358: Sales Training for Modern Salespeople: Increase Your Prices, Conversions and Profits with Hardcore Closer Ryan Stewman

Robert Plank 0:00 Robert Plank Show Episode 358, sales training for modern sales people, increase your prices, conversions and profits with hardcore closer, Ryan stewman. Hey everyone, and thanks for listening. We're talking right now with Ryan stewman, and he's the hardcore closer, and he's also the founder of the Break Free Academy, and it doesn't matter if you're selling cars, homes, financial services or consulting. Ryan's sales mastery can help you generate higher quality leads, increase your closing ratios and show you how to charge premium fees for the items you sell. I think we all want to do that. So Mr. Ryan, glad to be talking to you. Hey,

Speaker 1 0:39 I'm excited to be here, Robert, I appreciate you having me on here and letting me entertain your audience. That's what it is, right? Yeah?

Robert Plank 0:46 Because, yeah, what's, what's the point of, like, learning some stuff if you're not you know if it's if it's not fun, if you don't love what you do, if you're not entertained. So I am for all that stuff. So we heard a little bit about what you're all about, but can it kind of tell us in your own words, what is it that you do what makes you stand out and special?

Speaker 1 1:03 Well, you know, I do a lot of stuff. There's being honest and and I'm most known for my sales training, but I actually do a lot of stuff. I own six companies, and I built my whole business around sales. I've never had a salary job my entire life. I've never taken a paid vacation, never taken a paid day off, never called in, and had a sick day that I got paid for like none of that stuff has ever happened to me, ever and and because of that, I've always just relied on my sales ability my entire life. Since I was 13 years old, I started selling car washes for my stepdad, and in 2010 I decided to start teaching other people how to how to make sales in the ways that I have made it, and then that's evolved, obviously, into internet marketing, because I saw a need out there in the marketplace where there was a lot of sales trainers that wore suits and ties and and looked like, you know, your favorite Sunday school person. And there's nothing wrong with that, but it's definitely not me, and definitely not most of the salespeople that I had met over the years, either. And so I just realized that there was a large, we'll call it unchurched, segment of the sales force that really wasn't, didn't have anybody that could relate to them as a mentor or somebody trying to train them or whatever. And really, like, just between me and you, Robert, like sales training is just a tiny, maybe 10% of what I do, but it's sexy, and so that's how we lure you in, but really we're helping people build and scale businesses and sales being not just like handling objections and stuff, but creating sales funnels and follow up emails and and all the stuff that it really takes these days to run a business. I remember there was a time where in order to run a business, you had to have, like a brick and mortar set up, and you had to have electricity to it and water to it, and cable to it, and phone lines set up, and all that other stuff. And now an online business is the same way you you set up an online website, and then you've got to have a commerce away, a shopping cart. You've got to have a funnel and follow up emails and all the things that go along with it as well. And that's what we teach. Is the the modern way of doing sales,

Robert Plank 3:09 awesome. And I can, I can definitely relate to a lot of that in that, you know, like, that traditional, like you said, that brick and mortar business, it looks a certain way. And like, if you were to ever by, like, I don't know, like, like, an office or a laundromat or something, or some kind of, like, building, you'd say, Oh, well, of course there's a physical building. There's certain things I have to do. But then on the internet, it seems like a lot of people just want to kind of dabble around, or just want to have have a skill, or be a blogger or something, and and I definitely went early on, went through a phase like that, where I thought, Oh, well, I'm just gonna, you know, put some stuff out there, and it'll, it'll sort of come to me, and it'll work out. And I know that I felt like I was working way too hard for not a lot of money. And then once, I finally told myself that, okay, like I can't keep going on this path. I have to learn about copywriting and sales, and I have to build a list, and I have to run webinars, then things really took off. But, I mean, do you see a lot of that? Or people like, they don't really make that connection. Of like, there's internet stuff, but they don't really realize that they're running a business. Well,

Speaker 1 4:10 let's think of like the small business owner that has a, like, a mobile notary thing, right? Where title companies hire them and they go off and they sign documents. They may have a website, but that's it. And then the website may only just have their phone number on it. It may not explain exactly what they do their prices and and have a sales pitch for people to pay their prices and pre register. And you know, there was a time, 30 years ago when you could just throw a website up and make money. You know, that was called the.com but the third, there was three words. It was.com bubble. We have passed that. And technology is serious. Some of the most, you know, the company's worth the most money on the planet right now are technology cloud based companies, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and those are companies that are worth, you know, half a billion. I'm sorry. I. Half a trillion or more, and they're all, you know, cloud based companies, and so, you know, people have to start taking tech seriously. You have to think, Okay, you have a building here, and this has foot traffic, and you run advertisements to the building and everything else. But then you also have internet traffic, which never stops. Foot traffics from nine to five, right? Internet traffic's 12 to 12, bell to bell.

Robert Plank 5:24 Okay, so you mentioned in there that, like, you know, a lot of these, a lot of these businesses, they need things like a sales pitch, or they need a way for someone to opt in or pre register for things are you seeing, like, like, the average sort of company out there, like, are they, do they have, like, only a handful of these things set up. Or are there, is there, like, a common need, or, like, a common all these things that are, like missing in their business?

Speaker 1 5:47 Yeah, I won't even say the average company. I would say that the way above average company has this stuff dialed in, whereas the average company, even a fortune 500 company, oftentimes does it. And I'll give you a good example. Let's say you go to the grocery store today, and you pick up People Magazine, and it's on the stand right there because you're bored, and you just pick it up, and you look in there, and there's an advertisement for, you know, let's say some fancy Armani cologne, and it has a picture of some dude who looks nothing like me and you he's completely ripped and handsome, and looks like he's never had a day of hard work in his entire life, and his shirts halfway ripped off, and his jeans are extra skinny, and he's got some chick that most guys will never get a shot with in their entire life, standing up next to him, smelling his chest in a way that your wife or your girlfriend never does to you anyway, and it looks all fancy, and it says, our money, The smell of man, and then there's a flap that you unfold that allows you to smell it, and that's as far as it goes. There's not a Here's a coupon for 25% off of our money. Just mail it in and we'll send you the sample so that you get their email address and phone number. There's not a website to go to to where you can find out about what oils and what potions and smells and shit they use inside the fragrance. It's just this ad, and that's how most businesses think of their website. It's just like, just put our name on something with a provocative picture or something that that'll get people's attention. But you have to have a call to action. That's all the difference. And then you have to what whatever that call to action is. You have to have follow up, because most people don't buy on the first impulse. They usually want to but there's usually something that comes up that keeps them from putting their credit card in. Oftentimes it's convenience, and it usually takes follow up several times before they buy from you. So putting an ad in that same People Magazine for the same cologne, but with a website that says, go to this website and it be our money.com. Forward, slash 25 and get 25% off when you buy two bottles and then get our bonus gift right? Like, that's the way it should work, but that's not how it works. But just like the average company like Armani doesn't understand how to advertise in a magazine, most of them don't understand how to advertise and capture information on the internet. But I think it's I think it's pertinent to business, if you're not capturing names, email addresses, and addresses and phone numbers of people that are visiting your site, that are showing interest in what you're doing. I mean, what the hell is the point of having it a lead? Is not a lead unless you've got their information to be able to contact

Robert Plank 8:13 them, right? I agree. So when I'm when I'm sort of hearing from you, is that, is that there are, you know, all these, like, huge companies out there, huge brands, they have huge budgets, but they're missing the boat. And if someone out there, if we're, you know, a mom and pop, or we have an app, or, you know, we're new, or we have a small budget, we can, we can do very well, because we can sort of fill in the gaps that these other big, huge brands are missing,

Speaker 1 8:38 yep, yep. And, you know, a lot of people aren't using them. So you get an opportunity, you know, to use we're still in that that boom, where a lot of people don't figure it out. I have people paying me $30,000 a year, and they show up and they're like, Dude, I just don't get anything about technology. This is so confusing to to me, and luckily, they've invested with me to help them. But there's tons of those people out there who refuse to invest, who infused, who refuse to learn, and then I honestly think the robots are going to replace them, right? We're gonna have artificial intelligence and everything else out there. And, you know, one of my clients reached out to me this morning. He's like, you know, dude, this article about robots is scary, man. Elon Musk is saying, within 30 years, they're going to replace all of us. And I'm like, bro, they're not going to replace us. We're just going to sell the robots. There you go, you know, like, and, but most people aren't thinking about that. And, but when it's too late, when I've sold half of America a robot here in 20 years, and they've got this, the robot to me is not like small wonder or, you know, short circuit. The robot to me is like the website that, when people go to it, automatically pixels them and then sends them retargeting ads, and then sends them emails, and then send some coupons, we call the action, and then Robo dials them, and then, you know, send some pieces of mail in their mailbox, like the site that does all that without a sales team and everything else, to me is a robot, and that's what I'm trying to sell to people, because I think in a few years. If you don't have all that set up, you're going to be squashed by the people who do. Because we know that technology moves fast. Moore's Law says every year, technology doubles in size. So what was 128 and RAM becomes what? What is it? 128 RAM becomes 242, 56, and ram the next year, and then 512, and so on and so forth. And you know, it's only a matter of time before there's a tipping point where you're at 10,000 gigs of RAM becomes 20, right? Everything that we've ever had since the beginning of time has all of a sudden doubled in a year, and the same thing's happening, and there's going to be a point where it doubles so fast that most of the people that own businesses and most of the people that weren't paying attention are going to get left behind, right?

Robert Plank 10:39 I agree, like at this point, the phone in your pocket is more powerful than the desktop computer you had 10 years ago. So once that becomes more powerful than than the human brain, and it can do all this sort of thinking that, Oh, then what? And what I'm hearing from you was that while those sort of tried and true, sort of classic advertising components, they'll be updated, but still, but they'll still be there that AB, the call to action, the lead capture, the follow up. And so, I mean, you mentioned in there that, you know you have, you have people who just don't get it, who are either just, you know, ignorant or looking too far ahead in the future, but you have people who do get it, who do pay money, who you do help. So I'm sure you have some kind of interesting stories like that, of some company who came to you and said, Mr. Hardcore, closer, I need your secret sauce. I need you to work your magic, and then I'm sure that you worked your magic, and I kind of, you know, had some big results. So any fun stories like that to share today?

Speaker 1 11:34 Yeah, you know, I write. I have a group called Break Free Academy entourage, and every, every month, as part of the membership, we send out a newsletter, and I was just writing that every month I highlight one of my clients is the closer of the month, is what we call it. And this month is a guy named Johnny Fowler. And I like literally write for you. And I got on this interview. I just finished typing this up, telling his story. But there was a guy named Chad prio, lived in Houston, Texas. He finds me, comes to one of my live seminars, and goes back to his office, and two months later, becomes the top producer. Goes from making about $4,000 a month to about 40 and and he's in the mortgage business. So his boss is a gentleman named Johnny Fowler, who is the closer of the month for August in the publication I was talking about. Well, Johnny, obviously Chad's, you know, 10 times his business, more than 10 times his business, and and you know, that's caught the attention of the CEO and the in the CFO of the company. And so they call me up and say, Hey, we want to go through what Chad went through. And I said, Well, the next one's not three months. It's not until three months from now. They said, well, we'll just pay whatever the hell the whole entire class full of people were, and it'll just be the three of us then. And I'm like, okay, okay, all right, how bad do you want it? That's what I'm talking about. And so and so, obviously, we go, they come, and we scheduled time for, like, two weeks and two weeks out, and they came in and spent two days with them. And, you know, I'm when I'm on people's podcasts like this, I try not to cuss too much, right? But I'm a good old southern boy. I drop a lot of F bombs and everything else. But out of respect for podcast hosts like yourself, unless they say it's totally cool, I just try not to cuss. And these guys are about as straight laced as possible. But when you're in my own house, I get really comfortable, and I just tell it like it is, you know, and plus, I'd already got their money, so that helps. So these guys were about as straight laced as they come, and they listened to me drop a million F bombs over two days and everything else. We had a great time. They didn't want to go out. They didn't want to hang out. They were all about business. Well, they took off in Johnny. What they didn't realize was that I had this plan for three years before this company showed up, like I have been prepared for this day, that one day there was going to be a mortgage company, because that's the niche I started in. That one day there was going to be a mortgage company that took me up on my offer, that we called the permission for position. And so these guys did it. They went implemented it, and that was two and a half years ago. Today, they're putting out over a half a billion dollars in production. They've got branches in every state, in every market, and they're using this technology that I've used, these sales funnels, these email follow ups, this round robin distribution, and then even more stuff that they've created on their own. And they have scaled this thing literally across the nation into a half a billion dollars, probably more than that, at this point, a year in mortgage production, just using my system and and I've been doing this for seven years. So they're like, the only corporate story that I really have, because most of my stuff is for the people that either own their own business, which may be a small business, like what you and I have, that I've got nine employees. Or it might be a huge business like this, or, I'm sorry, but, or it might be someone who is like a real estate agent who technically owns their own business because they're 1099, but really they conform within a semi corporate structure and stuff like that. But this was like, the first company to ever really step in and say, You know what? We'll do this for a whole company. And see how it works. And really, they're one of my greatest because of Johnny and taking action and implementing all this stuff. They're probably one of my greatest examples out there, as far as people that have just taken what I've taught them and really went to the bank and went all in on it. Said, this is for us. We're doing it. Well, that's not a client. Call me earlier. Just a side note. I had a client called me earlier, about two hours ago, and he's like, man, you know what? I've spent $400 and all I've got is 36 leads. Man, do you think something's wrong? I'm like, dude, $400 for 36 leads. It's like, $10.14 a lead, dude that is killing it. Like, turn it up. Spend 800 you know? So it's just funny how, how things can change for people really quick with technology. So

Robert Plank 15:43 when you look at some of the these businesses, I mean, what's your thought process? Do you say, like, let me see your your whole sales process, or, like, where do your leads come in? Or do you throw it all out and start over? Like, how do you kind of think these things through?

Speaker 1 15:57 Well, um, you know, first I like to look, that's a good question, man. At first, I like to look at the solution the customer is looking for. So if we're going to sell somebody something I know, like, we'll just stick because I've used mortgages throughout this theme, but throughout this episode. But like, for mortgages, I know that nobody wants a mortgage. Robert, you don't want a mortgage. I don't want a mortgage. Like, we don't want to deal with the bait. We don't want to give them all the paperwork. We don't want to have the don't want to have the pain of digging through tax returns and finding out how much we do or don't make according to Matt bank math and all the stuff that that is is frustrating about getting a mortgage, but what we want is a house, right? Like, that's the reason why you endure the pain of having a 30 year mortgage, is so that you can have a house. And so what I always do is I focus, okay, so they want a house. What would be the reason somebody would want a house? They're getting a raise at work. They got a demotion at work. They lost their job, they got a new job. They're relocating. They're getting divorced, they're having kids, they're losing kids, they're retiring. They're just getting started. Their first time homebuyer. There's only a finite amount of reasons why people would want to put all their stuff in a box and move to another location. And so what I try to do is, when I position my sales funnels in, in and advertisements and everything else as I look and I say, Okay, you sell mortgages, but what they want is a house. And then the reasons they would want a house is one of these reasons. So let's run an ad saying, if this is the reason that you want a house, we can make that happen for you. And you know, as simple as that sounds, that's what it takes. A lot of people that are especially smart people listen to podcasts like this. We over complicate shit, right? Like we over we think that it has to be smart in order to work, but meanwhile, the masses are stupid. Listen to the music that's out there. Look at the commercials that are out there, like the massive amount of people are on sleep and on Prozac, and they just like they do to do, just bouncing through life, and it needs to be simple in order for them to make a decision, because if you compound it and you make it too complex, then they'll be confused and they won't make a decision. And but us smart people, we need compound complex stuff in order for us to make a decision because we're smart, but then we don't realize that most people aren't that way. So we try to sell to them how we are, and it confuses them, and then we can't figure out why we can't close sales. And so like the simplicity of what I just shared with you, sometimes people are like, God, it's too easy to work for my people, and it's not. You know what the thing is, I've never heard it too easy, not too easy to work, but I have heard it too complicated to work

Robert Plank 18:23 awesome. That's really good advice. And I can, I can definitely relate to that, because I'm kind of a computer programming geek, and I definitely see a lot of people, and, you know, I think that we all are guilty of this at one point or another, of like being too close to the business and overusing the jargon and assuming that everyone knows what we know. And just that way you said, right there is, don't think about what the thing is. Think about the what they will get out of it, or think about the reason that caused them to want to have this crazy thing, like a mortgage. I mean, that's like you said, as simple as that is, that sounds like that's a really important lesson and a really important reminder for a lot of us to kind of keep in mind. And so you've dealt with, like, you said, like, some of these different, you know, small businesses and mortgage companies and things like that. And I'm sure that, as you've done this kind of one on one consulting, you've you've had like, a really good suggestion or given them a plan, and they like, really resisted it and and just like, have you had things like that where you said, you know, here's what I want you to do. And they were just super, just closed minded, not wanting to do it. Any stories like that.

Speaker 1 19:26 You know, one of the things that people are generally closed minded to is, is being salesy. And what I mean being salesy is, like a lot of people like to send out emails that say, and we'll just stick to mortgages again for simplicity sake. And they'll send out an email that's like, you know, spring cleaning tips or interest rates have lowered. I don't give a shit if interest rates are lowered or not, unless I'm right in the middle of buying my house. I do not care, right? Like, a year from now, interest rates low, I don't care. And so they'll send out these, like, in four. Emails that maybe people do care, but there's still nothing for them to do. And what I try to do is try to get them to end every email, every every message, with a sales pitch. And oftentimes you're like, I, you know, I don't want to seem too pushy, but I'm like, that's what we got it. We've got to give them a call to action in the event that they do want to do so maybe they read this. They love it. They want to do something with you, but you didn't give them any chance to do something with you. And a lot of people give me resistance on that and making videos, because I think videos are the number one way to influence people. But I have a lady who's up in in Kansas, and she's she's very pretty, she's blonde lady, she's loan officer and great personality, totally cool chick, and for a year, I've been telling her to make videos. No, no, nobody want to see me on video. Blah, blah. I'm like, listen, you're good looking, so you're gonna get a lot of people just to click on it, because you got blonde hair anyway. And number two is, like, you got the personalities to just get on the camera, act like the camera is not there, and be yourself. Well, she made her first couple of videos, and they got like, 5000 views each, right? People were like, Oh, I'm so happy that you said, like, this is such good information. She's now going on to make 58 videos and has a whole entire campaign for the next 58 weeks to launch a video a week that are already pre made and pre fabricated. So and good for her is, you know, she's in the prime of her looks and everything, because she's right about that age, and so, like, she gets to use these videos for forever, the good looking version of herself in the videos, instead of waiting till we're 60 and we're not as good looking anymore because the oxidation on our skin and just time and everything else. And then you start making videos. So there's, there's lots of benefits of that, but I would say those two things either, you know, trying to to be like, not at salesy as a sense of, like, douchey or anything like that. But trying to sell is something I get a lot of resistance to, because people think, Oh, I don't want to run my clients off, like they're not clients unless they buy from you. And then number two, is the video thing for sure, and

Robert Plank 21:53 that's super cool and, and what I'm also hearing in in those sorts of stories is like, you know, well, first of all, if you don't ask, you don't get and a lot of people just, it seems like they they have these preconceived notions already made up in their mind that, well, I can't be salesy, but it's like you haven't even tried to do, you haven't even tried to do a call to action. And I've seen people do a lot of that sort of shooting themselves in the foot, kind of stuff, where, you know, they don't, they don't want to email on a regular basis, or they want to, you know, send a big, long newsletter and not really have any links or anything to buy, or they want to say, Oh, well, if you want to get less emails from me, click this link and like adding in more work, just to market less aggressively. So what? So, what I'm hearing from that is kind of market more aggressively, and then give it a shot, and then kind of see what the results are. And then if you're, if you're hesitant about it at first, we'll just go ahead and try it anyway. Try it the hardcore, closer way, not the the old way that has been giving the same results all this time. And if you try it this new way, and you get those results, and you can say, Well, hey, taking that risk paid off. And then I'll keep on going down that path, because if it worked a little bit, then I can kind of continue and repeat that over and over. So I mean lots of light bulbs going off and in, like you said, a lot of these just like really simple, but simple means, like, tried and true concepts that the successful people have implemented, and then the people who make it too complicated sort of talk themselves out of it. And so I don't want to keep you on this call for too long, but I do want everyone to know all about you and all your cool stuff and all your programs to join. Because what would be the point of having the hardcore closer on if you didn't hardcore close us, right? So, I mean, what do you have for us today, as far as websites or some cool stuff we should check out? Man,

Speaker 1 23:31 I like I've been saying the whole episode. I'll make it really easy on everybody. I like to give anybody who's listening. It's maybe found some value in what I'm saying. Just let me give you a free book, and not an e book either. So let me mail you a free book. You can go to elevator to the top. That's elevator to the top, comm. And my book, I've sold over 50,000 copies of it so far, and I like to send you a free copy. And just go there, enter your information, tell us where to send it and and you get a free copy of the book. And there's all sorts of shit for sale inside the book, and in the the funnel there that you can go through and, and you can see what, what makes us hardcore closer. But by all means, go to elevator to the top COMM And and grab a free copy of my book.

Robert Plank 24:15 Great stuff. So elevator to the top comm. And you know what? Mr. Ryan like, you know, probably better than anyone that, like, if someone is listening to a podcast or they're on a website, sometimes it just kind of takes, like, a little bit of a push to get someone to either click or pull the car over and write down elevator to the top comm. So the kind of entice everyone to go there and and, you know, be in a rush to get it and to grab it. Can you kind of tell us what sorts of interesting things elevator to the top has for us, what kind of cool benefits? Yeah,

Speaker 1 24:47 so elevator to the top is a book all about sales, and it is everything you need to know from day one to retirement. So it doesn't matter if you're making a million dollars a year in sales, the book's got stuff in there. It's going to help you make 2 million. Doesn't. Matter if you're making $20,000 a year in sales, the books got the stuff in there that'll help you get the six figures and beyond. And it's modern selling. It's not a bunch of I don't talk cold calling, I don't talk door knocking, I don't do direct mail. I don't buy people's houses and annoy people. I don't prospect people in an uncool way on Facebook. I don't spam people. I don't do anything. It's how I've built. I literally in 2008 I left federal prison with $25 to my name, and right now, according to my financial statement, I have a net worth of over $5 million and I have everything that I have done from 2008 until last year, when I finished this book, and the steps that I had taken to be able to use sales to scale all the way up is inside that book. So doesn't matter if you're broke as shit right now, or your riches all get out, that book has got stuff for you that you'll be able to take. And even if you're not in sales, it's got life takeaways. And even if you're not looking to take away anything on life, get the book and give it to somebody who works for you, works with you, or works with someone you know that's in sales, and give them a chance for it to change their life. Super

Robert Plank 26:00 fantastic. That seems like an awesome message. I think that everyone needs so everyone listening right now, make sure you go to elevator to the top.com fill in your information and claim that book. And the thing that I'm thinking about right now is that you know, we're all going to look back with some amount of regret, and the time is going to pass anyway, so why not be able to say that you did your best and you put everything into it, you left it all out in the field, whatever, whatever the analogy is that they say, why not make your business the best that you can be? So that way you can give yourself and your family and everyone around you the best life possible by growing your business as much as it needs to grow. So make sure you go to elevator to the top.com and I want to thank you, Mr. Ryan stewman, hardcore closer for stopping by and sharing all this cool wisdom with us today.

Speaker 1 26:48 Yeah, I appreciate you having me on Robert I really do want to

Robert Plank 26:52 listen to more fantastic episodes of the Robert Plank show. Subscribe to us at Robert plank.com/itunes and browse past episodes at Robert plank.com you.