Welcome to the #piratebroadcast: 

Russ Johns 0:00
Welcome to the #PirateBroadcast, where we interview interesting people doing interesting things where you can expand your connections, your community. #Kindnessiscool and #smilesarefree. Let's get this party started.

I'm so amazed at how we can actually put this together and the internet is holding up. Things are happening. Chris is in the room. Chris, happy day. How the heck are you and how are you doing, man? How you been?

Chris Spurvey 0:36
Yeah, I mean, I'm gonna say it's at least a year since we last chatted. So a lot has happened, I'm sure.

Russ Johns 0:42
Yeah.

Chris Spurvey 0:43
Yeah, no, I'm holding up. Well, I mean, we are obviously in the middle of chaos, ambiguity, uncertainty. Overall, nothing has really changed in my life. I work from home for the most part anyway.

Russ Johns 0:57
Yeah.

Chris Spurvey 0:58
So I'm holding up well. I feel for people whose lives have been completely turned upside down and there are there are out there. Right.

Russ Johns 1:07
Absolutely! It's interesting because like you said we connected over a year ago and I know that you're an author and you have been consulting for a lot of people and assisting people for those that don't know you. Kind of share a little bit. For those that don't know, Chris, and haven't connected with Chris, go connect with Chris and tell them Russ sent you. I don't know where you came from just a random person out there.

Chris Spurvey 1:39
Yeah.

Russ Johns 1:39
Cause I know you helped a lot of people and you've written a couple of books, I believe.

Chris Spurvey 1:45
Yeah. Well, I have one primary book, but I've got a number of handbooks as well. This is my primary book. It's time to sell your sales mindset.

Russ Johns 1:56
I know you have a lot of great content around that subject. I kind of want to talk about it because right now a lot of people are hesitant to go out and sell. I think that's a mistake in a lot of areas. I don't want to unpeel that onion. For those that don't know, Chris, go meet Chris, go follow his content, go track him down, because he's an amazing individual that you need to know.

Chris Spurvey 2:25
Yeah, I appreciate that. I wish my wife was here so she hear you say that.

Russ Johns 2:28
I can send her a link to the replay. Reality though, is that we're in an environment, Chris, that is unknown. We don't know what the end of this looks like. We don't know what the future is going to bring to the table. I think it's really important to get the right mindset.

Chris Spurvey 2:52
Yeah.

Russ Johns 2:53
Anything that we can do to continue to build normal, a routine systematic results conversations. Continue the conversations because right now a lot of people may not want to purchase anything. They just want to be heard. Building that conversation in that bridge is going to be important. Talk a little bit about how you got here and how we're connected and why you're on LinkedIn.

Chris Spurvey 3:20
Yeah, well, God so there's a lot of areas we can go there.

Unknown Speaker 3:24
and

Russ Johns 3:25
I'll drink my coffee.

Chris Spurvey 3:26
What I came to realize is that let's just say it takes one full year for us to arrive at some form of normality. The realization I had was that's actually only 1.2% of an average life, right. I also realized that a lot of the greatest success stories that are out there, Apple, Microsoft, GM, GE, they are all grounded. Their stories are grounded during constraints, recessions, great depressions, and so on. The reality of it is, is yes, there's immense turmoil on uncertainty and so on. Constraints are actually can be framed up in our own minds and it comes back to mindset as a good thing, right? The changes you make in your life and in your business today, actually are going to be things that you will make your business potentially better going forward. Right. So those are some of the mindsets that I've been trying to. Now don't get me wrong, I wake up every morning and try to I have to force myself to think that way. Because we're being inundated with all kinds of news. I look at a tab Google News open on my desktop right now. Right? So it's, we got to try to make sure every day make a conscious decision. It's a choice. We got to choose to think this way.

Russ Johns 5:03
Well, I think if you, I wake up the first thing I put on my computer is I type in gratitude.

Chris Spurvey 5:10
Yeah.

Russ Johns 5:10
I have momentum dash and it's like, okay, I got a task here. My first task is gratitude. I type that out and remind myself that I have a computer. I have a roof over my head. I've been earning a decent income for years. Just using a computer in my thoughts, my creative thoughts. You're just like yourself writing a book and having those skills right now is an opportunity for everyone. You can actually acquire skills if you have downtime. If you're not commuting to the office and you're doing something else. filter the TV out of your life.

Chris Spurvey 5:55
Yeah.

Russ Johns 5:55
Pick up a book, pick up a tutorial or some sort of skill set that you can add to your portfolio that you are carrying, that you care about.

Chris Spurvey 6:06
Yeah.

Russ Johns 6:07
Then just get in the habit of learning a new skill. I think that's the most powerful process we can evolve through.

Chris Spurvey 6:16
Yeah, Teddie Ferriss wrote the four hour workweek and the Four Hour Body and the Four Hour Chef and all these other books, and he has done some research on this and tools of Titans 80% of super achievers, or successful people, however you define it, 80% of them have a mindfulness or a meditation practice, take that to heart, this is a wonderful time to do that. This is my journal. I write in it every single day, but I start my day off the same way, most days. I read my vision, which is really my goal. Right. So there it is right there.

Russ Johns 7:01
Yep.

Chris Spurvey 7:02
Then I have pictures that represent my goal, right? What I do is I trace, so I get myself into a relaxed, calm mindset and then I take my finger and I trace the edges of my goal images. Now what that does is I'm actually in my own mind, I'm in the image, right? I physically picture myself in the image. Now what that does, if you do it, and you do it every day, it produces ideas, it produces thoughts, it produces feelings. What ends up happening is you end up coming up with great ideas that you can move forward with every single day I read somewhere that a shark suffocates if it's not moving forward. It's so true, right? Think about it a shark is always moving forward. We need to every single day, find a way to move forward, there's always a win for. In this moment, 10 minutes of my life every morning, these ideas come to mind. Ideas are like slippery fish. If we don't write them down, they wiggle away from us. So I write them down, I look over my list, and I just decided to do one thing. That one thing leads to the next thing, it leads to the next thing, that morning routine. Then before I go to bed, in my journal, I write down two things that I did that day that worked, that felt good. I write down to things that didn't work. I just decided every day to do more of the things that work and do less of the things that don't work. I just find that that wiggle, I wiggle my way, in life towards some form of division, right. So it's a pretty simple routine.

Russ Johns 7:42
It doesn't have to be complicated or it doesn't have to be conflict. I think a lot of people think that there is some magic key or something that they have to learn or a secret message that they have to receive. Ultimately, it's Get up. Put your boots on, strap your pants on.

Chris Spurvey 9:14
Yeah.

Russ Johns 9:15
Go to work.

Chris Spurvey 9:16
Yes.

Russ Johns 9:17
Just do what you normally do, there's no secret. It's just called work. Work doesn't have to be work it I mean, for me I love what I do I have the opposite challenge I have to force myself. I don't want to go to sleep because I'm worried about what's going on.

I get up and I've already had meetings today. It's not as if it's something that just happened. It's something that I've developed over time. I've gone through many chapters in my life where I thought that I was doing the right thing and it didn't necessarily end up being the right thing. However, through that experience, I've acquired skills, I've acquired information, I've acquired feedback that allows me to believe that, okay, that's not gonna work for me. Right now, at this point in time, there's a lot of things that people are probably reflecting on. I think it's important for us to reflect on what can you remove from your life that is not bringing you joy. Happiness some sort of a level of feeling that you're doing something important, because I think adding value to the world is one of the most important things we can do. We can do it in so many different ways.

Chris Spurvey 9:38
Right!

Yes, a great book, if anyone is interested in a really good book is Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. If there's ever a time to find nerve bones or meaning or purpose. In life, then this is the time right? That's a phenomenal book. The gist of the book is that we don't actually have to, we just have to find our meaning in the moment. Right? What a beautiful moment to find our purpose and meaning right now and have that be a catapult us forward, right? There are opportunities right now for quantum leaps in our lives. We don't have to grow incrementally. We can grow in a quantum leap, and we've all done it. When you think about walk, we went from crawling to walking, right? That's a quantum leap. You give up crawling and you start walking. Just take that. You don't you don't Wade in the water, you don't wade fast enough such that your swim you give up wading and start swimming. Okay, another example of a quantum leap, we bicycle.

Russ Johns 11:58
Ride a bicycle. Not knowing to knowing.

Chris Spurvey 12:02
Yeah.

Russ Johns 12:03
It's it's that transition. I think it's important for all of us to understand that, I don't want to diminish anything, the tragedies and the loss like that. However, we're here right now. We have the ability and the opportunity to make a difference in people's lives and in our own lives.

Chris Spurvey 12:24
Yeah.

Russ Johns 12:25
If you don't take advantage of it, you don't take the initiative to look and investigate all of your opportunities right now. It's a missed opportunity.

Chris Spurvey 12:33
Yeah, yeah, I think it's Einstein, I'm gonna say is the one who's quoted the saying, what's the purpose of humans, the purpose of humans is to be of service to fellow humans only. Right? We are only here to serve each other. That's it, you know? Look at where you are right now through that lens and find ways to just be of service at the rewards. For me, I've got to picture over here. That's actually I printed it out on an old dot matrix printer about 15 years ago, maybe 20 years ago now it's the a picture of an apothecary scale. one bowl is Mark rewards. The other bowl is Mark service. The problem we have in this moment, for many of us, including me at times, is I'm focusing too much on the rewards. I need to just focus on the service because if I focus on the service, the bowl Mark rewards just organically goes up, right? So the apothecary scale is something that is a huge meaning in my life, right? I just focus on that old Mac service.

Russ Johns 13:41
That's a brilliant analogy. I like that. I like that visual.

Unknown Speaker 13:45
So

Chris Spurvey 13:46
The Soul from Earl Nightingale if anyone's

Russ Johns 13:48
Yeah.

Chris Spurvey 13:49
I didn't come up with it. I just I adopted it.

Russ Johns 13:52
I love it. Earl Nightingale has it the biggest secret.

Chris Spurvey 14:00
Yeah.

Russ Johns 14:00
Yeah. And I just love that. I just love listening to that every time you pick up the new up.

know,

Chris Spurvey 14:08
Anyone who subscribes to Apple Music or whatever it is. It's free to listen to on Apple Music and I bet you on YouTube it's there anyway as well.

Russ Johns 14:17
Yeah, yeah.

Chris Spurvey 14:18
It's an outstanding audio book, like 15 minutes long I think it is. Earl Nightingale is considered the father of personal development and a lot of these people who are out there doing personal development today, the lineage goes from Earl Nightingale to, I'm sorry, Napoleon Hill kind of was the way thinking Grow Rich, Earl Nightingale Bob Proctor and so on. Right so and then you have the more recent ones like Anthony Robbins and so on.

Russ Johns 14:50
Yeah. I want to give a shout out to Gabriel. He's here in the room. Good morning, fellow pirates. How's everything going? How's everyone doing? Randy? GoodMorning. Randy's up your way. He's in Toronto.

Chris Spurvey 15:04
Oh reallly?!

Russ Johns 15:04
Yeah. So he's up there. Wendy is in the room. Hello, everyone. Anyway, she has the pink app, and she's always doing some kindness around the neighborhood.

Chris Spurvey 15:16
Yeah.

Russ Johns 15:18
I just want to I just want to share a few people that are in the room. Angie, thank you for Lisa Fenton. Thank you so much. Yeah. from Canada. She's from Canada as well.

Chris Spurvey 15:28
I'm from Newfoundland for everyone.

Russ Johns 15:30
Yeah! I was just gonna say,

Chris Spurvey 15:32
Yeah, yeah.

Russ Johns 15:34
Vicki. Oh, Neil, you probably know Vicki.

Chris Spurvey 15:38
I know Vicki.

Russ Johns 15:39
Marco. Samuel, David. Angie. We already mentioned Gabriel, thank you so much for being here. Jerry Sherry, lolly Good morning. I hope the ending that I did yesterday was okay, so I've been working on this. this format of the show and continuing to improve and work on it, but

Chris Spurvey 16:04
Absolutely outstanding.

Russ Johns 16:06
It's funny. Jimmy, how are you doing good stuff on this channel. Thank you so much appreciate it, Jared. Howdy guys. So, Chris, I know that there's probably some time that you could probably are you going to continue to write? Are you going to continue to publish some more that's going to help your clients out?

Chris Spurvey 16:29
Yeah! Yeah!

Russ Johns 16:30
Talk a little bit about the sales process. Because I think right now people have a perception that, Oh, I can't sell anything because, we're all in this situation and I'm thinking that's probably not a productive outcome. I think mindset around the sales process, and it goes back to the pocket theory, the ball, you add value and that's where the direction needs to go.

Chris Spurvey 16:59
Yeah.

Russ Johns 17:01
Share some knowledge with us.

Chris Spurvey 17:04
The reality of it is that the majority of us have narratives in our heads of what sales is right? The quote unquote born salesperson is a bit of, I haven't really met many of them. The reality of it is we all have our own narratives. I go back to 1983. I remember distinctly and I've shared this story many times, playing street hockey with my friends in mountain pearl Newfoundland, going in for supper, and Someone knocked on the door, and within 10 seconds, the Electrolux vacuum cleaner salesman is in our living room, selling a $3,000 vacuum to my mom and dad, and they had no intentions of buying any vacuum up until that point in time. Mom and dad ended up fighting about it for next three months as they tried to figure out how to pay for it. What I observed in that sales pitch was this objection fighting scripted machine. that was the grounding for sales for me, fast forward in life. Just because I kind of had a bit of a business mind and all the ventures that I participated in, I was always the one designated as the sales guy. I failed miserably. I failed miserably. I jokingly say I drive up to because we have my first company was a worldwide web development company called networks, Internet services in 1993 1994. I jokingly say I would drive up to a prospects car restaurant, the lights were on when I drove into the driveway, but the lights were off when I went up to the door because they saw me as a salesperson, right.

Unknown Speaker 18:48
like,

Russ Johns 18:50
A salesperson.

Chris Spurvey 18:52
Yeah, you're right. business cards, networking, right? So that's the narrative I started out with and came to realize, you know what, if I'm going to be successful in any form, I got to learn how to sell. We all have to sell, right? Whether it's we are actually have sales in our title, or we're just selling ideas. Or we're selling our employer on the need for a raise, right? We have to sell these things. So, and I had the big epiphany about six months prior to me deciding to write my book. When I was asked to speak, I was the chair of the technology board here in New Finland, and I was asked to speak to 30, bright young entrepreneurs and I asked the question, what were the first words that come to mind when you think about sales? It was sleazy, slimy, manipulative, and so on. I said to myself, my God, here it is these bright entrepreneurs and it's time to sell and they think that of sales, right? How can you be successful if that's what you think sales is? So that led me down a journey in my life where I said I gotta debunk the myth because I've been through it I've read, I've acquired new mental images of what sales is. I wanted to share that right I wanted to show rooftops my journey to become more effective in sales. That led me down this whole path. What initially started as a passion project. I was working for KPMG as vice president of sales. I went down this passion project of writing my book, which started I then I realized after writing my book, I've sought a mom and dad, I got no one to buy it. So that led me to starting my podcast and reading articles on LinkedIn and different things like that to the point now where I'm a full time consultant. Everything I do goes back to that route of helping people when it's time to sell, right. Yeah, we have changed the mindset and what is sales? Sales is all about being of service. It's about bringing value to clients. I wake up, I go to bed at night realizing you know what, I have prospects who can't sleep. The reason they can't sleep is because they're worried about their businesses and about growing their businesses. My journey, my mission in life is to help these entrepreneurs become better at sales, right? So you need to refrain from what it is you're doing. There's no better time to sell right now. I know that sounds crazy to things I'd be doing. A, I'd be reaching out to current clients and there's no better time they're home. What a great time to talk to them and just have conversations, find ways to be more relevant in these times. So that's one thing I'd be doing and the second thing I'd be doing around actual sales to new clients is I'd only be doing it to what are your ideal clients, and what are your ideal clients, so the ones who have problems that you can solve right now. I'd be doing selling to audio clients only because I think and really that's all we should be doing anyway, because we're noise to people who are not our ideal clients. So it's a wonderful time to be selling.

Russ Johns 22:13
Well,

Anytime that I've ever had an opportunity to help someone that wasn't my ideal client, it typically turns out to be a tragic ending.

Chris Spurvey 22:23
Yeah, exactly.

Russ Johns 22:25
It's not because of any fault of anyone. It's almost as if this was not meant to be. The other thing that I really, I want to kind of unpack a little bit is that also the best individuals, the most productive individuals that I've dealt with in my corporate background and investing in all kinds of purchases are the ones that became the trusted adviser. became the person that says Russ, you could buy this. It might do a good job, however, I wouldn't recommend it. Here, let's look at some other options because I think that there's something that will work better for you in this situation.

Chris Spurvey 23:12
Yes.

Russ Johns 23:13
Even though it's not their product. Even though it's not something they sell, it's the best result for you as a client. The trusted advisor role has always been something that I've put in the back of my mind and especially with broadcasting and radio and what I'm building now with the Pirate syndicate is this idea that I believe everyone has a gift, everyone has a message, everyone has a voice. If you package that up in a way that makes it easy for people to understand and receive.

Chris Spurvey 23:50
Yes.

Russ Johns 23:50
That builds a bridge about your personality, your position, who you are, how you help, who you help, and It removes the friction from point A to point B.

Chris Spurvey 24:03
Yeah.

Russ Johns 24:04
It's really about the relationship and the connection.

Chris Spurvey 24:07
Yeah.

Russ Johns 24:07
That we're working to achieve in the sales process.

Chris Spurvey 24:11
That's right. Yeah. Yeah, you nailed it. I'm listening, I'm hearing you and I'm reflecting as I'm hearing you, on my journey when I left KPMG in mid 2017, because I had written my book, started my podcast, wrote articles on LinkedIn, the first five or six clients that I ended up acquiring, when I met them face to face for the first time. It just felt as I reflect on it, it felt like we were on second base. Well, I bypassed first base, because they had read my book, they had read my articles, they had listened to my podcasts. Oh, it's a wonderful time. We need to embrace that in our sales process, thought leadership, sharing who we are. The one thing if I had any advice for people is don't be I'm not a fan of the word expert.

Russ Johns 24:54
No.

Chris Spurvey 25:03
I prefer to go the route of, hey, listen, I've made a whole lot of mistakes in my life. If you're interested, we can work together and I can make sure you don't make the same ones. That's my preferred approach. I really hate. I don't like these people who are portraying themselves as quote unquote, experts because it comes back to bite you in the rear end, you know?

Russ Johns 25:26
Yeah.

Chris Spurvey 25:27
Yeah.

Russ Johns 25:28
I like Jeff young, he's the LinkedIn guru. He's the teacher ultimately, here. It's really, and it's this, okay, like you said, I made all the mistakes.

Chris Spurvey 25:44
Yeah.

Russ Johns 25:45
I'm willing to share those mistakes with you. Maybe avoid a few of them.

Chris Spurvey 25:52
Yeah, exactly. When I reflect on the first time we ever talked, I remember you telling me a story and I don't have all the vivid details. I remember you telling me about your personal life. You were through a bit of a tragedy if I remember correctly. On the purple side, right? I don't have all the details. I don't remember all the details, but I do know, I fell in love. I fell in love with Ross. We made the decision to buy based on how we feel.

Russ Johns 26:20
Yeah.

Chris Spurvey 26:20
Then we justify it logically.

So what does that mean? Right? It just means that we are inherent within that is the need to be authentic and genuine, and to share our warts just as much as our successes, right. I think now more than ever, we just need to be who we are.

Russ Johns 26:23
Yeah.

Right. It's almost like that saying that Mark Twain said or maybe it was, I don't recall who it was. But essentially, if you're honest with yourself, you don't have to you worry about the story you're telling.

Chris Spurvey 27:02
Yeah!

Russ Johns 27:03
Because you're just who you are

Chris Spurvey 27:05
Exactly!

Russ Johns 27:06
Good, bad and ugly.

Chris Spurvey 27:07
Exactly!

Russ Johns 27:07
I'm just here doing my thing. I don't have to pretend because this is who I am.

Chris Spurvey 27:13
Right!

Russ Johns 27:15
Sometimes through life and our experiences in jobs and different activities. It's like, Okay, I need to impress this person.

Chris Spurvey 27:24
Yeah.

Russ Johns 27:25
But you start becoming or you start putting things into your life, that may not necessarily be what you need to get out of life.

Chris Spurvey 27:33
Right.

Russ Johns 27:34
I think it's important for us to recognize that sometimes it takes a coach.

To say, hey stop with the pretending.

Chris Spurvey 27:39
Yeah. We fail to see the forest between the trees and I do it and you do it and everyone listening, God said, it's just human nature. So then you're dead on that. I've had a coach for 15 years and we talk once a week first. Sometimes a half hour, sometimes three minutes. He's named Raul and he centers me all the time and brings me back. He tells me if I'm doing something from his perspective, right or wrong, can I pivot around? I just finished?

Yep!

Russ Johns 28:20
Yeah. Well, I think it's for those that just missed that it's important for coaches to have coaches. It's important for us to all up our game, continue our lifelong learning. Pick up a book, start an audio book, listen to a podcast, listen to something. Subscribe to the pirate broadcast.

Chris Spurvey 28:44
Yeah, if we're not growing or dying, right?

Russ Johns 28:47
Exactly!

Chris Spurvey 28:48
Even in death, we're still we are we are moving we are disintegrating, right. It's all comes back to I think what my original comment was. It's a choice. We have the ability to choose every single day to grow or to retract. I think I prefer to grow. We only get one shot at this and let's just do it.

Russ Johns 29:11
Yeah.

Chris Spurvey 29:12
Yeah.

Russ Johns 29:12
There's no shortage of abundance either. So Wendy says consulting is so rewarding love to hear more. So Wendy we'll just continue to bring people like Chris in and more people along on the pirate broadcast. Interesting people doing interesting things is what I say.

Chris Spurvey 29:31
Yeah.

Russ Johns 29:31
Randy says good day.

So

Unknown Speaker 29:34
this is

Chris Spurvey 29:35
I have not experienced this live thing over LinkedIn. It said it's just amazing.

Russ Johns 29:40
Yeah, well, actually, just to frame this, Chris, we're streaming live to Periscope, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn live.

Chris Spurvey 29:50
Wow.

Russ Johns 29:51
Then by the end of the day, I'll have a podcast a transcription and the the post will be up on RussJohns.com.

Chris Spurvey 29:58
You are there man! I mean, this is crazy, powerful!

Russ Johns 30:02
So

Creating content is is something that I've learned how to accomplish over time through my many years of experience. So I thank you so much, Chris, for being here. I know that we're gonna be talking again soon and following up and like I said, anyone that's not connected with Chris, go to ChrisSpurvey.com is that the best place to go?

Chris Spurvey 30:30
Or LinkedIn!

Russ Johns 30:31
Or LinkedIn is a great place to go as well and just connect. Like I said you're a pirate now. You can join the Facebook pirate group and join the other pirates and start conversation, because a lot of the best conversations happen after the mic is off.

Chris Spurvey 30:48
Yeah, rough sanding. I can't wait.

Russ Johns 30:51
So

Thank you so much, everyone for being here. I really appreciate you I appreciate the fact that you're here and in the community, contributing to the Good, kindness is cool, and smiles are free. You can enjoy the day.

Thank you for joining the pirate broadcast. If you found this content valuable, please like, comment and share it across your social media channels. I would love the opportunity to help others grow in their business. The pirate syndicate is a platform where you show up we produce the show. It's that easy. If you want to be seen, be heard and be talked about. Join the pirate syndicate today.



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