Thank you for having me. Truly appreciate the opportunity. I grew up in Queens NY and played mostly
baseball. Went to Baruch College where I
got my Bachelors in Accounting and then earned my MBA in Taxation from Long
Island University. As you can guess, my
first two employers were CPA Firms. KPMG
Peat Marwick and Hertz Herson CPA. Being
an Accountant for 5 years, I learned the power of process. No matter services we provided to a client,
we followed a process from start to completion.
Accountants/CPA’s are typically, shy,
quiet and introverted. When I took a
position as a Market Support Representative for CLR Fast*Tax, a tax processing
company that required me to do sales presentations, speak in front of
audiences, perform training classes it surprised not only myself but my wife
and family as all of this wasn’t the Jeff that they knew and loved.
As I learned and got comfortable in
my new role, I grew both professionally and personally. Sales became natural to
me and I quickly excelled being #1 MSR, #1 Sales Rep the following two years
and then #1 Regional Sales Manager 3 years in a row. We moved to Chicago as I was promoted to Head
of Major accounts now working for CCH Incorporated and 3 years later was
promoted to VP of Sales now being based outside of Tampa, Florida where I have
now lived for the past 24 years.
Learning the power of process in my
career as an accountant, provided me a skill set that I follow today. Every sales representative, every company
must have a repeatable predictable sales process that generates revenue. Without it, steps are skipped and that is
when sales are not closed.
As a VP one of the functions is that
you must train your teams. I absolutely
love training and working with my teams and I still do. Learning never stops. I have learned a lot from many different
people and always listen for new techniques or ways of saying things. I am a believer that its not what you say
it’s how you say it.
A little over a year ago I met Paul
Webb via LinkedIn. Paul became a
Division of Brandeis Training Solutions.
Paul introduced me to Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) Which is
recognizing how people learn is how people buy. Truly fascinating to me that I
got my certification in NLP. I now try
to incorporate this into my sales training and business coaching clients.
Today I recently I wrote two books
both are now available on Amazon. Done
Deal. The Step by Step Handbook to Sales
Success and Becoming a Rainmaker – A Sales guide for CPA’s and Accountants. Also, I have been on ABC TV the List and many
podcasts. I work with CPA’s and
accountants helping them migrate from a compliance firm to a Client Advisory
Service practice that increases their Revenues without having to spend a dime
on advertising. We also work with them
to increase their client base.
I’m sure your success has not come
easily. What challenges have you had to overcome along the way?
As I mentioned earlier, I was an
accountant, sales didn’t’ come easy to me at first. Not many accountants become sales reps or VP
of Sales.
Making cold calls, getting rejected, people hanging up on me, leaving messages
that we were never returned was a whole new world to me and one that I had to
overcome to be successful. Losing a
contract or a big deal, suffering with rejection was also something that I had
to overcome.
Learning to give people
Let’s talk about the work you do.
What do you specialize in and why should someone work with you over the
competition?
I love what I do. Watching people grow and succeed is something
I take great pride in.
Having companies There are many coaches and trainers in the marketplace. Very few if any have an accounting
background, been a sales executive and understand how people buy.
Being adaptable to people, processes
and procedures are things that I look for when I work with a CEO or an
organization. Those some characteristics
are things that CEO’s or entrepreneurs should look for in a coach. Not all companies are created equally and not
all coaches perform equally.
I inspect what I expect, I go above
expectations. I want to overachieve the
same way I want the companies that I work with to overachieve. Sales or being successful isn’t about one
person doing great or overperforming, its about having the team over achieve,
having more sales reps over quota. It’s
a total company team effort.
What’s your best piece of advice for
readers who desire to find success in their life?
Success is something that you define
for yourself. Yes, company can set quota’s, goals and KPI’s but success is
different for everyone. For some it’s
being in the Top 10, others it’s about being in the Top 5. For others its being #1.
Everyone sets their success goals,
and nothing is easy so you must create a plan, create a vision and you work
towards that vision or plan. When and if
you reach that plan, raise the bar and keep elevating yourself to even a higher
level of success. Don’t get complacent,
keep driving. In sales, at year end
you’re a hero. You finished #1 and what happens the next day? Your back at zero and starting the race
again.
What’s next for you?
Scaling the business and continuing
to share information that people will find interesting and that helps companies
overcome their challenges. As different
as companies are, they are the same in so many aspects. In Difficult times, we
lead the charge and then there are followers,
I have chosen to provide a simple solution to deliver that translates to
CPA’s firms a process to effectively increase revenues while working less
hours.
Finally, how can people connect with
you if they want to learn more.
People can visit our Training web
site at
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