Struggling to find salespeople who don’t just look good on paper—but actually perform?

Let me show you how we help founders and sales leaders hire, train, and scale teams with grit, not fluff.

👉 Book a demo with The Sales Machine at thesalesmachine.com.

If you’ve ever hired someone with a great resume… only to be disappointed 90 days later, you’re not alone.

This week on The Sales Machine podcast, I sat down with Collin Mitchell, a sales pro turned real estate operator who now manages a $100M portfolio. Collin and I dig deep into what actually makes a salesperson successful in today’s world…and spoiler alert: it’s not a college degree or years in the game.

We talk about the difference between people who are just good at interviews vs. people who are relentless in the field. The kind of people who self-source, prospect without being told, and treat sales like a craft, not a job.

Whether you're in SaaS, real estate, manufacturing, or insurance, this conversation will punch through the excuses and give you a new lens on hiring and leading high-performers.

What We Cover in This Episode:

• Why resumes are often the worst way to evaluate a salesperson
• How to identify reps who are hungry, not just polished
• What Collin learned leading sales in both tech and real estate
• Why self-sourcing is a lost art and how to bring it back
• The impact of mindset, pressure, and discipline in sales roles
• Why so many founders fail to train the reps they hire
• How to build a sales culture that rewards performance, not politics

Collin’s story is raw, real, and full of lessons. We don’t just talk theory, we talk about what works.

And if you're ready to stop hiring “nice guys who finish last” and start building a real sales machine…

Book a call with my team and let’s show you how we help companies just like yours build systems that scale at thesalesmachine.com.

Chapters

(00:01) - The Journey of Sales Success

(02:52) - The Evolution of Sales Strategies

(05:52) - The Importance of Commission-Only Roles

(09:01) - The Role of Habits in Achieving Goals

(12:06) - Revenue Generating Activities vs. Passive Learning

(19:46) - Mindset, Skillset, and Habits in Sales

(22:08) - The Importance of Debriefing and Learning from Calls

(25:28) - Building a Successful Sales Team

(29:51) - Next Level Sales: Understanding Transformation

(34:12) - Transitioning from Tech Sales to Real Estate

(41:02) - Caring for Clients: The Key to Long-Term Success

Connect with Collin Mitchell

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/collincmitchell/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/collincmitchell/ 

X: https://x.com/CollinCMitchell 

Connect with John Rankins

Website: https://thesalesmachine.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheSalesMachineOfficial

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/thesalesmachine_official/

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/thesalesmachineofficial/

YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@JohnRankinsOfficial