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Confessions of a Shop Owner is hosted by Mike Allen, a third-generation shop owner, perpetual pot-stirrer, and brutally honest opinion sharer. In this weekly podcast, Mike shares his missteps so you don’t have to repeat them. Along the way, he chats with other industry personalities who’ve messed up, too, pulling back the curtain on the realities of running an independent auto repair shop. But this podcast isn’t just about Mike’s journey. It’s about confronting the divisive and questionable tactics many shop owners and managers use. Mike is here to stir the pot and address the painful truths while offering a way forward. Together, we’ll tackle the frustrations, shake things up, and help create a better future for the auto repair industry.
Todd Speciale [00:00:00]:
If I were to ask you, what do you think is the industry that like people hate the most as far as salespeople? Is it real estate? Is it insurance? Is it car— your cars? Is it in— what do you think?
Mike Allen [00:00:09]:
I think the one that has the worst rap is the used car salesman. Yeah, right. Yeah, right next to the military recruiter in high school.
Todd Speciale [00:00:14]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. They actually did a study on it. Timeshare is the worst, um, used cars is second.
Mike Allen [00:00:22]:
The following program features a bunch of doofuses talking about the automotive aftermarket. The stuff we or our guests may say do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of our peers, our sponsors, or any other associations we may have. There may be some spicy language in this show, so if you get your feelings hurt easily, you should probably just move along. So without further ado, here's your host, Mike Allen, with Confessions of a Shoplitter, presented by TechMetric, simply the best software ever made.
Mike Allen [00:00:59]:
Okay, here we are. It is day 1 of Elite's Ignite 2026, um, just getting the thing started. And we just finished up with our opening keynote on day 1, and I'm super excited to have our speaker Todd Special here on the podcast. I'll be honest with you, dude, this is the first time I've had a guest on the show that's not automotive industry adjacent. You know, it's always been shop owners and, and people that serve the industry and that kind of thing. So I'm excited to have you here, and I got to tell you You broke a lot of my standard operating procedures when sitting in a keynote at one of these conferences. A lot of times I just skip the keynotes and I just want to go to the topically relevant instructors and courses that I want to be at. But I've not seen someone fire up a room the way that you did today in a long time.
Mike Allen [00:01:49]:
That was awesome. And I was telling you earlier, one of the things I kind of sit back and I'm a very judgy guy. I'm totally, I'm not a good person. And I sit in the back of the room and I always judge folks in the audience who are taking pictures of the slide deck during the presentation. Like, come on, man. I mean, I'm sure they'll email it if you want it that bad, but whatever, just listen to the message. And I was that dude today. I was taking pictures of your slides and texting them to my wife and just, I was like, you really should be here.
Mike Allen [00:02:20]:
I wish you were watching this. I wonder if I can get it recorded. I was texting my family group chat about it. It was crazy, man. So that was awesome. I just want to say thank you for that. Your message today was about choosing your hard, because life is going to be hard no matter what you do. So you got to choose which hard you're going to go for, right? And you talked a little bit about your background and kind of your experience that got you to here.
Mike Allen [00:02:47]:
I'd love to kind of dig a little bit deeper into that if you've got a few minutes for that.
Todd Speciale [00:02:51]:
Yeah, for sure. I would love to.
Mike Allen [00:02:53]:
Before we do that, though, could you just like take 2 or 3 minutes just to give the 10,000-foot view of, of who you are and what you're about for our listeners who weren't able to be here today?
Todd Speciale [00:03:02]:
Yeah. Well, first and foremost, I appreciate you having me on. Number one, it's, it's humbling to do things like this, especially speak in front of different industries. Right. And I don't do this for a living. I don't— fortunately, I'm— I don't have to. I do it because I love to. I'm sure you probably heard when I was on stage, my dad asked me to speak and tried to touch people's lives before he passed away.
Todd Speciale [00:03:22]:
And it kind of catapulted me into this amazing thing that I've had the luxury of doing over the past several years. And that's I keep speaking more and more and more of these events. So I do love speaking. It's not my main thing. And the compliments, I can't tell you how much they mean to me. These speakers sometimes, especially keynote guys, they come up, they get their check, they're gone, they're in and out. I like to stay. I like to mingle.
Todd Speciale [00:03:45]:
I like to talk to people because it matters to me. I'm hoping that the message hits. And I can't say that every keynote I've done is just blown the roof off places. We all learn, right? But I always feel like if I could touch at least one life in the audience that I win, that's just kind of my mindset. You know, like you said earlier, you're a judgy person. I think if you remember when I first started, I said 30% of the people in this room are going to walk out and go, screw this guy, right? Like, it doesn't matter what he says. That's done by design. You know, I teach sales and leadership.
Todd Speciale [00:04:13]:
I have a consulting company. We do very well. We have worked with the automotive industry quite a bit, not shop owners, but car sales, you know, leadership development, business consulting as a whole. But one thing I like about a company like this is that I also learn when I'm here. And I don't think people realize that when I'm on stage, dude, like my life, you're asking me about who I am. I don't have an ego. I like sitting here and I can learn from you and other people, and I genuinely mean it from the bottom of my soul. So it's not only cool that, yeah, I get a check, it's great.
Todd Speciale [00:04:44]:
But what's cooler to me is the conversations I have after. And I designed these things really to the best of my ability. I'm not like some amazing, you know, building a presentation for people, but I like to kind of wing it because I think too many people have things that are scripted. And in my life, you know, I've gone through a lot. Like you said, we'll get into from, you know, pool halls to the poker room to the boardroom. And I'm a husband, father first. As we talked about a few years back, I just rebaptized. It's very important to me.
Todd Speciale [00:05:13]:
I still have a long way to go, you know, and I don't judge people or how they feel or whatever. It's just my thing. But as a business owner, I care about the people. And I think that's what people need to know about me most. It's not the books I've written or the people I've been on stage with. All that's great, right? It's all the glory. But who I am is I genuinely do care about people. And I love— I think the biggest paycheck I've ever earned is watching someone that was making $30K a year go to $60K.
Todd Speciale [00:05:36]:
And you and I may go, dude, they're still broke. Yeah, but if you've ever made $30K a year for a long period of time, $60K, you feel like you're rich. And then taking from 60 to 120 and 120 to 500, 500 to 1 million, hopefully surpassing, which I think a lot of people say, but they don't mean anything I've ever accomplished. Like, I believe that's what I've been put on earth to do. So, yeah, speaker, owner of a business, father first, you know, and husband. But that's just who I am.
Mike Allen [00:06:02]:
Tell me more about your business. Now, I did a quick search. Make Sales Great Again.
Todd Speciale [00:06:07]:
Yeah. Yeah. Great name and good timing, by the way. It was not political, Mike, I promise you. It, you know, The name actually stemmed from my father, who I told you that passed away. My dad was born in 1931, and when I was super young, we lived in upstate New York, and that was the only time I can ever remember us actually owning anything. We owned a home, get into moving later, but my dad used to sell cars when I was very young, and he was really good at it. And then he got into real estate and got burned really bad with an owner who was money laundering, all this stuff.
Todd Speciale [00:06:39]:
And my dad told me growing up, One of the rules he told me was like, son, your handshake is your bond. He said when he was young in the '50s in sales, your handshake was everything. Like, you didn't need 70,000 pieces of paper to prove that what you're saying was true. So I think I mentioned I was in the timeshare industry for a little while and did very, very well, broke a bunch of the records worldwide, had an extraordinary team, poured into them. All that's great, but if I can't work with people that are doing the right thing by other people, it bothers me. And I was making a lot of money in that industry, like a lot. And they were just lying consistently, dude. And so when I gave all that up, I said, I'm going to start a company.
Todd Speciale [00:07:21]:
What's the name for it? Well, Trump had just been around and I see all the Make America Great Again. And a buddy of mine goes, why don't you just call it Make Sales Great Again? I was like, dang, that's a great idea. I was like, I know I'm going to get some heat from some people, right? Because everybody has political issues. But it really blew up. And like, people love the name and then they had to do the research on what we do and what our website brand was. And so it really stems from me wanting to teach people how to sell the right way. That sales book that I wrote, which I'm sure you'll ask about later, it was— it took me 4 and a half years to write because people can still sell with integrity and actually serve someone instead of trying to rob them.
Mike Allen [00:07:55]:
Thank you.
Todd Speciale [00:07:56]:
So that's where it came from.
Mike Allen [00:07:57]:
Yeah, I, I love the art of sales and I enjoy learning from people who are world-class salespeople. And it's where I get excited and passionate about our industry is selling service and repair. And I used to think the world of the timeshare sales training because, you know, I've been to— I sucked into a Vegas timeshare or whatever, right? And I remember sitting through it being like, this is an amazing sales presentation. And they're overcoming objections and they're fact-finding and they're, you know, they're doing, they're doing all these things before you have a chance to make the objection, right? They've I've already overcome them. And at the same time, feeling like.
Todd Speciale [00:08:41]:
This is a little bit dirty, feels.
Mike Allen [00:08:43]:
A little bit creepy. But one of the things you said this morning was, you know, raise your hand if you're in sales. And then everyone who didn't raise their hand, I think, is in denial because we are all selling ourselves and our message and our thought. It's influence. Sales is influence.
Todd Speciale [00:09:01]:
That's right.
Mike Allen [00:09:03]:
But sales has such a dirty reputation because there are bad people in every trade, but there are bad people in sales that do really well, right? So how do you make sales great again and make people realize that it's not a bad thing to be a world-class salesperson?
Todd Speciale [00:09:22]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:09:22]:
And, you know, come alongside your client and your customer and educate them and make them comfortable saying yes.
Todd Speciale [00:09:29]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:09:30]:
About things that they ethically need, right?
Todd Speciale [00:09:32]:
Yeah, that's a good question. So I'll tell you this, uh, being from that industry, um, and starting to sell— I mean, I've been in, you know, car sales when I was young. Timeshare is just something I just mastered right away. And I remember when we were breaking all these records and the trainers of these timeshare places and David Siegels and the Westgates of the world and all this stuff, they were just like, what, what, what are you doing? Like, you got to be lying. To sell this much. And Mike, I, I taught my team to sell from the negatives. Okay, so this thing about sales in my mind, uh, we'll get into blocking objections and all the negatives later, but in training sales, what my company does, you know, when you are pitching someone, it's the bright shiny objects, dude, right? It's like, look at this and how it's going to impact you, and you need this and you need that, and here's why, and here's all the features and benefits. But what they never talk about unless the customer actually brings it up and questions it is the stuff that it doesn't do.
Todd Speciale [00:10:26]:
So I started teaching them to start their presentations like, oh yeah, you're not going to be able to go to Paris with this on a private jet like some people tell you. You can't transfer the points to your credit card and get some amazing, you know, rewards programs from that. It's not going to get you to a castle in Ireland like a lot of these people were pitching that it would. And we started pitching against everything every other timeshare salesperson were saying, and we started saying, but it will do this. So, we started out with the negatives. It will do this, and here's how we believe it can help you. And if this is something that you see value in for you and your family, we want to talk about it more. And if it doesn't, then we understand that, but we're not going to sell you a product or a service that isn't going to impact you in a positive way.
Todd Speciale [00:11:04]:
It's just not who we are. And that honesty, dude, I'm telling you, it flipped the entire script in the timeshare industry from people that were willing to take a chance and do the right thing and pitch the proper way. So, we started doing that in every industry, real estate sales, insurance sales, car sales. You know, we teach attorneys how to negotiate now. You know, there's a lot that we do, but it's, it's from the brutally brutal honesty. And that's the whole Make Sales Great Again theme. It's like, you don't have to lie. So question was, how do you make sales great again? The hardest part is actually going into a company and saying your top 20% usually funnels 80% of the income of the organization.
Todd Speciale [00:11:37]:
It's pretty standard in a lot of cases, right? Give or take a few percentages. Usually the top 20%, especially in the timeshare industry, insurance industries, are some shady people. That are just not— they're lying to line their pockets. So when we go into an organization and we say, listen, first we want to serve those people that aren't saying the right thing, we want to try to train them to do the right thing. Don't just get rid of them. People can change. Let's try to sit with them. We try to sit with them.
Todd Speciale [00:12:02]:
We evaluate them. Do an entire report on the entire sales team, especially top performers. Okay. And what we found is that a lot of them don't want to change because if they do change, it costs them money.
Mike Allen [00:12:12]:
Yeah, it's easy to keep doing the shady shit and making good money. You take the hard— you take— choose your hard— choose the hard way of doing it the right way, and you take a pay cut.
Todd Speciale [00:12:21]:
100%. And so, and the— on the owners or VPs or C-suite team, it's just like, well, because they get paid on profitability. Well, if I get rid of these guys, our numbers are going to plummet. And I said, yes, they will for a time being, right? But my question to you is, is the money or the integrity behind what you do better? Which one's worth more? You know, and they might lie to me and say, oh, it's always the integrity. But those, those few that actually take those steps, we've actually fired like number 1, number 2, number 3 salespeople in organizations after we didn't fire, give the recommendation to. And the ones that were strong, they did it. They chose a hard. The hard was sacrifice of income for more later.
Todd Speciale [00:12:58]:
And what happens is 100% of the time, 6 months later, if you pour into that middle group, because, you know, you got your 20% top people, you got your 60-ish percent, maybe 50-ish of that middle of the road people, and then the rest, you know, some people aren't cut out for sales and just not going to make it right. But if you can pour into that middle group and try to open the eyes of the top salespeople, then you'll start elevating. So we get paid on a percentage of increased sales. So just like us, I'm not going to come in and say, Mike, well, you own a company, pay me some fat retainer fee and I'm going to give you all the information. No, Mike, your red line is $3 million in revenue this year. If we take you from 3 million to X, we get a percentage of that. We don't want a dollar upfront. We're going to prove ourselves like we ask salespeople to do.
Todd Speciale [00:13:36]:
And that's how the company's grown, because we don't ask for huge fees upfront. You know, sometimes onboarding, depending on the size of the team or what they want as far as trainings,. But if they do it the right way, they will make sales great again and they will have people that sell with integrity. And if, and we start teaching them, and I hate the word tactics, but sales tools like blocking objections, right? I'll tell you the biggest thing in consulting that I've learned in sales is that, you know, Mike, right now in this industry, the top 5 objections that always come up, right? You know, they're always the same. They're of one or the other or all above, right? So we teach them to master the art of handling those objections in every industry. If you do that alone, you'll increase revenue by 20%, 30% because most of them don't know how to handle the objections. Now, if you teach them how to block them, which means to surface the objection before the customer does and just have some honesty behind what they're pitching. Listen, Mike, I know you're going to tell me, you know, X, and I know you're going to tell me X, and then you actually bring it up before they do.
Todd Speciale [00:14:30]:
Now you own that objection. They don't, because if they bring it up to you, they're the ones objecting and you have to convince them why what they're objecting to isn't right and here's why they need to do business with you. But if you say it, you speak it, you own it. I say it all the time, you own the objection. And then there's like, well, thank you for the honesty, you know what I mean? And the sales process just goes into a much more fluent way, right? So that's what we do.
Mike Allen [00:14:52]:
Yeah.
Todd Speciale [00:14:55]:
Awesome.
Mike Allen [00:14:55]:
Um, how big does the business need to be top line revenue-wise to be— to fall into your startup? Because I mean, I've got listeners, I got listeners who are one-man operation. Yeah. And then I've got due to have 40 stores.
Todd Speciale [00:15:09]:
Sure. It's startup, Mike, because like to me, I don't care if you're— we work with Fortune 50 companies, Fortune 500 companies, Fortune 5000 companies. Right. And the truth is we help startups as well, too. Now, obviously the fee is different, right? Because we go into organizations, a startup, we're building it from scratch. We've built comp plans, we've helped them hire the right salespeople, train the right salespeople. It's a lot of work, a lot of effort. Right.
Todd Speciale [00:15:28]:
But usually if they're an existing company, they have many stores, they've got top-line revenue. Right. So it might be a startup fee and it might be a sales training fee if they want us to train the team. But if they're looking for long-term consulting, which we've got 6, 7-month, 12-month contracts, then that usually is based on a very small retainer increase, which is where we make our money, right? Is on where the red line is. If they're doing $3, $5 million, etc., I say this because again, it's a passion of mine. Yeah. You ever heard do what you love and you'll love your life? That's what I get to do is teach people to sell the right way. So I don't care if you have one person and you're listening to this or you have 40 stores, we've helped both and we will.
Mike Allen [00:16:03]:
That's awesome.
Todd Speciale [00:16:04]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:16:05]:
One of the things that I'm struggling with is across the independent aftermarket, which is kind of what we're made up of here at Elite and among our listeners, we've got most service advisors and front counter personnel are the wife of the dude who started the shop. And who's the technician in the back, right? Or the kids or an older technician whose body's broken down.
Todd Speciale [00:16:34]:
Sure.
Mike Allen [00:16:34]:
And they go up front. And I've been advocating that we need to be reaching outside of the industry to find people who are trained in sales rather than finding somebody who's a mechanic that his arthritis has gotten so bad that he can't hold a wrench anymore, right? Yeah. And the difficulty that I'm seeing is that like an entry-level service advisor, in the automotive space is, you know, $60,000, $80,000 a year. A high-level advisor's $100,000, maybe $150,000 in the aftermarket. I mean, there's some dudes out there who are outliers making more than that, right? But a high school, a high-skill salesperson in pharmaceuticals or medical equipment or cars, or they're making $300,000, $400,000, $500,000, $600,000 a year or more, right? How do we attract talent, and train talent, uh, to do it the right way, right? Um, when the industry doesn't provide that type of high-level earning potential.
Todd Speciale [00:17:38]:
Yeah, so two, uh, two answers to that question. Number one, opportunity is very important, right, for all high-level salespeople. I mean, I'll ask you, Mike, if you're making $500 grand a year and I said, hey Mike, come work for me, make $100 grand a year, but there's no upside. Would you do it? No, no, no one would. Right. So obviously the common sense is there has to be opportunity. I think Elite does offer that, right? In some cases you can open up and I don't know the all the logistics, but I know that there are shop owners out there, right, that I just spoke to. So it sounds like there's opportunity for them to scale, right? Yeah.
Todd Speciale [00:18:08]:
So to me, if I'm talking to a, you know, car sales, pharmaceutical, you know, whatever, and they're making $300,000, $400,000 a year, be real about the opportunity that they have and then give them some numbers. Realistic, not like the overpitch. I hate the overpitch. It's like, hey, Mike, come work for me and you can make $5 million next year. A lot of people do that. If you just do these 3 things right, you know, like the overpitch to me, it's like, look, it's going to take you 5, 6, 7 years. But let me ask you a question, right? If you're in pharmaceutical sales and you're making $300 grand this year, how much more are you going to make next year? Because there usually is a capped ceiling for a lot of those industries, right? You can only sell so many cars. It's only so many insurance policies you can sell.
Todd Speciale [00:18:42]:
Almost all— there's very few, like you said, those high-level people, those top 1 or 2% that have the relationships with hospitals, because we do a lot of that training too for those sales guys. We're going to make a half million or a million bucks a year. Usually it's that middle-of-the-road crew that they're searching for something more. They live a comfortable life. But if you build the opportunity, the opportunity is real, and be transparent about how long it's going to take, I think you can attract high-level talent. Second answer to that question is culture. Um, I know a lot of people have taken a slight pay cut to work with people that actually give a shit about who they are. And honestly, dude, people don't believe it.
Todd Speciale [00:19:14]:
Mike, when I go in there and I say your culture sucks, if you fix this, you'll have better sales. They go, no, well, what about the sales? No, no. If you did nothing else except actually care and prove that you care and lead by example, then you will have more money and you'll make more money. And guess what? They will too. And your retention will skyrocket and your attrition will plummet.. And that's what most companies look for. How do I hire someone and how do I keep them? Well, again, opportunity with culture is the secret sauce, dude. And I think that so many people, just like in the timeshare insurance or whatever, they're pitching the features and benefits.
Todd Speciale [00:19:48]:
I'll come to Elite. Here's why, here's why, here's why. But they don't talk about the hard, the hard and the time that it's going to take. But if you put in that time and effort and you're doing it with the right people to actually give a shit and they want you to win, maybe even higher than, than you win, but they actually prove that. You'll, you'll have a lifer. But I don't think a lot of companies, they do that. They post the ad, they talk about how much you can make, right? And then they don't even go after those high-level people because they don't know how to pitch them. Yeah.
Todd Speciale [00:20:14]:
Pitching them is opportunity and culture. Most people, believe it or not, Harvard did a study on this and it was crazy. 71% of anyone who's currently working as an employee for another company, they hate their job. 71% of the people. It doesn't matter if it's sales, administration, they hate it. And they don't like the people they work with. So if you can actually be the person that actually they wake up excited to go work with, or they know has their back and actually prove that and care, dude, you could hire these guys all day long. But just be real about the opportunity, how long it's going to take and the effort it's going to take.
Todd Speciale [00:20:44]:
And if you do that and you don't overpitch what that opportunity is, then you can hire guys like that. But if you're not like, hey, come to work for Elite, 2 years, you're going to make $5 million. There's— it's really easy, bro. It's so simple. Come do this. Like, nobody believes that shit. Those guys are in sales too.
Mike Allen [00:21:00]:
Yeah. Yeah. What trades or industries do you think have the best ethical sales training and skills?
Todd Speciale [00:21:08]:
Yeah. So you used a word there, ethical. Okay. So I wish I could say that there was one specific industry. I think to answer that, it's more all industries, like you had mentioned earlier, which I completely agree with, have very high-level ethical people that work with or work for a company. Right? I do believe that the timeshare training is some of the best training on the planet. They make you memorize this script that's this big, not to say it word for word, but to actually sit with someone and make it your own. They want you to memorize it.
Todd Speciale [00:21:40]:
They go through objection handling, they go through the psychology of sales. Like, there's a lot of really, really good training there. I think that companies like real estate and insurance agencies and the automotive for car sales as well too, They always look outside the box, which is crazy for me. And it's also good because it keeps me in business. Right. But, you know, I want to leave— as crazy as this sounds, I want to leave Mercedes after doing a sales training for their team. And I want to leave Globe Life and New York Life after doing training for the team and say, you just never need us again. As crazy as that sounds, because they could build it.
Todd Speciale [00:22:11]:
But I don't think there's a specific industry that changes it, that like teaches it better. I think it just— it's based on the person during that. Like New York Life is huge. We do a lot of training for them, right? Globe Life is huge. A lot of training for them. US Health, we do a lot of a lot of training for. Uh, name every major car dealership, a lot of training for. A lot of timeshare places, real estate companies, the RE/MAX of the world, we do a lot of training for.
Todd Speciale [00:22:31]:
But I'll go into a place, and if the person that owns that as the broker, right, in a real estate office doesn't— and they're not aligned with what we're saying— it doesn't matter how good we train them. But if you're an ethical person, you actually believe that this is going to impact, and you're spending money to us come in, then you're going to crush it. But I don't— I can't say that there's an industry. I can say that it's the people that that run it. It's kind of like the shop owners out here with Elite that I guarantee that they all run— they use maybe the same software, maybe they do, maybe they don't. Maybe it's kind of the Elite gives you the tools to do things, but I guarantee internally they might run things a lot differently at every location. Yeah. So I don't think it's an industry, I think it's a person question, but, uh, I think it depends on that person.
Todd Speciale [00:23:09]:
Okay.
Mike Allen [00:23:10]:
One of the things that you talked about very briefly during your keynote this morning was when you were 15, you were doing door-to-door sales selling Rainbow vacuum cleaners. My mom loves her Rainbow, uh, so we've had two of them them over the last 40 years. Yeah. Um, and I've— man, a $2,000 vacuum cleaner is fucking crazy to me. It's insane. And the profit margins have to be astronomical. Oh, they are. Um, they are.
Mike Allen [00:23:35]:
But anyway, um, I did door-to-door sales one summer in college for Southeastern, uh, Educational Supply. And they sold educational books to, to kids.
Todd Speciale [00:23:44]:
And did you say Southeastern? Southeastern.
Mike Allen [00:23:47]:
In Acworth, Georgia? Uh, it was the Nashville— Nashville, Tennessee is where I went to go to the, the, like, the training.
Todd Speciale [00:23:54]:
I don't. Okay, more Utley did Southeast business. I sold Bibles and children's books door-to-door too.
Mike Allen [00:23:59]:
Okay. Yeah, that was something else, man. Yeah. Um, they, uh, they took me as, uh, I was 18 years old. It was the summer between freshman and sophomore year, and they dumped me in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, uh, without a car. And on your first day, they drop you off and they say, okay, now your first day you're going door-to-door to find somewhere to live this summer. Yeah. Um, and the Mississippi River had just flooded And so people were shoveling mud out of their kitchen and I'm trying to sell them books.
Mike Allen [00:24:24]:
That was, that was an education. That was amazing. Yeah. Amazing and terrible and wonderful at once.
Todd Speciale [00:24:31]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:24:31]:
So I think that door-to-door sales is an incredible, rapid education for sure. But I think all performance-based sales has a very high level of turnover because it's just not for everyone. And I'm a big Zig Ziglar fan. I don't know. And it's funny, every time somebody in, in my orbit, they, they, they contact me out of the blue, it's like, oh, you're an insurance salesman now, right? Yeah. Yeah. So you're going to sell insurance to all your friends and family and then you're going to not be in insurance again in 18 months. That's right.
Mike Allen [00:25:05]:
When your internal pipeline dries up. Yeah. But I'm just always interested because the Again, the, the 10 to 20% at the top who figure it out and make it work just crush it, crush it, and it's amazing. Um, who invests the most in development of their team? Is it insurance? Is it, uh, healthcare?
Todd Speciale [00:25:27]:
Is it— yeah, I would say it's, uh, to me it's, it's definitely not real estate. It's the worst of them all. Um, it's get your license, you know, here's a step-by-step on how you know, get a listing and start dialing out the phone book when there was actually phone books. Right. Insurance is pretty good as— but I think any door-to-door as well too. The thing about door-to-door is like, you know, we work with a roofing company as well. They're all door-to-door.
Mike Allen [00:25:52]:
I was talking to hailstorms around the country.
Todd Speciale [00:25:53]:
Yeah, for sure. Yeah, they do that. But they're also— again, that's what most people think. But it's really how can you build a team that can actually sell outside of a storm market? Right. Because you have to keep revenue flowing. Yeah. A lot of draws up front, commissions in the back end. Sales cycle is 6 to 9 months long.
Todd Speciale [00:26:07]:
You have to have cash flow. So there's a lot that goes into it. Um, but door-to-door is— you're right, it is one of the most humbling things. And, and to be fair, like I mentioned, I sold those books in Acworth, Georgia. They did the same for me, except I actually had a foster home to live in. Uh, they dropped me off in Acworth, Georgia, in the middle of a street with a little bag and books on it. And if I didn't earn, I didn't eat. The place that I lived in, they were supposed to give me food and stuff, didn't give me food.
Todd Speciale [00:26:30]:
I was there for 2 weeks. My parents couldn't afford to come get me from Missouri where they're living at the time, so I called some girls. I got in a car, they drove down, picked me up, brought me home. So I know that industry.
Mike Allen [00:26:38]:
It's good that you have that charisma.
Todd Speciale [00:26:40]:
To get the girls to come get you. Yeah, 100%. I sold them, right? Right. But they got— took a road trip, came and got me. When I started selling vacuum sweepers door to door, it's a very hard sell. Again, here we are, 1991, 2000, 20%, you know, $2,000 vacuum sweeper, 20% interest. It's not cheap. But I think that the street education and door to door is massive.
Todd Speciale [00:26:59]:
And I think the reason why it is, is that every single day you're knocking doors and talking to all sorts of different types of people and you have to learn how to overcome those objections and you have to learn how to take rejection. Very much because I think there's more rejection in door-to-door than a receptionist because you're talking to way more people. Timeshare, you're getting 2, 3 tours a day, you're in and out, right? When you're door-to-door, you might talk to 20 people a day and only one person gives you an opportunity to give your pitch. Everybody else is cussing out, get the fuck off my property. I've already, I've already said no. Your company's come by like every— and if you can take that, it gives you that mental strength if you make it, like you said. And you mentioned something earlier, the top, the ones make it, they make it. Like, we got roofing sales guys that make a million bucks a year, dude.
Todd Speciale [00:27:37]:
Dude. It's like selling roofs. Yeah, they got, uh, right now there's vacuum sweeper companies. These guys are making $500,000, $600,000, $700,000 a year selling vacuum sweepers. And I always, when I teach to interview people, if you came to me, Mike, and said, look, Todd, I want to get into roofing sales, I would say, well, Mike, here's the deal. It's door-to-door. And I know what you're going to tell me, Mike. I'll block the objection.
Todd Speciale [00:27:55]:
I know you're gonna tell me, Mike, I'm, I'm gung-ho, I'm, I'm ready, I'm gonna hit the streets, I'm so excited about this. But no, you're not, okay? No one loves to do this all day. No one loves to. Now, you might say that your first year. Year 2, it's going to get mundane. Year 3, you're gonna hate it. Year 4, you're going to get out of the business unless you really crush it. So there's going to be 2 months a year, Mike, you're going to be happy knocking doors where the weather's okay.
Todd Speciale [00:28:15]:
The other months, it's either going to be so cold you're gonna be freezing your ass off, or in the summer you're gonna be sweating, have to wear 5 different shirts. So tell me why you want to do this job. And I teach people how to sell that way too, because like, I think so many people, again, it's pitch, pitch, pitch. A great salesperson also has to ask great questions to elicit the responses they're looking for and allow people to sell themselves. And I think you can do the same thing whether you're hiring someone for elite, those high-level salespeople, whether you're talking to someone to being a shop owner or even someone that comes into your shop. Like, you know, if you ask them questions, what do you love best about this? Just so I can make sure we're aligned with what you want. And they start pitching themselves, right? Yeah, it's the same thing. So I think that door-to-door is strong.
Todd Speciale [00:28:54]:
Insurance, they do invest a ton of money into sales training, but a lot of it's outside. And again, I've never understood how we go into organization and they just don't take what we do and we build it like we have a course online. It's $99. It's super cheap. Did you hear me pitch that on stage? I never do. I hate people that sell from the stage. You want to look me up and go to buy the course? Great, right? Is it the best sales training? I think so, because I created it, right? But it may not be. But how do you not take what you learn and then not have to hire outside again? And I think insurance does it well.
Todd Speciale [00:29:23]:
I think door-to-door does it well. And I think they do it better than any other industry, in my personal opinion.
Mike Allen [00:29:27]:
Real quick, tell me about your book. So you just talked about, um, you talked about a little bit on stage, but, uh, What are their titles?
Todd Speciale [00:29:34]:
Because there's two now, right? There's three. One is timeshare specific. It's How to Be Number One Before You Finish Number Two, and it's got a toilet paper roll with like a dollar. It's really cool, but, but it's a tiny small guide. And, uh, there was a really good friend of mine, his name is Chris Loftus. I was working in the timeshare industry and he said, man, you should write a book. This is crazy. People think you're lying to people and you're doing it the right way.
Todd Speciale [00:29:55]:
Why don't you just create a guide? And he's like, I'll co-author it with you. And this guy, he's like 6'3", super— he's one of the best salespeople. I always say he knows— he has a plethora of information on the most useless shit. Like, you could mention a small town that you were selling books in, he goes, oh yeah, the courthouse, it's got the horse. Like, it's just crazy. Like, I'm not kidding you, I was in a presentation one time, this person, they, they do— they blow glass for a living.
Mike Allen [00:30:21]:
Hey, it's me, Mike's kid. Want to tell us your wild shop stories? Or maybe you just think my dad's totally wrong. Call us at 704-CONFESS and leave a message. You can tell us we're awesome, or you can tell us we're idiots. We're cool either way. That's 704-CONFESS. Just don't make it too weird.
Todd Speciale [00:30:38]:
And he's just like, oh yeah, use calomel and all that. I was like, how do you know this? Right? Great human being. But he says create a guide to teach people how to sell. It's a very small guide that is available online for people who are in timeshare. My first book called The Things I Do Know— I don't know everything, but these are the things that I do know— was a book that I kind of took time to write. I was procrastinating, kind of like I was pitching on stage, like every other person does. We all fall into that trap sometimes. My dad on his deathbed wanted me to finish the book, so I finished it.
Todd Speciale [00:31:06]:
It's just a bunch of different words, and I have the Webster dictionary and what that word like perseverance means in my life. And I talk about a story. It's the first book I ever wrote. There was a lot of errors in the book, and people always say, man, you messed up that word. You said wanna, W-A-N-N-A. That's not a real word, Todd. You got to fix that. And I said, no, I'm not doing this to make a living.
Todd Speciale [00:31:27]:
I want people to read it as if I'm speaking it right. So it wasn't the best written book, I'll say, but I self-published it on Amazon bestseller for like 9 months. It was super cool. It was a little mindset book. Loved that book because it was something my dad asked me to do. I was very passionate about it and got it done. The final book is called The Ultimate Sales Bible, and The Ultimate Sales Bible to me is that there's a Sales Bible by Jeffrey Gitomer. So he's one of the best sales trainers on the planet and he has the Sales Bible.
Todd Speciale [00:31:59]:
So I had to get a trademark, the Ultimate Sales Bible, right? So yes, it is good marketing as well. But I started writing the book thinking to myself, like, every time I have to learn how to negotiate, I read a negotiation book like Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss, right? And if I wanted to learn the art of sales, I may read some Zig Ziglar's books.. And I feel like you go to the people who you think are best at a specific, you know, talent in sales and you go, I'm gonna learn from this guy there. And I think I need to learn the art of negotiation over here and how to read body language over here and how to be a good person and all the— I said, what can I do to kind of add one book that has it all in it and about sales? And I started writing the book. Well, it's been 6 and a half years ago now, but I started writing the book literally 6 and a half years ago and it took me, it, I'm not kidding you, every flight I was on, Every time I was out of town, I'd go downstairs in the bar, have a glass of wine, put my headphones on. I would just write. And I wanted to be a book that has everything anyone could ever want to know about sales, but it's also relevant. Okay.
Todd Speciale [00:33:03]:
Because again, love Zig. I love— there's a lot of like really, you know, the Proctors of the world and all these guys are like legends. I love them. But the sales process has not changed in 100 years. But the prospect has, right? So you got to kind of read a book that's somewhat relevant to today. And there's a lot of relevant stuff in their books. But there was no book out there that was like, today's sales is X, here's what you need to do. And that's why I wrote the book, and it's just crushed it, thank God.
Mike Allen [00:33:27]:
So it's cool. That's funny that you say that, that sales hasn't changed but the prospect has.
Todd Speciale [00:33:32]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:33:32]:
Um, I remember on my— on now on my bookshelf in my office, but it was on my dad's bookshelf in his office— was Getting to Yes. Yeah, sure. Which was— it was like early '90s, I think that it was all the rage. And that methodology has been used so much in so many ways across the country that now people recognize that and they put up their walls in defense against that methodology. Yeah. And so now, uh, I think it was 10 years ago now, it was.
Todd Speciale [00:33:57]:
A start with no.
Mike Allen [00:33:59]:
Yeah, right, for sure, 100%.
Todd Speciale [00:34:01]:
So, um, isn't that funny?
Mike Allen [00:34:03]:
It just shifts. Yeah, you know, um, so I think it's just interesting watching the way that, that evolution happens. So the Ultimate Sales Bible, I'm sure it's available on Amazon. Yeah. You make at least $0.30, $0.45 every.
Todd Speciale [00:34:15]:
Time you sell one of those. Yeah, I know you listened well while I was on stage, but it's so funny. I remember when I posted my first book again, it was just for my dad. And then this book, you know, I have a publishing company and the book's crushing it. And, you know, you can go to my website, my personal website, or Make Sales Great Again website and, you know, pick it up there too. Just click books. But, you know, I'll tell you, in this day and age, I think people discount the fact that they have access to the internet. And what I mean by that is that if you're in a timeshare presentation, people come to your shop, you're trying to sell someone a home.
Todd Speciale [00:34:47]:
It doesn't matter what sales industry you're in. If you type in YouTube how to get out of a real estate presentation, there's YouTube videos on how to do that. Yeah. And back then there wasn't— there was no internet. I mean, I grew up in— and again, I'm older than you, Mike, but I grew up in an age where I remember when the first pager came.
Mike Allen [00:35:04]:
Out, there was no cell phones, right?
Todd Speciale [00:35:05]:
It was only drug dealers. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And there was like codes when you pay for 911. Yeah, exactly. But, you know, now they have so much access to things. And what do you know is true, right? So like how to get out of a timeshare presentation. You don't know if the person that's teaching you how to get out is actually telling you the truth, right? So like, who's right? So I think that when I wrote the book, I want to say like, when did honesty start being the thing that people didn't do to sell? When did integrity like leave the sales organization? Because people ask me, and if I were to ask you, what do you think is the industry? Industry that like people hate the most as far as salespeople? Is it real estate? Is it insurance? Is it car— your cars?
Mike Allen [00:35:48]:
Is it— what do you think? Uh, I think the one that has the worst rap is the used car salesman. Yeah, right. Yeah, right next to the military recruiter in high school.
Todd Speciale [00:35:56]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. They actually did a study on it. Timeshare is the worst. Um, used cars is second. You know, the craziest thing is we teach a lot of used car sales lots, like they bring us in to train their guys, and they're actually almost better than the regular car salesmen for new car sales at like big dealerships like Mercedes, because they make a lot of money on the points on the, you know, when they're financing the vehicles and the F&I guys do extremely well and they're pitching Gap and all these additional products where used car salespeople, they don't have a lot of that. It's just straight to the point. How much money you got, what type of car you want. But the industry has a bad name because of the bad people actually selling.
Todd Speciale [00:36:32]:
In my book, I'm like, just like I do on stage. I'm like, look, this— you may hate this book, but I'm just going to be real, right? If I'm a prospect or you are, how would you like to be treated? Would you love to be lied to? Would you love for people to kind of lead you and you're like, is this person right or not? Or would you like to tell them all the bad shit and then get into the good stuff and saying, if the good stuff adds value to life, we'd love to do business, but here's what it won't do. And I'm not going to lie to you. I want you to know up front. And has anybody ever done this? And they're like, well, no. And I've even been in presentations where they're like, When are you going to get to the good stuff? Like, like, I thought you were trying to sell me something. And I love getting that response, Mike, because that gives me an opportunity to go, well, Mike, here's the thing. Last thing I want you to do is buy my product or service and then buyer's remorse sets in tomorrow right after you leave the presentation.
Todd Speciale [00:37:17]:
Maybe I'm such a great talker and a math guy, you feel like you're doing the right thing and then you hate what you bought. I'd rather get it all on the table now. And then when you walk out, you're confident that this is the right thing. That adds value to you and your family. And that's, I think, what a lot of that book is. It's got the negotiation, the block, and all the fancy, you know, things that they teach in sales. But each chapter is really designated to how to do those things, and it teaches you how to do them. And I'm hoping that we can, as cliché as it sounds, make sales great again, because I feel like eventually the tides have to turn, bro.
Todd Speciale [00:37:48]:
It's just like bell-bottom jeans or the tight jeans I wear, you know, the, the trend always comes back. And I'm hoping I can help while I'm here on this earth to push.
Mike Allen [00:37:56]:
It towards an integrity state. I think human motivation is part of it, right? And so anytime you create a system where the compensation is tied to almost exclusively to production, because I mean, it's the Pareto principle back, right? That's not the right principle. But, you know, 20 or 30% of people are always going to be honest no matter what. 20 or 30% of people probably going to find a way to manipulate and take advantage no matter what. And then the ones in the middle can be swayed, right? Yeah. And so you have 100% commission-based pay plans and dudes who fall in that bottom 20 or 30%, they're going to find a way to— fuck you, that's my money, right? Yeah. And so I'm just trying to find a way to— because I'm a big believer in performance-based compensation. You need to be rewarded when you win.
Mike Allen [00:38:53]:
Me too. How do I build an organization that is to the highest degree possible filled with individuals who are in that top 20 or 30% who are going to be driven to perform well but will never sacrifice their ethics? Yeah. And so that's a, that's a challenge that I think we all work with. And so that's an issue not just in sales, that's an issue in the actual wrenching on the car, right? Because In the car repair industry, the most prominent compensation plan for technicians is called flat rate. And let's say that the labor guide says that that water pump takes 4 hours. That technician is going to get paid 4 hours to do that water pump. If they can do it in an hour, they still get paid 4 hours. If a bolt breaks off or it's rusty and it takes them 8 hours, they're still going to get paid 4 hours.
Mike Allen [00:39:39]:
So that's why you have this bad reputation for technicians, because you got dudes who cut corners and leave bolts out and everything else. To make time to be able to turn 15 hours in a 9-hour day or whatever, or 20 hours. And, and then you have guys who are doing it the right way and they're getting fucked by the rusty bolts and everything else and they get angry, right? So I think the reason sales has a bad reputation is because human motivation and 100% commission-based pay plan. Are big parts of it. But I don't have an answer because.
Todd Speciale [00:40:16]:
I really believe in performance-based compensation. No, I, I, listen, I'm here, I'm listening to you speak, and I can tell you everything you're saying I'm agreeing with. What I try to do when I go in an organization, they ask questions similar to that, it's like I always want to know about their interviewing process first. And they're like, what does that matter, right? It's like, these guys can do it wrong, or that if they need to make money to pay their bills, they're going to say whatever they need to say. Well, no, it makes a difference. See, I think that the amount of time that we waste. And I don't know how this industry works, but a lot of people have training pay when salespeople comes in for a week or two, right? And then they're straight commission, right? And, uh, there's companies that we'll go into and we'll save them hundreds of thousands of dollars in training pay because there's no qualifiers. Like, you need to do X in order to get, right?
Mike Allen [00:40:56]:
Kind of like performance-based pay. Some of the best lessons I've learned over the years don't come from a manual. They came from talking with other industry professionals who've been through the same struggles. That's kind of the premise of this show. That's what Tectonic 2026 is all about. Presented by Techmetric, it brings the industry together under one roof to share real stories, compare notes, connect with people who live and work the same life every day. If you're looking for honest conversations and a stronger community, you'll find it at Tectonic 2026. Tap the link in the show notes to learn more and grab early bird.
Todd Speciale [00:41:28]:
Pricing while you still can. Now, it doesn't always need to equal a sale, but if you follow these steps and you do these guidelines, we're going to pay for the first couple weeks, then you're on your own. We're going to give you the training. I think where we miss in sales is when first someone first comes, talk about who you are as a company and what your, your, your personal feeling is about sales. Like, listen, here's the deal. Like, I know it's commission-based only sales, and, and I'm a firm believer of that. But Mike, here's what I'm not going to do, okay? I know that you have bills to pay, right? Nothing's free, Mike, right? You got a car payment, you got a house payment, you have kids to feed, all that stuff. I said, if you take an exit off of the ramp to try to talk someone into doing something just to line your pockets, it will be the last day you work with me.
Todd Speciale [00:42:09]:
Now, if you do it the right way, I will help you during your time of struggle, right? Make enough money to make sure you're okay, as long as you're open to listening and learning. But I will not tolerate any negligence in our sales process, in our integrity, and who we are as a company. And if you're okay with that, Mike, give me an opportunity to serve you because the title means nothing to me. It's Todd and Mike. I may be the owner, maybe a CEO, it's Todd and Mike. That's what the titles are here. But I just want you to know up front, Mike, that's something we don't tolerate. So I don't know you very well.
Todd Speciale [00:42:38]:
I know we just got, you know, doing this interview, and I know you said you want to work with me, but at the same time, like, you need to know up front that's something I'll tolerate. Now my question is, what questions do you have about that? And then I just let them like spew, because if you can cut it out at the very beginning You can find good people, dude. And to believe it or not, that attrition in dollars and time that you're saving— which time is money, right— will help you find the right people. Because so many people, like, oh, it's so hard to find. I guarantee it's so hard to find a good tech or a good sales guy and all this stuff. Well, you're hiring the wrong ones. It usually starts with the interview process.
Mike Allen [00:43:09]:
That fixes a lot of that. So what you're saying is all of my fucking problems are self-inflicted gunshot wounds?
Todd Speciale [00:43:17]:
Yes, there's a percentage, Mike, that, that is not, but, but I'll tell you Most of the time it is. It's really crazy, dude. You can always find— there's no perfect solution for everything, to your point, but you can fix a lot of it, dude, with how you actually present. Remember, they're selling you on why you should hire them. You're selling them on why they should come work for you. But why can't we just come to a happy meeting and say, listen, you can get paid really good if you do things the right way. I'm not going to tolerate X, but I want to know how you feel about that before we hire. Actually show them you give a shit.
Todd Speciale [00:43:46]:
And that's where earlier we talked about culture will come into play. You can get people to do the right thing and your sales might not skyrocket like the shop owner next door, but eventually they will because that only lasts so long with the shitty salespeople. The reason why the sales industry has a bad name is because of the bad people that don't want to do it right that we keep talking about. Yeah, that only lasts so long, which is the reason why people bounce around to new places where— what other shop or industry or timeshare company or insurance company or car dealership will take me until they won't anymore? And that's why there's so much bouncing around. Find the good person, build the team slowly, do it right, and you won't.
Mike Allen [00:44:16]:
Have a lot of those issues. All right. Shift gears a little bit. And I appreciate your time. I want to be respectful of that. Looking for fresh blood— maybe that's not the right word— fresh talent to bring in, to bring into the trade. What are some common jobs out there that kind of set people up to be predisposed towards success in sales? And I'm thinking like bartender, hotel management, hospitality type things.
Todd Speciale [00:44:48]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:44:48]:
Fine dining servers. Are there any other trades that somebody might go looking for a high-level salesperson.
Todd Speciale [00:44:55]:
That would be trainable? Yeah, for sure. So I think the hardest thing that I think anybody listening will agree with is like, how do you teach an old dog new tricks? Right. And that's pretty common. You hear that saying all the time and it's very difficult. It is like, again, my dad that was in sales the time he was working, if you try to teach him something, be like, this is— listen, you know, this is what I've done for 20 years. You don't know more than than I do, it's very difficult. Uh, service industry is an unbelievable industry because they're in sales, right? You're basically selling you on to leave.
Mike Allen [00:45:19]:
A tip and getting you to add.
Todd Speciale [00:45:20]:
A bottle of wine to that ticket. 100%. They're upselling all the time. I've got these two, like, they're very, very good. I think the service industry is the best industry by far. The problem with hiring people from the service industry is that it's quick cash, right? Like, you try to take a bartender, you know, away that's making $2,500 a week cash that they're filing taxes on $500. Yeah, you know, it's like very— you're.
Mike Allen [00:45:42]:
Like, dude, I'm making— you gotta catch them when they decide they want to buy a house.
Todd Speciale [00:45:46]:
That's absolutely right. Yeah, you nailed it. And that's usually the time frame where it is. But I think that, uh, the service industry is one of the best industries out there by far, uh, with no current, like, let's say, expert sales skills. But it's an industry that kind of— it does train you to do that. Um, I don't really know of any of the industry that's better. I like servers, I like bartenders, Next thing I'll say is that I think a lot of people discount youth and they shouldn't because these guys— energy. And yes, they don't know how.
Todd Speciale [00:46:16]:
And also, just like I was talking about my daughter, they don't take no for an answer. And if you can, you can take a well-rounded younger person. I'm talking like us right out of high school. We went to sell books door to door. Right. And the reason why, you know, those companies make is because they see the value in it. Now they know the turnover is going to be high. That's why they look for foster homes to try to keep the cost down, right? But I feel like if you can generate enough, like, decent quality youth individuals and, and just kind of, uh, build them and mold them into what you want to be, these are lifers, dude.
Todd Speciale [00:46:51]:
Like, they're lifers. Instead of trying to talk someone out of making money, and I think a lot of people discount that, uh, that, well, they're, they're 18 years old, what can they No. Well, dude, they're 18 and guess what? They need a job and they need a career. So let's not talk about a job. Let's talk about a career and let's guide them there. And to me, that's the easiest way to build an organization is take someone that's young, that's willing, and just pour into them, you know, and that's how you build a company.
Mike Allen [00:47:13]:
So service industry and youth. Yeah. Well, I want to say so many of the people in— so our trade is aging. Yeah. Just like America is aging, right? And there's a severe skilled labor shortage gap in our trade, just like all the skilled trades. And there's a lot of bitter old dudes saying kids don't want to work, they want to be in their feelings, a work-life balance. There are young men and women out there who are driven and motivated and gregarious and intelligent and are students of whatever they choose to do. They study and they learn and they get good at it.
Mike Allen [00:47:53]:
You just got to find them. Yes, there are a bunch of socially awkward kids out there. Their formative years were during COVID They were going to school on a computer. Yeah, I get all that. There are diamonds in the rough out there. You just got to go find them.
Todd Speciale [00:48:05]:
And dig them up. Yeah, so I'll, I'll tell you this, uh, you're right. There are a lot of people out there that say, um, you know, kids don't want to work these days.
Mike Allen [00:48:15]:
It's not like us back in the old days, right? They were lazy fuckers back in the old day too.
Todd Speciale [00:48:20]:
100%, bro. There's a lot— it's all ego and pride. And unfortunately, those type of people won't ever keep someone young because they go in with these predisposition judgments and they're looking for the perfect candidate, right? Rather than trying to pour into somebody. The problem with those type of people, it's not the kids, like you said, it's not the COVID it's not the youth, it's their attitude with them. Because yes, they did grow up in a different time. If you don't mind me asking, Mike.
Mike Allen [00:48:42]:
How old are you? I was born in '79. Okay, so was that maybe 46?
Todd Speciale [00:48:46]:
So, uh, okay, so I was born in '76. Okay, look very young. Thank you, good for you. Uh, but for me, it's like like I remember growing up and things are different from when I was a kid, but that's not a bad thing. I think what those kids need these days, maybe a little bit different than how we grew up, was like— it sounds like to me like you took a shot selling books door to door because, you know, you're just like, well.
Mike Allen [00:49:06]:
Let me give this thing a shot, right?
Todd Speciale [00:49:07]:
I got sold by a recruiter, right? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, 100%. Um, and what happens is, is that, um, you know, when we get sold, we still have to make the decision to go, right? Talk about like, we went. You made the decision, I made the decision. Someone sold us for sure. But these kids these days, there is some laziness just like there was back then. But you know what they need different than you and I back then? We just chose to go. These kids need a little bit more direction these days, and they need someone that actually gives a shit about them and to prove it.
Todd Speciale [00:49:34]:
So if you're on here and you're listening, say, oh, these kids, the millennials on the, you know, like, you're never ever, ever, ever going to have success hiring the youth because you're, you're, your mind's already made up. They're not going to make it. They're lazy, work balance life, etc. Because yeah, the way we grew up, I was like, you hustled until you earned. That was it. That's how we grew up. Up. But times change.
Todd Speciale [00:49:52]:
So, so what do you do? You not grow the organization because times have changed? No, idiot. Like, go out there, find good people.
Mike Allen [00:49:58]:
You have nothing but a bunch of dudes that are 70 years old.
Todd Speciale [00:50:01]:
Yeah, yeah, it's not gonna happen. So just pour into the youth and actually show them you give a shit. Again, I know I've said it 15 times on this podcast, culture and caring will get you way better results than even hiring me in sales training or leadership development. It just is. And I think people think that they do but, but they don't do it well enough. So help them earn, pour into them. Your business will change. It's not the sales tactics or the new skills.
Todd Speciale [00:50:26]:
It's not that, you know, the flat rates and how you can get the most out of it. It's, it's have integrity and honesty, but pour into people and you'll see the results. But, but you can't have your mind made up about something and not be open to serving someone and then hire someone, expect them to do what you did when you're a kid.
Mike Allen [00:50:40]:
It's just not that easy. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Well, dude, I really appreciate you coming on. If people want to learn more and want to reach out to you to potentially come and help them their business, what's the best way for them to.
Todd Speciale [00:50:51]:
Get in touch with you? Yeah, so I got a couple different websites. My personal website for speaking is just www.toddspecial.com. It's my first and last name, special with an E, dot com. And then the other one is makesalesgreatagain.com. That is our business website. All my books are on both. You can kind of see what we do. Again, I don't ever— as crazy as it sounds— teach sales for a living, but I never sell on stage.
Todd Speciale [00:51:14]:
I don't like selling on podcasts. I'm grateful for anybody who wants to follow, follow us on Instagram, etc. My Instagram is just my name, Todd Special. I just— I'm grateful for any person that wants to learn and get better. And if you feel like we're the person that can serve you to do that, great. If not, be open to someone else helping you, because I think it's important. Awesome. Thanks, dude.
Todd Speciale [00:51:33]:
Amen.
Mike Allen [00:51:33]:
Thanks, brother. Appreciate you. Thanks for listening to Confessions of a Shop Owner, where we lay it all out— the good, the bad, and sometimes the super messed up. I'm your host, Mike Allen, here to remind you that even the pros screw it up sometimes. So why not laugh a little bit, learn a little bit, and maybe have another hearing. You got a confession of your own or a topic you'd like me to cover, or do you just want to let me know what an idiot I am? Email mike@confessionsofashopowner.com or call and leave a message. The number is 704-CONFESS. That's 704-266-3377.
Mike Allen [00:52:04]:
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, or follow. Join us on this crazy journey that is shop ownership. I'll see you.
Todd Speciale [00:52:40]:
On the next episode.
Mike Allen [00:52:40]:
You know I said yes.