Tim Han is the creator of the Youtube channel Success Insider which helps high achievers do whatever it takes to become successful in life. In this episode of The Salesman Podcast, Tim is sharing the success habits of the world’s highest-performing individuals.
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Transcript
Will Barron:
Do you want to know the success habits of the world’s most brilliant people, and then how to implement those habits as well? Then this episode is for you. Hello Sales Nation. Welcome to today’s episode of the Salesman Podcast. On today’s show, we have Tim Han. He is the founder and creator of the awesomely successful YouTube channel, Success Insider.
Will Barron:
Today we’re diving into essentially how to create success in sales, business, life in general. The tactics, the routines, the hacks, the habits that we need to implement, and a whole lot more. So with all that said, let’s jump in to today’s episode. Tim, welcome to the Salesman Podcast.
Tim Han:
Thank-you for having me on, Will.
Can the Gap Between Success and Being Average Be Closed By Better Habits? · [00:51]
Will Barron:
You’re more than welcome. Like I was saying, glad to have you on. We’re going to dive into today, tactics, routines, habits. Anything else that comes along on the journey as well for sales success. I want to start off by asking you, I think almost at this point it’s a cliché, of sales people specifically. But most people know what they should be doing to have success. I feel, and from research and from asking questions and speaking to successful people on the show, it seems like the gap between success a lot of the time is having the habits or routines, to implement it.
Will Barron:
From that perspective, is that something that you see, in all the work that you do, and all the training that you do? That there’s a gap between success, and average-ness, if we put it that way? How much of that gap is covered by just doing the right things every day, without thinking about it, because it’s a habit?
“The thing that separates winners from losers is discipline.” – Tim Han · [01:30]
Tim Han:
Yeah, I think that’s got a lot to do with that. One of the things I always say to my students is, I believe every successful person, what separates them from winners and losers is the fact that they’ve got discipline. It’s funny, because I can quickly see where somebody’s heading. From the moment I speak to them, within 60 seconds. Because I speak on stage all around the world. I get people asking these questions.
Tim Han:
When they’re asking me these questions, it’s quite funny. Because somebody once came to me, and they said to me, “Tim, I’ve got the best idea in the world right now.” I was like, “Okay, here we go. I’ve heard this one before.” Then they’re like, “Tim, could you help me market it? I know the fact that this is going to make millions,” and so forth. He’s selling to me.
Tim Han:
I said, “All right, great. So what’s the idea?” He’s like, “Oh, I’m not going to share that with you. Do you mind if you sign this NDA or something?” I was like, “You know what? Let’s just leave it here.”
Tim Han:
Because one of the things I’ve realised, this is a pattern that a lot of people who aren’t getting results share. Because the reality is, when I really speak with people who are killing it in online, offline, they’re more than happy to share their ideas. Because most people lack the discipline to follow through on them. I’m exactly the same. So whenever somebody asks me, “Tim, how are you doing this?”, I’m like, “Okay, here you go.” Because I know the fact that there’s only 1% who’s going to follow through.
Tim Han:
So for me, my habits in my life has been, how can I increase discipline? Because I haven’t been always the person who is disciplined in life. The moment I really learned these habits, it changed a lot of things for me. So that’s what I would say.
Will Barron:
So discipline is something that I am continuously focused on, because I am very naturally, I don’t know whether this is a gene that was unfortunately passed down to. I’ve got, my dad’s bald, so I’ve got the gene for not going bald, so thank-you for that, Dad. But it might have been passed down, a gene for procrastination from somewhere. Because I am constantly suffering from it. I have to consistently trick myself. I have to consistently use notes, all kinds of tactics, techniques that we’ll get onto later in the show, to avoid procrastination.
How to Master Self-Discipline and Overcome Procrastination · [03:22]
Will Barron:
Is this something, because I guess you’ve got two ends. You’ve got procrastination and discipline, either end of the scale here. Is this something that you feel we are born with? Is it something that comes from our parents, our schooling, our upbringing? Is this a switch, Tim, that is binary, that we can turn on or off? Or is it something that we have to work on forever?
Tim Han:
I believe yes, there are some people who have been part of the lucky sperm gang, I like to call them, who have had the fortune of, I suppose, being born with discipline. But I was far from that. When I was younger, I used to be involved with taking a lot of drugs and alcohol. You name it. I was just one of the laziest people you could probably meet.
“Discipline is something that you have to work on daily. If you really are somebody who’s lazy, and you want to go to somebody who is more productive, you can change that, but you have to work on it daily” – Tim Han · [04:18]
Tim Han:
Through that, when I went through let’s say my life changing journey, I found that you can change. This is something that I always like to share with my students, or somebody who found me online. My story is about change. The fact that wherever you come from, you can change this habit. So I’ve found in my life, discipline is something that you have to work on daily. If you really are somebody who’s lazy, and you want to go to somebody who is more productive, it’s something you can change. But you have to work on it daily. Even if you are disciplined, I would question that. Because I believe we can always improve. So that’s what I would say to that, yeah.
Common Traits of Highly Discipline People · [04:37]
Will Barron:
How do we how if we are disciplined? Because it’s one thing to make that statement. I guess it’s another to stop and ponder for a second, if we’re on this sliding scale, of whether we are somewhat disciplined, or whether we are military-esque in our quest for success.
Tim Han:
I think discipline, for me, I can tell when somebody is disciplined just from their energy. I’m sure you may have found that from your podcast journey. It’s funny, because when I interview guests here on Success Insider Show who are fairly successful, you can feel it. It’s the energy they’ve got. Then I’ll go speak to somebody out there in the normal world, and you can just really tell. Just the way they treat themselves. The way they dress, the way they are, the tonality, the voice. That’s how I can in regards to themselves.
Tim Han:
But how can they tell? I think it’s just something that you know. It’s that inner knowing. It’s the fact that when you, for example, I’m not sure about you. I’ve recommended a lot of books to people who I used to say they were my friend. Which are now my old friends. I remember, I used to say to them, “Listen, read this book. Go through this course. Listen to this coach. It will change your life.”
Tim Han:
A couple weeks later, “Oh, Tim, I’ve been really busy. Oh yeah, work’s been stressful.” All of these BS excuses. That’s how I can tell, the fact that I’m disciplined. Because I always find, when I get given advice, I’m the first to implement it. So it’s that mentality I suppose. Over a time I’ve realised, actually I’ve got discipline more than a majority of people. So it’s that inner knowing.
Han’s Definition of Discipline From an Individual Standpoint · [06:08]
Will Barron:
That is something. So this is interesting. This is something that’s been brought up on the show before. This may be a mindset. This may be the wording. I don’t want to put the spotlight on me too much. But I think I’m a good case study of this. I’ve brought up on the show before that I procrastinate. That I have to use all these weird tips and hacks to stop it happening.
Will Barron:
The response every single time has been, “Well, you are disciplined, because you found how to solve the problem.” So if my natural state is to procrastinate, my natural state is to sit and watch four hours of your videos on YouTube. It’s all great information. It’s all getting absorbed. It’s all useful. But perhaps after 30 minutes of watching the videos, it would be more useful to implement some of it, versus continuing to watch.
Will Barron:
Other people have mirrored back at me, that perhaps I am disciplined, but I don’t give myself credit for it. So where we’re going with this Tim is, is discipline something that you get up, you just do all your stuff all day, you have a really productive day, and then you go to bed? Or is discipline something that we have to perhaps, either we rewire our brain to do consistently? Or we have to do what I do, which is essentially trick the dumb parts of my brain all the time, into doing something that is more useful than just sitting on YouTube. Or just playing Age of Empires, or whatever computer game I’m playing at the time?
Tim Han:
I’ve never really questioned discipline to this level, Will. Thanks for bringing this up. I think discipline for me, what discipline is, is going against your primitive base desires. Because we’ve got the primal mind, that’s telling us every single day, “Lay in bed. Don’t do this. Fear this.” We are naturally fear based creatures. Because we’ve got a part of our brain called the amygdala, that’s designed to look at the negative before the positive.
Tim Han:
What I view discipline as, this is a personal viewpoint, is somebody who can really control that fear, and just go do it anyway. Being able to really train the amygdala, so it goes straight to the prefrontal cortex, and it can logically think, “This is what I’m going to do.” I believe it’s not about just hustling hard, because there are a lot of people who hustle hard, but they’re not getting results. It’s about working smarter, and really just being able to consistently work smarter.
Tim Han:
Because I’ve trained, for example, people on my YouTube channel. It’s funny, because they commented on one of the videos one time. They’re like, “Tim, I’m going to absorb all of this. You’re telling me speed of implementation is very important.” Then a couple weeks later, they comment on another video. They’re like, “Tim, I’m back here again. I managed to follow through.” It’s not about just, for example, going to the gym and lifting a weight once. Can you do the thing that you know is going to grow your body, or your business, consistently? That’s what I believe discipline is all about.
Will Barron:
Makes total sense. I like this loop back to physical structure in our brain, and actual science. Rather than some kind of woo woo concept that a lot of people pull this back to. I don’t want to dive into the law of attraction or anything like that, but that gets looped into these conversations unfortunately. When, I think you’re right. I think you’ve got the dumb part of your brain, essentially the reptilian part of your brain. I call it the dumb part of your brain, that is wanting you to not get out of your comfort zone. It’s wanting you to survive in the moment, I guess, versus learn to thrive in the future.
Will Barron:
It’s overcoming, there’s almost I find, so I’ll use the Pomodoro technique. I’ll sit down for 25 minutes. Just commit to 25 minutes of work, then have a five minute break. Once I do one of those cycles, the reptilian part of my brain is silenced. Then I’ll do eight hours straight, and not eat, and rarely get up for a drink or do anything. I’ll just be in the zone. So we can perhaps come on to that in the future, for everyone in the interview.
The Difference Between Energy and Charisma · [09:45]
Will Barron:
But there’s one thing you said, that I don’t want to gloss over. I think it’s really interesting. You talked about the energy of an individual, and that link to discipline, success, or however we want to define where they are in their journey. Could energy be used and interchanged with the word charisma perhaps? Is that something that is some of doing everything right, or should we be trying to fake it until we make it with charisma? Does that feed back into your success in general as well?
Tim Han:
I think for me, I separate charisma with energy. Energy for me is where I focus on. But I would separate it from charisma, in the sense that I view myself as an energy manager. Because people, they say to me, “Tim, give me the best productivity tips.” I say, “Well, before that, you need to know how to manage your energy.” Because I always say to them, “For example, if you were to be happy, if you were to be energised all day long, do you think you’ll get more work done? Yes or no?” Often they’re like, “Yes.”
Tim Han:
I’m like, “Well, you’ve got to know how to not be so much a roller coaster ride in regards to your energy levels. How can you maintain this performance, so you’re constantly on the up?” I’m always an energy manager, in the sense that, really just working out, what is it that’s bringing me the up energy in my life? What’s the routines, the habits doing that? Then also I can tell throughout the day what’s bringing me down. That may be, for example, the lunch I’ve eaten. So I tell myself, “Never eat that again.”
Tim Han:
Or maybe it’s something I did in the morning. Maybe I worked out too hard, or something like that. I’m always constantly asking myself, “How can I become a better, more efficient energy manager?” Because I think that far surpasses any productivity tips. So were you saying how energy is charisma? Did I understand your question right?
Can Your Energy Levels Throughout the Day Determine Whether You’re Disciplined or Not? · [11:32]
Will Barron:
Yeah. So it seems, and this makes total sense as you’re describing it. I’m going to follow on with this in a second. But it seemed the way you were describing energy, the way that people come to the table, you could use that as a differentiator between someone who is disciplined and is doing awesome stuff, who has implemented useful habits that help them have success in sales and in business. You could separate them from other individuals by their energy. I piled charisma on top of that. But are we talking about physical energy, and raring to go? Is that the real differentiator?
Tim Han:
Yeah, because it’s like, how you do anything is how you do everything. When I can tell when somebody’s got, for example, charisma or confidence, I know the fact that they’ve probably worked on this. Because I can tell when somebody has practised speaking, or something like that. Their tonality and their energy output is just different. So I know the fact that they’re probably quite successful in other areas of their life. Because I’ve yet to meet somebody that I’ve interviewed on my podcast, who talks very bland, boring.
Tim Han:
They’ve got energy. You can see that they’re up-lit, and you can see the fact that they’re serving as well from the right place. It’s just very from the heart. That’s how I spot them normally.
Will Barron:
That makes total sense. That’s something that, Sales Nation, we can take and we can think about. I guess there’s a balance there between, it’s an outcome of doing the right things. Then it’s a symptom if you’ve not got that energy, if you’re not coming from the right place, that you’re not doing the right things as well. It’s almost, that’s the point that I was perhaps looking for, Tim. Of, how do we know whether we’re disciplined, and whether we’ve got the right habits?
How to Manage Your Energy Levels Throughout the Day · [13:05]
Will Barron:
Something interesting here, energy levels. Are we talking here physical energy levels of, “We need to lift weights and workout. We need to have a smoothie or something like that for lunch, rather than driving past KFC and going, ‘Oh, go on. I’ll treat myself this time.'”? Or are we talking about, with these ups and downs of energy, are we talking about what you talked about at the beginning of the show? Which is removing perhaps friends who aren’t disciplined, who are dragging us down, and they can suck energy? Are we talking about here, physical energy? Or are we talking about just, I guess mental energy and willpower as well?
Tim Han:
I would put all of it together. I think more so though, I am talking more about physical energy. But if your mental energy is sapped as well, well good luck with your day, right? Because that’s the thing with entrepreneurs. You don’t understand it until you enter the world of entrepreneurship. How can somebody get tired just typing on their laptop? But honestly, your brain equals fried. So I think you have to manage different energies.
“I don’t believe that anyone can succeed hanging around with losers who are sapping energy out of their life. So you have to make sure that everybody is bringing you that positive mental energy, and you’re doing the stuff in your health that’s bringing you the physical energy as well.” – Tim Han · [14:07]
Tim Han:
In regards to your mental, physical, that’s a good point. I would combine the two. You have to make sure that, for example, I don’t believe that one can succeed hanging around with losers who are sapping their energy in their life. So you have to make sure you’re really balancing this, and making sure that everybody is bringing you that positive mental energy, and you’re doing this stuff in your health that’s bringing you the physical energy as well.
What’s That One Thing That’s Draining Your Energy? · [14:23]
Will Barron:
Just for context on this, it’s even, and tell me if I’m wrong here. This is obviously an opinion. So obviously I’m an entrepreneur, as well as a sales professional. I’m building the company, as well as I’m learning about sales, and selling the ad space and the products and everything that we do as well. But put all of that off the table just for a second. My girlfriend is a doctor. She comes back after work, feeling drained from doing, not a you’ve been driving around in the car and having conversations for 12 hours. Running around like a headless chicken like a lunatic, telling people, telling family members that people aren’t very well. Telling people that people are going to die.
Will Barron:
Physically when she’s on call, she is literally doing CPR on people. She’s managing all these processes. She comes in from a day of work, and she’s tired. She asks me what I’ve done. I’m like, “Well, I had a stressful phone call at 2:00.” That for me is the context for all of this. Clearly she’s reasonably well paid. I wouldn’t do the role for the money that she’s on. Take that for what it’s worth. I would want to be on £500,000 a year minimum, to be under the physical, the mental, the emotional stress that she’s under.
Will Barron:
So every time she comes home to me, and tells me a tale, of something that went crazy wrong. Or obviously you’ve got the flip side of things going crazy right. She will have someone that has a cardiac arrest, and they make it through. It’s down to her and the team around her that have achieved that. So you have the ups as well.
Will Barron:
But when sales people complain about making a cold call being stressful and sapping their energy, when sales people complain about this, that, and that, it’s nothing, right? Then we’re not even into the military, and what people are doing off in Iraq, and all these other places. Which is even more so than what my girlfriend’s doing. That’s literally having bullets flying past the side of your head. It’s incredible.
Tim Han:
Yeah. I know, right?
Signs Your Friends Are Draining Your Energy · [16:50]
Will Barron:
So I just wanted to put that into, there’s the context of the person who’s typing in the office, who’s sat around miserable people all day. That’s probably more draining than the sales person who’s out on the road, or making calls. Which is, it goes up and up and up and up in scale. There’s probably astronauts, there’s probably someone else who tops the military when we look at heart rate. When we look at the amount of adrenaline that’s dumped into them throughout the day, and all these kind of things. I just thought that was worth pondering on for a split second.
Will Barron:
But something we’ve brought up here, and we’re going off the track, which is perfectly fine, of habits and routines. I’ll bring it back in a second, don’t worry. Tim and the audience, we’ll get back to what we started off in a second. But how do we know whether our friends are a drag? How do we know whether our colleagues are a drag? How do we know whether we should cut them off?
Will Barron:
Because I’ve done this consistently. I’ve got all the friends that listen to the show now, who are somewhat, they’re in sales. They are somewhat bitter that I just don’t speak to them anymore. They would just suck my energy. I didn’t get anything. I’m happy to give that 51% in a relationship, as long as at some point, at the very least they are positive and encouraging, and even blindly encouraging sometimes if they don’t understand what’s going on. Whether it’s business, or personal stuff. I’d rather someone just put a positive spin on it, than give me any dose of reality. I don’t need that.
Will Barron:
How do we know, Tim, whether someone is a suck on our resources, or whether they are a useful member to have around us?
“People are always looking for verification before they take action. Often when people come to me and say, “Hey Tim, should I quit my job?” I always ask them, “What do you want to happen?” And they come up with a story and about 20 minutes later they’re like, “Yeah, I want to quit.” I’m like, “Quit.” Then later on they’ll be like, “Oh my god, Tim changed my life.” But the reality is, it’s you that knows exactly what you’ve got to do. You just didn’t pull the trigger.” – Tim Han · [18:05]
Tim Han:
I think if you’re questioning it, they’re wrong. I’ve found there are a lot of people, because we reach a lot of people on our channel. It’s interesting just analysing human behaviour. This would be my area of fascination. I’ve found sometimes, people are looking for that verification before they take action. Often when people come to me and they say, “Hey Tim, should I quit my job?”, I’m like, “What do you want to happen? What do you want to have happen?” They’re like, “Well,” and they come up with a story. About 20 minutes later they’re like, “Yeah, I want to quit.” I’m like, “Quit,” and they’re like, “Okay, sure.”
Tim Han:
Then later on they’ll be like, “Oh my god, Tim changed my life.” But the reality is, it’s you that knows exactly what you’ve got to do. You just didn’t pull the trigger. Whenever I get people coming to me like that, I just think, sometimes I’m very blunt. I’m like, “Just quit then.” They’re like, “But, but, but.”
Tim Han:
So in regards to, let’s say the peer group. I would say if you’re questioning your friends right now, that … I also follow, when I shared the stage with Jairek Robbins, you know, his dad’s the big guy. He’s also a speaker as well. Jairek was saying about the 33% rule, in regards to getting a peer group. I found that to be really powerful.
Tim Han:
What the 33% rule is, is you get people who are below you, and there are those you look to serve, contribute, and so forth. To really fulfil that human need. You get the people, the 33% on the same level as you, that keeps you grounded. That you can bounce ideas from, and so forth. Then you get the 33% above you, who are the mentors, the coaches, that are helping you to grow constantly. So that’s what I utilise in my life.
Tim Han:
If I, for example, feel like the people who I’m currently friends with, if I feel like they are below me but they still love the advice, and I feel like I’m serving them? I do sometimes keep them within my peer group. However, if they are friends who I’m constantly hanging around with, and they’re meant to be on the same level, but they’re not quite on the same level, that’s when I would say it’s time to trade up. Because you become who you hang around with. That’s not serving you, nor your community, at any level.
It’s Okay to Let Go of Some of Your Childhood Friends · [19:58]
Will Barron:
It’s okay to be selfish on this, right Tim? It’s okay to, maybe people are upset for a split second, that you don’t want to spend so much time with them. But I guess that’s almost a kick in the ass for them as well, and hopefully that’s a moment of realisation, that they can perhaps do more than what they’re doing. You’re just, you care about them to the point that you’re willing to ditch them, to give them that motivation, if that makes sense. I’m just trying to play devil’s advocate in my mind, of people going, “Well, I’ve known this person since college, or high school. So I’m almost committed to them at this point.” But I don’t think that’s the case.
Tim Han:
Yeah. Well I can’t tell you how many times I’ve received that comment. I’ve got a video on YouTube that’s got 3 million views. My fifth point was to get rid of your friends that are sucking all your energy out. Basically, people were, oh my god. A lot of haters in regards to that.
“If you really, really care about your friends, you’ll be more than happy to leave them. Because the reality is, by trying to pull them up, they’re not going to get inspired by that. Most people, on average, get inspired by results. For example, if you pull up in a nice car to your old friends. They’ll be like, “Holy, how did you get that car?” That’s how they’re normally inspired.” – Tim Han · [20:53]
Tim Han:
What I will say is this. I’ve said this many times. If you really, really care about your friends, you’ll be more than happy to leave them. Because most people, what they say to me in regards to this, why they don’t want to leave their friends is because, “It’s been that childhood friend from middle school. We’ve gone through all of this journey together. I want them part of this journey, and I also want to help them to grow.”
Tim Han:
That’s when I stop them. I’m like, “Oh, so you want them to also grow?” You see, most people, they’re also trying to change their friends. Because they realise, “Oh, I can change my life.” But what you have to realise is, what got you from A to B doesn’t necessarily get you from C to D. Just because they were part of that journey, something made you different. Something made you realise, for example, I suddenly started paying attention to a programme called Dragon’s Den. When my friends were just going out, just constantly clubbing all the time. I’m like, “Why am I so weird?”
Tim Han:
When you, I believe you were just, something clicks. The moment that happens, what’s funny is, you will also try to transform your friends. That’s what happened in my life. I began to basically say, “You should watch Dragon’s Den. You should read this book.” What I realised is, maybe that’s not the journey they were born to live.
Tim Han:
If you really, really care about your friends, you’ll be more than happy to leave them. Because the reality is, by you trying to pull them up, they’re not going to get inspired by that. Most people on average get inspired by results. That’s why people in our industry like to show off cars and stuff. Because when people, for example, you pull up in a nice car to your old friends. They’ll be like, “Holy, how did you get that car?” That’s how they’re normally inspired, right? Because most people are inspired by material.
Tim Han:
So I think if you really care, you’ll be more than happy to leave them. That serves them on a higher level. At the same time, for example, with Steve Jobs, he’s been my biggest inspiration in my life. When people look at Steve Jobs and the success, they’re like, “Oh my god.” But when I say to people, “He’s my biggest idol,” people say, “Oh, but did you hear about what he did? About firing people in an elevator, not treating his daughter, whatever, right or wrong.” You’ve got to always ask yourself, what is the intent behind that action?
Tim Han:
If it’s a positive intent, for example, Steve Jobs realised there has to be sacrifices if he wants to change the world. I think that’s why he had to do the stuff that he did. Yes, were those little actions horrible, or negative? To a certain extent, depending on how you view them. But did he end up changing the world for the better? I would say he certainly did. So it’s all about the intent behind the action.
Success Habits of Crazy Successful People · [23:20]
Will Barron:
Makes total sense. I’m going to drag things back on track here for a second, Tim. We’re going to go back to habits. I can perhaps weigh in with some success habits that sales people, I hate to use the word should, but it’s almost to the point now, where they should be doing certain things every single day. Not even in my humble opinion. In 400 recorded episodes of this show, the same things crop up every time.
Will Barron:
But other than the sales side of things, which I’ll interject in a second, is there any success habits that you see in your interviews, and all of the work that you’re doing, that crazy successful people are doing every day? Is there anything that really stands out when I ask you that question? Is there anything that jumps out, that we should be, we as Sales Nation and sales professionals in the B to B space, should be doing as well?
“The people who are really high performers, I’ve noticed that their physique is in check as well. It’s the mind and body connection. It’s the whole lifestyle and focusing on health. Are you really eating the right diet, and going to the gym every single morning?” Tim Han · [24:12]
Tim Han:
The reality is, we all probably know them. It’s just the fact that we’re not really doing them. I think what I’ve found, from people who are really high performers, and I would say, “Wow, I look up to those people,” I’ve noticed their physique is also in check as well. It’s the mind and body connection. It’s the whole lifestyle, about the health. Are you really eating the right diet, and also going to the gym every single morning?
Tim Han:
Those little things I’ve found amongst high achievers, they’ve mastered. Because if the health isn’t in check, you can not find a single hack. If you do, it’s a temporary solution. Because again, it’s about the mental capacity. So how can we improve our mental capacity, and performance, if our health, the engine isn’t running properly?
The Link Between Taking Care of Your Body and Achieving Success in Life · [24:50]
Will Barron:
Makes total sense. For me, and this may work for other people. But I can only cook, can I talk about myself? Over the past eight months or so, I’m getting somewhat serious in lifting, and power lifting. Clearly I’m a complete lanky bastard, so there’ll be years before it shows physique-wise, or anything like that. But it becomes a game for me.
Will Barron:
It’s fascinating of how, so I’m super competitive. It’s interesting to me, how competitive I am, of lifting these big lumps of iron. It doesn’t mean anything. No one else cares. It doesn’t make any sense. But that is a perfect start to each of my mornings of, “At least I’ve done what I wanted to achieve.”
Will Barron:
The days when I get those records, when I go that little bit further, they are days when I then excel at everything else. As you alluded to there Tim, it spirals outwards. Maybe we see all these super successful people. If you look at people on stage, there’s very few, and tell me if I’m wrong here. But this is outside looking in. We might go down a weird road here, so I’ll keep it short. There’s very few crazy fat public speakers, who are totally out of shape. I don’t think, there’s perhaps not a level of an attractiveness of, “Professional speakers are all super hot.”
Will Barron:
But when you look at people on TV, certainly people who are news anchors, who are weather reporters, not necessarily that they are hot. But they are well groomed. They are well dressed. I guess all this adds to your success of, how can you give someone a job, if they come in and they’re all tatty, and they don’t look like they look after themselves? Rightly or wrongly, I guess that reflects then on their potential performance, or the perceived performance that you think you’ll get from them.
Will Barron:
If they can’t control their weight, then does that … There’s probably research on this, versus us bouncing around opinions. But there’s probably, there’s an assumption there that you are not disciplined, right? Am I making this up? Or does that make somewhat sense?
Tim Han:
I think a lot of people would I suppose agree if they’re fit, but also get very offended if they’re not fit right now. But I do agree to a certain extent. I suppose that is the stereotype in a sense. But I have actually found it in my life. How when I was lazy, honestly, you can tell from my body I was lazy. However, on the rare occasion, I do come across some people who are overweight, but very sharp businessmen. But again, some people, you can find the research that proves you’re right either way, right?
Will Barron:
Sure.
Tim Han:
I would say, yeah, I’m with you on this one. Yeah.
The Best Morning Habits and Routines for Sales Professionals · [27:42]
Will Barron:
Yeah, you’re far more diplomatic about how you, PC how you put that across, so I appreciate that. Yeah, and just as I’ve offended 4% of the audience, we’ll move on to the next thing here. For me, and we’ll wrap up with this, Tim. For me, for sales professionals, the habits that you should have every morning are at least planning your day in the morning, if not planning it the night before. If you are cold calling, if you’re cold emailing, to get these kind of things done first thing.
Will Barron:
Even if you have a better response in the afternoon or the evening, I feel like it’s better to do the tasks that build your sales pipeline first thing. Because in my experience, you just end up fire fighting by 2:00. You’re just dealing with your sales manager asking you for ridiculous reports that no one needs. You’re fire fighting with customers that have complaints, or questions, or issues, and you obviously want to respond as quickly as possible to them.
Will Barron:
Is there anything else that you would add to that, of things that sales people specifically should be doing? As a habit, as a routine, every single morning? Other than the gym, and eating healthy?
Tim Han:
I think it’s all about, I believe this. For me, it’s transformed a lot of stuff. It’s realising the fact that I don’t believe we’re in business to customer, B to C, nor B to B. I believe we’re in the business of changing lives. H to H, human to human, or heart to heart. When I really connect to that every single morning, in regards to, what am I doing? Why am I really doing what I’m doing? What sort of impact do I want to leave today?
Tim Han:
When I connect to that, and when I connect to the community, sometimes part of the morning routine, I’m just going through, their letters would get sent in. The emails, the comments, and so forth. I connect to why I’m serving. Because for example, most sales people, they’re just focused on the numbers. I’ve been there, as a business owners. Focusing on numbers, the profit, the losses, and so forth. But sometimes, especially when you’re online, the numbers get the better of you. You just feel so disconnected.
Tim Han:
I had a client of mine who said to me, “Oh Tim, I only got 100 views last week.” I looked at him in the eyes and said, “So are you saying 100 people’s lives don’t matter? Because I believe if you can’t serve those 100 people, you won’t be able to get 1 million views.” I was able to get millions because I care about every single person, not the views, that we’re serving.
Tim Han:
I think a sales person needs to realise, what selling is, is serving. By you not closing the deal, by you not selling to them, you’re not serving them at any level. Because then they have to go off and try to find other alternative solutions, wasting more of their time sitting on pain. So that’s why I’m so adamant.
Tim Han:
Somebody was literally commenting this morning, “Tim, please stop sending me these emails. I don’t want to sign up to your programme.” They need to realise why I’m doing it. Because I know the fact that they’re in pain, they’re trying to resolve this, and so the intent is, I’ve got to serve them. The fact that they’re saying this? Well, at least I’m visible in their world, and they know how much I care.
Will Barron:
I guess you’re giving them the opportunity, and if they’re consuming all the content, if I’m assuming you have some kind of email list, that they’re on there, they’ve gone that step of giving an email address in. It’s almost like a cry for help then at that point. That, “I know the pain point, I know potentially how to solve it. But I’m not taking the action from that.” That’s probably a conversation for another time, Tim, of how we get people over that lump. Because that happens in B to C, B to B, and everywhere else as well.
Tim’s Advise to His Younger Self on How to Become Better at Selling · [30:50]
Will Barron:
With that, mate, I’ve got one final question that I ask everyone that comes on this show. I know you’re not out and out a sales professional. But clearly you’re selling, you run a business, so you’ll have an insight on this. If you could go back in time and speak to your younger self, what would be the one piece of advice you’d give him, to help him become better at selling?
Tim Han:
I think what would help is exactly what I was saying before. When I become more human in my business, and when I just tell people how it really is. Because when we do stage speaking, it’s so much different webinars. You see, webinar, you’re seeing all these numbers. For example, we just recently did a webinar. Around 500 people joined us.
Tim Han:
Now, you take that to the context of a live stage, even 100 people looking at you in the eyes, it’s quite overwhelming for some. When I go to the sales part of the presentation, you see a lot of people, especially on the stage, they begin to close up. They’re happy during the content, but when you start to transition, they close their energy. You can really feel it when it’s live. They’re looking at you different.
Tim Han:
Then at the end of it, when I begin to really stack the offer, offer the value, and offer the discount or whatever I like to offer, basically at the end, I just say how it really is. I tell them the fact that, “I’m just here to help you. The reason why, yes, I’m so energetic about selling to you, is because I know the fact this will change your life.”
Tim Han:
When I really connect to that energy, I’ve found everything begins to shift. Because when I was younger, I was looking up these ninja tricks, I like to call them. The hacks. I learned a lot. I read a lot of good selling books. But I found what surpasses everything is when another human being can really see and feel the fact that you’re literally trying to change their lives.
Tim Han:
When you can get above and beyond, just like how Zappos says, “Delivering happiness.” How for example, the Ritz Carlton, they’re always oversubscribed. While the Premier Inn is struggling to get clients. But the Ritz charges 10 times. Why? Because it’s all about delivering that H to H value. When I focus on that, the human element, that changes. So that’s what I would say. Just become more human, and just serve. Because that’s what you’re born to do.
Human-to-human Connection is the Fastest Route to Sales Success · [33:02]
Will Barron:
Do you agree with this, Tim? This is something that we talk about all the time on the show. That sales professionals, that human to human connection, that ability to physically build rapport, and either be on the phone, online, being in the same room as someone, that is the biggest competitive advantage. Is that something you would agree with as well?
Tim Han:
In regards to?
Will Barron:
To beating the competitor. Let me rephrase that. We talk about on the show, that marketers are trying to take sales jobs. AI is trying to take sales jobs. The internet, an online order form has, and we’ve talked about this a million times. If your job, your sales role can be replaced by an online order form, you need to get out of the job immediately. Because it will happen, if it hasn’t happened already.
Will Barron:
All of those though, it’s very difficult to market. You can be yourself, you can market to a certain persona. You can use email hacks, and customization, to get people’s names right. You can segment a list. You can go into detail. Sales professionals use some of these tools as well, if they’re trying to do certain outreaches and certain cold email campaigns.
Will Barron:
But, and again, if you don’t agree, tell me. Because it would be interesting as well. But I feel like the individual sales person, the B to B sales person, typically doing deals from $10,000, to a couple $100,000, which is the world I was from, in medical devices. The biggest competitive advantage I had wasn’t that my product was better than anyone else’s. It was the fact that I could sit next to a surgeon, build rapport with them, really get under the skin, find out what their problems were. Have them know and trust me. Not through any particular skill, but from just giving a shit about them, and caring about them, and wanting the …
Will Barron:
Because the NHS here in the UK, it’s super easy to understand that they’ve got so much money. They can only spend it in certain places. They only want to deal with certain people. They only want to have certain results. The results are a patient being well, or not as well. So it’s super clearly defined, whether you’re doing more or an equal job or not.
Will Barron:
I thought there might be a competitive advantage. To be able to sit down with people, and have them understand things. Take that time with them. Be present with them. That’s what sold more medical devices for me, than the fact that this endoscope did, I don’t know, some bullshit thing that marketing had stuck a label on the side of it. Is that something you agree with? That for B to B sales people, we’re doing these bigger deal sizes. The competitive advantage is them. It’s nothing else. It’s something that they’re in control of.
Tim Han:
Yeah, I would definitely say that’s true. Nowadays we’re living in a stage where, for example, you meet a friend who’s just connected with somebody else. They’ll be like, “Oh my god, you should meet this guy. So authentic. So genuine.” Genuine and being authentic is such a rare trait nowadays, because everybody’s walking around like a freaking chameleon, and never connecting, because they’re wearing so many masks.
Tim Han:
This I think has been a big stereotype in the selling world. My audience, anyone’s audience, they’re naturally close to selling as a result. I think that H to H element of meeting somebody face to face, or even via Skype or so forth, it’s more real. Even the online world is transitioning towards that. This is why, for example, we’ve got live chat. That’s why live chat’s so popular nowadays on order forms. Because people don’t just want to check out. They want to speak to somebody, with all these objections, and there’s a real human on there.
Tim Han:
This is why, for example, Business Insider has released stats showing the fact that the social messenger platforms have now overtaken social media. This is why Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, is exploding. People want that instant message with another human being. Yeah, you can automate that process. But that’s defeating the whole purpose. People want it real nowadays, I believe. So yeah, I would agree.
Parting Thoughts · [36:44]
Will Barron:
Love it. Tim, with that mate, tell us a little bit about the YouTube channel. Tell us where we can find out more about you, and your many things going on. So share with the audience where we can find all that good stuff as well.
Tim Han:
Definitely. I think the best entry, the gateway drug, would be probably going to my YouTube channel, Success Insider. It’s where I teach stuff that I’ve learned from my life transformation journey, which is almost a decade now. Also, I feature some guests every now and then. It teaches about habits, performance, and how you can really master your life.
Tim Han:
Because there are some people who are walking around on this planet, who are totally confused. They don’t know what to do. If you are somebody like that right now, well, there is some content that will help you with that journey.
Tim Han:
At the same time, you may be very clear in regards to what you want to achieve. But you know the fact that you can get better. Well, there are videos that’s basically specifically tailored for that. How can you really maintain the performance throughout the day, so you can really run the day, and not let the day run you? That’s my YouTube channel, Success Insider. If the content resonates, by all means, feel free to subscribe.
Will Barron:
Well, we will link to that in the show notes to this episode. We’ll link to the website, and everything else as well, over at salesmanpodcast.com. With that, Tim, I want to thank you for your time. I want to thank you for bearing with me, because we went on track, off track, and all over the place. That’s a testament to you, sir, your knowledge, that we could have this conversation, and go in uncharted territory. So I appreciate that, and I want to thank you for joining us on The Salesman Podcast.
Tim Han:
Definitely. Thank-you so much for having me. Really appreciate it. Thank-you.
