Bridging technical and sales skills | Christian Hunter | Field Sales Unscripted | E166

Speaker A: In this episode, I chat with Christian Hunter. He got into sales because when he was in college, he saw an assignment said get free pizza. And he decided to have a minor in entrepreneurship, but his major is in mechanical engineering. He fell in love with sales and has been in sales his entire career. Enjoy this episode where we chat about kids waking up at 5am making cookies, and also the joys, the ups, the downs of being in field sales leadership. So Christian, tell us, how did you start your career and how did you get to where you are today?

Speaker B: Yeah, I'll say it started with the promise of free pizza. Um, I studied mechanical engineering at Utah State University. And there was a sign, entrepreneurship minor or something, free pizza. So I was hungry and I went inside and got a free pizza and came out not, you know, I went in not expecting anything and came out deciding I'm going to minor in entrepreneurship. And uh, so did that. And through that experience, realized that I didn't wanted to find some way to mix engineering and business, uh, together. I actually really, really enjoyed my classes there. And uh, when I graduated, similar to Cross, a company that had technical salespeople, which, you know, when I was a mechanical engineer and looking at being an aerospace engineer, designing planes or rockets, I didn't really think about that. So when I discovered that was actually a career path, was really intrigued by it. Applied, um, got a position as a tech support engineer and then with a path to migrating to sales. And I've been at that company ever since.

Speaker A: Wow. Okay, okay, okay. So it was the free pizza. So it sounds like they had some good marketing.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, no, it was. Yeah, the entrepreneurship program led me into technical sales.

Speaker A: M. That's awesome. So tell us, so you came out of school as an engineer and seems like you've always worked in the sales arena. So in the past decade, uh, or so, what kind of changes have you seen in your industry?

Speaker B: I think, um, you know, things changed a lot with COVID I would say, like before COVID I mean, our sales process is very much in person. We're walking on factory floors kind of auditing people's manufacturing processes, looking for ways that we can improve it with automation for or working alongside with design engineers on how to put a motor in or some machine design. Um, with COVID it became virtual. I mean, before COVID I don't think I had a single web meeting ever in years. And if I did, I always felt awkward. And now I'd say maybe half or more of our sales meetings are via web and a lot more is happening virtually I mean, we still go in person, but there's far less in person touches than there used to be. And that's also followed a trend where people also look online for automation solutions more than they used to. Um, where it was purely in person, almost exclusively in person, I'd say pre Covid.

Speaker A: So, I mean, I know when I was still carrying a bag, it was about putting those miles in, going from customer to customer, being a road warrior. And so this transition. Post Covid, have you. So you kind of mentioned the, the good parts and the not so good parts of it. Which, uh, what do you think about the transition that we've made to being, um, I would say, uh, half in the field and half virtual now?

Speaker B: Yeah, I think some of the positives, it does help you be more efficient. It doesn't always require being in person. You know, there'd be times I would drive an hour to meet with someone for 20 minutes. You don't really have that sort of meeting person anymore. You do it virtually. It's m more convenient for everybody. On the downside, there is in person meetings are a lot more productive, especially in our field of manufacturing. You get to see the product or what's going on in person makes a huge difference. And relationship building is very different virtually than it is in person. Um, we can miss some of the. Also, body language doesn't always translate through a virtual call and things like that. So it is more challenging to connect with your customers if you are exclusively virtual versus, uh, more in person time.

Speaker A: Yeah, I think that, uh, what I found in my world is things went for me from 100% in person to everything has to go virtual. And then people like, overextended and they were like, we don't want any virtual trainings. You have to come here. You have to come here. Right? And now I think things are kind of leveling out where it's. Sometimes we need to be in person and sometimes I think it's okay, you know, doing something virtual, but in this world that we sit in, it's. I like to say that this manufacturing feel, the heavy industrial field, it's not like selling tech technology, right? There's nothing wrong with people selling technology, we all need it. But it's not like I'm just gonna pop my computer up and do a demo, right? Like, you can't do that. And so really one of the things that I found a lot of clients that I'm working with is getting their field salespeople to actually be field sales and not being like glorified Inside salespeople, because it's like you must kind of move. Is that something that you are seeing within your organization?

Speaker B: Uh, yeah, I think a little bit. You know, um, I mean, for us as well, like just finding new customers, we would. I still think it's most effective is like, walk inside a building, you're guaranteeing to talk someone, you know, you can call and call and email and receive nothing. You walk into a building, you know, at least kind of get thrown out by the, by the secretary. At the worst, you know, at best you're going to talk to someone, have a productive conversation. And when the sales people default to doing more virtual, they miss the opportunities to do that as well because, oh, I'm gonna drive across the street in this industrial park and check out what this guy's doing and talk to somebody. So that is definitely a concern that I see that less of that is happening. And uh, there's so much noise in the, there's so much spam and people emailing and calling. It's easy to get filtered out. Even if you have selected your target very carefully and have crafted a message very carefully, it is easy to get filtered out. Uh, reaching out digital means.

Speaker A: Yeah, I do think it's like, how do I, how do I cut through the noise? I had somebody reach out to me and I was just calling them back and they said, oh. I didn't answer because it came up to be unlikely. I'm like, ah, right. So sometimes you don't even know if it's someone that you want to talk to and, and it's just, you know, you're being flagged as bam.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: So tell us a little bit about some of the hardest challenges you've had to overcome in your career.

Speaker B: Yeah, I think of two, two lessons. Um, you know, the first one that I think I learned pretty early on is you're kind of told the customer is always right. And that's not true. Uh, I think, uh, yeah, there was, ah, there was a, it was right. When I transitioned from our tech support role into sales, our salesperson left. Uh, so I made that transition and he was like, I have this project in the works. I've teed it up for you. It's going to be great. You're going to get a nice commission off the bat. It's like, oh, this sounds great. It was not that way at all. There's some, were some mistakes that preceded me, but a lot of it was on the customer's fault. And I, you know, as a new salesperson was so eager to please the customer. I mean, I bent over backwards and beyond basically to make up for the customer's mistakes. And, uh, basically they just led to. We weren't going to deliver these custom conveyors on time, but I, like, bent over backwards and we made it happen. Uh, but they were not grateful at all. This event caused me to work, like, I think I worked like 30 days straight every weekend, because there was just a lot of complexities I was working through. And my reward for delivering on time was plant manager brings me to his office and rips into me about how terrible it was. And I was like, you know, it's nice to please the customer, but, uh, you also got a man's expectation. Just because the customer. Just because the customer wants something doesn't mean I should do it.

Speaker A: Uh, yeah, yeah, I, you know, I 100% agree with that. I have this little phrase. I'm like, you're not the customer's toy. They don't get to play with you and put you down and pick you back up. And play with you and put you down, pick you back up. Right. Because sometimes. And I also say, like, customers don't know what they need. They may know what they want, but they don't know what they need. And it's our job to help them understand what they actually need by understanding the problems, the challenges or whatever, and saying, hey, I know this is what you want, but this is actually what you need that's going to fix your problem. And, oh, my goodness, 30 days straight. And that's the things that you got. Wow.

Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, it was. Yeah. That was lesson learned. That, uh, shouldn't. I shouldn't. I don't have to meet every request the customer wants. Even if I did, they may not even be happy still.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: But I don't necessarily have to clean up their messes. You know, you also need to hold them accountable. You know, it's a truly is a partnership, uh, that everyone needs to be accountable for the things that they were supposed to be accountable for. And, uh, if the other person's not, you shouldn't have to make up for it as a default, I guess, is the. Is what I learned.

Speaker A: Wow. You said there were two lessons. What's the other one?

Speaker B: Well, I think the. The other one is a lesson that every salesperson deals with is just disappointment. Um, you don't win most of the cells. You know, no one does. Obvious someone does. I love to hear what they do, but, you know, most people don't sell every. Every meeting they have doesn't turn to a sub person they talk to. Most of it's rejection. And so as someone whose salary and means to provide for families dependent on selling stuff, it can be hard to overcome rejection because, like, well, this is how I'm going to do this thing with my family. Or whatever financial goals you have, you have to separate that. You have to separate, you know, taking care of the customer versus potential commission earned. And you also have to be ready for, for rejection. You know, you're going to lose most of the deals you work on, and you can't let that get you down. You have to say, all right, go on to the next one and kind of have to have a, uh, uh, a hard heart in that way and not really feel the emotional, uh, pain of losing and just move on to the next one. Because you do that, you just won't cut it in sales, you know, you're going to lose more than you win. That's just how it works.

Speaker A: Yeah, rejection is a thing that's really hard for. I mean, I think us as humans, nobody wants to be rejected. We all want to be accepted. But from a sales standpoint, what are some of the things that you've been able to really work through that rejection, um, within your career?

Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, the first thing is just on an emotional level, I obviously put all my effort into winning every deal, but I don't count my chickens before the hatch. Mentally, I'm like, I'm going to lose every deal, but I'm going to try as hell to win them all. And so that just separation of like, never assuming I'm going to win. It's been helpful for me so I don't get emotionally attached to the outcome. M. Um, it's also as a salesperson, it's really easy because, like, there's no other role where you can like, pinpoint a dollar value. Like, this is how much revenue I generated this year. This is my value. You know, like no other role. Is there a number that's easy to look up and say, that's my value? And I think understanding the SL's performance is important, but also not simplifying your value into if you want a certain bill or not, and just saying, okay, I'm doing the right things. I know if I can do these actions, I know if I can take care of my customer, if I can focus on selling solutions that will help them. Not necessarily just pushing product to push it, but if I focus on that, then it's going to be okay. You know, I may have a rough Period where I lose a lot, then I'll have a good period. Now, if I'm doing the right things, it's going to be good, you know, as a whole. But not every day is going to be fun. But on a larger scale, year, multiple years, you're going to see success if you focus on the actual action items rather than the outcomes and basing your value on doing the inputs and not necessarily what the outputs are, because the outputs will come if you're doing the right inputs.

Speaker A: So perfectly said, focus on inputs and don't tie your worth to a dollar value. I think that happens more than we probably think about in sales. It's like, uh. And I think even sometimes leadership perpetuates this because I can remember sales managers telling me, like, you're only as good as the last deal you close. Right. Like, what else you have coming? Like that was last week, what's coming this week. And so it's like that chasm of you get it in your brain that I'm only worth as much as I close. And the closing is the lagging indicator. Right. And so I think it helps you. It pulls you away from the things you need to do. Get out and see people, get on LinkedIn, do whatever you need to do to build your book of business.

Speaker B: Yeah, I mean that's, it's kind of the, uh, that is part of sales. I mean your job is to generate revenue. You close a sale that pays you and funds the company for so long, but you have to keep doing it. And so you just gotta focus more on your process. Um, and then the results will come.

Speaker A: Absolutely, I agree. So let's shift gears a little bit and talk about your team. How is your current sales team structured?

Speaker B: Yeah, so our company is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona and we've got sales offices there in Salt Lake, where I am in Albuquerque, Denver and San Jose. So we're one of our challenges. We cover a lot of territory, especially when most of our sales process is in person. Um, so it's almost like we were headquartered in Phoenix. We have a bunch of satellite offices and we share engineering resources amongst those offices. So there are some challenges in just the distance between everybody. And also me as the sales manager trying to get out to visit the. These people enough to build a good relationship and working rapport. You know, you can't do that virtually. You can't. Yeah, you're not going to earn a lot of trust by being the thing you got to get out there. And so there are some challenges to distance. Yeah, we've got about 10 salespeople across those territories that I work with. And um, all of our salespeople are engineers. So they're highly technical. They work in hand with our customer, an engineering level, but also have you know, the sales skills to guide project from fruition, which is where the engineering comes in. Like here's how we can engineer this to actually them closing it.

Speaker A: So how do you bridge the gap with a, uh, person that has a very technical background and give them the, the sales skills that they need to, to execute?

Speaker B: That's a good question. Um, there's, there's two parts. I mean I think everyone should be a salesperson on some level. Like if you're just an engineer, you've got to sell project idea to get funding. If you're interviewing for a job, you got to sell yourself to get like everyone's a salesperson on some level.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Um, but not everyone is like a professional salesperson. They can do it for a career. And so understanding, I guess the, the first thing is like the personality traits that lead to a successful salesperson and then identifying that and you know, grooming those skills and holding them so they can go out and do it. So there's certain trainings we provide and guidance but a lot of is also just the drive to go out there and just do it. You know, like self motivated. They're not waiting for a task list, they just want to go create. And that is something that is really hard to teach. It's almost something that really is a really innate to someone. Either have it or you don't. And I've tried uh, people that don't have it to do it, it doesn't, doesn't work out that well. They kind of have to have that I think for, for an engineer to transition into a sales role.

Speaker A: And so I know for me like I was a, I was a chemist and I moved into sales and I worked for a company that wanted technical people, chemists, engineers, like kind of like your process, um, to be salespeople. And for me, uh, like I got no training. It was just like, here's the product. It's great. I literally remember being in Germany because our company was based in Germany and the trainer was like our products are the most superior because of our German engineering. I'm like what? I don't even understand, like what does that even even mean? Yeah. And so like bridging that gap. I know it's really hard. And the thing that you mentioned was I kind of call it sales drive. Right? Like what motivates a person, what gets them excited. And so when you think about your team, how do you figure out that drive that they have like that intrinsic, that internal thing that they have to really want to not be an engineer but be a salesperson?

Speaker B: Oh, that's a good question. It's like a lot of it's intuition, um, and I mean part of his intuition, but also just saying like, because as a salesperson, it's different than other roles because it's like you walk in and just have things to do. Like let's say a doctor or a dentist. You come in, you have a list of appointments of people you're going to see, you know what's going to happen. You know, maybe you're an engineer working on a project, you have a list of tasks you have to achieve. Becoming as a salesperson. There are no tasks. You have to go create all of the tasks, you know, like it's, it's a clean slate. And so recognizing the people who take that clean slate and then create tasks out of it. If you have someone who's waiting to be told what to do, I don't think they can cut it in sales. And that is a hard mindset to, to switch from. Um, so they have to have that just self starter. Like I'm going to go do this and this is a good idea. Whether it is or not, they'll go and execute. They're not waiting necessarily for instruction.

Speaker A: Yeah, that it's the uh. And you know, this can be a very deep conversation. But one of the things that I tell people as a mother when I, so I have two boys and so I meet people in the world and I'm like, I reverse engineer the things that I see in people that are not so fascinating to make sure that my kids don't have that. And this uh, self starting it is a big thing. They went to visit my best friend in Iowa this summer without me. And she was like, if you tell your kids what time to be ready and downstairs they're down there, I don't have to wake them up. I don't have to do anything. It's because I feel like oftentimes like if you are coddle too much or things are always given to you, like you just don't know how to go do it and go hunt. Right? Like I'm not going to say make 10 dials today and then you just sit there and so yeah, it's, it's really hard when you're looking for salespeople that can do that because I say that salespeople usually sell themselves really well in an interview. So there's like no data and it's. So it's just this complex thing.

Speaker B: Yeah. So I've got a story to show you. Bring up your kids. Um, I've got a story with my son. He's almost five years old. But the context here is I don't think I can teach someone to be a self starter. I've tried it. Maybe other people can do it. I can't. But the flip, uh, side of that is like, you got to provide some guide rails for the Salston. You need to work in these boundaries because you give them a hand, they will take the whole arm and do something that could be like, out of process or out of protocol or causes way more problems in its work. So that's part of my job, is providing those guide rails and also like, encouraging things that they're good at. Okay, we need to work on this and that. Like, my example with my, my son is he is an early riser. He wakes up at like 5:00am and uh, we had been just letting him like play PlayStation and watch TV, but we put an end to that, like a lock on the tv. And it's like, it's too much because, like, I'd come in, you know, 6:30. I'm like, how long has this kid been awake playing this video game? I'm like, it could be 10 minutes, it could be two hours. Because he wakes up really early. So since we started doing that, he, uh, he likes to make cookies in the morning. He's. He's four and a half. These are not cookies. Like the other morning I wake up and he's got flour in there. He's put rice vinegar, balsamic vinegar. He's put in sesame oil and like any, agree, any ingredient you can find. Our cupboard is there and it smells terrible. And he's just cooking it up and he's like, I'm gonna put this in the oven. It's gonna look real nice. And he was like, trying to turn the oven at, you know, 6:00am, bake this thing. And like, the, the, like, the first time it was cute. I was like, man, this is adorable. But now it's happened many times this morning I wake up and there was like, uh, pounds of sugar on the floor because he had spilled it trying to make his cookies. And so I was like, today I'm like, okay, weird, we're done with this. I'm like, okay, tomorrow morning I'm gonna go like, pre measure your sugar. And your flour and, like, you can, like, dump them and mix them and then when I will cook them. Like, he needs some guidelines. The initiative is cute and it's awesome. Um, but he needs some help. I think that kind of relates to sales, where you can see the drive of somebody and it's awesome. 6. Like, this guy just going out there and cranking out calls or crushing, uh, visits. Like, this guy's just killing it. But if you don't provide that guidance and training and support, they can go off the rails real fast. And all of a sudden they're putting balsamic vinegar and rice vinegar in the cookie batch. And even though the drive's great, the product that they produce is terrible. So that's kind of where I see my roles, to help create those guidelines and support so that their efforts are channeled into something productive rather than channel into a mess.

Speaker A: Oh, my goodness, that story is hilarious. It's so funny. Earlier today, I was walking through this assessment. So I assessed salespeople, um, for their core competencies, tactical and mindset. And the thing that you said is something that a lot of people don't realize. So the person we were looking at, they were really strong in hunting, but they weren't good at qualifying, they weren't good at reaching decision makers, and they were not a self starter. So what the manager was like, oh, my goodness, this makes so much sense. They will send 100 emails a week. They will do these things, but they're not getting any conversions because they're not talking to the right people. And they know the one thing let me send emails, but they're not thinking outside the box. And so like you said, it's like, as leaders, our job is to provide the guardrails. Like, what is this person really good at and how can I coach them and develop them into where I need them to get?

Speaker B: Yeah, that example you share is pretty applicable. Uh, so the first person I started managing, I started on a small scale when I transitioned from our sales team to management. Uh, this individual, I always look back with regret saying this person was a casualty of me learning how to do my job. Because he filled that bucket like he was seeing more customers than anybody else, generating more activity than everyone else. But his sales numbers were really poor. Um, and he eventually left because he wasn't making enough money, because he wasn't selling much. But it was like, I didn't really know how to help. I didn't understand it. I was just seeing him like he's seeing so many customers. He's Having good conversations. But so he was amazing. Best person I've worked with at knocking down a door and getting in but then getting to a decision maker and like uh, having really productive conversations that drove a solution. Mhm. Who's not good at, you know, a lot of the calls and it took me a while to figure out but in retrospect I realized that a lot of the calls were just like not that productive. You know, there wasn't necessarily a goal in mind. He knew how to get in. Then once he was in there, he didn't really know how to like organize the meetings in a way that drove to decisions and purchasing. It just drove to many conversations and took me a while after he left to figure out what I should have done. And you know, he was a casual me learning how to recognize people's strengths and weaknesses and then helping them because I didn't know how to help them. For he left, it was too late. It was a good learning lesson for me on how to recognize what people are good and bad at and to help with the things they're not so good at.

Speaker A: Yeah. And I think that it's, it's not easy because it's not a skill that anybody teaches you. Right. Like you went to school, you learned the entrepreneurship, the sales, the business acumen, but there still aren't really any degree programs for leadership. Like you just do what you did. Like, oh, this really worked for me. So I'm going to tell everybody to do the thing that worked for me not realizing that to uh, be an effective leader. It's about the individual. Right. Like what can I do to help this specific person really drive, impact and do those things.

Speaker B: Yeah. That's one of the challenges of sales leader. To provide enough structure but also enough freedom to let them be creative. I think going back to my son's example, like tonight M, I'm going to lay out all his ingredients. They're going to be exact. He's going to have no creativity. It's just going to be here are the actions I need to take.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Um, and then he will learn, you know, how to mix stuff and then eventually when he knows kind of the basics. So here's kind of the ratio of fat and carbs you need for a cookie. You can start being creative and creating your own. But if you let them do that too early on, then you get this balsamic vinegar mass of it was smelled disgusting. You don't, you don't get the right thing. So you can't, you know, you can't Let people run before they walk.

Speaker A: And I think, like, a lot of managers don't do that. Right. Because they're like, I don't want to micromanage. Because before they've had a micromanager, I don't want to be a micromanager. I'm like, you're not being a micromanager. You're providing them structure. And I always like to say, kind of like your son, it's like, show me what you can do. Once you show me what you can do, then I know where we're going. So I always like to leave it wide. And then I'm like, okay, you need a lot of structure or you just need a little bit of twist weeks here and there. And then that's how we kind of build out what they need to develop on and work through. Because if we just start with, this is my box, work in the box, and we don't see where their gaps are, we never will uncover them. And our process will actually hide their creativity. But when we let them have that flexibility and then we put the guardrails in. And another thing that I think we don't realize, just like I have a 16 year old and an 11 year old and they're two completely different humans. Completely different humans. Same parents, different humans. Right. It's the same thing with salespeople. Like, every person is so different. Right. And they don't have, they don't even share the DNA. But I use a lot of analogies with my kids because it's, it's. There's a lot there. And so having individualized coaching plans I think is really, really important.

Speaker B: Yeah. Because we're on the kid thing. I have twins. They do. And they are so. They are so different. They're so different and amazing. Like, uh, are they really twins? You know, they're, they're identical twins, so their DNA is exactly. They are so different from each other. Like fire and ice, really. And just interesting to see that, uh, everyone is different. Every child, every salesperson is different. I can't just do a work for Christian and have every salesperson replicate that. You got to figure out how to maximize everyone's unique talents. And it is, it is a challenge. I. It's something I'm still trying to get better at.

Speaker A: So is a four year old a twin or do you have.

Speaker B: No, my. I have two, uh, and a half year old girls that are twins.

Speaker A: Okay, okay. Okay. I was gonna say. So you have one that just sleeps and the other one is baking.

Speaker B: Yeah, well, the girls sleep in we have to wake them up at like 8, you know, so very nice. Compared to my son, he 5:00am um, you hear him clanking around.

Speaker A: Life is a party at your house. Life is a party. Life is a party. All right, Christian, as we come to the end of uh, our time together, my question for you is where do you see the, your company, your organization going in the next five years?

Speaker B: Yeah, so our company are missing is to empower American manufacturers to automate. I think that's a very interesting time to have that mission in a time of tariffs and reshoring and you know, labor costs rising and trying to, you know, it seems like we're trying to get back into the manufacturing space but it's hard. So that's what we try to do is because there's a lot of ways to go about and we guide manufacturers and how to implement automation or, or some people don't know anything. We, we guide them. Some people know what they want, they don't have the expertise so we can help them. Some people know what they want expertise, they don't have the bandwidth so we help those sorts of customers. And kind of a growing technology in our space is mobile robots, autonomous forklifts, things like that to move materials around facilities. And um, you know, our skill set in that space is somewhat unique. And so for us that's a big growth opportunity. But it's really just there's this push to bring manufacturing back and we're here to empower manufacturers to do that. Mhm.

Speaker A: I love that. And so that push, how are you planning on getting there? Is it through new technology, increasing the size of your um, salesforce or what do you plan on doing to get there?

Speaker B: I think our probably biggest employee growth is actually going to be support engineers and it will increase with salespeople having more. One of the other trends I guess is 20 years ago people wanted parts and pieces. People now are too busy or it's so complex that they just need solutions and m so focusing more on that and uh, that that requires engineering muscle. So we have a pretty good engineering team. But I expect 10 years from now us to have a lot more engineers on staff per salesperson than we do now. Right now it's about one to one. And uh, I think that's probably going to go much higher ratio of engineers to salespeople.

Speaker A: M. That's good, that's good. So um, more of the technical backbones behind that commercial um, footprint though, as the salespeople go execute, you have more engineers to move faster, innovate. More do the things that need to happen behind the scenes.

Speaker B: M. Yeah, that's what I see happening for us.

Speaker A: And final note is what would you tell yourself, young Christian? First getting into field sales. What advice would you give him?

Speaker B: Well, I already mentioned, you know, the two of the lessons I learned early on. I mean, I would probably say something along those lines, but uh, not to rehash what we already talked about, um, I think, uh, uh, I'm trying to think of something unique from what I already said before. Those two lessons drawn a blank a little bit.

Speaker A: Or you could tell me something that you would tell Christian getting into sales management.

Speaker B: Well, I would, I guess I'll say this. In general, I tend to have a weakness that uh, when I mentioned guys who want to, you know, run before they can walk.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: That's ah, that's a weakness that I have. And so I tell myself to uh, maybe think about your plan a little harder before you execute. And that's something I've, I've also learned. But I've made mistakes in the past and just jumping into things a little too early and um, didn't work out as well as it could have. I spent some more time thinking, wow,

Speaker A: slow down, slow down. You sounds like you're a salesperson to your heart. Because sales people move fast. So. Yeah, true, true salespeople are like, yes. And you know, the thing is sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. And no. High risk, high reward.

Speaker B: Yeah. Yep, definitely have that. I look back, not on my sales manager. Oh yeah, I see why I could have ruffled some feathers acting like a bulldozer, you know?

Speaker A: Yep. I wanted, I wanted, I wanted, I need it, I need it, I need it.

Speaker B: Awesome.

Speaker A: Uh, well, Kristin, this has been a fantastic time. Thank you so much for sharing your time with us today. And if people want to reach out to you, get to know more about you or your company, what is the one best way for them to get in contact tech with you?

Speaker B: Honestly, LinkedIn is the best way. I enjoy interacting with people there. Messaging there so I can reach out to me Christian Hunter on LinkedIn and uh, happy to connect and chat with people there.

Speaker A: Awesome. Well, thanks so much.

Speaker B: Yeah, thank you for having me.