Ep. 183 INTERVIEW – Campbell Haigh

Focus what you CAN CONTROL in sales. [Interview] Campbell Haigh, owner of Team Haigh Realty, shares sales insights from  his decades of experience in sales.

The Sales Edge Podcast 183 Transcript

Voice over:
Get ready for an unfair advantage over your competition. This is the sales edged podcast. We re globally recognized sales expert and trainer Joe Pici helps you sharpen your skills for booking more appointments and closing more deals. And now here’s your host Joe Pici.
Joe Pici (JP):
Welcome back to the sales edge. This is Joe Pici your host and we want to thank you so much. I’ll tell you in this 2021, our numbers are soaring. We’re all over the globe and it’s just because of you. Your loyalty and your desired to spread the word on this podcast. Hopefully we’re being a great value to you. The sales edged podcast is sponsored by Pici and Pici, which is a speaking, coaching, training, consulting company, that right now we’re focusing on helping our clients recapture lost revenue, get in front of their target market, also SMV. That’s the sell more virtually platform. That is an online training, consulting company that is all virtual on Thursday nights.
I’m on live virtually doing coaching and training. And so we want to thank our host and today as we move on, we are so pumped, so excited. You know certain times people come across your life and some people you wish they didn’t. But this guy and his wife Dawn and I, I hate to call them clients, they were once clients and then Campbell and I work together on a project and now they’re great friends. And I’m going to give you just a little bit of background on Campbell. Hey, he’s a powerhouse and you’re going to love these features. Campbell says, I’ve done sales my whole life started at 14 selling my services to neighbors for a lawn mowing, polishing silver, washing wood work.
He did door-to-door sales from 16 to 18. And that was what helped him get over, you know, his fear of people. Top producer in many industries over his career always either self-employed or independent contractor. Now from my vantage point, Campbell is the best combination of sales professional and entrepreneur and you’re going to get a real flavor of that today. Welcome Campbell.
Campbell (C):
Hey Joe, how are you today my friend?
(JP):
Fantastic
(C):
Joe, as you were reading that bio it took me back in time and let me tell you how that all started.
I remember asking my mom and dad that I wanted a ten-speed bike. And they said, well Dad said here’s a lawn mower and you can cut lawns in the neighborhood and you can buy your bike. And I ended up buying a Schwinn 10-speed for myself. And I also bought my first television set for myself. It was a Zenith black and white that I was so proud. I paid $99 for it at a store in downtown Fayetteville North Carolina. Joe, you got to get this, back in the 70s. The TV was wrapped in blue jeans, and I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen. And I had that TV and I carried it all the way through college and into the first apartment that I had. Because I bought it with money that I earned. Because a lot of dad started me very early in life telling me if you want these things, we’re not going to buy them for you. You’re welcome to buy for yourself and so that’s how all that got started.
(JP):
All right, so tell me about this door-to-door thing, there’s not very many people would ever do that.
(C):
Well, my dad work for the newspaper, understand I am a multi-generational sales family. My dad’s father was in the real estate business. He started his Brokerage in 1920. My uncle my dad’s older brother went into business with his father and so my dad chose to go a different route rather than having everyone in the family together and having sibling rivalries. Kind of the way that I interpreted what went on. He never specifically said that but that would kind of underlying tone. Dad ended up in sales and he worked for the newspaper selling advertising. He started in classified advertising, actually started in retail advertising and then became the classified advertising manager. And I was looking for a job at 16. He said look, I know that our sales crew here is hiring for people to do door-to-door sales for newspaper subscriptions, and he said I think it would be really really good for you. And so I took that job at 16 years old and I worked that all the way through high school. That’s how I paid for all of my spending money and everything else. You know, Mom and Dad were not big on just give them the money. They wanted you to get a job and learn the value of money, which then I wish more parents would teach their kids that lesson.
(JP):
Speaking of lessons. So give us some lessons you learn from that experience.
(C):
Well, Joe the the door to door sales to start with of course, was a very scary thing to be and because it requires speaking in front of strangers. And I think most of us have a natural built-in fear of talking in front of others. It may be talking in front of the class when the teacher asks you a question because I know for a lot of us, you know, either you’re scared of talking in front of your other students or you’re scared, you’re going to give the wrong answer and get embarrassed in front of them. So either way Joe, as a former teacher, I’m sure you can relate to that. And so I knew I dealt with some of that growing up and I really didn’t want to do door-to-door sales, but I needed a job and a job was available. So basically I got thrown into the deep water taking out my first day in door-to-door sales. We would show up in neighborhoods in a crew, the the crew supervisor will drive us there in the car. There were always three of us in the car with them, we get out and we would have to go knock on doors and go up and down a street. And the supervisor would say there. Just kind of watch over us to make sure things were okay and safe. And that was a different time, in a different era, that wasn’t quite so challenging knocking door-to-door. And what I learned is you never know how you’re going to be treated from door to door. You do the same thing as a salesperson telling them about your product or your service, but you don’t know how you’re going to be received. You know, I could tell you during that time-frame, I had guns pulled on me three times by people who I knocked on the door. But now Joe understand I grew up in Fayetteville, North Carolina. And our target rich market was Fort Bragg. Where the 82nd Airborne is at and Pope Air Force Base. And because it’s so transient with people moving in and out, you can knock on the same door every 90 days and get different people at different time frames. And so we literally went in about a 60 mile radius around Fayetteville to all the surrounding neighborhoods. So I had guns pulled on me three times. One time, somebody thought I was a kid who had red hair and actually that time frame I had a full head of hair and he thought I was the guy that had been riding motorcycles through his yard burning rooster tails. And I said no, I said I’m selling newspaper subscriptions door-to-door. He promptly apologized and broght a subscription from me. I had other people that you wouldn’t meet at the door and they would say yeah, we want to hear what you got but it’s dinner time. You need come in and sit down and eat dinner with us, we’ll talk when we’re done. So you can never knew what you’re going to get, you could have the door slammed in your face, or you can be invited in for a meal. And what I started to learn is I could only control going up and knocking on that door and offering my product. Which was a newspaper subscription to those people. And so it really helped me to start to get over that fear of dealing with people, of dealing with strangers, and presenting your product or your service. And that was at a very early tender age of 16 years old.
(JP):
So tell us what you’re doing now and who you’re doing it for?
(C):
I am currently in the real estate market. I actually have a couple of companies. I’ve still got a sales and marketing company that does direct sales that I’ve been doing for a long time. That’s where you and I met and I’m still involved with that. And I just decided to go on to get my real estate license in 2013 and to start a real estate business. And we’ve done very very well in that industry, myself and my wife, we’re both license agents. We had a team, we’ve had as many as seven or eight people on the team. Currently, It’s just two of us on the team and we’re quite happy with that right now. We may eventually have another agent at some point in time. But to be honest, we got tired of herding cats, with a lot of people who just weren’t ready to be successful. We want that more for them than they wanted it for themselves. And I think you understand the intricacies of that Joe, got to got to be equally yoked there.
(JP):
From what you learned in your early sales, 16 to 18 and that’s so how have you applied the lessons to what you’re doing now?
(C):
Joe, I think that the biggest thing I’ve learned from my entire career in sales, but can 58 years old. So I’ve done this literally for forever. And what I’ve learned is that you cannot control what your prospect says. You can only control what goes on in your mind. You have to expect success from every presentation. I’m shocked every time I don’t close the deal. I am shocked. I’m flabbergasted, that they did not choose to buy my service or my product and here’s why. I’ve never worked for a company that I did not believe in the product that I was selling. Whether the product was me or whether the product was a tangible product. You have to believe in what you’re doing. I could never be a snake oil sales person selling something that I didn’t believe in, just to make money. So for me, if you believe in what you’re doing, then you have to believe that other people are going to find value in it. And what I’ve learned is you got to be willing to go through the numbers because, the numbers always work for you. If you’ve got a product that is a product that is in need, that is in demand, that’s priced fairly, you’re always going to be able to sell. As long as you make enough phone calls. As long as you knock on enough doors. As long as you allow the math to work for you.
(JP):
So in the process of sales, you know, you got your lead generation, you you’ve got the outreach with the phone call. You’ve got your presentation. You got your cross referrals. And I mean sales is so multifaceted. So what’s your sweet spot? What would you say you do best in the process of selling?
(CP):
Well Joe, in where we’re at currently with real estate, for our business model, we’re dealing with a lot of inbound leads from people who are searching for Real Estate online. Because when you look at the industry now the stats bear out that 98-99 percent of all real estate business starts online before they ever talk to a real estate agent. So if you’re going to catch them, you need to catch them in the early end of the process before someone else does. So for us, we have a robust advertising program that brings us inbound leads of people who are looking for property. And so my responsibility as The Rainmaker is to connect with those people and start to develop a relationship over the phone and over email and text that will eventually leave to a face-to-face real relationship. Where you can really start to connect with people.
Now I connect well over the phone, but you and I both know it’s always good to get a chance to shake someone’s hand. To look them in the eye, in their in their face when you’re with them and you can start to connect as people, rather than just being a provider and a providee. you can go to becoming friends and that’s one of the cool things about real estate for us. There are clients who we’ve never been anything more than a provider and a providee, because they won’t allow us to ever get closer than that. We’ve had other clients that we started with as total strangers, who had become lifelong friends, like you and I have become through a business relationship that blossomed into a friendship.
(JP):
Yeah. I remember when our started, do you?
(C):
I absolutely remember Joe, you were running a training program for the direct sales company and you and I had a conversation at one of our incentive trips. And we started to get to know each other and and I knew we connected at that first point in time. You were a kindred soul. And when you meet people it’s like a brother from a different mother and that’s how I felt when you and I met. We were cut from the same fabric and and we clicked well from the very first day.
(JP):
Yeah and was interesting because from that conversation, I remember you and I partnered up on a project with a company up in Atlanta.
(C):
Yeah.
(JP):
And you know you were more the consultant, the strategist for that company. I was in with the sales people training them on tactical sales. And and then from there we just kind of you guys came down to one of our trainings and and the relationship has grown.
What is absolutely your fastball?
(C):
Fastball for me, at this stage is connecting with people over the phone the first time. In getting beyond the hesitation that people feel to keep you out, to allow you to start to get to know them a little bit and to start to develop a many friendship over the phone. Where your where you’re kind to them, you’re responsive to them. You’re giving them what they need. Which at this stage of the process for what I do, is information and access to the real estate market. Because I believe that if you sow enough good seeds, good is going to come back. I believe in that Golden Rule.
(JP):
So Campbell, when you look at the whole expanse of sales, in your experience. Because you’ve dealt with yourself selling, you’ve dealt with you teaching sales, and broker where you had salespeople. What was the hardest thing for sales professionals to master?
(C):
I think the most difficult thing for me, is wanting success more for others than they want for themselves. And for me that that that has had honestly an emotional toll on me. Because Joe went when I invest myself into somebody, I am fully invested into them. I don’t ever invest my time into somebody that I don’t believe could become successful.
And here’s why. I know I would not be where I’m at in life, if there weren’t a litany of people who have mentored me over the years and taken a keen personal interest in me. And Joe you and I both understand this. I am a product of the people that I’ve surrounded myself with. I believe the old adage, the five people who you spend the most amount of time with are going to determine the direction you’re going in life. And who you surround yourself with, is what determines where you go. And so when I invest in somebody and they don’t respond well, it’s emotionally draining for me that I believed in them more than they believe in themselves. And they were willing to give up on them self rather than to persevere to get to the other side to where all the good things start.
(JP):
There was a point in my life that I can share that. And I remember hearing from someone, never care more about someone else’s success than they care for their own success. And that kind of triggered for me. That it was like a moment in time, whereby I know what Joe and Dawn Pici provide for our clients. We go 100% all-in, but at some point in time they have to pick up the ball. Because see nobody when you were going door to door, nobody was saying good job. You know, come on you have to want to do this. You know, basically you had your eyes on the prize and you went for it.
(C):
Yep
(JP):
You know, we’re going to be moving on from here because you’ve got so much wealth in it. And we’re going to go into the entrepreneur mindset next. Because when I look at you, even though you have sold your whole life, I have never labeled you a salesperson. To me, it’s always been a business owner entrepreneur that sells. So Campbell if somebody wanted to find a house, if they wanted to sell a house, tell them where you are and how to contact you.
(C):
The easiest place to find us is either through a phone call or on the web. My direct phone number, my business phone number is, 678-335-2665. And our website is team Hague Realty. Excuse me, TeamHague@TeamHagueRealty.com is our Real Estate website. And Joe where we’re at, we’re in Northwest Metro Atlanta. We do a lot of business in Cod, Cherokee, and Paulding. But I have connections all over the nation. So if people are looking for Real Estate, I can hook them up with a good agent in a Martin, who actually will care about them and care about the process. Because we only associate ourselves with people who really care about the clients that they’re serving.
(JP):
Fantastic.
This is Ben Campbell. Hey, he’s coming back. We’re going to be moving over to the SMV portal. Campbell is going to give us tips on professional and personal growth. Which he is an expert in, he’s delivered it, he’s been part of it his whole life. Take out your phone and text the word sales edge. One word, salesedge, one word to: 55678. That’s going to take you to a Pici and Pici link. You hit the link. It’s going to take you a splash page. Tremendous content, there’s a 5 e-course video set for free. Recapture lost Revenue through virtual selling. There’s information on our SMV program, free downloads and there are links to our podcast the sales edged.
So thanks a lot. We’ll see you in our next show Campbell.
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