Noob School - Episode 3: Mimi Riggins

Episode Date: June 25, 2021

Mimi shares some guidance with John on the things Noobs are wasting their energy on—and where they should be putting it instead. Mimi and John talk headtrash, too, and dive into the things that were difficult for them to overcome, but things that noobs will need to leave behind if they want to reach their goals. John shares how powerful pretending can be. Follow John on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/johnsterling_ Facebook: facebook.com/johnsterlingsales Twitter: twitter.com/johnsterling_ TikTok: tiktok.com/@johnsterling_

All right, hey, I'm John Sterling. Welcome back to Noob School. Today I have one of my all-time favorites, Mimi Cobble Riggins. Am I right? You are correct. All-time favorite? Yeah, I don't know about that, but I'll take it. I'm good with it.

You're right up there. Oh, well, thank you. All right. So Mimi is truly one of my favorites. She was one of our, I think, our first female salespeople. I was definitely early in the bunch. No question. And we sold to maintenance people.

So shame on me. I should have figured out sooner that the maintenance people would prefer to talk to Mimi than me. So she crushed it for us. So when was that, Mimi? When did we start working together? I started in 2000. September? 2000.

Wow. It seemed like yesterday. Doesn't it though? Yeah. We're all in our 20s. And our interview didn't happen. You just, you just interviewed with Larry. Larry Clevenstein, completely bypassed the rest of the interview process.

Yeah. Because Clevee and I still talk about that interview. Yeah. It was a doozy. It was a doozy. But it was. You didn't hold back. Nope.

No. No. I had an introduction. One of the other salespeople brought me in. Yeah. And so the interview basically started formal. And then I went, yeah, Kim has told you about me. He goes, yeah.

I was like, okay, then let's have the real interview. The real discussion. And then we had the real interview. And I think he told me, because I don't think we ever hired anyone that I didn't talk to. I think he just said, listen, just trust me. Maybe it's going to be fine. Go with it. Yeah.

So I'm glad we did that. Now, did you know at that point, were you already in sales somewhere else? I had been, I had worked at a local radio station doing sales. I mean, I literally sold air. And then I went to a mortgage company. Okay. and doing mortgage. But I'll admit that I didn't find success until I came to Datastream.

Like I was okay, but it was Datastring that really gave me the foundation that is still what I've built on today. Well, that's a good point, you know, for the audience of people who are trying to learn from us is, you know, if you find the right spot, all of a sudden, and you're like, gosh, look at me, me, look how successful she is. Well, you know, just a year before, she was, you know, not doing as well at a different company twice. So the time you take to find that first gig or your second gig, whatever, the right fit for you, is just as important as how good of a salesperson you are. Would you agree? I would.

Yeah. And so you were with Datastream slash N4 for how long? Seven, eight years. Eight years? Yeah. And weren't you with some other companies that were kind of in the field? I did. I left briefly and then came back to N4 and just didn't everybody. And then I've stayed in software since 2000. And always in sales. Yes. Well, I've made the shift back into business development because I didn't want to go into outside sales.

I've spent the last 20 years in shorts and a T-shirt. I'm not going to change. I remember Mimi told me early in her time at Datastream that she, you know, she would let me change the comp plan every year, but I couldn't change the dress code. This is true. Yeah. That was my staple question. Shorts and T-shirts. It's ironic that you show up looking so nice today. Well, thank you for that.

Now, I was going to ask you about your Colby, but apparently that got bypassed also. It sure did. Okay. Yes. apparently I had such a stellar personality that whatever it was I wish I had that interview videotapes but we don't I will tell you I think I know what Mimi's scores would have been they would have been very similar to other people that excel at sales right I mean because you obviously yeah you did the same thing they did in terms of your success so we'll just skip the

numbers for you but you get a lot of exceptions now when you do you do you do you do did start. Tell us some of the things you did that you wouldn't do again, like that you would do tell these people to skip. Oh, getting bogged down in the research. You hear it from, I hear it from every sales manager, everybody, just pick up the phone, just pick up the phone. But when you're starting out and they say pick up the phone, you just, you have this obsession where I don't want to sound stupid. And one thing I've learned is sometimes stupid is you're best friend. Because what you don't know, they will tell you. They are more than happy to talk about what's going on, why that matters to their business, and the information that you get from that

is more than you'd ever get from any research. Don't get bogged down in the notes. You don't need to know it all. I've gotten so used to saying, I don't know it, that I will just say, I can guarantee you, I don't know the answers, but I know the people who do. So let's talk about what's going on. That's perfect. And it's great. Yeah. So, you know, takeaway there is every nub that I have coached is likely to not make the calls because they want to do research, homework, anything but make the call because they're just uncomfortable at the early.

Early said, but not Mimi. You can tell by her personality. You know, she was always, whenever I walked by her office, she was always talking to someone, you know, engaging the prospect. So that's a great one, is to not get bogged down in the details. On the other hand, some of the things you did well, what would you pass on that people should do? Oh. Was that the same thing? Yeah, I don't know.

I don't know. Oh, you know, I will tell you that, you know, it's the relationships. Yeah. I mean, keep in mind, right, we were coming up and we didn't have LinkedIn. Yeah. So when you're building the relationship, you want to build it to the point. that if they leave, they were calling you and letting you know, this is where I'm going to be, and let's keep in touch. And I still have friends from my time there 20 years ago that were

customers. And I love that. So don't discount all the sales books and the challenger and all that stuff. And it's important. Drive value, challenge, get them to think differently. But do not discount the value of that relationship. And that is my favorite part and probably the thing I'm best at yeah I love it that's a great takeaway that's wonderful so don't be afraid to establish a human connection absolutely that's good well you're you're good at that head trash you know always like to ask about head trash and again one of my examples is growing up I was told you know it's not not polite to talk about money and so you get into the business world and who knows what's

going to happen if you can't talk about money so I'm over that all right it's Is there any head trash you've had in your life that you could point out that people can drop? Well, I would say that that upper level executive, they always scared me. They really did. You'd get a C in front of their name, and I'm like, oh, I'm going to shut down. And part of that was not being so worried that I didn't know the answer. But if I could convince them that I could find that answer or that that question was important, and I will get back to you, and then once you start talking and you realize, hey, you're going to,

you're on the other end of the phone. I don't see the C level. There's nobody. It's just some other voice that I get to talk to. And it took a little while to get over that. Because there was that feeling of they are superior. They are. And once you started talking and realizing, hey, they were looking to you for answers and help.

And, okay, I can do that. Yeah. Well, that's a great one. That's a great one. It's just a, I don't know exactly how to do it, except for just mentally just to go ahead and do it, right? Just say, just pick up the phone, ask them to lunch, meet with them, whatever. Just pretend like you don't have this feeling that you shouldn't be talking to them.

Just do it anyway. Absolutely. That's it. Don't be scared. Just do it. And, you know, they always say, right, you're going to get 100 nos before you get the yes. And the reality is, I'd be surprised if the CEO isn't like the prom queen. Nobody's asking him out to lunch.

I agree. I've seen that before. I've seen that before. Last question. Favorite word in the English language. Well, for the purposes of this podcast, it would be, it would be, absolutely.

Absolutely. That has been drilled in from the start, and you know when you're encounter anybody from data stream, but it was the right way, because it's such a much more positive way to say yes. Right. And you just feel good.

Can you help me with this? Absolutely. Can your software do this? Absolutely. Who doesn't feel energized when that's the answer? I absolutely love the Mimi. You're awesome. I love you too.

Yeah, man. It's awesome. So thank you all for tuning in to another outstanding episode of Noob School. We'll see you next week.