Ep 229 | Turning Stress into Strength: Encore with Professor Pete Alexander

Ep 229 | Turning Stress into Strength: Insights from Professor Pete Alexander

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Speaker 2: I had a. Perfect storm, most stressful activities going on that culminated in my diagnosis with stress induced diabetes. . The problem was, I didn't listen to my body about what stress was doing to it, so I did what many, entrepreneurs do. I continued to burn the candle at both ends. For another 10 years

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)-3: Are you looking to improve your sales without resorting to pushy tactics? 

Welcome to sales made easy. The podcast that helps you to achieve better sales results and gain long lasting clients through relational selling. 

Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)-4: Let's get right into 

it.

Speaker: what is the good word? Boy, dude, I have a special guest with me today. It is. A fellow that is known on LinkedIn. As Professor Pete Alexander, I've been connected with Professor Pete for a couple of years now. He is a genuinely. Nice [00:01:00] guy and a guy that fits in very well with the Selling with Dignity sales model.

And also on Sales Mate, easy because he's easygoing, easy to like, and you can tell he is a person who is a real giver. Am I right so far, professor Pete? 

Speaker 2: Harry, thank you for that wonderful introduction. I'm gonna try and meet those expectations. 

Speaker: There's even more. So Professor Pete is a fellow that is all about helping people get deal with stress, relief, stress management.

And by the way, he's also providing some great business insights. And he's got a great background in sales and marketing too. So we can go anywhere today. Professor Pete, why don't you tell us a little bit about your background and we'll go from.

Speaker 2: Sure. What I did was I started early in my career in sales. My, first job outta college was with FedEx. And, what a wonderful company to start your sales career in. Because they [00:02:00] invested so much, uh, training in me and knowledge product, uh, product and, and soft skills capabilities, they really, did, uh, wonders for.

My confidence as a salesperson and uh, then I got recruited to go into pharmaceutical sales. And I did that, uh, for a couple of years. And then after that I got recruited, uh, into a, uh, small medical device company by the owner of that company who was also a doctor. Whose office I was calling on in pharmaceuticals.

So it's all about the relationships and, uh, uh, so, so early in my career, the, the, the, the sales was a, uh, a key driver of my career, even before I graduated. Uh, high, uh, co college, uh, I was, uh, working as a salesperson for the now defunct Radio Shack. Uh, you know, I ran a, ran a local store, did all the sales for them been there, done that, done a lot of sales things, and then transitioned as I like to say it, to the dark side and went into marketing.

Um, and you know, what's interesting is, is that when I went into [00:03:00] marketing, the thing is, is that you think, okay, you're not gonna be in sales. Well. The only difference was that I didn't have my quota, but I absolutely had my numbers that I needed to hit, uh, from the salespeople in order. . In in, in terms of either.

The product or solution that I was selling or the company overall, whatever the products were, we absolutely had to make sure that the salespeople were successful, other, otherwise we were not gonna be successful. And, and it always, always shocked me. Uh, having to either work for companies or hear about, or have some of my peers talk about companies where the sales and marketing departments were not Aligned.

It, it just, it's crazy because why not work together in order to, to to, to make everybody successful versus being siloed and, uh, and, and work against each other. Didn't make sense to me. 

Speaker: Wow. Yeah. So great background and so. Yeah, I totally agree on this, on the sales and marketing, um, opposite ends of the table, so to speak.

And one group saying the other one doesn't, uh, get their hands dirty and the other one saying these people don't know what, to do with a lead when I give a great lead. They [00:04:00] couldn't close a door. So yes, there is that. That's definitely going on probably in a ton of organizations.

But one of the things you said early on was you're learning the soft skills of sales at a company like FedEx, and I would think that would be a complete numbers game. Uh, so do you mind just sharing a little bit about that, what those soft skills were and how valuable they were to 

Speaker 2: you? Yeah. You know, it was interesting.

We, we, we got pounded into us a particular sales methodology. In fact, it was, uh, it had the acronym, acronym of AP o, you know, which is the accept, uh, a for acceptance or, you know, building rapport. And then there's the purpose statement, then probing, uh, then there's the consulting overcoming object, uh, objections, and then motivating somebody to add Wow.

Did that stick 

Speaker: with you or what? Oh, I told you we're talking, 

Speaker 2: we're talking a little while ago, right? Yeah, that was back in, uh, uh I, went to work for them in 1989. And I literally, I didn't even prepare for this, uh, this interview, so that, that's how much it's been pounded into me, but I used it. Um, and [00:05:00] so they pounded that into us, but then after that, we would come back.

So that was originally a. Six week course in, uh, in Memphis. And then every six months they would bring us back for more soft skills. And, uh, the soft skills typically were, around being able to notice body language, uh, tone, um, and conversational aspects where you wanted to be able to be a, um, uh, a.

A resource to the customer, not just, okay, you gotta sell, And that was what was um. Uh, different for me versus a lot of the, uh, uh, my friends, especially who were working for these, these sweatshops basically. . Where, where all they had to do is it was all about the number.

You had to call, You had to do 30, 30 calls a day or something. The only thing that we had that was a very specific number is we did have our quarterly. Uh, uh, objective and, you know, obviously annual from that. [00:06:00] And then, uh, they did want us to make a certain number of physical sales calls a week, which for me, I was working in downtown San Francisco and with all the skyscrapers, that was a piece of cake for me.

Literally, I could blow that out in one day if I needed to, right on one in one building. 

Speaker: Yeah. Uh, that may be different today though, right? 

Speaker 2: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. You're not gonna, right now, right now, if you probably if you can even get into the building, let alone find, find the, uh the, the, you know, uh, decision maker that, and that was something too that was really great about working for a brand name.

. At least. You know, on when I would do cold calls, at least when I would walk into the office and I said I was with FedEx and I was always dressed in a suit. That's what they required us to be. . Um, I, they didn't say who, you know, that was right. That was one positive. But after that, you just had to, uh, to, to be able to respond accordingly, to be able to, um, see whether or not there was an opportunity there to further the dialogue for bringing in, uh.

Our services. 

Speaker: Excellent. So what would you say, uh, was it ab com, whatever, it was not critical right now, but what would you say you took out of that just stuck with you for your entire [00:07:00] career? 

Speaker 2: You know, um, the thing that I liked most about the experience at FedEx was that you, a, you needed to realize that it wasn't just about you.

You were representing a company as a, uh, uh, overall. And I think that that's the big picture that a lot of these organizations forget because. You know, it, the sales person is obviously the customer's first contact perhaps, um, into the company. And then it gets passed on to, let's say, you know, a customer service person or account manager.

But it's that you need to be a liaison. And what I really liked was the fact that. It was all about making sure that you didn't, um, act in a way that would be detrimental to the company brand. And that I really, liked. And the same thing that actually was, um, something that. And during my pharmaceutical experience that followed that, it was the same way.

They were really, really wanted to make sure that you were, and realized that you needed to act appropriately in a good way. Not in a negative way. In a good way, because you weren't just representing [00:08:00] yourself, you were representing the company. And the reason I say that is because my prior experience with Radio Shack was.

Anything but that. . Okay. It was, uh, it was crazy. 

Speaker: Oh, give me an example. I mean, yeah. Without, because they're defunct, so we, they, no one cares, right? 

Speaker 2: Nobody Cares. you know, you would, you, you, I, I was working with people who were coming in drunk, um, and they were dressed like slobs. Um, you know, they, they would use, um, really appropriate.

Inappropriate language, they would scream at customers. I mean, it just, it was like the wild, west of, you know, basically it probably, you know what, it probably could have been a really great, um, TV show. 

Speaker: Yeah, it sounds like it. It does. It sounds like a crazy sitcom about sales. Exactly. Dysfunctional sales.

Dysfunctional 

Speaker 2: sales. And I, you know, I, you know, I'm not gonna say that I never did that, but I can, so, so one of the funniest things that I remember that I would do, uh, 'cause I worked there for almost four years. And, um, so on Christmas Eve when we finally closed the door to the store on Christmas Eve that was always a very, busy day and of course, a very busy season. Every year that I worked there, they had this. Obnoxious [00:09:00] toy organ that had this, uh, you know, this play where, know, you, uh, put press this one button and it would play the most obnoxious song and stuff. So my tradition at the end of, uh, the Christmas season by, Uh, end of Chris, uh, Christmas Eve was, I would punt that, uh, that that organ, the closes up the doors you 

Speaker: were done.

Speaker 2: Exactly. And it was, it was something satisfaction about seeing the batteries come flying outta that thing. 

Speaker: Um, alright, so this, what is that movie? Uh. Was that the office, uh, it escapes me where the guy burns the office at the end. Burns the building. Uh oh. Uh, o office. Talking about office space. Office space, yes.

Office space. So they're bashing stickler, right? Yes, exactly. And they're bashing, uh, a printer somewhere in that movie yep. Yeah. Yeah. So that was a flashback to that. Yeah. So this, you were told, uh, recently I saw a post, uh, I think, uh, it was for you that we were talking about doing a standup and you were doing like, uh.

That's stand up, but improv. 

Let's do some office stuff, man. That's, let's go back to the store. Back when you were a kid in [00:10:00] Radio Shack and showing up, semi hammered and telling a customer to go fly a kite and, oh my goodness. 

Speaker 2: It was just good comedy it good comedy, and it was just so Ho.

and, and it was from both sides. Uh there, I, I remember one time, um, I, so this was again, Christmas season and. We were jam packed. People were lining up left and right, and so I'm working as fast as I possibly can. And I remember it wasn't just us salespeople who would get stressed because we'd get customers that would do the same thing.

Speaker 3: Yeah. 

Speaker 2: And I remember specifically this one guy who. I, I said, oh, can I help you? And he says, I need a, um, uh, a TV coaxial part. And I said, you know, and we had a section on there. I said, sure. Let, let's, uh, let me help you. It's only what, what, maybe a $2 part, right? Yeah. Okay. I'm not gonna make any, any money off of this.

But I'm helping him and I'm being really professional about it. And I said, so tell me what you wanna do. And he's, and he, blah, blah, blah. He describes it and I, and he, he wasn't describing it very well. And he's, uh, you know, and I say, does it look anything like [00:11:00] this? 'cause I, you know, visual, hopefully that, that, uh .

Somebody would, would be able to explain it better. I said, does it look something like this? And I show him this part and I'm pointing to one of the ends and the guy I remember to this day this is. Back, uh, shoot longer than my Radio Shack days. I mean, we're talking, this is early, early eighties, and um, the guy looks at me and he says.

I can't believe Radio Shack people are so stupid. Oh man. And I, and I went, haha, I just walked away. 

Speaker: Yeah. 

Speaker 2: And I went behind the point counter again and started helping the next person. 

Speaker: Yeah. 

Speaker 2: And whatever. I was helping that the person with, and he interrupts and he says can I do. And I look at him and I say, I'm sorry.

I'm too stupid to answer that question and he, starts calling me all these, uh, words and stuff like that. Oh my goodness. And I look at him and I say, Hey, it takes one to know One. 

Speaker: Yeah. These are good interpersonal skills, but we probably don't wanna recommend. For a customer service department anytime soon.

Speaker 2: No, not at all. We, we gotta keep our cool. And that again it was, that was the wild, west. And, and that's why it was um, refreshing to be able to work for professional organizations like FedEx or, or it was now the, now that the funt [00:12:00] sharing plow, 

Speaker: yes. But you had to unlearn, right? Yes.

There had, to be some things you had to just. Unlearned and I was listening, and there's a post recently on LinkedIn too, about a person who walked right by a store because the customer service was so terrible and he would walk an extra 10 minutes to another store that sold the same stuff. Yep.

Because the customer service was better. And he calculated over a period of three or four years, it was like $12,000 spent. In a store that was further away because people are just rude. 

Speaker 3: . . And 

Speaker: then there's, uh, another person that it might've been the same post, but it was similar where people would just say the wrong person is in the job.

And so sometimes companies just don't get it and say, I'm gonna put Harry Spate, who's the rudest person in the world, doesn't smile with anyone, and I'm gonna put him at the front desk. And I've seen this over and over again where people will put someone. Who is completely a task oriented person to answer the phones.[00:13:00] 

And so there's no friendliness, there's no, how can I help you? It's none of that. It's like next. And it's people are telling me, 'cause I was in sales, and they would say, you're person that answers the phone is the rudest person in the world. And then I would try to go and tell someone and they, no one wanted to hear it because they're all task people and so they just couldn't relate to this whole thing.

So these are things that people do without necessarily thinking that those things that you learned years ago, those soft skills. Can bring so much value to a business and get the return business. Not necessarily talking about the Radio Shack, but you know what you learned over your career and you had it before.

Um, but culturally those things impact us too. Very interesting. Yeah, and 

Speaker 2: I would add to it too that, um, early in my career, both with FedEx and with sharing plow, I remember, um, several times as a salesperson, I would call the marketing department to let them know I'm seeing something out in the field, or I had a [00:14:00] suggestion for, you know, how to make the product or service better.

And I can't tell you I, but it probably. 75, 80% of the time, the response that I would get from the marketing department was, you know, kind of like feeling like I was bothering them. And, they, that that sense, you know, going back to soft skills where it, it definitely came over the phone like I was, you know, that they had better things to do and.

I remember back in those days that I told myself, I promised myself that if I was in a marketing position similar to these people and a salesperson called me to give me an update or asked for some help or something like that, that I would treat them differently and remember that, and that's what I did.

And that's one of the reasons why I had such a, a great relationship with the various, uh, sales groups that I supported throughout my career because yeah. You know, I knew what they were, that, you know, they weren't calling me just to waste my time. They were calling me because they wanted to be successful and they needed help to be this successful.

Or they saw something that I, they thought I, that I [00:15:00] would needed to know. And I appreciated that. And I would act either I would act on it. Um. Or whatever it was, I'd always get back to them to let them know, Hey, here's the status. Thanks again for letting me know. Uh, either it got approved, it didn't get approved, or hey, it's moving forward.

I remember when I would, certain things that would get approved and we I implemented them at the next sales meeting, I'd always recognize that, uh, that sales person and I give that person like a Starbucks card or gift card, whatever it was. Yeah. Those are the kind of things that build.

Build relationships and that's guess who was the favorite person in marketing? Yeah, exactly. 

Speaker: Yeah. that's, uh, that's great. And so the, you know, the idea of today with businesses when they, sometimes they just assume that sales and marketing just does not get along and they just accept that it really doesn't need to be that way, does it?

It 

Speaker 2: doesn't. Um, and a lot of times what happens is it, it's all about egos And, um, sadly, what happens in, in my experience is that, uh, one department wants to be more powerful than the other department. Or you have [00:16:00] the clash of personalities and instead of being collaborative, they want to one up each other.

. And it just, you know, it's, it's, especially on the sales side. There's so much competition out there externally. But then also a lot of sales, uh, organizations they're gonna be recognizing their top salespeople. So inevitably the salespeople in the organization are competing with each other to make sure that they get the, you know, the, the, the top numbers.

And when you have. Then the competition, uh, added onto that of the marketing department, either being unresponsive or, um, being more challenging to, to, to, to work with. That just adds to the stress unnecessarily. 

Speaker: . Yeah. I'm not a huge fan of competition and sales. It's interesting what you just said. I, I've had these discussions, is that.

Take any world championship sports team, where's the competition? Is the competition on the team or is the competition on the court or the rink or the baseball diamond or the football field, right? Yep. There's [00:17:00] some competition, right, to get onto the team, but once you're on the team, right, then it's teamwork, right?

Right. And most people will say you can't have teamwork in sales. Not true. What's your Ah, I love it. Alright. Talk to me man. Talk to me. 

Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. You know what's Interesting? uh, I'll go back to FedEx 'cause this is a perfect example of this. Um, we would, I. Regularly organize if someone in our team and we had a, um, a team of 10 salespeople in our .

Region. Yeah. Uh, you know, reporting into a manager, if we had somebody who was, um, struggling for whatever reason, what. We would do is we would take turns either riding along with that person Wow. Yeah. To make sure that, to help them. Um, and obviously while we're riding with those, with the other sales person, we're not out making sales calls ourselves in our, in our territory.

. So we're not, we're not generating additional business. But it wasn't like, oh, you know, um, we, you know, we're, we're, we're losing our opportunities because we knew that if we did that, if we, um. Uh, paid it forward to somebody else that if we needed help, let's say we wanted to do a blitz of a [00:18:00] particular area of our territory, we could call in, you know, three or four reps and they could spend the day going and making sales calls for cold calling for us in certain areas.

You know, so it, it, it really is something where it made for great camaraderie. Um, and it was something where I never felt. Like my fellow sales per people were out to get me. Or that they were trying to that, their success was going to hinder my success. 

Speaker: Yeah. I love it. Yeah. And that is, uh, it's such a great thing to do.

And in sales, I remember, uh, years ago I was, uh, I paired up people to prospect together. Because I figured it's so much more fun doing that. Absolutely. And then someone, uh, who was not on my team said, well, how can Harry do that? Because right now you have two people doing the work of one person. And my argument was, wait a minute, my guess is the two people are gonna be more productive.

Then they would be alone. Right? It is one of those one and [00:19:00] one make three type things. So, so, yeah. You know, and I got a perfect 

Speaker 2: example about that because when you have two people making a sales call, you have the opportunity for not two, but four ears. And what I saw time and time again, where, let's say I was riding along with one of my peers.

He or she was talking to the customer or the prospect, and I'm observing the call and I all of a sudden hear something that maybe my peer didn't hear. . Or I can add to the conversation. And so that has a big, effect in helping further the sale. And so if you've got two people teaming up to do it and playing off of each other's strengths, you really can.

Generate more business because chances are, if the person was having a challenge, uh, prior, they're probably gonna have a challenge in that particular sales scenario, and they're not gonna close the deal. But if you've got somebody there helping you, and then that person can then come and do help, uh, help the other person, uh, you know, on a future date, it really, can have a big impact.

And the, [00:20:00] and with the, the fact that sales can be a very lonely job. It can be a lot of fun to be able to have somebody ride with you. In fact, I think back about, uh, many times where I just had some just fantastic times. And in fact, I, you know, now that I'm thinking of it, I remember a hilarious story that every time, every time I think about it, it's just hysterical. All right. Uh, I was in my, uh, the pharmaceutical company. And, uh, we got, uh, company cars. Um, so it was time for me, we, the, the, we could, um, expense getting the car washed and things like that. . So we were, we were in line, uh, at one of those gas station car washes. Um, and the guy in front of us, he, you know, he paid and he goes into the, um, into the car wash.

But he's not moving far enough along to get the thing to activate. . And we're sitting, you know, we're behind him and we're just watching this and we're thinking, what's wrong with this guy? Right. Um, and you know, I tap my horn to, you know, and I'm trying to point to him, he, you know, move forward.

He doesn't understand, um, what I'm saying. So he rolls his window down, oh boy. And he sticks his head out. I stick my head out and I say, you need to roll forward a little bit more so you know what, you know where this is going. He rolls forward a little bit more and all of a sudden,

Speaker 3: and 

Speaker 2: the two of us see this, [00:21:00] and my friend, he says, whatever you don't super laugh. Because even though he was really stupid and stuff, he's gonna look at us thinking that we're laughing. 

Speaker: Right. You're like, you're the ones that caused the whole issue. Right? 

Speaker 2: And I mean, oops, that was, it was just had I, you know.

Had I not, uh, been able to share that with someone. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Hilarious things. 

Speaker: Oh yeah. These are stories that just, I, I, I was just doing this with a friend of mine when we worked together years ago, 10 years or more, and rattled off in a text, remember this? Oh, what about that? Remember this?

And it was just. Absolute hysterics and brings you back to these great memories. So good times. It's, 

Speaker 2: I still have several friends, like on Facebook and LinkedIn where, um, we'll comment on each other's posts and we'll actually, um, mention something that was like a funny thing, funny saying back when we were doing the sales together.

Yeah. And it's just, it's, it's, it's like this, you know, this secret language almost. It's really fun. 

Speaker: It is. All right. So I'm gonna tell you, so we're gonna switch [00:22:00] gears a little bit, but I'm gonna tie it in with something that is probably relatable because you're a person that understands people, you understand stress Well, I was working in Washington, DC and we had a very drab office.

I mean, it was gray, gray walls, and in the winter time. There is no sunlight. . So you had the fluorescent lights, which are horrible, the flickering lights, the gray walls. It was getting dark at four o'clock in the afternoon. 'cause all the shadows, it was just depressing. And I'm a person that likes Light.

uh, long story short, sort of short is I brought in a painter. I got approval to paint the walls, and I picked yellow. So, so I'm looking at these swatches and instead of trying a wall, I not a very bright guy in the office. I said, yeah, the swatches, yeah, that looks good. That yellow looks good. And one of my sales guys looks at it and he says, geez, Harry, I think it could be a little bit brighter.

Okay, so we even go a shade or two brighter. And I said, you think so? Anyway, so this was on a [00:23:00] Friday. The, we are telling the painter so he says, I painted all this weekend, blah, blah, blah. On Monday morning, I now, of course in the morning the sun is bright. I literally, my eyes hurt. That's how bright the walls were when the sun hit it.

So my sales team walks in one by one, is and they're holding their eyes. They're, they're, it's like the glare is so loud on their eyes and it is hurting so bad. They're like, what did you do? And I said we're gonna cheer up now. We're gonna have good energy and I don't wanna hear it. I don't wanna hear any remarks.

So, anyway. So we dealt with it and we became, we actually got over the drabness. We didn't have to turn lights on anymore. We saved hugely on the electrical bill. So anyway, so what that, what I was trying to do is to bring energy into the office so that we wouldn't be drab, dull, depressed. Uh, was I on the right track there or was I completely off base?

Speaker 2: No you were. Because [00:24:00] colors make a huge, difference. Um, in fact, I worked when you were describing the gray walls and, uh, and the flickering fluorescence and stuff, I thought, you know, I, I, you know, I immediately went back in time to, uh, a job that I had where the. Exact same kind of environment was there.

And what I did, so when I was working at that first medical device company as a product manager, I traveled more in that job, at least overnight travel. I traveled more in that job than any other job I ever had because I had to run all the trade shows. And, uh, so what I would do is. Um, I would have to visit, I, I would ride with the reps, you know, in the same areas as those trade shows were going on and stuff.

So I, I, I tried to make the most out of it, but what I also did was, I noticed because I was traveling about 60, 65% of the time, is that I wanted to get something that. Would, um, help me remember the trip, what, you know, why I was there. Um, and so I started going to either maj, uh, you know, professional or minor league baseball, basketball, hockey or football games.

And so I started a collection of pennants. [00:25:00] And, um, I would have a penant or two or three, depending on how many games I saw during a trip, and I could always get great seats because it was usually just me going to these games. Well, guess what? Those pennants have so much color, and what I would do is I would bring those pennants back and I would put them in my office instead of having the, you know, boring, uh, um, you know, uh.

Diplomas or you know. . Something, some generic picture up there. I had all these different pendants of all these different teams and all these different colors and everything like that, and I, everybody who would walk into my office, the first thing they'd say is, love the office. It's got so much life and color to it.

Speaker: Yeah. 

Speaker 2: It really, it's, it's right. 

Speaker: It changes energy. 

Speaker 2: It does, it does. Even of you're 

Speaker: visitor 

Speaker 2: and you know what's funny with those pendants is that I now have them in my garage, hanging in my garage. . And let me tell you, a garage is usually a pretty DA drab place. Right, right, right. And it just lights that whole the whole way.

Oh, that's a great 

Speaker: idea. That is a great idea. 'cause I have a drop garage. Uh, yeah. Excellent. So talk to me a little bit about, uh, so that's the tie in because you, you do all of this stress management and so [00:26:00] forth, and so we're talking about sales. Sales is stressful, marketing can be stressful, and tell us a little bit about your story, about dealing with stress and what you're doing today would be really interesting.

Speaker 2: Sure. So the last, uh, medical device company I worked for, um, I unfortunately had a micromanager, um, as, uh, somebody, and I was in my mid fifties, Harry. I was way too old to have a microbiome. Sure, sure. Yeah. Yeah, exactly right. And um, so what happened was, uh, I originally, uh, had my first serious bout with stress when I was, um, in, in 2008 because I had a.

Perfect storm, most stressful activities going on that culminated in my diagnosis with stress induced diabetes. . The problem was, I didn't listen to my body about what stress was doing to it, so I did what many, entrepreneurs do. I continued to burn the candle at both ends. . For another 10 years until I ended up in the emergency room with [00:27:00] a severe case of diabetic ketoacidosis.

And for your listeners who may not know what that is, uh, in layman's terms, my body was eating itself alive. Ah, 'cause of my stress. Yeah. And here's the crazy thing. So I mentioned about the micromanager. So I had been working on a very high, uh, high priority, high profile project, and I was. Burning the midnight oil on hours.

Um, and so what ended up happening is that I just, um, had a physical burnout from it. And so when I went to the hospital, the um. They immediately admitted me in from the emergency room. My numbers, my glucose numbers as a diabetic were so high that the medical grade glucometers couldn't read it. It just said high.

They estimated, the lab, estimated that my numbers were. Eight to 10 times higher than they were supposed to be. 

Speaker 3: Oh. 

Speaker 2: And so they transferred me for my first, very first ever experience in the ICU. I've been in the [00:28:00] emergency room with various sports related . Injuries or the kids having some sort of injuries where you're in the er, but you know .

It's sort of like you spend a few hours there and then you leave. Right. This was my first extended stay in the hospital and on my second day in, um. Uh, in the ICUI get a text from my boss at about 6:00 AM and the text says, you have a webinar, you need to run at eight o'clock. What are you gonna do about it?

And if you think about it, first of all, ACE, she knew that I was. In the ICU. Oh my goodness. Um, uh, secondly, I didn't have my work laptop with me because, oh, by the way, I was in the ICU, you know, so, oh my goodness. So I sit there on my phone doing my best to try and reschedule this webinar, pushing the boundaries of the capabilities of this phone, and the nurse on staff.

At that time, they were checking my blood every hour. And she comes over [00:29:00] to me and she takes my readings and interestingly. Um, my numbers had been coming down over the last two days. They were still relatively high, but much more reasonable. 

She takes my, my, uh, blood sugars at that point, and it's like a 90 degree angle.

My, my blood is skyrocketing up high and so it was my response to stress. 

Speaker 3: Wow. 

Speaker 2: And she says to me, you know, complete stranger, she says to me. And kind of like, um, as a matter of faculty, she says, . You realize this is what puts you in the hospital bed in the first place. 

And that was my epiphany moment because I realized if I didn't do anything about my health now, I probably won't be around much longer.

Hmm. And so I spent a couple more days in the ICU. Um, I spent, oh, I hear a dog. Um, I spent, um, another, uh. Day, just contemplating what did I wanna do for my career. And then what I ended up doing was, um, I ended up deciding, [00:30:00] you know what? I need to focus on my health. And so I went ahead and resigned. Um, I started just trying to find any type of stress relief activity I could.

And what I noticed was that not only did my stress go down, but. My glucose numbers as a diabetic went down, my weight went down and my energy level went way, way up. It was as if I had discovered the Fountain of Youth. And what was amazing was that my former coworkers, friends, family, they all said, my gosh, you look fantastic.

Um, you ought to write a book about it. So I thought, no. Okay, I'll write a, you know, I'll write a book. It became a Amazon bestseller and it just focuses on helping people, you know, find one or two techniques that they can use regularly to help them reduce their stress. And the crazy thing is. If you look at pictures of me from [00:31:00] 2008 when I was first diagnosed with stress induced diabetes, and you look at pictures of me now, other than the gray hair, I look younger today than I looked 14 years ago, and that's, that's Crazy.

um, wow. Yeah. Yeah. So it, it's, uh, super, it's, it's a, it's a wondrous Thing. and so, you know, now I just, uh, you know, I do it as part of everything that I do. You know, I, I run a landscaping business and, um, I teach classes online, but I also, uh, um. You know, help people, you know, re reduce their stress just by, you know, going and, and helping them discover different techniques.

I've had so many different sales groups bring me in for a one hour zoom and to walk 'em through several ideas and stuff like that. And it's, it's really, uh, uh, fun to be able to give back. 

Speaker: Wow, that's interesting. What would, is there something that you could offer the listener here as to. A ways to reduce stress.

Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, um, so if anyone is listening in their car, uh, the only caveat here is pull over. So just for a minute, but here's a great one because we can all, you know, relate to. You know, let's say pulling up in front of the building where we have to make, um, a important sales call [00:32:00] or maybe we have to have, uh, a difficult conversation either with a customer or maybe if we're a sales manager or we're a salesperson and we have to have an, uh, conversation with our manager, or we're the manager and we have to have a difficult conversation with somebody who reports to us, whatever that happens to be.

This is a great technique to help get you grounded. And what it is, it's, it's called halau and, and it's a, uh, very short meditation that comes from the Hawaiian culture. And all you have to do is go ahead. If you do this with me, Harry, find a spot on the wall in front of you, preferably above eye level, you know, a stationary spot, and just start staring at that spot.

And as you stare at that spot, notice, you know, you just let your mind go loose and focus all of your attention on that spot. And after a matter of moments, you'll notice that your vision starts to spread out and more in the peripheral. Than you [00:33:00] do in the central part of your vision. Yeah. And what I want you to do is just focus on the peripheral.

In fact, pay more attention to the peripheral than the central part of your vision and stay in that state for a few more seconds,

notice how it feels.

And then go ahead and close your eyes, open them back up. Come back into this room, and notice that you are more aware of your surroundings and you're more grounded and you're better prepared to take on that important presentation, conversation, what have you?

Speaker: Okay. So I really, this is, that's weird, um, because you're, you're thinking that when you wanna focus on it, that you wanna close out the Peripheral. 

And this is the opposite. Yeah. And then it is wow, I didn't realize I had so much peripheral vision. 

Speaker 2: You do because yeah. What happens is when you take in, especially let's say if you were right about before you're [00:34:00] taking the stage for a presentation, if you take in your peripheral vision, you realize that you are more in contact with everything going on around you.

And the reality is when we feel more in control of what's going on around us, we tend. To reduce our stress because our, our natural human nature is that when we feel more in control, when we feel like, you know, we're, we are aware of our surroundings and everything going on, naturally stress goes Down.

And so, and it, and it's just a great grounding exercise. 

Speaker: . I love it. So. What are you doing today with this and helping people? Because I know you, you've done a ton of volunteer work. Is this part of your business doing this, or talk to me about that. 

Speaker 2: So I do a lot of volunteer work. Um, the business end of it comes when I work with, uh, uh, various groups.

They have me come in, like I said, for maybe an hour, an hour [00:35:00] presentation on this. Also one-on-one, uh, coaching that I'll do with, uh, individuals if they need it. Um, so, but you know, most of the time it is, you know, having quick conversations with people and, you know, hey. What's stressing you out and giving them a suggestion to try something.

But the reality is the reason why, um, my book has over a hundred techniques in it is because something that works for me may not work necessarily for you and vice versa. And what's great is the vast majority of those techniques literally do take. Five minutes or Less. 

Speaker 3: And 

Speaker 2: so you try one. If it works, fantastic.

Run with it. Yeah. If it doesn't big deal, took you just a couple of minutes, try another one next time. The bottom line is find something that works for you and utilize it on a daily basis, because if you use it on a daily, the compound benefits over time will be enormous because it becomes a habit. But you have to start today.

That's the key. 

Speaker: Yeah, this is great advice. I mean, I was just, uh, I forgot who I was watching recently, [00:36:00] some YouTube video of a fellow who is pretty famous, but he talks about the 4, 7, 8 method. Are you familiar with that? 

Speaker 2: Oh, deep breathing, 

Speaker: Yeah. 

Um, and honestly, I didn't get a lot out of it. That might be one of those examples where it just may not work for me that well, so it is, so I kept doing it like multiples of the 4, 7, 8.

It's like, okay, if I do it three times, right. So 12, uh, maybe you know, I'm gonna, but, so yeah, it's uh. It really depends on the individual. It sounds 

Speaker 2: it really does. And I've had so much feedback from, uh, individuals who've when I do my, uh, blog posts on different techniques. And they'll, you know, they'll tell me, oh my God, this one worked.

It's great. And stuff. And you know, and sometimes, you know, it surprises me because the ones that don't work for me, I still write about them. . Because just because it doesn't work necessarily for me, doesn't mean it won't work for somebody else. And uh, a great example of that was meditation. I've gotten better at meditation over the time, but it's still not my go-to . Activity. And there are 3, 4, 500 page. Books on meditation. And it's the reality is Yeah. but, but most of us might have a busy mind and um, yeah. I've realized that, okay. My busy mind, it's, it is what it is. If [00:37:00] I can come back to whatever my activity is in the meditation, that's okay.

But. If I'm really going to do something that I need to ground myself on, I might do that Hawk alow like we just did. I might do a visualization exercise, um, and one of my all time favorites that is. My number one stress relief tool is gratitude, and that's something that we all need to have gratitude for and whether we're in sales marketing, there's always gonna be those stressful things going on.

But the reality is if somebody is not happy at work, you know if, unless they're in the financial position to leave and look for something else. What I always recommend to them as you if, if you know that you need to make the move to leave that. That job while you're still there, have gratitude for that job.

We can all find five to 10 things . On a daily basis that we can be grateful for. And it could be as simple as I'm grateful for the health benefits or the salary that helps me pay my bills, or Right. The friends I have at, at work, whatever it happens to be. Um, because if we focus on the negative.

The problem is [00:38:00] when we send out that, uh, whatever that energy is that we send out to the universe, that's the kind of energy we're gonna attract back. And so if we are focused on whatever is wrong with our job, et cetera, then we're going to attract back negative, energy. But if we're great, grateful for certain things, my wife and I, we do it on a nightly basis.

Hmm. We just we recap our day and I ask her. What are you grateful for? And she asks me, what am I grateful for? And we just recap what it is. And mine every time is, I'm grateful for my health because all else is secondary knowing. Once you know that I didn't have my health, and that's, something that.

Too many of us take for granted. And I always like to tell people if if you don't believe me, how important your health is, think about the last time you were really, sick, like with the flu or . COVID or whatever it happened to be. Right. Did you feel like doing anything other than lying in bed?

Probably not. . And when you were just lying [00:39:00] in bed with no energy to do anything else. You are no good to your company. You work for, you're no good to the business you run. You're no good to the people that you care about in your life. You're no good to anybody. So don't take your health for granted.

Don't trade it. Don't trade your health for your career. 'cause that's a really bad trade. 

Speaker: It is. Absolutely, baby. You're no good. Baby, you're, no, there's a song. Said you're no good, dude. I can't get the picture of you punting a toy organ across the room out of my mind. But this, this is helping because I'm listening to this guy is saying all about stress relief.

So a few decades ago you needed, you needed the later Professor Pete to talk to that young man. 

Speaker 2: That's exactly it. But part of why I did that was to make my coworkers laugh as well. Yeah. They thought it was the most hysterical thing. [00:40:00] And those, those, those, uh, um, uh, those organs were, were just these cheap plastic crap.

Yeah. I'm sure. 

Speaker: Nothing too heavy. You might have hurt the foot or something, then you'd back in the emergency room for another reason. So 

Speaker 2: It was so funny too, because I'd always take the batteries out of it and then, um, the manager in the store would always put the batteries back in 'cause oh, we're not gonna sell any of 'em if it doesn't have the batteries.

And so then I would hear it and it's ah, 

Speaker: Oh my goodness. More silliness. But yeah, professor Pete, you are awesome. Um, love the advice that you're giving. So you really helped us today on sales, the soft skills dealing with people appropriately recognizing the value of the brand, the mission so much good stuff. And then tying it all in is like. We gotta have balance here in life, right? Otherwise we're gonna be, uh, short live and, uh, not get to enjoy it and help others as much. Any final thoughts, professor Pete? 

Speaker 2: Yeah, I would just say with that note on balance. Whatever that balance is, it's [00:41:00] different for each person. So let's say for one person, they wanna get 50% balance with friends and family and 50% balance with their career.

But there might be others who say, Hey, I need 90% of my time with my career and 10%. With my family or, or friends. And all I say is whatever works for you, that feels right to yourself based on your own personal values. That is absolutely right. But if you are in the 90 to 10, 90% career, 10% in with your friends and family, make sure that 10% is quality time.

Yeah, that's the key because just we've all seen at restaurants pre COVID, even after COVID, where you have people sitting around the table, you look at them and all, everybody's on their phone. That's not quality time, that's physical time. So make sure it's quality time. Yeah. And make the most of.

Speaker: That's great. And where can people find you, sir? 

Speaker 2: Uh, best place to find me is on my website, pete alexander.com. That's where, uh, I have all those, uh, uh, different stress relief tools and techniques and they can also reach out [00:42:00] and connect with me on LinkedIn. 

Speaker: Outstanding. Be sure to do that. Uh, you'll be in for not a only some laughs but you'll also be in for some great advice.

Very helpful individual. And by the way. He will support you. So thank you for your support, professor Pete. This has been a real blast. So thanks for showing up on the Sales Made Easy podcast, my friend. 

Speaker 2: Well, Harry, thank you so much for having me on the show. It's been an absolute pleasure and I appreciate your, uh, listeners time.

All right, great stuff.