What’s Your Story?

The ability to tell a powerful story – arguably the most important aspect of being a super salesperson.

Best place to practice storytelling? How about on yourself.

Give it a try. Here is mine [courtesy of my friend Ravi Rajani and I]

SCOTT’S SIGNATURE STORY

“Scott, have you ever thought about becoming a therapist?”

That’s exactly what the Dean of my Psychology department said to me back in 1997 when I was figuring out what the hell to do with my life.

She tried and I resisted.

I didn’t want to become a therapist, I wanted to become a professional athlete.

My dad played college soccer at Niagara University back in the 60’s before Americans even knew it was a thing.

For me, soccer was plan A, plan B and plan C.

It was and still is the only constant in my life.

But you know what they say right?

The only constant in life is change.

And right before my 23rd birthday, change was just around the corner.

The world didn’t want me to become a therapist, a professional athlete or anything else for that matter.

It wanted to test me.

A test that consisted of being bed ridden in a hospital for 4 years…

A test that consisted of 4 life changing operations…and 9 in total to date.

A test that consisted of an addiction to opioids.

I remember sitting there alone in a cold, dark and gloomy hospital bed asking myself,

“Will I ever be able to play sports again?”

“Will I ever get married and have kids?”

“Will I even survive this ? Will I even be alive in 12 months time?”

After the removal of my large intestine, several organ failures, a colon cancer scare and countless autoimmune disease diagnoses later…

I was 27 years old and 50 pounds lighter, asking myself a different question…

“What now?”

I didn’t have a degree from an Ivy league institution.

I’d never had a real job.

And I had nothing to my name except a liberal arts degree and master’s degree.

But here’s what I did have, an understanding of people.

And before I knew it, I’d landed my first ever office job.

In sales.

The truth is, for a long time I had no idea what I was doing.

People told me my beard made me look homeless…

I had zero formal training…

And I consistently felt like an outsider.

Until it hit me.

The Dean of my Psychology department was right about one thing…

I had a knack for shifting people’s behavior through the way they think.

And just like being an addict, I knew that you can’t solve a problem for a prospect if they’re unwilling to admit they have one in the first place.

The goal became simple:

Step 1: Have my prospect admit they have a problem.

Step 2: Educate them on why it’s important.

Step 3: Illuminate what will happen if they don’t solve their issue.

Then and only then would people be willing to listen to my solution.

Unknowingly, my previous addiction was helping me create a sales framework that would later serve thousands of sales reps and countless SaaS companies across the world over a decade later.

Having been an individual contributor, a VP of Sales and built sales orgs at SaaS companies such as Qualia, Main Street Hub, Reply! and Outbound Engine, my calling as a coach began to unfold.

My father is 74 and still coaches soccer teams today.

Mentorship is in my blood.

Hey, my name is Scott Leese and I believe that sales is the garbage can of jobs. However, in every piece of trash, there’s gold to be found. Your job as a salesperson is simply to uncover the gold.

Did I ever play sports again? Yes, I did.

Am I alive and healthy? Well…let’s just say its a work in progress.

Did I ever get married? Yes.

My wife Janet and I live over in Austin with our two sons Brayden and Caleb, not forgetting our furry 4 legged kids Loki and Mia.

With my consulting business, advisory roles, Thursday Night Sales and Surf & Sales communities, I help SaaS companies scale from $0 to $25mm ARR without following the rulebook of today’s norms.

Like you, I’m just an ordinary guy trying to change the world of Sales one salesperson at a time.

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Great article on sales management.

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