Profit or perish… There are only two ways to make money: increase sales and decrease costs”. -Fred DeLuca
It is a pretty simple concept, and when we value businesses, we know top line revenue is an important indicator of the health of the business- In fact it is one of the 18 value drivers we look at when we assess a business.
In this video, we talk with Jake Wilson, the Founder of Sales Team Builder, who discusses how he works with clients to help them build their sales team in order to drive profits. His body language, energy, and knowledge demonstrate that it is not just about following a magic formula, but it is about coupling your product knowledge and your process and being able effectively communicate that with your client through words and presence.
Hanging with Holly: Interview with Sales Expert Jake Wilson from Dan Doran on Vimeo.
Holly: So, welcome to today’s video blog. I’m here with Jake Wilson, who’s from Sales Team Builder and sales teams are so critical to every business. So many businesses prevent growing value because they have not integrated the right sales strategies. So, very key for any business operation is the focus on sales. Jake, how’re you doing today?
Jake Wilson: Doing great. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me here.
Holly: Yeah. Well, tell us a little bit about what you do.
Jake Wilson: What I do is, I love sales, if you really look at it, and I’ve yet to come across a business in the world that doesn’t have sales in some form or fashion. There might be someone, but I’ve yet to see it in any of those businesses. What I love doing, is I love being able to find a business that’s out to make a difference and being able to pair those with sales people who want to perform with that company’s vision and mission is. And by fulfilling on what that vision of what that company is, they get to have the compensation, they get to have access to what’s important, what matters to them personally, which could be buying a house, building up wealth, investing in real estate, retiring to a beach, traveling, being debt free, whatever it is. That’s one of the first key components. When a company as a vision that people can buy into, you can get great people because then you’re offering a solution that people can believe in. When it comes to sales, they key is people will only take actions on something that is urgent, not what’s important.
Holly: Are you training the actual sales team?
Jake Wilson: You can do it a couple ways. One of the ways I love doing it is, if I find the right company, is I’ll come in and I’ll; actually to the sales. I will learn how to sell in that industry. What does that business do? What do their competitors do? You can’t train somebody to do something if you haven’t done it yourself. In a lot of ways, I’ll come in and do that where I build up the process, the systems, the sales pitch. How do you replicate top talent? IF they already have top talent in the company that are selling consistently and reliably, I’m going to find how do we replicate that person? For a business, if we’re talking about value of a business, if you have sales, but if’s it’s only reliant on one or two people, what if those people leave? How do you train the next evolution of them?
Jake Wilson: If it’s the business owner, the business should never be doing the sales at a business. Sometimes, they have to, but if you’re talking long-term valuation or viability of a business, that is not he most profitable endeavor. You take what it is that they are so good at and what they love doing about it, but then you find somebody who can do that and you train them to be able to be consistently, successfully performing. It’s the systems, it’s the processes, it’s the pipeline. How do you fill the pipeline? Is it a two-week, is it a four-week cycle? How do you manage to make sure every week that the necessary number of actions are taken so that four weeks from now you’re gonna have the sufficient opportunity to close those leads?
Jake Wilson: And if all that’s happening and being done independent of the business owner and executive, then the business owner can be spending time on growing the actual business. They’re now no longer in the business. They’re now working on the business. That’s the main component of what I do.
Holly: Sounds common sense, but I know it’s never that easy, right? If it were, everyone would have a great sales team. Two questions for you. How long does it take to make that process work? How does a business owner hold you accountable?
Jake Wilson: How a business owner holds me accountable is we establish and create parameters of results that they want, which I’ll also give it back to them. If you want these results, here’s what needs to happen. We set up, it always comes out to commitments. I give my word to them, they give their word to me, and we work together. We set up communication protocols. We set up managerial protocols. The goal when I come into a business is not for me to be there forever. My goal is to come in, put in all those systems, get the right team in place, and then take me out of it so that the team can arise and manage itself so that it’s the processes that’s selling, not the individual. It can never be, then I become a limiting factor. The goal is never for me, in general. That’s the first thing.
Jake Wilson: What was the, the second part was?
Holly: How long does it take for these processes to take-
Jake Wilson: It really depends on the sales cycle. If you have a 2-4 week sales cycle, within 3-6 months it can easily be double to triple the monthly business. If you have a 3-month sales cycle-
Jake Wilson: So I guess I’d say it’s anywhere from 3-6 times the sales cycle. Now, you can always shorten that over time, but if you’re in commercial real estate, you have 18 month sales cycle. Much harder to do that. If you’re in anything that has a month-long sales cycle, usually within 3-6 months you can do it. Takes about a month or two to create and establish the systems and the protocols, to test them to make sure that they work. The key is being able to replicate that. Once they’ve been replicated once or twice, then you have a system that’s proven and can work time and time again and then you just get better. That’s that where you get the exponential growth. Every time you do it, you get better.
Holly: Sounds like a lot of fun, lot of energy. I know not every sales person can have that energy that you have, so I’m sure you’re exciting to have around.
Holly: Real fast, can you tell us what’s a typical client look like for you?
Jake Wilson: Typical client for me would be a business that can generate their own leads, ’cause I don’t typically do lead gen. You need somebody who is very masterful in your industry, with your niche, what you want to be able to get you the qualified leads. That’s kind of a different department. I have partners that do that. That’s not really what I focus on. So, they can get their own leads.
Jake Wilson: They’re committed and out to make a difference and they have a clear goal of what they want, whether it be selling their business in 1-5 years, or they’re really ready to scale their business but they have to have a goal and a vision in place and they’re truly ready and willing to do what that takes to put the team in place. That would be an ideal client.
Jake Wilson: Industry doesn’t really matter because the principles of how I build the teams and how I build the sales process, that’s always the same. There’s nuances in the business, which is why I like to come in and learn it.
Holly: Learn it, that makes sense.
Holly: As we wrap up, what would be, on a personal level, what is your favorite Colorado adventure to pass on?
Jake Wilson: Ooh favorite Colorado adventure. Well, I’m born and raised, so I have a lot of them. The favorite Colorado adventure. Now, it only can happen a little bit. Hopefully, it can happen more frequently. Playoff Rockies baseball. If you can go to a playoff Rockies baseball game, there is no energy in this city like when that’s happening. Playoff Bronco’s football is different [crosstalk 00:07:00] just ’cause there’s so much more about baseball games. It happens a lot longer. The energy of the city. If you can experience playoff baseball in Colorado, in Denver, there is nothing like that.
Holly: Great tip.
Holly: Jake, thanks for being here.
Jake Wilson: Thanks so much for having me.
Holly: We’ll talk again soon.
Jake Wilson: Alright.
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