“Revamp & Revitalize Your Sales Team” with Kevin Snow of Time On Target

Jeffrey (1s):
Well, hello, everybody. Welcome back to Radio Entrepreneurs. Now more than seven years, more than a million people have listened to our stories of entrepreneurship. And that’s because we’re streaming live stories of how people real time are dealing with changing economy, adapting and entrepreneurial leadership. My next guest, welcome to Kevin Snow, founder and CEO of Time On Target. Welcome Kevin.

Kevin (26s):
Good morning, Jeffrey. Thanks for having me.

Jeffrey (28s):
Oh, thank you. I always wonder why people say that upfront. Not at the end, but we don’t know what I’m I could embarrass myself. So tell us about time on target.

Kevin (41s):
So time on target as a company, I started, I actually launched back in 2010 and it was when I started, it was more out of necessity other than a driving need to be an entrepreneur. I was working with one of the, the world’s largest networking organization and helping run an area for them. And I was really good at launching chapters, big chapters that were successful and other regions started hiring me to come in and train their teams and I needed a company to, for them to pay. I couldn’t just take the money myself. So I launched time on target and turned it into a trading and speaking company where I basically went and spoke at different conferences, spoke at different businesses, did a sales and networking training.

Kevin (1m 29s):
It was really cool. I was having fun. And then I deployed, I went over to Iraq and I was spent nine months in Iraq and a little time in Afghanistan and I came home and I was like, oh crap, I don’t have any speaking gigs lined up. I don’t even have any in my pipeline that I’m talking to shit. I’m now unemployed. What do I do? So I really had to decide if I was going to keep the speaking thing going and just rebuild it or pivot, or God forbid go back and work for a corporation. And I decided I was going to make a change.

Kevin (2m 9s):
Cause I wanted this to be something that could grow and that could survive me actually being deployed again, which was highly possible at that time. So we switched from the sales and training organization to a consulting model where we’d actually go into companies are either at the point in their development where they were ready for a sales team. And they were going through that planning process or had went out and already hired a bunch of salespeople and we’re not having the success that they imagined and then we’d come in and rehab them. So I started doing that and we really focused a lot on the tech fields.

Kevin (2m 49s):
So software as a service MSPs, cyber security, all those areas, it was awesome. And I was having a lot of fun. It was awesome watching clients who were self-aware enough to know that they didn’t know how to run a sales program, learning a ton of stuff about how they could do it effectively and then launching the program and getting it off the ground or being successful with it. But I started finding out, there are a lot of parts of that whole process that were really bottlenecks for me. And I couldn’t get around the amount of labor was taking to do it, and it was limiting my ability to grow.

Kevin (3m 29s):
So we started really niching down for what we focused on. You know, one of the big bottlenecks for us was the whole idea that helping with the interviews and teaching people how to do that interview piece, because we would sit in on all the initial interviews for that first go round. And that would take a ton of time if you’re hiring two or three salespeople, those first interviews, or any can be anywhere from 20 to 40 or more different people that get a jump on a quick call with you. And that really prevented me from handling multiple clients at once. Cause those couple of weeks were just blasted from my calendar.

Kevin (4m 10s):
So we started narrowing down and over time we’ve gotten to where we’re at now, where our real focus is working on the sales process, helping them document, how they sell and how their clients actually make those purchasing decisions. So we can make sure they’re in sync and then integrating technology into that process. So they’re utilizing email marketing, their CRM scheduling tools in a way where data flows naturally between them and it’s not disruptive to their processes. And it’s also not disruptive to the client. Wow. So how long you’ve been doing this? A sales or a, the time on target thing?

Kevin (4m 50s):
Time targets since 2010 sales. I started right out of college in 1996. And how did you learn your sales stuff? A lot of it was screwing up and figuring out what I screwed up and how to fix it. But then I did, I also, you know, I’d go to Brian, Tracy went to some zigzag, better stuff, read some books. And I really decided, I didn’t like the old style, the Zig Ziglar, Tom hops, Hoskins tile sales, which is all the, you know, Ben Franklin close and, you know, take away. And all those really horrible techniques say closes.

Kevin (5m 31s):
Yeah, exactly. And when salespeople do it on me now, it’s like, oh, you’re doing this and I’ll call them out on it. And they’ll, they’ll just get completely flustered because they think people don’t understand what they’re doing, but I read a book called solution selling that I absolutely loved. Yeah. I still have a copy and I look at it every once in a while, but I love the whole idea because it was all about figuring out what was wrong and they figured out how to help them.

Jeffrey (5m 58s):
And I wasn’t using it was more about listening.

Kevin (6m 1s):
Yeah, exactly. It’s you ask the right questions and you pay attention to what they say. And so I spent a lot of time figuring out, all right. So how do I have to ask questions? What do I actually need to know to put together the solution? And now that’s how I sell all my products and service. You know, whether it was the next cell phones or managed services. I sold Salesforce for a while as a partner. And now with my stuff, it’s all about figuring out what really the issue is. And then being able to teach them, Hey, here’s things you can do it, getting them really excited about those solutions that they’re like, yes, let’s do this. That’s exactly what I was looking for.

Jeffrey (6m 44s):
How do you deal with the trust? Trust-building

Kevin (6m 50s):
I, okay, so I’m a high C in the, in the disc profile. So that is not always one of my strong suits because I very much more facts and figures and statistics and let’s talk numbers and I’m really comfortable there. The trust building, I think, really comes with how you’re giving the information, how you’re taking care of the client during those early stages of the sales process. And, you know, if you’re a Salesforce year coming in and you’re trying to force the product or the solution or the sale down the client’s throat, they’re automatically going to get this really bad feeling about you and not feel that you have their best interests at heart.

Kevin (7m 33s):
So I think part of the trust building for me, it’s really the fact that I asked some really good questions and I get them thinking about stuff and I don’t jump to conclusions and I really get them to verbalize to me what’s going on. And then I can, and then I empathize with them, which is really hard for a C to do, but I usually can find things in my business development. Life’s like, oh yeah, I know exactly what you’re going through. When I was at this stage of development, I had this going on and it was really kicking my butt or would this happen? And here’s what it impacted my business. And then they feel much more that you’re in it with them. And it’s becomes much easier for them to feel comfortable and trust doing business and the trust that you can actually help them solve their issue.

Jeffrey (8m 19s):
Not very interesting. We’re speaking with Kevin Snow, founder and CEO of time on target. Kevin is someone wanted to speak with you learn more about the work that you’re doing, how would they find you?

Kevin (8m 32s):
Easiest way to find me is just send me an email and it’s kevin.Snow@time-on-target.com and just mentioned in the subject. I heard you on entrepreneurs in the studio and I would love to chat with them.

Jeffrey (8m 52s):
Well, I want to thank you for being on the show today. Remind everybody Kevin Snow, founder, CEO, time on target. My name is Jeffrey Davis. I’m host of Radio Entrepreneurs. I’m also CEO, founder of major LLC and management consulting firm and Kevin Banks a lot for being on the show today. And we’re going to take a break. We’ll be right back with more stories.