There’s a lot of dynamics with a family business. Things change, and the next generation is not always willing to join the boat. Today’s guest for Coffee with Closers decided to take the legacy. Today, he is successfully growing a corporation in a third generation, and he has no plans to drop the ball. Meet Derek Volk, the President & CEO of Volk Packaging Corporation. He also has an Amazon best-selling book called Chasing the Rabbit: A Dad’s Life Raising a Son on the Spectrum. Derek is real...
Dec 06, 2021•50 min
When you are just entering the market as a small business, it’s really hard to compete with giant brands that have all the resources in the world while you have none. But it doesn’t mean you get no chance to succeed. It’s just that the path for underdogs is going to be different. And today’s guest for Coffee with Closers loves the underdogs. He is passionate about helping small and medium businesses to become profitable, find sustainable growth, and do well serving their markets. Meet Rand Fishk...
Nov 29, 2021•40 min
You can spend years looking for the next best product idea, or you can analyze your own operations, spot the missing parts, and create one out of an internal need. Today’s guest for Coffee with Closers ended up doing exactly that. Meet Mikita Mikado, an entrepreneur and an industry disruptor. Mikita is one of those people who started from scratch and learned in the process. Along the way, he founded several companies including Quote Roller and PandaDoc. Stay tuned for the conversation with Mikit...
Nov 22, 2021•39 min
Living in today’s world and not comparing yourself with anybody is a zen-level attitude. Every person had to deal with it at some point in their life. However, the comparison is the glue that keeps you stuck. It is also the glue that keeps you in perfectionism. You’re never going to win whatever game you play living that way and showing up from that place. Today’s guest for Coffee with Closers is convinced that you need to trust yourself and know your end-all-be-all intentions in anything you do...
Nov 15, 2021•39 min
Every person needs to have a purpose and go after it, day after day. Without purpose, life gets boring. Today’s guest for Coffee with Closers received an amazing education and achieved tremendous success in the communications business. He was able to retire at the age of 39, but soon he realized it wasn’t the right time for it yet. So he got back on track and crushed it twice as hard, but this time, in investment banking. Meet Chris Younger, founder and managing director of Class VI Partners, au...
Nov 08, 2021•36 min
Here’s an insight from today’s guest for Coffee with Closers. Regardless of what we do as entrepreneurs, fundamentally, we’re all in the business of trust. We have to earn and maintain the trust of our customers as they are only going to spend money with us if they believe that we really want to help them. Unfortunately, a lot of marketing and sales aren’t built on that mentality. It’s built on generating leads, converting people as fast as possible - all to increase ROI. And there’s nothing wro...
Nov 01, 2021•45 min
CEO title looks great on paper, but in reality, it often stands for Chief Everything Officer. And this is a problem for every leader looking to grow and scale their business. It’s hard to be a visionary when you have all those fires to put out. Today's guest for Coffee with Closers knows the way out. He believes that when it seems like you’ve hit your ceiling and can’t grow beyond a certain limit, you need to change your mindset and your habits, and make sure the entire team is on the same page ...
Oct 25, 2021•33 min
Here’s a perspective shift you didn’t know you needed. You don’t have to be good to start, you just have to BELIEVE you’re great and start. Today’s guest for Coffee with Closers can tell you everything about self-doubt and insurmountable circumstances, which by the way she is successfully overcoming every single day. Meet Klyn Elsbury, founder of MK Foundation. She is a prolific author, world-renowned speaker, a corporate sales trainer, and a podcast host who’s dedicated her life to helping indi...
Oct 18, 2021•30 min
Truly authentic brands connect with you on a deeper level. They almost become a part of your soul. And that can’t happen unless every single person in your team is bought into what they are doing. Today's guest for Coffee with Closers believes that the way you recruit, retain, and engage your employees should be your number one priority. Meet Tim Kopp, the Executive Chairman & CEO of Terminus and a partner at High Park Ventures. He is recognized as a marketing and technology leader with more...
Oct 11, 2021•27 min
If you’re on the receiving end, it’s pretty easy to disseminate between a company that puts you in their sales funnel and the one that’s actually trying to help. That’s why we’re seeing a lot of change in the way sales work. Account management is upgraded into customer success, old school B2B salesmanship turned into the Sandler and Challenger Methodology. Modern sales conversations can and should be much easier. And today’s guest for Coffee with Closers is convinced that empathy is essential to...
Oct 04, 2021•34 min
How important is communication for an organization? Today’s guest for Coffee with Closers is convinced that it’s 10 out of 10. Understanding others is about empathy. It’s about vulnerability and listening to the other person. As an entrepreneur and a leader, you truly can’t solve anything if you don’t listen. Meet Deirdre Breakenridge, an entrepreneur, an author, and an educator who taught PR and Communications in many prestigious universities. She currently runs her own consulting practice Pure...
Sep 27, 2021•32 min
Systems and processes may not necessarily be the crucial element in making your organization scalable. When the circumstances are right, you can scale pretty fast without it. But once you notice that things are starting to break, that’s the Universe’s way to tell you that you should put systems in place. Today’s guest for Coffee with Closers is the king of organizing businesses. Meet Chris Ronzio, founder and CEO of Trainual, author of 100 Hacks to Improve Your Business, Inc.com “Process Playboo...
Sep 20, 2021•35 min
A lot of people think that if you have a cool product, you’re destined to succeed. But are you, though? Today’s guest for Coffee with Closers believes that it’s not quite true. Despite everything else, the only thing that predicts how successful your company will be is the market. If you’re in a really great market where you are solving an urgent and important problem, you can have a pretty mediocre product and a team of average people, but still, win. And vice versa, you can have the best team ...
Sep 13, 2021•46 min
Here’s one super interesting insight. Revenue = frequency x competency. Outwork everybody else and you will win. This advice from today’s guest for Coffee with Closers is a treasure for every junior salesperson (or junior anybody, for that matter). Get your frequency up and competency will naturally follow. Today’s guest for Coffee with Closers is Chad Burmeister. Chad is a believer, a husband, a father, a lifelong rebel, and a rule breaker. As the founder and CEO of ScaleX.ai, he empowers the s...
Sep 06, 2021•45 min
When trying to build a super professional sales team, it’s important to take the right advice from the right people. Today’s guest is someone you’d want to listen to. Meet Marcus Chan, President and Founder at Venli Consulting Group. Marcus went from being the worst rep in the company to becoming an executive member of Forbes Business Council and 2020 LinkedIn Top Voice in Sales. Marcus says you have to build things in place that allow you to be anywhere and everywhere without working 100 hours ...
Aug 30, 2021•54 min
Do you know the difference between the buffalo and the cattle? When the storm approaches, the buffalo will charge into the storm while the cattle will run away. And the buffalo will get through the storm quicker. Today’s guest for Coffee with Closers believes that if you want to achieve success as an entrepreneur, having the right mindset is crucial. You’ve got to be willing to face things head-on, and always remember to favor courage over comfort. Meet Tony Ehrbar, owner & Chief Joy Officer...
Aug 23, 2021•34 min
How strategic are you about the pricing of your product or service? Today’s guest for Coffee with Closers shared a very interesting insight. The average amount of time a company spends on their pricing each year is less than 15 hours. Not a month, not a week, 15 hours total throughout that year. And if you compare this to the amount of time and effort you spend on your office space or your remote culture and so on, it is not nearly as enough as it should be. Why is pricing so critical, though? T...
Aug 16, 2021•40 min
The beginning of the sales process is equally as important as the end of the sales process. And sales development or qualifying an opportunity might even be the hardest part. So how do you approach the sales process the right way? Well, this episode is an opportunity to learn from the best. Our guest on Coffee with Closers is Trish Bertuzzi – a successful entrepreneur, well-known author and speaker, and a top sales trainer. Not so long ago, she released “The Sales Development Playbook” – a go-to...
Aug 09, 2021•23 min
Do you want to build your personal brand? And what if someone told you that there's no point in asking yourself this question? In fact, we're telling you now. Whether you like it or not, everyone has a brand. It's what people say about you when you're not in the room. It's your reputation and the opportunities that come your way. Everything you do or don't do is a reflection of your brand. The only question is, is it by default or by design? That said, having a strong personal brand doesn't mean...
Aug 02, 2021•39 min
I won’t exaggerate by saying that there’s hardly any person who hasn’t heard about Predictable Revenue. Personally, I read the book a couple of times and I still go back to it once in a while, which makes me twice as excited to present today’s guest for Coffee with Closers. We are having a conversation with Mr. Aaron Ross, co-CEO PredictableRevenue.com, sales guru, keynote speaker, best-selling author of “Predictable Revenue” and “From Impossible To Inevitable”, a family man, and a father of 9. ...
Jul 26, 2021•39 min
Leaders and entrepreneurs need to diversify, and today’s guest illustrates very neatly that passion can drive a person to juggle with multiple different businesses. He has a private equity firm that is doing mergers and acquisitions. He also has a healthcare company, he’s involved in real estate, and the list goes on and on. And he says it doesn’t even feel like work! Meet Cory Williams, Founder, and CEO at Epic Health Partners, an expert in electrical and electronic manufacturing, an MBA in Sup...
Jul 19, 2021•35 min
Here’s some food for thought. If you don’t think of what you do as a process, you don’t understand it well enough. How about that? And have you ever considered planning a fundamental aspect of a successful business? After watching today’s episode, you definitely will. Today’s guest for Coffee with Closers is the king of business processes in the construction industry. Meet Pete Fowler - a construction consultant, professional cost estimator, and President of Pete Fowler Construction Services, In...
Jul 12, 2021•40 min
When they aren’t getting enough business, most entrepreneurs think that’s because of the price. It must be too high. But is it the real reason though? Our today’s guest believes it probably is not. There’s so much competition out there, and one thing that determines whether or not someone is going to do business with you is an assessment of risk, meaning “If I do business with you, what are the chances that I’ll lose money on this deal?” Take that risk away! Meet Charles E. Gaudet II, CEO & ...
Jul 05, 2021•51 min
All the sales gurus out there say, go to LinkedIn, go to Instagram, see what your prospects are talking about, and reference that in your email. Today’s guest believes this is absolutely no use for the actual sales. If you as a salesperson don’t nail the relevant business pain, a compelling value narrative, or something that could have ROI, why would a prospect agree to meet you? I’m happy to introduce you to Justin Michael – a sales technologist with 20 years of experience, business consultant,...
Jun 28, 2021•46 min
Sales 2.0, cold outreach, sequencing, social selling… We hear a whole bunch of sales tips every day, but which of them should we actually use? What’s going to work best for our respective organizations? Today’s guest for Coffee with Closers is convinced that it depends on what you sell and who you sell it to. Meet Steve Richard, a serial entrepreneur, speaker, and sales consultant. Steve’s story is a perfect example of how failure breeds success. He went from being the only person in his class t...
Jun 21, 2021•45 min
Entrepreneurship is a very humbling experience. The day you start, you think you’re going to change the world. But then customers say no, investors say no, recruits say no, and that’s when you realize you have no magic bullets. Today’s guest for Coffee with Closers is convinced that even after 20+ years in business, he hasn’t got any. He still needs to grind through it. Meet Godard Abel - the co-founder and CEO of G2 - probably the most popular business software and services review platform to d...
Jun 14, 2021•38 min
When you start your business at a young age, you always feel like you need to compensate for it. You’re under pressure to know it all, so you try extra hard for people to take you seriously. But at the end of the day, age is just a number. What matters is real-life experience, passion, and vision. Today’s guest is also one of those early starters. I’m happy to introduce you to Andrew Hoeft - Founder & CEO of Pinpoint Software. He started his business when he was 18 years old, feeling all kin...
Jun 07, 2021•48 min
Building a business is no rocket science. As long as you have one laptop, your brain, and some creative ideas, you have a startup. This concept is so straightforward that it almost looks easy. But is it, though? What does it take in reality? Meet Aditya Kothadiya, co-founder and CEO of AVOMA. This guy was ready to go for his dream in any possible scenario. Luckily, he didn’t have to. His entrepreneurial career was a long time in the making, but all the risks he took over the years eventually pai...
May 31, 2021•54 min
Here’s a little insight from today’s guest. Mindset matters. If you’re having trouble being successful in your personal life or career, it means that you have not decided yet to be successful. Once that switch goes on in your mind, things start to move out of your way on your behalf. And as long as you stay in motion, opportunities will favor you. Meet Ralph Barsi, VP of Global Inside Sales at Tray.io. Ralph has over 20 years of experience as a sales leader. In this episode, he shares some of th...
May 24, 2021•34 min
A true entrepreneur never stops learning because the world is always changing, people are changing. And if you’re going to be a true leader, you need to be informed of everything that’s going on around you to make the best decisions possible. As someone who started her career in Biological Illustration and ended up in the investment industry, today’s guest can teach you a couple of good lessons on how to pivot. Meet Jennie Campbell, President and CEO of Steward Steelwood Investment with over 25 ...
May 17, 2021•1 hr 4 min
