The Future of Sales- Predictions for Sales Success in 2022 and Beyond with Bart Prins

Welcome to morning coffee and mimosas. I'm Christina. We are a father daughter duo. We come here Sunday mornings, but you can come here anytime you please. We banter about life, about business and we do it over coffee and mimosas.

Good morning. 

This is a good morning 

listeners. I am super excited this morning because we have another amazing guest. This guest is especially special because he is my leader, my mentor, my friend, Bart prince . Business development officer at Taylor corporation, where I am also very, very proud to work.

So, Bart, thank you for being with us this morning. 

 It's my pleasure, Joe, Christina, great to be with you. Uh, as a way of getting started, know that I'm a day one list. I've been with you since the very beginning. I never have missed an episode. . And there's only one question I have, which is when are you going to start selling merch?

Because I want to do my part to promote the brand. There you go. 

We just have our morning coffee and my most is mugs. So I think, that will, that will start happening. Thank you. 

Imagine you walked down the street and saw somebody wearing a morning coffee and Moses. 

No, I know. And I watch a lot of, you know, YouTube and I play the guitar, solo guitar, YouTubers, and stuff.

And that's what they're all doing that, by my pick, you know, it has, you know, whatever the name of the show is and they have t-shirts and hats and. we have to get into that.  the little 

logo we created in Canva imagine, well, we can dream, we can dream, but I like where your head's at Bart.

Yeah, 

very much so. Thank 

you. Yeah. So Bart, thank you so much for being with us today. Thanks for being a day. One listener and being so supportive of this little side project. My dad and I have so happily been working on. ,  Um, for our listeners, do you want to tell them a little bit about yourself, about your journey and how you came to be, you know, the leader of business development for Taylor?

I'm happy to, I'm a new business developer through and through. That's what I do. That's my lane. I love it. And my first one. Was as a business development representative BDR during the first.com. Boom. So we're going to go way back to the year, 2000 when there was a time actually before Google and Yahoo, et cetera, et cetera, actually existed.

There was a time in which those companies were new and search was new. My first. Was as a BDR selling internet advertising for a company which eventually became CNET, which is a very high profile technology portal. From there. I then went into a player coach role for essentially a digital advertising agency for a very large local media company.

And, not only. Called on very large national brands, but then also led a sales team. And then 15 years ago, I made my way over to Taylor and started there as an individual contributor as the success of our team grew, was asked to be the lead. Of that team. And then Christina, when our organizations came together and we got even more talent and a bigger team, I was then asked to lead that organization.

And today, uh, my,  remit, if you will, is to lead all business development activity in the enterprise space for the organization. So that involves the people that involves the strategy, the processes, and then more and more the marketing and the technology that we use. To communicate with the new prospects and existing customers that we want to grow with.

So just wrapping up, I'm a business developer, I've done it as a BDR, as an individual contributor, as a leader. And now, as a. Chief business development officer for the corporation. And I love it. I'm going to 

embarrass you for a second Bart because I won't be the first. I'm usually embarrassing him, but I'm going to embarrass you today.

  So for listeners, what we're going to be talking about today is sales predictions for 2022. And this is such a cool episode for us to have Bart with us on because, I mean this sincerely, when I say Bart has a passion for sales that I can't imagine you were born with it, , but it's, it's like true to you.

 And I, what I mean by that is I've seen, you know, over the years in my career, certainly not as long as yours dead. But, I haven't seen anybody that has the, just appetite to keep learning and, The way that you both do the job and lead to do the job and train to do the job, I think is really amazing.

So I just, I think this is a great topic for us because, I've never had a leader that has pushed an organization's function forward as quickly as you have. So I just think that.  It's appropriate for us to talk about the future of sales predictions for 2022, because, , the things that we have accomplished as a business development organization and, the things I've learned, as new, progressive ways that we should be selling, I mean, we're taking an industry that is an older industry.

And you've really propelled us forward in pretty amazing ways. So anyway, there, there is my, uh, embarrassed Bart for a few minutes, but, 

no I'm going to return the favor and embarrass her until, you know, we could take the rest of the podcast to say great things about Christina. You're done. Christina, you know, you're one of my proteges, so I'm gonna take this, you know, as far as I can and hand you the keys and know that you'll be more than capable of stepping in and putting your own stamp on this organization.

So that's who you are. To me, we're a team and a plan to. Do all I can to prepare you for, uh, advancement in your career to, I 

appreciate it. I've got, yeah, I've got these two dudes here are preparing me for all that's to come in my career and,  listeners, thanks for hanging with me on this podcast as I develop myself.

No, it's wonderful. .  we're talking about sales predictions for 20, 22, but, , I just want to, uh, and maybe cause I'm the old guy in the room. It's so interesting how you said, Bart prior to, you know, around 2000 and Google was new or Facebook and all this stuff.

And I didn't even know Facebook existed then, but the point is I would guess since the invention of the telephone. and the use of it. Yeah, I remember. Yeah. I had a telephone when I was young. Yeah. sales was done the same way. It was direct mail. and it was calling people on the phone, going over to a business, you know, face to face meetings for forever.

 And your marketing was marketing copy. And how often do you, uh, mail somebody and things like that? It's only been 20 years, basically 22 years, 25 years,  that adoption of all these new, the new methods that are not new anymore. I'm just, I'm not being the old fogy. , and they are changing so rapidly because what worked even two years ago, there was not tick-tock there wasn't.

You know, the Instagram reels it changes so quickly. So I would guess my question for you is, how do you adapt so quickly? And basically, and this is what I'm going to say, because I am also, I work in an organization selling those new ideas to the people who have to write the check.

Sometimes it's not easy because they don't, they may not understand that you need,  you know, half a million dollars in order to invest in this certain technology that nobody understands 

or that results are not immediate. 

Correct. So I don't know if that question made any sense, yeah, 

 one bit of advice I would give to  a sales leader that sees change right in front of their eyes and knows they need to adapt is perform with what you have, make it work, and then ask for something it's a whole different scenario.

If you're not performing. And then without the credibility you need to drive change, you're going and asking for things. have to find a way to make it work with what you have. Then ask for things and run experiments, high reward, low risk experiments. And sometimes you just need to go maybe a little bit under the radar and try some things out yourself and not ask for a lot of money and not use a big brand and not make a big splash,  try things.

We are in an age where. Data is abundant where you can see pretty quickly if things are at least directionally moving in, moving in the right direction.  That's what I would say is performed first, then ask for things, a few perspectives on where we've been over the last 20 years when I started as a BDR in 2000 and then call it from about 2000 to 2007.

I would say when cold emailing to a prospect was actually a pretty new thing. I vividly remember cold emailing people and then maybe not being interested, but writing back. Oh, I'm sorry. It took me a while to get back to you. That actually happened at a point. People read. A hundred percent of their emails and it was a legitimate outreach and they would write back, oh, I'm sorry.

I'm not really interested, but I'm sorry. It took me a few days to get back. It's incredible. That 

actually happened. I think that that was, uh, by the time I started my career in sales, that was no longer, either that or people just didn't want to hear from me, but I don't think I ever got someone who wasn't interested.

That was like my apologies. Thanks for the email. No, thank you. 

So email really worked at a time. Then it started to work less. Then as of late, we've gotten all these automation tools that worked for a while. Then it got completely abused by salespeople and customers were just done with it and are I believe done with it.

And now we're actually going back to, I think, a better place, which is take your time. Think it through. Reach out with a quality idea in a very respectful, thoughtful way. Slow down is what I would tell salespeople. What we do tell our salespeople slow down. There's an actual person at the end of that communication.

And the good news is with all the change that's happened, deal still get done every single day. All the time deals are done. People buy things and we are still doing deals between people. Who have motivations who have problems at work that they need to fix, who have KPIs, things still happen. It's just different and you have to adapt.

and I'll just end with this. I believe that enterprise business development has never been harder, but in a lot of ways, I think it's getting better in that the people that are doing it well are doing it in a better way. And customers are rewarding. 

 I would have to agree with that. I think the profession of sales  has really advanced, as far as the perception of it, the whole,  stigma of, I don't know if stigma is the right word there, but I think for a very long time, you see.

I'm a sales person, right. Or a sales professional, and people are mad at automatically. Oh, you're a fast talking. Uh, you know, you're, just trying to, you'll say whatever you need to do to get the sale, right. Like that kind of like sleazy sales person mentality. And I really think that's changed where sales is a much more respected profession than it was in the past.

so that's been a nice, a nice show. I agree. 

And the professionalism, I like your answer and I'll parse your answer in two ways, because I think you gave me two answers, which was great. you do have to be good at what you're doing and perform in order to ask for something. So and that was brilliant, if you're not doing well with what you have, then you know, throwing more money at it in this new idea, you haven't convinced me that you can, that that's going to work either, even though that new idea may work.

, but the other is the professionalism and the slow down, I do a lot of purchasing  from, business development people.  And I have to tell you that I have some wonderful relationship. With them genuine relationships. None of them And I'll say none of them  are fake or phony because the ones that were, I never did any business with them because you can see through that.

And you're right. Everything happens. We have in my business, I have needs that have to be met.  And I will look around for the solution that meets the needs.  And I have found wonderful, people it's basically delivering what they want, selling your point,  , answering, handling objections.

These are time honored skills that whether it's done on zoom or face-to-face or on a. You got to make it happen. 

And I think, the biggest thing is right.  people don't need somebody to give them a pitch anymore or to tell them what they can find online. People need a partner and a problem solver to help them solve their problems.

There's always been also the issue of marketing versus sales and, um, that, that I find.

Again, as a, mostly a buyer at this point.    What I find when I'm looking for something, because where am I going to look? I'm going to look on Google.

I'm going to Google first. I'm going to do that. I can't tell you how many times I have. You know, please contact me in the area I'm supposed to. And I hear nothing, nothing comes to me or I get added to a, I start getting their marketing emails, but nobody reaches out.  Do you have insight into that?  I E. departments to your sales efforts. 

 Yeah. It's all getting smashed together. And I think that's an amazing thing. So what we've done in our organization is we've deliberately brought marketing and business development together onto a team.

Uh, we call it our new revenue team. So on that team are, , among others, the CML there's myself. , one of the VPs of marketing or BDR. , team leader and our Salesforce administrator. And we all get in the same boat together. And every week we wrote together in the same direction and we brought together out of recognition that unless we are together, we are not maximizing the full potential of this team.

And we need each other because how customer. Ultimately start a research process, how they select who they want to talk to, how they navigate a complex decision, how they in the end ended up recommending, up to a, a leader or a board where they're going to go with that is a blend of marketing and selling and marketing can do so many things nowadays that a salesperson can't.

It can do more. It can go faster. It can be cheaper and it can be in places where a sales person can't be. We're not in every room when a decision about what we do for a customer is going to be made, but our brand can be in the room. And just wrapping up. I'll tell you, you know, when around, let's say a buying committee of eight people that are going to buy a complex solution from.

When our name comes up and maybe eight, maybe six, maybe five or, few of the people say, yeah, I've heard of that company. They're, they're the real deal that really matters. So it all works together and we formed a cross-functional team,  that focuses on not KPIs, not things that sound good, but revenue, actual revenue in the bank.

That's great. That's not done everywhere. Let me tell you it really isn't. No, 

it's, it's been really, incredible to watch the velocity. Like how, how quickly things have been able to move now that the team is aligned that way. 

What challenges do you see in the coming year for you know, business development and not just a Taylor, but what do you see potentially, As risks.

 What we're seeing is that our customers are with exception, a little more cautious in making decisions, big decisions. We're not in a pre or post COVID period either. I don't think we know where we're at.  Customers are reluctant to make big decisions about a future that is unclear to them. So we're still doing deals all the time.

 Uh that's the good news, but with customers being out of office uncertain about the future for them to organize around, the time is ideal for a big transformational project around how we go to market and our customer communications. Those things are taking longer and those deals are fewer and far between.

 So that's a risk for us. It's not that the business isn't going to come, it is going to come. Things just take 

longer. Right.  And as it's true, there's a lot of uncertainty are you going back to the office? You're not going back to the office, who's going back.  I 

think the other risk. So you think about how, and we can talk a little bit about some of the predictions, right.

Or thoughts that you have around where things might go in, in 20, 22, and beyond. But I think one of those big risks, is, people risk, right? ,   We've just talked about the shift in the way sales happen and the way buyers buy. And if we have within an organization and I'm not speaking about Taylor, I'm speaking broadly.

 Within an organization, you have people that are at all different parts of that continuum of, change and some embrace it. And some don't some understand it, some don't. so that's a risk too, right? Making sure that you've got the right people in the right spots and, That they can really evolve as the sales world evolves because it's changing quickly.

I mean, I think we talked about from Bart, you mentioning when you started email being a fantastic vehicle to get in touch with people. Well, now email, you know, you better have a really compelling message and it better. Hit a cord for the buyer or you're just going to get deleted. Right.

so it's these things change. And with that, I think as a profession and one of the big risks is do we have people that can evolve with the change and, you know, keep evolving and changing and be really flexible and nimble. 

I agree. what is your, thoughts regarding, for example, when I say social media, I'm going to say mostly LinkedIn.

How do you use LinkedIn with your prospects or your salespeople? you know, what do they do with LinkedIn and the cell phone? Because I have found some salespeople kind of getting a little too personal on LinkedIn, meaning, nothing inappropriate that way.

I just mean.  No, I just answered you in an email. I told you we're waiting till January or something. why do you keep messaging me on LinkedIn or sending me a text message? Hey, hope you, you know what I'm saying? So I don't know if this is even relevant to you or 

Do you want salespeople to leave you alone?

No, I just mean, is this an appropriate way to connect, this is just me being silly 

here. It all starts with, you know, and the word is, is so often used, but I don't think it's a bad thing. Uh, , empathy.  We're still communicating between two people. The channel by which that message is delivered, I think is not as important as what is the style, the tone, and the purpose of the outreach.

. Uh, whether someone calls you up, you can get called up with an unwanted on a thoughtful, bad idea, a pitch. You could also get a call that is very low, key, thoughtful, empathetic, and really just invites you to engage back as you see fit It all comes down to how are you engaging with that person on LinkedIn by cell phone, by email, by.

direct mail of the things that I'm observing, I think this is a great thing is the tone of selling engagements has changed for the positive. And those who adapt to this change are going to be rewarded. Selling means to be more thoughtful and softer, no pressure. In fact, I believe sellers should go out of their way to remove the pressure.

From the selling engagement because people don't like to be pushed or persuaded or sold. But if you, as someone who has done their homework brings what you believe is a research-based thoughtful, fresh idea. That seems to be on point with where that person or that organization is going and you deliver it, , thoughtfully and softly and invite that person to engage as they see fit.

And if there's not a fit that is more than a. Because there's only two good outcomes. One outcome is that together, you and I just found a great idea. That's going to be worth your time and my time, and let's go bring this idea to life. The other outcome is there's not a fit here and we both just saved each other a whole bunch of time.

I don't need to follow up because I know it's just not a fit and  all the pressure has been removed from your side. And maybe we'll talk down the road. So there's no better. There's only good ones. We either work on something or we remove the mystery. There's not a fit and that's okay too. We can both go on and, you know, focus on other things.

 So as we, as we think about, I think dad, you just shared a, pet peeve as a buyer that you have, which is inappropriate, maybe overdone. Communication, via different channels, whether it's your cell phone and different things when it's not warranted, right. Or when it's not a value add. So Bart is, you're thinking about, because you've sat in the seat now of seller, you still do.

I think that's a great thing is that we have on our team is that we're selling leaders. Right. , But as you then have now sat in the seat as a buyer, right? With different techno tech platforms for our tech stack, , you know, all different things. What are some of your biggest pet peeves , as you get sold to and sit in the seat of a buyer?

I have two number one, general laziness laziness in the form of is bland outreach things that don't matter to me. I'm not the head of HR for this car. I don't know why I'm getting this. No effort made whatsoever, not only D and I'm not someone that's easily drawn into pet peeves, but first of all, I just think it irritates me because I don't appreciate laziness.

And second of all, but more importantly, Christina, you and I, and our teammates, we take pride in being professional selling. And I believe we do this job every day with integrity. It's a tough job. I think we're pretty smart in how we do it. So when, people really bring down our profession, that irritates me.

Uh, but I get over it, but just you'll get an eye roll from me if it's like, if it's just lazy outreach. The second thing is when I will begin a buying process and engage with potential. And they will just launch into their presentation and I'm in their process. And you're going to sit here and answer my discovery questions.

And what I want to do is, and I do this now is timeout. I will just tell you what I think your solution can do. I'll tell you what I want to accomplish. I will give you the answers to the test. Why don't we just start, just ask me what I want to do versus launching into your deck, your discovery?

And then at the end, there's going to be a drum roll. And you're going to ask me if I want to talk again, just ask me what I want to do. do, I just want to have a conversation. Do I want to have maybe, you know, boil it down to 10 minutes? Give me the deck and 10 minutes and then we'll talk. Or in some cases I may say no, we're bringing together a kind of a committee of people here.

This is the meeting that you actually have to go through. Well, just ask me what I want to do. And 

that probably goes in line with a prediction right. Of where things are going in the future. This is like you said, this is a people business, right?  People are on the other end and people are spending so much time at work and have limited time.

Make it an experience that they enjoy. , like you think about it in friendships. If, if a friend isn't somebody who likes to talk on the phone, then it's probably somebody that you meet for a cup of coffee and you guys catch up, right. Or you text to coordinate.  love what you're saying there, and it is a pet peeve, right?

  but, But a prediction may be that people are now going to, by the way, they want to buy and they need sellers to ,  In the same lane with them.

Right. And to ask that question, stop selling the way that you've always sold and start thinking about how somebody wants to buy and then, accommodate that 

style. And you remember my marketing question, right? Marketing and sales. I can't tell you how many and good salespeople and products we've purchased.

So what I'm going to say is this is not a bad business development person that I was dealing with, but I can't tell you how many times.  they say, great. They do everything you just said, asked me the questions, whatever great. Let's set a meeting for Thursday and we'll show you our stuff.  And then they start this deck PowerPoint and it starts out with, we do the work with this company, these companies, these companies.

And I'll say, Lou, that's all fine. we'll get to that, but just let's get to the thing. And then. Yeah, I know, but my marketing, this is what marketing develops and it's important that we get this out. I mean, I almost feel like, like, are they watching this presentation? And they're going to, you're going to get dinged because you didn't tell Joe that you have, these are your customers.

And you've been in business for 32 years and you. Do you know what I'm saying? Like it's like they were all great until they had to do the deck. 

Well, I mean, that is a shift now, too, though. You say, are they watching? a lot of times, you know, know a lot, a lot of times there's, you know, the tools like gong and others where, you know, sales engagements are now recorded, even like, like this right.

A zoom meeting might be completely recorded and people are going back and it's a coaching opportunity, right? But you would hope that the sales team is coaching on the customer, didn't care about any of that. They told you they didn't care about any of that. 

The coaching is by the sales, someone senior in sales, not being coached by a, the person in marketing that produced this,  PowerPoint presentation.

 well, everybody on the selling side, selling marketing, Needs to, and this is what, you know, in terms of where things are going, this is where it has to go. We have to talk to our customers and just ask them, how do you like a company like ours that may have some relevant ideas to approach you? We will not do it in a way that you tell us a, it doesn't work B it just irritates me in the immediate term.

I'll probably get so irritated. I'll just block your email and you're never going to get through in the future. Why would you do anything that does those things ask people? Listen, I don't know if there's a fit here, but I think I might have something based on the work that we're doing and people that have your role at other companies really seem to be, at the very least curious about what we're doing.

In other cases, they're, they're doing deals with us. How do you like this stuff sent to you? Because I don't want to bug you. Just ask them, they'll say, well, nobody ever asks me that. Thank you. I mean, send me, you know, some ideas by email, you know, w once a quarter, that'd be, that's the best way to reach me.

And I promise I will look at it. That's what I tell people. 

perfect. That's great. 

 So, as you think about all these, these shifts, Bart,  and we think about, our team and, Sellers. What are you thinking about as we think about like potential growth and hiring, or if you, if you were building a team from scratch as a sales leader, right?

Take out what we're doing aside, what would you tell them to look for? 

 So a few things. These will be predictions to things that I don't believe you're going to see, you know, in one kind of big bang moment, but more and more over time, let's start with, uh, BDR organizations. So, um, business development, representative those, young people who reach out to you and set appointments for their more senior salespeople.

I believe that role is going to change dramatically because customers are just rejecting that cold outreach so much. And, you know, it's not the BDRs fault, but they're out of school for a year or two years calling on someone like Joe with a lifetime of business experience and attempting to have a business conversation, But ultimately I believe there is a, a great development role for BDRs, but I believe it's going to be much, much more of marketing first. Followed by some smart outreach. After that, I believe there, they need to become sort of junior-level marketers who can take territory and find all the right people and bring them all the right content and create at the very least awareness of a company, warm those people up.

And then when the time is right, reach out to them and then maybe set an appointment for a. So I don't think it's going to be 50 calls a day, a hundred emails a day. again, slow down, know your customer, do your research, and market our brand to those people. So when they're ready to engage, we are the first ones they think of.

The second thing I'll tell you is when it comes to salespeople, we just talked about BDRs, but now sales executives, I believe you're going to see more and more sales executives who had the role that they're now selling.  I think of CEOs, former CEOs selling to CEOs,  former heads of HR, selling to heads of HR.

The reason for that is quite obvious. A CIO and a CIO can sit down and have a conversation. And that CIO isn't trained in selling per se, but they are trained in. The product that they're presenting and they can draw the connections between what a CIO cares about what they did in their career.

And then what that might mean for that CIO. So non-traditional sales candidates. One of the things that, you know, we haven't done it as of yet, but I could see us at some point, hiring someone who was a VP of marketing operations. Who can come in and maybe not necessarily be a frontline seller, but be on our team to say, Hey everybody, all the salespeople, here's what people like me care about.

Here's a day in our lives.  they would help us kind of as a specialist in being more relevant in how we reached out to those people 

I'm sorry. I know you're going to say something, but I have to tell you that what you just said, those two points that were. That was absolute gold.

So I almost think that we, you know, I, I want people to listen to the entire podcast, but you know, I don't know how many minutes it'll be into it, 

but it should just be off now. No, not 

turn it off, you know, listen to this podcast and play it over and over again. That was brilliant.

What you just said. And I'm not just saying that those two points were absolutely brilliant. I can't tell you about your first point. So many people after I've put in a request for information, and then I get a phone call from somebody and it's that maybe year out of school personnel. Very nice, nothing wrong, nothing wrong with that.

 And I yet, I started asking like a question or two and they said, well, um, I'd like to get you with, uh, so-and-so. You know, I, in other words, the person have no idea how to answer any of the questions. And I wasn't asking rocket science questions. But they were the first contact to gauge the interest. And I'm thinking you all, you just wasted my time.

now I know why they're doing it, but I think that role has to change. And I love your answer to that. now you can talk. You're very welcome. 

All right. I agree. I think it's a, it's a different perspective and that's what I really love about the way that you think about the profession and where things are going by.

Because I think a lot of times, we think that there are certain nuances and you've got to have a stomach for sales to, be able to kind of tolerate the turbulence that we go through as sellers and sales leaders. , but I think that there's something, really true about that statement that it's incumbent on us to be.

Somebody that the customer knows can guide them and have those executive-level conversations and really be able, to understand and empathize with their situation and as, as we're learning more about that role of, you said marketing operations, right. And potentially marketing ops people to,  you know, step into the role of a seller.

we have listeners, Taylor just launched a new podcast, which is really great called the art of marketing operations. So when you're not listening to morning coffee and mimosas, definitely check that out, but I've learned some really cool things from listening to some of our episodes about that function.

And one of the things that I thought was really unique is the fact that, That profession is really about problem-solving. And it's about, approaching situations that you may not have seen before and connecting people and systems and things together.  And so much of that I think Relevant. And now a requirement as we're thinking about professional sales and the way that we solve customer problems.

So I hadn't really thought about it in that context, Bart, but I think that's.

  Bart,  how do you, if our listeners were thinking about, okay, you've obviously, kept yourself really fresh on trends and what's happening, How can our listeners stay ahead of trends?

What do you recommend and how do you keep yourself relevant?  Through the changes and, too, you know, external and internal within, our profession and within the environment around us. 

The way I think about it is this stain on trend being able to adapt is not a luxury. It's a necessity. So I do it because I feel like if I don't, I'm going to fall behind.

I'm not going to, , be successful. We are not going to be successful on our team and that's going to lead to all sorts of bad things. So I don't see it as discretionary. I see it as mandatory.  Now it's not anywhere near as much work as one thing. And Christina, you, you know, this, Joe you've come to know too about me too.

I'm a relentless consumer of. Content, but I do it in a way that's very easy. I pop in my air pods and I just don't waste any otherwise dead time. I listened to this podcast religiously, and I would recommend that to all of your listeners and future listeners. I, listened to the art of marketing operations, uh, the Taylor podcast, but then I listened to probably about a dozen other podcasts.

And when do I do? In the time that I otherwise am doing other things when I'm working out. When I pop one in my ear, when I'm driving in between appointments or in my commute, uh, when I'm folding the laundry,  if you can put together, I can put together every single day, at least 

Two to three hours of time that I can listen to very smart people in an audio format talking about. Where the world is clearly going. So I listen to podcasts books. , one promotion is, uh, an app that I just, started using called Blinkist, which is, uh, Christina. I dunno if cliff notes were a thing in your day, but I'm sure, you know,

so they're basically condensed, 15-minute audio summaries of books and I read. You know, the Canon of the most famous business books of all time. the ones that I really thought were worth a deep dive I've read, you know, in, in print format cover to cover, but you can get main points of every great business book ever in audio format in 15 minutes.

So that's how I do it.  I just would tell the audience, you have to come. That this is important as a way to adapt. And it's not a, it's not discretionary, it's a necessity. If you want to stay up. 

that's very true. And, being the, I keep saying, I'm the old guy in the room, but I've always been tricky.

 No, now I am the old guy, but I've always been a techie and I'm blessed. I feel blessed about that. And I'll tell you why.  I love new things. I love the new technology. I love that the by-product of that is I also love reading, listening and so on because I can't know everything.   All my life I've been told, oh, you're just a cutting-edge guy.

You're, you know, this, it has paid me dividends because. I knew what the heck was coming before it came. If you know what I'm saying before the mainstream,  and that's how you differentiate yourself And the last thing I'll say regarding this is, and I'll shut up. I really will. I promise there is that whole technology there is knowing all of that stuff.

 but at the end of the day, the salesperson, the true salesperson goes back to exactly what you said earlier slowly. it's you and my function. And I think when you can marry that together, so the technology got us together, but the person keeps us together. The personality, the delivering, what you asking you, what you want, giving you what you want, answer your questions.

And then at the right time, as the relationship develops, sneak in that, you know, by the way, we also do this, we also do that, whatever. That's the brilliance of, of a salesperson to marry that and do it properly. So, 

one, I think that I think that what both of you are saying, timing is so important and that's why, Bart, the constant, like the thirst for knowledge and education and just being a sponge.

I think that curiosity is so necessary now because We have such a small window technology moves so fast and it changes. So, you know, getting on board early, I think what you just said, dad is a critical, a necessity if we're going to be successful in selling in our roles, especially when you, you know, if the product you're selling isn't cutting edge, then the way in which you sell it better.

 And by packing that information in your brain, like you do Bart,   you listened to things I'm sure. 99 times out of a hundred, not necessarily saying this can help you or it can't help you.

You just internalize it. But man, there'll be that one thing you heard nine months ago, and then you apply it into what you're, what you're doing. And that's where. The rubber meets the road there. 

It's panning for gold. And we have found so many gold nuggets that are just foundational for how Christina and I run our organization.

So I think we've talked about a lot of this Bart, but, stepping into the new year, what are you most excited about? What are you most passionate about? What's firing you.

 I'm really excited about where we're going with our organization. it's very a  common answer, but  I'm excited about data now that we've really started to use data, what it tells us and how it enables us to be extremely efficient in how we work as an organization in the past. Well, who's a.

anybody who will buy anything from us. Yeah. That's the data don't show that the data show that it's a very specific type of customer at a very specific point in their business and a very specific type of deal that really fits us. So I'm excited about how we are going to get laser-focused by using data to focus on the types of deals that really fit us.

And I believe the organization is not only going to continue to be successful, but our people are going to be really happy because they're working on things that we do well with customers that really want to do that type of deal with us. Uh, I'm excited about Cristina, you know, our achieving our goals for the year 2021.

And from that platform, as I said, in the very beginning from our platform, Asking for some things and running some experiments and knowing that they're not all going to work, but again, we're panning for gold. Some of them are going to work and are going to be foundational to how we go forward as an organization.

And then I'm excited lastly, about the buy-in that we have about getting our brand out into the market, much more assertively. So again, we've asked for some things, we've gotten some things and the Taylor brand is going to be.  Much more. Now we're not a B2C brand. We don't need to brand to everybody, but there are,  people who really, really need to know who we are, how we work, what we're all about.

And I'm excited about some of the marketing that we're going to do to that universe of potential customers and existing customers and greed. 

That's great. Well, Awesome. I think there's so much for our listeners to take away. So we really appreciate you being with us this morning. dad, I really enjoyed getting to spend time talking with both of you about the profession that I feel so strongly about.

  and Bart. So for our listeners, where can they go to engage with you 

LinkedIn? 

 LinkedIn all day, every day. 

Now I'll give you my LinkedIn profile because Bart Prins is a very common name. My parents are from the Netherlands and there are so many bark princes, but they're not, in the United States or in the Netherlands.

So linkedin.com/in/bartP R I N. 

Thank you so much, Bart.  Thanks for being with us this morning. 

I say one thing, I'm sorry. So I can send you a message and then it won't be like what I just said. Reach out. If I send you a message, 

I think he's going to be very bothered by you moving forward because you've, you've shown you're very bothered by sales messaging.

That guy 

I know you'll go slow with Jada anyway, and it'll be one of the ones that I respond to. And thank you for doing it the right way. 

Wait, I just have to say this digressing while we're here, but so Bart, I don't know if you saw it. Put up, a salesperson appreciation post, and this guy comes on there and says, what you post?

Christina, he tags me is, is the best salesperson and person. Well, that's embarrassing. 

And I even put

it like, 

I was like, you still find ways to embarrass me. I was like, it's like the full Taylor court pose. I'm seeing all these people liking the comment. I'm like, oh my God, this is so cringy. You may be a little bit. 

He's not wrong though. Thank you, boy. Thank you. 

He sends me a text. He says, did you see, I tagged you on LinkedIn?

And then I was like, I looked, I was like, oh dad. Anyway, this was a lot of fun. Thanks again, Bart for spending your Saturday morning with us. 

Thanks for having me. We appreciate it.  Excellent. Wherever you are, whatever your story.

 Thanks for spending time with us this morning. Go and make a difference in your world

and make people listen to my guitar 

playing. He actually got a new guitar. We'll have to show you. Yeah, it, it has the same colors listeners. We'll post it on our Instagram. It has the same colors of morning coffee and mimosas.