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Sam Taggart 00:59
Hey, everybody, this is Sam Taggart. I’m here with Laura Beth Garza in Austin, Texas. We are live and today we’re gonna be talking about competitiveness. Okay. And I kind of you know, we jammed offline before this for a little bit. And I feel like just getting to know you your Taekwondo Did you say like all star from seven to 12. And that like interests me and of itself, I got my white belt. So I’m like, proud of that. I was like, five. But now you have become top rookie rep in history for skyline security. Okay, your 200 plus accounts security. You’re on track to do 250 this year. And it’s your first year ever? Correct? Which I feel like I’m like, Well, I want to see who how you unlock the bees next year and go three 400 and the one of the few female golden door winners that’s like, the cream of the cream. Right? So if you guys are listening to this, whether you’re, you know, just figuring it out in your first year, I mean, this would be relatable because she’s been through, you know, a lot of the first year ups and downs, I’m assuming COVID COVID. She started literally in March of COVID. Exactly. And yeah, I think that there’s a lot of unpack. So thank you so much for being on the show. And thank you for having me. I’m pumped. So how did you so this isn’t your first order our job though. So we can’t technically say you were a rookie. You did power home remodeling, which is a beast of a sales force, a big behemoth remodeling, a home improvement company 100%. How long did you do that for?

Laura Beth Garza 02:41
So the door to door part of it? Not very long, I would say maybe like a month to a month and a half. I got promoted to be in their sales division a lead. Right. Exactly.

Sam Taggart 02:53
We hope they send you a lead and close it. Exactly. So just a short time then you were just closing deals. Have you done sales before the

Laura Beth Garza 03:02
I’ve been doing sales since as far back as I can remember really. When I was around 18 I was a marketing director for a chiropractic clinic started with marketing. And then right around 2021 I started doing sales and brand ambassadors for a lot of liquor companies. And then with that it opened the doors to helping some of the really big just distributors down in South Texas and I started with glaciers. They there and then they brought me over to the Austin market where I also became the district sales manager for their sales division in Austin. So been doing sales for quite a long time. And then after that, I even helped open a studio for orange theory fitness and I was your sales manager for them as well. They offered me a corporate sales position before I went to power so

Sam Taggart 04:00
interesting. Okay, so you’re saying this backwards when most people start right? Yeah, these corporate big names Glaser, you got orange theory, you’ve got marketing director at a Chiropractic Center you’ve got you know, that sounds way cooler than rookie First Year Door to Door sales woman. Right like, I’m sure mom’s super proud. Like, oh, you fell into door to like, Where did things go? Like, is that gone through your head at all?

Laura Beth Garza 04:31
Um, when I first got interviewed I it’s like I told you before we started talking it’s it’s not the most glamorous, you know, job that a lot of people think it to be, you know,

Sam Taggart 04:42
you interviewed for the door to door job. It wasn’t like please, we need another boss.

Laura Beth Garza 04:50
I went and I spoke to Nico and he kind of just told me about you know the ins and outs of it and obviously being a girl. You don’t see a lot of door to door people in the industry. So You think it’s not very glamorous? Not really say if you’re, you know, walking in the neighborhood knocking on stranger’s doors in the state of Texas heat, you know,

Sam Taggart 05:10
buy it or like Sign me up or like Nico’s kind of cute fun. That’s, which was the two I’m thinking. Now, no, no, um,

Laura Beth Garza 05:21
He kind of just talked to me about the pay structure and you know how you are able to grow with the company so quickly if you really put your hustle into it. And that’s kind of what drew me to the job. You know, I’m, I’ve always been a hustler. From the very beginning. Since I was a little kid I, like we talked about before, I’ve always been in competition with myself. And he kind of just sold me on the job. And ever since then, you know, it’s been a little bit over six months. And, you know, going from being Rookie of the Year now to having a team underneath me and trying to make that and just as successful if not more than I am. That’s my main focus right now. So

Sam Taggart 05:59
that is awesome. I mean, you threw in two today. Yeah. So let’s so you go and say, let’s start this door to door thing COVID hits you what was kind of your first week like, you know, it wasn’t like you had this massive background in door to door, you’ve had some sales experience? Did you pick it up quickly? Or did you get face kicked in for a while, like, how is the

Laura Beth Garza 06:20
so the way it worked, I mean, obviously, coming from power, we had a pitch to learn as well and you know, rebuttals to do and deal with, you know, the resistance. So that really helped coming to this industry. We also have a pitch here that was taught, you know, Pat and Nico have the process down pat.

Sam Taggart 06:40
Hey, guys use the university got some of the videos

Laura Beth Garza 06:44
They actually did was one of the ones that saw most of those videos. But they have the process down pat, you know, they teach you the pitch and the rebuttals and what to expect when they go out with you. And they give you that one on one training that you really you know, need, and they shadow you. And you shadow them just so that you’re not out on your own. They don’t just say hey, you know, go into this neighborhood and go so they actually take the time and they care about you. And they you obviously want you to

Sam Taggart 07:17
show that to Nico and to

Laura Beth Garza 07:19
Yep. And obviously, we have a really good sales tech team with Carlos media leading us. So they are the powerhouse. They’re our foundation. And they’re the reason that we are probably the leading team in our industry. So that’s awesome.

Sam Taggart 07:33
So you start and so had a pretty good success from the get go, like how would you do your first week,

Laura Beth Garza 07:41
Kind of like I said, it was in March like COVID hit i think i think i got maybe five or six my first week, it wasn’t anything too big and then kind of just stopped for a few weeks. So that’s when Austin really shut down. And then I got the opportunity to go to Arkansas in mid April, my birthday weekend. And that’s where my life kind of changed a little bit. You know, we started in Little Rock. And then from Little Rock, we went to all the radio, stayed in a house with Nikko, Pat and Jordan bossy, who is also one of our leaders now, so great job with him. And that’s kind of where there was an energy shift. You know, when you’re in a house with the best of the industry like Pat and Nico, you just, there’s no other way, you know, to go. But like be successful. You’re around successful people. You want to be successful. And it just, it motivates you to kind of level up. Yeah, and you just have a different level every time. What was your best week coming up with that? I’m in Eldorado I think it was 17. I was going for 20 slot that week. But a tornado hit Eldorado. So the last day when I was trying to go for the last three, there were sirens going off. And I was like, yeah, so that didn’t happen. And then we did another little trip to Texarkana. And that’s where I hit my first 20 spot. And you know, it’s just been a game changer ever since then.

Sam Taggart 09:08
That’s awesome. So holds the rookie best week, the rookie best month, the rookie best year. And I’ll be honest, my first year, I think my best week, and I don’t think I even got installed. I think I got 16 sales and maybe 14 got installed. I mean, that’s impressive. All 22 I can say God wanted to 22 it took me till year three or four to get a 20 spot like that’s, that’s a big deal, by the way. And I think a lot of people don’t realize like, some people underestimate how a rookie can perform. And they think, Oh, I’m not eligible for a 20 spot. My first year that comes my third year or once I’ve been doing this for a long time, I’m worthy of the 20 spot or whatever the big week is in your industry. If it’s roofing it’s a 20 spot or whatever, you know, I like whatever that means to you, right? And so you said something that was very, you said two things I want to jam on. One of them is the environment in which you surrounded yourself with that was a big turning point for you. Yeah. How big of a deal? Do you feel like it is having mentors, coaches, batty hitters around you like what differences that make versus just kind of being a lone wolf and figuring it

Laura Beth Garza 10:25
The leadership that you’re surrounded by, and the work culture that you’re surrounded by is what makes it successful, you know, not just sales consultant, but a team. And like, I think that that’s why we are the leading team in the industry. Because I have mentors like Edwin, and then I have, you know, leaders like Pat and Nico and Carlos as the foundation and because they’re always, you know, striving for us to be better. And they’re always, you know, setting a new level of expectations. When you have everyone on the team, you know, hitting above six a week, you know, you don’t expect anything that less than six a week, and then you start seeing people make 10 a week, and then you’re like, Okay, well, that’s where I’m going to be or that’s the lowest part I’m going to be in then you start seeing people do 15 and 20. And then you’re, you’re you know, you’re you’re leveling up every single time. So with our group, like, there’s always going to be those successful people because you’re surrounded by those successful people. So it’s just an energy that you’re

Sam Taggart 11:25
getting, and you’ve been able to also reciprocate downward to people you’ve brought on. You had a girl that started in July, yeah, started over 100 accounts. Exactly.

Laura Beth Garza 11:34
So now I’ve actually been blessed to be able to train a team underneath me and to you know, just be as successful and hopefully soon more successful than I am. You know, Emily Kane started in July. So she’s brand new to our squad. She’s going to be hitting you know, her 100 account before the month ends. So,

Sam Taggart 11:55
so from an income level, just perspective, what that’s, I don’t know. 60 grand? 70 Grand 50 Grand 100 100 counts? Yeah. Just about? Yeah, I mean, depending on the account, right, but like, I’d say, like averaging maybe 4k a week. Yeah, I mean, like, changed her life, I’m assuming.

Laura Beth Garza 12:14
Yeah. So she came from the corporate world. She actually sewed sold Edwin his Rams tickets. So his brand seats. Yeah. So she comes from that industry. owner of the company,

Sam Taggart 12:25
says, girl, you need to come work for me. You’re good. sells her on doing door to door guys. One the owners recruiting tip owners need to get back in the recruiting game. Yeah, to corporate world sales, sexy ram sales chick. And he says, quit that. Let’s do door to door sales.

Laura Beth Garza 12:44
So some of the benefits of doing door to door is I mean, coming from that corporate world. It takes you weeks, sometimes months to make a sale. So you have to work at it constantly. And even at that you’re not getting that pay turned around right away. You have to wait for that. with us. You know, you’re making a sale, you’re getting it installed the same day, and you’re getting paid for it the next week, getting a paycheck every single Friday, as opposed to having to wait for that. Yeah. So there’s, there’s a lot of rewards in doing door to door sounds

Sam Taggart 13:14
contagious and that cultural energy. What happens when somebody is like, not catching on to the energy that vibe that culture? Have you had any people come in and just like, the bad apples, and

Laura Beth Garza 13:27
Honestly, that’s about a mindset, if you come in with a negative mindset, then you’re not going to make it in this industry at all. Because everyone around you has that positive energy in that positive mindset. And as always, at that level, and if you don’t find yourself there, and you’re always just in a negative state, you’re not making

13:46
the name of the game.

Sam Taggart 13:47
So then you said something earlier about I was always so competitive with myself. You talked about doing Taekwondo, then you got into dance. You were a web team captain and one of the best in the high school and talks about you did this and sales and this and sales. I want to know because because if you’re listening to this, or you’re watching this what happens? Some people are really competitive with others. They’re like, I’m gonna beat you. down on you. Some people really competitive with themselves. What’s the difference in pros and cons? And the two types of competitiveness is that you see, and you’ve obviously say, I gravitate more to like the Caravelle. Yeah, so

Laura Beth Garza 14:25
Um, I think the pro of me being in competition with myself, is that I’m always trying to level up like yes, I am in competition in the sense with like, the last year rookie numbers, but it’s more so proving to myself that I can do it, and I can surpass it.

Sam Taggart 14:44
Last year’s best rookie was what was key doddridge he actually trained me so I went out with him. I avoided the one that took me out week one. But he did he do

Laura Beth Garza 14:57
As far as I count in a week. In total, I think and I’m sorry, he said, I get this wrong. It was around 155.

Sam Taggart 15:06
Okay, cool. So she’s guessing one, and she doesn’t care as much. Number two, if you were competitive with him you would have done How many? Are 56? Most likely? Yeah. Does that

15:17
makes sense? Exactly.

Sam Taggart 15:19
So the problem with being competitive with others, is you’re going to rise just above to wherever the environment asks you to rise to. So if you’re in a culture or an environment where only the the average or the best is doing 10 in a week, you’d be doing 11. Because you’re like, I just want to be the best. The problem is, is that didn’t extract the 22 spot out of you? Yeah. See, I’m getting by being competitive with yourself, you’re now on track to go do 250? Where did that even come from? Just consistency. Exactly. Yeah. I love that. So what other benefits come with this self competitiveness.

Laura Beth Garza 16:00
Just honestly, like my main goal this year, and having the self competitiveness, I think it just drives me and motivates me not just to, to make myself better, but to make others just as good as me. And to me, that’s one of the biggest things that I take from this and everyone that you speak to, you know, in our industry, and in my team will always say that I have the biggest heart. And I will do anything for any of my reps, you know, as long as it is going to lead to them succeeding, you know, whatever it takes love that.

Sam Taggart 16:35
That’s such a big attitude as a leader. And you know, it’s interesting, like even Edwin, I’ll give him a shout out if he wasn’t listening to this. But he, the fact that I still see him as the owner with hundreds of reps, getting on every zoom call every week, doing the coaching the leadership getting in the trenches, like you don’t I mean, like, I think that there’s a cultural passed down from the top all the way down to the bottom that have, I watched him saying, I will do anything like I’m doing a he’s on Facebook Live at 1030 at night, like, support one of his reps, like just saying, like, he doesn’t have to be on this, he does act like like that. Energy, that example that he’s done, then pat and Nico pass to you, then you’re now passing to Emily. And then she’s gonna pass on to Who knows? Who is such an important cultural principle that I think a lot of companies are missing?

Laura Beth Garza 17:26
Yeah, I think that’s very rare to find in any industry, you know, having people that actually care about your success and care about, you know, getting you to the next level.

Sam Taggart 17:37
So, now, let’s talk about women in the industry. So, you know, I, one, you’re the top rookie, not just female rookie, not just x, y, z, like rookie, like, boom, I don’t care. Like, I think a lot of people, they say, well, there’s like, boys football and girl. There’s boys soccer, and there’s girls soccer. I don’t think there’s boys and girls leads in door to door, but I just didn’t like it doesn’t apply. But I think the problem is, is because there’s been such a strong imbalance of population of men versus female in door to door, they naturally created dissidents as if it were boys versus girls. Does that make sense? Which I think is a cultural conundrum. And I think it’s actually pushing away a huge pool of recruits a huge pool of opportunity, because it’s misconstrued in our industry, who this job is meant for.

Laura Beth Garza 18:32
Exactly. I’ve even had some people reach out to me on Facebook and say, you know, you’re one of the reasons that I really am looking to get into the door to door industry, because all I see is males, you know, succeeding in this industry. And I’ve never really seen any females succeed. So they are really scared to even approach the idea of coming into door to doors. And you know, women actually have a lot of advantages when it comes to door to door sales, you know, that, that whole, it’s not a glamorous thing or it’s unsafe, is far from true. You’re never put in a situation or you’re never made to knock on a door when you’re, you know, not feeling comfortable. If somebody opens a door and you get a bad vibe from them. Walk away. No one’s forcing you to stay there. You know, you’re in control the entire time. You know, you could always even if you need to share your location with your managers and things like that, just to kind of give you that extra safe

Sam Taggart 19:25
feeling during kind of pepper spray, taser. Weird. I

Laura Beth Garza 19:27
do have a gun gun in my car to run there, you know, but that’s just me. Having that protective father that have always has always raised me to cotton it is.

Sam Taggart 19:37
I didn’t know. I was at my little sister sold. She sold Remington Tonio. Yeah. So next question. What do you feel are maybe some of the advantages that people underestimate of being a female on the doors that you now can leverage?

Laura Beth Garza 19:55
One of the biggest advantages to being a female in the door door industry is that Guys, when approaching a door can be a bit intimidating to some people, especially if it’s like a single female homeowner, or a female that her husband is at home at the time, you know, and then obviously COVID is going on right now. So that you know that that caution rate is like really high. approaching a door, a lot of the times I get, I’ve been knocked on my door by a lot of people, but you looked nice, or you seem nice. So I open the door. And that’s how I get the sale. So there’s a lot of advantages to being ever said that to me, by the way.

Sam Taggart 20:37
Oh, get it. Really cool.

Laura Beth Garza 20:40
No, you seem really nice. They’re like, you know, like, you’re safe. But the lie Oh, really? Cuz, you know, I, especially some of the guys on our team, like, you know, Pat, you both? Yeah, you know, really, if you can get intimidated by someone like that. So I’ve heard several times where they’ve had people knock on their door, and they’re like, we’ve kind of peeked and you look, you know, like, I wasn’t intimidating to them. So they opened the door and got the sale.

Sam Taggart 21:05
So there’s a lot of energies in selling. And I think that this is interesting, there’s a feminine and the masculine energy, the man needs to bring out some feminine and certain Sally’s situations. And the women that started this job sometimes need to tap into some masculine Act, or else they’re gonna get walked all over. And they’re gonna go and be like, be aggressive. Let’s close some deals. Exactly. So that’s the masculine, it’s like the competitive, aggressive, assertive, we’re doing this now, I’m not going to be like, fine, okay, I’ll just swing back by feminine energy has so much power in a sales situation. Talk to me about that.

Laura Beth Garza 21:40
So, honestly, kind of getting that balance that you’re saying, every single door that you approach, you kind of have to approach differently. And what I mean by that is, your tonality has to change with everyone. When you’re talking to someone who’s a lot older, obviously, you can go and be in their face, and bubbly and yellow, like high energy, because somebody who’s a little older, you want to, you know, approach little, you know, calm and nicely and talk slower to them, and not really be that bubbly person, when it’s someone younger than you can approach with that, you know, different tonality, where you’re bubbly, and you’re, you know, talking about different things. But as far as the masculine feminine, it kind of plays into that tonality role where you kind of have to adjust it based on the situation that you get at the door.

Sam Taggart 22:28
Yeah, because that feminine energy has the ability to connect, to empathize, exactly. have compassion. And so when you’re able to say, Hey, I can put myself in their shoes and play to their needs and wants right now, because you’re that you’re like, how do I connect with you, ma’am? Because I’m here. And they’re like, wow, I really liked like, really enjoyed this conversation. Like I could talk to you all day. They do. Like, the last thing I want to do is converse with you, I just want to make money and I want to sell you and I want to win and I want to, like get this done. And sometimes that that’s an off putting energy for a consumer to be navigated through, right. So the man needs to say, How do I say get off your high horse for a second be a friend build this like, let’s talk about life for a minute. Oh, what were we doing? We’re signing this. Yeah. Totally forgot. We just got to get an okay here and 20 minute tangent about Hawaii anyway, so. So I found myself being that gap, like Gabby gossipy kind of girl in the hair salon version of Sam, which you know that that’s a feminine type of thing. And you have to cater to your customer? Yes. And they needed me to do that for 10 minutes for him. Just to feel this level of trust. Right to drop their guard. Yeah. If I would have gone straight man power, they would have been like, Alright, here’s the facts. Figures. Let’s go through it. Do you have any questions now? Understood? Yes. Let’s do this. No. Okay. Let’s do this. Yes. Okay. Yeah, I mean, it’s very much like we want to just be methodical to the point, let’s move on. And it’s all an objective versus how do we be more human human? Exactly. And I think that that natural feminine element of feminine people like females tend to naturally have that and I’m jealous. Practice. Really? Yeah, like and and I think I’m, I remember so I’ll, I’ll confess my sin, you’re gonna be like, my first two years managing I wouldn’t let girls on my team. Okay, I had this misconception if I had a female on my team, that they would just get in a relationship trouble with my males on the team. I was like, I don’t want no drama, no drama. And finally, a girl calls me from a different team and she’s like, I want to be on your team. Sam. I love that you train and you’re bad and I seem like your culture sick. I was like, My culture of men Yeah. Like please, please. I was like, free. Okay, so let this girl on the team, she did date four of the dude’s my nightmare came true. But she also outsold almost every one of them. Suddenly, don’t even Virginia, in your area, and she’ll frickin throw it out Mind you, like, don’t let you embarrass you with her. Like, I used her as my like tool. So then I was like, maybe I hire more females you gave it. I was like, despite the drama, and the fact that it was really awkward and correlation meetings when I saw you sitting next to new dude. So I had to have conversation like, aren’t you stop asking questions, but that’s beside the point. And that’s not every girl in every office. Not every girl was like that. Long story short. The next year, I had like, 1010 females. And that was like, that was like my mission. I was like, Okay, let’s have a bad day like female section.

Laura Beth Garza 25:54
And honestly, that’s one of my missions, too. I do have both male and females on my team. But I also do want to build a badass female squad, because this industry doesn’t have that. And no,

Sam Taggart 26:05
it’s like one team of Avengers. Like, think of like, Miss Captain America is just like, cruising around. like throwing down every number. It’s like girl power. Like, you know, I just I think that it’s like this missing squad of like, if it had a majority female team then just like, it was like, you’re like the odd Dude, that’s like, I feel like I missed it in here. Like, I want to see a team like that. And yet Have I ever seen it? Yeah. Which is like sad. So please follow me on Instagram. And I would love to, to witness at door to door con or some kind of works. I know Alex, our directors putting a female workshop together. Last year did a female workshop in New York on it is something that we’re very cognizant of. But we also don’t want to be like, they’re like their alien ate them and like, make them weird. Like, it’s like, no, like, we just want to empower them and talk to our women. Yeah, yeah. Like, I can’t relate. Like, I don’t know what it’s like to get hit on the one time we got hit on. She was kind of weird, though. She’s like, very old. You know? I mean, like, very rarely, like, but I’m sure it’s like a common thing for you like something you do we do. We’ll do we deal with different things, you do things and I can’t sit there and coach you around. So I think there’s an element of we need women empowerment of women, we need people advocating to mature up the male culture in our industry a little bit. Meaning some of the things that we probably do and say in our office is a little bit kind of locker room talk. I’m sitting there like, Okay, if my mission is to unify up level bring honor and integrity to the door space. And that is my mission. Yeah. I should probably be like, Guys, let’s let’s correct this a little bit. One or two? There’s a long process. But that’s my mission. Yeah. So I want you to, and I’m here to support you. And if you have people that are like, these guys aren’t doing it. So anyway, any other advice that you’d add to the audience, like any advice for door to door, things that you’re just like, I want to throw this?

Laura Beth Garza 28:27
I don’t know. I mean, I guess something that would make a good sales rep. few different things, obviously, put in the work. put in the hours, nothing in life worth it will ever come easy. You have to go through the good, the bad, the ups and the downs, in order to level up in any industry, you know, like you mentioned, and like we said earlier, surround yourself with leaders and mentors that will always help you succeed and people that you look up to, because you’re going to feed off their energy and you’re going to be, you know, successful as well. And it’s going to force you and motivate you to reach the next level.

Sam Taggart 29:05
Post goes on everything pays. Too many people in this industry, they chase $1 they chase shiny objects, when they should be chasing what you just said, an environment that’s going to create the greatness out of them. Exactly. Exactly. That’s perfect. Thank you so much for being on the show. This was a pleasure. It’s fun to meet you. You know, we connected who knows how long ago? It was like you’re on the show. Yeah, for sure. And I was like I like doing in person. We do it when I’m in Austin one day. Last time. We tried. We tried back Yeah, I’m all over the place. Who knows where I’m going next. But if you guys got some value out of this, you know, share this. Give Laura some love and drop a comment or something and maybe a review on the apple podcast or wherever you’re listening to this. We really appreciate those and Just so you guys know tickets ourselves for so dork on comm January 8 and ninth don’t miss out tickets are sold out fast like we’ll sell that thing out in December so don’t miss Mr. Spider is going to have like a ton of people there last year that you weren’t even like indoor that’s hope see how in January anyway so much love guys bye