OC Talk Radio

Chris Voss is CEO of the Black Swan Group and author of the national best-seller "Never Split The Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It," which was named one of the seven best books on negotiation. A 24-year veteran of the FBI, Chris retired as the lead international kidnapping negotiator. Drawing on his experience in high-stakes negotiations, his company specializes in solving business communication problems using hostage negotiation solutions. Their negotiation methodology focuses on discovering the “Black Swans,” small pieces of information that have a huge effect on an outcome. Chris and his team have helped companies secure and close better deals, save money, and solve internal communication problems. Chris has been featured in TIME, Business Insider, Entrepreneur, Inc., Fast Company, Fortune, The Washington Post, SUCCESS Magazine, Squawk Box, CNN, ABC News and more.

We produce a fascinating show called The Next Chapter that tries to answer (from a practical and philosophical point of view) what comes next...particularly for us aging baby boomers who've been gifted with a whole extra inning in life.  As a group, we baby boomers will live longer than any generation in history with many of us making it well into our nineties or beyond.  So what will we do with that bonus time and  our new found next chapter?  Hosted by former CEO coach and evangelical minister Charlie Hedges, this show took an unexpected turn the last three weeks into exploring religion.  Will our aging group of baby boomers find our way back to the "faith of our fathers" (as the end grows nearer).  Or will we stick to our "enlightened" agnosticim and/or scientific athesim?  Or find a "new religion" in some new age "force" to make sense of the universe and our place in it. These are (after all) the age old questions that have gnawed at man since the dawn of time.  Who are we, where did we come from and where are we going?  The so called "meaning of life".  But as I note in this post series summary, we seem to be entering into a strange new world where a growing number of people just don't care about these questions at all anymore. Meaning we've lost faith not just in our leaders but in faith itself.  We trust no one and believe in nothing.  So it's not just a battle between "believers" and "non-believers" (in politics, religion, philosophy, democracy or any belief system you can name) but the emergence of a new category never seen before...NO belevers.  People for whom "none of the above" is the default answer to just about any question you can ask.  Where the majority of voters (here in Orange County and elsewhere) are now listed in the voter roles as "decline to state". And where a growing majority of people would rather stick a needle in their eye than talk about politics, philosophy, religion or anything "greater than themselve". So do you agree with my gloomy assessment that we're in some strange new "post belief" world. Where facts are all fungible, news is all fake and the experts are all wrong?  And is this just a transition  to some new "age of enlightenment" or the new normal.  A new dark age where anything goes, chaos rules and the old rules or belief systems just don't apply. Or even interest us anymore...

David tells the story of CCM, an independent impact investment money management firm, speciallizing in fixed income (Bond investing), paying market rate returns, but they allow the investors to focus on particular geographical or impact themes in deploying their investment funds.  CCM started with banks and others covered by the Community Re:Investment Act in the 1990's, moving into the Foundations and other institutional investors, and now wealth management world and other private investors.  He discusses the themes and locales of some of their projects, as well as the goals and desires of the investors.  For many investors, it is very important to align their investments with their values, and David tells this story as well as anyone, providing specific examples of projects that listeners will find to be very interesting.

The Director of Investor Relations, Paul discusses BP's  L/S funds, especially the unique Emerging Markets L/S fund, part of their $100 Billion in Assets Under Management.  While L/S funds are fairly commong, few apply this strategy to international markets, especially Emerging Markets.  On a bottom up basis, they look for companies with rich valuations and potential catalysts to move the price, both on the long and short side.  They allow the market to determine the net exposure, with the short side usually between 30-70% of the Long side.  He also discusses the unique challenges and features of the opportunities in Emerging Markets.  An enlightening interview on a subject receiving much less attention than most in the financial markets.

Show Notes  Last week, we filled up most of an hour on the subject of Atheism—not in an effort to disclaim it, but rather to better understand it. I think it was a great show. In fact, it was one of my favorites. Well, today I want to give equal time to Theism. I decided to do the show primarily through the eyes of a Christian priest, Fr Robert Edwards who is the Rector (or lead minister) of St Margaret’s Episcopal Church in San Juan Capistrano, CA-which is my home church. And Robert is also a very close friend. He and I talk about this stuff all the time. Today will be another “discovery” show where my objective is to learn even more about a very common topic—Theism, or the belief in God. Data shows that most of my listeners would more readily align themselves with Christianity than with Atheism. But my question is, “Why is that so?” You can reach Fr Rob at [email protected]   You can get more information and regular updates from Charlie at thenextchapter.life

Shortening a company’s sales cycle has an outsized impact on the business. It reduces a competitors market share, increases cash flow, reduces sales territory turn-over, and reinforces sales forecast accuracy,  but how to do it consistently is always the conundrum. Our host today on SLMA Radio is Dan Perry of the Brevet Group and his guest is a founding partner of the Brevet Group Brian Williams.  

They discuss:

Why the sales cycle is lengthening and not getting shorter.

The problems of the modern sales representative

Why best performers aren’t always aware of what they do and why they do it!

The definition of an adaptive sales process

ABOUT Brian Williams

Brian’s favorite saying is: "Successful execution is all that matters."  Williams has 25 years’ experience integrating the worlds of strategy, marketing and sales to help companies improve their customer-facing capabilities. His projects have focused on new tools, processes, and other enablers that connect big idea strategy to sales force implementation. Brian’s obsessed with not only getting the “what” right, but also the “how” – the change and people-related aspects so critical to driving sustained business improvement.

Past Experience

Mercer – Partner

University of Georgia (Terry College of Business) – Consultant and Professor

BearingPoint Consulting – Senior Manager

Arthur Anderson – Senior Manager/Director

University of Georgia, PhD in Business Administration

 

About Dan Perry the Host

Dan approaches helping companies grow revenue from a unique perspective – he’s done it. He’s walked a mile in your shoes and knows the pitfalls, short-cuts, and tried and true strategies to make it work. As a sales leader at some of the best run sales organizations he bridged the gap between strategy and execution to transform the selling effort and to increase productivity.

He uses this proven methodology now at the Brevet Group to combine strategic consulting, custom training and modern reinforcement to get results. His work results in quicker adoption and enablement of the new programs and processes in the sales team driving improved sales rep and manager productivity.

PAST EXPERIENCE

Sales Benchmark Index – Principal

3 Day Blinds – Senior Vice President of Sales and Operations

Lavi Industries – Vice President of Sales

Aramark Uniform Services – Senior Vice President Sales

Corporate Express – Vice President of Mid-Market Sales

Aramark Uniform Services – Vice President of Sales Western Region

Cintas – National Account Manager,  Director of Sales of Training and Development

Sponsor for this show:

Intecore Physical Therapy's purpose is to "Return Patients To Life" and Dr. Andrew Vertson is leading the growth of this west coast chain of 20 patient clinics. In 2011, Dr. Andrew was facing a tough decision. Insurance companies were slashing insurance reimbursements. He asked himself whether to grow the business or shut the doors and walk away and try something else.

He decided to grow it.

What tools, decisions and outside help made the transition successful?

 

Topics covered in this episode include:

The role core values played

Using outside consultants

"Scaling Up" by Verne Harnish

"Start at the End" by Dave Lavinsky

"The Inside Advantage" by Robert H. Bloom

Healthcare industry, insurance reimbursements, Medicare.

Hiring people to step into your place

The trade-off of doing things yourself or paying to have someone else do it

"Conflict is not a bad thing."

Bi-directional communication with the team.

The difference between confidence and cockiness for entreprenuers.

Confronting Reality - Toxic Employee

Hiring slow, firing fast

Difficulty of recruiting quality candidates. Competing on quality of position versus money

For a transcript click here

 

To Sign up for free copy of Confident ROi magzine, click here

 

Partipants:

Guest - Andrew Vertson

Host - Alex Vorobieff

Co-Host - Paul Roberts

The world of real estate is changing...are you in the know?

Our interview with TEN-X was insightful.

Listen and learn along with us!

The Zandbergen Report, where wealth strategies and investment wisdom collide, is led by host Bart Zandbergen, and is LIVE every Tuesday at 2pm on OC Talk Radio.

Interested in being a guest on The Zandbergen Report? Email [email protected].

Learn more about Bart by visiting www.BartZandbergen.com

It was a pleasure to have Dan Lively in the studio with us!

Listen in to our LIVELY podcast featuring this dynamic guest.

The Zandbergen Report, where wealth strategies and investment wisdom collide, is led by host Bart Zandbergen, and is LIVE every Tuesday at 2pm on OC Talk Radio.

Interested in being a guest on The Zandbergen Report? Email [email protected].

Learn more about Bart by visiting www.BartZandbergen.com

Tom Manzo, President – Timely Prefinished Steel Door Frames, Mr. Manzo was born in Detroit Michigan and raised in the south end of Madison Heights which is a working class city just two miles north of Detroit. He attended Oakland Community College and obtained an Associates Degree and eventually received a Bachelor’s Degree from Walsh College in Business Administration. It took many years to finish college as he always worked full time while attending and paid most of his schooling on his own. Tom never gave up on his commitment or the dream of a four year degree and the will to achieve that goal. He is certified from Stanford in Project Management which there is only a few thousand nationwide. He is authorized to put SCPM on his business cards. Tom has additional training in Executive Education from the University Of Southern California Marshall School Of Business in Strategic Management and Executive Leadership Skills. Timely Prefinished Steel Door Frames in Pacoima has almost 200 employees. Tom has been with Timely for over 14 years. Back in Detroit is where he got into sales working with a supplier to the Big Three Automotive Companies offering repair services on components for all of their automation. Eventually, he opened his own company supplying repair services to most Tier one and Tier two suppliers related to the Plastic Injection Molding Industry. The company he started was sold and he consulted a company who made door frames where not only did he meet Timely, he met his wife and she was the reason he came to California. At Timely he worked his way up from Product Manager to President and unfortunately many of his promotions came at a time when the economy really took a hit. It took a lot of work to keep things going and turn sales around while going through very difficult times. As he grew with Timely one thing he learned in the position he is in, “It is not about me, it is about the 200 employees we have. My decisions could impact many families so I better make sure I am making some good ones. It is one big family there and I am responsible for all of them."

Co-founder and President of CABIA, a new non-profit organization dedicated to changing the burdensome and unfair labor laws in California. I decided to take action when the company I work for was hit with a private attorney general act (PAGA) lawsuit for ridiculous claims. That suit caused me to realize that the over 1,000 pages of California Labor Law are nothing more than a tool for plaintiffs’ attorneys to use against hardworking businesses. Before taking the leap to create a new organization for this effort, I reached out to other business organizations to see if they were interested in the fight. Unfortunately, many already had full plates, and others simply showed no interest. Some organizations say they represent businesses although, due to politics they support agendas that are actually harmful and others just don’t want to stir the pot. Trying to connect with politicians as an individual or even a company seemed impossible. At that moment I knew California businesses needed a voice.The goal of CABIA is to support any type of business – manufacturer, restaurant, retailer, service provider, etc. – and be their voice to state legislators, politicians, government employees, and specialized or regional trade organizations. Our platform is simple: change or abolish PAGA laws to protect against frivolous suits and change workers compensation laws so that they make sense for both employees and employers. The reality is this battle will take many years, given the entrenched interests in Sacramento and the path our legislature is on. On average, California passes over 800 new laws a year. Instead of