You're Going To Be Great At This!

In a recent episode of You’re Going To Be Great At This! , I spoke with Mandie Sue Mills, Branch Manager at Integrity Home Mortgage Corporation in Myrtle Beach, SC. Building on her previous discussion about marketing to older demographics, Mandie talked about practical strategies for bridging the digital divide when serving senior clientele. In industries like mortgage lending and real estate—where processes are increasingly automated—understanding how to introduce technology to older adults without overwhelming them is essential for building lasting business relationships. Mandie emphasized that working with seniors requires a fundamentally trust-based approach rather than a transactional one. While younger generations readily adapt to new apps, online portals, and e-signatures, older clients often approach new tech with caution or skepticism. The key to success isn't avoiding technology, but rather positioning it as a tool that simplifies their experience rather than a barrier th...

In a world where automation and AI are becoming the standard, human-centric service is no longer just a "nice-to-have"—it is a competitive advantage. In a recent episode of the "You're Going To Be Great At This" podcast, Dave Gulas,  co-founder of EZDC 3PL and host of the Beyond Fulfillment podcast, tells us about how he makes customer service a priority while making the most of his competitors' complacency. We also discuss 3PL's (third party logistics) and how they help online businesses. He also  shared his philosophy on how to bake customer service into the very DNA of an organization. Dave emphasizes that you cannot provide world-class service to your clients if you aren’t providing it to your employees first. When employees feel supported, valued, and empowered, that positive energy naturally overflows into their interactions with customers. One of the simplest yet most effective ways to stand out is through responsiveness. Dave discusses the impor...

Networking is important for the success of our business, sales goals, and even personal relationships. Meeting people and building a rapport with them can lead to other introductions and referrals. But what should you do after a networking event to increase the odds of meeting your goals? Years ago, I would go to a networking event and hand out business cards like I was dealing poker. People would be polite and say "thank you" with an occasional "I'll give you a call". Of course, they did not call. Disappointed, I would question why I should bother and ask myself how this was working for other people. A coworker explained that I needed to be more proactive. Instead of handing out my cards (which are not cheap, by the way), I should be collecting cards from others, and following up on my own. This worked and I was soon booking appointments and getting some traction. Recently, I had Dorien Morin-Van Dam, host of the Strategy Talks podcast (a great listen) and we ...

I recently had the pleasure of guesting on Dave Campbell's "Living The Next Chapter" podcast, which focuses on authors and their books. I had a great time talking about the writing process and my unique way of promoting them. When I was in the process of starting my podcast, I did a search on Spotify and discovered Dave's "How To Podcast" show, which I suggest to anyone considering starting a podcast. At the end of the episode, Dave mentioned that he had a meetup group and that they discussed the podcasting world.  I tuned in and immediately felt welcomed by the group. I learned a lot about the process, but more importantly, I met some great people who were also beginners, as well as others who were veteran podcasters. An interesting note about Dave is that he has 9 podcasts, and how he does it, I'll never figure out. But his knowledge and willingness to help others demonstrate what a good guy he is. Give it a listen and check out Dave's other podcas...

As entrepreneurs, business owners and other self-employed types, we are always try to learn how to work efficiently, maximize profits and keep our focus on the future. Sometimes, we overlook an obvious resource. By listening to the stories of how others in our shoes have made the journey to successful business person, we can see how our own stories are either similar or completely different. I personally love reading biographies of successful business people throughout history. Recently I finished David McCullough's book, "The Wright Brothers". Most of us know the story of these two bicycle shop owners who figured out how to fly and control the flight. However, there were other parts of this story that I learned. Their tenacity, business acumen and planning were integral to their success.  This is usually the case of most successful people.  By reading or hearing of these kinds of examples, we can look at our experiences to learn as well. Recently I had Adam Griggs of the...

For those of us who are in sales or are self-employed, we tend to concentrate on marketing, networking, production numbers and other factors that affect the bottom line. However, we often overlook an important factor. When considering your state of mind when selling, one should also how they feel physically as well. By exercising and staying healthy, we are more productive, can increase our working years and be more effective.  Victor Fernandes of Fernandesfit.com was a guest on a recent episode of my podcast and we discussed how staying healthy and moving our bodies can impact the success of our business.  Coincidentally, I was a guest on his podcast as well, which is on YouTube . In both of these we talk about getting up out of the chair and keeping healthy by doing the "small things", like drinking water and walking. Small changes can make a big difference! Chris Castane s is a humorous speaker who helps sales people succeed through workshops and humorous presentations. H...

I met Carl Willis a few years ago through LinkedIn and I immediately was struck by his generosity. He is always happy to get on a Zoom call or accept my invitation to appear on my podcast. He has even invited me on his podcast, as well as other online events like his webinar.  In this episode, Carl and I discuss working on skillset, and more specifically, communicating your business' mission online. Listen in and let me know what you think. And please subscribe/follow the podcast! Chris Castane s is a humorous speaker who helps sales people succeed through workshops and humorous presentations. His new book, "Nearly Motivated" is available on Amazon. For booking information,  click here . His new podcast,  "You're Going To Be Great At This!"  is available on most platforms.   He's also the president of  Surf Financial Brokers  selling life and disability insurance in several states.

As someone who is self-employed, I have found that a great way to get my message out and to network with people I want to meet. By joining my local chamber of commerce, I've met great people, become referable and learned about all kinds of businesses that I didn't know existed. In an episode of the "You're Going To Be Great At This" podcast, I talked with Wendy Malenfant of the Little River (SC) Chamber of Commerce and we discussed the perks of joining a chamber.  I sincerely hope you find value in our podcast and ask that you follow/subscribe.  Chris Castane s is a humorous speaker who helps sales people succeed through workshops and humorous presentations. His new book, "Nearly Motivated" is available on Amazon. For booking information,  click here . His new podcast,  "You're Going To Be Great At This!"  is available on most platforms.   He's also the president of  Surf Financial Brokers  selling life and disability insurance in sever...

I recently had a great conversation with Bill Whitaker, realtor and owner of RawtapeRPM.com. Bill talks about his time in the real estate business, and his journey that led to running a business as a consultant and coach for real estate agents all over the country.  Below is the footage of the conversation. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel. Ch ris Castane s is a humorous speaker and former comedian who helps sales people succeed through workshops and humorous presentations. His newest book, "Nearly Motivated", is yet another humorous look at sales. For booking information,  click here.  As president of  Surf Financial Brokers  ,  he sells life and disability insurance in several states.

When I talk to sales organizations I give my definition of sales, which is a bit different than the one you would find in a dictionary.  A sale is the actual transaction, where "sales" and "selling" are the steps that lead up to that transaction. You see, sales is trying to convince, cajole or urge someone to take action now , not later. Also, there does not need to be a monetary goal at the end of the process.  Think of a college basketball team. The freshmen, who have come from different high schools with different coaches, are now playing for their new coach, who has a specific game plan in mind. He has to convince his new players (we're assuming that the upperclassmen have been convinced) to "buy in" to this plan so they are all on the same page.  Anyone who has tried to talk a co-worker into trying a new way of doing things or tried to convince a toddler to eat their vegetables is "selling". In other words, we all sell.  But the part of ...

Over the years I have moved around a bit working for several companies. The reasons for doing this have varied, but mostly it came down to a couple of factors. The first one being money.  For example, I went to work with a very large insurance company years ago. They offered me a base salary and a commission based on my sales. My job was to contact current clients and have them come by the office to purchase life insurance. When these people would come into the office the other staff members would write the policies seeing notes I had already put into the client's file. I didn't get my commissions and brought this up to my superior, who didn't care. After seeing this happen again and again I left with no explanation.  Another reason I have left jobs is because the recruiting manager was less than truthful about the job. As I have mentioned in my book, when I interviewed for my first sales job (I was right out of college) the recruiter said all kinds of things that weren...

Sales people know that one of the hardest parts of the job is prospecting. As a former colleague of mine used to say, "I spent most of my day just trying to find someone to talk to." Prospecting is what keeps the sales pipeline full. An empty pipeline can mean trouble.  Of course, there are different ways to solve the issue of the pipeline. One is to cold call, which can work for some people. I spent the early years of my sales career calling on people at their homes, which was a horrible way to work. Putting yourself in the prospect's shoes, you probably wouldn't want someone to come to your home unexpectedly while you were relaxing after a hard day at work, much less someone trying to sell you something. Personally speaking, I have no problem whatsoever with cold calling businesses. As a matter of fact, after calling on people at their homes for a year of so (and having guns pulled on me), any fear of cold calling an office building was non-existent. The battle was ...

I was recently the guest on a Solutions From The Huddle podcast , which was a lot of fun. I'll pull back the curtain and tell you a little secret of almost all of the podcasts in which  I have been lucky enough to participate. They usually either send you the questions in advance or they let you send in the questions you want to be asked. In this case, neither happened.  The host, Titus Bartolotta, did an excellent job. We talked for about 10 minutes before the actual recording started so we could go over the general topics to be discussed. He said something like "I'm going to let you do most of the talking" and he was good to his word. We discussed a lot of great information about insurance, my agency, marketing, my book and a few other topics over the course of about 40 minutes.  This stream of consciousness approach was refreshing to say the least. As Titus was asking questions, I was thinking of other information, and you can hear that coming through. I could actu...

A couple of years ago, before Covid arrived, I was asked to speak at a breakfast meeting of a local civic organization. I brought a few copies of my book along just in case someone wanted to purchase one. The person who had invited me to speak apparently had a last minute appointment or something and couldn't be there, but he let the rest of the group know who I was and why I would be there. As I walked in a young professional looking man approached me and introduced himself. "Hi, I'm Bob. We're looking forward to your talk," he said. "Please feel free to eat something. It's on us." He pointed to a table filled with store bought muffins and Krispy Kreme doughnuts, my favorite. Since I had not eaten breakfast at home (I was told there would be food) I thanked him and treated myself to an assortment of the delicious round treats. In retrospect, I probably had too many, but hey, you only live once, right? The young man was the president of the group and...

Have you ever watched a comedian bomb onstage? If done correctly, it can be both horrific and entertaining at the same time. Sometimes you actually feel sorry for the poor idiot on stage with their crappy material and defensive attitude when the heckling starts.  But sometimes when a comic has been especially bad and even more defensive, watching him or her fall without a parachute can be gratifying. I once saw a comic in Raleigh, NC who was mediocre at best. He had this crappy "I shouldn't have to be working this crappy club in North Carolina, I should be in Vegas," attitude. At one point he made a racist joke that more than irritated a very large African-American gentleman on the front row. "That joke sucked!" the man said with a very loud booming voice.  The air had been sucked out of the room. The comic lost his train of thought and blamed us, the audience. At this point, he should have been trying to win us over, but instead he decided to push us away. It w...

One of the great things about being an independent contractor is that I, as a "business owner", get to make my own decisions when it comes to marketing. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, I can look at what has worked for others in my industry and put my own spin on that. But every once in a while, I like to see if I can find a way to reach prospective clients in a way my competitors haven't. At the end of last summer I was having a meal at a chain restaurant. Our server, a young woman in her early 20's, was lamenting that people stole her pens when paying with a credit card. "I have to go to the store each day and buy pens," she said with a tired look in her eye. "People just assume that the pens are for the taking." I nearly forgot the conversation until a few weeks back when my own daughter, who had just gotten a job as a server at another chain restaurant, made the same complaint. She had called to ask if we had any extra pens at our hous...

When one is hired as a new sales rep for a company, they may be required to attend a sales training course as part of the onboarding process. Recently some coworkers and I were discussing the various companies we have worked for over the years and how these training sessions differed from one employer to the next.  My first job in sales had a required two week sales class. As I have mentioned in previous posts, this company was so shady that we were in the third day of the training when one of our classmates finally realized that we were hired for door-to-door sales. "When were you going to tell us?" the angry young man screamed at the instructor.  It had been previously suggested to us that we would have clients ready to see and that referrals and leads would be served up on a silver platter. None of these things were true, as were most of the other things they told us while hiring us. This was my first experience dealing with a company being less than truthful with me, but ...

Years ago I realized that I needed to work on my public speaking skills because I was winding up in situations where I would have to stand up in front of a crowd and talk about myself or my business. A prospective client told me about his great experience at Toastmasters, so I looked into it and joined my local chapter.  One of the added benefits of joining an organization like Toastmasters is the opportunity to meet some awesome people from all walks of life. And even though it's not a networking group per se, I have managed to get some clients and great friendships through the club. One of those people is my friend, Rachel Pitts.  Rachel is a Master Sales Coach who brings her experience as a realtor, mortgage loan officer, entrepreneur and fitness coach to Sales Gravy. She understands the challenges that realtors face, which helps her relate to her realtor partners as she assists their buyers get a mortgage. After 10+ years as a realtor, she made the switch to the mortgage s...

As I have mentioned in my book, we all are selling something. Whether you are selling cars, books, workshops, financial services, real estate, or even yourself (see: applying for a job), we are at some point trying to sell something. My definition of sales is trying to get someone to do something, right now, that they could do later or don't want to do at all.  That all sounds pretty opaque, so let me give an example. Let's say that Mary needs a new car, but she's been putting off the purchase for various reasons. She shows up at your lot "just to see what prices are like these days". Mary honestly has no intention of purchasing a vehicle, but thinks she is doing research.  First off, Mary could be doing this on the internet, but Mary is old school. By showing up on the lot, we can assume that she is interested in a car, even though she says that "now isn't a good time." Sorry Mary, but you should know that you have walked into a den full of closers....