Episode 64

Why You Should Combine Philosophy and Execution in Sales with Ronnell Richards

Published on: 6th April, 2022

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In this episode of the Science of Selling STEM, I had a chat with Ronnell Richards, the Founder of Business & Bourbon, a platform dedicated to helping people do business better. Ronnell has built a career out of creating businesses and developing sales professionals into high-level performers. He’s taught individuals how to feel part of a team and perform better as a result. He successfully strategized with both small and large businesses to take their progress to the next level. This has given him a unique perspective on success that he brings to every aspect of his life. 

As an award-winning entrepreneur, Ronnell knows what it takes to aim high and hit even higher. Within ten minutes of listening to Ronnell, you’ll see why he's been so successful as a sales coach, entrepreneur, business coach, speaker, and trainer. He and I discussed how his parents instilled in him the values that made him a success in sales and entrepreneurship at a young age, why philosophy is important in sales, what effective sales leadership looks like, and so much more. Get ready for the sales development training of a lifetime in this 42-minute episode.

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:

  • How his upbringing equipped him for a long and successful sales and entrepreneurship career (01:59)
  • Shut the Hell Up and Sell: Philosophy + Execution in Sales (10:05)
  • Why you need to learn how to build a connection in a short period of time (16:00)
  • Disrupting an improperly built system that programs salespeople to be too product-focused (20:41)
  • How to help your sales managers consistently lead their teams to success (25:17)
  • Business and Bourbon: Creating an environment that’s conducive to building relationships and connection (30:24)
  • Everything he’s most grateful for (36:43)

Connect with Wesleyne Greer:

Connect with Ronnell Richards:

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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 guests 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:

delighted to have Ron L. Richards here with me. How are

Wesleyne Greer:

you doing today?

Ronnell Richard:

Wesleyne. I'm fantastic. You know, really been

Ronnell Richard:

looking forward to this been on been on my calendar for about a

Ronnell Richard:

month, you're super busy, it's hard to pin you down. So let's

Ronnell Richard:

knock it out.

Wesleyne Greer:

Awesome. Let me tell you guys a little bit about

Wesleyne Greer:

Ron. Now he has built a career out of creating businesses and

Wesleyne Greer:

developing sales professionals into high level performers. He's

Wesleyne Greer:

taught individuals how to feel part of a team and perform

Wesleyne Greer:

better as a result, he successfully strategize with

Wesleyne Greer:

both small and large businesses to take their progress to the

Wesleyne Greer:

next level. This has given him a unique perspective on success

Wesleyne Greer:

that he brings to every aspect of his life. As an award winning

Wesleyne Greer:

entrepreneur, Ron now knows what it takes to aim high and hit

Wesleyne Greer:

even higher.

Ronnell Richard:

Wow, that's low corporate, aim high and hit

Wesleyne Greer:

higher. I'm so excited to dig into your

Wesleyne Greer:

background. So tell me how did you start your career? And how

Wesleyne Greer:

did you get to where you are now?

Ronnell Richard:

Well, I wish that it wasn't such a long

Ronnell Richard:

story. But it is a long story because it's a long, long time

Ronnell Richard:

ago.

Ronnell Richard:

So you know, my journey and path to corporate sales. And that

Ronnell Richard:

world is is not like a lot of folks, right? Like a lot of

Ronnell Richard:

people that go to college and get that corporate job. And

Ronnell Richard:

yeah, it wasn't the case for me. So you know, I started out as a

Ronnell Richard:

kid really in into entrepreneurship, right. But my

Ronnell Richard:

parents were entrepreneurs. And you know, and so I got an

Ronnell Richard:

education in cells and business that most kids just don't get it

Ronnell Richard:

that young of an age, right? I'm working cash registers, I'm

Ronnell Richard:

learning how to do add on cells, I'm taking deposits to the bank,

Ronnell Richard:

doing things like that we're doing inventory, right. Not fun

Ronnell Richard:

stuff for kids. But it really kind of set me on a course for

Ronnell Richard:

where I first of all helped me to identify where my talents lay

Ronnell Richard:

right in terms of communicating with people and being able to

Ronnell Richard:

articulate myself really well. Right. And so I kind of learned

Ronnell Richard:

that an early age and was able to kind of lean into that. So

Ronnell Richard:

you know, fast forward into my college years. You know, that's

Ronnell Richard:

when I started my first professional sales job. But you

Ronnell Richard:

know, I was always a salesperson, always a

Ronnell Richard:

salesperson, right? Always the salesperson, always an

Ronnell Richard:

entrepreneur as a kid, you know, and I didn't do it. All right,

Ronnell Richard:

because that was a horrible.

Ronnell Richard:

I'm a horrible artist. But I've got notebooks of all my little

Ronnell Richard:

business ideas, right? Anyway, so fast forward to college is

Ronnell Richard:

when I started my first professional sales gig. And that

Ronnell Richard:

was working for a jewelry company. Right. And that's how I

Ronnell Richard:

got into sales professionally and worked for that jewelry

Ronnell Richard:

company did pretty well. And you know, became one of their sales

Ronnell Richard:

managers after being a sales leader for a bit. And yeah,

Ronnell Richard:

that's something I'm pretty proud of, you know, this was I

Ronnell Richard:

became a sales manager for them, I think at 21. It's reference

Ronnell Richard:

21. And at the time, I was the youngest sales manager in their

Ronnell Richard:

company and the only African American sales manager in the

Ronnell Richard:

company. And I'm going to claim it because I think that it's

Ronnell Richard:

true, and I can't confirm it, but I believe I was the very

Ronnell Richard:

first so which is something that brings me great pride. So

Ronnell Richard:

anyway, did that for five ish years, right jewelry industry.

Ronnell Richard:

And then then I transitioned into technology in the telecom,

Ronnell Richard:

like, wow, that's a pretty big jump, right? Like how do you go

Ronnell Richard:

from selling jewelry to selling telecom technologies? Well, you

Ronnell Richard:

know, that was right around the turn of the millennium, right,

Ronnell Richard:

right after that, and telecom was booming, right, tons of what

Ronnell Richard:

we call at the time Sealegs competitive local exchange

Ronnell Richard:

carriers hopping into the local services, b2b market and there

Ronnell Richard:

were a ton of companies out there and I just happened to

Ronnell Richard:

have some friends that went over to one of these companies and

Ronnell Richard:

they were actually jewelry guys as well. They had been in

Ronnell Richard:

leadership in jewelry and they were just killing it. They were

Ronnell Richard:

killing they said, Oh, no, you need to come over and do this.

Ronnell Richard:

And at the time, I had actually transitioned to a I was doing I

Ronnell Richard:

was on the street, I was on the road and it sucks the worst job

Ronnell Richard:

I've ever had. But I was on the road as a traveling wholesale

Ronnell Richard:

jewelry guy. God was very stressful. You driving around

Ronnell Richard:

with a million dollars worth of jewelry is not. It was tough.

Ronnell Richard:

Anyway. So that's how I got into into the telecom industry,

Ronnell Richard:

right? There's some friends and kind of took off from there had

Ronnell Richard:

some success at my very first company, McCloud, USA. Again, my

Ronnell Richard:

background is entrepreneurship. I've always known that I was

Ronnell Richard:

going to be an entrepreneur, it's who I am. And so you know,

Ronnell Richard:

after working for a couple of companies in that run, that's

Ronnell Richard:

when I started, my first company started my company rd Direct,

Ronnell Richard:

which was a channel agency focused on selling telecom and

Ronnell Richard:

technology solutions b2b and grew that and had some really

Ronnell Richard:

good success there. transition that to a few other companies

Ronnell Richard:

doing some of the same things. Again, this is a long story. So

Ronnell Richard:

I'm going to try to make a long story short, here we are today.

Ronnell Richard:

And I've run four different agencies that have done some of

Ronnell Richard:

the similar stuff, selling technology products and SAS

Ronnell Richard:

products, telecom products, b2b growing those organizations

Ronnell Richard:

leading their sales efforts. And you know, today, so I'm one of

Ronnell Richard:

those agencies that do a lot of consulting and coaching for

Ronnell Richard:

channel agencies and for carriers and suppliers that are

Ronnell Richard:

looking to expand their businesses in indirect channel.

Ronnell Richard:

And we run this little brand called business and bourbon,

Ronnell Richard:

which is doing pretty well too.

Wesleyne Greer:

Little brand business and bourbon. So you had

Wesleyne Greer:

a very, I would say, different upbringing, because so many

Wesleyne Greer:

people that own their own businesses today, I call them

Wesleyne Greer:

first generation business owners. So they don't really

Wesleyne Greer:

understand how to run a business. They they're really

Wesleyne Greer:

they're like learning as they go falling and failing and coming

Wesleyne Greer:

back up. So what's one thing that you would say, you growing

Wesleyne Greer:

up in the business, watching your parents as entrepreneurs?

Wesleyne Greer:

How has that helped you in your career?

Ronnell Richard:

So I think it's, I'll say this, there are a

Ronnell Richard:

lot of people that have experience of parents being

Ronnell Richard:

entrepreneurs. The difference in my upbringing, and this is

Ronnell Richard:

something that I would tell any of you entrepreneurs out there,

Ronnell Richard:

or leaders in business, just in general, involve your kids in

Ronnell Richard:

the process. You know, the difference is between my

Ronnell Richard:

upbringing and lots of others that had entrepreneurial parents

Ronnell Richard:

is they knew their parents did something, but they weren't

Ronnell Richard:

really involved in it. I was involved in it in a daily basis.

Ronnell Richard:

You know, when I was, I can tell you right now, when I was in the

Ronnell Richard:

third grade, and when I was eight years old, I'd come home,

Ronnell Richard:

we lived about three blocks away from my elementary school, there

Ronnell Richard:

was a bus stop, right outside of just on the next block over from

Ronnell Richard:

my house, I'd hop on the bus, and I ride that bus downtown to

Ronnell Richard:

where my parents shop was, and then I'd be there and I work

Ronnell Richard:

there, I'd be on the cash register, and all those things

Ronnell Richard:

that you do. And so yeah, the difference for me is, I was

Ronnell Richard:

really involved. And, you know, there's some might say, came out

Ronnell Richard:

a little bit of a cost. I wasn't the kid who had a lot of toys,

Ronnell Richard:

and all that sort of thing. But, you know, I learned some skills

Ronnell Richard:

I learned through experience and things that people don't know,

Ronnell Richard:

you know, well into their adulthood. And so that's one of

Ronnell Richard:

the differences for me, right? Being engaged in. So in the

Ronnell Richard:

business. And so, you know, when I started my businesses, I

Ronnell Richard:

follow my parents example, right? So my kids, now they

Ronnell Richard:

didn't have to take the bus. I wasn't, I wasn't gonna take the

Ronnell Richard:

bus. They didn't have to do that. But my kids are now both

Ronnell Richard:

college students, but I have very fond memories of elementary

Ronnell Richard:

school, and then getting off of their little school bus, I'd

Ronnell Richard:

pick them up from the school bus, drive them right to my

Ronnell Richard:

office, and they'd sit in cubicles right next to all of my

Ronnell Richard:

employees doing their homework and all that other stuff. So

Ronnell Richard:

they've always been involved and engaged in the business that

Ronnell Richard:

I've been involved in, as well as including business and

Ronnell Richard:

bourbon, my daughter and my son will back we're about to head to

Ronnell Richard:

Tampa for an event and my daughter will be there working

Ronnell Richard:

that event.

Wesleyne Greer:

That's awesome. I know. Recently, my son asked

Wesleyne Greer:

me said, Mommy, why does it seem like you need a CRM to live?

Wesleyne Greer:

Like, I'm so glad you asked. That means you've been actively

Wesleyne Greer:

listening to my conversations. And then my younger son was

Wesleyne Greer:

like, so I'm curious. I heard you talking about such and such,

Wesleyne Greer:

how much money did you make on that? Like, it's like, the

Wesleyne Greer:

things that they are hearing. And that gives us an opportunity

Wesleyne Greer:

as parents to really help them understand like, Hey, this is

Wesleyne Greer:

what I do every day and this is how I help people. So these

Wesleyne Greer:

things that you hear me say over and over and over again, this is

Wesleyne Greer:

the why behind it. And I really commend you for involving your

Wesleyne Greer:

kids in the business because I do think that that's one thing

Wesleyne Greer:

that us as leaders as whether you're a sales leader within a

Wesleyne Greer:

company or you own your own business, we don't actually tell

Wesleyne Greer:

our kids how the how right but they just see what's happening

Wesleyne Greer:

at that moment. They see whether we're stressed out which When

Wesleyne Greer:

we're gone, but they don't understand all the little baby

Wesleyne Greer:

steps involved in getting there.

Ronnell Richard:

Okay, Wesleyne, here you are touching on

Ronnell Richard:

something that I really wanted to talk to you about. And so I'm

Ronnell Richard:

going to talk about it really quick. So my book is coming out

Ronnell Richard:

this year. And it's called, you know, shut the hell up and sell.

Ronnell Richard:

And what you're talking about right now is really kind of the

Ronnell Richard:

crux of what my book is about. It's two parts. It's one part

Ronnell Richard:

philosophy. And it's one part execution, right? So, as a sales

Ronnell Richard:

leader, Coach and Trainer, you know, I've personally hired and

Ronnell Richard:

trained hundreds of salespeople, right. And I've been involved

Ronnell Richard:

with other firms that coached and trained salespeople. And one

Ronnell Richard:

of the things that I see that's consistent in this is that

Ronnell Richard:

trainers and coaches will go out to companies and they will teach

Ronnell Richard:

people and whatever their tactical. They'll teach and

Ronnell Richard:

tactical execution, right. And when they leave the people that

Ronnell Richard:

were successful, well, they're still successful, and the people

Ronnell Richard:

that were failing, they're usually still filling, right.

Ronnell Richard:

And so as I sat down to think about my book, and this took a

Ronnell Richard:

few years to really kind of marinate and think about what

Ronnell Richard:

how I wanted to present myself and that that type of media

Ronnell Richard:

thought about how can we be most most effective and making impact

Ronnell Richard:

and helping people? And so I think about kids, you just made

Ronnell Richard:

a diss talked about educating your son. And you know, I

Ronnell Richard:

thought about discipline, see if your kid does something wrong,

Ronnell Richard:

like a lot of us that are a little bit older, we got we've

Ronnell Richard:

had those experiences where we got spankings, or we got

Ronnell Richard:

weapons, right. And as I used to call them my house, so there's

Ronnell Richard:

always that kid that did something wrong, got the

Ronnell Richard:

spanking. And what did he he kept doing the same thing and

Ronnell Richard:

just kept getting more spankings and just kept getting used to

Ronnell Richard:

the spankings. It didn't really change the behavior just kind of

Ronnell Richard:

got used to the spankings. Right. So I look at that from a

Ronnell Richard:

salesperson standpoint in sales, coaching and training. And what

Ronnell Richard:

is lacking is philosophy, understanding, right? See,

Ronnell Richard:

there's a big difference in when that child does something wrong.

Ronnell Richard:

And you say, hey, look, look, son, here's why that's wrong.

Ronnell Richard:

Here's the impact of what you're what you just did, right? You

Ronnell Richard:

did that. And this is going to happen as a result. And let me

Ronnell Richard:

tell you how I know that, I know that because here's my

Ronnell Richard:

experience. Now, when you do that, it makes a total different

Ronnell Richard:

impact in terms of learning. And so what I set out to accomplish

Ronnell Richard:

in my book is really teach my philosophy on why these things

Ronnell Richard:

are important, why they matter why there, they will impact your

Ronnell Richard:

business and correlate that back to my own personal experience

Ronnell Richard:

through stories of my own past, um, to help people better

Ronnell Richard:

understand. So my goal, my focus in training and coaching sellers

Ronnell Richard:

moving forward is to connect them with the philosophy of why

Ronnell Richard:

we do what it is that we do not just go do this, and it will

Ronnell Richard:

result in that because you know what I've seen it for again, I'm

Ronnell Richard:

25 years now in sales, it doesn't work. Now, don't get me

Ronnell Richard:

wrong, there are always outliers. But by and large, it

Ronnell Richard:

just doesn't work. Because people can't really commit to

Ronnell Richard:

process and commit the frameworks and commit the

Ronnell Richard:

structures unless they can really understand why that's so

Wesleyne Greer:

good. And, you know, I guess I didn't even know

Wesleyne Greer:

that we have the same philosophy because a lot of times, that's

Wesleyne Greer:

the missing piece, right? It's you have these people, and

Wesleyne Greer:

they're watching out so quick, right? One of the the biggest

Wesleyne Greer:

things that a lot of companies are talking about these days is

Wesleyne Greer:

the lack of diversity, right in leadership positions, whether

Wesleyne Greer:

it's women or underrepresented minorities, and I'm like, Yeah,

Wesleyne Greer:

so the reason is, because you don't have enough entry level

Wesleyne Greer:

people. And those entry level people that you get in, you're

Wesleyne Greer:

not giving them enough ante to understand the why behind what

Wesleyne Greer:

they're doing. And so they just washed out, they just leave,

Wesleyne Greer:

they're like, Well, why am I here? Why am I doing this? And

Wesleyne Greer:

so when I'm working with people, that's like, one of the very

Wesleyne Greer:

first things that we do, they're like, oh, yeah, we want to do

Wesleyne Greer:

this, we want to do this want to do that? I want to do this. I'm

Wesleyne Greer:

like, Yeah, okay. So what you need to do is you need to stop

Wesleyne Greer:

and think about the why. And then even as a leader, so many

Wesleyne Greer:

times a leader wants to be upfront and answer the questions

Wesleyne Greer:

or be the one that gets the acclaim and fame. And I'm like,

Wesleyne Greer:

No, you have to the only way your salespeople are going to

Wesleyne Greer:

learn is if you step behind, and let them do and if they fall,

Wesleyne Greer:

that's okay. You explain to them, Hey, you weren't

Wesleyne Greer:

successful because this happened, or that happened? Or

Wesleyne Greer:

you did a great job. These are the things you did really,

Wesleyne Greer:

really well. Right. So really helping them understand what's

Wesleyne Greer:

happening underneath the scenes. And as you were talking,

Wesleyne Greer:

something that popped in my brain that I literally never

Wesleyne Greer:

thought of is my mom, her degrees are in early childhood

Wesleyne Greer:

education. And when she disciplined us it was same way.

Wesleyne Greer:

It's like, okay, you did this wrong, but let me help you

Wesleyne Greer:

understand why and I do the same thing with my kids. And I think

Wesleyne Greer:

that has actually helped me. So you just unlocked something for

Wesleyne Greer:

me.

Ronnell Richard:

Wesleyne you know, what you learn after lots

Ronnell Richard:

of years of managing and leading people, and especially in an

Ronnell Richard:

entrepreneurial environment that there are a lot of correlations

Ronnell Richard:

to and this is isn't something to denigrate people, it's just

Ronnell Richard:

human nature. But there are a lot of correlations to

Ronnell Richard:

parenting. There just is, you know, a lot of the things that

Ronnell Richard:

you do in parenting to be successful and parenting, you,

Ronnell Richard:

you apply to leadership and sales, leadership and business

Ronnell Richard:

leadership and vice versa.

Wesleyne Greer:

You know, it's so often I'm like, I don't want

Wesleyne Greer:

to denigrate anyone. And I often find myself like, I asked

Wesleyne Greer:

people, Do you have kids? Right? Because like people want and

Wesleyne Greer:

sometimes they say, No, I'm like, do you have nieces or

Wesleyne Greer:

nephews? Because when you think about something that way, and

Wesleyne Greer:

I'm like, I'm not saying that your salespeople are white kids.

Wesleyne Greer:

But let's use a real world example or something that you've

Wesleyne Greer:

done, you know, coaching your kids sports team, okay? Do you

Wesleyne Greer:

go get the soccer ball? And do you kick the ball for them to

Wesleyne Greer:

make the goal? No. So why are you actually doing that? Why are

Wesleyne Greer:

you going and closing the sale for them? You tell them how to

Wesleyne Greer:

do it, right? You lead them. And so when we're able to help

Wesleyne Greer:

people understand that connection, I really think

Wesleyne Greer:

that's how they grow. So you went from the jewelry industry

Wesleyne Greer:

to a completely different industry. And one thing that I

Wesleyne Greer:

say often now you guys love hearing me say this is stop

Wesleyne Greer:

hiring your competitors rejects. Right? So you knew how to sell

Wesleyne Greer:

in the jewelry industry? What of those skills did you find

Wesleyne Greer:

transferable when you completely transitioned,

Ronnell Richard:

super easy, super easy. And this is why I

Ronnell Richard:

love really great, like retail salespeople, they understand how

Ronnell Richard:

to build a connection, and a short period of time to really

Ronnell Richard:

understand the relationship building piece, one of the

Ronnell Richard:

challenges that we've had over the years, when, you know, we

Ronnell Richard:

hire you hire folks out of out of college right is and that's

Ronnell Richard:

their first entry into the business world is everything's

Ronnell Richard:

really academic, right? Everything's really academic,

Ronnell Richard:

and they're great at spreadsheets and graded, you

Ronnell Richard:

know, trying to do presentations and things of that nature. But

Ronnell Richard:

at the end of the day, I had a hot sales manager telling me

Ronnell Richard:

this when I first started in jewelry, a gazillion years ago,

Ronnell Richard:

he said, you know, go make a friend, at the end of the day.

Ronnell Richard:

That's what you learn in that environment, how to connect with

Ronnell Richard:

someone how to do a, I'm a big fan of Always Sunny in

Ronnell Richard:

Philadelphia, and there's a character named Mac on that. And

Ronnell Richard:

he had he does an ocular pet. What does basically, when people

Ronnell Richard:

come into their bar, he looks at his eye, okay, they're clear,

Ronnell Richard:

he's good. I did my ocular packet. Anyway, you learn how to

Ronnell Richard:

I don't want to say size people up, because I don't believe in

Ronnell Richard:

like, you know, because you also learn that, hey, don't judge

Ronnell Richard:

anyone, like, don't judge anyone like that person that's walking

Ronnell Richard:

in, it's dusty. And they can be a millionaire, right? But you

Ronnell Richard:

learn how to find connection faster, you learn how to build a

Ronnell Richard:

relationship faster, because in that business lesson, you walk

Ronnell Richard:

into my store, what happens in that first, even that first 15

Ronnell Richard:

seconds is impactful how I greet you how I look at you, if I

Ronnell Richard:

extend my hand, you learn the importance of all those little

Ronnell Richard:

things right in terms of building a connection with that

Ronnell Richard:

person in front of you. So when I transitioned to technology,

Ronnell Richard:

oh, man, I was way ahead of the game way ahead of the game.

Ronnell Richard:

Because here's the thing, sometimes people think that the

Ronnell Richard:

technology or they leave too much with the tech, they lose

Ronnell Richard:

too much with what their value props of their product and

Ronnell Richard:

service or their product are. But at the end of the day, your

Ronnell Richard:

value props don't matter to me, what matters to me is me and my

Ronnell Richard:

business and what's going on with my business. Again, this

Ronnell Richard:

stuff is all in the book guys is coming out. So like, you know,

Ronnell Richard:

that's what we teach. That's what it is that we teach in the

Ronnell Richard:

book is like, we need to create connection, you need to find out

Ronnell Richard:

what you think doesn't matter, we need to find out what's going

Ronnell Richard:

on in that person's world. What matters most of them, because

Ronnell Richard:

what matters, most of them. Nine times out of 10 is not your

Ronnell Richard:

product, it's not your services. But once you understand what

Ronnell Richard:

really matters to them, you can find a way to take your product

Ronnell Richard:

and your services and paint that in a way to where it impacts

Ronnell Richard:

what they really care about. Like that's one of the things I

Ronnell Richard:

always in my companies, we've sold bandwidth for a whole bunch

Ronnell Richard:

of years. And bandwidth was the fix all for everything. Whatever

Ronnell Richard:

else you this is what I've always taught my salespeople,

Ronnell Richard:

like, Oh, we got to find what the pain is find their pain,

Ronnell Richard:

that's fine they care about and then we're going to frame that

Ronnell Richard:

our solution in a way to where it impacts us. Because it will

Ronnell Richard:

it can as long as we paint the picture the right way. So

Ronnell Richard:

anyway, my long way of answering your question, that ability to

Ronnell Richard:

connect with people that ability to build the build the basic

Ronnell Richard:

framework for a relationship

Wesleyne Greer:

fast, and I think you hit the nail on your

Wesleyne Greer:

head on the head. What is most important it is those

Wesleyne Greer:

transferable sales skills. I don't care what you sell before,

Wesleyne Greer:

but if you're a good salesperson in one industry, I can teach you

Wesleyne Greer:

my product because my product is great. Like you said it's all

Wesleyne Greer:

about bandwidth, but who cares? At our product, let me make sure

Wesleyne Greer:

that you know how to connect with the person. Let me make

Wesleyne Greer:

sure that you fully know how to diagnose and understand what

Wesleyne Greer:

their challenges are, then we bring the product knowledge back

Wesleyne Greer:

in. And in these technical industries that I worked with in

Wesleyne Greer:

STEM, everybody wants to leave with the product. Nobody cares

Wesleyne Greer:

about that crap. Like, nobody cares about it. When I was a

Wesleyne Greer:

salesperson, I used to tell people I speak engineer, because

Wesleyne Greer:

my clients are engineers. So what did I have to do? I had to

Wesleyne Greer:

understand all of the technical language that they were using

Wesleyne Greer:

all of those things that they were talking about, and connect

Wesleyne Greer:

that back to our product, right? And if we think about that,

Wesleyne Greer:

like, I just love what you said, it's all about bandwidth. But

Wesleyne Greer:

which bits and pieces do I need to connect with? They need more

Wesleyne Greer:

bandwidth.

Ronnell Richard:

You know, Wesleyne, I am, you're just

Ronnell Richard:

about to hear this from me because you don't know this

Ronnell Richard:

about me. So I'm originally from Ohio, oh, h i o grew up in Utah.

Ronnell Richard:

And so my parents moved to Utah, when I was like four years old,

Ronnell Richard:

and open businesses, and businesses that cater to mostly

Ronnell Richard:

African American community, we're talking about the 80s and

Ronnell Richard:

90s. So like, I'm a born disrupter, it's what I do. It's

Ronnell Richard:

what I've always done. It's all that I know. So I say that to

Ronnell Richard:

say I give the problem you made mention of the salespeople and

Ronnell Richard:

how they're all product based, right and focused on their

Ronnell Richard:

product value props and everything, which is absolutely

Ronnell Richard:

true. But I give them a pass, because it's not their fault.

Ronnell Richard:

They're part of a system that creates that. Because when you

Ronnell Richard:

get that job at whatever tech company, and you sit down, and

Ronnell Richard:

you go to their two weeks of training, or whatever it is, you

Ronnell Richard:

know, what they're focusing 90% of that training, here's our

Ronnell Richard:

product, here's why it's awesome. Here's our value props,

Ronnell Richard:

you know, and so when I say I'm disrupting, I'm coming in, I'm

Ronnell Richard:

kicking in the door. And I'm saying no, that's not how we do

Ronnell Richard:

it. And I say, look, tech company, you can add all of

Ronnell Richard:

these technical overlay people, right? When I started my career

Ronnell Richard:

in technology, I didn't know anything. I didn't know what a T

Ronnell Richard:

one was, it didn't matter, though, what didn't matter is

Ronnell Richard:

that I had the resources to be able to bring in those people.

Ronnell Richard:

So when I say you have all these technical overlays? Do we have

Ronnell Richard:

to know our product? Sure, do we have to know our product as much

Ronnell Richard:

as we think no, because you know, what our customer wants is

Ronnell Richard:

they want somebody that will attend to their needs, that

Ronnell Richard:

cares about what they care about. And it's a resource for

Ronnell Richard:

solutions. So like, as a salesperson, I don't need to

Ronnell Richard:

know everything about the product, I don't know everything

Ronnell Richard:

I need to be up, I need to absolutely be a resource to it,

Ronnell Richard:

and you absolutely have that overlay or that specialists that

Ronnell Richard:

can bring it in, they can help to really create the solution

Ronnell Richard:

that's tailor made to that customer. So again, what I'm

Ronnell Richard:

saying is that what we're doing and what I'm doing with my book,

Ronnell Richard:

and what I'm doing with my coaching and train is disrupting

Ronnell Richard:

a system that is built improperly. Does that make

Ronnell Richard:

sense?

Wesleyne Greer:

Absolutely. I think one of the things that

Wesleyne Greer:

boils my skin is when you start talking to some of these larger

Wesleyne Greer:

enterprise companies, they're like, oh, yeah, we have sales

Wesleyne Greer:

enablement. Oh, yeah, we do our sales training. I'm like, You're

Wesleyne Greer:

doing product training, you're not actually teaching people how

Wesleyne Greer:

to sell. And then you know, you're like, it's not the

Wesleyne Greer:

salespersons fault. I go a little bit deeper. And like, I

Wesleyne Greer:

see so much stuff on LinkedIn about this is how you cold call,

Wesleyne Greer:

this is how you do this, or this is how you do that. Like they're

Wesleyne Greer:

talking about symptoms, right? But I'm like, Hey, if you're

Wesleyne Greer:

able to sell all of this to the salespeople, the problem is not

Wesleyne Greer:

the salespeople, it's the sales leadership, it's the companies,

Wesleyne Greer:

they're not providing what they need. Because if I am a good

Wesleyne Greer:

sales manager, I'm going to teach you what you need. You

Wesleyne Greer:

don't need to go out there and spend $1,000, to learn how to

Wesleyne Greer:

cold call or how to write a script. So that's for me is the

Wesleyne Greer:

big issue. It's the companies, it's the sales managers. And

Wesleyne Greer:

then again, when we say it's not the salespeople problem, it's

Wesleyne Greer:

not the sales managers problems, because they were the number one

Wesleyne Greer:

salesperson, they got promoted. And all they know how to do is

Wesleyne Greer:

what they know how to do. That's it. Right? They don't know,

Ronnell Richard:

virtually, because we're here on that.

Ronnell Richard:

Because, again, this is part of the problem in the system. Like,

Ronnell Richard:

again, Wesleyne. We're right here with this. So your path to

Ronnell Richard:

sales management is to be a great seller, right? A great

Ronnell Richard:

individual contributor, but you and I know that the skill set

Ronnell Richard:

that it takes to be a great leader, and the skill set that

Ronnell Richard:

it takes to be a great individual contributor are very

Ronnell Richard:

different. They're very different. And so you know,

Ronnell Richard:

that's why were you talking about these weak sales,

Ronnell Richard:

management and leadership. It's because they don't know how to

Ronnell Richard:

do it properly. All they know to do is what they did, and you

Ronnell Richard:

can't it's like Michael Jordan, becoming a coach Michael Jordan

Ronnell Richard:

is a he's a horrible coach, because Michael Jordan is just

Ronnell Richard:

like, Listen, what you do is you do a crossover. You go between

Ronnell Richard:

the legs, you go, you do a windmill, and then you dunk on

Ronnell Richard:

him. And meanwhile, I'm sitting here at six foot and 200 pound a

Ronnell Richard:

light. But Mike, I can't do that. Well, why can't you I can

Ronnell Richard:

do. So you can't you know, you have to have that ability to

Ronnell Richard:

really, first of all be able to invest in others. really care

Ronnell Richard:

about others because let's be honest, a lot of really

Ronnell Richard:

successful salespeople are very selfish, you gotta be, it just

Ronnell Richard:

is what it is, you know, bigger egos. And so yeah, when you talk

Ronnell Richard:

about that sales, leadership and sales management, I think

Ronnell Richard:

there's another opportunity for disruption too, in working with

Ronnell Richard:

these companies and how they hire what they look for. And

Ronnell Richard:

then hey, I get it. If you're a top salesperson, you want to be

Ronnell Richard:

a sales leader, we got to do better in how we train these

Ronnell Richard:

folks and how we prepare them for success. Whenever someone

Ronnell Richard:

fails under my watch, this is always been always been my

Ronnell Richard:

monitor, if they fail under my watch, that's on me. If I hire

Ronnell Richard:

somebody for a role, and they're not successful, I take it

Ronnell Richard:

personally. Does that mean that I don't fire anybody knows,

Ronnell Richard:

sometimes you got to fire people. And that doesn't work

Ronnell Richard:

out. And yes, there is some culpability that they have as

Ronnell Richard:

well, right ownership they have to take but for me, I'm always

Ronnell Richard:

taking it's I think it starts for anyone that's in a hiring

Ronnell Richard:

position and looking and saying, Hey, look, what am I doing to

Ronnell Richard:

best prepare that person for success in this role that I'm

Ronnell Richard:

putting him in? In the sales tech sales world, there's room

Ronnell Richard:

for a ton of improvement.

Wesleyne Greer:

One thing that I always ask leaders, because a

Wesleyne Greer:

lot of times they're like, oh, yeah, this person isn't

Wesleyne Greer:

producing, they're not doing this and not doing this. They're

Wesleyne Greer:

not doing that. And so I say, Well, okay, let me ask you a

Wesleyne Greer:

question. Have you given that person 100% of what they need to

Wesleyne Greer:

be successful? And they have to pause and think, and I think

Wesleyne Greer:

probably 99% of the time, they say no, I have not right? And

Wesleyne Greer:

that's the thing before we place blame on operations isn't doing

Wesleyne Greer:

this product isn't doing this salespeople aren't doing this?

Wesleyne Greer:

What in and of yourself, have you done to ensure that you're

Wesleyne Greer:

managing across, up and down? Right, so those things that

Wesleyne Greer:

sales managers, salespeople, we're always placing blame. And

Wesleyne Greer:

then as a leader, as an entrepreneur, you take it

Wesleyne Greer:

personally, right? It's like, but I hired this person who

Wesleyne Greer:

thought they were gonna be good, what happened? Right, like, what

Wesleyne Greer:

did I do something wrong with them? And so what you as

Wesleyne Greer:

somebody who seems very introspective, what are your

Wesleyne Greer:

tips when you have somebody who may be on the fringes and

Wesleyne Greer:

they're not doing right? How do you deal with that situation?

Ronnell Richard:

Oh, communication? Yeah, I mean,

Ronnell Richard:

like, I had a leader that I learned, I learned from a long

Ronnell Richard:

time ago. And I always kind of apply this in my business, I

Ronnell Richard:

believe, in some respects, you over communicate like, so this

Ronnell Richard:

particular scenario, where you're talking about, hey, look,

Ronnell Richard:

maybe they're not meeting expectations, and there's, you

Ronnell Richard:

know, over communicate, here's what's going to happen. When you

Ronnell Richard:

do that, and you're really honest with where we're at, and

Ronnell Richard:

where people are at. They're going to either go one of two

Ronnell Richard:

ways, they're going to go like this, they're gonna really check

Ronnell Richard:

in, or they're gonna check out. And both are good. Both are

Ronnell Richard:

good. I often say like, you know, people, certain people, I

Ronnell Richard:

someone's watching this right now, I really lean into Ron out,

Ronnell Richard:

too. So if you haven't noticed, I lean into who I am. Because

Ronnell Richard:

there's certain people that are watching this right now.

Ronnell Richard:

Wesleyne. And they're like, you know, this guy, I dig, man, this

Ronnell Richard:

is my guy. And other people are like, Oh, no, I'm out this dude.

Ronnell Richard:

I don't like him. And part of that, again, is because I over

Ronnell Richard:

communicate a little bit, right. And I think that gets us to

Ronnell Richard:

success faster. And bringing this back to the salesperson,

Ronnell Richard:

you know, if you over communicate, you sit down, you

Ronnell Richard:

have that conversation with them, and you tell them hey,

Ronnell Richard:

look, this is exactly where and you tell them what you're

Ronnell Richard:

concerned about what's going on on your end, like right and how

Ronnell Richard:

they relate to that. They're gonna go one of two ways. And I

Ronnell Richard:

believe in making it and controlled emotion. I am an

Ronnell Richard:

emotional leader. I'm a controlled emotional leader. I

Ronnell Richard:

don't ever I think a lot of great coaches are that way. If

Ronnell Richard:

you look at like, sports coaches that are really successful, like

Ronnell Richard:

Nick Saban, Nick Saban is he may look emotional at times on the

Ronnell Richard:

sideline, oh, he's not he's controlled, he's sending a

Ronnell Richard:

message. And so I've learned some I would share with leaders

Ronnell Richard:

out there learn how to use emotion as your tool. never, I

Ronnell Richard:

never get out of pocket. I never lose control. But I will place a

Ronnell Richard:

colorful expletive I'll do different things at different

Ronnell Richard:

that really kind of shoot the message but it's always under

Ronnell Richard:

control. That's always respectful, but it's just

Ronnell Richard:

another way of sending home the message. So again, bring it back

Ronnell Richard:

I'd sit down have a conversation, put all the cards

Ronnell Richard:

on the table, all the cards on the table that's going to get

Ronnell Richard:

you fastest to wherever it is you want to go going through all

Ronnell Richard:

of your let me do my 90 Day performance plan I'm going to do

Ronnell Richard:

I'm putting you on for now man, you know what that'll do usually

Ronnell Richard:

it'll usually get people just kind of dragging it out dragging

Ronnell Richard:

it out and still underperforming, put all the

Ronnell Richard:

cards on the table there they're gonna check in or they're gonna

Ronnell Richard:

check out and both of those are good for you because you don't

Ronnell Richard:

want someone dragging along hanging and not really checked

Ronnell Richard:

in and if someone really was want to check in with you want

Ronnell Richard:

that you want a little more emotional. You want them to be a

Ronnell Richard:

little more emotionally connected, because that means

Ronnell Richard:

they're going to work hard and you can lean into them more

Wesleyne Greer:

i communication, something that so often in our

Wesleyne Greer:

relationships, whether professionally or personally, we

Wesleyne Greer:

don't do right and a lot of times it's like you're this

Wesleyne Greer:

shrinking violent when there's difficult conversations to be

Wesleyne Greer:

had, but it's better to just come out front and be like, hey,

Wesleyne Greer:

we need to have a conversation. And these are the things that

Wesleyne Greer:

you're doing well, these are things are not going so well. So

Wesleyne Greer:

how can we move forward? Right? Just having that upfront,

Wesleyne Greer:

honest, open communication with your employees really helps you

Wesleyne Greer:

grow as a leader, and helps them grow as a individual. So you

Wesleyne Greer:

have this really cool business, I want you to tell us a little

Wesleyne Greer:

bit about it. How did it come to be? What's it called, and what

Wesleyne Greer:

you guys do there?

Ronnell Richard:

Sure. So um, so I run a couple of companies,

Ronnell Richard:

again, we have a sub, I have a channel sales agency that sells

Ronnell Richard:

b2b products for mostly SAS products for larger technology

Ronnell Richard:

companies, right. And I do coaching and consulting, but as

Ronnell Richard:

well, which I mentioned earlier, but what people get most excited

Ronnell Richard:

about is business and bourbon. And, you know, like I said,

Ronnell Richard:

earlier, in this conversation, I'm a born disrupter, it's who I

Ronnell Richard:

am. And we are, here's the big broad statement, a, we are

Ronnell Richard:

disrupting the way that business is being done. Okay. And this

Ronnell Richard:

goes back to some of my core philosophies on how people sell,

Ronnell Richard:

right, and how we sell which is product based, and all that. And

Ronnell Richard:

so, when I say disrupting how we're doing business, we do that

Ronnell Richard:

by creating experiences and creating events that really help

Ronnell Richard:

to create a foundation and an environment for connecting at a

Ronnell Richard:

higher and deeper level, where I told you that I lean into who I

Ronnell Richard:

am, the reason I lean into who I am, is because I want to connect

Ronnell Richard:

with the people that are in on me as fast as possible. And

Ronnell Richard:

people that aren't, I don't care, because I know the people

Ronnell Richard:

that are in and on me, those are people that I'm going to be able

Ronnell Richard:

to do business with, because we've got high alignment, right?

Ronnell Richard:

Maybe they got kids like I got maybe they curse every now and

Ronnell Richard:

then may they enjoy whiskey, all those sorts of things, right.

Ronnell Richard:

And so we'll connect at a deeper level, which will allow us to do

Ronnell Richard:

better business and do business for longer. All right. So that's

Ronnell Richard:

what we do at business and bourbon by creating these

Ronnell Richard:

experiences, both in person and virtual experiences that connect

Ronnell Richard:

business professionals and sales leaders so that they can create

Ronnell Richard:

those types of deeper relationships. Right. So the

Ronnell Richard:

ways that we do that, again, we have an in person event that

Ronnell Richard:

travels across the country, which is a we call whiskey

Ronnell Richard:

wisdom and collaboration we do we have whiskey tasting, we have

Ronnell Richard:

our chef, our Food Network, Chef, Steve Beatty, who prepares

Ronnell Richard:

food pairings on site, we have dynamic speakers, we have a

Ronnell Richard:

panel discussion. And you know, the focus of this, I'm giving

Ronnell Richard:

you the shortened condensed version, those are just kind of

Ronnell Richard:

the highlights. But the focus of this is the audience. It's the

Ronnell Richard:

people that are in attendance, we want to serve them, we want

Ronnell Richard:

to serve them, we want to create an environment where they can

Ronnell Richard:

connect with other people, right? So this high energy is

Ronnell Richard:

not sitting, there's a lot of moving around, there's a lot of

Ronnell Richard:

getting to know people. Because, you know, again, we understand

Ronnell Richard:

that I understand through my 25 years in business, that the key

Ronnell Richard:

to doing great business and doing better business is finding

Ronnell Richard:

people that you have great high alignment with and connecting

Ronnell Richard:

with them. So that's one of the things we do we also do virtual

Ronnell Richard:

stuff as well, we have a fantastic webinar series, which

Ronnell Richard:

I don't even like call it a webinar, because when people

Ronnell Richard:

think webinar, they think like traditional webinar where it's

Ronnell Richard:

like people talking at you, but we don't do that like we are

Ronnell Richard:

when I say disrupting, like even my partners, our corporate

Ronnell Richard:

partners, and sponsors have a hard time doing what is asked of

Ronnell Richard:

them on our platforms, because I tell them, hey, listen, I say

Ronnell Richard:

listen, big company don't pitch. You don't get to pick your

Ronnell Richard:

product. That's all they know how to do is okay, here's my

Ronnell Richard:

money. Okay, so I get to speak. Okay, cool. Well, I'm gonna

Ronnell Richard:

speak and say, hey, well, you know, we do XYZ new, here's what

Ronnell Richard:

you do, you bring value to the audience, you can share based

Ronnell Richard:

upon your expertise, it just has to be a valuable, impactful

Ronnell Richard:

share that's going to make get at high emotional impact with

Ronnell Richard:

our audience. Because I understand, again, going back to

Ronnell Richard:

what it is that we're about, we're about creating this

Ronnell Richard:

environment that is conducive to building relationships and

Ronnell Richard:

connection, right? And so that's going to happen when I've got

Ronnell Richard:

when you come on Wesleyan, you speak and you talk about

Ronnell Richard:

something that's not Oh, I do this, and I do it. Nobody can

Ronnell Richard:

sit. When you talk about hey, look, you know, here's how you

Ronnell Richard:

can be a better leader. Here's why I think the sales model is

Ronnell Richard:

flawed and how you can do better. And then what happens

Ronnell Richard:

people are like, Oh, she I dig her. I need to find out more

Ronnell Richard:

about her. But they also talk amongst themselves. They're

Ronnell Richard:

like, Oh, that was pretty good. What did you think of that? No,

Ronnell Richard:

I thought and guess what happens organically and naturally,

Ronnell Richard:

people connect at a higher level. So again, we do that we

Ronnell Richard:

do virtual whiskey tasting experiences. We do virtual

Ronnell Richard:

cocktail experiences. Each of these are designed for different

Ronnell Richard:

things. Our webinar series, again, is a virtual version of

Ronnell Richard:

our in person where we we do a mixer where people get to

Ronnell Richard:

connect and collaborate and then our panel gets to engage with

Ronnell Richard:

the audience. We don't talk with them. We involve them in the

Ronnell Richard:

discussion and the discussion. and serves them so anyone that

Ronnell Richard:

hops on one of my platforms, like the first thing, you'll

Ronnell Richard:

find that they're going to be panelist is that you're going to

Ronnell Richard:

get like two three questions from me. And then we're done.

Ronnell Richard:

Because we really lean into what the audience needs. Because

Ronnell Richard:

we've done our events all over the country. And you know, what

Ronnell Richard:

people care about in Missoula, Montana is way different than

Ronnell Richard:

what people care about in Tampa, you know, and vice versa. So

Ronnell Richard:

like, that's what we do. We bring whiskey as part of it. But

Ronnell Richard:

it's not about the whiskey guys. It's called business and bourbon

Ronnell Richard:

for reason. It's always business before bourbon, always been this

Ronnell Richard:

before. Bourbon, the whiskey a lot of people that come to our

Ronnell Richard:

events and they don't drink, and that's fine. Because it's not

Ronnell Richard:

about drinking. It's about connecting with people. It's

Ronnell Richard:

about doing better business through building deeper

Ronnell Richard:

relationships.

Wesleyne Greer:

Wow, that is amazing. There were so many

Wesleyne Greer:

things that you said that really resonated with me, I think the

Wesleyne Greer:

one thing is that I feel like networking is broken, right? The

Wesleyne Greer:

way the traditional model of networking is very broken,

Wesleyne Greer:

right? Because you show up, you do your little elevator pitch,

Wesleyne Greer:

you're like, Okay, what business do you have for me? You don't

Wesleyne Greer:

have anything, okay, I'm gone. And I'm never coming back.

Wesleyne Greer:

Right. That's one thing. And then on the flip side, on the

Wesleyne Greer:

business, corporate sponsorship side, I'm really feeling again,

Wesleyne Greer:

the same thing, oh, I'm here to just pitch myself. And something

Wesleyne Greer:

that I really hold on to is educate them and they will come

Wesleyne Greer:

right you don't have to be pushing. Don't be so pushy.

Wesleyne Greer:

Don't be spiked, definitely down their throat, teach them

Wesleyne Greer:

something. And that like, Oh, I got that for free. Like, what

Wesleyne Greer:

would I get if I paid a little something for it? Right, like,

Wesleyne Greer:

make them curious. And so it sounds like you're doing really

Wesleyne Greer:

amazing things traveling throughout the country, as well

Wesleyne Greer:

as virtually so when you think about your career, what is one

Wesleyne Greer:

thing that you are most excited about accomplishing? You've done

Wesleyne Greer:

so much? I don't know. Can you pin it down to one.

Ronnell Richard:

So that's always been hard for me. And

Ronnell Richard:

it's been hard for me because I'm given my background. And

Ronnell Richard:

given where you know, where we come from, we being my family.

Ronnell Richard:

And I've never been one to I've had trouble with gratitude. And

Ronnell Richard:

I've been working on that over the last couple of years. And so

Ronnell Richard:

a lot of things that I've accomplished, and I've done, I

Ronnell Richard:

didn't really take time to really be grateful for it and be

Ronnell Richard:

like, oh, man, that was pretty dope, like, so it's been like,

Ronnell Richard:

just checking off boxes. Okay, did that are next do that do

Ronnell Richard:

that. And so I'm learning to do better with that. Which makes

Ronnell Richard:

that a difficult question for me, right. But overall, the

Ronnell Richard:

thing that I'm most grateful for, and my biggest

Ronnell Richard:

accomplishment, it's my kids, man, like just seeing them go

Ronnell Richard:

into young adulthood and both go and then natural tracker of

Ronnell Richard:

college students and everything, right? It's just, it's I'm

Ronnell Richard:

witnessing their lifestyle, the things that they've been able to

Ronnell Richard:

experience the things that are normal for them. Like, I'm

Ronnell Richard:

seeing generational change, like, right in front of my eyes.

Ronnell Richard:

I mean, like, you know, I'm from we're from Youngstown, Ohio,

Ronnell Richard:

man, oh, from, we're from steel mill country, and I just see an

Ronnell Richard:

experience through their eyes, how things that are really,

Ronnell Richard:

really abnormal for me, are just normal for them. And to me,

Ronnell Richard:

that's beautiful. And part of that comes from my

Ronnell Richard:

entrepreneurial journey, you know, and when I say lifestyle,

Ronnell Richard:

guys, I'm not just talking about loan money and stuff, it's just,

Ronnell Richard:

I'm talking about culturally, you know, like, they've been

Ronnell Richard:

able to be raised in a diverse environment where they're not

Ronnell Richard:

overly impressed by the BS, you know, so yeah, and a little tip

Ronnell Richard:

for my entrepreneurial folks out there people in general, but

Ronnell Richard:

especially entrepreneurs, it's five to nine plans, because you

Ronnell Richard:

know, in entrepreneurship, money is gonna come, money's gonna go,

Ronnell Richard:

I've seen a lot of success, and I've seen some massive failure.

Ronnell Richard:

And so the one thing that I started that when my son who's

Ronnell Richard:

the oldest one, he was a couple, and six months old son like that

Ronnell Richard:

started saving. And so there was always something regardless of

Ronnell Richard:

my business doing this and all that, that was always there. And

Ronnell Richard:

so now with them being in college, I have that to draw on.

Ronnell Richard:

And that's, that is, again, made a lot lost a lot had all those,

Ronnell Richard:

those cars that you guys are like idolizing, like, yeah, I've

Ronnell Richard:

owned them, exotic cars and all that stuff, but like, and

Ronnell Richard:

they've come and gone. But that's always been there. And so

Ronnell Richard:

that's the thing that I'm most proud of.

Wesleyne Greer:

I love it. And generational change, I think

Wesleyne Greer:

that's how I can kind of sum up the thing that you're you're

Wesleyne Greer:

most excited about accomplishing and listening to you. I was

Wesleyne Greer:

thinking about my son the other day, I was dropping him off at

Wesleyne Greer:

school. He's like, Yeah, we had this conversation on the bus and

Wesleyne Greer:

people were talking about how many states they've been to. And

Wesleyne Greer:

I was like, I didn't want to say anything, because I've been to

Wesleyne Greer:

25 states and they've only been to like one or two. And it's

Wesleyne Greer:

because it's cultures like, oh, I travel for work. I need to

Wesleyne Greer:

bring my kids to like, Come on, let's go. We're going somewhere.

Wesleyne Greer:

Right. And so I think that the way that we're a But to impart

Wesleyne Greer:

to change what has happened to us or the experiences we've had

Wesleyne Greer:

in our children is really something that we can hang our

Wesleyne Greer:

hat on. Oh, this has been a great conversation. What is the

Wesleyne Greer:

one best way that people can get in contact with you?

Ronnell Richard:

Everywhere? Can't find me. I'm slipping. I'm

Ronnell Richard:

absolutely slipping but you can go find me on LinkedIn. Ron l

Ronnell Richard:

Richards. There's only one so far and two Ns two L's you can

Ronnell Richard:

Google business and bourbon, Ron l Richards any of that stuff

Ronnell Richard:

you'll find plenty ways to contact with me you can always

Ronnell Richard:

email me Ron L at Ron l richards.com. Doesn't get

Ronnell Richard:

doesn't get any easier than that. Ron L at Ron l

Ronnell Richard:

richards.com. Two NS two L

Wesleyne Greer:

I love it. By now. This has been an amazing

Wesleyne Greer:

conversation. We have talked all the way from starting out

Wesleyne Greer:

working in your parents business to what you're doing now giving

Wesleyne Greer:

back to your children. Thank you so much for sharing your time,

Wesleyne Greer:

your talent, your expertise and your energy with us today.

Ronnell Richard:

No, thank you. I really appreciate the

Ronnell Richard:

opportunity to sit and chop it up with you. And it's always an

Ronnell Richard:

honor anytime anyone would offer up their platform and allow me

Ronnell Richard:

to run my mouth. So was saying I appreciate it.

Wesleyne Greer:

Thank you so much again, and that was another

Wesleyne Greer:

episode of the science of selling stem and anything that

Wesleyne Greer:

you do, always remember to transform your sales. Until next

Wesleyne Greer:

time.

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Thank you for joining us today on the snack sized

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sales podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe and

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leave us a review. Learn how to continue increasing your bottom

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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