Transforming Sales Through Effective Communication

In this engaging episode of "Love Your Sales," Leighann Lovely chats with Eric Forrestal, a master communicator and founder of Workforce Renegades. They dive deep into the intricacies of effective communication, focusing particularly on the DISC behavioral assessment and its impact on sales and team dynamics. Eric shares insightful anecdotes about understanding and adapting to different personality types, offering practical tips for improving interactions in both professional and personal settings. Listeners will find valuable strategies for enhancing their communication skills and building stronger relationships with clients and colleagues. This episode is a must-listen for sales professionals looking to refine their approach and achieve greater success. Tune in now to discover how to better connect, understand, and communicate with those around you!

Contact Eric -

Email - eric@workforcerenegades.com

LinkedIN - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericforrestal/

Website - www.workforcerenegades.com

 

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Leighann Lovely: Welcome to another episode of love your sales.

I am so thrilled. I am joined by Eric forestal master communicator, original renegade from workforce renegades, Eric. Welcome to the show. I am so excited to have this conversation.

Eric Forrestal: Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here.

Leighann Lovely: So what is workforce renegades and what do you, what do you do with your time?

Eric Forrestal: Oh, well, uh, workforce renegades.

So I create renegades in the workforce. I feel like every company needs a workforce renegade, [00:02:00] uh, someone that knows their sales, they can recruit, they can train what they do, and then they can lead a team. So, what I try to do is, is make other master communicators and all those kind of pillars of a business.

And, uh, and, and yeah, like I said, create workforce renegades.

Leighann Lovely: That's awesome. Because one of the most important things to any business is being, well, in my personal opinion, an over communicator, but a good communicator and understanding how to appropriately communicate to different personalities. Right.

Eric Forrestal: Yeah. Yeah. To, you know, different strokes for different folks. Uh, there's, there's different ways to communicate with different people. You know, the, the golden rule is treat everyone the way that you want to be treated, but I think it's a little bit more, you gotta, you gotta treat them the way that they want to be treated.

So I try to instill that a little bit more and, um, and really show people how they can, you know, if they have a message to deliver, how they may have to adapt their message to deliver it.

Leighann Lovely: [00:03:00] That's So well said, because I used to do the, we'll treat everybody the way that I want to be treated. And I realized really quickly that does not always work.

 You know, I am, I'm very much, I'm a very bold personality. Sure. I'm, I'm one of those people who's, you know, just get to the details and what you, what you need, um, what you want. And I came to realize that there are people out there who really need the, hello, how are you today? And, uh, got myself in a little bit of trouble early on with not doing the niceties before the demands or.

Yeah. They weren't so much the demand, but I find myself saying, Hey, and then spilling out what I need and then going, I'm sorry, how you doing?

Eric Forrestal: Sure thing. Sure thing.

Leighann Lovely: So it used to be, you know, treat people as you, you know, want to be treated, but at the same time, not everybody is like me.

Eric Forrestal: [00:04:00] You

Leighann Lovely: know, my brother used to say like, Oh, Monday, niceties. I hate it. I don't want to work in an office anymore. And I'm like, a lot of people need that. Like they, other people, they don't.

Eric Forrestal: Yeah.

Leighann Lovely: How do you, you know, start getting people to understand? Cause it's not that easy. It's how do you start to understand or help other people understand?

the nuances of other people's personalities.

Eric Forrestal: Yeah, it's, you know, it's, it's really tricky. And I've been in sales and team building and, and kind of this world of communication for, you know, going on 20 years now. So, um, I think it was a lot harder to explain before I felt like I felt like I used to just tell people, Oh, you just got to know, you know, you just got to read them.

You got to get a, you know, a feel for the room. Know your know your crowd, everything like that. I realized I had a really good knack for that. Uh, you know, I grew up in a big family. I had, [00:05:00] uh, you know, three older brothers, an older sister, a step mom, a step dad, you know, to, you know, kind of doing both sides.

Sometimes I met mom, sometimes I met dads and I was the youngest. And so I always had to kind of figure out people's mannerisms and, you know, what brother who, what brother I'm talking to and what I'm asking for. Cause they all communicated differently. Uh, so, you know, growing up through that and then just through kind of early on in my career, I just got good at it.

But what I found was it was the hardest thing to train.

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Eric Forrestal: You know, you can train scripts, you can train, you know, objection handling and all those things. But it was really hard to train how to read people. And it was a few years ago that I got reintroduced to DISC. Now, I'll, I'll explain what DISC is for anyone that doesn't know in a little bit, but basically it's a behavioral assessment.

And I used to think behavioral assessments were the dumbest things. I would always say, you know, and if, and if you've ever worked in sales or any sort of, Communication, you were probably forced to take some sort of behavioral assessment.

Leighann Lovely: Right.

Eric Forrestal: [00:06:00] So for years, I thought they were dumb because I don't need an assessment to tell me that I'm loud and obnoxious.

Right. So. It's, it's kind of one of those things where any, any assessment I was taking, I'd say, well, what's the loud obnoxious one? Okay. Yes. I'm an Enneagram seven. I'm a high D high. I, I'm a, you know, I'm a, I'm a squiggly line. I'm whatever it is. It's like, okay, I get it. And so I always used to read those thinking it was, you know, all about me, me, me.

 It wasn't until, you know, I was doing real estate at the time and this lady came in and she gave a great presentation and, you know, It was a two hour presentation. And as soon as she started talking, I do what most real estate agents do is I got in the back, I opened up my computer and I started answering emails, right?

Cause that's what, that's what a lot of us do. And there was about 10 minutes within this presentation where she said, this is how you identify it on in others. And this is how you can adapt your communication style. And it was a great 10 minutes. And I walked up to her afterwards. I was like, that was a [00:07:00] great presentation.

This 10 minutes was my favorite part. You should do an entire presentation on just that 10 minutes. Like that would be worth it, you know? And I didn't know, like, I, I didn't realize what I said. Cause then she just kind of put her hand on my shoulder and goes, well, what did you think about the other hour and 50 minutes?

And I was like, yeah, you know, and, uh, and she was, you know, she was so nice and she got, you know, she, she kind of looked at me and she said, well, maybe you should, if you're. You know, if you have a direction that you want to take it, maybe you should. And so she kind of started my journey on, on looking at disc and behavioral assessments in a, in a completely different way.

And so she's actually the one that kind of bridged the gap for me to get certified in it and, and go through it. And for me, disc was a really good vehicle to explain. What I was trying to explain over the years, you know, um, not everyone's going to come up and hand you an assessment and say, Hey, this is how I communicate.

Can you communicate with me like this? So I started looking at, you know, I started looking [00:08:00] at these profiles and then I also started looking at how you can identify those profiles and how you can adapt your communication style.

Leighann Lovely: And, it's real. So I've actually had people where I'm in a, on a sales call or, and they've walked in the room, sat down and go, just so you know, I'm a Heidi

Eric Forrestal: and I'm like, Heidi would say that.

Leighann Lovely: Awesome. That is perfect. Because now I know how to present this information to you. Like if we all just walked around and go, I'm a hot eye, that's great. Okay, now I know how to communicate with like, or I know how better to communicate with you. Like, you don't want to get lost in the details. You don't care how.

It like the nuances of how it works. You just want to know what the outcome is going to be of that. Maybe or, or maybe you are somebody who needs to know the details of how it's going to work, depending on what your. You know, where [00:09:00] you fall on that scale, it, it absolutely will help me now. Obviously, if you're walking into a, you know, doing a, a group presentation, you're probably going to end up with a couple of, you know, variety of different people in that room, a high C, a high D, you know, a high I, and then you have to be able to adapt and cater to the questions or, you know, the blah, blah, blah, but having an understanding and knowing.

Somebody's, you know, where their interests lie, where they, where they're, you know, get the most out of that conversation can change the outcome of a conversation a hundred percent. Like, and same goes for when you are a high I, and you're meeting with somebody who's Let me tell you, I am, I am energy, energy, energy.

If I walk into an accounting firm, [00:10:00]

Eric Forrestal: Yep.

Leighann Lovely: It's, if I was to let that energy constantly be coming out, they'd be like, she needs to leave. Right. Like, it just, I don't fit in.

Eric Forrestal: They just, well, that's why it's, you know, it's and those of you for, uh, you know, just so I can kind of maybe for anyone that's listening that doesn't know what disk is.

 Yes.

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Eric Forrestal: The best way I can describe DISC is if you, if you remember the last time you went to a restaurant and you went out to eat with a group of people and the way that you can watch someone order off the menu and, and talk to the waiter is the way that they behave and they communicate. Right? And so it's so funny because the waiter will come up and say, you know, what can I get you guys?

And she might be just starting with drinks. And right away. A high D is going to go, you know, they know exactly what they're going to get because they get the same thing every time because they know what they like to eat and they know they're hungry. So if they got burgers on the menu or they're going to go right in [00:11:00] right away and they'll be the first to order and they'll say, I'll get a burger, medium, rare fries on the side, right?

It's because they know they like burgers and they know they're hungry. So they're very direct and they, they don't need, they don't need anyone's. They don't need anyone else's opinion or anything like that. And then the waiter looks at the next person and that person's just talking to everyone at the table.

This person hasn't even looked at the menu. Yeah. They haven't even looked at the menu and you know, the quick look at the menu, the maybe, Oh, can you come back around to me? Or they'll just make a quick panic decision and be like, you know what, what did you get? You know, I'll take that because they really don't care about what they're getting.

They care that. They care who they're there with. They care who they're talking to, who's at the table, and they don't want to miss out on any of the conversation. But I'm

Leighann Lovely: also a high D.

Eric Forrestal: Yeah. And, and so, and that's fine, but you'll, you'll be talking to everyone and then, and then what'll happen is they'll say, what do you want?

And they'll be like, I'll, a burger. I'm good. You'll be very direct in it. But the point of it is those 2, both of those 2 types are both both extroverted. So [00:12:00] they're, they have no problem looking at the waiter and talking and saying what they want. And then also they have no problem talking to everyone that's at the table.

And then you have that 3rd type. That's just a little bit more indecisive where they want to make sure everyone else knows what they're getting. Right? So they might start asking questions like, hey, What did you see that they have not? Are you getting the nachos or what are you getting there? They're more focused on the table and making sure that everyone's happy.

Everyone's satisfied. Hey, did you get that drink that you wanted, but they're really indecisive. The last thing that they want to do is make an opinion or they is make an actual order. They might even ask the waiter. What what's good. They might even, you know, just take what's special. Oh, what does the cook want to make?

What do you have a lot of, right? They don't want to, they don't really want to, like, ruffle any feathers, and they just want everyone to have a good time. And then you have that last type, that, that high C type, where as soon as they found out where they were going out to eat, they looked up the menu online and sat in the parking lot for 45 minutes, looking at the menu, to make sure That they know [00:13:00] all of their options and, you know, they might come with questions or they know exactly what they're getting before they get in there because they, they did the time to analyze it and calculate what's the best option for them.

 And so that, I mean, whenever I'm explaining disks to someone, that's the best way I can explain it because everyone's been out to eat with a group of people and then also. Everyone, when I talk about those things, everyone's like, yeah, you know what? I know someone that orders that way. Or I order every time, you know, you raise your hand as soon as the second time you're like, yup, that's me right there.

So we can all identify that. And that's just. eating, ordering off a menu. Just think about if we were to look at all the other mannerisms that people do in meetings, in the office, on phone calls, through emails, text messages, you know, you name it. It's, it's kind of one of those things that you can start to put votes in the right letter for, and then kind of understand how to adapt your communication.

Leighann Lovely: And as you were saying that I'm thinking, oh my God, you know, I'm that person who like literally just shows up and I'm [00:14:00] like, Oh, what, you know, I know what I like. And I'm like, do you have something like this on the menu? Great. That's what I want. Like, whereas where, you know, like, I, I, you know, I know what I like to eat because we all know what we like, but I don't, I'm not present until I'm there.

Once I'm there, I'm present, I am, I am where I am when I'm there, but until I'm there, I'm, I'm still where I was, which drives, which drives, I think my husband insane because he's the guy who's looking up the menu, looking at the reviews, making sure it's, you know, and then talking about what our daughter is going to be able to eat when she goes there, she's six.

So, you know, we want to make sure that, you know, and I'm like, I don't, I don't care. Like, I don't know, does that make me a bad mom? I'm not leaving, I'm not thinking, like, I show up when I show up, and then I'm present, and maybe that is a personality flaw, but it's like, I just, I'm not one of those [00:15:00] people who has the capacity to plan until it's happening.

Eric Forrestal: Yeah. And I mean,

Leighann Lovely: vacation really hard

Eric Forrestal: or really fun for you, you know, I mean, come on. But some people, if you think about it, you know, there's some people that really enjoy the planning of the vacation where it's like, you know, I like to be surprised and there's some people that like to know what they have to look forward to.

And I asked my son that all the time where it's like, Hey, do you want to know what we're doing? Or do you just want to do it? And he's a much more of a, you know, I just want to go do it, you know, don't question me on it. And so, yeah, I mean, I don't, I don't think it's bad because you got to look at it in the sense of, if you look at disc, there's, there's There's two, there's four types of orientations.

So you're either people oriented or you're task oriented and you're either extroverted or you're introverted. And so if you look at those two orientations of, of people oriented or task oriented, the person that is planning the vacation is way more task oriented. They're [00:16:00] way more, okay. I want to know where we're going.

I'm going to look at, you know, the best deal for the hotel room, the flights, all that I'm going to make sure it's going to be planned to the bone and I'm going to get. A little bit annoyed. If, if it goes, if it doesn't go to plan, you know, and I'm like, what city are we going to? We just got to figure out how to get there.

Right. I don't know why there's all these plans. We just have to get, you know, we just have to get there safely. Right. Okay. And then when we get there, let's just figure it out. And so.

Leighann Lovely: Now it planes, trains and automobiles is just popping into my head as you have the picture. We just have to get there.

Eric Forrestal: Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. And it's, it's kind of funny. Cause like the reason I love that is there's, those are both sales guys, right?

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Eric Forrestal: So there's two sales. And one character is, you know, in a nice tie, a suit, he has everything planned. And then, you know, the other one's John Candy. So it's just, and they're both successful salesmen.

You know, that's the thing is they're both good at what they do. It doesn't take anything away. It's just, you do it different [00:17:00] ways. And I think it's such a, an approach where, you know, I, I, I've, I've trained so many salespeople and everyone thinks that a good salesperson has to be an extrovert. A good salesman has to be, you know, this, this loud, obnoxious guy.

And that's just not the case at all. And some of the best salespeople I've ever met or trained have been complete task driven introverts where it's like they have the best relationships because if you get, you know, if they're, they have to build a relationship for them to talk. So they build, they, they make sure to build the relationship.

And then. They have a, they're so organized in their tasks and making sure that they're doing everything. They're following up. They're doing all those things. And so, um, so, yeah, so it's, it's interesting. It's interesting. And I think the biggest thing that I like to do is show people their bright spots and their blind spots.

So not only show them how they communicate, but go, Hey, this is where you may have to Take a deep breath and do a little bit more work when you're communicating with this type of person, [00:18:00]

Leighann Lovely: right? And see when you say a task orientated person, I I am a hundred percent a task orientated person However, if you look at my disc results, you'd go she's not at all.

Yeah, but I come from an HR background So there's process that, you know, in place, like, and the reason I say I'm a task oriented person, and this is just something that, you know, I grew up with two parents who are in real estate.

Eric Forrestal: Yeah.

Leighann Lovely: And so I grew up in a sales family, just a hundred percent through and through sales.

That is, you can't get any more sales than. Real estate agents who are on commission making their own. Right. I mean, it's just one of those things that my father managed, you know, 60 plus agents at any given time, he managed one of the largest offices that they had there and continued, you know, and he started with a very small office, continued to move up in the company and, you know, [00:19:00] And then his wife was just a producer, not just a producer, was one of the top producers for the company for many years running.

And, he had always referred to, he's like, well, I'm a task oriented person. Like I, something, you know, something comes in front of me. And I get it done, move it off my plate, so I know that I can move on to the next thing. Otherwise, you're just constantly having explosions happening, and that's when things fall through the cracks.

That's how you lose clients. That's how you lose prospects. That's how you lose relationships. It's when you're not following up properly, or you're not nurturing those relationships and doing what you promised. And that's why, uh, I don't promise something if I don't plan to deliver that and so I, I create every or I treat every relationship as the next task, the next, and I'm, sounds like I'm minimizing that to something, but it really, it's, it's not, it's making it bite [00:20:00] sized pieces of something that you can take on in a way.

That is process. And most people don't, they're not built to do that. But I was, you know, I went to school for computer programming at one time. I went to school and I graduated with my bachelor's in HR. So that's, you know, there's a process. And if you follow that, even being a complete spaz half the time, because I am a salesperson.

You know, if something's broken at my house, I go and fix it, right? It's done. It's done. And then I don't have to think about it. And it doesn't create lists upon lists, upon lists of stuff that I'm like, Oh my God, I have to get to that list. And oh my gosh, I have to get, which just causes stress, especially for somebody who's an extrovert, who just wants to be out there around people.

Eric Forrestal: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I always, you know, when I, whenever I coach sales or teach people with sales, I always say, lean on what you're good at first, like understand what you're good at first. Right. And so I always [00:21:00] laugh at people that go to a networking event because they know that they need to because everyone else is doing it in real estate agents and loan officers do this the most.

I personally love networking events. You know, it's funny because. People always talk about the introvert that needs to be alone in order to go out, right? You ever hear that where it's like, Oh, my God, I need my alone time. I have a, I have a thing tonight. I need to be alone before I go out. And it's just the opposite for an extrovert where I need those networking events.

And I need to be around people in order for me to go back and work in my office. Like, I need to go if I'm working in an office with other people, I need to go to the break room and go. Chat it up with some people and say, hi, if I have an hour task that I need to do back in my office or whatever it is.

 But I always laugh at networking events because you can tell the people that don't want to be there. Like it's almost like they hang out together and don't talk together because they're like, Hey, I'll stand here. If you stand there and I won't talk to you, if you don't talk to me, it's like they have this like secret [00:22:00] understanding, you know, but I always tell people to lean in what they're good at.

And so if you're good at those networking events, Go to those networking events. Look, if you're good at building really, really good relationships and getting referrals based off of your past clients, lean into that. You know, and, and it's just, it's kind of like, that's why I love desk because right away it rips off the band aid of going.

Okay, let's talk, you know, take your desk. This is based off of an assessment that you took. Let's talk about it. And the first thing I do is I'll break it down and talk about what they feel is accurate, what they feel is inaccurate.

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Eric Forrestal: All I do is ask questions. I don't tell them anything. I just ask questions.

And it's funny because they'll go along with this. They'll look at their assessment and be like, Oh, it's so accurate here. It's so accurate here. This is absolutely 100 percent me. The only part that is inaccurate is this negative thing that I don't like. Right? Two negative things that are on the assessment that says that I'm bad at.

That's inaccurate. And it's [00:23:00] like, okay, all right. So let's talk about that, you know, and, and it's funny because you talked about those lists and all those things. It's just finding a way to do it where I'm not a list guy either. Uh, I used to be really good at waking up in the morning and making a list of everything that I had to do today.

Right. And then after about the second thing, it was like, drink coffee, go, you know, drink coffee and eat breakfast. Cool. And then after that, I didn't do anything else that was on the list. Right. You know, and I felt like a lot of people struggle with that. But what I started doing is I'd realize, okay, what What am I doing for the next half hour?

Okay, I need to do these three things in the next half hour.

Leighann Lovely: Right.

Eric Forrestal: Otherwise, I'll get distracted. I'll go somewhere else.

Leighann Lovely: Like,

Eric Forrestal: otherwise, I'm over here. But what it allows me to do is it gives me a deadline of like, that's pretty quick, because if you give me all day to clean my house, it's going to take me all day to clean my house.

But if you give me an hour to clean my house, it'll be, it'll be clean in an hour. And there's some people that can absolutely write an entire list. And then [00:24:00] they are the ones that like, love. Going through it all day and then at the end of their day, they're like, when they're crossing off that last thing, it's the happiest thing for them, you know, so

Leighann Lovely: right.

And I just, when I have a list of things to do, I get anxiety over that because I'm, I'm one of those people who are like, no, it needs to be done right now. I do it. And now I don't have a compiling list. It's like, just done, done, done, done, done.

Eric Forrestal: I could think, I think. The bad thing with me is I could think of a hundred things that need to get done right now.

Like, if you were to ask me, give me a hundred things that need to get done, I could list them all. But, but that's, that's my problem is, is like, what needs to get done? Well, there's a lot of stuff that needs to get done. What can I do right now? You know, like that's that.

Leighann Lovely: And ultimately it comes down to what has to be done today.

Eric Forrestal: Yeah.

Leighann Lovely: What, what, you know, what is their time? You know, I, yeah, I'd love to redo my website. I'd love to re, you know, [00:25:00] I'd love to reorganize all the files in my entire drive, but that doesn't need to be done today.

Eric Forrestal: Right.

Leighann Lovely: It's, you know, for me, it's a matter of what keeps business moving forward right now. So what needs to get done today?

And I refer to these as revenue generating tasks. What are my revenue generating tasks that need to be done today in order to keep my business moving forward in order to keep my clients? businesses moving forward. And that's ultimately what that comes down to because you're right. Everybody has a million and 10 things that they could do today and including, you know, feeding my child, my dog, all of the other, you know, but those don't go on, those don't go on the list.

Those are things that you sit in the back, you know, that they, In the back of your head, when all of a sudden you're like, wow, I have two hours of time,

Eric Forrestal: right?

Leighann Lovely: I could actually get some of this other stuff done. [00:26:00]

Eric Forrestal: Yeah.

Leighann Lovely: Yeah. No, that's so that's wildly wildly. It's so interesting and not only disc, but I also, have you, have you ever heard of the working genius?

Oh, yeah.

Eric Forrestal: Yeah. I think that's a very relatable thing. And I think a lot of that's derived from disc.

Leighann Lovely: Got mad when I saw my results, but they're correct.

Eric Forrestal: Yeah.

Leighann Lovely: They are a hundred percent correct.

Eric Forrestal: Well, I think there's a difference between two, like another part of what I do is what's called

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Eric Forrestal: key motivators.

Cause I think there's one thing in the way that we behave and communicate, but then there's another way of what we're motivated by doing. Right. So there's kind of like, there's, you're talking about two different things there. And the way we communicate, behave is always interesting to me because it can change.

It can intentionally change or it can unintentionally change. Whereas what I noticed with a lot of people, you know, when they have kids there, the way they behave and communicate can change. Sometimes they're D all of a sudden they didn't have, they were very low on the D and they were never dominant.

Well, [00:27:00] now they got to be yelling at kid, you know, they got to yell at their kid all the time, depending on what age their kid is. Or it's the complete opposite where if they didn't have, you know, if they were very low on the high S where they weren't patient at all. And all of a sudden they have a kid and they take their disc, you know, 6 months after all of a sudden they're way more patient and they care about different things and they communicate differently and all those things.

 I always tell a story between 2022 and 2023. You know, I had my natural and adaptive, uh, scores, where my natural score, you know, I was a high D, a high I, and a moderate S, always, always, always, always a low C, where I'm, if I send you an email, you're probably going to have a, you know, a spelling error, unless someone Someone checked it for me.

But, uh, so I realized that in my adaptive, my ID was going even higher and my s was sinking really low. And so I noticed, I was like, okay, so in my adaptive state, meaning if there's an issue with a client, if there's something different, all of a sudden my patients was going down and my high [00:28:00] D was going up, and I was like, whoa, okay, gotta look at this.

So basically I was becoming an asshole. Like, I don't know, there's no other way to put it. Like I was, I remember looking at that and being like, oh man, it was. So whenever you get stressed, you just act out of pocket like that. And uh, and I remember it was a, it was a, a thing that I could look back on and be like, okay, where did things go wrong with this client?

Where did things go wrong with this person that I'm working with? Or however it went. I was like, well dude, this is it. It's clear as day. So I literally started using green notepads and green post-Its just to remember to keep my patients. So I'd be on the phone and all of a sudden I'd look at a green post-it and I'd be like, oh, all right.

Musab or whatever, you know, whatever I would say to right. Myself down. And that was an intention. Yeah. And that was an intentional change where it was like, Hey, like, at least be consistent. So now I'm at least just an asshole all the time, right? Like my natural adaptive are the same. Like overall, my ass went down a little bit, but now my natural and adaptive are the same where I started to notice those times where I'd get stressed or, you know, act a little bit differently.

 [00:29:00] Now fast forward from 20. Okay. 23 to 2024 earlier this year when I took it, you know, I, I had started workforce renegades, you know, a year or two ago. Well, I'm, I'm it like, I'm here at workforce renegades. So there's no one looking over my shoulder checking my budgets. There's no one doing any of these things.

Right? Well, my analytical skills were always low. Like, they just, they were always below a five. I just felt like there was always an, an occasional An accountant somewhere that could look over my stuff for me. Well, just inherently, because I have to, I have to look at my calendar. I have to look at the spell check on my emails.

I have to do those things. Not saying it went up a crazy amount, but my analytical skills got better just because I got thrown into a position where I had to do it a lot more. So my C in 2024 was the highest it's ever been. It's only, it's still only at a 16, but that's pretty good, right? I mean. Compared to what it was, so the interesting thing about disc for me is always that you can intentionally change or if you're like, you know what, I'm in a [00:30:00] leadership position and I need to be more direct.

Like, I beat around the bush too much and people walk over me. I need to be more direct. That's an intentional change that you could make. It's an uncomfortable one, but.

Leighann Lovely: And, and I've, because of how direct I know that I have been,

Eric Forrestal: it's

Leighann Lovely: certain, I, I've had to peel that back and find that empathetic side with certain people.

Because I know that I can come off as, as kind of a bitch. Like you walk up to somebody and you're like, here, I need you to do blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then all of a sudden, and there have been times where I'm like, Oh, I need to correct. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. How was your weekend?

Eric Forrestal: Yeah. But there's,

Leighann Lovely: it's okay.

I know that you can do that. And I'm like, no, but it's rude. Like I should at least like ask you and they're like, well, I appreciate that you're trying to make the effort. And I'm like, I know, I know, but I can be really overwhelming at times. And, and I, and I'll, I'll call myself [00:31:00] out because it's like, and I tell my people too, like, it's okay to do it in an appropriate manner.

If I'm being too If I'm, if I'm being too direct, if I'm being inappropriate, like you, in an appropriate manner, in an appropriate situation, you, you need to tell me, because I don't know if, if I am, and I've had some, I've had some of them be like, okay, that, like, that was a little, That was a little much and I'm like, okay, then I'm, I'm going to apologize.

And I want to thank you for, for telling me because, and again, because I've, I've learned from my person, my

Eric Forrestal: own. Yeah. Well, I think, you know, I think it goes both ways. And I, I'm going to say a couple of things there because I think it all depends on

Marker

Eric Forrestal: what message you're trying to deliver to deliver and who you're Trying to deliver it to, right?

So if you have a team and you're just trying to get in, you're trying to give orders. Like, I think a big thing is [00:32:00] for them more to understand that you're direct. So if this is the way you communicate, and this is the way that, that you. Are I think it's them understanding it and saying, Hey, I'm not abrasive.

I'm not being a bitch. This is just like on a daily, I shouldn't, I shouldn't have to adapt to everyone right away. Now here's another thing. If you're coaching someone that's different. So it's like one thing, if you're directing an order or if you're, you know, running a meeting, like you have to, you have to communicate in your exact way.

Now, if me and you are doing a one on one and you're coaching me on what I'm doing, then you kind of have to understand my communication style that that point. That's where you go. Okay. All right. Well, Eric, how was your weekend? Tell me everything. All right. Right. And so I think that there's that difference because if you're just caught in an adaptive space all the time, you're going to end up hating you.

You're going to hate the leadership position. If you have to be soft and, you know, like be a little bit easy on everyone. Now with sales, it's interesting because you know, I'll give workshops [00:33:00] and presentations. And I always ask, like, you know, I always raise a show of hands. How many of us. Uh, have a favorite client, you know, and, and, and I'll hear stories of people's favorite clients and my favorite ones are the ones, Oh, the ones that buy cash and whatever.

And it's like, no, what I, what I mean by like, do you find yourself with the same type of client again and again and again, like, and there you do typically people gravitate towards the people they communicate best with. So if I'm very direct, I'm going to get along with very direct people. If I'm very, you know, if you ask me about my day and I actually tell you about my entire day, I'm going to get along with people that tell me about their entire day, you know, and, and go back and forth and we can sit here and bullshit for 20 minutes before we actually get into the meat of it.

 I'm not a numbers guy. So my hardest clients, the clients that I didn't like were the numbers guys. Right. Cause we all have clients where it's like, you look at them and you're like, why are you the way that you are? Like, why are you asking me that question right now? You know, and, and it would happen all the time in real [00:34:00] estate.

It would be like, I'd show someone the perfect house. I knew the numbers made sense because, you know, I've been looking at the numbers for the past couple of days. And then I'd say, all right, you know, this seems like the perfect house. You guys don't have any objections. And it was that always that higher C that would be like, well, we want to sleep on it.

And it, you know, me knowing that there's already two offers on the house and they're making a decision at 8 PM and it's five. I'm like, so are you going to like go home and take a quick nap or, cause this house isn't going to be here tomorrow, you know, and then I would rub them the wrong way. Because here I was trying to pressure them where at the end of the day, they just needed, they needed more numbers and time to think so I kind of switched it up where, you know, I'd be a little bit more direct with them, but I'd, I'd make sure, hey, what numbers are you going to need?

What numbers are important to you? Let me get you this before we even go to the showing. Hey, I just want to let you know in this market. There's a good chance that there might be an offer on the house and we might need to make a decision after the showing. So I just want you to be prepared for that, you know?

Now, Hi I, if I show a [00:35:00] Hi I a shit ton of numbers before the showing, they're gonna be like, I can't afford it! Or like, We're going to, it's going to be a waste of both of our times. Cause they're just going to want to fall in love with the house and then figure out how to make it work afterwards. You know what I mean?

Leighann Lovely: Oh yeah. That's how I bought my house. And because my parents were real estate agents, I literally walked in and looked at my dad and I said, can I afford this? And he goes, no, but you can make it work.

Eric Forrestal: Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Love the honesty.

Leighann Lovely: And we bought it and we've made it work. We've lived here now for five years.

So

Eric Forrestal: that's funny.

Leighann Lovely: Yeah. It's great. When you have your parents who are real estate agents, they can really, you know, themselves. Pretty easy conversation. Hey, dad, you know, my finances, can I buy this? Right. But anyways, anyways, we are coming to time, but this is, it's such an interesting dynamic. Like again, you know, like I'm going to, I'm going to flash back here for a second to 20 years ago when, you know, we, yes, you know, I've taken, [00:36:00] when did disc start?

Like when?

Eric Forrestal: Yeah, the 1920s actually.

Leighann Lovely: Okay. So it's been around by

Eric Forrestal: a psychologist that actually invented Wonder Woman. Believe it or not.

Leighann Lovely: Wow.

Eric Forrestal: Very

Leighann Lovely: random facts. Okay. So, you know, I've taken desk, you know, over the years, a million. Times and as I've evolved as a person, my results have evolved, you know, over time consistently, I've always been a high I, always had that high D, but they've shifted a little bit over as I've, you know, I've, I have always, however, found it interesting.

And I now find it even more interesting how we're able to use that to not understand ourselves. As much as we're using it to understand other people. And I love, I love people. I absolutely, I'm the person who, if I go to a networking meeting, if I stay too late, [00:37:00] then I come home and I'm like all wound up and my husband's like, aren't you tired?

And I'm like, I could go three rounds in a ring with Mike Tyson right now.

No, that's where I get my energy. I'm like, Oh my God. You know, it's like, give me a shot of. You know, something so I can calm down. But I, I just, I love, I love the study of humans. So this conversation has been really, really fun. So I am going to give you your 30 second pitch before we wrap up. Shameless pitch.

There you go.

Eric Forrestal: Yeah, sure. So I do a one on one coaching. I do consulting and I do workshops. So, uh, everything is based around your disc assessment. And what I really like to show people is what they're already doing, how to build intention behind it, and should really show you your bright spots and then also your blind spots.

So, been in sales for over 20 years. I do Sales, recruiting, training, and leadership for, for more service industry and blue collar companies, uh, companies in the trades is kind of, you know, my wheelhouse. [00:38:00] So that's

Leighann Lovely: where can they reach out to you?

Eric Forrestal: Yeah, they can either fight, you know, you can look up workforce renegades online.

 Www. workforcerenegades. com is going to be the easiest way. Otherwise we're on all the social media platforms as well.

Leighann Lovely: And your website, , information will be on the show notes. So if somebody wants to reach out to Eric, you can find that information there. Eric, this has been such an awesome conversation.

I really do appreciate it.

Eric Forrestal: Awesome. Thank you for having me.

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Robb Conlon: Thanks for joining us for Love Your Sales. [00:39:00] For More, connect with Leanne on LinkedIn and be sure to subscribe to the show and leave us a rating in review. We'd love to hear what you think, looking for a way to take your sales process to the next level. Visit us@loveyoursales.com to find out more about how Leanne can take your organization to new Revenue Heights.

And be sure to join us next time for more great ways to love your customers so they love your [00:40:00] sales.