Noob School - Episode 9: Rob Grier

Episode Date: August 6, 2021

John hosts Rob Grier for a conversation about malls, mullets, and maturation. Rob's story is great for Noobs to soak in: he started at a jewelry shop in high school, thinking that his future was in management, not sales. Then, he met John at The Citadel. Before he knew it, he was following John to Datastream. John rewarded Rob by sending him across the pond to England. It's a story you've got to hear! Follow John on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/johnsterling_ Facebook: facebook.com/johnsterlingsales Twitter: twitter.com/johnsterling_ TikTok: tiktok.com/@johnsterling_

Welcome back to Noob School. Today, I have one of my true all-time favorites. One of the people who most reminds me of me, Mr. Rob Greer. Welcome, Rob. Hey, John, it's always an honor to be in your presence, and you've always been a mentor. So it's great to be here. Big honor. Thank you. Of course.

Of course. Well, let's see why I like him. So let's start with this. Something easy. Tell us how you decided to get into sales in the first place. Well, I was selling jewelry in high school. I had done a little bit of yard work for the family in Rock Hill, South Carolina. They had one of the two jewelry stores in the mall back then when we had malls.

Okay. And I had done some yard work, and they asked me to come in and help them with the Christmas decorations. Wait a second. So you were working in the yard, and they said, come help us in the store? Yeah. Okay. And it was to hang decorations. Back then you didn't put decorations up until Thanksgiving weekend for Christmas.

And they got busy and I grabbed a set of keys and sold some earrings while I was supposed to be hanging garland. And they were like, hey, you want to come back. And so it was great even coming back for two Christmases through my sophomore year, I got to do sales. Was it any commission? Yes. Not the first two, three years. Yeah. It was like 2% plus.

percent of the sale. Over minimum wage. It was great. And you were in the mall. So the mall in the 80s, you know, it was great. Lots of, lots of social. Great, great interaction. Did you have a mullet by chance?

No, I did not. Mom and Dad wouldn't let me have a mullet or not. I've got one now. It's ridiculous. Awesome. No, I love yours. Well, thank you. It's a co-be.

It looks okay in the bun, I think. Yeah, the man bun. But the mullet is not looking good. It's all right. Well, that is so cool. that's a I think your story is more what most people think happen in sales that like someone kind of got into sales in high school and made commissions and sold stuff and it is it is the perfect thing to do if you want to get in the sales right is to get some early experience yeah

I was lucky now I didn't go to college per se yeah to go be in sales what was it um what were you thinking well I was I did want to go into the military and then changed my mind with some certain things. And so I was interviewing for a bunch of management jobs, basically anything that came in to the placement office back there, which is career services today. I know where it is. We called it placement back then.

It wasn't very proactive, the name placement. And the Citadel. Is that the Citadel? Yeah, of course. And that's where I met you, actually. I know, I know. And you worked there at the office, right? I ended up getting a job there.

Yeah. And, you know, truthfully, sales was not something that I wanted. But I kept going to these banking interviews, the textile companies coming out for all the management. And they would say at the end of the interview, well, hey, this has been great. Have you considered sales? And I was, it was, you know, almost cringe a little bit. I don't know why, but because it's the most rewarding career. Right. I mean, I think it's a great point because the reason I think you cringe is because of what was put in your brain as a younger person is that it's used car selling and it's tricky and it's not reputable.

And trash. It's head trash. Yeah. So I'm glad you see that. But you actually, you know, one of the reasons that I get to talk on these podcasts of people like you is we found you. We found each other. And you matched up perfectly. for our job requirements, right? I mean, it wasn't like, you know, you forced yourself to do this. You were just, you walked in and you felt like you were in the right place. I wanted to be around you and I wanted to be a part of what you had going on. Yeah. And if you were pouring the Kool-Aid, I was there drinking it.

But through the interview process. I mean, I loved my visit when I came up. I was going to interview at Ferguson for that weekend. where they bring in and they bought your wild turkey 101 and all these great things. And that was my first time after our interview coming up is I had another interview. So I was kind of controlling the time. I dropped in on you on the way to Atlanta. But just I wanted to be a part of what you had going on.

Right. Well, we found each other. And there was, again, if you're a noob and you're trying to figure out where you've fit in, you need to understand you don't fit in everywhere, right? You have to find that right spot. It's not like you couldn't do something you didn't fit in perfectly with it. It just would have been harder for everyone, but you and I fit in great and you did great stuff for us, and you did consider some other stuff. Let's talk about you had to, you started at, I assume, age 21 with us as a sales, sales, inside salesperson.

Yes. 21, 22, 20? No, it was 22. 22. It was 20. Yeah. And so I'm just saying that the level set for the people, the youngsters watching this, that's where you started. And you really applied yourself from the beginning, not just with selling, but with ideas for the business and different things. And before long, we asked, we trusted you and we asked you to move to England and set up an office for us over there. Am I right?

Yeah, it was about six or seven months. It was, I decided. Because that process started before the idea. I sent you over there before you even with us for a year. Yeah, I came the Monday after May in graduation. I started with y'all. And in January, I was in, and I just bought my house over there on Douglas Drive. And Todd Lorbock called me and said, we're wanting to open a,

office in England. Yeah. And we want you to interview for it. And I think by March or April, it was March, by March, we were over there. So that was... Isn't that wild? I'm slow on the math. I thought it took at least three or four years, but it was less than a year.

It was less... Oh, it was less than a year. You put two quick starts together and see what happens. It was just an awesome opportunity. What an experience of. Tell us about it. Well, first of all, I love the culture that you had created. It was a fraternity.

Having gone to the Citadel. Yeah. Fraternities were forbidden. Yeah. And when I stepped into Datastream, immediately, it became my fraternity. You know, you had people like Vetzel prank in you and putting fake names in your database. But I absolutely loved coming to work. every day.

And then so it was hard to leave that, right? Because there is natural competition that comes to it. I loved, we had that grease board. We'd gather around that board every Friday. And then kick out for cocktails and drinks. So it was hard because when we, when Datastream moved us over there, it was funny. I laughed. They moved me via UPS.

So my stuff, we didn't really know about customs. either. My stuff showed up about a month later. Lordbach lived with me. Todd Lorbach, one of the legends, lived with me. He was my boss and lived with me for about two to three weeks. And then I was on my own. And I worked a lot, a lot. The firm had come out, John Grisham's book, and I had read that. And I was logging my hours. And I was working. anywhere 110 120 hours a week because back then we'd put together our marketing and stuff so I would be doing that at 11 to 2 a.m. and just everything but it was it was great experience to have the autonomy you know y'all put me up with a corporate flat or an apartment had a corporate car

had the amex and i had my 24th birthday i remember having my my 24th birthday in England. And I'd already been there for six, seven months. And this was the times leading up to go in public. And, you know, I had to take some risks over there. And I did a lot more in-person demos than you guys knew about. Yeah. Because Dan Christie put the freeze on the spending.

Yeah. But I already had a company car and the corporate gas card. So I wouldn't spend the number. night, one morning I got up at 2 a.m. went to Scotland. Wow. Drove all the way to Scotland from Redding, England, did the interview and came back at about 3 a.m. So, you know, but that was, that was fun.

That was part of it. It was a big part of me. Yeah. It was my identity. Right. Was trying and focusing on being successful for data stream. Yeah. And it was, you know.

And you did. I carried the flag. And the stream was the flag that I carried. You did. You did. You did. And eventually, as you know, we ended up with like the whole, the subway system in England and the whole rail system. I mean, the biggest counts over there we ended up getting after all your seed planning.

So thank you for that. Oh, well, thanks. No, it was a great experience. You did a great job, too. I just can't believe I sent you over there that early. It's unbelievable. Tell us something about sales that turned out to be different or way different than you thought it was going to be. The professionalism that is within sales.

It's a bond within itself. I don't know if they talk about the phrase much anymore, but carrying a bag. And for true real professionals, carrying a bag, it means a lot. and a lot of respect, you know, you hear about sales is where the rubber meets the road. And that is really so true. And so we were talking a little bit earlier about head trash. So it's only head trash if you believe it. And so if you believe yourself to be in a subservient role as a salesperson, you're probably not going to be very successful.

Yeah. In fact, that was one of the things in your training, you broke of me quick. I even push back on you at first is I kept saying, yes, sir, yes, sir. You know, like, sir, yes, sir. Yeah. And you were like, stop that. You want to be at a, you want to be as a peer, if not above. Yeah.

And so it's a mindset. Yeah. And you were the quickest person to get me over that mindset to then be successful. Yeah. Good. Well, that's a great lesson is that the buyer and the seller, you know, you need, regardless of what side you're on, you, it's got to be equal. Yeah.

You know, because we're swapping something. Maybe it's money for my services. Maybe it's, I'm selling you this, and you're trading me that. But it's just, it's a negotiation to a large degree. So I'm glad for that. I'm glad it's a good point. And the Citadel makes it harder, you know, when you're young and you're coming out of the Citadel to say, you know, yes, sir, to everyone. And my mama, too.

Yeah. My mama always said, you have good manners, young man. Right, right. All right. All right. All right. Do you remember your Colby scores? Yes. What are they?

I laugh because... So two follow through, right? It's a 6-283. Yeah, okay. And so I know the big numbers. Six, which is the first number, is fact finder. And then eight is quick start. And then I always get the two and the three confused.

So I know what they are. So 6283, it's very important. I recommend that all of our, you know, all of our followers get tested with Colby.com. Absolutely. But, you know, you've got a high scale of 1 to 10, you're high on fact finder. So if you think about an idea, you'll do a lot of homework to kind of figure it out. And then your 8 on Quick Start means you're very likely to just do it, right? Right.

Like go to England when you're 23 years old. I mean, crazy, crazy. That's a high quick start. Your follow-through is a two, which means it's not natural for you. It's very natural to go and go, but not natural for you to do all the, like, I've got to do this. I've got to check the visa. I've got to do whatever. I've got to get my plan together.

Expense reports, exactly. People with low quick start can't get their expense reports. So all that means is if you know about it is you have to have a system to accommodate for that. It could be a personal assistant, could be a fancy planner like you have to kind of completely overplan everything to make sure you got it. Right. Because it's not coming naturally. No. Right.

Right. So the point is it's okay to be any of these numbers as long as you know them. Oh, yeah. And, you know, everything's about stepping outside of your natural human instincts. And so that's what systems. That's why I like my planner here. What's it called? This is the next level achievement system.

Okay. Very good. But like planners like that, just to keep you focused. Good. So 6283, very good. Tell us, since you started as a noob like all of us, several, you know, 20 years ago, whenever it was, what were some of the best decisions you've made along that way that you could pass on?

As a noob, right? Kind of a thing. As a noob and then just keep going. You know, there's a couple other ones that. are like good things, choices you made? Personal development. Okay. And I remember coming in and I was the guy I had heard about some Nightingale Connet back in the day.

They had a monthly tape subscription where I'd get the eight audio cassettes and the plastic binder. And every month I'd get a new one. And I would just really devour those cassettes. And then as other people came on, I'd pass them on if they wanted them and always get them back. I found with that high quick start, I'm not the best reader unless it's fiction. And so personal development was hard. So I learned if I got an audio version, I'm probably going to listen to it three to eight times in my life, whereas I might not get through chapter three on a book on the side.

So personal development. Now, you know, I would say Audible. You know, a lot of people talk about podcasts. Podcasts, sometimes you get one personality type. So I love Audible because I'm buying books. And then I also have a rule that I'm only buying books that they narrated, the author narrated. So I get their own tonality inflection. Do you have any rules about buying books?

or things like this, when you still have other stuff you bought, you hadn't read yet? I need a rule like that. And honestly, I've gone to Audible, except your book, your book, and I read it in a week, which is great for me. But your book is the first book I've read in three years. And I loved it. And, but it's audible. That's my rule.

Because I will listen to that message again and again. I've come back to the good one. That's a great takeaway for the audience. It's just one thing you can learn so much, you know, from Audible. I think it's a great one. You get your book on. I'm thinking about that. I'm thinking about doing it, you know, myself for that very reason.

Because some of the feedback I've gotten from our audience, you know, our college age people who want to go into sales is, you know, yeah, I like the idea. But honestly, I haven't actually read it. we like to listen to things or watch things. And so that's one of the reasons we're doing the podcast, but I think I'm going to go ahead and do it. Do it. Yeah.

And do it yourself or if you have some guest chapter people, people that know it so that they're hitting your message. It's all tonality, inflection, pitch. Yeah, okay. So like if Jenny Shaw is on page or chapter 12 or whatever, she could read her little section. Yeah, that would be a great. That's pretty cool.

Touch. She'll be here soon. Tell them some of the things, or maybe one or two things that slowed you down, things that you wouldn't do again or you would do a different way in your path to where you are. Yeah, I was very impatient. Quick start. Quick start. And I love the challenge.

So the riskier and the greater the challenge, the more it just got me excited. And I would jump right in. And so understanding that for the long-term sales, you are going to have ups and downs. And so the downs were really hard. And it beat me up because I allowed my identity at that time period was Rob Greer Data Stream sales. I know. I mean, that was who I was. Such a good lesson, though.

Such a good lesson to be past that. Yes. and be patient and trust systems. I didn't want to trust systems. And I have to have them now. Yeah, absolutely. A process, a system, and then not to confuse who you are with this role you're playing. Right.

Right. I mean you're working for a great and things are going great. It doesn't mean you're great. It doesn't mean you're bad if it's going bad. You know, it just, you know, so anyway, it's a great. Absolutely. Great lesson. So let me ask you this very important question.

What is your favorite word? That was one of the questions that you kind of fed into it. And I thought about this. And I found out I have different favorite words during different paths of my journey. And I would have said when you hired me, persistence would have been. And I love that quote, persistence prevails when all else fails. I'm approaching 50 this year. And gratitude is, and gratitude is a proactive state.

And I would have to say now my favorite word is gratitude because it forces and reminds me to be grateful and thankful for the ride, the experiences, the things. And when we have gratitude in our lives, more things come our way. That's wonderful. Well, that's a powerful message for everyone who's listening. And I just want to thank you for being here and driving down from Charlotte. I do want to ask you one quick question.

I have this hat sitting here. That's a gift for me to you. At Rob Real Props. That's your business. That's my social media account. And tell us what you're doing now. I'm in commercial real estate. And I focus on working with investors, buyers and sellers.

apartment building. They call it multifamily. Yeah. And commercial real estate world. Well, good time to be in real estate. Yes, it is. Good time to be Rob Greer. It's a good time to be here with you, man. I can't tell you how much. Thank you, brother. I love you. I love you too.