No BS Sales School

In this episode of the No BS Sales School, our host Walker McKay and David Senra continue talking about the life of successful founders, specifically Sam Zemurray of the United Fruit Company. He also talks about the virtue of putting the work in, and being conscious of the bad and good about the founders who’ve also committed mistakes in the name of growing their business. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• How Sam Zemurray reinvented then dominated the banana trade
• Learn from, but do not idolize successful founders 
• Does intelligence matter in business? 
• Keep narrowing your focus until you know better than everyone
• Work harder than everyone else on your craft 
• David's hack for retaining the knowledge that he already absorbed 

QUOTES

David's warning for people that study biographies like him: "I'm not idolizing these people. I'm learning from them. And every single one has some kind of weird flaw because all humans do. And so in many cases, I try to pause. 'Like listen, that was a good idea in business, but you probably don't want to do this s*** over here.'"

David on putting 100% effort into his work: "I'm perpetually prepared. I'm in up to my eyeballs n this s*** everyday. I can talk about whatever you want, anytime you want."

Connect with David on the links below: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-senra-278843236/
• Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/founders/id1141877104

Where to find Walker:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Free training course
• www.walkermckay.com

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In this episode of the No BS Sales School, our host Walker McKay and David Senra continue their conversation about biographies. David zeroes in on the rapper and businessman Jay-Z, who believed he could make it in the music business before anybody else did. David also talks about how biographics are actually treasure troves of knowledge accumulated across lifetimes, all yours for the taking. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Jay-Z is a business genius
• A calculation based on arrogance
• Reading is theft
• Entrepreneurs love passing down their knowledge 
• How Sam Walton inspired Jeff Bezos
• Read biographies, your success may depend on it

QUOTES

David describes how Jay-Z became famous: "It is a calculation by arrogance. And that arrogance is used almost as fuel. Nobody else in the world at that point thinks that Jay-Z could do it. But Jay-Z does. And so if he has that belief then he goes about building on that belief. And then once you believe that you can do something, then you spend your time not only getting good at it, but also convincing other people to share your belief."

David on why he loves reading autobiographies: "One of my favorite quotes about reading is that 'Reading is not a chore. Reading is theft.' Somebody's way smarter than you spent their entire lives bumping their head up against the wall and they wrote it down in a book, and that knowledge can be yours."

Connect with David on the links below: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-senra-278843236/
• Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/founders/id1141877104

Where to find Walker:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Free training course
• www.walkermckay.com

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Combining his love for learning new things and uncovering the secrets of successful people, David started the Founders podcast where he reads and analyzes the biographies of several successful entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and more. In this episode of the No BS Sales School, our host Walker McKay talks to David about his fascination with biographies, and how it has allowed him to uncover frameworks and strategies that everyone can apply to become successful. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• David's gateway drug to entrepreneurship 
• How David got the idea for his own podcast
• Study the personality to understand their methodology
• Entrepreneurs have a lot to learn from filmmakers 
• Small egos don't build giant companies
• Embrace the waves if you want to go sailing

QUOTES

David's rationale behind his study of successful people's biographies: "We're not copying the what, we're copying the how. When you're not focused on the what and you're only focused on the how, you're like 'Oh, the principles behind why they're making these decisions, I can use in whatever I'm doing.'"

David on why it's crucial for founders to learn from other founders: "This is why it's important for founders to talk to other founders and learn from other founders because only entrepreneurs understand entrepreneurs."

David on why being an entrepreneur is worth it, even with the risks involved: "It is in many ways rational for you to stay on shore. It's the crazy ones, and founders universally are rather crazy -- it's the crazy ones that say 'No, I don't want to stay on shore. I have one shot at life, I'm jumping in that boat. I believe in me.’"

Connect with David on the links below: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-senra-278843236/
• Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/founders/id1141877104

Where to find Walker:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Free training course
• www.walkermckay.com

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Even the best sellers have their own horror stories about the time they lost a deal that they were counting on, or that they thought were already good as closed. Even the best fall down sometimes. But what matters is how we get up and what we do so that it doesn’t happen again. In this episode of the No BS Sales School podcast, our host Walker McKay shares a personal story about a sales deal that blew up, and the lessons that everyone should learn from it. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Business is hard, get over it, get back to work 
• A lost deal sucks, so learn from it 
• Unless it's been paid for, the deal has not been closed
• Luck is not reproducible
• You cannot be skeptical enough 
• Be ready to accept a No
• Focus on the next deal 
• Go back to your pipeline 

QUOTES

Walker explains why you can't rely on luck: "Lucky is not reproducible. You can't follow the same pattern again and again and again to get lucky. Lucky just happens. So yeah, I like to be lucky. But I'd rather be good."

Walker on being skeptical of your prospect: "If your deal is gonna blow up, find about it in the first call, or the second call, not the sixth call or when you've already spent the damn money in your head."

Walker on being told No and accepting it: "No is my second favorite word, I hear it all the time. I'd rather hear it sooner than later. I want you to have the same thing. All this crap about 'if I show you a way, would you buy today' or 'if I do this, would you buy it,' no, no it's cheesy sales stuff. You're taking away people's agency. Always give them the ability to say yes or no."

Where to find Walker:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Free training course
• www.walkermckay.com

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When he quit his job in the real estate business to strike out on his own, Walker recalls that he knew nothing of what lay ahead of him as an aspiring entrepreneur. Thankfully, after a period of uncertainty he eventually figured things out, but not on his own. 

In this episode of the No BS Sales School podcast, Walker shares the six most important lessons that he has learned in the past eight years as an entrepreneur. Experience will always be the best teacher, but perhaps you won’t need to learn the hard way, as Walker did all those years ago. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• It's important to have a dream
• Have your anchors around you
• Be resolute and committed 
• Continue to grow and evolve
• Enjoy the wins 
• Make decisions for the long term

QUOTES

Walker on the importance of having a dream: "Have a belief that what you're doing matters. It can be a number of things. It can be the cause, it can be the mission, it can be your family, it can be the service you provide, it can be just to get you to another place. But I think it's important that you have a dream, and my dream was to provide really, really good, topnotch training-consulting-coaching to people that ordinarily wouldn't have access to that." 

Walker on why it's critical to keep on improving yourself: "Time goes by no matter what. Chances are you're going to look at yourself and say you're not the same person you were five years ago. But were you intentional in that? Are you growing on purpose, do you have something that you're aspiring to?"

Walker describes the pitfalls of short-term thinking: "When I make a choice for something that feels good now but I haven't really thought about it long term, that's when I screw up. This is when I take a client that I probably shouldn't take because I need the money. This is where I maybe mail something in instead of digging deep and doing the work I have to do. That's taking the short term route. That always comes back to bite me."

Where to find Walker:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Free training course
• www.walkermckay.com

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We all have a vision of where we want to be in the future, but not everybody has the willingness and tenacity to do whatever it takes to reach that destination. Unfortunately, while some decisions might make sense in the short-term might end up hurting us in the long term. In this episode of the No BS Sales School podcast, our host Walker McKay talks about the 47-year old problem, envisioning yourself in the next five years, and doing whatever it takes to achieve that vision. 

Tune in to know more about Walker’s new sales training program, with a special discount for podcast listeners! 

HIGHLIGHTS

• The 47-year old problem 
• Why you should always think long-term
• Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
• Just keep moving 

QUOTES

Walker describing what he felt at 47: "I knew at age 47 that I was not where I wanted to be. It took me about two years after that to actually get out. But it had gotten to the point where I didn't like going to work. I liked the work I was doing but I didn't like going to work, I didn't like the way that decisions were being made for me."

Walker on choosing to play the long game: "Financially, it was a disaster for the first five years. I had to create everything from scratch. I had to start over. Started with zero. No income, no clients. A three-year non-compete. But I just know that what I was doing wasn't going to suit me long-term."

Walker's advice to himself, five years from now: "Just keep moving. When something great happens, keep moving. You'll get kicked in the teeth which will probably happen a whole lot more than something great happening. Keep moving. As long as you're moving, you're alive. If you stop and curl up in a ball which is often the temptation, you're dead."

Where to find Walker:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Free training course
• www.walkermckay.com

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

SHOW SUMMARY

Working in sales or running a business (or both) is incredibly stressful. In this kind of work, having a sound mind and body is important to achieve your goals and enjoy the fruits of your labor. The question is, how do you begin healing?

In this episode of the No BS Sales School podcast, Livi Redden joins our host Walker McKay about mindfulness, healing, and why living in alignment is essential to work your best in sales and in business. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Have the initiative to take the seat
• Get healed from your past and know your non-negotiables 
• College education is not for everybody 
• Listen to what your body is telling you
• How to begin healing 
• Taking medication does not mean you’re weak

QUOTES

Livi on listening to your mind and body: "A part of mindfulness is the ability to give your mind a moment to tell you what it wants. Otherwise, it's going to keep hitting that anxiety button and you're going to be like, 'What the hell is happening? I don't know what you want from me.'"

Livi on how to begin healing: "Once you start really digging into what actually happened into your emotions, that's when you start learning from your past and you can accept it because you started to make it work for you. You find out where you learned and where you can benefit from it. And then you can start moving forward."

Livi on why you need to take care of yourself first: "Truly, you need to be in a better state of being, to get to the doing. It's going to be really hard to reach your goals and know what goals are actually things you want to achieve, if you're not in a good state yourself. And you need to figure out how to be in a better place." 

Connect with Livi on the links below: 

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liviredden/
• Email: [email protected]

Where to find Walker:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Free training course
• www.walkermckay.com

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

SHOW SUMMARY

The hallmark of a great seller is in the ability to keep emotions out of every sales deal. This type of seller knows that a string of rejections only means that they are separating the grain from the chaff. Because they spent their time building a healthy pipeline, they are confident that they will eventually get to the right clients and will waste no time with those that aren’t the right fit. 

In this episode of the No BS Sales School, our host Walker McKay talks about handling rejections, not letting your emotions take over during a sales negotiation, and being the best seller that you can be. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Don't fear what you can't control
• Getting a 'yes' is not always the best outcome 
• Never let your emotions get in the way of the deal
• Be kind, not nice  
• Stop worrying about the outcome

QUOTES

Walker on the best seller: "The salesman that doesn't care about the outcome, the one that doesn't care if they get a yes or a no as long as they're getting one of those, is your best sales guy."

Walker's advice for sellers on handling their emotions: "It doesn't matter if your prospect loves you or not. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if they hate your freaking guts. Their opinions of you are not your business. You can't care. As soon as you do, you get your own emotions involved."

Walker on the difference between being kind and being nice: "Being kind is doing the right thing on somebody's behalf even though it may be uncomfortable. Being nice is doing what the other person wants you to do, just to make them feel good."

Where to find Walker:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Free training course
• www.walkermckay.com

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

SHOW SUMMARY

The step to addressing a problem is to admit that there is one. If you had a physical ailment, you would have no qualms seeking medical attention. Unfortunately, this is not always the case with mental health issues. 

In this episode of the No BS Sales School podcast, Walker talks about seeking professional help to address your mental health problems. Despite the good progress that has been made recently, there’s still a lot of work to be done in getting the stigma out of mental health. But as someone who has experienced mental health problems himself, Walker’s advice is simple: go and get professional help. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Mental illness can manifest physically
• Professional help is often the best way to address mental health
• You can't just 'snap out of it' and 'have fun'
• Go get help by talking to your doctor
• Be patient with yourself

QUOTES

Walker on his personal struggles with mental health: "I don't have many friends, but I enjoy being around people. And what I found was I began to believe that maybe nobody gave a shit, nobody understood. But that's the things that just came to my mind."

Walker's advice for people going through mental health problems: "It's easy to get on this downward spiral. I guess I want to encourage you: if you're going through some of that, you're feeling some of that, go get help. Go talk to your doctor. Start with your primary doctor.  Go to a psychiatrist if you have one. Go tell them the story."

Walker on why seeking professional help is worth it: "Sometimes it's the medicine that gives you the lift, that can allow you to do the self-help things. The exercise, getting outdoors, lifting weights. Do things to help build yourself, to help different chemicals get released in your brain. This is not a weakness or failure on your part. This is just part of what you're having to go through, like having some other kind of physical ailment."

Where to find Walker:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Free training course
• www.walkermckay.com

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

To do sales is to help people, but you don’t necessarily need to be the hero who saves everyone. Instead, you need to be the guide that helps people find the appropriate solution for their problems. In this episode of the No BS Sales School podcast, our host Walker McKay continues his conversation with Rob Napoli about listening to the customer carefully, whether you’re selling a product to solve a customer’s pain or as a founder trying to grow their business. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Never stop listening to your customers 
• You have to know when to stop and listen
• Not every deal is gonna close
• Be a guide, not a hero
• Everything is hard when you're a founder

QUOTES

Rob on why founders need to keep in touch with their customers all the time: "You have to always be listening to your customers. Once you find that, and you stop listening, you start iterating all these things, you can iterate away from the customers which I see happen all the time. You need to stay and have one ear to the ground with your customers and understand the market because it changes so fast." 

Rob on why you should avoid being the hero: "Just by definition, being a hero makes it all about you. It's the same thing when we talk about allyship. You want to be the ally, someone who helps, not the hero."

Walker on letting your customer talk: "Be sincerely curious. Instead of saying, 'here your problem, here's how I'm gonna fix it,' ask them. Don't assume you know."

Where to find Rob and other resources:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robnap/
• The Bear Necessities of Entrepreneurship (Podcast): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bear-necessities-of-entrepreneurship/id1569103336
• Book: https://www.amazon.com/Social-Soul-Professional-Intentionality-Authenticity/dp/1513690299

Where to find Walker:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Free training course
• www.walkermckay.com

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.