Building and maintaining an efficient and effective team takes WORK. Your sales leadership needs to build an environment of trust, motivation, and a positive team culture. This week we take ideas and insights from Masako Long, VP of Sales at Janusea regarding the human aspect of sales and the importance of building confidence in your team.
What you'll learn:
- What does it mean to be a leader?
- How to share without being obnoxious
- How to build rapport with a peer that looks at you like a competitor
- Alternatives to stack ranking
- How to create peer motovation and discipline without official power
- How to create a space for vulnerability
- The best practices for team management.
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Here are eight ideas we are sharing with our clients.
Download the free whitepaper at fullfunnelfreedom.com/scale
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Resources:
The Financial Feminist Podcast
The Budgetnista, Tiffany Aliche
- Full Funnel Freedom https://fullfunnelfreedom.com
- Sandler on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sandler_yyc/
- Sandler in Calgary - www.hamish.sandler.com/howtosandler
- Connect with Hamish Knox on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamishknox/
- Sponsorship or guest inquiries - podcast@fullfunnelfreedom.com
117 Anyone Can Be a Leader with Masako Long
Masako Long, VP of Sales at Genesee, stresses leadership in sales, emphasizing trust, motivation, and team dynamics. She discusses effective managers, vulnerability, and the human element of sales. Confidence and collaboration are key.
2023, Hamish Knox
Full Funnel Freedom
Copyright 2023, Hamish Knox, Production assistance by Clawson Solutions Group. Find them on the web at csolgroup.com
Generated Shownotes
Chapters
0:00:00 Motivating athletes to reach the next level0:00:48 Get your free white paper on building a scalable sales model
0:02:04 Masako's journey from an introverted kid to a sales professional
0:03:58 Masako's role at Genesee and building a sales team
0:05:08 Leadership through guidance and vulnerability
0:07:03 Balancing curiosity and advice in helping colleagues grow
0:08:33 Building trust and finding the right balance in communication
0:08:50 Building Rapport with Peers and Competitors
0:10:02 Creating Peer Discipline and Motivation without Formal Authority
0:13:06 Using Vulnerability to Build Trust and Learn from Peers
0:16:12 Replicating Effective Leadership Traits for Team Success
0:19:22 Supporting and Differentiating Salespeople
0:22:29 Connecting with CEOs and executive leaders on a personal level
0:25:45 Stay curious, keep learning, and connect with Masako
Long Summary
In this episode of the Full Funnel Freedom podcast, Masako Long, VP of Sales at Genesee, joins us to discuss her journey in sales and the importance of leadership. Masako shares how her natural curiosity and problem-solving skills led her to choose a career in sales. She emphasizes the significance of being a leader, even as an individual contributor on a sales team. Masako reflects on her own experience as a top performer and how her peers looked to her for guidance.Currently building out a sales and marketing team at Genesee, Masako is excited about the opportunity to develop a strategy and grow the company. She discusses the challenges of creating peer discipline and motivation, especially in a remote setting. Masako stresses the importance of building trust and fostering a positive and supportive environment among team members.
Masako also delves into the qualities she admires in effective managers and the impact they have on their team. She highlights their ability to ask thoughtful questions, show respect, and highlight their team members' strengths. In addition, Masako emphasizes the importance of vulnerability in leadership, as it encourages trust and open communication among peers.
Reflecting on past experiences with leaders, Masako discusses the need to learn from both positive and negative role models. She emphasizes the significance of taking bits and pieces from various leaders to create a unique leadership approach.
During the conversation, Masako and the host discuss the importance of managers taking their team's ideas upstream and providing feedback on their outcomes. They recommend a book called "The Right Call" that highlights the importance of coaches helping athletes reach their goals. They also stress the significance of consistency in outreach and the willingness to try new approaches.
Masako and the host also touch on the human aspect of sales and the importance of connecting with potential customers on a personal level. They discuss the need for confidence and style in sales, expressing a desire to be more confident in their approach.
Towards the end of the episode, Masako recommends books and podcasts that have influenced her development as a sales leader. She encourages listeners to stay curious, continue learning, and keep an open mind. She invites FinTech companies and banks interested in digital transformation to reach out to her for collaboration opportunities. Masako expresses her love for connecting with other sales professionals on LinkedIn.
The host wraps up the interview, highlighting Masako's insights and perspectives on leadership and peer influence. They appreciate her suggestions on being a peer influencer without being overbearing. The host encourages listeners to share their takeaways from the episode and connect on social media. They also encourage listeners to leave reviews, share the episode, and connect on LinkedIn.
Brief Summary
In this episode of the Full Funnel Freedom podcast, Masako Long, VP of Sales at Genesee, discusses the importance of leadership in sales. She emphasizes the need for trust, motivation, and a positive team environment. Masako shares insights on effective managers and the significance of vulnerability in leadership. She also touches on the human aspect of sales and the importance of confidence. Towards the end, Masako recommends resources for personal development and invites collaboration opportunities.Tags
Full Funnel Freedom podcast, Masako Long, VP of Sales, leadership, trust, motivation, positive team environment, effective managers, vulnerability, human aspect of sales, confidence, personal development, collaboration opportunitiesTranscript
Motivating athletes to reach the next level
[0:00] Motivating, really, like when you're a great coach, you don't want to be like, Hey, let's go get him. Let's go do that. You know, they want to be able to help their athletes get to the next level.
And athletes typically know where they want to go.
Welcome to the full funnel freedom podcast. If you are listening to this, you are likely leading a team responsible for generating revenue purpose of full funnel freedom is to support people like yourself and keep your funnels.
[0:28] Music.
[0:29] Consistently, reliably full.
Welcome to the full funnel freedom podcast. I'm your host Hamish Knox.
Today we will be getting ideas and insights from Massico long VP of sales at Genesee about how anybody can be a leader.
Get your free white paper on building a scalable sales model
[0:48] Free offer for listeners of the full funnel freedom podcast.
Go to www .fullfunnelfreedom .com slash scale to get your white paper, 8 Fundamentals of Building a Scalable Sales Model.
If you're listening to Full Funnel of Freedom, you are wanting your funnel to be consistently, reliably full and sustainably scalable.
Go get your white paper, 8 Fundamentals of Building a Scalable Sales Model at www .fullfunneloffreedom .com slash scale.
Now, back to the show.
[1:21] My guest today, Masako Long, VP of Sales at Genesee. they serve the community financial institution space by partnering with fintechs, banks, and credit unions to overcome integration challenges.
Masako inadvertently kicked off her sales career by offering to help take orders at a Japanese restaurant in the Asian food service company many years ago and hasn't looked back since.
Although her focused industry changed long ago to tech, she chooses the sales profession because of her natural curiosity and ability to identify gaps, problem solve, and constantly learn. And Masako, welcome to Full Funnel of Freedom.
Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be talking to you.
Yeah, I'm delighted we get to hang out today.
So I've given the audience the 30 ,000 foot view of what you do and what Genesee does.
Masako's journey from an introverted kid to a sales professional
[2:04] Walk us through, dive us deeper, tell us about your journey to where you are today and what you're doing right now.
I consider myself an introverted shy kid and I still definitely have introverted tendencies, although maybe on LinkedIn I don't look that way.
But I was also a Navy kid, so I moved around a few times before settling to Japan where I was able to stay till graduation.
And the thing about military life is that.
[2:29] Even if you stay somewhere, right? Like so in Japan, I was there from sixth grade to graduating high school, but a lot of friends come and go.
And so I do attribute a lot of those experiences to helping me learn to make friends, trying to be open to different activities.
Definitely the activities I had available to me were different from where I was previously.
So I believe that general philosophy and curiosity about people has been allowed me to be open and keep kind of that passion in sales.
So kind of from a career perspective, as you mentioned in my intro, my first job real job was a purchasing assistant at a local Asian food company.
And interestingly enough, in that, in the sales in that department, I was the only other person that spoke Japanese.
[3:14] And so my boss at the time was like, Hey, you speak Japanese, why don't you help take orders for Japanese restaurants?
And I was like, Okay, that sounds cool. Which, but it ended up quickly taking up most of my job.
And so it was kind of a baby introduction to selling because new products would come in and she would say, Hey, you should test it out at home cook.
And even though I'm not the greatest cook, my mom was so much better, but I knew how to use some of these products.
So it was fun to like learn about it, research, test it out, and then kind of share the value pop to owners and restaurant owners and cooks about what that was.
And it was kind of an easy way to share stuff.
It wasn't a pressure sale. So that kind of helped me prepare for my next company as a sales administrator in a technology company.
Masako's role at Genesee and building a sales team
[3:58] And it really put me on the sales trajectory ever since. So now, fast forward to now I'm at a Janusy and we serve the community financial institution space.
[4:08] We're a year and a half old. Well, not even a year and a half, we're just a little year and a couple months, I've just passed my year and I'm building out a sales and marketing team.
So I'm really excited about doing that from, I mean, I did some inside sales management before, but now I'm really growing out and creating a strategy.
[4:28] Amazing. Amazing. What a cool journey. Thank you for sharing that with us.
Now, when we first visited, we were talking about this idea of anyone could be a leader and as you just shared, you're building out a team at Genesee and right now that team is, you know, me, myself and I, if you were talking about it from your side.
So, you know, you break into groups of one and you all go do your thing.
So, tell me more about this idea of anybody can be a leader because the guy who was one of my mentors, he always said, act like you own your own book of business as a seller.
So, what does everybody can be a leader mean to you?
Leadership through guidance and vulnerability
[5:08] Yes. So, for me, you know, I've, I've generally been an individual contributor in sales for most of my career.
I did run an inside sales team for a short period, and I thought really that would be my trajectory being managing teams, but it just happened at the time.
There wasn't a jumping off point for me at that company. It was several companies ago.
But what I found was I was typically the top or second to the top bringing in book of business, right?
So a lot of people look to me for guidance in terms of how are you doing sales, how are you approaching this, you know, and it was really a great environment at the time for kind of this.
[5:50] Obviously, we had a manager, but a peer integration, right?
So we kind of helped each other grow, helped each other success, celebrated each other's success.
So I think, you know, being in that position as a top earner for the company helped me feel a little bit some confidence in like, giving other people advice in terms of how to go about doing things.
And then, you know, it also allowed me to feel good about jumping into projects, if we hadn't, we were we had to get a new CRM.
So I raised my hand and said, I'd be happy to kind of run that project and do other things. So it's, you know, kind of being vulnerable, but knowing your own strength and kind of raising your hand when things come to play.
So like at my last company, I also helped build slide decks and build processes and go through that, seeing the gaps of where we needed to grow and just sharing insights without being too obnoxious about it.
But yeah, being vulnerable and sharing information.
[6:48] That is a great definition of that. And actually, I helped do a CRM project off the side of my desk when I was in my last sales role.
So totally, you and I can commiserate over that at some point.
Yeah, that's the last time. But no, I'm kidding. I have to do it again now. But.
Balancing curiosity and advice in helping colleagues grow
[7:03] So let's double click on this idea of sharing without coming across as obnoxious because when you are a high performer, yes, peers theoretically look up to us, but also we can come off as like annoying big brother or big sister.
Right. So how did you walk that tight rope of not being annoying big sister, and helping your colleagues grow with some of the ideas that you had got through scar tissue and bumps and bruises.
[7:37] I think it's ultimately... I mean, I think this goes through to my sales in general.
It's just really having a curiosity about people, right? Like, what are they doing?
I mean, you don't need to know their whole life story, but really just kind of asking questions in a way that you're not looking just to jump in with your advice, right?
Listen to what they're saying and what they're really saying.
And you talk about double -clicking into the next thing, right?
Getting into the next question, asking second -level, third level questions about their struggles and maybe even asking questions on how they might approach their problem.
So I think that's the way. I mean, if you're genuinely curious about people, they know that.
They can feel that and they don't feel like you're coming across as too much.
I mean, I think with your own team and then with sales, in the sales process, if you're not just peppering them with a bunch of questions one after another, right? So So there's a balance.
Building trust and finding the right balance in communication
[8:33] Very true, very, very true. And there's gotta be a level of trust built up because yes, there are people who are, I've heard described as emotionally sloppy, where it'll just be like, here's how I'm feeling. And it's like, well, that's a little too much.
Building Rapport with Peers and Competitors
[8:50] And most of us, cause we've been trained not to necessarily reveal our true selves.
How do you go about building that rapport with a peer who might actually look at you as a competitor Right.
So that they are open to sharing with you what's really going on and will let you ask those second and third level questions.
[9:08] Sometimes it's tough to articulate because it's not being...
You don't want to be too... It's not engaging, it's not the right word, but too like in their face about things.
You have to like let those things kind of take time.
I mean, if I think about it on the sales side, like selling, right?
Versus the team. But if I think about like just even my engagements with potential clients, like I try to make them feel like it doesn't really matter when things close or it doesn't matter, even though, I mean, obviously, you know, we're, we're salespeople, we're driven by money.
We want to close things and they know we're salespeople, but like, yeah, maybe pretend that I have a full, always have a full pipeline and then I feel relaxed.
And then that way go even going into relationships, if you're not, if they don't feel like you're looking at something and they feel like you're.
Looking at the company's success and not just your own individual success, it makes it a lot easier.
Creating Peer Discipline and Motivation without Formal Authority
[10:02] It's tough because I've seen sales teams, it can be very competitive.
And I think from a manager perspective, I've been in situations where the manager will really facilitate that horrible ranking and showing that.
I mean, yes, you want to see numbers, but if you do too much of that kind of ranking and, hey, this person is the only one that gets deals kind of thing, that can have a lot of animosity as well. So it's really trying to.
[10:27] Facilitate some peer discipline, but peer kind of engagement as well.
Yeah, it's fascinating how we can't want it more than them, right?
And it can certainly come off as like, I'm very interested in your success, Masako. It's like, okay, dude, I'm not that involved.
Could you maybe not dial it back like seven steps? Because no, thank you.
And then we genuinely, like you said, genuinely wanted to support that person.
However, the manner in which we went about it is completely off -putting and it actually does more harm than good.
[11:00] How then, if we are not stack ranking, which has fallen out of favor, I get that, how are we creating that peer discipline and that peer motivation, when we don't have formal authority?
We can't say, Hamish, go sell stuff, because you don't have that right.
So how, in your experience, do you create things like peer discipline and peer motivation when you have no official power.
Yeah. And it does become harder like in this remote world, right?
Because you're kind of... You each have your own territory.
Oftentimes you're not... The sales calls may be like a manager going through a pipeline or that sort of thing.
So how do you facilitate without getting overkill on these remote happy hour type things? It's tough, right?
[11:49] And it's something that I think about a lot as I start to build a team.
How do I do that? I think one of the best managers I had.
What she did was really just kind of put thoughtful questions out there and also do things that were less... I don't know. It's hard.
I mean, I think it's just someone that shows respect and admiration and then showing that she's not just the know -it -all of everything, but then finding a way to ask questions of different people at different times, right? Because sometimes people are more introverted.
Sometimes people want to take up the whole time when they're, you know, in a sales call.
So how do you call on and ask, but something that makes them comfortable, right?
Knowing your audience, knowing the people on your team, what their strengths are and how they can be highlighted in a way that makes them feel good about being on the sales team, right? So I think it's looking for those kinds of instances.
And then that kind of then translates into kind of overarching concepts in sales.
Like what can we do together, right? Like how can we be consistent about outreach?
How can we maybe read a book together and talk about it in our, you know, how do we get to know our industry better, those kind of things.
I think that that helps facilitate those kind of team things as it relates to getting out and selling and closing deals.
Using Vulnerability to Build Trust and Learn from Peers
[13:06] That's brilliant. It's that situational context that is really important because nothing applies every time everywhere because we're, they're all human, right? And we all have our own hopes and fears and worldviews.
So then when finding these moments, where have you seen vulnerability come in?
Because I know from my own experience, if I go first and share something a little vulnerable, I found that that allows my peer to open up a little bit more and trust me a bit more because I've kind of gone first and this word has many connotations, exposed myself.
[13:41] In a way that makes them think, oh, I can trust this person.
How have you seen vulnerability come up in your career as it relates to being a leader of peers?
I think what you said is like spot on because when I was, new in my career, I was really a perfectionist, right?
I didn't want to show any like cracks in the armor and I tried to live up to whatever anything else was, you know, so sometimes I was kind of robotic in terms of like, can I get this done?
Yes, I knew I could get it done, but I think sometimes to be able to bring people in to the fold and even if it's someone that you may think has less experience, I've learned so much even from like, you know, you look at brand influencers and the people that are even on LinkedIn that you're like, how long have you been in selling like two years, like what do you know?
But the thing I can really appreciate about people like that is that they're just putting themselves out there.
They're like, kind of fearless, sometimes putting out things they they've learned.
I mean, you know, of course, there's things that you look at and whatever, but the fearlessness and then being able to say, hey, I may make a mistake out in the world with everybody watching.
Like, that's really amazing to me. But I think like, I've slowly started to learn that like little, you not too long ago, but being able to say, hey, can I get help?
Or I saw that you did this, what did you do this on this deal?
So I think that facilitates the ability to, again, make people feel good about what they've been successful at.
[15:08] And yeah, then they can open up a dialogue. But very true.
Very true. Yes. Cold calling is dead. Have you ever made a cold call? No, but it's still dead.
[15:18] Go make a cold call. and then we'll watch your videos later.
So what I know from experience is that when we get into a leadership role and you're in a leadership role building out a team, we can have one of a couple of ways of building that out.
And the first one is, I don't wanna do what my last manager did to me, right? It's kind of like the kids with the parents, right? Like, oh, gross.
[15:44] Or it's, oh, I had this great mentor, they were amazing. I want to duplicate what they did, except we're not them.
And so it can sometimes fail. And then of course, there's the, where you kind of piecemeal it together.
As you're thinking about building out your team, what are some of those things that you have experienced over your career from your leaders that you don't want to necessarily do to your team and you don't have to name names or the ones that you do want to replicate?
Replicating Effective Leadership Traits for Team Success
[16:12] And cause that really motivated you and resonated with you as a seller.
Yeah, I think up until somewhat recently, it was mostly like, this is what I'm not going to do.
But I, like I mentioned, I had a really great manager.
She came into a team that was pretty experienced, like we had been there for a while. And we knew what was going on. And we had really good industry knowledge.
But what she did well was really showing us the admiration and respect without coming off cheesy, right? Like she knew, she took our ideas and she really took action from those ideas.
So we're like, Hey, we've been thinking about this for a while and we haven't really had the opportunity to communicate this upstream and she would like.
[16:55] Listen to what we said, put together a plan and then go bring it upstream and then tell us whether it worked or not.
And that felt good because sometimes when you talk to a manager, you don't know if those ideas go upstream or not, or you don't know the outcome of it though.
So she really did that. And then she really made it clear to help us where we needed to go versus trying to manage us.
So I think I recently read a book called The Right Call.
It was like what sports teach us about work and life by Sally Jenkins, but there was a comment in there about that great coaches don't want to spend time motivating really like when you're a great coach, you don't want to be like, hey, let's go get them.
Let's go do that. You know, they want to be able to help their athletes get to the next level and athletes typically know where they want to go.
Sometimes they may not know what that gap is and how to get there, but they know like what their goal is.
And I think when you think about sales, like most salespeople know where they want to go or at least have goals in mind, right?
We great coaches don't want to spend time motivating really.
Like from my philosophy, it's really about kind of, again, having those overarching concepts that I started to mention, but like consistency around outreach.
Like it doesn't matter what the outreach is. Like some people are really good at cold calling.
In my lifetime, I've come across amazing cold callers and I wish I could be like them, right?
But I wasn't, but how do you outreach?
[18:15] Read, right? Know your industry, ask thoughtful questions, put yourself in the shoes of an ideal buyer.
Me, more than ever now in this new role, like all of a sudden people are like selling to me more because I have this title and it's horrible, right?
Like sometimes it's just like, outreach is horrible.
But I, you know, like, so you got to think about like, how have I been that way?
And then I think the vulnerability and the fearlessness of just kind of going out there and trying new things.
I'm not comfortable with podcasts.
In fact, I've only done really recorded one other, but I think like, you know, it's important for me also, like it's important for other people to see people like me out there in doing sales, right?
So because sales is a, I think it's a noble profession.
There's a lot of good out of it. So, yeah, I know I'm not really answering.
I kind of answered your question, but I kind of got off tangent.
But I think like being a good manager is part of that. Like I think about my teenage daughter and like...
I'm not a micromanager by nature and I try to tell her that too, right? Like, let's have a goal. I can help you get the things, but I don't want to be like, Hey, do this.
That sort of thing. So. Totally.
Supporting and Differentiating Salespeople
[19:22] Yeah. Well, and like children, ultimately the success of our, of our sellers is reflected in how we, how we supported them and how we prepared them.
So when you're talking about what's your go -to -market motion, uh, what do you say, how do you communicate, et cetera, et cetera.
[19:38] Ultimately, uh, the lead dog is going to set the pace and you're the lead dog of the, of the sales organization and you know, when your sellers are reaching out to your buyers, are they differentiating based on how they sell instead of what they sell? Because no one wants to talk to a seller.
And our biggest competitor is the last salesperson that our buyer just talked to.
Whether they sell our stuff or not because like, oh, here comes another one.
And if they can stand out in a way based on the leadership that you've given them, just like our children, and the best thing that we can say about being told that we're a good parent is what people say about our kids. Exactly.
I want to have that proud parent moment, right? Like, oh, yes, I can send you off in the world.
I mean, I mentioned I ran inside sales quite a bit ago at a small company as well, but I still keep in touch with those people and they're doing well in the world.
And it makes me feel so good to hear like, you know, if they've had a promotion or that sort of thing.
So I mean, I'm excited to really grow the team here as well.
I love it. I'm excited to celebrate that with you.
And as we are shifting into towards the end of our episode, and we certainly could chat about sales leadership all day long, obviously, is you have got to a pretty cool place.
[20:54] You've also been through, had lots of experiences, and you've probably got some scar tissue and some bumps and bruises.
So if you could go back and coach younger Masako and say, hey.
[21:05] Fast forward, you're have this great job, you're going to be VP of sales at Genesee, you're also going to have a bunch of scar tissue and bumps and bruises.
What would you coach your younger self to say or do differently so you get to the same place but with fewer bumps and bruises and maybe a little less scar tissue?
I mentioned kind of not acting like I don't care.
I mean, letting the buyer feel like I don't care but I've adopted the idea of like this living pipeline and acted like I don't really care like as long as I knew it would, right?
Like I think that vibe allows potential buyers. So it took me a while to get there.
And but I don't want to be like, Oh, knowing things will work out.
But I'm really proud over my career that if things were a little light for the quarter, like, my leadership would be able to reach out to me and say, be able to have conversations with potential or existing clients.
And I wouldn't feel awkward because I was constantly like nurturing that relationship and making that process for them.
But I think if I were to go back and coach myself is really to be more, have more confidence in my style and not put myself in a position where like a manager who wasn't involved, suddenly wants to be involved, right?
Or push a customer across the finish line, or guess, get gaslight by gaslit by people that like would say business is in person or sales is just a numbers game, right?
I think we're moving away more from that, which is great.
But I think, you know, you can certainly sell without people liking you, but there's still...
Connecting with CEOs and executive leaders on a personal level
[22:29] Emotion and humanity wrapped up in sales, right? Because if you're going to give your money to someone, there's still emotion, whether it be in a business as a business owner or even one -to -one sales, right?
But ultimately, as even young sellers coming into the market and having that fearlessness to reach out to anybody, it's like having some of that because CEOs and executive leaders are all human too.
And they all have things that they're interested in and stuff like that.
So if you can find a way to really connect with them, again, you can be a leader in your organization to be able to show how you do that.
So I think feeling good about that style and not getting so caught up when, again, numbers are important, but when you had a robust pipeline and people still kind of picked at the way you did sales, I wish I was more confident in my style, I guess.
Very fair. Thank you for your vulnerability and sharing that with us.
Now, you've already shared one book with us, The Right Call.
We'll put a link in the show notes.
What else have you read, watched, listened to, whether recently or earlier in your career that you would suggest our audience of sales leaders check out to further their own development? Yeah.
Well, I'm typically an avid reader and a self -improvement fanatic. So I read a lot.
[23:47] And I have a lot of dog -eared books with highlights. But with a child and multiple activities, and I'm driving a lot again, I've been definitely listening to a lot of podcasts.
I've listened to a lot of yours. It's been great. The recent one with Doug Landis was a great take about hypothesis selling.
It made me think about one of my favorite sales books, which is Gap Selling by Kenan.
Yes. It's very well worn and referenced. I'm a big fan because...
It really focuses that you have to know your industry.
I mean, he says you got to know your, you know what, but you're selling to have these good questions. You want to be asking good questions and not peppering.
So that's a book that I really like. I think outside of sales stuff, I think the past couple of years, and I think it's really relevant for salespeople, especially like you have ups and downs of income and you want to make great income.
But I think I have had a big interest in financial wellness and especially for, people in my circle and women because a lot of times women may be the highest performers in sales but they often come with sometimes lower salaries or they don't negotiate for themselves.
So being able to take the time to understand money and finding avenues to do so, so I would recommend there's three podcasts that I like and they all have books but Tori Dunlap, she's the financial So a feminist, Rameen Sethi, he does.
[25:07] I Will Teach You To Be Rich and Tiffany Ali -Shea, she's the budget nista, but they come from the general mindset that get your basics down, right?
Investing, saving, understanding your fixed costs, and then you can save on the things that don't really matter and then live rich in the areas that are meaningful to you.
So if you want to travel, if you want to do things for your family, you have that money to do so.
So I think that's important as a salesperson to understand that.
I love that. We'll put links to all those in the show notes.
So thank you very much for sharing those with us.
So, Masako, you've shared some awesome insights with us already.
[25:41] Closing thought, a bit of wisdom, something to plug, the floor is yours.
Stay curious, keep learning, and connect with Masako
[25:45] Well, I think always stay curious and have an open mind. Keep constantly learning.
It's important in sales and just important for relationships with people.
But from a business perspective to plug, if you're a FinTech that uses real -time integration and wants to work with a bank or credit union, or your bank or credit union that's going through digital transformation and wants to accelerate that.
I'm your person, call me. I'd love to connect and talk about how we're doing things.
And then I also really just love connecting with other sales professionals on LinkedIn.
So my LinkedIn is pretty easy. It's linkedin .com slash in slash Masako and you'll find me but yeah, I'd love to connect.
Awesome. And we'll put that link in the show notes as well. So it's easy to find. Masako, this was an absolute delight.
Thank you very much for being a guest today. And I look forward to carrying on our conversation offline. Thank you very much. Thank you.
[26:38] Sales leaders, what an amazing interview with Masako Long.
I really love her perspective on how putting your hand up can really increase your credibility, especially building credibility with a new team of peers and an executive table.
I know in my career, I would raise my hand, say I'll volunteer for that, or I'll look into that, or I'll help out with that.
And it really accelerated me and allowed me to go into business for myself.
Also, really, really appreciated her comment about how to be a peer influencer without coming across as an annoying big brother or big sister.
Unfortunately, especially in North America, we are socialized at the executive level, especially to be in a competition with each other.
Even though we all work for the same organization, we're all theoretically trying to reach the same mountaintop.
There is this competitive nature and the ways that Masco shared to actually lower those barriers and create more connection with peers so we can support them and share our wisdom and knowledge, which ultimately raises our credibility, is really, really powerful.
I'm curious what your big takeaways were from today's episode.
Let us know in the comments on our social media, and until we connect on the next episode, go create full funnel freedom.
[27:56] Thanks for listening to today's episode of the Full Funnel Freedom podcast.
Podcast, you can continue to support us by leaving us a review and a rating, sharing this episode with a couple of sales leaders in your network who you care about.
I'd love to connect with you. I'm easy to find, Hamish Knox on LinkedIn.
Also if you'd like a free 15 -minute call with me, go to www .hamish .sandler .com forward slash howtosandler.
Until we connect on the next episode, go create full funnel freedom.
[28:29] Music.