In this episode of the Sales Leadership Awakening podcast, Logan Eaton, Executive Vice President of Sales at National Land Realty, discusses the crucial elements of successful sales leadership. He highlights the importance of maintaining focus, harnessing passion, and practicing delayed gratification throughout the sales process.
He delves into his experiences and insights on bridging the gap between knowing what to do and actually implementing those strategies. He shares key moments and approaches that have influenced his leadership style, offering valuable lessons for overcoming common challenges in sales. He attributes his success to several core strategies, including a strong emphasis on data-driven decision-making, the use of advanced technology, and effective marketing techniques.
“Loving what you do is so important. Having a passion for the land and a connection to it is key. Not only do they succeed because they know it so well, but they are also connected to that world; they work within those circles. This makes their lives a little bit easier.” – Logan Eaton
Key Takeaways:
- Recognizing signs of underconfidence in salespeople is crucial for effective leadership.
- Transparency and honest communication can build trust and credibility with clients.
- Individualized coaching tailored to each salesperson’s needs can significantly boost confidence.
- Practicing presentations and discussions is key to overcoming confidence issues in sales.
- Leaders play a pivotal role in modeling confidence and guiding their teams.
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[Transcript]
Introduction
[00:00:00] Steven Rosen: Welcome to the Sales Leadership Awakening podcast. I’m Steven Rosen with my wonderful co-host, Colleen Stanley. Welcome, Colleen.
[00:00:12] Colleen Stanley: Hey, welcome back to you. Good to see you again.
[00:00:15] Steven Rosen: Good to see you. I’m glad you’re doing well.
[00:00:17] Steven Rosen: In each episode, we explore the knowing versus doing gap, explaining why sales leaders and their teams often struggle to move from knowledge to action. And we have another exciting guest, Colleen. Why don’t you take it away and introduce our wonderful guest?
[00:00:32] Colleen Stanley: Absolutely. I need to have full disclosure here.
[00:00:35] Colleen Stanley: I will be very biased with this guest because I know Logan, and he is the executive vice president of sales for National Land Realty. So, Logan, if you would, tell our audience a little bit about the type of salespeople you manage, because this is a little different than we usually have with the VP of sales. When you’ve got independent contractors, what the company does, and who you serve.
[00:00:57] Logan Eaton: Thanks, Colleen, thanks, Steven. So, National Realty—I’ve been with the company now for over 12 years. I actually joined them right out of college, and went to the University of Georgia. When I joined the company, 30 licensed agents and brokers worked for us. We were very small, but as you flash forward now, again, over these past 12 years, we’re currently in 44 states, from California back East, and we’ve got over 440 licensed real estate agents and brokers within NLR. So, I’ll back up and explain more about what we do. Our company is a traditional real estate brokerage firm that specializes in land. We’re able to represent clients and customers that are looking to buy or sell farmland, timberland, hunting, and recreational land.
[00:01:47] Logan Eaton: We also do industrial, residential development, and commercial land. So, we’re able to cover anything that has dirt with it. It’s been a fun ride, and we’ve seen a lot of growth here recently. In my role mainly with the company as executive vice president of sales, I support our 75 managing brokers and their teams and primarily work on the business development side, especially when recruiting, acquiring firms, and adding agents and brokers to the team.
[00:02:17] Steven Rosen: Wow. So, you must do a lot of traveling.
[00:02:19] Logan Eaton: I do a lot of traveling, but with COVID and everything, I think we’ve all got accustomed to doing Zoom meetings. So, zoom has helped immensely.
[00:02:25] Steven Rosen: As part of the Sales Leadership Awakening podcast, we ask each of our guests what their awakening moment is or was. What was your leadership awakening moment, Logan?
[00:02:38] Logan Eaton: I was traveling one day, and we were on a Monday morning call.
[00:02:42] Logan Eaton: So, I was in Kansas City, and on our leadership call that we have every Monday, we were talking about the different businesses that we had going underneath our umbrella of National Land. So, we had the brokerage, which was the bread and butter of what we were doing at the time, but we had added a title company and we were doing lending. We started adding more things to our plate, and right then and there, we started seeing that the title company wasn’t doing as well. It really struck me at that moment that we were spreading ourselves too thin. As leaders, sometimes you always look for the next shiny object, and you start to become a jack of all trades and a master of none. We felt like we had mastered the land brokerage side of things, the real estate side. We’re good at it, but we tried adding new ventures, and instead of focusing on strategic partnerships, we said, why don’t we do it ourselves?
[00:03:29] Logan Eaton: I think that’s where we shot ourselves in the foot. As a leader and some of our other executives, we decided to pivot away from some of those spinoffs and get back to our roots of doing land brokerage. So, it was an awakening moment for me. Since almost six years ago, we’ve seen a lot of changes and are back to what we’re best at.
[00:03:54] Steven Rosen: There is real power to focus and do a few things exceptionally well. That’s one of the gifts that I got when I was in the industry—learning that a lot of companies try to do too much, and they become a jack of all trades and a master of none. You can master a few areas, and I think you can do far better as a sales leader.
[00:04:15] Logan Eaton: Definitely. I completely agree with you. And it’s a lesson to be learned, but if you can learn that early on, you’ll succeed in life.
[00:04:21] Colleen Stanley: Logan, they’ll talk about real estate—there’s a mantra—location, location, location, and I always like to take that mantra and convert it to people, people, people. With you guys having your growth—I think you said it went from, what, 30 to now 400 plus agents—you’ve probably gotten pretty good at identifying top talent. I know when we connected, you said there were three things that you’ve probably learned over the years that helped National Land Realty become the success it is today, and that was passion, delayed gratification, and listening. I’m curious: how did those bubble to the top, considering these to be the traits you’re looking for at National Land Realty?
Harnessing Passion for Sales Success
[00:05:00] Logan Eaton: Definitely. I think that was a lesson I learned over the years, being in the recruiting world. Trying to identify talent is the hardest thing to do. As you mentioned, over the years, I started seeing common traits amongst the agents and brokers we brought that became successful. The main part that you brought up there was the passion. It can be cliché, but loving what you do is so important. Sometimes, people get into a first or second job, and they’re just trying to find their way in this world.
[00:05:29] Logan Eaton: Obviously, some aren’t allowed to go into something that they’re fully passionate about right away because you’ve got to pay the bills. But for us, as we look at talent, having a passion for the land, having a connection to the land—whether they grew up on a farm or they’re avid hunters or fishermen—they understand it. Not only do they succeed because they know it so well, but they are also connected to that world; they work around in those circles. So, it makes their lives a little bit easier. The next point that you brought up as far as delayed gratification is that it’s a sales skill that I feel people are losing. Everyone’s seeking this world of instant gratification—gosh, look at your phones. How many of us are looking down at our phones constantly? It’s at our every beck and call. But for me—to paint the picture for you all—the average landowner in the U.S. is above 60. Most landowners still open the mail. They want to be sold. If you’re going to sell them, they want to shake your hand and meet you. And texting someone or sending them an email will just not get the job done.
[00:06:35] Logan Eaton: That’s one of the things I tell our new agents and brokers: you have to put in the time and develop those relationships. It’s so key. As you’re forming those relationships, the last point of listening is when you’re in front of those landowners, sometimes you have to close your mouth and hear what they say. I think if you listen more, you’ll get further. So, coaching our younger land agents and brokers getting into the space, as they’re out there meeting with landowners, building that relationship by listening to them and asking the right questions is so key. But listening more and talking less is what I say.
[00:07:07] Colleen Stanley: But I’m curious. I think the passion you can get from the resume, where they grew up, etcetera. Do you have an interview question to test a candidate for delayed gratification skills? Because you’re right, to no fault of many people, instant gratification because of technology can be the default. How do you vet somebody who actually has delayed gratification skills?
[00:07:30] Logan Eaton: Yeah, that’s tough one, Colleen. You can tell when interviewing somebody if they feel like they’re just explaining themselves or over-talking. I understand that recruits can get nervous in interviews. The delayed gratification is a tough one that I haven’t cracked as far as a specific interview question that has worked for us. Maybe you have an example, Colleen.
[00:07:50] Colleen Stanley: One question I ask, or I’ve taught people to ask, is, “Tell me about the hardest goal you had to achieve and how long it took for you to achieve it.” So, I’m testing for resiliency. Then, sometimes we all have cases where the goal may take a year or two. I want to see if they have demonstrated staying power in the past. That’s a question that I’ve used and taught.
[00:08:13] Logan Eaton: The question, I guess, in our interview process that equates to that is, “What’s something you persevered through? What’s a moment of perseverance in your life?” For me, that was more about just hearing a difficult time and trying to get them to open up to learn more about the candidate personally and even professionally because it can go both ways.
[00:08:29] Colleen Stanley: Yeah, because adversity or resilience, which comes from adversity, is a hard thing to teach. If somebody hasn’t built the resiliency muscle by the time they’re in their mid-20s, you can learn it, but I don’t know if a company always has the bandwidth to take the time to say, “Okay, finally, this person is resilient, they’ve got the bounce-back factor.” It’s interesting that delayed gratification and resiliency probably go hand in hand when I think about it.
[00:08:54] Steven Rosen: I mean, you can ask about a bonus: If you got a small bonus every month, or if you waited for the quarter and got a bigger bonus, which would you prefer?
[00:09:04] Logan Eaton: There you go. That’s a good one.
Building a Resilient and Supportive Culture
[00:09:06] Steven Rosen: That’s good if that’s what you’re looking for. You guys have very impressive growth, and one of the things that I connected with was your focus on specific areas. Are there several areas that you want to share with our audience on how you provide your land brokers extra support in some key areas, like training, data technology, and how to market better? What are some things you do in those areas?
[00:09:31] Logan Eaton: For us, I look at it as three pillars that have grown this company. First, data. For us, it was going out and getting land ownership information for every landowner in the U.S., so we knew our target market and went after that. In the early days, there were 100 phone calls a day to landowners asking them a simple question: What are the plans for your land? As you can imagine, those conversations went in a million different directions. But that cold calling, I feel like, is a lost art nowadays, or people shy away from it because they’re scared to pick up the phone and dial. It was a big proponent of how we grew. However, cold calling and networking through the data we provide to our agents and brokers are key.
[00:10:12] Logan Eaton: We use the data for now to provide direct mail campaigns and direct support to our agents and brokers using that data. The next pillar is technology. That’s a big proponent of who we are as a company—providing technology to make our agents and brokers more efficient and effective when they’re out in the field.
[00:10:29] Logan Eaton: I think efficiency is key. For us, the technology that we provide—we have a back-end system where agents and brokers can manage their KPIs, see what their sales metrics are and the goals they’ve set for themselves, and if they are on target to meet those goals that we’ve worked with them to set. Also, just being able to manage sales data, manage their listings, and pipeline effectively. Then, that last part, as you look at the different pillars, obviously marketing is a big one. So, we provide a lot of marketing support and lead generation to help them with some of that prospecting. For us, it’s about providing our agents and brokers with leads.
[00:11:06] Logan Eaton: Teaching them some of the prospecting skills and top tracks for when they get someone on the phone or when they’re in that meeting. I’ll have to brag on Colleen. We got introduced to Colleen, and Colleen did a little bit of sales training, but it was several years after that that we decided to build a playbook. We had a playbook before that, but we wanted to change it and do something different. We brought in Colleen to help us with a new playbook, which has also helped immensely. Again, that goes back to just the overall training. When an agent or broker comes in, we provide them with training to ensure they understand our company’s process and procedures, which we have fine-tuned. Then, we lay out what their first 90 days will look like and set them up for success from there.
[00:11:51] Steven Rosen: It sounds like you’ve got a lot of great things working well, especially with onboarding and what have you. Is there anything that you use specifically regarding sales leadership training that makes a difference?
[00:12:03] Logan Eaton: For us, as I said, having a playbook is very important because, in that playbook, we can coach through it. But I would say from just a leadership standpoint; we meet with our managing brokers and our leadership team, which is spread across 44 states, every month to go over company objectives and make sure that we’re all pulling on the same rope—pulling in the same direction, I should say—which is so important as a team.
[00:12:16] Logan Eaton: It’s interesting, Steven and Colleen. Our field, being that we are a real estate brokerage, is different from most of the other real estate companies. We’re not a franchise model where everyone’s independently owned and operated. Brokers come onto our team and are part of one unit. And even though they’re doing their deals, they are being supported by the company and our support staff. It’s a unique feeling that we’ve created here in National Land amongst the agents and brokers.
[00:12:54] Logan Eaton: So, the leadership aspect of providing those skills or tools to our brokers is the transparency and openness we’ve created in those meetings every month and pushing them to support their agents and grow as one.
[00:13:10] Steven Rosen: I heard coaching mentioned a couple of times, and it sounds like a powerful job on accountability and performance management.
[00:13:18] Colleen Stanley: It makes it easier from a leadership perspective because you have defined that we want passion. When you’re working with passionate people, I have to tell you, it makes all the difference in the world, right? You’re not working with somebody just checking in and saying, “I’m doing this job until I find my passion.” So, I think it goes back to what you mentioned earlier.
[00:13:37] Colleen Stanley: Now, I know from working with you guys that you also have a very strong culture. One thing that comprises your culture is that you are a faith-based organization. I’d love for you to share the work you do with the group and provide for your brokers and their families through your corporate chaplains.
[00:13:57] Colleen Stanley: Right now, corporations have a lot of conversations about mental health and mental fitness. I believe that you’re providing these corporate chaplains helps with that. So, can you tell our audience a little about their work and maybe the difference it’s made? Obviously, it has to be a little confidential because I know sometimes, with grief counseling and such, we can’t be telling stories, but I’d love for our audience to learn more about that.
[00:14:20] Logan Eaton: Corporate Chaplains of America is who we’ve partnered with to offer those services, and they do a tremendous job of supporting the over 440 agents and brokers we have. Their chaplain services are spread out across the country. They have state-specific chaplains, and then they have regional and local chaplains who can visit our offices and meet with agents, brokers, and our staff back in Greenville, South Carolina. Having them on the ground is great because they can come in, check-in, and talk to our sales team about what they’ve got going on in their lives.
[00:14:52] Logan Eaton: What’s important is that everyone has personal lives outside of work, and sometimes there’s grief that comes with what they’re dealing with. Corporate chaplains help us by reaching out if someone is going through a difficult time, checking in, and letting them know they’re there if they need any assistance, which has been tremendous. So, we are a faith-based company. We hold it near and dear, and it has helped us develop our culture. As we continue to grow as a company, it’s very important to us, and they’ve done a great job at helping us.
Focus, Passion, and Culture for Sales Success
[00:15:23] Logan Eaton: For us as leaders, I think it’s important to recognize when someone is going through a troubling time. The job needs to get done, but I still think you need to have compassion and empathy and be able to work with your staff. We celebrate with our agents and brokers in their sales and personal life success. But we also try to reach out to them when we see they’ve been through a difficult time. And again, like I said, we work with corporate chaplains, so they’re reaching out. But then we also have internal staff that will reach out. We will send a card, a gift, and offer any support to an agent or broker struggling or grieving.
[00:16:03] Colleen Stanley: Obviously, I love that for so many reasons, Logan, because in our hectic world, we know we need to be efficient, but love and support are not efficient, right? It’s just being there and being present and showing up. So, I give a lot of kudos to the company for that. We just had an interview, Steven and I, with a VP of sales at a tech company, and we were talking about artificial intelligence. I loved the answer she gave. She said, “Okay, you guys, we’ve got the artificial intelligence. I’ve got my deck, my predictive analytics, but when you look at people’s challenges, it’s not about the data.”
[00:16:37] Colleen Stanley: She said, “You might have a rep that’s struggling because their parent was just diagnosed with dementia, or they’ve got a tough teenager.” I’m guessing your corporate chaplains can help with issues like that, dramatically affecting their business performance. We still need to finish the job, but can you share a success story? I don’t know if that’s the right word to use here, but one that wouldn’t break any confidentiality.
[00:16:58] Logan Eaton: Actually, one of our agents was diagnosed with cancer and was going through treatment. Not only did our corporate chaplains reach out to provide their assistance and were available to talk to him, but we also had different people on our executive team and within the company reach out to him. At the end of it, he got through all the treatments and is doing fine today.
[00:17:19] Logan Eaton: He wrote me a card, thanking me for everything that we had done, and said that the positivity, well-written wishes, and prayers didn’t go unnoticed. One thing I failed to mention, Colleen and Steven, is that we started a “Faith in the Field” Facebook group that’s confidential to the company. It’s for agents and brokers, but we also invite their family members to join. It’s just a way for people to talk about their faith. Whatever they believe in, they can share it within that group. They can ask for prayers for what they’re going through. So, it’s a safe space for that, and it’s good.
[00:17:52] Steven Rosen: It’s the first time I’ve heard of something like that the employer setting that up. That’s great.
[00:17:56] Logan Eaton: Yeah, it’s cool to see. It’s separate from our company, our private company group, because we have a group for that, too, but we separate it and allow people to join. It’s been neat to see the outpouring of prayers. They’ll post Bible verses, talk about trials and tribulations, or even share good things that are going on in their lives. So, it’s a cool forum.
[00:18:17] Steven Rosen: Sharing and caring.
[00:18:18] Colleen Stanley: Yeah, and you know what? Something that, again, in this fast-paced world we work in, as the old saying goes, slow down to speed up. So, thank you for sharing that. Logan, you’re taking me way back to when I was a VP of sales at Adversity, and our company was based in Memphis, Tennessee.
[00:18:33] Colleen Stanley: I decided that at my opening, I always had an opening show at our sales meeting. So, one year, I brought in a gospel group of singers. It was the only time the CEO ever questioned me. He goes, “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” And I said, “Oh, I’m sure.” I’m telling you, my reps later were drinking vodka tonics and beer, but the meeting started with that, and it just rocked the house. I think it’s important for people to know that you can have both here.
[00:18:58] Steven RosenI have one question for Logan, just getting back to faith. During COVID, what was the impact of having chaplains available? Most of us suffered in different ways through COVID.
[00:19:09] Steven Rosen: And I assume that was something that helped. And did you see the increase in usage? What did you see during COVID? I assume that was something that helped. Did you see an increase in usage? What did you see during COVID?
[00:19:16] Logan Eaton: Yeah, definitely an increase in usage during COVID. One of the things that we also provided was a Bible study. We did a company Bible study webinar each month. It was just a way for our corporate chaplain to come on, lead that, and get some face time with our agents and brokers. We saw an uptick in attendance throughout COVID for that. I think people were yearning for human interaction, and it created an outlet. Obviously, our corporate chaplains could travel, but many of them were doing therapy sessions over the phone or via Zoom. Our corporate chaplain did a wonderful job supporting our agents and brokers and giving them an outlet to speak to someone.
[00:19:56] Steven Rosen: Yeah. Fascinating. There are lots of things, Logan, thank you, that I’m walking away with. I always stick to the stuff that I can relate to the most or that I believe in the most. You mentioned the importance of focusing on the right things during your awakening moment.
[00:20:11] Steven Rosen: When I asked you about things you do well, you talked about your three pillars. I always think people who focus usually have three things they focus on. The takeaway, because it aligns with my belief system, is that successful sales leaders don’t do too much. People who have worked with me know I love the number three. I think you can remember three things. It’s easier to focus. The one thing you said unprompted was, “I learned that focus was critical for success.” That’s a takeaway every sales leader should have from this wonderful interview.
[00:20:49] Logan Eaton: I’m glad to hear that. I’m glad to hear I was able to impart something.
Conclusion
[00:20:52] Steven Rosen: I try to boil it down to something succinct, and that’s what the focus is, right? Colleen, what is your takeaway?
[00:20:59] Colleen Stanley I will return to passion. I’ve been fortunate in my life that I feel like I’ve been very passionate about anything I’ve done. When you’re passionate, to quote Simon Sinek, I think you also know your why. Because you know your why, you’re willing to do the hard work, which is delayed gratification, but if you’re not passionate about your work, sometimes you won’t do the job. When I entered this business, it would take me hours to prepare for a two-hour session. It would take me eight hours to write a blog.
[00:21:35] Colleen Stanley: Today, I can write a first draft in 30 minutes. So, I hope people understand the power of passion and include that in their recruiting and hiring process. It makes all the difference in the world for retention and people willing to do the work it takes to succeed and be happy. That’s my takeaway.
[00:21:54] Steven Rosen: I have a good friend who always reminds me because he was great at finding superstars, “You hire for the things you can’t train for.”
[00:22:03] Colleen Stanley: That’s right.
[00:22:04] Steven Rosen: You can’t train passion.
[00:22:05] Logan Eaton: Yeah, exactly. That’s powerful, Steven. For sure. Yeah. I couldn’t agree with you more.
[00:22:09] Colleen Stanley: hanks, everyone, especially you, Logan, for joining us for another Sales Leadership Awakening podcast. As Steven said in the introduction of this podcast, our mission is to help you bridge the knowledge and doing gap in sales leadership. Thanks, everyone, for joining us today.
[00:22:25] Steven Rosen: Thanks, Logan.
[00:22:25] Steven Rosen: Thanks. Thanks guys. Appreciate it!
