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In this powerhouse episode, Erik sits down with renowned sales leader and consultant Gene McNaughton to break down what it really takes to turn around underperforming teams and drive scalable growth. From Gateway to Tony Robbins to 160+ consulting clients, Gene shares the exact frameworks he uses to ignite sales orgs—plus the truth about why most change efforts fail.

This is a masterclass on sales leadership, self-investment, and building organizations that actually execute.

👤 About the Guest

Gene McNaughton is the founder of The Sales Edge, a growth consultancy with a flawless track record: 160+ companies, 100% success rate. Formerly a sales leader at Gateway Computers and VP of Sales for Tony Robbins, Gene now helps companies design and execute sales systems that scale. He’s also a voracious reader, passionate journaler, and high-energy speaker known for blending mindset, metrics, and leadership at every level.

🧭 Conversation Highlights

• The life-changing moment Gene couldn’t afford a $6 book—and how that launched his sales career
• Why companies fail to scale their sales orgs, even with access to unlimited training content
• Gene’s exact playbook for fixing broken teams and leading change without direct authority
• What separates high-performing leaders from the pack: pain, pattern recognition, and preparation
• The psychology behind behavior change: the “cheese vs. cat urine” experiment and what it reveals about motivation
• The real reason most sales presentations suck—and how to fix them
• Why 0% of Gene’s clients have a clearly defined sales process when he shows up (and what happens when they do)

💡 Key Takeaways

• Access is not the problem—application is. You can Google your way to greatness, but most don’t.
• The best leaders don’t just tolerate discomfort—they train for it.
• All change starts by telling the truth. That applies to leadership, CRM data, and yourself.
• Sales success = mindset + process + measurement. Companies that ignore any one of those fail.
• Marginal gains over multiple KPIs are more powerful than one massive win. Aggregation is the unlock.

❓ Questions That Mattered

• How do you transform information into performance at scale?
• What do world-class consultants do differently when diagnosing a business?
• Why do most companies struggle with change—and how can leaders actually fix it?
• What motivates people more: the promise of cheese or the smell of cat urine?
• What’s the real cost of not having a defined sales process?

🗣️ Notable Quotes

“When you pay, you pay more attention.” – Gene McNaughton

“All change starts by telling the truth.” – Gene McNaughton

“Most salespeople are just doing what they picked up along the way. And that’s the problem.”

“If you don’t have a clear sales process, you’re not scaling—you’re surviving.”

“Leadership is painting the picture of a future worth running toward.” – Erik Berglund

🔗 Links & Resources

• 🌐 Gene on LinkedIn
• 📸 Gene on Instagram
• 🧠 TheSalesEdge.co – Gene’s consulting firm