IAM127- Speaker, Trainer and Sales Coach on a Personal Mission to Help People Supercharge Their Sales Team and Be Happier

Rachel Sheerin is a speaker, trainer, and sales coach who is an expert in the hospitality industry. She is on a personal mission to help people sell more, be happy and define success on their own terms. Featured in Inc. Magazine, This Week in Weddings, Lodging Leaders, and more, Rachel's clients include hotel sales teams, catering companies, meeting planners and more – if you're looking to inspire your audience, supercharge your sales team and build a life that's bursting with joy and profits, Rachel is your guru!

• CEO Hack: A daily email; Notes from the universe
• CEO Nugget: (1)You owe it to yourself (2) It's a privilege to impact other people and to get better
• CEO Defined: You have a great responsibility to make a difference and be in charge

Website: http://www.rachelsheerin.com/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelsheerin
Facebook: Rachel Sheerin – Speaker, Trainer & Coach
Instagram: https://web.facebook.com/RachelSheerinSpeaker/

Full Interview:

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Transcription:

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:27

Hello, hello. hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Rachel Sheerin from rachelsheerin.com. Rachel, it's awesome to have you on the show. What I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Rachel so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Rachel is a speaker, trainer, and sales coach who is an expert in the hospitality industry. She is on a personal mission to help people sell more, be happy and define success on their own terms. Featured in Ink Magazine, This Week in Weddings, Lodging Leaders, and more, Rachel's clients include hotels, sales teams, catering companies, meeting planners, and more. And if you're looking to inspire your audience, supercharge your sales team and build a life that's bursting with joy and profits, Rachel is your girl. Rachel, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Rachel Sheerin 1:16

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 1:17

Let's do it. So the first question I had was just to hear a little bit more about your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

Rachel Sheerin 1:18

I fell into a job after college. I loved serving others, and I loved being part of people's joy and that really brought me to the hospitality and special events industry. And I loved it. I mean, nights, weekends, full-time, it was awesome. I worked in different venues in and around Philadelphia, as well as Charlotte, North Carolina, which is my home, and my HQ. And the long story short is, I loved it until I didn't love it. And I think that's a really common story for high performers. Oh, you know, you're going, you're climbing the ladder of success, new titles, new commas in your salary. And all of a sudden, a love that you had, that joy you get out of work, vanished for me, and I experienced burnout.

And so a few years ago, I said, I can't do this anymore. You know, my employer at that time was trying to negotiate a few months off, you know, please hold my job, if it doesn't work out, you can get back, and then as a CEO, they needed to do what was best for a company that I had helped to build. And so I took some time off. And what I really discovered, was that my CEO story was bursting out of me anyway, when I am at my best, I love helping people get money. I believe that money is freedom.

And I also realized that the whole coaching, consulting, training side of things, I always loved trainers, I loved going to conferences, watching speeches getting inspired, and you walk out of there, and you're like, I'm a changed person. So the one thing that I realized though, was I thought I could do it better. And that's how I became a CEO. And it's what I love seeing other CEOs do.

Gresham Harkless 1:24

I love that and what I want to do was just go a little bit deeper and hear a little bit more about like how you're serving these clients. I know you touched on it a little bit, but can you tell us a little bit more about what you're doing?

Rachel Sheerin 3:14

Yeah, absolutely. I really have two main components of my business. The first one is keynote speeches. You know, I deliver speeches, typically in the hospitality industry, or to any industry that serves other people. So it could be things like the medical industry, government, and social services, you know, anything from salons to wedding planners to caterers to hoteliers, and it's your job to make people's day better to serve others and you have that servant's heart. I want to help you with that. Because a lot of times what we see is a massive amount of burnout. Again, it's when joy leaves your work, it leads to high turnover rates. In the medical industry, it's 74% year over year.

And when you think about it, you know, let's think about your mom going into the hospital. We don't want three out of four brand-new nurses doing that. We need to keep great people in their positions so that they're competent, and they're qualified doctors, they experienced burnout. They stick around a long time, which means they're miserable to work with and they're miserable in their life. That's not fair either. But they probably have so many student loans. They can't quit. Absolutely.

So I really focus on two very main keynotes. One is about burnout and how to bring joy back into your life and also prevent it so other people know the signs I call burnout depression, a really successful cousin. And it is true because everything looks so good. I was a six-figure earner award-winning director, executive all this stuff and boy was miserable. I was crying on the way to work. Sometimes it was tough.

So keynotes, I love it. It's motivational, it's high energy. It's very real talk. I'm very low BS when I talk about it, and I think people really respond to that on the training side of things. Just like I said, I saw people training and I said this is boring. This is like being in school. And I understand, I think the school has its place. But adult learners, we're combating, you know, iPhones, tablets, meetings, chances are you're sitting next to somebody in a training class, you know, everyone clicks up when they sit down. I'm a professional behavioral analyst.

So what I do is I bring in professional assessments prior to arriving, and I assigned seats to people who naturally have conflicting behavior. And I love it because people are nervous, and by an hour in, people are understanding, not other people themselves, give me two hours understanding others, and number three, appreciating others.

And then we build on sales, profits, happiness, communication from there, because to me, the killer of every single team, it's not talent, it's not skill, it's not education, it's likability in its communication. But if we don't break down those barriers in a real way, I'm not here to talk to you like this. And please look at the slide with all these you know, sentences on it boring, super lame, a lot of my slides are going to have beams or videos, or Saturday Night Live skits, and I bring energy to it because what I'm here to do is help people sell more and be happy, even if you're not in sales, right? When people sell more, you represent that company all the time. And I do believe employers want their employees to be happy. They just don't know how to do it. And I come in, I try and help them with that.

Gresham Harkless 6:24

I wanted to touch a little bit deeper on that likability piece. Could you talk a little bit more about that? And what do you mean by most organizations are kind of struggling with that?

Rachel Sheerin 6:33

Absolutely. So you know, you think about it, when a new leader or team member comes onto a team, what is the first thing that a manager, or maybe somebody introduces about them is their experience, you watch all their kind of repertoire that might fit in and make this personal logical fit. But studies show only 21% of your success in a job is your experience and your education. 21% over 70% is going to be your soft skills and communication skills. I think engineers do a great job as an example not picking on them. But engineers. I mean, they're geniuses walking around, right? I specifically don't do maths, and they love to do maths. What a bunch of weirdos. I love that they are so intelligent. But if nobody likes you, then nobody cares, right?

And you can really see that a lot of times in very dominant personalities, you know, our the President right now and Hillary Clinton, right, they both ran for president, one won and one did not. And you can see that everyone in the world has an opinion about them. And really only ignorant people might say that they're stupid. They're not, you know, it's the way they go about things that makes them so polarizing.

And you see that all the time on high-performing teams, people are competitive, people are driven, and people do have the same goal in mind. And yet, they completely have an obliviousness to how they're coming off. And the value of being like, sure, you know, it's like a great artist, right? You may meet them, extremely talented visionaries, oh, my art should sell itself. No, story sells, personality sells.

And yeah, you don't have to be, I'm not asking you to change yourself and become the Walt Disney or you know, I mean, look at Steve Jobs. Right. likeability wasn't high on his list, I reserve the right to say, most people are not Steve Jobs. I mean, they're not.

And so we've got to work on that a little bit. And I think, especially for high leaders, when they start having a product, a business, a service that is really successful, they tend to top out around that 3 to 5 million mark, and they struggle, and it's always people, and they're always losing people, and hiring new people, and then blaming the people when they leave. And that cycle got to be done. It's got to be over because that's our responsibility as leaders to really work on ourselves, and then hope to influence others.

Gresham Harkless 8:48

Thank you for expanding a little bit more upon that. And now I wanted to ask you for your secret sauce. And this is what you feel kind of distinguishes you or sets you apart. So give us an example of your secret sauce.

Rachel Sheerin 8:57

Yeah, absolutely, I would say, it is being vulnerable and being happy. I think that when you look at corporate training, I think that the chances of you finding somebody talking about happiness for employees in and outside of work, I couldn't find it unless you're going to have some Ph.D. doctor come in, that's going to talk about the science of happiness. And I gotta be honest, Gresh I don't have time to care about science. It's not my strength, right? And we're all moving forward and very, very busy. It's one thing to know that it should work, but it's another thing to feel it.

And I think that my secret sauce is really putting happiness first and understanding how related it is to every aspect of a business. You know, if you're happy service is better, if you're happy, profits are better, if you're happy daily life is better, and retention is better.

I mean, oh my god, people lose weight, and they sleep better. They look forward to coming in. How many people have you worked with that when they arrive? You're like, oh, no, you should have stayed home. Right, and it's every day, so I think the happiness from an actual how I do, what I do, or back to that secret sauce putting happiness first for sure. But also just living by The Four Agreements, which I know is a great resource. and growing up, I would definitely love to talk. And I was terrible at following through.

And what I realized was that if I'm going to live the kind of life I am and serve the way that I want to serve, I've got to follow through, and, I do everything. The second I finished with a client, you know, I don't care if it's pulling an all-nighter, I can sleep on the plane, ride home, but I want to make sure that they're getting everything. And it keeps me in line too.

Gresham Harkless 10:32

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And it kind of reminds me of this quote, I think I heard a long time ago where a kid was sitting in class, and everybody was asking, like, what do you want to be when you grew up? And he said he wanted to be happy. And then somebody said, You didn't understand the question. It was like, No, you really, you don't understand the question, because that's something that I'm achieving to do. So it's great that you have that. And you try to impart that upon you know, the people that you're training and you're leading.

Rachel Sheerin 10:52

That's awesome. I love that quote.

Gresham Harkless 10:54

Yes, absolutely. So now, I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app or book or habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient as a business owner.

Rachel Sheerin 11:04

You know what I'm gonna go a little woo-woo on my hack. It's not an app. It's not a book, though. I love a lot of those things. It's actually a daily email. If you Google notes from the universe, it is an email that comes out daily, and it's by this guy named Mike Dooley. And Mike, I've never met him kind of an odd guy, definitely in connection with the universe, and does a lot of retreats in Peru.

And the long story short is this email. Have you ever had something delivered? That's so simple, it just blows your mind for a day. Or how about a week? Or how about a year? Or how about your life, these notes from the universe emails, arrive every single morning, I'm on Eastern Standard. So it arrives around 3:30 in the morning, it's the first thing I look at in the morning. That's right, I break the rule of no email. The first thing and I only read this one. And the weight is it's a note from the universe telling you some universal truth out there.

A few days ago, one really, really hit me hard. And I shared a lot of times with my clients or with my Instagram followers. And it was about time, you know, the record time for climbing Mount Everest is just a little under nine hours, talk about something I didn't know, what am I doing with my nine hours? Why am I going to limit that? You know, it's like Beyonce and I have the same amount of hours in the day, which is okay, but you could climb Mount Everest in nine hours. You know, like, what, come on.

And I think that there are lessons, you don't have to do anything. If you miss it. It's no big deal. But they're always waiting there. And for somebody who wishes they were a meditation guru, but never meditates. It's a great mindful pause to start your day off with. So Google notes from the universe, just sign up, and you can always unsubscribe. But I think it's a game changer. And it does help with happiness for sure.

Gresham Harkless 12:45

Yeah, that definitely makes sense. And I think like you mentioned that simplicity, sometimes the simplest things are the things that make the most impact. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you can happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Rachel Sheerin 13:00

I would say that you can own the privilege and the joy of influencing others that you owe it to the world, to yourself to go big in whatever ways you really feel called to, and be unapologetic about it. But it really is, it's such a privilege, you know, it's a privilege to get, to be here with you. It's a privilege to get to wake up in the morning, it's a privilege to be able to influence other people. And if somebody gets something from one of these hundreds of podcasts you are doing Gresh, it's like victory achieved, this is what it's all about to go, get after it. I just heard the Jim Rohn quote, and I don't think I'll ever forget it. And it said, don't wish life was easier, wish that you were better. And I was like, yes, we have the privilege to get better. And we have the privilege to influence others. And when we make it, that's showing other people they can make it too, so own it. And you know, dig into the joy of being somebody that can influence the world and change it.

Gresham Harkless 13:58

There you go. I definitely agree with that when you're operating in your unique brilliance, so to speak. And you're and you're being authentic to yourself, as you talked about, you definitely can, you know, give people permission to do the same and it makes the world a better place. So I think that's definitely a great CEO nugget. Now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of being a CEO, and we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on the show, but I wanted to ask you, Rachel, what does being a CEO means to you?

Rachel Sheerin 14:21

That's such a good question. I would say being the CEO, to me means that you have a great responsibility to be in charge of your life, to influence others, and to make a difference in the world. You know, we're not the cog in the wheel. We're the entire machine. And that's an awesome responsibility with the right perspective.

Gresham Harkless 14:43

Absolutely. And that definitely rings home in a range true. So I truly appreciate your time, Rachel, for taking your time out with us. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know and then also how best people can get a hold of you.

Rachel Sheerin 14:57

Thanks. Yeah, I would just say you know, thanks for listening, keep listening, you know, CEOs as I travel around the country, you know, working with everything from small businesses to larger ones in training clients, annual meetings, that kind of stuff. The one thing CEOs have in common is hunger and I love being around hungry people. So make sure you're running with hungry people and listening to the podcast. If you want to reach out to me the best way I love emails, so please email me at hi@rachesheerin.com.

And if you want to see very cute pictures of my people you can catch me on Instagram at RachelSheerin and I really appreciate it. And I'm cheering you guys on wherever you're listening to this. You may be struggling you may be having a bad day. You may be having a bad week or a month. Hopefully not a bad year. But you've got it. You've done the hardest part and not stopped, so don't give up. There are others out there cheering you on too, But you got this.

Gresham Harkless 15:49

Awesome, awesome, awesome, great reminder. And thank you so much again, Rachel. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Rachel Sheerin 15:54

Thank you too. Gresh.

Outro 15:55

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co

I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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