Aesopians E5 - Tech To Rep, Year 1 As An MSP Salesperson Ft. Ashton Fortuna

Speaker A: Welcome to the Asopians Podcast where the wisest in the channel come to get their MSP marketing insights. Today we're talking with Ashton Fortuna of uh, Valley techlogic about going from tech to rep and year one as an MSP salesperson. So let's dive right in. All right, welcome to the latest episode of the Asopians podcast. I'm here with Ashton Fortuna, uh and he is going to talk to us a little bit about the lessons learned um, from the first year in MSP sales after transitioning from atec. Um, so I will pass it over to you here Ashton. So why don't you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do.

Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. Um, again my name is Ashton, um, from California, uh, started off getting in the IT industry as, as essentially a glorified cable puller. Um, they needed somebody who can pull networking cables as well as install um, cameras and so started off doing that and then of course more, a little bit more was asked which was great. I learned a little bit more um, and then just essentially became a level one tech, uh, more of the hands on for those who are working remotely who wouldn't be able to go on site, uh, I would be uh, their hands on there. And so uh, did that for about a year and enjoyed um, it a lot uh, and really just kind of figured that's where I would be in the IT industry on the tech side. Um, but eventually um, we welcomed our second child and um, being the hands on guy ah was, was becoming more difficult because that required me to stay overnight in hotels, further distance from, from my family. Um, and so when the opportunity came up to join the sales side they hadn't had an in person sales um in quite a while. It was all kind of done remotely and so um, they asked me if it's something I'd be interested in. I'd have more flexibility with regards to my schedule, more um, work from home opportunities. And so I never really had a sales background. I uh, used to own and operate a pressure washing company and so that was kind of like you know, the door knocking, the hanging flyers. That's about the extent of my uh, my sales uh, acumen went and so I just kind of dived right in and now I've been doing it for a year and uh, honestly it's, this is now what I look at as like my new career going forward.

Speaker A: Yeah, I had looked uh, at your LinkedIn profile and I couldn't remember what the specific uh, job you had done was. But pressure washing and you know, that struck stuck out as like something that's uh, you know, a people business. So I'm sure you got to, you know, chat a lot, chat people up and do kind of the door to door experience.

Speaker B: Oh yeah.

Speaker A: And uh, I checked out, you know, one of your episodes on the MSP camp that you uh, podcast there that you came on and have just seen you throughout the channel. And uh, one thing that's always kind of stuck out to me is you've got an air of contagious, you know, positivity, a lot of energy, you know, things like that. So I'm not surprised that they asked you to get into sales because that's, you know, something that's a big benefit and personality trait that can help you be successful there. Um, so I guess maybe like, you know, talk to you, talk to us a little bit about like your kind of mindset and you know, how you kind of get up and have that energy and that excitement and uh, how that's translating into transitioning into MSP sales.

Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. Um, my, my teachers always told me I had the gift, uh, of Gap. I, I never really, uh, got into too much trouble at school, but every time I did get in trouble, it was typically for talking during class. So I've always had that, um, I don't know, I guess you'd say the ability to just talk. Um, and then, yeah, it, it was one of those things where, you know, when, when the position was offered to me immediately, it was one of those things where it's like, I don't know if I can do it. You know, Um, I don't really have a big acumen in, in sales. Um, I did work at a grocery store for seven years. So you know, obviously there's some natural communicating with customers as they go through your line and different things like that. Um, and so it was, it was a difficult start. Uh, I'll be honest. Um, I'll never forget the very first meeting, um, I went to after I sat down with them. I ended up letting my boss know, like, hey, I'm calling it today, because I'm just drained. Uh, you know, this, this one, this one hour meeting with the company, you know, just completely drained me. So after that then I'm worried like, can I even do this? Um, and I, part of how I do things is um, podcast, right? I'm very, um, audio driven. And so immediately what I started doing was like looking up everybody in the sales industry who has a podcast and just flooding my mind with with their information, with their knowledge, and, um, obviously using my boss as a resource. She's the, uh, director of marketing and wonderful resource using, uh, our inside salesperson as a resource. And then just kind of combining all that and just saying, okay, this is who I want to be and this is how I want to do it. And um, my boss was very big on just be yourself, if that's what helps. I think I talked about it before, um, at least in the past. You know, we're really big or the company's been really big into Robin Robbins. Right. The, the marketing. Um, but I found it didn't really resonate with me as much. Um, the, the tactics or the strategies used didn't feel like it was me. And so again, my boss was really big on just, okay, we'll find something else. And that's actually how I found MSP Camp with Taher. Um, I felt like the way he marketed, the way he did his sales was more the way I wanted to do it. And then, you know, you come across, um, others, uh, Brian Gillette and, and how they're talking to people and how they're introducing marketing and sales. And I just kind of soaked it all in. Um, the journey has been. It's been amazing. And I look back at that first meeting, so that first meeting I ever had. So I started in sales. Uh, it's going to be a year in May. My first meeting was at the end of May. That company just signed with us in January. So even though I look back and I think of how terrifying that that whole situation was, um, how nervous I was afterwards, sick to my stomach, uh, even the meeting that I thought was the worst still proved to have positive results. And so it's just kind of reminding myself that, that, hey man, it might not go the way we want it to. Because I've had meetings where I've left and I've thought, oh, they're signing tomorrow. And then I don't hear from them again. M. And so just having that balanced mindset of just be yourself and everything else will fall into place.

Speaker A: Yeah. Um, I think, you know, one thing you said there was, you kind of established that you were just like committed to making it work right from the start. Um, m. And you know, uh, I. I work in marketing. Been doing marketing here for six years. But, um, you know, before I started my business, I was in tech for 10 plus years of my career as well. And the last five of that was as a software developer. So about as introverted and, you know, sort of, you know, position as you can get. Uh, I just like the problem solving and everything like that. But, um, you know, when I started this agency, I knew I was going to have to sell. Um, and I really think, like the biggest trait I see between people who succeed in sales, succeed in their business, et cetera, and things like that is just being like, you gotta just commit to it because, like, you know, that's really what's gonna sustain you through the rejection. And, you know, the tough days in sales of which there are many of them with the, you know, poor meetings and, you know, you don't get the result you wanted and things like that, and then just like the having to pick up the phone again or, you know, go to the next one is just like, you're committed and, you know, you just said you've got your second child. So there's an element of like, you're doing this for, you know, a, uh, bigger purpose than what the negativity of, like, the rejection and some of the tough days in sales will, you know, bring at you. You've got to have something bigger than that that you're pushing through, which you have.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, no, that's definitely true. Um, you know, being. Coming from that tech side, a bad day on the tech side is just something not working the way it's supposed to. Right. But typically you could find an answer to that, you know, why. Why this isn't connecting, why this isn't updating, why this keeps disconnecting. Um, typically you could find an answer to that, but sometimes when it comes to dealing with people, there are no answers.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Uh, there's. There's no solution. You can't just go on to ChatGPT and, hey, they said this. What does that mean? No, you know, it's just kind of one of those things. Yeah, you learn people and uh, you know, unfortunately, sometimes those bad days are really bad, you know, um, and you know, yes, my family is my greatest motivation. They're the background on, on my monitor to remind myself, you know, hey, it's a bad day, but this is why I'm doing what I'm doing. Uh, but on the flip side, there's great days. Um, there's days where I sit down and I can't believe I'm being paid to do this. You know, Um, I. We did an expo last week. Uh, really unique Expo, uh, had 11, um, different county, uh, government. Government officials from 11 different counties all kind of got together and uh, we were asked to be, uh, the. Basically the. One of the sponsors. And we were the only. It. We were the only really non, like, engineering industry there. Um, but the nice thing about it was afterwards we, you know, we all went out to dinner, we all got drinks, and it was just one of those moments where I sat back and I realized I'm. I'm paid to do this right now. You know, um, it really helped, you know. Yeah, there's bad days, but some days it's really great. And then the days where my kids are sick and I'm allowed to work from my bed, you know, uh, put together some stuff, make some phone calls, make sure they're taken care of. You just. You can't put a price on that.

Speaker A: Sure. And, uh, you know, you mentioned kind of, uh, when you were pre, you know, chatting before, uh, the episode and everything that, you know, you got a little bit of adhd. Uh, I also have a little bit

Speaker B: of that as well.

Speaker A: Um, you know, I'm doing marketing for like, 10 companies right now. So that's, uh, bouncing back and forth. So the sales and the ups and downs and the, you know, dynamic environment and everything can really, like, uh, be a good fit for people who might have adhd because, like, you know, you're getting that change in your stimulation and you're, uh, you know, keeping your mind really occupied and engaged.

Speaker B: Um, yeah, a hundred percent. Um, it took me a while to find that balance. Right. Um, because I think in. On the tech side, things are constantly changing every minute. But sometimes in sales, you find yourself in a monotonous rut. Um, but I learned that sometimes we put ourselves there. Right. So, like, what I did when I first started sales, I was like, I'm going to dedicate each day to something different. So that way everything's getting done right. So Mondays were email outreach, Tuesdays were mailers, Wednesdays were cold calls. Thursdays I would actually go in person and visit people. And then Friday I would do all my notes compiled from those last four days. Okay. Um, yeah, cool. Wasn't good for me. Okay. The reason being is because spending. It does seem like there's a variety every day, but spending eight hours each day doing the same thing was just not working for me. I found myself.

Speaker A: How.

Speaker B: How did I only write 15 emails in eight hours? Right. Um, and so what I ended up changing once, you know, I. I looked into other people who have adhd. How they handle office work is, uh, I think it's called the pomodero clock, where, you know, every 15 minutes adjusts what you do. M. Um, and So I. There's YouTube, um, videos where it's an eight hour long video and every 15 minutes the, the music kind of changes and it lets you know, to start a different activity. And that has helped tremendously. Um, so rather than spending all day Tuesday, um, doing mailers, I'll do like 15 minutes of mailers, 15 minutes of cold calls, 15 minutes of this, 15 minutes of that. And what that has done for me is I've done, I'm doing way more than I ever did before. Um, learning how to balance that and really just do everything in 15 minute increments has completely adjusted the way I do things.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's awesome. Sounds like heaven. I love the, you know, keeping things fresh and all that stuff. So, um, yeah, definitely a trait of the, the adt, um, which is uh, probably something like, I don't know, your experience has um, been. But like that was a big struggle when I was like a kid. But as an adult, you know, you learn how to, you know, manage it better and um, uh, it can be a big asset because like you said, if you, if you learn the processes and ways to like, you know, work the way you really want to work, then you can really get a lot done with like that sort of like, you know, mind.

Speaker B: Uh, yeah. And you, you also start enjoying it too. You know, you, you. As a kid, I didn't really enjoy that aspect of learning because you're sitting in a classroom for an hour learning about the same thing over and over again. But then as an adult I, I've learned that like, no, this is kind of fun, you know, sitting there watching a 15 minute DIY video and then switching it to something else. So I feel like even the way I take in information has just greatly, uh, improved. Cool.

Speaker A: Um, well, you had mentioned you were doing some mailers and cold calls and emails and things like that. Um, I know that the sales role, um, can be very ill defined and um, can also be challenging as a one person, you know, salesperson at a company because you don't have any direct reports. Right. Right now. Okay. Um, so yeah, you're, you're having to do like a little bit of everything. So I was kind of curious like, you know, what your role was. Was it um, you know, cold calling, dedicated. But it sounds like you've got uh, a blend of outreach going on. Um, I guess how long did that kind of take to get uh, the wheels up and running? Tell us a little bit about like, you know, just the structure of the, you know, outreach methods you got going on and what, you know, a, um, tech Turned rep might come to expect from a year one in that regard.

Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. So, um, because it had been a little while since um, we'd had a dedicated outside salesperson. When I joined sales, the, the owner of our company, um, he, he said really just make it your own. Figure um, out what works best for you. And he said we're not setting any expectations for your first year, which, uh, you know, we just want you to, to figure out what works for you and let's see if, if this all works and having that right away be told to me, you know, there's no real expectations kind of put me at ease, you know. But the, the other problem was, well then I wanted to set high expectations for myself. Um, and so I went into it again that whole I'm gonna do everything m, I'm gonna do the cold outreach, I'm gonna do the emailing, I'm gonna um, do the LinkedIn thing. And uh, to be honest with you, first three months were terrifying. Um, I, I really thought there's, there's no way I, uh, can do this. There's no way that I could keep going like this. I am either a gonna burn out, but I'm also not finding any results. So that was terrifying. Um, but then once I kind of buckled down, realized, you know, again, how, how I learned how I could take in information and then who I could get it from, um, you know, people in the industry like yourself, um, again, uh, uh, Young, uh, why can't I think of his first name? Um, oh, I had it written down before, but I don't really. Stephen Young. There we go. Stephen Young. And how, how he operates his MSP and different things like that. It really helped, help uh, me to say, okay, this is where they're finding success. Let me take a little bit of all of, all of their routes, right, and put it together and figure out where I enjoy it the most, where I find the most pleasure. Because the thing is if you enjoy, you're going to be better at it and you're going to do it more often. And then I went to scalecon, right as CLCON saw you give the talk again, um, Steven Young, Taher Brian. And it was just like, okay, that's what I've been doing wrong. And so I just decided to start buckling down a little bit more. I created myself a schedule on how I was going to do things, those 15 minute increments. Um, and then I started to take a little bit more pride in what I was doing and that helped tremendously. So, uh, rather than just saying, okay, this is what we have to offer, I started going to our director of marketing and saying, hey, can we incorporate this in our marketing? Can. Can we try to do something like this? Um, so that way, when I bring it to the table, I feel like I've had a hand in it. I've had my personal feelings involved into this, and maybe that'll help out. So, for example, uh, for a long time, our marketing was revolved around Vegas. Uh, right. So our business cards were little poker chips. Um, our slogan was don't gamble with your it. Uh, the prizes we would hand out to people were decks of cards with tech tips on it. All of it. Really cool, right? I'm not a gambler. I don't. You know, I'm not. I'm not big on going to Vegas or anything like that. So it didn't really resonate with me. So, you know, these were just stuff I was handing out to people. And then I came up with an idea that I would. Wanted to incorporate. So I went up to, uh, my boss and I said, hey, you know, um, I really like this rubber duck thing. You know, I. I really want to start incorporating this into what we've done. So what we did was like, kind of like a, uh, in between, and actually kept one right here. So we designed these, or, uh, we got these ducks made, and it's a little Vegas duck. Uh, he's got, like, money in his pockets. He's got dice cards. It has our logo on it. So it's. It was kind of both. Right. Incorporated the little duck thing that I wanted to bring out, but still kept that theme while they, for lack of a better word, sold like hotcakes. Um, we went to an expo, and they were essentially all gone. At the end of the expo, everybody said, man, this is awesome. Like, this is the greatest thing that we got here. And so we said, okay, let's lean into that. So then we kind of have two little slogans, because what's the, like, background

Speaker A: or, like, what is the connection to it with the duck?

Speaker B: And that's the thing. There isn't any. Okay. It really wasn't. But it was just something that I had seen before in the past. And I thought, man, that is really cool. It's something. You know, again, uh, it's hard to market to somebody who doesn't gamble or maybe to young ones. And, you know, it's hard to hand out poker chips and decks of cards at a school, you know, when you're sponsoring an event. And so it was something a little more innocent. And so by. Oh, go ahead.

Speaker A: I'm sorry, I got one for you. How about don't let your it leave you a sitting duck.

Speaker B: Ah. Uh, so we ended up coming up with the new slogan. Don't know if you could see it, but it says, does your it have their ducks in a row?

Speaker A: That's great too.

Speaker B: We leaned heavy into that. Right. So we even upgraded. We got a series two duck. It's a little it duck guy. And it's been working. The last expo we went to, I told you last week, uh, or that I went to last week, um, we went through almost 250 of those at an event with only 200 people because everybody wanted multiples. Um, and it. What it did for me is it helped me to, to feel like I had a role in, in this, in, you know, in this part. Um, and so when bringing it to other customers and they talk about it, I can give the backstory on why we have a rubber duck. Um, and yes, we're selling it. We're not selling, you know, rubber ducks or anything like that. Uh, but once the conversation starts in a friendly manner, getting to that IT part, getting to the price, getting to everything else just seems to flow so much more easier. And so I feel like that had just a huge role in me feeling more comfortable in the sales role.

Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, it's kind of an important marketing principle, is just building brand recall. Um, so you're kind of on onto that there, and you're tying, uh, your brand to something that's already familiar in the prospect's minds, uh, with a duck. So that's an important thing. Um, so, uh, that's good and cool that you picked up on that, uh, so quickly. Um, so, yeah, okay, um, you worked with marketing, got some campaigns that are helping you do some of your field outreach and things like that at events. Um, you're doing some, uh, cold emails and mailers. What sort of, uh, volume of email sends are you doing, um, or have you done in the past year?

Speaker B: Yeah, so my goal, uh, was, uh, 25 mailers, 25 emails, uh, 25 calls, and 25 cold visits, um, a week. Uh, okay. And keeping that, so that's, you know, essentially 100, 100, um, touches, um, that I'm getting a week. And the, the nice thing about it is where it's helped the most isn't necessarily just increasing our numbers, which obviously it has. You know, we had a really good year last year. Um, one of our best years. Uh, more so Than that it increased our recognition. Um, the struggle that we kind of had is, uh, we were in the Central Valley last year for, for over 20 years. We had been in the area, um, had some of the highest reviews in our area, but nobody knew who we are. Um, so our competitors, people, they have a lower Google review, they have lower review counts. Um, you know, but their brand recognition was through the roof. Right. Uh, everybody knew who they were. So if they, if they did need I t. Well, I know who this person is, so I'm just going to call them. And so we thought last year, well, what can we do to change that? And, and doing those 100 touches a week on focusing on local businesses regardless of their size kind of helped get that brand recognition out there. Um, you know we, we started branding our vehicles last year, which wasn't something we did before. M. We started going to expos and events, which isn't something we did before. Um, we started slapping our logos on, on everything we can, which isn't necessarily something we did before. And through all of this between, you know, the increase in touches, the increased in brand awareness, it helped people to realize we exist and that alone has been tremendous. Um, it's, it's really helped when people say, oh yeah, I saw your car the other day or ah, oh yeah, I remember I got the rubber duck from you. Or oh yeah. So in our mailer we send, we do send the poker chips and people say, oh yeah, I got that poker chip sitting on my desk that you mailed me. Um, and so people are now starting to realize not only who we are, but where we are too.

Speaker A: Okay, awesome. Um, so you got a little bit of a part marketing, part sales, you know, kind of role kind of uh, created. Um, all right, and then you've got like 100 touches a week. Like I guess talk to a potential tech turned rep about, you know, sourcing data to even get that sort of outreach going. Um, you know, how did you aggregate a prospect list or you know, where did you get your data to ah, even get started with the outreach?

Speaker B: Yeah, so the, the first thing I really did was focus on the in person visits. Right. Um, so each time the one thing that's really nice about the I, I know you could probably make 15 to 20 phone calls in the time it takes you to visit. One cold ah, visit. But what you're able to do on that one cold visit really is multiple things where the first thing immediately you're able to size the company. Is this even a fit? Right. It from Google Maps it looks like a big building, but then you walk in and there's two computers. Maybe not the best fit. Uh, but you're able to see that right away. Uh, you're able. They're able to put a face to the company. A lot of times you see an email and you're like, who is this from? I've never heard of this company. Well, now they've seen me in person. And then what I do while I'm there is I always ask for a business card. Uh, what that does, typically what I'll do is after they say, yeah, you grab a business card, I always ask, is there a particular one I should grab? And what that does is it immediately tells. Makes them think, okay, who should he be talking to here? By doing that now I have the name, number, and the email. Email address of the best person to contact at this business. To me, that's tremendous value that you don't always get by just getting a blank list of numbers or addresses. And so what I would do is consolidate everything I get and made a spreadsheet. I know there's probably better ways to do it, but I'm still a spreadsheet guy myself. I love seeing it. I have all. I have it all coded to where it changes colors when I've sent a mail or changes colors when I've called. Uh, so this way I can keep track of how many touches that I've done. Um, and so you typically compile that list. And then obviously sometimes we need more. We need more numbers, we need more addresses. Uh, so that's where I will use something like LinkedIn, and I will look at, um, let's say the vertical we're focusing on is engineering. Um, we've noticed that typically when it comes to engineering places, their office manager is a person who they delegate all the IT stuff to. And so I'll find the office manager, I'll shoot them a message and just say, hey, this is who we are. Here's my email address. I would love to get a cup of coffee with you. I would love to just. Or maybe stop by and drop something off that I think you might like. Um, and so by doing that, I'm able to just kind of keep that funnel full of different addresses. And by going out a couple times a week, I'm visiting probably at least 30 businesses. Um, and so then that's 30 new numbers and email addresses I can use.

Speaker A: Yeah. And are you using like, Sales navigator or just LinkedIn? Ah, vanilla.

Speaker B: Uh, no, I am using Sales Navigator M, which, which does does help. It's, it's worth, I, it's definitely worth a little extra money you put in, um, because the time you're going to spend trying to pull that information from other sources, it's pretty much a wash with how valuable your time is. We also use, um, Apollo. Yeah, that helps a lot as well. Um, at times it can be, the information can be a little dated. Um, but for the most part, um, with those two things, we're able to find who we need. Okay.

Speaker A: Yeah, I think it's, uh, kind of cool too that you're going the spreadsheet route and doing some of the local visits and um, maybe doing some of the things, you know, like you said there, there can be like different ways, better ways, whatever, um, to do things. But like, I think as a society we have a little bit of a problem of like, you know, people learn how to use calculators without having learning how to do math. So like, you know, you're kind of learning how to do things. You're learning how to do math right now. You're learning how to do things, you know, a more fundamental way which will help you be able to better procure a more advanced CRM in the future because you'll know exactly what you want to track and have, uh, a better understanding of processes and stuff like that that you want to do. So when you are ready to scale up, bring on new people and start leading a team and things like that, you'll have, ah, a better understanding of how to put all that stuff together.

Speaker B: Um, yeah, and, and that's kind of. I, it's not that I'm trying to skip steps, but I'm just trying to make the steps that I make worth more. Um, and so that's, you know, the, again, the. A lot of people would probably say spreadsheets are a little antiquated, which, I mean, it is true. Um, we do have a CRM and I'll use it especially when it comes to like, sending emails and different things like that. But as far as keeping track of my weekly visits, my weekly touches, um, I found that the spreadsheet is, just works the best for me.

Speaker A: Yeah. And I'm sure that also helps you build a little bit more rapport with some of the customers and prospects that you're talking to, because there's plenty of MSP customers and prospects that are, you know, they come to you to help modernize their business. So you can say, oh, we do a few things with, you know, spreadsheets ourselves too. And uh, you know, we got the team that can help you, um, you know, do some more modernization, make processes more efficient and things like that.

Speaker B: So yeah, and I mean, and it helps a lot because I mean we've run into customers that have said that they've turned down other MSPs because they were forcing them to modernize in this particular avenue.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: They will only be their MSP if they did this. Um, and so the thing is, if it's a successful business, they take pride in how they got there, right? They, they, they enjoy and they love the way they got there. So why force them to change? And what they're going to see is, well, if I change the way I'm doing my business, it might actually change my business itself for the worst. And so by being able to go in and say, hey, you know what, you want to use spreadsheets to do all this? By all means, if it's working for you, keep uh, doing it. And so that, that's also been a great selling point for us.

Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. Awesome. Um, so you're just coming up on year one, um, doing 100 touches a week, um, what sort of deal volume or uh, how many deals have you closed in one year? How many meetings have you had? Any context, um, you can provide there for a tech to rep sort of person?

Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. Again, I'll go back to the first, let's see May to September, uh, October was terrifying. Um, again I only closed one. Uh, technically we closed two deals um, during those, those six months and they were tiny. Um, I'm talking like a thousand dollars a month. And so I'm thinking in my mind like, oh man, I'm not gonna make it. They're gonna let me go. There's no way. Um, but then things started picking up.

Speaker A: Right, I'll go ahead before we you know, set uh, go any further just so you're aware, like I've gone to like it Nation and things like that and seen sales leaders you know, fully say like you can expect an 18 month to 3 year RAM time on reps. So like, you know, it's always going to be a little bit slower than you think. And um, you know, you definitely have the forge by fire, you know, path as far as like figuring things out on your own and stuff like that. So that always makes things you know, a little bit slower so you know, don't feel like you're ah, alone or that um, uh, this is m, completely normal. There's sales reps that have like this sort of journey all the time, but continue. Yeah.

Speaker B: No, but it's just funny you bring that out because that, that was the terrifying theme because, you know, you have people saying that like, you know, it's going to take a while, right? It's going to take a year and then things will start happening. But while you're in that, that trial period, all you can see is things not happening. And that's, that's, you know, that's where your mind goes, is it's not happening. You know, this is great. I closed, you know, a thousand dollar deal. Um, but I, even though, you know, my boss said there's really no expectations this year, we just want to see you, you know, learn and everything like that. I had set expectations too high for myself, um, thinking that I'm going to come in here and I'm going to show them that I can succeed. And I feel like I have, but I didn't realize it was going to take this long. Um, but then as I mentioned in that, that msp, um, msp, uh, camp podcast with Taher is, I feel like I have that pre and post scalecon Life sales life because I feel like that's what I needed to reinforce, to keep doing what I was doing, you know, yeah, tweak these areas, improve in these areas. But I'm doing it the right way, so just keep doing it. And since then we have closed a deal a month, um, that I, I mean the minimum was $3,000. And so I think in the last six months, ah, we've done something like uh, 13,000, um, increased our MRR by $13,000. And so it's things like that. Like, I feel like, okay, good, you know, and then now I have an actual funnel with people who I'm having conversations with. I actually have a network of people who they might not ever sign with me, but they can lead me to somebody who would. Um, and you know, now customers are starting to refer us out, which is great. You know, um, it helps you to continue to take pride because hey, we're doing so good that they're telling other people about us. And then on top of that, in the past 11 months, uh, my goal was to double, um, our reviews, our Google reviews and I've almost tripled it. Um, and so doing, uh, all those things just, it's so easy to say keep doing it. You know, it's so easy to say, oh, don't worry, it'll work out for you in the future. But it's the truth. Uh, it really is. As long as you, you know, you buckle down, uh, don't be so prideful to not take advice from people. Um, you know, being able to, to build these connections with people like yourself and others in the industry who have been here. It helps you to say, you know, okay, they found success, I could find success too. And so just kind of to stick with it. Um, yeah, it took me what, seven, eight months before I would say I made like a big sale. Um, but after that, after you got that one, it makes you hungry for the next one and, but not only hungry for the next one, it reinforces the fact that you can do it. So just, just keep doing it. Buckle down. You know that, that forged by fire. Yeah. Like don't ever stop learning, don't ever stop having a motivation but at the same time weather your expectations. Um, because the only thing that's going to do if you're putting more expectation on yourself than other people are, is uh, you're just going to let down yourself.

Speaker A: Mhm. Yeah. I mean sales is to some extent a numbers game. You know, you gotta build that territory, you know, get uh, those touches and build those relationships and things like that. But you know, once you get those tailwinds behind you, uh, I think there's like a phrase that like sales can be either the easiest or hardest job in the world. M. And um, I worked at like a really truly sales driven organization once and um, it was called mcci. And the CEO over there is Donnie Barstow. And he told me after having you know, hired and trained and managed like huge sales team, tons of reps, things like that over the years, he's like, you know, every time, you know, I have somebody not work out, I can come back and look at the numbers here and they're just not making their calls. Uh, right, things like that. It's just like the activity, you know, still has to be there. But you know, once you get the processes, you know, ironed out, dialed in, things like that, um, and are making the calls, it can be super Easy to get 10 calls a day in or you know, whatever it is, um, once you got your dialer and you, you know, know when, um, through experience that you're wasting your time talking to this person or you know, there's still more here versus that person and things like that. And um, yeah, it's interesting. Um, and it's also kind of weird in that like um, you know, when I was like a tech, um, I used to get really frustrated uh, with um, people's obsession with like years of experience. Um, because like, you know, you can study really Intensely and be uh, a top tier tech in a pretty short amount of time. Um, and if you really take to it. But um, one thing that's like, you know, is a real stark contrast is like working in sales and working in marketing, things like that, they are much more experience driven than um, you know, working in technology where things are a lot more like black and white. Um, right. Um, so, yeah, it's good that you're getting all the experience and getting all the touches.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And that's uh, that's definitely helped a lot. Um, it's, it's one of those things too where uh, you can take somebody else's experiences. Right. And so as they tell you what, what they've done to find success, well, guess what? Now you don't have to spend that year or two to figure out for that it took them to figure out how to do this. You've immediately taken on that experience yourself and you're able to grow from it. And so that's why like I'm, I'm really big on collaboration, like collaborate with as many people as you can put something together with somebody. Because, um, even if the, the product that comes out isn't that great, the uh, connection you made with that individual has just become stronger. And so now that goes back to the whole experience thing because now you've absorbed some of that experience and you don't have to take those two, three, four months to learn that on your own because you just met somebody who taught you it in 15 minutes.

Speaker A: Yeah. Your, your network is your net worth, as they say.

Speaker B: Yes, yes. 100%. 100%.

Speaker A: Um, okay, Ashton, well, this has been great. Uh, is there anything that I didn't ask you that you would like to share with the audience here? Um,

Speaker B: I said it before, but what, uh, I would tell everybody is just, just keep doing it. Um, and then in, involved in your network, make sure you have friends and family in that network as well. Not, not to get you business, but to keep you in the business. Um, in the sense that like I think of my wife, um, she's probably frustrated at the amount of times I've come home and was irritated and wish I had a better day, but she's just like, you're home, you know, you're, you're, you're here, you're alive, you're with your kids and you're like, you know what? Yeah, I mean, it was a bad day at work. It doesn't need to make it a bad day. Um, and so by having those people in Your life, it just helps not only keep you motivated, but it keep, helps you keep things in the right perspective and just trying to make sure and to remember that at the end of the day, it's a job, it's work. Um, you know, whether you love your job or hate your job, it's just a means to an end, you know? And, um, you know, thankfully I'm somewhere where I enjoy. I, I appreciate my boss. I appreciate the owner of the company for giving me this opportunity. Um, so if, if you've been giving an opportunity that you don't think you qualify for, stick, uh, with it, because you just never know. Stick, um, with it and, and keep those people in your lives that, that support you because, um, that they're going to stay with you even if your roles change within the industry or your industry changes completely.

Speaker A: Well, you're doing a good job. And I have no doubt that there are some big things in store for year two and three and beyond in your sales, uh, journey. Um, and hopefully some, you know, commissions that can, uh, you know, get. Get the family out to Disney for some fun vacations and things like that.

Speaker B: That's the goal. That's the goal. The family's never. My wife has never been to Disneyland. Uh, my son is still free because he's under three. And so it's like, all right, let's, let's, uh, let's see if we get that commission going, uh, to get there before, uh, before we have to pay for him.

Speaker A: Okay, awesome. Um, well, we'll have, uh, to get you back on here in, uh, you know, a year or two and see how things are going and, uh, check in. Um, but do appreciate you coming on for an episode here today. Um, thank you again. Uh, this was Ashton Fortuna with Valley Tech Logic. Uh, we'll make sure to get your LinkedIn profile and the company profile linked here in the show notes. Uh, thanks again and until next time.

Speaker B: Thank you, Hunter. Appreciate it.

Speaker A: I hope you liked the episode. Ashton's a great guy with a lot of enthusiasm and Valley Tech Logic is, like, lucky to have him. We'll definitely get his info linked for you in the show notes here. And, uh, be sure to check out the Valley Tech Logic website, visit Ashton's LinkedIn profile and, uh, learn more about them and reach out to him if you want to learn more about his sales journey and going from tech to rep and navigating that, uh, challenge. Um, if you did like the episode, please, please don't forget to, like, subscribe, share all that good stuff. And stay tuned for our next episode of the Asopians podcast. I'm Hunter Nelson with Jordison Hare Software, and thanks for watching.