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EPISODE 206: Quicken Loans Sales Star Justin Lee Shares How Even When Tons of Leads Come Flying In, Smart and Effective Sales Techniques are Still Critical

JUSTIN’S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: “It ties back into the power of attitude, and belief in yourself and assuming the sale will happen. I always tell my team members I don’t care what sales business you’re in, be assumptive and get to the close. If you don’t go for the close it’s never going to happen. If you get over the fear of rejection by making sure you’re going for the close you’re going to find success.”

We’re doing today’s show in Downtown Detroit, Michigan with Justin Lee. He’s the Regional Vice President of Client Service for Rock Connections.

Rock Connections is part of the Quicken Loans family of companies.

Check out our previous show with Adam Stalmack from Rock Connections.

Justin can be reached at justinlee@rockconnections.com

Fred Diamond: Why don’t you tell us a little more about you that we need to know?

Justin Lee: Thank you for having me, Fred. A little bit about me, my name is Justin Lee. I always joke I’ve been in sales my whole life and I think constantly we’re always selling, but really since I graduated college – Michigan State, I’ve always had a sales role, kind of built off that. Passionate about sales, working with people, developing people and that’s what just works with being with Rock Connections because that’s what we’re all about here.

Fred Diamond: I said in the beginning of the show that your title is Director of Communications, but it’s more of a sales role is what you do. (Since this show aired, Justin was promoted to RVP).

Justin Lee: Absolutely, with my position at Rock Connections it’s kind of funny, I feel like everyone knows Quicken Loans. Rock Connections is part of the family of companies but we do our own thing. Interesting fact, we’ve been in business just over 7 years and we’re actually the fastest growing business in Detroit in the last 7 years. That catches a lot of people off guard, but what we do in the campaign I work for is we’re essentially the first responders. We call clients looking to refinance and purchase and we’re having those first conversations to convince them why it’s in their best interest to talk to a banker at Quicken Loans.

Fred Diamond: Again, we have listeners around the globe but everyone’s seen the Quicken Loans commercials, you have so many different campaigns going on so you must get tons of leads. Your team follows up with them as a first call, is what you said?

Justin Lee: Yes, I always call us the first responders but we’re the first contact people have with our client, Quicken Loans. Mortgages is typically the biggest financial decision someone makes in their lifetime, there’s a lot of hesitancy that goes along with that. We’re taught, trained and coached into influence and persuasion and why it’s in their best interest to reach out and speak to one of our mortgage bankers at Quicken Loans.

Fred Diamond: You told us what you sell but what excites you about that?

Justin Lee: Everything, dealing with people. I always say I think one of the worst things in life is to be complacent or feel stuck and that’s what I really do love about the sales role because everyone is different. Every single day you come in, every person that you talk with, you may get the same objection, you may get the same pushback but at the end of the day it’s a different person so it’s never the same thing day after day.

Fred Diamond: Tell us how you got here, tell us about how you first got into sales. I know you said you always thought that you were in sales but how did you first get into the career of sales?

Justin Lee: It started when I was a teenager when I had to convince my parents to go out – no, I’m kidding. Really what happened for me when I graduated college, I think like most people, I graduated with an economics degree and didn’t really know what I wanted to do, didn’t know how that really played out in my life. My dad needed help with his business at the time and he used to be self-employed, commercial real estate, specifically gas station properties. I didn’t know what I wanted to do but I figured if my dad needs help, I’m going to go help him and that was really my first experience when it came to sales and from day 1, I’m always growing, I’m always learning but I had no idea of what to expect. Since that day, that excitement, that adrenaline, it’s like a puzzle.

I’m kind of a nerd when it comes to those regards but everyone you deal with, I feel like if you’re relating to them the right way there are certain things to make that person feel more comfortable and more confident in you. That’s what I like about sales, just growing, being able to read people, identify, speak with people and convince them, “Hey, this is in your best interest to do this.”

Fred Diamond: I want to ask you a question about that. Again, as I mentioned in the beginning, Quicken Loans does so many advertisements, Rickie Fowler, the golfer and you have so many commercials that are going on, you’re all over the internet as well. People have to do something to become a lead, so what happens then? When your team calls these people is everybody ready to refi or to get a mortgage or do you still have to sell them? Give us a little peak into the background, if you will.

Justin Lee: We call these ‘warm leads’ but every lead that we dial, they at least put in 7 pieces of information for us to be calling them so it’s not like we’re just going through the white pages being like, “Do you want a mortgage, do you want to refinance?” No, we know there’s some interest with every client that we’re speaking to. Saying that, though, 90% of our calls – that’s a number that I’m just making up but I feel like that’s pretty accurate – there are some kind of objections or hesitancy with it just because maybe they’re going online just looking for answers but they didn’t expect a phone call.

Or maybe they’re upside down on their mortgage, they’re looking for help but it’s hard to admit that you need help sometimes so we’re reaching out to these clients and there’s a lot of hesitations with the phone calls that we have. Again, we have a brief amount of time to really convince the client why it’s in their best interest that they’re doing the right thing by looking at their options, you’re speaking to the right mortgage lender in Quicken Loans – we are the largest mortgage lender in the country – we have your back, we’re here to answer any questions you may have and make sure that you’re set up for success.

Fred Diamond: Even though the people did something to become a warm lead, are they happy to get your call? Tell us a little bit about when that engagement happens.

Justin Lee: I wish. Sometimes they’re frustrated and I always tell the team that I run there’s three reasons why we get objections on the phone, I boil it down to three. One is just they’re frustrated with life meaning they have stuff going on, they want a better situation for them and their families so they’re looking to purchase or they’re potentially losing their home and they’re trying to save some money or keep their home with a refinance. It’s not on us, but they’re just frustrated with where their life is at right now. The other frustration, the second part is just phone calls, it can be overwhelming, we all have our day to day lives, we have our own stresses outside of work, outside of family, we have stuff we’re going through. Not only are we calling but there’s other lenders calling as well so you’re getting about 3 or 4 calls from about 15, 20 different lenders a day.

It is frustrating and then the last thing is just hesitancy, people are scared when it comes to mortgages because it’s a big financial decision, especially with the financial crisis back in the late 2000s, a lot of people are still hesitant with that so the talk about a mortgage is just intimidating and there’s a lot of hesitancy. That’s some things we have to push by or push past every single day when we’re dealing with our clients.

Fred Diamond: What are some of the key lessons you learned when you first came into this career of sales?

Justin Lee: First lessons? Especially just coming into sales is just the power of attitude and then one thing is what you put in your mind or what you surround yourself with. Power of attitude, I think a common sales phrase is ‘assume to sale’, easier said than done. When I first started the hardest thing about sales is you’re going for the close, you’re going for the business and most often than not, we get a no. It takes a lot of courage, it takes a lot of self-belief attitude that, “Okay, you said no, let’s backtrack, let’s understand where you’re coming from, let’s give you a reason why you need to do this” and then to go back to that exact same thing that you just got a no on, you have to go forward again.

You have to have the right attitude with that, and then another thing, I preach this to my team all day long is mindset, especially for our business. You can have the most skill in the world – and this is any sales position in my opinion – but let’s say we’re calling out on these leads and no one’s answering. If no one’s answering or if you’re in a car lot selling cars and no one’s coming on the lot, you can have the most skill but if no one’s there it doesn’t reflect on your ability to do the job, but you have to have a strong mindset. I thought that was an interesting fact, I’m really into listening to podcasts, Fred, one of yours. I try to surround myself or put in my mind good thoughts but I went to church last weekend and they talked about what we put in our mind and how it plays out in our lives and I thought that was an interesting step. On average, do you have many thoughts a day, Fred?

Fred Diamond: Billions?

Justin Lee: Billions, right? The average person has 60 thousand thoughts a day and that can range from anything like, “I’m tired”, “What am I going to do for lunch”, “I can’t wait to go home”, stuff like that. 95% of those thoughts are repeating thoughts daily and I’m putting it in terms – I might be off with the math here, but that’s roughly 57 thousand thoughts that are repeating every single day. 80% of those on average are negative thoughts and I think it’s easy, especially in a sales role because you’re faced with constant rejection, “No, no, no, no”, to get that one yes. It’s easy to have your mindset off kilter.

Fred Diamond: Power of attitude. How do you keep a positive attitude? What are some things that you do to maintain that positive attitude?

Justin Lee: That’s a great question, I’m human like everyone else so I fail at times, for sure. What you put in your mind, really and who you surround yourself with. I think it’s hard sometimes in a leadership role because a lot of people come to you looking for answers or when they’re having a bad day, they go to their leader. I hope they feel comfortable enough coming to me and it’s a lot of people, I’m surrounded every single day with frustrations or complaints.

How do you deal with that? How do you balance it? For me personally, listening to podcast or motivational videos. I do a lot of leadership readings, I’m a big fan of Simon Sinek and his work and then also for me it’s my faith, church, bible, I believe that is truth and it puts my mind in the right place.

Fred Diamond: Justin, tell us a little more about you, tell us what you’re an expert in. Tell us a little more about your area of brilliance.

Justin Lee: It doesn’t always show sometimes, but I think I have a gift with relating to people. Especially if you’re in sales, you’ve got to be able to connect to people. I don’t care if it’s over the phones, if it’s face to face, people have to be willing to trust you and feel like they have your support, you have their back. I think that’s something I’m an expert in, I’m still learning growing on daily but even if you talk to anyone on my team, I believe they would vouch for it. They know whether it’s inside the workplace, outside the workplace, I’m there for them and that speaks for the culture that we have here at Rock Connections and Quicken Loans. We really do put our team members first and one of the isms, mottos we live by as a company is “every client, every time, no exception, no excuses”. That’s not only with the clients we’re dealing with on the phones but also our very own team members.

Fred Diamond: Obviously to have gotten to a sales leadership level you must have had some mentors who helped you along the way. Why don’t you tell us about a sales mentor or two that have helped you get your career to this level?

Justin Lee: I’ve got to start from the beginning, my dad, because that’s how I first got into sales. Before my time with Quicken Loans and Rock Connections I was selling gas station properties with my dad for about four years. Saying that, I had really no sales experience prior to getting into that and just showing me the ins and outs, going to meetings with him, how to phrase certain things. Again, it’s a little bit different business than I am in now, but going over profit and law statements, how to have the numbers to tell the story, I think that’s in any sales role. You have metrics regarding your business, how you’re looking at those metrics and then how you’re communicating that to clients and your team members, that’s huge and that’s something I think I’ve gotten better with over the years and it’s one of my strengths right now.

Fred Diamond: What are the two biggest challenges you face as a sales leader?

Justin Lee: I think it ties back in to what I said earlier, mindset and then attitude. I don’t mean to sound like a broken record, but I think not even in sales but just in life. I always tell my team, “You’re in control of two things every single day: your effort and your mindset.” If you can control those two things, you’re going to find success.

Fred Diamond: Again, you’re working here at Rock Connections. What is the #1 specific sales success or win from your career you’re most proud of?

Justin Lee: It has to be when I first became a leader her at Rock Connections. Like anyone, just trying to figure it out not knowing how I was going to do it, just wanted to make sure, again our culture is put the people first, every client, every time so just making sure I was there for the team. I took over a team that was about 6-7 months experienced and they were consistently at the bottom when it came to rankings and we had at the time about 17 different teams. Taking over a team that’s a bottom producer, you have your work cut out for you, I was ready for the challenge.

One of my finer moments on the team, there’s no titled folks so again, after a certain amount of time if you’re hitting certain production goals you can get promoted and with that, we went from 17 team members with no titled folks to, in 6 months, a top producing team in the company. Then of the 17 team members, 13 of them got promoted in those first 6 months.

Fred Diamond: I’m just curious, before we take a short break and listen to one of our sponsors, again such a high energy environment. We’re doing the Sales Game Changers podcast today in one of your training centers and there’s a lot of energy, there’s bright lights, there’s videos, things along those lines. How do you reward your people? How do they get acknowledged for doing a great job?

Justin Lee: I think sometimes that’s overlooked where it’s just like you’re expected to do a good job, you do it and it goes by the wayside, you don’t compliment them. To keep the energy up for our team I think often it’s overlooked as leadership but you have those conversations during the day. Do it outside of the work hours, and in my shift we work the late night shift, we get off around 9, 10 o’clock every single night but on the drive home I will call team members and just prop them out maybe for a good production day or just, “Hey, I know today wasn’t really a good day from a production standpoint but thank you for helping the team member get through this” or, “Thank you for your effort today.” Things like that where it’s not just at work that you’re complimenting or propping them out or keeping the energy up but also outside of work. It builds that relationship and overall I think it drives better production.

Fred Diamond: Before we take a short break and listen to one of our sponsors, did you ever question being in sales? I know we talked about mindset and attitude but did you ever say to yourself, “It’s too hard, it’s really just not for me”?

Justin Lee: [Laughs] I think anyone that says, “No, I’ve always wanted to be in sales”, for me they’re lying. Again, you’re facing constant rejection, that is the nature of the business that we’re in when it comes to sales. I’ve second-guessed myself at times, definitely have been stressed out at times as well but again, it’s just like anything in life. It’s a challenge, sales is a puzzle, there’s always a solution in my mind, there is always a solution for every problem out there. You just got to readjust how you’re looking at it or figure out a better way to do it and that’s what I love about sales.

[Sponsor break]

Fred Diamond: Justin, what’s the most important thing you want to get across to the junior selling professionals listening around the globe to help them take their career to the next level?

Justin Lee: It ties back into the power of attitude, but belief in yourself and assume the sale. I always tell my team members I don’t care what sales business you’re in, being assumptive and getting to the close. What I mean by that in sales, so many times like if you’re going out the grocery store and you’re checking out and they ask for an email address, typically what I hear is, “Can I get a good email address for you?” seeking permission. In sales, we’re the ones that are supposed to be leading the conversation.

There’s always going to be rejection, you can’t bypass that but just rephrasing that “Can I get an email address for you?” The way we phrase it could be assumptive like we’re the ones leading the conversation and we’re taking charge. We call it ‘the pivot’ here but I know Alec Baldwin, ‘always be closing’, the ABCs of sales, right? Make sure you’re going for the sale, you can give the best responses in the world and you can make the best connection to a person but at the end of the day, if you don’t go for the close it’s never going to happen. Getting over the fear of rejection by making sure you’re going for the close you’re going to find success.

Fred Diamond: Tell us about one of your selling habits that has led to your continued success.

Justin Lee: For me it’s consistently trying to improve myself. What I mean by that, I read a bunch of sales leadership books, sales in general, podcasts, motivational videos. I believe it was Socrates that said, “The wisest man is the man that admits he knows nothing.” I think especially in sales it’s always an adapting role, that’s why I think Quicken Loans has really taken over that #1 spot. We are never satisfied and the speed of the game is crazy, and I always compare it to our competitors, they’re like a freight boat where try to make a change and it takes them a while to make that turn. Quicken Loans, Rock Connections, the family of companies, we’re like a speed boat. If we find a better way to do something, we make it very quickly. We’re able to turn and adjust very quickly and that’s what separates us from our competitors.

Fred Diamond: On today’s Sales Game Changers podcast – by the way, it’s probably the fastest podcast we’ve ever done.

Justin Lee: [Laughs] good.

Fred Diamond: Good for you, Justin and I also need to say you’re the second Sales Game Changer that we’ve ever interviewed who actually did a Socratic reference.

Fred Diamond: [Laughs] we actually put ‘Socrates’ in the title. Before we ask you for your final thoughts, tell us about a major initiative you’re working on today to ensure your continued success.

Justin Lee: For me and for my own success but also for the team’s success, I think so many times in sales it is a production role but at the end of the day you’re dealing with people and you’ve got to support the people. Our company does a great job with that, but something that I’ve really taken initiative of and I’m working on myself with the team, though, so many times we set goals in life where there’s like in the next three years, five years, typical interview questions, “Where do you see yourself in the next five years?” How many times do we set short goals for ourselves, realistic goals? I know with the team and myself, we set a 45 day challenge, goals we want to accomplish in the next 45 days. That way we’re holding each other accountable and also looking to grow ourselves so setting small goals is something I’m really working on with myself and with the team to overall not only increase our production but who we are and develop us as people.

Fred Diamond: Before I ask you for your final thought, one last question. Why have you continued? Tell us what is it about sales as a career that has kept you going. Again, you’ve always been in sales, you said but you’re relatively new in professional sales leadership and obviously you’re off to a great start, good for you.

Justin Lee: Thank you.

Fred Diamond: But why have you continued? What is it about sales that keeps you going?

Justin Lee: One, for the company I work for, what we do. I’m not saying we’re perfect, no one’s perfect but we really do put our client’s best interest at heart. I believe that every time I talk to a client, every single objection that I get, I am talking to them for a reason. I really believe that it is in their best interest and just from having a conversation with a banker maybe we find out and we’ll be the first to let you know you’re in a good financial spot. “Keep doing what you’re doing, actually there’s no better deal out there for you right now.” We will give you that piece of mind and let you know.

Every client that speaks to someone at Quicken Loans, they’re in a better position because of it and I believe that full-heartedly but why I love sales, it’s always something, Fred, it differs. I’m talking to you right now, you gave me an objection, I handle it a certain way, I can get that same objection from someone else, the next person I talk to and it’s a completely different interaction. That’s what I love about sales because it’s never the same thing again and again. Every single day it’s different, you’re dealing with people which people are emotional creatures, it’s always something different so I’m never stagnant, I’m never complacent, it’s always something to learn and grow from.

Fred Diamond: Again, we have Sales Game Changers listening around the globe. Why don’t you give us a final thought to inspire them today?

Justin Lee: I always laugh when people are like, “I’m not made for sales” and I agree, sales is not for everyone, it takes a strong mindset to do it. At the end of the day, though like anything, anyone can be in sales, it’s just what you put your mind to. I think there is no bigger challenge but no bigger reward than it is in the sales position. I will say all these great companies that we have in the world, you can have the greatest product in the world but if you have no one to sell it or convince people or let people understand why they need this product, the product goes by the wayside. There is always a huge demand and we’ll always be a huge demand for sales and if you can master that, the sky is the limit for you.

Transcribed by Mariana Badillo
Produced by Rosario Suarez

The post EPISODE 206: Quicken Loans Sales Star Justin Lee Shares How Even When Tons of Leads Come Flying In, Smart and Effective Sales Techniques are Still Critical first appeared on Sales Game Changers Podcast.

Subscribe to the Podcast now on Apple Podcasts!

Become a member of the elite Institute for Excellence in Sales and attend the February 7 “Build Your Story Playbook: The Catalyst to Explosive Sales Growth” program with storytelling expert Matthew Pollard.

EPISODE 205: Quicken Loans Sales Veteran Adam Stalmack Says You Can Develop a More Powerful Sales Mindset if You Focus on This Key Habit

ADAM’S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: “Don’t ever quit. The other part of that is don’t stop learning. Don’t stop honing in on your craft and sharpening your skills, getting better. Keep finding out what makes it work and then tailoring it to what you do.”

We’re doing another show from Downtown Detroit, Michigan.

Adam Stalmack is the Regional Vice President of Sales for Rock Connections, which is part of the Quicken Loans family of companies. He’s been here for 15 years.

Find Adam on LinkedIn!

Fred Diamond: Tell us about you.

Adam Stalmack: I was born and raised in a small town, growing up outside, outdoors all the time so I enjoy being in the outdoors. Something recently now that I’m into is ju-jitsu, it’s been an absolutely life changing experience and I can’t imagine life without it. Recently married going over a year and a half here, so things are going pretty well.

Fred Diamond: I’ve got to ask you. How has ju-jitsu changed your life? You said it’s a life changing experience.

Adam Stalmack: It’s incredible how much ju-jitsu relates to everyday life, how much it relates to sales, leadership, it’s been a game changer because the different trials and things that you go through is eerily similar to sales and how you start out in a new career in sales or in a sales position or something like that. Being on the mats rolling for the first time and learning moves, that whole cycle of performance and learning curve is almost identical.

Fred Diamond: We’ll probably mix a little bit of that as we get deep into the podcast, but why don’t you tell us a little more about what you sell today? Again, you’ve been with Quicken Loans for 15 years, tell us what excites you about that.

Adam Stalmack: Our selling is unique here with Rock Connections now and to just give you a little insight, I started with Quicken Loans back in 2004 as a mortgage banker. I spent 8 years in the mortgage industry and then when the mortgage industry melted down we changed the way we did business. The whole mortgage industry had to and people had to get licensed up.

One thing that’s done for our business here at Quicken Loans and Rock Connections is the way we prospect. Bankers have to be licensed now so it takes time to do all that. We did a lot of things in house to where we were prospecting for the sales folks and it worked so well that in 2012 we started a company called Rock Connections that does a ton of prospecting for salespeople. If there’s one thing that salespeople hate the most, at least in my opinion, is prospecting, going out and finding the business. Salespeople want to do one thing, they want to sell and they enjoy selling and they love doing it and I think that’s what keeps a lot of us going. What I sell is that prospecting experience, we do all the heavy lifting and we can push clients to our sales folks and then we get back on the phone and prospect some more.

Fred Diamond: Let’s go back to the beginning of your career. Tell us how you first got into sales as a career.

Adam Stalmack: It probably started with my father because he was in sales, he used to sell brick and cement in that industry. Being around him, I absorbed it and didn’t even know it and it wasn’t till I was older to where I was just more of a people person and I had gotten started in… This had to have been in the early 90’s and it was selling boats. Here in Michigan we’ve got a lot of little inland lakes, there was pontoon boats and people call them speed boats, but it goes in the whole genre.

I was absolutely terrible at it and I was doing a lot of things, I worked in the parts department, I’d fill in for sales and one thing that is one of my strengths is my work ethic, I was there all the time so I could be counted on and relied upon. Then they just kept moving me into the sales piece and moving me into the sales piece and next thing I knew, I’m selling boats and that’s how I got into that industry. From there it stumbled into the mortgage industry and here I am today.

Fred Diamond: What are some of the things that you learned in some of those first few sales jobs that have stuck with you till today?

Adam Stalmack: I reflect on this every now and then. Things that stuck with me? How much I wish I would have asked better questions and built a relationship with people. I was unconsciously incompetent, I didn’t know what I didn’t know and even then in that game I still didn’t know for a long time and I thought I was doing good. I didn’t have any training, I got thrown to the wolves, I learned the hard way, had a guy that at the time – his name was Buck, I don’t remember his last name – he was a pilot for Delta at the time and he did this on the side and he was really good at it. He was in his 40’s and I was in my 20’s and that maturity had a big part to play in it, too. Things that stuck out to me were those things, just not asking the right questions and not building relationships to get people to buy into you.

Fred Diamond: Again, you’re an RVP here at Rock Connections so you have a lot of people reporting up through you. Do you encourage them to ask better questions now that you’re mentoring them and taking them along? Do you also encourage them to build relationships as well? A lot of what you guys do is on the phone, right?

Adam Stalmack: A hundred percent.

Fred Diamond: Do you have time to build relationships or how does that play into what you do today?

Adam Stalmack: In our business the game moves so fast with the call, it’s a very short call because we’re getting the client on the phone and we’re connecting it to a salesperson. Depending on the campaigns we’re working on, yes, you do have time to talk to people and build rapport and those questions are important. You have to be able to control a call, you have to be able to gauge that person in a short amount of time otherwise, they’re gone. Good open-ended questions to get the person to create dialogue helps.

Fred Diamond: Tell us a little more about you. Tell us what you’re an expert in, tell us a little about your specific area of brilliance.

Adam Stalmack: Area of brilliance? [Laughs] How do you put that? I have an ability to be able to teach people things and get them to learn quickly, whether it’s through analogies or it’s just me being able to pick up on their learning styles and their personality styles, I can zero in on that. I didn’t understand how I did it, I just had that. Early on in my sales career, that was there but it was so deep under the service, I hadn’t unearthed that quality or that trait yet. Over time it was developed and I found I was going to be able to hone it in. I’m good at putting things into perspective for people and in turn with sales, I can put it in a perspective to where they see the benefits and the value.

Fred Diamond: You must have had some great mentors along the way, why don’t you tell us about a sales mentor or two that has helped you take your career to this point?

Adam Stalmack: Good question. I didn’t really bounce around a lot, but early on there’s no one real specific except for the leaders that I worked with at those times, especially in the Quicken Loans family, extraordinary salespeople and leaders that could sell. No one really sticks out to me that taught me stuff, over the years it’s things that happened but it was those leaders at those times. We’d have one sales team move to a different area and different teams because there was a time where I was in sales and I moved to training and development and learned a ton there, and then went back to sales and led a sales team.

A person that does stick out is Tim Birkmeier who heads up all of QL right now, he’s the CFO. I was able to work with him closely early on, not early on in his career but mine for sure, that taught me a lot.

Fred Diamond: I have a question for you. Before the interview we took a walk around one of the floors where there’s definitely hundreds of people, there were stand up desks, two screens, a good environment. Quicken Loans is one of the most well-known brands definitely in the country, obviously you do a lot of marketing, the golfer Rickie Fowler, the guy from Key and Peele. Describe the sales culture here, it’s got to be a big part of what you guys do.

Adam Stalmack: It’s huge. Aside from the culture, that’s a huge component to it. It’s sales-driven, it’s production focused, it’s all the sales things that you have but you put in our culture and taking care of our clients which is what really brings it all together.

Fred Diamond: You mentioned you manage a whole bunch of people, what are the two biggest challenges you face today as a sales leader?

Adam Stalmack: Two biggest challenges? I’d say mindset. That’s part of it, but mindset and just the desire to sell. A lot of people want to make a quick buck and I don’t care what you do, who you are, if you’re in a sales role you can make a quick buck but it’s not going to last and it’s not going to be sustainable. It’s just having that mindset and that focus but the desire to want to sell or want to get better at your craft, those are two things that are hard to find. It’s forged and developed over time but those are two hard things, tough to find.

Fred Diamond: I agree with you, we talk about assessment of sales professionals. You can learn the skills and you can learn the sales process, but you’ve got to start off with the mindset. Can you teach mindset or is it pretty much you’ve got to see it upfront, you’ve got to have it to be successful? Especially at a place like this where there’s a lot of phone calls, a lot of numbers, obviously driven, what are your thoughts?

Adam Stalmack: You can teach mindset to the mind that’s open to it. There’s definitely people that have it, but I don’t think everybody’s got it, it’s developed over time. Some people will get it early on in life, later in life but where you’re focused determines your reality. If you put a focus on that mindset, it can absolutely be developed and it can be taught over time.

Fred Diamond: Take us back to the #1 specific sales success or win from your career you’re most proud of. Again, you’ve been with Quicken Loans for 15 years now. Take us back to the #1, the one that you’re most proud of.

Adam Stalmack: There’s not one that sticks out as a salesperson but when I was a director leading sales team, it was always getting the salesperson to have that aha moment. Not so much their first sale, that’s good but when they start to get it and create more sales, closing deals and things like that, those were the moments. There’s not one that specifically stands out where I can remember the person’s name and time, but it was those moments that when you saw a salesperson on the phone helping a client, it clicked with the client, it clicked with the salesperson, the salesperson did everything right on the phone and the client bought into it, saw the value. The client wasn’t being sold, they just saw the value in everything and made the decision to buy. It’s those moments and it was a chain of those things over time, at least for me.

Fred Diamond: Did you ever question yourself being in sales? Did you ever say to yourself, “You know what? It’s too hard, it’s really just not for me”?

Adam Stalmack: Every single day. I’ll tell you, early in my career you have good days and bad, and maybe it’s just the way I’m wired but every day it’s, “Man, can I do this? Am I going to get another sale today? Am I going to be able to stay ahead of pace? Am I going to be able to get back on pace?” That’s where the mindset piece comes in, you’ve got to really be diligent and make sure you have a strong mindset going into it, so when those times of doubt creep in you’ve got to be able to handle them. I don’t know if there’s a salesperson out there that can confidently say, “I never doubted myself or never thought about ‘can I do this.”

I think that a salesperson has that in their head a lot, they might not show it on the outside but for me, I doubted myself a lot. Then once I had the confidence and I generated more confidence, you get a sale, you start to build momentum, then that doubt isn’t there all the time but every now and then it always tries to find that chink in the armor and slowly work its way in. A strong mindset helps prevent that, but for me there were a lot of times.

[Sponsor break]

Fred Diamond: Adam, what’s the most important thing you want to get across to the sales professionals listening around the globe to help them take their career to the next level?

Adam Stalmack: What a great question. Don’t quit. Do not quit. What’s the phrase, “The hour before dawn is always the darkest”? I can’t tell you how many times in my head you want to give up or you just make that one more call or you make that one more presentation or you make the one more drive out to wherever you’re going and boom, it clicks. Don’t ever quit and the other part of that, too is don’t stop learning. Don’t stop honing in on your craft and sharpening your skills, getting better, best practicing top people in your area, your business or your team and just finding out what makes it work tailoring it to what you do. You can’t stop doing any of that, the moment you stop things start to slow down and the momentum unravels.

Fred Diamond: Speaking of that, tell us about a selling habit that you have that has contributed to your continued success.

Adam Stalmack: I’m a big fan of the open-ended questions and just getting people to talk. The more you do that and actively listen to what they’re telling you and then being able to translate that into more open-ended questions. Building that relationship with a client and understanding what they want is paramount in sales because a lot of people will just, “This is what you’re going to get, this is what you’re going to do, this is how we’re going to do it” and then people either feel forced into the deal or you wonder why they don’t call you back.

Fred Diamond: Tell us about a major initiative you’re working on today to ensure your continued success.

Adam Stalmack: Right now, for me I’m in a leadership position so I’m trying to get my leaders to all be aligned in the same way. I can’t be in every place at once, so if I can get our leaders to work together and be aligned – we have things here called the ‘isms’ and it’s the lifeblood of our culture – keeping those isms in mind, using it to make decisions in their business or what they’re doing, then it’ll allow me to focus on other things and just detach a little bit and make sure that we’re moving forward in our goals or we’re innovating in different ways.

When it comes to the sales training we’re developing our team members that are on the floor to where they can elevate their game. That’s really what I’m working on right now, just making sure that they’re all aligned that way and doing those things, and when they’re doing that it definitely frees up a lot more time to where we can focus on other things like that.

Fred Diamond: Once again I want to thank Adam Stalmack for being on the Sales Game Changers podcast. Again, it’s a special show, we’re broadcasting from Detroit, Michigan, we’re broadcasting in November 2019, we had about 6 inches of snow the other day so we’re looking out at all this beautiful white powder here in Detroit. I’ve got to ask you a quick question again. How would you say Detroit’s doing? Again, we have listeners around the globe, you guys are right smack in the middle of things here, it looks like things are booming. What would you say about Detroit?

Adam Stalmack: It is absolutely incredible. When you hear the city Detroit, I don’t know if everybody in the country thinks of an awesome place but there is so much building going on, there’s so much innovation, companies have come down back to the city. This is all because of Dan Gilbert and other people like the Ilitch family, they’ve brought businesses back and it really is those guys that have done it. You wouldn’t even think that this is Detroit, when you are here there is a vibe and an excitement because of all of the new things that are coming here. If you were to look at maybe pictures from 10 years ago, it’s nothing like what it is today. The whole river front has been developed, there’s new buildings going up, there’s apartments and condo’s being built and hundreds of businesses coming down, it’s an exciting time. If you want to go to a place that is exciting and all kinds of opportunity present, it’s Detroit.

Fred Diamond: Why don’t you give us a final thought to inspire our listeners today?

Adam Stalmack: It goes back to the ‘don’t quit’ mentality, but if you’re selling right now, if you’re in a sales role, sales position, continue to work on your craft. Don’t stop, don’t be afraid to do the hard stuff because it’s in the hard stuff where you learn the most. You cannot be afraid to fail but the more failures you have, the faster you can grow and learn from it.

If you have an ability to apply that back or if you have a really good mentor or a sales leader that you work with that can help you with all of that stuff, you’re just going to grow that much more exponentially. Don’t ever stop, I think sales is an excellent profession, there’s so many benefits and joys that can come from it, it’s a double edge sword. You can hate it one day and then the next day love it to death, so don’t quit and keep building your skills until you get it right.

Transcribed by Mariana Badillo
Produced by Rosario Suarez

The post EPISODE 205: Quicken Loans Sales Veteran Adam Stalmack Says You Can Develop a More Powerful Sales Mindset if You Focus on This Key Habit first appeared on Sales Game Changers Podcast.