Caffeine Connect - Larry Long Jr. - JOLT! Your Sales by Leveraging LinkedIn

wrong on that, but >> wow. >> All right, everyone. I think it's time now. So, good afternoon. Matt Feldhouse here for another episode of Caffeine Connect, where we sip coffee and talk business. This is our monthly series where founders and business leaders share their stories, their insights, and expertise with our community. Our Patriot Boot Camp program is generously supported by ESPN. So a big thanks to them for making this forum possible. Join us for real talk, actionable advice and inspiration to fuel your business journey. Today I am so so excited and pleased that we are joined by Larry Long Jr. CEO. In this instance, CEO means chief energy officer of LLJ Enterprises. After my brief intro, Larry's gonna take the lead, and I invite you to write any and all questions you have into the chat because Larry is gonna really enjoy answering those. We'll make sure to save plenty of time, even at the end, to make sure to get all of those questions answered. All right, let's get into it. Larry focuses on motivation, inspiration, and most importantly, transformation through speaking, coaching, and training programs. He is the host of the weekly show midweek midday motivational minute and author of Jolt get zapped into intentionality rediscover and believe in your inner greatness. Larry is a sales and revenue acceleration expert and that is so true. He has been recognized as a top or a fourtimes Salesforce top sales influencer and serves as a LinkedIn influencer and sales thought leader. As a former college athlete, he played baseball for University of Maryland. He made me say this. Go Turpps. Larry is extremely passionate about coaching and helping business professionals like you and leaders take their game to the next level. As an experienced sales and business leader with a demonstrated history of success in SAS sales, Larry brings a unique perspective to the table and in understands many of the challenges faced by professionals like you every single day. His areas of exper experience include sales training, team development and leadership, motivation within organizations of all stages, meaning startup all the way to publicly traded. He practices what he preaches and Larry continuously seeks opportunities to learn and grow and does it with a big old smile on his face. Larry looks forward to assisting you and your organization. And I just want to say we at DAV and DAV Patriot Boot Camp are so so excited to have you, Larry. Welcome. >> Oh my goodness, Matt. Thank you for passing me the mic. Thank you for that amazing uh introduction. Uh cheers to whatever your drink of choice is. [laughter] And uh on this thankful Thursday, I want to send a sincere thank you from the bottom and the top and the side to side of my heart. I'm excited to be here. So, without further ado, let's go ahead and get rocking and rolling. So, for those that attended, thank you so much for being here. My first question is, are you stuck? Or have you ever been stuck? Whether it's in sales, whether it's in relationships, whether it's in life, whether it's your health, your health is your wealth. Have you ever been stuck? I have. and it's no fun. And that's why I'm here to help you get unstuck. You see, I wrote a book called Jolt: Get Zapped into Intentionality, rediscover and believe in your inner greatness. And today, the focus is around two things: sales as well as LinkedIn. So, my goal is to jolt your sales. My goal is to jolt your LinkedIn experience and your presence. My goal is to motivate, to inspire, to educate, but ultimately to transform. And I promise you, there's no promises in life, but I promise you, if you implement just one thing that we talk about, the results, in the words of that great philosopher, Aerys, no, it was the other great philosopher, I think JJ Walker, your results will be die no might. I guarantee it. So, allow me to reintroduce myself. Matt, thank you so much for the kind introduction. Larry Long Jr., CEO, Chief Energy Officer. In elementary, middle, and high school, I used to get sent to detention for talking. Now, I get paid to serve and paid to speak around the globe. I'm an avid golfer. Tiger Woods is my longlost cousin. They call me Larry. Hit it in the woods. Uh, I'm also the proud father to Lucia and Trey, my 12-year-old and my 16-year-old, the proud husband, to Maria. We've been married 20 plus years now, and I am here to serve you. When you're committed, you move and you shake in a whole different way. Can I say that one more time for the people in the back? I I see y'all shaking your heads. Yes. When you're committed, you move and you shake in a whole different way. My question for you right now, how committed are you? How do you move when it comes to maximizing and accelerating your sales? How do you shake and bake when it comes to leveraging LinkedIn to strengthen relationships and grow your sales? That's a question that only you can answer. On a scale of 1 to 10, how are you moving and shaking right now when it comes to sales and when it comes to leveraging LinkedIn? I've got a solution for you and we're going to take you through a condensed version of my sales training program. I had the awesome opportunity to serve the DAD Patriot Boot Camp in Myrtle Beach earlier this year and I'm super honored, privileged, and blessed that they asked me to come back. You see, I grew up in VA medical centers across the US. Both of my parents work for the VA. Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Grand Island, Nebraska, Danville, Illinois, Coatsville, Pennsylvania, Central office in Washington, DC. I grew up around veterans. So, this is my opportunity to give back to those that have given so much. Thank you. NOW, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT SALES, but my question is, what is sales? What's your definition of sales? Go ahead and do me a favor. Get your Twitter fingers ready. And in the chat, I think you're going to have to say chat to uh to all or or chat to I want to be able to see this. How do you define sales? If someone were to ask you, what is this thing you call sales? What would you say? You can send it to everyone, I think, or even the hosts and panelists. I would love your definition of sales. I'm going to do something I don't do very often. I'm going to be quiet for the next 30 seconds and allow you to go to work. Definition of sales. It's the final countdown. You have 10 seconds. I see we have one that came in. Definition of sales. All right. Convincing someone else to buy your product or service. Convincing someone else to buy your product or service. I like that. Matt, I'm going to ask you, are there any more entries or definitions of sales from the audience? What's on their mind when they look to define sales? It looks like we have some shy people right now, which is okay. But we definitely invite you all to Okay, there I see another one. Exchanging. Well, I'll let you read on. I'm one of my >> exchanging. Let's participate. >> And and and for folks, if you want to participate, that's fine. If you don't, that's okay as well. Sit back, relax, take a sip of your coffee or tea. We got this. Uh let me share with you my definition of sales. And it's funny that we're talking about this because my first keynote, this was seven years ago, was sales is not a four-letter word. Sometimes sales can make you say some four-letter words, but sales is not a naughty word. Now, here goes my definition of sales. It's twofold. Number one, I believe sales is the transfer of energy. Yes, you don't have to have off-the-wall chief energy officer type energy, but you better have some sort of juice. You better have some sort of gumption because [snorts] consumers, they can smell BS from a mile away. They can tell whether you believe in your product or your service. They can feel that energy. Number two, I believe sales is playing matchmaker. You're matching whatever you have. It could be a tangible product. It could be a service. It could be a thought, an idea. You're matching that with someone else's needs, their wants, their desires, their challenges, their hopes, their dreams, their aspirations, their pains, their problems. And in order to be a good matchmaker, you've got to ask questions. Now, I also believe that storytelling is storytelling. We all have a story. How does your story fit in to someone else's needs, their wants, their pains, their problems, their challenges? That is the question. Storytelling is story selling. So, we're all selling and I see that Robin has her hand raised. Robin, whatever your question is, go ahead and add it in the chat. We will leave some space throughout. You don't have to wait until the very end to answer your specific uh question that you have. Thank you so much, Robin G. We all have the opportunity to sell, to serve, to play matchmaker. Are you seizing that opportunity? Are you all in and committed? Or are you dillydallying, dibbled? Are you committed and moving and shaking with intention and with action to serve, to sell, to create relationships? I I apologize y'all. Someone's knocking at my door. How rude. GIVE ME ONE SECOND. WHO IS IT? That was opportunity knocking at my door and it's knocking at your door as well. Will you answer the door? It's knocking right now. Now, when it comes to sales, there's so many different avenues for outreach. You can pick up this 500 pound phone. Uhoh. I don't want to cold call anyone, Larry. You can send emails. You can send snail mail. You can leverage social media. They call me LinkedIn Larry. That's my social media of choice. But there's Tik Tok, YouTube, Instagram, uh you name it. There's so many different ways. You can purchase billboards, advertising, digital advertising. You can go to conferences, but there's fundamentals when it comes to selling. And my question is, what fundamentals are you following? Do you have a sales process? Now, this right here is is sales 101. This is the very basics of having a funnel. And my belief is that it's in the basics. It's in the details. The little things are really the big things. Time management. How do you manage your day? Do you manage your day or does your day manage you? And are you intentional with each and every day, each and every opportunity we have to serve and to sell? Now, when it comes to mining for gold, that's prospecting. How are you finding net new opportunities as well as how are you cultivating and uncovering additional opportunities with those existing clients, partners that you're already working with? discovery things that make you go h are you asking the right questions? Let me rephrase that. Are you asking the tough questions at the right time? And if not, how do you plan to change that? When you ask the right questions, I'm a big believer that prospects will give you the path to the order. But you've got to ask the right questions. Are you demonstrating needs that show that you've got a solution to those pains and those problems that your prospects are following? And how well do you communicate that value? And value is in the eyes of the beholder. Sometimes we think this is our value. Have you asked your prospects, your clients where the true value lies? the close. We all want to close business, but are we willing to ask for the business? I do a lot of work with sales professionals, primarily in the software sales space, and it's amazing how many times folks don't ask. They don't let the prospects know, I would love the opportunity to earn your business. How do we make that happen? They just assume, and it's not the field of dreams. If you build it, they will come. Survey says nah, you've got to ask for the business. So, I wanted to walk you through and these are basic. I understand that this is basic, but this uh the the the the blessing is in the basics. These are my top five. I've got 10. I'd see 20, but these are my top five keys to having success as a sales professional. And that's whether you're in a in a a a traditional selling role, whether you're an entrepreneur, whether you're a professional who's selling their ideas internally. What's your vision? I can see clearly now. Where are you going? Who are you serving? Your ideal customer profile. How are you serving them? What solutions do you have to specific problems? Do you have a track record? Can you show me the receipts? Can I check the car facts? The key to almost every sales ailment is having a big robust pipeline. What is your pipeline of opportunity look like right now? If you're looking to close 100K, but your pipeline is 50K, Rutro Houston, we've got a big problem. I would advise that if you want to close 100K, you at least need coverage of 300K of opportunity at different stages within your pipeline. What does your pipeline look like now? I think Capital One says, "What's in your wallet?" Larry Long Jr. says, "What's in your pipeline?" Now, curiosity might have killed the cat, but I can tell you curiosity helped the sales professional consistently hit their target. Are you naturally curious? Are you being curious with intentionality? There's so much information that we can gain from chat GPT. A colleague of mine said, "Larry, I love to use chat GP me." Are you putting your thinking cap on and asking those in-depth questions that show that you care? Everyone says that they care, but in the words of the great philosopher, if you're a music fan, you might know this mystical show me what you're working with. And I'm not even from Missouri, the show me state. Now, you took the time to join us today. You could be anywhere in the world, and you've invested your time, your energy, your resource. What are you doing on Friday? What are you doing next Tuesday? How are you investing in your most valuable asset? How are you sewing and planting those seeds that are going to dictate your success for months and quarters and years to come? Are you planting the seeds or are you just cruising? If you're on cruise control, I'm not mad at you, but you just can't come close to me because that might be contagious. And uh I I don't want to wear my mask. [laughter] Go Turks. When you're committed, you move and you shake in a whole different way. And I've got a way to work with folks who are stuck or who at least believe they're stuck to get them moving in the right direction. moving to commit to action, moving to commit to excellence and being the very best that they can be. Now, I'm going to keep it real with y'all. Woo! Got me sweating over here, man. I'm going to take a pause. We'll pause. Are there any questions from any of the attendees minds? What's on their mind? >> We put in there. So, for some reason, and we looked and the settings have the chat on. If you have a question, which please tap into Larry, he is an expert. Oh my gosh, you have the access to one of the best sales professionals in the country. Um, use the Q&A. So, the Q&A, if you don't see it on your tab, if you go to more, there's a separate question and answer. So, put in any questions you have there. right now, Larry, we don't >> um I think it's just you're so clear and articulate, you know, I'm just going to gash you up a little bit, but um that there aren't questions right now. So, >> I I appreciate that, Matt. And to every attendee, I I I love to serve you. I love to share. I want to share specific to what's going on with you and your business and your experience with sales and LinkedIn. So, please use the Q&A function to submit and please let us know if the Q&A function isn't working. I I'll I'll reckon to believe you can go to LinkedIn to the post from the DAV a couple days ago. Put it in there. Put it in the event. We will certainly get to you hopefully now, but if not, I will answer that question. So, >> you know what, Larry? I I have a question that I know has come from some of our participants in the past where they, you know, have a uh a service company and they have their information priced at a certain amount that they're really seeking that first client, that first customer. But maybe they're they're priced at such a high level, but what they believe that they bring the value to a a big organization where they could save hundreds of millions of dollars with their product, but it costs a million dollars and it's really hard to get someone that has no, you know, fivestar reviews and all this stuff to get that first customer. Could you, you know, h how would you consult someone like that? Yeah, I I would say let's open up our mind and put on our thinking caps. And uh there's really a value equation. Uh if I'm going to ask you for a dollar, you're not going to give it to me unless you see and believe that I can return more than a dollar. Now, for you in this instance, Matt, you added a few zeros. We're talking about $1 million. Well, no one's going to invest that if they cannot see and believe how they're going to get a return on that investment. So, I encourage you to really explore your value equation. How can you make the buyer uh put the walls down, the defensive walls down? And sometimes you might need to do a proof of concept. You might need to show and prove on a smaller scale that the value really is what you said it is. I would love to believe you, but like I said before, show me what you're working with. I need to see tangible examples. Have you worked with anyone in my industry before? Can you point to success stories where you started off someone invested, let's say, a h 100,000 and you were able to give them a return. How long did it take? What was the return? what was the process? Because now I can start to insert myself into that story and if I can see it, I can believe it. And I'm not even Jim Henson, but yes, I need the belief. So, I would encourage folks to uh test out I'm not going to say play with, but test out pricing and have the conversation with both prospects, existing clients, as well as partners to capture that data and see what might work best for your specific solution. And so, Larry, if if I'm hearing you correctly, if if I was a baker and I think I have the most delicious chocolate chip cookies in the entire world and I'm charging $12 for one cookie, I might want to break up one cookie into little bite-sized appetizers and give them out for free, saying, "You know what? I know if you try it, you're going to realize these are the best darn cookies ever, and you're going to want to buy it at full price." Is that kind of what you're saying? >> That That's one option. Now, another option is to go out there to a festival and have your $12 cookies. The market will share with you. If you keep your eyes and your ears open, the market will share with you what they're willing to bear. If you have a line that that that that's that that's all the way around the corner. There's going to be folks that say, "Oh, there must be something popping for this $12 cookie." So, it could work in your favor in terms of positioning that you're the premier product that's out there. You're not a $4 cookie, a $3 cookie. You are the ultimate cookie, but you got to test it out. The market will give you the feedback. >> Awesome. I appreciate that. And this one is coming from Daisy. Daisy Jones Brown typed this in. She said, "I would love to know how to really get more leads from LinkedIn." which Larry, I know you're an expert in this and maybe this is what you're going to get into, but she says, you know, I'd love to learn how to get more leads from LinkedIn. What actually moves the needle on that platform? >> I love it, Daisy. Thank you so much. And you must have been looking at my cliffotes, but I'll skip ahead. What gets engagement and what's what drives deals from my perspective, it's relationships. There's a saying, it's not what you know. Traditionally, it's not what you know, it's who you know. And for in me and my Steve Harvey Family Feud Voice survey says, nah, it's not what you know. Not even who you know, it's who knows you, who likes you, who loves you, who trusts you, who believes in you that really moves the needle. You see, for me, LinkedIn is a platform for relationships, to build my brand, for people to know me, to like me, to love me, to trust me, for me to engage with people onetoone. If you look at my LinkedIn, you'll see that LinkedIn Larry posts almost daily, but it goes down in the DMs, the onetoone conversations and connections. Hey Daisy, on this thankful Thursday, thank you so much for your support. How can I best serve as a resource? How can I best support and assist your initiatives? What are your initiatives? Well, Daisy, I took the time to read your past three posts and I see that you're focused on growing Q4 numbers by 23%. I might have some ideas. I know someone who could support you if you're open to it. I'm going to ask, are you open to having a conversation where we can dig into your plan and I might be able to share some new ideas from chat GP me that you can't get from chat GPT that can support you with that goal. I'm going to get into more of LinkedIn. You got me rolling now, Daisy. I appreciate it. Woo! The check is in the mail because you set me up perfectly. Now, in relationships, in business, in sales, there's the KTB factor. People like to work with, people like to refer those that they know, that they like, that they trust, and that they believe in. How are you building your KTB factor? Do people know you? Do they like you? Do they trust you? And do they believe in you? How are you taking contacts, both people that we know and transition them, transitioning them into contracts, people that we do business with? Well, it's that letter R is the difference between contacts and contracts. And that letter R is relationships. You see, I don't just talk a good game. I live it. And uh we're not playing around. We are talking about relationships. That's what drives business from my perspective. Now, I don't know how many of y'all are in the word of mouth business, but I know that most organizations that I've worked for and working for myself, it's a whole lot better when it comes from someone else. When someone else says, "Larry's content is world class. His energy is off the charts. The results that he drove for us, you should take a look." Now all of a sudden people are taking a look. I've got a perfect example. I just signed an agreement last night that came from a word of mouth referral and endorsement. How do you build that? Hey Larry, that sounds good. Understood. But how do you do that? Here goes one way. And I'm going to ask you to have an open mind. It's called the three-minute challenge. This is just one way. Every day that ends in Y, you pick your choice. I want you to do the three-minut challenge. I know we might all be busy backto backto back meetings, but if you're too busy for three minutes, uhoh, we got bigger fish to fry. Three-minute challenge. I want you to go into your Rolodex. I know some of y'all are like, "Why is he talking about that fancy watch?" No, that's a Rolex. I want you to go into your contacts in your contact list in your phone. And I want you to find one person each and every day that you haven't been in touch with. It could be three weeks, three months, three years. Some of y'all haven't even been alive enough, but it could be three decades. And all I want you to do is to put your thinking cap on and think, how can I surprise and delight this person? How can I take three minutes to make their day and bring a smile to their face? You see, if Matt was my threeminut challenge today, I would go to my best friend Google or now Claude or Chat GPT and I would find a funny GIF, a funny meme of of a gentleman chugging back Guinness at the factory in Dublin. Bubbling in Dublin. Now, Matt won't tell you this, but I know he's got a big old smile on his face. >> I do. You know it. You know it. >> Because it showed that I listened. It showed that I care about Matt more than just trying to get money out of him. I'm trying to serve Matt. How are you making people feel? Are you doing it with intention? The great MyAngelo, we've heard this quote. People will forget what you said. You've already forgotten 92.6% of what I said. It's okay. I'm just hopeful that you'll remember that that 7.4% that can really impact you. People will forget what you did. Larry, I thought you said you were from Missouri, the show me what you're working with state. I used to be. People will never forget how you made them feel. How are you making people feel on a consistent basis? That's in life. And that's also on LinkedIn. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If [clears throat] it ain't broke, break it. Shake it. FLIP IT UPSIDE DOWN. WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING right now, I encourage you. Let's see if we can explore if we can test something different because if we don't, you might end up like the dinosaurs extinct. And we don't want you to be extinct. So, I'm going to give you some tips on LinkedIn to make sure that you're not extinct. And I love that we've got a question. Hit me with your best shot before we get into LinkedIn. What's on their mind? >> You're seeing a question? I don't see one. >> Okay. I saw a hand raised. I thought someone had a question. It's all good. I guess they're they're gearing. They're gearing up. They're ready. I'm You might be ready. I'm ready, too. LinkedIn Larry is ready. >> Let's do it. >> Like I said, if it ain't broke, let's break it. Let's shake it. Let's get it moving and shaking. Let's talk about strategy. What is your strategy on LinkedIn? Do you have a strategy on LinkedIn? Is it documented? And even if it is documented, are you implementing it? Meaning, are you using it? Are you running the plays? Now, here goes the play. You got to have a play. LET'S LOOK AT YOUR PLAYBOOK. Document your plan. And that could just be a plan on a page. Well, Larry, what do I put in my plan? I'm glad that you asked. Let's start with these six basic questions. Who Who do you want to reach? What? What do you want to help them with? Why? And why you when when do you want to help them? When do you want to serve them? Where is it online? Is it in person? Is it here? Is it there? Is it everywhere? And then how? What's your proprietary process? What's your uniquity? I'm just making up words. What makes you unique from everyone else in terms of your message, in terms of your product, your service, what you bring to the table? Make sure you have that documented. Plan on a page. your profile. I think they call this curb appeal. If I go out in my neighborhood, there's some uh lots that look beautiful. The lawn is manicured. There's others rut row survey says. What does your profile look like? Is it inviting? Does it have a nice profile pick? Mine is all right. Smiling face with the gold mic, but it's a little bit small. It's a little bit dated. It's a little bit busy. So, you know what? I was open the feedback and I flipped THE SWITCH. THIS IS MY NEW profile right there. I've got the the rotating banner. We're making adjustments. We're always looking for ways to improve. It's still busy. It's a marketer's nightmare. Larry, what in the world? But it represents me 1,000%. I'm a busy person. I'm an energetic person. We bring the energy and that reflects on my LinkedIn profile. Now, this is my old profile because I've now got 46,000 followers, but who's counting? I encourage you to get in there. Now, I feel like I'm at a family reunion. Yeah. Yeah. Get in the discussion. Whatever your industries are, there's discussions that are going on. Are you in the discussion? The Washington Post used to have a tagline. This was back in 1998 999. I know because I played baseball in Maryland and they were one of our advertisers and their tagline was if you don't get it, you don't get it. If you're not in the discussion, you're not in the discussion. [laughter] What deep thoughts, Aristotle. I know. But are you in those relevant discussions that are happening within your field, within your industry? If you're not in there and you don't want to get in there, start the discussion. They always told me, Larry, if you don't have a seat at the table, build your own table and bring your own chair. Okay, watch me. Are you providing thought leadership? Are you providing your two cents? My two cents, it isn't even worth a nickel, but I continue to share it. I continue to provide knowledge and insights and I've been able to find my tribe. Your tribe is out there and they're waiting for you to stop being quiet, to stop being the bestkept secret. I'm giving you permission right now on August the 13th at 2:06 Eastern time to go out there, share your thoughts, your insights, your tips, your tricks, your lessons learned and your lessons earned. I'm giving you permission now. You don't have to do it alone and I encourage you, don't do it alone. Teamwork really does make the dream work. Find a team that you can partner with. Find someone or someone's that can support you along this journey that you can support them because believe you me, when you're on an island, it gets lonely out there and we aren't meant to be alone. So, just to recap, document your plan, optimize your profile, get in there and join the discussion, create the discussion, and then partner. And I'll get to you, Matt, but I gotta give you three bonuses real quick before we get to that question. We didn't come this far just to come this far. Bonus number one, if you have an email newsletter, repurpose it on the LinkedIn platform for the newsletter. I've got more subscribers on LinkedIn than I do on my email. If you don't have a newsletter, email newsletter, start with a LinkedIn newsletter. Opportunity is knocking. Will you answer the door? data. Leverage the data. I look at the data and I know my highest performing posts are either posts with my family. My kids just started school on Monday. That post was popping. And it's also the post that I have. I call it my smiling selfie post with audiences. So, I'm going to need your help. On the count of three, I need you all to smile and say cheese. One, two, three. That post right there is going to be popping. People love it. It makes people feel good. People love to feel good. Now, here goes here goes the the the cherry on top. Next level connections. Next level. Larry, what's next level connections? It goes down in the DMs. We're all familiar with typing written messages to folks. Hey Daisy, thank you so much for joining today's webinar. I wish you all the best. But what if I were to send her a video message that shared, "Hey, Daisy, you get the three mic drop award for asking the first question, for being bold, for being brave. How do you think that makes Daisy feel? How do you think that elevates my brand in Daisy's point of view?" Video, audio. If I'm having a bad hair day because my barber's mad at me, audio, you can leave a audio message. Funny gifs. I encourage you to do something differently. There's a perfect spot to pause. Matt, talk to me, Larry. All right. Awesome stuff. Of course. Um, but you talk about writing, you're talking about selling, and that can put a lot of worry. Some people might think, "Hey, I'm not good at sales. Hey, I'm not good at writing." And I want to talk about a subject that comes up probably a lot, AI. So, do you have any recommendations on people that might be fearful about using LinkedIn to write things about selling? Because people might be turning to AI and leveraging AI, but that doesn't always work. That can come across as robotic. So, any recommendations you have for leveraging AI when it comes to sales or writing in LinkedIn? >> My final answer, yes. What do you mean, Larry? Yes. What? I'm glad you asked. Yes. Man, people buy from people they know, they like, they trust, and they believe in. I've leveraged LinkedIn to help strengthen my original thought and content to identify those areas that I might be missing, but it still has this AI, as far as I know, it can't mimic my heart. AI doesn't have the same context and it doesn't have the same purview of the lessons learned and the lessons earned that I have. So yes, leverage AI and make sure you're leveraging more of you. You is what makes you different. You're oneonone. Let's go ahead and have some fun because if you go ahead and put in AI, your content is gonna sound just like everyone else. >> Survey says. So, I would encourage you to use AI to supplement. If you're nervous about putting out content, so am I. What are they going to say about me? They're all going to laugh at me. My son didn't wear some new shoes that he got on Monday and Tuesday because he was scared about what his classmates would say. Yesterday he said, "Daddy, I don't care." I said, "That's my dog." [laughter] Proud papa moment right there. Anyone else's opinion of you is none of your business. Do you, boo boo? And believe you me, you're human. I fight through the same challenges, the same head trash, the same negative selft talk. Uh oh, they're all going to laugh at me. I used to do a midweek midday motivational minute. 316 episodes. Every Wednesday at 12:00 noon, I went live. Bad hair days and all, even while I was under the weather. They're all going to laugh at you, Larry. It's okay. You're going to find your tribe. My wife, luckily, she uh Sorry for turning my back, but my wife made this for me. Those who mind don't matter. Those who matter don't mind. And I've got to repeat that that to myself because as you can guess, I'm a lot. I'm an acquired taste. Cheers to that. And I realize it. But if my energy is in your cup of tea or cup of coffee, it's okay. I'm going to find my tribe that want more than just a a stale lecturer in 1872. No, I'm going to bring some dynamite energy. So I encourage you to be you. everyone else is taking and be confident in who you are and what you stand for. That's a great question, Matt. >> I loving it. Thanks, brother. >> Oh, no doubt. Thank you. Now, once we do it, it's kind of like the gym. You can't go to the gym and uh one time and expect six packaging [laughter] all this fried chicken over there. Those six-pack abs are hiding. What time is it? It's bow time. But the key is consistency. making sure that it's not just one and done, but my encouragement is that it's one and have some fun. Now, I came bringing the Carfax. I got receipts. Larry, what do you mean consistency? Well, let's go back to 2021. We were in the pandemic. I posted 354 times on LinkedIn. There's a reason why they call me LinkedIn Larry. There's a reason why I I capture 90% of my business from the platform of LinkedIn from those relationships that have been developed and have been cultivated over time. I'm not just blowing smoke when I talk about I post and then it goes down in the DMs. If you have the title of CEO, CRO, chief revenue officer, VP of sales, director of sales, director of sales enablement, sales manager, event planner, meeting planner, and you engage in any one of my posts, you will receive a onetoone message. You will receive a gift, a value from me in your DMs. Now, what you choose to do with it, there's a lot of people who crickets, crickets, crickets. Even when I send them a video message, they look at him, they say, "Ah, this crazy guy, I don't know what to do with him." That's okay because I planted that seed. I've served as a memorable reminder of what makes me different. I'm oneonone. Thankfully, my son is Larry Long the third, but he's doing his own thing. Trey Trey. I'm the only Larry Long Jr. that does it the way I do it. In 2022, 328 posts. We were posting a lot. Yeah. In 2023, it went down. Larry, you're going the wrong way. You're right. What I learned is that the algorithm, I don't have any rhythm, but the algorithm was saying, "Hey, when you have a hot post, you got to let it marinate. Not marinate, but marinate." So, we continued that trend until 2025. And we said, "You know what? Forget about the algorithm. I'm going to post when I feel like posting. When something's on my mind, we're going to go ahead, get up, stand up. Yeah. We're going to shout it out." So, we ratcheted it up 380. I can tell you in 2026, we're getting in the mix. We're right on pace with 2025. But who cares about me? I don't. And I know you definitely don't care about me. The question is, what about you? What will you do? How will you move and shape now that you have this knowledge? Are you ready to accept the challenge or will you keep doing what you've been doing and expect different results? I think they call that insanity. Now, my son plays soccer, got recruited to play basketball in high school. He's 6'4. He must get it from his mom. I'm 5 foot nothing. But I share with him because he's got a love for video games. Hey, I ain't mad at you. I love video games as well. But I shared with him, don't cry or complain about the results you're not getting from the work you haven't done. I'm going to say that one more time for the people in the back and then we'll land the plane and open it up to any questions that are on your mind. Don't cry or complain about the results you're not getting from the work you haven't done. Now, you can check my Carfax. I think last time I looked, I had a little over 400 reviews that talk about my energy, my world-class content, and my care. LinkedIn recommendations, that's my brag book. When I'm feeling down and sad and low, I go and I look at them. It lifts me back up. It's also a great differentiator. Larry, why should we hire you for our sales training, for our team coaching, for our keynote speaking role? Well, I think I'm the best thing since sliced bread, but don't take it from me. I work for the company. I've got three employees, and they don't get along. It's me, myself, and I. It's toxic. But look at the 400 plus reviews. You see, I can fool one person. I can even fool five people. But I haven't quite figured out how to fool 400 plus people. Hey, check the carfax. Forget about me. It's you. How will you stand out? How will you make a name for yourself? How will you ensure that you're not the bestkept secret and you have the opportunities to serve, the opportunities to sell, the opportunities to help and guide people with their pains, their problems, their dreams, their hopes, their aspirations. What's your plan? If there's anything I can do, please reach out to me. I'm on LinkedIn. You'll probably hear me before you see me. And I'm happy to help. Now, as we land the plane, I'm going to take y'all back to school. These are just my ABCs of success. The A. On your mark, get set, go. Got to take action. Your actions speak so loud, I can't hear what you're saying. That's what my mom used to say, little Larry. Your actions speak so loud, I can't hear what you're saying. The B, be bold, be brave. Go out there and take action right now. The A is also accountability. Sorry to backtrack, but action and accountability. The B is bold and bravery. It takes boldness to do those things that everyone can do, but most choose not to, like video messages. The C, I'm going to quadruple click. It's having the courage. It's having the confidence. It's truly caring. And it's being committed. Now, those are the ABCs, but we didn't come this far just to come this far. The D is to dream. No, no, no. I don't think you heard me. Dream big. No, no, no, no. You didn't hear me again. Dream bigger. Yes. Dream a big dream. I encourage you to dream the impossible dream because impossible says it itself. I am possible. Now, after you dream, I encourage you to bring the energy. Yes, when you walk in the room or even the Zoom, you either bring energy or you suck the energy out. It's your choice. Choose wisely. People will remember your energy. Last but not least, if you don't remember anything that I shared today, it's the F. Have fun. Life is too short not to have fun. So that's my encouragement. DAV Patriot boot camp caffeine connects with Electric. We're getting jolted. I appreciate your time. And now the mic is all yours. Any questions I can answer for you. I think we've got 11 minutes to be exact. I'm here at your service. >> So again, reminder, if you do have questions that Q&A, just type in any of those there. We'll read them out as we're getting into this, Larry. I love the energy. No one is going to doubt that you're not energetic. You're optimistic. Um, and you covered so many of the like this is what we should do, but I'm sure in your experience, you've also come across some common pitfalls. You work with a lot of sales professionals. If you had to break down, you know, two of the most common pitfalls that a sales professional would do and should avoid, what would be two things, I'm just going to say two things. Choose how many you want that a a sales professional should avoid? >> Yeah. Uh, a lot of times people mistake sales for talking. I'm an extrovert. Talk talk. No, sales is about service. It's about consulting. So, the number one mistake is being a me monster. Me, me, me. I'm the best. I'm the great. No one cares other than your family, who probably don't care either. No one cares about you. They care about them. So, don't be a me monster. Be a you monster. In the words of the great uh book by Bob Bird, be a go-giver. I love a go-getter, but I really love a go-giver. It's not about you, it's about them. Make sure it's them focused. everything that you do, every email, every phone conversation, every LinkedIn post, it's about them and what they need. I would also say the field of dreams, it's not the field of dreams. If I build it, they will come. They're just going to keep coming. I get inbounds, but I know that if I don't go outbound, if I don't have an outbound motion and an outbound process, not just willy-nilly, um, Mondays and Thursdays and sometimes these, no, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I'm prospecting. What does that mean? I'm making phone calls. I'm sending targeted emails. not mass emails, but targeted specific emails that show that I put in the time to do research, that show that I'm not just talking about that I care about people. I care about their organization. I'm showing them. So, I would say don't be a me monster. Um, realize that you've got to take action. I if if you you've got to get it moving and shaky. And if you if you stand still on the train tracks, you're going to get run over. Uh, now I play a lot of golf. Tiger Woods, my long lost cousin. Like I said, they call me Larry. Hit it in the woods. And I use the term that a broke clock is right twice a day. Think about that. A broke clock is right twice a day. If you were to move and shake, imagine how many times you could be right. >> Yeah. Often times people get stuck by fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of uncertainty. I encourage you number one to realize that's normal. Our bodies are meant to fight flight uh flight fight and fawn. I'm not a psychologist, but I know a little something. Uh, it's okay for us to say, "Thank you, body, for protecting me. Thankfully, there's no lions, tigers, BEARS. OH MY, I GOT THIS FROM HERE. I know that I'm supposed to be afraid to post on LinkedIn, but I'm good in the neighborhood. What's the worst thing that can happen?" Funny story, for the longest time, I was afraid to put out an email newsletter. And then finally, I said, "You know what, Larry? Stop holding yourself back. If you're going to tell others to take action, maybe you should start with yourself. I was so worried. Well, Larry, what were you worried about? That people would laugh at me, they wouldn't appreciate my content, that I would make a mistake. Well, my first email newsletter, January of 2025, actually, it was December 31st of 2024. It had a typo in it. Shame on you, Larry. You waited three years to do a newsletter and you made a mistake. Oh my goodness. I'm still here. People still appreciated the newsletter. They encouraged me. I can't wait to read it every month. And then I went to two times a month. WHOA. D MIGHT. THEN I went to weekly. Woo. Then I went to three times a week. And then I reeled it back and said one time a week is enough Larry Long Jr. for the world to take. But I encourage you, go out there and make it happen. You never know. You might mess around and have a grand success, but if you don't do anything, I can guarantee you ain't nothing going to happen. >> Larry, I love that. It's uh I've heard somewhere that we have one mouth and two ears for a reason. Listen more than you speak. And then obviously what you're saying is sales is an action verb. It's not passive. It's an action verb, you know? >> Right. So true. So true. >> Okay, people. What else we got here? We got six minutes left with this expert. You're getting, you know, gradea advice from the master. This is uh Yoda here. The Yoda of sales. What What else do we got here? >> How can I support you? What's your biggest challenge right now in sales, in business, in life? I'm here to support you however best I can. Use me. Don't abuse me. What's on your mind, y'all? And if there's nothing on your mind, it's okay. It's okay. that there's nothing wrong with that. We appreciate you taking the time to join. We know that you could be anywhere in the world, but you chose to be with us and we appreciate you more than you know it. We appreciate you. >> Here's here's one and maybe it's the last one. Feel free to type in, but here's one coming. Okay, some people can get overwhelmed. There's a lot of good information. There's so much to do. I got to write this. I need to, you know, look into if you had one thing to do on LinkedIn, one challenge that you would walk away, what would you say, you know, the baby step? What's the one thing we can all do on LinkedIn to make us a little bit better? >> Um, I wish I could say one thing. I can't help myself. I'm going to give you two. It's a combo. >> Okay, I love it. >> Number one, post. Make a post. What did you learn from today's session? What was your number one or your top two takeaways from our session today? What did you learn? >> Uh what are you learning this year? Next week you can talk about your lessons that you've learned throughout the the first eight months of the year. >> Now I want you to take it a step further after you post. I encourage you to look at who engages in your post that you can reach out to oneto one. Who's the one person that you can reach out to and serve that engaged in your post? Now, you might say, "Larry, no one engaged in my post." It's okay. Keep posting every week and I can guarantee you people will start to engage. People will start to comment. People will start to see what you're doing. Wow, Matt is sharing unique thoughts. Daisy is sharing what I should be thinking about right now to be ready to make 2027 my best year ever. When people start to engage, just look for one person that you can reach out to onetoone. It goes down in the DMs. Send that video message. So, that's the that's the two-piece right there. Kind of like I like my chicken. That's the Larry Long Jr. two-piece. Now, I am mixing in some fruits and vegetables. I got a banana. >> I love it, Larry. You are the best. I so much knowledge here. I had so much fun with you. We do have a couple announcements here. Um so, you know, stand by. Uh the this platform, Caffeine Connect, we are going to continue this on our goal. We're going to have a couple more going on for the rest of the year. We're going to hit 15 that we did in 2026. So, we're so pumped to have people like Larry on here that are willing to come on here and donate their time. If you're curious, where can you see all of these? They are going to be on our patriot bootamp website. So it's patriotbootcamp.org and in the top right you're going to be able to join our community. So that's going to be able that's where you can subscribe to our newsletter and you're going to get updates about what's coming up. Follow us on social media. So whether it's Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, look for DAV and then we're going to we share all of our materials. Um we are pretty pumped. We're going to be making a little update to our PBC website, our Patriot Boot Camp website, and we are going to have a new page solely dedicated to links for all of the products. Now, consumer products only. We're going to try and alumn this, but sold and created by our illustrious alumni. So, if you're like, you know what, I love to support veteranowned businesses. I love to support Patriot Boot Camp. Here's a landing page where you can go find awesome Christmas presents, Father's Day, Mother's Day gifts, whatever it would be. A great place to support veteranowned businesses and make sure that you're supporting the other alumni. So, um, last announcement, we are excited, so excited to announce that our winter 2027 cohort is now accepting applications. So this is going to be held at our headquarters here in Erlanganger, Kentucky. So you would fly into Cincinnati, Ohio, CVG, and that is going to be February 17th to February 19th. Again, you can find that on our website. I want to give a huge thanks to everyone for joining us, especially the man of the hour, Larry Long Jr. We appreciate you so much. Everyone, let's go out there and build. >> Hold on, man. I'm sorry. Audible. We got 30 seconds. Jason Harris asks, "What approach helps a person move >> from sounding salesy to being relevant, engaging, and inviting?" Jason, >> what is salesy? Ready to do a deal? If you care about people and you're genuine about it, I encourage you to share what's on your mind and on your heart. I learned this from a coach six years ago. Healthy people ask for exactly what they want. So Jason, I thought that this information would benefit you and your business and I would love the opportunity to partner. I would love the opportunity to earn your business. >> People can smell BS. They can tell whether you're sincere about it or whether you have commission breath. Ah, where it's all about me me. If you truly want to serve and partner, it's going to come through. So I encourage you to be your genuine self. Be relevant, engaging, inviting, be yourself. You're gonna be a-ok. Okay. >> I'm I'm gonna double down on that, Larry. Because also, Jason, this is something that I've actually seen on my LinkedIn a good bit of, you know, you'll get this like image or gif where it's like instead of using these, use these. I bet Jason if you Google, you know, basically what I just said, like things to avoid in sales and things to do in sales, there's probably a really, if you're more of an image person, there might be a simple image that shows you, hey, instead of saying things like this, say it like this. And I found them to be because just like Larry does, I'll like, I'll comment, I'll share on those. I do I try and engage with that stuff, too. So, anytime I see Larry's post, I always support it um and like it because I love what he does and I hope that he keeps sharing his gift with you all. Everyone, thank you all. You guys are excellent. Larry, you are a gift. Thank you all. Have a good day. >> Take care now. Thank you.