Mastering Your Path in Sales and Leadership with David Mattson

Better People Podcast

Dive into an electrifying chat with CEO David Mattson of Sandler Training on The Better People Podcast. In this episode, we uncover the fusion of potent leadership, savvy sales strategies, and the art of personal career cultivation. Captivating stories and razor-sharp insights make this a playbook for anyone hungry to excel.

Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Better People Podcast:

• Career progression requires personal drive.
• Effective leaders tailor communication styles.
• Building business & team growth go hand-in-hand.
• Honing your craft is essential for leaders.
• The power of self-awareness in leadership.

Resources:

• Sandler Training
• MidAtlantic Employers’ Association (MEA)

Connect with David Mattson:

• LinkedIn

Connect with our host, Holly DePalma

• LinkedIn

Quotables:

• 06:35 - And so to me it was how do you build a business that's scalable and bring good people around you that you don't have to quote unquote babysit and, and let it run? And that's what I did. And so we've, since 2012, I think we've gone, we've grown almost 30 times, and that's how much we've grown in that amount of time by letting people do what they should be doing and staying out of the way, to be honest.
• 07:26 - I believe you should create a plan. Then you should create the positions that are necessary to fulfill that plan. The third thing that you should do is go find the right people. I think the big mistakes that leaders make is they look at their current people and say, where would they fit? I think that's a huge mistake. And that actually helped me because, you know, once you develop the plan and figure out, okay, well these are the positions that I need to actually fulfill it, then it became very apparent that I had some people already that would be great. And I had huge, huge holes. And so my current structure would be, you know, we have a whole group that supports our channel.
• 15:57 - Holly: what do you do in your interviewing process to make sure that you know, that right steps to vet your search process is followed through? Because one of the things I love about Sandler, and I have taken Sandler is process. I'm bad at process. So putting one in place can be really helpful.
  David: So for us, I use the search model, right? I do use the skills and I'm going through those, those questions I do assess. So I assess early, you know, I don't, I'm a big believer in looking below the iceberg in that I am a big believer in having multiple people interview. Yep. However, multiple interviews without a good pre-brief and debrief is worthless. So if you're not gonna share information, like, okay, Holly, here are the two or three areas that I think maybe an issue, but I didn't uncover enough, you should pick up on that topic. If I don't tell you that, you're gonna ask the same questions that I asked. Right? And we're all gonna fall in love for the same reasons. And if it's, it's an important job, I like to fly in and take, if they're, they have a partner or spouse, I'll take them all to dinner because I learn more there. Then I learned anywhere.
• 28:34 - When you're doing these guardrails, like, well, what did you do well? Like, what went well? Right? What could we do more of? Right? And then we have the other one is, what would you do differently? What would you do differently? So it's more better. What could you have done better? What could you do more of? And what would you have done differently? If you ask those questions on all the scenarios, people learn very, very quickly. And they self-discover. I think when you tell them all the time, this is what you need to do different, better, whatever. They don't, they don't, it doesn't absorb, it doesn't kick in. And then you always get frustrated as a leader because that person's doing the exact same thing you just told 'em not to do last month, but that's because they were listening to you, your voice versus, well, what would you have done differently? Well, I would've done this differently. I guess what they would've, they're not gonna do that again because their ears heard what their mouth said. And it's their idea. People never argue with their own data and guardrails. Allow them to have their own data and not for you to micromanage them.
• 31:51 - That's something that takes years to learn, right? And normally we've making all the mistakes. I think the first thing that we have to do is not lead by ego. You really have to leave your ego, you know, in the other room or in the car, or wherever you're gonna leave it. But I think most people are leading by that ego, but also telling them indirectly without knowing actually doing it, that telling them how great they were as a leader, you know, this is what I used to do, this is what I would do. To me, I've always learned that I would always take time. Like if there was an issue, like for whatever thing, it just didn't go well. I, I always look things at buckets. So my behavioral style is I'm a bucket guy, so I look at it in categories. And so I do do the well that are different, more. I do do that. I do ask you for what you, you've gotten, but I also ask, you know, like, how did you come to that conclusion? Like how did, how did that happen? Like what was your thought process? And try to figure out, because how you think about things to me is more important than the action that you did. 'cause that can always change, right? But I wait, because like everyone else, I'm on an emotional rollercoaster as well. I'm not, I can't, you know, I'm not, I'm human. But then I realized that that's not gonna get me anywhere. And, and so I'm a big talk track guy too.
• 35:40 - One of the things I took from my training at Sandler, which is obviously sort of part of this whole discussion, is yeah, prepare, right? You can, you just cannot ever be sort of winging it, especially when it comes to leading. And you might find yourself in situations that you didn't expect to be in, but there's a way to not wing that and get yourself, you know, either press pause, right? You know, like I used to say, no one's gonna live or die by this conversation.