It’s An Honor To Speak With You Today

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Thank you for having me.   Truly appreciate the opportunity.  I grew up in Queens NY and played mostly baseball.  Went to Baruch College where I got my Bachelors in Accounting and then earned my MBA in Taxation from Long Island University.  As you can guess, my first two employers were CPA Firms.  KPMG Peat Marwick and Hertz Herson CPA.  Being an Accountant for 5 years, I learned the power of process.  No matter services we provided to a client, we followed a process from start to completion.

Accountants/CPA’s are typically, shy, quiet and introverted.  When I took a position as a Market Support Representative for CLR Fast*Tax, a tax processing company that required me to do sales presentations, speak in front of audiences, perform training classes it surprised not only myself but my wife and family as all of this wasn’t the Jeff that they knew and loved.

As I learned and got comfortable in my new role, I grew both professionally and personally. Sales became natural to me and I quickly excelled being #1 MSR, #1 Sales Rep the following two years and then #1 Regional Sales Manager 3 years in a row.  We moved to Chicago as I was promoted to Head of Major accounts now working for CCH Incorporated and 3 years later was promoted to VP of Sales now being based outside of Tampa, Florida where I have now lived for the past 24 years. 

Learning the power of process in my career as an accountant, provided me a skill set that I follow today.  Every sales representative, every company must have a repeatable predictable sales process that generates revenue.  Without it, steps are skipped and that is when sales are not closed. 

As a VP one of the functions is that you must train your teams.  I absolutely love training and working with my teams and I still do.  Learning never stops.  I have learned a lot from many different people and always listen for new techniques or ways of saying things.  I am a believer that its not what you say it’s how you say it. 

A little over a year ago I met Paul Webb via LinkedIn.  Paul became a Division of Brandeis Training Solutions.  Paul introduced me to Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) Which is recognizing how people learn is how people buy. Truly fascinating to me that I got my certification in NLP.  I now try to incorporate this into my sales training and business coaching clients.

Today I recently I wrote two books both are now available on Amazon.  Done Deal.  The Step by Step Handbook to Sales Success and Becoming a Rainmaker – A Sales guide for CPA’s and Accountants.  Also, I have been on ABC TV the List and many podcasts.  I work with CPA’s and accountants helping them migrate from a compliance firm to a Client Advisory Service practice that increases their Revenues without having to spend a dime on advertising.  We also work with them to increase their client base.

I’m sure your success has not come easily. What challenges have you had to overcome along the way?

As I mentioned earlier, I was an accountant, sales didn’t’ come easy to me at first.  Not many accountants become sales reps or VP of Sales. 

Making cold calls, getting rejected, people hanging up on me, leaving messages that we were never returned was a whole new world to me and one that I had to overcome to be successful.  Losing a contract or a big deal, suffering with rejection was also something that I had to overcome. 

Learning to give people

Let’s talk about the work you do. What do you specialize in and why should someone work with you over the competition?

I love what I do.  Watching people grow and succeed is something I take great pride in.

Having companies   There are many coaches and trainers in the marketplace.  Very few if any have an accounting background, been a sales executive and understand how people buy. 

Being adaptable to people, processes and procedures are things that I look for when I work with a CEO or an organization.  Those some characteristics are things that CEO’s or entrepreneurs should look for in a coach.  Not all companies are created equally and not all coaches perform equally.

I inspect what I expect, I go above expectations.  I want to overachieve the same way I want the companies that I work with to overachieve.   Sales or being successful isn’t about one person doing great or overperforming, its about having the team over achieve, having more sales reps over quota.  It’s a total company team effort. 

What’s your best piece of advice for readers who desire to find success in their life?

Success is something that you define for yourself. Yes, company can set quota’s, goals and KPI’s but success is different for everyone.  For some it’s being in the Top 10, others it’s about being in the Top 5.  For others its being #1.  

Everyone sets their success goals, and nothing is easy so you must create a plan, create a vision and you work towards that vision or plan.  When and if you reach that plan, raise the bar and keep elevating yourself to even a higher level of success.  Don’t get complacent, keep driving.   In sales, at year end you’re a hero. You finished #1  and  what happens the next day?  Your back at zero and starting the race again. 

What’s next for you?

Scaling the business and continuing to share information that people will find interesting and that helps companies overcome their challenges.  As different as companies are, they are the same in so many aspects. In Difficult times, we lead the charge and then there are followers,  I have chosen to provide a simple solution to deliver that translates to CPA’s firms a process to effectively increase revenues while working less hours. 

Finally, how can people connect with you if they want to learn more.

People can visit our Training web site at www.brandeistrainingsolutions.com or our Business coaching site at www.BrandeisCoaching.com    Everyone also is welcome to schedule a complimentary call with me at www.speakwithJeff.com

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