The story of Carl – The King!

When I met Carl back in 2017, he was new to the security sales business. 

Yes, he knew something about security and electronics, having been a part of the family business. They owned one of those electronics stores where they “BLEW OUT STEREOS FOR 50% OFF”.

One would think he would come to the security game bursting with knowledge and ready to sell. 

In truth, it was the polar opposite. 

Carl was shy, introverted, and very much introspective – the Sammy Study Guy of his family. 

Yet here he was ready to sell alarm systems, camera surveillance and access control systems. 

It was my first year as the Sales Leader and his first ever job outside the family, in a notorious industry where getting down and dirty was a part of the scenery.

Carl also didn’t know how to sell. He had some of the background but needed to learn the ropes.

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In a good year, Salespeople in security will sell $2MM in equipment and installation and $50,000 of recurring monitoring fees, the lifeblood of the industry. 

After Q1, Carl was on pace for a year selling $300K with $10,000 in recurring. In essence he was taking a long walk on a short pier. 

But frankly, I liked (and still do like) Carl. Though sales did not reflect, I could see clients liked him but his approach was off. 

• He hated to prospect 
• But once with the client, he was great at rapport

So I set off to help Carl, have us work together. 

We worked hard on roleplaying. We took a lot of time to work on his outbound prospecting skills. He would make calls and right on the spot we would review them. We would do sales calls together where I was like wallpaper – I wanted to see him in action and not bail Carl out.

His big skill was discovery. He was smart, asked great questions and genuinely cared about his clients’ problems. 

When sales came, the need for a true hard close was rare. Clients saw his emerging passion and caring manner and were willing to work with him.

What transpired by Q3 was truly Carl the King! He led the 6-person Sales team in gross sales AND recurring revenue. 

IT TOOK PRACTICE, PATIENCE and COMMITMENT.

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For 4 of the next 8 quarters, guess who led both categories. You guessed it.

When I left the business a few years later, Carl had truly become the teacher, one the other salespeople turned to for help and advice. 

Carl truly was the King…and I am so proud of him!