Nikki Ivey's Journey From Section 8 to the C Suite

Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Make It Happen Mondays, where we talk about sales, business, entrepreneurship, personal growth, mental health, and everything in between with guests who I truly respect and I think make a positive impact on the world around us. And this is a very special episode of the Make It Happen Monday podcast, because in this episode, you will be introduced, if you don't know her already, to Nikki Ivey, who is the newest member of the JB Sales Squad on the training side of the house. She's going to be one of our directors of training. And I've been following Nikki for a long time now. I've been a long time admirer of what she's doing, what she's putting out there. She's a practitioner.

She's had every role in sales. She's an incredible communicator. She's most recently a CRO. So she has the executive experience and heading up diversity and getting that voice out there to help spread the word. So we go through her background and how she grew up in the projects in Ohio and brothers and sisters and a big family and what that meant to her. And then her military background about where she got that and the diversity that showed her and getting into corporate America and the whole journey and a lot of inflection points along the way that we can all learn from. And I am excited to give a much louder platform and voice too. So buckle up, everybody. Nikki Ivey's coming on board here at JB Sales.

We're going to have a blast moving forward. Hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. Let's make it happen. What's happening, make it happen family. Big shout out to our partners today, Gong, Vidyard, and Chili Piper. Gong's data is more than valuable. It's cornerstone in any organization looking to collect the data that's going to tell them where they can improve and where they need to spend their time making changes. Vidyard makes it easy for people to use videos anywhere. No matter whether you're sending videos in email or on social media, posting them somewhere or sending them in a DM, Vidyard has got you covered. Our friends at Chili Piper are so much fun to be around. They make it easy for people to get on your calendar and every sales rep has got to have this function locked in.

It's one of the most important things we can do as a seller. How can I get you on my calendar easily? Chili Piper can make that happen for you. Be sure that you're checking out all these great tools. And now let's pass it over to John to find out who's joining him today. See you soon, everybody. Let's welcome to the podcast and let's welcome the audience to the newest member of the JB sales squad, Nikki Ivy. How are you doing? Yeah. Well, you know what? I'm better now. Seriously, I'm better now than I've been in a very long time. I spent a lot of the day yesterday sitting out by the pool, feeling fortunate, feeling grateful, and feeling ready, you know? You ready to get it? Because it's going to be a fun ride with it.

I don't know if you're fully prepared for what you're about to hit on and park on, but it's going to be a fun ride regardless. Nikki, let's talk. Let's introduce the audience to you a little bit. So for everybody listening, Nikki has joined the JB sales squad here as one of the directors of training. She's going to be out there spreading the knowledge of herself, spreading the knowledge of what we have to offer here and trying to elevate the profession. But Nikki, for those people who don't know you, which I think there might be a couple out there who might not know who you are. People's living under a rock. Exactly. Let's give them some context of where you're coming from. So talk to us. Let's go all the way back because I like to, you know, in this scenario, it's usually on these business ones.

It's like, all right, well, give me your business background. But Nikki, I want to learn a little bit more. I want the audience to learn a little bit more about you as far as your background, background. Where were you born? Talk about your family. Talk about where all that stuff. And then let's get into the career stuff. But as family is number one priority here at JB sales. Let's talk about that first. Yeah. Yeah. So let's see where to begin. I was born in, I was born in Dayton, Ohio. Cool. In the Hilltop Housing Project of Dayton, Ohio, my parents lived across the street from each other, right? So she was from this family full of girls and his was like a family full of guys. And they used to like fight at the playground or whatever until they discovered love.

So my parents, they got married very young. They had my sister, they had me. And, you know, shit wasn't easy at all. Like, at all. Especially for that first little chunk of my life. But I remember this experience. I was sitting down with my dad watching TV. We used to watch TV together all the time. And this commercial came on, one of those be all that you can be commercials for the army. And I remember I go into the kitchen and my dad is in the kitchen doing pushups. And he's like, come here, come here, sit on my back. So I'm sitting on my dad's back while he's doing pushups. And he's just fully getting like motivated. Like, yeah, I got to do that. So long story short, my dad gets in the army and it takes us from this place where we lived in Dayton at that point to Washington State.

So I spent most of my childhood in the Pacific Northwest, right? And I don't know how much many of you know about army bases, but it was, they can be a microcosm of, you know, whatever the community is that they're adjacent to or, you know, society at large. Or at least that's what I thought, right? So there, it's very multicultural, right? Like if I was walking home from school, right? I would walk past, you know, this person's parents are Puerto Rican. So I'm smelling ros con pollo. My mom got the collard greens going, you know what I'm saying? Somebody's mom was from Korea. So it's because, right, these people travel and they bring back, you know, love and culture. And that's, that stuck with me.

And I was so excited to get out into a world where that was the case. And then the summer before I started high school, we moved to Southeast Georgia, where I learned that it ain't all sweet, you know? But I think that that was an important experience for me to have as well, right? I think, you know, I don't know how I would have turned out if I only had sort of this cookie cutter, not all that realistic idea of how, how people interact. But also, I'm glad I'm glad for that, that ideal of what we what we can be. And you do you do see through lines of that in a lot of the the work I do and the content that I do today. So anyway, somewhere along the line there in high school, I got pregnant when I was 16.

And I have my first son, at 17, who's actually at my high school graduation, I remember exactly what he was wearing, just a cute little guy, this little like, you call them this little fisherman's hat, anyway, rambling. But so so that was sort of a, as it would be for anybody, right, this this sort of watershed moment in my life, where I'm figuring out, you know, not just who I am, but what I believe my choices to be. I think I think that's the biggest impact that team motherhood can have. Yeah, explain that to me. So believe your choices can be talking to me about that a little bit. Is that the choices that, that that you had to make from that moment on basically growing up immediately there?

Or was that the choices that got you to that point? All of it. So I mean, we'll start with the choice to have my son. I had a lot of grownups in my life who I'm sure meant well. I'm telling me I the doctor was really actually kind of sad. The the doctor was like, he happened to be my best friend, my hook, my boyfriend's best friend's dad, right, because we're on army base, remember this. And he's like, well, you know, you don't want to ruin two lives, is what he said to me. You know, meaning, you know, myself and this boyfriend of mine. And I don't know that that didn't sit well with me. People make these choices for all kinds of reasons. I don't take any sort of moral high ground about it. But that's the choice I made.

And yes, yes, yes, things, you know, start to happen based on that choice. And then, you know, the choice to get married young, all of these things. But what I was referring to is opportunities, right? The choices as in what school, you know, will I what college will I go to? What jobs can I have? You know, what can my aspirations be? And I'll tell you, when when you're a teen mother, a lot of the time, without knowing it, probably, the adults in your life, talk to you, like, most of the opportunities that you believed you had before you had a baby are no longer available to you. So I went from being this sort of bright, top of the class teacher's pit, I was in choir, she always had me out front singing solos, right to, you know, I walk into the choir room, and with the other girls try to come up and like, touch my belly, this teacher would treat them like they could catch it, you know, no, no, no, no, sit down, don't do that, don't do that.

And then she started putting me in the back. And it was it can be traumatizing, actually, the way people treat you there. But, you know, rather than just explaining, right, or helping you understand, you can still accomplish what you wanted to accomplish. Right? They start to talk about you almost like dead, like you're written all the the way off. You know what I mean? Like, I had so many dreams for you. You've heard this talk, right? Right? Oh, I wanted you to be you were supposed to be you were gonna be and I'm like, fuck it, I am, you know, you're only 17. I ain't dead yet. Right? Yeah. But you know, it's practice is practice in in getting over things. Particularly, it's been helpful in getting over sales slumps, which we'll get into here later.

But this idea that that you know, down but not out with the Cameron songs say, you know, you're down but not out. So all of those things, right, get me to this place where I know that I'm capable of overcoming things. I know that, you know, I stand on my own two feet. Right? And I know that I'm an exemplary communicator, but I don't know what any of that is worth. Right? In terms of money at this point, I was supposed to be, I'll tell you the three things I was going to be. I was going to be a lawyer. I checked out the same Thurgood Marshall book pretty much every day in the sixth grade. Or I was going to write commercial jingles because I love to sing. I was in every school choir from like second grade on through first semester of college, it got too political.

But, and then the only, the third thing is I was going to be, I was going to be a journalist. It's actually what I studied in college. And so, you know, none of these things are things that I, I'm sorry, all of these things are things that I thought I would be doing. But what ended up happening is, you know, just by circumstance happenstance, right? Is I end up getting into sales and now using those same skills every day as a, as a salesperson. But that was sort of the journey, like mentally and emotionally, me figuring out, right? First of all, like, no, I don't deserve to be thrown away. And so let's climb up out of that dumpster. And then, you know, again, just figuring out, like I said, what can I do?

What can I do from this position? Where do you think that came from? So, so it was interesting last night I was, so my mom's in town and I was talking to her. I want her to come on the podcast, but she's like, oh no, I don't know. I don't understand. You know, nobody would care about my stories. And my mom's got a really interesting background. And it's funny. Cause like seven, she had six brothers and sisters, and they grew up in a podunk little hick town in, in Illinois, in the middle of a cornfield with 2,000 people in it. But yet her six brothers and sisters, including the seven all together, like they're all extremely successful. And it's not like, you don't look at that type of environment and say, okay, maybe one out of those seven kids would be successful, but the rest would be on the farms.

The rest would be, you know, just doing, but all seven of them are like massively successful. Like four of them are in sales, like hardcore sales. Right. And I was asking her like, where'd that come from? And she's like, I don't know. She's like, you know, our dad wasn't exactly a salesman, but he was a hustler. And, and so I always wonder the nature nurture component of, of how people got to where they are. And I'm curious for you, was it, it was, you know, nature nurture, were you always kind of an outgoing kid growing up? I mean, you said sixth grade, you wanted to be a lawyer like shit. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. So for you to like, look at that at sixth grade and say, Ooh, I mean, my daughter's going into seventh grade right now.

And she hasn't even come close to thinking about what she wants to be. I tell her, she just, I just want her to be happy. That's the answer to that question. So where, where did that kind of, I guess, optimism slash drive slash, you know, opportunistic mindset come from, from you? It was what I had observed that was working for people who were trying to extract themselves from the same kind of, you know, generational poverty and what have you as I was. And what I sort of zeroed in on was how communication skill can be an equalizer. So I had this, this kindergarten teacher, her name was Miss Simpson. And, you know, she was just a teacher. That was her rank, so to speak in this hierarchy. But you would have superintendents, principals, folks who had been teaching for 20 years.

And when this woman spoke, they listened. And it was because of how engaging she was. She was extremely intelligent and knowledgeable. She was a black woman. I don't know if I buried that lead. And a lot of the folks who she was communicating were not. And, you know, I would see, you know, their, this shift in the energy that they were giving her as soon as she opened her mouth. And so then I became the most annoying kid on the planet. And I was like reading dictionaries, correcting people on their grammar, uh, and all of this. I was like, I got to get these words, right? Uh, so, so that's, that's really what it was. And I saw that start to work for me. So times when I had a streak going on, by the way, um, from my first job that I ever interviewed for up until right before COVID where every job I ever interviewed for, if I went in for the in-person interview, I got the job.

And that's because I placed such a premium on, you know, on communication. It wasn't ever just, you know, can you like, can you talk good? Right. I think that might be, um, a nature thing. Actually. I think that might just be something that I was, I'm inclined to do for whatever, for whatever reason, but communication for me was always about, um, you know, being able to understand people without them always having to spell it out. Right. Just being really observant. And then for better or for worse, I'm a deeply empathetic person. Um, and I think that that also has been the thing that's made me a better communicator, um, because I can sort of sniff out, right. What people don't want to tell me.

Um, but what, if they did say out loud would probably set both of us free. Um, so, so yeah, so that's sort of the themes that I was observing and how I was putting it into action. And it just kept keeping me, you know, out of what should have been dire circumstances. I just kept climbing back out of it using these, um, these communication skills. I don't even remember if that's the question you asked me, John. No, it is. It's, it's that because, you know, it's, where does it come from? You know what I mean? And, and you know, that I've always been fascinated with the nature of nurture because you have, I've seen parents, you know, great parents and their kid grows up to be a terrible person, right?

On the flip side, I've, I've seen horrible parents and people come up and they're just incredible people, right? Cause they learn from it in different ways and people take trauma in different ways too. You know what I mean? Like some people take trauma and let it motivate them. Some take, people take trauma and let it bury them for instance. And I don't want to say trauma, but inflection points like you talk about, you know, with your first, with your first child, it's like, that's an inflection point that you could have, you could have gone backwards effectively and said, okay, well, this is what I am. You know what I mean? I'm just going to do my best. I'm going to try to support my kid here, but my career, my life is over versus other people who would say, nah, what do you mean?

Like, this is just like, I want to see, it's not even a bump in the road. This is, this is a piece of my journey and, and I'm, and I'm going to make the most out of this. So I want to say though, that I, I only know those things in retrospect. Yeah. I, uh, you know, there might be someone listening here who, you know, was on a similar path. And the last thing I want to do, uh, is come off like, you know, I just did it, you know, I just made it, I just made it happen. Right. Uh, because while it was happening, these were some truly, um, some truly painful times, times when I did think, you know what, you know, maybe, maybe I should just go over here and, you know, work at the gas station. No tea, no shade.

If you work at the gas station, very lovely people. Uh, but, but that's what it was, right? Should I just, that's, this is what I meant before when I met, when I talked about the choices that I had in life. So it's been that, but another part of the answer that I don't want to, I want to make sure we don't miss as far as where does this come from? So I mentioned that I was a teen mom. My grandmother became a teen mom when she was 15 years old. Damn. She ended up having 11 children. The, the person that she was, uh, married to at 15 was abusive. Um, so she ends up raising those children on her own and those children, my aunties, these are women with higher education degrees. These are women born in that same, you know, housing project that I was talking about who, you know, still, we all still have roots there, right?

I was just at a high school basketball game there a couple months ago. Um, but you know, we're, we're making things of ourselves where it's not about the accomplishments that I make today for me. It's definitely about what people coming up right now are seeing as possible through me. That's what happened when I looked at my aunts, right? Specifically children of, of a teen mom. Some of them were single mothers themselves and it didn't stop a thing. So in order, I, I feel like I disrespect those women if I fold. Do you know what I mean? And maybe that's a lot of pressure. Maybe that's undue pressure. We can deconstruct me psychologically another time, but, but that's really, you know, a huge part of it for me.

It's like, I don't, I'm not so special that I don't have to put it in my work, right? For generations after me, cause they put in their work, you know, and I'm benefiting so much from it, you know? Pay it, pay it forward mentality. And, and I think that's why also it's so important to share that journey, right? Because, you know, people talk a lot about social, why should I start a podcast? Why should I post on social? Who would care? It's like, well, you never know who's listening, right? You never know who you're, you're being that light for. And so I'd like to kind of parlay that into your, I mean, we can go back through the career piece here, but with your, your voice now, how do you see your position now, right?

Where you are and who you are? I mean, some people feel an obligation, right? To say, I, I now I'm in this position where I feel now obligated to share my story, to help other people out. And other people's aren't, other people aren't, other people like, nope, this is, this is my journey. I don't want to share it. I'm trying to carve my own path here, but we all make a representation. Uh, you were all there as a, as something for somebody else to look to in some cases for hope, for, for experience, for all of that. And why do you feel so compelled, I guess, to share your story and your journey here with people? Well, because I, I got opportunities, uh, by accident. I got opportunities, you know, through no strength or knowledge of my own.

And I just outright wholeheartedly loud as anybody can hear it reject this idea that, you know, individualism is the way to go, right? It's about me. I did it. I did it. None of that really jives with who I am. I don't believe that, you know, I'm where I am because I'm so smart. I'm where I am because you know what I mean? Uh, because I was so whatever persuasive, engaging, you know, cue all the things, uh, but, but I've kind of read or heard, no, it's because of, again, of, of people who helped me. And again, because of accidental opportunities put in front of me. So what I specifically mean is, um, I was, I was helping my friend buy a car and, um, she just asked me to come along with her, you know, cause I taught good and whatnot.

Anyway. So we, we go to this car lot and she's got this sales, but she fully planned on buying a car that day. She's got this sales person and he is all the things that we read and see on TV, that car salespeople are right. So, so all the unsavory things, uh, I mean, I mean, he was trying, he was trying and I kept sort of, you know, heckling him. I didn't mean to be right. But now that I am a salesperson, I realized, yes, I was heckling this guy. Uh, but I was just trying to get him to like, you know, loosen up, like break veneer. Like I know my friend, she's cool. You can talk to her. Let's be people together. Okay. Uh, but he didn't, he didn't get it. So she didn't get a car. And as we're walking out his boss, like chases me out the door and he's like, Hey, um, you know, we're hiring, you know, and I think you got something kid.

Uh, and I had never, I didn't even know about like sales as a career. I understood someone has to sell something, but it wasn't something I ever even thought about. And I certainly never made the connection between what I was sort of naturally doing as a communicator. Um, and you know, the power that that has the capital that that has in the world and in the business world. So I was like, I'm not doing anything right now. I guess so. Uh, so I, that's when I, you know, I started, got my first sales job and that was budget, right? Yeah. That was budget, budget car sales. That's right. Down there in Hinesville, Georgia, Hinesville, if you're from there. Uh, but, um, but yeah, so I did that and I, I learned a lot.

I learned mostly though, um, two big things. I learned what I don't like, what I don't want to perpetuate that is within, you know, sales culture. Um, which is this, you know, there's an element of taking advantage that I think is part of that sort of old school things. People hate about sales folks. And so I had this manager, um, when people walk onto a car lot, they call them ups, right? While people who walk up and they were, he was like, when you see these ups come in, you just got to see that as that next person you want. You just got to see that as, you know, that new car you want to get and all of this. And I'm like, is you, is you for real? Like, is he really telling me to see people as things?

I don't know that I'm even capable of doing that, you know, even if I wanted to. So that just sort of, you know, is in the back of my head. Like, I don't know, do I, do I really want this? And then the other thing that I learned, right? So there's things I don't want to perpetuate in sales culture. And I'm wondering, does it really have to be that way? Uh, and then the other thing, uh, I mentioned was near an army base, right? And this was during the time when most of the, you know, the soldiers there had been deployed in the Middle East. And so there was this large population of, um, women who had effectively become single moms, right? And, you know, folks that are in the, the, these infantry army positions, a lot of the time they come from small towns.

They're very young. They don't know a lot. They haven't had a lot of even work experience, especially the women. They married a boy they loved and moved to some town. And, um, so she's here and she had walked, she had walked to the car lot in Georgia in the summertime. And she was pushing a baby in a stroller and she was like, I have $800, you know? Um, and we had cash cars, we had cash cars that these people were trying to get me to get two G's out of people for. And ordinarily, you know, if it made sense for the margins, maybe I would, but I couldn't ask this woman for what she didn't have. And I couldn't let her walk back home. And that Georgia son, that was me. I saw, you know what I'm saying?

That was any of my aunties. That was my 15 year old grandmother. I saw, and you know, not for nothing. This is the wife of a service member just out here trying to survive. And so, you know, I made them take that eight, seven 50. Cause I wanted her to have lunch too. I made them take that seven 50 for that cash car. Um, it was, it was, I mean, it wasn't cute. It was an Oldsmobile 88. Um, but she did not have to walk home and, and that was a bridge. And so that's, that's the second thing I learned is that there's this unsavory element of sales, but then there is also who we can be, right. There is also, you know, this, this purpose that we absolutely can tap into. And, and it isn't, you know, it's not, we're not curing cancer.

It's not rocket science, but to pretend as though we can't have an impact on someone's life as salespeople, uh, I think is, is, you know, missing the point. And I've had this reiterated, you know, over and over again, with things that I've, you know, sold as a salesperson, which again, they seem incidental to, to someone outside, you know, looking in, but they end up having this, this impact on people's lives. I'll give you another example. I worked at a place, uh, it was called Kinzer. Um, it's now this huge sort of medical conglomerate, but at the time we were selling a software that made it easier for, um, nurses to get their charts done more quickly. Right. That sounds okay. Cool. What a, what a nice to have.

But when you add to it, the fact that, um, many women in my family are nurses. And one time my, I was talking to my niece and I was asking her, you know, how, how are things? And she was like, well, you know, mommy says she's going to be home at seven, but it's never at seven. It's always late. She's always doing her notes. Right. So then there's this connection. And so now not only did it like, you know, give me this deeper purpose, but it made me so much more effective in conversations. These are stories I can tell that help people feel, you know, like there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Like maybe you don't have to be here for two hours after your shift is over, taking these notes. Um, and, and it is, it is, it's a material impact on their lives, a material impact on their lives, two more hours with her baby.

And so just seeing that theme reiterated over and over again, that's why I stay. That's why I stay in this profession. You know what I mean? What's up everybody? I know you're enjoying this conversation. John does a great job with genuine curiosity on these episodes and our guests consistently bring the heat. We want to take a moment here and let you know that you've got an opportunity, an opportunity to become better than you were yesterday. And you can do so by gaining access to all of JB sales content. All of their training tips, techniques, tactics, and takeaways can be yours for $1 a day. $365 for the year gets you annual access to everything, including our private Slack channel for members only, which you get access to all of us directly a hundred percent of the time, 24 hours a day.

And then at the same time, you're going to get access to our biweekly ask me anything sessions where you can bring real deals to the table and get the help that you need where you need it. This is very, very important. Sales reps that invest in themselves are often found at the tops of their leaderboards. Join us today and get the help you need to become the seller that you deserve to be. That URL one more time is joinjbsales.com. Let's get back to the show with JB and our guests for this week. I tell people all the time that sales, I believe sales is one of the greatest professions in the world when done right. It's one of the worst when done wrong, right? And when you do it right, it's about helping people solve problems and helping people achieve goals, period.

And it like, look, if your problems aren't big enough and your goals aren't big enough, why are we having this conversation? Like if you're trying to convince anybody in sales, you're doing it wrong, in my opinion. Like your goal is to help people make that connection, right? Because it does change lives. I mean, this profession, it's, we talked about this the other day, right? It's the ultimate equalizer. I mean, to a certain degree, it is blind of gender, color, all that stuff. And in some cases, I mean, it depends on the company you work for, but in a lot of ways, the harder you work, the more you get paid. And therefore you can get yourself in or out of situations and you have a lot more freedom.

You'll never buy happiness. I never believe that money will buy happiness, but it gets rid of a lot of unhappiness and it creates freedom for people to make decisions that they can make as opposed to other people making for them. Yeah. And that's why personally, I'm so passionate about this because I, same to you, like I kind of fell into sales. It wasn't something I knew stuff had to be sold, but I never knew it was a career. And then all of a sudden I was like, wait a minute, like this stuff makes a difference. Like the stuff, as long as you believe in it, if you don't believe in it, then didn't get the fuck out. Um, because then you're just one of those other sales done wrong. But when you believe in it, it's that transfer of enthusiasm.

It's that help and elevate people out of their situation, right. And give them a chance and opportunities and everything else in between. So I think that's why, you know, when, when I've talked to you in the past, we've connected so well, because I can see that I can feel that from you, regardless of what your role has been. And, and that's why I'm kind of curious of your journey from a professional standpoint, right? Cause you went from budget to then a reporter, then you got, I mean, you got into the news. So you, you, you gift a gab, if you will. Um, then you got into like what music video stuff. Right. And then you, I mean, you got such a, you got such a, an interesting track to where you are today.

Talk to me about like, what was the, what was another inflection point from a career standpoint? So you had all these positions, right? What was the next? So you got this budget. You're like, all right, I want to help people out. Um, and then a few more, but where was the next inflection point for you? Where was the little aha moment? It was definitely my first SaaS sales role. Okay. So, uh, and you know, as you're talking about this, elevating the profession and all of that, I think it really does have a lot to do with how you are first socialized into the profession. So, so cut to what is it? 2013, 2014. I'm now living in Austin, Texas, and I'm still selling cars. I was working at a Kia dealers, good dealership.

Shout out to Kia of South Austin. Uh, but anyway, um, still experiencing some of those sales culture things that were unsavory. Um, but also having fun and learning things that I would later apply in a SaaS sales career. So, um, this little bit, and then I'll get into the inflection point. But so, um, the, when a person would have come on the, first of all, I'll just give you three. So the first thing that translates, right. From this, how do we get from selling cars to selling SaaS? Um, well it's prospecting actually. So every salesperson, when we get through the door, right. Every Saturday, cause we work 12 hours Saturdays, everyone without exception. And we have a list of about 30 people, right?

That's all we had to call was 30 people. That 30 people are folks who have had their car, um, for about three and a half years. That's on average, how long people keep a car before they trade it in. So it's just calling those people saying, Hey, did you know that since you've had your car for this long, right? You could probably get a deal if you, but most folks wouldn't make those phone calls, John, most folks want to stand out front of the lot. And when people come up, you know, they want to be the first to open the door for them or, you know, the, the first to get those. And that's valuable. And I completely understand that, but I found myself more successful, uh, because I was doing that prospecting work.

I had no idea it was preparing me, right. Mindset wise for, for what happens in a, in a SaaS career. But so that's one of the first major, you know, things that, that I learned. The second piece was, you know, not quite negotiating, but how the close is, you know, the inevitable result, right. Of, you know, of an effective opening things like, you know, instead of being the person that walks up, folks are looking at a car. We've all had this experience, right. You're standing out looking at a car, you go up, Hey folks, how you doing? Uh, and the answer, right. Just looking, just looking. Yeah. So, you know, it was about getting people to come into the dealership and sit down with you and actually have a conversation about what they were, you know, trying to accomplish.

That's for me, that was like, if you get that part and you have their trust, then, so that was another thing that I was, that I was learning, right. What do I say to these people to break that, that pattern, right. To interrupt that pattern of, you know, not interested, right. So to speak, or, or just looking and it really did come, it came down to making fun of myself a lot of the time, um, or, you know, just asking another question, you know, just not being that, send me an email. Okay. I'll send an email, right. These versions of that. But the last thing was, you know, how the demo is, again, it's where you build this, this trust and that you do it not by feature dumping. So again, these are things I would learn and then later apply a feature dump.

If you've ever been, uh, in a car buying experience is, you know, and it has this kind of engine and it has, and then you can, you know, do the, the seats, give you a massage, all of those things. I think what helped me is that I don't know shit about cars. So, so I'd be like, and I, and that would be the joke, right. If I saw like somebody looking at some big truck or whatever and like, yeah, it's a truck. I was like, you probably know more about this truck than me. I can tell you it has an engine, right. And so again, we're having this, but anyway, we would get in the car and I would ask my, ask everybody the same question when we get in the car and say, there's two kinds of people. There are those who just have to get the music turned on, right.

When they first get in the car. And there are those who got to get the AC on, which one are you? And in this lent itself to write all these, these different conversations. Right. And they're like, you know, I'm like, if they didn't respond or something, I'm like me, I'm a music girl. You know what I'm saying? I'm a super secret Swifty. Don't tell anybody. Right. And I'm like, I'll tell us when I'm asking them what station they want to listen to. But the point is, right. They will be in that car doing that very thing. Right. If they buy it and we want them to feel themselves doing that. So anyway, one time when I was, you know, applying this and learning this, the gentleman came into the, um, uh, the dealership and at the end of this demo, right.

The end of this test drive, he was like, um, so you do this like 12 hours every Saturday. And you know, you're here every time I come in here. Like, what is that? What's that all about? Is this what you want to be doing? And I was like, you know, sure. I'm good at it. It's fun. I'm making money. And he was like, well, did you know that with what you're doing right now you could sell software? And I was like, no, he's like, and this air conditioned and they have snacks. And I'm like, you had me at snacks. Let's go. But no. So he was, so he's like, so he's like, you need to meet my boss or whatever. And we're having like this big sort of all call cattle call interview. I show up at the thing. The boss happens to be Scott Lee's.

This place was placed called, uh, outbound engine in, uh, in Austin. Um, and I, I made the cut and, um, and when I walked into that, into that building and I saw the most diverse set of people that I had had my opportunity to, to work with, um, far more diverse than I had imagined it would be right coming into this. Um, I saw thoughtful leadership. I saw just hustle like I had never seen before. And for the first time in my life, I didn't see it as a negative. I didn't see it as, you know, these people are schmoozy. They're this, they're that. Um, because that, and this is why I, why I bring this up because that, that sense of purpose was put in front of us and instilled in us from day one. It's something I think about a lot, right?

Well, how do you help salespeople believe, right? How do you help them believe that there is purpose in what they do, right? Even down to the given product that they, that they sell. And it was about connecting with people. So we were selling a prod product there at, at outbound engine. It's basically social and email marketing for small business owners, right? So I'm an electrician locally, or I'm a, um, real estate agent, right? And there is a very human element to that. I don't know how much any of you know, but if I'm a real estate agent, I've got a showing at maybe 10 AM on this side of town. I've got another one at, you know, 11, 1130 on the other side of town. And Oh, by the way, somewhere in there, I, you know, eat lunch, see my family.

So anyway, I would create this picture in their minds of, you know, if when I was talking to a real estate person, like, you know, and you're, you know, you're, you're going from showing to showing. And if you're, if you're like any of the other folks that I work with, you're eating lunch in your car most days. Cause that's true. They're eating lunch in their car before they go to the other thing. So once I was able to like grab onto that, because it was put in front of me that way, it was never put in front of me when I was selling there. Like, this is a thing we're doing to like make money. This is a thing we're doing because it's like cutting edge. I mean, all those things were true, but it was about how are we helping people?

And so, you know, I, I want that for, for every salesperson and a lot of the things I talk about, right? Like on LinkedIn and in conversations like this, it has to do with that, right? It's not simply that I'm, you know, some bleeding heart do-gooder. Uh, I, I beat at, but it's, it's also, uh, it is, it's also that this, this is access to economic equity. Yes. When you make people aware of the opportunities that exist for them, and then you keep encouraging them to help them understand that they don't actually have to be anyone other than they are right now to be able to take advantage of that opportunity. I had all kinds of reservations, right? You're, I'm selling software. I'm not, you know, a real tech savvy person.

You know, I'm one of those older millennials. Like we didn't get a computer in my house till like senior year. It was one of them, one of them big back gateways, you know what I'm saying? With the AOL. So I'm not your girl. I'm not your techie girl. Uh, and so again, but there are people who don't know that you don't actually have to be that. And I just get to start imagining like, what would this profession look like if more people knew that it was for them and they were for it? Love that. So with that, with the, cause now, I mean, you're, you're head of growth and development, a culture perspective. Um, you know, you have a really strong voice out there, um, trying to promote more diversity and all these other things.

Where did it, has that been continuous for you? Uh, or was that an inflection point for you where you were like, now, now I'm at a certain point where I need to, I need to be louder. If you will, I can't just show, I need to now be louder for the people in the back. If you will, was there a point there or what has that always been a thread for you, uh, going throughout your career with the diverse cultures you've been a part of, right? With the military and, you know, Scott lease. I mean, I think that was a pretty fortunate thing, right? Cause that's Scott Lee, Scott lease, right? Where, right. Where, where, and Scott's very conscious of that. So I'm, I'm not surprised that that first SAS, um, team was rather diverse where many others aren't.

So was that a light bulb moment for you or has that always been a thread for you? They reinforced it for sure. I will tell you, um, that the first full sentence my mom tells me that I ever said out loud was that's not fair. Uh, so I remember saying this a lot and it is, it's like my heart is made of finding that that's not fairs and vanquishing them as best I can. Um, and so that's, that's a huge part of it, but yeah, this other thing that you're, that you're mentioning here is, is what sort of picked it up and took it to the next level. The next real inflection point though, that it sounds like you're, you're asking about that no turning back imperative, right? Cause before it's just been, I'm, you know, someday, right.

I'll do this in a, in a way that, you know, it makes a bigger impact, more people will, you know, get the message, but in the, in the wake of the death of George Floyd, um, in, in, you know, in 2020, which happened to also be happening around this time when, you know, America was, we were losing our shit. We, we didn't know what to do. We didn't know what to do. We didn't know the things. Right. Um, and you know, if I can speak candidly with you, right. Many, many, many folks, uh, were let in on a little secret that a lot of us had known for a long time. And, uh, and so once, once that, hey, we still have very, very deep issues with, um, with race and racial identity in America, right. Once that was put in front of people in a way that could not be denied.

And I started to look at how that shows up in the sales profession. And I started to make connections between that and why I didn't know about this opportunity and how I could help more people, you know, learn about the opportunity existing before I was willing to go out and invite people from these historically underrepresented groups into this profession. I was like, we got some cleanup to do because what I, what I don't want to do is what I didn't at the time want to do was invite a bunch of people. I'm very protective of black people, particularly black women. Right. Um, I'm not going to invite a bunch of black women to come work here only so they can be microaggressed against only so they can be gaslit because of your unconscious bias.

We not doing that. And so that's why the voice had to be so loud before we ever get to an SDR defenders before we ever get to, you know, any, any other like, Oh, influencer type B. No, no, no, no, no, no. I need to make sure that a, these people out here, these young black women who are in my LinkedIn inbox all the time, you know, how did you do it? What do I do? They need to know that this is for them. And these companies need to know that I'm not going to, none of us are going to be just handing you over talent that you didn't bother to go look for. Because if I'm doing that, then I don't actually, you know, I'm not confident that you'll be able to treat them well once they get there. So, so that's what a lot of it was, was like trying to get people to start to understand that this is something we have to pay attention to.

It's not, you know, something we, we make all the money and then we circle back and see if we were being fair about who could make this money with us. Not fam. So, so yeah, so it was just, it became this undeniable thing. I somehow, I guess, I don't know why my voice emerged as one of the more visible out of that time, except that I, I really didn't care, John. Like I really didn't care who I upset. I really didn't. Um, because when you, when we look at like what, how does stuff get done? Like history bears this out. Somebody got to piss somebody off. Nothing happens unless somebody's pissed off first. Well, and I also think it's, I've come to that. My wife is like, I'm like, I think I've gotten to the point where I truly don't give a shit.

And she's like, have you really ever given a shit what other people thought of you? And yeah, and I did, you know, obviously as a kid and those types of things. But once you, for me, at least where, where it really hit was once I was really, truly grounded and knew my core values, that's when I didn't give a shit. Oddly enough, you'd think though, that's when you really care. No, no, no. That's when I actually stopped caring what other people thought. Because as long as I was staying true to those core values, I'd screw up. I'd say something dumb, you know, and I'd piss people off. But nine times out of 10, I'd be pissing off the people that didn't share those core values with me. So I didn't care.

You know what I mean? And I think that's the piece where you get that confidence. And I'm trying to teach that to my daughter right now. She just turned 12 years old and you got kids, right? And it's like, look, you're going to get made fun of. You're going to make mistakes. You're going to say some things that your friends are going to rip you apart for. But if you at least know that you're coming from a good spot, you can weather that storm, right? But if you're, if you go against your core values, that's when the questions start coming up. That's when you lose credibility. That's when not only are you pissing everybody else off, but you're pissing yourself off too. And you can't sleep with yourself at night.

And so I think that, that, that don't care attitude for you is obviously very grounded in values. And when you say don't care, you care, but you don't give a shit what people think based on the actions that you're taking, right? Yeah. I'm not, I'm not shaken by it. You know, I'm not deterred by it because you're right. Yes. I care very deeply about, about these, these issues, but you know, I don't, that caring is not, not something I'm going to allow to sort of lull me into, you know, into wanting to be sweet to people. And I think that's the, the, the balance that so many people have to figure out, right? Which is how, how can I be me? How can I live my life out loud without feeling and dropping the judgment factor, right?

So I can be me and I can have that voice that I'm looking for. I think so many people are stuck in that. Yeah. But you know, what do they think of me? If I post, what do they think of me? If I do this and, and it's getting that limiting mindset out of the way so that they can be done, they can share their story. The thing is though, but the way that you get there, like this other piece is, you know, like as in what makes me or anyone confident in speaking out about really anything for me, it's like accomplishments. So I was confident talking about these matters because I actually, before it became, everyone's doing a webinar in America. I was actually doing these little panels and I was talking to people about these, these matters.

And I would see the way that folks would respond to that. And it wasn't just that they felt good. Like they would take action and you know, there's, that's the, that's the assignment for a salesperson, right? Is to get someone to move someone to take action. And so there was that. And plus again, just other sort of career accomplishments and things that I would count as successes on the way that really, you know, made it difficult for anybody to make me feel like I need to be quiet. That's really like, I'm excited about that place in my life. I think that probably it has a lot to do with, you know, having turned 40, I'll be 41 in November. Um, and just, just getting to the point where you're like, you know what?

It's not worth it. It's not worth torturing myself about anyway. Um, nothing really, but so, yeah. So getting to that point and just being like, Oh, I have earned this level of respect that I'm asking for. And I will not be accepting less, right? I have learned these things and applied these things and seen them be effective and independent of the technique. Can't nobody tell me I can't sell. You know what I mean? Like you can't nobody tell me I'm not for this role, things like that, which, you know, and you've seen, you've seen that amp up even in the past few months, like really, really, if we really don't talk about it, but it is, it's, it's a place that I want everybody to be able to get to.

Uh, but a place that I really only got here through, um, you know, that, that adversity that we talked about in the beginning, uh, seeing what's possible and then having, you know, something happen that, you know, I, I just cannot abide, uh, that makes it a, a no turning back type situation. Yeah. And that's beautiful. I mean, that's, that's part of the reason why, um, you know, I was so interested in, in having this conversation with you about coming on board here at JB sales. And because when, you know, we're just catching up, right. Your, your role and everything else I was, and you had started by saying, you know, I just feel like I've reached a, reached a point in my life where I, I, I know what I'm talking about effectively.

I'm paraphrasing here. And, and I got something, I got more to share than just this individual job that I'm doing and the smaller impact I'm looking to have a bigger impact. And I asked you, and I'd like, I'd never ask obviously how old you are, but I guess that you're around the 40 years old range, right? Because that, that, that, that progression, and it is to a certain degree, it is an experience thing. You can't expedite this too, too much. I try to help people expedite it by skipping a few steps, but you still got to go through that gauntlet because in your twenties, you don't know what you don't know. So you're always looking up in your thirties. You kind of have probably picked a lane, but you still are kind of guessing you're holding on to your twenties thinking you're still cool, but, but you're still looking up to people who are in their forties and their fifties.

Like, Oh man, they, they, they, they know what they're doing yet. Right. And then when you hit 40, you just start having conversations where, you know, people in their twenties start looking at you like you're a goddess, right? You're like, Oh my God. Wow. That's genius. And you're like, what are you talking about? Like that's second nature. Like that's, that's one-on-one stuff, but, but you don't know how far you've come in those 20 years, just based on pure experience. And so I want to talk to you about why, cause, cause you brought that up and then kind of, we kept on the conversation and then you kind of ingest said, so, Hey, you know, what has this to got to do to get a job? And at first I was, if you had started that way, right?

Not that I wouldn't entertain the conversation. I would have absolutely. But if you, if you, if you had jumped into it right there, I'd be like, Oh yeah, well, Nikki, we're always hiring. So, you know, let me, let me see what we, you know, let me talk to the team, see if it's up. But when you started with, I got this itch, you know, that I need to scratch here about a bigger voice that I want to have to make a bigger impact. That's what led me to say that, okay, let's have this conversation. So what, let's finish up with talking about what excites you, um, about what you're about to walk into, right? With, with this company, with this industry, with this role, with, with your life, what, what are you excited about?

Why are you taking this step in your journey, um, compared to another step that you could have taken? Cause you've reached the CRO. You know what I mean? That's quote unquote, you know, pretty much the top. I mean, outside of going off on your own and doing your own thing type of thing from a title standpoint, you've reached that top and now it's a different, it's, you're taking a different turn here. So what drove you to this and what excites you about it? Yeah. I mean, so you mentioned my, my role at culture perspective. It's a black owned consultancy, um, startup consultancy. And so in that work and doing, um, consulting, I was seeing a couple of things, right? A that I know exactly what I'm talking about, uh, but B, right.

Um, so what would happen is I would go into these organizations, trying to help them stand up their, their sales org. And a lot of the time they were so small and so new that they were like, well, why don't you just come do this for us? Right. So I took a couple of, of sort of interim sales leader roles. And in those roles, because these teams were growing, I wasn't actually able to work as closely in coaching the reps, training the reps as I wanted to. And I didn't realize how much I would miss that. Right. As I'm, you know, sort of learning how to be a sales leader, huge part of that for me was, yes, I get to lead these people, but it became, um, you know, other things that are valuable. Right.

So I'm, you know, helping us secure investments. Right. I am, you know, applying all of the strategy and making sure again, that the infrastructure of the sales org is what it needs to be. Uh, but even as I'm talking about it, right, it's boring. Uh, so I'm just, she wasn't built for spreadsheets. Um, no. So, so when I thought about, okay, well, what, what's still missing? Right. Like you said, you, you do all of this stuff, right. The goal, I'm a salesperson, right. I want to have the highest revenue title in the building. Right. Um, and no, not quite. Right. Um, so I just start to think about how do I have access to being able to do that all the time. Right. Um, but you and I both know, like roles for sales trainers are pretty, um, they're actually pretty hard to come by with sort of a reputable, um, company or not being out on your own number one.

Um, but again, I wasn't even thinking specifically about anywhere that I wanted to work. I just knew that that's something that I needed to do. And then I had to reconcile, well, you know, the role that I'm doing, cause this is for the role of CRO at inclusive, um, which is a company that teaches people a framework to have conversations about topics that scare people. Um, and I, so I was daily getting, talking to chief diversity officers and HR leaders. Um, and I felt like I was sort of on the, you know, boots on the ground when it came to, you know, solving these culture issues. So I had to reconcile, like letting that go right on a daily basis. And, but you still, I still needed to find that opportunity to make an impact within whatever else I was going to do.

And, you know, I started to think about when I was early in my sales career, you know, who did I have put in front of me as a trainer, as an expert, it was never a black woman, never. And, you know, many, not many of us existed in those, uh, roles then. Right. And what an impact it had been to just have that sort of implicitly dispelled, right. This idea of where does sales expertise come from? Most of us were handed books. Those books are by white dudes. Right. Uh, shout out to white. My husband's a white dude, right? I mess with y'all hard, but at the end of the day is more of us out here. Um, so anyway, so, so, you know, I, I just, I wanted to figure out, you know, if that was the place. And so simply by showing up, being thoughtful, being good at the job, nobody that attends a training that I'm doing can leave that room and say that they didn't know that sales expertise could come from someone that looked like me, that's worst case scenario.

Best case scenario is that I'm able to have an active impact on the lives of these people. Right. These people don't have to be people who, you know, come from underrepresented backgrounds. A lot of a big part of it, right. Is for folks who, who do come from groups that are represented, right. White people, people who went to a certain kind of college or came from a certain kind of affluent background. I think it helps everyone to have heroes that don't always look like us. I have heroes that don't look like me. Shout out to Britney Spears. No, I'm kidding. Uh, but I have heroes. You're one of my heroes, Kelly. So I have plenty of heroes who don't look like me. And, you know, I'm, I'm just trying to, again, where can I have the opportunity to still make that impact?

I think that's the part. Um, and it's kind of what we were doing with SDR defenders as well. Right. Like, so how do we, along with inspiring people and socializing them into the profession, as far as sort of the, the X's and O's and what they need to be successful, what do we teach them in terms of, of culture? And so, yeah, that's, that's probably what I'm most excited about. Right. That plus, you know, I got a chip on my shoulder, right. A sister got a win, right. Um, I'm ready for that. I'm, I'm ready to, what did that man say? We, we got receipts, uh, that football coach. Yeah. The Jets, right. Yeah. Yeah. I'm, I'm ready for that. Um, and, um, and I think it's going to be, it's going to be fun.

It's going to be, we're all going to learn a lot about each other. And, uh, and I think it's what I do. I think, I think, um, as far as the JB sales team, uh, sell better team, um, I'm excited for what we're all going to learn about each other. I think it's going to be good. I think we're going to help each other get better. Um, and I think that the sales, my hope, my goal, um, is that, like you said, we are elevating the profession through this work. We're not simply lining our pockets. We're not simply becoming, you know, more visible and, you know, I'm a brand person, blah, blah, blah. No, no, no, no, no. It's like, am I, am I helping? Those are the roots I want to put down. That's the legacy I want to leave.

Love it. Well, Nikki, I am excited to see those roots start to grow here and, uh, and see where you can take this because, uh, like I said, we, you know, we're, we're, we're not, we're always hiring, but we never are put a job description out there per se. We're always looking for good people that share the values that, that we're trying to build this on. And those values come screaming through with you and always have, and that's what I've always appreciated about you. So, uh, well, tell the audience here, cause we're using this podcast as a launch for the Nikki Ivy sell better squad here. So tell people where you want them to follow you and where they want to find you and everything else. Yeah.

Yeah. Um, at no Nikki Ivy on, uh, Instagram and Twitter. It's not no as in rejection. It's K N O W, uh, Nikki Ivy as in get to know Nikki Ivy. Um, I am always on, on LinkedIn. It's a little tougher to get ahold of me there. So I would probably suggest DMS on the other, uh, platforms, but, but do reach out. Like I'm, like I was mentioning before, I like to help, um, as much as I possibly can. They're going to flow in my inbox now, aren't they? Yeah. Yeah. You're going to get a rookie mistake, huh? But honestly, you know, I, I'm, I'm here for that. I'm here to, to be, you know, as big an asset to the sales community as possible and get this thing going, we're going to have so much frigging fun.

Y'all like for real, for real. Yes, we are. That's if there's nothing else where we don't take our two sales too serious around here. So if there's nothing else, trying to have fun, trying to elevate the profession and just bring people on board and who are going to make this more fun and, and, and help us learn more about ourselves and this profession and everything else. And when I say elevate the people in professional sales, I mean, us too, you know what I mean? Like doing our job to, to take that next step as, as human beings, as people, as a community and everything else. So Nikki, thank you so much for this conversation. It was a blast. Like I said, I cannot wait to see what you can do here and everybody coming in hot, Nikki Ivy, you better watch yourself.

So any last words, Nikki, before we head out? No, and just, just thank you, um, for telling a sister what she needed to do to be considered for the job. Uh, and, and like, like John said, man, get ready. It's going to be fun. All right, everybody. Well, thank you very much for listening. As always, thanks to you for all your support. And look, um, as I said at the end of all my podcasts here, go out there and make somebody smile today because no matter how bad your day went or you think it's going, if you make somebody smile today, you know, you had a good day and the world needs a lot more of that right now. So thank you all very much. And I'll see you on the other side. Thank you so much for your time today and listening to the podcast.

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