fbpx

AUTO-TRANSCRIBED

Aaron Spatz  00:10

Good morning. Welcome to DFW business podcast, the Dallas Fort Worth Business Podcast. I’m excited that you’re here the show will feature fun and engaging conversations with business leaders and executives across the Metroplex as we discuss business topics in a way meant to entertain, educate, and perhaps inspire you that that would be that’d be a great side effect. Right? I want you to join in on the conversation too. So if you have any questions, feedback, anything for the show, drop me a line directly at podcast at Bold media.us. Again, stuff that you like, what do you want to hear more of less of what intrigues you? I think that’s a really good word intrigue. But today is day two. We have John BIRT. John has spent a career in sales. He’s having he has been heavily invested in networking, that’s seems to be a common thread through his career, and even a football official. We’re going to talk quite a bit about that. And John workouts are going to talk about cowboys if we can squeeze it in. But more recently, he also serves as a coach through Peak Performance Group. And John, I just want to welcome you to the show this morning.

John Burt  01:16

Hey, Aaron, great to be here. I really appreciate your opportunity.

Aaron Spatz  01:19

Absolutely. Yeah. So first of all, almost 30 years as a Texas high school and junior college football official. What has that journey been like?

John Burt  01:29

It’s crazy. I’ll tell you. I’ll make it real quick. I, when I first started in sales, I was starving to death. I had three kids a wife. And so I wanted an extra part time job and friend of mine taught me into going and becoming an official so I went to some classes and bout talk myself out of it. And I went and I was on a did a scrimmage and Zhan field scrimmage. It was controlled scrimmage coaches were on the field. And I worked with rusty Russell, who’s famous football official in Texas. And I was standing on the sideline, I was a wing official. He had my back he had my shirt like this. Yeah. And he was he would tell me what to look at. Look for. He said this is your progression. The first play that they ran was a sweep to my sideline. Now picture this 22 Huge high school football players running at you. You’re talking about an adrenaline rush. I thought wow, this is pretty cool. And I never looked back. Wow. started then. And I’ve worked my way up. I’m a crew chief. I have a crew. I do high school games, mostly right now now. And I’ve done everything from peewee to seventh grade to junior college of work sidelines at TCU. It’s it’s really it’s really, it’s great avocation. It’s just, it’s more than a hobby. It’s we we actually people don’t understand this. We spend about nine months out of the year football because we’ll start and, and March, preparing for next year season. We’ll have classes, we’ll study rules. And wow. So we really spend quite a bit of time in Texas. I don’t know if you know this or not. But in Texas high school football’s pretty serious.

Aaron Spatz  03:43

Oh, yeah. It’s it’s a it’s a very serious, very serious thing. And I I can only imagine the pressure and scrutiny that you get put under on these games you got, you know, screaming parents parents going freaking crazy on the sidelines and coaches for that matter.

John Burt  03:59

And coaches. Yeah, yeah. So here’s the first lesson. Yeah, okay. Do it go. Here’s the deal. The coaches, the teams are in the playoffs. Here’s the thing that I’ve noticed. The teams that are in the playoffs. They’re going coaches are coaching. They’re not yelling at official. They’re not yelling at their players. They’re two three plays a head. And so their coaches are coaching. Now what I find is those coaches, those teams that are not making the playoffs that have a poor record and just not close to those coaches are yelling at the officials. It’s the officials fault. It’s somebody it’s the kids fault. And so there’s lesson there to be to be successful. And to coach your team, you got to you got to coach, we’re always going to have problems we’re gonna have 2020 There’s always gonna be outside factors. But if you continue to coach your team, then you can be successful you make the playoffs. You can Hit some home runs.

Aaron Spatz  05:01

I love that. No, I love that because that the parallels between between football and life and I mean, for all my sports fans out there, you totally totally understand this is like there’s so many life lessons that you can, you can apply from from any sport, but particularly football, and bring that into life. And so it I mean, it’s, that’s a great, great, great perspective in terms of focusing on the task at hand or, or, or coaching rather than staying focused on what you got to do next, and trying to be a couple plays ahead versus trying to catch your tail. And you’re blaming everybody else for your

John Burt  05:36

here’s what here’s what happens if you see good coaches, and I want yell at you. They’re gonna they want to know worse the ball gonna be snapped from next, or am I going to get a 10 yard penalty or 15? Or power five yard penalty? Or am I going to snap it because I’ve got to call apply, you know, where it’s going to be snapped. And so that’s where you’re good coaches are, you know, you know, they they may holler at y’all, that was bad call, but they’re being they’re already two or three place down the road.

Aaron Spatz  06:09

So you’ve made a career out of sales to so I think it’s a great segue here. So, you know, with with sales, I mean, what what do you feel like separates salespeople, like successful salespeople, from other salespeople?

John Burt  06:25

That’s a great question. I, you know, there’s probably 100 different viewpoints on that. Now, I’ll give you my personal one, I think that I think there’s a couple of it’s having a selling system employs that is something that works, you understand that if I make 20 calls this week, and I set for five appointments, I’m going to close one or two deals, you’ve got to know your number. So have a selling system in place, and that you’re always continually tweaking that. But you have, you don’t fly by the seat of your pants, you have a system. So Monday morning, you get up and you know, your what your system is going to be. The other is, have a system, and then be sure and work the system, work it and be methodical about it. The other thing too, and the huge stain, the money is in the is in the follow up. Statistics show they do all kinds of sales study, you can look go on the internet and do the research yourself. Statistics shows that like 85% of salespeople make one call and they never follow up. And it’s like, okay, well what happens to the fit. And the people that make business typically shown it differs in industries, that somebody that makes three or four or five, or six calls has a higher chance of closing the deal. numbers tell us that seven to 12 calls before you’ll get a response and get interaction and you’ll be considered maybe your proposal. So here again, here’s your system. So your system is is users don’t randomly call, you call them and you have a message, you have a follow up message. That’s number two, you have a third follow up message. Maybe you send them some valuable information. Maybe there’s an article in their industry that they can profit benefit from. And so you have that you have seven follow ups already set up so that you’re not reinventing the wheel. Oh, you know, I made a call last week I got a follow up. What am I going to do? Well, you pull it, you go to your folder and you pull out follow up number one follow up, remember? And so that’s it. So there’s there’s how your system falls into place, you’re not recreating the wheel. So that’s it, have a system work the system and make sure that your follow up is there. And so I think there’s where people don’t you know, I think they missed the boat. Yeah,

Aaron Spatz  09:35

yeah, no, I mean, sales sales is a very unique beast, really unique animal, and it scares the heck out of a lot of people. But the whole the whole, like, creating a system I think is so so huge. And and, like these are lessons I’ve learned in my own businesses over the last several years, and things that I’ve optimized and things that I’m sure that you’ve seen time and time and time again. is the more simple that you can create your your offering, the easier it is for you. And it’s also easier for your clients, your prospective clients to understand what the heck it is that you do. And so when we, when we overcomplicate it, we create a custom solution every single time, it just absolutely destroys the system and the process. And I’m going to go back john to like football analogies and be like, you’ve got a playbook man, like, write the playbook. And then and then call the plays, instead of instead of, I mean, you can’t, you can’t even call an audible, if we’re going to even be just inventing our own things. It’s like it’s not gonna end well. And the follow up piece, I just want to say about the follow up, is, that is crucial as well, I can’t tell you how many times people have have either replied to a message, or I send them a card, or it doesn’t have to always be a phone call or an email, in fact, should be a variety of communication, right? Yeah. But at some point, they’re like, man, Aaron, you know, sorry, dude, I was, you know, I’ve been on vacation, or I’ve been out or, man, you know, thank you for your persistence, because like, I’ve been meaning to get around to this. And then there’s a whole nother bucket of people that are never going to be your customer. And that’s okay to like not get not get butthurt about it and just move on with your life. Right?

John Burt  11:20

Right. Probably one of your strong points is that I say that what you do is you help take away all the excess, the distractions from and branding a company, a brand needs to be real clean and simple. So that they recognize people recognize what it is I’m selling, are quiet, if they’re selling a widget, it’s got to be clear, you know, that I’m here to sell a widget, and this widget will change your life. And so that’s, that’s what you know, guys, like you do is clarify that message. Get away because sometimes salespeople think, well, this is this is important. It’s important that it’s blue. Well, you from an outside perspective can come in and say, Now the color is not that important. It’s the results that you need. And so that’s the you know, that’s that’s where a company like yours comes in, clarifies stripped away all the access. And I think that’s, that’s huge. People need to realize,

Aaron Spatz  12:33

well, just just be clear, John, now I got a slip you that 20 I promise you earlier, because this that that was not planned or scripted. I just want I want to I want to go on record, make sure we clear that I really appreciate you saying that, John, but that that was that was not part of the game plan there. But I I sincerely appreciate that. Really do what what what do you enjoy the most about what you do now? And so in any in even you go back slightly take us a little bit along your journey. And then that transition into into coaching, not not not football coaching. Now we’re talking business coaching, take us into that transition and share with me like what what it is that you enjoy the most? And then what are some of the things that you find in that you see, kind of repeatedly like, Are there any trends amongst the people that that that you get to serve?

John Burt  13:24

Yeah, another great question, too, because I think that we see it in our, in our economy in our environment today. There’s a lot of changes in movement. You know, like, for example, a year ago, everybody was getting up and going to their office. Now everybody’s getting up and going to an extra bedroom or going to their opposite home. So that’s a big change there. So there’s a mindset to answer your question. What Oh, shops, I spent a long time all years in sales. Here’s the key on that is I had I was successful in some of those. Not all, I was a failure in some, a couple of companies I worked for I couldn’t sell it worth anything. But let me tell you what, that’s where I learned the most is, is in those failures I learned so now I take that and that’s where I help people. Let me I’ve already experienced failure and so I help coach people in in that respect. The the application and what we see now, I say the foundation of sales is the same. It’s the walls that are our different how we approach how we sell. I’m having some some success with Zoom coffees. People don’t want to meet, presume or meet for coffee right now. I sell on relationships, I build a relationship. So now what I do is I do a zoom coffee in, and we’ve done one before, but I have a cup of coffee and I we just have an informal so that I get to know somebody, if there’s a click, if we click a knee, then I can help them win. And so my the biggest, where I really get my rewards are seeing people when they their aha moment. It’s, I don’t answer questions. And I work in industries. I’ve never worked in my one of my most successful coaching clients, I really, I’ve never worked in that industry. But I’ve brought them so far. Because I’m an outsider come in, I bring in a fresh perspective. And I see these holes. And so I was engaged by this company, and the President say, and I said, Alright, so I did a couple of interviews, see if it would work. I went back to him, I says, What are you doing about this huge hole in your company? And he goes, What are you talking about? I said, this huge hole right here, there’s this, he goes, I don’t want you to dunk, or you can see it, he’s too close to it. And so they had a communication problems. The president of the company, the general managers were two ships in the night, they were passing, and just some simple steps, made it where they would could talk and communicate, and got on. So when they have that aha moment, and they start using some of the techniques and some of the things I coach on his desk the rewarding thing, because then all of a sudden, they get comfortable, their confidence level, they get clarity. Those are two buzzwords now, but that clarity one, and then they get the confidence. And once they get their confidence, and all sudden they get some momentum. So clarity in the buzzwords there, do you see that a lot?

Aaron Spatz  17:25

Yeah, no, those are, but they’re like right now. Anyway, they’re they’re two very important buzzwords, and specifically clarity. And perhaps in another three to five years, clarity will, will evolve into another word that means the same. So just look into look in the thesaurus and see, you know, all the different entries next to clarity and just pick one and that’ll probably be the next buzzword you know, for for next five years. But no clarity I just just in my in my observation. And it sounds like it’s exactly the same for you, as well as there are so many instances where you’ll go to work with somebody and or let’s, let’s flip it around. So if you’re, if you’re listening to this, and watching this, you know how, how crazy it can be. When you’re dealing with your own mess with your own situation. And then somebody comes in from the outside, it could be a friend, it could be a mentor, it could be somebody that you don’t live with maybe and they can point out exactly what the stoppage with a blockage with a problem is and it could be a personal issue, it could be professional issue. But it’s it is mind blowing how that works. And I mean, in in even with our own personal relationships, there can be your spouse or significant other can perhaps identify something that is so obvious to them. And you’re completely missing. It’s sitting, it’s hiding in plain sight. And so if like that’s where coaching and consulting and other service oriented businesses that are geared towards helping other companies really, really bring tremendous value because it helps bring an outside opinion and in fact, there’s there’s been several cases where the executive team will have an initiative or they’ll have like their own little their own little pet project right there’s like some like little science research project that they’re working on. And they want to get an outsider’s thoughts on it, they want to kind of confirm their their hunch, right? They want to see like hey, if we bring a consultant in or we bring somebody else to take a look at this, are they going to see the things that we see like are we just are we losing our minds? And it’s, it’s it’s really powerful. It’s it’s it’s a super powerful tool to have somebody and and like and I like I want to bring this home to is because if if you are going through your you are going through your professional career, you have goals and aspirations you have things that you want to accomplish. It is tremendously important that you get some people around you that can encourage you that can that can help hold you accountable. Whether That’s a coach. And I believe coaching is very important, then I also think it’s important to have your own personal advisory board of just a couple of close friends, mentors, colleagues that can help kind of guide you along in in that journey.

John Burt  20:14

Yeah, yeah. Well, well said that that is really counted the essence of and really puts together. Pete, people, executives, sales, people, real estate, day 10, with a coach tend to earn 40% More, there’s some statistics and studies on that. They’re there, they’re more productive. They’re Claire, clear, early on, they have clarity on their direction. And they scrape off the dross and go that way. And so you’re right, that that makes so much sense in, in having that outside perspective, come in and just observe. The other thing to Aaron is that the taking action, once is taking action, that’s a huge step, a lot of people get up to that point, and they don’t take that action. And so that that would be my next point would be it, you’ve got to take action. And get it doesn’t mean it’s always the right action, it can be, you know, but to move forward taking action and toward

Aaron Spatz  21:38

the vision I got, as you shared that is the classic image of someone who’s just learning how to dive off a diving board at a pool. And so you know what you got to do, but you get, you get to the very edge of that diving board. And you’re like, and I don’t want to jump off this 30 foot platform, or this six foot high diving board, and in to take the courage to go and take the take that step. Probably a slightly dramatic visual visualization. But that was kind of what came to mind. What What have you seen, though, like, through a lot of things that you love the folks that you coach? Have there been any common common threads or common themes? Like do you think there are some some common challenges that a lot of people are facing that you kind of keep finding yourself having to address time and time again?

John Burt  22:26

Sure. There’s, there’s a lot of in and there’s a lot of, I don’t say, fear may not be my uncertainty, maybe a better word of what’s going to happen this month, next month? We don’t know our political climate, our our COVID climate? We don’t know. So what is my job, my position my company going to look like in a month and two months in six months. So how do I set goals? And how do I accomplish my goals? In by July? How do I you know, half a year goes, we all know, we all need to have long term goals. But we ought to accomplish those long term goals, we have to have those short term goals, what’s going to happen by the end of January. And so that I see a lot of that, I say that we say to the will, we’ll see the adjustments this year of people going back to the office, or settling in their home office and becoming more and more productive. Understanding that their freedoms. I think now you’ll I really think that you’ll see about half and half. I’ve talked to some bankers who have multiple branches. And they they realize I don’t need to have a branch, I need to have a drive thru. And I need to have a small office and people can make an appointment. But I don’t have to have a big lobby, I don’t have five or six tellers, you see. And so that’s a big change for them. So what are they going to do with all that real estate? Or, you know, how are they going to adapt? So there’s some some challenges there in what they’re going to do.

Aaron Spatz  24:28

Those are some really some really big challenges. And I actually would like to get your thoughts on that. When we come back from the break is your what do you what do you see being the biggest challenges right now for companies? And I think you already touched on it, but how do you how do you see companies adapting to the COVID climate? And how do you think companies can position themselves for success on the other side of COVID or through COVID? So we’ll we’ll we’ll cover that soon as soon as we get back. So this show is is made possible by our amazing sponsors and the amazing people that support our show. Right now for this for this show that this episode is sponsored by first response, AC and heating. And so huge shout out to them. So there are it. Like, if you’re anything like me, right, you get a little bit of anxiety when you call a service industry business or a like a home contractor, right? Whether it’s Windows, plumbing, AC and heating, there’s a knowledge monopoly there, right, they know way more than you do. You can study and do a lot of things in your own right, there’s like I do a lot of my own, do a lot of my own work around my house, but there’s certain things that I need, I need a professional to take a look at. And you want to know that you’re getting the right information that you’re not being sold to. And I think it’s one of things that really ticks me off is when I’ll have a guy show up to my door. And all of a sudden, like the world is on fire and everything in my house is breaking. And we need to like throw it all out and start over. And I could not could not emphasize enough that how opposite that experience is with with these guys with first response they’ll come in, they will absolutely address your needs, your concerns, your problems, oftentimes, you may even suspect that you have a certain type of problem and they’ll come in and they’ll confirm or or tell you it’s something different. It may end up costing you less it may cost you exactly what what you thought it was gonna be. But the point is, is there people that you can trust, hard working honest people, and I think honesty and integrity are some of the biggest ways that companies set themselves apart. And these guys have done that they’ve been working on on all of my own AC related issues for the last several years. And so I would encourage you if especially if you’re on the Fort Worth side of the Metroplex reach out to these guys. Fantastic, fantastic people, you will not be disappointed. Just solid, solid people. I’m incredibly thankful for their sponsorship. So let’s let’s get right back to it, John. So with you know, lift with COVID kind of making companies adapt, change to the to the current environment, right, like, where where do you see companies headed now? Like what’s, how are they going to get ahead of challenges, especially in these next six months, I think is going to be crucial, because we’re we’re trying to understand, okay, are we going back to the office? Are we going back to some like hybrid model? Or are? Or are parts of our workforce never going to return? Like, how do you see companies handling that?

John Burt  27:26

I see it how I really believe there’s going to be a hybrid. I don’t know what the splits gonna be. I think it’ll be close to 5050 is somewhere in that range. Just just by there are some companies I see bringing their people back as soon as they can. Then there are some companies saying I’m going to cut the real estate, leave them at home. It’s interesting. Let me let me tell you this, Aaron, I don’t I believe everybody needs a coach with a coach. You can accomplish more, you can earn more you can accomplish your goals, and dreams and expectations. You can be more productive. Brian shark who’s what’s his research company says companies with a dynamic coaching program achieve 28% Higher win rates. So what I think the key is, is whether your your employees are in house sick coming in the office, or if they’re working from home, one, they need encouragement, they need to be focused and directed. How do you do that when they’re remote? The key in I really seen the key this year is not only having making sure your strategy is correct. But making sure you have the right people, your people are correct. And then not only that, but having him in the right seat on the bus. Just having a great superstar doesn’t make if he’s sitting in the wrong seat. That can be a disaster and your production. You’re there. You need to make sure that that superstar is where he needs to be in your company producing, directing, managing whoever it is. So that’s the key coming up in this year, I really believe is companies need to reevaluate look at their strategy. Look at their workforce, what are they going to do it how are they going to handle it and then reevaluate reevaluate their people? And I do I become a predictive index certified and predictive index and we do those we do. Do we work on having a superior team, a dream team having the teams work together and make sure you have the right mix of people and the right people in rat seats on that bus. Because if you get the you get the rat people in rats it is it’s like you go again in football, you get the you get, you know you don’t want your quarterback snapping the ball. You know he’s not big enough. You want them big linemen that they’re blocking and you don’t fast guys so your your ends and your wideouts running down the field and catching the ball. And so there’s a lot to that you want to ride you want your skill players you want your, your big guys and so that that that’s kind of like what it is, you know, you look at professional athletes, Tiger Woods has coaches, the all your professional golfers, they have like up to four coaches, they have a Swing Coach, they have a puting coach, they have a strength coach. And then they have a head coach hat, you know, a psychological Coach, how to win in the saddle. That also translates into us if we want to get ahead if we’re in a very competitive marketplace who isn’t today. Right. Right. And especially in DFW, I mean the competition, more companies moving here. What is the competitive advantage? If you have a coach helping you analyze your strategy, making sure your strategy is correct, fit your product, and your people are behind that strategy, that they realize what the strategy is in it. So the key for this year is, is gaining that competitive advantage, how are you going to gain that competitive advantage? Advantage? And what are you going to do? How are you going to do that? How are you going to encourage and keep your people producing and hitting the homeruns moving the ball down the field against the competition? So that’s kind of what I see.

Aaron Spatz  32:01

Wow, there’s certainly there’s so many different ways that I want to go with this right now. Because you, you just you cracked a little bit on a lot of different great topics here. And so let’s let’s, let’s take a slight detour, then cuz I, I could not agree with you more when it comes comes to coaching in terms of the productivity and the ability for teams and for people to do a much better job. It’s just like, I mean, you brought the example of Tiger Woods, obviously, his coaches are not, you know, seven time or whatever, whatever the the, like the number is, I lose count of of major championships that he’s won, right. So like, the coach does not just because your coaches, I mean, you have to be better than the student. And a lot of times the very best situations, it’s actually the reverse. The coach may not have been the MVP, you know, five times Super Bowl champion, but he’s coached a dozen or more guys to be successful. I’d like to, I’d like to pivot Oh. So there, there are a lot of folks right now. And I think there’s a lot of companies right now that are struggling, either with hiring decisions, or for many listening, watching. Like you, you may be in a very tough spot when it comes to employment. Right. So there’s been a lot of companies that have either had to reconfigure their workforce. And some people, unfortunately, are, are are in a really tough spot, especially I think retail, restaurants and a few other places. What can you see people and I’m just thinking out loud here, taking the principles that you’ve that you’ve laid out in terms of sales process. How can people help themselves best when it comes to searching out for the right career and finding their right seat on the bus? At a company?

John Burt  34:02

Wow. I tell you that’s, that’s pretty deep. I see. Here’s what the encouraging thing in the DFW area is that I see a lot of companies starting to hire. And I think that’s positive. The interesting thing is that people coming out of the restaurant industry, maybe need to change careers or go somewhere else. So I don’t know how that’s gonna work out. Sure. You see, but for the folks that maybe got laid off in the last six months last year, it’s important I would seek counselors, somebody to mentor and to review your resume, review your LinkedIn profile, review those, somebody that will encourage you and help you tweak your your profile so that it’s attractive in today’s world. environment, we have to broaden, we have to broaden our our horizons a little bit. But yet we have to niche in our talents and abilities. So I would really say out the key, I think if you can find one or two people that you can meet with on a weekly basis, that will encourage you help, you know, help you from an outside perspective, a lot of times when it when I talk to people who are looking for work, I’ll look at the resume and real quickly, I can see some challenges there. And I’ll suggest, alright, you need to, you know, Shore this up, or this is something that doesn’t need to be in there. And so that, that, I think that’s the key find somebody to encourage you, and and to help oversee, I have a guy that I worked with. I’ve got a large network, people that come to me that are looking for jobs, I’ll contact my network, I’ll put them out there and say, Hey, would this guy be a good fit? Do you know somebody that would be looking for a good guy, so that that works real well, at work your network, contact your network, and and work it. And so I do that. And I think that’s huge, too, is I don’t know what statistics are today. But a large percent of hires don’t come through headhunters are the online services. And I’m not bad mouthing those other you need to be there. But a lot of your hires comes from a referral. And it can be a second or third referral, that somebody says, Hey, this is a good guy, or good lady, she would be an asset. He’s look at her and go, Well, you know, I don’t have a job. But I know so and so’s hiring. And that’s how you get it. That’s the key work that network, ask for referrals. Do you know anybody? Can you put my help me, you know, so that’s the key in this this environment in that respect? So I encourage people you know, you can Yes, the glass is either half full or half empty. I say that that glass is filling up, and people are a lot of companies are hiring, a lot of companies are moving. Yeah. And, you know, for everybody that hired by one of the big companies that that moved a branch large branch here. And within six months, he was promoted, and he’s moving up in that company. You know, he didn’t start out in a specific job that he wanted. But within a short time they recognize he was he needed to be in a bigger, fast see toward the front of the bus, as opposed to, you know, at the back. Right. Sounds

Aaron Spatz  38:13

makes makes makes total sense, I think. And I realized that that may have been a that may have been a slight curveball, but I wanted to get your perspective, because I know that you, you’re very well connected guy you’ve seen you’ve seen a lot of things, right? So I’m, I was I was very comfortable and thrown that at you. Because it’s like, it was really important that people understand the power of some close advisers. And I’m telling you, this is one of the things that has changed my life in a very, very positive way. And I know you’ve like, if, as you’re listening and watching this, you’ve already heard me talk about this. But it’s, there are people I promise you, you know, people, if you’re if you’re listening to this, or watching this, there are people that you know, in your network right now, that would be amazing people to serve as mentors, and they should be people that you kind of know, they’re either people you know, or you kind of know, in, and they should be people that you are are aspiring to be, or, or to or to surpass, but they should be someone who’s down the road a little bit further than where you are right now, that can offer some guidance and some direction. And people that have a vested interest in you personally. And so I’m telling you that that has been that has been absolutely life changing for me in a very positive way. But then, John, one of the things that you hit on was your LinkedIn profile your resume, and I heard someone tell me this one time was, you know, I can only help somebody as clearly defined as their needs are. And so I think one of the mistakes that a lot of people make is, hey, I’m a great leader, I can do anything I can do everything. What do you got? And it’s like, Man, I that really actually is someone who’s trying to help you that actually puts me in a very tough spot because now I don’t really know Know how to help which as funny as that may sound is so true. And so it’s important to gain some a little bit more clarity and make a decision make a choice. I know it sucks, because like, if you’re like me, you like to keep your options open, right? So, but make a decision and go pursue something. And guess what, that’s an it’s not a life sentence like you don’t have to stay in that career in that industry for the rest of your life. Go go try it out, man. Like, go go see. And then John, the last thing that you said about networking, could not agree more that the highest, the like, you’re I mean, we could take this back to business, highest close percentage of clients, the highest close deals in business are always referrals. In fact, I don’t know if I’ve ever lost a deal. Due to a referral. I think maybe I’ve qualified people out because they just weren’t a great fit. But I think by and large, though, people that are referred and this goes for employment as well, if you’re if you’re being vouched for, and you’re being referred to, to a hiring manager by another person in a company, that is a that is a tremendous, tremendous gift. And I think it’s important to cultivate relationships. And so it kind of goes back to what you’re saying a few minutes ago, John was the power of networking. And

John Burt  41:14

it’s exactly right. It’s a challenge today, because we’re remote. Yep. But still, you got to work, I connect, and I try to keep in touch with my network and keep that Inc I continue trying to grow it too. Right. Yeah, I mean, it can be somebody made it church, somebody new at church that you meet, be somebody that you know, when you’re playing golf, we used to my son and I used to play we went to a course down here, and who’s always paired with at least one guy. And you never know what that guy yeah, he could own company, he could be a fast growing company. And so always, always, you know, think of your network. I don’t do it to get anything. Ah, oh, always, I want my network to for me to help them. How can I help you? Do you know of a good salesman? That’s looking for a job? Yeah, do I know a couple of guys right now that would like to make moves? Do you know, you know, and your right to is, and this is gonna be a silly illustration. Are you a plumber? Or are you electrician? Not hey, I can do both. It’s, I’m an electrician. And this is my specialty. And this is where I have my success. So that’s the I think that’s your right there. Don’t dilute yourself now. But but but you know, kind of specify, you know, the direction you want to go and where you’re most valuable, because I’m going to look at people look at the value you bring, right? I’m gonna I want to hire somebody, and I want to see what the value is going to be to my company. Right? Not? Oh, I think I can make it work. I want to Hey, at what value does he bring? How can I get him up to speed faster?

Aaron Spatz  43:19

So good. So good. Changing yours again. So how has COVID impacted you? So I trust that you’re in terms of healthier you’re doing okay, you’re you’re sitting here talking to me right now. So that’s a great start, but how was How was COVID impacted you personally? professionally? Yep,

John Burt  43:40

yeah, I would say this here’s a I do and I’m on my a lot like you I get a lot of referrals. That’s how I build my business. But before COVID started January, February 1 part of March the way I made I meet in person wood people usually it’s over coffee. We in do that? Well. You know, when we’re quarantine we can’t go and the coffee shops are closed. What do you do and so I had tremendous momentum going into March and April, I had tremendous I had pretty good months, those months, but it slowed down because I was not able to get out and speak network as much as I was doing. So I do more zoom coffees. i People are now starting to want to meet in person so we’re having some face to face. So that’s that’s what it did. It met my slow my business development down. It changed it so that I had to redirect pivot. There’s another buzzword for you and change that. And I’ve, I’ve talked to some people, I’ve met some people on LinkedIn, I met a guy in New York on LinkedIn. And we talk about once every two weeks, he has a similar business. He’s He’s a financial guy. And I encourage him I talk, you know, we encourage each other in that. And, you know, here I am for Texas talking to Yankee up there, is that correct? Is that okay to say, I’m sure. But but a well, he’s a New York Giants fan, okay, so what okay? So, but here is a and we become friends, we just in there, and I have several of those that I pick up and I will talk to periodically. So that’s, that’s, that’s the change out. Out, you know, I hope coming into this year, that there we loosen up a little bit, I hope the vaccine works and we can get back to normal. And, you know, so that we said I can speak on stages and do some speaking. And that is the fun part is, is a lot of people like for me to tell football stories. And I am here again, like we did earlier to to business, all those those things, and I have got some crazy football stories to tell. People like to hear that so that I speak on that and then talk about coaching.

Aaron Spatz  46:45

So back to buzzwords, I like one of these days, I should just set aside an episode, and try to do as many buzzwords and one of one of these morning shows as I possibly can. And then back your giants guy, you know, big division rival obviously. And so and what and I, I’m, I’m sad to say right the they taught the Cowboys a few days ago. Right? So that’s a tough, tough, tough way to close it out, man.

John Burt  47:16

I tell ya. Yeah. Now, so you’re a writer fan right now? Are they are they? Were they based out of Nashville?

Aaron Spatz  47:28

So before start getting all sorts of hate mail and cowboys country right. So I have lived all over the United States. So my loyalties are not that deep when it comes when it comes to pro football. In fact, when I moved to Houston that was the first town I ever lived in. That actually had pro teams every everywhere else I’d lived. I was lucky man to get minor league right. So I latched on to the Astros and the Texans and then obviously we know what happened with the Astros in the cheating scandal. And that athlete crushed my soul man. And so now, here we are up in the DFW area. And, you know, I, I, I lightly hold the Cowboys in my hand. But no, I’ve been a big Jon Gruden fan man like so. I love Yeah, I’m and so I’m and I’m not ashamed to say it right. So I love that guy. I think he’s, I think he’s fantastic. And I’m cheering for him because he’s a bit he’s a bit of a in my opinion. He’s a bit of an underdog story. He’s got a lot of pressure on him. So he he coached for a number of years and he stepped out he was in the broadcast booth for forever. I mean, it wasn’t forever. It was like eight or nine years or something. And then the Raiders finally roped him back in. And he’s on this massive, long, very lucrative contract. And I mean, honestly, I just want to see the guy do well, he seems it seems like it seems like a sharp guy. He’s hilariously entertaining. It sucks that they have to wear masks on the sidelines because not it’s like, the joy of watching Jon Gruden is just all facial antics. And so your question that Raiders moved to Vegas, so they’re they’re based in Las Vegas? Who knows maybe one of these days I can hop on a flight. Go spend the weekend in Vegas go catch a game, so

John Burt  49:10

yeah, that’d be I think that’d be fun. And I’m upgrading fan to widen until he went into the broadcast and hitting some of his shows that he did on quarterbacks from memory. Hi. Yeah. It’s amazing. I learned so much on them.

Aaron Spatz  49:26

Oh, yeah. Yeah, sharp guy. But no, John, as we close out, how can how can people get a hold of you? As we’re wrapping up here,

John Burt  49:34

may I right. Appreciate the opportunity. I’ll make it really simple. Just email me at John Jo HN. H burt@gmail.com. Anybody that wants, hey, I’ll talk to anybody if they want to talk. We can do some evaluation. If you’re if you’re without a job and you’re looking for somebody to encourage you call you No, contact me. And I will encourage you, I’ll put you in my network if you’re good fit. Hey, I appreciate that. And so that’s the best way to get a hold of me. I have a website. I’ll send you that information too. But

Aaron Spatz  50:21

that’s great. Well, man, this has been this has been a blast. I really, really appreciate you coming on the show. Get our get our Tuesday kicked off the right way.

John Burt  50:29

Hey, Aaron, I appreciate what you do. This is great. I really love this podcast and looking forward to being one of your big fans.

Aaron Spatz  50:37

Absolutely. Appreciate it. Thanks. Thanks, sir.