Episode 45

Episode 045: Supercharging Your Sales With Executive Sales Coach Marcus Chan

In this episode Monique welcomes sales supercharger Marcus Chan to The Unpolished MBA. Marcus is a gifted and insightful sales leader who brings an array of knowledge and invaluable tips to this week's show. Monique and Marcus track the progress of Marcus’s career from top flight sales manger to founder of Venli Consulting Group and developer of the Six Figure Sales Academy.

Marcus shares war stories from the difficult and degrading days of his early sales experience reminding us of the importance of resilience and research when tackling challenges in high pressure sales environments. Monique and Marcus also bond over the difficulties of developing their own business and reminisce about the early days of e-book authorship and developing internet business courses.

In this interview, Marcus combines his unparalleled knowledge, infectious energy, storytelling approach,  and life in sales into an inspirational episode that reminds us all that a bit of tenacity coupled with an unfailing sense of self-belief can take us far in life while also equipping us with the tools to help others along the way! 

Topics Include:

  • The Secrets Of Consistent Sales Growth
  • Building Internet Courses From Scratch
  • The Importance Of Asking The Right Questions
  • Perseverance In The Face Of Rejection Or Failure
  • The Generationally Transformative Power Of Success

Follow Marcus:

Website: https://www.sixfiguresalesacademy.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcuschanmba

Free Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/realb2bsales

Follow Monique:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moniquemills/

Website: https://unpolishedmba.com/

Transcript
Monique:

Coming up on Unpolished MBA.

Marcus:

So a lot of times I find sales just like anything else, it's

Marcus:

a death by a thousand paper cuts.

Marcus:

It's very rarely one big thing that changes everything.

Marcus:

It's usually microscopic little cuts that we're doing to ourselves that

Marcus:

actually decrease our overall win rates.

Marcus:

So we understand that and we understand that the devil's in the details.

Marcus:

Let's find those details, let's fix the details permanently.

Marcus:

So that way our closing goes up drastically.

Monique:

This show is sponsored by TPM Focus, the strategy and

Monique:

execution consulting firm focused on generating revenue and finding

Monique:

product market fit for new innovations.

Monique:

Head over to TPMFocus.com to learn more.

Monique:

Hello everyone and welcome back to the most recent episode of Unpolished MBA.

Monique:

Today I have with me, Mr.

Monique:

Marcus Chan.

Monique:

Hi Marcus.

Marcus:

Hey, how you doing?

Marcus:

Thanks so much for having me on.

Monique:

I'm so glad to have you today.

Monique:

I'm going to start by asking you the same two questions that I ask everyone.

Monique:

The first one is, are you an entrepreneur or a corporate employee?

Marcus:

Awesome.

Marcus:

So I was a corporate boy for about 14 years, but I've been an entrepreneur,

Marcus:

a full-time entrepreneur, for about two and a half years now.

Monique:

Oh, fantastic.

Monique:

MBA or no MBA?

Marcus:

So I did get my MBA as well.

Marcus:

When I was in corporate America, actually.

Monique:

Did they pay for it?

Marcus:

No, they did not.

Marcus:

It was funded out of the Chan retirement foundation.

Monique:

Nice.

Monique:

They don't pay for them too much anymore these days.

Monique:

It's interesting to know because you've had a long corporate career and now,

Monique:

what made you become an entrepreneur?

Marcus:

So it was never really a dream of mine or something I want to do.

Marcus:

In fact, even when I got my MBA, it wasn't like I'm going to get my

Marcus:

MBA and then start my own business.

Marcus:

It just was not really how I expected life to be.

Marcus:

It's just one of those things where I grew up, my parents

Marcus:

were entreprenuers, really poor.

Marcus:

They started a restaurant, they had a rental property, they did all these

Marcus:

things, eventually we were able to build a good life for themselves.

Marcus:

But I saw how hard they worked, so I never wanted to be an entrepreneur.

Marcus:

I don't want that.

Marcus:

I'm going to go to corporate America.

Marcus:

Good steady job, good income, good benefits, more stability, et cetera.

Marcus:

So when I graduated, I went into corporate America as a B2B sales professional.

Marcus:

I actually really struggled.

Marcus:

Then eventually over time I figured it out, I started having success,

Marcus:

got promoted a bunch of times and I was like, I'm just going to

Marcus:

do this for the rest of my life.

Marcus:

I'm going to be a corporate employee, I love it.

Marcus:

At this point I did it for years or at least for about six, seven years.

Marcus:

It's about seven or so years at that point is when the little seed of an idea

Marcus:

to be an entrepreneur kind of started popping my head, because at this point I

Marcus:

had been promoted a number of different times, like 10 times at this point.

Marcus:

I was running a sales organization about 85 plus employees.

Marcus:

We do a lot of revenue, I had a lot of influence and

Marcus:

power and it was really cool.

Marcus:

I was one of the youngest directors in the company, and this

Marcus:

was for a fortune 500 company.

Marcus:

I'm like, " Wow, this is a great life."

Marcus:

People kept asking me, "Hey, Marcus you should write a book about this."

Marcus:

What am I going to write a book for?

Marcus:

Well, maybe I could write an ebook something easy.

Marcus:

So I started researching online, learn how to write an ebook because before

Marcus:

everyone had an ebook, this 2015 so I wrote an ebook and I learned how to

Marcus:

sell online, which is all new to me.

Marcus:

I remember launching it, and I made $9.99.

Marcus:

I still have the email from PayPal.

Marcus:

I was so excited, because at this point I was so used to, in my

Marcus:

parents' restaurant, people physically exchanging me money for food or a B2B

Marcus:

sales people exchanging credit cards, et cetera, face to face in a sales call.

Marcus:

So having a stranger, give me not even $10 online.

Marcus:

That's really interesting.

Marcus:

So at this point I started actually studying internet marketing,

Marcus:

online businesses, et cetera.

Marcus:

I still wasn't like, I want to be an entrepreneur.

Marcus:

It would be kind of cool to build extra side income.

Marcus:

What made a lot of sense when you create your first digital product,

Marcus:

the natural progression was , can I build something bigger and charge more?

Marcus:

That was a digital course.

Marcus:

Now everyone and their mother has digital course, but back

Marcus:

then, it wasn't as popular.

Marcus:

I bought a program to learn how to start doing that.

Marcus:

It actually me a couple of years, because at this time I will still

Marcus:

traveling nonstop from my corporate job.

Marcus:

I was easily in a hotel room, a hundred plus nights a year, eighty

Marcus:

plus hours a week in, planes, hotels, et cetera I was traveling.

Marcus:

In my free time, I decide to start building this course out.

Marcus:

I start building this course out, and the first instinct that came

Marcus:

to me was, what are people asking questions about in B2B sales?

Marcus:

So I said let me build something that could have helped me when I started.

Marcus:

It took me two years.

Marcus:

I built this out, I recorded in my free time, in hotel rooms and did all the work.

Marcus:

After about two years, this is a January, 2019.

Marcus:

I thought to myself, I had like kind of aha or no, I had more like a fear.

Marcus:

What if I just wasted two years building this and nobody buys it?

Monique:

Right, that happens a lot

Marcus:

I just said, "Screw it.

Marcus:

Let's us do it."

Marcus:

So I just did a mini launch, woke up and made $2,000 over night.

Marcus:

That was like, mind blown.

Marcus:

The whole time I'm still selling the ebook.

Monique:

Well, where are you promoting yourself or anything in that time period?

Marcus:

So, the company I was at was very conservative.

Marcus:

It really didn't like branding on LinkedIn branding online.

Marcus:

So I had a whole different profile on Instagram.

Marcus:

I was posting motivational quotes and different things like that,

Marcus:

but they're very small email list, maybe 300 people, you know, just

Marcus:

to like years to get to that point.

Marcus:

So I launched it.

Marcus:

I was surprised at how many sales.

Marcus:

At this point, you know, I've been in corporate America for over a

Marcus:

decade and I thought, what's next?

Marcus:

I had a great reputation in everything, I could keep climbing

Marcus:

the corporate ladder, but there was something about being able to make

Marcus:

an impact beyond just my corporation.

Marcus:

So, yes, I had a big sales organization.

Marcus:

Yes, I had a lot of people that would indirectly reach out to me becase I

Marcus:

was in the company and they were in the same company with me and they're

Marcus:

like, "Wow, you're doing a great job.

Marcus:

I'll learn from you."

Marcus:

I know I can help people outside of here.

Marcus:

I mean, I was making amazing income of my corporate job.

Marcus:

I can't just leave that for even just a one-time buy of $2,000.

Monique:

For something that may not even work.

Marcus:

It may not even worked out right?

Marcus:

As the next couple of months are progressing.

Marcus:

I started selling more and more of these courses, which is really

Marcus:

cool, but also get a feedback.

Marcus:

People are getting results.

Marcus:

Strangers thanking me.

Marcus:

This actually works and that was a validation for me that

Marcus:

my second product actually was able to deliver transformation

Marcus:

that I promised it would do.

Marcus:

I knew I could do it if I was face to face with them, but could

Marcus:

I do it virtually, digitally and with something that could scale?

Marcus:

Now that was validated and that was really cool.

Marcus:

So as a result of people start asking about coaching and other things.

Marcus:

This is kind of neat.

Marcus:

Sometimes it's the siding income, which is really neat.

Marcus:

I thought, all right, this is an opportunity for me

Marcus:

to make a decision here.

Marcus:

I can keep doing what I'm doing here, or I can go all in on this.

Marcus:

You get to a point where it's not about the money anymore,

Marcus:

but, what am I here for?

Marcus:

What's the impact?

Marcus:

What can I really do and change?

Marcus:

And for me, I know if I just worked directly with these other sales

Marcus:

professionals around the world, I can really change their life.

Marcus:

It changed my life, it let me do whatever I want.

Marcus:

So I said, let me just kind of time this out.

Marcus:

I didn't want to just turn in my two weeks and roll out because I had a

Marcus:

bunch of stock I was going to invest.

Marcus:

I had won another presidents club trip, presidents club was a top elite award.

Marcus:

It's an amazing trip, a five star resort.

Marcus:

I wanted my free trip.

Marcus:

I also wanted to be strategic with timing out earnings calls, so the

Marcus:

stock would go up so I could cash out.

Marcus:

I timed out for like roughly September timeframe after the next earnings call.

Marcus:

I'll roll after that.

Marcus:

I literally just kept doing my day job, was building a side business,

Marcus:

doing all these things, literally with a lone Instagram account and,

Marcus:

building my email list slowly out way.

Marcus:

I officially quit my job, September 1, 2019 was my first

Marcus:

official day as entrepreneur, now I went all in from there.

Monique:

That was just before the Pandemic though.

Marcus:

Right before the pandemic, which obviously is

Marcus:

great timing, as you can tell.

Marcus:

It was really exciting though.

Marcus:

I remember once I launched it too, I'm like, this is like really hard,

Marcus:

but fast forward to now 2.5 years later, I'm grateful for all the

Marcus:

lessons of bruises, the pains, the scrapes, all on the journey, which

Marcus:

has been absolutely incredible.

Marcus:

That's how I got into it, and that's how I've stayed an entreprenuer.

Monique:

Well, I just have to tell you that you do have an advantage

Monique:

from having a sales background and having two entrepreneurial parents.

Monique:

That's one trend that we've seen on this podcast, but it

Monique:

still doesn't guarantee success.

Monique:

There's truly something special about you, because as I mentioned,

Monique:

I heard about you before you mentioned anything about yourself.

Marcus:

I appreciate that.

Monique:

So that's fantastic.

Monique:

So I want to know, I know what you do, but I want you to tell the audience what

Monique:

it is that you do as an entrepreneur now.

Marcus:

Awesome.

Marcus:

So one of the first thing that's really important understanding is once I started

Marcus:

my business full time, I was 100% crystal clear on exactly who I wanted to serve.

Marcus:

So I work directly with B2B sales professionals who are direct B2B

Marcus:

selling in a corporate environment.

Marcus:

I helped them earn an additional $50,000 to $100,000 more in commissions

Marcus:

and bonuses, through mastering refining their entire sales process.

Monique:

So these are account executives?

Marcus:

Usually account executives, It kind of depends.

Marcus:

We have a lot of people in software sales in our programs.

Marcus:

I mean, at this point now we've brought in over 250 people into our programs.

Marcus:

So it's all across the board, but some of them are what's called full cycle.

Marcus:

Meaning they have to do all the top of funnel work, cold call

Marcus:

outbound ,cold email outbound, social selling, book the meetings,

Marcus:

run it, close it, grow the account.

Marcus:

All the way to SDRs or Sales Development Reps who only do top

Marcus:

of the funnel marketing or top of funnel appointment booking.

Marcus:

Some who are only closed, who only deal in closed deals, they run big

Marcus:

accounts and they close those deals.

Marcus:

So we do basically everything start to finish is what we

Marcus:

do for the sales process.

Monique:

In your corporate career were you a full cycle sales person as well?

Marcus:

I was full cycle only.

Monique:

Wow, so that's why you know all parts of it so, well.

Monique:

I know we need more people that are good at full cycle and we need to get there

Monique:

ASAP, but some people are just only good at being an SDR or only good at closing.

Marcus:

Yeah, it's so true.

Marcus:

I think I've been blessed by my corporate career, in the sense of, you know, even

Marcus:

the first role I had, it was a startup division of a major fortune 500 company.

Marcus:

There was no training.

Marcus:

There's no marketing.

Marcus:

Historically the part of the business was huge & massive that they're known for

Marcus:

they'd screw through referral marketing.

Marcus:

This B2B side had no marketing, no, nothing.

Marcus:

Literally we would knock on doors on foot and cold call, cold email.

Marcus:

We were , it was all boots on the ground.

Marcus:

There was no marketing, there was no leads.

Marcus:

Literally our phones didn't ring.

Marcus:

We didn't get emails or leads it was like, good luck.

Marcus:

So we ha we had to do everything to generate the leads.

Marcus:

I was my own SDR, I was my own closer, I was also the guy who had managed accounts

Marcus:

to so I learned how to do it all.

Marcus:

So I was able to have a full understanding and grasp of what it

Marcus:

takes, to take someone completely cold to have them handing you

Marcus:

cash in a short period of time.

Marcus:

But on top of that, make sure they're happy to stay with you.

Monique:

We're going to take a quick timeout and pick back up in just a moment.

Monique:

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Monique:

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Monique:

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Monique:

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Monique:

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Monique:

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Monique:

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Monique:

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Monique:

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Monique:

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Monique:

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Monique:

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Monique:

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Monique:

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Monique:

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Monique:

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Monique:

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Monique:

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Monique:

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Monique:

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Monique:

So everything from being an SDR SDR, getting people interested, all the top

Monique:

of the funnel stuff to customer sucess.

Marcus:

Exactly, because we got paid off the backend.

Marcus:

So I need to keep these accounts.

Monique:

So that's, really interesting.

Monique:

First of all, anyone who can do that in startups is incredible

Monique:

because you're given nothing.

Monique:

Most of the time, the founder is a tech person and they don't know, put up a few

Monique:

posts, call some people, figure this out.

Monique:

The fact that you were able to do that and help build that organization

Monique:

successfully is incredible.

Monique:

Okay.

Monique:

But number two is since they did not provide any training, which is normal

Monique:

for a startup because they don't know what training would be needed.

Monique:

Where did you learn?

Monique:

Where did you receive the knowledge you need it to succeed?

Marcus:

Sure.

Marcus:

So first off they did give me training in a form of a manual

Marcus:

that was about three inches thick written by people who've never done

Marcus:

the job before, that was amazing.

Marcus:

Great, these scripts are from 1981.

Marcus:

So the first thing I did, I'm a college grad, I don't know crap

Marcus:

about cold calling or anything.

Monique:

I was just about to ask you how old were you?

Marcus:

I was 22 years old.

Marcus:

I remember I went to my boss, this is like day one, looked at the

Marcus:

manual, I'm like, this is garbage.

Marcus:

I could tell I can't really see it's working, I'm like, boss,

Marcus:

what should I do right now?

Marcus:

What should do today?

Marcus:

He's said, I'll let you go knock on doors.

Marcus:

I'm like, okay, what does that mean?

Marcus:

What's my objective?

Marcus:

How many do I go?

Marcus:

He said, I want you to walk to 30 doors and try to close some deals.

Marcus:

He literally no joke, he gives me a stack of his business cards because I don't

Marcus:

have even business cards at this time.

Marcus:

This is when business cards were still pretty popular.

Marcus:

No joke, Monique I literally just walked out the door, started walking

Marcus:

down the street and I'm like, okay, there's basic math, I could workout.

Marcus:

He said 30, let me just double it I want to see of I can get two sales by the

Marcus:

day, and this is a B2B sales process.

Marcus:

So I go and start walking down and I walk in over 60 businesses on foot that

Marcus:

first day I do not close any deals.

Marcus:

I do not book any appointments.

Marcus:

I do not generate any interest whatsoever.

Marcus:

Did you get thrown out of anywhere?

Marcus:

Not really thrown , this is also in the last recession.

Marcus:

The economy is not getting really good.

Marcus:

They'd say; we're about to shut down or we're going out of business.

Marcus:

So I'm it is what it is onto the next one.

Marcus:

So the next day I do the same thing again, new businesses.

Marcus:

So over 60 again, and again the same result.

Marcus:

Nothing, no booked meetings no close deals, no interests.

Marcus:

At this point, I into over 120 businesses.

Marcus:

This is insane.

Marcus:

How do I have a, less than a 1% conversion rate?

Marcus:

It's simple math, for not even one person to have some sort of

Marcus:

interest, this can't be right.

Marcus:

I go to my bosses.

Marcus:

Hey what should I do?

Marcus:

He's said call them dummy.

Marcus:

So I grab the cards and I just started calling every single one

Marcus:

because I didn't realize I was talking to gatekeepers, right?

Marcus:

I call all of them, this is the third day now.

Marcus:

No meetings.

Marcus:

I thought, let me try again the next day, because a lot didn't

Marcus:

answer or voicemail, et cetera.

Marcus:

Call again the next day.

Marcus:

Same response.

Marcus:

So at this point now I think I started on Tuesday and now it's Friday

Marcus:

and I am just destroyed mentally.

Marcus:

I have literally a sub 1% conversion rate, there's something wrong with me.

Marcus:

I clearly am not made to be in sales.

Marcus:

My parents are right.

Marcus:

I should have become an accountant, an engineer, a doctor, a lawyer,

Marcus:

something way more prestigious than a guy trying to sell rental box

Marcus:

trucks, you know, for leasing by foot.

Marcus:

Okay, this is not going to work, and I remember I was talking to my girlfriend,

Marcus:

now wife and I was complaining up a storm.

Marcus:

It's because I have a bad territory, bad boss, I'm not getting trained,

Marcus:

I have a stupid manual, I'm not getting any help, the economy is bad,

Marcus:

it's a recession, everything sucks.

Marcus:

I'll just blame the world.

Marcus:

She said, so are you gonna do about that?

Marcus:

I don't know.

Marcus:

Well, you've always been relatively studious, maybe get some sales books.

Marcus:

Well that makes some sense.

Marcus:

So that's when I went to the library and got like 10 sales books, Zig Ziglar,

Marcus:

Augmandino, Brian Tracy, et cetera.

Marcus:

I started reading any sales book I could read.

Marcus:

The challenge is all of them are written in the eighties and seventies.

Marcus:

So I'm taking these techniques from Cold Call Techniques That Really Work.

Marcus:

Let me just try all these things, and I try all these

Marcus:

things, like literally for weeks.

Marcus:

Fast forward, this is six, seven weeks in I have the highest activity of everyone.

Marcus:

I make the most calls, I do the most cold calls by foot.

Marcus:

I send the most cold emails.

Marcus:

I outwork everyone for the next six weeks.

Marcus:

Still do not closee a single deal.

Marcus:

While everyone else is like closing some deals.

Marcus:

The only thing I can really judge is myself.

Marcus:

I'm lookinig at myself in the mirror, and I'm like, I am not made out for this.

Marcus:

Around this timeframe, one of the books I come across, was a Tony Robbins

Marcus:

book called Awaken the Giant Within.

Marcus:

When I was reading the book, one of the things I really

Marcus:

uncovered was if you don't like the answer, ask a better question.

Marcus:

At that point I realized anytime I was getting hit with setbacks and

Marcus:

issues and problems or rejection, I was actually askinig myself

Marcus:

a lot of negative questions.

Marcus:

Why is it so hard?

Marcus:

What's wrong with me?

Marcus:

What's wrong with this person?

Marcus:

Why are they a jerk?

Marcus:

Why did they hang up on me?

Marcus:

Why are they doing this?

Marcus:

Why is my boss bad?

Marcus:

These are very disempowering questions.

Monique:

It's true.

Monique:

Yeah.

Marcus:

I remember at this point I thought, if I don't have the

Marcus:

answer, what can I do better?

Marcus:

What else could I do?

Marcus:

Who would know?

Marcus:

Who's having success?

Marcus:

Well, this girl in Seattle, let me call her up just to see what she's doing.

Marcus:

So I started picking up little things here and there and I started

Marcus:

realizing really the truth is if I'm going to be really good at

Marcus:

anything, it's about behavior model.

Marcus:

It seems so obvious, but at that time there wasn't LinkedIn,

Marcus:

there weren't sales influencers, there weren't people to follow.

Marcus:

Youtube wasn't really a thing back then for sales.

Marcus:

There were no real resources.

Marcus:

So I started just figuring out here and there it's trial and error, and I started

Marcus:

basically grasping fundamentals around what I observed and testing and tweaking.

Marcus:

The thing is, where I've really learned through time, I

Marcus:

became a master AB tester.

Marcus:

I would test everything, how I'd said things, the wording, the tonality,

Marcus:

or whatever, like bad result, good result, bad result, good result.

Marcus:

What's the win.

Marcus:

What's the loss.

Marcus:

What's the win.

Marcus:

What's the learn.

Marcus:

I'd test over and over until I started creating thiings that would work.

Marcus:

Now this really helped me because at this point, one of the "Aha's" I had.

Marcus:

It was a Friday night, about six, seven weeks in.

Marcus:

My boss pulled me in 4:00 PM on Friday night, which you can know

Marcus:

is a never a good conversation.

Monique:

It was scary, right?

Marcus:

He basically said, Hey, you suck at your job.

Marcus:

You've got to figure this out.

Marcus:

Otherwise I'm putting you on a performance plan and you're out.

Marcus:

I'm like, oh my God, I'm about to get fired in the recession,

Marcus:

I can't get a job right now.

Monique:

Was that a commission only job by the way?

Marcus:

No.

Marcus:

The base salary was $29,500.

Marcus:

I'm like, okay, this is a pretty stressful, and I remember the next

Marcus:

week early on, this is really key for me, this is a big mental shift.

Marcus:

I remember, I went to go see the doctor.

Marcus:

I remember, she's basically like "Hey, your blood pressure is really high.

Marcus:

You've got pre hypertension, you gained a little weight since

Marcus:

I last talked to you, etc."

Marcus:

I was fat...

Marcus:

gained a little weight, going to be aware of that.

Marcus:

Here's what I recommend.

Marcus:

And I'm like, basically, you know, more cardiovascular eat better,

Marcus:

watch what I eat, you know, etc.

Marcus:

I'm like, Oh, I'm like "Great.

Marcus:

Sounds great."

Marcus:

And I'm really like that night...and I'm like, "what a great plan."

Marcus:

I'm so happy she told me these things and then I'm like "Wait a minute.

Marcus:

How does she sell me on this?"

Marcus:

How does she sell me on completely changing my habits because I'm

Marcus:

literally trying to sell people to change their habits and buy from me.

Marcus:

So what did she do specifically?

Marcus:

And when I really thought about it, I realized she didn't like have some

Marcus:

crazy pitch or spiel or whatever.

Marcus:

She just asked a lot of really great questions.

Marcus:

She took a step back, got what my current state is, my desire state,

Marcus:

and that you show me a solution to get to my desired state.

Marcus:

All she did.

Marcus:

And I'm like, that's why she do in sales.

Marcus:

And I started modeling my sales process towards something like that.

Marcus:

And that was that really start toj improve my results as well.

Marcus:

I mean, we literally, by month three, I went from one of the

Marcus:

worst reps to the number one rep.

Marcus:

And I stayed number one for three more months until they gave me a

Marcus:

fake promotion to go run a team.

Monique:

You said fake promotion?

Marcus:

Yeah, they're like "Hey, so you're going to do done a great job.

Marcus:

We're going to take you over here.

Marcus:

Put you this other operation.

Marcus:

You're the worst now, we want you to teach them what you did.

Marcus:

You're responsible for everyone's growth and results.

Marcus:

We're not going to pay you anymore.

Marcus:

We're not going to give you a title boost, but if you do a good

Marcus:

job, you might get a promotion.

Monique:

Typical Corporate America.

Marcus:

I'm like, great.

Marcus:

Let me do it.

Marcus:

And I did it.

Marcus:

So that was a lot of fun.

Marcus:

But that's how we started learning and the AB testing, the law of AB testing,

Marcus:

figuring out, you know, I wish I could say this or that, but I also did mentors too.

Marcus:

Right?

Marcus:

I would ask them questions and sometimes they weren't necessarily sales mentors,

Marcus:

but they helped me reframe how to think.

Marcus:

And a lot of times we just don't know how to think critically and

Marcus:

actually hinders us most of the time.

Monique:

Oh, that's so true.

Monique:

So using these techniques and really a lot of common sense to move things forward,

Monique:

how do you help other people sell more?

Marcus:

Great question.

Marcus:

So it's really, really quite simple.

Marcus:

A lot of times, most sales professionals generally speaking, they just

Marcus:

don't know what they don't know.

Marcus:

And they'd lack clarity on what's not working well.

Marcus:

So for example, even like running discovery calls where you're asking

Marcus:

questions, most salespeople who are in sales for a while, even a couple of

Marcus:

years, like, "oh yeah, you don't, you ask a question, you can close more deals."

Marcus:

Yeah.

Marcus:

Obvious, but that's very common, but most people don't know how

Marcus:

to actually effectively do it.

Marcus:

What questions?

Marcus:

How do you ask a question?

Marcus:

It's not about...and a mistake a lot of them make, they say, "well, I want

Marcus:

to have like a list of questions.

Marcus:

I'm going to go, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Marcus:

And it's going to be great.

Marcus:

I ask these questions and then they give me money at the end."

Marcus:

That's just not how it works.

Marcus:

What a lot of them don't realize is a sales process is merely a skeleton.

Marcus:

It's a framework.

Marcus:

Just like a script is, but how you dive in deep is really key and it's

Marcus:

being able to take the surface, all the questions that might open

Marcus:

the situation and go even deeper.

Marcus:

So for example, one of my favorite questions to ask this on a surface

Marcus:

level questions, Hey, what happens if you go a year and you nothing changed,

Marcus:

you still running the same issues.

Marcus:

Now that person will say, oh, that'd be terrible.

Marcus:

As we've got bad for my business.

Marcus:

And the average rep says, "got it."

Marcus:

And they stop.

Marcus:

And they move on.

Marcus:

Let's really understand how do you go even deeper?

Marcus:

So while it's absolutely terrible that, you know, you'd be losing 200 grand a year

Marcus:

in revenue for your business, how would that impact you to lose 200 grand a year?

Marcus:

What type of impact would that have?

Marcus:

Tell me more about that.

Marcus:

And you start chunking down and the truth is discovery is not made

Marcus:

at the surface level questions.

Marcus:

Discovery is made in the root.

Marcus:

So I teach them how to tie those pieces down and then it's actually

Marcus:

across a whole pre-sales process.

Marcus:

So it's taken a lot of their whole sales process and improving everything down.

Marcus:

So for example, if they have a 20% open rate, get them into a 25,

Marcus:

30, 40% open rate for the emails.

Marcus:

If they talk to 10 decision makers on the phone and they only book two, so

Marcus:

they have a 20% conversion to booking.

Marcus:

It's getting them to 90%+.

Monique:

I see.

Monique:

So when you're talking about getting more emails open, do you help with copy?

Monique:

Email subject lines?

Marcus:

100% percent.

Marcus:

So sometimes like it's all the way through.

Marcus:

So it's not just like the mistakes some reps are like

Marcus:

"Aww I want like a magic email.

Marcus:

I went the magic script, the magic framework.

Marcus:

They help a little bit as a frame, but you need more context around it.

Marcus:

So like for example, yesterday with my client calls from the audience, I pulled

Marcus:

up the email that she's had me review.

Marcus:

And I completely rewrote it, but I explained what I was doing and why,

Marcus:

so they can understand, this is the difference, when you say hi versus

Marcus:

hey, this is when you take this copy here, you change it like this, right?

Marcus:

So we took an email that when we'd run it through a thing called

Marcus:

Hemingwayapp.com, it takes a 10th grader to understand it rewrote to

Marcus:

a fourth grader would understand it.

Marcus:

If it's right on the iPhone or phone from a two email scroll or

Marcus:

two thumbs scroll to no scroll.

Monique:

That's right.

Marcus:

So like it's these little things.

Marcus:

We took it from a double CTA call to action, to a single CTA.

Marcus:

That's even simpler and breaking down, not just what we're doing and how we're

Marcus:

doing, but also why are we doing it?

Marcus:

So this way they can replicate that success, not just with me, but they can

Marcus:

actually think on their own critically.

Marcus:

So when they look at the email, how can I adjust this to increase this conversion?

Marcus:

You know, how can I adjust this to get a better response?

Marcus:

How can I adjust this to get a better booking ratio?

Marcus:

Right?

Marcus:

So a lot of times I find sales just like anything else, it's a

Marcus:

death by a thousand paper cuts.

Marcus:

It's very rarely one big thing that changes everything.

Marcus:

It's usually microscopic little cuts that we're doing to ourselves that

Marcus:

actually decrease our overall win rate.

Marcus:

So we understand that and we understand that the devil's in the

Marcus:

details let's find those details.

Marcus:

Let's fix the details permanently.

Marcus:

So that way our closing ratio goes up drastically.

Monique:

Right!

Monique:

Now when people are in the mode of feeling defeated from not closing,

Monique:

like they want to, and then they come to you, how do you pick them up?

Marcus:

Yeah.

Marcus:

Great question.

Marcus:

So motivation is fleeting.

Marcus:

And one of the things that if I'm on a call with someone or my

Marcus:

team is on a call with somebody wants to join our programs like..

Marcus:

if you're looking for that, you looking for the wrong solution.

Marcus:

Having a little bit of motivation is like saying I'm going to get

Marcus:

more coffee to have more energy.

Marcus:

The true root issue is you're not getting enough sleep.

Monique:

I love that metaphor.

Monique:

You're right.

Marcus:

So it's really understanding what are we solving here?

Marcus:

And so we have people that come from "Hey, I'm struggling to I'm fricking crushing."

Marcus:

So there's like, there's a wide spectrum.

Marcus:

But we have some people that they come in, let's say they're actually

Marcus:

struggling, immensely feeling defeated.

Marcus:

Right?

Marcus:

The truth is this.

Marcus:

Is when they understand how do we build the right habits and routines

Marcus:

to build success, how to think properly, but also how to start

Marcus:

gaining progress because ultimately progress is the ultimate motivation.

Monique:

That's true...That's right.

Monique:

And seeing results.

Marcus:

100%.

Marcus:

So I'll give a really good example.

Marcus:

So William, just joined my program about 10 business days ago.

Marcus:

And when he joined new in the role six weeks in, very stressed,

Marcus:

hadn't closed a single deal.

Marcus:

It's a very transactional sales process for what he sells.

Marcus:

He's very stressed out.

Marcus:

You feel like it's all over the place, right?

Marcus:

So he comes in and one of the assets we provide for them is also a course.

Marcus:

And this one part where it's like, it's very lean and mean.

Marcus:

They get results.

Marcus:

And they just take action.

Marcus:

So he starts going through that before even the call I had

Marcus:

with him as an onboarding call.

Marcus:

So I called him a Tuesday.

Marcus:

So that was like, what?

Marcus:

Seven business days ago or something like eight business days ago or

Marcus:

eight business days into the program.

Marcus:

And again, the call and I'm like, "hi, how are you doing?"

Marcus:

And he's like, "dude, I'm super pumped".

Marcus:

I'm like, "why so pumped?"

Marcus:

He was like "already did modules right here.

Marcus:

And I'd already took action.

Marcus:

Like I started taking action this week.

Marcus:

15 calls, I booked three meetings.

Marcus:

I've already closed one."

Marcus:

I'm like, "amazing!"

Marcus:

So now he's so freaking excited because he has progress that

Marcus:

sometimes it's not always a closed deal, but sometimes like, "Hey, wow.

Marcus:

Like they're actually responding to my emails now.

Marcus:

Oh, wow.

Marcus:

I'm actually booking meetings now."

Marcus:

"Oh, wow.

Marcus:

I'm actually like making these tiny tweaks", but it's not

Marcus:

just like, they also know why.

Marcus:

So now what happens is because they're beginning to get a little bit better

Marcus:

each day from how they think and what they do and their skillset and their

Marcus:

growth and development, they become naturally more motivated as a result.

Marcus:

But one of the things I really break down is it's like, it's one of the things

Marcus:

where it's got to keep going that's right.

Marcus:

Right?

Marcus:

So it's having the right routine.

Marcus:

So actually on the first thing that we're always reprogramming

Marcus:

their brain is how to think.

Marcus:

And how to routine, how you think, and your routine needs to be massively

Marcus:

alive before we change the process, because ultimately like Jim Rohn

Marcus:

said, if you work hard, it's a job.

Marcus:

You make a living.

Marcus:

If you work hard on yourself, you make a fortune.

Marcus:

So the truth is my program, even though I focus on helping B2B sales reps, you

Marcus:

don't really question making more money.

Marcus:

It's actually really a personal development program in disguise.

Marcus:

That's what it sounds like.

Marcus:

Because when they come out the other end, they're like, "oh my God, I

Marcus:

don't even write down myself anymore."

Marcus:

Like they're getting better jobs.

Marcus:

They're happy that our wives they're making more money

Marcus:

and they're working less.

Marcus:

Like even the people in my team, like my team we've scaled.

Marcus:

Now we have six people on our team.

Marcus:

Two of them are former students of the program.

Marcus:

Like they're so hard though, because like they realize like, oh man, like, this

Marcus:

is, this is beyond just sales coaching.

Marcus:

This is like life coaching, if you will.

Marcus:

Right.

Marcus:

But because we niche down, it really helps them across the board.

Marcus:

Right?

Marcus:

So that's why I love what I do because ultimately I know if they

Marcus:

just do what I tell them to do that they're going to have amazing results.

Marcus:

If I don't do it, then they're not getting any results at all.

Monique:

You know what, and it's funny that you said that, cause I

Monique:

was going to ask you that question.

Monique:

And so please share with the audience, as we wrap up here, please share with

Monique:

our audience the name of your academy that you're talking about right now.

Marcus:

Yeah.

Marcus:

So my program, it's a six figure sales academy and it's my inner

Marcus:

circle program I'm talking about.

Marcus:

So this is, it's a high performance coaching program that

Marcus:

we track from everything from A to Z the whole sales process.

Marcus:

So pretty cool.

Marcus:

I mean, I feel really blessed.

Marcus:

I mean, this program is running for about two and a half years now.

Marcus:

And because of the success of it, this is how we've been reaching, you know,

Marcus:

recognizing like, you know, Forbes, Yahoo, finance, Salesforce, LinkedIn, etc.,

Marcus:

Entrepreneur magazine, because, well, we actually practice what we preach.

Monique:

Right, you're doing the work yourself..

Monique:

Is it year round?

Monique:

Is it month to month?

Monique:

It's a six figure sales academy, is it six figures to pay for it?

Marcus:

I should, I should charge more.

Marcus:

Right.

Marcus:

So a, it definitely is...I'll tell you what, it definitely is an

Marcus:

investment definitely is an investment.

Marcus:

right?

Marcus:

So it's definitely compared to the competition and people that are in the

Marcus:

sales coaching space, we are definitely at the high end the premium brand.

Marcus:

This is actually why I share so many case studies and testimonials of people who

Marcus:

make the money back in the first month or two months or three months, because

Marcus:

I know if they just do it and they like a comp plan, they'll make it better.

Marcus:

Right?

Marcus:

They'll make it back.

Marcus:

So it has multiple components to it.

Marcus:

So we have parts that end within the first 12 weeks.

Marcus:

And then we have parts that end, you know, within a year as well.

Marcus:

There's multiple levels to that same program because it's designed to help

Marcus:

get them results as fast as possible that are also sustainable as well.

Marcus:

Right?

Marcus:

You're teaching them to change behaviors.

Marcus:

So once that becomes the habit then yeah.

Monique:

But I'm sure they still check in with you.

Marcus:

That's exactly it.

Marcus:

So usually what ends up happening is like, they'll send me like, you know, a

Marcus:

lot of them are, I mean, they all like a lot more, you know, they follow me

Marcus:

on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and they're all on my email newsletter.

Marcus:

And they'll email "hey, so want to give you a quick update?"

Marcus:

Like, I'll give you examples.

Marcus:

So Sam, he actually joined back in January 2020, so he's in Malaysia.

Marcus:

He, his first year he went from earning 40K a year to $121,000 a year.

Marcus:

So really, really cool.

Marcus:

His second year.

Marcus:

So 2021.

Marcus:

So he's been a little over two years now, in 2020, he finished at 121K.

Marcus:

Okay.

Marcus:

He finished 2021 at $273,000.

Monique:

Wow.

Marcus:

So from 40K to $273K in a year and living in Malaysia,

Marcus:

his life has absolutely changed.

Marcus:

He's not an active member anymore, but he'll update me

Marcus:

because he sees my stories.

Marcus:

He's in Malaysia like, "Hey, this is a quick update just so you know,

Marcus:

it's six months and I'm already 180K I'm like, that's great job, man.

Marcus:

It's pretty cool.

Marcus:

It's cool to see what their lives become.

Marcus:

It's like the money is a simple, easy, tangible number to tie it to.

Marcus:

But what they do with is really more important me.

Marcus:

So for example, even with someone like say Tanya she's in her program,

Marcus:

she actually, when I spoke with her probably about a year ago, she actually

Marcus:

wanted a different sales coach.

Marcus:

She's like "Marcus.

Marcus:

I don't know how to vibe with you."

Marcus:

I'm like, "I apologize.

Marcus:

Totally cool."

Marcus:

She wants somebody else cheaper, you know, she thought it would

Marcus:

be a better fit for them.

Marcus:

No problem.

Marcus:

She went with them totally cool.

Marcus:

Few months later, she was like, "Hey, it just was what I was looking for.

Marcus:

I think I made a mistake.

Marcus:

Would you take me into the program?

Marcus:

Like sure.

Marcus:

We'll get you the program within a few months.

Marcus:

She's number 1 in our company alright, keeping that momentum.

Marcus:

She's now been in the program for about six months.

Marcus:

She sent me a message last month because our success, you know, and

Marcus:

then the company and the money she's making, she's bought a new house,

Marcus:

better neighborhood for two young kids, better neighborhood, better schools.

Marcus:

So now she's changing generations for the future.

Marcus:

So, you know, I make a joke to my team.

Marcus:

I'm like, we're not in the sales coaching business we're

Marcus:

in the life-changing business.

Marcus:

So if we show up and we deliver their lives will change.

Marcus:

Money that they earn is merely a vehicle to get to their dreams.

Monique:

That's great.

Monique:

And yes, you are changing lives with the work that you do, which makes it

Monique:

much more fulfilling because you can see the impact that you're having.

Monique:

You know, and one thing I will say, although your parents,

Monique:

you know, may have one that you to be an engineer or a doctor.

Monique:

You are a scientist.

Monique:

That is for sure.

Monique:

You're a problem solver.

Monique:

You're a scientist and problem solving is just like with anything else,

Monique:

you start with a hypothesis, you go through this cycle of asking questions.

Monique:

And so you are, you are deemed a scientist in my eyes.

Monique:

I also want to point out that you mentioned Forbes and different

Monique:

publications that you have been in, but I want to tell you what's extremely

Monique:

powerful, which, you know, I have to give you accolades to you for that.

Monique:

Your name has passed around dark social, or just, you know, intimate conversations

Monique:

of people that you've helped.

Monique:

And that's even more powerful, I would say then entrepreneur.com, Forbes, whatever.

Monique:

And so I've found that you are a trusted person that actually delivers results.

Monique:

And that's why I reached out to you to be on here.

Monique:

So that's fantastic.

Monique:

And I want more people to know about you authentically, and

Monique:

this is a great way to do it.

Marcus:

No, I appreciate that as well as things where, you know, I think for me

Marcus:

personally, when I realized like my why.

Marcus:

That's when it really kind of changed things for me, right?

Marcus:

When I realized like, you know, if I was to say, pass away tomorrow,

Marcus:

I'll be known for like three things.

Marcus:

I'll be known for the legacy I built, the influence on people's

Marcus:

lives that changed and everything I do I do with love and care.

Marcus:

And ultimately when I believe in it's like deep into my heart, my soul,

Marcus:

that's when my team is truly effectively selling and delivering our programs, we

Marcus:

are serving the highest possible level.

Marcus:

We're serving the highest possible level.

Monique:

Well, thank you so much for sharing your time and your story

Monique:

and your everything with us today.

Monique:

And for everyone that's interested in connecting with

Monique:

Marcus, how can they reach you?

Marcus:

Awesome.

Marcus:

A couple of different, super easy ways.

Marcus:

Number one, head over to LinkedIn.

Marcus:

Look up Marcus Chan, super easy.

Marcus:

I'm usually one of the top search results on there as well.

Marcus:

The number two, head on my website, which is a sixfiguresalesacademy.com.

Marcus:

That's spelled S for the six.

Marcus:

Sixfiguresalesacademy.com it'll redirect to my website and you'll

Marcus:

see those free resources, those free trainings, which a bunch of free stuff.

Marcus:

I just give you like 90% of that stuff I put out there is 100% percent free.

Monique:

That's fantastic, Marcus.

Monique:

Thank you so much for joining us on Unpolished MBA.

Marcus:

Thanks so much.

Monique:

Thank you for listening to the Unpolished MBA podcast.

Monique:

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Unpolished MBA

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About your host

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Monique Mills

Monique Mills is a degreed electrical engineer turned serial entrepreneur. Though she has an MBA, she wants to debunk the myth that you need one to be successful in business, innovation, or entrepreneurship. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HER GO TO MONIQUEMILLS.BIZ