Noob School - Episode 2: Mike Thacker

Episode Date: June 18, 2021

John and Mike share several stories from their time as coworkers and take a moment to follow Mike's journey from working on the (lowly) leads team to becoming a premier salesman. Mike breaks down some of the most important skills he learned on his journey—some are really invaluable tools for Noobs! Follow John on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/johnsterling_ Facebook: facebook.com/johnsterlingsales Twitter: twitter.com/johnsterling_ TikTok: tiktok.com/@johnsterling_

Hey there, I'm John Sterling. Welcome back to Noob School. Today, I got Mike Thacker. Hello there. Hello, Mike. One of my all-time favorite people. But started as a salesperson, started as a noob like the rest of us. Absolutely.

Yeah. Mike joined me in our company. How long ago? 98. That's like 10 years ago. Right. Yeah, so 98. Wow.

Very cool. Right before the year 2000. Well, yeah, Mike is a... Mike was a great salesperson. He required very little training, as I recall. That's correct. I remember trying to help you. It's just like you got it all.

You understood everything I was trying to say immediately. And you were making quota really quick. Absolutely. Yeah. How do you do? is that? I think the biggest thing is just being patient, you know. One of the things that I found early, and it's a comment you made is you buy from your buddy. You know, instead of trying to push so hard for the sale, I just got to know what they were wanting. Yeah. Really had a challenge in the

beginning listening. That was one of the biggest flaws I had is almost as soon as they said something that gave me a sense that they wanted to buy something, I wanted to jump on the sale. But through learning and through patience, I've learned that, like, if you just sit back and chill, they'll tell you the whole story along the way, and then you can sell them a lot more about just listening. Well, I'm not kidding.

You know, we had hundreds of salespeople, and I would say Mike Thacker is right up there at the top in terms of the old natural salesperson. I mean, you just always knew how to do it. And I think you are good at that. Like just trying to understand what they want and not being nervous about it. No. I think that's another thing.

Having comfortable conversations goes a lot better than when you feel like somebody's trying to sell you something. Right. Yeah, that's why, you know, you just talk about something else and then ease the product into the conversation. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you're really good at it. So remind me in 98, do you remember what our interview was like? So I went through several interviews.

Yeah. And then you were the last. one. That was the last. And it was up in the office. Okay. And I remember your office exactly where it is down the floor of the fourth, on the fourth floor. And, you know, I was kind of thinking, because I was right out of college, it was like, I'm finally to the big, you know, the big final interview. Yeah. And I walked in and you were just super chill. You know what I mean? I was like, I kind of went in kind of nervous, but then I left there, like, wow, this is a great, great company. This is where I want to spend my time. But I started, you may not remember this, but I started in Leeds. Like I wasn't, it was kind of like the holding tank they put you in before you got into sales. Okay. And they said I was going to be in there about a year. And I was in there two months because I was like, you know, I'm not going to do this. Yeah.

And then, you know, luck of the draw, it was whoever got canned, you ended up getting their territory. Yeah. So you weren't in the best position. Yeah. It was however the cards were doubted. Yeah. It was Boston. Oh.

And it was area code based. So I had 617. and I had part of Connecticut 2-860 so the Hartford area but you know they got before me it just I was like oh God this is going to be so bad but ended up you know shortly becoming one of the top territories

well I can't imagine you being stuck in leads for too long no no you got to let the horse run right and then what else have you sold since then I mean, that's a broad question, but what are some of the other stops you've had on your career up to now? It's a pretty wild story, but I've sold everything from software to injection mold tooling. I lived over in Asia for a little while.

I've dabbled in real estate. I've, you know, dabbling in cars. Your families, I think everyone in your family's purchased a car from me at some point. So, yeah, I've had my hands in a lot of, all sales related, though. Yeah, I know. But, I mean, you also had the super high-end real estate thing. Yeah, over in the Caribbean. Mexico, right?

Yep, I live there. a couple years as well. Yeah. So Michael really, I mean, he's one of those people you'd say, you know, can sell ice to the Eskimos or whatever. He just got the gift. So whatever he decides to put his mind to you, he can sell it. And it's pretty cool, pretty cool to see.

Very easy decision for me after I met you. And saw your Colby. I remember your Colby, I remember the exact numbers. But, you know, whatever the numbers were indicated, salesperson and kind of entrepreneur, which is a more quick start and where you're just willing to go try things and do things, which is kind of more like mine, more of an entrepreneurial pattern than a sales pattern.

Also indicates, Mike, well, if you've been told this before, a little harder to manage. A little harder to manage. That's pretty accurate. It's like trying to put the genie in the bottle. Correct. So anyway, I think I was maybe the best at doing that

because I kind of gave you some space. Like, Michael, if you make your number, Everything's cool. Right. Right. Just make your number. Just make your number. I don't need TPS report.

So it may be the third day before the other quarter now of a sudden magically at my number. That's it. That's what I'm talking about. So, you know, for all your nobs out there, if all else fails, just make your number. Okay, that will save you. Right? That'll save you.

So let's talk about a few things that specifically can help these brand new sales people. Number one, what are some of the things? if you were starting over, or things you remember that you did when you were just starting out that weren't so good that you wouldn't do again, they should watch out for. So it was interesting. We talked prior to this interview starting about how great it would be to like kind of take ourselves, go back to our, you know, 25 years ago and you're like, hey, what the heck were you doing back then? I think that, you know, you probably remember this, but you made it for,

record our calls. And we'd have to go up. It would be five or six of us in a room. And you press play on the tape recorder. And if we did innings two, we just would hammer us. In front of your peers. In front of our peers. Yes, of course. And there was one thing in particular, you wanted absolutely was the word. You had to include if someone said something important. It had to be absolute. So I remember one time, there was one of the guys and he missed an absolutely. It was like a perfect spot to be in an absolutely. And he went back and re-recorded it. Plugged it in.

And absolutely. It was so obvious what he had done. Did I catch it? You didn't catch it. Oh, my God. But we all knew it. That is so great. We all knew it.

So he should have said absolute. Russ? Yes. Russ. Russell. I can't remember the guy's name. So he should have said absolutely. He should have said absolutely.

So the customer said something like, could you possibly get to us by next Thursday? Yes. Let me check. Right. Right. Yeah, and I called him because we, you didn't know this, but we would listen to each other's calls, making sure it was the right call to go up to the big show. Yeah. And I said, you missed an absolutely.

You missed an absolutely. I think maybe I could record it in there. A little side business and giving me a tape right. Yeah, but back to what we were saying about why what I do, what I do now that I, what I do now versus what I did before. I think that I was just so hungry to sell something instead of understanding the people's issues and the problems they were trying to solve. You know, solution selling. So instead of just selling for the sake of selling, actually, you know, creating a referenceable account is what's huge. Well, I mean, I would agree just to add a little flavor to that.

I think we all tend to start, noobs tend to start with trying to make the transaction. It's like there's a person on that side of the table, on a person. on this side and you're trying to get them to say yes. Yes. And it makes you look good. You make commission, all this stuff. And it's the wrong way to do it. I mean, if you can get on their side of the table and just get them to open up to what

their situation is and then solve it for them, they'll happily give you the order, right? Yeah. You know that. Well, and also understanding the rest of the audience of the organization. So you may be dealing with one guy, and there's 10 other decision makers in the process. And you've got to know who those people are. because you can think you've got a deal done and get derailed at the last stage of the sales cycle.

Yeah. So knowing the whole audience and pulling everyone together, you know, early in the sales cycle. Yeah. You know, get everybody. If they're not willing to sit down in a room, full of executives, you probably don't have a deal. What's your biggest deal ever?

It was Georgia Pacific, and it was interesting because Georgia Pacific, if you remember, had custom red code for MP2. MP2 custom, yeah. Yeah, and then they bought the source code from Larry when Datastream bought Infor. And they called up and were like,

hey, we're looking at rewriting this in dot net. And they had an Oracle and some other big companies in line. And I said, hey, I actually used to work for Datastream. Would you let us do this? And it was a nine-month sale cycle, but absolutely the biggest deal I've ever closed. $7 million. Taylor.

Yeah. $7 million. This is what's possible. We always talk about, you know, if you're a noob, you want to be where Mike's sitting. You can close a $7 million deal. He's done so many other things too. We've stayed in great touch over the years, but $7 million. So you can do that.

And just keep listening. There's a few more things. Tell us about some of the stuff you did when you started that you would want to pass on, that people knew. Some of the things that I did successfully. Yeah, like the good stuff. I think with your teammates, sharing the success stories, you know, bouncing off of others that have been successful.

So when you come in an organization, that's one thing I did. Edens was number one. So I, like, lashed myself to him. So he's talking about Brian Edens, who was at the time our number one salesperson. And I think what Mike's saying is, what you should do, hang around those kind of people. Absolutely. Learn from them. 100%.

Yeah. See, that's not going to absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. And then one of my subjects I ask everyone about is head trash. Again, for an example, in my life, you know, as a kid, the head trash was, it's not polite to talk about money. You know, like that's just not polite, you know, kind of a thing you learn.

And then, of course, when you get out and you're in business, you better be talking about money. Correct. So do you have any head trash in your life that you've kind of gotten through? You know, off the top of my head, I think, and the same thing happened to John Harrison, I was so young coming in. And like, I remember one of you guys told me to wear glasses and in a meeting because it would make me feel older. So I'm early 20s. And Lear was one of my accounts.

And, you know, I'm in this board room up in Southfield, Michigan. And I feel like a kid in there. Yeah. So, you know, getting past that and realizing quickly that, like, software, relatively speaking, is pretty new. Yeah. So it's not uncommon to have young entrepreneur sales folks that are young. So, I mean, you look at Zuckerberg, he looks like he's 10. Yeah.

And, you know, running a multibillion-dollar organization. Yeah. Just get that out of your head. I mean, it doesn't matter what your age is. Yeah. You know. Just sell, right? That's what you know.

Yeah. Well, that's a great one. That's a great one. Let's go with your favorite word in the English language. It is a four-letter word. Okay, I was afraid of that. I'm going to keep it PG, but it is S-O-L-D. Sold.

Sold. So there's nothing better than close it a deal. It honestly is like a drug to me. Yeah. Very good. Sold. That's a good one. That's the best word yet in the podcast series.

Oh, thank you. Congratulations. So Michael, thank you for being on the show. Absolutely. Outstanding guests. Thank you. Thank you all for tuning in to another episode of Noob School, and we'll see you soon. Thank you.