Resources in this Episode:

Christine Schlonski [0:02]
Hi Gorgeous. This is episode number 082 with the outstanding entrepreneur, Tony Grebmeier, who is back on the show today.

Tony Grebmeier [0:10]
Hi, this is, Tony Grebmeier, and you are listening to the Heart Sells! Podcast with Christine Schlonski. Excited you’re here for one reason and one reason only, the Heart Sells!, and that’s how you make a living.

Christine Schlonski [0:24]
I’m so excited you are tuning in today, and I can’t wait to continue the conversation with Tony. I’ve learned so much from the last episode. And it is so beautiful to see what you can achieve in just one lifetime. So hop on over to christineschlonski.com, find the podcast tab and see all the show notes, the transcripts and the resources we are talking about, especially Tony’s fulfillment journal, where we have a special discount offer for you today. So hop on over to christineschlonski.com and check that out. Tony knows exactly what he’s talking about because he is not just known for building a multimillion-dollar business with his childhood friends but his mission in life is to create a community where entrepreneurs know that they can achieve anything they want despite their past. Tony is always or has been always known for making money. He started his first business selling baseball cards actually. By the time he was 18, he already had 16 jobs. He was only fired once but by giving his brother an ice cream cone. We talked about that in the last episode, which is such an interesting story and adjust had an interesting learning for Tony that he shared. So if you have not tuned in, make sure you are checking out episode number 081. In 1996, Tony launch his first online business in Silicon Valley, a web traffic and marketing company, which eventually turned into his first supplement company. In 2001, he went on to build his second supplement company, ShipOffers, from his garage, and 16 years later, ShipOffers, is an eight-figure business and has been an Inc. 5000 company for the past four years in the row. What in achievement. I’m so happy and pumped you are here. Let’s tune in to the episode. I’m so excited to have Tony back on the show. Welcome to Heart Sells!

Tony Grebmeier [2:45]
Well, thank you so much for this opportunity. It’s it’s always great to reconnect and continue.

Christine Schlonski [2:50]
Yeah, I love our first interview, we already went really, really deep and building relationships. I think we both are on the same page that relationship or relationships make your life and your business, the more you can take care of them. The more you have people in your life, who are positive and uplifting, the faster and further you can go yourself. Can you give us a little bit of insight, like for those entrepreneurs who might be a bit afraid of sales or even making a cold call, connecting with people, there’s always this fear of being rejected or being not being good enough or not knowing what to say, is there any advice you could share to make the lives of these people a little bit easier?

Tony Grebmeier [3:42]
Sure, it’s a great, great way to start off the show, check your pulse you’re alive. Where you’re at is where you’re at. You’ve been in sales all your life, no matter what you’ve been selling to people, you’ve been selling them the BS that you’ve been selling them, or you’ve been selling them stuff that’s transformational and changing people’s lives no matter what we’ve been in sales, dating, relationships, making friends, that’s all sales, you’re showing them every day, who you are and what you want in return, which is a connection and relationship. So I tell people like, let’s get uncomfortable for a while and stop being comfortable because where real growth happens is if you go into a gym and you lift weights, your muscles stretch when you apply pressure when so the pressure you’re applying right now to your life has gotten you where you’re at. If you want to go where you’ve never been and you want to stop making excuses, let’s get into action around, pick up the phone today and just call a friend and practice on a friend ask a friend saying, “Hey, you know, I need to make some cold calls. I’m just wanting to try out some things. Would you be willing to listen and give me some feedback?”, the next thing you know, person probably is going to say, “Wow, can I buy what you’re selling because I really believe you”, and it just takes practice. I wasn’t a perfect sales personality or think I am a perfect salesperson. I just I like hard sales, I like coming from and leading from a place of love. Next thing I know, the other end of the call goes, “Wow, thank you so much”, and when someone tells you Nos, this is really important. No doesn’t mean No, No means not right now, like maybe later. In my brain, I take note and I flip it around. I actually say it’s on my things. You said no, but there’s over eight billion people on planet Earth. So I’m going to go keep calling. I’m gonna go keep trying, I’m gonna go keep knocking, I’m going to keep writing emails, I’m gonna keep writing letters. I’m not gonna let, this is the hardest thing for all of us is, don’t let the haters get you down. Haters are actually a good thing because they allow you know that you’re making a difference. You’re doing something and that’s agitating people. When you cause agitation, you also cause people’s hearts to shift, because the right people will be there when you’re in the right place. So keep going. Don’t give up.

Christine Schlonski [5:54]
Yeah, I love that. And it’s so funny because I always say, “Stop just dreaming, act now”, because if you don’t do anything, you never going to get anywhere.

Tony Grebmeier [6:02]
Talk’s cheap. No one pays for cheap talk.

Christine Schlonski [6:04]
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So when you get a No, do you ask why you did get it or do you just move on?

Tony Grebmeier [6:13]
No, I always want to know what I can do to get better. So Christine, you share something with me and I say, “No. Yeah, not right now.” You may pause and say, “So when would be a better time?” like, “When should I follow up with you?” Every every person that I’ve ever interacted with around business or a relationship, I make a mental log first of, “What did I say? How did I position it? What was working then what caused the shift?”, and I realized that I also put a date back in my my, we use Pipe Drive, that’s our software CRM here. I put a little note on Pipe Drive for three months, just put a three month little window. I lost a customer like a month ago. I had my sales director, right. I’m like two weeks after that and said, “Hey, I just want to say thanks for the opportunity. I really appreciated the time that we worked with you Sorry, I didn’t work out”, and he wrote, “Thank you so much for thinking of us and taking time to just say hello.” So I log that in my brain, I put it down and Pipe Drive for three months and I just follow up and my follow ups are like, “Hey, I was just thinking about you. I hope you’re doing well. there’s anything that we can do to help you let us know.” Don’t take, No, as a rejection. Remember, 99.9% of the time has nothing to do with you.

Christine Schlonski [7:32]
Yeah, that’s a very good reminder.

Tony Grebmeier [7:36]
People say no all the time. I think people are learning to say no more. I was around a lot of people, even myself for a long period of time that said yes to everything. Then I got stopped going. Why did I say that? I want to refund I want to chargeback. I want to credit my account. I don’t know why I did that. So now I’m just more mindful. With now, what you also have at your fingertips today s the internet. You can research and Google. A lot of times people say, “I can do better, I can get a better price somewhere else”, and you’re like, “Okay”, so you have to ask yourself, “Are you willing to work on your price?”

Christine Schlonski [8:11]
Yeah, but it depends on what your what your services are, what your product is, I believe prices. One of the things that does not really count, if people see the value you add, and the value is more than the price and they will be happy to move forward.

Tony Grebmeier [8:28]
To a certain extent, like, I don’t give my pricing out to anybody in the first, I think first or second call. We do it. We’ve done it that way for 18 years. What we do is ask, what it is that you’re looking for? Why are you interested in moving your operation? What is it that you’ve been experiencing that’s causing you to even jump on the phone or research new companies and price is there. Price is always something, you’re not going to pay $50 if you could get the same thing for $40. Doesn’t matter how good the value is, your $10 is $10. What I’ve found is that, when I get to understand they don’t have the whole picture of where that 50 or $40 is coming from, they’re not seeing entire picture. What I like to try to do is, “Hey, send me your bill, send me what you’re paying for your services and surcharges. I’ll look at it and I’ll send it back to you. This is the value piece that you’re asking, I’ll send it back to you with my notes on how you can go back to your existing fulfillment company.” Stay there, stay there, but get a substantial discount on what you’re doing in the fulfillment space, but I planted a seed, I planted a really powerful seed with them that I didn’t get their business, but I gave them a way to save money. When maybe they get frustrated some more or they’re like, “Hey, I remember that guy said on the phone that was so nice of him, I’m going to go re-explore that opportunity”, and that’s why when you sell and you make a sale, even when you lose a sale, you’re asking yourself this question. What could I have done better? Ask yourself what you could do better on making a sale in the future. The greatest compliment you’ll ever receive is an unsolicited referral. Somebody talking about you in the industry in the space saying, “Hey, you could talk to that person, go talk to Christine, Heart Sells! She’s amazing. I love the work she’s doing.” You can’t pay for that there is no billboard, you’re going to put on the side of the road that’s going to give that much influence. I’m a true believer, no matter where you’re at. It’s just the beginning, there’s always room for improvement, do everything you can possibly get the Ritz Carlton, five star, and up until that point, when you don’t have it keep working really, really, really hard to get to know your customer at a higher, deeper, more committed level. I know so much about our customers, I know where they’re from, I know their kids names. I know the kids schools, I know the years that they’re in and people go, “Why would you want to know all that?” I’m like, “How do you build connection? You care.”

Christine Schlonski [10:54]
Yes.

Tony Grebmeier [10:56]
Other companies don’t give to about anything, they just want your money. I’ve seen it because I’ve been a part of it. that’s why I got into the business I’m in. Someone was taking care of me as a customer and didn’t take care of us. They just took our money, and they didn’t perform a service. At the end of the day, there’s thousands of fulfillment companies out there, there’s only one that I think really, really cares, that’s us and I love seeing it every single day when people really come back to us going, “Wow, like you didn’t have to do that but why did you do that?”, I’m like, “Because I put myself in your shoes.” That’s what I want in return. I want somebody to care. It’s fulfillment. It’s a box getting delivered from one space to another. Yeah, but the wow that I’m looking for and the experience. I want it to be, it’s the best brown box we can, it’s the best tape job, we can it’s the best label job we could, it’s the best data that we could get together, it’s the best experience I could give. That’s what I’m after. So, yes, your value and your experience is 100% correct but you don’t know what you don’t know. So how would you ever get there? Well, a compliment a referral from somebody is going to give you a basically an angle to get into our company because we’re not out soliciting for business. Like I don’t go on tons of podcasts and spend all my time talking about ShipOffers. It’s not where, I don’t need more business. I want people who want to leave a legacy, that’s who I’m after. I want somebody who’s up to wanting to change the world, who wants to be in business for a period of time, not just a week or a month or a year. I want people, this is what they love to do. Isn’t that kind of goes in alignment with Heart Sells!? It feels good, it works. You know that you’re getting something in return and you’re adding and giving value. That’s kind of my take on that question is like, you’re not going to pay $40 or $50. When you know you could get it for $30 for the exact same thing. So what’s the difference between all those things is probably how they’re taking care of the customer, $30 and realizing the value they’re giving.

Christine Schlonski [12:50]
Yeah I totally agree with that. But what I was to say is, like, price is not the number one factor that a person makes a decision. There are other five star hotels but you would choose the one that gives you the best service every time and that.

Tony Grebmeier [13:09]
Yeah, and it’s not not a fluke service. It’s every time, right? You’re looking at something every time to be phenomenal.

Christine Schlonski [13:16]
Yeah. Awesome.

Tony Grebmeier [13:19]
Do you use American Express?

Christine Schlonski [13:22]
Me personally, no.

Tony Grebmeier [13:23]
So American Express, for example, here’s a shameless plug for them. They do a phenomenal job of taking care of their customers phenomenal, like above and beyond anything you could possibly imagine. So the other day, I had called and I was like, “Hey, I’m staying at this hotel in Toronto.” Normally, have late check out. I’ve got usually 100 or $200 credit to use in room service or the spa or whatever and they’re like, “Oh, will you booked on our other site.? I’m like, “Huh?”, I’m like, “I logged into the same place and booked it in the same transaction.” She’s like, “Well, let me see what I can do”, and she came back a minute or two later, and she’s like, “There’s nothing I can do.” I was like, and they left thinking, “Wow, I’m giving a shameless plug to American Express”, because there’s nothing they could do but she said, “I’ll get back to you, and let you know what I can do in the future to make sure this doesn’t happen again”, and I actually really like that, because she took some time, even if she read a script, to know that I was upset but she said that she would look into it and get back and see what you can create. AI love when people do that in sales and in business it’s like, “No doesn’t mean No. It means, not right now.” So I have to remind myself what I stated and then I can always do better. What she worked on, and there’s always room for improvement, and you’re never a five star every time. There’s always going to be somebody who’s going to have a bad experience. I love the fact that they said, “No”, but let me see what we can do to be better. I think that’s a really great way to live life.

Christine Schlonski [14:47]
Yeah and also to remember to come back to you because sometimes you hear that and then you never hear from them again.

Tony Grebmeier [14:55]
Yeah, I got a follow up email. Then I’ve got some going back forth. It was nice to see that they actually did what they say they were going to do when they said they would do it and made me feel like I was a priority, not just another number in their system.

Christine Schlonski [15:09]
Yeah, I love that. So when people have a bad day sometimes and maybe you have bad days, sometimes too. What do you do to get yourself out of that funk?

Tony Grebmeier [15:20]
Never quit on a bad day. So number one, just remember that never quit on a bad day. Number two, get out a piece of paper and just start writing some things that you’re grateful for. My coach and mentor, Sean Stevenson, has a really simple exercise that I use a lot. It’s called, when life works list. You literally write down you know, 10 to 14 things that you know when your life is working great, you’re doing these things, like, exercising, going for a walk journaling, eating healthy, lifting weights, spending time with your family. We also have, when life sucks list. When life isn’t working great, we have that list too. In the moment, you get to choose which one you pick from. Since good and bad can’t exist in the same thread in the mind, the mind can’t do both at the same time. It either is or it isn’t. So just choose like three to four off of your one life works list and live there. So if you’re not feeling great, maybe ask yourself, Am I been eating bad? Have I been exercising? Have I got far from my routine? Am I binge watching late night episodes? Am I not getting enough sleep? You know those are all the things that you shouldn’t be doing but you’ve been doing them so, you know better. So do better. Then just pick some things on that when life works list and start doing them and try to get to three or four and you’re going to feel better right away. You can feel better within a moment because you’re going to get honest with yourself. See, we make excuses and we lie to ourselves. Why? I don’t know but I can look this guy in the mirror and make a liar and excuse up and buy into it. So stop feeding yourself with stuff that isn’t working and start giving yourself the experiences of all the things that you know you can do. You’re not a powerless person. You’re a phenomenal, powerful person who can do anything you got to this point in life. So we can do better.

Christine Schlonski [17:11]
Yeah, awesome. Awesome. finish off this second episode. Thank you so so much. People can go to befulfilledjournal.com to have like a guidance for the day at some really amazing journal that they can use in the morning in the evening. So I highly recommend that. We even have a special discount for all the hard sellers, which is so so exciting. Thank you so much, Tony, for your time, for sharing your wisdom and knowledge and stories. I really, really appreciate you.

Tony Grebmeier [17:43]
Well, I’ll leave it with this, I am better off for, and Bill you’re getting us connected and for us knowing one another. I’m so proud to be a part of what you’re doing. That’s why I say, “Yes.”, when people call me up and say, “You want to be on a show?” I’m like, “What’s the title?” I always think about the title. Heart Sells! I’m like, “Yeah, that’s where I live”, you got to sell from your heart, you can’t sell from your mind. You can sell from your heart because if you do that, you feel good about what you do. So thank you for allowing me to spend some time with you today.

Christine Schlonski [18:11]
Thank you so much and talk to you soon. I so enjoyed this episode with, Tony Grebmeierr, and it is so true. You’ve been in sales all of your life and the question is, how do you use it? What are you making out of it? How do you build relationships? How do you show up from your heart space, and you really serve and make the clients happy? What can you do to work with them on the long term, so that your life becomes easier that they send people your way, and you create this wonderful community of lions and fans. So I really hope that you enjoyed this episode, and that you are tuning in for the next one, best would be, to just go and subscribe to Heart Sells! Podcast, if you have not already. Then all the goodies, the transcript, the resources you find at christineschlonski.com, find the podcast tab, have a look. Go to the page, sign up for the empowerment notes. So you get them into your inbox once a week with all the amazing things that are going on. All the tips and advice of how you can create a lifestyle of your dreams and the business where you really make sales fun, where you make it with confidence, ease and grace. Thank you so much for being here. I’m really excited that we are on this journey together. I can’t wait for the next episode. Have a wonderful day and bye for now.