Most Businesses Fail Because Founders Can't Sell  🔗 **Source:** [Most Businesses Fail Because Founders Can't Sell](https://share.snipd.com/episode/04b1d593-16e4-4f70-95df-c7ab70ec60ba) ## Highlights - **How Brian Accidentally Found His Sales Talent** - Brian Will discovered his natural selling ability after shifting from landscaping to selling insurance where he sold 12 policies from 20 leads in his first week. - That early success led him to start his own agency, scale rapidly, and eventually sell the business to venture capitalists and take a company public. Transcript: Brian Will Maybe this selling thing has a lot to do with my success? You know, it's funny, John. The first company I did was landscaping, and I only did it because I basically had no education and no job skills. And I thought anybody could dig a hole in Moe grass, right? So that's what I did. And I did that for 10 years. And that company did well until it didn't. That's one of my favorite sayings. And I ended up losing everything. Almost went bankrupt. Lost the house, the cars. Made a couple of critical errors in business that I carried with me for the rest of my life. But what was interesting when I got out of the landscaping business is a buddy of mine, he said, hey, you should come sell insurance with me. Now, mind you, I'm thinking, you remember the movie Groundhog Day? Oh yeah. One of my favorites. And you remember Needlenose Ned and every day he tries to get Bill. And one day Bill just knocks him out in the street. That was my internal picture of an insurance salesman. I did not see myself walking around with a briefcase and a hat, you know, chasing people down on the street. And I told my friend, no, I'm not selling insurance. Never. I'm a landscaper to start with. So he bugged me and six months goes by and he kept showing me big checks. And finally I said, all right, how do I sell insurance? And he said, give me $500. I'll give you some leads. I'll take you on one appointment and then I'll turn you loose. That's the worst way to train a salesperson. I got to tell you. So that's what we did. We went on one appointment. We went into this house. We came out. He goes, I just made $500. And I was like, oh my gosh, that's incredible. So I took these 20 leads. And a week later, I showed up at the office and I had sold 12 insurance policies. And the guy that owned the agency, I walked in, I put him on the table and he goes, what's that? And I said, those are the insurance policies I sold this week. And he goes, how many leads did you get? And I said, I had 20. I said, is that not good enough? He goes, oh my God, that's like top 1% in the country. What did you do to sell those? I remember saying, I don't know. I just sold them. I had no idea, John, I could sell. I tell my kids all the time, you probably have talents you don't know yet. One of the talents I did not know at the time was apparently I could sell. Within six weeks, I was producing 50% of the revenue in this company, this agency. Six months later, I broke off. I started my own agency. A year and a half later, I sold it to a venture capital firm. That was my first sale. And we turned it into a company that went public. ([Time 0:01:40](https://share.snipd.com/snip/6414c431-a807-48e0-9b08-c4938754bd4c)) - **Talking Less Is The Key To Closing More** - Most salespeople fail for the same reasons: they talk too much and act like salespeople, which repels buyers. - Having a conversational approach and learning when to be silent increases closing rates dramatically. Transcript: Brian Will Fail for exactly the same reasons every single time. Number one, they talk too much. Number two, they act like a salesperson. If I can just get you to learn how to have a conversation with somebody and not act and sound like a salesperson. You know, a salesperson's, their voice goes up like an octave and they talk really fast and they're excited. Like, hey, John, how are you, man? I'm glad you came in today. And you're like, dude, you're a salesperson. Stop doing that. Right. And then if I ask you about a product, you have to give me a 20-minute dissertation on everything there is to know about everything about this product, and I don't care. Because we know that psychologically, people only remember 30% of what they hear anyway. So the more you talk, the less they hear. And then the more you talk, the less they want to listen to you, and now they just want to leave. So if I can get you to, number one, have a conversation instead of sell. And number two, learn when to shut up. ([Time 0:04:40](https://share.snipd.com/snip/c7c8b00d-1b78-4baa-b2a2-13e37f97dd51)) - **Explain Products At A Fifth Grade Level** - Avoid technical jargon and explain things at a fifth grade level so customers actually understand you. - Use pauses and check-ins during the conversation to make sure the buyer is following and engaged. Transcript: Brian Will I remember I was doing a project out in Seattle a year or so ago. And I always, if it's a small sales team, I like to go out with the salespeople and listen. And I went out with their top salesperson and he went in to see this customer and they were selling windows. And he's like, yeah. And this, these windows have the Belgian slash and the six inch nails and they do this and this, and the customer is nodding their head. And I stopped. I said, Hey John, can I ask you something? What is a Belgian slash and a six inch nails? That sounds like a band. And he goes, I don't know. I said, and he said something different. And I looked at the customer. I said, did you hear six inch nails? And they go, yeah, that's what we heard too. And if I hadn't stopped John and asked the question, they would have the whole time never known what he said. Right. You can get too complicated and lose your client so easily. And I tell people, look, don't use tech talk. Talk at a fifth grade level. Stop, do check ins, you know, pause for effect, just like I did right there. ([Time 0:06:23](https://share.snipd.com/snip/1d94e67e-3676-4390-9af4-f923c1b2dbd5)) - **Start Negotiations With No** - The word no is the most powerful in sales and negotiation because both sides expect to start by refusing. - Starting from no sets realistic expectations and opens room to negotiate toward a workable agreement. Transcript: Brian Will And that's on both sides of the sales process. I can't tell, I've got so many stories about the word no. The Genesis literally, believe it or not, comes from Richard Branson and he wrote a book. And one of the things in his book, he says is if your first offer doesn't insult them, you've offered too much. And no matter what, because if you're talking to somebody who's a negotiator, they're never going to offer you what you want. And if you're selling something, you're never going to sell it for, you know, never going to offer for sale for what you actually want. So we already know right out of the gate, both sides are going to say no. Right. So we start with no. That's what we always start with. ([Time 0:07:49](https://share.snipd.com/snip/4f4734b5-1f46-4704-b96c-70c2e48c402c)) - **How Offering 50 Percent Landed A Cheaper Repair** - Brian recounts negotiating an electrician's quote: he told his manager to offer $600 on a $1,200 ask and the electrician accepted $900. - The example shows anchoring low forces realistic counteroffers and wins deals quickly. Transcript: Brian Will I own some restaurants. I have a manager that works for me. And I was sitting in there with a general contractor one day and the manager comes up and he said, hey, the electrician's here and he wants to fix the outlet and the lamp and he wants $1,200. I said, offer him 600. And the manager looked at me and goes, what do you mean? I said, go back. He's already here He's either going to take my 600 or he's going to go home. He goes, but it's 1,200. I said, listen to me, just go offer 600 and come back. He comes back. He goes, he'll do it for nine. I said, take the deal. Right? And the manager was like, I don't understand what just happened. And the person at the table goes, do you do all your negotiations that way? I said, yes, I do. Whatever you tell me, it's no. ([Time 0:08:33](https://share.snipd.com/snip/16994989-82a4-4467-8d08-f3009e43fa8b)) - **Technicians Start Businesses That Fail Without Sales** - Most businesses are started by technicians who lack sales and management skills, so ventures often fail despite strong products. - Compensate by bringing in a salesperson or partner to cover missing business functions. Transcript: Brian Will And I don't care if it's Apple, computer, all the way down to the guy who just started his own business. You have an entrepreneur who's a big thinker, who's also usually a salesperson, but not always. You have the entrepreneur, you have the technician, you have the manager, and you have the salesperson, right? Most businesses are started by technicians and they're not salespeople. And as I like to say, my books are famous for Joe the plumber, right? Joe's a plumber. He works for XYZ Plumbing for 20 years. He goes out every day. They're paying him 50 bucks an hour. One morning, Joe wakes up and says, why am I charging 150 an hour I'm only getting $50. I'm going to start my own business and we're going to call it Joe's Plumbing. So Joe starts Joe's Plumbing. If Joe's Plumbing fails, it will not be because Joe is not a good plumber. It will be because Joe is not a good salesperson or a manager, one of the two. But Joe thinks that all there is to business is the technician part, not understanding that he doesn't understand how business works. He doesn't understand how insurance works and payroll works and sales work and, you know, managing people. None of the, he doesn't get that. And so that's why most businesses fail is because they're started by technicians. ([Time 0:11:32](https://share.snipd.com/snip/39ab64e9-7e0b-4750-acaf-b3049389246a)) - **Ask Questions Until They Tell You How To Close** - Ask questions to discover what the buyer wants, why they want it, when they want it, and who else they've considered. - Use those answers to tailor your close instead of giving a long product monologue. Transcript: Brian Will And then we're going to develop a system for you to learn how to sell. So there in my book, we lay all these things out, but it literally gets into the things we've already talked about, which is you need to bring your presentation down to a few word, not five Minute dissertation. You need to quit selling and just ask questions. That's one of the most powerful sales tools there is. If I can find out what you want, why you want it, when you want it, who else you've looked at buying it from and why you didn't buy it from them, you will tell me exactly how to close you. ([Time 0:13:32](https://share.snipd.com/snip/8917837f-5b97-40bd-87fe-557d5a963aca)) - **Set A Price Range Instead Of Asking Budget** - Set a price range for customers instead of asking their budget to avoid dishonest answers and wasted time. - Let the customer pick within the range so you don't pitch options they can't afford. Transcript: Brian Will Okay. So when I walk up to the door, I'm like, hey, John, how are you doing? I understand that you're looking to replace some windows today. Is that right? Yeah. Well, which ones are you looking to replace? Well, I'm thinking the ones on the front of the house. Why do you want to replace those? I mean, why not all of them? Why just these? And you're going to say, well, because I either want a bigger window or this one's fogging up or, you know, I need a little bit of a winter. So these questions aren't really interviewing you as much as why are you wanting to replace these windows? And when you say, well, this one's leaking and this one's leaking and I know what a double pane here, I want a bigger window. I'm like, okay, great. So you're looking at a double pane window. You want to do this and this. Have you shopped with anybody else and you'll say yes or no do you have any idea what windows like this cost and you're going to say well not really and then i do what we call we set the delta Right and i'll say well just to let you know up in advance windows cost and i know this because i did this with a window company windows cost between 300 and thousand dollars a piece to replace. $300 is going to get you a base level. $1,000 is going to get you the Mac daddy. What range are you going to be in? I'm going to set the range. And the reason I set the range is because I don't want you to come in and say, I thought they were a hundred bucks and I just spent a half a day with you. ([Time 0:16:11](https://share.snipd.com/snip/c84cb756-7da5-4d8b-981b-7bbd9eed1e65)) - **Use The Drop Back To Reveal True Budget** - Use a drop back technique: if a buyer chooses a mid option but hesitates, offer the cheaper option as a fallback to reveal true willingness to pay. - This helps identify whether they can truly afford the preferred option. Transcript: Brian Will I'll say, well, let me ask you something. To be very fair, I just told you all about the $500 windows and those may be what you want. Would you have any interest in hearing about the $300 window? ([Time 0:18:35](https://share.snipd.com/snip/3a35a4b7-c484-4590-88eb-7ee85ae51703)) - **Hire Smarter Partners And Listen To Them** - Stop trying to do everything yourself and listen to people who have been there; partnering with competent people accelerates growth. - Brian credits yielding to his partner's advice for scaling to an $80 million exit in three years. Transcript: Brian Will You know, I spent my first 10, 15 years in business trying to do everything myself, trying to be the smartest guy in the room, particularly when you get under pressure, too many entrepreneurs Fall back into the red personality zone where they get very autocratic and you will do it my way and blah, blah, blah. And it wasn't until I met my business partner, Steve, who was way more successful than me. And that even took a year before I broke down and I said, you know what? I'm going to listen to you. And when I did that, we went from zero to we sold our company for $80 million three years later. You know, at some point you have to understand that there are smarter people than you, as smart as you think you are. There are people that know more about certain things that you need to listen to. ([Time 0:19:20](https://share.snipd.com/snip/50ca3a2e-aa51-4db9-b1b1-a1fb113f7a7f))