Episode 218

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Published on:

16th Feb 2024

Jeff West: Becoming ObjectionProof

Join us on The Guy Who Knows A Guy Podcast as Michael Whitehouse sits down with Jeff West, a renowned author and sales expert with decades of experience transforming the sales landscape. Dive into Jeff's journey of authoring award-winning business parables and uncover the insights that have made him a pivotal figure in sales and entrepreneurship.

streetwisetosaleswise.com

fusionpoints.com

jeffcwest.com



Mentioned in this episode:

JV Connect, December 12-13, 2023

Join us for JV Connect, the dedicated networking event December 12th and 13th, 2023 https://www.jv-connect.com

Transcript
Michael Whitehouse:

Welcome back to the Guy Who Knows A Guy podcast.

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These are bonus episodes that

did not fit into Season 6, which

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was a countdown to JV Connect.

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We hit JV Connect and we still had some

great interviews to share with you.

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But don't worry, you

haven't missed JV Connect.

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It's a quarterly event.

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You can learn more about it by sticking

around to the end of this episode.

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We'll tell you all about it.

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But right now, check out this next

awesome interview with one of the awesome

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people that the Guy Who Knows A Guy knows

and is going to introduce to you now.

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Jeff West: Welcome

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Michael Whitehouse: to the

guy who knows a guy podcast.

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I'm your host, Michael Whitehouse,

the guy who knows a guy.

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And our guest today is Jeff West.

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Let me tell you about Jeff.

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After over 30 years in sales, sales,

leadership, and entrepreneurship.

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Jeff West is now a best selling

and award winning author,

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speaker, and leadership coach.

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His books, the unexpected tour

guide and said the lady with the

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blue hair coauthored with direct

sales legend, Lisa M Wilbur, who I.

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Thought I had her on my show, but

maybe I had her on a different show.

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I don't know.

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We were talking about that beforehand,

but I definitely have met her.

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Definitely know her.

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She's awesome.

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Anyway, those books have earned

recognition from the Axiom Business Book

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Awards, the National Indie Excellence

Awards, and the American Book Fest Awards.

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His latest book, Streetwise to Sales

Wise Become Objection Proof and Beat

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the Sales Blues, co authored with Bob

Berg, who you may remember from earlier

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this season, and is earning praise

from business leaders around the U.

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S.

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He has been a guest on numerous sales

leadership shows and is a member of

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the GoGiver Success Alliance created

by Bob Berg and Kathy Tagenow.

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Jeff West: Welcome to the show, Jeff.

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My honor.

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Thank you so much for

having me on board, Michael.

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Awesome.

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Michael Whitehouse: Yes.

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So, so we were talking earlier, cause

you, you you talk about becoming objection

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proof and creating fusion points.

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And when I was going through the notes you

sent me, I said, okay, objection proof.

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If I can.

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I don't know what that is exactly,

but I can guess what that means.

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And you talk about the science

of how people make decisions.

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Important.

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Can kind of figure out what that means.

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And then fusion points.

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What's that mean?

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So tell us, let's start with there.

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What, tell us about a fusion points

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Jeff West: and what that means.

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You know, Fusion Points is actually a

branding that I did, Michael, that grew

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out of my question that I had when I was

leading a team of about 400 salespeople.

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And that was, I could get

two people in the same room.

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Their resumes looked similar,

their leadership skills looked

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right, everything about them told

me they'll both be very successful

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out there in the field of sales.

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And then I would put them out there

and one would decide to stick it

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out and be great, and the other

would make the decision to quit.

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And it puzzled me why that happened.

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So I began to study the science

of how people make decisions.

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And long story short, I ran

across the works of a Dr.

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Antonio Damasio, who was a professor

of neuroscience at USC and an associate

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professor at the Salk Institute.

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Long story short, the entire

process is built around the

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idea that people make decisions.

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only when they can connect

logic and emotion together.

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No one makes a purely logical decision.

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No one makes a purely emotional decision.

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It's that combination that happens.

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And if it's a negative emotion

in our brain, two things happen.

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Number one, it sends a

somatic marker into our chest.

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We start feeling funny.

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We have a physiological

response that we don't like.

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We don't want to go forward.

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So whatever logically we were

trying to do at the time, the

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decision is to get away from it.

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On the other hand, The use of positive

emotional responses between our ears

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when that touches our chest and creates

a physical, physical sensation for us,

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that is a sensation that people love.

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And so when you combine that with a

logic that you're trying to accomplish

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at the time, it creates tenacity.

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It creates so many good things.

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So I basically, I define a fusion

point is that moment in time.

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It's a unique point where logic and

positive emotion merge and ignite,

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and it creates acceleration, it

creates commitment, it creates energy,

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and it moves the process forward.

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And what I do is I teach salespeople

how to do that in a sales process,

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but I teach entrepreneurs and small

business owners how to create that

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in their market and with their team.

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Michael Whitehouse: Yeah,

that's, that's powerful.

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And so it would not only be to make

prospects move forward with the

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process, but to your team and yourself.

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move forward with the business and, and I

imagine this would also probably help with

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some of the, the morning routine stuff,

the getting from sleeping to working and.

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Absolutely.

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You know, bouncing back from a challenging

situation, those, those sorts of things.

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Jeff West: Yeah, absolutely.

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You know, and when it comes to

building a business or growing a sales

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career, your success, your future

isn't determined by the economy.

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It's not determined by

the political landscape.

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It's not even determined

by your competition.

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It's determined by how one simple

question is answered by your

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prospects in the market, by your

sales team by the, your support

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staff, the people that work for you.

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It's how they answer one simple question.

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And it's when it comes to

their relationship with you.

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Will they persist or will they quit?

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If you learn how to work within the

science of how we're naturally built

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anyway, what it does is it equips

you to have some influence over those

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decisions that they want to stay with

you and move forward in the process.

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Yep.

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Michael Whitehouse: Yep.

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Very powerful.

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So we were talking earlier because the

theme of the show is around networking.

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And of course you're part of the,

the go getter success Alliance.

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So tell me a bit about you know, what,

what that's done for you and you know,

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how networking has helped you build

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Jeff West: your business.

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Well, that's a great question.

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You know, when I guess it was,

I can remember exactly, it was

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in January of the year 2000.

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A sales mentor of mine, I was in

the insurance industry at that time.

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I was in North Texas and I was a

district manager for the insurance

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carrier that I was working with.

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Still self employed, but

had, had overrides involved.

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And a sales mentor of mine gave me

two books and it changed my world.

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One was John Maxwell's 21 Irrefutable Laws

of Leadership, a great leadership book.

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But the second one.

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Was a book I had never

heard of by an author.

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I had no clue who he was.

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And it was endless referrals by

Bob Burke and reading those 2 books

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and applying what I learned from

those, even though they didn't

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necessarily apply to my industry.

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I adapted them to my industry

that made all the difference.

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And it's my career went from being an

average district manager that would would.

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Make my numbers one

time, miss them one time.

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And I wasn't in danger of getting

fired, but I wasn't a superstar either.

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But two years after I implemented what I

learned at Endless Referrals, which was

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basically built around the idea of what

proper networking is, I, at that time,

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two years later, I was a regional manager.

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Two years after that,

I was a state manager.

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And I was a state manager the last

10 years of my career in insurance

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till I decided to start writing and

speaking and doing this for a living.

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But to me, networking is

all about focusing on.

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How you can provide value to the other

people in the network and how you can make

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those connections, you know and when I

was reading in those referrals, one of the

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things that I saw in that book that just

jumped out at me and I have implemented

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it in everything I've done since then,

is asking the person that you're working

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with at the time, what do I need to

know when I'm out there in the field?

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What do I need to know to it to make

sure if someone I run into is a good

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referral for me to send your way?

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And you think about the magic

in the networking process.

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If everyone is focused last like that

and you start making those connections.

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Everybody wins.

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And Bob was talking about doing it

in networking events and all that

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in the book and in other places

too, but that was the primary focus.

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Talking about don't give your

cards out and say, or have an

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elevator pitch or whatever ready.

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It was talking about really working

on making the connections for

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people and providing that value.

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So how it directly applied

and helped my career take off.

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I began to develop a network, a

referral network of my existing clients.

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I, at that time I probably had

200 different clients that were

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employers and I was involved in

their employee benefit program.

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I went in and I asked I told one of the

owners, it was a place in downtown Dallas,

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Texas on the 23rd floor of a building.

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And I don't like heights all that much

either, but I had a meeting with a.

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Owner of the, of a mortgage company, it

was one of my clients and I had called

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him ahead of time saying, I want to pick

your brain about a couple of things.

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And he said, sure.

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So we got there.

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And the first thing I did, I sat down with

him and I said, you know, the first thing

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I want to do before I ask you what I'm

going to ask you is tell you, thank you.

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He said, for what?

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And I said, I feed my family by providing,

getting involved in employee benefits

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and providing the services that we offer.

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And I am, that's how I, that's

how everything in my life outside

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of work works effectively.

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And I just want to thank you

because you're a part of that.

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And I appreciate that.

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Of course it was true.

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And of course he

appreciated the compliment.

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And I said, but I want

to ask you a question.

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And he said, what?

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And I said, I am out there in

the marketplace all the time.

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I'm contacting new companies.

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I've got existing clients.

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I need to ask you a question.

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What do I need to be

looking for out there?

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What questions do I need to be asking

people to know if they would be a

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good referral for me to send your way?

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I want to return the

favor and help you too.

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And I'll tell you what he did, Michael.

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I'll never forget this.

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I actually wrote the scene into my first

book, The Unexpected Tour Guide, but

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he said, He took off his glasses and

he laid them on his table and he said,

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I'm going to answer that question, but

I have to tell you something first.

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And I said, what?

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And he said, I've been

in business 30 years.

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I've had a lot of salespeople

ask me for referrals.

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This is the first time ever a

salesperson has ever asked me how

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they could refer business to me.

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Thank you.

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And of course, the discussion

just got even better.

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And he told me what to look for.

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I had already kind of planned

a couple of things in my head.

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And so I said, well,

hang on just a second.

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And I picked up my cell phone and

I called a client that I felt like

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would be a good referral for him.

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And I got him on the phone and I said,

Hey, I just want to ask you a question.

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I've got another client who does,

who owns a mortgage company.

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He's starting to do some things

with employers and their employees.

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I think.

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He would be somebody you should talk to.

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I think somebody that, that it's

a good connection there for you.

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Would you mind if I gave him

your contact information?

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Person said, no, that'd be perfectly fine.

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And I said, I'll tell you, I know

the guy I've known him for a while.

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I like him and I trust him.

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And I think you guys will get along well.

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And I said, he said, great.

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So I hung up the phone and I did

that in front of the person that

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I was given the referral to.

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And so that worked out long

story short, he and I keep saying

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long story short too many times.

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If I were writing, I would edit,

I would edit that out, but he and

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I developed a referral network.

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We would have lunches where he would

have, we'd have it at his place and

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his business and we'd invite some of

his clients, some of my clients, and we

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just began to take it off from there.

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And I also began to teach that in my team.

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And it wasn't just that I did it and

I was great at it, it was also I was

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pretty darn good at equipping the others

around me to know how to do that too.

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So that's why when it really took off.

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So that's how networking for

me made all the difference.

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Wow.

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Yeah.

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That's

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Michael Whitehouse: it.

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What I love about that is there's nothing

new to me in the basic principle that

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asks people how you can help them.

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But the way you did very intentionally

with your clients, because we often

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think about this with our network

or the people are meeting in.

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In networking, but to actually

ask your client explicitly,

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you know, how can I refer?

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And even the, if you can, if you

can make a referral, that's great.

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And even if you can't, maybe they

say something and you're like

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I've never met anyone like that.

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That's yeah.

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Yeah.

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Well, well really I'm looking

for a, you know, a one legged

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midget who's into basketball.

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Oh, that's interesting.

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I'll keep an eye out for the, you

know, you don't have one, but just

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the fact that you asked, right.

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Cause that's, if I, you know, in, in

networking events, I find to the extent

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that I, I catch people flat footed.

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I asked them like, so

who are you here to meet?

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Who's your, if you can beat

anyone in the County, who

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would you like to connect with?

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Oh, I don't know.

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I'm just looking to get out

there and see who's there.

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Like, really, you do

have a business, right?

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Like, do you know your customers really?

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But, but yeah, they're so not used to

that because they're used to everyone

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coming up and being like, hi, I'm Michael.

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I do this.

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And you know, so and so hires

me over this and whatever.

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But that idea of deepening the

relationship with your client for that.

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And.

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That's such a better way than saying, who

else do you know who I should talk to?

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Because like who else do I know

for you to get a sales pitch to?

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I don't know.

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Versus how can I help you?

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Right.

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How can I refer to you?

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You don't even have to

ask him for referrals.

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He's going to most people, once you've

introduced them to one or two people,

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they're going to be like, okay, I

really need to refer you to someone

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now, just so I can feel better.

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Like you're giving me so much.

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I, you haven't even asked for anything.

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I got to give something in return.

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So that, that's a really powerful concept.

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I

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Jeff West: love it.

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Well, you know, the, an interesting thing

too, and you touched on it there is when

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someone's asking for referrals in any

context to, to just ask doesn't work

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very well, but if you get specific and

you ask deeper questions that does the

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same process here, when you ask someone.

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What do I need to be asking people?

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What do I need to be looking for

out there to know if they're a

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good referral that's in your way?

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It gets them thinking deeper.

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And so it works well.

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And it actually creates a fusion point,

like I described earlier, because what I

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did at that point is I created a hugely

positive emotional response in my client.

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And I had a, I had a positive

emotional response with him

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anyway, but, but I created that.

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And then I combined it with a logic of

getting, helping him do more business.

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And when I did that, it

created a fusion points.

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And until I got promoted and moved away,

we, we, we stayed in contact pretty well.

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Yeah, that's,

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Michael Whitehouse: that's

hugely powerful concept.

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And, and I love that idea of that.

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You're creating the, and then the

other, and you mentioned specific.

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And one of the things that's

important about specific is.

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You know, if it'd be an eye, which

is where I, I started networking,

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I find B and I is often the

training wheels of networking.

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Like everyone started there

and then they sort of build up.

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And, and often it'd be, I, the, the,

the, the ass are not very specific.

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They're like, Oh, anyone with a spine?

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I'm a chiropractor.

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Yeah.

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I'm like, okay, yes.

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Everyone has a spine.

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No, I'm not going to refer anyone.

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Cause that's not them.

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But if somebody, every once in

a while, someone gets really

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specific and excessively specific.

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And.

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You know, if somebody says, yeah, so, so

my the clients I'm really looking for are.

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You know, gray haired guys named

Jeff with a Texas accent and a

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background in the insurance industry.

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aNd, and, you know, I want to talk

to them so I can make an offer.

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If I was to reach out to him and be

like, Jeff, you will not believe what

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the ask was of this BNI meeting I was at.

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He said, gray haired guys named

Jeff with a Texas accent who

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worked in the insurance industry.

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You want to meet him?

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And he'd be like, sure.

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Yeah.

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Like that's me.

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Okay.

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I don't even I'm

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Jeff West: your guy, and I know you like

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Michael Whitehouse: you're

interesting, but that's you need me.

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Awesome.

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And so there's such power in

that because you feel special.

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Right.

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Whereas be like, Hey, yeah, anyone

who needs insurance send them.

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Oh yeah, you need insurance.

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Right.

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But if it's right, if it's yeah, this

week, I'm focused on people who have

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a ordinal directions in their name.

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Jeff, you won't believe this.

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I would just ask for

it to be an eye group.

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That makes it easy.

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Cause cause then it's, it's you.

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It's not just, it's not just right.

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Right.

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Absolutely.

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Yep.

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So that has been being very powerful.

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Yeah.

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And so, so you're, you're telling about

the actually, yeah, you're telling me

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the story about, about Lisa Wilbur.

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I think that was an interesting

one too, how you ended up co

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authoring the book with her.

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Cause it's funny, I, I

met her a few years ago.

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I think I may have, may have had

her on my Power Launch Live show.

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I swear I had her on one of these shows.

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I don't know.

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Once you get to 200 something episodes,

it all starts to blur together.

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But I think it was interesting when you

were sharing the story of how you ended

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up co authoring that book with her.

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Said the lady with the blue hair.

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Tell us a little bit about that.

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Jeff West: Lisa and I were both in a

group that Bob Berg has, Bob Berg and

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Kathy Tejanil, the Goal Giver Success

Alliance, and we were on one of the first

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Zoom calls for that group, and it's a

mentoring community great group of people.

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It's, it's literally my favorite hour

every week, but the, the first meeting

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Lisa was on there too, and people

don't know this about Lisa when you

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first see her, first meet her, she's

Avon's Fifth highest earner in history.

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She's huge in direct sales and she

was only, and she had blue hair.

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And she was a little bit self conscious

about it because even though she's

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been super, super successful, she just

a little bit self conscious about it.

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And so she felt the

need to get on the call.

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And so she got the screen and

she was telling the story of why

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she got blue hair and she had.

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She told the reason she had made

the decision to do that, but

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then she added a little thing.

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She said, you know, if you ever want to

stop being less judgmental, I'm gonna

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do this in Lisa's accent best I can.

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If you ever want to, you ever want to stop

being less or start being less judgmental

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in your life, dye your hair blue.

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This is working for me.

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:

He says, I can be in a grocery store and

see a young lady who her skirt's a little

390

:

too tight, her skirt's a little too short.

391

:

And I can think, wow, skirt is

just too short and tight, said

392

:

the lady with the blue hair.

393

:

And so she said that I'm

listening and I'm cracking up.

394

:

And I type in the chat, Hey, Lisa

said the lady with the blue hair

395

:

would make an awesome book title.

396

:

Cause at this point I had been

writing and speaking for a while

397

:

and I had not done any coauthorships

and so long story, I said it again.

398

:

I'm going to stop.

399

:

I'm going to start saying short story

long, but what happened is about a

400

:

year, year and a half later, I guess

it was when I decided to change

401

:

my business model a little bit.

402

:

And instead of just writing my own books,

go ahead and do some co authorships,

403

:

kind of like what Bob Berg and John

David Mann did with The Go Giver.

404

:

And I reached out to her and

we, that's what we did with

405

:

The Lady with the Blue Hair.

406

:

And it's, it's, that book too also

led into my co authorship with Bob.

407

:

Bob and I've actually known each

other for, 20 plus years now.

408

:

We met in 2003, I think it was.

409

:

And so when, and if there's

enough story, I'll tell you

410

:

that how we met, it's hilarious.

411

:

But, and just that relationship,

we've become friends over the years.

412

:

He approached me about doing speaking

gigs with Aflac, which was the

413

:

insurance carrier that I was with.

414

:

And so I helped him as much as I could.

415

:

And then, as I became a state manager, I

had him come in and speak with our group.

416

:

I, I literally wrote letters of

referral to every single state office

417

:

with Aflac because Bob's that great.

418

:

And, so as, as the time went on and

everything Bob does, I tend to tend to

419

:

jump in there and get involved with it.

420

:

And so having that successful

collaboration with Lisa is kind of

421

:

what led into the collaboration with

Bob on street wise to sales wise.

422

:

We were.

423

:

It was about fourth quarter last year, I

guess it was, and Bob was sending me an

424

:

email about something he was going to do,

and he wanted to know my thoughts on it.

425

:

It was a publication he was

about to do about objections.

426

:

And I said and just as a comment in

there, that it wasn't even something

427

:

he was really thinking about, but he

said, by the way, keep this because

428

:

when we do our parable, this will be

something we might want to refer back to.

429

:

So I replied to his email and I put

a little PS and said, by the way, If

430

:

you're serious, that answer is yes.

431

:

And so we began talking about

he, he had this objection proof

432

:

manuscript that he'd had for years.

433

:

And he was thinking about

doing something with it.

434

:

He never, he never published the, the

actual work and he, it was a how to book.

435

:

And so when it comes to, he decided he

really would rather do it as a parable.

436

:

So he approached me last year

and It kind of went from there.

437

:

It's set in New Orleans, and I'll, we'll

get into more of that if you'd like.

438

:

Michael Whitehouse: Yeah,

yeah, tell me about it.

439

:

Actually, my next question is

going to be tell me about the book.

440

:

Oh, okay, cool.

441

:

Jeff West: It's called

Streetwise to Saleswise.

442

:

Become objection proof

and beat the sales blues.

443

:

And it's a sales parable,

or a business parable.

444

:

It's what I like to write the most.

445

:

I will write non fiction.

446

:

And I've been technically a parable

is nonfiction, but it, but across it,

447

:

it's like, it's it saddles over fiction

on one side and business on the other

448

:

side, but it's set in new Orleans.

449

:

It's the story about a young

salesperson who grew up on the

450

:

streets of new Orleans and he lets his

mouth get ahead of him a little bit.

451

:

And I won't go into too much

because I loved, I love the story.

452

:

Don't you guys to read it, but it's yeah.

453

:

He, he, he finds himself out of that

job and then he gets a job in sales and

454

:

he had no clue he was going to do that.

455

:

It wasn't something he intended.

456

:

And so what we do in the story we,

we take him through his growth.

457

:

From a brand new person who knows

nothing about sales all the way

458

:

through a year where he's really doing

well And we weave in the fabric of

459

:

new orleans when I write a parable.

460

:

I'm john david man who was bob's co author

on the go giver he is my writing coach.

461

:

He is someone who's been a mentor to

me a friend As a matter of fact, in the

462

:

new book, he's somebody I mentioned in

the dedication because he's, he's just

463

:

been that awesome for helping my craft

and I, I wasn't a slouch before, but

464

:

I'm several levels better now that I've

worked with John because he's awesome,

465

:

but it's like 30 something books, nine

New York Times bestsellers anyway.

466

:

In the process of doing this, one

thing I learned from John is I like

467

:

to write the geography of a location

almost as if it's part of a character.

468

:

So in New Orleans, I've, I've got

a music background myself, so I

469

:

love the music of New Orleans.

470

:

I love the Food of New Orleans.

471

:

So it's, it's just what been

one of the places that I'll go.

472

:

And I was sitting there with my wife

and I believe it was on new Year's

473

:

Eve, maybe the day before New Year's

Eve going from:

474

:

And I knew the material we

were going to use in the book.

475

:

We're going to use some of my sales

training, which we did, my leadership

476

:

training, which we did, and the

same with Bob, some of his sales

477

:

and leadership training as well.

478

:

But I didn't really

have the story idea yet.

479

:

And we were sitting in New Orleans mid to

late afternoon, and we're on a balcony of

480

:

a restaurant, and we're just enjoying the

day, having a glass of wine, and a street

481

:

performer started performing out there and

I love street performers in New Orleans.

482

:

I just do.

483

:

I can't help myself.

484

:

I sat there and literally, Michael, the

story came to me and I knew the entire

485

:

story arc with major and minor characters.

486

:

From the get go now, it evolved

over the year that when I'd

487

:

write a book, and that's not, I

don't turn it down in 30 days.

488

:

I say here, buy this.

489

:

I don't do that.

490

:

I'll make it.

491

:

I try to do a really great job

with it, but it, we work in

492

:

the flavors of New Orleans.

493

:

We work in secondary

characters that people.

494

:

Have told me they can kind of fall in

love with and we do some unusual things

495

:

that I did in the audible version.

496

:

I actually I throw a surprise in there.

497

:

I'll just leave it at that.

498

:

It's a musical surprise that

I throw in for everybody,

499

:

Michael Whitehouse: but nice.

500

:

So, so, so audible is where

I should go listen to that.

501

:

Jeff West: Yeah.

502

:

I'm one of these people, I buy a book

that I like in every, in every format.

503

:

I tell people, if you want the

hardback, go to Barnes and Noble,

504

:

their delivery times are so fast

and it's the best for the hardback.

505

:

If you want the ebook or even the audio

book, you can go to Amazon because it's

506

:

immediate delivery on both of those.

507

:

But I tend to have it at all because I

like having my entire library on my phone.

508

:

Every book that I have,

I've got on my phone.

509

:

I can be on a plane.

510

:

I can read.

511

:

I also, I like, I like holding

up a hard book in my hand.

512

:

I'll just, I like having that

there so I can take notes, but I

513

:

have so fallen in love with audio

books over the last few years.

514

:

One of my favorite writers in

fiction is Michael Connolly and I'll

515

:

listen to the Bosch series or the

Lincoln Lawyer series and I'll, I'll

516

:

just, I can, I can do it for hours.

517

:

I really can.

518

:

Michael Whitehouse: Yeah.

519

:

Yeah.

520

:

And they're, they're really well done.

521

:

Yeah.

522

:

Or some of them are really well done

in terms of the, the voice actors

523

:

and the performances and, and just

really has a, it's funny sometimes I

524

:

listen to an audio book and the, the

reader will read it in a certain way.

525

:

I'm like, there's no way

that's written in the book.

526

:

You know, like they'll make a sound like,

there's no way it says, ah, in the book

527

:

or, you know, that sound or or, or it'll

say, you know, you know, he choked out

528

:

and they actually say, you know The way

they, they say it, it's just really,

529

:

it's more of a performance, just like

somebody reading you a book and it's

530

:

very powerful, but, but the other, I love

the business parable format and there's

531

:

not a lot of them out there, but yeah,

the go giver of course is a great one.

532

:

And, and I think the great thing about

a, a business parable is it makes

533

:

you want to read the whole thing.

534

:

Most business books.

535

:

Most people tell you they, they,

and I've heard people say, this is

536

:

actually how they read them on purpose.

537

:

They read the first quarter.

538

:

That's kind of the main part of the book.

539

:

And then the rest of this

application, they skip that part.

540

:

Cause they've already got

the, the nugget of it.

541

:

And then, you know, they move on.

542

:

But with the business parable,

you know, you listen to the go

543

:

giver, you want to get to the end.

544

:

I listened to a one minute millionaire

and I was actually really surprised

545

:

because oftentimes the business

parable, it's, it's a story structure.

546

:

In order to give structure to what

they're teaching, but they're still,

547

:

you know, teaching something unless

they want to be a millionaire and I'm

548

:

like, wait, there's actually like a

story arc and tension and, and conflict

549

:

among minor characters and twists.

550

:

And like, this is actually a

real story that's also a pair

551

:

of like, wow, this is the next

level, you know, next level stuff.

552

:

So, and it sounds like that's what you're

doing with, with your book as well as

553

:

streetwise sales wise that, that it's

even if you're not learning to sell.

554

:

It's an interesting story about a

guy in New Orleans and, and like

555

:

visiting a city and all that, which

is, is a really cool way to learn.

556

:

And that's what's really going

to draw people through books.

557

:

It did if, if I had a.

558

:

If I had a nickel for every time I

read part of a book, I'd have a lot

559

:

Jeff West: of nickels.

560

:

You know, you make such a

great point there, Michael.

561

:

If a book can't grab me or grab you or

grab anybody pretty darn quickly you

562

:

can, you can lose interest in it and

then you want to go do something else.

563

:

And one of the things that is one of

my favorite compliments I ever get

564

:

when someone tells me if, especially

my, I have friends that will read

565

:

my books and they're not in sales.

566

:

And when they tell me the story was

so good, I couldn't put it down.

567

:

I read it.

568

:

Cover to cover on one sitting.

569

:

That's a big deal to me.

570

:

Yep But the audio book one of the things

I love about that and you'll appreciate

571

:

this It's audio is a good format and

it what happens is Whether someone's

572

:

an entrepreneur or just in a corporate

world and they're leading a team that the

573

:

leadership lessons that are in the book

And the sales lessons in the book, it is

574

:

so much like you're literally sitting side

by side with your mentor in a live selling

575

:

situation or in a live conflict situation.

576

:

If you're in a business and

someone is showing you, okay,

577

:

this is how you'd handle this.

578

:

And it's, it's, it brings

a lot of value that way.

579

:

Yeah.

580

:

But, and it

581

:

Michael Whitehouse: makes it very, very

clear you know, what this actually means

582

:

to me, because often they go through.

583

:

thAt's one of the things I found in

one minute people have explained to me

584

:

the concept of you can buy real estate

with No with no cash a bunch of times

585

:

and people try to explain how and i'm

like, okay, I think I did you did I

586

:

think you did that It's only when I

heard it told in a narrative format

587

:

and they're like and then she talked to

this person and this person explained

588

:

This is what our money is and then

they did like Oh, that's how it works.

589

:

Okay, because you're doing it

in theory, then it is very dry.

590

:

You're like, okay, wait,

hold on and go, go back.

591

:

What was that thinking?

592

:

But when you're listening to the

story narratively, then it gives

593

:

you that framework because that's,

you know, humans are built to

594

:

exchange knowledge and stories.

595

:

We're not built to exchange, you know,

just dry, like, here's a list of technical

596

:

terms and then apply that in this way.

597

:

And then at step 14, you

will find this result.

598

:

You need.

599

:

You need stories to provide a

structural framework for your, your

600

:

ancient human brain to understand

601

:

Jeff West: it.

602

:

You know, it loops right back

around to a fusion point because

603

:

what happens in a parable?

604

:

Or in a good narrative, even

teaching a how to book like that.

605

:

It connects an emotional part of your

brain with the logical part of your brain.

606

:

And just like in a fusion board where

it moves things forward, people get

607

:

comfortable taking the next step.

608

:

People also retain what they're trying

to learn so much better that way.

609

:

Michael Whitehouse: Yeah,

it makes a lot of sense.

610

:

And, and I think also, you know, if

you're coming along with the, you know,

611

:

think about like with the go giver.

612

:

There's the, the emotional arc of, of I

can't remember the main character's name.

613

:

But the main character who's, you know.

614

:

Who's struggling, huh?

615

:

Joe, his name is Joe.

616

:

It's Joe.

617

:

Okay.

618

:

Yeah, I think I was thinking it was Joe.

619

:

Like, it can't be Joe.

620

:

That's too obvious.

621

:

I remember the chairman's

Pindar, but I can't remember Joe.

622

:

Right, right.

623

:

But yeah, so, you know, Joe,

you, like, you feel his struggle.

624

:

And then every time he learns

something, you feel that, like,

625

:

hit of dopamine, like, ooh.

626

:

And you're coming along with him in that.

627

:

Whereas if you were just reading.

628

:

The five points, you know, the five

steps of being a go giver, you wouldn't

629

:

have that same pop what you like.

630

:

Okay.

631

:

Oh, this is interesting.

632

:

Yeah, this might work.

633

:

Whereas you just watch Joe get

one step closer to solving his

634

:

problem and feeding his family

and and doing what he needs to do.

635

:

And.

636

:

yeAh, so that's I'd never thought

about that way, but but it's.

637

:

It creates that association and makes

it more, you know, when you encounter

638

:

that, I think I might do this.

639

:

Right.

640

:

You've got that, you've already

got that positive mental like,

641

:

I feel good about doing this.

642

:

Jeff West: You know, I don't know

what, I don't know what your age is.

643

:

I'm, I'm in my early 60s and I used

to read business parables a lot.

644

:

You know, it was it was like augment

Dino and things of that nature I

645

:

loved the books and they kind of

seemed to die off The go getter began

646

:

that journey back with it and then

who moved my cheese out of the maze.

647

:

There's a lot of them but They're coming

of age again, but what's happening now

648

:

with this with the audience that we have?

649

:

So many of them had never

experienced the parable.

650

:

So I'll get people that are

sending me messages saying,

651

:

Oh my God, I love that story.

652

:

I learned things.

653

:

And then they're going, it's

a new experience for them.

654

:

And that, that's actually very rewarding.

655

:

It really is.

656

:

Michael Whitehouse: Yeah.

657

:

No, that's pretty great.

658

:

And, and especially now in, you know,

cause everyone's written a book.

659

:

So there's, you know, you could read books

every minute for the rest of your life and

660

:

not begin to keep up with even the good

ones and not all of them are good ones.

661

:

So the, the parables, they could, and the

thing is too, the things we're teaching

662

:

I recently ran a, a summit called the

breakthrough summit, and we had all

663

:

kinds of people signing up for it to

speak at it because every coach can teach

664

:

us some kind of breakthrough mindset

shift, whatever it's what they all do.

665

:

So it was, it was a great event.

666

:

But I, I commented at one point, like

nothing that's been taught here is

667

:

less than a few thousand years old.

668

:

We repackage it.

669

:

We change the way we say it.

670

:

We have a different concept to it,

but It's all, you know, it's all in

671

:

the Bible and the Quran and the you

know, Confucius taught it and Taoism

672

:

teaches it and Asian Greeks taught.

673

:

It's all the same.

674

:

Like we're all human.

675

:

The basic human truths don't change.

676

:

And how you apply those

human truths don't change.

677

:

It's simply, how do you teach it

and get that information across?

678

:

Right.

679

:

So as everyone's writing their book

about, you know, how to overcome

680

:

objections, sales, mindset,

focus, motivation, whatever.

681

:

It's all the same old stuff, repackaged

in different ways and maybe it's a

682

:

little tweak here, a little tweak

there, but so putting it into a story

683

:

is actually the oldest way of sharing

information, but also very helpful

684

:

because it makes it stand out and then

give you something you can talk about.

685

:

You say, Oh yeah, I remember in

this book where the character did

686

:

this as opposed to, yeah, I think

this book teaches that in some way.

687

:

It makes it feel more, feel more

real, feel like something you

688

:

can attach more to, which is,

which is a really cool concept.

689

:

So.

690

:

Jeff West: Well, you know, my

background is actually in music.

691

:

I have a bachelor's degree in

music education and a master's

692

:

degree in music composition.

693

:

And those two degrees and a 10 bill will

buy me a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

694

:

And when I was doing my student

teaching, I had a great guy that

695

:

I was mentored by and worked

with him for about six weeks on.

696

:

learning how to be a better teacher.

697

:

And he was he, one of the things that he

taught me was when you're working with

698

:

a beginner, whether you're working with

someone at any level, sometimes it's

699

:

not so much as you're teaching, teaching

something new, but you're having to find

700

:

different ways to say the same thing

to deliver the message because sooner

701

:

or later, one of those ways is going

to resonate and it's going to work.

702

:

Yeah,

703

:

Michael Whitehouse: so Yeah, so yeah,

I love this concept with the pair.

704

:

I'm definitely gonna check out

Streetwise to Saleswise and get

705

:

that on, get that on Audible.

706

:

I've got a another road trip coming up,

so that's a great time to listen through.

707

:

It's a 19 hour trip.

708

:

It's probably the entire book

fits into a couple states.

709

:

It's about a four hour, about a four hour.

710

:

Yeah, so that's like the

length of North Carolina.

711

:

I love it.

712

:

oR, you know, Dallas to Houston, I think.

713

:

So, yeah.

714

:

Or, or that's a regular,

regular commuting in Texas.

715

:

Jeff West: It's around the corner here.

716

:

Michael Whitehouse: Yep.

717

:

Yeah.

718

:

So it's been great having you on here.

719

:

I love this, the fusion point concept

that you have linking the, the emotions.

720

:

You know, the emotions to the, the

logic and, and that connection.

721

:

And, oh, you were going to tell

the story about how you met Bob

722

:

and you said it was a good one.

723

:

So,

724

:

Jeff West: well, not, not long after

my career first began to take off in

725

:

great part to endless referrals, I began

to come into the sales organization

726

:

training school in the, with the insurance

company I was with every month, the

727

:

state manager would have me come in.

728

:

I would tell them my personal story.

729

:

It was motivational.

730

:

And then I would finish up by telling

them a little bit about those two

731

:

books, endless referrals and, and

21 irrefutable laws of leadership.

732

:

I had been telling everybody about this

book so much and I was always promoting

733

:

it inside my sales team everywhere.

734

:

Well, I was a regional manager

for the company in Plano, Texas.

735

:

And then my administrator buzzes in

one day and she says, you've got a

736

:

phone call and I said, who is it?

737

:

And she said, some guy named Bob Berg.

738

:

And I thought, yeah, one of my

buddies is playing a joke on me

739

:

right now because I'm such a big fan

of what I've learned in the book.

740

:

And so I get on the phone.

741

:

And as you know, Bob has this.

742

:

Definite distinctive voice that we

call it positive vocal velocity.

743

:

It just carries, you know.

744

:

He gets on the phone.

745

:

He says hi, Jeff, this is Bob Berg.

746

:

And I said, sure.

747

:

It is fella exact quote.

748

:

And he said excuse me.

749

:

I said.

750

:

Is this really Bob Berg?

751

:

And he said, yeah, this

is really Bob Berg.

752

:

And so then I told him the story and how

much Endless Referrals had meant to me.

753

:

And he was flattered.

754

:

He was actually calling me to prospect

to get in to speak with Aflac.

755

:

And so it was funny.

756

:

That's how we met.

757

:

And we just became friends.

758

:

And it stayed that way.

759

:

We had no

760

:

Michael Whitehouse: idea who you were.

761

:

You were just on his call list to get in.

762

:

I was,

763

:

Jeff West: I was a, I

was a cold call for him.

764

:

Michael Whitehouse: Yeah.

765

:

Yeah.

766

:

You know, you got some personal

brain going on when that happens.

767

:

Right.

768

:

That's exactly correct.

769

:

That that's amazing.

770

:

That's fantastic.

771

:

Well, I think that's a

great note to end it on.

772

:

That was a great story.

773

:

Love it.

774

:

So people obviously people can look

up streetwise to sales wise wherever

775

:

they streetwise to sales wise become

objection proof and beat the sales blues

776

:

coauthored between Jeff West and Bob Berg.

777

:

How else can people get in touch with

778

:

Jeff West: Jeff West?

779

:

Oh, thank you so much for asking that.

780

:

The 1st thing I'll tell you is on street

wise to sales wise, just go to street wise

781

:

to sales wise dot com and all the links to

go to all the retailers are there anyway.

782

:

And you can read about the book and

see what some people are saying.

783

:

They can also, if they're interested,

anyone in your audience is interested

784

:

in having me work with you on.

785

:

developing the kind of relationship

in your team that keeps them there

786

:

or your sales process for your,

your business, go to fusionpoints.

787

:

com.

788

:

That's plural on fusion points.

789

:

And, or if you lose track of

anything else, just go to jeffcwest.

790

:

com.

791

:

You'll find everything there.

792

:

Michael Whitehouse: I love it.

793

:

Great hierarchy of websites.

794

:

Well done.

795

:

Yeah, very well organized.

796

:

I like it.

797

:

So this has been great.

798

:

It's been a lot of fun talking to you.

799

:

It's funny, I was telling you at the

beginning of the show yeah, I, I, pretty

800

:

much at the end of 2023, I, I was like,

hey, I'm done recording season 6 episodes.

801

:

And then I got the reminder

about today, and I'm like, what?

802

:

I have another interview on

my calendar in late January?

803

:

Alright, well, what the heck, let's do it.

804

:

I guess it's already here.

805

:

Sure.

806

:

And I'm so glad we did because

this has been a great conversation.

807

:

That's why I like having a podcast.

808

:

Meet cool people.

809

:

So thank you.

810

:

It's an honor to be here with you.

811

:

Yes.

812

:

Thank you so much for being on.

813

:

And once again, that's

street wise to sales wise.

814

:

com fusion points.

815

:

com and jeffcwest.

816

:

com is the, the center

point, the nexus of it all.

817

:

So thank you so much, Jeff,

for being on the show.

818

:

Jeff West: My pleasure, Michael.

819

:

Thank you so much for having me on.

820

:

Michael Whitehouse: Thank you

so much for joining us on the

821

:

Guy Who Knows A Guy podcast.

822

:

I'm your host, Michael Whitehouse.

823

:

Be sure to join us for

the next JV Connect.

824

:

Learn all about it at jv connect.

825

:

com.

826

:

You can also get my Five Steps to

Profitable Networking course for

827

:

free right there on that site.

828

:

Our goal is that in two days, you're

going to get over 100, 000 of value

829

:

from the connections you made.

830

:

And this applies whether you are brand

new in business or well established.

831

:

So be sure to join us, jv connect.

832

:

com in March, June,

September, and December.

833

:

All the dates and details are

right there on the website.

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About the Podcast

The Guy Who Knows A Guy Podcast
They say it's not what you know, it's who you know, and it's true that a network is one of your most important assets. A network is not something you're born with. It's something you build. Every week, Michael Whitehouse, the author of The Guy Who Knows A Guy, and established connector in Southeast Connecticut will interview experts and entrepreneurs from Southeast Connecticut to share their expertise and experience with you.

He'll also answer your questions directly on topics of networking, sales, marketing, entrepreneurship and more. Email in your questions in text or audio format. Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/guywhoknowsaguy/support

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Michael Whitehouse