Leah Bumphrey:
Hello, everybody. I am Dennis Collins. Oh, I’m kidding. You know that I’m not Dennis Collins. And we do not use teleprompters when we are creating this. I’m Leah Bumphrey with my partner in crime, Dennis Collins. Hey, Dennis.

Dennis Collins:
Oh. Hi, I’m Leah Bumphrey.

Leah Bumphrey:
You know, we were talking with producer Paul, and we’ve decided to switch things up and have a little bit of fun this morning. So away we go. I am going to be taking the chair that normally Dennis sits in, even though I’m up here in Canada. And away we go. We have, I think, a really fun episode for everybody to watch and listen to today.

Dennis Collins:
Yes, it’s intriguing. I love your title. “Know when it’s time to feed the ducks.”

Leah Bumphrey:
I thought that might get your attention.

Dennis Collins:
What could that possibly mean? I can’t wait to get into this. I want to know about when I should feed my ducks.

Leah Bumphrey:
It’s true. It’s an important thing. And ducks can be stinky. There was actually a time when one of my kids in their classroom, they had little ducklings that they raised in the classroom. Can you believe they had one of those little paddling pools? And it was for a park here in the city that then would take the ducks. And so schools would take their time doing that.

But it was not fun. In real life, when you’re feeding a duck, it means something a little bit different for purposes of our Connect and Convert podcast.

Dennis Collins:
I can’t wait.

Leah Bumphrey:
As you know, Dennis, we are always about trying to help small businesses to grow and to grow faster with the information that we’re able to give them. We’re about helping business people grow. So that’s where this idea comes from.

Dennis Collins:
I’m all ears. Tell me.

Leah Bumphrey:
We know that people, when they own their own business or they’re working their own business, there’s a lot of work and there’s a lot of depth that goes into creating what it is people do.

It gives a lot of flexibility and options. And that’s why sometimes people do that. They don’t want to work for someone else. They don’t want to have a traditional nine to five job. I had it described to me as working the 24 hour clock. And sometimes it’s literally, we know this from people that we work with. Sometimes it’s literally working 24 hours a day as you’re getting a business off the ground, as you’re learning sales, as you’re moving forward in your position. But when you have all this flexibility, there’s a lot of responsibility that comes along with that.

Dennis Collins:
Boy. There’s an old saying that somebody told me once that may be appropriate here. With the ring comes the curse. So the ring being you are now your own small business. You have all this flexibility, but yet with the ring comes the curse. Maybe that’s what you’re talking about, Leah.

Leah Bumphrey:
Absolutely. That is very true. And keeping ahead of it, not everybody in the world is able to go to school and get a great education to be able to pursue a dream. Not everyone is in a position where they can find a dream job where they’re able to work and have a family life balance. But there are so many opportunities, as you know, from your career, as I know from here in Canada, where people can create sales jobs. And sometimes they’re not creating those sales jobs. They’re working their own business on behalf of someone else’s business.

It may be a brick and mortar business or it could be something like a multi-level marketing business where they are creating, you know, home-to-home or direct consumer opportunities. Think of, you know, there’s everything from Avon to Mary Kay to people have done the Amway thing, but people work really hard to be able to create an above average income. They’re hardworking.  Maybe they’re working as a salesperson for another business. But for whatever reason, they are recognizing that sales gives an opportunity for an above average income and above average flexibility.

Dennis Collins:
It’s one of the highest paying professions anywhere. And a lot of people do it full time. Some people do it part time. But the people who are good at it can make a very handsome income.

Leah Bumphrey:
I know from my own experience as a woman wanting to create an above average income, when I first broke into sales, it was very difficult. I didn’t have the formal education that many people did. That got poo-pooed in certain corners. It also was in certain industries, very male dominated and that never scared me. But it is something that you have to be aware of. I always want to encourage people, particularly young parents, moms or dads, to be able to have the flexibility to have actually time with their kids and still be able to make a living. I remember when I was finally hired by a company, this is where the feed the duck story comes from Dennis.

I was finally hired by a company to be in a sales training position and there were six of us hired. And they told us in the initial training, look to the right, look to the left. Out of the six of you, there’s going to be two standing inside of three months, and after the end of six months, there’s going to be one. And I decided that one was going to be me. I was going to be doing whatever they said to do, that’s what I was going to be doing. We have this one extremely colorful trainer. So you got to remember I’m in Canada’s equivalent of the Midwest. I’m out in on the prairies, small midwestern city. The trainer came from Toronto and he was a gentleman. He had been retired from the company, but he was kept on as a consultant. He was on his third marriage. He would have been in his early to mid seventies.

His current wife was not in her mid seventies and he was just full of love for what was possible with sales and what he had accomplished and what was possible. So he was going through some of the, you know, the, this was in the eighties, so it’s the features and benefits style of training, but he also was a great storyteller and you would have appreciated that part of him, Dennis. And he had a real heart to heart with this group of six of us. And he said, you know what? There are days when you’re not going to want to do the cold calls.

There are days when you are not going to want to go and see that client or fill up that paperwork, fill out that paperwork or train yourself on whatever needs to be trained on, whatever you should be training on. And that’s okay because that’s part of the goodness that is sales. When you have a day like that, you just designate that as a feed the duck day. You go and he says, I actually literally used to do that. I go down to the park in downtown Toronto and I get the popcorn and I’m feeding the ducks. But what you have to remember is when you decide that’s a feed the duck day, that’s a day that you’re not doing the stuff you’re supposed to be doing. Don’t pretend that you’re doing it. Admit it at least to yourself, admit that you are taking that day, do it unapologetically. But then that next day you get back to work and you do what needs to be done.

Now Dennis, you have had a lot of sales people work for you. Am I telling you the truth that sometimes that happens or?

Dennis Collins:
Well, of course. I mean, you know, the word multitask comes to my mind instantly. That in this day and age back when I broke into sales, we didn’t have the smartphones and all the gadgets and stuff that we have today. But in today’s age, there is some expectation that you have 24 seven availability. Unfortunately as a manager, I fed that because I often returned emails at four o’clock in the morning because that was the time I did it. And it gave the wrong message to some of my people that I expected them to respond at four o’clock in the morning or Saturday and Sunday. I didn’t have hours, you know, when I felt the need to do something, I did it even though I didn’t own the business at that time. But I felt I acted as if I owned the business. You know, I as the boss kind of fed the fact that you need to be on duty at all times, which wasn’t my intent, but I can understand how it was perceived.

Leah Bumphrey:
And you know what? That is the reality, especially as you say, with smartphones and all the tools, I call it my electronic leash sometimes when I’m having or when you are having one of those days when you’ve decided not to not you’re just not you’re just going to take that day. Maybe you’re going to spend the day with your kids. Maybe you’re going to clean out a closet. Maybe you are going to take time with your parents. That’s all fine.

But if you do it every day, you do it a couple of days in a row. Let’s be honest. That’s not a feeding the duck day. That’s a feeding the duck career. Get a different job because you can’t do sales like that. You can’t own a business like that.

Dennis Collins:
I won’t mention names, but I had people, unfortunately, from time to time who fed the ducks every day, or I don’t know what they were doing. I guess they were feeding the ducks, but they weren’t working. I guess everything’s a blend, isn’t it?

It’s a blend. I mean, so your point is to take the day and just take it and do it. And I totally agree with that. Boy, isn’t that hard in today’s day and age? I mean, it is just hard to take a day. I mean, even when you’re traveling on vacation, I mean, the curiosity, whatever, I got to check my email. I got to see who called. I mean, it’s tough. Wouldn’t you agree?

Leah Bumphrey:
It is. And it may not be even feeding the ducks for a day. Maybe you’re taking an hour. You need to have recharge time. You absolutely need to do it. You need to acknowledge that your life is about business and about sales and about your career. But it’s also about family. It’s also about yourself.

I had a great sales manager. She was a very strong female sales manager. And she really advocated for the 24 hour clock. Because if you wanted to go see your kids perform in the play, the school play at three o’clock in the afternoon, put that in your calendar and go. But then do your emails at four. Maybe don’t send them till six. But do what you can when you can. Do it when it’s possible. This idea of work being between eight and five, that’s not why you’re in business for yourself. And if you think that you can do business or sales in an eight hour day, then again, go back to school, find another job, do something different. Because that responsibility that comes from the flexibility is huge. You have to do what you have to do, even if it’s not in a traditional time.

Dennis Collins:
Boy, this is a double edged sword, isn’t it? It cuts two ways. You feel, I’m my own boss now. I’m running my own business. And yet that doesn’t really free you. That only gives you more responsibility to be available almost on a 24-7 basis. But I love the concept of taking the day.

But sometimes when you go off the grid, the world out there doesn’t think too favorably about that. Have you noticed that?

Leah Bumphrey:
You have to be strategic. You absolutely have to.

That brings me to our breakout challenge for this week. Spend time tracking how many hours you’re working. Not the pretend working where you’re scrolling, where you’re checking your newsfeed, where oh, I’m going to do a quick look at my socials. No, not that. Not this pretend part of work.

But when are you really doing the cold calls, getting back to clients, creating pitches, working with vendors? How much time are you spending? And be honest with yourself. This is not something that you’re going to be feeding back to your manager or to me or to Dennis. For yourself, take a look at it. Because if you are not taking a look honestly at how much time you’re spending working, you’re going to be setting yourself up for trouble.

Dennis Collins:
That’s great advice, isn’t it? Great advice to actually log it. I think that would be very revealing. Because the temptation is when you’re working electronically, the temptation is to dive into some personal project, some social, some personal emails.

I find myself doing that. And the best times that I’ve had in focusing on work is when I have been in almost like a forced environment where I have to do something in this period of time. To set a period of time and say, just do it. And then be able to walk away at the end of that feeling that you accomplished what you needed to accomplish.

Leah Bumphrey:
And that’s a huge strategy. And I think that’s something that we’re going to have to come back to.

Paul Boomer:
I have to interrupt. Sorry. It’s just the law. I mean, I’m following the law. I actually have two comments.

One question, one comment. I’m going to start with the comment first. The idea of having a podcast specifically about the idea of time blocking and such really intrigues me because personally, I suffer from ADD, not ADHD. There is a difference, but I do have ADD and a learning disability. And that affects very much of how I work and what I do.

And I’ve learned so many different techniques to go through these things. And I’d love to actually have and be part of that with you guys. Just from that perspective, because it is a very different perspective. By the way, I’m actually thinking of another podcast, like a whole other subject.

Leah Bumphrey:
Are you multitasking even as you’re talking to us both?

Paul Boomer:
Oh, me? No. The other thing is, my question for both of you is, do you have any books or material that you would recommend for anybody to at least glance at that might help them understand even more about feeding their ducks?

Dennis Collins:
Hmm, you asked me that and I want to answer yes, because I’m sure I do back here in the library, but I can’t give it to you right off the top of my head.

Leah Bumphrey:
Maybe there’s one, there’s one that I would recommend, but it’s kind of a scary one for me. It’s called The Power of One. And it kind of messed me up a little because it was… I’m a little bit like you, Paul, in that I need to have strategies to keep me on track on a whole bunch of stuff. Otherwise, if I can easily go down a certain rabbit hole and end up not accomplishing what I want to. But The Power of One, it solidified for me that the importance of having singular focus, but also as I tried to accomplish, there was a lot of, a lot of strategies for doing it.

It also forced me to go, okay, for me, I can’t just do one and done and then on to the next. So there, like Dennis, you said it well, there’s a whole bunch of books back there, but you got to think of what works for you.

Leah Bumphrey:
We have one quick question, Dennis, from a lister. It’s not related to ducks, but I think you’re going to like this one.

Dennis Collins:
Go ahead.

Leah Bumphrey:
At what point when you are speaking with a prospect, do you catch your idea or try to close the sale? When do you do it?

Dennis Collins:
That’s a great question. The short answer, many of the sales calls that I listened to recordings are guilty of premature pitching, PP. Premature pitching, pitching before the client is ready. I have a theory based on years of hard knocks of experience.

The best way to close a sale is to open it properly. In fact, we’ll be doing some episodes on that. Those people who have trouble closing also have trouble opening because they never get the sale open long enough to close. And again, I tell clients this all the time, do not start talking about what you do until you understand what they do and what’s important to them.

Because you’re going to make a fool out of yourself. You’re going to say something you regret. You’re going to say something that is wrong. You’re going to plant a seed and plant a seed that is wrong. It’s the wrong plant. Because you said something without understanding the situation.

So the pitch, if it comes at all, sometimes I refrain from pitching because they’re shopping me. They’re just playing me. They just want me to give them information. They’re not really interested in buying. And I’ve determined that through my questioning and through my uncovery and my opening of my sale.

And I don’t pitch. I don’t say, sorry, we can’t help you. I am not going to add to their arsenal of information to defeat me. Good question.

Leah Bumphrey:
I love it. This is why we want our listeners to be sending in questions.

Dennis Collins:
All the time.

Leah Bumphrey:
Because there is tons of info out there.

Dennis Collins:
What a great topic today. Two things I’m going to do. Number one, I’m going to search the library for some answers to producer Paul’s question. And number two, I’m going to try to do better at this. I don’t take feed the ducks day as much as I should. I pretend to work.

I actually don’t pretend. I actually do work during those days that are supposed to be for feeding the ducks. So I got to work on that. Here’s to the ducks.

Leah Bumphrey:
Dennis, Paul, till next time.

Dennis Collins:
Another episode of Connect and Convert. We’ll see you next week. Tune in.

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