• 50:04
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Sales reset, mindset, skillset, belief selling, internal champion, sales process, prospecting, discovery meeting, value proposition, competitive intelligence, trusted adviser, sales manual, sales techniques, sales strategy, sales mindset.
SPEAKERS
Wesleyne Whittaker, Damon Pistulka, Curt Anderson
Damon Pistulka 00:00
For it. There we go. All right, everyone, it is Friday, and you know what that means is time for stop being the best kept secret. I am one of the CO hosts, Damon Pistulka And that pretty gentleman right over there, Kurt Anderson, we’re going to be talking with none other than Wesleyan about the sales reset. Forget the scripts. Trust yourself. Win consistently. Her new book. Awesome to have you here today, but I’m going to turn it over to Mr. Anderson, and let’s take care of this. Let’s have some good times. Damon, how are you? Brother? I am horse from the football game last night.
Curt Anderson 00:41
Okay, so big, big game last night. Big win, big victory for your your beloved hometown team. So congratulations, dude. I know you’re in the crowd cheering like crazy, but hopefully, you know, since you’re three hours ahead, you got home and got a good night’s sleep for this one. Because I did, Dude, get ready. Get your mic ready, because you’re gonna be dropping the mic. We’re going to have moments of silence. We’ve got Wesley Whitaker in the house. Wesleyan. What a great way to end the years with Wesleyan Whitaker.
Wesleyne Whittaker 01:09
Man, yep. How are you I’m good. I’m good. This is my, my last, I would say, event of the year. This is the last full working day I have of the year. So it’s exciting.
Curt Anderson 01:19
Wow, how exciting. So, okay, you’ve been, I think you’ve been on maybe once or twice. You’ve been probably 10 or 12 times, right? Your repeat offender. So, you know the routine. So let’s just, let’s just dive right in. You’ve got some really exciting news to share. Nice little, little stocking stuffer, if you will. I know it’s on pre order, but you got a little stuff what? What news do you have? Is there anything new? Something new going on with you?
Wesleyne Whittaker 01:43
Wesley, yes, my book is going to be released at February 10, 2026, the sales reset. My labor of love, book that I’m so excited about. Nice.
Curt Anderson 01:56
Well, you know what? Let’s take a little can we? Can we take a little sneak peek at it,
Wesleyne Whittaker 02:00
oh, seeing it on the screen still excites me. It’s like, wow, it’s there.
Curt Anderson 02:05
It’s real, doesn’t it? It just, it just warms your heart, doesn’t it? It does. It does. Okay. So first off, guys go out and grab this book. You can get it on preorder. It’s jump on Amazon, the sales reset with Wesleyan Whitaker, this is a powerhouse book. Do yourself a favor. Connect with Wesleyan on LinkedIn. You can stop by her website. Get on her she has an incredible newsletter that I love and read every week. And so Wesleyan, let’s we’re going to be promoting the book today. Let’s start at the beginning where what is the sales reset? What now they have to go out and buy the book. We’re not going to give away all the secret sauce today, but just tell us about the little the labor of love and give us an inside peek behind the book. Yeah.
Wesleyne Whittaker 02:50
So you know this, I’m so glad that we’re having this conversation today, because I’ve been really reflecting December 26 2024 was when I sat down and I wrote the book, and I wrote the first draft of the book in five days. So I just sat down, I hammered it all out in five days. And I was able to do that because this is literally, like my life’s work. It is everything that I talk about. It is blending mindset and skill set. So as you can see on the cover, there’s like a scrambled brain, and there’s already a normal looking brain, and you see the little white bulbs, because often times in sales, it’s not that we don’t know what to do, it’s that we have these self limiting beliefs. We have these things that are holding us back. And so no matter how many times somebody teaches us how to write the script, we won’t follow it because we have things in our head that are holding us back.
Curt Anderson 03:47
Yeah, Damon, for the record, what Wesleyan and I did. We were standing next to each other, and so then she took, like, a little CT scan, so we got the scrambled side as my side, and all the wisdom, the Wesleyan wisdom, is the other side. So that’s what that picture, right? Wesleyan, that’s that’s that’s me and you standing next to each other. Is that correct? That is not correct. So five days, is that what you said? I know, like, I, you know what say? I’m getting an age where, like, you know, did I hear that correctly? Yes.
Wesleyne Whittaker 04:16
Five days to write the first draft. And I literally, it just it just flowed. I sat down, and I was just like, oh, okay, first we need to talk about this. So first I started with all of the mindset work, what the things that are really holding people back. And I introduced my framework. It’s called belief, selling. And so in this framework, we really talk about how we as adults, learn things, the first thing we have to do is unlearn the bad. So a lot of times, people don’t unlearn the bad. They just keep learning new stuff and keep learning stuff and keep learning new stuff, and you’re not making room for the new stuff to come if you don’t unlearn the bad. So we unlearn the bad, then we have to embrace that new that. Change is hard. Any new thing that we try to do is always hard. This year, I hired a personal trainer, and I literally remember I was like, this sucks. So much. Is it ever going to not suck? And he said, No, I can’t promise you that. And a year later, it still sucks. It sucks less, but it still sucks, right? And most times we don’t get past the suck. We’re just like, Oh, this sucks. I’m going to go back and do it the old way. Yup, go back and do it the old way. So those are really the first two pillars that we need to step into before we move into learning something new, unlearning the bad, embracing the heart, and then we can learn new things, yeah?
Curt Anderson 05:48
And I, I Damon, I know this. Alright, guys, this is a master class. We got a couple friends that are stopping
Damon Pistulka 05:52
by here. Yeah, we do. We actually. We got Spencer Moroni stopped in said, Hey, looking forward to this. And then we got Syed. Syed stopped by and said, looking forward to this too. So awesome, awesome.
Curt Anderson 06:03
Hey guys for stopping by. Thank you for stopping by. Happy Friday, both. And again, we’re here with Wesley and Whitaker, so drop us a note, let us know that you’re out there. Tell us where you’re coming from. Any questions that you have. This is the opportunity. This is a master class. We have a wonderful book that’s on pre order right now on Amazon. We have it right here on the screen the sales reset. Wesleyan, they have to go out and buy the book. Can you give us, like a little sneak peek on the belief system that you have created for folks, the belief selling system? What is just kind of give us a little behind the scenes, behind behind that, if you could, yes.
Wesleyne Whittaker 06:37
So belief selling is an acronym, so B stands for break barriers. E is embrace growth. L is learn skills. I is implement boldly. E is execute consistently, and F is few others. So as I was mentioning before, that is the way that we as human need to learn new things, and in my book, I’ve applied it specifically to sales, because again, if you don’t break those barriers, if you don’t embrace growth, then you learn these new skills, and you’re like, oh, okay, I’m going to do this one time, but we do those first two steps, then we learn new things, and then You learn those new things, and you have to be willing to take risk. So if you learn that, hey, the way that I need to actually step into a discovery meeting is to talk less, then you’re like, Okay, I have to actually talk less, and I have to see how this feels when I talk less, and then you have to practice and practice and practice and practice again. One of the examples that I use in the book is about Kobe Bryant and how this is what he was known for. He was practicing before anybody was awake. He was practicing before the doors opened. And he would do it and do it and do it again. And people will see him and like, you’re already a good basketball player. Why are you continuing to practice? And he was like, This is why I’m so good. So top athletes practice their craft. We must practice our craft, and when we don’t practice we don’t get better.
Curt Anderson 08:20
Alright, dropped a mic number. What was that?
Damon Pistulka 08:23
Just going to take a breath there.
Curt Anderson 08:26
That was Hey. Spencer dropped another kind comment.
Damon Pistulka 08:30
Said, happy, happy to be here. The right mind is critical for success and sales. No doubt about that.
Curt Anderson 08:37
Yeah, we’ve got the so the belief selling system. And again, you guys have to buy the book to really get underneath the hood and go through each process. Wesleyan, I really the word that stuck out to me. Really resonated was boldly, okay, I’ve been using that word recently, and so you, you The i is, implement boldly can and again, without giving away secret sauce, because they have to buy the book. But just take us a little step further. For I’m asking for a friend, right? Damon, right? Not, not that I need to know, but how can folks out there, how can my friend implement boldly? What do you what do you have that for
Wesleyne Whittaker 09:13
us there? So the greatest example I have about implementing boldly is my now, he’s 11 years old, son. He came home from school one day and he was like, Mom, tomorrow is game day, and I want to bring my Nintendo Switch. So I looked him in the eye, and I said, your teacher didn’t mean video games. And he said, mom, but I can ask her, right? She might say yes, or she might say no, but I can still ask, and that is how we implement boldly. We ask hard questions, we do the things even if we feel like the answer might be no. So just this morning, I was sending out a year and review to a client, and their price is increasing about 50% per 2026 Because I was like, wow, we did a whole bunch of work, and we need to get more money. So I put it out there, and this is a very good client. We’ve been working with them for eight months, and I’m like, Yeah, I need 50% more going into the next year that’s implementing Boley, because she might come back and say no, and that’s okay, but if I don’t ask, I won’t actually know whether I would win it or I wouldn’t. So that’s what it means to implement boldly. We have to take risk. We have to push the envelope. We have to do the things that we feel may not always make sense, but they push us out of our comfort zone,
Curt Anderson 10:36
getting out of your comfort zone and what so for our friends out there, like, say, say, they’re just like, man, I’ve been doing this thing for a long time. You know, kind of, I feel a little bit stuck. How do you help people, kind of like, re energize or get unstuck in that sales process? Any tips there?
Wesleyne Whittaker 10:55
Yeah, you know, I think it’s, there’s so many tips. Let’s see which one should I land on. So I think that when you’re stuck, the first thing that you have to do is understand why you’re stuck. Like, are you stuck because you don’t have any customers? Are you stuck because you’re charging the people that you have not enough? Are you stuck because you don’t enjoy the bit, the kind of business that you’re executing. So the first step that we have to do is identify so we identify why we’re stuck, and once we identify why we’re stuck, then we can come up with a plan of action. And one of the best things that I can say when you’re sitting in those places of being stuck is you have to do the hard thing. I think that there, there’s a book that says, eat the frog. So you do the hard thing first. So if you’re stuck, and your reason for being stuck is because you don’t have enough people in your pipeline, as soon as you sit down in the morning, you need to do your outreach. You need to be hitting it hard, getting on LinkedIn, following up with people doing whatever, like, do the hard thing first, and what’s going to happen is you’re going to be like, I feel so accomplished today because I did the thing that I don’t enjoy doing, and whether you get results or not, you still have done the thing. Okay?
Curt Anderson 12:18
I’m typing away, taking notes. I like, Dude, I took, like, this is a master class right here for sales process now, Wesleyan, I’d be remiss if we don’t go here. And I just, I just had a sales call earlier this week. And I do, I broke out my dear I referenced My dear friend, Wesleyan, little Wesleyan wisdom. I want to slide into, like, say, we’re talking about being stuck, getting unstuck, consistency. You talk about Kobe doing the hard things, you know, where I’m going to go here, what happens when our friends out there try to be a little bit of everything to everyone,
Wesleyne Whittaker 12:50
then you’re nothing to no one. And in the book, I really, I really go deep on this concept of your buying committee and the the what we have to realize is everyone within an organization. So if we’re in B to B sales, everybody within that organization, everybody you talk to, isn’t the right person, and it’s on you as a salesperson. It’s on you as a business owner, to identify what I call the internal champion. And so that’s the person they may not have the budget, and this is the thing that a lot of sales people don’t really understand. Your internal champion may not have the budget, but they have the pull, they have the problem, they have the issue. They’re the one. They’re jam packed, they’re stuck somewhere, right? And they’re like, this is an issue that I know we need to get fixed. So they then go and get the person with the budget. They go get the person who’s actually going to use your solution or whatever, but they’re pulling all the people from around the organization to actually help get you in. And an internal champion is the one who advocates for you when you’re not around, like they’re selling your solution. I had an internal champion at a client one time, and she got off an airplane and sent me a text. She was like, Wesley, I was sitting next to this guy on the plane, and it sounds like he needs you, so I’m going to do an email introduction for you guys when I get back to my office. That is the epitome of an internal champion, because they’re always thinking about how you can be slotted into their company or in other places.
Curt Anderson 14:21
Yeah, I absolutely love that. And I know you’ve used the term Trojan horse. We’re like, how can you get that Trojan horse inside of that that company?
Damon Pistulka 14:29
Yeah, we got a couple more comments here. So, so first of all, Spencer meant to say mindset in his previous message there to us, but he also says you might be stuck because you’re not offering value every time you speak with a prospect or client, this is something that’s really important, I think. And we lose a lot when we’re when we’re thinking about us rather than thinking about the client and what they you know, how are they spending in their time? And if they it’s not valuable, why are we spending time with them?
Wesleyne Whittaker 14:57
Exactly, it’s a huge thing. Hmm, interesting. Because, you know, I think, like a lot of times, sales people, and, well, when I say sales people, humans, like to talk about themselves. And so when we like to talk about ourselves, we don’t realize that we’re just womp, womp, womp. And the prospect doesn’t really care about your goals or your company or your like. They don’t care about that kind of stuff. They want you to step into their world. And top sales people know how to step into a prospect’s world.
Damon Pistulka 15:29
Well, yeah, absolutely. Syed had one, if we’re what, if we’re stuck at client acquisition, this is a great one, too. I think
Wesleyne Whittaker 15:40
this is good. So the first thing that I would encourage you to do is to look at your sales process and figure out where in the sales process things are not converting. So sometimes you’ll get a whole lot of new leads, whether inbound or outbound, and then after the first meeting, people will fall away. So you need to figure out, what am I doing in that first meeting that’s detracting people. Sometimes you get all the way to the proposal phase, and after the proposal, they ghost you. Is my price too high? Am I not showing enough value? Did I not understand their problems, like what exactly is happening? So the first thing you have to do is understand where in your sales process people are falling off, and then you go deep in that one area. You don’t try to fix the whole thing. You try to fix the part that you see. Okay, I think that this is the area that I really want to focus on. And so if you’re not converting early in the sales process, what I would say is you’re not doing a strong discovery, and so that means you’re not asking the right questions. You’re not really stepping into their world. You may be trying to do discovery and pitching in one meeting, which never, ever works, and if it’s later in the process, you’re not aligning your price and value well enough for people to say, yes. So with this, I mentioned a client that I’m going up 50% but earlier this year, I think I increased, we doubled the contract value, and now I’m asking for another 50% Yeah, so that means, like, we probably 4x it in less than a and the thing is, I’m showing value every step of the way, so when I ask for more money, I have, can back it up with the value that I am providing them. So in the sales process, people need to understand, like, I’m paying you this much, what am I going to get? And then if you’re and I’ll just add this little piece, if you’re in a service based business, so if you’re like a consultant, so you or your company, the things that you’re doing that is the product that you sell, you really need to be focused on, how am I going to show the return on the client’s investment, right? Like, what are they going to see tangibly so that they can say, yes, that is worth it for me to do this.
Curt Anderson 18:00
Yeah, that is so powerful, right? There is like, you know, is it? Stephen Covey, Seven Habits always talks about, you know, start with the end in mind, you know. And so I love what you’re saying. Wesleyan, because you’ve come in the front end like, hey, it’s going to cost this, or what have you. It’s like, you need them to visualize, like that. Damon, we were talking about a football game at the end, or before we started, you know, your customers standing in the end zone, spiking the ball, doing their little dance. Or, you know, they’re the hero standing over, conquered over, the bad guy. You know, you need to paint that picture. Wesley, I’m being, I want to go back here. We talked about trying to be everything to everybody, right? And, man, I like you are in my head every day, like niche, niche, niche, right? Stay focused now. You are huge on buyer personas and really understanding who your buyer is. And I And again, I reference you constantly on this, who are we trying to sell to out there? Is it like a bunch of people, somebody in HR, or what does that look like?
Wesleyne Whittaker 19:02
Yeah. So I think that when we think about who we’re trying to sell to, we have to really focus on the human and not the company. And I think what happens often times is we’re like, I sell to manufacturing companies. That’s fantastic. Okay, so who in the manufacturing company are you selling to? Well, I don’t know anybody in operations. Or I can work with any size company. It doesn’t matter, because everybody needs what I do, because I’m super woman, right? And when you do that, you really, really dilute your focus. And so even at a very granular level, like in my content, I say, I work with technical founders. I work with a lot of engineers like I want to I say who I am working with, because people will identify with. That. And so because I know who my ideal client is, I know that they often will consume my content online, but they will not like it, they will not comment on it, and I understand that. And so I but I write for them. So I’m not writing for likes, I’m not writing for comments. I’m writing for them. I do want to get enough reach so they see it. But earlier this year, I had somebody who that he just looked at my profile, and if you look at my profile, I’m automatically going to respond and say, hey, check out my profile. Anything I can do to help? He was like, Yeah, you know, we’re having some challenges with our sales. Here’s my phone number. Give me a call, and in 24 hours, I close that deal. Never liked anything, never commented on anything, yeah, but again, that is the key when we think about our buyer persona and who we’re speaking to, because he was able to say, she can help me.
Curt Anderson 20:53
Yeah, I Damon, what do you? What do you? What’s going through your mind?
Damon Pistulka 20:58
I’m just busy writing notes like
Curt Anderson 21:01
Don’t interrupt me. Kurt, I’m writing, so I want to come back to the book and so and hopefully make sure we’re I didn’t detract from science question, but Wesley, I wanted to hit here. The problem isn’t you or your pitch, it’s what you believe about selling. And I feel we’re covering a lot of you know, not being everything to everybody, selling to like that one person getting an internal champion. Anything else that you want to add to that line? I just feel that’s such a powerful comment right there? Anything else that you want to add to that opening line that you have in your in your Hey, Damon, do you see that Amazon selling that book right there? By any chance?
Damon Pistulka 21:36
Did you? Yeah, I’ve seen that before. There’s a little button over here that people can hit right there.
Curt Anderson 21:45
I think that’s what that’s for. Is like you can actually pre order. But Wesleyan, any comments that your problem isn’t you or your pitch, it’s what you believe about selling, anything else that any other miss, or what else you want to add to that comment before
Wesleyne Whittaker 21:57
we move on, yeah, I think that a lot of times, people think selling is telling and selling is becoming a trusted adviser. Like you need to be the trusted adviser. You need to be the person that your clients, your prospects, come to for advice, and you know that you have reached trusted advisor status when you have a client that says, hey, I really need help with this thing. Do you do that? And you’re like, I don’t do that. And they’re like, Well, do you know somebody who does that? And you’re like, Yeah, I have these five people because they trust you and they know that you’ve done good work for them. So I think a very big misnomer is we have to pitch people. We have to convince people, no, no, you have to provide value. You have to become that trusted adviser. You need to go up as that expert in the area and be able to solve the problems that they’re bringing you, and understand that sometimes the depending on what you do or what you sell, it takes a long time. This year, I closed a deal that was open for 494 days. 494 days, yes, and I continue to add value. I continued. I wasn’t like, every week sending emails or reaching out on LinkedIn, but I would have a post, and I’m like, Hey, I had this post, and I was wondering, yeah, I just wanted to share it with you. I would ask, Hey, can we get, can I get a meeting with the rest of the buying committee to do a presentation? Let’s do a Q and A but that’s what it took to close that deal. Yeah, now I’m a trusted adviser, and it’s a very large publicly traded company, so it was worth that amount of time.
Damon Pistulka 23:44
Yeah, and I love to the talk about not selling, because people think we need a pitch, right? And, and I just love to be able to talk to people and just keep asking questions about their stuff. And then if you get to the point to where you go. Well, that is what we do. That’s awesome. But if it’s not, when you say, well, that’s not something we can help you with. But you know, we might know some people that could help or something like that, that, I think, is really powerful, because you’ll have one of those conversations, you’ll help somebody out, and then when they need you, they’ll come back to you, because they already know what you do. They always knew what you know, what you don’t do, and you’ve helped them so but when you’re not trying to sell, when you’re just trying to figure out, hey, is this a really good fit? Are they really going to be happy working with us, and are we going to be really happy working with them? It’s fun.
Wesleyne Whittaker 24:39
Yeah, absolutely. And that is the thing that you said, Damon, that a lot of people don’t really realize. Like, sales is fun. If you’re not having fun selling, then you’re doing it the wrong way, like you’re putting too much pressure on yourself. You’re thinking about it like, oh, I have to hit this quote. I have to do like, if you’re not finding joy in selling, then. And you need to, one, find a different job, or two, find a different way to do your job, because sales is too hard to not enjoy it like you lose so much more than you win. You get more rejection than you get acceptance. And so if you’re not enjoying the process, enjoying the journey, then you’re going to burn out. And that again, goes back to the sales reset. Why sales people burn out? It’s because they’re just chasing the quota. They’re chasing the next sale, the next purchase order, the next thing.
Curt Anderson 25:30
Yeah. Alright. Moment of silence, right there. Dude, that might been that was like quote of the year, right there. If you don’t enjoy selling, either a find a different job or different gig, because you’re just gonna be miserable, right? Period. And plenty of people are not cut out for selling, you know, like I don’t. I’ve never viewed myself. My father was a great salesman. I’m not. I don’t. I’ve never viewed myself as a great salesperson. If you don’t like what you’re doing, don’t find joy in it. Join it, find something else, or you have to change the process. Yeah, right. I mean, there’s, there’s almost not a third option other than, like, definition, definition Sandy, just keep being miserable, right?
Damon Pistulka 26:09
Yeah, yeah. And you know, when you figure that out, though, and you can make the switch, right? Because we can make the switch if we’re in a sales position, and go, Okay, now I’m not selling. I’m just trying to get to know people, build a relationship and if it works out, and understanding their problems really well, and if our if, if our world’s aligned, and it makes sense, it’s so natural. It’s not like, I’m out there going, Hey, do you want this? Do you want this? Do you want this? And they’re like, right? I don’t even, that’s not even, you know, we get them every day, we get emails like that every day, and people try to have conversations about like that every day. And it’s, it’s, it’s a waste of everyone’s time. But when you’re doing that discovery and really talking to them, like you said, a good discovery call, you can help them with some advice during that call. Maybe if they really are something, you could potentially refer them to other places or start to build that relationship that moves into something different. And that’s not selling. It’s just
Wesleyne Whittaker 27:09
not know people literally. And if you and the thing is, if you enter into your sales call with the servant heart, with like, I’m here to serve. I am here to help like, what can I do to help you? And there are times where, you know, I get on a call and I’m like, I’m not a good fit. Like, I know the kind of clients that I work best with, and I’m like, I’m not a good fit. When I was selling capital equipment, there are many, many, many times I would sit down with the prospect and be like, Hmm, I really want to sell you the solution, but, and I know that you’ll buy it from me, but it’s not going to solve your problem, and I have enough integrity to say that I’m going to walk away from this. But those people, those are your customers for life. Because I would say, okay, so you shouldn’t buy this instrument yet, but get this thing, fix this gap in your process, do this bit and piece, and then, like, I’m always here as an IT to help you, advise you, or whatever. And if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. But then they’re, they’re like, Okay, Wesley, now I need this thing. Who should I call for this? Oh, now I’m ready for you, right? And then it was easy, close, yeah, in the quote. And they send the PO in no time, because I’ve already done all that legwork. So it really doesn’t matter if you’re selling a service, as in yourself, you’re selling large capital, because I sold a lot of what I talk about in the book is actually my experience selling capital equipment, selling specialty chemicals, also my role as an entrepreneur. And it doesn’t matter if you’re selling a product or service. It doesn’t matter if it’s $5,000 or half a million dollars, you still have to use the same basics of selling to get to where you need to go.
Curt Anderson 28:52
Another moment of silence, Damon, just another we’re just gonna we’re just gonna take a moment and just kind of savor that. Guys just kind of soak that in brilliance. Damon Spencer has another awesome comment. If you want to grab that.
Damon Pistulka 29:06
He said, I like him on my competition doesn’t enjoy selling, yeah,
Wesleyne Whittaker 29:11
good one. I have a good story in the book about being at a trade show and my competitor coming up to me, and I I reached my hand out, because we never met in person, to shake his hand, and he just looks at my hand, and he was like, I know who you are. I was like, Okay. And he was like, You’re stealing all my customers, right? I was like, What are you talking about? And he said, Yeah, five people over the past year have told me that they’re going with you instead of getting another a newer model of our instrument. And I’m like, Does it sound seem like that’s my problem, but exactly. But the thing is, what I knew was I knew his gaps, and so in the book, I have. A whole section on competitive intelligence, like you should know your competitors better than they know themselves. So I knew what he wasn’t doing. So when I sold capital equipment, I was what they call the specialist. So I only sold one line of business. He sold everything. So he didn’t know a lot of stuff. So anytime I got a call, I was right there at the customer. I was in the lab running samples with them. Because I was a chemist, I knew how to use the stuff, so I could show them in real time how my instrument was going to solve their problem, whereas he had to wait because he had to get support from the main office. So to win against him, I had to be fast and knowledgeable. That’s how I won, and that’s the key, knowing your competitors better than they know themselves.
Damon Pistulka 30:44
That is another one. Kurt that is. And how many times do you go into a company and you ask them about their competitors, and they can’t name off their top competitors, even little regional companies don’t, don’t do a good job of it, and then
Wesleyne Whittaker 30:59
we don’t have competition because we’re so unique.
Curt Anderson 31:06
Yeah, everybody in thinking sometimes competition is what Damon a frequent answer is, like your customer doing nothing is, is competition to you. So there’s all sorts of different forms of competition. So hey, I know we’re over top of the hour. If you just joined us, I want to give a big shout out. We’re here with our dear friend, Wesleyan Whitaker from transform sales. Please do us Do Do yourself a favor. Connect with Wesleyan on LinkedIn. She posts out daily posts that are just Wesleyan wisdom, brilliant, inspiring. Her beautiful, two sons, all sorts of information. She’s just a breath of fresh air. You won’t meet anybody more fun, funny, inspiring than our dear friend, Wesleyan. More importantly, we have a new book that we have on the screen here, and it’s called the sales reset. It is pre sale on Amazon. Stop by. It’s a great way. So for any of your loved ones, you’re looking for a holiday gift, man, we’ve got your answer right here, and this is just going to be a powerful game changing book. Wesleyan, I have a line highlighted right here, and you’re talking about the sales reset. Will help you transform pressure into purpose. Now, all these mic drop moments and all these moments of silence that we’re having right now, you know you’re talking what do you what’s the number one thing is like you’re selling trust, right? That seems like everything that is the repeated theme is like being the trusted advisor, being the trusted confidant, right? Talk a little bit about what you mean by this line here, about how will you transform pressure into purpose and tactics into trust? Just share a little bit on that.
Wesleyne Whittaker 32:41
So there’s a chapter in the book, and it’s called writing your story. And what we do in that chapter is we actually walk through your life and we talk through what are all of the things that you’ve done in your life that have helped get to where you are today? And so for me, some of those things were being an avid reader, always asking questions, and I used to get in trouble for asking questions in school, like my teachers would literally be like, Wesley, you’re not allowed to ask any more rest of the day. And like, that’s what pays my bills right now, like, I teach people how to ask better questions, right? So we don’t always understand, like that was hard or that wasn’t great, but when I started in sales, so I was a chemist, and they sent me to Germany for two weeks, and they taught me all about this, the instrumentation, how amazing it was, and all of the stuff. And then they sent me back home and said, Now, go sell. I was like, What do you I don’t I don’t know what to do. What do you mean? Go sell. So I didn’t know what to do. And I went into my existing customers, and I the existing customers in the territory, and I started asking them questions. I was like, how do you use this instrument? What’s good? What is good data look like to you? Okay, what are some of these other things? So again, when we write our story, when we understand what we what happened to us in the past, and how it’s setting up us up for our future, and what helps us become, or really step into this place of I am a good salesperson. That is what I say, walking into your purpose. So understanding who you are, who you were created to be, and all the things that you and sometimes, you know, we think about the stumbles that we’ve made, and we’re like, Oh, but I should have been here. I should have did this. I attempted to go to grad school twice in a technical field, and it didn’t work out. But if any of those times would have worked out I wouldn’t be here today, like I wouldn’t have gotten into sales, because after the second stint in grad school, I was like, I want to do something different. What am I going to do? And that’s when I stepped into sales. So I think that it’s important that we understand, really, our why, and all of the small steps along our journey that helped get us to where we are today. All right, guys,
Curt Anderson 35:03
we’re just going to savor that one for a minute and just take a little moment. So Damon, how you doing there? Dude, you’re doing all right. Are you on mute?
Damon Pistulka 35:15
I just had to put on mute for a second while. I’m I’m just absorbing. We got Spencer’s comment here. He says, great episode. Congratulation. What? Congratulations, Wesleyan, on your book launch, and then I’ll stay.
Curt Anderson 35:31
Damon, I know you can’t say that. I’ll say it, right. Yeah, go. He says, Go, Niners, right? Damon, I know like you’re, you’re Seahawk guy, you can’t, you can’t say yes, I
Damon Pistulka 35:40
can’t say it, but I can’t believe that Spencer’s saying it, because he is a UW graduate and lives in the Seattle area, and I think yet I just don’t know how he can walk around town like that.
Curt Anderson 35:53
Oh my goodness. I think you need to have a little chat with Damon. Yeah, right, a lot
Damon Pistulka 35:59
bigger than me, but I think he
Curt Anderson 36:02
gets, well, alright, Wesleyan, so recovering chemist. I absolutely love that. So, you know, it’s in you are the accidental sales expert, isn’t that? Yeah, maybe more to like, we, you know, you and I frequent talk about, like, God’s path and like, just like, did you when you were in college become like, you know, go becoming a chemist. And I think wasn’t your dad a college professor. Your father was a college professor. You’re a chemist. Did you ever see yourself as a sales guru writing a book called The Sales reset?
Wesleyne Whittaker 36:35
So when you said that, The funniest thing that just popped into my brain was when I was in college. So not to brag on myself or anything, but when I was in college, I only got 3b and I got a B in cell biology, world civilization and psychology, and I remember being in psychology like this is a waste of my time. Why do I need to do this? I’m never going to use this. And I literally use psychology every single day. My book, the sales reset, has so many psychological concepts in it. So when I was in college, I thought my my goal, my dream, was to get a PhD in chemistry and to work in some world renowned research facility doing something. I never thought that I would get into sales. I never even thought that I was going to have my own business. So again, like when we think about our story and all of the path that we took to get here, we see everything that helped make us who we are. And even though I don’t practice as a chemist, because I have a degree in chemistry, it makes me really good at process, and it makes me really good at trying out different strategies and saying, Okay, this worked or that didn’t work, and thinking outside the box and experimenting and doing all those things. I use it in a very different way now, but that early training helped me to become who I am today.
Damon Pistulka 38:01
Nice, awesome. Yeah, awesome. All right,
Curt Anderson 38:04
so as we keep going in here, Wesleyan, what other what questions we’re going to start winding down? I know you’re super busy. You’ve got all sorts of things to do. He’s got this big book launch. Any questions I didn’t ask or what else would do people need to know about the book with before buying it. What else do they need to know?
Wesleyne Whittaker 38:22
So I would say that this is a it’s a complete sales manual. In there. I refer to field sales people. And I like to say, what is a field salesperson? That’s somebody who has to leave their house to sell. And if you’re an entrepreneur, you’re a field salesperson, because you should leave your house to sell. You shouldn’t just be sitting in front of a computer all day, right? So it is really a book. It is a manual for anyone who has to handle the entire sales process. So if you are going from I have to identify my target accounts, and I have to prospect. I talk about three pillars of prospecting, because it’s more than just, you know, emailing, and I had you ask really good discovery questions, and now I’m I need to do a proposal, or I need to do a demo, and then I now have to negotiate these deals, right? So it gives you all of that, but it layers on all this mindset work that you have to do for each and every step of the sales process. So the end of every chapter ends with what I call belief in action, belief selling in action. So it walks through that framework for each and every concept that I have introduced. So you understand how I need to break these barriers, how I need to use this to how can I execute this consistently? How can I practice this skill over and over again. So it is a, I mean, I think it’s a phenomenal book, but it is, it blends mindset and skill set, and that was really my goal, because a lot of times you have those motivational books and then you have the sales methodology books, but this really blends both of them into one
Curt Anderson 39:56
powerful tool and just in really. Just such a valuable resource, like you said. So in you don’t have to be in sales if you’re just leadership, managing people, your family, right? I mean, there’s all sorts of things that’s applicable here. I want to hit one more thing, so in your beliefs. So if you, if you chimed in late, it’s the belief selling system that Wesleyan, it’s her proprietary system that she has created. It’s an acronym for the F you talk to. If I have this, right? You mentioned fueling others. Okay, fueling. How do you provide so I want to close out on this. How do you provide fuel? Like you’ve just provided a ton of fuel for everybody that’s catching us, whether live or on replay. How can friends out there, I’m asking for a friend again. How can friends out there provide fuel for others?
Wesleyne Whittaker 40:46
So your cycle of learning is complete, if you can teach what you’ve learned to someone else. So when you think about fueling others, it is literally teaching them the concepts that you’ve learned. And so a big part of what I do is I’m always sharing, I’m always teaching, I’m always talking, because that’s how I know I solidify those concepts. So when you learn something new, don’t just hold it to yourself like you are created to sow seeds into other people, right? So you learn a really cool way to ask questions, and so take that really cool way that you learn to ask questions and tell it to a colleague, and remember, if you’re fueling someone in your organization, you’re helping your organization become better. Because we don’t compete against our colleagues, right? We’re not competing against them. There are so many people outside that we’re competing against. And even that being said, if you have people that you’re working with that they’re you know, you guys are in complimentary businesses, fuel them, help them. But when you give out, when you do something to help somebody else, it comes back to you in ways that you won’t even be able to identify, because you are helping other people with the knowledge that you have gained.
Curt Anderson 42:02
Take a moment. We’re just going to, we’re going to, we’re going to soak that in for a second, you know. And I want to share cash I have I ever said like, five times we’re going to close out on this. So Wesleyan, over the course of the years, you and I have been fast friends, and I’ve had the honor and privilege of doing tons of virtual webinar workshops together in time. I mean, almost consistently, the chat box is like, Oh my god. This is on fire. You know, you know this is so good. Wesleyan, you know your enthusiasm. I again, I keep using word remiss. I’d be remiss if I didn’t hit this share a little bit even, like, for a painful introvert out there, how important it is it to be share some of that passion we’re talking about, trust, the value, the educating, but having some enthusiasm and passion behind in you. You totally walk that walk. Share a little bit about like, how you bring enthusiasm with everything that you do.
Wesleyne Whittaker 42:56
But you know, the thing is, I just love what I do so much, and I wear so many hats. I’m a single mom, I’m a business owner. I lead a ministry at my church. And everything that I do, I feel like I’m walking in my purpose. And so it’s easy for me to bring this energy, because I truly enjoy it. And in order to get to this place where I truly enjoy it, I had to start saying no to a lot of things that I didn’t enjoy. And some of those things brought me financial success or gave me more money or gave me more status. But if I didn’t enjoy them, if I can’t believe in what I’m doing, then it doesn’t really fill me up. And so it’s hard to step into it, and one of the things that I am most grateful for is the I have a friend who I’ve known for about 30 years, and I have people who I’ve met in the past six months. I got those people in a room earlier this year, I had an event, and they were swapping Wesleyan stories, and they were all the same thing, because I’m the same person like I am. I have always been this person. I’m the same person at work, at home, I’m the same person at church, like I am this person I don’t put on airs. I’m not like this now and then I’m going to be upset when my kids come home like this is who I am. And I think when you learn to step into who you are and be comfortable in your skin, then it makes things so much easier for you as you continue to walk along in your purpose.
Curt Anderson 44:37
Damon, you’re welcome, that’s all I’m going to say, is you’re welcome for this opportunity. And hey, we got a great comment from here.
Damon Pistulka 44:47
Yep, great episode. Congratulations. Wesleyan, keep sharing these valuable tips, insights and behind the scenes strategies. They are really helpful. Thanks for the comments I add.
Curt Anderson 44:58
Thank you guys. Appreciate it so. It. Damon, let’s start winding down thoughts, comments, takeaways, like, dude, like, you just feel like you’re just a better person when you spend a little bit of time with Wesleyan. What do you have?
Damon Pistulka 45:10
Yeah, just like, like you said. Kurt, every time we get to talk to Wesleyan, it’s, it’s, you learn so much. You get an inspiration from you can feel it, as you said, you’re living your purpose, Wesleyan, and you can feel it. And that’s, that’s what I always enjoy about our conversations.
Wesleyne Whittaker 45:25
Thank you. It’s always my pleasure to join you guys. You’re two of my biggest fans, and so I love being here with you.
Curt Anderson 45:33
Well, guys, I’m going to, I’m so I’m going to try not get emotional. Damon, so you know, so you know, I’m at the age stage where, like, I’m Uncle Kurt, I’m Uncle Kurt, my dear friend, Wesleyan. I’m telling you, I don’t know if I’ve met him. More amazing individual, when you think of the words Integrity, Authenticity, passion for life, passion for other human beings, man, it just defines Wesleyan. Wesleyan, I tell you like, we text, you know, you know, frequently, and like, I was just, you know, I have a rough day or rough or just like, I’ll get out of the gym. And also, like, there’s a text on my phone with a Bible message, or it’s Wesley given me a message talking into the like, hey, Kurt, just you’re on my mind today, Wesley, I cannot express what a blessing you are, what a dear friend I worship the ground you walk on. Guys, please do yourself a favor. Grab the sales reset. Just go on Amazon. Hit that little preorder, and you can just tell right here that this is a game changing, life changing, life altering book that’s just going to, you know, iron sharpens iron, and this is just going to make you that much better. Wesleyan, what do you what? What’s mom and dad?
Wesleyne Whittaker 46:40
Think about the book. Oh, my mom actually read the whole thing. She read the whole thing. And she had, when she was here, when I got the proof copies, and she was like, Can I have that? I was like, it’s not the real thing. It has a strip. She’s like, I don’t care. And she’s not in a, you know, sales or business world, but she was like, it’s really good. And I think she said her, her thing was this, this is more than a sales book. I think that was her, her response, nice, more than a sales book.
Curt Anderson 47:07
It’s more than a sales book. Well, hey, we wish you and your first off and amazing mother. I can’t imagine how proud your two boys are, and when your boys, when Wes and William, when they get older, they’re going to be like my mom, those guys are going to be monster I know one son is looking at Ivy League schools right now, and he’s going to be a monster success, just like the apple doesn’t fall far. But you know, once again, guys connect with Wesleyan on LinkedIn. Grab that book. Wesleyan, thank you is not strong enough of a word. We appreciate you. We applaud you for your book, your inspiration, everything that you’re doing. I could keep you out here all day. Damon, how about everybody out there? Let’s give Wesleyan a big standing ovation. Round of applause for the master class today and for and I’ll tell you guys, if you have a book in you, Hey, let Wesleyan be the inspiration. Get that book out of your mind, out of your heart, out of your soul, and get it out on Amazon, just like Wesleyan did, and you too, can make the world better place, just like Wesleyan is. Wesleyan parting thoughts, words of wisdom, anything that you want
Wesleyne Whittaker 48:12
to share. I think I would just say that as we’re, you know, ending one year and stepping into the the next year, I would encourage everyone to really figure out the thing that makes them excited. Like, really, what is your purpose? What is the thing that you really at this time next year? You want to say, I did this and I showed up this way, and I am proud of how I showed up. I am proud of what I accomplished. So I think that those are my parting
Curt Anderson 48:39
words more Wesleyan wisdom. So thank you, Wesleyan. From by my heart, all of us out here, thank you and so, Hey, happy holidays to everybody. Merry Christmas. Whatever you celebrate. We wish you just a wonderful, magical holiday season. Damon, why don’t you close this
Damon Pistulka 48:57
out, dude? Alright, well, thanks, Wesleyan, for being here and sharing your book with us, sharing your thoughts. It’s always so incredible to have you and and to be able to just learn from you and thank you. And like I said, you can really if the people out there that were here for the whole thing don’t feel it coming from you, I think they must. They must not have a pulse. That’s all I’m saying. Take your pulse, because you probably need to call 911, and get some help. But I just if you got in this late, get back to the beginning, and you’re going to learn a lot about sales, selling mindset, so much stuff in Wesleyans new book, The Sales reset. Get on Amazon, figure that out and get it. Get it coming to you when it comes out in February. I want to thank Syed and Spencer and everybody else that was dropping comments and listening to us, and we will be back again next year. Is it Kurt
Curt Anderson 49:51
Monday we were sneaking more, yeah, then we’re back next year.
Damon Pistulka 49:56
So, but thanks everyone for being here. We’ll be back on my. Day. Thanks, guys, bye.
