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Sam Taggart 00:43
Everybody the Sam Taggart with the D2D podcast I’m here with Parker Langeveld, and he is former champ world record holder, your world record holder in weightlifting,.
Parker Langeveld:
Yeah:
Sam Taggart:
And deadlift
Parker Langeveld:
You got it
Sam Taggart:
The worst lift possible, no clean. I would rather do deadlifts in a clean air fair. So, but no, that’s not why we’re jamming today. Today, we’re jamming because he did 1015 Pest Control accounts to manage 5000 accounts between 21 guys and extreme awesome pair of average. He has been able to produce the top one of the industry top rookie averages ever 640 accounts, it is 560 contract value.
Yeah. So you know, it’s cool to do 800 or 900. But when you’re at a 400 and something contract buy, it’s like really how you did it, look at how much you got paid. That’s what it matters, right? So not only good, sell lights out, went through challenges in the summer, which we’re going to be jamming on and can manage lights out, which in my opinion is pretty cool. So tell us and you’re only three years into this thing. Like Did you 5000 accounts your third year 1000 last year, how did you do with the team or just you 600 and the year before that? 616 20 so six, six and 10,000? You know, I mean range? Yeah. And tell me kind of how Yeah, what like how did you get into this? How’d you get your start? Oh,
Parker Langeveld 02:17
so interesting. I came back to my mission in 2016. Okay, when I got home I was on fourth question, but we were State University for I was gonna go into I just was on their lithia for a pregnancy scholarship out there. And, you know, smartkey had a lot of doors and things open with that. And then I like I said, I’ve always been in a weightlifting back in high school. That’s when I was doing the garlic and stuff. And so it’s trading down at Gold’s in August, just right down there in the Metroplex place and making 20 bucks an hour trying to sign clients and personal training sessions. And then I was dating a girl up in Logan, and I was taking 24 credit hours over the school. I was swamped with this guy or I trying to figure left and right I want to do this. And then Scott Wilson, He’s the owner of Hawks. He grew up in my ward. He was my preschool advisor and he said, Hey, I got I got a job opportunity for you. And I said, Okay, well, I’m going to sit down and I’m always open here and stuff. And he says, Hey, man, it’s door to door. I never knew about the Reverend my life before that. And so like, what are we talking about? Guys? How about a man trying to get me to sign up on a magazine subscription here and you know, out of a warehouse somewhere I’m getting my credit card on doing that. Yeah, I just spent two years doing that and the mission and he was like, this is kind of a my average rookie can make in the summertime. I like that. I’m like now he would be SMU there’s no way Yeah. And I think I was a little little young and I descend back from the mission didn’t really realize the value of money at that point yet. So I was bidding I care as much about that to go out but what was cool to me is I was gonna go to Texas and I was like, in my mind one of the best ones education is traveling so I was like, I’ve never been to South America those people I want to diversify myself more with travel and education and opening up networks and sound like okay,
Sam Taggart 03:59
let’s which is an interesting recruiting angle that probably a lot of people don’t take you know, and that’s kind of a random sorry, but inside the engine, but I’m like, that’s interesting. kinky, gone.
Parker Langeveld 04:08
So I mean, I started up all my buddies, and I’m like, yeah, we’re gonna do this. And of course, you know, you everybody hears this recruiter, they’re like being scammed. Don’t do that. You know, I’m doing I’m doing med school. I’m doing this and this and this. And so I ended up getting my best friend one to come out with me my first summer. So we roll out to Dallas and I’m in my first day, I mean, all the pics and then the only thing left and right, right. I just had cat. So I’m on I was doing school stuff. And then I didn’t know what I was doing. Fast forward that summer and super awesome. made a bunch of really good friends went out and crushed. It broke the industry record for revenue. I did 617 accounts and I did a 620 contract that salaries and came back and you know, everyone’s like, dude, now you gotta go recruit. You got to build a team. Okay, I’ll go recruit. I’ll get involved now. But I wanted to do it because when I came home, I wanted to go on trips. Now. I’ve always been that way since I was young, where I’m like, you know, I don’t I don’t really loves Sitting in somebody’s house Friday night, just sit in the basement doing nothing. I’m like, dude, let’s go. You sound like you’re down in South America. Let’s go back and visit our missions. And so I made up all my buddies. And I’m like, hey, let’s go do a trip. Let’s go back down to South America. Did Sorry, I can’t, I’m married. I’m working. Okay, keep going. So I’m married, I’m working. I don’t have any money, blah, blah. I’m like, we’ll do some new sales. And so that’s what we pretty much me the first year is I want people to come do it, because I wanted them to have the opportunity opened up that I asked them that summer. And so we did it. Second summer when I went out. Ended up recruiting to 55. Guys.
Sam Taggart 05:37
Wow, okay. 35. Guys, your second summer? Yep. Okay, fathom that. If you’re in solar roofing some of these other industries, I don’t think they can fathom a team of 55. You know, that, like, that’s a lot. That’s a lot of bodies. Yeah. And keep going, because we’re gonna jam on some other interesting things about this. But I mean, so
Parker Langeveld 05:56
we’re brushing up against that, and recruiting. I mean, I was brought in direct by Scott. He’s busy managing the whole company. So I had his help here and there, but it wasn’t like I had, you know, a regional manager run meetings. For me, it was just my story and trying to win those meetings. And I remember the first meetings, I mean, how did they pull out the contract? And I’m like, well, this and this and this, I guess this could happen. And so anyways, we build it, we build a whole preseason thing. In March, we started taking guys out in Utah, knocking early trying to get themselves familiar with your belt and roll to Dallas with summertime. Interesting summer, I have my fiance out by the first summer and there was some interesting dynamics with that, obviously, I mean, that’s a distraction in the summertime. She has a rough, yeah, she had her own apartment, we weren’t married, and she was trying to do school and didn’t really have any friends. And so that was really hard for me definitely was time consuming, trying to help her and manage that. And then we ended up being understaffed on some, some technicians. And so we’re putting on more accounts and necessarily a first assistant technician, assistant branch manager issues out there. Normal ups and downs and things such as the sound right, but you got 55 guys with one bedroom trying to manage the whole thing out there. And we ended up doing 3500 accounts that sound what those guys and these in sound, I went and did 600 and so came back and I had two guys. So they’re watching probably Blake Stephenson and Colton Sharla games, but good friends from high school that did really well. Colton was actually the top rookie and hawks that year for revenue and they wanted to come back and build them. So we kind of put our heads together. And we were like, okay, year three, what do we do? What’s going to make it unique? What are we going to do? So we decided to downsize a little bit right on a team of 21 what we want to do is make it a really elite team to recruit it was a little bit different. ran a lot of preseason trainings and went up to Houston this last year open that up. And yeah, that was a big segment. We went out there and encrusted 1015 accounts and Connor Hill, he’s the one who did 640 and had another rookie do 444 out there at acuity per average and, and almost summertime, and it was super awesome. So that’s kind of how I got involved. But really, it’s my relationship with Scott Wilson, and knowing him growing up in his Ward dads and my seat
Sam Taggart 08:00
presidencies. That’s kind of backstory. That’s awesome. And I think that just to do that many accounts in such a short amount of time is a feat in and of itself. I think a lot of people get on this bandwagon of I have to be a sales dude. And then I put on a leadership hat and they don’t think that they’re they can have this and this versus this fortress. And so it’s cool that in a short amount of time you’ve been able to one accomplish a golden door only in your third year which is hard thing to do for a lot of people to manage 5000 accounts which is another big milestone mark in the pest control space. And yeah, I’m excited to see where you go from here and obviously learn from you and get to know you and in relationship and just even our conversation off camera I’m like dude, you’re an interesting guy like I like different. So let’s talk summer this year. Obviously, you know you do this 1015 accounts. It wasn’t a conventional summer it sounds like
Parker Langeveld 08:57
now so I mean, we rolled out there April 28 is the day we got out of there started knocking may 1 was the first time right at that point. Yeah, I think I went on my first summer. Don’t quote me exactly on because I don’t but 400% was one of the my main my main seminar right first week disseminate accounting, competing with Holly Roscoe people know his name in the space rolling back and forth. And June comes along and you know, doing good Dan. I was telling you off screen here before this. I was been dating a girl for the past three years and we’ve been engaged for a year and a half. And in that time, we broken up a couple times and we broke up right before the summer. Okay, so we’re broken up in March and come come come July 1 week in July, I end up reconnecting and we get back together. Okay. first week of July, I went on a trip with the Lake Powell. My family got back from Lake Powell and then we’re back together and I haven’t seen her in four months and be honest, that’s the topic I’m like prior to this is a relationship with her the future with that. And so I went out during the lie and I was gone. I was not going to parks and we We’re I was in Arizona with her she’s doing flight school training there. So I was out there supporting her kind of doing some things with that as far as that goes with her family and, and blah, blah. So I step away for the month of July. And then there’s teams
Sam Taggart 10:10
still obviously cranks, like that’s one thing to be able to have a team that still cranks without you there. Yeah, that’s Colton Blake. Yeah. You know what I mean, having good leaders in place to be able to still have that moving. And then to, you know, how many accounts are you at kind of coming into July? If I can remember, I think that I’m at six, six to 700. Ra. Yeah. Okay. So you’re take July basically off?
Parker Langeveld 10:39
Yeah, I’m on pace for 15. And that’s what I wanted to hit that summer. Right. So take July off, I get back. Now we’re in August, you’re at the end of the summer. Okay. People called the August burn, you’re already kind of burned out. So it’s trying to motivate out on the guys that we have on there. You had me Colton Blake, there were veterans in the race. These guys are a rookie. So you’re trying to motivate these rookies number one to get through the end of August, a finished strong, industry wide. I think no matter what company you’re with rookies, you’re gonna get burned. There’s, you know, the teams and you’re like, no, always gonna be your biggest month. Let’s go. So there’s more on the management side of that, but also, I’ve been off the doors for
Sam Taggart 11:12
it’s a restart, restart. You know, like when you have to restart the muscle again. It’s tough. It’s like, it’s like I tell people I’m like, if you sent me home in the middle of mission to go back out would have been tough. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like, so you, you come back out August kind of like having to get the muscles back moving. And you start going in? Yep.
Parker Langeveld 11:33
Yep. So by now is I think I finished it. I was at like, 920 at Cannes short, and like, well, stupid, I’m gonna hit 1000 accounts, like, Monday’s gonna do that i want i want to build off more. And, you know, I think the 1000 accounts is a mile marker industry. And I’ve known for two years that I would be capable of doing something like that. I’m like, let’s just get it done. So I stayed two weeks in September. Here’s the crazy part about September reading time, I was off screen. But there was a tropical storm blows into Houston in September. So I mean, it’s getting flooded. Now in Galveston, you’ve got eight inches of rain in an hour, it’s dropping down there with flood warnings left and right, we’re out knocking doors, people are gonna be dealing out here. Like, nobody’s gonna address serious things that somehow our services out to three weeks, and it’s like, people are like, Did this go home? Like, no, I’m gonna finish this. And so we stayed out there another couple weeks, Connor was out there with me and just kind of helped him for some motivation, putting on, you know, a couple more accounts with him and getting the experience. And so it was me and one other guy cranking it for the last few weeks out there to finish that last back end of 1000. Yeah, I mean, that was kind of the dynamic of the summer this year, as far as my counseling.
Sam Taggart 12:39
What’s wild is how many more people are in and hawks finished the eight or 908 5910, like, you know, I mean, that range, that we’re right there another week or two. And they have a way. So what like, why do you think, and this is the difference? This is honestly the difference between a golden door and another golden door. And that’s why we put it in such a high level. I just put a new vacuum number a guy text me He’s like, Hey, what’s the vacuum goal the door? And I was like, what’s the most anyone’s ever sold? He’s like, 250s, that’s the number. He goes, Oh, okay. I’ll try that next year. But I said, it’s a number that’s going to push everybody into a whole nother like rising tide lifts all ships. So the difference though, is that extra 100 accounts. Yeah. And I think that you staying out an extra week or two, versus them going home when they’re supposed to go home is such a distinct characteristic between golden door band aid and pretty good, obviously, really good read. Like, I’m not saying they’re bad. I’m just saying, there’s a mental difference. It’s that little 1% difference. It’s a little mental shift. So talk to me about that, like, Dallas,
Parker Langeveld 13:53
this is an interesting topic, man. I, I this is what it is. I hate to preach it less than that. All right. But I think it’s the why behind what you do what you do, right? There’s between 890 910 accounts that 1000s for us pays pretty negligible when you’re making that much, especially when you’re managing a team already, you know, so it’s not about the money at that, yeah, if money is your why you’re not going to make it through, right? If it’s about, you know, chasing down a number of self pride, it’s a stronger why but I even think that that isn’t the full why but he’s white pushing me to do and, and this is what I think is a phrase that says reputation is what people think of you and character is who you are right? I would love if everybody could see an individual and see them for their character, all their strengths, all our weaknesses, all their vulnerability in one room, strip that away and say this is who I am. I think that we can humanize each other and learn from each other and become better at that point. But I think that the vehicle oftentimes to be able to get into some of these characters reputation, you hear about it. And that’s what opens the platform for networking platforms. And so I think through that is your impact to help other people and to lift them and to up help in the process itself. And So that’s what motivated me to finish. That was, you know what getting to the 1000 mark will open up doors and opportunities and networking, regardless of if you want to call me about it on camera and say, Oh, that’s great, you did that cool. I’m just happy that I can sit here in front of guys like you and network with that. And I’m happy that other guys calling, I want to pick your brain, not necessarily so that you get all the glory and all the award. But it’s like, that reputation now allows them to see my character and me see theirs. And through that I think real leadership is developed and real connections are developed because there’s authenticity to it isn’t the recruiting, meaning it isn’t the show, we’re not trying to demonstrate that. It may be that recruiting meaning or that show gets you to the point where now let’s have some real, authentic things that come from that. And so that was my belief is that’s going to be as a stage and a platform to push to the next thing and to allow me to have an impact on somebody’s life or on my own life in one way or another. And that story is going to create credibility where you know, somebody will trust me and I can pay things I’ve learned for good or for bad, and now impact other people. And so that’s what pushed me to want to face that.
Sam Taggart 16:05
Love that. And I can relate on many levels. The year I finished number one, it didn’t. I remember number two had gone home. I’m at 380. And I’m like, I got finished or one. Yeah, there’s nobody passing me like it’s done. Right. But it was, Do I want to go to everybody and my story, my recruiting my inspiration was I did 380 it’s like, No, that doesn’t sound as cool as 400. Right? That’s the number like 400 is the number. Yeah, 1000 is the number 920. Like, okay, that’s cool. But like, why didn’t you get the bell? Yeah, why did like the question is always going to be Why didn’t you get to 1000? Cuz you’re gonna live, you’re gonna live through that forever. And I think there’s so many people that if they just could have stayed out two weeks, they could always forever have the story. 1000 Yeah. And I think that there’s a difference in, in performer there’s a difference in mindset, there’s a difference in, somebody can actually say, I finished, I went all the way through the finish line, and did something that is going to be a story. And for a lot of people 800 is their story. That’s great. But I just think I want to inspire and challenge people to say he probably have more in the tank. Sure. Let’s go. Yeah, whether you’re running on fumes or not. There’s more than that. Thank you. So let’s talk a little bit about this whole thing, like you said, authentic and vulnerable and use these words. And we’re starting to hear these buzzwords lately and social media and this and that. One thing I want to bring up to Well, there’s two directions, I want to go with this. So one is you don’t even have social media. So a lot of people like you recruited 55 guys with no social media 21 guys, no social media. That’s a feed in of itself to a lot of people think
17:56
they have to be recruiting via social media, the only way to recruit is post cool pictures
Sam Taggart 18:02
and the quotes and shares. And that’s the only way you’ll get known and recruit. And I’m not gonna say it’s not a good tool Avenue. But I think that it’s not the only way. So how did you go build a team? non traditional, like not through social media?
Parker Langeveld 18:19
Yeah, so good question. And the basic idea is, as I’m a big preacher of self awareness, right, I think that to say you’re perfectly not have weaknesses is only going to be a detriment to you can accomplish some things. And finally, I’ll have weaknesses, right, or some of the talks will you have to fix. But there are other weaknesses in my mind, the majority weaknesses, that the best way to fix them is augment them with some of Israel. And so that’s what it was for me is go back to a few key individuals that I knew and have relationships with, and I recognize, okay, you know, where I’m weak. Anybody that knows me, personality wise, and really gets to me, is one of the leaders that I look at, that I really look up to is Bill Belichick. I think he’s one of the greatest coaches of all time, but you look at Bill Belichick, and he’s a hooded Goblin. That’s what I call him. He really is, I mean, doesn’t let you into his life at all. I mean, just the way that he is, he’s not the most dynamic individual in the space. And so I’m a really intense person who’s 0%, or 100%, not a lot in between what that sounds like, I’m not the guy that’s always, hey, let’s go hang out and chill where there’s a definite need for that in this space, with. With relationships. For me, it’s always more and more enhancing with things right. And so can it be a strength certainly can be a weakness, certainly. And so I found guys that I looked at this and you know, I like their strong, I’m going to totally delegate this off to them and have them run this and we’re going to step in as a partnership and create that because then we can accomplish something great. That was the platform and the start for that. And then we work through each other’s networks and people that we knew and started talking to them and brought in the train that I was able to give and we’d run a training once a week every week in the offseason, starting right after the summer starting September. Once a week. We’re training guys can come down, they can start to see it, they run team activities were these other guys that I’ve delegated off to run that. So they come in, and they get a feel for that culture where they like, you know what, really like the intensity guy down with the pocket brings in the train dynamic, and then really love this other aspect these other guys are bringing into the Smiths and you got relation, you got to and it’s not that’s not there, but it’s more of a tough deal, no checks the same way it will split into three guys feel that know that but the rest of the population doesn’t look at they’ll they’ll check and say, Wow, that guy’s really, really dynamic, you know. So I think that is really where we built and started that platform off is recognizing, you know, let’s just put it into your strengths. And I think these other guys that I’m talking about would definitely say, you know, we’re where we he’s strong. And instead of everybody beating on themselves and saying, You know what, I got to get better here, I got to get better here, I got to get better. I got to become this perfect person. I see our team building, I don’t have to but somebody else is there. And we’re gonna come and put our heads together. And now we can accomplish it.
Sam Taggart 20:54
And we’ll love that. I think that sometimes we don’t think we think we have to we think we have to be the one that recruits everyone and does everything and has all the hats and it all comes down to us. Yeah, but it’s like play to your strengths. Like you said, it’s like you have your strengths and supplement the weakness with team members. Oh, yeah. So you, you know, if you don’t mind, this is kind of a another jam that I wanted to do. And that was you talked about this authenticity, and being real with people for you, you know, off camera, we talked like you, you know, previously had over, you’ve overcome some some issues, right? in your own life, whether that’s relationship issues, which probably are tough, and stuff like that, whether that’s emotional addiction, you know, I’ve dealt with certain things like pornography in my life. And it sounds like you’ve been on that too. And now sober for a couple of years. Congratulation, by the way. Thanks, bro. And sometimes really hard to bring these kinds of things up, especially in a public setting, right? But I think a lot of people, and don’t kid yourself right now if you don’t deal with this, but a lot of people deal with it. Yeah. And what you find is more and more that you open up about it, the more and more you realize you’re not alone. And that’s like what I’m talking about is so many people, you know, they hide it, they live this secret life, they have this kind of demon that maybe they feel they just have to carry. And I think you can maybe shed some light and inspiration on stuff that you’ve done to kind of just say, dude, I frickin I’m a champion. Like I overcame that it’s doable. Okay.
Parker Langeveld 22:35
Yeah. So that’s why I don’t have social media, right? Is that purpose, I dealt with it before pornography before my mission came home and fell back into landing a lot of guys have and whether they want to be open or vocal with that, I didn’t want to admit for a long time, right? And I was like, No, no, I just sent them there. You know, I’ll get married or this or that, and I’ll be fine. I’ll be good, you know, whatever. And got to the point where I was self aware enough to recognize you know, what, there’s something here and so started talking about bishops, the president stuff and found a program called lifestyle, if you know what it is great. If not, you struggle with it. I encourage you look it up super phenomenal, went through it. I remember sitting in that first meeting, I was so mad. And the reason why I was so pissed about it is there was a guy that had gotten graduated from the program and came back and shared a success, the weekend about how he overcome. And one thing that he said is that he didn’t have a smartphone, we had a flip phone. And I was I was bummed by that. And I was like, No, like, I cannot have a smartphone, I have a flip phone, I can’t do that they would work and everything that’s involved on that made me really upset. And I didn’t want to admit it. And I didn’t want to go the lifestyle for men, because I was like, No, no, this is this is some crap was someone have to accept that that’s what he needed. And I’m not saying I’m advocating that everybody needs that aspect. But he was willing enough to admit it and was willing enough to read certain things trending. Right. So move forward, I started going in this thing. And it was a three year program and moved through that there was three different phases and learned a lot about myself and learned a lot about you know, the psychology behind them. pornography is just the symptom, not the cause to address that. Went through workbooks every week. And you out of that that’s why I don’t have social media. You won’t find me on Facebook, you won’t find me on Instagram. Reason why isn’t because I don’t think we can be great tools. Isn’t there anything other reason that it’s a personal weakness that I have, and weaknesses definitely can become strengths. And the way that my weaknesses becomes a strength is I put a barrier up there that I don’t cross and, you know, we social networks, but I have other guys that can do that. They can open up into that space. And I’m, I’m open and honest with them about why I don’t say you know, we do this. And the interesting part about it is it allows them to feel like they can be vulnerable with their weaknesses and they’re like, Okay, what about this? This is your eyes rolling? Can you help me with this? And as somebody starts to open up, we all start to be more vulnerable and we start to humanize ourselves and I just had a conversation about this with my dad. Last night, and it was the most interesting conversation, but I think this, I think a lot of times we look at guys like you, anybody that’s watching this podcast and knows you and Sam’s here, how have you gotten here? CEOs of companies they’ve gotten here if you read their story, it’s inspiring, right? But it’s almost demoralizing at the same time. Because you’re like, well, that’s great. But I have these hidden demons. Nobody knows about that. And if they didn’t know about it, or these weaknesses, I can actually accomplish what they can accomplish, because they don’t have that. Yeah. And I’ve read a book, my most recent book, he was an advocate of reading his, his book called stillness is the key by Ryan Holiday. I just got it visit. Awesome. Super awesome. And so, too, so one of the biggest stories he’s talking about in there is, is the President got assassinated? Why am I forgetting his name off the top of my head right now? It’s Kennedy. Yes, john F. Kennedy, right. You hear about Kennedy, he’s one of those iconic presidents in history made us talk about it. And it’s like, this was john F. Kennedy, he the other presidents have. What I didn’t know about Kennedy is Kennedy. So with a sex addiction, and he talks about it, and then he had some real serious personal issues, and came from a family that his father was the same way and was integrated. A lot of narcissism, a lot of stuff from early on. And here’s what’s crazy about it is reading not about Canada, you’re learning this about guys, personal lives that accomplish such great stuff resident of the United States. Yeah, it’s like listen, and not only the president, but like a paragon of a president. Right? Yeah, here’s what’s interesting about it is, you know, not gonna relate with him more, not unless the way that we all share the same issues, but it’s like, hey, this guy was human. And, and despite the issues that he had, and the crosses that he that he cared, he carried him. And he didn’t allow it to become something that defined who he was, okay, he went onward and upward, recognized his weaknesses. And now I’m not saying take the weakness and just say, Oh, that’s who I am. No, you actively work on any building that in overcoming that white he did, but at the same time, look, dude, I’m open. And I’m vulnerable with it. And he’s open, and he’s honest with it. And I’m still going on, and I’m accomplishing all this other type of great stuff. And so what it allowed me to do is, instead of that story becoming demoralizing, the story becomes more motivating, because it’s like, well, if he can do that, then I can do that. Yeah, okay, I can accomplish that. And I can carry my cross to and we glean strength from one another because now we have common ground. I think that so often, we don’t humanize each other in relationships, or in recruiting in this space or in leadership. And I think taking the human element into it, you share it somebody else’s, like, you know, I really felt the same stuff from I have this what, you know, how did that help you and we’ve arrived from each other and then we all overcome weaknesses. And I think that’s the end goal is no matter what you do, you do it so we can become better people. And we can help each other along the way.
Sam Taggart 27:35
So I had an ad this mastermind group the expert circle meter coaching call this morning, so once a month, we do a call. In today, we talked about what’s the uniform we want to wear in 2020, what’s the theme? What’s the thread, and we all kind of agreed the pursuit, relentless pursuit of excellence was kind of our, our theme that we’re gonna embody in in 2020. And we talk a lot about in our, in our inner circle, we talk a lot about our weaknesses and our vulnerabilities and insecurities and things like that, that you think a bunch of CEOs and high level leaders are going to jam on. And you’re like, that seems so stupid, like, that’s weird, right? And the fact that we’re watching this and and if you’re if you’re on here, you know, it’s, yeah, he did. 1000 accounts and yeah, he’s managed 5000 accounts and yeah, he’s speaking door to door con and, and all this stuff. That’s cool. And he’s on a podcast, but it’s like, it it like you just did you humanize yourself. So I think a lot of more people, if you’re listening to this might be like, man, I like when I meet Parker. Like, what a cool, dude. I think you’re like, I hope even just just check yourself. If you’re listening right now. Ask yourself, are you more inclined to be more appropriate approach Parker than maybe the last podcast you listened to? You know what I mean? Sure. And that’s the principle of vulnerability. The authenticity is I always tell my leaders, I said, the person in the room that’s the most vulnerable has the most influence. And we often in this industry, think of it as backwards. we flipped that the person wearing the most masks that puts his puffs his chest and puts on a pretty dress and says, Hey, I’m the coolest kid in the room, actually, is missing out on so much potential of influence, because he’s doing that. Sure. Have you seen that in your leadership and in your training, like, because we go back to I just did an interview and Josh is the man like Josh Zuniga just did 1500 cameras. He’s in my mastermind group done multiple podcast, he’s speaking adore to work on another classroom. And I go back to him and I said, the one thing you’re gonna have to learn real quick in order to duplicate yourself as humanize yourself. Yeah. And the fact that you’ve produced top rookies, you have a guy that did 400 and something that, you know, this is one thing I want to talk about is how do we produce top rookies and top reps not just be the top rep because it’s one thing to do 1000 in your office does 1000 and you did 2000 it’s like, that’s cool. You did have the office ball even, you know one dude, as many as 20. Dudes, that’s not that impressive to me. I’m like, that’s, that’s very short live. But I want to talk about this kind of human development by using humanization. And authenticity. What do you think it takes to help get these guys to 600 and something and 400 and something, have this average of 280? Something?
Parker Langeveld 30:31
That Okay, so I think there’s a an array of skills that go into it, and I define them as five major ones. First skill, I think they grow not necessarily always, they don’t always grow vertical out of each other, because you can skip one and then not have the other, but most of the time they’re vertical level one is can you sell, okay? level two that grows out of selling is can you recruit, okay, level three grows out of that is management. To me, management recruiting is let me get you to trust me enough to come out and run this opportunity that can better your future management is actually making that happen. Now, level four that comes out of that, to me is training, okay, not just training, I’m gonna train you how to sell. But now I can train, how to manage, I can train how to recruit. And we can duplicate I can even train How to Train. And then the last level that I don’t think I’m here yet. And when I think there are some people that I look at their mind mentors that I do think are there, I call them visionaries. And essentially what they can do, or you can relate it with Jhansi, Maxwell is by those of leadership and the last one, they can duplicate the whole thing again, and again and again. And they can create the people that can do all of those skills. And that’s what I’m striving to try to get to that point and replicated. So I think, number one, you have to be able to have a story behind yourself, you’re not going to be able to come out and create a top team without selling 150. To sell it, you got to get there first. Why? Because the journey is going to teach you that it isn’t just that you got there. It’s what you learn from the journey to get there, you’re going to get to a 500 different than I’m going to get to 500 you can’t just read a podcast or you know, throw up all these these stats and books that you know we take for it so much nowadays, with as much media is out there. We take him for law and it’s like, but what’s the story behind that? Right. So kind of a Kansan on this, I think that we’re all born with a certain set of weaknesses and strengths. Okay, I think that we can see them you go to a spiritual level, I’m LDS. And so I believe that we spent a large amount of time in the pre mortal world developing who we were and our spirits. And so what do you have was remembering what those are. And the difference is, I need to be able to now convince myself and others that that strength is actually a strength because I put a story behind the strength. And I recognize what those weaknesses aren’t. So that’s what it is, you know, you’re starting to get to that all sudden, first. Okay, now I have a story. I know you. So now what you do is you analyze the story, okay? What I learned was, I’m not gonna, what was I good at what worked here, what didn’t work here. And if you can break that down, and the principles, now I can training, it may not work for everybody, but I can train what it did for me, and I’m authentic with the way I train, I’m not gonna say all these clothes works, that clothes may not work for me, okay, maybe it doesn’t, a lot of people may not be able to sell the way I sell the way that other top rep sell is figured out. And so but I tried it, and I can get out there, what works for me, and some people are gonna vibe with that other people are gonna take some principles that work for them. And guess what, now they’re gonna go on, create their story. And they’re gonna have other principles that work for them that maybe didn’t work for me. And so I’m not the perfect trainer, even though I may have 1000 accounts, there may be guys on my team that did 400 300, they can train certain things better than I can because personality, whatever else they buy into that. So that’s a component and now comes into the training aspect of teams. As it comes to management. Here’s what I believe makes us successful management of a team is nobody’s above the team, there are core principles that you hold yourself to and nobody’s about, I’m not about it, because of what I’ve accomplished, because of my leadership status. You’re not above coming on as a rookie. And we hold ourselves to that standard, because we hold ourselves to a standard rate creates principles that we now all hold each other accountable for. Right. If I know we’d be training early on in the season, I don’t really expect my rookies to learn their pitch in September, I think it’s way early on when the pitch, so when I come train them on the pitch, they’re gonna glean something from that. Yeah. But why do I host the training in September for an hour on one once a week, because it’s the principle behind it, you buy in, you give something just like on the door, if you get a free initial, that customer is more likely to cancel. And if they pay for something, look, you buy in, and you’re held responsible. If you can’t come I’m not going to be a Nazi about it. But you shoot me a text and you tell me I can’t come for this reason. I’ll be there next week. Why? Because it shows them early on. This is the culture you come you participate in the culture. If not, it’s fine. There are other teams out there that may not require that this is what we do. Yeah, we’re the elite. Yeah. And so I think that but the other aspect is I don’t I don’t not hold myself the same standard. We all do them, everybody. We all hold each other responsible and we all look to each other. Nobody is not run as an oligarch he has run as a democracy. You can participate this as much as I can participate in even recruiting comm so now come by The recruiting pieces and I’m kind of all over the place. You know, I’m calling but I’m calling here’s the recruiting aspect of it. A lot of times we have first year to sit in front of us. And you talked about how we recruited 55 guys that year. Was it a story that put those on? Yeah. But the reality of it is I found the six guys that we call are my six horsemen. But I saw a lot of potential and those guys in turn each six guys, okay, that puts us at 40 view. Now there’s been a few more but the reality of it is he a lot of first year is either listening or a lot of maybe first year managers think Well, how do I get these first few guys that recruit, here’s the thing that you don’t get is a lot of people don’t understand is they have more power than I do, in some ways. Because I’m a recruiter, I’m biased. On the summer sales bro on this on this is okay, they’re gonna approach him and say, I’m gonna do this, you’re about if we hit it, I’d love to hit it together. And now it’s more of a parallel recruitment instead of an up and down ladder type deal. And there’s some support there, they can play that role. Everybody can fill a role. And so I think that’s what really comes into, to see value in a team is, nobody’s better than anybody else. We all have certain strengths and weaknesses. And we point to and we don’t hide our weaknesses, because it’s like, Hey, I mean, anybody on my team, ask anybody on my team about one of my weaknesses and what they are, and it can come back to the intensity, right? It can. So sometimes I have to just say, for me, for example, there may be a certain group that I’m like, you know, to be honest, I’m not the one that run the meeting, even though I’m the one that may be the the head or the face of it, I’ll call another guy and say, you got to run this, I can’t run this, because I’m not gonna vibe like you’re going to I’m going to do it. So I think there’s a level of trust that exists here. And so your thoughts are talking about vulnerability and how to create that. I think self awareness is is one of the biggest ones that if somebody is not humble, I can’t do anything for it. And if I’m not humble, I can’t do anything for myself, I have to recognize where I want to get, but there’s a mountain in front of it to get there. And my team is going to help you climb that mountain as well scaling everything together. I mean, hopefully that makes sense. That answers the question with a shotgun answer. But there’s a lot of ideas that are coming real quick that I’m trying to shoot out and say this, what I think kind of helps make a culture of a team. Love that.
Sam Taggart 37:01
And what resonated with me is just that, in order to really plan them out, and you first have to identify what’s the potential like weaknesses, it’s going to stop me from getting to the top, you know what I mean? Yeah, and it’s like, shoot, I know that I already have a sprained ankle. So it’s like, Am I gonna wear an ankle brace? Am I gonna, you know, like, like, you got to think through like, so people are like, Oh, I was brand new. Who cares? Like, I’m just gonna hide that not tell anybody. And then you’re halfway up the mountain. Why do you say something that you had a sprained ankle when you started the idea, right? We want to give you an ankle brace and we want to take the stuff out of your pack. Like, you know what I mean? Like, that’s what’s resonate with me. It’s like, being real and, and, you know, self awareness of like, Where am I currently truly at? Let’s not fake it. Let’s not, you know, I see so many reps or managers that
37:48
already knew 10,000 accounts this year, and we’re gonna this and we’re the best. And that’s like, Well,
Sam Taggart 37:53
are you like, you like, let’s get real do like what you’re only did 500 last year, like, like, let’s talk like from reality, not just say what sounds cool. But let’s be really self aware of like, are we doing the techniques? You know what I mean? The night? Yeah, I resonated a lot with all that.
Parker Langeveld 38:10
So I have one more call on my mind with this before we jump on into whatever’s next. But here’s, here’s the other thing that I think business want to want. I think a lot of business class back when I was in college, the economy, the success of the economy falls back on who I mean, the job creators, a lot of times, I think we should have job creators and those that are the CEOs. That’s not true. job creators in the middle class. 10 times out of 10, everything, fall have middle class, I can have the best business in the world, but who’s working? who’s working? Who’s making it happen? And so I think that a lot of people that listen sometimes Yeah, I think it’s okay, Gary Vaynerchuk something I like to listen to a lot, a lot of his podcasts and one of his biggest things he’s like, if you’re a BP, you’ll be playing, you know, and I think sometimes that we say a B is not as valuable as anything else different. Right? And it’s what I’m saying, if your best summer as you listen to this podcast, you may not be able to go throw out 1000, maybe the most you can do is 300. Are you any less valuable? No, not in any way, shape, or form? here’s, here’s why. Here’s what I’m saying with that is, the success of a team in the summertime, I think depends on those guys. That’s what’s going to get us to the 5000 accounts in that program in the sunrays that middle group, and the top guys, the guys that can kind of put the story behind it, but the real brunt of the of the guys that do it, and the real kudos go to those, those guys that go out there and give everything they can because they’re related. They’re relatable to people. And the other aspect of it is is they create, they create 80% of your culture, in my mind, in my opinion, okay, it’s by the middle on things out there in the summertime. So something else we do in the summer is, as you started talking about elite, one of the things that I hear oftentimes, you know, when we’re gonna lose 10 pounds, 10,000 accounts and sound like you just threw out and you’re like, we’ll get really used to 500 is more and more and more and more and more is not necessarily bigger is always better, because if you’re bigger, you can help more people, but I don’t necessarily know that more is because, like one thing we do at the center is when We’re out the doors at nine o’clock, all the teams preach and they do night trainings. Okay, come over to that we’re done. I’m not going to talk about sales reps. And that’s why you got to reach out to me, you got to come home, you got to be able to feel safe, you got to have your safe spot, there’s two, there’s a performance zone, there’s a safety zone. And if I don’t allow that safety zone to exist, I’m not gonna perform my max. It’s like the person that goes into the gym and says, I’m doing full body every day. You may not work, but you’re not going to result. Yeah, I was a trainer for a number of years when I pitched in, and obviously, pull the world record deadlift. And so I know what I’m talking about with that. And the reality is, no, you gotta, you need to understand the program and stick to it. And so I think that was a huge component of something that we integrated into the offseason and in the summertime is, you know, enough is enough. And now the rest of time, let’s just be honest, let’s be let’s be real with each other, let’s, let’s come home, let’s just hang out, let’s feel safe. I mean, I think one big component is a lot of single guys to go out in the summertime. If you’re married, you have a huge support system, you have your wife, you’re going to come home and feel safe. A lot of single guys, you don’t have a family out there, you don’t have anything else. And so how do they feel safe? If you come home? You’re harping on sales all day long, and you’re hitting up the guy that sold eight 910 accounts and you did 15? And then what about the guy who sold three? What about the guy that consistently has to give a shout out, Greg is gonna feel good for a second. But if all it ever is about sales, he’s naturally gonna feel inadequate is he know, I don’t want to bring the success of the team. But you got to allow them to come back and feel safe and have the safety element to a team. And so I think that’s another big component of building a championship team is you don’t necessarily always have to integrate every idea you have. You say yes to a few things, a few few key things and the rest, it’s okay to say no to
Sam Taggart 41:35
love this. And this is such a new concept that I don’t think I’ve ever talked about on a podcast. And it is so true. Because it’s like, we always highlight the top 1% I’m interviewing that I don’t interview the 300 do count guy. But there’s so many more 300 accounting guys out there that make up this industry. Yeah, then the guys, I interview 100%. And there’s so vital to the success of every one of those companies out there. And, you know, I’m not saying they can’t become the 1000 account guy. Sure. But they a lot of times get discouraged saying, well, I’ll never be that. Or maybe I’m not as valuable. What if I just left and got a different job or what I even would even notice because you don’t I mean, and I think that I want to give kudos to that and like that section of this industry. Like, I need to do a better job at that. So that was that was awesome. We got to wrap up for time sake. But are you excited for door to door con? Like what would you tell anybody that’s like, on the fence? It’s like Why? Why would they go? Why? Why go? What what are you excited about?
Parker Langeveld 42:43
Here’s the biggest thing number one, the family one thing, a lot of times in this space you hear about guys and other companies and we naturally have either a liking or a vendetta for them because we’re recruiting against each other. And you hear just like I said earlier, the reputation not necessarily the character. Cool thing about door con is it’s going to open up a space that allows us to go in and drop those walls. And the way that you’ve created it is is in the recruiting space, it isn’t the you know, macho me flex my muscles what it is, is you’re going to step in, you’re going to get to see the character some some guys on any level of 300 level reps with the guys bid 1000 you’re going to get to see really the mechanics at what takes and makes it work to be able to build championship teams and to be able to build your championship you and Paul the principles that you want to have to be able to make that happen and so I I’m stoked for that reason. I’m so good. I’m gonna go network with them so to the MLS there. He’s super fantastic. But I’m stoked to the guy that sold 250 that tells me about his journey in the same time that all sudden I learned something and I’m like, I learned just as much from him I did from my lab, because now there is no, there’s no walls. And so yeah, if you’re not going to go door to column, I encourage you to do something like that. Because the reality is, is you’re going to step into a space where we all drop walls, we try to learn from each other and we try to make the better one of the industry that’s ultimately gonna make the better one of you and I think that’s what it’s all about.
Sam Taggart 43:55
Love it. Love it. Thank you so much for the support, obviously, taking the time to come down here and speak and do this podcast and I’m excited to get to know you over the next year. So I did this. This will be fun. Much love. I hope you guys got some value out of this. If you did, share this give Parker some love. Give it a little thumbs up or something. And this was awesome. I’m out
