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04 Delivering High-Level Customer Service with  Ekeze Enubuzor image

04 Delivering High-Level Customer Service with Ekeze Enubuzor

S1 E4 · Dial it in
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232 Plays2 years ago

Not all products are unique. So how can you sell more? Superior service. We talk to Ekeze Enubor from AT&T, who sells more by providing a superior level of service. 

In this episode, we cover:  

  • Setting yourself apart in your niche 
  • How to provide stellar customer service 
  • How to demonstrate customer service - show you do it, don’t just say you do it  

 And more…

…  

Dial It In Podcast is where we gathered our favorite people together to share their advice on how to drive revenue, through storytelling and without the boring sales jargon. Our primary focus is marketing and sales for manufacturing and B2B service businesses, but we’ll cover topics across the entire spectrum of business. This isn’t a deep, naval-gazing show… we like to have lively chats that are fun, and full of useful insights. Brought to you by BizzyWeb.  

Socials:
Website: dialitinpodcast.com
BizzyWeb site: bizzyweb.com
Connect with Dave on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dave1meyer
Connect with Trygve on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/trygveo

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Transcript

Podcast Introduction

00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to Dial It In, a podcast where we talk with interesting people about the process improvements and tricks they use to grow their businesses. I'm Dave Meyer, president of Busy Web, and every week, Trigby Olsen and I are bringing you interviews on how the best in their fields are dialing it in for their organizations.

Leveraging Relationships for Growth

00:00:24
Speaker
I think one of the things that we see all the time at Busy Web Day when people are trying to find new revenue isn't
00:00:31
Speaker
that they're failing a new logo acquisition. It's leveraging the relationships they already have in order to grow their business. So I wanted to bring in an expert for today's episode to talk about that.

Introduction to KZ Anubisor

00:00:44
Speaker
So the guy we have on board has been a seller and he's well famous in the Minneapolis St. Paul community, but he's really reached his stride and really the last five or six years
00:00:55
Speaker
where he's selling a product that everybody has and it's advertised ad nauseam about how you can get a better deal somewhere else. But for some reason why everybody else is going low, he's going high. And he's my cell phone

Building a Digital Brand

00:01:11
Speaker
guy. So this is KZ Anubisor from AT&T. How you doing, buddy? Thank you for joining us. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
00:01:21
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's really your brand, right? That you're known for as your cell phone guy. Yeah, it's something I played around with in the pandemic. We stopped being able to see each other face to face. So I thought I would go digital with it, build a brand around it, and taste what it would be like to have a digital presence and market myself from that standpoint.
00:01:42
Speaker
Yeah. So I give an example, Dave, of what it's like to work with KZ because KZ has been my cell phone guy for a long time. My mother-in-law wanted to get rid of her plan and go on somebody else's plan and it took her months and she couldn't deal with it. She couldn't figure out to go to the store. She couldn't figure out what store to go to. And I kept saying to my wife, if she tells me what phone
00:02:08
Speaker
she wants, I will make one phone call and the entire thing is solved. And KZ is the guy that I'd be calling. Excellent, 100%. Not only that, but I'm pretty sure we started the conversation on Facebook.
00:02:24
Speaker
And that's a huge policy of mine. Reduction and friction. How can we make this as easy as possible for the end user? I mean, we saw a lot of that in the pandemic too that actually became standard business. For example, my wife doesn't shop at Target anymore. She shops on an app and I go and pick up the groceries. That just makes things so much easier for that end user to get back to their life.
00:02:49
Speaker
And for Tricky V, not to have to wait on hold for 30 minutes or even drive to a store and wait online and simply just text me. It's that convenience factor. And that's why I'm a cell phone guy. And you're a lot of people's cell phone guys. So that's really what we want to spend some time talking about. Let's unpack it just a little bit first.

Early Sales Experience

00:03:12
Speaker
How long have you been with AT&T?
00:03:15
Speaker
I've been with AT&T for four years now, but I've been selling B2B for 16 years now, which is crazy to say. What other things have you sold in the B2B world? Well, let's go all the way back. Let's go through our memory lane, if you will. I started door to door with a company called Verizon Fios out in Long Island, New York.
00:03:40
Speaker
You can only imagine the type of personalities that I had to deal with out on the coast. Going door to door, I got dogs chasing me. I had clients or potential customers slamming the door on my face as I'm knocking on door. But the real incredible part is that it was 100% commission. So yeah, I ate what I got.
00:04:02
Speaker
Essentially, it was a great experience. I cut my teeth on it. If you got a $1,000 check in that week, you were part of the Comma Club. So I was a proud member of the Comma Club. I did really well. But I quickly realized that college education does allow you to climb the corporate ladder a little bit

Education and Career Advancement

00:04:20
Speaker
faster. I was talking to my manager as I saw him with his feet up. And I had walked for at least 10 hours in these streets getting yelled at by these people trying to just enjoy dinner.
00:04:32
Speaker
And I'm like, you know, how do I get your position? You know, you just raw, you know, do the raw sessions in the morning and then in the afternoon you count our numbers and you get paid. You're driving a Mercedes Benz out there. He's like, you know, the difference between me and you because you're talented is I got this paperwork. So I went back to school and back to UND. University of North Dakota goes through.
00:04:51
Speaker
And a lot of people go to college, a lot of people graduate college, and now they just have a bill and no career in front of them. But I made sure to use my collegiate experience wisely. I did a plethora of internships, one with probably the best sales internship anybody could do. At that time, it was called University Directories. They
00:05:10
Speaker
hustled us down to North Carolina, then brought us back to Grand Forks where we had to fill up the yellow pages for the university, the university directory with advertisers. So that was tough, but that was B2B, right? So now I'm cutting my teeth on B2B, seeing what that experience is like. And I love it because these

Transition to B2B Sales

00:05:30
Speaker
people are actually here to do business versus me disturbing somebody while they're trying to relax. So I was like, okay, B2B is a good fit for me.
00:05:37
Speaker
If you're listening and you're under the age of 35.
00:05:44
Speaker
He keeps referring to the yellow pages. And so I just want to unpack a little. So every year, there was a company that you worked for that would print the internet and then give it to people, basically. Pretty much, right? So it was just a book. And at the back of the book, there was ads, the things that pop up on your browser now, the thing that's on your timeline when you're streaking through Facebook and Instagram. That was on a big book. I'm not that old, though.
00:06:11
Speaker
So just this technology evolves fairly quickly. That's true. But advertising stuff is where we got the AAA auto cleaning and all that stuff. That's all for everybody that doesn't know. Yeah, that's why they want to be at the top of the book. So they ABC Plumbing. Yeah, 100 percent.
00:06:32
Speaker
So I did really well there. I was actually the lead sales manager at university directories for my year that was there. I killed it as just a leader and a sales executive.
00:06:43
Speaker
But to sum it up, I really just cut my teeth on a lot of opportunities. I also worked at career services. I really used the opportunity of college to not only learn, but to experience. And I think that's a huge difference for the people that make it utilizing their degree and the ones that don't.
00:07:02
Speaker
you know they're passionate about what they're doing and they practice it so when it comes time to really sit in front of an employer you have stories to tell that get them excited about you and you know ultimately get you that job so after those internships i got my first job in retail see the evolution so door to door b2b retail
00:07:22
Speaker
selling Verizon. You haven't gotten to the easy part yet. This is all the hard stuff, guys. You'll soon find out it gets super easy at the top, but you really got to know your stuff, right? Because knowledge is king. As Trigby has been mentioning, my product is a commodity. You can get it anywhere. You get it at Walmart. You get it at Walgreens. So why work with me? And I'll address that here as the story goes on.
00:07:48
Speaker
You know, now I'm in retail, right? And, you know, retail is amazing. And I had a fantastic boss. His name eludes me at this time. I'm getting old. But what he would express is love, love and compassion to his workers. You know, like in every other position I had before was like, you know, from a sales perspective, was cracking the whip. Get the numbers up. Get the numbers up. This gentleman said, I love you. I appreciate you. What do you need to win?
00:08:16
Speaker
And that perspective just made me really fall in love with that style of sales, a supportive style of sales versus a turn and burn, which what I was really taught up into that moment. So Pat Arneson, which was a pair of mine at the store, also got the same lessons. Right. And I think that's why Pat does so well in his market. That's why I do so well in my market because of that empathy that we were able to bestow on our clients and our constituents and our peers.

Referral Relationships

00:08:44
Speaker
So my wife, just a quick anecdote to why, got barred in the state of Minnesota. She's an attorney. So I started looking for positions down in Minnesota, the first one being Comcast Business. Comcast hired me on the spot after kind of hearing my story and I did phenomenal work for those guys. So that's more in the SMB world, small to medium sized business world. I really discovered through a relationship, his name is Pat Keene, referral partners, right?
00:09:13
Speaker
carving out opportunities through relationships from peers within exterior industries that are going after the same target market.
00:09:24
Speaker
phenomenal play, right? I'm selling internet to businesses. Typically, you get internet once you're moving in. So I started developing relationships with business sellers, business buyers. I started developing relationships with insurance agents, which they love the same thing.
00:09:44
Speaker
organizations and sales executives that had the same type of cadence that I had, right? I was high volume. The same ethics that I had, I liked them, like Trig. I love Trig. And at the end of the day, we're going at the same client base, so those business owners, those CIOs, CTOs, or so many of influence within the organization. And we would meet, and you have your B&Is of the world, you have your Chamber of Commerce, but I had my crew.
00:10:11
Speaker
I'd meet with these three individuals every month and say, what deals did you close last month?
00:10:17
Speaker
who can you introduce me to? And it really allowed my funnel to be at a place where I didn't have to struggle or feel that anxiety at the beginning of the month, like how am I going to make it? I already started the month out with five to six appointments from people that I trusted to people that they trusted. So it worked out really well. I think that's what this meaning because one of the things that we see all the time is people
00:10:44
Speaker
come to us with this idea that we can suddenly develop new leads, new everything. And we can, but there's no substitute for hustle. There is no substitute for hustle, but there is that old idiom, work smarter, not harder. And a lot of people will deflect and say, nah, you got to work harder always. I say do both.
00:11:09
Speaker
You got to work extremely hard and you got to work extremely smart. You also have to diversify. So if you guys are still listening, if you don't have a diversified marketing plan, you're going to lose because something is going to change in your market and you're going to have zero to fall back on you if you start from scratch again.

Enterprise Sales

00:11:25
Speaker
So after I graduated from the SMB world, I started deploying fiber optic for Charter Communications, now Spectrum. And it introduced me to enterprise level and government sales.
00:11:39
Speaker
Which is so easy guys, so easy compared, especially when you know what you're doing and exactly what you're offering. The reason why is because the individuals that you're talking to, they're literally in charge of one thing versus everything.
00:11:54
Speaker
Remember, in the SMB world, you're talking to an owner that really has his hat on and it literally has like 12 different titles. So his attention span is minimal when it comes to IT versus actually driving revenue into the business or marketing or whatever have you. It's just divided.
00:12:13
Speaker
But when you go upstream and from your perspective, guys, right for busy web, you get to talk to a CMO, right? Not the owner, the CMO. And all he's thinking about is my budget for marketing. So the same thing happens in the world of IT or telecommunications or communications just to simplify it.
00:12:32
Speaker
Now that I'm talking to executives that simply need to make sure that their connection is high value and they're getting as much bang for their buck as possible, these conversations really became easy. The amount of volume in regards to units that I was selling was a lot higher, so the dollar amounts was a lot higher.
00:12:51
Speaker
which allowed me to attack my quota a lot more efficiently which impacted my bottom line from a personal perspective so you know as time goes on and you find a career something that you love because i really do love what i do you know keeping folks connected with their employees their vendors and their customers you know that's important to them and it's important to me that they lean on me for that so just understanding that really
00:13:17
Speaker
allows me to embody this gratitude attitude, right? Where I'm answering the phone 24-7, 365 for these clients because they allow me to pay my bills, take care of my family, give them a lifestyle that I've only dreamed of, but at the exact same time, I'm able to help them. It sounds like a win-win-win situation and that's why I continue to do what I do and how I do it.

Adapting to Pandemic Challenges

00:13:40
Speaker
That's fantastic, KZ. The biggest part of B2B sales, I think, is forging those relationships. And it's clear that you're not afraid of the hustle and you're working smarter. I'm curious about one thing.
00:13:56
Speaker
We had a little bit of a blip in our sales cycles over the past couple of years, right? So we're all talking from our individual locations over an electronic device. I'm assuming most of your interactions were either in person or driving around networking before COVID. How did you change things up to keep producing results after we all had to wear masks and maybe couldn't even meet in person

Cold Calling Strategy

00:14:25
Speaker
anymore?
00:14:25
Speaker
Oh man, great question. As I mentioned, I created that digital presence for myself. You're a cell phone guy. That's really where that was birthed. But that was experimental. To be candid with you, I mentioned that I had a
00:14:39
Speaker
at a few plays at my disposal, right? So I had the old school cold call play. I was religious with that. I know my numbers and I'll go through that really quickly for the people that are listening. You got to know your numbers. You got to know your take rates. I know if I'm cold calling and I'm asking somebody to have a meeting with me, right? That's what I'm selling, by the way, a meeting to discuss their telecommunications options from a wireless perspective.
00:15:05
Speaker
I can call a hundred people, I'm going to lock down about two. So I have a 2% take rate when it comes to just cold calling leads. Then out of the two, I have a 33% chance of actually closing them down, right? There's going to be a reason why they can't move today, and I have to realize that. Now, what I've now said is that the likelihood of a no is way higher than a yes.
00:15:27
Speaker
And i've just set my expectations there so when i'm making these calls when i'm establishing these meetings when i'm still getting a no. Because that client made an educated decision this wasn't the right move for the organization cool you know i'm not broken hearted about it i know what work has to go in.
00:15:47
Speaker
So those numbers drastically shifted during the pandemic, right? People were being more conservative. People were definitely just being careful with their positions. And that's where I leaned on the other two pillars. So let me introduce them to you. Referral partners, right? If I'm working off of the cloud that you already developed with that client, even though they might be mitigating these type of conversations, well, man, if Trigby said to talk to them, it must be good.
00:16:14
Speaker
Because Trigby is always taking care of me. So utilizing those relationships to get into those meetings was a huge plus for me. And then my last play is something that I think you guys will all appreciate because Trigby actually teed it up at the beginning of this podcast here. And it's really about talking to your core clients.
00:16:36
Speaker
A lot of folks don't understand that I work with that are hunters, that there is a core group of AT&T diehards right here.
00:16:46
Speaker
your neighbors. And if I reach out to them and provide them with ancillary service, so I'll address that up.

Exceptional Customer Service

00:16:55
Speaker
This is exactly what Trigby was talking about. All he has to do is pick up his phone, send a text message on Facebook, and I'm servicing him. Well, a lot of AT&T customers that don't know me don't get that type of customer service. They call the 800 number.
00:17:09
Speaker
They call the 800 number, they go to the retail stores and those are all great assets, but not as great as I am. If I reach out to these core clients, let them know that I appreciate their business. Let them know that I'm their new dedicated account executive. And if you guys need anything, I'm here for you.
00:17:26
Speaker
I'm waiting for the problem. What is the problem? Well, you know what? My bill went up a little bit. Can you do a review? Not a problem. Saving $20 a month. Hey, you know what? My phone is getting kind of old. Can you hook me up with an upgrade? Not a problem. I even had a customer and I'll tell you this. This is a deal that I just won. The name of the account, I'll leave to the imagination, but it's fairly large and they do drywall.
00:17:50
Speaker
He needed help, I think, simply applying his screen protector onto the phone, and he was in Duluth. I drove the three hours to Duluth from the cities to help him with his screen protector. We got some lunch as well.
00:18:07
Speaker
And a year and a half later, because of course I did my homework, this same drywall company that had two locations, one in Duluth, one in Minneapolis, the one in Minneapolis was very large. They wasn't on AT&T. I called my buddy, my friend now, that I helped him out with his screen protector. We talk about phishing from time to time. Well, link me up with the CIO down there. He did the first time the neighbor was his Verizon guy, right? So a year goes by, we do the credit audit,
00:18:37
Speaker
He, you know, I just tee it up again. Hey man, I really wanna earn that Minneapolis account. I think I can do a really good job.
00:18:45
Speaker
He teased it up again. The guy's for it. The CFO is the gentleman that's in charge of this. And he says, all right, just bring your numbers, but I brought the numbers. I brought the team. The VP joined the call. We showed him that we cared about their account and that we'll go the extra mile. When he's heard the story about me driving up three hours just to replace the screen protector, he knew it was true because the relationship was already there.
00:19:09
Speaker
And we ended up earning 120 line account off of just servicing a four line account. So a lot of times, and especially if you have ancillary products, I'll tell another quick story. I've been working with a client of mine, always responsive, always care. And that's a huge problem. And I'll address that here in a second.

Maintaining Client Relationships

00:19:29
Speaker
A lot of these businesses have support departments. So what ends up happening is you sell it and then you say, call the 800 number. They'll treat you great.
00:19:37
Speaker
And you're going to lose out on deals in the future. I'll tell you that right now. It's a big secret. Now, this one client loves me. Anything that they need, they come for. Take good care of them. They hit me up about two weeks ago, three weeks ago. Hey, Kaze, I know during our initial conversation, you told me that you guys did fleet tracking with your GPS units, right? Do you guys still do that? Of course.
00:20:02
Speaker
turn into a 40-line opportunity, right? So I never lose grasp of my clients. I always service them, I always treat them with respect. And at a minimum, you're gonna point them into the right direction, right? Maybe it's a better time to call the 800, bright and early in the morning. If you call between eight and 10, you're gonna get somebody. If you call anytime after that, lunch period, after hours, it's gonna be an hour hold. Just that simple direction, guys.
00:20:29
Speaker
will allow you to be the quarterback of any situation that they are dealing with in this realm. So when we're talking about a commodity like what I sell.
00:20:39
Speaker
AT&T, you literally could go to another representative like me, you can go to a retail store, you can go to the internet. There's so many... Or you can go to the competitor completely, right? There's so many other options that I have to make myself the only option by, again, leaning on my thesis statement of reducing friction for the customer and not complaining about it, but being appreciative of it because it's the opportunity to
00:21:04
Speaker
Take care of your family. These guys are invested in you just as much as you're invested in them. So that's my thoughts on that. I love it. Wow. So you got that big giant opportunity just because you drove three hours, six hours round trip to help a guy with a screen protector. Smarter, harder, right? So of course I did the research, right? It has to make sense. I mean, that's a huge investment of time. And yeah, it's hard work. I got to drive three hours
00:21:34
Speaker
kind of deleting six hours of a day, right, to go up and have a lunch where somebody has to be valuable, and I didn't even see the payoff.
00:21:41
Speaker
for a year and a half. And, you know, sometimes you won't see the payoff in those types of situations, right? So, you know, that's the reality of the game, right? You're putting yourself out there as much as you can to then get some type of result. But I already know because I did the math, Trig. I did the math. My likelihood of success is extremely low every time I pick up the phone to dial.

Brand Evolution

00:22:04
Speaker
But that's okay because I'm playing the volume game. And not only am I playing the volume game, I'm also strategically
00:22:11
Speaker
because the pandemic might hit, preparing myself with, at a minimum, three different avenues to get my sales in, to get my opportunities in. And once you sort of transition from being the everyday AT&T rep to being your cell phone guy, how did that change your business?
00:22:32
Speaker
So to be candid with you, Trig, this is something that I've always believed in, right? Since the first time we met when we were in that meeting together, you could kind of tell like that was my acumen. You know, I just, I love people. I want to respect people. I want to do the best for people. I'm a very ethical person at the end of the day. So this just kind of coincides with that, right? The Your Cell Phone Guy program,
00:22:58
Speaker
that I put together was really just based on me wanting to taste. I went to school for a business administration with a focus in marketing. So I've always had a marketing degree. I've always loved it. I always appreciated it. And I got trapped into the sales position, right? You fall in love with it, you become great at it, and now it's the thing you do, right? And you know all the tricks, and it's innate. You're like, how did you do that? You're so smooth. I'm like, what? I just said words. I know a little bit about what you're talking about.
00:23:33
Speaker
What it did for me was allowed me to affirm exactly what it is I do. So if anybody wants to check out my LinkedIn, you'll see a lot of the commercials, the many commercials that I did as I was promoting the Your Cell Phone Guy brand. And they were 22 to 35 seconds long. And it would go like, you know, KZ with AT&T, Your Cell Phone Guy. I got the best deals with the best phones on the best service, AT&T. You know, it was really fun.
00:23:53
Speaker
So, you know, at the end of the day,
00:24:03
Speaker
But it allowed me to articulate myself in really short form exactly what it is I'm offering here. And I think that's something that anybody should be doing. I'd say join a B&I group. Go to a Chamber of Commerce, because they will challenge you to do a 30-second elevator pitch of what it is you do, what it is you offer. And through that experience, actually with B&I, because I was part of a large B&I group for some time,
00:24:30
Speaker
I found out that I wasn't selling wireless services, phone, internet, TV, but actually I was simplifying people's experience with wireless. That's what I do. What do you do, Case? I simplify your experience with wireless. Have you had any issues? Because you find the pain point as a sales executive and then you lean on it, but that's what I do.
00:24:55
Speaker
Guys, so once you realize and can condense down exactly what it is, not even for everybody else, but for yourself, it allows you to identify what you have

Value Proposition Articulation

00:25:05
Speaker
to do next. Now, I know exactly how I can market this. I know exactly how I could play on this. And, you know, you'll get challenged like, K's, why should we work with you? Hmm. And once you have that answer ready to go, lock them loaded, it makes a different experience in those discovery calls, those sales calls, et cetera.
00:25:23
Speaker
Yeah. And just for giggles, let's blow that out. Why should people work with you? Guys, I mean, look, the simplicity factor, of course, right? The ethical factor, of course. You know, I do got the best deals on the best devices, on the best network, AT&T. And that's true. I'm at a point in my life where I choose where I want to work.
00:25:51
Speaker
I remember scrambling for a job because I have four kids, I have a wife, and I remember this vividly. Like, oh my gosh, they're letting people go. I need to go find a new job. Anybody who's going to hire me, I'll take the interview, I'll take the job. It's a high pressure situation. In case you've got to pay these bills.
00:26:07
Speaker
But now I got some money in the bank. I got some runway. So I picked who I want to work with. So I picked AT&T. I could have picked Verizon. I had a meeting with Verizon. I had a meeting with T-Mobile. I had a meeting with AT&T. And literally gathered the information. Never did this before, guys. And said, AT&T's dope. I want to work with these guys. First time in my career.
00:26:32
Speaker
So they're a great network to work with. I mean, I have a great team that supports me and that ultimately supports my clients. So, I mean, that's definitely the third reason. You know, for when it comes to cell phones, connectivity, it's the future. I know I'm dating myself here, but, you know, as we said, the yellow pages existed because landlines existed.
00:26:59
Speaker
Right. Like landlines. I remember my mom would be like peeping in my calls. I'm talking to the ladies. Mom, hey, what are you doing here? You know, this is the whole thing. And it evolved into, you know, condensing your device, your entire computer into something this big to allowing for technologies that actually fold out. So this is a fold for and the fold for
00:27:26
Speaker
It's an amazing device because it's literally a computer. You can hook this up to a monitor, a keyboard, a laptop, a keyboard, a mouse, and it turns into a desktop computer, which is revolutionary. So I'm in this and I love working with customers to solve problems, right? So again, all the nice stuff that I said at the beginning, easy to work would be all that stuff. Great. Because you got to do it anyway. You're going to have a cell phone in your company regardless.
00:27:54
Speaker
But I love it when a customer comes with me like, hey man, we have this problem and we need a solution and it's all about connectivity. I have this one customer, he's in the ag market and they were looking to mitigate costs where they can. And we were able to deploy an IoT solution, connectivity, right? It has to communicate somehow without having a landline strung across their fields to essentially identify moisture inside the soil. So they use my IoT product
00:28:24
Speaker
It identifies the moisture and then it, um, basically manages the irrigation for the fields. So cool problem. And then I get to solve it and it's a cool, like, I love that. And I'm game for it. Like a lot of folks are not game. They're like, Oh, I don't do that. You know, at a minimum, let's say you call me and you need some help with your website, some SEO. You know what? I don't do that, but I had a good guy. His name is trick.
00:28:50
Speaker
So solving problems is probably what really motivates me on a day to day basis. And that's what I do the best for my clients. It's more fun. It's what makes the cold calling palatable because eventually somebody's going to listen to you, eventually somebody's going to hear you. And then all of a sudden you can start when they present you with the puzzle.
00:29:10
Speaker
that what they've got isn't working and how can you make it better, then that's when it really gets fun. A thousand percent. A thousand percent. Yeah. So as you're growing, I think, let's qualify this because I think one of the things that I saw on your LinkedIn page is that, because we want to talk about how really important this is to have the service element. What's 180 GAs?
00:29:33
Speaker
You were at 276% increase in attainment. Put on your LinkedIn page. You're putting out my numbers, man. Come on, baby. I am. I'm not talking about... Well, I mean, that's why I had you on is because we're not talking about, oh, hey, guess what? I got 30% growth last quarter. Nope. You're doubling and tripling now.
00:29:58
Speaker
Yeah, let's talk about the anomalies first. It takes not the greatest year to do something like that, right? So the pandemic definitely pushed me in the face. So it's easier to have an increase like that when you're coming from, it wasn't a deficit, I had like a 86% attainment. So just let's be clear, I wanna be transparent with my clients. Two things I've been working on that got me that number. Being extremely direct,
00:30:27
Speaker
knowing exactly what I want to ask for and then asking for it. A lot of times, and it's not something I hate, but it gives me goosebumps. It makes my stomach twist when I hear other sales executives inside of a call, and I know exactly what they want to ask, but they're dancing. Everybody knows what I'm talking about. If you're in sales, you know what I'm talking about. They're dancing a little bit around. Because I'm the contract,
00:30:51
Speaker
Are we moving forward? Like they don't have the words for it exactly. So they're like, you know, what do you think? All right, cool. So just being confident enough in my process, I've given you all the information. You have no more questions. Let's talk about next steps. So that was huge for me, not to say that I wasn't doing it before, but I think it was too much fluff around it.
00:31:14
Speaker
that'll be just being forward. And then last but not least, becoming more efficient. So I do well, but when I'm doing very well, I find that I'm inundated. Like, yo, I got to email here, I got to do this, I got to go out there. So part of the pandemic was really making people okay with or normalizing, if you will, Zoom and the rest of these digital meetings, right? So it eliminated all my windshield time.
00:31:40
Speaker
and allowed me to have back-to-back meetings and then stay at the computer to do any administrative work. So that was huge for time management. But also I created... I never used this tool, but it's called OneNote, Microsoft OneNote. It's always there. No one ever uses OneNote. They're using Word and Excel all the time. But OneNote's phenomenal. If you want to have a Bible, if you will, for all your resources and
00:32:04
Speaker
maybe your templates, I use it religiously. And now that I can copy and paste some of the answers that I get traditionally, time and time again, it's made me so efficient. So like increasing your efficiencies, so then you can go back to the basics and then increase your volume is how you become extremely successful in sales.
00:32:23
Speaker
Awesome. So I have a couple of cell phone questions that I want to ask because this is something everybody who deals in selling that just drives me baddy. So there's all these interesting tricks. I just learned about voicemail drops. Can you explain what a voicemail drop is? Because sometimes I look at my phone and all of a sudden a voicemail will show up. Like, well, what is that? How did that get there? My phone didn't, right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean,
00:32:49
Speaker
That has everything to do with the savvy of these marketers. They are marketing. They went from your traditional telemarketing to teletexting.
00:33:00
Speaker
to even the telemarketing world spoofing phone numbers to look like a local number, which is incredible. I hate to hate. I can only appreciate. I don't like it. We have tools at AT&T called Active Armor to really prevent you from experiencing that. So if you're on any other carrier and that's knocking you out, taking business away from you, give me a call. Let's talk through it. We do have technology to defend against that. And if you're on AT&T already, give me a call all the same, 612.212.
00:33:29
Speaker
1439 and let me take care of ya, but you know ultimately they're doing what I I'm doing because I'll leave a voicemail and To a client and not to be tricky or anything like that But I'm giving tips out here to the fellow salespeople when I have a voicemail. I try to be as vague as possible
00:33:45
Speaker
to build an air of curiosity. These are all marketing strategies, guys. And although I don't appreciate a voicemail that I'm not expecting, I'm going to check that. That's actually kind of genius. And if it wasn't for the fact that it was malicious, I would appreciate it. So that's my answer there. If you need help with that trick, let me know. I'll send you the app.
00:34:10
Speaker
Got it. So second question, sometimes I'll call people and then say, this person has a voicemail box that hasn't been set up yet. Oh, yeah. Is that true? Yeah. It doesn't set up voicemail.
00:34:24
Speaker
The kids, the kids don't even text me. What are you doing voicemailing me? Honestly, sometimes I get a little annoyed. If it wasn't for visual voicemail, I'd be like, why are you leaving me a voicemail dog? Like you're making, cause I like, I like it when all my apps don't have any of the ones and the tens and the, you know, I'm sure you have like a thousand unopened emails, right? Your Gmail looks crazy. I don't want to talk about it. No, thank you.
00:34:47
Speaker
So, you know, these kids, what they do is if they do have a voicemail message, it says, don't even leave a voicemail, text me.
00:34:55
Speaker
So just the times that we live in. But yeah, if you don't set it up initially, you will be greeted with that. This user does not have a voicemail box set up. If you do want to set up your voicemail box, super easy. Just hold down that one on your dial pad. If you hold it down long enough, you'll be taken through a slew of menus that'll allow you to set up your voicemail box.
00:35:19
Speaker
Okay. Third question. Sometimes I call people and they'll say, Oh, this person's voicemail box is full. Is that true? Can you fill up a voicemail box? You can. There's a limit to as many, uh, there's a limit to how many voicemails you can leave in one box sign of the time. So no one's checking them either. Right. So you leave in them, no one's, you know, send the guy a text sales tip. Number three, I guess we're on. If you can't get them on the phone,
00:35:49
Speaker
You kind of gave up. You're like, you know what? I emailed this guy five times. He doesn't got back to me. Try a text. It might work. You know, a lot of companies do have landlines still. But some companies are small. Mom and pop shops that are using their business line is actually a cell phone. So if you send them a text message at a minimum, at least now they're reading it. And if you make it compelling enough, they might even get back to you.
00:36:15
Speaker
Got it. Okay. So last question is you go into 2023 and we're all, we're, we're at the time of recording this, we're looking at, you know, a possible recession. God only knows what's going to happen in midterm elections. Every half the world hates the other half and we're not sure who's, who is this who? How do you keep getting up in the morning with such a positive attitude to be grateful to other people? Uh-oh.
00:36:42
Speaker
Jesus. Because you have four kids, so you're exhausted on top of everything else. I had one run ragged. You got four. Your wife is a warrior. Depending on who's listening, the answer could be controversial. Jesus in my book, God, having a higher power,
00:37:00
Speaker
you know, living for an audience of one, you know, I do what I do because of God. I don't do it. You know, I, again, like I have carrots, like my kids giving them a lifestyle, but that doesn't make me do the right thing. Like I would rob a bank to provide for my kids, you know, but what allows me to do the right thing every day, wake up, be a contributor to my community. And that's just being a, you know, good,
00:37:24
Speaker
Devout Christian honestly, and you don't have to be a Christian, right? You can be a Muslim you can be whatever you want Just have some type of higher power that really guides your next moves I saw this awesome Disney movie and it just said, you know Do the next best thing, you know, and a lot of people they don't think that way because they never had those impressions Mine was through religion, but you can get in so many different ways so that's definitely how I
00:37:52
Speaker
how I bring what I bring to the table, how I dedicate myself to what I do. Also, just realizing what I'm responsible for. What are you responsible for? What is your why? Me and my family recently finished, and this is my family, this is not like AT&T.
00:38:11
Speaker
just finished Vision Boards for the next five years. So what do we want out of life? What's our mission here as a husband and wife, as a unit? And they all want more stuff, Trigg. They all want more stuff. So that means I gotta work harder. Let's say a little bit more about that, because I teach a class where I have people do Vision Boards, too.

Vision Boards and Goal Setting

00:38:31
Speaker
And I think Vision Boards is one of those things, if you're looking at it from the outside, it's just really stupid. Like, why would I do that? Why would I do a collage project?
00:38:39
Speaker
Oh man. You and I are on the other side of that. So say, say a little bit more about how that's affected you, affected you. And what just for those, everybody who's listening, building a vision board is put everything you want in one place. Yeah. We didn't do a manifestation. So manifestation is a real thing. You know, again, I don't know how many people I'm losing here because I'm talking about the metaphysical and all that extra stuff. It's critical. You know, we're all men.
00:39:07
Speaker
And a car was an idea at a point in time, and then they put it down on paper, and then they had a model of it, and then they started manufacturing it. Then they found processes to make the manufacturing efficient and allow it to be affordable to the common man. It's the same exact thing. This guy was probably like, you're crazy. Why won't you just ride a horse? You're crazy. What are you doing? Oh, you can just ride the horse. It's already there.
00:39:30
Speaker
So be challenging yourself to think of new things and have new ideas. That's step one. And if somebody told me that, hey, there's going to be a vision board session, I want you to think about where you're going to be, where you're going to be at, and what are you going to be doing in the next five years. Now you got to think about that. You got to imagine it. It's literally your imagination.
00:39:56
Speaker
Then you put it down on paper. You can write it out on a list before you go and meet up with Trigby. So you're ready for him to start printing out these pictures. So now you have the pictures and you're seeing it every day. You're visualizing it every day where you become like, I could do this. Because you're consistently challenging your process, your steps with your goals. Does this match up with exactly what I'm looking at right now? Just be candid with you guys. I'm looking to get a $1.4 million house.
00:40:26
Speaker
Once we put the house on the vision board, it was like, okay, what's the mortgage for that? Okay. How much more do we have to make every month to make that happen for us? Is that a smart play? Are we thinking about utilities? It brings the conversation up or it actually even materializes. So now we're prepared. So I did a vision board back when I was in Comcast. I was living in an apartment. I had two kids at the time and my manager, his name is Rick Dana.
00:40:54
Speaker
challenged me to put together a vision board. And literally, every single item, I look back on that maybe five years after we put it together, the house, the kids, the car, the iPhone I had on there, everything that I wanted, I got. And it's also this opportunity of validation, which is necessary, especially in our age, because we have so much more life to live, right guys? So it's like, man, I can do whatever I put my mind to.
00:41:24
Speaker
Let's go. Let's go. What's next? You know, so I really appreciate the vision board. If you guys could do any sessions with Trigby, somebody to guide it, because I think that was the only thing that I didn't have in my family session, somebody to guide it, an expert, you know, hit Trigby up. He's going to be able to walk you through that. Oh, thanks.
00:41:44
Speaker
And, you know, for anybody who's listening who's thinking, Oh, I don't want to do, I was asked to do a vision board. You know what? I'll be the one to take a Casey's more successful than you are. And he does. So it's, it's, it's worth doing. And it's worth looking at a different way of, of going into the world and a different way of, you know, achieving that sense of gratitude and leveraging those relationships for bigger, bigger success. So.
00:42:12
Speaker
KZ, your cell phone guy, where can people find you if they want to talk about their cell phone plans and if they've got a problem?
00:42:18
Speaker
Man, hit me up anywhere. Facebook, obviously. Put the first and last name in there. E-Kazy and New Bazaar. You'll see it in the description and you'll find me. It might be the only E-Kazy and New Bazaar on the planet. If you want to give me a call, literally have my phone on me, 24-7-365. The number is 612-212-1439. Again, that's 612-212-1439. Kazy with AT&T, your cell phone guy.