Mastering the Lost Art of Human Connection with Sherry Wheat

0:02Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast where we are all about helping business owners just like you achieve success. So we don't do fancy smancy. We don't do flashing lights. We don't do a lot of things that a lot of podcasts will do. These are just real stories about real people and their entrepreneurial and business experiences. We go into their wins, their challenges, and their learnings. So we hope you enjoy it.

0:36hi there welcome to this week's episode of epic entrepreneurs i'm bill gillilland your host i am the principal of action coach business growth partners and one of the founders of the actual business summit speaking of the summit i want to remind you it's coming up on september 23rd if you don't have your tickets yet you're going to want to get those tickets it will sell out, go out there, go ahead and get your tickets, invite your friends. If you're looking for package deals and you think you can buy 10 tickets to bring all your clients or all your customers or prospects, then reach out to me and we'll be glad to make that possible.

1:15So, hey, I am super pumped today. I have got a cool guest. I've got Sherry Wheat of Telesales. She's had a fantastic business for a lot of years, helped a lot of people. I can't wait to hear more So Sherry, tell us a little bit about you and about Telesales. Sure. Happy to be here. Thank you, Bill. So Telesales was started in 1998, and I knew nothing about marketing. I had never taken any kind of marketing classes. I just knew, I discovered that it was important for business owners to be talking to their prospects. and I had been a landscape architect and I left that behind, which is another story.

2:02And I discovered that people didn't necessarily know how to build their businesses and they weren't on the phones. And I was hired temporarily, well, not temporarily, in a part-time position to help a medical doctor who was consulting to attorneys around the country build his business. And I would talk to attorneys and I would send them a letter and they would send cases and$500. And I became his best marketer. And that's when the entrepreneurial light went on that people need to talk to their prospects in order to grow their business. And I was fortunate enough. I have a lot of coincidences that show up at the right time regularly in business for me.

2:54And I met a fellow who was in marketing. He knew what I was talking about. He helped me start my business. And I started it. And within three months, I had an$18 ,000 contract with an insurance company that had a new website and a new promotion that they were doing. And we were part of that team. And that's how it all began. I love it. I love it. Yeah. Yeah. That's still a big need, I think, because it's getting, you know, it's all about, you can't do business if you're not talking to each other. And so you have to get business owners and businesses in front of other folks out there. So, yeah, it's a great one.

3:38Well, let me ask you some business questions. If you had to start from square one, what would you do differently? Oh, boy, what would I do differently? I think I would bring somebody on board that had skills that I don't have. And that would be, at least in this day and age, would be, you know, digital marketing, etc. Because that's so important to the game. So I would add new people to my team that were, you know, working as consultants and could support me. I had a great team calling team, and that's always really, really important. And I targeted my business mostly in Atlanta. I might expand it around the country.

4:25And there are certain areas I wouldn't go into, but I think that's basically what I might do differently. Got it. Got it. Love it. So what are some of the biggest learnings you've had as an owner and an employer in your business? yeah um i had a knack for attracting good people on the phones and i did not want to set up a call center i did not want to um have people around me all day long and um bill can you ask me that question one more time before i answer this yeah yeah what's been some of your biggest learnings as an owner and an employer since you started. Yeah. Yeah. So setting up a virtual team 25 years ago was kind of unheard of, but it's what I did and it worked and it still works.

5:18And that way, I didn't have to manage a lot of people all the time. I just had to manage the project and the client. And it allowed me a certain amount of freedom, but it also allowed my team freedom. so they were all independent contractors they worked on the projects they wanted to work on they worked when they wanted to and for me having happy uh contractors working for me was just as important as having happy clients because if they didn't want to be on a project they were not going to do a good job um so that was one of them is you know building my calling team um i think also excuse me, go ahead.

6:04I was going to ask you something about that. I just want to make the point that just because they're independent contractors doesn't mean they aren't employees. They're just a different kind of employee. Yeah. Yeah. That's a tax designation. It's not that they aren't employees. So yeah, it's a great point, but I love that. Yeah. Yeah. I think also having to adjust to the new technologies that hit the ground. I mean, when I started the first big project. They wanted us on broadcast faxing. You know, I had a little bit of faxing I was doing. They wanted us to fax companies around the country. So it was learning new technologies.

6:46When the internet hit, everybody told me my business would go out of business. And I said, no, it won't. And it never did. It did help our business. So I think it's learning to adjust to the outside world when it hits. You know, AI is hitting us all right now. And how do we want to adjust to that? I will tell you, I'm learning about AI. I have had AI agents call me. And I have compared it recently because I'm doing some outbound calling myself right now. And people are actually answering the phone and returning my calls and talking to people. there's so much pleasure in it, particularly if you're a connector, which I am, and you like being in contact with others, it makes a huge difference.

7:43So everybody's going to digital marketing. I'm saying it's still really important to be talking to people, talking to your prospects. Oh, you got it. Yeah, eventually you got the digital marketing's got to lead to talking to them, particularly on higher end kind of purchases. I mean, in B2B, business to business, I mean, I still say, and we've proven it over and over again, that direct calling is probably the fastest way to build a business in the B2B and high-end products. And that's just the way it is. So what are some common misconceptions about running a business? Oh, goodness. That it's difficult, that, you know, you may not have all of the systems in place to make it happen.

8:44That's certainly one. I think there can be fear. You know, I built my business networking. A lot of people don't network, but it's a fabulous way to build the business. So I think there's fear out there related to that personal interaction. What other fears? You know, am I going to make my goals? Am I going to generate the dollars I want to generate? Am I going to maintain my team, particularly the good players on my team? Um, you know, what happens when I've got someone that's not working well and I've got to, I've got to say goodbye to them and how do I do that in a way that is, you know, legally correct, et cetera.

9:26So I think there, I think there's certainly issues associated with all of that. And then as the market changes, can I change with it? And what are the changes I have to be making on a regular basis? I think is really important. Yeah, no, I like that. So what do you attribute your growth to? People don't like to do what we do. People hate to do it. Business owners hate to do it. It's the only reason I've had my business for this long is that they don't want to do it. They don't have the time, the energy, the desire to get on the phones and talk to a lot of call a lot of people they don't know. And that has worked in our favor.

10:08Yeah. Plus, it is leveraged. I mean, most people are busy and, you know, they have to hire somebody and you've got multiple people who can make calls. So, I mean, it's a it's very leveraged because you could you could call every many hours they want you to call. I mean, you could you could set that up. So I love that. I've always you know, I remember back in school or business school, we were talking about what great industries were. And one of the great industries we came up with was garbage collection because no one wanted to do it. Right. But it is a very lucrative business in the private garbage industry, if you're part of that.

10:45I mean, you look at waste management and what they've been able to do. So it's interesting. So how do you – it seems like you've been pretty good at this. How do you balance personal life with demands of business? I have a good team that do the calling for me. I, you know, I'm I'm half introverted and half extroverted. And so the networking, I love business. I love doing business. I think I would have given this up years ago. And I'm even at this stage of my life, I'm looking at, you know, how do I want to move forward with my business? So. Yeah, it's just it's it's been a fun thing for me to do and challenging.

11:33at the same time, because there are times when we have clients that are difficult or they give us a lousy list and they expect us to create miracles. We do our best to create miracles, but those lists are incredibly important to the quality of what we can provide. So that can be a challenge for us in terms of providing good services. So it's something that I support my clients on in terms of where do they get this list, How old was it, et cetera. So, you know, there are things like that that I have to be monitoring. And I'm happy with that. You know, I'm happy doing what I'm doing. I'm a connector.

12:18And I have a sister that is just an amazing connector. She walks in the room. And the way she says hello, just hello, everybody turns around and looks at her. And animals do the same thing. And it's, you know, so I've learned from her and I've also benefited greatly from having an older sister that's a big connector. Yeah, I love that. I love that. Yeah, connecting people. That's a great way to sort of combine the two. So what qualities do you look for in your employee contractors? I get them on the phone and I am interested in how they talk to me and how they sell themselves. So I've gotten their resume and I've looked at it and it may work and it may not.

13:14There may be things that are not particularly impressive to me. it's really how they communicate with me and how they talk to me and how they sell themselves and how they talk about their experiences and what's been important to them so i have you know a couple of conversations with them i don't i'm and they're all older seasoned sales people so i'm not i don't i'm not interested in college kids and um family family owners or family members that have children that they've got to take care of, because that's much more important than getting on phones and dialing. So it's very interesting to me how they sell themselves to me.

14:00And then I will test them on a project or two to see how they do, what their challenges were, and was our technology easy for them to work with? And what did they develop for the client? What were the questions they were asking related to the client and the project? And then I'm going to talk to them after they've done their calling to get a sense of how it went and what were the challenges and what worked and what were the rewards and what were they able to generate? Yeah, no, I love that. I love that. So let's do a quick fire round. So BEPIC is an acronym. I'm going to give you the letters, and then I just want like a couple of words or maybe a couple of sentences about each one.

14:49Okay. So the BEPIC stands for bring the energy. What are your thoughts around energy? Oh, very important. When we're talking to people, it's important to be present. um charisma is important kindness is important um bringing our whole energy forward is really important and being friendly is really important so yeah yeah you can you can hear it in the call people have energy yeah it's good it's awesome about e education uh very important um and And there are times in this world where I see people that haven't had education, but were able to do great things. You know, I did no marketing. I took no marketing classes and I've had this business for 25 years.

15:49But there are other people that have started their businesses in the garage, you know, just on a whim and an understanding and a creative idea. And so education can be very important at times. And other times, I think we have our own inner information that we can bring out to support and teach others. Yeah, I think self-education is probably more important than formal education. Yeah. So, yeah, it's in there. P, planning. What are your thoughts around planning? Very important. Planning for everything, planning for the business. Right now, we're looking at selling our house. That's going to require a lot of planning.

16:39But business certainly is important in terms of what do I need to be generating on a monthly, weekly, daily basis? How many clients do I need to have that I'm working with? And how many prospects do I need to have that are talking to me about working with us? So planning is very important, especially as it relates to dollars. Yeah, I love it. How about I, inspiration? I think that's what you were talking about earlier. Yeah, so interesting. I think inspiration is everywhere. is just a matter of whether we can tap into it or whether we're so overwhelmed with garbage in our brains as opposed to connecting to that creative side of ourselves.

17:30But I think it's everywhere and I think it's important to use it. When we're doing our calling campaigns, I have to come up with ways to differentiate my clients from their competition. And the fact that we're getting on the phone is one way that we're differentiating them. But then the questions we ask are really, really important to how we differentiate. And they have to be caring, interested, not interesting, interested questions. So, you know, I look for inspiration related to that, both for myself and also outside myself. And I love that. I love that. That's one of the better answers I think I've ever heard.

18:14So C stands for commitment. Yeah. Very important. You know, my thought on commitment is if it's a difficult commitment, I might want to rethink my commitment. If it's an easier commitment and it's, you know, my soul is comfortable with that commitment and my personality and the world around me is working with that commitment, then I'm going to put 100 % to it. If it's a situation where something doesn't quite work well and it's not going to, it's not going to change, then I look at, all right, is this something I should be 100 % committed to, 50 % or that I need to say goodbye to? I love that.

19:05Like always analyzing your commitments to make sure that you actually can stay committed to the ones where you're going to flow, where you're going to feel that flow. Yeah, I love that. I love that. What words of advice would you offer other business owners who are looking to grow?

19:24Words of advice. Come up with a plan that feels good. A plan that's not just intellectually good on paper, but also is going to be interesting, challenging, wonderful. There'll be a sense of accomplishment when it happens, when it's completed. Yeah, I think it's got to work with your personality. Love it. Love it, love it, love it. Yeah, you got to be yourself. I can't tell how many people I sell out. Like, just be yourself. Don't try to be somebody you're not trying to be. Well, to that point, Bill, I think people get sick when they are not being themselves. 100%. Yeah. I think it's got to be stressful on the body.

20:25So, interesting thing. So, lastly, what's the best way for someone to get in contact with you? Um, they can direct line is 404-915-9264. You can call me, you can text me. My email is Sherry, S-H-E-R-R-Y at telesales with an S, Atlanta.com. because that's where we started the business. Sherry at TelesalesAtlanta.com. Great. I love it. I love it. Hey, this has been fun. This is great. It's been informative. I really appreciate you being part of this community and all you're doing out there. And I know that this business is going to find continued success. Well, thank you so much for the opportunity to talk to you and have this conversation and talk to your audience.

21:25Yeah, it's been awesome. So, hey, until next time, all the best.

21:33Hey, thanks for listening to the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast. Here's three things that you can do. Number one, remember to subscribe to the podcast. It takes very little effort on your part. It's going to help you and your fellow entrepreneurs. Plus, you guys know how it works. the more subscribers we get, the more cool things we can offer to you. Second, to learn more about growing your business, just download my book, The Coach Approach. It's free for you at giftfrombill.com. That's giftfrombill.com. Hey, and if you'd like more info about growing your business and what we can do to help you grow your business, send me an email directly just send it to williamgilliland at actioncoach.com that's my personal email that i read no one else reads it first there's it's not screened it's my real email just send it to me i can't wait to talk to you hey and until then all the best