106: The Perfect Day to Start is Today: Sales Strategy that Actually Works with Menashe Friedman

Danny Gavin, Host : 00:05

Hello, I’m Danny Gavin, founder of Op Digital Marketing Professor and the host of the Digital Marketing Mentor. Today I’m very excited to welcome Meneshe Friedman, owner of M. Friedman Consulting. Meneshe works closely with businesses to strengthen their sales strategy, align marketing efforts with real revenue outcomes, and build scalable growth systems. With deep experience at the intersection of sales, customer experience, and modern marketing, Meneshe brings a practical, no-nonsense perspective that I’m excited to dig into today. Today we’re going to talk about mindset shifts in sales and the human side of meaningful conversations, lead generation and sales marketing alignment, and building systems that actually drive revenue. How are you doing, Meneshe?

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 01:03

I am doing absolutely fantastic. Thank you very much for having me. It’s always appreciated. We know each other, and it’s just a pleasure to be here.

Danny Gavin, Host : 01:10

Yeah, totally. All right, so we’re going to jump right in. Can you walk us through your journey into sales and consulting, where you went to school, what you studied, and what ultimately led you to start your consulting firm?

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 01:21

To be brief, I started, went to religious school, grew up in a very insulated religious community. I went to religious school all my life. And then when I turned, I was about 18 years old, and I said, Hey, it’s time for the next stage of life. What am I going to do? I got to get a job. And I called around, and the only job I could find was in the basement of a retail store to cut up boxes. So I took it. Um then a gentleman that I met, you know, throughout my week said, Hey, I got a sales job for you. And so I left that and I went to be a salesman. It was an absolute disaster. I think I lasted about three months. It was, it was just a disaster. I called my old boss back and said, I’m coming back. And I went back to cutting the boxes. Eventually I graduated from there to stocking shelves and to cut it really short. Eventually I ended up dealing with customers, doing retail sales, eventually becoming a manager and running the entire store, taking care of all the things, all customer service issues, et cetera. That’s where my first interactions with human beings sort of came about. That’s where I learned that it really is about the interaction and not what act what’s actually happening. It was a big eye-opener for me. A sales opportunity opened up. I jumped on it. This was a little bit different. This is corporate America. Boy, did I get an education? I started at the bottom, worked my way up, eventually was running a division. Um, then another company recruited me to be sales for them. And that’s where I spent a couple of decades there. Then I went and opened my own company. I had an opportunity, a partnership opportunity. I said, hey, you know, we’ll look for a partner, somebody to run us from the beginning to end. So I went in and I started a company from scratch. No office, no phones, no nothing. Didn’t even know what I was doing. We had done the job, did that. That lasted just about a decade, a little bit, a little bit under a decade. After, or if you remember, 2008, the market crashed. And we held on at a certain point, it just didn’t make sense anymore. There was not enough business going on to support the efforts. I found all the salespeople, found everybody on my team jobs, and then I closed the office. I spent the next little while looking, you know, what am I going to do next? What’s my next rodeo, et cetera, et cetera. And somebody called me up and said, I have a sales problem. I have a sales team, they’re all over the place. Can you help me? So when I looked at it and said, hey, you know, to take me X, Y, and Z amount of time to turn it around. I went in there and did that. And then that became sort of the new persona where I’d go into a company, work with their sales team, bring them up, organize them, get them up to the next level. The next challenge was a company called me, we’re very big, we’re very good in sales regionally. We want to be national. Can you help us? I’m like, I’ll bite. And I went, built that company, and literally built a national presence, sales offices throughout the country. With all this that was going on, anytime I went into a new industry, I would take my own territory. Now, I’ll preface this by saying, I am against sales leadership, being salespeople. They should be along with the salespeople, they should not be salespeople, because they’re supposed to lead. But I did something a little bit different because I wanted to learn a new industry. And I wanted to be that when I went back to the team and said, this is what works, this is how we should do things, or these are the challenges, this is how to overcome the challenges. It should be based on reality, not on theory, not on a book, not on something I read, not something I heard, but this is what actually works. It also enabled me to make some of the mistakes that people were making and learn, you know, what’s mistakes, what’s not. You know, sometimes the most important thing we have to learn is what not to do. And I did a lot of that. Um I did a couple of iterations where I took companies national. And what really pushed me to go and quote on my own was I’ve heard this over a couple of decades. Why don’t you go on your own? Why don’t you go on your own? Why don’t you go on your own? And one time one of my c clients, as they were leaving a meeting, because at this point already, I was dealing with businesses not just in the sales, I was dealing with business structure, things like that, which it’s not really my that I don’t say I’m a business structure guy, but because sales is where the pavement hits the ground, is where the rubber hits the pavement, and everything needs to support sales, the sales needs to support everything else. I found myself, as I built my own company, I actually found myself involved in a lot of different things. And as a client of mine was walking out of my office, he said, Why don’t you go on your own? And for some reason, just at that moment, it clicked. And I was like, Yeah, you know, I’ve heard this before, but why don’t I? And at that moment, I said, Let’s look at this within 24 hours. I said, I’m doing it. I cut the corporate umbilical cord in a way that cannot be repaired. I call every contact I know, I’m going on my own. Like I went all in and had a look back. Well, I’ve looked back a couple of times, but thank God it’s been an absolute blessing.

Danny Gavin, Host : 06:05

It’s amazing. So such an organic journey. I mean, like, if we were to look at this and start to look at where you started, I’m sure you would have never imagined how this all turned out. Do you look back at your early life, whether it’s like if you’re in camp or even in school, where maybe there’s inklings of where Meneshe was the guy organizing and helping people out and training them. Did you do that early on in your life, or is this something that really grew throughout all your experiences?

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 06:36

I’ll tell you, it’s a great question. I’ll tell you two things. I recently gave a three-day seminar for salespeople. It was something I do every now and then for free. I don’t get paid for it. I do it just to help people out. And one of my classmates, who’s a business owner, actually came to attend. And he came over to me after the first night and he goes, All I’m sitting there going is, is this monastic free? No way. Um, I will tell you the only thing, and I don’t want to sound you know cliche about it, but the only thing that I could really say from my childhood always was, has to do a lot with my upbringing, was responsible and being responsible for others. You could be whatever you want, but when people rely on you, you have to be 100% reliable. That’s the one trait I think that really, really propelled things. The people who rely on me have to be the best that I can. I was always trying to be better and better. Just last night I was in a webinar, and one of my clients who I worked with in the past said, Wow, we’re in the same webinar. I’m like, Yeah, I’m always learning. He’s like, I know you say it, but now I actually see it. Whether it was above me, below me, it’s not the point. I’m always learning. So that always striving to be the best is really what it is. Could I ever have envisioned that this is what, nah. This is so opposite of anybody who knows me. They’re like, how did this become that? All right, I did. I just followed the yellow brick road, as they say.

Danny Gavin, Host : 07:59

Your message often emphasizes quality over quantity in sales activities. How did that philosophy develop over your career and why is it so critical?

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 08:06

To really simplify it. After spending months with leads, with thousands of leads, trying to cool my way through thousands of leads, I realized there has to be a better way. And I started getting rid of all the garbage, the static electricity. And I said, I’d rather have 10 solid leads than a thousand garbage leads, or and buried somewhere in these leads, might be a couple, might be 20 good leads. I really found that sales, the one thing, the only thing you cannot get back, period. And the story is about time. And if you can, less is more when it comes to these things. So that’s where I would say quality over quantity was born. Now there is something to be said for quantity. We do need the quantity, but it’s about bridging the two and finding the right balance. But people get obsessed with prehearing all the time. It’s a numbers game, because burner falls, 100 foralls, get you two customers. And I push back against that, against anybody all the time, because it’s not just about the numbers game. Now, the numbers have certain values. Let’s talk the gate goes, but quality over quantity is 100%.

Danny Gavin, Host : 09:14

So interesting to mention time, because uh you’ve shared in the past that a turning point in your career was realizing that the perfect day is today. Can you explain what experiences led you to have that mindset?

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 09:26

Really? There was never the perfect time. And you know, there’s an old adage where somebody shows somebody a globe and asks, where’s the center of the globe? The guy just puts his finger right here. Because wherever you put your finger, that’s the center, right? This is the perfect circle. The idea is that there’s never a perfect time. There’s only now, and you either do or don’t. So you do, you go for it. Will you succeed all the time? No, nobody succeeds all the time. You succeed most of the time? We hope, we try. But if we keep doing what we need to do and stick with it, we will succeed eventually. And you know, there’s a million reasons not to get started, but there’s only one reason to start.

Danny Gavin, Host : 10:01

That’s because I really want to. So throughout your years, obviously you’ve witnessed 2008. That’s when I was around that time when I was trying to get my first job. You know, COVID, all these different years, and now things are changing even more rapidly. So, how do you stay adaptable in such a rapidly changing landscape? And how are you helping others with that? Yes.

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 10:20

Can we pause for one second and actually your question, Danny?

Danny Gavin, Host : 10:24

What was the moment that you went and said, I’m going on my own? I had a really good partnership with a website development company. We started working together in 2011. And how that happened was because my parents were restarting their business and they were looking for a development partner. And we found this company. And the owner of that company, he’s two years older than me, really smart. And he saw I knew a lot about digital marketing. So he was like, hey, Danny, uh, we should really work together. You, you know, let’s have this cool kind of 50-50 partnership. You come in, you develop the department, and I’ll bring in the leads and we’ll be really good. And that lasted for a long time until about 2016. At that point, he really grew his company. He had many departments, and I was kind of sticking out like a sore thumb. Where like, you know, everyone’s in a corporate structure, and then there’s like this little like department, Danny Gavin, who shows up every once in a while, it’s doing kind of well, but like, but it didn’t really fit his model and growth. And so at the end of 2016, he was like, Danny, it’s not working anymore. I think you’re gonna have to go. Uh, it was really hard because he was more than a business partner, he was a friend. It was, it was difficult. It was really difficult. I was trying to look at it as a blessing as much as I could, and he was very kind. He actually, the book of business, he allowed me to purchase it, and I even could take some of my employees. And at that point, I was really at a crossroads. I was like, okay, do I maybe go into my parents’ business full-time and that’s going to be my future, and that’s everything? Or like, do I really love digital marketing? Do I go there? And I spoke to a couple people, namely my wife and my brother-in-law, Danny Fishman. And they were like, Danny, you love this stuff. Like, how could you not try and make that effort? And that was where it was like, it was like that fork. I’m like, okay, you know, I’m gonna do this. And literally, with just one person and a couple clients, uh January 2017, and uh, that’s the rest of the history, but that’s how it started.

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 12:15

Were you really ready? No, of course not. Exactly. Did you just do it, anyways? What was your question before? I just had to hear that because it just you know backs up what I was saying.

Danny Gavin, Host : 12:25

No, it’s good. I love it. That’s great. Often I don’t get asked questions during the podcast. So it’s good, it’s really good. The question was that there have been so many changes throughout your professional life, and now those changes are literally just compounding even quicker. So, how do you stay adaptable and how do you teach people to be adaptable?

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 12:44

The short answer is listen and pay attention. First of all, everything we do in business, whether it’s marketing, whether it’s warehousing, whether it’s shipping, you name it, anything you do in business backs into sales, which is why I’m able to help HR departments. I’ve sat with heads of HR, I’ve sat with heads of procurement, I’ve sat with heads of purchasing, etc., etc. And literally all I’m working with them on is our sales skills per se, but just reapplying it. But the answer is really listening, you’re really paying attention to what’s going on, what others are saying, what’s happening around you. Don’t be so arrogant or I know it, I got this. Oh, I know this is what worked in 1943. Let’s do this again. You know, I used what I was giving the other day. I was like, guys, did we just fall off the train and end up back in 1986? And I was like, 1986, I was running around making trouble in 1986. People look like, wow, you’re ancient, you’re a dinosaur, right? Say 1986, I rode my pet dinosaur, right? It’s really listening because what is very apparent, it’s changing very fast. And by the time we finish this podcast, everything we were up to date before we started is 80% of it’s gonna be obsolete, but it’s gonna be a whole other way of thinking about it. I wish there was a way that I could read more and learn faster. And pot, you know, listening or audio does not work for me. I have to actually read. You know, these people works, me, it’s just like noise, it doesn’t go anywhere. So I have to actually read. So I have, you know, every time I write another book or another article, I was like, great, I print up something else to meet, like, great. Thank God for the flights. That’s why I do most of my reading. Turn off my phone and okay. But your older phone, I like it. No, I turn it off intentionally, my reading time. But what I do find is that if you can’t, it’s impossible to always be the number one 100% cutting edge who knows everything because it’s developing faster than we can keep up with it. Really listening to what’s going on, listening to what people are saying, listening to what they want, listening to what, and actually paying attention to it. And also realizing I don’t know everything and never stop learning. And then all you can do is your best to stay as relevant and as up to date as possible. And when something comes up, you don’t know it, write it down and say, okay, this is my next project. I gotta learn about this. I was at a web, I was at two webinars this week on AI, right? On a specific area of AY. As much as I know, I know nothing about it, right? I don’t think anybody really knows or masters it, but there are people who have huge amounts of knowledge. Some of it’s rudimentary, it doesn’t make a difference, always keep learning. And what I tell people is listen, actually listen to hear, don’t listen to respond, and pay attention to what’s going on around there, and don’t be so arrogant as he’s figured it all out. Those three ingredients enable you to be as up to date as you can.

Danny Gavin, Host : 15:28

So, pivoting a little bit, let’s talk about learning from others. So, who have been some of your most influential mentors in your life? Could be professional, personal, and once we talk about those people, what role has that mentorship played in your trajectory?

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 15:43

Well, there’s some that know the demo mentors, some that don’t know the demo mentor. There’s people like Warren Buffett does not know that he’s my mentor, but trust me, he’s my mentor. I I I’ve tried so many different ways to try and actually get in his presence. Simple, very successful, very smart man, and always a gentleman, always a human being, right? People like Robert Herkovich, you know, all these people, these are established, really good people, but really good people, have a list lost their humanity. And then I have my, you know, my mentors, people that have actually picked up the phone and said, hey, you know, teach me one. I did a series a while ago called RP’s real success. First name is Robert. He doesn’t let me allow me to share his last name. He was an old professional, what I’ll call the zigzig type salesperson. Early in my career, I realized I’m making sales, but I have no idea what I’m doing. And I called him up and said, Hey, I want to talk to you. He said, Come on over, kid. You know, he just called me kid. And I went over, we sat down, and I said, Teach me. He’s like, What? I’m like, Teach me. He said, Okay. And to this day, everything he taught me is as true today as it was then, and as true as it was, you know, 50 years ago or 100 years ago. Obviously, you look at people like Obama Terev, right? was the vision, boldness, do what you have to do, create readers, don’t create followers. These things, um, you know, Robert Jonathan Sachs, the honorable uh Lord Jonathan Sachs, brilliant man, practical, down to earth. So there’s those people, and there’s people who have used this, you know, whether it’s coaching or mentors, things like that. I really learned from everybody. I learned so much. I go to classes with rules salespeople, and I just sit down and listen. I was once at a conference for new salespeople, and a gentleman actually reached out to me after I noticed you were very, very quiet, and you would take notes. What was that about? Because you know all this stuff. I said, No, I was actually learning. And he must have been shocked. Yeah, he was actually. He was like, I’m like, yeah, always. There’s so much out there, we can never know it all. Everybody has some kind of value to us. We have some kind of value to everybody.

Danny Gavin, Host : 17:45

What’s one piece of advice you’d give someone earlier in their sales career at this point?

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 17:51

I’ll cut it down to three pieces of advice. Number one, it’s gonna take longer than you think. So you gotta be committed. Number two, it’s gonna take even longer than you think after you’ve already accounted for the first role, which isn’t gonna take longer than you think. Okay. Be ready to be banged, you know, slapped in the face, have the door slammed, thrown down the steps, whatever it is, it’s gonna be a rough mistake. But you stick with it, and it’s gold. It’ll change your life. Take your lane, stick with it, and do not give up no matter what. If you’re gonna give up, don’t even start. You have to, you know, I would say the number one thing you need to succeed in any business, specifically in sales, is you need to be determined 100% to make it happen. If you do, there’s a reason why sales is the number one profession where people self-made multimillionaires have made their money. Salespeople working for companies. The reason is because most don’t stick it out.

Danny Gavin, Host : 18:55

The few that do actually do well. Similar to that, is there one piece of advice you wish you’d received earlier on?

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 19:01

The minute you’re blaming the market, the customers, the service, the product, this, that, you’re in the wrong room. Turn around, get back into your room, and say, What can I do about it? The most powerful question with everything going on is okay, so what can I do? And I can tell you that I’ve taught that to so many people who are in tough situations, and it literally changes from a downward spiral to positive.

Danny Gavin, Host : 19:30

Let’s move into strategic alignment between sales and marketing. So many businesses focus heavily on perfecting their sales pitch, but you stress building a consistent pipeline. What’s the difference between a pipeline and a funnel? And why does it matter?

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 19:43

I’ll throw something out there that I actually you’re a marketing guest, I’ll throw it out there. You know, I heard something and it sort of created what I call Menash Originals. So it was, you know, marketing is how they hear about you, and branding is how they feel about you. Right? Yes, I came up with marketing’s. The promise you make, branding is the promise you keep. First of all, we’ll get back to the difference between a funnel and a pipeline. The way I look at it, the visual is the pipeline feeds the funnel. The pipeline is your leads, your contacts, all these things. The pipeline is when they come from the pipeline, from being a lead to contact the name, whatever it is, and then that’s the journey that they take to actually becoming a client or not becoming the client. You need a full pipeline so that whenever you turn on the spigot for your funnel, you have something to drop into your funnel. But the funnel is the actual journey that they take. From when they actually engage in a conversation, you offer them, whatever it is, make the offer, see what’s going on, et cetera, et cetera, address their issues, blah, blah, blah, so they become a customer, they don’t become a customer. Here’s the key. The pipeline is that you’re responsible for making sure your pipeline is plugged into whatever source to keep getting this information. But many people make a mistake with the funnel. They think that this is the client’s journey. They’re just along for the ride. Believe it or not, you’re actually in control of that journey. You decide where they go, where they get off. You know, the way I describe it is you’re the bus driver, you decide who gets onto your bus. Now, the pipeline is the people on the street. You decide who gets on your bus, breathe your funnel, you decide where they sit, and you decide which stop they get off at. Do you get off at awareness? Do you get off on a decision? Do they get off at action? They get off at the client, right? Well, do they get off? They’re going to get off. You’re the one responsible who actually controls that.

Danny Gavin, Host : 21:28

So I think uh diving deeper into that, can you share examples of common mistakes that companies make or salespeople when identifying leads versus prospects and how to fix them?

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 21:38

A lead is just a lead. It’s a name, it’s a contact, it’s an ideal. Prospect is when you know something about this person to say, no, this person actually has potential, at least to your information, right? Your next step is to determine on their side of it, is that actual act, is it actually accurate? You know, people, I always tell people, you know, your ideal client profile, and I do this a lot. I thought this, you might appreciate this. Whenever you ask somebody who your ideal client profile is, some of them just give you a what, a what, ICP? Well, you’re right, fine. Some people, oh, I got this, I was at a seminar, you know, my ideal client profile business, 10 to 20 people, revenue of X, Y, and Z. And they always miss one ingredient. Aside from all the demographics and the sort of category they fit into, what’s the problem that they have? That problem is as important as all the other things. And most people, when you talk about an ideal client profile, they don’t talk about the problem. So I want a guy who’s this one, this one, everybody, that, and who has X, Y, and Z problems. That’s my ideal client. And the quicker I can idealize that. So I have a lead, I really want to find out is there anything to do? And then you can usually do it with some research, maybe a phone call, maybe a conversation. Once you do that, now you see, okay, so this is possible. Now it’s a prospect. Well, prospecting for gold doesn’t mean we’re going to find gold. Now it’s actually put the pen in, see what’s going on, see if you have the other indicators and say, yeah, this person is my ideal client or fits my ideal client profile, or it’s worth it to me to find out if he does. And the earlier you do that in the journey, the better.

Danny Gavin, Host : 23:02

So there’s a very common trope out there that like sales and marketing, two separate teams, they don’t get along. So where do you see the biggest disconnect between sales and marketing? And what’s the first step towards repairing it? If that’s an issue.

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 23:16

Um, you just brought it up when you what the visual or the emotional reactions I had were. Remember in school when the teacher would write on the blackboard and break the chalk, and then he’d break in that new chalk, and it’s like a right? Yeah. Whenever you say marketing and sales are two separate teams, that’s what I feel. It drives me nuts. And you’re right, so many companies operate in that each one has their own agenda, they have their envelope, they have their job they’re trying to do. They have their week with a great idea, boom, and it’s great for marketing. And sales will be like, what are you talking about? And then they come down and shove it down sales’ mouth, right? Or sales all say, Well, we can’t do this because marketing doesn’t support me. It’s like everybody’s, it’s almost like two separate teams almost competing, and they are actually competing for budget, they’re competing for dollars. Sometimes they’re competing to look good, or their managers are looking to compete well. Everybody wants to be the apple of the teacher’s eye. It’s doing a lot of damage or literally holding a company back from exploding. And the way you repeat that is they need to be on the same team. I put them all in their office. I actually did what I did. I had a big meeting and I sent them sales, marketing, sales, marketing, sales, marketing with a place card. And I was like, What is this? Kindergarten? I said, Yeah, if I put all you sales guys all going to the bullets of the thing, all you marketing guys, everybody’s gonna be whispering to each other, no sales market, right? And what I also did is I actually had one person from marketing attend every sales meeting and a different person every week. And I had one sales person attend every marketing meeting, 100% every week. So you got a chance to talk. It’s not a complaint, it’s not a bitching session, it’s not a session where, oh, you’re not doing it. It’s not what it is. Listen to what they’re going through, listen to what they need. Marketing needs this, sales needs that. Sales feeds marketing what they need, marketing produces, but often marketing is hey, we’re gonna do this, this is gonna be great. This is like this is the next slice of bread. And sales are like, what are you talking about? Nobody in the market even cares about this bread. Nobody’s eating bread anymore, it’s too fatty, right? So when they’re aligned, marketing can support sales, sales can drive marketing’s budget up because they bring in the money, and it’s it’s they work together. And the way you fix them really is to include, make sure he sure knows, and I would say, know what they go through every day. And I’ve even told marketing people, as the market my marketing manager actually had him go on the road with two or three sales, just to just to see what he goes through every single day. And that understanding is amazing, it’s magical.

Danny Gavin, Host : 25:52

How do you coach teams to interpret digital behavior like email opens or social media engagement into meaningful sales opportunities?

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 25:60

I was ready for this question. This is the guy. I hate it no longer. Data is great when used the right way. And I have a lot of great examples of it, but I don’t want to bore you with that. Digital opens mean nothing unless you can actually tie it to something that means something. I don’t want to see openings, I want to see interaction. Now, opens are important, it means we caught their eye if we’re looking at the right thing. Don’t look at openings, oh well, we’re gonna build our business. No. Open if there’s something in this email, and then maybe we’ll open it. How can I identify that? But they didn’t get beyond that because we see the reaction was. Think about it this way. Even in its heyday, I remember when email blasts, like the coolest, like the most modern. This was like it, this is the it mode, right? Still had a StarTech phone, right? A 23% open rate was considered great. I think that number hasn’t changed, by the way. It’s pretty much the same. 23% open rate, right? There’s a rate called whatever they’re called.

Danny Gavin, Host : 27:01

No, no, no. So uh open rate and click through rate are both important metrics. The problem with open rates is this is getting a little technical, but now with a lot of people who use Apple Mail, Apple can show an open rate even if you didn’t really open it. And therefore, open rate these days is not really a vanity metric because it’s most um most of the time not accurate. Therefore, click even click through it’s even more important because that’s actual. Did they click through or not?

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 27:27

And even in the heyday was what, one to three percent? If I remember back in the 80s, one to three percent. Has that even changed?

Danny Gavin, Host : 27:34

I mean, it depends.

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 27:36

Um, although I will tell you, it has changed for one rate, one reason. The emails that go out now are more targeted.

Danny Gavin, Host : 27:44

Right. I was just about to say it’s all that segmentation, yeah.

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 27:48

But I think the numbers are still the same, which would actually mean, if you think about it, what actually means is that the quick rates or the open rate, the click-through rates are actually lower because then it was just anybody with an email I just got it, and we had 1%. Now we’re targeting specific people, it’s still 1%, it’s actually less. My point is, but it’s very important. But let’s learn what we can from it. And if we’re learning the right things from it, that’s great. But if we’re putting eggs in a certain basket based on it, and we’re not 100% sure what we’re doing, we’re making a mistake.

Danny Gavin, Host : 28:18

And I see a lot of companies doing it even today. Talking about mistakes, how do you advise leaders to build trust with prospects in an era overloaded with automated outreach and AI messaging and copying and pasting from ChatGPT?

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 28:31

I’ll call this the Minacho bomb, but I’ll drop the bomb. Are you ready? Yeah, I’m ready. Building trust is not a tactic, it’s a philosophy. Many people use it as a tactic. Now, the way to build trust is don’t use it as a tactic. They’ll tell you how to build trust if you ask the questions. I always say, you have the questions, they have the answers. I can ask somebody, if I want to do business with you, how would I go about it? Sometimes, again, right time, right? You know, the three R’s of questions, it’s three R’s right question, asked in the right way at the right time. You ask the wrong right question at the wrong time, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. But don’t use it as a tactic, use it as a philosophy. People will deal with you if they trust you. They will not think that they don’t trust you. So philosophically, I need to build trust, not as a tactic. I’m not building trust so I can get you to do this, because then it actually defeats the purpose. And guess what? They will smell it a mile away.

Danny Gavin, Host : 29:27

In your coaching, and I’m sure this happens hopefully not a lot, but how do you help someone recover from a tough sales call or a marketing campaign that fell flat?

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 29:36

Perspective. And go back to what I said before. So, what can we do? What can we learn? Because it’s the most valuable time, I know it’s counterintuitive, but the most valuable time is when something goes wrong. We learn from what goes wrong, we duplicate what went right, but we learn and we grow for the things that went wrong. And when you things are going right, you just do the same thing over and over and over again. That’s where you plateau, that’s where you get stuck, that’s where you stay where you are. The growth is in learning and in evolving and becoming better. And that only comes from things that did not go right. So it didn’t go right. What can we learn from it? And everything that goes wrong, we can actually learn from it. Think about any bad stuff, bad marketing campaign, customer walks away at the last minute, whatever, some sale doesn’t go through, a hire doesn’t come on board. What can we learn from it? And if you learn something to change in the way you did it, or where you do, or what you’re gonna do in the future, that no actually becomes a lot of yeses later down the road. So it’s probably putting on the right lenses and making sure we’re looking at it the right way. And then you know, and if it’s a real mess up and we totally screwed up and there’s nothing to learn, guess what, guys? We totally screwed up and there’s nothing to learn. But that’s like a football game. A football game has four quarters, right? So we totally messed up quarter one. What are we gonna do? Quarter two, we come back again. We messed up quarter one and two. What do we do? We come out after half. It’s a new game. So that’s about perspective, but don’t look a gift tourist in the mouth and see what we can learn from that.

Danny Gavin, Host : 31:04

I love that. All right, it’s time for the top three. So I’m gonna mention a topic and you tell me what that brings to mind, what you like about it, what’s your favorite thing? So, the first thing is sports.

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 31:15

I love sports, and I think it’s great. I don’t have enough time for sports. I um tennis, football, I got into tennis, love tennis, just don’t have enough time. Football, baseball, just out there putting it out. No phone, cell phone is off, nobody can communicate with you. I’m just sweating it up. It’s a lot.

Danny Gavin, Host : 31:32

Awesome. Uh grandchildren.

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 31:34

There’s no bigger blessing in the world. And I get to give them sugar and bed time. Yay. No greater honor than being able to tell people. It’s an honor, it’s a privilege, it’s uh it’s an opportunity.

Danny Gavin, Host : 31:50

And for those who don’t know, Meneshe’s part of Hatzala, which is amazing. And then finally, traveling versus your own bed.

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 31:56

I love traveling, but I love my own bed, and that’s where we have the problem. So my wife likes traveling, also, so that’s where we get some of that done. And you know, you have the yin and the yang, the pull and the push, and she’ll win sometimes, and sometimes I’ll stay in my own bed.

Danny Gavin, Host : 32:13

It’s enjoyable on the trip, but also enjoyable when you come home.

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 32:16

Yeah.

Danny Gavin, Host : 32:17

Yeah. Yes, absolutely. So, what’s next for Meneshe? What are you currently working on, or what’s your next big project?

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 32:24

My next big project is a twist on something that many do. Many do these group coaching calls and things like that, and things which are very, you know, it’s good. I actually want to do it very, very differently and very segmented. Like I want to do one specifically for sales managers. But where it’s gonna be different, it’s gonna be very, very limited in the amount of people who are there because it’s gonna be very tight where everybody’s gonna have their time. So I want to do sales managers, I want to do it for salespeople. You know, obviously, you know, my successes, you know, I love it. I just got a call the other day. A salesperson that I worked with went from doing fairly well to doing $1,400 a month in sales. Within three months, he’s doing $14,000 in sales. Amazing. You know, things like that. So, but not everybody has the time or everybody can afford it, let us want to make it affordable to others on what I’m doing. And really, based on, like I said, by decades of work with this, I just realized I was just having a couple of discussions. The first person that I coached was in 1995. He was ready to leave his industry. They called me up and said, I can’t make a living, I’m done. I said, Let’s work together. And we worked together. He passed away just now past the year of when he passed away. He passed away as a multi-millionaire in that same industry and never left. Whenever he would see me, would tell me, It’s your fault, it’s your fault. So I’ve been doing this for a while. And I just want to be able to give it to more people, segmented by industry, because every industry, every area, like if I was going to create a group for marketing people, it would be only marketing people, all marketing people dealing with marketing issues or marketing challenges that are facing the marketing user. So I want to be very, very segmented, very limited so everybody gets a full, robust experience out of it.

Danny Gavin, Host : 34:09

I love it. Well, I’m excited to see that come to fruition, and obviously you’ll share that with us when it’s more.

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 34:16

I’m not ready to take on the marketing team yet. Relax. But my point is I want to do it very segmented by scent.

Danny Gavin, Host : 34:23

You know what I mean? No, that makes sense. So, where can listeners learn more about you and M. Friedman Consulting?

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 34:29

You can see me on LinkedIn, LinkedIn, Meneshe Friedman. Um, there is an M Friedman Consulting LinkedIn page, but uh, she’s off my regular. I don’t even know how to do these things. I think I have an Instagram or I put a couple of videos out, uh, M. Friedman Consulting on Instagram. Um, very proficient in that. It’s not my cup of tea per se. And I always tell people I’m on LinkedIn, reach out. I have a half-hour for anybody. Really, I’m not one of these people who everybody else speaks to has to be a client, has to be, you know, swiping their cards. I’m not into that. I have time for anybody as long as you know time permits, obviously.

Danny Gavin, Host : 35:03

Yeah. Well, that’s very kind. Thank you. Well, Meneshe, thank you so much for all your insight and your amazing story and wishing you the hatzlacha and a lot of success as you continue through this journey.

Menashe Friedman, Guest: 35:16

Absolutely. Present, I’m still thankful that you had me here and we’ll see each other.

Danny Gavin, Host : 35:21

Yeah, totally. And thank you, listeners, for tuning into the Digital Marketing Mentor. We’ll speak with you next time.