477 | The Core Values That Helped Me Build 650+ Winning Sales Teams | Ryan Groth
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00:00
Ryan Groth
Look, if you're building a team, you're in sales because you're selling people on action, taking action in a way that you know is best, in a way that's collaborative and your teammates are working together. So really recruiting is huge. Being able to recruit, attract the type of people you want representing you, it is amazing. Like, if you're a high performer and you see a sales leader, owner, and this person's not really competent or has a clear path, doesn't seem like they have any attributes that you aspire to have. You don't believe in where they're going, and, like, they don't have. Have a vision that's big. The high performer's not interested in you and your company. It's just a fact.
00:39
Chaz Wolfe
So, my man Ryan, were just in Phoenix, and we started a very interesting conversation. I watched a clip from a podcast that's hosted by four billionaires, and the clip was them just tearing apart the CEO of Starbucks. And he basically had said in this interview that he did that if something comes to him after 06:00 p.m. Unless it's just really important, it's just gonna have to wait because he's with his family to keep me away from the family.
01:16
Ryan Groth
Anybody who gets a minute of time after that better be sure that it's important, because if not, it'll just wait for another day. Holy.
01:23
Chaz Wolfe
I mean, retire, bruh.
01:24
Ryan Groth
Just retire.
01:26
Chaz Wolfe
And it actually was an interesting piece because the. The dynamic of these four billionaires talking about this, and basically, like, this is the CEO of Starbucks.
01:37
Ryan Groth
Like, he.
01:38
Chaz Wolfe
He can't have this. This balance. He's. It's just too big of a company. He has too big of a role. And he. And then they kind of went into this, like, idea of comfort inside of the workplace as opposed to this, like, performance workplace. And so I'm going to lead this into sales eventually, because obviously, this is what you do. And performance is very associated to sales. But for you, as a business owner, especially as a sales guy and someone who sees their family as an asset and a value, what do you think about that? But what he's doing and what do you do? And how do you know, how do you have this? Maybe this, you know, the balance that everybody likes to think of. Not a big word of the big fan of the word balance, but what's your perspective on that?
02:25
Chaz Wolfe
For you?
02:26
Ryan Groth
Yeah, for me, I just seen, you know, a path, a trail of really driven, successful business people. I've seen just a very large trail of unsuccessful families. So if I could, you know, and years ago, I saw. Remember Tai Lopez? You remember him? Oh, yeah.
02:45
Chaz Wolfe
He's still around.
02:46
Ryan Groth
He's still around? Yeah. I mean, he's doing different studies, like, you know, book an hour on my calendar, you know, like, on his ads. Anyway, I got his, like, his course, and it was really good. He compiled so many cool, like, ideas, and one of the things he talked about was finding mentors and, dude, just, like, taking the thing you really love about a mentor and just not having to say just because they're bad at something doesn't mean you throw the baby out of the bath water, like, take the thing you really like. And where I'm going with this is, like, I love business. I am passionate about it, and I love sales, and I'm passionate about it, but I'm also more passionate about my family. Like, I'm just not gonna sign up.
03:27
Ryan Groth
Just because someone so is passionate or successful in business and I like their success doesn't mean I'm gonna sign up for everything that they're saying. And as I'm carving my own path, I see a path less taken. But I am seeing success in men and who are having success with business and family. And so my perspective is, if I don't have success with my family, nothing matters. I can be the most successful business person on the planet, but who really cares if my family isn't happy? So nobody cares. I don't care. So I think that is. That's just, like, really, I got to check where my heart's motives are. What is my motivation? And then what am I truly bowing down to? Am I bowing down to the dollar? Am I bowing down to other people who can help influence the dollar?
04:19
Ryan Groth
Or am I bowing down to my. My God, you know, am I bowing down to Jesus and what his idea of. Of family and fathering looks like and husbandry looks like? So, at the end of the day, I have to choose, who am I going to bow my knee to? And I have wrestled with that. And so on my journey, I'm like, I don't care. I am not going to place my trust in these things that will influence business. I'm going to place my trust in my heavenly father, because he is ultimately going to take my path. He's going to drive us. He's going to take us somewhere. He has it all in his hands.
04:55
Ryan Groth
So, really, I'm learning how to be humble in that I don't have it all figured out, and I can't do anything all the time, and it's all going to work out better if I'm constantly working, because the belief is if I work more, we're more successful, and that's really important. And the fear is if I work less, I won't be successful. I mean, that's just if we. Brass tacks, it doesn't get more simpler than that.
05:18
Ryan Groth
So what I have to do is, at this point, what I've learned through trust and going through ups and downs is that I could be way more successful, abiding and trusting in God and walk in, loving my family and having unity and working as a team, marching forward in one accord and working less by making moves that I never would have made maybe if I was working my tail off the whole time. I mean, I've wrestled with this a ton, and at the end of the day, I'd rather work less but be in full one accord with my family and be bulletproof and be spiritually lined, and my wife and I are on fire, and we're loving it, and make moves from that place than to run really hard, crushing in business, and then try to reactively manage my family from that place.
06:10
Ryan Groth
It's just, I'm telling you, the guy, the first guy is going to win. Like, if you're looking at long term, what overall success looks like, and for me, overall success doesn't look like building the biggest, best brand in the world. There's a lot of people out there in the world, and I'm not going to fix everybody's problems. But what I sure as heck don't want to do is go on my own path. And so, for me, it's just a journey of humility. Walking with, you know, in lockstep with God, with my family, and then from that place, seeing that I can't take all the credit because I'm not doing all the work. So I look at my team, I look at all these other people that when people work there so hard on their own, they are very arrogant and credit takers.
06:57
Ryan Groth
They're like, look what I did. Look what I did. Because you did a lot of work. But when you start to go on a journey of, I'm limited, I'm only gonna. I'm gonna work within this frame, with this context, and you start to see the world improve in business around you because of others and because of circumstance, because of your family and their support and timing. You're not going to be as arrogant, and you're going to be very humble. And that's attractive. People like, it's not even about people. Just. It's just attractive in general. Humility is one of the rarest qualities. It's probably the one thing I've thought about for most, for ten years, and I'm still just starting to figure out what humility is, and I'm working on it, but that's a long. That's a longer discussion. But I think that.
07:39
Ryan Groth
I think that's kind of my answer to that. Like, you gotta go down your own path. There's a pretty bloody one on the one that, you know, the four billionaires are talking about. There's less traveled. And, you know, at the end of the day, who you bowing your knee to? And I'm not gonna sit there and close a million deals and look at my wife in the face, and she's basically pissed. A perma pissed faced. Like, I just don't want to live like that. Like, I've lived like that. I've done it. You know, it's not fun. I'm not interested in that. And if I had the lost it all, I'm paying child support, and I'm. I have somebody who just doesn't care how much I work, and they're just along for the ride, but I'm crushing it. I don't think I'm winning.
08:18
Ryan Groth
I think I've lost. Ain't going to happen.
08:20
Chaz Wolfe
So I see you running with intensity, and so I appreciate, you know, kind of the defining how that goes in the different areas of your life, you know, intensity or were just kind of talking about performance versus comfort in the workplace, and, you know, that deal with the CEO and stuff. What do you. In sales specifically? So, with Ryan, but Ryan, this is like Ryan's lane. Not only does he know sales, but he's trained probably thousands, maybe 10,000 plus salespeople across the country. Now, who knows? This is like his jam, and this is what he not just does professionally, but he's now an expert level. And so we're going to talk performance. We're going to talk sales. But this mindset that you just gave of kind of being intense or winning in all areas, how do you see that applying in sales?
09:07
Chaz Wolfe
Because you and I both know there's a lot of sales training out there that's like, you know, kind of like burn the bridges. You got to be all in. Like, forget the family, that maybe it'll say it exactly like that, but, you know, kind of like one singular focus. Build the pipeline, be obsessed. What's your initial thought based off the conversation? We were just having around you as a business owner.
09:26
Ryan Groth
So I'll speak to being a business owner who is selling and as a sale, a propensity to sell as an owner and then building, like, just more. More of my experience. I think that. And then this should apply to anybody who aspires to have a family in sales, too, more importantly, more than anything, because there are people who just don't even want a family. Totally. Fine, great. You could sell for me, too. I would love to have. Have you on my team because you give more hours. Right. But there's also, at the end of the day, like, there's an element of depends on what you're selling. But what we sell is a transformation. And part of what I found is that my brand and what builds trust is the total package. Like, who I am as a person is what's creating trust, credibility.
10:20
Ryan Groth
They respect me or not. So what I'm looking at is, what are any areas of my life that can cause somebody to say, I don't respect that or I'm not into that. And I think that there are people who are really good at creating lines in the sand and division and, like, getting, hey, you're all in on me or not on me. You love me or hate me. I'm not necessarily. I'm not necessarily one of those because, I don't know. I just. I just haven't found it being a mature thing to do that you can. It just depends on what battles you want to pick. And I'm just like, I don't know if it's worth it. So I would say, for example, when you are a better version of you, when you are a great husband, you're thoughtful, you're authentic, you're connected to yourself.
11:08
Ryan Groth
The spiritual component probably comes out here and there. And I share that often, and sometimes I don't. And it just depends. I would say that a lot of my audience, they're looking at me first and figure out, who am I before they're looking to buy, because they're saying, is this guy's culture what I want in my team? Do I want my sales reps looking at this person as somebody I'm saying is a mentor or nothing? And so you have a few different examples, right? You have really sharp, super slick, ultra aggressive, all in. And maybe they're really successful. They're flashy, they're flexing their. Their watches that they got or whatever it is. And maybe some people are like, I love that. And so now they're like, okay, I want my sales team like that. Or maybe it's their door to door outside.
12:02
Ryan Groth
Big commission checks, pictures, you know, a lot of, like, hype. You know, that's another version. Right? There's. But then they're cussing, like, a sailor. You hear about them doing stuff with strip clubs or, like, there's just a lot that goes with some of that culture, and then there's, like, there's just a different. There's a bunch of different kind of cultures and sales that you can create. And so I've found that, like, what I've done is, how do I craft an environment that kind of elevates all the things that I think are really important and emphasize those as part of the brand? And then underneath that, I'm delivering sales processes, time management, tangible skills, asking the right questions, managing your pipeline, knowing how to coach, like, overcoming objections.
12:47
Ryan Groth
All the things underneath that are important, and they need to line up with what you're trying to create at the top. But what I'm trying to do is, what I'm trying to say is, the better version you are of yourself, the more intelligent thought leadership, humble, well respected by peers. Other people praise you. You don't have to praise yourself. Other people are doing it for you. You don't have to self promote. You should to promote your services. But if your name gets circled around, what are people saying? And what, it's not just what everybody's saying. What are the people that matter saying? The people with influence and authority in their space. So I just think that those types of things really matter.
13:30
Ryan Groth
And, like, if I'm sitting there building a relationship with one of the most influential people in my space or my biggest client I've ever landed, and I'm having a meal with them, like, do they walk away feeling man Ryan or you as a salesperson, whoever it is, what I've been thinking is, are they walking away saying, man, Ryan, really? He's genuine. I could tell he really cares. Super cool, dude. I'd hang out with him if we didn't have, if we lived in the same town. I respect him. I love the way he's leading his life. I'm inspired, but I also don't feel like he's talking down to me. I want to be. I want to run with this guy. Like, this is the kind of guy I want to. I feel challenged, inspired, and I want to just get better.
14:12
Ryan Groth
This is the kind of guy I want to run with.
14:14
Chaz Wolfe
Yeah.
14:15
Ryan Groth
Like, you could do that without, like. Like, you could do that. Whatever you're selling, like. Like, that's a stat that right there. If you show up and you're selfish, you're salesy, too hot, you're too aggressive, you're all about, you like that stuff, you're not going to sell very well. So where I'm going with this is like who you are, what you're representing out in the marketplace as a human being does matter a lot. And I think a lot of people in sales cultures, they kind of throw that out and say that doesn't really matter. It's about volume, it's about obsessiveness. It's about closing and closing. And I'm like, look, I love the focus and the execution of intensity around sales activity, but like, if you are a crappy person, that's not going to help you.
15:04
Ryan Groth
As well as being an amazing person who is growth minded, has support, crushing it in life, and then you're emphasizing, you're putting your efforts in the right places. And if you do that from like, you're just going to be way better. And that's kind of what I've been trying to create as a brand is like transform who you are to the best version of yourself that you can be first and inside out, you're going to find that you're going to create a ton of value. And so that's just how I've built my career. And, you know, no one's perfect. I've made mistakes, you know, been gross grown too fast or didn't service the client way I should. I mean, there's things I've done wrong, but net, like the reputation is really important.
15:47
Ryan Groth
And if my reputation is he cares about the money more than he cares about people, or he's grabby or he doesn't like, dude, that can, I can ruin you. You know, if enough the right people hear that, and that's just been something I think is more important than anything before you get into sales is people are following you and they're deciding if they like you and they want you in their culture or nothing. And I want to embody something that the best contractor that I serve, contractors in every industry, number one, growth minded, cares about the right things. I want them to say, this is the guy. He's the only guy on the tape. Like he's the only option that I want because of what he's embodying, how he's going to go about it. I trust that.
16:32
Ryan Groth
But I don't want somebody to come into my culture and flipping it and turn it into a boiler room that is messing up my customers and making a bad reputation out there. So I think there's a really interesting tension and blend of trying to have it all and executing on that at scale. So it takes a lot of wisdom and leadership and discernment to kind of navigate that stuff. Post on social. Are you overly political? Are you super divisive? Do you sound like an idiot? Are you complaining? Are you, are you, do you sound like a victim? There's so many things that you can screw up with your brand. If you don't know what you're doing and if you just uphold a high standard, you stay in the lanes that no one's gonna point a finger at, you're smashing it.
17:19
Ryan Groth
You're building trust and, you know, and if you have hidden skeletons, go freaking clean them up. Be, be awesome. Be the best. You can work through your stuff because your stuff's gonna come out and it's gonna come out somewhere. And I, you know, at the end of the day, like time tells who you really are.
17:36
Chaz Wolfe
Yeah, there's a lot of wisdom in that. I think that you gave a good perspective from not just a business owner. You know, most listeners here are going to be entrepreneurs, but they might have salespeople on their team. Maybe there's sales people listening to this as well. But either way, you can create the environment for yourself. I remember when I was just an employee selling things and even when I was cold calling, you know, like the, the annoying, you know, phone call that you get repetitively multiple times a day, whether it be a contractor or any other business owner, we know this phone call and you answer it. And then if the other end sounds different, you're immediately intrigued and everything you just said was, why not be different? Why not, why not be whole as a person? Why not just add more value?
18:22
Chaz Wolfe
And, and so I've, even as a salesperson, not as a business owner, I too have been able to create that environment where the other person never even seeing me or meeting me, just knew from the brief couple of sentences back and forth, like, this is different. I should, I want to keep talking to this guy.
18:39
Ryan Groth
And so, absolutely, if it comes through in your tonality, your questions, how you ask them, your pauses, the thoughtfulness, like the dropping of rapport, a build, real connection, like all that stuff can happen just on a phone call in a second. And they could tell if you're like authentic, legit, smart, expert real fast and you're somebody they're interested in. And, but if you're. Yeah, that's. That's. That's a really good point, Chaz.
19:08
Chaz Wolfe
The. Okay, so you. I mean, I know you train on a lot of this stuff here. I want to stay kind of high level because, you know, the folks that are going to be listening are most likely sales leaders in their own businesses. And so you have a program not just for salespeople, but for sales leaders, entrepreneurs. You're teaching sales in every single level. So I love this part. I want to talk about building a sales team. You've already talked about different cultures. Give to me, what's the number one skill that an entrepreneur listening right now needs in order to build a sales team?
19:39
Ryan Groth
Yeah. So there's a few different parts of building a team. Clearly, look, if you're building a team, you're in sales because you're selling people on action. All that, like, taking action in a way that you know is best, in a way that's collaborative and your teammates are working together. So, really, the recruiting is huge. So being able to recruit attract the type of people you want representing you, it is amazing. Like. Like, if you're a high performer and you see a sales leader owner, and this person's not really competent or has a clear path or isn't, doesn't seem like they have any attributes that you aspire to have or you don't believe in where they're going, and, like, they don't have a vision, that's big. The high performer is not interested in you and your company. It's just a fact.
20:32
Ryan Groth
They're just not gonna sign up. They may think you're cool, they may like you, but they're not going to sign up their family's future on you, bro. They're not like. So you have to have a vision and a clear, communicated skill to communicate that vision, and you have to have a thoughtful business path, like, a thoughtful path for them to achieve that. So, like, what is your sales plan, sales compensation? What are your steps? What's your track record? How have you gotten there before? And if you haven't gotten there, you've done it yourself. You sell them on that. You did it yourself. Right. And you have to sell them on that. So I think recruiting is super important because I could tell you when I have high performing, quality teammates representing me, we do better. Right?
21:15
Ryan Groth
Like, at the end of the day, look at it as, like, a sports team. Like, if you're the best five star, four star high school prospect, you don't want to play at a d three podunk, you know, Mississippi, Central Valley Baptist, you know, type of school. You want to go where you're going to be able to perform at the highest level and make the most money potentially and maybe have a chance to play professionally. Right? Think of your little contracting business, your locker room, your training room, your resources, your technology, your upward trajectory, the coaching that they'll get. The all think of your little company as a sports brand and distinct.
21:58
Ryan Groth
Those people that I'm attracting, I want, if I'm in Podung, Mississippi, I want the most talented, dag, dumb kid out of here that I, that's like, got the highest ceiling that everybody was like, knows because they're just rock star at everything they do. And I'm going to sell them on making a career here. And if you think like that, like, what would I need to do to do that, right? What would I need to do that? Well, I would need, after I recruit, I actually have to deliver on what I've sold. You don't want buyers or more? So now what do you have? We have. We have a. We have a path. We have a training process. We're going to mentor. We're going to coach them, we're going to pay them. Okay. That's a big one. You actually got to pay the people. Yeah.
22:40
Ryan Groth
So make sure your compensation plan is good. It is. It's a win for the company and for the person. What kind of training are you providing? What kind of ongoing coaching are you going to provide? Are you just going to say, hey, man, like, let's go, and you do like a few days in the truck? You know, you give them a couple tools and that's it? Are you running sales meetings? Are you doing ongoing coaching? Are you providing any sort of objective feedback that's got an industry standard to up level them so they know where they're at? Like, those are the types of things that change the game for a high performer. They're like, okay, it's not just your opinion. This is what the industry says about my performance and my skills. I want to up level to be one of the best.
23:18
Ryan Groth
And then you plug them into communities where they could see themselves amongst peers, and then they're, like, comparing themselves and, like, the healthy way. Like, hey, I just want to know what's going on. I want to be good. And then they get inspired because high performers, when they're a big fish in a small pond, one or two things happen. They get lazy because they've already beat their already the alpha and they don't be. They don't get, they don't push themselves anymore. So what do you got to do? Alphas, when they're around, other alphas say, oh, shoot, like, I'm not the alpha anymore, so I want to be the best. And so they, like, they find a different gear. So there's just so many things that you can plug into, create and, like, surround yourself with to actually not just attract the teammates.
23:57
Ryan Groth
Because I could tell you, being building a sales team is easy if you just pick anybody, right? You want to build a high performing sales team. Okay, that's different. And to build a high performing sales team, you have to have something that's attractive for high performers who already are high performers in life to come into. And that's really important, you know? And I have my own stories of, like, kind of my journey on that. And then I realized, oh, the industry needs this. I'm gonna create it when I saw the opportunity. So I started that ten years ago and really launched just seven and a half years ago, eleven years ago now. So really where I'm at is you have to have the tools, you have to have the vision to recruit them, you have to onboard them, you have to train them.
24:43
Ryan Groth
And if you don't have the time to do it, pay somebody to do it so that they get coached and trained. Because what I've seen too many times is you're good at selling. You can make good money. And then when you hire the person, they didn't work out because you, quite frankly, didn't do nearly enough to support them, to get them up and running and invest in them. So they leave and you don't really want to go through that again. So you just go back to doing it yourself and you can do it because you're good at it and you know it. But at the end of the day, you're going to kind of be limited. You may make a lot of money, but you don't have a business yet.
25:14
Ryan Groth
You have a high paying job and you want a company you don't want to job. So there's a lot more there. I mean, like CRM, KPI's call recordings or regular cold call or coaching. Measuring their compensation against their goal that they set having their own goal that they set that you track against and you encourage peer level environment, community based pressure and, like, learning so that they're learning from others. Ongoing training with the manufacturers that you represent. CRM technology, there's just so much. But if you can get, here's the last thing before we switch, think about, like, the sports teams. You know, you'll find that even now, free agents, they'll go somewhere where they know they're going to play well with the teammate that's there. And there's like anchor teammate. There's a team leader.
26:09
Ryan Groth
And, like, for, like, I don't know, like you got LeBron, the Lakers, or whatever it is, or you got Steph Curry, or you got, you know, whatever it may be, Luca, you know, Doncic with the Mavericks or whatever it may be, they're like, they know. And I have a friend who plays in the major leagues, and he was with the twins for two years after the Royals, and they, he showed me the locker room after a game. There was two teammates, Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton. Those are the two big free agent they signed or the, Byron's a homegrown guy. Carlos Correa, one with the Astros, free agent. They had double wide lockers, only theme, the corners. It's their clubhouse. They're not coaches. They're they're the best players. It's their clubhouse. So here's the beauty of this.
26:59
Ryan Groth
If you land one rockstar and they're on your team and you guys have a partnership, eye to eye, you know, you're bought in. You can find other people because a new person's going to look at that person, say, either I'm following them or I'm taking them out, and they're going to decide are they here for it or not? Yeah. If you hire somebody very average, you have to, like, keep finding ways to uplevel the environment, or else it's going to be average. So a team like the first hire isn't just their numbers that they're producing. It's the following people that follow them into the organization, because it's going to be, success is going to replicate and it's going to, it's a lot more complex than just, I just need more salespeople. Right.
27:49
Ryan Groth
There's a ripple effect to the type of salespeople you have, the type of leader that they are and how it affects your organization.
27:55
Chaz Wolfe
Yeah. If you're listening to this right now and you're thinking, man, that sounds like a lot good, because it is. That's why companies like Brian's exist, because it is. It's like a whole mechanism. I've built multiple sales teams, some for some pretty big names, and here's the deal. It is like herding cats and everything that you just said is not only true, but it's like really true. And having an environment of winning sounds, you know, materialistic, possibly, but it's like, no, no. Like this is how on like a now switching over here, like personalities. Because I'm a psychology personality, just junkie. No, this is how winners are designed. If I'm not in an environment with other Ryan's, then one of two things is gonna happen. I'm just gonna either cap out cuz I. Cuz I've won and then that's it.
28:47
Chaz Wolfe
Or I'm just never gonna even get there because I don't even know what's possible because I've just basically quieted my winning spirit. And so you've given so much value in that. The listener should absolutely go back and listen to that little playbook, let's say, okay, the listener has all of that, the tools, the CRM, the idea of culture. And we're going to, like, we're going to crush, we're going to stay high level, we're going to hire amazing people. There's going to be a system, there's going to be training, all the stuff. What is the difference to you between managing a sales team and leading a sales team?
29:19
Ryan Groth
Great question. Well, I've heard this defined as a manager, somebody you have to follow, a leader, somebody you want to follow. So I love that one. It's just kind of puts a line in the sand. Like one.
29:33
Chaz Wolfe
Yeah.
29:34
Ryan Groth
When I look at, like, I have a, I have a good relationship with my bp of sales. He's a freaking stud. Love him. And we've gone to war for a while and I'm just grateful for this guy. He can close deals, he can do it all. But like, we have a complimentary style. I have a way of getting on the team, getting with the team and inspiring them to be like, let's, like, let's go. I'm ready to go, like run through a wall. I have that ability that's unique to me. I'm also the founder and the CEO of the company. And so there's a skill set that I possess that I've developed, but I also, I'm grateful for that.
30:14
Ryan Groth
I steward using that I don't love and enjoy getting into the minutiae of the numbers, the call reviews, breaking down where the wheels fell off, the coaching, the analytics, having like, managing the day to day support. So I think that there's two different things. And you can be both, you can do both, but there's a sweet partnership. Whenever there's, like, complimentary skill sets in driving the organization forward, I will never dishonor him in front of the team. It's like parents, you and your wife, you can't cut each other out or disrespect each other's position in front of the kids. The kids are sharp, dude. They'll see that and be like, oh, I'm going to lean into that. And then next thing you know, you're playing mom and dad with, I'm not going to play that game.
31:10
Chaz Wolfe
Right.
31:11
Ryan Groth
So the way we do it is show community, and we have complimentary styles, and I think he can lead well. He's a good leader, really good leader, but he's also managing the team in a way that I am not very good at and I don't want to do, and it's freed me up to do other things to bring more value. So I would say that those are the two main differences. Are you looking at the numbers? Are you making sure the KPI's are updated? Are we tracking against goal? Are we sharing the scoreboards and leaderboards? Are we looking at the reviews? Are we screening the initial candidates? But at the end of the day, they're following my sales leader for sure, and they're following them in the battle.
31:52
Ryan Groth
But the team, a good portion of the sales team came from relationships I've had, or they know that I'm at the head. So they're looking at their, like, saying, okay, Ryan's here and he's engaged. And it's like, okay, we're going to be all right. Cause they've already seen me or seen my success or whatever, and they're like, great. Like, so. And then the last thing is, like, I just wanna make this comment that me. The feedback. Sorry. Okay.
32:22
Ryan Groth
You know, I think that both managers and leaders, I mean, managers don't have to be the best salesperson in the world, but it is something special when a sales person, a new one, can ride along with a salesperson, or they can sell together, and the sales leader in the organization, the catalyst, closes deals in front of them, makes it look easy, and they're just like, oh, my gosh. Like, that's awesome. I want to do that. I'm going to get there. So I think it's really important. I am a sales leader still in my company, and I jump on calls, and there's been times where I haven't been on calls for months, and there's times where I jump on calls, but we're always selling. And, yeah, it's super fun to see the team say, like, let's go. Like, gives them confidence. It juices them up.
33:11
Ryan Groth
They're like, we can do this. So those are my two major differences. Leaders inspire, motivate, get people to take action, get them bought into the long term, I think. And then managers make sure that the in between of where they're at in their next vision is being managed, and they're staying on track, and they're accountable, and they're in the weeds.
33:33
Chaz Wolfe
Yeah, I think you broke that down beautifully. I used to tell people that I was coaching in past times, specifically around sales, is that sales leaders had to have three components. There's feedback. Got it? Yeah. Give me 2 seconds here, Ryan, I know you get it, but it is hilarious how my house is set up for stuff like this, and then days, it just all falls apart. So you see me do this here, it's because roaming Joe has been screaming for the last 45 minutes, and JC is right outside my window mowing. Why today?
34:11
Ryan Groth
I don't know.
34:15
Chaz Wolfe
Okay, well, I think that's some of the feedback that we're seeing, so. All right, we're going to jump back into that. All right. So, yeah, I think that you're a spot right on that. I should say that sales leaders needed three things, which is one, to be able to inspire people, motivate them, get the energy up. And I love that you can provide that to your organization. And I think that a lot of times it does come down to the owner, the founder, the visionary. Just bringing the energy, bringing the frequency, baby. We got to bring it up and we got to get excited. That's kind of how salespeople are naturally wired anyway. And if it's a quiet environment, it's probably not going to give me any of your sales, you know?
34:48
Chaz Wolfe
And then the two components of management that you broke down beautifully, one, you've got to be able to track and measure, and then two, we got to be able to have ongoing coaching. We got to continue to improve. Some of those are call recordings, some of those are meetings, role playing, and all the things that you do with companies. Those three elements are what drive the team. And a good sales leader is going to be able to do all three of those. I love that you have the ability to divide it up a little bit and kind of play on each other's strengths, because that's the beauty of a real partnership. When you have multiple personalities, I think that's pretty special. What would you say is, you know, a person listening right now, maybe they have a sales team.
35:29
Chaz Wolfe
Maybe they're thinking about building a sales team. You've, you've just trained and worked with so many in different trades all across the country. You've seen so much. What is the number one thing holding that entrepreneur back? Whether it be from growth or whether it be from, like, just biting the bullet and saying, okay, fine, let me give someone like Ryan a chance to help me grow in this area. Like, what's on the inside of them or the way that they're thinking that's holding them back?
35:56
Ryan Groth
That's a good question. I mean, I can get a little bit more philosophical or, like, more. But I think at the end of the day, a lot of it is fear, and a lot of it is like, is this pride and ego? They're like, I can do it better myself. I don't really, I don't really want to open up myself in the way I think to somebody else and have them tell me how to do it. I've gotten here on my own. I'm really, I've got to figure it out. And I think that there's just, like, a scarcity, bit of a scarcity mindset or a fear of screwing up. I think it's just fear. Fear and pride kind of together.
36:30
Ryan Groth
Like, I'm afraid what would happen if it doesn't work right, or I'm afraid of, you know, and then there's this pride of, like, I can do it myself. And there are some people who can build an amazing sales program themselves, but on average, most can not because it's not even that they're incapable. It's not even that they're incapable. It's really that they just don't have the time or make the time because they're busy and so do you want to go learn SEO? Do you want to go learn how to build out a website? Do you want to go learn how to run Google campaigns? Do you want to manage them? Do you want to do that? Do you want to go in the field and swing the hammer? Do you want to go do that? No. Do you want to turn the wrench? No.
37:11
Ryan Groth
So it's just like, thinking about it is like, well, I have people doing the work that I used to do or that the company does to make money. Great. You've delegated that. Okay, cool. What else can you delegate like that make that will move the needle, because if you don't have somebody turning the wrench, swinging the hammer, using the nail gun, you're not going to move the needle. Right. Of course I won't. You got to make money. So you just think of it that way as, like, you want to do one of three things. And as an entrepreneur, you want to either want to eliminate something, you want to automate something, or you want to delegate something. Autumn elimination automation delegation. And so from a developing your sales organization standpoint, do you love it? Are you motivated and energized by it?
37:55
Ryan Groth
Do you have the bandwidth for it? Do you want to do that? Do you want to? Great. If you do, great, a lot of folks don't. So, like, if you don't, then just delegate it.
38:06
Chaz Wolfe
Yeah. The harsh reality there, right. Is like, but I'm nervous, you know, whether it's gonna cost me money or, you know, the frustration of hiring somebody and then letting them go, I think that's kind of an obvious one, especially when it comes to sales, because salespeople just kind of, by nature, are a little squirrely, and that's what makes them good with personalities and being able to talk with people and face rejection constantly all the time. They gotta be a little, you know, like a screw loose, which is like us. I got a couple of screws loose.
38:38
Ryan Groth
It's okay.
38:38
Chaz Wolfe
Like it. I like, I like rejection. You know, a lot of it give me more inside of, you know, those elements. I guess you've developed not just like a course, you developed an entire program that really comes around. An entrepreneur not only just elevates them as a leader or their leaders, but really also their team. Talk about this a little bit, because there's a lot of training options. And you had mentioned this earlier as far as the transformation of the individual, becoming a whole person and then being able to sell, and that's a part of what you do. But you really do come around a business owner where some of those fears and stuff they can let go of, and they can trust someone like you and your team to help grow that section of their business, but talk about how you do that.
39:26
Ryan Groth
Yeah. So we help come around pretty full scale way, especially in the last couple of years, when we just be able to develop into that as a company and add more value. So we have, essentially, we assess every organization we use a system we coined called Atmo Attmo. And that's kind of like our overarching way of building the sales organization, create an atmosphere of growth in sales. So analyze, train, transform, measure, and optimize. So it's like the feedback loop process. So everybody goes through analyze phase, and we just go through the basic fundamentals, just like foundation of your company that will affect the sales org's future core values. Do you have that defined? What's your sales plan? Where are you trying to go? What's your strategic direction? Those are really important components. Is our comp plans aligned?
40:25
Ryan Groth
Are we going to need to fix that? Some structural and strategic things and then depending on the company. So we have commercial sales. So we helped all kinds of commercial trades heavily in roofing, grow in service and reroofing, more private sector sales versus bidding to get out of the bid world more into the relationship sales world. And then we have residential retail. So any like home service, home improvement where you're selling projects or installs with a higher ticket and it needs a sales skill to sell it that's a little bit higher than just like a $200, you know, repair or something, but like you're selling projects. So we have a whole system for those people and then we have a whole system for door to door roofing, insurance sales for like a storm event roofing models.
41:13
Ryan Groth
Like in the midwest, it's really heavy and sometimes down in the mid Atlantic and Florida, not the northeast, not on the west coast, but like a lot of like Texas and, you know, the Midwest corridor. So that said, we kind of have to fix that, decide that first and get the pan the plan that company needs. And then we go train on site, we go to their office, we go through a full sales analysis of every sales rep. We go through individual workshop exercises and we train and coach and role play and introduce a proven sales process. That's the biggest key is when you have an undefined sales process, that's not something the company can adopt. It's like an offense, not having a playbook or a scheme offensive style that you've adopted. And then everyone's kind of doing their own thing.
42:00
Ryan Groth
And it's really hard to scale that and have quality control and have a path to improve people against the standard. So we're big on that. We introduce a sales process. From there we have one of few options. So every one of our reps goes through the coursework with group coaching, with homework, over 21 weeks to get STG certified. So they have to go through quizzes and homework to get certified, where they learn the mindset, training, they align with our tools, they understand our process and the competencies that our process supports. You know, we have standardized competencies of sales excellence and they have to grow into those competencies individually. It's like, it's like doing an MRI on a salesperson or like, and looking and measuring all the things that make the salesperson great.
42:50
Ryan Groth
And we just say, hey, here's where you're weak, here's where you're strong, here's where you're weak. And we move the needle on those through training and coaching, retaking the assessment and leveling you up as a professional. And that's that. That translates into results pretty amazingly. So they go through that at the core level with per learning plan, and then we have a few options on the back end. We do ongoing coaching with groups and sales leaders in small groups, where it's more like a peer to peer moving the needle on different initiatives and accountability through peers.
43:23
Ryan Groth
We have a one one sales leader coaching where we help build out the rest of our deliverables and our pillars of our program through the sales leader and coach the sales leader, and then the last one, which is, I think, the most valuable, where we do fractional sales leadership and we help run your sales meetings. And the framework that's proven that we use, we hold your salespeople accountable with you fractionally. We come on site once a month and continue to train and reinforce and work with you guys. So that's a great system, even if you have a sales manager in place where we can add that third party, industry standard kind of coaching platform to plug into to have an extra set of eyes. And then we have our live events that we do.
44:07
Ryan Groth
We'll have, you know, the next calendar year, we'll probably have eight to ten live events that we host that you're able to come to that are more boot camp style or workshops or conferences. And so those are just the beginning. We have a few extra, like, tech tools are rolling out, too, to help us coach better, but super stoked on just our now ability to cover the country at a high level and deliver a full supported, like, fully supported platform for contractors to grow their sales organizations with. And what's cool is it's not like it used to be like me, like the Ryan show. Like, a lot of my competitors are very personality centric, and I do have a personality and I do care about putting my name out there, but in the brand and sharing what we're doing.
44:54
Ryan Groth
But it's a company, we have a team, and we're all using the systems together, but, you know, as a team. So a lot of labor and high touch to do what we do well. And we just decided to go that direction after just enough years of feedback and get the people what they want, man, they need help they need done for you, done with you at a higher level to get the results that we're looking for. And ultimately, I don't care, man. If the spend is high, but the results are higher, great. If we spend less and get bad results, just like a contractor trying to sell really good projects right.
45:28
Ryan Groth
You know, spend more to do it right the first time, we're kind of at that point where we have the ability for you to spend more to do it right, but it's worth it because you have a lot. It's like, amazing what happens when you build a sales.org the right way the first time. It is a perpetual, if you manage it's a perpetual cash initiative. It'll continue to pump out cash year over year. You don't do it right and you don't ever address it right. It's not going to suck. Going to generate the cash.
45:56
Chaz Wolfe
Yeah.
45:57
Ryan Groth
Yeah.
45:57
Chaz Wolfe
From my perspective of building a sales team, when I was 21, two and three and four, those kind of like three or four years in corporate America, and you would think even at that scale, and, you know, I was one of the, you know, I don't know, 15 or 20 sales managers in this office and probably one of 50 in the entire company, and there was no support. It was like, here are the keys to your Ferrari, this sales team. And I had to figure it out. It was absolutely insane. So as I continue to get better, I developed my own systems, I developed my own sales process, I developed my own training that I would literally take my own reps through.
46:36
Chaz Wolfe
And it's like, man, if I had the opportunity or now that I do as an entrepreneur, someone listening right now, listening to you going, oh, like, I can just, like, plug and play this. It almost seems a little bit too good to be true because hardly anybody really is doing this. It's really just kind of fly by the seat of the pants, you know, like you said, like, you're truly trying to sell quality projects. It's the same thing. Like, what would you expect if you're not going to put in the effort to the sales process to actually be able to do it on the back end sustainably?
47:08
Chaz Wolfe
What I was going to say, one of the most important things that I think you talk about on a regular basis, and I don't want to go too deep on this, but you talk about predictable revenue, and a lot of salespeople are like, well, wait a second, I got to go hunt. How is it predictable? It's like, oh, no, no. When you know sales and sales process well, and you are an expert, it becomes predictable because I know the inputs they get the outputs of. And so if they don't know, obviously I want them to reach out to you, but give them just a tidbit here. Like the quasi owner who's selling himself, or maybe he's got three or 410 sales reps, and he's like, I don't know, I've just kind of done it myself. Maybe I've got a crazy experience myself.
47:50
Chaz Wolfe
That next level, for you to really come around them, it's not just growth. It's like another level of professionalism, them taking the business seriously. Like, what does that look like as far as, like labeling the level to you?
48:04
Ryan Groth
Yeah, that's a great point. I mean, yeah, it's like saying, hey, we're going to become a professional business person. The businessman that happens to do garage doors or steel coating or roofing, and I just say, hey, take that product hat off in the first second and put on, like, I'm going to be, I'm in charge of building a business.
48:25
Chaz Wolfe
CEO.
48:27
Ryan Groth
Yeah. Like, like I'm going to. What do I need? I mean, we have marketing and brand. We have leads, I'm sorry, sales, project management and fulfillment. We have accounting. We have overall, like legal and operations and HR. There's a lot of different things that happen, but, like, the first thing you should start figuring out is sales because that's the oxygen of the business. Like cash is like oxygen. So I'm not saying I can fix everybody's problems. Like, we don't cover financial modeling and legal, and we don't get into that stuff. But what we get into is helping you build the sales organization from start to as far as you want to go.
49:07
Ryan Groth
And you just have to think, I want to be a really great sales organization that cares about our customers, that does the right thing, that whatever your core values are, that embraces our core values, the best one we could possibly create, because I know if I do that, it's going to take, your things will take care of itself. Think of it as sports. It's like, man, we got a great defense. We kill it on the defensive side. Okay, the next draft is coming up. What are we going to do? We only won five games last year. Okay. You know, it's like, well, I can only get so many safeties and interceptions. Pick sixes. Right. It's like I, oh, what are you going to do? Yeah, I think we need probably a quarterback or an offensive line.
49:49
Ryan Groth
Then or, you know, a tight end that's like really great. Like whatever, you know, I'm saying. So it's like think of it that way is we, you may, whatever that area you were in, think of yourself as I got to build an offensive unit that kills it. That's just, you got to embrace that. And that's what sales is. We got to be the like MLB players, the guys who get drafted the highest, have bats they can hit. Okay. Why? Because runs win games. Right. You know, so it's just a part of it, you know, it's not everything. It's a major part of your business.
50:19
Chaz Wolfe
Yeah.
50:19
Ryan Groth
And just think of it that way is like I'm building an organization. I need offense. How do I put up points? Start there. Yeah. And just be like, I look at it. I just want to be really good at that. If you just take.
50:34
Chaz Wolfe
We can't compete, so. And I don't, you know, person listening to this is probably not need to be convinced that they need points. However, what I've seen is the stubborn action towards like, not that I need points, but how do I get the points? And that's what I'm hearing you say is like, look, there's just a better way. And I just happen to be a little bit on the. No, because I've built sales teams and so everything that you've said here today is just so true. And if they've either experienced it or they haven't yet, they know the frustration of it because that's what it comes down to is it's just incredibly frustrating.
51:09
Chaz Wolfe
If you don't have a process, you don't have support, you don't have ongoing things that you're attracting new people, good people, and then being able to develop them so that you can grow the organization. Everything you've shared today is just spot on. I want to ask one more question about the sales training. How do they find you? And then I've got one more question after that. But how can they find you? How can they find sales transformation group, that type of thing?
51:31
Ryan Groth
Yeah, so you can find me on, I'm on Instagram, Ryan Groth, LinkedIn and Facebook daily. I don't get on. I have a TikTok, but I don't use it. So don't even try touch me there. We have a YouTube as well. We have some content up. We're always trying to get better. Our content can get better. So I'm not going to sit there and tell you it's going to blow your mind and look at it forever. But the people who like it or watch it say it's been really helpful and helps them understand what we're about. So take a look at that. Our website, salestransformationgroup.com, you can check it out. We're actually overhauling it and right now, and we're changing the URL because that's a really long name to sellonstg.com dot.
52:13
Ryan Groth
So we want people to embrace this as like, oh, we sell on STG because we have a platform for you to sell on. So we're stoked to make that shift. It's a slight shift, but it's very actionable in the direction that we're headed as a company. So if you go to sellonsug.com in, you know, some point this year, it probably goes to our website. And if you don't go to salestransformationgroup.com dot. We also have roofwarrior.com dot. If you want to just take a quick look at that, it's a small version of one of our programs for door to door roofing, sales training, and leadership training. Yeah, those are ways you can get in touch.
52:48
Chaz Wolfe
I just want to appreciate you for that and highlight that and want to encourage the listener. Ryan has been a great friend for a long time now. And if you are not on point on your sales team, sales organization, sales thoughts, sales process, and you are a contractor, do not delay. Go to salestransformationgroup.com dot. I'm 100% serious on this. I get no commission. This is just a good friend of mine that I know does good work. So appreciate you being here, brother. We're going to have so many more conversations. We've been trying to get this one out for years, it seems like, but many more to come and I appreciate you. Thanks for being here, brother.
What if I told you that your success in business and sales had much more to do with who you are and not just how hard you hustle?
In this episode, Chaz Wolfe sits down with Ryan Groth, the founder of Sales Transformation Group, to discuss how character and integrity are the secret to long-term sales success.
Ryan breaks down how his personal values have shaped his views on leadership and sales strategies, helping him create a business that thrives without sacrificing his family’s and personal integrity.
Key topics include building high-performance sales teams, creating an authentic sales culture, and why being a better person makes you a better salesman and leader.
Ryan also shares insights into the importance of self-awareness, the power of reputation, and more.
Tune in for tips on building a successful sales culture without compromising your values.
Ryan Groth:
Sales Transformation Group: http://www.salestransformationgroup.com
Roof Warrior: http://www.roofwarrior.com
Chaz's favorite morning drink to fuel him for his day:
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