HAPPY 92ND BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD!
Regrets, I have a few, but then again, too few to mention.
Actually, I don’t. I’ve been blessed with a wonderful life filled with good work, reasonable success, and an abundance of loving family and friends. I do, however, lament the lack of sophistication that limited my talents and work ethic. I can’t regret this. Regret is assigned to an action taken or not taken. I can’t regret not knowing that the ocean existed while I was swimming in a lake.
I recently met a young person who works on M&A deals for a mid-level bank. When I say bank, I don’t mean Chase or Goldman Sachs. This is a small firm with some of its own funds and access to others' funds. This young person puts deals together between companies that want to sell and other companies and individuals that want to buy, and is paid handsomely to work out the financing.
While working with this bank, I also met a few private equity firms. They were also mid-market players focused on companies with 20-50 million in annual revenue and double-digit EBITDA.
The work seemed super interesting, and the money these folks make on these deals is substantial. After meeting with several of them, it seemed to me that the skill set most needed to put these deals together is – You guessed it – Sales skills, not like selling suits in Macy's or Camrys at a Toyota dealership. I mean selling skills like we talk about in this blog and like I wrote about in my book.
Mad people skills.
I’m talking about the ability to read a room and move people toward an outcome that is good for all parties. I’m talking about likeability and negotiation skills – leadership and listening skills. I’m talking about charisma, along with a keen ability to suss out nonobvious desires and motivations.
My lament is the lack of exposure to this world. The young people I spoke to who were doing well in this business chose their colleges because they knew PE firms and boutique banks recruited from those schools. They had exposure at a young age. When I was in high school, and someone mentioned selling for a living, I thought of my friend John Saldi’s dad, Sal Saldi, who sold shoes at Kinney’s and Thom McCann’s, and I said, “No Thanks.”
This lamentation makes me think of Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd in “Trading Places.” Aykroyd was groomed for the job, but Murphy had the skills and just needed exposure and training.
Looking back, life has been good to me; hence, “no regrets,” but I write about this lamentation to nudge you. Don’t sell yourself short (or too cheaply). I’m 68 years old and have no interest in starting a new career that requires working as I did in my forties, but I hope my hindsight can be your foresight. If you have these skills, I write about each week - what is the very best opportunity for you to use them? Where will you make the biggest difference and the most money? What kind of work will light you up and keep you interested?
I had no idea what kinds of things might have been available for a kid with my talents. I grew up among laborers and civil servants, and the walls around that community are much too high to see careers in banking, PE, investing, or business brokering. It was only through my Godfather, Uncle Tommy, that I was able to peek over the wall and get into professional selling, and I AM VERY GRATEFUL.
Life has been awesome for me. I write this only to nudge you to look over whatever walls you grew up behind. There are worlds out there I never knew existed. What might I have done differently if I had?
Own Your Sales Gene