IAM1569 – Digital Sales Consultant Helps Businesses Get More Quality Customers

Linchpin Sales Interactive was started by Brandon Cockrell after 12 years of sales and marketing success within large corporations such as Wells Fargo and the PGA TOUR. Over the years, and after meeting with thousands of business owners and executives, Brandon noticed a common problem among all businesses. They had issues getting more quality customers in their doors on a consistent and predictable basis. It was then that he decided to do something about it. He didn’t want to just stop there. He wanted to make sure that everything Linchpin did for its customers was with a purpose, was fully transparent, and could provide a proven ROI.

• CEO Story: Started as a salesman, a commissions-based employee. Brandon climbed the corporate ladder of success. Learned the hard way in finding opportunities and finding leads. Brandon came to the point of getting tired of working. He knew there was a better and bigger opportunity out there and a greater impact on entrepreneurs and businesses, so he started his own company.
• Business Service: Building an online brand. Creating content where your clients are.
• Secret Sauce: Practitioners. Figured out how he could get his message out there and build an audience.
• CEO Hack: Human interaction drives the business, integrating real-life experiences with digital resources online
• CEO Nugget: Hire a personal trainer for your health and fitness.
• CEO Defined: Ultimate leader, leading by example. Make sure everyone else is set up for success before you are. Very fast in giving praise and recognition when things go right but faster in accepting responsibility when things go wrong.

Website: linchpinsales.com

Instagram: linchpinsales

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00:28 – Intro

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 Harkness values your time and is ready to share precisely the information you're searching for. This is the I AM CEO podcast.

00:55 – Gresham Harkless

Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today at Brandon Cockerell of Linchpin Sales Interactive. Brandon, excited to have you on the show.

01:06 – Brandon Cockrell

Excited to be here, man. Thanks for having me.

01:08 – Gresham Harkless

Yes, absolutely. I love all the awesome things that you're doing. Of course, before I jumped into the interview, I want to read a little bit more about Brandon so you can hear about some of those awesome things Linchpin Sales Interactive was started by Brandon after 12 years of sales and marketing success within large corporations such as Wells Fargo and the PGA Tour.

Over the years, and after meeting with thousands of business owners and executives, Brandon noticed a common problem amongst all businesses. They had issues getting more quality customers in their doors on a consistent and predictable basis. It was then that he decided to do something about it. He didn't want to just stop there. He wanted to make sure that everything Linchpin did for his customers was with purpose, was fully transparent, and could provide a proven ROI. Brandon, excited again to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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01:56 – Brandon Cockrell

Can't wait, man.

01:57 – Gresham Harkless

Let's get it started then. So to kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit here a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

02:07 – Brandon Cockrell

Yeah, no, thanks again for asking. It's a similar story that you hear a lot whenever entrepreneurs or business owners, they kind of get started and they were in the corporate world before then. I was working, like you said in the intro, there was working in sales for a large portion of the first decade of graduating college and getting out into the world and trying to figure out what it was. I Didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew I needed a job. This was 2005, 2006, I wanted to just get my feet wet as far as learning sales and just those conversations, right?

That's what I did. I went and I got an opportunity to work with Wells Fargo. I was in inside sales. They transferred me, which got me down to Atlanta to a more commission-based type sales opportunity, which was an eye opener, but an experience that I wouldn't take back because that's where I learned the hard way of getting opportunities and finding leads. I was actually just talking about this with my team yesterday.

I remember whenever I first got down to Atlanta all I was handed were sheets of paper with somebody's name, who their mortgage was with, and their phone number. This was whenever iPhones may have just started, right, but everybody was still using landlines. They were on their phones and the only time to catch them was at dinner because they had been at work all day. So I was calling people at 7, 8, 9, 10 o'clock at night and I had to talk with them and build rapport with them based on limited information, which most people didn't want to have anything to do with me.

Then I had to get an application in order to qualify or try to qualify them on that phone call, which was Social Security numbers, banking information, all that, which today seems insane to think about getting that over one phone call. The one thing is how miserable it kind of was from time to time. That was the type of stuff that really started to push me to continue down the sales route because I was learning, I knew that I could generate opportunities, and actually got me to the opportunity where I felt comfortable starting my own thing.

I ended up going through a few more years of business-to-business sales. That opened the door for me to be able to get into business development opportunities and director of sales capacity with the PGA Tour and their properties division. It got to the point where I just got tired of feeling held back and I knew that there was something bigger. I knew there was something better out there that could help and make an impact on entrepreneurs and businesses.

Because working with that specific position, I met with them day in and day out and I learned a lot of the frustrations and everything that was happening and the opportunities that we're starting to develop utilizing social media, utilizing these new resources that a lot of these corporations still to this day have not gotten ahold of. I just knew there were better ways to do it and that I could help others do it. That's what prompted me to quit almost cold turkey and start linchpin sales about six and a half years ago.

05:34 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I truly appreciate you telling that story and especially hearing those cold calls that you. You had to make from 8 to 10 and be able to try to build that rapport and build that relationship. This is prior to you being able to say, hey, let me check you out. Then also to be able to say, hey, let me check you out as well too, to make sure that I'm giving the right person the Social Security number and all those things.

It's so interesting to kind of hear about that journey, but I appreciate you telling it because hearing how you started and hearing all the awesome things you're doing now and that growth, can kind of happen over some time.

06:09 – Brandon Cockrell

Absolutely. Yeah. I share that type of stuff because it was one big reason why I was able to make the jump. I had the confidence that I knew what I'd been through and how you had to develop opportunities from scratch. I had to cold call, and that's how I got started. So I've been through those times and seeing what's available to all of us today is why I'm so passionate about what we do.

Mainly because we are practitioners in what we do and we, in the same way that we help our clients build their businesses and brands online is exactly how I built this business. It's an important part of that journey. Having the confidence and knowing that you can go out and generate a self you need to, even though there's a lot more to it that I figured out later on once I started the business.

But if anything else, I had the confidence that I could go out there and at least have conversations that would ultimately turn into some type of revenue. I like to share those stories a little bit.

07:19 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely love it. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more. I know we touched a little bit upon, like, how you work with your clients, and how you help, support, and serve them. Could you take us through a little bit more on what that looks like and how you make that impact?

07:29 – Brandon Cockrell

Yeah. So really what we focus on now and we, we are kind of unique in our experience. One, because we're, we're practitioners. Like I said early on, I had to figure this stuff out for myself. I had to figure out how I get my message out there, and how I start creating and building an audience so that people start coming to me. I'm able to have conversations that aren't convincing people why they should pay me to help them.

I want that to be something that they are able to do on their own and in their own time. Over time, that's just how I kept getting better and better and better and seeing what works and what doesn't and what is going to be best here or what kind of sales page to build there, what tools I need to make this happen. That's allowed us to know what it's like to have, whether that's a very small budget to work off of or it's having to get everything out of every dollar that you're investing.

We've been there and we still we currently continue to do this. We still practice what we preach and everything we do, we test out and try and build our brand and continue building our business the same way that we do it for others. So we are in the trenches, not just with our partners and our clients, but for our own business as well. We've used it and done it successfully. That's one area that does make us a little unique, but it's also allowed us over time to build a team that really is focused and experienced in everything from A to Z.

Whenever you're talking about building a legitimate brand online, we are unique in that, we have experts and experience in all the different things that it takes to build that brand successfully online. The ultimate goal is to build a brand so you don't have to worry about leads anymore. That's what we want and that's our ultimate goal. It's not, hey, I need leads in today, I need a thousand leads in.

Well, anybody can go out and get leads. How about let's build your brand up so that whenever we need revenue, we run a campaign where people already know, like, and trust you? They already view you as that go-to expert, they understand the value of that offer that you're putting out there and they're going to be the first ones in line to raise their hand and take advantage of it.

09:59 – Gresham Harkless

I absolutely love that. Let me ask you this. Do you feel like that's what you would consider to be your CEO hack, which is the efficiency thing that the app book or habit that makes you more effective and efficient? But I almost wonder if you kind of touched on it when you said if you focus more on being in more places and providing value, do you feel like that's ultimately what you would consider to Be the CEO hack?

10:19- Brandon Cockrell

I always say the main hack whenever it comes to digital is real person, like real human interaction, real life stuff is ultimately and will always be the main thing that drives your business and drive sales and all that, person to-person is always going to be what works whenever you're talking about sales and marketing and all this other stuff.

However, at the end of the day, when you can marry real-life experiences with the digital resources that we have available and marry those together to where you're able to take that experience and multiply it using social media, using ad campaigns, utilizing sales funnels and emails and communications, that way, that's the hack to seeing success online. Like in my opinion, is being able to marry those two together. You can't necessarily rely on each one anymore. They've got to be kind of married together.

But being everywhere, being omnipresent obviously is another thing that you have to be aware of and everywhere that your audience is. You have to be able to be across multiple platforms and multiple channels if you want to continue growing and scaling, which is an important piece of that puzzle. So, yeah, I do think from a result standpoint there are, there is some truth to that which you said there are some hacks.

At the end of the day, it is you got to be out there and you've got to be everywhere your audience is. There are a lot of ways to do that without having to spend 100 hours a week doing content and posting a thousand times, a week. So it's just kind of coming up with the right strategy, laying that out, and then making it come to life.

12:05 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. Would you consider that to be like the CEO nugget, which can be like a word of wisdom or piece of advice? I usually say you might tell your favorite client or potentially tell your younger business help is the second.

12:16 – Brandon Cockrell

When I graduated college, I would have hired a personal trainer. I know that's weird and I know that's not something that a lot of people hear the biggest now. I work with coaches and mentors and all that and they're look, they're invaluable. That'd be one thing that I would say is one of the biggest reasons why I've been able to break through a lot of the ceilings and get and build the brand to certain levels and build the business to certain levels because of these coaches and mentors. But nothing really started happening at the elite level until I changed internally how I was feeling about certain things.

That change happened whenever I got serious about my health and my fitness. I hired a personal trainer, which is not cheap. It has been over the last year and a half to two years, the biggest opportunity that I see for people who are looking to start their own thing. It just helps from all different aspects. If I could go back, I would have done that 15 years ago, but nothing really started happening at the elite level until I changed internally how I was feeling about certain things.

That change happened whenever I got serious about my health and my fitness. I hired a personal trainer, which is not cheap. It has been over the last year and a half to two years, the biggest opportunity that I see for people who are looking to start their own thing. It just helps from all different aspects. If I could go back, I would have done that 15 years ago.

13:51 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I appreciate you sharing that. A lot of times when you have people that you've invested in that are invested in you get to see those really great investments come to fruition. So what would you consider to be your answer to my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO? We're hoping our different, quote-unquote, CEOs are on the show. So, Brandon, what does being a CEO mean to you?

14:09 – Brandon Cockrell

Look, the CEO to me is just being an ultimate leader and leading by example and thinking ahead, obviously. But I think most importantly, you're making sure everyone else, meaning your team, even your family, your friends, but your partners, your clients, are all set up for success before you are. Everybody eats before they do and means as well that they're set up for success in what they deem success to be, not what I or what a CEO deems success.

Understanding that and making sure everybody is on the same page so that you are working as one cohesive group, but yet you're still helping everybody develop in their own areas. I think that the most important thing, whenever it comes to a CEO, or at least what it means to me, is that you are very fast to give recognition and praise when things go right, but you're faster to accept responsibility and blame when things go wrong.

15:18 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely appreciate that definition, Brandon. Of course, I appreciate your time even more. So what I wanted to do now is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know, and of course, how best people can get a hold of you, find about all the awesome things you, your team are working on.

15:33 – Brandon Cockrell

As far as contact and all that, you can go to our website linchpinsells.com where you can find a lot of information. We are in a partnership and program with Billy Genius Marketing. If you're familiar with him and his work out in San Diego, you can go to StopBeingASecret.com and get more information on our performance branding which is a full-service type program that we're working on with him and his team other than that, you can check us out. Instagram, linchpin cells, Facebook, LinkedIn. You can go to Brandon Cockrell or Lynch Pen Sells and really find some good content there. YouTube, whatever works best for you.

16:08 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. I truly appreciate that Brandon. To make it even easier, we're gonna have the links and information in the show notes too so that everybody can follow up with you and I hope you have a phenomenal day.

16:17 – Brandon Cockrell

Thank you so much. It's an honor to be here.

16:19 – Outro

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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