"Winning the Battle" with Scott Tricker

Tim Geisert:
Welcome to the Selling Excellence podcast for business executives, presented by AuctusIQ. We all know B2B selling is not getting any easier, and what's worse, it is getting more expensive. Hello, I'm Tim Geisert, your host and partner at AuctusIQ, a selling excellence as a service company. Our goal today is to give you some insights, some learnings, that help you turn your sales organization into a asset, a company asset, not a pain in the asset.
Well, on today's episode, we have a real special guest, Scott Tricker, from Olsson. It's a national engineering consulting firm. Welcome, Scott. Glad you're here.

Scott Tricker:
Glad to be here, Tim. Looking forward to it.

Tim Geisert:
You know, it's interesting, getting ready for this. We had never really done these podcasts before. Right? We were talking about that.

Scott Tricker:
Yeah. I'm a total rookie.

Tim Geisert:
Yeah.

Scott Tricker:
I listen to a ton of them, but I've never, never been on the mic.

Tim Geisert:
Well, here you are. I mean, this is... You know what? This is my second time. So how exciting is that?

Scott Tricker:
You've reached veteran status.

Tim Geisert:
I am battle worn, as they would say.

Scott Tricker:
That's right.

Tim Geisert:
Well, we're glad you're here.

Scott Tricker:
Thank you.

Tim Geisert:
And, I think just to set it up for the audience, and I guess they would call this character development. So tell me just a little bit about you, what you do and we'll take it from there.

Scott Tricker:
Yeah. So I've had a long career in sales. I've been doing it for well over 20 years. Currently, over the last eight years, I've been privileged to really lead and direct sales for Ed Olsson, and we're a large engineering consulting firm. And so, as mentioned, just really spent my entire career in sales and transitioned into leadership over the last number of years, and been real fortunate to be part of a great company.

Tim Geisert:
Well, you've got kind of an interesting past, right? One, you worked for Kubly at Landscapes Unlimited, right? That's where you cut your teeth.

Scott Tricker:
A little bit. Yeah. Yeah. I joined, I was with a previous company. They was a large golf course construction firm, that was a preeminent leader in the industry and great organization. Founded by an entrepreneur and owned by a family, and still to this day, very, very successful. Was glad to be part of it.

Tim Geisert:
Well, and the reason I bring that up, because we've played golf together, and dear audience, he is a heck of a golfer. In addition to that though, I mean, at Olsson, you've had an incredible run. Right? The last eight years, you've helped double the size of that company. That's been pretty exciting for you.

Scott Tricker:
Yeah. It's rewarding to be part of an organization that's very growth oriented. I'd like to believe that our group, my team that I lead, has had a part in it. We're not the sole author of the growth. But yeah, we've seen some pretty tremendous opportunity over the last eight years. I mean, when I joined to today, we've doubled in revenue, we've doubled in employee size.
And I think probably the most gratifying part of all that is we've grown it while staying aligned to our mission, which is really about giving our men and women that are the engineers, and the scientists, who really desire to work on great projects and be challenged, just to be able to help, give them that opportunity, as well as our main credo as to really work in our communities and to leave them better when we found them. And so, the growth's great, but it's really the opportunities that it's created over the last eight years for people, as well as the communities we serve, and the clients that we serve, has been a real, real joy to be part of.

Tim Geisert:
Yeah. It is a fabulous organization. And I guess, if you were to give a little bit of insight, how have you kept your culture? What has been that true north for an organization like Olsson that has done so well and still kept true to itself?

Scott Tricker:
Well, I think it goes back, and a lot of... I mean, I give a lot of kudos to the senior leadership team that years ago, when they started out creating a growth plan up and beyond just putting a figure on a piece of paper, and saying, "This is what we're wanting to do." I think the thing I was most impressed with, and I've seen it through this last eight years is, they've done a very good job, really first off asking, "Well, why are we doing this?" And even more of, "Well, why do we exist?" And I think for us, when you look at our company's tenets, the very first reason that we're really here as a company is we exist for our employees.
And our second tenet is really, we're dedicated to serving our clients. But I think going back to growth, when you're taking an approach that you're growing for each other, and you've got a mission, once again, of we want to work on more challenging projects. We want to be able to make an impact in the communities that we serve so that, truly, we leave them better than we found it. That helps you make some pretty tactical decisions when large opportunities are at stake. And being able to have that mission always in front of you to say, "Hey, is this really aligning with really what we set out to do?" It really empowers you to run a business much more than just a number.

Tim Geisert:
Yeah. Kind of gives it some soul, doesn't it?

Scott Tricker:
It does. Yeah, it does.

Tim Geisert:
Kind of gives you purpose.

Scott Tricker:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Tim Geisert:
And when you talk with people in your position and across almost any successful organization, that culture, as I say, culture eats strategy for breakfast, right?

Scott Tricker:
Yeah.

Tim Geisert:
And it's so true. It's true.

Scott Tricker:
Absolutely.

Tim Geisert:
Especially you live it the way you've done. Well, so, I think we're to that point where the character development is there, except for one thing, and that is, our audience doesn't know this, but I know this about Scott. Scott really was, in school, and studied history. So you're kind of a history guy, right?

Scott Tricker:
I was, yeah. I originally went to college, was a history major. Graduated with a degree in history. And my original intention was to go into teaching. That's what I wanted to do. Life and other decisions just drove me differently and got into business and sales. But yeah, always been a learner, always enjoyed, especially even now recreationally, reading and studying about history, with probably a larger focus at times, on American history, with additional focus on military history. It's something I enjoy. You bet.

Tim Geisert:
Well, I mean, I really identify that. I didn't go to school for sales or business really. I mean, I was a musician for two years. You probably don't know that.

Scott Tricker:
No.

Tim Geisert:
Yeah. So I kind of found my way in. And having a sense of the arts, and the liberal arts, kind of gives you an interesting perspective on-

Scott Tricker:
Absolutely.

Tim Geisert:
... how to look at business, but also how to interact with customers and how to really shape your point of view and lead in a different way. And you've demonstrated that. But here's my question, okay? So your history foundation, how do you parlay that into what you do? And how does that really shape the things that you put as priorities in the role you have at Olsson?

Scott Tricker:
Yeah. No, that's a great question. I'd probably say there's two areas specifically, just off mind here that arrived at the top. One is, I think it's a pretty obvious statement that, obviously, history is really about not just learning facts from the past, but really trying to interpret them and reapply them into the present. And so what can you learn from past success, past failure and really reapply that into your situation? So I think with sales, one of the things that I very much believe is, sales is a tactical business.
It's not, when you really look at it, the most successful sales organizations are, in my opinion, are ones that have a strong set of discipline, but also are keenly aware, from their past, to utilize, hey, when things have gone well, but also probably more importantly, when there's been failure, to really analyze that.
And not to stay stuck on it, but I guess, you and I have talked in the past, is I think one of the key takeaways in failure or in loss, which is a huge part of selling, is to really make sure that you're taking away, "What did you learn from that?" Because if there's anything that history has shown is that it does repeat itself. And the less that we can repeat the same error time and time again in sales and learn from it, coach our team with it, it can certainly make us better.

Tim Geisert:
Yeah. Those losses, for some reason, in our profession, just stick with you. Kind of a parallel to this is, I was talking to a hall of fame receiver who played college ball, Division I, very successful. And he said to me, he goes, "It's funny," he goes, "... I look back on my career, which was what, 25 years ago." He goes, "I can remember every loss, every loss. It still sticks with me." And he goes, "But the wins, I don't remember as much." It's kind of crazy, isn't it?

Scott Tricker:
Right. Right. And that is part of it is, I do think, once again, going back to analyzing history, sometimes beyond just celebrating that emotional, that immediate emotional reaction to winning a big project in our world. That it's, if you look at some of the more successful athletes that you just brought up, I mean, the winning and losing is just a byproduct of process. Are you practicing? Are you doing the right things? Do you have the right structure in place, the right discipline? And the winning and losing will take care of itself. And that to me is going back to structure and just having a really good organized system, and also utilizing that history of what's been your path and what can you interpret from that, and reapply into today is, it's a very relevant business practice that I see top-performing sales organizations instituting.

Tim Geisert:
Yeah. So, okay, so here I am, I'm going to take you to your history and your core as a teacher. Put this in some sort of, maybe, military parallel of what is your job? What do you have to do as that sales leader within an organization?

Scott Tricker:
Yeah. That's a great question. So, if I was to sit down and have a conversation with our CEO, or a CEO, about what is my role and what should you expect of me, taking a little bit of takeaway from my love of history, I go back to the allied invasion of Normandy, which was a game-changing battle-

Tim Geisert:
Yeah, no small feat.

Scott Tricker:
... in our nation's, in our world's history. Right?

Tim Geisert:
Yeah, right.

Scott Tricker:
And so, you had someone like Dwight Eisenhower, who was the allied commander, he's overseeing the big picture, much like a CEO. So I look at that as the CEO. And I look at business development and myself as the leader, as I'm really his ground force leader.

Tim Geisert:
Mm-hmm (affirmative), mm-hmm (affirmative). Very much so.

Scott Tricker:
Yeah. And so, I really look at, there's three things that if I was to look at a CEO and say, "Here's what I think you should really expect from our organization to be successful," really this is, the first one is, no question, I am responsible for procuring and communicating accurate and reliable information. And in the business world, I mean, for me, it's pipeline, it's sales forecasting, it's market trends, it's things like threats, disruptions, and just even competition reporting. And just to pause again and look back and say, "Well, how's that relevant to the analogy of D-Day?" I mean, there was so much information that Eisenhower had to rely on many others to go out and gather in the field, down to weather reports.

Tim Geisert:
Right. We were talking about that. It was a go, no-go became so critical. There was just a window. Right?

Scott Tricker:
Yes. And he depended upon the intelligence that was gathered out in the field to really make some very critical decisions for the business. So once again, I think that that's a huge part of our job is, the CEO is depending upon our group to really provide not just the wins and losses, but information. It has to be reliable-

Tim Geisert:
What are customers saying?

Scott Tricker:
Absolutely.

Tim Geisert:
How are they feeling about this? What are the barriers? Why did they say yes? Why did they say no? All of those things, that's critical information to running the business.

Scott Tricker:
Yeah. So, that's definitely one. And I think that a CEO should expect that and demand that out of their sales organization. The next thing is we're a people business, and I look at the CEO to say "I'm in charge of building, leading and developing a team that aligns with the company's mission and values." And I think, simply, it's... You asked me earlier about how have we been successful? And growth on its own is, to me, is pretty unfounded, if it's not aligned with the company's mission and values. And those two buzzwords there get, I think, overused a lot. But I go back to, put it simply, is we can have great growth, but if we have a team that is lacking character and trust, it's not representing the values of, for instance, Olsson, or operating in a business manner that is not helping our brand, well, then we're sunk.
And once again, you go back to history. There's not only the, what we need to do, which is we want to go invade this beach, but there's the why. And if you think about it, I mean, this wasn't just an American effort. This was the United States, this was Canada, this was France, this was the Brits. I mean, there were so many, the Australians. There's so many different countries, different military strategies, different individuals, they all had to rally around a why, and come to an arrival point to say, "Beyond the what, we're all in agreement that this is the mission and this is why we're doing this."

Tim Geisert:
Well, and I love what you're talking about there. Because one of the shifts that has happened in sales over the last, really, 15 years is that the individual seller isn't carrying the whole load, they're really orchestrating a team, right?

Scott Tricker:
That's right.

Tim Geisert:
You have solutions architects, you have project managers, you have implementation people, you have all kinds of people. You're conducting quite an orchestra, and alignment becomes even more critical. Right?

Scott Tricker:
Absolutely. Especially in our business. I mean, as I've shared with you, as business development, my team, we are really, at the end of the day, we are here to help the company get positioned in front of clients. But ultimately, the men and women that work at Olsson, the 1,600 scientists and engineers, they're ultimately the ones that to have to carry the water. And to make the needs, the dreams, the realities of a community or client happen, that's really when the rubber meets the road.

Tim Geisert:
Yeah.

Scott Tricker:
And so it's very critical. And so that mission, having, recruiting the right people, from an integrity and value standpoint, to just being aligned as a business development, saying we're going after these certain initiatives, that I have perfect alignment with the entire leadership and employee base of the company. It's critical.

Tim Geisert:
Yeah. So that's one and two. What's the third thing?

Scott Tricker:
Yeah. I'd say the third thing, just going back to when I've looked at successful military operations, the things I take back from it is, there's definitely a culture of discipline and accountability that's really been blended in, and that's no different than a good sales organization. A few thoughts here that I have is, if I'm looking at a CEO as... To me, sales is a very tactical operation, and it's a process-based science. As I said earlier, the results, if we don't have good process in place, we already know what the result's going to be.

Tim Geisert:
Yeah, right.

Scott Tricker:
But for us, we have to deliver meticulous documentation of activity. There's got to be a lot of key stuff with pipeline, and just managing our business is as important as winning. I mean, our competition, when I've noticed when we're winning at a high level, we're just doing it better. The idea of being sloppy and unorganized is just a proven loser. So I go back to even point one, it's so important for us to have discipline as a business development unit, to be documenting, owning information, relaying accurate information, one, to relay up to the CEO, but two, for us to make decisions. And if we don't have good information, we're not able to make timely decisions on which projects we're going to pursue and which projects we're going to leave.
And when I look at that, I often compare it going back to military history is, wars are a series of battles and you're really trying to work towards winning a series of battles. And the biggest thing, that if you look at the greats that have been successful, they have shown a high propensity to identify when something is a skirmish and when something's a battle and, ultimately, to figure out which battles are real. And beyond that to say, here's the ones that we're actually going to have a chance at winning, and here's the ones that were flat out going to never fight and walk away from. And it all goes back to, how do you collect information and are you detailed? And do you have discipline?

Tim Geisert:
Yeah. I mean, so the discipline, if you use your analogy, I mean, there's books written about the training that Eisenhower and his leaders went through to make sure that those teams were ready. Everything from the pilots to the ground forces, to the people who ran and brought the troops over on ship, and how they trained going up and down ropes to the detail of that, right?

Scott Tricker:
To the detail.

Tim Geisert:
I mean, there was just, it's a really, really good analogy. So, essentially, I guess you could say, you're like Eisenhower's Omar Bradley, right-

Scott Tricker:
Oh yes.

Tim Geisert:
... in the role in business.

Scott Tricker:
And that's right. Because if you look at... I'm privileged to lead 17 individuals nationally for our company, and what's our biggest challenge? It's time.

Tim Geisert:
Yeah, right.

Scott Tricker:
It's time. And if you don't have good discipline and be able to look at accurate information, you have to make decisions for the best of the company to say, "These are the best opportunities for us to move forward that are winnable." And then you got to have the guts to say, even though this is a big number, it looks really enticing to say, "We are never going to win that," for many reasons and walk away. And that's, to me is, it's constantly one of the biggest challenges of a good sales organization is to really be able to stand up on its own and say, "We're going to walk away from decisions that we're never going to win in the first place."

Tim Geisert:
Yeah. And that goes back to history, learning, understanding, getting better. Right?

Scott Tricker:
It sure does.

Tim Geisert:
Right?

Scott Tricker:
It sure does.

Tim Geisert:
Scott, thanks so much for joining us here today. I mean, I'm going to recap this, because this is really important, as the Omar Bradley. And for those out there who don't know who Omar Bradley is, look it up. Yeah. Very impressive field commander for the allied forces. But you got to have accurate and reliable information. That's got to come up to the organization, to the CEO. You got to have the right mission and values, right? You got to be aligned in what those are and where you're going as a team. And then, you got to have discipline and accountability. You do those three things, what happens? You do what you did. You and the team at Olsson doubled the business. Right?

Scott Tricker:
We're going to take the beach.

Tim Geisert:
It's going to take-

Scott Tricker:
We're going to take the beach.

Tim Geisert:
Yes. There it is, there's the catch phrase of the day, take the beach.

Scott Tricker:
I like that.

Tim Geisert:
Yeah. Scott, thanks a lot for being here today.

Scott Tricker:
You bet, Tim.

Tim Geisert:
All right.

Scott Tricker:
Been fun.

Tim Geisert:
Yeah, sure has.
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Selling Excellence podcast for business executives. I hope you've gained some insight on how to help turn your sales organization into a company asset versus a pain in the asset. Don't forget to subscribe to the Sales Excellence podcast, wherever you get your podcast. And for more information about AuctusIQ or to schedule a discovery call, visit our website at auctusiq.com. Until next time, this is Tim Geisert, your host and partner at AuctusIQ, here to help you sell more and grow your company.

Speaker 3:
A Hurrdat Media production.