The Courage to Stay or Leave featuring Jeff Davis

Jeff Davis (0:00)

I'm very passionate about this, because I get it. I know how easy it is to stay in there. I know people feel like the economy is bad. I'm telling you, there are other options out there. And if your mental health is being affected, you gotta get out. Sales is a numbers game. It's a rejection game.

I've been there. I've had sales jobs. I still get rejected every day as I'm pitching myself as a speaker to different people. But your mental health is paramount. You owe it for yourself, your friends and family, your life. That's more important. Health matters. You matter. And that's why I strongly encourage you, if you are having that daily anxiety, find another job you deserve better.

SPEAKER_2 (0:40)

Welcome to the Selling from the Heart Podcast on the From the Heart Business Network. You've joined a global movement of sales professionals who are dedicated to being authentic and building trust.

We call it Selling from the Heart.

Together, we're on a mission to bring sincerity and substance to the sales profession we all love. Get ready to be inspired and equipped as we join our hosts, Larry Levine and Darrell Amy.

Darrell Amy (1:14)

Welcome back to the Selling from the Heart Podcast. I'm your co-host, Darrell Amy, here today with Larry Levine, and we're joined by Jeff Davis. He is the author of The Courage to Leave, Breaking Free from Toxic Workplaces. Jeff, welcome to Selling from the Heart. It's great to have you here.

Jeff Davis (1:30)

Darrell and Larry, it is an absolute pleasure to be here. I'm looking forward to our discussion today.

Larry Levine (1:35)

Oh, same with us. It's going to be good, Jeff. Thanks for hanging out with us.

Darrell Amy (1:39)

Yeah, we're going to have fun. And as we kick this off, Jeff, the question we ask everyone on the Selling from the Heart Podcast is simply this. What does Selling from the Heart mean to you?

Jeff Davis (1:50)

I love this question.

And Selling from the Heart means to me, genuinely caring about the person that you're talking to. And I do not mean this in a way of paying lip service to it. I mean, actually living that. And that means you get rid of the performance layer, and you're in the moment, you're present, and you're not there to push it or force a transaction. You're not there to manipulate. You're there to see if the product or service or whatever it is that you're selling actually fits with them. And if it's not, you have the guts, awareness and integrity to say, it's not a fit. And if it is a fit, then you have the full excitement and passion and knowledge to go ahead and make that sale.

Larry Levine (2:30)

Oh, I really like this. I got to zero in on something because you got to peel this back. You said remove the performance layer. Unpack that, please.

Yeah.

Jeff Davis (2:39)

Well, we live in an age of performers. And I know that's very blunt. That is my style.

SPEAKER_2 (2:44)

And pick any industry.

Jeff Davis (2:47)

Pick any industry. This could be marketing. It could be sales. It could be development.

I've worked in corporations all around the world. And there are so many performers out there. And that's when they do not have the best interests at heart of the person that they're talking to. It's about their agenda. It's about what they want. And you're not thinking, oh, is this product actually a fit? It's, oh, I need to make a number. And that's transactional leadership. When we move into transformational leadership, that's when you're like, wait a second, let's see if there's actual resonance here. You're in the moment and you're not faking or acting anything because you're just being fully yourself. Again, this is not paying lip service, it's actually living it in reality.

Darrell Amy (3:27)

So strong and so applicable as well to the workplaces we find ourselves in, right? Congratulations on writing this book Courage to Leave. I think this is a book that's needed to, someone's needed to write this for a long time. So thank you for doing that. Courage to Leave, Breaking Free from Toxic Workplaces. Seems like, Jeff, a lot of this is also having the realization of, is this organization I'm selling for, is this team I'm a part of truly a fit for me?

Jeff Davis (4:02)

Yes, exactly. Thank you, Darrell. I appreciate that. It was definitely my boldest work yet. I remember in one of the previous jobs I've had in the past doing sales, I remember the leader was teaching me that you have to truly believe in what you're selling. If you're going to come across as genuine, or talking about authenticity today in our sales process, you have to truly believe in what you're selling first and foremost. Then to your point, Darrell, and what I talked about in the book, are you a fit with the culture and organization? So often in the many thousands of people I've interviewed over the last decade plus, and in my travels around the world, what I'm hearing is a lot of times people don't resonate with the culture, they don't resonate with the leadership, and they're performing a role, and they don't really believe in the product, and that creates the mismatch that either potential or actual customers are feeling with that company.