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July 26, 2022

Ep43 Dale Dupree - Bringing Humanity Back to Sales

Introducing the The Hardest Working Man on LinkedIn!

In this episode, we learn how to make sales like an actual human being instead of some caricature of a salesperson who only thinks about the numbers.

Dale Dupree is on the show and he is leading his own Sales Rebellion to change the way people think about sales and how salespeople operate.

He is a creative genius when it comes to finding new and unique ways to break the norm and get the attention of his prospects.  He uses his superpowers for good, of course, by making sure that everyone he interacts with understands that what he wants more than anything is to truly connect and get to know who they are and how he might be able to help.

We dive into so many great stories of hilarious ways he's gotten the attention of people he's tried to sell to and what this world of sales really means to him personally.

 

Transcript

Jason Croft  
Today on the show strategy plus action equals bringing humanity back to sales. 

Jason Croft  
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Strategy + Action.  . I have the great honor to talk to Dale Dupree today.  Sales Rebel. So much fun. We've been connected on LinkedIn, gosh, for four years now. And I really wanted to have him on the show to talk about this incredible way that he approaches sales. That no he has for years, right with his own copier business and then transitioning to, you know, training others with the sales rebellion that he's got going on, on how to really be a human being when it comes to sales. And I know that sounds like it's something that we should all just be doing. And Dale and I would both agree. But we also all know that that's not what's going on out there. The the tactics and the scripts and the, you know, call a million people and one will say yes, approaches to things. Maybe maybe they work at some kind of spreadsheet level, if you throw enough people and enough phone calls at something that becomes profitable. But at the end of the day, what we really dig into a lot in this episode is how do you build a business? Whether you're a salesperson, and or you're selling your own services? Or you have salespeople? How do you grow that in a way that? Wow, you know, you get to be happy along the way. And I think a lot of people confuse happiness with lack of work ethic or weakness, you know, when you make that a priority, but it's really strong, and you're actually more likely to work your butt off when you're happy along the way and enjoying what the heck you're doing. And for Dale and I both that happiness, that enjoyment, that fulfillment comes in connecting to others, and yes, making the sale. It's critical. It's why we're in business, why we do what we do, right? But not only is it better, when you approach it in this more human aesthetic way, right? It actually allows you to stand out. Because right now there is so much noise out there of just buy my stuff, buy my stuff, buy my stuff, that when you do some of these pattern interrupts that Dale talks about, you know, it allows people to get shaken out of their normal day to day walls up all of that, you know, when it comes to dealing with salespeople. And it lets you just take that few few moments and connect as another person. And that's what we're all looking for, right in this as a way to break through that noise and show up and have a shot at showing our value to the other person and how you can you know, help them in their business in some way. So we dig into a lot of this and how people can approach it and what Dale has built and a couple of stories in there of some very unique ways that he breaks through that noise. It's all fantastic. So let's jump in Welcome to strategy and action. Dale Dupree the man the myth, the legend. How are you sir?

Dale Dupree  
What's up? What's up? What's up? How's it going? We were just nobody got to hear this. We're just talking about how like I completely ghosted you when you were invited me on to this and so I just want to like tell you know, for the record, and for everybody listening, I like Jason's one of the coolest guys, the most forgiving people in the world. And I'm happy to be here man. Thanks for having me on.

Jason Croft  
Of course, man. Your your you know your sales rebel. You're, you're busy man content machine. Sales Machine. Oh, my gosh, just you got a lot going on. So I appreciate you jumping in with us. My pleasure, man. I'm happy to be here. So I really wanted to have you on the show today. Because this concept that I mean I think you embody really is, you know, being a human being when it comes to Due to sales, you know, I want to give people some some, I want you to give them some some background on on, you know, the copier side of things, the sales, rebellion side of things for sure, just to give a little bit of geography for everybody. But one of the most outstanding aspects of what you talk about and preach, and most importantly, do out there in your own business is, you know, be human, realize that, hey, yeah, there's sales to be made, there's business to be done. But I'm going to be doing that with with a person. And the best way for life, for humanity overall, is to go into that interaction as a person with a person and that in a lot of the creative aspects that that you on how you approach that is just phenomenal. We'll get into some of those examples. But, but give folks a little bit of, of geography here on on what you have going on in terms of business, and then really teaching sales and empowering folks that way,

Dale Dupree  
Excellent topic particular to a conversation I was just having, about two days ago, which was, yeah, it's it's really good to be authentic, and be very human instead of your sales interactions for the sake of your customer. And I chimed in and was like, bro, for your sake, too. You know, like, don't just don't just think of it as like, oh, this person deserves for me to be authentic and human. Well, yeah, everybody deserves a genuine sense of who you are, when you're interacting with them. But like, what I was trying to help them to understand was, that person is not going to, they're not going to respond the same way to you that you're not going to grow and like hear their experiences and gain aptitude and knowledge that the things that they share with you if if they don't, you know, feel that you're being given, and that's for you to take away. Right? In those moments. Like, what we don't do this because we want to sell more, that to me, like that is the stupidest reason why to be more authentic and more human. The reason we do that is to be able to connect and and grow with other individuals and create your impact. Because somebody said this to me once I said, it was my grandfather. It was a long time ago that he basically he made the statement, I'm gonna kind of like botch what he said, Right? and sum it up in my own day away. But he, he said, you know, the guy like the guy that for example, like the guy that beats everybody up, right, his whole life, he's always getting into fights. And he thinks somehow that gives him like, social status. Right? When he dies, how many people do you think say, good when they hear about it? And how many people do you think actually, like, feel hurt in that moment, and, and, and not like regret that he's going on but like remorse over the fact that he that, that he is because he or she made such a big impact on your life? Right? I was a young kid, when I started having these types of conversations. And it's what really led me to being in my early 20s Getting into the b2b space selling a copy machine and treating that like part of my legacy. And, and understanding that every moment that I had the opportunity to really build something with people and not just like, for my business and for what it was that I seek to achieve monetarily ever with everything else. And naturally, those things those rewards they come right. Which the other side of that too, though, every time I say that, dude, I, I get a gut check. Because I think, well, of course they come but but that's okay, that it's okay that they comments. Okay, that money is involved in sales. But really, it still doesn't matter. When it does come in it sure it provides some safety and there's some things that make people feel better about it, I come from nothing. So when I first you know, from the perspective of my own works, you know, my father had a successful business that I reap no benefits. And I don't mean that as like a jab to my to my dad, my dad was living his own life, like doing his own thing. You know, when when he was done with his business and sold it, the money he sold the business for is the only money he had to show at that point after 29 years, right of running that business. So like basically, my dad lived paycheck to paycheck when I had ultimate freedom. Right? So that's the man I learned from and so what my dad taught me was happiness, right and so for myself, I mean, I didn't have anything that I had because I was trying to figure out how I was going to make mortgage payments and eat you know, like at one point in my life and really like ready to give up at a certain point and like and I think that's what it all boils down back down to is like that's a very human you know thing to happen to us it's a very natural piece of the puzzle of our stories and and as you progress that story and as you as you connect with people differently as you start to figure out that like business is done not by signing contracts but by people trusting you feel incredible toward you enjoying the experience that you're giving them and and understand that they're building something alongside you just as well as you're serving them with a with a problem that they have inside of their organization or something that they see as a luxury and that makes the business even better than In, you know, fixing a problem from that perspective, but once once you really can grasp this identity of like being human, not just because it's the right thing to do for other people, especially, but like, because truly like it creates a benefit beyond anything that you've ever experienced in your lifetime, that we take business out of this box, and we just live our lives. And when we're living dude, and we're not like working to live or, you know, whatever the big gurus are saying these days, like, what we're just living, life is simpler. And we can find more happiness. Hopefully, that answers most of the questions that you had for me there.

Jason Croft  
Yeah, no, it's it really is. And I think it's funny, because there's, there's two seemingly opposite ways to think about it. But the one is, yeah, like, just have it be all messy, and it's fine that there's business and money to be made from this transaction. And I genuinely really want to engage with this person, and like, find out what they've got going on. And yeah, there's gonna be some sales to it. And it's all just messy, and all in there. Great. Like, you know, that doesn't make, you know, that interaction less authentic, less real, just because there's business, it's like what you talked about, like, Let's live our lives and go do that. The opposite kind of approach with it too, though, is also keeping it separate in the sense that you can, you can go make sales, you can go make a million dollars, you can go do a lot of things. And, and be a crappy person and be like, it just exists like it, it does. So it's not the answer, to go and doing that. But to your point, it is the answer to just enjoy your own life and be who you want to be, and live in alignment with your own values. And then, you know, you can do all the things that create all the wealth and or not like it's up to you. But it sure does make that journey a whole lot better.

Dale Dupree  
Right. Yeah, amen to that. But I think the one thing that we forget is our ultimate happiness and pursuing that. Yeah, whether that whether there's elements of like faith involved in that, whether there is elements of monetary success to some capacity, right. But it's, there can be a lot that goes along with it, as well, too, that you don't want to discount. And you don't want to say, you know, oh, but I'm being human. So I have to, I'm not allowed to be about the money like his you absolutely can like, in a very human way. There's no prob, there's no issue with that, in my perspective, and in my own experiences is when you start to think that somehow, like money is going to fix things, right? There is no happiness at the end of that rainbow. And trust me, I've been there many times. And it's when you start to think that, you know, put it on this facade of like being human because you have a hard time doing that and your business life that somehow that's going to benefit you financially or through success, right? It's like when we start to think from that perspective, we really just caused ourselves to just go deeper into the hole of darkness, whether we know it or not. Right, I think that's a big lesson to learn for everybody. Right? I was 26 years old, I was making high six figures. You went on the outside looking and you'd be like, bro, Dale is so successful, he's crushing it, he's killing it. And i Meanwhile, I'm like, literally suicidal at that point in my life. And, and in a place of the deepest depression that you can possibly imagine. And ruin in my relationships, you know, left and right and turn away, like my family walk with my wife. I'm like, literally throwing all these things out the window, like right in front of me. And it's all because I'm chasing this ultimate success. Right? that everybody's told me that what if I get to like, I'll fix everything, right? This will this will fix all your problems make you happy? Right. And I caution people, you know, even like listening to the advice that I give on this podcast today, like caution, everybody, like I might say something that's not necessarily good for your walk. So take everything with a grain of salt and all instances and never hear things that when people talk about that they correlate things like money to happiness, you have to sit back and question that almost immediately or manipulation inside of your sales cycle. Because Don't worry, like that'll make you money, which leads to happiness. Like those are all the red flags that people need to be looking for. And like being just a little bit more aware of because, I mean, like we live in the year 2022 Right, like we're watching a war happen live on our phones. We like things are so much different yet, like the majority of humans are still constantly manipulated by people offering the keys to success and the secrets to victory and all these things that they don't really exist. I outside of your ultimate happiness, and like what it is that you truly desire, nobody can give that to you can't pay 999 for it, it's not a thing, right? So, so before I get going back to the core of all that, like, for me, it was developing my brand becoming who I was as a copier salesman, ultimately, you know, becoming a rebel and so sales world and saying, we have to do things differently, because the majority of people out there that are teaching this stuff suck, and they don't know what they're talking about, they just pretend like they do was all stemming from like this identity of like, what's going to truly create happiness for me, and what's going to help me build a legacy that's much different than the status quo? Because that was the status quo. That's really ruining my life at that point in time. Yeah.

Jason Croft  
And I think there's, there's, there's such power in, in that doing things differently, not just for the sake of doing them differently, but doing it because, man, something's broken here. Something's something's not right with, with what people are teaching the majority, right? Hit the phones, the cold calling the this the that, that just do it by the numbers and all of that. And on paper, I'm sure you can do the math and go like, okay, eventually, in some capacity on a spreadsheet, that works, right, if you call a million and a half people, you know, three will say yes. And great. Was it worth it? I don't know that. I mean, that, to me, is like what it took to make those million calls. And like, there's just there's always that better way, I think. And I really like what you've got going on, too, because it speaks to those of us who we don't shy away from sales, we don't, we're not worried about that. We don't have a negative connotation to sales even. But we just don't, it just doesn't resonate, to go make those 400, you know, cold calls to just bug the heck out of people. And, you know, we'd much rather find that creative way, even if it means I have two conversations today instead of 75, you know, two minute conversations, finding some way to come up to you know, just to differentiate yourself, right? And as Indigo, because that's what we're all fighting, right. It's, it's everyone's, you know, this, like, as soon as you, you know, if you're in a store, and you are there to buy something in that store, someone's coming up to you, you're still like, there's no way I don't want, you know, and so we have that naturally, and I'm just always looking for that. How do you break that down? How do you get in front of that? And allow somebody to just see, you're just like, Okay, I promise. I really just want to have a conversation, you know, I really want to see if this is a good fit for us, or whatever that might be. And that's what I've seen, not only in your, you know, the training that you have for folks with with being a salesman, but the stories that you have of what you've done, I mean, a post today with the doctor's office, right, like, way back, give people that quick nugget. Like that's the I think that's the epitome of your approach and why it's so different.

Dale Dupree  
Sure, yeah. The I thought actually gave two different stories in there. Like one being the the the carolers the Christmas. I hired Christmas carolers to make golf balls to see. Which was really funny because they, they used the jingle bells song and they would like rewrote it for the copier warrior. Obviously, I had some some saying that to an extent, but I just I love letting great people do creative things as well, too. You know, I love like going with the idea like saying, hey, I really want to try this. What do you think? And then like, Hey, can we like customize a song with copier warrior in it? Yeah, totally broken copiers and toner that didn't ship on time and yeah, absolutely. I love that process right at the doctor's office. I like hard core Dale at the time was just when I'm gonna pound the pavement I'm gonna beat these doors down I'm gonna bang this phone. No one's gonna stop me and i That day it was very demoralizing for me in general it sticks in my head. And and I basically gave up like, very quickly in that day and the first call kept coming back to mind because I just treated like absolute garbage. And I wondered to myself like did it people really mean to treat me this way? Or is it because we have like a my suffering from the sins of the father. So I usually say it right the people that came before me and sign up sales and what they've done to people and that, you know all the line manipulation everything else, when another to do it. may now especially when I say copier right? Because that's the Sharky is industry of them. All. Right? So if I, if I sit though in my own thoughts, and I really think about that, I think about not just like what they did to me, but like, hey, what if I was in their shoes? Right? What if I had been through those experiences and this guy comes out? I have no idea who he is right? What would that be like and so several months later I, I actually put a celebration together for those people and, you know, custom made a whole bunch of balloons. And it was like, celebration, you know, like, hardcore anniversary or birthday party or like somebody's retiring. I mean, like cake, the whole nine yards. And basically, I had a note along with everything that was like, it just, I wanted us to celebrate that you're never going to get cold called from me again. But instead of that, I'm going to give you the proper experiences. So I'm going to connect with you, we're going to build trust and credibility. And at the end of the day, if I don't sell you something, that's okay. That's totally fine. You owe me nothing for all this, but you deserve every moment of it. Just like, you know, again, like going back to that whole thing of like, why do we do this, we do this just for ourselves just as much as we do it for other people, right? Because I also deserve to be treated that way as a human being. So, you know, practice what you preach and like, give people what it is that that you desire in return. And they become my customer like those people actually. I can give you the number to the, to the reception or the administrator and the doctor and they absolutely what would I buy sometimes actually, it's funny sometimes that the bookkeeper, that's, that's still there, she emailed me and asked me if I can get her a quote, for new machines. And after a reminder, yeah, three years, and now this has happened like two times, right? I have to remind her, like, I don't sell copiers anymore. I do sell so straight enough. But but every time I also like, but I'm happy to give you a referral. And and it's funny because I have never heard of the same company twice. She's bought from him both times. But but pretty funny, right? That like even though she's using this other organization, she still comes back to those experiences and the things that she latched to. And those moments that you know, I'm purposefully built. That was an intentional moment, right? I wasn't gonna

Jason Croft  
do this. Right when she thinks copier still. She thinks Dale, right. She like it's not. Yeah, she sat down with the paper and like, Oh, that's right, like, but No, still to this day. And that's what we all want. Right? What? To decide what we want to be known for. Right? In that positive way, you know, have that association. Man, that's, that's everything in business, right?

Dale Dupree  
Yeah, I totally agree. It's all about reputation, reputation building, and it's about fellowship within the community. Like, bro, if tomorrow, you know, we took economics out of everything, Hey, you don't have to work for money anymore. Everything's free. Right? What would we all do? Right? I ask myself that question all the time. Because I always want to reconnect with the things that matter, because I feel like, a lot of the time we we make work, this thing that we perceive is important. Because it does things like pay the bills, and but really, it's it's not like what we were meant to do as humans, like what we were meant to do as humans is like love doing something like war, right? What we're gonna do as humans is be like, I really enjoy making glass out of fire, right? Like, that's cool. You know, like, that's how I've always looked at trade and work in general. And then my head is like, well, everything stopped when I like, what would you do? I think most people cannot answer that question. Right? Right. Like, if you had to sit down and have a conversation with somebody every single day, what would that look like? Oh, God, I have to talk to people, I can't just scroll through my Instagram, or like, there's that whole disconnect that I just think people need to get back to reality. And on those topics and subjects and really understand that what it's all about in the end is what we create a bill to our communities, how they impact our lives. It's not just our work.

Jason Croft  
Yeah. And I know, I, I understand that there's different personality types and different levels of comfort when it comes to all that. And I try to make sure I'm looking through the right lens, because for me, that's talking to somebody every day. That's heaven. Right? Like, that's where I get my energies connecting with somebody, whether it's a friend of 25 years, or somebody I just met, like, that's energy, right. Like, that's fun. But I understand that not everyone's like that. And so, when conversations like this, or if I'm trying to teach somebody to, you know, how to connect, you know, with with other folks, there's certain things that like it or not, it's a skill in the skill set that you need to have. Right. And I think, you know, I think you know, when you're talking about the the economy, you know, scenario there, I think it, it brings us back to what I think is great about the internet and social media and all of that is we actually have the opportunity to go back in time, to that dynamic of that small town. You know, the person you're talking to, you're gonna go make a sale, because it's Joe from down the street, and they know you for this thing, just like we're talking about. Because the intent, you know, I'm sure it's all, you know, rose colored glasses, like looking in the past, right, but there's still that it was the only way to do it, though, back then is word of mouth, knowing that person personally, you know, having that, you know, route that you could go and touch and have a conversation with. And now we can do that at scale. And I'm, and I mean that in the most positive way possible, you can still do that one on one have that human dynamic at scale, it's such a bigger level now. The opportunity is amazing. And I love that. That's what you're doing, you know, with folks is is you keep slapping him in the face and taking their head and going nope, nope. You know, think about this. I know, it's hard, but like, what's the human approach here? How would you like to be on the receiving end of that and finding those creative ways?

Dale Dupree  
Yeah, I, I come back to in my head, I come back to just my own origins. And like, when I hear you and say all the things that I just did, like, and I think about how grateful I am that I was raised by somebody by two people, obviously, mom and dad, right like that. They really understood the power of my own experiences and like shaping me not like in a way that they, they desired me to show up and be but like noticing things about me like I do with my son, or any parent does with their kid, I would hope at least where I see. I see what makes them him happy. I see what they saw what made me happy. They saw what caused me to like, tap into myself a little bit deeper. What, what was fun, what created happiness, what was sad, but it didn't like, you know, they paid attention to those things. Because that I wasn't forced at anything. I wasn't forced into religion, I wasn't forced into politics. It wasn't, was just nurtured to be myself. And the thing that I think that's interesting, you were saying, earlier, you were saying, I like to talk to people, as you're like, when you say, you got to talk to people all day, that's like a match made in heaven right there. Like, I think we all uniquely have that same type of attribute. Right? And unnecessary. I don't mean, like, we all can talk. But it's the social interaction, right? We can have a with ourselves, we're gonna have a with nature, we're going to have it with a with a moment, right? It goes, it just goes a lot deeper than just conversing with people, right community is much bigger than just the doctor down the street or the accountant around the corner. And sometimes it feels like that's what life is. And that's what community is, but really like community is, right? It's like the waterfall that nobody knows about, about, you know, in your neighbor's backyard. That, you know, like when you get him drunk enough, he takes you to right. And it's not even about the neighbor in that moment, right? It's about like this hidden thing that was created, right? Like, what the, again, like whether you believe in a perfect design of Earth, or that it's all just happenstance, like, holy crap, what is this? Right? Like, this is really cool. How can I enjoy this? And then what's really, I think amazing about the world today is just like the general amount of history, right, that we can tap into as well to that, really, it's like you talked about, like, looking back into the past. I mean, that should be a motivator for us to be like, you know, what were our grandparents. So what were our great grandparents or what were our ancestors doing? You know, when they were trying to find themselves and they were trying to build successful businesses when they were trying to just be better people, what were they doing? And, you know, we'd be surprised by what we find in most cases. And I really, like I always go back to the teachings of like, my granny or my great grandma and the way that they would tell stories, right? They, they never were like, Hey, you can't do this thing because it's bad. They would just tell stories and their stories were so ultimately they're nostalgic as hell right to think about and go back to but they were just motivating but like, man, living legend growing up in the Great Depression and like, and then tell it like when you go back to tell the stories about it that you you like you have a smile on your face and you say things like oh man I loved every morning. I got a biscuit with mustard on it. And then I didn't eat so the next morning, right you hit like you hear that? Sorry. You're like Good God. You loved that. Like oh god yeah, that was like my favorite thing. It's like That sounds terrible. Once you like Master unless you're a big mastered and biscuit fan and maybe it's pretty to dope, right? But, but again, simply, when we can connect with who we truly are, why we're on this earth and that purpose for existence. It's in those little moments that we find things that motivate us to be better. There's a, there's a story that people always tell they say, you know, Mrs. So and So or Mr. So and so my teacher, they told me when I was 18, I never made nothing, right? That was never gonna be nothing. And so, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm telling you right now, you know, as the 21 year old that just graduated from college, I got my degree, and I'm gonna go out there, I'm gonna make a ton of money, I'm gonna go back to that classroom, I'm going to pull up in my Lamborghini. And I'm going to be like, Look at me now. And I always think to myself,

Dale Dupree  
although I can empathize with that to an extent, because I've had people like that in my life, I think we all have. I also, like, I see myself as the person that pulls up in the Lamborghini and thirds, that person that keys and says, Hey, thank you for motivating me and driving me to be the best human being that I possibly could be. Right? And so I go back to those stories of like, well, we will look at it as bad. And in a moment that sucked. And really, like, if you have that glass half full mentality, I know it's cliche, to an extent. But if you if you spend things positively, and understand that failure is so necessary, to your success, that you can humanize those moments, and they have the less of this like experience that you hated and sucked and more of this learning lesson, that you can now go and teach other people through your actions through your wisdom and through your overall success.

Jason Croft  
Oh, yeah. And it's, it's so tough, especially as a parent, right? Like, you, you know, how important those tough hardship moments are. And yet, you want to give your kids the world right. And it's, that's the toughest balance, I think. And even teaching the lessons from the past teaching, you know, like, there's, there's areas where I screwed up, and I simply didn't accomplish what I wanted to accomplish at the time. And I can't even point to why other than just, man, just lazy, didn't do it and stuff. But thank goodness, I didn't, because, you know, I didn't make the basketball team, because I never tried hard enough, right. But because I didn't I had this time and Witten had an internship at a video production and lead this, but you know, it's like, how do you? How is that a lesson? Right? Like, I don't know, I don't know if it is, you know, other than just a lesson perspective, right? Sometimes that and sometimes things just kind of work out that way. You know, it's, it's, it's, it's also a lesson, I think, for me as a parent to remind myself of just like, Alright, calm down, things are gonna be alright, you know, as long as you know, certain things are in place, and I think it's powerful. Yeah, how? So? Somebody, somebody's on board, right? Like, even just from this conversation today, or they've checked out some of your posts and seen how you approach sales, right? The idea of doing something like throw it up, you know, throwing an anniversary party, or doctor's office showing up scares the living bejesus out of somebody, whatever. Maybe the answer is like, too bad, cold, callings, hard and scary, too. Wouldn't you rather do that is, you know, maybe that's part of the answer. But how do people start down that path of really taking everything that they've been told about sales? And not necessarily throwing it in the garbage? But, you know, taking that and go? No, no, let's let's think about it. Think about it this way. How do they start that process?

Dale Dupree  
That's a really good question. So we because the one of the things that I always tell people is, wait, especially when they come into the sales rebellion, and they they hire us, whether they join a group training, or their company, as putting them through the program, or they just individually decided to do a contributor program, individual contributor program, that it's it's not daily to pre trading, right? You're not going to come and learn how I did it and do it the same way. We're going to give you as a framework around things that yeah, they're risky for sure. Like, there is no reward, great reward without risk. I imagine what it was like the first time I did stuff like this, that really the first one that I ever did was the crumpled letter, where I sat outside this place where I 40 Minutes did this because again, like I had another like really intense moment with a lady that just like threw me out of her office. And again, like, you get thrown out of an office yet you when you get thrown out you go well, if I go back to my boss, and I tell him like yeah, this lady threw me out. He's literally going to and this isn't my experience because I had a great mentor my father and sales but most of you here and so like you doesn't matter you're I'm just gonna tell you do it again. Right, suck it up. And so for me, there was like, there was some fear. There's like, wait, I have to do this every day and get rejected like this and go through these motions and like, sure, like, I was a tough kid so I could I could handle it. But also, I'm not gonna sit here and pretend like, there wasn't an element of discouragement. No, there wasn't an element of like, what am I doing with my life? I was just touring the world in a band on stage every night. And like, all of a sudden, here I am selling copy machines, like what? Because I wanted a family and I was like, what, what am I thinking? Right? There was moments like that. And, and really what it came down to was, well, what are you willing to risk? If this is if truly, this is what you think it could be for yourself? What are you willing to risk? And that's what every single person we hope would ask themself before they come into our programs, no matter what, because even though we're not going to, I'm not going to show you necessarily, I might tell you the stories, right. And in our curriculum, we might hear some crazy stuff. I'm not going to show you though how to like, literally throw a flash mob, cold call for your prospects, because I've done that too. Right? Or send cardboard cutouts of yourself or exploding copy machines, like, none at all, dude, you know, but I am going to, I am going to ask somebody, point blank, like, will you take a risk with me? When will you crumple up a piece of paper and deliver it to a prospect that says, hey, this letter is crumpled up? Because most of the sales and marketing you'd get his trash anyway? And so I pre crumpled it to make it easier for you? Are you willing to do something like that? And I don't care if you like it, I didn't like it either. When I first did it, I was like, this might not work. Right? You know, I had mixed emotions, about the identity of what it does for people. Right? So so when people come in, they join the rebellion, we teach them how to meet others where they are. And the majority of people that are out there selling the people that are listening to them or picking up the phone or taking appointments. They don't freaking like cold calls. Right? That's the bottom line. Right? I talked to those people all the time. I even though I sell to sellers, I am 100% in the business now I'm like go into every single one of my buyers. Remember, I sold 1000s, hundreds of tests, and millions of dollars worth of coffee machines, to people in aerospace organizations all the way down to a banker, right? I can call any of those people and say, Tell me about the cold calls you get right now. And they're happy to answer those questions. Right. So So for me, it's really this understanding of, again, like keeping up with the market, from a rebellion standpoint to make sure that we're not teaching things that are irrelevant to what people are going through, but also being proactive around the way that sales is and and fighting back against the stereotypes, right? Rebellion is more than just Dale's crazy stuff and bag of tricks, right rebellion is about seeking first yourself by understanding who you are having an awareness of others, building on those roots and foundations to be able to choose to be a legend inside of your your not just your organization, but your profession as a whole and to choose to be the greatest that ever existed, right? Because even if you don't necessarily like get handed that trophy from somebody that says you were I promise you that when you have that type of mindset, you change the game for everybody around you, they look at you that way. You motivate them to be successful as well too. And you give people the type of experience that they deserve and they've been longing for to begin with. So it for us, it's all about the micros, right? You want to be a better salesperson, you better come prepared. If you're coming to the rebellion, to look at more than just your stupid sequences and your terrible talk tracks right? You better come willing to to understand that sales is about so much more than just what the gurus and that the fanatics out there say it is it's about it is about emotion. It is about communication is about the understanding of psychology, basic human behaviors and interactions with others. And it's about making life more aligned with your with your sales walk than your sales walk more aligned with your life.

Jason Croft  
And I love that how, since you've started teaching others in this, this approach, we'll call it the rebel approach, right? How because you are constantly talking to the market and, you know, getting feedback from both students and, you know, businesses out there. How is that? How is your approach evolved since you've even just since you've started, you know, teaching other folks to what it is now?

Dale Dupree  
Yeah, it's it's a great question, bro. I really liked this question. It's an interesting answer to because it's like, the things that work the best are the things that have always worked from the perspective of what goes above and beyond the the the approach that people are typically used to experiencing. So if I send you an email and I personalize it, that's a fad and a trend, right? But if I send you a subject line that says I really miss you, and you're like, What is this and you open it up and the first line is Even though I've never met you, but being hung up on by your secretary 99 times, and having all my emails go and read, because they're probably in your spam folder is really bothering me. And it's causing me a big giant hole in my heart. I'm just really hoping that we can get introduced at some point. By the way, my name is Dale. And if you're not curious at this point to learn more about me than we have no, nothing else to speak about to begin with. But listen, I made a little sarcastic here. But again, everybody listening to you get it, right. People are sick and tired of the moves the plays the minutia, right? What works is the old school concept of interacting with somebody in a way that like you met your best friend when you were on the playground, right? Like, maybe there was a little tension when you first met them, they were like doing something you wish you could do, right? Or they were a little cooler than you. But when you finally were like, Okay enough to say, Hey, my name is Dale. And they were like, what's up? Jason? It was like love at first sight. And, and you've been attached the hip ever since. Right? So for us, it's like what's working? It's just getting back to those roots when you walk into a business and they say, Hi, can I help you? And instead of saying, Yeah, I was really hoping you could you know, and use all the stupid tricks and parlor crap that just doesn't work. But just being real with people and authentic like, it changes the game. But the best approaches are always the interruptions, right? No, 100% they work so so but think about what happens typically inside of somebody's business day eight to five, what they do, how they interact with a salesperson, typically, what can I do to interrupt that pattern, just enough to make it stand out just enough to make that person give me the opportunity to earn it, instead of having to just like, send 1000 emails to finally get them to open one in the first place, right? So because it's about shooting your shot, right, you can go through, you can use all the stuff that's out there today, you can hire some kind of VA to send a bunch of stupid LinkedIn messages to people that say, Hey, I heard that you were in my network from somebody, and they are really cool. And I thought you might be too let's connect. And then like that first message is some stupid pitch about your boring product. Like nobody cares. That's

Jason Croft  
15 paragraphs long. Right? Is with so you want to give them a call.

Dale Dupree  
Right, exactly. And it's got like, everything is tied back to like something selfish, right? From the perspective of the person that's reading. It's like, Oh, you want me to do all these things? That's all I hear. Right? You're telling me Do you have a problem? You're asking me Do you have a problem with this and then telling me that I do right after that, right, instead of like, letting me respond or like letting me give my two cents or so I really think that the the the approaches that are working the best for us, and what we're doing is like literally just like going back to the things that that count, and that matter, like, especially when somebody says, Yo, I'm not interested, I don't want to talk to you. So even if we use like one of our techniques, it doesn't we're not like some kind of silver bullet all of a sudden, right? My favorite thing is like, right, that person, a handwritten note, from a on a car that we had, like, specifically designed for the rebellion to like, give somebody an interaction and experience I don't know if this any of this will come on video. But you know, imagine a guy like traversing Tron, you know, with a backwards ad on send him a letter that, you know, they can literally write something personalized to you and say, Hey, I just want to thank you for just for the consideration and for your time. And, and if you ever need anything, obviously, I'm here, but I definitely don't expect to ever hear from you. So maybe I'll stop I'll stop at every once in a while. And like give me that ultimate communication of like, Hey, I'm a seek to earn your trust and credibility in this relationship more so than I expect you to just give it to me the first time I speak to you, right, when we're when we take that stance, and general just completely changes the way that people interact back with us. I think that's like the number one thing for my opinion and hands up mouthful earful, really, but getting back to those basics of just understanding how people want to be communicated to and what, from a traditional standpoint, people can align with, right that like, and I'm not talking about morals and ethics, even I'm just talking about grit, hard work, perseverance, experience provided experiences instead of performing pitches, right. I mean, those are the original ways to sell, right? Without the snake oil, obviously, I would say but right, because that's what it was back in the day for sure. But, but having that you know, just more of that foundation of moral integrity instead of the way that you're doing these things as well too, and not because that's gonna get you anywhere further, everybody listening, but because like people deserve those moments, and it makes you a better human to the process.

Jason Croft  
Yeah, and, you know, I've gotten into this subject a couple of times with with guests to around. First, it's the intent. And it's shifting that intent, like you're talking about, right like it's put everything else aside and how would this other person want to interact in the heck Again, how would you want to interact with somebody? So let's start there. But just like things that they can come and learn, you know, with, with your group with your courses and things like that. There's, there's this skill set to now I've got this intent, how do I interrupt someone's pattern to actually get to have that conversation? How do I stand in front of them and speak and listen, like, all of those things, that as soon as you start going down that road, some people just like, oh, as soon as you do that you're not you're not authentic, or you're not, you know, all of this. And those are the ones who roll their eyes when they hear, you know, connect authentically and things like that. It's like, Well, what we mean with that is, how do you again, not to sound like it's a phony facade, but how do you appear in the way that you have that intent to appear? Because it's, it's not necessarily natural, just because you're a human being doesn't mean, you know, how to have a relationship know how to make the other person feel seen or heard, like, there's a skill set to some of this stuff. And that, that kind of stuff is fascinating to me it. And I think, from that basic, you know, communication skills all the way to these kinds of pattern interrupts I think it's just incredibly powerful when you can go and learn this stuff and apply that whether, you know, comes to sales or talking to your kids, right?

Dale Dupree  
Yeah, I completely I completely agree. So because I do think that there's a fine line. Right? I do think that it is about understanding that when you're doing these things, it's because you're trying to humanize the conversation and the relationship that you're trying to build with somebody to be

Jason Croft  
male, just more of that

Dale Dupree  
foundation of purity, right around your intentions. And again, like what people deserve, because I think that's the number one principle to walk around with is in your heart is like, I want to give people the experience that is a servant leadership mindset is so scarce, so this generate in my generation, especially, but in the world right now. And you know, even when you like, think back to the baby boomers, and think about how they, like, did everything for that family, and they, they sacrifice days and weeks and months and years, you know, to make money and provide and I still believe in it. Because we we glorify that, right? To an extent we're like, yeah, that not necessarily all of us, right. But like, the world does, like the working class man, right, like, out there doing his thing, building this. Now, like those people have their blinders on the whole time, in my opinion, and no offense to the generation, but I just think that it was very, it's very sporadic, and a sense of like, who was really leading as a servant, and who was leading because they had to, quote, unquote, to pay the bills and do these things. And like, you know, this is life, you have to go to work every day and sacrifice things and like, No, man, like, you don't, right, I quit my job and started my own company on a limb three years ago. And here I am today with multiple employees, we serve people all over the entire world. I never thought I would be sitting here today and it was all in the name of happiness. I'm just gonna go I'm gonna get back to happiness. And and because that's at the core foundation of what I'm doing, it makes those relationships that I'm building whether I'm Pattern Interrupt in someone or not, doesn't matter. It's like my heart to make sure that somebody laughs today. And listen, like, even if it's at my expense, if they're just like, this was stupid, right? Like, I'm okay with that. I really don't care about that side of things. Because I've, I've been through so much in my life, I lost my my best friend, my father to cancer five years ago now. Sorry, six years ago, I lost my best friend two years before that to a bicycle accident, New York. I tried to take my own life.

Dale Dupree  
And 2011, right, like, I've been to the end, right? I've been all the way to the end, I've seen what it looks like. It's a dark, gloomy, terrible place, and I know want to be there. And so I don't have a problem with making a fool of myself. And it's like that, that creates, you know, some kind of negative emotion for somebody in my to my expense, because I also know that if I'm in your head, you ain't gonna stop thinking about me. There was a guy when I started my business, he told a really good friend of mine that I'm a clown, and when he would never do anything with me, ever, right? And, and I don't care, okay, but here's what how this story ends up. Right? Somebody came to me and was like, Hey, you remember that guy? Well, he was talking to one of your clients, and your client was telling them how many millions of dollars that they made because of you. And the guy like had this look on his face as if like, oh, yeah, that guy like that guy. Right? You know, those were his responses in that moment. And they are for me, it's like it's It's the simple fact of like things work themselves out. If you're true to who you are. If again, if the reason that you You're interrupting patterns is because you truly care about other people and the experiences that they're having. Even if they don't like it, I promise you, it'll work out for you to some extent, and in some extent, because even if it's just a learning lesson for you, like, Hey, I probably shouldn't use pictures that I sucked down out of Facebook of the prospects, kids, and superimpose my face or the dog's face on it, right, because it's a little too personal. And it offends people, or it's a great learning lesson. Even if it's a really weird and awkward moment, when they tell you in a dissertation email that you suck, you know, like, it's good for both people, because it's some really good feedback for the person that received it. In most cases, you know, even if it feels negative. And it's, it's a learning lesson for everybody. And honestly, like, I always looked at life as I want to be on someone's emotional spectrum, what we teach inside of the rebellion, good or bad, I want to be there. Because if not, I'm indifferent. And indifference is the enemy of salespeople, if I'm indifferent than I'm just part of the pack in the first place, like, how does that really truly set me apart and like, achieve the goals that I want to achieve? To begin with, like, there's nobody out there? That is indifferent, that is winning that life period, like in their relationship with their spouse, and their relationship with themselves and their business work? Like indifference is the enemy of people, in most cases, right? That's really the bigger picture perspective of it. So you know, I don't care if somebody tells me to blow off because of a marketing piece that they didn't like I like in that moment, I always told myself, especially when I sold copiers, it happened a lot more back then it barely happens these days. Because I'm selling to salespeople, they can't get offended that easily, right. But I would always tell myself, this is okay. Just Just remember that what you did like that they didn't like but also remember that they're not going to forget you anytime. So they said that even in their email, I've given your face a name and everything that the security guard if you ever show up, you're out of your right you know, like, they know who you are, there's there is now opportunity for you to rectify those moments and to show just how much you care because nobody cares as much as you

Jason Croft  
love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Oh, that's that's fantastic. And I'm sure that people say this a lot. But just be a little little fly on the wall of Dale's sales goals over the years would be a phenomenal experience. So new shows coming out. Right.

Dale Dupree  
Now we got a new podcast coming up. We retired selling local, if anybody wants to check it out, though. It's still out there. 136 episodes, I think.

Jason Croft  
And it's fantastic. Shout out to Chris Watson there. Wow. That's

Dale Dupree  
amazing. Storytelling legend.

Jason Croft  
But yeah, new show what's what's just kind of the new show.

Dale Dupree  
So we're coming out with a new podcast. It's called sales the rebel way. And it basically like breaks down our whole entire process, like from a micro standpoint, so their episodes are a couple minutes long. They're very topical. So salespeople constantly come to me and say things like, Hey, Dale, love your content. Can you help me with this one thing? Right? I'm having trouble with, you know, disconnecting from the outcomes, I am getting this objection a whole lot. I'm, I'm sending emails, but I'm running into problems. And so we basically are taking, you know, over the last three years, especially just all that data, compiling all the data from people that they care about, and making an entire podcast, it's basically allowing people to run their own miniature rebellion. If they listen to it, right, without ever getting coaching, you can see into our ecosystem, and understand what it is that we're about and what we're doing. And occasionally, you'll see a rebel rebel guest on there as well, too.

Jason Croft  
But

Dale Dupree  
I'm really toying with this idea, actually, because I haven't fully immersed myself into the guest side, yeah, we're gonna do that part of live as we're releasing episodes. But I'm thinking in my head, and I'm saying this out loud, because I know someone will hear it and be like, write me a message and be like, do that, right or don't, but I'm thinking in my head, it would be really cool to just kind of have people on the show that have their own version of a rebellion, and aren't necessarily, you know, the Gary V's of the world or somebody that's like way out there that everybody wants to listen to that can see a lot of plays on your podcast, for sure. Because I've had plenty of very famous guests, you know, quote, unquote, famous kiss on my guests. But the thought process for me is like, why don't we give a voice to the voiceless, like rebels are the voiceless in most cases, because they do think so non traditional, and they do think so against the grain and outside of the, the, the approval of the status quo, that a lot of times it gets drowned out because the boss doesn't want you to hear what this person did, because it takes away from their own success or the way that the company wants it done or, you know, whatever else, right? So, to me, like, your podcast, the reason that we're doing that Why cast in the first place is this identity of like, we want normal everyday average rebels to come out and to connect with one another and to understand, you know, hey like to take my rebellion to a to to another step and another level for myself as well to what are some things that these guys and girls are talking about and doing and their sales walk in, I hope it brings immense value to people I know it will to some for sure. But I hope it's something that just catches fire in regards to the way that we teach others and show others what it is that we know as professionals, right? Because we're so guarded, especially in this age of content, we can be so guarded with things that would technically be paid for by people in some cases, right? But I I'm of the mindset that the more you give to people, and the more you show behind that curtain, that you know, the more interested people will be at becoming a part of that inner circle and support him and as you're doing because that's what we need. We don't we don't need paid members, we need people that are fitting Knakal about the rebellion just as much as they're, they're helping us financially right because that is what catches fire and that's what causes a complete wave of change across the world in the sales landscape. And that's what a rebellion is all about.

Jason Croft  
There. Yeah, big time. I love that guest idea too. Because there's there's so much to be learned from somebody who's just one or two steps ahead of you. Right? There's so much more tangible you know, action steps plus plus that like, Oh, I I could do that tomorrow. Like that's huge. There's plenty of benefit from listening to Gary v's and the folks who have really you know, really up there and stuff plenty to learn there but having those those folks that are that close they can go like Holy smokes. Okay, I got it. I'm doing that tomorrow. Yeah, yeah, that's really strong. So people want to learn more about the Sales Rebellion and just get in touch with you help you know shift this movement like you're talking about make this movement how do people get in touch

Dale Dupree
You know, really the best way to do it is instead of a sales rebellion that calm new website launching hopefully at the end of this month probably started may it's gonna blow your socks off I promise to put a lot of effort energy and just time and intentional time into it shout out to Rafe Rafa our our genius instead of the the organization for all the visuals, the amazing candidates today I really think people are gonna love what they see when this thing launches even if they're not in sales. It's just like the perfect website man. I'm totally totally totally given myself. some brownie points here like for me, right it's like not probably not acceptable but I'm going to do it anyway. Right with a B Dale just a little bit here. But sales are buying their crops grades by basis are if you like content, like daily content linkedin.com backslash, backslash copy the warrior. You can see daily content for me sometimes I post two times a day, who knows if I'm feeling randy. Saturday posts are usually about the fam tune into and out doesn't matter to me. But if if you like other social channels, I'm on every single one of them at sales rebellion, pretty easy to find me. Like I'm laugh at my Tiktok or joke about my stupid Instagram feed and stupid food aid. I'm cool with that too. But really anywhere that you can find us whether it's get podcasts, whether it's our convenient our free Slack community that you can find on the website. But I you know, a rebellion at the end of the day, remember, is built on the works that you are performing. So coming and finding us is one thing but applying the principles and the concepts to your walk, I promise you change the game for your career will absolutely change the game for those around you as well. So and at the end of the day, it'll leave a legacy that's worth building and that you deserve to leave.

Jason Croft  
Brilliant, my friends. Love it. Thanks so much for being here. I think you've just brought a ton of value. Love this discussion. And I love this movement that you're creating.

Dale Dupree  
Much love. Appreciate you.

Jason Croft  
And we'll see you all next time. 

 

Dale DupreeProfile Photo

Dale Dupree

CSO and Founder

Dale sold the most boring product in all of human history, copy machines, and turned the sales process into one of the most exciting and creative experiences for his clients than they ever could have imagined. Now Dale teaches others to Rebel against the status quo and change the game for their sales career. He founded The Sales Rebellion to instill hope back into sales and encourage sales reps to choose legendary and build a legacy far beyond being transactional and just another number in the bullpen or more white noise for their prospects listening pleasure *insert sarcasm*