The qualification question everyone teaches is the wrong one

Hello, hello Will. Hey, how are you? Doing good? Not too happy.

yeah, let me see. I can try this one.

That work? You know, we have a lot of people in our network that are just really smart and have a lot of great advice to give. And so we thought it would be good to be able to share that broadly with people that are trying to learn and get better at their profession.

Really, it's been it's been ten years. We're s it's been thirteen, three of the first years. It really wasn't a thing. We were I was just doing some stuff, right? But I was learning a lot. And then about ten years ago, we'll celebrate our ten year anniversary in five days. It'll be our ten year anniversary in five days. and and so ten years ago, September ten years ago in in twenty sixteen, I started this company for real. and it's it's been pretty fantastic.

Unfortun Yeah, please, I'd love for you to share.

Yeah, I'm open. It's fine.

Let's get to it.

excited to be here. Thank you for reaching out and inviting me to come onto this podcast. I'm really excited about sharing anything I can to help anyone who was in the same situation I was 10 years ago.

Yeah, yeah. So mainly we focus on B2B companies, right, that are that are selling to S and B all the way through enterprise. We focus on teaching people the science of decision making. So we do a lot of sales training, sales coaching, and go-to-market strategy. All all of that is based on industrial organizational and behavioral psychology. And so we leverage kind of really deep academic research into the advice that we give founders. CEOs or even account executives that are trying to work on, you know, hitting quota for the year or blowing it out of the water.

So no, it wasn't that straight of a path. So I went to law school. I was really young, graduated early and failed a bar exam after that happened. I didn't know what I wanted to do, so I got into retail by chance. was really working at a small firm and trying to figure out how to make additional money, et cetera. And my brother was working at Best Buy. So he said, Come and you know, you should come for the holiday. I ended up falling in love with retail and and ended up getting a fantastic mentor. That mentor said, Hey, you could actually build a really great career here. So worked for Best Buy for some time, then Bed Bath and Beyond, another company called HHGreg. All the while I was actually very successful, not only at selling, but also at managing salespeople and managing inventory and making it move very quickly. So decided I was going to take everything I had learned and create a platform to be able to manage inventory faster and to make, you know, okay salespeople into great salespeople. So I founded Lima Retail. It was a little bit ahead of its time, but during that time I really figured out how to connect with executives, how to s pitch my story, how to get people to buy into not only what we were selling, but the vision of where it was gonna go. when when Lima Retail you know had a you know an exit, but that wasn't anything to talk about. It really was just a way to, you know, a way to get out of the business. you know, when Lima Retail ended, I started consulting to people that I had met along the way, smaller companies, smaller B2B companies, and started consulting to their sales teams on, you know, how to message, how to run a discovery call, how to pitch, all the while like having another job. so I would consult from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. And then I would do my regular job from nine to five. and you know, doing that, I I had an opportunity to join one of my clients. One of my clients said, hey, we would love for you to become our VP of sales. And so I joined that company August of twenty sixteen. and on Labor Day, which is you're here in New US, I don't know if you're in the US, but here 35 35 day days later, I had a conversation and I got fired. And I got fired because we just like you know, he was we were great as consultant client, but w did not work as employer employee. It just didn't work very well for us. So I got fired. I remember I felt pretty sorry for myself for about 45 seconds. walked to my car, called my wife and said, Hey, I'm gonna start a firm teaching people how to sell. are you okay with that? And she said, Go for it. what was crazy was nine months later, I already had sold a million dollars of contracts for my firm, the firm that I just started, right? Like in September. and so that was 10 years ago. and that's really how I got started. I didn't have a choice. I didn't have a job and I knew that I needed to go make some money very quickly and I knew I had some talent. And so I decided, all right, let's let's go out and and and build a firm based on teaching people how to sell. And so that's what I did.

Yeah, it's it's a science. Sales is a science. so it can be learned, right? And you know, I think the idea that the salesperson is a charismatic, incredible communicator, and that's the only way to be successful is antiquated. I think charisma is is is important, not as important as communication, but as we know, human communication is just science, it's been studied for years. Right. We've been communicating since we've been drawing on caves. And the way that we communicate, the way that we talk, the way that we build trust, even the way that people view us as charismatic is actually all science and deeply rooted in how humans like trust people. And so if you can get to those deep layers of understanding how humans think about other humans, then you can be incredible at sales. And that's really the foundation of what we teach.

process, science, really understanding, really understanding good, deep questions and understanding what to do with the answers you get. So I'll give you a good example. Everyone teaches you you know, you know, these qualification frameworks, right? Do you have budget? Right. Well, number one is that's a poor question. It's binary. How can you have a discussion with that, right? Like you you it becomes an interrogation because someone says yes, and then you're asking another question, you're asking another question, right? Like You know, what have you budgeted for this, right? Is a different question. Or who was the decision maker in terms of determining the budget? That's a deep question that can give you layers of what's going on. Well, here's what happens often, right? Is that a lot of people spend time thinking, these are this is the information I need. They get the information and they feel like check the box. But the reality is the preparation and the process ahead of time of figuring out what are you going to do with that information matters more. So if I were to ask someone, who besides yourself is going to be the decision maker? I should prepare for a multitude of answers. It could be, it's just me. In enterprise, we know that's not true. So what am I going to do when that person says that? I don't know. That's a very common answer. Like, I don't know who else is going to be involved. Well, what am I going to do when I get that answer? A lot of people just take that information and they're done and they go report to their VP of sales. Hey, did you ask the question? Yeah, what happened? They said it was just them. Okay, great. And it's like, well, no, no, no. You should have been prepared for that answer and said, well, typically. And these type of, you know, in these type of decisions, we we'll end up talking to legal, we'll end up talking to IT, et cetera. You know, how does that function within your org? That's a very different level of preparation and process that like needs to happen. So the 80% is that preparation and process to ensure that when you're having conversations, you actually know how to agily move through it to get to the root and de-risk the deal. And this is where people fail in sales more than anywhere else. They don't de risk the deal.

Thank you.

Yeah. So w i well, it what it costs them is time and it costs them wasting time, right? So if you're just moving with speed without direction, then you're not working towards an end goal. And so what you end up doing is a lot of activities in a very frantic and just kind of overly urgent way without knowing where you're trying to head, right? And so velocity truly, you know, we always talk about increasing velocity in the sales cycle, not just speed. I want to act in a way that moves things forward. And whether that incrementally moves them forward or it's big jumps, it doesn't matter, but it is directionally thoughtful and intentional. And this is where a lot of times in sales it's just like we got to get these things done. But but why? And is that the right thing to get done right now?

But by the way, can I give you example of that? Can I just give you a quick example of that? Great. So perfect example. It happens all the time. You have a really good call with someone in Discovery, you do the demo and they said we'd love some references. And so the salesperson says, Great, they want some references. And so they go contact a bunch of people. They're moving fast and they get them references. But we haven't figured out commercial terms. We haven't figured out how they're going to pay for it. We haven't figured out who else is going to be involved in decision. So we're just moving fast for no reason. When in velocity, right, like the velocity really would dictate that we have to understand, okay, where are we really in this process? And does it make sense to move super fast to get these references? Or do we need to create more direction to make this the right action? And that's where people make big mistakes. I see it all the time. I'll go back through someone's CRM and they're like, Well, we gave them references about, you know, 45 days ago, but you know, we're still in a holding pattern. And it's like, well, you're giving references way too early. Like I just actually ran across a CRM where they gave references nine months ago. And guess what happened? The person that now is involved asked for new references.

So one of my best tips for following up is to let people know that you're going to follow up. If I don't hear back from you by this date, I'll go ahead and send you another message. And here's why I want, I want to build trust with someone. And so not only do I want to tell them what I'm going to do, I want to then execute on it. But I also want to protect myself a little bit if someone's like, hey, you've been following up and I have an answer. And it's like, but I've been telling you what was going to happen if I didn't hear from you. Right. And so I want to create kind of this value. in myself as a salesperson, like my time is valuable and I'm and I'm also trustworthy. I say what I'm going to do and then I do it. And so that's my one of my best tips for following up. And it works incredibly well when people execute it on a consistent basis.

what would I say to that person? I would say, wow, that's a really good question. No one has asked me that. Now it's like now I really need to think about that. I would say, and because it happened by accident. So I wish I was more intentional about it. Make sure that you hire people that you love to work with, because this can be a very tough journey.

It happened by accident for me that like the people that have worked with me have been people that are incredible human beings. I wish I could say I was more intentional about it. Over time, you know, five, six years into it, I got more intentional because I had built such a great team around Maestro that I wanted, you know, others to be very similar to them. But, you know, when I first started out, I just wanted people that I knew could help execute and You know, a lot of those people, you know, they they were fantastic for the time, but they are not here. And then over time I discovered, you know, people like Rachel and and Mike from my team, Becky who, you know, left and has come back, you know, these people are fantastic and I would do anything for them and and building this makes it seem like not a job. So I wish I'd been more intentional about that. I didn't know. I thought all that mattered was talent and didn't r realize the other side of it.

I think the challenge is the same, not the same, but very similar to for a lot of people in the situation, which is when it has become increasingly easier to get expert level ad expert level advice with AI and stuff. How do you distinguish yourself? How do you ensure that people still see value in what you can offer? And so without actually pushing it away, right? And embracing AI. And so that has become a You know, it's a challenge that we think about all of the time in our organization, right? How do we ensure that people still view us and and what we bring as expert level to a to a point that they cannot get out of an LLM? but then how do we also use it so that we don't seem like we're antiquated in our methodology and how we're, you know, thinking about sales or thinking about leadership or thinking about go to market? And then I think that's a good balance because things are moving so fast. So, you know, where do you make your bets on that? How do you make your bets is is is very difficult.

I think that's a fantastic point. And it's one I made recently to someone. So I one of the services that we offer is that we'll interview potential sales candidates for our clients, right? and we interview hundreds, hundreds, you know, of of candidates a year. And we put them through a very specific process with us. and you know, a conversation I had with an CEO was like, you know, I I I went to ChatGPT and this is what it told me about the candidate. And I said, Okay. But I actually interacted with the candidate and I interact with hundreds of candidates. And here's my viewpoint on that person, particularly based on these things that happened in our conversation. and and so it was just an interesting point because, you know, the individual, you know, was valuing at that point that he could go to an LM and s put some information in and feel like he could get the and I pushed back very, you know, you know, you know, you know, respectfully. You know, but but forcefully that like ChatGPT was wrong. It was just wrong. They were not in the conversations. So it like I said, it they're just wrong. Right. And and so it was interesting. and and that the case in that is is ChatGPD was saying based on the transcripts, this person seems very coachable. And I was saying, I'm in the conversations, they're doing it because they're in an interview. I can tell. And I can tell that they're doing it in an interview because I've interviewed thousands of salespeople and I've coached thousands of salespeople. So I know when someone's just saying, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, to do it because they just don't want to continue having a conversation about it or because they feel they must, versus someone who embraces the fact that they're getting better.

yeah. where we want to take it is we want the maestro message, the deep like belief that sales is an incredible profession when done correctly and it is a true profession. We want to get that message out to more and more people, train more people. We you know, we have self-paced trainings that people can use. We're gonna start publishing some books. We, you know, publish multiple blogs a week. And so we're really gonna invest in giving all of the stuff that we have. there to the community that wants to take it in and get that

so they can find me on LinkedIn, Will Fuentes, the Meisture Group, right? I publish every single week a newsletter called Fuentes Fridays. they can also find me at Will at Meister Group.co. Just reach out to me. I'm happy to have a chat with you. you know, and and my goal is to respond to any message that I get within 24 to 48 hours. you know, and and and you know, sometimes things just fall through the cracks, but you know, I will try to reach out to you and you know, always willing and open to help. Specifically, if you read Fuentes Fridays, because we give a tip at the beginning every single week of that newsletter and there's something relevant there that you want to learn more about, you know, if you reach out to me via LinkedIn and reference it, I will have a conversation with you because I am here to try to make everyone better. That is the driving force in my life is to teach people what I know in order to change their financial futures.

It was my pleasure. This was fantastic. Thank you so much for the opportunity.