Chip Eichelberger is a world leading sales motivational speaker.
In this episode of The Salesman Podcast, Chip explains how we can level up our level of performance in business and a few of the sacrifices we perhaps need to make to get to the top.
Featured on this episode:
Resources:
- GetSwitchedOn.com
- Chip on Linkedin
- Book – The Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness
Transcript
Will Barron:
Coming up on today’s episode of the Salesman Podcast.
Chip Eichelberger:
If somebody is listening to this and they’re in sales and they’re building their career and they’re 27, you got to choose your friends wisely. The key people you’re going to work and spend the most time with the next 10 years in your career is going to dictate the future ascendancy and height of your career.
Will Barron:
Hello sales nation. I’m Will Barron, host of the Salesman Podcast, the world’s most listened to B2B sales show. If you haven’t already, make sure to click subscribe. And with that, let’s meet today’s guest.
Chip Eichelberger:
Hey, this is Chip Eichelberger. I am a sales motivational speaker. I’ve been called on from everybody from Hyatt to Harley-Davidson, to Genentech to open or close their conventions. As you’re a sales professional, most of those meetings are not awesome. So that’s what I try to do, is try to bring interaction, energy and a great message that’ll help you sell more and be better at what you do.
How to Get to Peak Performance in B2B Sales · [01:10]
Will Barron:
In this episode with Chip, we’re diving into how you can improve your levels of peak performance, why you have to pay the price, why you’ve got to have discipline, some strategies to manage all of this and a whole lot more, how you can stand out in the marketplace. And so with all that said, let’s jump right in. And where I want to start though, so I feel like with my peak performance, I’m in the best shape, I’m in the kind of in my A game, I’m thinking bigger when I have a clear vision, when I know where I want to go, whether that’d be 5, 10 years from now. Is that the smart place to start with improving and getting to a level of peak performance in our B2B sales roles or is there perhaps a better way to go about it?
Chip Eichelberger:
Well, one of my favourite quotes actually from the Bible from Proverbs, it says without vision, the people will perish. So you’ve got to see where you want to go, what’s going to get you excited, what’s going to get you up early, not just for your business career, but I think for the marriage, for the impact you want to make, for how healthy, how vital you can be because there’s a lot of people out there I think going through the motions.
Chip Eichelberger:
And when you’re going through the motions, you don’t really want to pay the price because you don’t see what the impact is going to be. So getting that vision, what it looks like for you, especially for salespeople. I mean, for me, I know about for you it hasn’t really been about the money although money is great. It’s always been kind of about winning the game and playing the game and try to keep up and figure out where I am right now, what’s going to get me to that next level.
Chip Eichelberger:
That’s why you said you started this podcast, you wanted to get better. You’ve got to constantly improve. It’s not really about working harder, it’s about working smarter on better deals to really make a difference and how to more elegantly persuade people to move forward. So I think vision is a good spot, but my advice when I get in front of people is for you to be the best salesperson, you need to be the best person in general you can be and everything affects everything in terms of marriage, in terms of relationships, in terms of health, exercise, all that plays in.
Will Barron:
So let’s dive into this, being the best person. This is something I’m conscious of this year. I don’t know where I read it or something was implanted, incepted into my brain. But at the beginning of the year, I had this thought that if I wanted to become this person in five years time from now, which involves owning property, running this business and grow in it and rather than just having a single audience, I want to envelop sales leadership and do other content for those people and hire people, have an office, have staff. There’s all kinds of things that go into that vision.
Will Barron:
I thought to myself, or I probably didn’t think, this one implanted into my brain, but it came about as if I was on humbly thought with myself. I was like, “Well, if I could be called that person now, then that will probably accelerate a lot of the learning of going through the trials and errors of getting to that place.” So very literally I started dressing more professional, I started dressing like the person would dress who owned an office who couldn’t be in their pyjamas recording these shows.
Is Being the Person you Want to Become a Practical Strategy Towards Peak Performance? · [03:52]
Will Barron:
I’ve done a lot of these shows Chip with a smart upper top and a kind of pyjama bottoms or casual trousers underneath. And nobody knows other than myself. But I thought, well, perhaps I can trick my subconscious a little bit by again, trying to be the person that I want to become. Is that a legitimate strategy or am I just kind of barking up the wrong tree with some of this?
Chip Eichelberger:
I think so. I mean, I’ve been doing what I’ve been doing 24 years. In 1988, I happened to hook up with Anthony Robbins, Tony Robbins. So I was there, gosh, almost six years all over the US, UK, Australia kind of planting the flag and that was one of the things we used to talk about, is act as if, act as if. And there’s a big part of success, I think is people do judge you quickly. Do people judge the way you dress or your shoe shine?
“It’s still fairly easy to be successful because so many people are satisfied with being mediocre.” – Chip Eichelberger · [04:49]
Chip Eichelberger:
A lot of salespeople out there if your office is a mess, if your car is a mess, you’ve got samples all over the place and fast food wrappers, I think how you do anything is a reflection of how you do everything. So acting as if you’re doing better, breathe that way, move that way, dress that way. I’m just a big believer that it’s still fairly easy to be successful because so many people are satisfied with being mediocre.
Chip Eichelberger:
And when you are excellent before, during and after the sale, and you’re doing little things in a systematised way that get repeated obviously, that get people to go, “Wow, hey, gee, that’s amazing follow-up. Geez, you actually wrote a hand written thank you card. You actually sent a little note. You actually sent a little gift. You actually followed up and got the testimonial. You asked for referrals. You thank me for a referral.”
“People would rather be entertained than educated. So, you’ve got to know your stuff, but you’ve got to be fun to do business with.” – Chip Eichelberger · [05:34]
Chip Eichelberger:
If you’re doing those little things, you just stand out because most people are kind of boring to deal with, they’re not fun. I think there’s an element of entertainment and fun in sales if you want to do well. Tony used to talk about people would rather be entertained than educated. You got to know your stuff, but you’ve got to be fun to do business with.
How Big Should Your Vision Be Before You’re Able to Attain Peak Performance? · [05:46]
Will Barron:
So Chip, with all that said, it seems like then, so vision, being the person you want to become, acting as if I think was the phrase that you used there, that’s all well and good. And sales is the best game, right? Because you only need to be 1% better than the competition if it’s going out to tender, if there’s multiple quotes out there and you’re going to win the business.
Will Barron:
So I’m not saying here that the audience need to be the next Elon Musk to have perhaps success in sales and you have to be financially successful in that area. But how big do we need to think to, and you said this line at the beginning of the show, to get ourselves out of bed in the morning? How big does the vision that we need to have be? And the answer is probably, it could be anything I guess. But how big do we need to think before any of this actually works for us?
Chip Eichelberger:
Well, it depends on what you’re becoming in pursuit of what you want to accomplish. If you get such a big vision that you want to attain X, Y, Z, but you’re not sleeping, you’re not exercising well, you’re not eating, your marriage is going to pot, that’s not going to be a good drain. I think you have to look at what does success mean for you? How do you define that? So I guess an exercise I would give people that I’ve done for 20 plus years if you Google my name and secret goal strategy, you can find a video describing it.
Chip Eichelberger:
But basically it’s getting clear right now. Looking forward, we’re early in 2019 if you’re listening to this live, maybe you’re going back and listening this in May, you don’t know, but anytime of the year is a good time to do it, is to decide what you want to accomplish. What does success look like for you in your business in terms of sales, in terms of awards you want to win, in terms of president’s club, in terms of breaking your barrier on your biggest sale? But also from a family standpoint, what’s important to you?
Chip Eichelberger:
From a health standpoint, where are you going to maintain your standards, what are you going to weigh, how often are you going to work out, what are you going to quit eating? From a fun standpoint in terms of date nights, in terms of personal goal standpoint, in terms of, you said you want to get better, what are you going to read? What are you going to listen to? But most importantly, for some of you out there, there’s some stuff you’re listening to right now it’s not worth your time, there’s some things you’re binge watching on Netflix not worth your time so you kind of have to really get clear.
Chip Eichelberger:
And so what I’ve done, I kind of lead people to an exercise. I’ve got a Word document where here are the key roles I play, here’s what I want to accomplish per area, how I’m going to hold myself accountable, what are the numbers in those areas? Because if you can’t track it, you can’t measure it. And then what kind of person you need to be to live that. And I actually laminate that and I put it on the mirror in my bathroom, or I put it in my shower typically. I just laminate it, put it right in my shower where you can look at that every day kind of moving you forward because it’s easy to miss what you want to accomplish, it’s easy to get busy and forget about it.
The 4% Solution to Achieving Success · [09:02]
Will Barron:
Well Chip that was a great answer to a terrible question so I apologise about the question. I think what I was trying to get out there was how do we know when we’re thinking big enough? And for myself for reference, every year I look back at the previous year, I’ve achieved all my goals and I go, “Damn it. I could have done twice as much if I’d aimed twice as high.” And would have been the same amount of work and it’s just my mental kind of how willing my subconscious is to kind of let go on things. So to rephrase the question and the answer might still be the same, but how do we know whether we’re kind of shooting big enough for all of this?
Chip Eichelberger:
Well, I think part of that is what you’re exposing yourself to, what is normal for you? I mean, who are you hanging around? Who are your mentors? It’s been said, I don’t know who to credit it to, but kind of look at your five best friends, take their income and divide it by five and that’s probably your income. You may need to start hanging around with people who think a little bigger, do things at a little different level. You may start need to listening to things a little differently. Are you listening to a Tim Ferriss’ podcast? You’re listening to some of the best minds out there, kind of get you going.
Chip Eichelberger:
I guess my strategy for that, I call it the 4% solution, 4% of your day is one hour out of 24. So 4% of the week is 7 out of 168 hours. So you’ve got to be putting in… To think bigger, you need different distinctions. And if you’re only listening to this same stuff over and over, reading the same stuff, you got to branch out to see what bigger even looks like from you. Because you really you don’t know what you don’t know. But I guess in my gut my piece is always, what does bigger look like for you, but what is it going to cost you to go after that?
Chip Eichelberger:
Some people make bad trades in terms of burnout or health or relationships. So I just think that’s where I caution people. Think bigger, but you got to think smarter. How can you get there smarter? And I think back one piece of advice to one of my mentors, people in the sales world, obviously you probably know Jeff Gitomer, Jeffrey Gitomer, Little Red Book of Sales, for example. He’s been a friend of mine through the National Speakers Association for many years. And for example, in my business people like to say, “Hey, what’s your fee?”
Chip Eichelberger:
And he said, “Chip, your fee is in your head. It’s whatever you can really state.” Because people in my business can make a lot of money for an hour or 90 minutes. But it’s not the hour, the 90 minutes, it’s the last 25 years of experience and the value you bring to that hour or that 90 minutes that really makes a difference. So part of it is just to expand your belief system based on what’s possible for you. And I think exposing yourself to new information kind of help you do that.
How Much of Our Personal Lives Influence Our Daily Sales Performance · [11:16]
Will Barron:
Perfect. That makes total sense. And something which we don’t really touch on all that often on the show, but you mentioned it up front here is sleep, exercise, marriage, or I guess home life. How much does this affect, I don’t know, it’s difficult to put a number on some of these things, but how much does that affect our in work performance? Because I feel like we cover a lot of sales hacks techniques, we have psychologists on. I just interviewed a guy from Yale University about first impressions and the research and all this kind of stuff.
Will Barron:
We seem to focus… well not we, I focus on all this stuff, but I know myself, if I eat a pizza, the next day I feel like crap and I don’t do any work. I’m slightly allergic to dairy, which doubles down on the problem. If I have a green smoothie, without sounding like a total hippie, a green smoothie, if I’ve been to jujitsu the day before, I’ve done some exercise, I have a whatever for tea that’s relatively healthy, I have a good night’s sleep, I get way more done. And that is more effective for me than any hack, trick, kind of technique or anything else that we cover on the show. So is there a percentage of our sales performance that you could perhaps tie to all the stuff out of sales as well?
Chip Eichelberger:
Oh, 90? I’ll put a plug in. You talked about the green smoothie. I’ve got a very people Google get switched on smoothie, I’ll put that up against any smoothie in the world in terms of health and vitality. It’s interesting when companies hire me because what I do is I open or close. It’s the big convention, it’s the once a year, it’s the president’s club kind of thing and so I don’t know what they’re expecting from me.
Chip Eichelberger:
My brand about getting switched on is really about re-evaluation. It’s about acknowledging the gap between where you are and what’s possible, visioning, gain planning mindset, how to bring your best you to what you’re doing. And I don’t know what people expect. I always put some sales things in there and some business things in there, but for most people to take their business to the next level, you can’t do it without taking yourself to the next level.
Chip Eichelberger:
My mentor Jim Rohn, if people don’t know Jim Rohn, R-O-H-N, Google him, he passed away about five years ago. And the key is who you’re becoming in pursuit of what you want to accomplish. And if you’re not constantly getting better, if you’re not in peak physical shape, if you’re still smoking for example and you want to be a peak performer, seriously? All the information about smoking and you say, “Oh, it’s still a good choice for me.” Where do you make other decisions like that?
Chip Eichelberger:
All the research shows for people if you want to have a more productive day, work out in the morning, get your physiology changing. It gives you a different mindset, gives you a different mental sharpness when you go out there. I’m big on routines. I mean, every great athlete, whether they’re going on the soccer pitch or whether they’re playing tennis or whether they’re playing golf, when they have to perform, it is showtime, they don’t wing it.
Chip Eichelberger:
If they’re going out for a big appointment and it’s a couple million dollar deal, they just don’t walk in, “How you doing?” I teach people, ask yourself a simple question. Where am I now? 0 to 10, 0 is comatose, 10 absolute certainty. If you’re not at a 10, don’t walk in, go into the fire escape, stand, breathe, visualise what exactly you want to accomplish, breathe that way, stand that way. Do something to get your body ready then walk in. Because you said you had the Yale professor talking about first impressions, that is so crucial.
“People judge you quickly. And I think people want to deal with a professional, not an amateur, and they’re going to judge you quickly. People want to be led. People want to be persuaded, but they don’t want to feel like they’re getting sold. Everybody loves to buy obviously, but they don’t want to get sold.” – Chip Eichelberger · [14:34]
Chip Eichelberger:
People judge you quickly. And so you’ve got to put yourself into an absolute sense of certainty so you can transfer that. I think people want to deal with a professional, not an amateur, and they’re going to judge you quickly. People want to be led. People want to be persuaded, but they don’t want to feel like they’re getting sold. Everybody loves to buy obviously, but they don’t want to get sold. So how can you set that up for yourself?
Will Barron:
You literally just took the words out of my mouth. I was going to say everything you’re describing is the difference between a athlete, a professional, someone who goes on the field, plays whether they feel good, bad, regardless, they’ve got a system in place versus the amateur goes… In the UK we have Sunday league football, soccer, but it’s actually called football.
Chip Eichelberger:
Yes, sure.
Will Barron:
I’ll battle that one to the grave.
Chip Eichelberger:
Right. Yes, yes, yes.
Why Mindset is the One Thing That Separates Professionals from Amateurs · [15:31]
Will Barron:
But it’s cold, it’s wet, it’s about icy. My wife or partner hasn’t washed my kits, it’s a bit smelly since training on Wednesday. I’ll not bother. That’s the difference, right? Between the pro and the amateur. So with regards to that then Chip, what else does a professional do that perhaps an amateur doesn’t?
Chip Eichelberger:
Well, I think mindset. I mean, you mentioned the bad weather situation. My passion is golf for example. And Jack Nicklaus, he always used to tell the story he loved it when it was bad weather. Why did he love it? Because half the field would bitch and whine and moan. They’re out of the tournament before it started because they already told themselves, “Oh, this is going to be terrible. It’s going to be cold, I’m not going to play well.” Jack’s like, “Oh, fantastic. Great, tell yourself that.”
Chip Eichelberger:
So it’s the ability to be a thermostat who can self adjust and not the thermometer who this good thing happens up, bad thing happens down. How can you bring your A game in spite of everything that’s happening around you? And I believe it’s a duplicatable skill with a routine based on how you think, the questions you ask yourself, how you visualise, a lot of positive self-talk. I’m a big believer in listening to the right songs, right, before you get there. Music can be a state inducer for you.
“You’ve got to realise you are your number one asset. You’ve got to take care of ‘me incorporated’ in every sense of that first so you can give back to other people. If you want to have long-term sustained success, if you’re not taking care of your number one asset, there’s no way to have long-term sustained success.” – Chip Eichelberger · [16:54]
Chip Eichelberger:
I believe motion creates emotion for sure. Because when people got their mojo going, you got a little swag going, you get your A game going, there’s a way you walk, there’s a way you talk, there’s a way you breathe, and that is duplicatable. That’s why I think what I talk about, it’s… I don’t talk about longterm success, right? You got to realise you are your number one asset. You got to take care of me incorporated in every sense of that first so you can give back to other people. If you want to have long-term sustained success, if you’re not taking care of your number one asset, there’s no way to have long-term sustained success.
The Things You Need to Avoid if You Want to Achieve Success · [17:10]
Will Barron:
To turn this on its head slightly because we’re talking about things to add, change, do, is there anything that salespeople should be removing from the… other than the obvious like smoking, if you’re smoking, you’re an idiot. I’ll go on record saying that. I’ll put words in your mouth, Chip but you’re-
Chip Eichelberger:
Yes, oh I agree, absolutely, yes.
Will Barron:
You’re an idiot if you’re doing stuff like that. If you’re getting drunk Thursday, Friday, Saturday night and you want to be a high performer Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday in the midst of the drinking, maybe you’re not an idiot but it’s clearly not a good thing to be doing. If you’re smoking weed, if you’re doing all this stuff, you’re eating unhealthy, these are all obvious things that we perhaps shouldn’t be doing. Is there anything less obvious or counter-intuitive that we can pull away from our lives that in doing so it gives us more chance of success?
“Motivation is great, but motivation comes and goes, what sustains you is the discipline to get stuff done.” – Chip Eichelberger · [18:08]
Chip Eichelberger:
Well, I’ll plant a seed for people, it’s one of the themes I have. And it’s really motivation is great, but motivation comes and goes, what sustains you is the discipline to get stuff done. And I like to talk about, don’t underestimate the power of one new discipline you put into play because one new discipline here can impact everything else. And what I talk about is people complicate change. They think it takes so long to change. Well, actually change really comes down to a trigger moment where you realise…
Chip Eichelberger:
My mentor, Jim Rohn used to say, for example, disgust is a powerful motivator. Somebody might be listening to this, for example, they do smoke. You go, “You’re right. It’s disgusting.” It might not have been us, but maybe it was their sons came up to and said, “Daddy, can you quit smoking? I don’t want you to die.” And in that moment they make a decision. And a streak starts one, that’s the seed I want to plant. Any new decision, you start a streak with one.
Chip Eichelberger:
People have always heard about the 21 days, right? There’s no valid study that says there’s anything unique about 21 days. But what you do is you start a streak. And for example, I started a streak on my phone, I wanted to get stronger. And I read a article about the guidance is what was your discipline to stay strong? I play golf, I want to hit the ball farther, right? And he said I just make sure I do 10,000 pushups a year. Sounds impressive, right? But do the math, 10,000 divided by 365, a little bit more attainable, 28 pushups. But it’s 28 pushups a day every day. So I’m on a 51 month streak, I’m 86,000 something pushups in.
Chip Eichelberger:
Got to put this down and do a full pushup, touch your nose to it, right? And I’ve committed I’m never going to do less than 28 a day the rest of my life. And just the discipline of getting that done, I’ve missed a couple days the last 1800 but not many, that one new discipline can impact everything. So I guess the metaphor for people is that 28 pushups a day will knock out your 10,000 pushups.
Chip Eichelberger:
From a lead magnet situation prospecting, attracting new leads, attracting referrals, what are the little activities, the 28 pushups a day you have to do day in and day out to fill your sales funnel, to hit your number at the end of the year? Break it down to the minutiae of the little activities you know you can get done. And I talk about bringing your best self to it. Couple of little things I would recommend for people. I don’t know if you can see on my… I’ve got my stand-up desk right here, I’m doing this off my sit up desk.
“Sales is a unique animal. Not everybody can do it, the ups and downs, the wins, the losses, the difficulties, the backend pieces you can’t control from customer service or installation or rollout or whatever it’s going to be. You have to find a way to be at your best. And what does that mean for you in terms of the way you take care of yourself, in terms of what you put into your mind or what you purposely push out of your mind, it’s got to be a routine that you get done.” – Chip Eichelberger · [20:41]
Chip Eichelberger:
Getting a stand-up desk is essential for people if you’re thinking how long you’re going to be in your career, managing your emotions, managing what you put into your body, thinking about how you can have a high energy day. Because sales is a unique animal, right? Not everybody can do it, the ups and downs, the wins, the losses, the difficulties, the backend pieces you can’t control from customer service or installation or rollout or whatever it’s going to be. You got to find a way to be at your best and what does that mean for you in terms of the way you take care of yourself, in terms of what you put into your mind or what you purposely push out of your mind, it’s got to be a routine that you get done.
How to Cultivate Discipline Into Your Life · [21:10]
Will Barron:
How do we instil the discipline to do 28 pushups every day? I have no doubt Chip that you can put your mind to pretty much anything and do whatever you wanted every single day. And I don’t know so much about your kind of childhood and if that interacted with it, I’m from a very just normal family, there’s no kind of military… Well, there’s military favouring my family, but it didn’t affect me. So there’s none of that kind of discipline and that influence. I’m very average up until the past kind of three or four years where things have started to explode because I’ve done what you’ve said. I’ve started to get people around me.
Chip Eichelberger:
Yeah, plug the way.
Will Barron:
I’ve got people around me that are opening my eyes to the things that we can do. We’re building… I wouldn’t kind of like dive into it too much, but in the Sales School, which is our kind of like self-development product for salespeople, we’re building this, we’re building habit trackers into it. That at the end of two weeks tells you, you are super lazy every single Friday, beyond two weeks for the past three months, you miss out 20% of your selling time by being a lazy bugger on a Friday. So I’m conscious of all this.
Will Barron:
And I’m implementing it myself, but I’m still not very disciplined having said all that. And I’m open and honest to people on the show. I have to use willpower. I’ve not sussed out that switch if there is a switch, I’ve not greased the groove, I’ve not got my neurons aligned and myelinated to get into a state discipline and to do over and over and over. Whereas my girlfriend, for example, is super comfortable in going, “Right, I’m going to commit to this every day, an hour a day for the rest of my life.”
Will Barron:
She’s a doctor. So she’s revising for the moment and she’s just done. She’s doing two hours a night. I’m going to bed at 9:00 o’clock. She’s up at 11:00 o’clock, wakes me up when she goes to bed so it’s pointless me going to bed at 9:00. But she just doesn’t think about it. And so I’m intrigued as in your experience with discipline, do you think this is genes, do you think this is a learned response? And if it’s learned-
Chip Eichelberger:
Okay, good.
Will Barron:
If it’s learned, how do we do it?
Chip Eichelberger:
Well, one thing you have to be very careful what you’re saying to yourself. What did you say? I just don’t have the discipline. Well, your past does not equal your future. That’s the power of… And for me, just hearing that story, the guy said, “Push up app,” boom. I just went to my phone immediately and thought, “I’m going to do that.” And so what you have to do is to catch yourself.
Chip Eichelberger:
I would encourage you download the pushup app. I’ve got a droid, there’s tonnes of them out there. If you’ve got an iPhone, download it on your iPhone, start doing it today, minimum 28 pushups and see what happens as you go. And you got to be careful what you say, look at the discipline I have now, I’m getting better every day. I’m building discipline. I’m building confidence. What happens is it’s like a record, Bill. I’ve never had that discipline.
Chip Eichelberger:
Most people, “I’d work out in the morning Chip, I’m just not a morning person.” Well, God, how many times have you told yourself? A streak starts with how many? One time. So you got to put it into a system where you got your workout clothes there, you got your bag done, you got clothes, everything’s in the car. Get out of bed, put on your clothes, boom, go out the door. But I really think it comes down to self-talk. And you probably told yourself, “I’ve never been that kind of person that’s had that discipline. I’ve never been that kind of person that’s had that discipline.”
Chip Eichelberger:
Well, you go from somebody who didn’t have the discipline to today, you made a new decision to start doing the 28 push-ups minimum to get your 10,000 a year. That one new discipline, I know it sounds bizarre, but that one new discipline impacts everything else. And you say, “Look at the discipline I have now.” And it’s the pattern of saying, “I have discipline now in this area, where else can I apply that same discipline in my life?” And what I challenge people is, and if people want to Google it, you Google get switched on energy schedule, and I’ve done it for hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people the last 24 years, every audience.
Chip Eichelberger:
It just says, I must work out a minimum of blank days a month, at least 30 minutes getting your heart rate up, put your minimum number in then sign it. Then it says February, and you’ll have 31 boxes and then you write March 31 boxes, six months like that. There’s five tips that’ll help you probably get to 80 or 90 in your life with high energy and you put that on the mirror in your bathroom and you start tracking it. And it says goal and it says actual. Actual end of the month, what do you have to do? Go back and count up the numbers.
Chip Eichelberger:
Well, what does this have to do with making president’s club this year? If you lack the discipline to do something that simple to take care of your number one asset, where else does that lack of discipline affect your life? And if you get better in that one area, I’ve got so many stories over the years of people who they started getting in better shape and they looked better and they felt better and they got better clothes and that one thing impacted everything in their life.
Are Most of Us Just Complicating the Discipline Aspect of Achieving Success? · [25:50]
Will Barron:
With all that Chip, are we just… and I’m guilty of this perhaps with the show, the audience size that we have now, are we just over-complicating all of this? Is it almost as… It’s simple but effective what you’re describing, is it almost as simple as that?
Chip Eichelberger:
Well, my mentor, Jim Rohn, again, if you’ve never heard him, R-O-H-N, Jim would say all the things that are simple to do are simple not to do, all the little things. It’s simple to follow up with a great email or a little personal card, “Hey, I’m excited to be working with you. I know I can meet your expectations. I want to build a partner with you for life, right?”
Chip Eichelberger:
Because my belief in sales, it’s easy if you stand out and say, “Okay, what can I do before, during, and after the sale to turn my customers into my raving fans salespeople?” [inaudible 00:26:39] get such a high percentage of my business off referrals and recommendations, you got to start thinking, “Okay, what would I do? I’d do this, I’d do this, I’d do that.” So it really is simple and making it fun and try to stand out and do what the failures won’t do.
Chip Eichelberger:
My philosophy of long-term success and getting switched on is you got to figure out what’s really important in your life in terms of your family and your health and your exercise and your personal growth and your faith and having fun and your business and your finances. And there’s only a few simple things you need to do every day in each area, but you need to know what they are, you need to be cognizant of it and you need to get them done. I love this quote, when we heard it from Tony, we were talking about you do your goal setting session for the year. You ever done that?
Will Barron:
Yup.
Chip Eichelberger:
And you say, “Oh gosh.” You overestimated what you could do in a year, right? But you underestimate what you can accomplish in a decade because it’s the power of doing the right thing over and over and over. How have you built this podcast? How are you going to build the backend? Well, gosh, when you started, you’re probably past where you thought you’d be now in three years, but where are you going to be in two or three, four or five years? The power of doing this day after day and doing it right and getting a little better, getting a little better builds on itself.
“Everything affects everything and how you do anything is a reflection of how you do everything.” – Chip Eichelberger · [28:12]
Chip Eichelberger:
And then we started off talking about the vision, that’s where it starts. What does a great life look like for you? What does a great career, what does a great family, what does a great body look like for you? What are the little things you can do to move towards that? Because again, everything affects everything and how you do anything is a reflection of how you do everything. So one new area get better can impact every area.
How to Deal with People Within Your Immediate Environment that are Impacting Your Proactivity · [28:22]
Will Barron:
How do we implement this Chip in… The obvious example is if we’re… No, probably the more example I was going to say, if we’re at home and our wife or partner is a nagging bust and is always kind of dragging us down, maybe we should get rid of them. We’ll stay away from that one because that might be a slightly more kind of a fiery topic. But let’s talk about the business world.
Will Barron:
What do we do if we’re in an office and we’re excited, we’re motivated, we’re in kind of peak performance mode, we’re kind of in sync, we’re going back and forth on this great time and then people are coming over towards a moaning. Or perhaps our sales manager wants us to do all these random tasks which are not helping anyone achieve anyone’s vision, but we’ve kind of got to half half-ass do some of them because we need to get them off our plate so we can focus on the other stuff. How do we, not necessarily control, but how do we deal with people within our environments that are disabling some of this kind of proactivity?
Chip Eichelberger:
Well, that’s not easy. I’ve been lucky. When I was with Tony, we had some very, very positive teams. I’ve never really had to deal with that. But again, part of it, I think goes back to your attitude and how you can take ownership of your attitude and not let that stuff bother you and not let that bring you down. And it comes back to the 4% solution. What are you listening to? What are you reading? What are you watching? Where your mind goes and where your focus goes, that’s where your results go.
Chip Eichelberger:
So it’s like I always give the advice, I’ve been speaking to it that I live in Knoxville, Tennessee, University of Tennessee. I’ve been down speaking for some of the schools down there, the engineering school recently. And the advice I give these kids is right now, for example, in college, you’ve got to make some decisions who you’re going to hang out with, law of association, right? You’re going to become like the people, the information you spend the most time with. So right now you’ve got to figure out which of your friends you’re going to cut out.
“If somebody is listening to this and they’re in sales and they’re building their career and they’re 27, you have to choose your friends wisely. The key people you’re going to work with and spend the most time with in the next 10 years in your career are going to dictate the future ascendancy and height of your career. You’ve got to find out how to deal with people who are better than you, who are going to push you. Not the people who are going to bitch, whine and moan and drag you down. You have to disassociate from those people.” – Chip Eichelberger · [30:11]
Chip Eichelberger:
If somebody is listening to this and they’re in sales and they’re building their career and they’re 27, you got to choose your friends wisely. The key people you’re going to work and spend the most time with the next 10 years in your career is going to dictate the future ascendancy and height of your career. You got to find out to deal with people who are better than you, who are going to push you. Not the people are going bitch, whine and moan and drag you down. You have to disassociate from those people.
Chip Eichelberger:
So I think if you have good ownership of your attitude and you’re walking in and you know hey, it’s showtime, those little things don’t impact you. Because if you’re in sales, you’re going to get the email, you’re going to get the word that a big sale fell through and it didn’t happen, next. You just got to let it go. Don’t bitch and whine and moan about it, dissect it, “Oh, I didn’t do this. I didn’t do that. I didn’t…” then go to the next one. Not easy, but you got to take care of it here first.
Sales is a Highs and Lows Game. How Can You Stay Motivated During Those Really Low Lows · [31:35]
Will Barron:
So that was where I wanted to wrap up on here Chip, of clearly this isn’t easy. And I’m not necessarily talking about rejection here, I’m talking about more sales is up and down. That’s why it’s so incredible because it’s a game, right? If it was all just ups or if it was all miserable, no one would do it. But the ups and downs are integral to it being exciting, at least for me it is anyway.
Will Barron:
And then that goes for business, entrepreneurship, everything else, if anyone who has a side hustle, anyone who’s kind of growing things in the audience on the side as well. But with that said, and self-talk might be part of this, how do we stay motivated throughout those lows? Because I know when I was younger, I am better at dealing with it now because I see the bigger picture on things and the day-to-day stuff in my opinion doesn’t really matter most of the time. That’s how I talk to myself out of being kind of annoyed at different things that have gone on throughout the day.
Will Barron:
But when I was younger, I’d be on a high, I’d get say five, six sales in a row, I’d be crushing it and then I’d have a terrible month. And it wasn’t like I was depressed. I was happy and positive and optimistic, but then it would take me a little bit. And I’d get these chains of results and then a drop off, and chains of results. And it’s never going to be the unlimited chain, otherwise, you’d be hired by whoever for billions of dollars a year, of course because you’d be magical. There’d be something else going on there. But how do we either limit the lows or how do we knock ourselves out with the lows a bit quicker?
Chip Eichelberger:
Well, I think we talked about that analogy of the 28 pushups. I mean, to fill your funnel, what are your 28 push-ups? What are the little things you’re doing each day before, during, and after the sale to fill your funnel? I’m a big believer in the first five and the last five. If you’re in sales, get in a little bit earlier, call people before the decision-maker is their, last five minutes of the day call when the decision maker has the gatekeeper gone.
Chip Eichelberger:
How can you consistently figure out from my business model for what I have to do in terms of prospecting, lead generation, referral generation? If you just know I’m doing those little things every day, you know the numbers are going to be there because sales what happens? It happens in my business too. I’ll have like booking, booking, booking then nothing. Inquiry, inquiry and it’s slow then bang, bang, bang. That’s just the way it is because if you know you’re doing the little things every day.
Chip Eichelberger:
What I would caution people on is to slow down, think long-term with every relationship you have. Many businesses referrals are huge. A, number one, most people, you got to be great to get the referral, ask for the referral, somebody gives you a referral, reward them. In some business models, you can’t do this, but in some you can. If somebody referred you for a $200,000 piece of business and you know they’re a golfer, get them a fitting with the pro and get them the new Callaway epic flash driver and maybe you spend $500.
Chip Eichelberger:
They just gave you a referral for $200,000. What are you going to do so that person as a referral centre of influence will constantly reap benefits in the future? And you’re doing it because it’s the right thing to do. I just was doing a programme for James Hardie that does the Hardie siding and dealing with these contractors. I go, “What’s an average replacement siding?” This is more of a B2C model, but oh, about $50,000. They give you a referral, what do you do? Thank them? Do something unique that’s personable that they’re going to talk about. So if you back up and have a long-term view of sales… If you’re not sending out… I’m a big believer in… are you familiar with the Lovepop cards? Have you seen these?
Will Barron:
No.
Chip Eichelberger:
On Shark Tank, if people go Lovepop, you can get these. And it’s a beautiful card, you can see this. But you open it up and it’s 3D. Can you see that local whale right there? And they may cost you 7 or $10, but here’s the key. If you send a card like this to somebody, are they going to just throw it in the trash? They’re probably going to show it to how many people and they’re probably going to, “Oh Chip, I can’t afford $10 thank you cards.” I don’t send them out to everybody in every situation, but when I want to make a point and I want to stand out, these are great. These are really cool. So what are you doing to be a little different, little bit unique, make people remember you and talk about you?
How to Stand Out in the Marketplace as an Exceptional B2B Sales Professional · [35:32]
Will Barron:
Chip, to wrap up because you mentioned this a few times now, so clearly it’s important to you which means via me, it’s important for the audience, and that is standing out. Are there any ways other than the obvious of be a good person, understand your product, be able to add value, be able to follow up effectively, is there any counterintuitive, is there any interesting ways that the audience should be thinking about standing out in the marketplace as a B2B sales professional?
Chip Eichelberger:
I think one way is A, number one be a professional. A quick little story, I remember I was staying out in Newport Beach, California. I stayed at a very nice Marriott that I happen to have the next event, was in Dana Point at the Ritz-Carlton, which is one of the most beautiful properties in the country. I remember talking to the bellman at the Ritz-Carlton and those guys can make 80, 90, $100,000.
Will Barron:
Wow.
“Let me give people a tool. This smartphone right here is your best training tool. There’s a voice recorder on here and there’s a video camera on here. If you want to be better at what you do, presenting periodically on the phone, you need to record yourself.” – Chip Eichelberger · [36:39]
Chip Eichelberger:
That’s like boy the service at the Marriott was good, but you guys are just amazing. He goes, “Yes, we are professionals.” And I thought, what a difference? If you want to be a professional, you got to be a cut above because remember, most people are satisfied with being average. Let me give people a tool. This smartphone right here is your best training tool. There’s a voice recorder on here and there’s a video camera on here. If you want to be better at what you do presenting periodically on the phone, you need to record yourself.
Chip Eichelberger:
Going in, I’ve got, I have it in my backpack over there, but I’ve got my little tripod and go in and say, “You know what? I constantly want to improve the way I present myself.” I think the best salespeople are the best storytellers. Be a capture of great stories of people just like them, exactly in the situation they’re in. You were working with them, had the same problems, had the same pain points. You were able to go in with your hardware, your software, your product, and solve it and tell that story. So what you do is you go in and say, “You know what? I’m constantly trying to improve my presentation skills and make sure I’m listening.”
Chip Eichelberger:
And this is one option, instead of taking such copious notes today, would you mind if I just put this in the back there and videotape it? And many of you right now have to do standup presentations. You’re at a boardroom table, you’re three, four or five people. I would wager 90% of you have never seen yourself live in front of the customer. If you want to take what you do to the next level, it’s going to show you. How do I open my presentation? What stories am I telling? How am I overcoming objections?
Chip Eichelberger:
Am I listening as well as I think? How am I using tie downs? How am I building commitment? How am I using social proof and testimonials? Because if you don’t go back and get periodic tests, you’re probably going to make the same mistakes over and over and over. And it takes some guts to videotape yourself and it takes more guts to go back and watch it. Because I guarantee you’re going to go… because you think you’re better than you are.
“Your brain will not get it until you see yourself. People can tell you all day what you’re doing, but until you can see it, you have no concept.” – Chip Eichelberger · [38:28]
Chip Eichelberger:
So if you want to get better, go in and go with somebody who’s better than you and say, “Hey, here’s a presentation I did last week, would you coach me on it?” Your brain will not get it until you see yourself. People can tell you all day what you’re doing, but until you can see it, you have no concept. That one tip right there, taping yourself every month, getting a mentor, getting some feedback on word choice, stories, tonality, eye contact, proximity, how you engage a group, nothing will take your career farther than that.
Will Barron:
It’s funny you should say that as just before I recorded the show with yourself Chip, and this may not work for the audience , depending on when the shows go live. I’ll link to the show notes when it does go live. I had a conversation with a researcher at Yale who essentially researches what you’re describing, of our subconscious is terrible and our consciousness on top of that, is terrible at understanding ourselves. It needs a video, it needs feedback, it needs something.
Will Barron:
There’s no feedback loop for our brain to know if we suck or if we’re good at something. And I use the anecdote in that episode of I did a presentation, I used to sell to surgeons, there’d be 20, 30 surgeons in a room. And I wouldn’t be selling, I’d be teaching them something about the product or kind of the future of the industry, the endoscopy industry and by proxy kind if I’m selling a branding to them.
Will Barron:
And I recorded one, I did it two or three years and I recorded one of these presentations. And they always went down to [inaudible 00:39:43], everyone kind of got a hold of it. And I’m tall, I’m 6’3″, I’m tall, I’m lanky. I have terrible posture, I know this. But my posture in the presentation was terrible. I don’t know if it was nerves underneath. And I was hunched over, my arms are slightly in front of me. And at this point I knew all about body language and I knew how I should be standing. And it wasn’t until I saw the video, I was like, “Holy heck.”
Will Barron:
I looked like… And I’m not an athlete by any means, but I didn’t look well. You know what I mean? And especially in a suit, it was almost extenuating the visual appearance of it. So that next day it was a two day event. I literally just stood there, my shoulders back, immediately looked far more confident. I was slower with my speaking and there was a cascading effect down from that. Not necessarily that the audience maybe didn’t care, maybe didn’t have an impact.
The Power of Deliberate Practice and Individual Assessment · [40:31]
Will Barron:
But those 2, 3% points where you can get better by watching a video, listen to call, that all adds up right over the years. That’s how we kind of get this compounding, I guess, this is my conclusion for the show to wrap up Chip. I guess the compounding effect of everything that we talked about, that’s what moves mountains over the decades, right? That’s what we’re kind of aiming for with all of this.
Chip Eichelberger:
Absolutely. I mean, Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance came out and the key thing that separated good performers from peak performers was deliberate practise. Not just practise, but having a specific way to practise. That’s why this can give you more deliberate practise than virtually anything. Most people won’t do it, which is shocking because they think, “I don’t think I can do that.” Well, just ask people. Either they’re going to say yes or they’re going to say no, or you’ve got a customer that’s worked with you for five years. Hey, John, I’d love to try, would you mind? Oh, sure, go ahead. They’re not going to care. But it’s you’ve got to care. And-
Will Barron:
And if you’re a pro, you should care, right? That should be the default. I think that’s what I’m getting from all of this.
Chip Eichelberger:
For some people, I’ll do… companies will bring me in to work and videotape and train their corporate evangelists, 10 or 12 people at a time, videotaping them and we’ll do an exaggeration exercise for example. And I want you to go two big a gestures. I want you to pause too long and exaggerate everything. And so they’re doing this and to them, it feels like, “Oh my God, this is crazy.” Right? And then they watch the videotape and go, “That’s pretty good.” To them it felt like, you know why? Because most people are presenting, “Hi, this is Chip Eichelberger…” They don’t have the contrast in terms of everything to make it interesting. Until you see yourself, you don’t get it.
Will Barron:
You will have to look at episodes kind of 1 to 250 of this show where I’m-
Chip Eichelberger:
Wow, congratulations. That’s awesome. Good for you.
Will Barron:
No, no from the perspective of it was terrible. I was an inch away from the camera, I was arms by side. There was no ups and downs. I was speaking way too fast, I still speak way too fast. There was not enough pauses, there’s still not enough pauses. But just from watching my own show, you could see the improvements and hopefully it will, hopefully the audience can see it as well.
Chip Eichelberger:
You don’t know what you don’t know. And here’s the key, better done than perfect, right?
Chip’s Advise to His Younger Self on How to Become Better at Selling · [42:51]
Will Barron:
Precisely. Well, with that chip, I’ve got one final question, mate, something I ask everyone that comes on the show, and that is, 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?
Chip Eichelberger:
What advice I’d go back in selling? I started audio recording myself when I was with Tony Robbins fairly quickly. I would say for me it would be database. I wish I would have had better technology of the database when I started in the speaking business 24 years ago and I really had a way to keep up with those key decision makers as people move. My database is not… if I’d had done that, it would have been a lot better. It’s better now but if I had the last 24 years and the last thousand customers and I had a better way to stay in touch with them, that would be a…
Will Barron:
I mean, we’re spoiled right now for that, aren’t we? We have smartphones and technology. And I remember once in medical device sales, a chap they’ve been with the company for 40 odd years, he was one of the best storytellers I’ve ever heard in all my life. Surgeons were registrars and junior doctors when he first was interacting with them and now they’re all consultants so [inaudible 00:44:01] and tells incredible stories.
Will Barron:
But the one story I remember really vividly was he used to have a binder in the back of his car. And then I was like, “What do you mean?” He’s like, “Well, to keep track of all the information. You’d go into a meeting and physically write it down.” And he said it would go from one binder to five binders to 15 binders. His boot was just full of binders and it was all organised. And then he wanted to call someone, well, there’s no smartphones, there’s no cell phones, he’d have a big…
Will Barron:
He said the two things he carried with him everywhere was a massive jar of 10ps and 20ps so he could put it in a payphone. And he never was sure whether anyone was going to show up for meetings when he would go to meet a surgeon because he couldn’t get in touch with the surgeon, they couldn’t get in touch with him and it was almost on a whim and a promise that they were going to be there at the scheduled times. And he said it was a… He said now… he always called us kids, and I probably could be his kind of son age-wise. But he would always drill into us that we’ve just got such a good time right now. We can research anyone, there’s the internet, we can track all of this and he called it the golden age of sales.
Parting Thoughts · [45:06]
Chip Eichelberger:
Right, right, right? Well, if people want to stay in touch with me, my websites getswitchedon.com. Also, I don’t know if this will work from the UK, but if in America, if you text Chip to 66866, you can get on my list and get five free videos and kind of get on auto cert. You can get off anytime you want to. But real good, valuable information that I think could make a difference for you.
Will Barron:
Well, that doesn’t work from the UK, but most of the audience are in the US so that’s perfect. I’ll link to everything that we’ve talked about in the show notes for this episode. And with that Chip, I want to thank you again for joining us on the show.
Chip Eichelberger:
You’re welcome. I’ll just say this. I praise people for listening. I mean, if you watch this and you listen to this kind of stuff, it says a lot about you because how you do anything, reflection of how you do everything. So congratulations.
