Guy Reams (00:01.038)
Today is day 159, open your mouth. So I've read a lot of biographies throughout my life. And one of the biographies I remember reading was about Steve Jobs. And the one story I remember the most from that was the time when he cold called Bill Hewlett from Hewlett and Packard. And basically,
needed some computing for his little project he was working on, so he's asking for spare parts. He ended up talking himself into an internship. I always remember that because it just reminds me of a very critical fact. Every successful person that you even know of in today,
has always been somebody who is constantly opening their mouth. They're constantly selling. You know, I have a great opportunity to be involved in early stage investment for small businesses, entrepreneurs that are raising money. And I get to talk to people a lot about their business ideas and where they're going and what they're trying to create. And it's very rewarding. But it's interesting, the ones that are successful are
the ones that are always selling. They're always opening their mouth. They're talking to anybody and everybody that will listen about their new product or their new idea. In my early 20s, I had an opportunity to work with a former banking executive. He was a bank executive from Chicago. He was this short little wiry guy in his 70s, and he always had this incredibly positive attitude.
It would never let you be negative ever. Like it had to be never better or nothing, right? This guy was every day had to be better than yesterday in his mind. And he kind of taught me that, yeah, positivity goes a long way in growing a business. But more importantly, he taught me that business success is about always perpetually selling. You're always selling.
Guy Reams (02:24.718)
No matter what role you're in, no matter what capacity you're in, everybody in an organization needs to always be selling. That is ultimately the secret to success. Everybody talking about the value that the product or service can provide. That has to be ingrained in the overall culture of any successful organization.
Oftentimes, I talk to early stage entrepreneurs that have fallen into this prevailing confusion or misconception around modern selling. And I've fallen victim to this myself. So I'm not going to lay blame only at early stage entrepreneurs, because I also get romanticized by some of the shortcuts. But it seems like we've fallen into this trap of believing that we can build this tech stack.
of sales tools that can enable connection to customers and therefore drive sales. So we'll spend a lot of time and energy and effort building a tech stack for sales. And we seem to forget that, yeah, building a tech stack may be important, building a sales funnel may be important, but you cannot get around the fact that most sales are always going to occur.
on a human -to -human conversation about value. One human is going to relate the value of a product or service to another human, and there's going to be a negotiation about that value. And once the value has been established, the other person will elect to purchase or not purchase based on the perceived value that they get from that other human. At the end of the day, sales processes are important. The intricate web of sales tools could be potentially important.
but they cannot replace nor should they ever replace the imperative need for human to human interaction when it comes to sales.
Guy Reams (04:29.038)
So this executive that I met in my early days always would tell you to open your mouth. Wherever you're at, no matter what you're in, no matter what situation you're in, if you're around people, then open your mouth. Talk about what it is you're trying to do and let as many people know as possible. Opening your mouth is what bridges failure to success in any business venture.
Despite all the complexity, the most important thing is new conversations with new people. This is really straightforward. The more you talk, the better off you'll be in terms of whatever your endeavor is. This is not just about business sales.
This is a principle that applies to all humans. The reason is because our societies are developed on the premise that humans have to get along with each other. That's why we create society. We come together because we need each other. And as a consequence, all of our rules and all of our ethical behavior, all of our moral conduct are all based around the interaction between humans. So.
Opening your mouth and communicating with other humans is a universal thing. So it doesn't matter if you're trying to start a new business, start a new career, whatever it is that you're trying to accomplish in your life, the only way you're going to get there is by talking to as many people as possible about what you're trying to do. That's what will ultimately be your success. Now,
This can come through a variety of means. Social media nowadays exemplifies and magnifies this. But the point is, you cannot avoid opening your mouth. You must do it. Otherwise, people may not even know what it is you want to do. Or they may not even understand what your ambition is. They may not even realize the value that you could bring to them or to their organization. So I learned a very powerful lesson very early on from this banking executive.
Guy Reams (06:42.606)
He taught me that having a positive attitude is important. He taught me to always be thinking about how to sell, no matter what capacity I was in. But more important, he taught me to open my mouth and talk to as many people as I can about what it was I was trying to accomplish. In this fast paced, high technology world surrounded by AI tools, it's very easy to fall into the trap that thinking that tools are going to solve the problem. Sure.
Tools can expand, accelerate, and exponentially improve what we're trying to accomplish, but if we're not willing to open our mouth and talk to as many people as possible, then we are just simply not going to be successful. So my advice, my recommendation, is get over whatever fear and trepidation you have and just open your mouth.