Our special guest on this week’s episode of Conversational Selling is Jim Padilla, the Founder of ‘Gain the Edge’. He is a Master Sales Trainer, an Expert Team Builder, and a Launch Expert with more than 20 years’ experience in building teams and leading them to success. Jim has a solid track record of achieving results; he and his team have led dozens of entrepreneurs to huge success in their launches, driving sales, and surpassing expectations.
Jim says, “I have permission to not have to follow that process, and show up the way that I know that God made me to serve other people. We all have a specific blueprint inside of us that is designed to serve people. And when you land on that, which we help you do, then you’re attracting all the right people.”
We chat about Jim’s tenacity to overcome hardship, as well as:
- Influencing the world around you
- The Three C’s
- Solution-oriented growth
- Conscious reflection when hurdles seem insurmountable
- Selling without scripts
- And more
Mentioned in this episode:
- Jim’s Website
- https://www.gaintheedgenow.com/leads-made-easy/
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/moresaleswithgte
Transcript
Voiceover: You’re listening to The Conversational Selling Podcast with Nancy Calabrese.
Nancy Calabrese: Hi, it’s Nancy Calabrese and this is Conversational Selling. It’s the podcast where business experts share what’s going on in sales and marketing today. And as always, it starts with the human conversation. Joining us today is Jim Padilla, Founder of Gain the Edge. Jim is a master sales trainer and expert team builder and a launch expert. With more than 20 years’ experience in building teams and leading them to success, Jim has a solid track record of achieving results. And as a launch expert, he and his team have led dozens of entrepreneurs to huge success in their launches, driving sales, surpassing goals and expectations. Jim’s God given talent and nature allow him to inspire his team and partners to achieve their full potential. So okay, everyone, we’re in for some sales, inspiration and motivation. Get ready. Welcome to the show, Jim. We’re so happy to have you on.
Jim Padilla: Thanks, Nancy. Total pleasure to be here. I’ve been following and I listened to all of your episodes, by the way. Just them I like your style. I like the energy you bring to the conversation.
Nancy: Oh, well, thank you very much. And we’re gonna guarantee this is going to be energetic, right? Yes. So, you know, I want to open up elephant in the room. We’re in crazy times today, right? Everybody knows that. But why is motivation and inspiration so important in sales, especially now?
Jim: You know, it’s, it’s interesting, because the thing that people, we got a billion in one ways to try to sell I mean, there’s many ways to try to sell as there are people out there it seems. But at the end of the day, sales comes down to a transfer of energy. That doesn’t mean who’s the wildest and loudest like I’m a Bronx, Puerto Rican, I tend to get going in my own sauce sometimes. But it’s not about being loud and boisterous or high and crazy.
It’s who’s got the highest level of commitment to what you’re trying to achieve. And your energy has to be so present, and on point, so that you can elevate people above the mess that they’re in. Because even if they’re doing great in business, they might be doing fantastic in their life, whatever it is you’re trying to sell, or lead them to, in the area where you help them they’re broken, which means they’re asking for high end confidence, and they’re not going to make a great decision from brokenness. You have to lift them up so they can make a decision from clarity.
Nancy: You know, it’s interesting, just to add on to that people that are really passionate about what they do, what I find, are inspirational, right, you hear it in their voice, as you said, their energy. So I think it also ties into the passion of your role and commitment to excellence.
Jim: Very much. So, you know, again, there’s a lot of common thread in many of the interviews that you’ve done. And the people who are you know, who win, the people who are experts consistently, it’s about moving people to a place of clarity and competence and certainty. That’s the three C’s that we tend to throw in there. And, you know, most people aren’t going to buy because of the power of the product, they’re going to buy because you can convey confidence in them being able to solve their problem with your product.
Nancy: Yep. I totally agree. So, you know, we don’t have a story about how we got to where we are today, and I can’t wait to hear yours. Let the audience know, who you were and who you are now.
Jim: Well, yeah, you know, as the story goes, you know, we’ve been, we’ve been very, very blessed, generated over a quarter billion dollars in sales for our clients. And the outsourced model, been very blessed to work with a lot of the who’s who in the personal development in experts space. And it always hasn’t always been that way. Basically, I, I grew up in a very abusive environment. I was born to teenage parents who met in an orphanage so they had very little guidance of their own.
And my my dad took off immediately and my mother was left to deal with a negative situation that she didn’t respond to very well. And so I you know, there’s a lot of frustration and rage and anger in my home. I was in foster care, foster care at 13. I was on the streets at 16 and in jail by 19. And you can imagine spending every day completely working on your surrounding environment, so that you can influence the people around you to not see you as a threat, and not want to hurt you. That was my defense mechanism.
That was how I just keep myself out of danger. And no, you don’t do that by mastering something to tell people, you learn how to communicate to people in a way that is effective to them. And because life or death was on the line, the way I saw it. Little did I know that, you know, 25 years later, I’d be making millions of dollars teaching other people how to influence the world around them, to help people let down their guards, and trust you enough to want to hear what you have to say. And then ultimately want to buy from them.
Nancy: Wow. So what was the turning point for you? I mean, you were pulling yourself out of the horrible situation. You remember that moment when you said, Wow, it’s who I am. And it was positive going after that.
Jim: You know, I wish I had that. Paul, on the you know, the road to Damascus experience, but it wasn’t like that. The main thing is, I spent the next 20 years mastering this skill set, but from the wrong place, because I was doing it because I knew I could win. And it was gonna be you or me, I was gonna make sure it’s gonna be me, I was gonna come out on top. So I burned a lot of people to get success.
In my, you know, first first several years of business. It wasn’t until I really took advantage of somebody in a mortgage situation, where I had put someone in a loan that I knew they had no business being in, and I came across them. A year later, I came across her daughter, who chastised me publicly, who called me a lot of bad things that were absolutely true. Yeah, I recognized in that moment that I have to change what I was doing. Because this was horrible. I was never able to really enjoy what I was doing, because I knew I was doing wrong. Yeah.
And that that moment that I was like, Okay, I have to do this different. I got to take all the skill set that I’ve learned, and then strip away all the things that aren’t of use and benefit to somebody else, and serve them and make sure I felt good. And then things started turning completely around, because now I was showing up in service for other people.
Nancy: Well, and you did it, so bravo to you, you know, good segue, talk about Gain the Edge. And what sets Gain the Edge and Jim apart.
Jim: Basically, once I took this new approach, and I was like, Okay, I’m the thing with the thing that was really important about this new approach was that there was nothing on the planet that could guide me, to me being the best version of me, I guess, besides God and myself. So I couldn’t find a script or a blueprint or a 10 step process that was going to allow me to just completely show up as the uniqueness of me because any other blueprint, by definition, was going to lead me to that place instead of where I need to be.
So I started tapping into what are all the things that I do naturally, as a person, and enrolled people in every other area of my life every day, telling the truth, right, showing up to understanding what’s at stake for other people, being willing to fight for them, helping people understand that they have to make choices, that they can’t go into circle, the wagons mode, and all of that. And it’s stuff that’s really pressing in the year 2020, and all the stuff that’s going on, you have to show up as that light to attract people, to move them forward, as opposed to try to tell them where they have to go and try to push them forward.
So that’s the process that we use, and it’s much more about taking care of people and then pulling them along. And the clients who who use us for training or the people who hire us to sell for them. They appreciate that because we’re 100% in the big picture. In the long game. We’re not trying to close sales today, we’re trying to win people to do something powerful, which sometimes means you’re gonna close them tomorrow instead of today. Yeah, there’s a whole lot more of them, because they’re gonna stick around a lot longer.
Nancy: Yeah, so I know that we’ve spoken about how you feel you can learn to make more sales without getting better at selling. That’s really interesting to me.
Jim: Yeah, it is. It’s very interesting concept. And here, I want you all to embrace this and be encouraged, right? The thing we’ve all been following all kinds of blueprints and scripts our whole life, some of most of us to a varying degree of success. But nothing converts as much as well as the truth. Nobody buys anything more effectively than they buy you being you. That’s the most enrolling tool you’ll ever have.
So we focus on surrounding you with an environment and mindset and strategies to keep you at the highest possible version of yourself being able to see clearly forward and in that clarity, it have to mix in truth like what is true live to play a steak with somebody, if you were to be at lunch with your favorite sibling or you have a sister or a family member who maybe is in a bad relationship. And she’s in a dangerous spot and you know she needs to leave, but she’s terrified to leave. So she says Well, I’ll just give them another chance, you would jump in your car drive her to replace, pick, pack her stuff and move her out.Because you know, she can’t be there. And she’s not in a position to really make that great decision for herself.
Yet, we will do that for potential clients, we let them go, Well, you know, I know my business is headed towards that cliff. But I’ll wait till next year to figure it out. When’s the last time you’ve grabbed somebody virtually? By the shoulders? Is it? No, you don’t have to No, no, no, you’re blowing this here. There are people who need you. Right, you need to get your message out, you need to sell your product. And you cannot wait till next year because you will be over that clip and your business will be in ruins. How often do we actually say that stuff? Usually we sell ourselves short because we don’t want to push through that we want to be liked more than we want to be of service.
Nancy: Right. Right.
Jim: And that doesn’t require being a sales guru that requires being a human being. Who legitimately cares about the person you’re talking to?
Nancy: Yep. And it goes back to what I said earlier, passionate. Passionate in all the right ways. I read your quote, don’t focus on the problem focus on what’s on the other side of the problem. Tell us more.
Jim: Yeah, there’s a there’s a quote, an axiom, I guess it’s attributed it’s called Chesterton’s Defense. And he talks about this being focused on objects and that when a wall presents itself, most people run away from the wall. Some people not paying attention run into the wall. But successful people immediately devise a plan to navigate the wall. And so when you see why, Okay, I’m gonna go in it over it, around it through it, but I have to have a plan here. Or aim, that plan might be I assess all of this, and I go another path, but it doesn’t mean I quit stop or.
So when you see something there, you have to immediately see the opportunity. Because that wall represents something that is on the other side of the wall, if you’re running into somebody, like you’re running down the street, and you turn right into my house, you’re going to hit the door, you’re probably going to hurt yourself. But that door represents my my family, there’s, there’s warmth in nature, and there’s reward on the other side of that door. Or there’s danger that you need to be careful in how you navigate. But there’s always something on the other side of that wall, it represents something of value, something of awareness that is going to help grow your process.
So it might be that you have to jump that wall to deal with a dragon. But dealing with that dragon is going to grow the necessary skill set you need for what’s going to continue on your journey.
Nancy: Right. And I’m gonna play devil’s advocate here, but I can’t imagine all walls are worth going through that process. What would be a signal where it would say, forget it, I’m not going to put my energy into this and walk away from that
Jim: Yeah, great question. That place you have to really decide where are you on your journey, if your journey feels like this stage of the journey is reaching its maturation. And that could be anything, it could be okay, this product is no longer viable. Or I don’t want to be in this business. Or maybe this industry doesn’t work. Or maybe this marketplace, I’m not good at serving this segment of market any longer. Or maybe I’m just working too hard and too many hours this time to make for me to focus on my family.
So you have to make sure that there’s a decision that has to be made. Yeah. So usually what I find is, when you are not willing to navigate the solution, that means you’re going to go into Okay, if I don’t want to navigate dilution, because that wall is just too hard to climb, then there’s something else I got to reflect on. Yeah. Is it that I’m going to start spending more time with my family and stop conquering this? Or is it something I have to research inside myself to think okay, I’m gonna have to get more help to get over this wall.
Nancy: Yeah. So share with the audience, something that’s really important to you, you want to spotlight.
Jim: You know, here’s the deal. We are living in a time right now. I guess all times, it seems like, but 2020 has brought its own interesting blend of craziness. And mixed with media and everything else. There’s a lot of people who are getting a lot of misconceptions, and thinking that the environment is going to control their opportunities. And when you do that, we tend to circle the wagons. When you circle the wagons, all you have is defense you can’t do and you can’t win a game playing only defense you have to be able to move on offense and score.
And we it’s imperative that you understand that the people who need you, they need you more than ever right now. And they can’t find you if you’re circling the wagons, you have to be able to master the game of visibility and sales, because those who can are going to rally people behind them. And those people will give you the fuel you need to get over those other walls. But you first and foremost have to be able to master your control of most master control of being able to sell in any environment.
When you can impact the environment for sales you win and you become recession proof. Crisis proof. And you get to control the environments that are being controlled by the environment. And we have an event to invite you to, that will help make that happen that our make more sales live event is coming up. I’m not sure exactly where timing is in terms of being this being released. But it’s, it’s coming up with the dates will be below here. It’s coming up right away in October. And we’re gonna,
Nancy: Actually the 22nd to the 24th.
Jim: Okay. Yeah, so, great, thank you. And so three days of being fully immersed. And we’re going to show you how to build a make more sales playbook, to put our dozens of strategies to make more sales without you having to be a sales expert into processes systems and strategy so that you can start implementing it and start focusing on serving the people that are in front of you and winning customers. Instead of trying to sell your stuff all the time. We want you chasing your dreams and your goals instead of trying to chase clients.
Nancy: Awesome. I always ask this question, because I think it’s really interesting. Tell me something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on?
Jim: Well, the simple part of that is, you don’t need scripts to sell, you don’t need to know needs simple sales tactics and strategies. They’re great. They work, they’re not required.
Nancy: How so?
Jim: Because the script is designed by somebody, for a certain something typically the Google scripts right now it’s Google sales scripts of the day got 162 million returns. Script is created by a person, for a specific person, for a certain marketplace for a specific offer at a price point, etc. You have to apply it to your own taste. And there’s nothing wrong. Again, it’s a great tool.
Most people spend all of their life trying to figure out how to master somebody else’s process. The problem is, it’s somebody else’s process, it was not designed to get you to be the best version of you, which is what’s required for your people to be able to follow you. Right? So we don’t want people to be so locked in trying to follow the blueprint, we just had this challenge on our one of our team meetings yesterday, one of my team members, just really, I’m just the system keeps changing, the system keeps changing, like Shawn, just be you think you do, don’t worry about right.
And that’s, for some people, it’s tried and true. I’m only gonna follow the process. But there’s a lot of others out there. They’re like, thank God, I know, I have permission to not have to follow that process, and show up the way that I know that God made me to serve other people. We all have a specific blueprint inside of us, designed to serve those people. And when you land on that, which we hope you do, then you’re attracting all the right people, because then it’s a pipeline. It’s a Pied Piper that comes to you. I mean, that’s my, that’s my calendar is full of people who’ve been put there by other people who show up predisposed to wanting to buy.
Nancy: Yeah, so now I do want to add, though, you use the word blueprint, right? And I am a big believer that having a blueprint about how to go about it, and then making it your own your own words, right? But conveying it in a way you you’re talking all about communication, right? It’s become a part of your DNA when it becomes a part of your DNA, it’s extremely natural, and the natural you comes through. Would you agree with that?
Jim: Yeah, I’ll give you an example of that, you know, we got this live event coming up in a couple of weeks. And I’m literally writing out every content chunk, just so I make sure I know how long I’m going to talk. I’m fitting it in the timeline, all that stuff, right, then then I’m turning it into bullet points and throwing it away. Because I’m not gonna I’m not gonna talk from a script, I’m going to be engaging people as I am. But I know where I want to be. And I know what I want to talk about, but I’m going to talk about it the way I feel inspired to talk about it in the moment.
Nancy: I totally agree. So, scripting, you know, there are two schools of thought, just as you said, you don’t need a script. And there are other models. Yes, you need to go buy a script, but if you own it, and you study, it becomes internalized. You know, it’s all in you and you don’t even think about it as you deliver it yet. You know, I I often talk about the Leo DiCaprio starts with the script, but you would never think you had a script in this movie, because he brought him into it.
Jim: Yeah, totally 100% most of the best scenes that you’ve ever seen in movie history. They started with somebody’s idea of what that should look like. And then someone made it thier own.
Nancy: Cool, all right, so last question. What’s the one takeaway you’d like to leave the audience with actually second to last question.
Jim: Just fully embrace the fact that you do not have to be a sales guru or a sales expert to be able to wim clients. People are going to buy you, in your energy, your conviction, your certainty or confidence in what they can do, far more than they’re going to buy your product, they do not care about your product. They only care about what it’s going to do for them. And their most of the time, they’re gonna show up with fear and doubt, and uncertainty. So they’re gonna have to rely on yours.
Nancy: Yeah. Awesome. I totally agree with you. So Jim Padilla, how can my audience reach you?
Jim: We have we’re giving you a gift in here with our Leads Made Easy program. And so the link will be in the show notes. And so you can go in there and click on it. And it’s it’s a fantastic program that will help you really dial in who you’re talking to, and why and share with them nuances that you haven’t thought about before in terms of clarifying your avatar. And so we’ll start with that that’ll get you into our world if you want to jump on. The best place that we engage most frequently is in our Facebook group. And it’s More Sales with GTE, Gain the edge. So find us on Facebook there, love to be able to support you and share some insights. And you know, our goal is to break your brain so you think differently about sales.
Nancy: Okay, great. All right, everybody, go break your brain. You know, thanks for all your amazing comments and inspiration and to everyone out there I am confident that you walked away with great nuggets, not some but many. Thanks again so much for being on this show Jim and happy selling to one and all!
Jim: Awesome. Thank you.
Voiceover: The Conversational Selling Podcast is sponsored by One of a Kind Sales. If you’re frustrated that you don’t have enough leads or your sales team complains that they just don’t have enough time to prospect, we can help. To work with Nancy and her team one on one to help you manage your sales team, install her proven outbound sales process and create more bottom line results, email her now at Nancy@oneofakindsales.com. To learn more about Nancy and her outbound sales secrets, grab Your free copy of her book, The Inside Sales Solution at oneofakindsales.com/book.
