499 | How To Build a Profitable Business Without Burning Out w/ Dominic Rubino

Feb 17

[00:00:00] Chaz Wolfe: Can AI really replace your sales team? What about the human touch? Let's dive in with Glenn Polos as we discuss the power and the pitfalls of AI and building a business. Well, Glenn, I, again, I just appreciate you being here. You've got, you've got an incredible history when it comes to,~ uh,~ business, but also sales and I've, I've seen some of your stuff online and, and,~ uh,~ you've got this.~ Um, ~approach about you that I think our listeners are going to get just a bunch of value from,~ um,~ but I would love to just kind of jump right in and, and let's talk about,~ um,~ let's talk about innovation because you kind of come from a, from a tech,~ uh,~ perspective, sales and tech are, are merging together.

[00:00:41] I'd be curious to hear what you think about that right there. Just. Tech and sales coming together. It's 2024, almost 2025. What's what's new and happening in the world of sales right now that maybe you're using or that you're talking about,~ um,~ tech and sales related.

[00:00:56] Glenn Poulos: Well, obviously the,~ uh,~ the most,~ uh,~ you know, the thing at front [00:01:00] of mind for everyone, it would be, you know, deploying AI.~ Uh, ~agents into your different,~ uh,~ aspects of your business, whether it be the marketing, sales, finance, contract management,~ uh,~ you know, there's, there's so many places you can, you can use it.

[00:01:14] And so, and because I'm kind of responsible for a business and, and the sales are, it's part of it, marketing's part of it. We've been, we've been using that, we've been using AI for quite a while, like. Well, over a year for sure. ~Um, ~and,~ um,~ but, but we're adopting it in a very structured manner and other parts of our business as well.

[00:01:33] ~Um, ~you know, analyzing and documenting contracts and things like that. Super powerful. And and so for sales, it's, you know, using those tools in a way that. allows you to,~ um,~ you know, to get more done and in a more time efficient manner, but in a, in a, but not to lose the personal touch. You know, I, if I can digress for one second, I saw something this morning on, on Instagram, which just made me cringe so badly.

[00:01:57] And it was this, this, these two dudes and they were talking about, [00:02:00] Oh, like, You know, I sent out this email now and now I have this AI agent that pops up at the bottom of my message and the end user can just interact with the AI. I'm like, yeah, delete. Like, I mean, I'm not going to like, you know, if I receive a message from you and then your, your little avatar pops up and say, and, you know, and what can we talk about next?

[00:02:19] Right. It would just, you know, like, so I'm not, I'm not doing that kind of a thing, but,~ uh,~ for content creation and,~ um,~ You know, sort of, ~uh, ~choice management. It's it's huge for that, right? So, ~um, ~you know, it's like, give me give me three reasons why we should use this for that, right? I mean, I might be able to come up with three, but it's going to take me two hours, right?

[00:02:39] The tool could, the tool could give me 10 reasons in a minute, and then I can, you know, and then I can work on them. And so, so the merging of,~ uh,~ of AI and tools and. You know, tightly integrating your, you know, CRM with your ERPs and your, you know, your front end with your back end and, you know, giving people access to real time data.

[00:02:58] When they touch a customer, they [00:03:00] can see exactly their purchase history. If their accounts up to date, their spend for the year, you know, what's in the funnel, you know, and other people in the organization can touch that same customer and see that same information. So obviously we're using We're using all that stuff, which is fairly common,~ uh,~ but it's now reached a point of being so valuable, you know, to the organization.

[00:03:22] Chaz Wolfe: What do you think that human touch element that you kind of just touched on a few seconds ago? ~Um, ~you know, there, there's a huge play there. I mean, I think even 10 years ago when I was training thousands of salespeople, my approach then was very like, Hey, we've got to be authentic. We've got to be.

[00:03:40] Different than the thousands of other salespeople that call and, and fast forward 10 years. Now we're talking about AI agents being able to call or text.

[00:03:49] Glenn Poulos: Right.

[00:03:50] Chaz Wolfe: And so that human element or that authenticity,~ um,~ in the sales process, how, how does one go about that in today's environment, especially with all the technology like AI?

[00:03:59] [00:04:00] Yeah.

[00:04:00] Glenn Poulos: Yeah. Well, yeah. And so part of, part of the issue now is like, now I have all this gray hair and everything. And so, you know, I'm kind of like the curmudgeon in the room. Right. And it's like, you know, Oh yeah, that's maybe the way they did it in the eighties, but that'll never work anymore. Right. You know, all that stuff.

[00:04:14] Right. And, and so, ~um, ~like for, for me,~ um,~ You know, to AI and the, and this agents and things like that, making those calls and, and,~ um,~ I couldn't even get a real person. I like, I couldn't even train an outsourced real human being to do it. And so training AI agents to have an intelligent conversation about like engineering level,~ uh,~ technology that we sell, like, you know, this is real propeller head stuff.

[00:04:39] And have an engaging conversation with the masters of, you know, engineering and wireless or, you know, I'm in the telecom space, right? And so it's, it's kind of, it's almost impossible. I mean, and I mean, maybe, maybe, maybe I could do a better job than the people I was trying to train. I don't know. But, but for me, I, it's still always [00:05:00] about my, my mantra, which is how to get, act and stay in front of your clients.

[00:05:05] And to be a pleasure to do business with always. That's my goal. That's my, my mantra. How do I get in front of them, stay in front of them and act in front of them so that I'm relevant and, and that I'm a pleasure to do business with. They want to invite me back even if I don't win. ~Um, ~I'm the first guy they want to call.

[00:05:22] ~Um, ~but not. Not be there, right? Like not, not be there. You know what I mean? It's not like I'm not trying to outsource myself. Right. And,~ um,~ you know, the part there's parts of the job that I love that I can automate now and,~ um,~ you know, take the drudgery away. But when you're selling high ticket items, You know, that stuff's done on a relationship basis and, you know, ~um, ~you know, and I'm sure somebody's buying a G5, they want to go for a ride in it and,~ uh,~ you know, they're not going to let some, you know, some automated attendant tell them, show them a video about flying in their private jet, right?

[00:05:53] You know, they're going to meet the top guy and they're going to go for a ride and they're going to, they're going to experience it. And, and that's kind of world I came from [00:06:00] and the kind of world I'm still in, right? I mean, there may be products out there that can be sold online and in a semi automated way.

[00:06:07] But,~ um,~ you know, the things that,~ uh,~ the things that I still sell today are, are physical items. You know, they get bought, sold and used by a business and they typically need to feel them and touch them before they buy them. And, and,~ uh,~ that takes human being human interaction. Right? So,

[00:06:23] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. And I would even take it to another level. I mean, gathering the Kings is one of my businesses and it's a community for entrepreneurs. And so there's no, there's nothing. Physical that I'm going to give to you. You get a membership to this wonderful community of other people, and you can maybe come on a trip or something, but,~ um,~ you know, the, the tangible piece is hard to sell the intangible pieces.

[00:06:40] Hard to sell. They're both done on relationships. ~Um, ~and, and so I think that you're, you're right. AI will be always a tool and I think that I'm excited like you to continue to use the tools to make,~ uh,~ things better. But that human element, in fact, I was talking with one of our members, I dunno, maybe two, three months ago, and he said that,~ uh,~ you know, we're on [00:07:00] this wave of, of to, you know, to to AI or to technology and re you know, removing the human aspect in all.

[00:07:06] It does really, for the ones that understand it, it gives us the ability to press into the human element. In our sales process or in our communication with our customers, staying in front of them, like you said, being a pleasure doing business with, but using those, those human moments really, really strategically along the way, it doesn't mean that we have to, it has to be the human.

[00:07:25] The whole time. It just means that we've got to know how to make that human connection throughout the process, like we did before, but, but while using some of the efficiency of, of the technology.

[00:07:35] Glenn Poulos: Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's just like advancing from the horse and buggy to a car, right? I mean, you can get there quicker, right? And,~ uh,~ But you still got to show up, right?

[00:07:44] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, yeah, it's so true. I've, I've been,~ uh,~ re listening to,~ uh,~ some, some old,~ uh,~ written,~ uh,~ work that was,~ um,~ kind of around that time, you know, early 1900s and, and,~ uh,~ Henry Ford and all that fun stuff. And he was laughed out of many, many rooms because of this, right?~ Um, ~and so.

[00:07:59] Glenn Poulos: favorite, my [00:08:00] favorite thing is you can have it in any color you want as long as it's black,

[00:08:05] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Well, and he got, he got a bunch of, a bunch of hate for,~ um,~ you know, not changing the, the, the model,~ uh,~ quick enough. And he just kind of held on probably longer than he needed to, but made a fortune doing it, you know, because he, he had a,~ uh,~ a niche on the market. And so all that to say,~ um,~ what, what do you think that, you know, Inside of your,~ uh,~ industry, you know, specifically telecom and this is not your first rodeo in this industry.

[00:08:29] You've been, you've been kind of around for a minute. And so how do you think AI is changing the experience? Not just for you guys as salespeople, but for your, for your, for your clients, using your products, your physical products and, or the services.

[00:08:43] Glenn Poulos: Yeah. So, well, there's just so many. I mean, I could just like. A lot of our customers are build, they build, maintain and operate,~ uh,~ either wireless or fiber networks. Right? And so before, you know, let's say you had a stadium going up in a [00:09:00] city, you know, in Denver, and you're putting up a new 50, 000. Person stadium or whatever.

[00:09:05] And, you know, first of all, you could use a I to help you design the stadium, right? But even after that, then you can take the stadium and put it inside of a tool, which will help you design the wireless network so that you're getting 5 bars of coverage in every seat in that stadium. Right? And where before you might have 2 or 3 engineers using software ~Uh, ~tools, which of course were a huge and then 20 years ago, they were doing it by hand, right?

[00:09:27] And so, you know, ~um, ~it's amazing the way it's advanced, right? First, you know, first you were doing it by hand, then you're, you're using tools like people won't know this, but like IV wave where it does simulations for you. And then, but you put in all the parameters, the walls is thick and, you know, and this many feet and that's many seats and whatever.

[00:09:45] And now you just take the drawing and drop it in and say, give me, give me a design. Right. And tell me how many bars I'm going to get in every seat. And,~ uh,~ obviously you're going to go in and error check it afterwards. ~Um, ~you know, the,~ um,~ you know, and automating the schedules and all that stuff, it's,~ um,~ it's, you know, that [00:10:00] setting up, setting up the best pattern for, you know, when you've got technicians and truck rolls and things like that.

[00:10:05] Right. What's the best way, you know, what's the best way to route the day, which thing to do first, take, take the weather into consideration, take the traffic and, you know, I mean, it's just, it's just endless. Right. And,~ um,~ the, you know, and there was a, I saw a video on a pharmaceutical company and I need to probably watch it seven more, six more times so I can remember it, cause I say it takes seven times to remember something, but the one time that I saw it, like they use AI.

[00:10:33] In every single aspect of the business of designing drugs, and it's mind blowing when you watch the video on on how everything is processed through a I, like, from onboarding staff to designing drugs. Right? And and the testing of it, the, you know, all of it. And and it's like, oh, my God, I never even thought of that.

[00:10:51] And I never even thought of that or that or that or that. Right? And they're. They're,~ um,~ you know, they're, they're really using it to its maximum,~ uh,~ you know, benefit that they [00:11:00] can right now. Right. And,~ um,~ and I think a lot of companies will start doing it and the ones that don't are going to get left behind.

[00:11:05] Right. And it's like kids in schools, like they say about kids in school, like, well, they're all going to be using chat GPT or something. Right. Exactly. So the idiots will still be the ones that just. Run it through chat GPT and hand it in and the lady runs it through undetectable and says, Yeah. that's a I delete you get zero, but the smart kid who was the smartest kid a week ago before chat GPT, him or her is going to run it through there and then run it through a bunch of other type types of AI models to make it more scary or more romantic or, you know, and then they're going to add some personal creative elements to it.

[00:11:41] And they're going to end up with the best. AI adapted story in the classroom, just like they did, you know, a year ago without the tools, right? That's, and that's the, that's where the rubber meets the road for me is how you use the tools. I'm assuming everyone's using it, even though they're not. I mean, I assume everyone's using it.

[00:11:59] The question [00:12:00] is what's the, what's the results of the output. Right.

[00:12:02] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Yeah. I don't, I don't, I don't actually know that stat. I'd be curious to hear that stat of people,~ uh,~ used. On a regular basis. I can't imagine that it's more than 20 percent of the

[00:12:11] Glenn Poulos: right. Yeah. Well, as I like to say, I haven't, I haven't wrote a loving note to my wife in, in the cart since,~ uh,~ since the fall of 2023 or whatever it is. Right. Yeah. You probably won't see this,

[00:12:27] Chaz Wolfe: yeah, you know,~ um,~ yeah, I think I did recognize that,~ uh,~ they had something like, you know, as of, as of this month, they have got like 300 million weekly active users, which is great. But when you, when you, when you take that across the whole, you know, the whole world, it's like

[00:12:42] Glenn Poulos: Yeah.

[00:12:42] Chaz Wolfe: tiny, you know,~ um,~ what would you say?

[00:12:44] Glenn kind of just kind of stay on this lane of, of,~ uh,~ of your industry kind of moving away from AI.

[00:12:50] Glenn Poulos: Yeah.

[00:12:51] Chaz Wolfe: What would you say if you had to, in just one sentence, give me your greatest accomplishment, business, fam, I mean, anything really, but I mean, you're, you've [00:13:00] specifically built a couple of companies in the, in the telecom space.

[00:13:04] What would you say just as, as a, as a reference point It's the greatest thing you've ever accomplished.

[00:13:11] Glenn Poulos: Well, I mean, obviously like things that are way up there are, are building two companies,~ uh,~ you know, well into the eight, almost into the nine figures of, of revenue and then selling them for,~ uh,~ well into the eight figures,~ uh,~ those were very good accomplishments and, you know, but one of the best things that I ever accomplished.

[00:13:27] was sort of in sales when this was back when.

[00:13:30] This was back when 500k was ~Uh, ~almost your whole quota and,~ uh,~ you know, back in the eighties, right. And, you know, and, and I was, I was selling to like a steel mill and,~ um,~ I didn't realize it when I went into it, but I went into it with one of my mentors who was the one who helped guide me and train me and, and teach me the lesson, but I, you know, and he kind of was teaching me how to fish.

[00:13:55] Right. And so we went in and we talked to these guys, we realized how much equipment was. [00:14:00] Was that play? And then just to make a long story short, he's like, okay, well, who, you know, who's going to decide? Right? And I mean, it's like, well, the head of the steel mill, you know, production for the steel mill is going to decide.

[00:14:09] So he's like, okay, well, where does he sit? Right? Can you drop us off at his desk? And we went over and we talked to that guy. Right? And then, you know, we talked to him and, you know, he, he led us around a bit or whatever. And then he's like, yeah, but, you know, The steel mills designed by Toshiba. So you really need to talk to, if this equipment's going to get deployed, the guys at Toshiba got to approve that it's the right stuff to test the stuff.

[00:14:29] And where's Toshiba? Well, they're downtown. So, okay. What's the address? Who do I talk to? We got in our car and literally drove downtown, knocked on the door, got the Toshiba guys, they raked us over the coals, they were, we never would've got the deal, they already had all the equipment picked. We were able to turn it around.

[00:14:46] Right? And, and so through Hooker Crook, we talked to them and, and then they were telling us, Yeah.

[00:14:51] but you know, we're only responsible for the spac. You know, all of the equipment is bought through Guin International, the lar, what are the world's largest [00:15:00] electrical, you know, ~um, ~you know, fulfillment houses, right?

[00:15:03] And they, anything with a plug in it gotta go through a, through Govan. Well, where's Govan? Well, they're back over by the steel plant. Okay, well, who do I talk to get back in the car? We drive over there, right? And through a series of meetings over the period of 24 hours, we saw so many people. My head was spinning and we got the 500, 000 deal, right?

[00:15:22] We got every single piece of equipment and then some. And I mean, because while we were there, we were learning more and we were adding bits and pieces on right? And I think it was like 550 grand. And I mean, It taught me, you know, of, you know, about finding the right guy, like getting to the right guy. And,~ um,~ and a lot of people are like, you know, well, what did you do when you found out that it was Toshiba?

[00:15:46] Oh, well, I sent him an email and I go, okay, what did he say? He goes, well. And no, I said I called him. I called the guy. There's a story, right? That I tell sometimes, like, I called the guy at Toshiba. Well, what did he say? Well, he didn't answer. I left him a [00:16:00] voicemail. Oh, okay. Well, what'd you do that next? Well, I sent him an email. And so, okay, well, what'd you say in the email? I said this and this. Okay, well, what did he say to that? He didn't reply yet. And I'm like, okay, so you got a 500, 000 deal. You call, you phone, the guy left the voicemail. He didn't phone you back and send an email and he hasn't written you back. So basically you haven't done anything like, and so you got to get in front of the guy.

[00:16:23] Right. And,~ um,~ and so many people nowadays, Oh, well I sent him a quote. I mean, I'm just waiting to hear.

[00:16:28] Chaz Wolfe: Yep.

[00:16:29] Glenn Poulos: And,~ uh,~ trust me, the guy he's buying from, he's on the phone with that guy three times a day, measuring the size and the widths will fit the whole, you know, how much power does it need? Is it got enough memory, whatever, right?

[00:16:41] Like. You know, we've all been there, you know, when you're when you're shopping for a new car, you know, you know, you know, you're peppering the questions to the guy at the Mercedes dealership, you know, not the guy at Audi, right? Unless you want to buy an Audi, and then you're peppering that guy with the questions, right?

[00:16:57] And the Audi guy is just waiting for [00:17:00] his order thinking, you know, and,~ um,~ so.

[00:17:02] Chaz Wolfe: That's incredible of persistence. I was actually reading some information about you and you kind of, from an early age, we're kind of known for your persistence. Do you think that that, I mean, you said you learned a bunch in that scenario and I'm going to come back to that. ~Um, ~but just you as an individual, why do you think that kind of like.

[00:17:18] You know, dog on meat truck, not going to let, you're not going to let go until I get what I want. Is that just always in you? Was that developed as a kid? Like how, where did that come from?

[00:17:27] Glenn Poulos: so, so the one thing I have is this, like, uncanny need to always want to be honest, right? When someone asks me the question, I always want to give them the actual, like, real honest answer, not the, you know, and so the real answer is, is that because Fundamentally, when it comes to sales and stuff, I,~ um,~ you know, I truly, I firmly believe that most things are people are motivated by fear and greed, right?

[00:17:52] And so, and I have this, like, innate fear of being poor. And so from a young time that I was a kid, I was [00:18:00] always clamoring to try to make money to avoid poverty, right? And it's just this poverty aversion, right? And, and, you know, ~um, ~and I've had lots of setbacks that, you know, that, that come out in a lot of the stories I've told in the book and all that and whatever, and, and, but you'll see that there was no, You know, I cried for a couple of days, but then boom, the next day I was back up and running because poverty avoidance, right?

[00:18:24] I just, you know, and I just, it's just, it's just in me and,~ um,~ you know, and,~ uh, uh, ~one of my other jokes is it's like, well, why don't you eat craft dinner? Right. And I don't know if you know what craft dinner is like macaroni and cheese in a box. Right. And,~ um,~ in Canada, we call it craft dinner. And,~ uh,~ the,~ uh,~ it's because it makes me feel poor, like. Like, that's why I don't eat it. Right. And, and so, and,~ um,~ Yeah.

[00:18:47] and so I, I've just always, you know, And the other thing is like this,~ uh,~ you know, the difference is so many people, Oh, I want to start my own business and I want to do this. And I'm like, okay, but Oh, then what happened is, you know, failure to launch, [00:19:00] right?

[00:19:00] Like they won't take that last step. And I'm like, dude, just quit your job and, and start because leading up to the moment where you walk out the door from your nine to five, Your work, you're worrying, you know, you're what's happening is, is that fear is kicking in about, well, if I quit, I'm gonna lose my benefits.

[00:19:17] I'm not gonna lose my paycheck. And what's my wife going to think? And will I be successful? And you have all these fear things, right? But the moment you leave all that goes away and then it's like, Oh my God, now I'm scared about being unsuccessful and you'll do anything to avoid failing. Right? And so, and you're just, your, your instincts just kick in.

[00:19:38] Right? But so many people get stuck at that last minute. Right?

[00:19:42] Chaz Wolfe: yeah.

[00:19:42] Glenn Poulos: And that's why I'm like, take, you know, take that step, you know, and,~ um,~ and, and that's been one of the best things that I've always been, you know, gifted with is that ability to take that step and,~ um,~ you know, and launch that next thing. So many of them are obviously, you know, they're not all successful [00:20:00] and,~ um,~ through everyone you do, you create an opportunity.

[00:20:03] ~Um, ~you know that it will be successful or will be kind of a home run and the more you do for yourself, the more leverage you build for yourself. Right? So, like, just going and getting a better job for 20 K more doesn't create leverage for yourself. It just creates a higher tax bracket and 200 bucks a week net in your pocket, which your wife spends, you know, before you've even gotten the race.

[00:20:23] Right? And,~ um,~ but by starting your own business, you create leverage Which can, you can 1x, 5x, 10x your, you know, ~uh, ~your wealth through the creation of,~ uh,~ you know, of your business and by leveraging your business and what it does and the people that work in it.

[00:20:38] Chaz Wolfe: yeah.

[00:20:38] Glenn Poulos: ~um, ~Yeah,

[00:20:39] Chaz Wolfe: that persistence piece is just so incredible. I love how you gave that, that, that little journey there, you know, of the backdrop, the, the moment where you had to, you know, walk over to Toshiba or drive over and then, and then back to the other plant and back, back and forth. Was there ever a moment where you didn't think that you would get it?

[00:20:57] Or was that just like, Oh, this is just the next thing we got to go get it. And we got to go [00:21:00] get it now.

[00:21:02] Glenn Poulos: so,~ uh, ~well, throughout the process, I had this, I realized that there was an incumbent that had it locked, right? And so it was kind of like it was the feeling was more like, Oh, my God, I think we're gonna actually get this. But they're locked in. We have to, you know, we're not one yet. We haven't won yet.

[00:21:19] Chaz Wolfe: to keep going.

[00:21:20] Glenn Poulos: And so that was kind of the feeling that we're experiencing.

[00:21:24] But every time we got through the door, we, you know, and they they all, you know, it doesn't always work this way. But I mean, none of them like kicked us out or said, I can't see you come back in a month or like everyone was they're building a steel mill for God's sakes, right? They got stuff to do. And so We were there, they talked to us, we got what we needed, and every time we sort of checked the box, it was exhilarating, right, and it's like, oh my god, we could actually turn them around, and throughout all these questions.

[00:21:51] You know, ~uh, ~why you said for me, it was so proud of it was that I had, I had determined a bunch of sort of like technical idiosyncrasies [00:22:00] that the original proposal couldn't address because it was basically like, you know, paper technology versus digital technology and high, you know, analog versus digital and high speed versus, you know, ~uh, ~low speed stuff and whatever.

[00:22:12] And I was, I was, I was learning how things were being measured and, There were like,~ um,~ you know, I was coming up with sort of killer apps for these guys and they couldn't, they couldn't ignore it. And in the end, that's why they gave us the whole deal. Right. And,~ uh,~ and so that's what I was most proud of was the ability to take what I was learning, find out more and create even more,~ uh,~ you know, ~uh, ~reasons for them to compelling reasons for them to, to want to go to the next step.

[00:22:36] Right.

[00:22:37] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. I love that. There's, there's a book I've been trying to rack my brain for the, for the title. ~Uh, ~my editor's gonna have to put it right here or something, but it, it talks about this blue vase mentality and, and the story it's a, it's a, it's a nonfiction story. ~Um, ~or it's a fiction story about. Someone who's trying to get after this blue vase and,~ um,~ and, and he literally does not stop at anything throughout this entire story until he [00:23:00] achieves this blue vase or, or gets it.

[00:23:02] And,~ um,~ and so when I read this as a, as a, I don't know, probably 20, 21 year old, there was a couple of guys that I knew that we were reading this book. And, and so we kind of adopted this phrase, this, this blue vase mentality, which is everything you just described is like, no, no, no. I don't have it yet. I can't stop there.

[00:23:17] It's not a choice. It's not an option. I'm not going to send it. Okay, fine. If you want to send me an email, great. I'll send you, send you the email. I'll make the phone call, but then I'm going to send another email and a phone call. And then I'm going to go

[00:23:25] Glenn Poulos: Yes,

[00:23:26] Chaz Wolfe: then I'm going to call somebody else.

[00:23:27] And then I'm going to email somebody else. And then I'm going to, you know,

[00:23:30] Glenn Poulos: Is that the go getter by

[00:23:31] Chaz Wolfe: Oh yes. Yes. There you go. Yes.

[00:23:34] Glenn Poulos: Yeah,

[00:23:34] Chaz Wolfe: The go getter. What a great book and written.

[00:23:36] Glenn Poulos: I knew that because chat GPT told me

[00:23:39] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, there you go. That's awesome.

[00:23:41] Glenn Poulos: because I use chat GPT for everything

[00:23:43] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. And actually,~ uh,~ and, and, and,~ uh,~ the producers in the background,~ uh,~ she's blue vase and maybe I had to write the blue vase.

[00:23:49] ~Um, ~Yeah, that's good stuff. There's, there's several of those types of, of mindset,~ uh,~ books written so long ago. That principle of, you know, like I said, dog on meat truck. Like [00:24:00] there's just zero chance you're going to shake him. ~Um,~

[00:24:02] Glenn Poulos: Yeah. And that's it. yeah,

[00:24:03] And that's exactly the way I sort of treat things. And of course, you know, shamelessly plugging my book, you know, ~uh, ~you know, 57, you know, never sit in the lobby and 57 tips. Right. And,~ uh,~ the, you know, that's what it's all about. Right. It's like, you know, for when he asked for a quote, Show up the next day with the quote in your hand.

[00:24:21] He's like, well, you asked for a quote. I'm here. Here's your quote, right? You know, and, and then can I have a tour? Like, give me a tour of the building. Right. And, and,~ um,~ there's so many things. And then, you know, ~uh, ~when I'm, when I'm with a customer, I always sort of know the next time I'm going to see the customer because I try to set it while I'm there.

[00:24:36] Right. Like whatever, whatever's appropriate, right? Like if we're in the middle of a sale or whatever, they're like, Oh, like, you know, Drop me off the technical bulletins or send me a PDF of those technical bullets. I've said, well, you know, I'm in here seeing Sally in two days. Why don't I just drop it off?

[00:24:51] It's like, oh, well, if you're here, you can drop it off. Right. I mean, I wasn't, but now you know, now I will be, now I am right. And [00:25:00] so. Yeah. You know, which is, which is why I'm always joking people about, well, what, what days do you, what days do you,~ uh,~ you know, work from the office, like getting your, your schedule organized?

[00:25:11] And I'm like, and they're like, oh, well, usually, usually I spend like Fridays and sometimes Mondays in the office. And I'm like, oh, so you have a 40 weekend. And they're like, what are you talking about? And I'm like, well, you're going from Thursday to Tuesday before you made another sales call. Right? Like.

[00:25:29] If you set it up correctly. Your week should be pretty much planned. And I mean, the office would be stops along the way you can go to the office, but it's in between meetings that you've already set. You shouldn't have to be sitting there dialing for dollars. Like 80 percent of what you're doing should be sort of preordained from things that you were already doing, or you're losing opportunity. right.

[00:25:50] And,~ um,~ yeah, so.

[00:25:51] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. That little tidbit right there. I hope the listener didn't pass over that. Thinking that that was just a good sales tip as an entrepreneur. If you don't sit down and design [00:26:00] your week, right. And you're just in the midst of just reactionary all week long, then nothing ever, ever gets done actually. ~Um, ~

[00:26:07] Glenn Poulos: Waiting for their email to tell them what to do next.

[00:26:10] Chaz Wolfe: yeah, waiting, waiting for their, their to do list basically.

[00:26:12] And so, well, wait a second, who's the entrepreneur, who's the risk taker, who's the one that's leading the charge here. And so,~ um,~ Glenn, actually, I appreciate you, you,~ uh,~ transitioning us to, to your book. I was going to ask you about that next anyway, but first off, I got to ask you about the title. I love the title.

[00:26:26] Never sit in the lobby. Tell us, how did you, why, why does that, why is that applicable to the content inside? Yeah,

[00:26:34] Glenn Poulos: yeah, so the story is like, first of all, that wasn't the title that I picked, right? Because I'm a genius and I came up with this great title and the editor said that sucks and that title will never work. And I'm like, oh, okay.

[00:26:44] well, what do you suggest? And, and she said, well, how about why don't you pick the never sit in the lobby, which is one of the main chapters, right?

[00:26:51] And,~ um,~ Yeah. It's not one of the main, but it's one of the chapters at the beginning during this huge alliteration of, of, of rules that come out like very quickly. And one of [00:27:00] them is never sit in the lobby. Right. And they're like. Oh, and they're like, well, should I sit in my car? And I'm like, you know, or, and I'm like, no, dude, like show up on time.

[00:27:10] And when you're in the lobby, be standing up. Right. And, and,~ um,~ and then I'm like, well, why? And I'm like, well, because when you sit in the lobby, then you pull out your phone, right? When you pull out your phone, you're looking at your phone, you know, you got your head down, customer comes in, he's six foot four buyer, you know, that you've been waiting to see, you know, you're sitting down crouching over your phone, you know, telling the wife, you'll, you'll bring the milk and.

[00:27:32] Don't worry, honey, right? And this is Are you Glenn?! And I'm like, looking up and there's this guy who's four feet above me and I have to raise myself up to him and, you know, dis distract myself from my phone or the magazine or whatever. So, when I'm in the lobby, I'm not on my phone. I'm not staring at stuff on their wall.

[00:27:50] I'm literally just standing There waiting. Right? And so I don't show up super early because I don't want to stand around. So, I'm one or two minutes and then I [00:28:00] just,~ um,~ you know, manage myself to be standing and waiting. And when he walks out. Boom. And then I have my second rule that kicks in right away, which is always have something in your hand and something in your mind.

[00:28:10] Right. And so, ~uh, ~so you have something to give him and something to discuss with the person. Right. And so, but that's where the never sit in the lobby came from. And,~ um,~ yeah, and yeah,

[00:28:21] Chaz Wolfe: No, it's, it's, it's super good as you were saying it,~ uh,~ I was, I had pictured myself years ago. ~Um, ~and I had flown across the country,~ uh,~ to do this kind of unique,~ uh,~ interview type scenario. And even I wasn't the person doing a sales call in the example that you just gave, but I guess I kind of was, I was selling myself, you know, in an interview, it was a, it was a, an opportunity to become a partner in a, in an agency.

[00:28:43] And, and I did the same thing. ~Um, ~I showed up a few minutes before one or two that would probably. get my heart ticking a little bit if I was only one or two minutes early. But, you know, 10, 15, nothing, nothing too crazy. But, but I stood and ~uh, ~they're like, Oh, you can just have a seat right here. I'm like, okay, if you're okay with me standing, I'm going to stand.

[00:28:59] ~Um, ~partially just [00:29:00] because if I sat, I think my leg would shake. You know, just be so, so ready, but

[00:29:05] Glenn Poulos: Exactly.

[00:29:07] Hey Kings and Queens, Chaz Wolf. I want to talk to you about something that's super important to me. We put a lot of time and effort, we meaning myself and my team into this podcast, into the content that goes out every single day. And if you have been getting any sort of value or insight from this, we want it to be able to reach other business owners too.

[00:29:25] So we would love if you would like comment, share, leave a review, post, share again, all of the things. On social media, on all the different platforms, or even on the podcast mediums of Apple and Spotify. We would love to be able to get our content into more hands, more entrepreneurs, so they can grow their business as quick as possible.

[00:29:44] Together, we are building a community of like minded entrepreneurs who are committed to growing their businesses to new heights. So let's do this. Let's help each other grow.

[00:29:54] Chaz Wolfe: what you've just described as posture, what you've just described as a mindset, what you've just described is, is a [00:30:00] readiness, you know, talk, talk a little bit more about what that does for this, you know, the sales opportunity, the interview, the, you know, whatever meeting you're about to have.

[00:30:10] From the posture, mindset, you know, readiness

[00:30:13] Glenn Poulos: Yeah. I mean, it's, it's just, it's just all about, you know, it's all about building and maintaining rapport and, and,~ uh,~ in a, in a, in a sort of,~ uh,~ authentic way. Right? So, and there's a lot of like tips and stories, and some of them are funny and some of them are, are horror, horror filled about, you know, ~um.~

[00:30:31] Building and maintaining or losing rapport, right? And so, and one of them, I

[00:30:36] I mean, I sort of repeating myself a little bit, but I mean, standing up that that one's a real drag when you have to sort of rise yourself up to the person and, and I'm not very tall, right? I'm only 5 foot 6, right? So I don't have a height advantage to begin with.

[00:30:50] So I'm kind of want to be on my tippy toes, let alone standing. Right? But,~ um,~ you know, when someone significantly taller than you, so. Cool. ~Um, ~you know, it just, it just shows that you're ready. And then [00:31:00] by, you know, again, the rules are, I put the rules in place in order to give me a guidebook on how to maintain rapport, right?

[00:31:07] And so that's why I always have something in my hand and I always have something in my mind, right? In other words, sometimes I have like a new baseball cap or a mouse pad that we're giving away, and I want to tell them about a new product or something, you know, sometimes they've asked for a quote, which I'm delivering and I want to get their, I want them to open that.

[00:31:26] Folder and have a quick look at the thing. That's what's in my mind, right? And then in order to maintain, you know, sort of,~ uh, ~again, like I say, rapport with the situation, right? Then I have this other little trick that I always use called always ask for a mini tour, right? And people are like, what, you know, what's a mini tour, right?

[00:31:45] And I'm like, well, it's a tour that's mini, right? It's not, it doesn't take all day. And right. It's just

[00:31:51] Chaz Wolfe: me the, the,

[00:31:52] Glenn Poulos: you show me the, office? Can you show me the, warehouse? Can you show me the production line? Can you show me the parking lot? Can you show me the addition that you're putting on? Whatever it [00:32:00] is you're there for, whatever you sell, you've got to get to where he's using it.

[00:32:03] Because what's going to happen is you're going to get there and you're going to realize they have nine of your competitor's boxes already there. And you're the guy that's been invited in to keep that guy honest. And then you can figure that out right away.

[00:32:18] Chaz Wolfe: yes,

[00:32:19] Glenn Poulos: then you can again, maintain rapport by figuring out how to go.

[00:32:21] Or maybe you realize that, Hey, it's an open, it's a blank slate. There's nothing here. There isn't anything, or you can look down and realize that everyone's wearing t shirts from your number one competitor and they got coffee mugs and, you know, and mouse pads on their desk from them too. And you're like, Oh, geez.

[00:32:36] Okay. I got an issue here. And then you go, do you have a contract with, with ACME distributing or whatever, I see them everywhere. And,~ uh,~ are you a division of them or ha ha, you know, whatever. And you can, and, and so. you know, ~um, ~but you would never get that unless you got behind that wall of the front end.

[00:32:52] Right. And again, you know, and one of the other ones while you're on the way to the tour is the, my rule of never forget a [00:33:00] face. Right. So when you're waiting for your time, that's why I always tell people if you're more, you know, show up two minutes early, if you're 10 minutes early, wait in the car, pull out your phone, go to the CRM and bring up the name of everyone at that company you've ever met.

[00:33:14] And re remember their face, re remember their face because remembering takes time, right? So you want to do that while you're in the car. That way, when you get to the lobby, something in your hand, something in your mind, shake their hand, you're standing up, can I have a mini tour? yes.

[00:33:30] walking back, guess who walks by you?

[00:33:32] Six of the people that you've already met at that company, and you're instantly, hey, Bob, Sally, Jack, Bob, George, right? You can, you can say hello to them, they're like, oh, who's that guy? Oh, right, that's Glenn, right? Oh my God, Yeah, he's always so, he's such a pleasure to do business with, right? And what's worse, you know, is that soccer moment I call where you're at your kid's soccer game.

[00:33:52] And this couple walks up to you and they're like, Oh, Glenn, it's so great to see you. And how's Billy and Bobby doing? And they know your kids and the ages and [00:34:00] how they're doing in school. And you don't even know who they are. Right? Like you can't remember their name. Right. And, and eventually your face gives it away.

[00:34:07] And guess what? That breaks rapport. Right. And so that's how I mean, you know, and these are all tricks that I learned in order to maintain. Like I, for the, you know, I keep saying that word rapport, but the rapport is sort of like, you know, ~uh, ~a stature of,~ uh,~ of,~ uh,~ confidence that I can build upon. Right.

[00:34:26] And, and, you know, I never want to be a nuisance. I always want to be a pleasure to do business with, I always know when it's the right time to leave. ~Um, ~and you know, the thing I always love to share with people as well is. You know, I'd rather be last than second. Right. And so, and they're like, what does that mean?

[00:34:46] And I'm like, well, second is just the First,

[00:34:47] loser, right? And I said, but he don't get, he doesn't get any prize, right? He gets the steak knives and everyone else gets fired. If you've ever seen Glen Gary, Glen Ross, right? Only the winner gets the Cadillac. Right. And,~ uh,~ and [00:35:00] so when I realize at any point in the cycle that it's unequivocal that I can't win the order.

[00:35:07] If I realize that moment has come, then I will graciously excuse myself as fast as possible in the most polite and professional manner and race myself to the next deal while that guy is staying there winning that order because I know he's going to win it and he can't be in two places at one time. So my number one objective is to find a new opportunity.

[00:35:28] That he doesn't know about or the group of collective of people that are battling it out. Right? A lot of times, salesmen are like, oh, let's fly guys in from the factory and give them the big dog and pony show. Or let's fly them to the factory and give them a tour. And, you know, that's not how the deals are won.

[00:35:44] Those are things you do after you've won the deal and. You know, ~um, ~and so I like to lose quickly, right. And, and re redeploy my assets as fast as possible.

[00:35:55] Chaz Wolfe: yeah, I think there's, there's a, there's a prudency in that of just first off being self [00:36:00] aware enough to know when the deal is, is over. And, ~uh. ~I've seen that happen. And actually you said it a few minutes ago, you said, I don't, I never want to be an annoyance. I want to be always to be a pleasure to do business with.

[00:36:09] And that that's that gray, you know, where you cross over to annoyance is like the decisions probably already been made, whether it's obvious or not, you, you, as one of the sales folks or the competitors,~ uh,~ should be paying attention, should be in tune enough to know that the official decision has been made, but I can clearly see the writing on the wall.

[00:36:28] Let me back out. Let me go take advantage of a different opportunity. I love that.

[00:36:32] Glenn Poulos: Yeah. Yeah, The,~ um,~ there's a really good story in the book that I, that I've never sold tow motors, but I refer to them a lot, but you mean like forklifts, you know, that are in a, in a warehouse, right. Some people call them tow motors. Some people call them forklifts, but the, the, ~um. ~You know, and I won't tell you the whole story, but I'll just sort of the beginning in the end, which is basically you call the CEO, right?

[00:36:52] And I've done this with my equipment, right? But with the forklift was more universally something people could relate to, right? Call the CEO. And it's [00:37:00] like, Hey, I, you know. I heard your, your, you guys were buying some new forklifts for the warehouse expansion and you know, we have the new battery operated ones.

[00:37:08] I thought you'd be, you know, really compelled to say, I'm not, I got nothing to do with forklifts. What are you talking about, Glenn? You know, my vice president of warehousing takes care of all that. And I'm like, Oh, is that Jack? And no, it's Paul, right? No. Okay, fine. Let me call Paul. It's like. Hey, Paul, I was just on the phone with the CEO and he said, I needed to get ahold of you to go over this, this tow motor stuff.

[00:37:29] Right? And, and he's like, I don't do the tow motors. You know, the director of warehousing is, you know, he's, he's, you know, whatever, some other guy. Right? And, and then he puts me down and before you know it, I've gone 6 levels down to the, the floor, the foreman. You know, who manages the tow truck driver, the tow motor drivers and then, but at any point in that, I, I know, I know where like financially it's 120, 000 tow motor in this company, the VP is going to sign off, but [00:38:00] at this company, the CEO is going to sign off on it.

[00:38:02] And so when I'm doing the demo and I'm there and I'm showing them that I'm bigger, faster, wider, deeper, 20 percent cheaper or whatever, that's what I call the CEO again. And I say, Hey, you know, Larry. You guys are blown away at this tow motor. I know this is going to hit your desk. You need to come down here.

[00:38:17] Two minutes. It's all I asked for. Come and have a look at this tow motor. And before you know it, the CEO is in the warehouse checking that thing out. And now that's how you break from them buying all their tow motors from Toyota. Right. And,~ uh,~ and so, and I use, I've used that always start as high as you possibly can and work your way down as low as you need to go so that you can go back anywhere in that stack without having to ask for permission.

[00:38:44] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, you've got their connection in the name and a, and a, and some rapport. ~Um, ~yeah, you're dropping fire. ~Uh, ~Glenn, I hope the listener is paying attention. I mean, I've been in sales a long, long time and,~ uh,~ some of the things that you're saying are, are just super quality,~ uh,~ tactics. I love it. What would you say kind of switching gears here on you a little bit, but [00:39:00] you've had, you've had a lot of success in the two businesses that you've launched.

[00:39:03] Obviously all the individual. ~Uh, ~accolades and even just the sales stuff in between that you've kind of given us some, some tidbits on what do you think that success, what impact has that had on your family?

[00:39:16] Glenn Poulos: ~Um, ~well, a few of them got jobs at some of my companies, so that's a pretty positive impact and some of them have come to work at the companies and then gone on with those skills. A lot of them in sales, but to work at better suited companies to their particular niche. And, and,~ um,~ and so that's been, you know, very good.

[00:39:33] And,~ um,~ you know, ~uh, ~the,~ um,~ the sale of the first company did not go as smooth as I had hoped. And I needed to sort of, let's just say I needed to build a second company. And,~ um,~ and so, but the sale of the second company sort of allowed me to. Sort of do anything, not nothing, but anything I wanted to do at that point.

[00:39:49] Right? And,~ um,~ and so, you know, it's provided a little bit of freedom and,~ um,~ you know, some of that stuff, but, you know, I'm not really motivated by like bigger boats and nicer [00:40:00] cars or things like that, but there are some, you know, experiences and things like that. We've been able to,~ uh,~ enjoy and stuff like that, but also.

[00:40:08] There's like, you know, in the last company, I sold the 70 people that were, you know, have all done well. Many of them have bought houses and things like that. So the extended family is of all done very, very well. ~Um, ~you know, and been able to, you know, sort of from the ground up, create things like profit sharing plans that were unique to,~ um,~ You know, to a lot of people that I've spoken to and the way they're, they're deployed and sharing of the wealth and stuff like that, which is provided with me with a lot of,~ um,~ you know, sort of just good feelings about not just, not just lining my own pockets, if I could say it that way. those are some of some of the great things. ~Um, ~yeah.

[00:40:48] Chaz Wolfe: for you and your family as you were building a company, selling it, not going the way that you had hoped having to build a second company? What was the difficult part of that, you know, kind of behind closed doors for you and, and [00:41:00] for your family having to do, do that together.

[00:41:02] Glenn Poulos: Yeah. So I guess probably the biggest challenge is how much time I had to spend away from the family, not being there. Right. And,~ um,~ the, you know, that that's probably the number one, right? Is the times you get to miss sort of the, you know, the, the dance recitals and the hockey games. Right. And,~ um,~ you know, it's sort of looking back on,~ um,~ I can remember times when I would have been, yeah.

[00:41:26] My kid was scoring a goal and I was on my phone. Right. And,~ um,~ you know, the time delay of like the, the goal goes off of my face was down and you can't, you can't make up for that, that few microseconds where your kid realizes you didn't see the goal and you saw your phone and then you looked up and you're like, Oh yeah, but like, those are, those are costly moments.

[00:41:44] And,~ um,~ and you don't get those kinds of, you really don't get a second chance at those things. Right. Cause,~ uh,~ those, those days go by really quickly. Right. So,

[00:41:52] Chaz Wolfe: you say to the listener right now? You know, he or she, they're building a business and, and maybe they, they, what you just said was like, Oh, right. A [00:42:00] dagger. Right. And they're like, Oh man, I do that. You know, where I look up and I've just missed a moment or maybe I wasn't there. What would you say to the younger Glenn or the person listening right now that maybe is in that position right now that they can adjust?

[00:42:11] How, how could they, should they adjust?

[00:42:14] Glenn Poulos: Yeah. I mean, and I'm not a super expert at doing it myself, but what, you know, what I have to keep trying to tell myself and my ego that driving everything is that, you know, if it's Sunday night at seven o'clock and, you know, like, there's really no one that needs to get ahold of you at that time. So. Just put the phone on do not disturb for an hour.

[00:42:33] You know what I mean? Like everything can wait, right? And force force scenarios where other things can can take up that space, right? Put it up, put the phone down, put it away, you know, leave it in the car when you're in the arena, those kind of things, right? And allow those moments to,~ um,~ you know, to happen naturally, you know, the way they have for thousands of years before the cell phone, right.

[00:42:53] And,~ uh, um, ~so, Yeah.

[00:42:55] because, you know, yeah. Yeah, half the time we're glancing at our phone. We're just doing it out of [00:43:00] habit. Right. And,~ um,~ but also, you know, I didn't make this one up. Right. But they,~ uh,~ the whole idea of 18 summers or whatever you get with your kids. Right. That's all you get. So you're gonna buy a boat.

[00:43:13] You got to buy it when they're young enough to go. We'll want to go water skiing. Right? Once they hit 16 or whatever, they got a boyfriend or a girlfriend. They may or may not want to bring that person to go water skiing once in a while, but they don't want to come to the cottage every weekend. Right?

[00:43:26] Like you got to, you got to make that stuff in the sweet spots. Right? And,~ um,~ Yeah. I mean, but it's, it's, it's difficult, especially if you're, you know, an entrepreneur, you're building the business, you might be needed and it's hard to balance the time and space, but, but,~ um,~ you know, you know, you're not gonna, you know, the old saying, right?

[00:43:46] You're not going to wish you spent more time on your cell phone when you're on your deathbed. Right? So,

[00:43:51] Chaz Wolfe: No, I think you hit it right on the nail. I mean, I think even for myself looking back at, at, you know, my almost 15 years of entrepreneurship and building multiple companies and selling [00:44:00] some, and you know, it's like the, the need to be needed that you kind of just described, you know, you recognize it it's seven o'clock on Sunday.

[00:44:10] No one needs to reach me. That same philosophy. Can actually be pretty much any other time also, you know,~ um,~ I think that that's where the challenge for me, I've, I continue to challenge myself in that area of going, you know, where, you know, before it was, you know, multiple locations of a business and, and maybe things, bad things can happen.

[00:44:32] And I have to be, I have to be,~ uh,~ you know, responsive right away. And, and,~ uh,~ and then I remember taking my first elk hunt. ~Uh, ~and leaving for two weeks and checking out completely because I had no cell phone service.

[00:44:41] Glenn Poulos: right.

[00:44:43] Chaz Wolfe: And I realized pretty quick that like, I started like going the Rolodex thing and like, well, what if this happens?

[00:44:47] What if this happens?

[00:44:48] Glenn Poulos: yeah,

[00:44:49] Chaz Wolfe: they're well, for the real bad stuff, they're going to call 911. You know,

[00:44:53] Glenn Poulos: yeah,

[00:44:54] Chaz Wolfe: do anyway. And for the other stuff, you know what? Now, technically they would either figure it [00:45:00] out or when I got back, we'd be good. You will handle it then. And that, that kind of shift,~ um,~ you know, along with what you're saying, I think has, you know, I wasn't, I wasn't perfect overnight, you know, 12, 13 years ago when I started out cutting, but it's been a journey over these last, you know, 10, 11, 12 years of going, okay, what does that mean to be, you know, three o'clock on a Monday afternoon and taking my daughter on a daddy daughter date night.

[00:45:25] And going, Whoa,

[00:45:27] Glenn Poulos: yeah,

[00:45:28] Chaz Wolfe: I feel like I should be needed somewhere. Guess what? I am right

[00:45:32] Glenn Poulos: Yeah. With your daughter. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, and you said, bring it into the day, like, one of the ways I do that. And so it could be 7 o'clock on Sunday, but the way I do it in the daytime, like, in my office, a lot of. A lot of what I do now is sort of triaging problems for other people, right?

[00:45:50] Like they come to me and the old door, my door needs to be always open unless I'm with someone has to be close kind of thing. And because that's my role is to is to support all [00:46:00] the managers and and things like that. Right. And so one thing I learned, I don't know where I learned it, but a while back I learned and I've used it ever since.

[00:46:08] So. On my desk, right? I have the front of my desk block, so you can't sit in front of my desk and I've moved the chairs beside my desk. Like the chair is right here, beside me. You can probably see it, right? And so when someone comes in to meet with me, they have to sit beside me and I just, I just hit windows M and it basically, it causes all my monitors to go to the blank screen. right And I take my cell phone and I tip it down and then I turn my chair. Okay. And I'm kind of exposing myself. I don't have the vanity protection of the desk, right? Which is not, you know, that's not to be discounted how sometimes it's, there's sort of a sense of vulnerability now when you're just sort of.

[00:46:51] face to face with someone, I know how much of a difference it makes in the interaction with the people. And I don't, I'm not like, Oh, [00:47:00] let me just check my phone and there's a beep and there's a tangle here. and this and that and whatever, like when I'm helping them with their problem, I'm focusing on them.

[00:47:07] The screens are quieted and they're kind of involved. They can see my screens too. Right. And I don't know why it helps. But it, It's it's been a game changer for me. So

[00:47:19] Chaz Wolfe: it just shows them that you're engaged. ~Um, ~I remember my first,~ uh,~ management opportunity. ~Um, ~And it was a cubicle type environment. So there was no office per se, but,~ um,~ I had this raised desk and I, and I kind of see my team and we were, you know, pretty,~ um,~ high, high paced environment. And, you know, someone would come up,~ uh,~ to ask a question.

[00:47:36] And before I made this adjustment, I would just. You know, eyes on the screen, eyes on the, you know, hands on the keyboard and just keep, keep moving. ~Um, ~but I learned just very similar to you that I would stop what I was doing. I would actually put my hands underneath my, my thighs, like sitting on them on my chair and I would turn and face them.

[00:47:55] And that power that you just described is real. ~Um, ~so I would definitely suggest that the listener pays [00:48:00] attention.~ Um, ~I want to ask you one last question here. ~Um, ~Glenn, the. I mean, you, you, you've shared us your, your greatest success. You've, you know, some of the challenges around the family. ~Um, ~if you could deposit one last little thing,~ uh,~ to the younger Glenn listening, would you give to them that maybe you had wished that you had had as far as knowledge, you know, all those years ago when you were first getting started?

[00:48:25] What would that be?

[00:48:27] Glenn Poulos: Well, yeah. And I learned it fairly early, so I was able to sort of self,~ uh,~ deploy it. And I'm not perfect at doing it, but this is the rule that I always share with people, like at the end that these kinds of discussions and stuff, and I love to share it and it's a bit of, you know, kind of some people scratch their heads a little bit, but, and it's the rule is you only get forever, make another impression.

[00:48:49] Right. And, and so people are like, what are you talking about? That's not what my mother said. My mother said, you got to make a good first impression. And I'm like, you're right. Your mom was a hundred percent right. But the, the problem is, is that [00:49:00] people begin to lose a sense of what each impression makes on people.

[00:49:05] And so when you're working in an environment and your boss is walking by you all the time, every time they walk by, you're actually making an impression. So you want to always use that time. To make the best impression so that you can advance your career and it, you know, and I mean, and for me, it's always worked.

[00:49:25] And how you put it into practice is when you hear the boss's footsteps or whatever, make sure you're not on facebook. You know what I mean? Like, don't even look at facebook when you're at work. If you can avoid it, don't alt tab as he's walking past your shoulder. You know what I mean? Like you want to hear what those footsteps down like when they're 30 ft away.

[00:49:44] And by the time him or her gets past your desk, yeah. Ask them a question. Hey boss, I'm working on this amazing proposal for such and such. Really excited. I wondered if you could give me a bit of background on the such and such or whatever. Like always be?

[00:49:56] doing that, right? When you're at a company trade show, right?

[00:49:59] Most [00:50:00] companies do trade shows. People go there. They, that's the, it's the best opportunity where they, most people screw up. Right. Because what happens is their feet gets sore. They want to walk away from the booth. They get distracted. They want to sit down and I tell everyone, look, find everyone for, you know, and that's when they bring in the VPs and the presidents from the divisions, you want to talk to every single one of those guys and say, Hey, why is your division?

[00:50:21] What makes you so, so great? What's so great about your, your product line? What's so great about this. And always, and when all that's done and you're done all that. And there's no one, no one in the booth go in the aisle and pull people in because the, the president and the VP, he's, they're going to notice that.

[00:50:36] And they're going to say, Hey man, when it comes to like getting it done, Glenn's your guy. And when they want to give a promotion to someone, they're going to pick you. And so that's how you, that's how you advance yourself is by figuring out how, who you have to outwork and outwork them. And,~ um,~ and you don't have to like overwork yourself.

[00:50:54] It just works smarter, right? And so always be making an impression because whether you like it or not, you [00:51:00] are making one. So make a good, make it a good one.

[00:51:02] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, I think that that advice,~ uh,~ could, could,~ uh,~ traverse over all areas, right? That could work in your marriage. That could work with your kids. That could work, you know? Yeah. Super healthy advice. Thank you, Glenn. I appreciate that. ~Um, ~I, we, we talked about your book. ~Um, ~I want, I want to give you just, you know, give us a quick second here.

[00:51:18] Where can they find the book? How can they purchase it? How can they connect with you? ~Um, ~we'll put it all in the show notes, but give us, give us a quick rundown of where they can find you.

[00:51:25] Glenn Poulos: So, ~uh, ~yeah, the books,~ uh,~ it's called Never Sit in the Lobby. My website's glenpools. com. you.

[00:51:30] can link to the book and everywhere there,~ uh,~ or just go to Amazon. And if you want to talk to me personally, LinkedIn is the best place to connect with me there. You'll see that I'm extremely active on LinkedIn on a daily basis and,~ uh,~ highly interacting with people.

[00:51:44] All the time. And so that's the best way to get ahold of me.

[00:51:47] Chaz Wolfe: I love it. Glenn, you're a rockstar. I appreciate you being here, given of yourself and just your history, your experience, blessings to you, your, your business, your team members, family, everybody that's going to be impacted by you in 2025. Thanks for being here, brother.

[00:51:59] Glenn Poulos: [00:52:00] Thank you. Thanks a lot for having me.

[00:52:02] Thank you for listening to driven to win. I hope that you were able to pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away. More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it takes more to be successful than just being by yourself, doing it all on your own, carrying the weight all by yourself.

[00:52:19] What I have realized, not only in my own journey from multiple businesses and multiple different industries, and now interviewing over two or 300. Other very successful seven, eight and nine figure business owners is that it's tough to do it alone. And so gathering the Kings exists to bring together successful entrepreneurs.

[00:52:37] In fact, we are putting together 1000 Kings specifically who are grateful, but not done. We're intentionally assembling Kings who fight tooth and nail for their business, family, and communities. And here's what we believe that in the pursuit of excellence in those areas. That it ignites within us, the responsibility to govern power and forge a [00:53:00] lasting legacy.

[00:53:01] So if that relates and resonates with you, and you know, that you need people around you, sharp, qualified, other very successful business owners. I want you to go to gatheringthekings. com. I want you to take a look at what we're doing and see if it makes sense for you to be part of our pursuit to 1000 Kings talk soon.