Mastering Sales: Efficiency, Mentorship, and Lighting the Path to Success

In this episode of the "Love Your Sales" podcast, Leighann Lovely hosts Ryan Jaso, the Founder of Lighting Boss, one of the largest independent suppliers of outdoor lighting in the U.S. Their engaging conversation delves into the art of sales, the importance of continuous learning, and leveraging technology like AI and sales programs to build lasting customer relationships. Ryan passionately shares his journey and provides valuable insights on finding sales efficiencies, the significance of mentorship, and navigating the ever-evolving sales landscape. Leighann and Ryan also discuss the critical role of emotional intelligence and adapting to change in achieving long-term success. Tune in for an inspiring discussion packed with practical tips for both seasoned sales professionals and budding entrepreneurs.

 

Contact Ryan

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/64743211

Website - https://www.lighting-boss.shop/

 

Special Thank you to our Sponsors – Genhead – www.genhead.com and Accelerategrowth45 – www.accelerategrowth45.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

 

Ready to grow your business? Schedule a call with us today  - https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/bookings/discoverysalesleighann

 

Leighann Lovely: Welcome to another episode of Love Your Sales.

I am joined today by Ryan Jayso, founder of Lighting Boss, which is one of the largest independent suppliers of outdoor lighting in the country with locations in both Ohio and Florida. He also created LB Pro, which is a mobile design and.

Proposal software meant specifically for lighting professionals. Ryan has spent 15 years in the outdoor lighting industry. He currently spends most of [00:02:00] his time either overseeing his team of 20 plus employees serving on the board of the association of outdoor lighting , professionals, or teaching his two children to be little entrepreneurs.

I absolutely love that. And. It's one of the best things to do, right, is to, to, to raise our children properly to, um, you know, go out there in the world and be little entrepreneurs themselves. So, Ryan, welcome so much to the show. I am excited to chat with you today.

Ryan Jaso: I'm excited to be here. And honestly, I want to, I'm more intrigued with you and what you're building than I want to talk about myself here.

So expect some fire back questions and it may just came, come right off the shoot because you know what you're doing. I'm so fascinated with people who build, build their careers in sales. Cause that was something I never envisioned. Um, and something that I'm still learning [00:03:00] and talking to true sales professionals is, it's always so cool for me.

The one thing that I've always been good at is finding efficiencies and. You through efficiency, you find a way to generate sales. Cause there's no sense in making a hundred phone calls. If I know I'm only going to close one or two, you know, unless I'm selling. 100, 000 product, which, which we're not, you know, we're selling, we're selling fixtures anywhere from that 30 to a hundred dollars.

Um, you know, you gotta sell a lot of those to, to make a good living. So we've found efficient ways to reach out to prospects and close leads, but, you know, being good at sales is not something that. I never envisioned I was terrified of it. I'm still, you know, I still hate rejection. I don't like rejection.

So I've kind of tailored my approach so that I feel much less rejected [00:04:00] when, when people say no, and you're, and you're always going to get nose, right? So this is, this is a cool program to be a part of. I'm looking forward to hearing a bit, a bit of your journey to the end.

Leighann Lovely: Well, first, the way that I have built my career is reminding myself that they are not rejecting me.

They are simply saying, I don't want to buy your product right now. And that is, as long as you have a mindset of they're not rejecting you, Ryan, they're just simply saying, I'm not interested right now, unless they're literally saying, F you leave me alone.

Ryan Jaso: Which happens.

Leighann Lovely: And it does. It does. Absolutely. But, um, you just, I mean, that just comes down to, you know, you got to have a tough skin.

You got to, you got to eventually go, okay, they're having a bad day. Understand that maybe they hit their mailbox on their way out of the, on the way out of the [00:05:00] driveway, um, that morning. And, um, Hey, so they're having a bad day. And so that's why they reacted that way to you. But sales is literally just having a conversation like you and I are having today to figure out what it is that you can assist them with and if it matches with the product that you are offering.

Being able to say, well, great, I have a solution for you. Let's talk about it. And if it matches your price point and it matches exactly what you're looking for, then we have a mutual understanding that you're going to buy from me. I'm going to deliver for you. Um, and as long as you look at it that way, you're servicing your client with honesty.

You're doing a service for them, and you're moving forward, and that, you know, you being in the industry that you're in, people are coming, well, I mean, you have people who are utilizing an app in which they're literally saying, yep, I, I'm here to [00:06:00] purchase lighting, right, fixtures. And they're just signing up for, or it's not that simple.

Let's I'm not gonna, but I'm boiling this down to a very simplistic thing.

Ryan Jaso: Yeah. I like keeping things simple,

Leighann Lovely: right? So I'm, you know, you're, you're, the people who utilize your program are literally just plugging in like, yep, I need this, I need this, I need this, and I need this. And as long as you on the backend are making sure that they're getting everything that they.

That they want in a timely manner in a nice flow, they're going to be happy. And ultimately sales, that's all it is. Sales is one person saying, I need this. Make me happy.

Ryan Jaso: Yeah. And that's what we focus on, right? Is, is what you and I focus on is that user experience. So how do you allow your, your clients, your prospects to just move through that wheel as seamlessly as possible.

[00:07:00] So I always just focus on, on the efficiencies behind it. And I find with, with the efficiencies, then sales will come. I was listening to, um, your podcast with a friend of mine, Mike Long. Um, yesterday, actually, and I thought there was a lot of. Cool stuff there. And there, there was one thing that he talked about.

You guys talked about specifically, you talked about, um, the, the entrepreneur having the sales aptitude, like starting that person who starts the company, typically when those companies are successful, um, it's typically pretty good at sales. Then they typically run with that because, because what is, what does every company need?

Right. Sales. That's the one thing that you can't get around unless you created Facebook, in which case, apparently you can go three years without selling a thing, um, and just [00:08:00] building, you know, that brand and that user experience, which is, which is like the exception that. rule.

Leighann Lovely: Um,

Ryan Jaso: but I thought that was a cool conversation with Mike, me getting to know him a little bit better, learning about your background a little bit more.

And there was, there was a bunch of stuff there. I took some notes and I have no idea where the notes are, but there was a bunch of, there was a bunch of stuff there that I wanted to hit on. I remember one thing you said, you were talking about fake it till you make it. Um, you know, we, we equate that to, if you're going to say it wrong, say it strong.

Um, so, uh, in order to be an expert, remember, what does it take, Leanne? What does it take to be an expert?

Leighann Lovely: Wow. Um,

Ryan Jaso: tell me what it takes to be an expert.

Leighann Lovely: Well, in my own product or in somebody else's product, because it's very, it's very different. You know, you have to. Fully and completely understand, you know, your product, but you don't have to be an expert in your [00:09:00] product or in somebody else's product to sell them on that in the beginning.

You, it, it ultimately, especially if I'm scheduling an appointment for somebody, so this is a, this is a, a multi layered question here. I, if I'm going to sell your product, Ryan, I don't have to be an expert on it. I just have to be, I just have to understand the pain points of what problem I am solving for them.

Mm hmm. And understand why. It makes sense for them to potentially look into your product, right? The next person who's going to be doing a demo or that's where the expertise come in. That's where, you know, you have to understand the other person and what problem they have. and what your solution solves.

What problem your solution solves.

Ryan Jaso: That was, so that was [00:10:00] perfectly, perfectly said. You're wrong. The right answer is, in order to be an expert, you only have to know a little bit more than the person you're talking to. But, but, like you nailed it. It's all about finding pain points. What are the pain points?

And putting pressure on those pain points. I found that early on in my sales career, I didn't put enough pressure on those pain points. I was like, Oh, we'll solve that. No problem. That's not, that's not even a problem rather than saying, Oh, that I could see how that could be a real problem. We, we, we need to do something about that.

Like that was just one of the things because like Mike, I started out not knowing anything. about anything and it's such an interesting place to start and I was at, uh, USF, so University of South Florida, um, yesterday. Did you know they now [00:11:00] have sales programs in school? Like I, I'm just learning this, which is so awesome.

Leighann Lovely: Yes. I, I recently learned that through a, podcast,

Ryan Jaso: which is,

Leighann Lovely: it's brilliant, right? Because up until this point. You go to school for something and you walk out and you go, what do I want to do with my life? And then you fall into sales and you're like, wait, but I don't even know. I don't even know what I'm doing.

Ryan Jaso: The first thing about sales. And it was so cool, you know, learning that, that these kids are learning how to talk to people, how to draw those questions out. Um, what's my tonality. What is my cadence depending on the person I'm talking to? Am I talking fast? Am I talking slow? And, you know, these, all of these kids are now going to have a 10 year leg up on me, maybe, maybe longer.

Cause you know, I didn't really start understanding any of this until, until very recent, but you know, all, all of them. [00:12:00] Of course, all of them throughout this process are asking, you know, what would you do if you could go back to when you were our age? Um, what advice would you give? And, and I said, find, find mentors, stick close to mentors because You know, when, when you and Mike were talking about, you know, just not knowing anything before we started and you make a whole bunch of mistakes, like you can avoid that, like there are ways to avoid it.

Leighann Lovely: But Ryan, when you say find mentors, how many people have you offered? Like, hey, I'll, I'll be a mentor to you in the younger generation. I'm not talking, you know, I've, I've have, you know, I have people who I've mentored of, of a variety of different ages, and they've gone. You know, great. And I will tell you that the older people will call me and ask me [00:13:00] questions and they will take me up on that.

The younger generation, I will say, anytime you have a question, I am here for you. I want to help you through this. I would love to mentor you. I will never hear from them again. And it's, and it's wildly, and it is wildly interesting that either they Are fearful of it? Or they're, they don't understand the value of somebody saying, Hey, I, but then again, I look at my younger self and I think, I thought I knew everything.

Ryan Jaso: Yeah, would I have taken you up on that advice? And hopefully, you know, hearing it from me, hearing it from somebody who has nothing to gain in this situation, um, and impressing upon that. Hopefully it will open their eyes. I certainly [00:14:00] do believe, um, that with the right guidance, the right push that the younger generation, whatever we think of the current generation, They all want to learn.

They want to be successful. So looking at people who do have some, I don't necessarily consider myself successful. I don't necessarily consider myself not successful, but people who have more than they have and are living a lifestyle that they want to live. What better way than to, uh, pick that person's brain and try to attach yourself to that person.

Now, now I did throw a little caveat in that and that caveat was if you want to find a good mentor, you also have to have some value that you're bringing to that person. Like, I'm not just going to sit next to you for eight hours and just. the whole playbook unless there's something that I'm getting in return [00:15:00] and that what I'm getting in return could be, you know, a hundred different things, but you got to figure out as a young person, how am I bringing some value to the relationship?

Even if it's just me being a. fun individual that, um, that sort of improve somebody's mood, you know, being young life is life. Life is a young person's game on person's game. So there are so many different things that a young person with energy and enthusiasm can bring to that type of mentor mentee relationship.

But I think I think a number of them may just expect that it's handed to them on a silver platter like Leanne. You're going to, you're going to call me and you're just going to start telling me stuff. No, that's not quite how it's going to work.

Leighann Lovely: Right. Well, no, and every relationship, and I've talked to people, and I reference a book here, um, that a friend of mine wrote, um, there are vampires out there that [00:16:00] will just suck.

the life out of you. And those are the people that you need to eliminate from your life. You don't have the time. I don't have the energy. I don't have the ability to continue to allow people in my life who are literally just takers who are just sucking the life out of me. Um, and again, the book I'm referencing is, is change your circle, change your life written by Jamar Jones.

He, um, he talks about that, that. You, you need to constantly be shifting and moving in the circles that you are in order to continue to level up also to change your emotional intelligence. You need to be at the same time, the, the younger, and I shouldn't say younger in this point, the other people in that room, just because they may not, and I'm referencing, you know, never be the smartest person in the room.

Otherwise you are in the wrong room. It's time to move on. That does not mean that you can't help the other people in that room while you are there as long as they are not [00:17:00] takers. But they should be filling your cup in some way, whether that be through just an amazing relationship and watching them grow and having them give something back.

Every relationship should be a give and take in one way or another. And as a. Again, knowing that, you know, when I was in my younger days, I, I constantly had that, you know, chip on my shoulder of like, I know best. It wasn't until I really started to grow in my emotional intelligence to realize that, wow, I don't, I do not know best.

I'm making a ton of mistakes and there are a ton of people around me that are saying, hey, come along with me and I will, I'll, I'll help you. I'll show you. And I remember the first time I ever did a sales pitch. I, it was, I was so nervous. I walked in, I had all my, my proposals. This is the day when, you know, everybody had these like 10 page proposals and let's walk through it.

And it was just a [00:18:00] horrifying, boring, you know, presentation. And I, right out of the gate. I started talking so fast and with like a high pitched voice to the point where that my mentor who was sitting next to me like looked over at me like, Who are you? Like, what just happened? And the person in front of me was kind of like, What?

And I immediately went, Oh, my God, what's happening? And I brought it down. I slowed down. The presentation went You know, eventually went, well, I did not sell the person probably thought I was insane. I did not close that sale, but I learned so much because I got in the car with my mentor and he looked at me, he goes, how do you think that went?

And I went, Oh my God, I'm so embarrassed.

Ryan Jaso: And that's so key in that type of environment is having somebody who will give you honest feedback.

Leighann Lovely: Absolutely.

Ryan Jaso: Because I get we can record ourselves now, you know, you guys were talking about how we [00:19:00] have all these zoom meetings and now I can record and review, which is great.

Um, but if we don't, if we don't review our process, how are we really going to know, and most people aren't looking back when, when they miss and miss an opportunity. Um, you know, how many are looking back and saying, what, what did I do wrong as opposed to just kind of pointing the finger that, eh, that, that wasn't my client.

Okay. Well, you know, so you just wasted four hours or whatever on somebody who wasn't your client. Um, yeah, you did something wrong along the way. Either your qualification process stunk or you misread them. Um, you didn't give them options. You gave them too many options. What'd you do right? What'd you do wrong?

And that's how we should, we should be looking at every sale and it's so helpful because I remember one of my first bombs too and thankfully somebody, you know, who I really respected said that was terrible. Um, I'm [00:20:00] like, it was? I didn't, I didn't realize. I didn't even know. I was like, this is why that other guy is going to get the job and you're not and, and he was exactly right.

So, um, it's cool to have people who will be honest with you and just. Reviewing the process, but I'll tell you what I was. Um, I was really impressed with, you know, the, the 2021 22 year olds who were at this event yesterday. It gave me a lot of hope. Cool to see a couple of them experience and door to door, which is that whole other, you know, I.

I, I was just asking them questions because I've never done door to door. I don't know about you. I've never, that's why

Leighann Lovely: I've, I've actually sat in, I've never done it, but I've sat in on other people doing door to door and I'm like, and I purposely, and this is the geek in me. So, you know, you walk through a mall and there are people who are like approaching you [00:21:00] and I will specifically walk up to them and go, okay, do your pitch because I want to, I want to understand.

All the different type of sales out there. I mean, I'm a sales, I run a sales and marketing company. I need to also stay up in tune on what people are doing differently. So, when somebody comes to my door, my husband, it drives my husband insane. He's like, don't answer the door. They're going to try to sell you something.

I'm like, yeah, I know. That's

Ryan Jaso: the point. That's the point.

Leighann Lovely: I want to know what their pitch is. I want to see them do it. And I've gone out. And, and just shadowed people to watch them do it so that I can stay up to speed on what is happening and how people and how successful like it actually is, depending on what they say.

Ryan Jaso: Yeah, not only do I want to hear what their angle is. Um, I [00:22:00] also want to know if this person's a potential hire.

Leighann Lovely: That's also why I sometimes take sales phone calls. I have a, I have a call center. I've actually tried to recruit some of them and been like, you know, I have a call center. Are you, uh, are you a 1099 or are you actual employee of this company?

And they're like, what, what are you talking about?

Ryan Jaso: I'm going to turn this, I'm going to turn this on its head. You didn't know what you're getting yourself into.

Leighann Lovely: And I've actually interviewed. Some of them are like, well, yeah, I'm, I'm actually looking for a job. I only do this part time. And I'm like, great.

Send me your resume. I mean, it's one of the best ways. Hey, if you do what I do, it's one of the best ways to find sales people.

Ryan Jaso: So Leanne, give me an example of how sales have changed. And take Zoom off the table because we all know, we all know Zoom has changed it. Give me another example of how sales have changed.

Let's say in the last five years, or if you want to go back, say 10 years, whatever date you want to [00:23:00] pick where there was like an obvious shift. I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

Leighann Lovely: If I were to say in the last five years, my God, that one's, that one's simple. Um, I mean, we're taking zoom off the table, but just because of the way the world is, um, it's so unbelievably hard to get people on the phone nowadays.

I mean, we all went, we all went virtual. Okay. And now, even though we are all going back into the office, um, In order to get ahold of people nowadays, because they've gotten so used to, Oh, I don't have to answer the phone. I can still run my business with not answering my phone. I can.

Ryan Jaso: Such an interesting mindset.

I mean, I don't answer my phone, but I have people who do that for me. So got to answer our phones.

Leighann Lovely: Right. But everybody nowadays, because of the amount of robocalls that exist, because of the amount of like, and, and again, this also has to do with the [00:24:00] push in technology. So we go back, you know, we go back to COVID and obviously technology AI has become like I mean, exponentially just has blown up.

And so it's the rise of all of these new marketing tools that have become AI driven. We've not only got, you know, the robocalls that are happening, we've got AI tools that are actually going out and, and Sending the messages or replying to messages via Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, all of those different platforms that are actually scheduling appointments before you even know that you, your AI, is time you responding to these people.

Um, so there's been a huge shift in the way that a lot of sales are actually, um, engaging and we're able to, if you are utilizing this, you're able to reach even more people as these things are happening and get [00:25:00] things into your inbox. Um, what has not shifted is that there are industries that are Kind of protected from that and that you still need the human element.

You still have to eventually bring yourself in to meet that person face to face because people don't buy companies. People buy people. Ultimately it comes down to that. It comes down to, okay Ryan, I really like you, but I've got three different products right now on the table. And it comes down for me, if I'm going to make an investment in a product, I want to know that I'm working with a company that has a real boy, excuse the expression, I use this one all the time, or a real girl, that an AI isn't running the company, that there is an intelligent human behind it that I like, because if something breaks, I want to be able to pick up the phone and actually talk to a real [00:26:00] human being who cares.

And that I like, and that is the one element that you cannot remove.

Ryan Jaso: Yeah, you know, we, we talk every conversation we have now seems to be talking about AI. Um, and having said that AI hasn't run a single thing for me that I didn't have to touch. Um, it can help get things started. Which is great. And maybe, and I'm sure at some point in time, it's going to be able to run, we'll say 80 percent of operations.

But right now, I mean, we're still a ways away from that. And even when we get to that point, somebody is going to have to understand how to leverage it, how to use it. It's going to take real experts in artificial intelligence to, to maximize it. Um, so it's not taking anyone's jobs quite yet.

Leighann Lovely: [00:27:00] No.

Ryan Jaso: Um.

Leighann Lovely: It, it never will.

Yeah. It's just going to

Ryan Jaso: shift. We're

Leighann Lovely: going to shift. It's, if you go back to the days when everybody was coming, you know, like when I was a kid and everybody was all, and I can't tell you how they were feeling because I was a child, but I do remember all of this anger around the robots are going to be building the cars now.

The robots are taking over our job, blah, blah, blah. They didn't take over anybody's jobs. They just replaced the repetitive jobs and then more advanced, and I talk with my hands, more advanced positions came available, um, and, and because they still needed somebody to build the robot, they needed, still need somebody to program the robot.

Ryan Jaso: To fix the robot when it breaks.

Leighann Lovely: Fix the robot to get all of, it's going to be the same thing. with AI, it's just on a different level. It's now we need somebody to program [00:28:00] the AI. We need somebody to, and AI does, it doesn't just get intelligent on its own. You have to sit and teach it like, okay, here's my personality.

Now I'm going to type in like, this is how I would respond to this algorithm. This is how I would respond to this algorithm. This is how I, it takes time to teach it to be me. It's not just like, Oh, I'm going to plug in this stuff. This is who I am. You're going to go out and look at. No, it, it doesn't know my tone.

It doesn't know it. There is a huge process that that goes into, I guess, artificial intelligence is only as intelligent as the people who are programming it. And it's only as right as the information out there, but it's as confident as hell.

Ryan Jaso: I mean, Right? Say it

Leighann Lovely: wrong, say it strong. It's, it is, it is, and this is, somebody said this, it is confidently [00:29:00] inaccurate if the information that it is grabbing is inaccurate.

And so the human element and again, Ryan, how Inaccurate right now is social. How much fake media exists out there?

Ryan Jaso: Yeah, um, is it all of it? I, I have to figure that out. It's somewhere in between all of it and 50 percent of it. Somewhere in

Leighann Lovely: Right. So remember where AI is pulling, it's

Ryan Jaso: Gathering its information.

Leighann Lovely: Correct. So the more false information that exists The more false information that AI is going to go, Oh, wait, but this is on the web. You know, I just heard on somebody just posted so and so died. Okay, great. But is that real? Was that, did that come? I mean, I could, I could go on, on the internet right now and say, Wisconsin, the entire state just had a flash [00:30:00] fire and we all burnt.

But, you know, all the way up to the state lines, no other state was affected. I mean,

Ryan Jaso: I hope that knock on wood, that doesn't happen.

Leighann Lovely: No, no, you know, again, I could post that somewhere and people would go, really? Let me check and see if that's real. Of course it's not. But if I put it out there and then some AI jumps on that and goes, oh, yeah, did you hear?

Ryan Jaso: Doesn't realize that again, like we said, somewhere between 50 percent and 100 percent of the information that's being put put out there is false. And now we're building out, um, a platform through LB pro, um, where, where I can take over, uh, some, some processes and like, okay, well, this is only going to take about, uh, 2000 pictures.

And, you know, yeah. 100, 000 hours. Oh, all right. Um, we'll get right on that. So much. There's so much work [00:31:00] into making sure that it gets it right. So it's, it's really cool where things are going. And I, I know it's going to help if we leverage it, right. It's going to help us all bringing it back to sales in our sales processes and our general processes.

But ultimately, as you said, We as the consumer want to make sure that we're dealing with a person and dealing with a person who Is confident laying their head down on the pillow and can sleep at night where it comes back to what you said today, ethics, what you and Mike were talking about ethics. Um, and I know that that gets in our way of, of sales sometimes, but I know that ethics is just a huge portion of what I stand by.

Obviously it's what you stand by. Ultimately, I don't care how much money I make. It's all about how I make it, um, have to make it the right way. You know, it's a, someone always gives the [00:32:00] example, you know, if someone just gave you 10 million to do something like totally gross and totally. embarrassing.

Would you do it? I wouldn't because it's not about the money for me. It's about the journey and, and how I built that, how I made the money. Yes. Um, I'm, I'm pretty money hungry and pretty money motivated. Um, but not as motivated as I am to, to be able to look myself in the mirror.

Leighann Lovely: And that's, and that's what it comes down to is, um, and most entrepreneurs start out on the journey of saying, I wanna do this right?

I wanna do this ethically and morally. And I think that, I mean, that is the, the intent. Unfortunately, sometimes the intent gets swallowed up somewhere along that journey. Um, for some, but. I want to work with people who have that [00:33:00] same vision and, and I want to change, you know, when people hear that, oh, you're a sales professional, ugh, I'm like, what, what does that mean?

I'm like, how about if I said, I am a connector. I help people sell and make money for their business because ultimately all entrepreneurs should. They should be money hungry. If you're going into a business and you're like, I don't really need to make money. Well, sorry, you're going to fail.

Ryan Jaso: We have to make money.

We want to grow this business. We have no choice if we want to be able to pay employees. And that's what's cool. Um, being able to give our team members better lives and their families, better lives. Um, yeah, it's, uh, I am, I'm curious. I want to ask you, and I don't know how much time, much time we have left, but who are.

Who are the people that you're working with and want to work with? I want to hear that [00:34:00] clientele.

Leighann Lovely: You know, um, I, I love to work with small to midsize businesses that are looking to grow that want their ultimate plan is Leanne. I want to work with you right now for the long haul because we have the ability.

To plug them into some of the most amazing tools at a ridiculously low price in the beginning that will scale with their business. For to the point where they could be a billion dollar company and the tool that we offer them grows with them and they

Ryan Jaso: almost on day one. Yeah, that's that's wild. Right,

Leighann Lovely: right.

On day one, they get set up the proper way in a system that can just right now can just. How's their contacts and then in the next stage, they can roll in all of [00:35:00] their different systems. It connects.

Ryan Jaso: That's not, that's Liam, that's not just QuickBooks desktop.

Leighann Lovely: Yeah, it's just, yeah, we just run everything on QuickBooks desktops and you know, we pretty much sell that.

Ryan Jaso: Yeah, that's fine. Yeah. That's probably what, you know, 80 percent of our clientele is still doing.

Leighann Lovely: And, and that's, we've, we've created this model so that. It can plug into almost every other system. We have an open API, we have Zapier that plugs into it. There are some systems that, you know, we can't necessarily just literally plug in.

There has to be a build out, but it's possible. It's possible with almost any other system. And that's, that's the point. Is that, okay, well down the line I might buy this software. And we have the capabilities, as long as that other software has the capabilities to plug into it. And that's, that's the point, [00:36:00] is that they're not going to in 10 years go, oh, or in 5 years go, well now I need to change my, my main, you know, CRM, my CRE system, because it doesn't talk with this other software that I need to buy in order to run my business.

Ryan Jaso: Yeah, Zapier's a pretty powerful tool. That's pretty, it's pretty cool what's happening. And, and obviously you have all in one solutions out there, but there's never going to be an all in one solution. Um, like I just got a, I got a flyer from Zoho and I'd like seen Zoho. I never had any idea what they did.

You know, they've got like five, apparently pretty robust platforms, which is cool.

Leighann Lovely: Right.

Ryan Jaso: But you're still going to have to connect others specific to your industry. So

Leighann Lovely: I

Ryan Jaso: think, you know, that connection, what, what Zapier has been building and how that thing has grown in the past five, five, six years, when I first got introduced to it compared to where it is now is, is why it, um, I it's, it's amazing.

We've never [00:37:00] seen a curve like this on the technology side of things. And if. All of us who own companies or are in sales are not taking advantage and pushing the technology envelope at every turn. We are missing out. We're missing out.

Leighann Lovely: Well, we're not only missing out, but we will be, um, we will be obsolete because there are companies popping up all the time who are pushing that envelope.

And eventually if you're not. You're going to be the blockbuster of the world that just didn't shift enough. So you have to continue to move with the times. So with that being

Ryan Jaso: like you and Mike, we're talking about, I mean, the only constant is change.

Leighann Lovely: Oh, absolutely. The only, and, and I got, I have a funny story about that.

Um, early on in my career, and this will be really [00:38:00] quick. Um, I could not deal with change. I was really, so I told my boss one day, I'm going to just glue my desk or my, my chair to the floor so that you can't the next day I came in and she had completely moved my desk to a total different cube. And I was like, Oh my god.

And over the next six months, she would do this to me every, like, six weeks. And that is how I got out of this, like, I, I mean, I, I got to the point where I would tape my stuff down when I knew the cleaning company was coming, because they would move stuff, and I was so, like, but I had a boss who was like, no, you, you have to learn, like, that, and that job, that boss.

literally got me to a point where I was like, I, okay, I'm good. I can deal with change now. Okay. Sorry. I digress. No, that's

Ryan Jaso: so good that you had somebody there to get you out of your comfort zone. [00:39:00] And push you to this whole other level and get to the mentorship. Like that's what you got to find. Find that person who's going to push you.

Um, I think that's just a really, really cool story and, and just a great one. You know, I, I realized we didn't exactly get to landscape lighting sale. Maybe that's another, maybe that's a conversation for another time, but like, I'm so intrigued. With what you're, you're building, um, I want to make sure that you got to pump your own tires too, because you probably don't, don't get to do that very often.

Leighann Lovely: No, I don't typically have somebody take over the interview and pretty much just, uh, you know, ask me questions, but Ryan, this is the opportunity where you get your shameless 30 second pitch. So please.

Ryan Jaso: I get a shameless pitch.

Leighann Lovely: Yeah.

Ryan Jaso: So, you know, my first initial reaction to that is I'm going to take the, the Bernie Madoff approach.

Have you ever, have you seen the, the H, I think it's the HBO special where Richard Dreyfuss played Bernie Madoff. [00:40:00] And they're, they're in a conversation, um, at a country club with this big hedge fund provider. And he's staring this guy in the eye. And the provider's like waiting for Bernie to, to give him his pitch.

And Bernie's just staring at him. He goes, I don't pitch. Like, you, you know, I just, that's, I don't pitch. You got to talk first. Um, that was that was my initial reaction to the to the 32nd shameless pitch. The one you know, the one thing I'll say about about my company, um, is that there's not there's not anybody who installs landscape lighting or designs landscape lighting that we can't help.

And that's not just confidence on my part. It's understanding All of the things that we provide all of the solutions that we provide, whether it be products, whether it be programs, whether it be expertise, [00:41:00] I've got almost 300 years of combined expertise on my little team of 20, um, whether it just be the pricing availability of something, finding this, this part, um, there's, there's nothing that we can't help with.

It doesn't mean that it. We're necessarily going to be valuable for every single thing that you need, but there's something there's something that lighting boss can provide that's going to help you grow your business. That's what you do. That's what I do. I try to help people grow their businesses, even if that's just sort of seamless transactions so that they can move on.

and focus on other things. So, like, I would highly recommend if putting landscape lighting in the ground is something that you do, give us a call and let my team prove that.

Leighann Lovely: Yeah, and, and I'm going to add to this, um, because I now know two of your clients. Um, [00:42:00] I may know a third, well, I might, I might know a third.

Anyways, um, the The way that your clients speak about you and talk about your product is just, I mean, they basically say like, this is the greatest thing that I've ever had. You can literally plug in, take pictures. It, it helps design. It shows what products are available. The inventory that's available creates a proposal.

I mean, it, it sounds like it personally, I haven't used it cause I'm not in the lighting industry, but from, from what. I hear you, it sounds like your product is absolutely brilliant for the industry. So,

Ryan Jaso: and that's just one of the dozen ways that particular product is just, you know, one of many ways that we can be helpful to people.

But yeah, I appreciate you saying that because that, that particular product is my baby. Um, [00:43:00] and I, because I said, I focus on efficiencies.

Leighann Lovely: Right.

Ryan Jaso: That's what that program is about, allowing these people to be efficient with their time and close sales quickly and install the jobs quickly. And it's, it's, it's cool to hear, uh, other people see that vision.

Leighann Lovely: Right. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, it's a rarity when you have You know, something that is that efficient, that quick, that, you know, you hear from multiple people that like, yeah, hey, this is, this is the major player in my industry, and I went, okay, well, when you say major player, I, I want to, I want to know the person, I want to meet the person.

So. All right. Well, Ryan, hey, thank you so very, very much for joining me today. This has been an awesome conversation. And yes, let's maybe schedule another time where we can actually talk, you know, the A to Z sales process for outdoor lighting professionals. Um, you know, again, and, uh, again, thank you.

Ryan Jaso: I'd [00:44:00] love that.

Thanks, Leighann. I had fun.