Noob School - Episode 22: Mark Smith

Episode Date: November 5, 2021

Mark Smith works for one of the world's technology leaders, which makes him one of the best technology salespeople you'll ever listen to. John and Mark talk about their time spent together and Mark's journey to his current position. Mark also breaks down his approach to tech sales—incredibly valuable for any Noobs going into the field. Grab a notepad and give this one a listen! Follow John on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/johnsterling_ Facebook: facebook.com/johnsterlingsales Twitter: twitter.com/johnsterling_ TikTok: tiktok.com/@johnsterling_

All right, welcome back to Noob School. Hey, this is where we interview great salespeople and figured out how they got started and started to build their career. Today, I have another great friend, one of my all-time favorites. Mark Smith here. Mark, welcome aboard. John, it's great to be here, man. Great. So, Mark, where are you now? So I am at Cisco Systems now. Cisco, is that like the number one company supplying the internet? Yeah, we are. And it's a phenomenal company. And I tell you, I'm really happy to be there. Very lucky to be a part of the team there. Awesome. Awesome. Well, that's a pretty good place to be.

Pretty good place to be. Well, let's back up. I mean, I know part of the story because I was involved in the beginning, but what we're trying to help the noobs with is how you got started and how you started this career that ended you up working for companies like ScanSource and Cisco, supplying, you know, some of the greatest company is out there with, with all that Cisco does. Back to when you were their age, you went to Clemson and you majored in economics,

I would say economics slash business. And tell us about the journey from there into getting into what your whole career has been, which is technology sales. Yeah. Well, you know, I got out of school. I actually went to work with my dad. He had an advertising company. And so I did that for a couple.

years decided that probably wasn't quite right for me and I think this was in the 80s I'm gonna date myself a little bit but this was kind of when you know the whole computer industry was kind of really growing especially getting into business and you know data stream had a had an ad yeah and so I responded to it and at that time I came in kind of working as a marketing kind of guy helping you guys and I remember you came to me and said hey you know what are you interested in going into sales and I was like I never done it but hey I'll I'll try it and it sound like a great opportunity and wound up being really changing I think the course of my life and career

because you know I've been in in that field ever since and it was just to me it was an incredibly positive way to get in and it was a great experience and I I I've been doing it ever since. Right. So technology sales. Why would you say that that is such a good thing to be doing versus some marketing or some other line of business? I think, you know, if you look at what I've done over the course of my career, it gives you so many options to do different kinds of things within sales. You know, start out with software and did that for many, many years, switched over and started doing a little bit more on the hardware side of things when I moved over to ScanSource,

work directly within users, you know, as software, they started working with the channel and partners now with ScanSource and Cisco. So it just gives you a tremendous number of options if you're looking to do something and you want to. to change a little bit, but still not lose, you know, what you've learned. Yeah. You know, technology sales is tremendous. And it's going to continue to be a phenomenal direction for people getting into a career. Yeah. I agree with you.

I feel like, you know, neither of us is super technical. You're more technical than I am. But, you know, anyone who can understand it enough to figure out what a client's problem is, and figure out a way to fix it using the tech people, right? To actually solve it. Yep. You know, that's going to be a high-paying, high-demand job for a long time. Absolutely.

Like you said, I mean, you don't have to be the most technical person, you know, in the room to be very successful. Right. What you have to do is, like you say, understand the issues with your customer or your partner that you're working with. and then lean on the team of, you know, the technical experts to help you with those situations. Right. And that's what you learn when you go through. I probably got less technical. It's funny over the course of my career.

Number one, the technology is just a lot more, you know, involved. Yeah. And it's not as simple as it used to be. But you also learned that, you know, that's not really what I need to focus on. I need to focus on those relationships and those things. that really matter and looking after my end user or my partner. That's a great point. You mentioned a couple of things in there.

We should probably unwind a little bit for the folks watching or listening. You talked about going from direct sales is where you started. You know, you get a lead. You call them up. You qualify them. You're trying to sell some software. And eventually you got to managing a channel where you had a large number of people out in the field that had their own businesses.

and you were managing selling your stuff through them. Tell us a little bit about the difference between your direct selling and managing a channel. Yeah, that's a great question. And, you know, when you're involved with the direct channel, you know, you're very involved in specific things that that, you know, that, you know, end user is looking for. And when you're talking to a partner, there are a myriad of things that you've got to be very aware of. You've got to be aware of what their business model is. You've got to be aware of how they go to market. You've got to be aware of how much profitability they're making on the deals

because you've got to work with them. They've got a lot of choices as a partner out there. And you've got to really position your technology solution in a way that makes it so they want to work with you. And it's an ongoing relationship. It's not a, hey, I'm going to sell you this. And then, you know, I'll check back it with you in six months. Yeah. It's continuous.

Yeah. You know, you've got to always be working with those guys in the indirect channel and the partner community to see about how can we get you to grow your business. And so when you, it's Scansource. I know you got into that. You went data stream, scan source, Cisco. Right. So Mark has essentially had three jobs since Clemson, three, you know, serious, long-return jobs.

All three technologies. companies. Two of them started here in Greenville and then Cisco is the biggest, strongest of the three. It's an amazing company. But how many people could, how many partners or in the channel could you manage it one time per person? So it really depends on your level of involvement with the partner. Okay. So, you know, with, when I was with the scan source, I would typically have, I would say, you know, 100 to 150, maybe 200 partners that I work with primarily. Wow. With Cisco, that number is a lot larger just because of the way it's structured.

So I may interact with, you know, four or five hundred partners over the course of a year in that situation. So your level of involvement is going to be a little different on each partner, obviously. You know, so you've got some bigger partners that you're working with very in depth with. Then you've got other partners who are maybe new. And so your level involvement may be, you know, very high in the beginning. But then you kind of, you know, let them kind of go and work and become, you know, more successful and give them the right resources to go to. Yeah.

So it really kind of depends on the partner and their involvement, really. But it's a, it can be. high number. Now there are some people who only focus on a handful. But you know, in the jobs that I've had, I've had a lot of, a lot of partners. And that would be a difference between tier one, bars and tier two and tier three. Exactly. Exactly. Interesting. Interesting. It is different. Interesting. Okay. Tell us this. What was something that you thought in your mind about sales before you started in sales that turned out to be wrong? Yeah. I, I, You know, I think I probably like a lot of people just, you know, had the old image of the used car salesman.

You know, I've got to figure out a way to somehow, you know, sweet talk them into, you know, doing a deal. Or I've got to, you know, you know, trick them somehow. Trick them somehow or, you know, offer a sweet price. And that's the way they buy it. And obviously, when you get into it, you know, it's so much different than that. And it's really, to me, of. much more involved from a standpoint of building those relationships. You know, and that's the, that's the year I think people don't probably or have never been in sales,

don't realize it's so important, you know, is how do you connect with that person? How do you connect with them on an individual basis and listen to them and understand really what it is they're looking for and what is it they need, you know, and Taylor, you know, you know, your message and your communication to them around that, not just some pre-planned spill on, you know, why this is the greatest thing in the world. Yeah. I agree. I think we all start, not all, but almost all of us start very transactional.

Right. You're under pressure to sell so much this month and you're calling people and, you know, all that kind of stuff. And, you know, we graduate over time or at least the best salespeople I talk to graduate to that doctor, patient relationship where there's true trust and you're like, we're here to figure out what's going on and see if we can fix it for you. Yeah. You know, that's it. Yeah.

Absolutely. We'll agree on how much that's worth to you. And if it's not, then, you know, we'll go talk about how the next patient come in. You know, I mean, we don't have to do this deal. Right. And, you know, as soon as someone crosses into that zone, the customers can sense it. Oh, yeah. Right?

They know now that Mark's not here. It's just to jam them for the end of the month special. Yeah. Although we did that. No. Yeah. We do that on occasion. No.

Go question. We did the introductory special. I'll tell you what really turned it around for me, John. So I was at Datastream, you know, starting out. Yeah. And, you know, I struggled a little bit for those first few months, man, you know. So because I was brand new. And so I would go around and I would try to listen to people and figure out how they did.

And, man, I remember coming into your office and listening to you so many times because you were so good about creating that rapport with these guys. And these were maintenance guys, right? Maintenance guys, plant engineers. A lot of them really didn't know a lot about, you know, software or even computers. But you had such a great rapport with them. And so what I tried to do, I didn't try to emulate you because you're you and you have your own style. But things really turned around for me when I've figured out, you know, I need to be an advocate for these guys. You know, I'm not just selling them software.

I need to be because when they incorporated our software and a computer, it really raised the level of their status within the company. Yes. You know, I mean, these were just maintenance guys. Right. You know, and they were like, hey, call Joe down here when something breaks. Yeah. But when I started to listen to them and take their position and say, you know what, these guys, you know, deserve a chance to be able to improve their position, not only with what we do as a software company, but really their status within the company, that really changed it for me, I felt like. And after that point, you know, it was so good.

It was so much fun to talk to these guys and no, I'm not just going to sell them software. you know, I'm going to help them really improve their work experience and their status within the company organization. And that was so much fun because that's just an added bonus. You're helping these guys. Absolutely. And you're really doing more than just getting a PO. Yeah. You know, because that leads to having that relationship.

And the guys on the other end can sense that. Absolutely. You know, they don't have a PO. Let's just use what, today's date? Yeah, that's right. All the old tricks are coming out. Oh, man. We had a few, the old L-O-I or the letter of intent or whatever.

Oh, that's horrible. Statue of limitations has expired. That's right. Well, that's great. You figured it out early then. You know, you figured that early because I'm sure you do that with people with Cisco and with scansores. Oh, sure, yeah.

You're the advocate for these people. You're helping them in the maintenance people, for example. They, you know, they went from, you know, Joe to go fix the leaky faucet to, you know, the board of directors now is demanding a readiness of the assets. You know, are they being taken care of or not? Because it's a lot of money. Oh, man. I mean, yeah, that whole, you know, the whole business has changed now and it's all, you know, enterprise asset management now. And yeah, you've got to produce reports and how much downtime and how much has this cost us?

Safety. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Do you remember your Colby numbers? I don't. Yeah. I don't. I mean,

I remember, you know, doing the test and everything. I don't recall what they were. I remember that, I don't remember the exact numbers, but I remember it said you were like super steady. You know,

that you're like super steady. That's probably true. And that is a wonderful thing for what you've been doing. I mean, you just, you just, you know, keep after it day after day,

you know, working with these clients and these resellers, it's awesome. Well, I remember when you asked me to do this, and I had to kind of go back and think about, you know, what I've done over the years and, you know, obviously some things that didn't work and some things that worked. But for me, it was always a matter of, look, you're going to have days, you know, in a salesperson's life, you're going to have days where it just feels like, man, nothing to work. You know, I'm getting no every time I turn around.

Right. Yeah. But, you know, if you do the right things and have the right habits every single day, it's going to come out. It will. You know, you're going to have days where it's like, am I, what's wrong? You know, what am I doing? But, you know, if you have the right habits and you know that what you're doing is the right thing,

it's going to work out for you. Well, tell me, tell us, um, Some of the other good decisions that you would pass on to the noobs, things that you did well in your career that got you to where you are now. Yeah. I would say, you know, always treat people with respect. And, you know, there are going to be times when there are people that you don't necessarily agree with. And there's nothing wrong with state in your opinion and things like that. But, you know, always have a genuine amount of respect for people.

And I think they can sense that. And you're going to have customers sometimes or partners that don't, you know, don't like about what's happened to them. And you've got to have some uncomfortable, you know, conversations sometimes. But if you're respectful to them and they can sense that in a professional matter, that will help, you know, you get through that situation. The other thing is just always look for ways to improve what you're doing.

Don't get complacent. I mean, if you're riding high sometimes, man, you know, I'm just killing my numbers. It's great. You know, there's ways that you can improve, believe it or not. You know, if you just sit down and think about it, always be looking to see what it is. Maybe it's a different process. Maybe it's the way that I, you know, am getting information to my customers or my partners. But always be looking for ways to improve that because there's always things that we can do a little bit different.

And the other thing I would say that helped me tremendously is don't think you know it all. You know, go around and listen and talk to other people. I know for me, especially in the beginning at Datastream, it was tremendous to work with you. and other people like Mike Cannon. The Reverend. Yeah. And, you know, Bill Hedgebath, Mark Vatzel. Everybody had their own style.

And I would love to listen to these guys because I would pick up a few little things in there, right? Yeah. You know, I wasn't trying to emulate everybody, but I would listen to them. And I would like, oh, you know what? I love the way he kind of phrased that or said that. And we were doing obviously over the phone sales, and it was very important to be able to convey what you're wanting in a good manner. But I just loved picking up different things like that. Yeah, that's great.

It's a great one I think is, you know, the continual improvement as a salesperson or manager is like, I'm going to get, you know, try to get 1% better every day or every week and how that piles up. And I'll tell you what Mark, Mark does a great job at this, but what I see other salespeople fall into is a trap of, oh, man, why they screw up our comp plan? And, oh, if they just had the new product out, you know, or the marketing plan is no good. And they start to look at what the company's doing or what the economy's doing instead of what they can do for themselves. Right. If you're at a company and you keep making yourself better and better and better and that company really is screwed up, then you'll just, go somewhere else. Right?

Yeah. I mean, you have to kind of, you know, separate what's under your control and what isn't. Yeah. Right? And, you know, focus on what you can control. There are, you know, times when you just can't control, you know, what the economy is doing, right? Right.

But you still have to go in there and, you know, make sure you're doing everything. You may have to switch, switch methods a little bit or strategies a little bit. Yeah. I think the question there is, I think it's a wonderful point, Mark. you know, when these things happen, when something really bad happens, your customer, you know, companies getting bought or economy crap, whatever it is. The question is, what are we going to do? Exactly. What are we going to do?

Yeah. I mean, when the economy crashed in 2008, a friend of mine was like a fundraiser for some college up in Virginia. I mean, he's going around trying to get people to give money. I mean, we didn't know if the world was going to survive. And so what did he do? He went ahead and made his rounds and visited all the big donors and said, I'm not coming for money. I want to give you an update on how this is impacting the school.

We'll talk about money next year. Yeah. Just like gave them a way out. Right. But stayed in touch. And you know all those people, so much appreciated that. Oh, yeah. So the next year, you know, chiching.

Yeah. Yeah. So that's a good one. That's a really good one. Is there one thing you wish you to know when you started that you could pass on to the listeners? Yeah. I think, you know, the one thing that I would, you know, probably wish I had known before going into sales was that, you know, what a huge, to me, personal impact it had had on really how I treated other people and other aspects of my life. So to me, you know, with sales, you have to kind of bring yourself out of your shell a little bit

in order to be good at being relating with people. Yeah. I tell you, John, I think that really helped me in my personal relationships with everybody else. Right. That when I wasn't at work, you know, it really, it gave me an opportunity because I think normally I'm coming to, you know, I kind of grew up as kind of a shy person. And so it wasn't the most natural thing in the world for me to just go out and talk to people. My mom was the exact opposite. She was a phenomenal outward person.

But for me, being in sales really helped me kind of come out and really work with people and really interact with them in a much more positive way. And it gives you a more positive outlook on life. Right. I love it. That's a great answer. I mean, between interacting with strangers, public speaking, asking hard questions. I mean, yeah, you just, you realize, oh, you know what?

I used to not do this. Yeah. What I was sit there and talk to a family member or a friend or whatever. But, you know, with having that sales background, you really get into, you know, really wanting to find out about people and what's going on with their lives. Yeah. And you're not really also always thinking about yourself all the time. You know, and that's easy for us to do.

I block off 10% of my time for other people. Here's a good one. What's your favorite word? Favorite word? Man, I don't know. I'm going to say this is going to sound kind of crazy, but I'm going to say my favorite word is yes. Yes.

Nice. And the reason that is is because, you know, we live in such a world where, there are so many, you know, bad things going on all the time. Yeah. And it's easy to just sit down if you watch the news or they get wrapped up in things and real, you know, and it's easy to think, God, you know, this is, it's going downhill, baby, you know, and it ain't looking good. But, you know, if you just keep that word yes, and there are so, and it has an impact, not only on how you see the world, but how the, you know, people that you interact. with, work with you. And just having that positive, you know, mental attitude. I think we used to talk

about that, PMA. Yeah, PMA. Positive mental attitude all the time. Yeah. And going back to the old Zig Zigler. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think sometimes, you know, we kind of get over a little bit of that, get a little cynical. Yeah. But that still drives a lot of what happens in this world. If you look at the people who are successful, they maintain that positive energy, man. Right. Right. And it's, It's not easy. It's not going to be easy all the time. You go through some tough, it's tough areas. But, man, I think that to me makes a big difference.

I think it's great. I love the word yes, and I'll keep the conversation going a little bit. Because I think, you know, every time something happens, or if you say something to me, I basically have three choices. The first choice is to say, oh, man, you say it's raining outside, that's going to be, that's going to be great. When it clears up later, it's going to be beautiful. be perfect. Or I could say, oh, number two, neutral. I could say, that's interesting.

Huh, nothing, just kind of neutral. Or I could say, oh, my God, it's raining. It's going to be so slippery on the way. How it can hurt my, you know, the car could spin out of control. Every single time we have that choice. And all those three things are kind of true. Yeah. So it's just which one are you going to on purpose focus on?

Yeah. And then people will say, well, you're just, you know, you'll never talk about the name. I'm like, no, no. You want to talk about a hard thing I'm happy to. Let's just call a timeout and talk about it. But let's don't talk about it when you bring up the rain. Right.

You know? Yeah. I know your Clepson Tigers a couple years ago, they lost, they lost to like Boston College or somewhat early in the season. Yeah. And I was like, you know, I'm a Gamecock fan. I saw Hector. Saw our friend Hector.

I'm like, oh, yeah, what happened to the Tigers? And just within minutes of them losing, I saw him. I talked to him on text. And he's like, oh, you know what? We lost early enough that if we went out and so-and-so loses, we'll still be in the final four and we can win the national championship. I mean, that was his answer within minutes of losing. And that's, I think that's where we want to be.

Yeah, yeah. It's hard to get there sometimes, you know, because, you know, I like, you know, this is a little tough season for us this year. But, you know, I've told my son, he's, you know, he's like me. He's a big clumsy guy. And, you know, we've had a couple of losses this year already. But I said, look, you know, this is sometimes how you get better, man. Right.

You know, it's not always gloom and doom. There's always a way to get something positive out of what's happened. Good. You know. So, well, I'm so happy you're able to be here today and that we met 30 years ago. Oh, man. Yeah. This would have been 88.

I can't even do it at 90. Yeah, I know. That's what I was going to say. That's 20, 25? I don't know. Yeah. 88. Yeah, it's 12.

Yeah, 12. Yeah, almost 30. Yeah, almost 30. So, anyway, you know you have a good friend when you've been friends that long. Absolutely. But Mark, really proud of you from where you started to your great career at ScanSource to being at the finest company in the internet right now at Cisco. Good example for folks listening. and glad to have you.

Thank you, John. Thank you for having me, man. Thank you. It's always good to see you. All right. Hey, is John here? Thanks for listening today. Please check out noobbschool.org.

That's my website. That's where we have other videos and content that can help you get started in sales.