IAM2447 – Business Development Representative Helps Business Owners Enhance Sales Effectiveness
Podcast Interview with Matt Hall
Matt Hall is a Business Development Representative at Pivotal Advisors, where he assists business owners and sales leaders in identifying growth opportunities and enhancing sales effectiveness.
Matt’s approach is centered on systems, structure, and consistent processes—combined with a passion for coaching and meeting clients where they are.
His career began in sales out of necessity after college, taking the only job offer available—selling collectible coins over the phone.
Matt describes a pivotal career moment when he was promoted to lead a team of peers after a strong performance in a marketing services firm.
He admits that while he cared deeply, he was unprepared for leadership. This humbling experience was instrumental in developing his passion for sales coaching and led him to his current role at Pivotal Advisors.
Matt emphasizes that while there are foundational sales tools (like sales processes and measurement frameworks), Pivotal Advisors tailor their coaching to each client.
LinkedIn: Matt Hall
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Transcription:
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Matt Hall Teaser 00:00
But you have something. Some don't have anything documented and it's all in a handful of people's heads.
Okay, well we need to get some best practices down for your business so we can frankly have something to coach against.
But most businesses that have gotten to a certain level of had some success, they know some of this. But it's the coaching. It just gets missed a lot.
And it gets missed a lot because in these small to medium-sized businesses, Gresh, there's only so much time.
Intro 00:27
Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview?
If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.
Gresham Harkless 00:53
Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast, and I have an awesome guest on the show today. I have Matt Hall. Matt, excited to have you on the show.
Matt Hall 01:01
Well, thanks for having me. I'm excited to chat with you.
Gresham Harkless 01:03
Yes, I'm definitely excited as well too. Matt and I had a phenomenal conversation when we first connected.
So I'm super excited to have another great conversation. But of course, before we do that, I want to read a little bit more about Matt so you can hear about some of those awesome things he's been working on.
And Matt is a business development representative with Pivotal Advisors. His role, he works with business owners and sales leaders to identify opportunities for business growth in areas to increase sales efficiency and effectiveness.
Throughout Matt's career, he has focused on building systems, structures, and processes that can repeatedly deliver while building up the members of his team.
Matt's business development career started with a variety of sales roles, collectibles, advertising, and marketing services.
As he grew into leadership role, he learned that having a defined sales process, possessing a deep understanding of ideal clients, and sharing differentiators were important to the growth of his team, himself, and his customers.
Matt has won numerous awards. I was peeking a little bit before I was preparing for this. He's generated lots of new customers, hitting the million dollar threshold as well, too.
He also enjoys working with clients. And what I love more than anything else is meeting them where they are.
Because I think so many times when you have experts and people that are awesome at the things that they do.
They can stand on an ivory tower and you're not really sure what they're saying, why they're saying it.
But to actually come down and meet people where they are, to help them to go to where you are, that's a really phenomenal thing.
And it's a really big sign of excellence and genius as well too. So Matt, excited to have you on the show.
Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?
Matt Hall 02:33
Oh, I'm ready.
[restrict paid=”true”]
Gresham Harkless 02:34
Awesome. Well, let's get it started then. So to kind of kick everything off, let's rewind the clock a little bit, hear a little bit more about your story.
We'll let you get started with all the awesome work that you do.
Matt Hall 02:42
Yeah, it's lifelong sales guy, sales leader. And as you kind of recapped, sold a lot of different things, learned a lot about myself at each of those stops, which I think is really important.
And it kind of really led me to where I am today. I mean, you get out of college, I had a marketing degree.
And what's funny is there was no sales track. That's where I would have went. I knew, from watching my grandpa at work, watching my dad at work, watching my mom, like I knew, but there was no path.
Okay, marketing, that sounds cool. And then you get out of school and man, no one's offering you a marketing job because you had no marketing experience and my internship didn't cut it.
So I took the only job offer I had and it was a sales gig, which I was cool with. And I really took it and didn't look for something else because I was engaged.
I'm still married to my beautiful wife now. And I'm like, we are not living with our in-laws or my in-laws or her in-law. I'll take this gig because rent is due.
So I learned a lot about myself in that first step that seemed a little, eh, at the time.
But I learned that, okay, that was a consumer sales gig. I realized that kind of wasn't where I wanted to be, but I had to learn that over 10 months.
But I also learned a lot of really important sales skills in that job. And that led me to go, okay, I want to work in a B2B environment.
Okay, that led me to, I want to deal with CEOs and business owners and sales leaders and, you know, that kind of small to medium sized business.
It took me 20 years to realize that, but I did. And it all started from that first job of selling collectible coins over the phone, which is a very difficult job, but that led me into all these different opportunities.
And the big one for me, anyway, a big part of my story was. I was working at a marketing services firm.
I was the first sales employee in that part of their business. I was making 600 cold dials a week.
I did that for years and it worked. And wow, okay. And then I came out, you fit your number, however many quarters in a row, blah, blah, blah.
Thanks. Hey, lead this team now. They went from my peers to they reported to me that fast.
I was ill-prepared and I was not the best leader of those people. In the moment, Gresh, I thought I was great. I wasn't.
Luckily, there's one gentleman who was on my team. He's 20 years my senior. He still talks to me.
Like a couple of times a month, like we're still close. Why? Because he knew I cared.
But in terms of being a good leader, holding my team accountable, helping them grow, helping to make them better, I was not equipped because I didn't have the skill set.
And those moments, as tough as they were, it kind of led me to Pivotal Advisors.
And I'm grateful for the experience, because if I didn't have it, I wouldn't have, frankly, been able to land where I did.
Gresham Harkless 05:51
Yeah, that makes so much sense in that. Is that a lot of what you all do at Pivotal Advisors is to help people to kind of understand, kind of sounds like see the forest for the trees.
And be able to understand that there is a difference and this is how you can execute in that difference if you are a sales leader versus the salesperson on the front line.
Is helping them to distinguish that, is that a lot of what you all do?
Matt Hall 06:10
It's a big, big piece of it. And it's we'll use the sports analogy. We need, you need a playbook.
Most businesses have a playbook of some shape and size, and I'm not here to say their playbook is wrong, but you have something.
Some don't have anything documented and it's all in a handful of people's heads. Okay.
Well, we need to get some best practices down for your business so we can frankly have something to coach against.
But most businesses that have gotten to a certain level of had some success, they know some of this, but it's the, it's the coaching.
It just gets missed a lot. And it gets missed a lot because in these small to medium sized businesses, Gresh, there's only so much time.
We're all wearing a lot of hats. We're all trying to grow. When you have the right people on your team, they're committed, they're moving in the direction, or maybe the CEO is thinking about something over here and they're changing.
And like, there's all this, no pun intended, pivoting going on, but you got to find that time to coach.
And it, the playbook is one thing, but if you just say, hey, playbook rush, here you go.
You got it. You're hoping that they got it. You're not seeing them go run the plays. You're not seeing them in the field.
You're not giving them that feedback. Can it work? Yes. You don't have to do any of this and it can work.
I've seen it been a part of it, but if you're running into this, man, I can't. Behaviors aren't changing.
We're not growing and scaling at the clip that I want or what's going on there. That's where we meet a lot of these folks.
It's like, okay, let's dig into this. How are you coaching? How are you leading?
But if we have a one-on-one every week and we're sitting there talking about your pipeline for an hour, am I making you better?
Gresham Harkless 07:54
Yeah. And that phrase that you said meeting, and I mentioned it as well too, meeting people where they are is such a huge thing.
And I almost wonder, do you feel like that's part of your secret sauce or even the organization's secret sauce is that, having multiple tools in the tool belt.
So to speak, to be able to not just say there's one way to solve these problems.
Do you feel like when you're talking with your clients and you're working through things, do you feel like that's part of what sets you apart and makes you unique?
Matt Hall 08:16
I do. Now there are some core tools that are, in our opinion, in my opinion as well, that Pivotal is foundational.
Things like sales process, things like measurement. I have this tool that I use a lot called a revenue analyzer.
I am not a spreadsheet wizard. So this isn't the world's greatest spreadsheet. It's a simple tool.
So there are some things, there are some tools that I see as foundational.
Now, I've worked with many clients and just not even in work, just people in my life that I've worked with in different capacities are like, hey, have you ever seen this?
I'm like, I haven't sent me the whole thing. There is not one magic tool for everything.
Now, that being said, if we're talking about something in your sales org that you're trying to improve, we do need to understand what tool we need.
Because if you're telling me you need a hammer, and you're using a screwdriver, I don't think we're going to get things built the right way.
So I don't get married to a specific tool where I do really drill down is what tool do we need?
We see that happen a lot in our, our clients where we're bringing foundational tools if they don't have them.
But some of these things have already been created in their business. They just don't know how to one, they might not know what exists.
But they don't know how to like activate it and then go and have that sales leader, whomever it may be to go, okay, this is the new way.
Let's build our team around this new way. That's really powerful and exciting stuff. Makes our job fun when you see that.
And then you start to see the back-end of like, Hey, we're making this change. People are executing it.
Our leading indicators are improving, our lagging indicators, which, sales revenue or quotes or whatever those metrics are in each individual business.
It's improving. That's exciting. I wish it happened overnight, but when it does happen and you see that on the back-end, it's such a cool thing.
Gresham Harkless 10:20
Yeah, absolutely. And it's so funny. I was going to ask you for a CEO hack, and I almost wonder if that is the hack, which the ad book or have it something that can make you more effective and efficient.
I almost wonder if sometimes we're looking for that thing. And it's kind of like you're trying to find the gold here.
You're drilling, you're drilling, you're drilling, you're looking everywhere, but it's literally right in front of you.
Do you feel like that might be part of the hack where sometimes we have the things that are right in front of us that can make us more effective and efficient?
Matt Hall 10:43
So to me, the CEO hack is one. Yeah. Hack light. Some of this might be happening in your organization.
Ask your people. If you don't know how to ask them, have somebody help you. Internally, externally, someone from your CEO group who's done it, ask.
And then I think the second hack of it is that sales in particular, it's long burn. Just like other parts of your business that you've changed.
Talk to anybody who's overhauled something from an operational standpoint. Years. if you're lucky years, sometimes multiple years.
And then I get the answer that no one wants to hear, which is it depends, but it's, if it took three months, I wish I could hack it and just do these things.
So that's why I say hack like, cause if I had it, if I had the magic tool, oh my gosh, I would tell the whole planet and I'd just like everyone do this.
Then I might own two or three yachts, but it's like, you got to understand that all of those things, those tools, those hacks, they, they're good. How do they apply to your people is something altogether.
Gresham Harkless 12:03
Yeah, I appreciate you breaking that down. And I almost wonder, that could probably maybe even be the nugget, the CEO nugget.
Because I think you even find that a lot with, in businesses, like a lot of times I have this great phenomenal idea that I want to launch and create.
And a lot of times I spent all the time, 80%, writing the business plan, making sure I dot all the I's, cross all the T's, I get the logo right, I get all these things right.
And I put it out there, and the consequence is that no one wants it.
Matt Hall 12:29
It gets missed a lot because we'll get into organizations and we'll say, hey, what does so-and-so on your team do really well?
Really well. And we'll hear about it. That's powerful. That's good. And then we'll get in there.
We'll start diving in, assessing things, riding along on different, calls or meetings or whatever it is that we're doing.
And we're like, hmm, there's a trend here. Go back. What we saw was this. Like, well, three years ago, he was killing it at that.
Maybe his saw got a little rusty. Maybe he didn't get coached. Maybe you just heard it one time.
A lot of it, it goes back to ABCs, right? Consequences, good and bad, reinforcement, driving that consistent change.
And again, it's not forever, but if you ignore it, because he did it once, right, three years ago, and you never looked at it again, you're making a dangerous assumption that that person continually has it.
Like a lot of it comes back to that ABCs. Like it's, it's a foundational element for us of like, you got to drive the reinforcement positive or negative if necessary, but it's, it's missed a lot, Gresh.
I see it. And when I hear it and see it, like I have to kind of like not jump out of my seat and go, okay, well, hold, slow down.
I've been there. I've made those mistakes many, many, many, many times. Nothing's perfect.
How do we. make that next step to make a little bit of an improvement, a little bit of improvement.
And it's fun when you look at it that way, as opposed to, I have a touch of anxiety, I have no problem sharing that.
If it has to be perfect, I'll never get anything done. And then I'll just sit here in my chair and struggle.
That's big, like it's a big, big, I think that is the CEO nugget of like, hey, you gotta drive the reinforcement.
Just because CEO knows it and has it nailed, that doesn't mean everyone else does.
You gotta really coach it into them and you gotta make sure that they can play it back to you in a way that, yeah, I like that, that's good, you added your own color to that too, ooh, good, that's good. You assume it's dangerous.
Gresham Harkless 14:47
Yeah, absolutely. So I wanted to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition, what it means to be a CEO and it goes out different quote unquote CEOs on the show.
So Matt, what does being a CEO mean to you?
Matt Hall 14:57
You're a consummate leader. You're a builder of people, especially if you're a CEO who wants to build your business into something that's more than just you.
I also think that's the hardest part of business is to build those people and to build that trust that, you know what, they know it.
They've showed me they've known it. This thing that I've built, they've taken some ownership.
And when you meet one who's doing that, I think they have like an aura about them.
Like people talk about them differently than those CEOs who maybe take a different path.
Sometimes you're a CEO that didn't come up through sales and sales leadership. I know why Pivotal Advisors exists, why I'm here.
That's why I'm talking to you. It's like this, it is what it is, but it's the way.
Gresham Harkless 15:47
Matt, truly appreciate that definition. Of course, I appreciate your time even more.
So what I want 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 could get a review about all the awesome things that you're working on.
Matt Hall 16:00
We at Pivotal Advisors have a lot of tools, free tools, free resources. If you go to our website, PivotalAdvisors.com, if they want to have more of an in-depth conversation with me or they want to see kind of some of the tools that I'm using on a day-to-day basis, I'm happy to share them.
Gresham Harkless 16:16
Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, I appreciate that so much, Matt. Of course, like you said so well, we'll have the links and information in the show notes.
So that everybody can reach out to you, find out about all the awesome things that you're doing.
And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.
Matt Hall 16:26
You too.
Outro 16:27
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by CBNation and Blue16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community.
Don't forget to schedule your complimentary digital marketing consultation at Blue16Media.com. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.
Matt Hall
00:00 - 00:25
But you have something. Some don't have anything documented and it's all in a handful of people's heads. Okay, well we need to get some best practices down for your business so we can frankly have something to coach against. But most businesses that have gotten to a certain level of had some success, they know some of this. But it's the coaching. It just gets missed a lot. And it gets missed a lot because in these small to medium-sized businesses, Gresh, there's only so much time.
Intro
00:27 - 00:53
Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Grush values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I Am CEO
Gresham Harkless
00:53 - 01:00
Podcast. Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I Am CEO Podcast, and I have an awesome guest on the show today. I have Matt Hall. Matt, excited to have you on the show.
Matt Hall
01:01 - 01:01
Well,
Gresham Harkless
01:01 - 01:01
thanks for
Matt Hall
01:01 - 01:03
having me. I'm excited to chat with you.
Gresham Harkless
01:03 - 01:37
Yes, I'm definitely excited as well too. Matt and I had a phenomenal conversation when we first connected. So I'm super excited to have another great conversation. But of course, before we do that, I want to read a little bit more about Matt so you can hear about some of those awesome things he's been working on. And Matt is a business development representative with Pivotal Advisors. His role, he works with business owners and sales leaders to identify opportunities for business growth in areas to increase sales efficiency and effectiveness. Throughout Matt's career, he has focused on building systems, structures, and processes that can repeatedly deliver while building up the members of his team.
Gresham Harkless
01:37 - 02:15
Matt's business development career started with a variety of sales roles, collectibles, advertising, and marketing services. As he grew into leadership role, he learned that having a defined sales process, possessing a deep understanding of ideal clients, and sharing differentiators were important to the growth of his team, himself, and his customers. Matt has won numerous awards. I was peeking a little bit before I was preparing for this. He's generated lots of new customers, hitting the million dollar threshold as well, too. He also enjoys working with clients. And what I love more than anything else is meeting them where they are, because I think so many times when you have experts and people that are awesome at the things that they do.
Gresham Harkless
02:15 - 02:33
They can stand on an ivory tower and you're not really sure what they're saying, why they're saying it, but to actually come down and meet people where they are, to help them to go to where you are, that's a really phenomenal thing. And it's a really big sign of excellence and genius as well too. So Matt, excited to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the IMCO community?
Matt Hall
02:33 - 02:33
Oh, I'm ready.
Gresham Harkless
02:34 - 02:41
Awesome. Well, let's get it started then. So to kind of kick everything off, let's rewind the clock a little bit, hear a little bit more about your story. We'll let you get started with all the awesome work that you do.
Matt Hall
02:42 - 03:16
Yeah, it's lifelong sales guy, sales leader. And as you kind of recapped, sold a lot of different things, learned a lot about myself at each of those stops, which I think is really important. And it kind of really led me to where I am today. I mean, you get out of college, I had a marketing degree. And what's funny is there was no sales track. That's where I would have went. I knew, you know, from watching my grandpa at work, watching my dad at work, watching my mom, like I knew, but there was no path.
Matt Hall
03:17 - 03:46
Okay, marketing, that sounds cool. And then you get out of school and man, no one's offering you a marketing job because you had no marketing experience and my internship didn't cut it. So I took the only job offer I had and it was a sales gig, which I was cool with. And I really took it and didn't look for something else because I was engaged. I'm still married to my beautiful wife now. And I'm like, we are not living with our in-laws or my in-laws or her in-law. I'll take this gig because rent is due.
Matt Hall
03:46 - 04:21
So I learned a lot about myself in that first step that seemed a little, eh, at the time. But I learned that, okay, that was a consumer sales gig. I realized that kind of wasn't where I wanted to be, but I had to learn that over 10 months. But I also learned a lot of really important sales skills in that job. And that led me to go, okay, I want to work in a B2B environment. Okay, that led me to, I want to deal with CEOs and business owners and sales leaders and, you know, that kind of small to medium sized business.
Matt Hall
04:22 - 04:56
You know, it took me 20 years to realize that, but I did. And it all started from that first job of selling collectible coins over the phone, which is a very difficult job, but that led me into all these different opportunities. And the big one for me, anyway, a big part of my story was. I was working at a marketing services firm. I was the first sales employee in that part of their business. I was making 600 cold dials a week. I did that for years and it worked. And wow, okay. And then I came out, you fit your number, however many quarters in a row, blah, blah, blah.
Matt Hall
04:57 - 05:39
Thanks. Hey, lead this team now. They went from my peers to they reported to me that fast. I was ill-prepared and I was not the best leader of those people. In the moment, Gresh, I thought I was great. I wasn't. Luckily, there's one gentleman who was on my team. He's 20 years my senior. He still talks to me. Like a couple of times a month, like we're still close. Why? Because he knew I cared. But in terms of being a good leader, holding my team accountable, helping them grow, helping to make them better, I was not equipped because I didn't have the skill set.
Matt Hall
05:40 - 05:50
And those moments, as tough as they were, it kind of led me to Pivotal Advisors. And I'm grateful for the experience, because if I didn't have it, I wouldn't have, frankly, been able to land where I did.
Gresham Harkless
05:51 - 06:09
Yeah, that makes so much sense in that. Is that a lot of what you all do at Pitfall Advisors is to help people to kind of understand, kind of sounds like see the forest for the trees and be able to understand that there is a difference and this is how you can execute in that difference if you are a sales leader versus the salesperson on the front line. Is helping them to distinguish that, is that a lot of what you all do?
Matt Hall
06:10 - 06:43
It's a big, big piece of it. And it's We'll use the sports analogy. We need, you need a playbook. Most businesses have a playbook of some shape and size, and I'm not here to say their playbook is wrong, but you have something. Some don't have anything documented and it's all in a handful of people's heads. Okay. Well, we need to get some best practices down for your business so we can frankly have something to coach against. But most businesses that have gotten to a certain level of had some success, they know some of this, but it's the, it's the coaching.
Matt Hall
06:44 - 07:15
It just gets missed a lot. And it gets missed a lot because in these small to medium sized businesses, Gresh, there's only so much time. We're all wearing a lot of hats. We're all trying to grow. When you have the right people on your team, they're committed, they're moving in the direction, or maybe the CEO is thinking about something over here and they're changing. And like, there's all this, no pun intended, pivoting going on, but you got to find that time to coach. And it, The playbook is one thing, but if you just say, Hey, playbook rush, here you go.
Matt Hall
07:15 - 07:45
You got it. You're hoping that they got it. You're not seeing them go run the plays. You're not seeing them in the field. You're not giving them that feedback. Can it work? Yes. You don't have to do any of this and it can work. I've seen it been a part of it, but if you're running into this, man, I can't. Behaviors aren't changing. We're not growing and scaling at the clip that I want or what's going on there. That's where we meet a lot of these folks. It's like, okay, let's dig into this. How are you coaching?
Matt Hall
07:45 - 07:53
How are you leading? But if we have a one-on-one every week and we're sitting there talking about your pipeline for an hour, am I making you better?
Gresham Harkless
07:54 - 08:15
Yeah. And that phrase that you said, you know, meeting, and I mentioned it as well too, meeting people where they are is such a huge thing. And I almost wonder, do you feel like that's part of your secret sauce or even the organization's secret sauce is that, you know, having multiple tools in the, in the tool belt, so to speak, to be able to not just say there's one way to solve these problems. Do you feel like when you're talking with your clients and you're working through things, do you feel like that's part of what sets you apart and makes you unique?
Matt Hall
08:16 - 08:31
I do. Now there are some core tools that are, in our opinion, in my opinion as well, that Pivotal is foundational. Things like sales process, things like measurement. I have this tool that I use a lot called a revenue analyzer.
Intro
08:32 - 08:32
I am
Matt Hall
08:32 - 09:08
not a spreadsheet wizard. So this isn't the world's greatest spreadsheet. It's a simple tool. So there are some things, there are some tools that I see as foundational. Now, I've worked with many clients and just not even in work, just people in my life that I've worked with in different capacities are like, Hey, have you ever seen this? I'm like, I haven't sent me the whole thing. There is not one magic tool for everything. Now, that being said, if we're talking about something in your sales org that you're trying to improve, we do need to understand what tool we need.
Matt Hall
09:09 - 09:46
Because if you're telling me you need a hammer. and you're using a screwdriver, don't, I don't think we're going to get things built the right way. So I don't get married to a specific tool where I do really drill down is what tool do we need? We see that happen a lot in our, our clients where we're bringing foundational tools if they don't have them. But some of these things have already been created in their business. They just don't know how to one, They might not know what exists, but they don't know how to like activate it and then go and have that sales leader, whomever it may be to go, okay, this is the new way.
Matt Hall
09:47 - 10:19
Let's build our team around this new way. That's really powerful and exciting stuff. Makes our job fun when you see that. And then you start to see the backend of like, Hey, we're making this change. People are executing it. Our leading indicators are improving, our lagging indicators, which, you know, sales revenue or quotes or whatever those metrics are in each individual business. It's improving. That's exciting. I wish it happened overnight, but when it does happen and you see that on the backend, it's such a cool thing.
Gresham Harkless
10:20 - 10:42
Yeah, absolutely. And it's so funny. I was going to ask you for a CEO hack, and I almost wonder if that is the hack, which the ad book or have it something that can make you more effective and efficient. I almost wonder if sometimes we're looking for that thing. And it's kind of like you're trying to find the gold here. You're drilling, you're drilling, you're drilling, you're looking everywhere, but it's literally right in front of you. Do you feel like that might be part of the hack where sometimes we have the things that are right in front of us that can make us more effective and efficient?
Matt Hall
10:43 - 11:37
So to me, the CEO hack is one. Yeah. Hack light. Some of this might be happening in your organization. Ask your people. If you don't know how to ask them, have somebody help you. Internally, externally, someone from your CEO group who's done it, ask. And then I think the second hack of it is that sales in particular, it's long burn. Just like other parts of your business that you've changed. Talk to anybody who's overhauled something from an operational standpoint. Years. if you're lucky years, sometimes multiple years. And then I get the answer that no one wants to hear, which is it depends, but it's, if it took three months, I wish I could hack it and just do these things.
Matt Hall
11:38 - 12:02
So that's why I say hack like, cause if I had it, if I had the magic tool, oh my gosh, I would tell the whole planet and I'd just like everyone do this. Then I might own two or three yachts, but it's like, you got to understand that all of those things, those tools, those hacks, they, they're good. How do they apply to your people is something altogether.
Gresham Harkless
12:03 - 12:29
Yeah, I appreciate you breaking that down. And I almost wonder, that could probably maybe even be the nugget, the CEO nugget, because I think you even find that a lot with, in businesses, like a lot of times I have this great phenomenal idea that I want to launch and create. And a lot of times I spent all the time, 80%, writing the business plan, making sure I dot all the I's, cross all the T's, I get the logo right, I get all these things right. And I put it out there, and the consequence is that no one wants it.
Matt Hall
12:29 - 13:02
It gets missed a lot because we'll get into organizations and we'll say, hey, what does so-and-so on your team do really well? Really well. And we'll hear about it. That's powerful. That's good. And then we'll get in there. We'll start diving in, assessing things, you know, riding along on different, you know, calls or meetings or whatever it is that we're doing. And we're like, hmm, there's a trend here. Go back. What we saw was this. Like, well, you know, three years ago, he was killing it at that. Maybe his saw got a little rusty. Maybe he didn't get coached.
Matt Hall
13:02 - 13:37
Maybe you just heard it one time. A lot of it, it goes back to ABCs, right? Consequences, good and bad, reinforcement, driving that consistent change. And again, it's not forever, but if you ignore it, because he did it once, right, three years ago, and you never looked at it again, you're making a dangerous assumption that that person continually has it. Like a lot of it comes back to that ABCs. Like it's, it's a foundational element for us of like, you got to drive the reinforcement positive or negative if necessary, but it's, it's missed a lot, Gresh.
Matt Hall
13:37 - 14:12
I see it. And when I hear it and see it, like I have to kind of like not jump out of my seat and go, okay, well, hold, slow down. I've been there. I've made those mistakes many, many, many, many times. Nothing's perfect. How do we. make that next step to make a little bit of an improvement, a little bit of improvement. And it's fun when you look at it that way, as opposed to, I have a touch of anxiety, I have no problem sharing that. If it has to be perfect, I'll never get anything done.
Matt Hall
14:14 - 14:46
And then I'll just sit here in my chair and struggle. That's big, like it's a big, big, I think that is the CEO nugget of like, hey, you gotta drive the reinforcement. Just because CEO knows it and has it nailed, that doesn't mean everyone else does. You gotta really coach it into them and you gotta make sure that they can play it back to you in a way that, yeah, I like that, that's good, you added your own color to that too, ooh, good, that's good. You assume it's dangerous.
Gresham Harkless
14:47 - 14:57
Yeah, absolutely. So I wanted to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition, what it means to be a CEO and it goes out different quote unquote CEOs on the show. So Matt, what does being a CEO mean to you?
Matt Hall
14:57 - 15:33
You're a consummate leader. You're a builder of people, especially if you're a CEO who wants to build your business into something that's more than just you. I also think that's the hardest part of business is to build those people and to build that trust that, you know what, they know it. They've showed me they've known it. This thing that I've built, they've taken some ownership. And when you meet one who's doing that, I think they have like an aura about them. Like people talk about them differently than those CEOs who maybe take a different path.
Matt Hall
15:34 - 15:47
Sometimes you're a CEO that didn't come up through sales and sales leadership. I know why Pivotal Advisors exists, why I'm here. That's why I'm talking to you. It's like this, it is what it is, but it's the way.
Gresham Harkless
15:47 - 16:00
Matt, truly appreciate that definition. Of course, I appreciate your time even more. So what I want 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 could get a review about all the awesome things that you're working on.
Matt Hall
16:00 - 16:16
We at Pivotal Advisors have a lot of tools, free tools, free resources. If you go to our website, PivotalAdvisors.com, if they want to have more of an in-depth conversation with me or they want to see kind of some of the tools that I'm using on a day-to-day basis, I'm happy to share them.
Gresham Harkless
16:16 - 16:26
Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, I appreciate that so much, Matt. Of course, like you said so well, we'll have the links and information in the show notes so that everybody can reach out to you, find out about all the awesome things that you're doing. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day. You too.
Intro
16:27 - 16:55
Thank you for listening to the I am CEO podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at imceo.co. I am CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Don't forget to schedule your complimentary digital marketing consultation at Blue16media.com. This has been the I Am CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.
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