Discover the Power of a Servants Heart

Pat Riley, president and CEO of Genhead, and I explore the importance of putting the customer first. Discover the power of empathy, active listening, and serving others, and learn how to overcome objections by truly understanding your clients' needs. Don't miss out on valuable insights and inspiration to take your sales game to the next level. And, by the way, Love Your Sales Podcast is presented by Genhead, the AI-driven company helping small and medium-sized businesses find their ideal clients and increase revenue.

Contact Pat

Website – www.genhead.com

Phone Number – 920-205-3589

 

Leighann Lovely: Welcome to another episode of love your sales. I am joined by Patrick Riley, president and CEO of Gen Head.

Gen Head provides their clients with buyer ready leads through a unique combination of their proprietary AI engine and advanced marketing automation. Pat also has 30 plus years in sales, spanning industries from manufacturing, distribution and technology as a producer and in senior [00:02:00] leadership roles.

Pat, I am so thrilled to have you join me today and talk about sales. Well, thank you,

Pat Riley: Leighann. It's great to see you and I'm happy to be here. Thank you. Yeah.

Leighann Lovely: Well, why don't you, um, you know, again, tell us just a little bit more about yourself before we dive in and, you know, hopefully give the audience a little gold nugget of information.

Pat Riley: Uh, well, I love talking about myself. I've been in sales, right? We love talking about ourselves. Uh, it's the first thing they teach you in sales is that people love talking about themselves, but I am a, uh, a senior, uh, sales leader and I have been, uh, around the block as they say. I started out in manufacturing and, uh, I enjoyed that very, very much.

Um, I sold so much that they gave me part of the company and, uh, we grew, uh, that company from a very small company to a good, [00:03:00] good sized medium company and then sold out. Uh, and then I got into industrial distribution on an international scale. And it was promoted into an international role, which I thought sounded great until I realized that when you are an international salesperson, that means you have to actually go to international places.

And I got tired of that very quickly with 4 small children at home. And so I looked again to get into small business and got into a technology company in Wisconsin with locations in Appleton, Madison, and Milwaukee, and we became the largest IT training company in the state. And I recently sold that in 2023, and we started Genhead.

Which is a very exciting adventure, uh, into AI lead generation and, uh, marketing automation, uh, and [00:04:00] it's become very successful very quickly. So very thrilled about that.

Leighann Lovely: Yes. And Genhead is our official sponsor of Love Your Sales. So Pat, I'm extremely thrilled that I get to not only have you as a sponsor of Love Your Sales, but also get to have you on and, and talk to you a little bit about, you know.

Sales and, what has, you know, created your success. So thank you for, you know, being that, that first sponsor of ours.

Pat Riley: Absolutely. And, and we're happy to do so. Uh, you, you're doing good work here and, and that's what's important. And, you know, one of the things that, that I wanted to talk about today, uh, was the, the concept and the importance of putting the customer first.

And, uh, I think that too many of us in, uh, the, what I call the front [00:05:00] facing roles, and that includes sales, obviously, uh, but, but it also encompasses marketing, uh, customer service, uh, technical service, even. Uh, if you're in a manufacturing or an industrial or a technical, uh, kind of a company, but essentially anyone that touches a customer is front is front facing, um, that they really need to.

Always put themselves in that customer's shoes and always think of them first, and when they do that, success will come. And, uh, I, I see so many, uh, people that are front facing that think of only the end. Uh, game, uh, of what they can gain from that client purchasing something from them [00:06:00] instead of thinking of what's best for that customer.

Leighann Lovely: And you make a very valid point in where a lot of salespeople get so hung up trying to force that sale. That through that process, they're not listening. They're not hearing the needs, they're not identifying what that client, that customer, that person. I mean, if you're just meeting somebody for, for a moment, that could eventually turn into a client.

They're sale. You said it earlier. I'm a salesperson. I love to talk. Right. We, we, we become salespeople because we know how to talk. We know how to get in front of somebody. We know how to almost entertain in a way. We're entertaining somebody, but then we forget, how do we shut up and listen?

Pat Riley: Well, and what do we do with the information?

So, so are, are we hearing or are we listening? It [00:07:00] is, is a very important thing. So. If we're hearing someone, what we're doing is we're taking that information and we're twisting it, uh, for our own good. Okay. If we're listening to someone, then we're taking that information and we're applying it as if we are that client.

And we're putting ourselves in their shoes and saying, what would I do if I were the client? And we've got to We, we, the best, the very, very best front facing people do that. And it always works out for them. I never have trouble closing sales because they just happen when, when I'm working with clients, And I'm, I'm, I'm obviously doing that now with, with our, our, [00:08:00] I'll still call it a startup, uh, with, with gen head, I'm on the front lines and working with clients on a day to day basis.

And, and I put myself in their shoes with their budget, uh, with their goals, with their needs, and I asked myself what is best for them. And sometimes it means not spending as much money with us. As I may have been able to get from them because that's what's best for them right now and long term. I know it's going to work out better for us because we're going to have a client longer.

Leighann Lovely: You're going to have a client for life, a client who trusts you, a client who's going to turn around and send you other clients.

Pat Riley: And that's what, that's what, that's the long game. That's what [00:09:00] great salespeople, because that person that I have, I have put myself in their position is now going to say, I've got a really good person who does my marketing and does my, my AI lead generation, and I'm going to tell people about.

And I'm going to share that story. And we have that happening right now. Uh, we've, we've got a person in Florida who is sending us so many people that we're having trouble, uh, keeping up, uh, with Mike, uh, down in Florida and he's doing a great job for us and, and, uh, God love them. And, uh, and so, and it, it, it has to do with.

With empathy and with reality of what you know about your product or service and then what you've learned [00:10:00] about the person who's sitting across from you. And if you don't know enough about the person sitting across from you, you haven't asked the right questions. Right. And that You need to back up. You need to back up.

And you need to even kind of start over again a little bit.

Leighann Lovely: And that goes into, you know, people ask all the time, well, Leighann, how do, how do you overcome objections? I said, well, if you're truly getting to the root of what that person needs, wants, desires, what their end goal is, you should be eliminating those objections all along that process.

Because if you're truly understanding, they're not going to have any, right? Well, they may have questions,

Pat Riley: they'll have some questions, right?

Leighann Lovely: Of course. But you're going to be able to [00:11:00] Identify them as you're having that conversation. And so when you get to that point of are you ready to buy, they're going to go.

Yep, I'm pretty sure you've covered. Absolutely everything, because you're systematically through that conversation, truly understanding and truly getting to the root of what are the three major things that people come, money, what is it? Logistics and fear. Those are the three things, money, fear, and logistics.

Do I have the money? Is this going to work? The fear driven, you know, how, how is it? Do I trust them? Do I not? Well, that one should be. You should be building that from the moment you meet them, the fear of the unknown, that type of thing. And then logistics. How do we implement this? How, how is this going to happen?

How do we make this work? Time elements, all of that. And those are just a matter of, well, let's work through all of that. But if [00:12:00] you are, if you are addressing those three main points throughout the entire conversation, and that person comes to trust and understand you, and you come to understand everything about that client and you become the trusted advisor and not the salesperson.

Pat Riley: Then at the end, you just, I always, the question that I always ask is. Are we ready to move forward? That's, that's, that's my great magical, uh, poof, uh, you know, close is your hard closer. My big, my big hammer, you know, is are we ready to move forward? And if they say yes, terrific. Uh, this is what we have to do next.

Uh, I need a check and I need a signature or I need whatever it might be. Um, and, and they just go, okay, yeah, that's what we have to do. Cause, cause I want this thing [00:13:00] or process or, or whatever it might be. And, and it's just the next natural step, but in order to get there, you must have. Um, what, what I've learned, uh, to call a servant's heart and it's the way that I manage people, it's the way that I work with clients, it's the way that I work with, uh, you know, even our suppliers, everybody that I interact with on a, on a business level, I try to serve first.

And, and Zig Ziglar, God rest his soul, uh, who I think was one of the funniest and best sales motivators. If, if people want to go back to, uh, to watching some of Zig Ziglar's videos, you will both laugh and learn at the same time, um, because he was, he was a funny, uh, funny guy. [00:14:00] Uh, but he said, um, that, that a person will get everything they want in life by giving others what they want in life.

And he is exactly correct. So I try to work on giving others what they want and what they need. And by doing so it comes around and I'm 55 years old. I'm not afraid to say that I've been around the block a little bit. And I'm telling you it works and maybe it doesn't work. In an hour, maybe it doesn't work in a day, but it does work because people come to trust you.

They come to like you and they will refer you. And those, those references powerful, far more powerful. Uh, even then what I can do with AI, which is amazing, but, [00:15:00] but a personal reference of, uh, one person to another, a coworker or someone in another company or someone in another industry, whatever it might be is absolute gold.

Leighann Lovely: Absolutely. And you know, I think back, you know, when you say that, I think back to my, when I originally got into sales and you know, somebody goes, Oh, go to this networking and go, you know, the goal is to get two sales and as many business cards as you can. And I remember the pains that I felt when I was in this first networking meeting I ever went to.

And I thought, Oh my God, this is horrific. And I'm sure people have heard the story. It was horrible because I was told to do it wrong. And when I was told to do it wrong, it was the most pain stake, even for an extrovert who loves being around people. But nobody wanted to talk to me because they would approach me and I'm like, here's my product.

And they're like, get away from this girl. When you approach somebody [00:16:00] with the idea that I don't want, I don't want to take anything from you. I want to help you. I want to help you. What can I do for me for you today? That mentality has paid dividends for me year after year after year. There are people that I met 10 years ago that for some reason I've connected with on LinkedIn that that have remembered me, that have come back and said, Oh, I'm so glad that we've connected again because X, Y, Z, or you did this for me.

And I'm like, I, I. I don't, but it meant something to them at that time. And the same goes for me. There are people who did something for me that I go back to and I'll say, you did this for me then. How can I help you now? And it goes back and forth. And that's for the younger, new salespeople coming in. That is the greatest [00:17:00] advice that I was given was give first and ask for nothing in return.

Selflessly give. It will come back to you and, and yes, is there, is there a long game in that for, there is, but you have to wholeheartedly be able to, because you do build a community of people who go, wow,

let's make,

Pat Riley: let's make a couple to the new salespeople. Let's make a couple of things clear. You still have to make the calls. Yes. You still have to, you still have to, whatever your industry is, you have to do the outreach. Okay. Now it, maybe it's email, maybe it's LinkedIn, maybe it's AI, maybe it's the phone, maybe whatever it might be, you have to be the one to instigate the conversation.

So you don't get to get [00:18:00] lazy. it this way. Let's just, let's just be clear here. So this is not a shortcut. This is just the truth of, of, of what you can do. Because what I'm really, uh, trying to share with people here today is, is what I consider to be the difference between good and great, because you can be good, um, without having a servant's heart.

I've worked with people who, uh, will just pound the, the phones or whatever it might be in your industry, and they, they, they make so many calls that they get x number of sales every month or every year, whatever it might be. And, and they do just fine, you know? Mm-Hmm. every year. And they make a living and everybody's happy and the beat [00:19:00] goes on, but they'll never be great.

They'll always be good. And you know what? An organization needs people that are just plain good people. You can rely on people. You can count on people that, you know, are going to hit their quota. They're never going to blow up their quota, but they're never going to fall down on their face either. And every organization knows who those people are, right?

But. Um, to be to be perfectly blunt in my career, I never once had a quota, not once because I blew it. I would blow up numbers so fast. That when I had a boss, they wouldn't even bother with the quota because I would just blow up, I would just explode and I would beat everybody because that's, that's what I looked at was who was number one and then [00:20:00] I'm going to beat him because I didn't care about anybody else, but who was number one and how much could I beat him by.

And, um, and that's, that's internal motivation, but my external execution of that was to be a servant. So, so you can be very competitive. Okay. On the inside. And I am okay. Um, but, uh, but be a servant to people in your execution. And those two things can work together.

Leighann Lovely: And I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to say that the majority of the greats have a very high level of competitiveness.

Often it is not, it is a self. a self driven competition. [00:21:00] It's not, I'm going to beat that person. I'm going to beat that person. It is often, I'm going to see what that number is, and I am going to set that bar high for myself. Because like you, I've gone into companies and they're like, okay, this is the number that you should beat this year.

This is the number that you should be at this year. And I'm like, yeah, okay. And I'm at the number I should be in year two and year one. And they're like, oh, Okay. And then they'll come to me. What do you think you can do in production this year? And I'm like, well, I'm going to be here. And they're like. Okay.

And then they come to me and go, so where do you think the other salespeople should be? And I'm like, I don't know, probably closer to me if they're doing everything they're supposed to be doing. But that's my own personal competitiveness that I don't want to be just okay at what I do, but I do that in everything in my life because I've just [00:22:00] I was a sports player in high school.

I was in, and in my family, it wasn't really my family. I just grew up with that. You know, I had two older brothers. I'm going to beat them. I, you know, I used to think I was going to be older than them one day. I'm going to, one day I'm going to be older than you. I'm going to be taller than you. Well,

Pat Riley: that was just how physics work, not when

Leighann Lovely: I was five.

It's that, it's that competitiveness, that competitive nature that Many salespeople have that internal, it's that internal competitiveness that you can't not, not all of them, some of them, you know, kind of like, okay, yeah, I'm, I'm happy. With just meeting this quota, but the ones that you see just take off and just are constantly rocking it.

It's usually an internal compass where they're like, I'm not okay with just meeting my quota. [00:23:00] I want to be, you know, if my quota is a million in sales, I want to be at a million five or I want to be at 2 million because that's where, and even though their boss is happy.

Pat Riley: I shouldn't say those guys, those people, those people, I don't, I wouldn't even give them a quota.

I didn't want, I didn't want to hold them back. I would just say, you don't have one. Your quota is the moon.

Leighann Lovely: And then they go, oh, okay.

Pat Riley: And, and when they would hit certain numbers, I would just show up with a hundred dollar bills and throw them on their laps.

I would, and just randomly, you know, just because they They'd hit a certain number and, and, and I, I, I would just come by. I just stopped at the bank and get, you know, a thousand bucks or 2000 bucks and a hundred dollar bills. And I just go, here you go. Here's a few for you and a few for you and a few for you and just randomly on a Thursday.

But because, you know, great greatness, greatness recognizes [00:24:00] greatness, right? And, and those couple thousand bucks goes a long way, uh, for people who are competitive, right?

Leighann Lovely: Yet, even though I have that wild competitiveness. It's not about beating somebody else. For me, it's about beating my own. And often, you know, it has kicked me in the butt.

Where I'm like, okay, I set the bar too high for myself this year. I'm like, riddled with anxiety and my bosses are going, Hey, you did a really great job this year. And I'm like, yeah, it wasn't good enough. Okay. Yes, that is my internal flaw that, you know, my own, it is, it is, it is a thing. And I'm not sick. I, by all means, I don't want my audience to mistake.

I am not saying that that is what it takes to be great. What it takes to be great is, in my opinion, is a, a balance between [00:25:00] always pushing yourself to be better, always, always looking to serve your clients. First and serve your community first, because that is what people recognize in those, in the, in other people.

Those are the

Pat Riley: characteristics. Yeah. One of the things that I always would say to people is that you push yourself and you pull others.

Leighann Lovely: Absolutely. Really well said.

Pat Riley: You push you so you're pushing yourself to to be self motivated, right? You're pushing yourself. To make the calls pushing yourself to make the numbers pushing yourself to do the work, but you're pulling others up.[00:26:00]

You're pulling others with you. You're pulling other others to give you information to help them. And if you, if you can do those two things and they're, I know your listeners can't see me, but I'm doing a, I'm doing a balancing thing here with my hands, right? If you can keep those two things in balance, you will be great.

Absolutely. You will be great. That

Leighann Lovely: is something that, um, something that I've thought about. And if I could just. Pull because I've been a mentor to, you know, many other salespeople I've been, people have come to, how do you do? And I'm like, if I could just wrap my arms around you and pull you up with me, but I can't do the work for you.

There's, there's that certain point where it's like, I, I can, you know, you can lead a horse to water. You can't make them drink, but that is the true servant leader as [00:27:00] well. To be a true leader, you have to want. Others to succeed as much as you are succeeding, you have to truly be able to put in the time and give them your true attention to allow them to level up on themselves and, and also cheer for them and Pat, that is part of why obviously you went from producer to leader because that is, again, a characteristic, a care, a characteristic of

Pat Riley: characteristic even.

Leighann Lovely: But that is, that is a true, that's a characteristic of a, of a true leader, not a manager, a leader of somebody who's saying, yeah, I'm, I'm on the up, I'm trending up, but I want to take you all with me. I don't want to leave you behind. Let's go. Let's all go together.

Pat Riley: And as a leader, [00:28:00] the other side of that coin, Leighann, is that by doing that, you are giving up your time that you could be spending Um, either sharpening your saw, meaning learning something new or getting better at something, uh, or, or producing for the company, uh, which would, which would, uh, uh, help you financially.

So you, by, by helping others. Uh, pull up, you were sacrificing your own production. You're sacrificing essentially, you know, some of your own pocket. And again, that is part of being a servant leader is that you're willing to sacrifice some of your own personal gain so that others may succeed. If you're not willing to do that, then don't be a leader.

Yes. Don't, if they offer you, if they, if you're not willing to do that [00:29:00] and they offer you a promotion to a management or a leadership position, and you're not willing to do that, don't take it. And stay in a production position and just produce.

Leighann Lovely: Right. And to your point, to your point on that, and we're, you know, we're getting to time, but I want to, if I just want to say this, because so often.

Mistakes are made that people think, well, if I don't accept, especially in the sales roles. Well, if I don't accept this position, they're going to think that, you know, I don't think I'm good enough or I'm not good enough, or they're going to, people think they have to accept.

Pat Riley: And here's the thing. There's a natural, there's a natural tendency that if you're offered a promotion and you turn it down, first of all, you'll, you'll never be offered a promotion again.

Right. Right. And secondly, you won't be looked [00:30:00] at as a company person. Right. So what you have to do is explain your way through it. You have to say, I'm, I'm in a position right now where I don't feel that I'm a, I'm a leader. Of others and that my best place for this organization is for me to continue to produce at a high level

Leighann Lovely: and so many salespeople think they can move from producer.

to leader, and then they tank their career or they do, they don't do well. And then they end up having to leave the company because they feel like I don't have a choice. I can't move back or people will think I fail, but so many salespeople don't realize the stress that it takes to move from salesperson producer to leader of others.

And there have been times in my [00:31:00] career where I have said no. I am not taking this role. I just want to produce and they've pushed it and pushed it. Okay. Well, if you won't be, if you won't be the manager, will you just be a mentor? No, it's the same thing, except I don't get the

Pat Riley: pay raise. Except I don't get any money.

Right. No, and, and you have to, if you, if you don't take a promotion, there has to be a good rationale that again, again, this is a servant thing. We're going back to the servant thing. Okay. All you're doing is you're being a servant to the person who offered you the promotion. Right. And, and, and here's how it plays out.

I am not taking this promotion because it is best for the company. Correct. Yes, I am not taking this promotion because I don't think that I would I don't believe in my heart That I would be good at it And I believe in my heart that the best thing for this [00:32:00] company is for me to continue to produce At a high level and that will make the company more money and for someone else to take the role of manager Yeah,

Leighann Lovely: absolutely.

That was really, really well sought and, and Pat, here's, um, opportunity as we're, um, you know, coming to time, um, again, such wonderful information. So that's great insight. Uh, 32nd, shameless pitch. Here you go.

Pat Riley: Oh, oh, I get a shameless pitch. Well, uh, I guess I'll start at the beginning that, that every business needs new customers.

That's where we start. And what we have done is we have created a proprietary AI engine that allows us to work with our clients one on one, uh, defining their ideal customer profile and using AI [00:33:00] to find Find those nuggets, those perfect customer prospects just for them, that are perfect for, uh, whatever business that they're in, whatever service that they're in, whether it's B2B or B2C, it doesn't matter, and, and we, we narrow that bandwidth down to a very narrow group.

That's it. Uh, group of, of potential prospects, and then we market to them in a way that adds value to that prospect group. And we are seeing returns on that where we're seeing click rates, not open rates, click rates in the 48 to 50 percent range on first emails. And we just, we just saw it this week, uh, even this close to Christmas.

And [00:34:00] so, uh, it's tremendous. And so these kinds of returns in terms of marketing automation are helping our clients grow new opportunities at an accelerated rate. Leveraging AI, leveraging our marketing automation. And then finally, we have a customer relationship experience software as a service package that brings this all together.

With CRM tools, sales tools, marketing tools, website tools, uh, AI bots, all sorts of things that's very affordable for a small business to a medium sized business. And it all comes together, uh, in a way that helps our clients improve their sales processes. So from AI. All the way to sales [00:35:00] process. We are bridging that gap and helping our customers succeed.

And it is very exciting. I have to tell you, uh, I'm just thrilled with the results. Uh, and we're seeing a lot of customers just grow like crazy. So, and

Leighann Lovely: how would somebody reach out to you?

Pat Riley: Uh, you can go to www.genhead.com. Uh, or you can just, uh, you know what I'm just gonna tell them to pick up the phone and call me That's how crazy I am 920 205 3589 That is my direct phone number I will put that on a podcast Okay.

That's that is a shameless plug right there, Leighann. Yes, it is. So Genhead. com is where you can start and you can learn about us. Uh, but, uh, you can call the [00:36:00] CEO yourself and I'd be happy to talk to you.

Leighann Lovely: Pat, again, thank you. This has been an awesome conversation. I really appreciate your time and I appreciate your sponsorship.

Pat Riley: Absolutely, Leighann. And we are happy to be a part of what you're doing. You're doing a great job.

Special Thank you to our Sponsor Genhead – www.genhead.com

 

Robb Conlon – Intro and outro – Westport Studio - https://www.westportstudiosllc.com/

 

The Brave Ones – Instrumental Version Song by Jan Sanejko - https://artlist.io/royalty-free-music/song/the-brave-ones/119489