Podcast Recap: LEARN with Randy Seidl

What’s the best, most efficient way to become a successful sales leader? Unfortunately, there’s no right answer or playbook to guarantee success.

But what you can do is learn from those who have walked the path before you and put their insights into action to fuel your own success. 

In this LEARN podcast episode, Randy Seidl, Founder, Sales Community, shares his insights and experience on how to build a successful career, get the most out of mentorship, make important career decisions, and more. 

How to build a career as a sales leader

With over 30 years of experience in the sales industry, Randy has a wealth of knowledge on success. And while he offers several pieces of advice to aspiring sales professionals, his first tip is to be authentic.

“Be a good person and be authentic, which may sound corny,” he says. “But I’ve been privileged with the sales community, large advisory boards, strong customer relationships, and partner relationships. But it’s basically because you’re always there for people. So whether it’s a customer, a partner, or a peer, just helping out is always a good thing.”

When customers have challenges, Randy says you need to ask, “Are you going to be somebody they call? Are you going to take their call? Are you going to make sure you can help them?” 

Randy’s other tips include:

• Be a sponge for learning. You need to have that appetite to learn and grow 
• Have the right work ethic. You have to be out there. You have to be grinding, putting up the numbers, the hours and proposals, and the right sales methodologies.

“It’s really kind of just sales leadership saying, what are you doing to help, what are you doing to give advice and to coach,” he says. “You know, go on sales calls, don’t do just Zooms. Have those relationships; make it happen.”

Behavior outweighs performance

Randy shares his perspective on priorities and attitudes to climb the professional ladder. 

“If you rank all the different criteria, performance would be the last one,” he says. “I’d argue it’s what are the behaviors that you’re doing? You talk about attitude; what are you doing to give back? What are the best practices you’re helping others with?”

And from a manager’s standpoint, Randy points out the importance of giving feedback; he says, “Give real feedback and make it happen in terms of what are those things people can and should do differently and better?”

How to get the most out of mentorship

Randy has been both a mentee and a mentor, so he has some great advice on maximizing the mentor-mentee relationship. 

He recommends mentees use the following process:

• Have your questions ready and written out before you meet with your mentor
• After your meeting, send a follow-up, something like “I enjoyed meeting with you; here are my takeaways”
• In the following session, recap what you talked about last time and share what you want to talk about this time 

“So for them [the mentor], they’re like, wow, you’re thoughtful,” he says. “You take the time to recap; you’re putting energy into this. I’m going to reciprocate by giving you some good energy as well. And obviously lots of good side benefits as well.”

Essentially, you get out of the relationship what you put in, so make sure you’re doing whatever you can to maximize your time and learn. 

Career advice for making difficult decisions

We may find ourselves at a crossroads or making difficult decisions as professionals. 

When those circumstances arise, Randy recommends considering the following: 

• The grass isn’t always greener. Ask yourself why you are looking for something new; what’s wrong with where you are? If you go somewhere else, who knows if you’ll be the last one in and the first one out?
• Consider why you want to be in leadership. Randy shares that he hears from many people that they don’t want to be sales reps because they don’t want to do sales calls. But that’s not the only consideration. “Being a full-time rep can be a great job,” he says. “You can make great money; you’ve got great life balance. You don’t have to deal with all the different headaches. When you’re single by yourself versus you have four kids or 10 kids, or whatever it is. Life’s a little bit more complicated. So, there’s certainly a balance between leadership and being an individual contributor.”
• If you want to become an advisor or consultant, take a look in the mirror. “People will leave companies and think they have relationships, but more times than not; they have the relationship because of the business card, the company they work for, not really because of them,” he says. “So I say, ‘take a look in the mirror and say, are those relationships because of you? If it’s because of the company, it’s going to be a lot harder, and if you do want to try and do something on your own, think about what’s the value prop[osition]? Why is somebody going to pay you? How much do you think you can make doing it?'”

Check out the full episode to hear more from Randy. And subscribe to the LEARN podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast-listening apps for more expert tips and insights from industry leaders.