Keep Leading!® Podcast 080 | Sales Leadership | Che Brown

Eddie Turner:

Hello, everyone! Welcome to Keep Leading LIVE™, the video version of the Keep Leading!® Podcast. Today, I’m streaming live at 01:10 p.m. Central Standard Time as I do every Monday on YouTube, Facebook, and most recently, LinkedIn. Keep Leading LIVE™, like the Keep Leading!® Podcast, is dedicated to leadership development and insights. I’m your host Eddie Turner, The Leadership Excelerator®. I work with leaders to accelerate performance and drive impact through the power of executive coaching, professional speaking, and facilitation.

It’s been said that you’re always selling. The same can’t be said about leadership. My guest today, Che Brown, says the two go hand in hand. Today, we’re going to talk about sales leadership. Che Brown is a globally renowned sales giant. He’s cracked the once elusive code of entrepreneurial success with a game-changing model that unlocks unlimited financial potential, power, and wealth. In just six short years, he’s dominated the sales space, coaching thousands of rising business leaders to achieve exponential growth and success in their industries to the tune of over 400 million dollars. Che is the host of the number one business development and late-night show in the country, The Happy Entrepreneur Show

Che, welcome to Keep Leading LIVE™.

Che Brown:

Well, it’s a great day, Eddie Turner. I’m super excited to be here with Keep Leading LIVE™. Shout out to all of your viewers who are tuned in and all of the listeners that are out there in that social media world. I couldn’t think of a better place to be and thank you for having this platform, man, for talking about leadership, for bringing the best resources to us and for allowing us to continue to grow and get better. When a question is asked “When do you stop learning?”, the obvious answer is “You never stop learning.” So, I’m excited to share sales leadership and how they do go hand in hand.

Eddie Turner:

Well, I appreciate that Che. Che, it’s nice to have you on the other side of the mic because I was on your side of the mic not long ago.

Che Brown:

You were amazing. You dropped some golden nuggets around leadership. You dropped some golden nuggets to help not only just entrepreneurs, not only professionals but everyday moms, everyday dads, folks that are leading their community, they’re leading in their family and it is needed now more than ever. So, thank you for being on our show and thank you for having me here today, man. I appreciate it. You’re a rock star but your audience is a lot better than you are.

Eddie Turner:

Yes, the audience is a lot better. The audience is the reason why I’m doing this. So, we’re going to go ahead and get started, Che. I want to know for people who don’t know about your background, tell us a little bit more about you and your business background before.

Che Brown:

I’m still trying to figure out who I am. Maybe you’re like that, by the way, like “Who am I?” these days. I’m most proud to be a dad. I have two grown sons and that’s been super amazing. I’m working hard right now to be a husband. I’m on my third marriage, by the way. God has blessed me with a beautiful wife, a beautiful woman. So, I’m working hard on that and that’s super incredible. And I love just being a son. My mother dear is still here and that means a lot to me but for some of you out there, you might be wondering “Che, who are you?” Look, I’m just like you. I’m an entrepreneur and I’m on a mission and my mission is to add value to entrepreneurs. So, we build systems, we build structure and we are the sales dream team for a number of entrepreneurs that just don’t want to sell. So, if you’re out there right now like “Wow! I don’t want to be the number one sales person on my team I wonder who can do all of my selling?”, well, we have a team and we provide that service but most importantly, at the end of the day, I’m someone who has some high highs, I’ve had some low lows but here’s what I’m on a mission to do. And this is my mission in life. My mission in life is to have more meaning in the world by making sure that entrepreneurs have the resources necessary to execute the vision they have for the people they were called to serve. And the only way to do that is to generate revenue because without revenue, there is no resources. So, that’s what we’re on and that’s the service we provide. We are the sales team building seven figure sales teams or in many cases we’re the dream sales team folks been looking for. So, I’m excited to be here to share this message. I have been an entrepreneur now for 15 years, all the time, full time.

Eddie Turner:

I love that phrase “Without revenue there are no resources.” That’s powerful and very true. Then tell us the reason it is so important for all leaders to be selling.

Che Brown:

There’s a negative stigma right now, Eddie, in our culture and when you think of a salesperson, most folks think of a sleazy, arm-twisting car salesman that has the feather hat on that’s green with the purple shirt and the plaid pants and they think that that’s a sales person trying to convince someone to do something that they don’t want to do but the reason it’s important, if you step back and pull that negative stigmatization out, and that’s what we’re trying to do, Eddie, I was at one event and someone raised the hand and said “Che, how do you know when a salesperson is lying?” – “Well, I don’t know.” – “His lips are moving.” I’m like “Oh my goodness, this is going to be tough.” So, people don’t want to see themselves in sales. Yet, we’re all selling every single day. Here’s why it’s important for leaders to understand. Think about this. Let me slow down and then I’ll speed up. Ministers, they sell faith every single week. They are selling, right? Teachers, they’re selling education. Although it’s online right now but they’re selling education every single day. Parents, they’re selling values. I mean, if you’ve got kids, mine are grown, you’ve got to get them to brush their teeth. You’re selling them on your mission. You’re selling them on your goals. You’re selling them on value so they can be good. So, the reason it’s important for all of us to see ourselves in sales is to understand whether you’re selling an idea, you’re selling a belief, you’re selling a mission, you’re selling a core value, you’re selling a team to take steps in direction. We’re always selling and it does not have to be negative. And here’s why, and I’ll come back to you and turn it over to you, Eddie, is because if you turn that selling into one phrase, it’s three words, jot these three words down. It’ll make a difference for you. It has made a difference for so many of my clients that had a resistance to selling. They didn’t want to embrace it and I gave this one idea. Put this in your notes. it could be one the number one idea I share and here it is.

“Selling equals service.” Jot that down right now in your notes. “Selling equals service.” So, if I can serve other people, if I can add value to other people’s lives through my ideas, through my thoughts, through my strategies, then at the end of the day we’re all selling. So, we need to embrace it as leaders.

Eddie Turner:

Powerful. “Selling equals service.” That is another nice quote. I like to call those tweetable quotes. So, thank you for sharing that, Che.

Brenda, who’s joined us on LinkedIn, and she was the first one to let us know she was here. So, thanks, Brenda for getting it all started. She says “Selling is providing value.” Is she right there?

Che Brown:

Yeah. At the end of the day, it is about providing value. She’s 100% true.

Eddie Turner:

Spot on, Brenda.

Che Brown:

And the number one sale you make every single day, you talk about sales as leadership, you’ve heard this saying before and sometimes there’s truth in adages, there’s some truth in old adages but you heard this before that you’ve got to be a leader of one before you’re a leader of many. And in order to be a leader of one, you’ve got to sell yourself. I think, the biggest sale you got to make every single day is not do you believe. I don’t think the biggest sale is trying to have a vision. I don’t think the biggest sale you make to yourself every single day is to tell yourself “I can do this. I can do this. I have the right attitude.” Although a lot of my good friends wrote books about attitude, the number one sale you make every single day to yourself, jot this down your nose, this is another golden nugget, that’s why sales and leadership go hand in hand, the number one sale you make to yourself is self-discipline. I mean, discipline is the number one driver of you being able to do the things you said you were going to do to yourself so that you can stay the course and get things done. And so, you’re selling yourself first as a leader that you have the discipline, which means you’re going to be consistent, which means you’re going to take action, which means you’re okay with taking and doing some things that are outside the box because there is no box and you’re okay with failing because your experiences as a leader becomes someone else’s lessons.

Jot that down in your notes. Your experiences as a leader, whether you read it, whether it was taught to you by a mentor, those experiences become lessons you share with your team. And isn’t that what you want at the end of the day? Someone that believes in you. You become the pied piper at that point because not only do you have the charisma, not only do you believe but your discipline shows you have the consistency and there’s someone that you can trust. That’s why they go hand in hand. Be a leader of one or a leader of many.

Eddie Turner:

Be a leader of one or a leader of many. Wonderful connection there and tying that to selling. I appreciate you doing that, Che. You shared one valuable tip you said every leader should be doing today. You gave us your number one tip but what is the number one challenge you see facing leaders that keeps them from selling, keep some bashful, if you will?

Che Brown:

The number one challenge facing entrepreneurs today is really the belief that we don’t have to sell and that we can do this and not selling someone else on learning a new idea, learning a new concept, or learning a new process, right? And I had this problem. So, I’m raising my hand high here because for so long, although I started paying people and hiring people, I always felt like I could do it better. And here’s what I learned. You can’t be great at everything, right? I can’t be great at marketing and then great as administrative assistant and then great at software and then great to be in the broadcast. I can only be good. And so, the challenge we have to have is that we have to focus on taking our energy and our skills in developing other folks who are the right people at the right time for the right mission that we can lead to the right place. And this is so important because if you think about it, in order for you to be a great team, I mean, Michael Jordan, everybody’s been watching the Michael Jordan Show lately, and I’m a Kobe Bryant fanatic but I can’t take it away from Michael Jordan, he’s part of my generation but without a Scottie Pippen, you could argue there may not be no Michael Jordan with Six Rings, rather Dennis Rodman and some other folks. So, the biggest challenge we have as leaders is really being able to step back and develop other leaders who can lead and then, here’s the hard part, I’m still not there, I’m not saying I have answers but I’m telling what I’m working on right now, I’ll be authentic with you, in my team, I finally got a good group of leaders in my team. And now, I’m working for them to be able to train someone else. And so, if I can get them to lead their process and then train someone else, that opens them up to use their vision, to use their charisma, to use their other skills to work with more folks. Otherwise, their time is kind of bound up.

So, your question was what’s the challenge facing folks. It’s developing other leaders, having the trust, having the belief, having the checks and balances. “Che, what’s one check and balance before you give back to Eddie that I can have because you’re right, I got to check stuff?” Put this in your nose, and I failed to do this but I’m doing it now, I’ve been doing so much better last year and here it is. “What gets measured gets managed.”

Let me put that down. You might want to jot down in your notes. That’s another one of those, I don’t know, probably got 10 to 15 nuggets but “What gets measured gets managed.” So, when you’re leading another team, you want to have some measurements in place. And when you have those measurements in place, it’s easier for you to manage them so you can lead them to the vision because you’ve already given them the mission, you’ve given them the goals, you’ve given the objectives, you got them to buy in it but now it’s not about having the vision. It’s about goal attainment.

Eddie Turner:

Yes.

Che Brown:

How do I achieve that vision, make that vision a reality?

Eddie Turner:

What gets measured gets managed and gets done. And, of course, thank you for addressing the concept that the number one challenge facing many leaders is the fact they may believe they don’t need to sell, right? And that is absolutely something that we must get them to understand and, as was said wonderfully early by Haytham that everyone is selling in one way or another even when we don’t realize we’re selling. So, appreciate you for answering that and appreciate Haytham for tuning in and chiming in.

If you’re listening to the conversation with Che brown and myself, let us know your listening. Let us know you hear. Let us know where you’re from. And we’d love to take your questions at this time as well, all right?

And so, Teresa is joining us and Teresa is from LinkedIn. She says “Nice energy and even better ideas.” We appreciate that. I don’t know if even my energy can match Che though. Che has got me beat.

Che Brown:

We’re a team here, man.

Eddie Turner:

We’ll have more right after this.

Eddie Turner:

I’m talking to Che Brown, the Happy Entrepreneur, and you can see why he is called the Happy Entrepreneur.

So, what I’m going to do now is shift gears just a tad because if you don’t know, by the way, all these episodes that I do live are repurposed as a regular audio episode. And when the regular audio episode comes out, you’ll be able to access Che’s message. We’re distributed in 80 different countries where we have people downloading the Keep Leading!® Podcast. So, the Keep Leading LIVE™ stream becomes a Keep Leading!® Podcast episode. I would need to acknowledge a couple of very important people at this time.

Number one, I always want to acknowledge my sponsor. There are several people who sponsor the Keep Leading!® Podcast. There’s one specifically who just keeps signing on over and over. So, I appreciate all my sponsors but specifically here Grand Heron International. The key to sustainable leadership lies in the ability to thrive during uncertainty, ambiguity, and change. Grand Heron International brings you the Coaching Assistance Program, giving your employees on-demand coaching to manage through a challenging situation and arrive at a solution. Visit GrandHeronInternational.ca/podcast to learn more.

Also, my friend and coach Marsha Reynolds, the number one female coach in the world just released last week her book Coach the Person not the Problem. I absolutely love the title and it is a fantastic book. So, pick that up on amazon.com. And also, she was episode number 24. If you ever want to listen to Marsha’s wisdom, you can listen to episode 24 of the Keep Leading!® Podcast at KeepLeadingPodcast.com.

Additionally, Maya Hu-Chan, she released a book last week, June the 9th, and it’s called Saving Face. Her podcast episode where she explains the lessons from that book are in episode number 67.

Looking for other great podcasts? Visit GoodPods.com and my guest JJ Ramberg. She and her brother Ken started that fantastic product and I interview her and she comes out next month. So, you’ll get a chance to hear more about that.

Finally, I want to encourage you to continue to listen to the Keep Leading!® Podcast. And if you like what you’re hearing on the Keep Leading!® Podcast, please do us a favor and leave a review, give us a five-star rating if you think it’s five stars, and tell your friends, subscribe to the Keep Leading!® Podcast and keep coming back here for Keep Leading LIVE™

All right. So, now I am back with my guest, the Happy Entrepreneur, Che Brown and we are talking about sales leadership and why sales leadership matters, especially right now.

So, Che, you have a four-step method, I understand, a framework that you use when you’re teaching classes and coaching leaders. Can you share that with my audience?

Che Brown:

Sure. For those folks that are listening, let me go and frame the conversation if I can because one of the challenges that a number of folks had that I was working with is “Che, I’m learning so many different pieces. Can you just lay out a formula or lay out a methodology that you’ve been working with your clients that I can just adopt and can you make it easy for me?” And what we teach is called the 4S Formula. Jot this down in your notes. The 4S Formula.

And here it is. It’s going to be S + S + S = S. Let me go ahead and break that thing down for you, if I can. I’m going to try to unpackage this in the time that we have.

The first S is Systems. So, Systems + Strategy + Sales = Successful CEO. And so, it can be duplicatable. It can be repeatable. That’s why I like Systems + Sales. Sales helps you really purchase the resources for the vision that you have. I believe you have three visions. You have a vision for yourself, how you want to live. You got a vision for your loved ones, the schools you want to set them to, the home you want to live in, some of you write a check for their healthcare insurance but you also have a vision as a leader, not just as an entrepreneur but as a leader for all the people you were called to serve. And so, it takes revenue to purchase resources – technology, marketing, training, social media. It takes leadership. So, Systems, that’s one piece plus Strategy, another piece, I’m coming to you, plus Sales equals a Successful CEO.

“Che, what in the LL Cool J is a successful CEO? You’ve got to tell me this.”

I’m glad you asked. A successful CEO, by my definition, is someone who has more cash flow that means money’s coming in, they’re serving, you serve people, pay you to solve a problem. They’ve got cash flow coming in, number one. Number two, they have higher profits. That means they spend less than they make. Why? Because there’s money coming in. and third, I’m coming to you right now, Eddie, third, a successful CEO, they have the freedom to do the things they want to do, serve in their community and make a big difference in the world. It’s not about the money. It’s about the difference

Eddie Turner:

So, you’ve had a chance to share this in a lot of different arenas. One arena that I saw that I was very impressed with was Black Enterprise profiled you a few years ago. I saw that and I thought “Wow! That’s pretty impressive.” So, tell my audience, for those who may not know, what is Black Enterprise and why is it so important.

Che Brown:

The reason that Black Enterprises is so important is because Earl Graves founded it at a time where African-American didn’t have a voice in the business sector. And it wasn’t in a magazine. It wasn’t in what was called publication. it wasn’t in media. Now, I’m proud because Earl Graves who’s no longer with us, he passed away this year, went to Morgan State University, and Morgan State University is one of my alma maters, by the way, I went there for undergraduate, then I went to Johns Hopkins for graduate school, but he started it so that African-American would be recognized not just for the businesses they had but more importantly, Eddie, this is the most important part where I was glad that I was recognized, that he wanted to bring in some of the best minds to share with everyone else because one of the things that he understood is this. You can jot this concept. And this is why sales leadership is important.

Success is a team sport. You can only get so far by yourself. So, I was on a team of other folks that was able to share my little story, my little piece to make a difference for another entrepreneur that was out there.

Eddie Turner:

So, talk about this because this was pretty interesting when I saw this title that you were part of the 72 Hours of Power: Business Reloaded at the Speed of Results.

Che Brown:

Back then we started broadcasting. I think that was a number of years ago. And at the time, we didn’t know we were going to go 72 hours. We went there. We turned on the cameras. We knew the power of media but back then, it went like it is today, right? And people were watching. And so, I was like “Oh my gosh! They’re watching.” And it was only about 12 of us there. So, we started just shifting and Eddie would give a talk and then Che would give a talk and someone else would give training. And then we looked up and it was 2 in the morning and people were still watching because we didn’t understand that just because it was midnight here, it was 12 o’clock somewhere else. And so, we broadcast for 72 straight hours and that became one of our events. If you think about Jerry and if you think those telethons he used to have back in the day, well that’s what we had. We had a virtual Trainathon, a virtual summit that went on for 72 hours. Now, we did it, I think, five or six years in a row and that’s how we got recognized by Black Enterprise. It was about how do we bring the best minds, how do we bring the best, the brightest, the smartest and most intelligent entrepreneurs we could get and let them share their message with other entrepreneurs. And we did it at no cost. It was our big giveback. “Well, Che, why did you do that?” Because I believe in the giver’s economy. The person that out gives the competition, out earns the competition. So, I told you, my whole mission in life is to add value. Because of that 72 Hours of Power Reloaded, because of the impact on lives we made, because there was no cost, there was no sponsorship, it got recognition by other folks and we had no idea that was going to happen. Sometimes you do things because it’s the right thing, even as a leader. No one may never know it was your idea but it impacted other folks. And so, we were very blessed and it was just something that happened. It was like we planned it, we had a great PR person and all that. No, we were just trying to change lives and help entrepreneurs really improve the quality of their business, the quality of their community, the quality of their family and serve as many people as possible through the power of those fiber optic lines. I’m blessed.

Eddie Turner:

That’s a big event. So, you’ve been very successful with that. And the connection, if you would, make the connection for sales leadership and leaders right now facing the fallout of the COVID crisis.

Che Brown:

The one thing that I’ve learned as leaders that we really have to do, and it’s not going to sound like a new idea, you’re not going to jump up and go shouting and running around “That was, oh my gosh, Che!” but it was really the power of collaboration, having an abundant mindset. Yeah, I get it. This COVID-19 is serious. I’ve lost family members to this. I’ve lost friends to this. My business has been impacted. People I know have been impacted but I believe through all this that God, and you may not be a believer and I understand that, but I believe that the higher power or whoever you believe in, I believe this person has given us one gift. That one gift he’s given us as leaders is time – time to reflect, time to plan, and time, more importantly, to understand how we can add more value. So, what I’ve learned about leadership is if you don’t operate in the spirit of collaboration, if you’re not willing to share what you know with someone else, we used to have a saying, you heard this before, “One plus one equals what? Two” but our magic phrase was “One and one equals eleven. #Eleven.” And #Eleven used to be our bat signal that says “We’re going to collaborate.” When we collaborate, one and one equals eleven. There’s more power when we work together.

So, as leaders, and how does that relate to sales, well, I’ve got to share my idea, I’ve got to share my values with someone else and I have to convince them but I have to let them understand what the value is, I have to let them understand how it helps them, and I have to help them understand how it helps them get to where they want to get to faster with me than without me. And that’s what COVID-19 has brought together in terms of leadership. It’s not new for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs, we’ve always changed. “Again, the world came to an end, Che.” I get that but when you’re an entrepreneur, it’s always a shift, there’s always a change, there’s always a new gift.

Eddie Turner:

And we’re used to changing and never anything’s been consistent for us.

Che Brown:

Never anything’s consistent. I get it that the world stopped but at some point, you want to shift some of your business. You wanted to get to where you are now anyway, many of you. We just got there a lot faster.

Eddie Turner:

Brenda says “Number 11.” I’m not sure what you’re referring to that, Brenda.

Che Brown:

#Eleven. I just mentioned that our magic phrase is One plus one equals two. One and one equals eleven.”

Eddie Turner:

Thank you, Brenda. Brenda’s with you? I have to catch up.

Che Brown:

#Eleven is the magic phrase. You got to jot that right below. Whenever you use #Eleven, that’s just the bat signal to someone else that you’re a collaborator.

Eddie Turner:

All right. Thank you, Brenda Trott. I appreciate that. I missed that.

Che, what’s the best piece of leadership advice you’ve ever received or your favorite quote to help our leaders keep leading?

Che Brown:

There was a mentor of mine back at Morgan State University, and this was in our speaking class, and I’m a stutterer, I still do stutter, I had a worse stuttering problem then, by the way, so I’ve been in the speaking class, I learned “Say less. Do more. Just execute the plan” but here’s the problem. You got to have a plan and like Mike Tyson says “Everybody has a plan until they hit.” So, now you got to have another plan behind the plan but that’s the best advice and I would share that with you. You never go to your team say “I’m the leader. Everybody must follow me.” I mean, that might be your style. It’s not my leadership style. It might be yours but you don’t have to do that. Say less. Do more.

Eddie Turner:

All right, thank you. Say less. Do more.

And I want to say hello to my friend Nihar who’s joined. Nihar also has a great live show that he hosts. I forget what day he does it but tune in to Nihar’s show. He’s one of the top coaches in Dallas, Texas. He is Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 coaches as well. So, Nihar, thank you for joining and for letting us know that you’re here listening. I appreciate you, my friend.

Here can my listeners learn more about you, Che?

Che Brown:

Sure. What I would encourage everyone out there that they want to connect, you want to hang out with me you can go join us over at www.HappyEntrepreneursTribe.com. That’s one place to go and be a part of it, if you want a website, and give you that but just www.HappyEntrepreneursTribe.com. Now, you’re welcome to connect with me on Facebook, connect with me on LinkedIn. Just look up Che Brown. Love to connect with every single one of you who are watching right now because I know if you’re watching that you know right now and you have greatness inside you, you had the potential to perform at a higher level, not only do you know that but you’re willing to do something about this. So, you tune in to Keep Leading LIVE™ because this is where the magic happens. We’re all students. We’re always learning.

Eddie Turner:

It is where the magic happens. Well, Che, I’m going to put everything you said in the show notes so that folks can know to look for you, follow you, tune into your number one late night business show where they can continue to learn more about being a happy entrepreneur and selling.

Che Brown:

Thank you so much and thank you, first, for having us on the show. We appreciate it. One of the things we believe is that the results that show up in your life are just as important as the results that show up in your bank account. And what makes this show Keep Leading LIVE™ so important is that you help people get results in their life but they’re also getting results in their profession and results in their business. So, thanks for all you do. I want to encourage you to keep doing it. Anyone who is out there by the way, if you haven’t hit the share button for whatever reason, maybe you shared it one time to Facebook, share it over to LinkedIn. If you haven’t taken a moment to leave a comment, look right below and just write those words and say “Thank you, Eddie.” It takes time. It takes effort to do what he does and I’m so glad you’re here.

Thanks for having me here, man. I’m excited and I appreciate it. And remember, sales and leadership, we go together like peanut butter and jelly, all right? We might fight like oil and water but we’re going to get like peanut butter and jelly. So, let’s bring the two together.

Eddie Turner:

Absolutely. And you’re going to have to help me interpret one more of these. So, Brenda Trott is giving me another one that I don’t know. S + S + S.

Che Brown:

Systems + Strategy + Sales = Successful CEO. Brenda’s just a rock star, man.

Eddie Turner:

Your formula from earlier.

Che Brown:

I’m glad you’re tuning. I’m glad you’re getting value, man. Keep going up. Eddie’s just incredible.

Eddie Turner:

We appreciate that. Brenda, you’re awesome. Thank you.

And thank you, Kimberly. We appreciate you.

All right, man. Well, thank you for being here, Che. Always a pleasure. I look forward to connecting with you again as well.

Che Brown:

Thank you. God bless.

Eddie Turner:

That does it for this week, everyone. I’m Eddie Turner, The Leadership Excelerator®, reminding you that leadership is not about our title or our position. Leadership is an activity. Leadership is about action. It’s not a garment that we put on and take off. You and I must be a leader at our core and allow it to emanate in all that we do. So, whatever you’re doing, always keep leading.