Glenn Mattson
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Glenn Mattson
Welcome back to the Building Blocks of Success. I'm excited to dive into the critical phase of entrepreneurial growth. Today, it's really the transition from being a Rainmaker to a CEO. In our previous episodes, we explored the characteristics of what a Rainmaker is, and the stages that really truly make that Rainmaker. A Rainmaker is also the same thing that holds back a Rainmaker from being a CEO, they often find themselves at the center of their business, making all the decisions driving the sales being the ones literally pulling the growth of the business on their back. However, as the business grows, the need to evolve into a CEO is not just important but essential for sustained growth.
Glenn Mattson
In this episode, we're going to address the common challenges and characteristics that the Rainmaker needs to face as they transition into the CEO role, and provide insights on how to navigate through this significant shift, which is not going to be easy, and the average person has a very difficult time accomplishing it. That's why less than 5% actually get to become a CEO. Whether you're a rainmaker looking to evolve, or someone who's working closely with entrepreneurs, you're going to find valuable tips and what we're about to talk about. So let's get started.
Glenn Mattson
One of the things we're going to be talking about today is looking at the shift that someone needs to make from a tactical standpoint and a mental standpoint, as they're looking at making the shift. So, the first one I want to talk about is that the critical aspect of transition is really understanding how to look at and understand money, especially budgets. Many Rainmakers see budgets as an expenditure rather than an investment. This mindset can stifle, really the growth and the ability for them to scale effectively. Think about it this way, every dollar spent should have a purpose and a return. When you invest in the right resources like technology, people, and talent, you're betting on your business long-term, in essence, you're spending money today to make more tomorrow. It's a crucial shift from the scarcity mindset that they have as a salesperson, where really every dollar spent is $1 that I don't make.
Glenn Mattson
They have to change that mindset to have the ability to recognize the potential for growth through strategic involvement. Remember, as an individual salesperson, if they spend $1 they think to themselves on making $1 less. Yet, if you start having that shift from spending to investing, which is the investment, which is; I'm spending $1 today so I can make more tomorrow. Now, not only with the budget of going from one mindset to another, the Rainmaker to a CEO, really needs to start understanding self-investment. As a Rainmaker and a top producer, a lot of times, they'll look at their distribution network or those that they're selling their product and or people that may be affiliated with saying, Hey, I'm producing a boatload for you. You need to spend money on my business. So they look for outside investments to help them grow. So their pronoun is not necessarily accurate either. So one is, well, I don't want to spend my own money, so have those individuals invest in my business.
Glenn Mattson
But I always find it interesting that if you want someone else to invest in you, why wouldn't you invest in yourself also? So one of these parts of this transformation of going from spending to investing is a big, big roadblock for many, and especially if there is a very significant successful Rainmaker, then those that are part of their product, like a wholesaler or individuals that are benefiting from the rainmakers ability to sell, often want a piece of their mind share. To do that, they'll offer money for marketing. They offer money for maybe overhead, etc. By doing so, they start to train the salesperson, slash successful Rainmaker on others will invest in you if you're successful, period. So they have to change that mindset. In addition to that, they also have to change their mindset of spending versus investing.
Glenn Mattson
Now, a couple of things I want to share with you again. We can spend a long time on this, but I want to hit a couple of pillars for today. On the investment side, you're making investments in something for tomorrow to reap the benefits of that investment, but it's tomorrow's money, so it's maybe things like people, maybe it's technology. Could be marketing. Look, we have an awful lot of individuals that invest in coaching. You know, even though they may literally, we had someone yesterday say, Glenn, I doubled what my reoccurring revenue is in 12 months working with you. So it was a significant growth. But yes, the dollar amount was a bit on the larger size when they first started working with us, because they didn't have the bandwidth or the knowledge of kind of the results that we typically get. So that's a big piece that you have to take a look at. You spend today to get the results tomorrow. Now, that doesn't mean you're going to go spend you know, a lot of times Rainmakers will find or hear their friend is spending money on something, and they go, Okay, I'm going to do the same thing. Again, spending is not investing. So we really want to make sure that we have the capacity for a process for tracking and understanding ROI, a process for tracking what's going into it, the time spent, the results you've gotten back, so that you can understand, was it a good use of time, energy and effort and investment. So we have to make sure that there is an understanding of an ROI, for instance, every dollar you spend on human capital should move the needle three points on the rate of return. So if you spend 100,000 on a new hire, your business really should be growing by 300 grand. That's an ROI.
Glenn Mattson
Now the other piece is, is that when you do spend money, and again, spending versus investing is a big piece, is that when people spend money, they just throw money at the wall and expect change to happen. But when you invest, you really do have to have a process, and a process will help you understand sometimes the gap, the gap of Well, was it the people? Was it your process? Right? Sometimes you have a really good process. Sometimes you have a really good lead source, for instance, or really good training, but your people aren't following it. Or maybe your people are following it, but the managers aren't doing what they should be doing to drive execution. Look, the stats will tell you that 87% of managers choose not to hold their people accountable. So sometimes it's not the investment that was the downfall, it was leadership. So having the ability to understand the difference is massive. Now that's really spending versus investing.
Glenn Mattson
Let's get to the next one. So you know, a lot of times rainmakers are really the lifeblood of their business, right? They bring in the revenue, they attract clients, and they often become the go-to problem solvers on everything from marketing to HR to hiring and firing and alliances, etc. The mindset really can't be sustainable, where the entrepreneurs really become the epicenter of every decision and every strategy and every client. As a Rainmaker, it's really easy to fall into the thinking that no one else can do it as well as you can. You know that may be true for a certain period in a certain segmentation, but you may be the best closer in the room. It doesn't mean that you're the only person that can close. This mentality can really limit the growth potential of your business. Everything funnels through one person. It stifles the business. It stifles the team's development and a lot of people, versus thinking that they can solve the problems, will just go to you, and honestly it leads really to burnout. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had with the founders of the business, who started their business in their 20s, and they're 55, 57, or 58 and they've been grinding for 30-plus years. They're just exhausted, and they're exhausted that they're literally pulling everyone to success. But yet, if you look back, they never created an atmosphere that allowed people to pull next to them.
Glenn Mattson
So I want to spend a few minutes with you on two issues that I found really become a big issue for them to get the next level of spending and investing is one. The other is the concept of decision filters. Decision filters are the criteria that you use to make decisions in your business. A lot of us do this subconsciously, so it's a tough thing to do, and for a lot of my clients, it'll literally take us six to eight months just to identify what those filters are, and then you have to turn around and teach those filters to your team so that when they make decisions, the decisions by design are the same as what you would have made, at least by core principles, which, in overall, reduces the dependency on you.
Glenn Mattson
So, what are some of the decisions like? Literally, I had someone call me the other day, and we were having a conversation, and it was about someone who was supposed to be part of the leadership team. They wanted to be an owner, yet they were acting in a certain way. As we started to go through it, it took about 15 minutes of me doing some Q and A for them to really put their finger on the two or three values that this individual was not demonstrating, and because of that it was, it got the founder uncomfortable, and now he understood what the filters were. It was much easier to train to second generation. So just like if you're going to start a car, there are rules that you have to go through right you put in your seat belt, you look to your left mirror and your right mirror and your rearview mirror before you put it in drive. Everyone has the same rules all the time. So once we understand the rules, the environment may change, but the decision-making usually doesn't. I mean, think back honestly, when you first got in the business, and it was your very first hire. Maybe it was your second hire, and maybe it was someone who was working with you and doing some scheduling or paperwork, and they had to make some phone calls. They had tasks to do. Well, how did you help them understand what tasks to do and in what order? What was their priority? Did sales supersede service? Did service supersede sales? Was it service to a certain type of client supersede a certain sale at a certain dollar amount? I can't tell you the number of people who have frustration on the team spending the same amount of time on a low-end sale versus a high-end sale.
Glenn Mattson
I was just talking with someone yesterday, and their frustration was, is that the sale, hypothetically, just for the sake of discussion, was $2,000 yet a $20,000 sale was just sitting there, waiting and waiting and waiting. And they spent so much time on the $2,000 sale that the $20,000 sale almost disappeared. So having the ability to understand what your decision-making is, is insanely important to really transfer that decision-making process to the next generation, to the next level of leaders. Remember, as a rainmaker, you manage and lead, so you have to understand what your filters are, so you can teach it to the managers so they can manage, and you have the ability now to lead. So decision filters are the second biggest, biggest thing that needs to be put in place if you want to get to that next level. When it's the one that's the hardest piece, it is because it takes a long time for you to sit back, understand the situation, take the situation, rip it apart, understand what your filters were and why you chose that direction, why you chose that decision, and then you have to make sure that that decision is consistent and it's not based on your liking or disliking somebody. So that's a second big one.
Glenn Mattson
Now let me share with you the next one. One of the most significant hurdles in learning how to replace yourself is really unloading your daily tasks. Many entrepreneurs resist this change, clinging to their roles and their responsibilities. You know, however, if they want to become a CEO, you have to let go of the reins. Replacing yourself doesn't mean banning your business. It really means finding ways to delegate tasks that you currently handle so you can focus on the broader strategic direction of your organization. You can't lead if you're managing. So this is where hiring and developing leaders within your team becomes critical and crucial.
Glenn Mattson
So delegation is really the third wheel I want to share with you, and delegation is where you have to understand that in the beginning, you may delegate paperwork. Well, as a leader, you're going to be delegating management. You're going to be delegating accountability for certain things. You're going to be delegating to your managers, for them to manage the team. As a CEO, you'll still be leading and managing the leaders, but you have to let go of those other things and watch someone as they're learning it. They may not do it exactly the same way you would, but they have to learn how to get to the next level. So as you begin to delegate, you're going to likely face some really, really tough decisions. What I mean by that is, is that I have found that this typically happens two times over an entrepreneur's lifetime, which is they have someone on their team, great people that have been with you for a long time, high tenure, high level of trust. You start to realize that their skills, their mindset, even though it helped to get you where you are is not what you need to get to the next level. Sometimes, honestly, you've been protecting them and hiding them in their tenure that they've had. Right? Maybe they're they're toxic, but you've been hiding them because they're worth you since the beginning. I can't tell you how many conversations I have late at night, not during the day, it's Saturday, Sunday mornings, late at night, where the leader knows what to do in their belly button, and the founder is clear on what they have to get done. But one of the tough things for them is, is that they have to have that confrontational conversation, really about having that discussion with someone who's on your team, but it's not the right person to get the business to the next level, and it's very, very stressful, but they know deep down inside it's the right thing to do. Remember being an entrepreneur isn't easy, right? These are the things that the most difficult conversations always fall in your lap. The decisions that you have to make are never easy to just write and don't get the two confused.
Glenn Mattson
So when you look at delegation, you have to ask yourself, have I trained the person to understand what you're asking? Have you properly given them the tools, the skill sets, and the knowledge so that when you do delegate, they can take it and run with it? I can't tell you how many people, it's called the Daddy Warbucks syndrome, where they delegate, but they don't give all the right information to the person they're delegating to. And all of a sudden it falls flat on the face, and they turn around and say, See, see, I'm the only person who can do it. It's self-sabotage. So, really your true goal is, when you delegate, is that they do what you're thinking about, they do what you would have done again. They may not be at the great the same level, they may not be at the same speed, but you weren't either at the beginning. I got to tell you, the majority of people if they have the right person, when they delegate, they always come back to me and say, Man, why didn't I do? Not why didn't I do this before?
Glenn Mattson
So, having the ability to change your mindset about money, having the ability to change your mindset about how decisions are made, so you can transfer changing your mind about what's important and what's critical and what you should be working on, what someone else should be working on through delegation, really are critical pieces to the next phase, because a rainmaker really creates an epicenter around themselves. Everybody is controlled and directed by what you say or don't say. And to get to the next level, we have to break that "I" centeredness to "we". So as we look at the approach to understanding budget decisions and creating an environment where every team member understands the resources allocated to training and technology and that new people are investments that will yield returns and having a process to understand ROI, it helps create productivity, it helps create a higher customer service and ultimately increase revenue.
Glenn Mattson
So as a conclusion for today, we talked about a lot of good stuff, the key points I want to make sure that you have from going from a rainmaker to a CEO because this journey requires you to redefine your roles, redefine your values, understanding the importance of delegation, the importance of shifting decision making, the importance of spending versus investing, if that shift really does need to occur to get to the next level. Some people can do it in spurts. They just can't do it for the long term. The transition to CEO is not just about changing titles by any means. It's about evolving and evolving your mindset and your approach to leadership. As a CEO, you focus on empowering your team and fostering collaboration, and in leading with a vision that transcends through individual contributions, I encourage you to reflect on your own journey and consider how you can apply these insights to your business and your practice. Think about the areas where you can let go of the reins, hire based on values, and spend your time investing in the future. You have to give your people tests, allow them to be in charge of certain things, and let them learn how to make decisions, you can mentor and guide them, but you cannot do for them. Your child will never learn how to tie their own shoe if you did it for them forever. So when you start to take a look at this, have the ability to apply these things moving forward.
Glenn Mattson
Join us for the next episode, we'll dive deeper into the mindset of a CEO and discuss how to embrace the “we” mentality over the “I” mentality. Thank you for turning in and remember the path to success is not a solo journey. It's best traveled together. Building Blocks of Success.
Glenn Mattson
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