think so many people miss, you know, they think it's just about

Jordan Benjamin:

the money, they think it's just about, you know, hitting the

Jordan Benjamin:

quota, because that's the quota that somebody set for you to do

Jordan Benjamin:

the thing for the company. And that's what creates this hamster

Jordan Benjamin:

wheel that removes our humanity and what fills us up because we

Jordan Benjamin:

are tribal creatures. And when we have the ability to give and

Jordan Benjamin:

grow, that's what really starts to fulfill us. And when we have

Jordan Benjamin:

that purpose defined, makes it easier to get through those

Jordan Benjamin:

tough times makes it easier to understand, here's why I do what

Jordan Benjamin:

I do, and have a much more empowering story behind it

Jordan Benjamin:

opposed to oh, I've got to show up to make cold calls today. Or

Jordan Benjamin:

I've got to show up to be in front of my team that's just

Jordan Benjamin:

here that day, you know, I don't even like some of the people on

Jordan Benjamin:

my team. But I got to be here because it's my job. That sucks.

Jordan Benjamin:

Got to think about it.

Wesleyne Greer:

Purpose is powerful it is. And you know,

Wesleyne Greer:

when you have that person who is able to really I love saying

Wesleyne Greer:

peel back the onion and get to the core, the root of the thing

Wesleyne Greer:

that's really holding them back, right? And really tap into that

Wesleyne Greer:

so that they can unleash it. And so when I hear somebody's like,

Wesleyne Greer:

I got to double my five to nine contribution for my kid to this

Wesleyne Greer:

year. I'm like, that's great. And they don't even I don't even

Wesleyne Greer:

know how much money they make. They're not even think about it.

Wesleyne Greer:

They're just like, because every month, it's just like, hey, I'm

Wesleyne Greer:

going, I'm going this is my goal. This is my focus. And so

Wesleyne Greer:

really, when we talk about that resiliency and the curiosity,

Wesleyne Greer:

it's those top performers that burn out, it's they do so well

Wesleyne Greer:

for five years, 10 years, but at some point, if they're not able

Wesleyne Greer:

to slow down and tap into their core operating system, then they

Wesleyne Greer:

just fizzle out.

Jordan Benjamin:

That's exactly. And I think the piece that I

Jordan Benjamin:

heard from you in there, too, that I love is this concept of

Jordan Benjamin:

really understanding what are we here for? What am I trying to do

Jordan Benjamin:

with my life? We are these incredible humans. We're not

Jordan Benjamin:

robots, we have feelings. We have emotions, we have desires,

Jordan Benjamin:

and it doesn't have to be about what anybody else is doing. And

Jordan Benjamin:

so just knowing Yeah, I could double my 529 or I can give the

Jordan Benjamin:

most I've ever done from a philanthropic perspective,

Jordan Benjamin:

that's great. And it's only about my barometer for myself,

Jordan Benjamin:

it's not about how much money is it doesn't matter. It's really

Jordan Benjamin:

just about on my relative to myself, How am I doing compared

Jordan Benjamin:

to my own metrics for me? And am I getting better? Am I moving in

Jordan Benjamin:

that positive direction every single day, because I'm not

Jordan Benjamin:

going to give away as much money as Bill Gates or some of these

Jordan Benjamin:

other people. And so that's not going to be my bar. But my bar

Jordan Benjamin:

is how am I doing in comparison to myself, and I think it's so

Jordan Benjamin:

powerful

Wesleyne Greer:

writing a race against yourself. Once you tap

Wesleyne Greer:

into that, and you've run the race against yourself. That's

Wesleyne Greer:

when everything is unlocked. Just makes things so much

Wesleyne Greer:

smoother.

Jordan Benjamin:

And it's a work in progress. I am not perfect at

Jordan Benjamin:

any of these things. And sometimes I say something, it's

Jordan Benjamin:

like, oh, yeah, you better remember that one.

Wesleyne Greer:

I know, I know. It's like, you'll go and you'll

Wesleyne Greer:

get a call from somebody or go on social media, like Man, we

Wesleyne Greer:

start in business at the same time, or we're the same age are

Wesleyne Greer:

those happening there, right. And the thing is, what you do

Wesleyne Greer:

when you build this resiliency is those things happen, you will

Wesleyne Greer:

lose a sale, life will hit you in the face, but you know how to

Wesleyne Greer:

deal with it now. And that's the key. It's not that these things

Wesleyne Greer:

are going to go away. It's not that there's a crystal ball is

Wesleyne Greer:

that I know how to deal with these things now. So the next

Wesleyne Greer:

time I don't sit there and have it affect me for so long.

Jordan Benjamin:

It's still one of those things that boggles my

Jordan Benjamin:

mind that I'm still trying to figure out is how do we help

Jordan Benjamin:

folks build these tools before they have to get punched in the

Jordan Benjamin:

face in life, so they can bounce back a little bit better,

Jordan Benjamin:

because I've seen so much struggle, anxiety, depression

Jordan Benjamin:

around the world, but especially here in the United States and

Jordan Benjamin:

tech companies in the folks that I work with, and not having

Jordan Benjamin:

those tools, makes it really hard to bounce back. And some

Jordan Benjamin:

folks don't bounce back from it. And so that, to me, is where I

Jordan Benjamin:

reach out, like I go to a therapist, I have a coach. And I

Jordan Benjamin:

think there's a big amount of opportunity to get rid of some

Jordan Benjamin:

of the stigma around therapy around reaching out and asking

Jordan Benjamin:

for help. Because I see a lot of folks that talk about self help

Jordan Benjamin:

books and think like, you must be broken, if you need self

Jordan Benjamin:

help. We're all probably broken, we're probably not optimized to

Jordan Benjamin:

be our best selves. And again, nobody's going to help us but

Jordan Benjamin:

ourselves. And so how do we normalize that and make that

Jordan Benjamin:

conversation a lot more normal? And especially for dudes that

Jordan Benjamin:

have grown up saying, like, men don't cry? Hmm. Men also have

Jordan Benjamin:

feelings and emotions. And I think that helps us be better

Jordan Benjamin:

leaders. I think that helps us build a broader sense of

Jordan Benjamin:

equality, inclusion, equity, diversity of thought, when we

Jordan Benjamin:

can actually understand that we have got emotions to just like

Jordan Benjamin:

every other human walking this planet.

Wesleyne Greer:

Yes, emotions are data. That's what they are.

Wesleyne Greer:

They are data points. And just like if you're looking at a

Wesleyne Greer:

spreadsheet, you're doing a pipeline, review your emotions,

Wesleyne Greer:

the way that you feel, it is okay to feel that way. And

Wesleyne Greer:

whether you're man or woman, I mean, we all know about sports.

Wesleyne Greer:

And we all know the best athletes have coaches, right?

Wesleyne Greer:

Like, they just don't go throw that good pass to win the game

Wesleyne Greer:

by themselves. So they all have coaches, and it's okay to need

Wesleyne Greer:

someone. And I think that as top performers, that's the thing

Wesleyne Greer:

that we have to stop thinking that we have to be alone. It's

Wesleyne Greer:

okay to ask for help. We work

Jordan Benjamin:

better together, two heads are better

Jordan Benjamin:

than one. We've heard all these things our entire life. But when

Jordan Benjamin:

we can get some outside perspective, from somebody that

Jordan Benjamin:

sees things a little bit differently, or from another

Jordan Benjamin:

viewpoint, not everything they say has to be right, or you

Jordan Benjamin:

don't have to say oh, great, I'm going to do absolutely

Jordan Benjamin:

everything they said. But now you get that lens to say, well,

Jordan Benjamin:

how does that align with me and my values? And is that something

Jordan Benjamin:

I want to go after or not? But the folks that sit in the vacuum

Jordan Benjamin:

of just being with their own thoughts, I find are the ones

Jordan Benjamin:

that tend to burn out and struggle along the way.

Wesleyne Greer:

Mm hmm. You've had such an amazing career in

Wesleyne Greer:

the things that you've given to your company, HubSpot, as well

Wesleyne Greer:

as my core iOS, what is one thing that you are most excited

Wesleyne Greer:

about accomplishing?

Jordan Benjamin:

I think the thing for me is the fact that

Jordan Benjamin:

I've been able to give on top of my job, the fact that I've been

Jordan Benjamin:

able to give, I think last week, I had about 50 people joining on

Jordan Benjamin:

a 15 minute session for meditation and gratitude and

Jordan Benjamin:

stress relief internally at HubSpot and the amount of folks

Jordan Benjamin:

that say, Wow, I didn't realize how much better I could feel

Jordan Benjamin:

after 10 to 15 minutes. And how easy and accessible these tools

Jordan Benjamin:

are, is what really fills me up. Because these are the types of

Jordan Benjamin:

skills that are going to last a lifetime, that give folks tools

Jordan Benjamin:

in their tool belt that can help them really be their best

Jordan Benjamin:

selves. And ideally, then they bring those to their kids and

Jordan Benjamin:

that now all of a sudden you see this ripple effect that goes so

Jordan Benjamin:

far beyond me with just simply thinking about something you're

Jordan Benjamin:

grateful for noticing your breath and slowing down for a

Jordan Benjamin:

few minutes. So I think that one for me is what really fills me

Jordan Benjamin:

up by being able to give back to others.

Wesleyne Greer:

Giving back serving, serving, serving I love

Wesleyne Greer:

it spoken by a true sales leader and someone who is really

Wesleyne Greer:

focused on giving back to others Jordan, if people want to reach

Wesleyne Greer:

out to you connect with you, what is the one best way

Jordan Benjamin:

LinkedIn? Jordan Benjamin yes to first and

Jordan Benjamin:

last names. That's the spot to find me or peak performance

Jordan Benjamin:

sellings my podcast is another great place to track me down as

Jordan Benjamin:

well.

Wesleyne Greer:

Awesome. Thank you so much, Jordan for sharing

Wesleyne Greer:

your time, your energy as well as your expertise with us today.

Wesleyne Greer:

It has been a pleasure chatting with you. Happy to be here.

Jordan Benjamin:

Thank you all for listening.

Wesleyne Greer:

Thank you so much for tuning in to another

Wesleyne Greer:

episode of the science of selling stem and remember in

Wesleyne Greer:

everything that you 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