Andrew Lasky (00:04)
and it doesn't let you in, right?

Also, I guess I have to hit.

your name.

No, it doesn't matter, bro. Should be okay without it.

So yeah, that's good to know. So yeah, you were supposed to be my second one. The guy that I had yesterday had to reschedule to later in the week. there he is, my man.

What's up, brother?

Antonio Mainolfi (01:09)
What's

up? My man, this is cool.

Andrew Lasky (01:13)
Yeah, dude, this is this is pretty dope. So obviously, it says it's recording right now. We're gonna edit that out. We'll do like a countdown before we we officially like kick off. But, ⁓ bro, appreciate you, you you coming on. And just to kind of, you know, you know, give you the insights on the show again. So the whole goal of this show, you know, it's called the commissions and cash flow show. Really, it's just about interviewing like really high quality, you know, salespeople.

in all different industries, trying to build an audience of, you know, high performers, but then also, you know, people that are looking to, you know, get into, you know, either a new industry or, you know, they're fresh out of school or whatever, just create like a whole community of people. And yeah, so if there's any, you know,

Direction that you want me to take the show and ask you certain questions like let me know now But other than that bro, I mean this whole thing is all about you You know at the first part of it's gonna be like about your story, you know how you got into working with you know, Patrick and You know Consulting and you know, you're telling me about like your software company

And then, you know, obviously, you know, it's gonna be about like sales questions and stuff. And then at the end, you know, again, because you're a manager, now you're managing people, you know, I think what would really help, you know, listeners if they're like, you know, younger, and then they want to break into consulting, like as a manager, you know, like what you're looking for when you're hiring somebody.

Antonio Mainolfi (02:55)
Huge. As far as direction, man, I'm all for it. If there's a story I wanna share, I can all go and I'll sway. We'll dance with it. But as far as anything in particular, I'm ready. know, Patrick's definitely a huge leverage alongside him three years. So I can share so many stories, but I'm ready to see what we got.

Andrew Lasky (03:16)
Cool, awesome bro. Yeah, I think we'll go probably about like a half hour. Nothing, nothing crazy at the end. So I am going to ask like four questions at the end. It's something like that. I kind of want to have it as like a staple that I ask every, you know, interviewee. So just to give you a heads up, the first one's going to be, you know, what's your favorite like sales book or sales movie? The second one's going to be, you know, if they're

You know, what's one sales strategy or like tactic that like completely like changed like your sales, you know, career? ⁓ the third one is, you know, what's your favorite purchase that you've made from, ⁓ receiving a commission check. And then the, you know, the fourth one is, you know, knowing what you know now, if you were to lose everything, you know, what would you do to get it all back?

In sales, obviously.

Antonio Mainolfi (04:19)
Boom. I'm just typing it down so I have them. I'm ready.

Andrew Lasky (04:25)
Cool. I'll do a little countdown and then let's do it. All right. Five, four, three, two, one. Everybody welcome back. This is your host Andrew Lasky. This is the commissions and cash flow show. Today we have an amazing guest, Antonio Manolfi. Antonio, welcome to the show, brother.

Antonio Mainolfi (04:29)
I'm ready.

Happy to be here. This is awesome. Glad I get to have this conversation. on Zoom, but I'm looking forward to it.

Andrew Lasky (04:57)
Awesome. So Antonio, I've known you for about three years now. You've been an amazing person to me helping me out. You're in the consulting business, you work with David consulting, tell the audience a little bit about your background and your story and how you got into sales.

Antonio Mainolfi (05:13)
Yeah, great, great question. So man, three years past, just like a snap of a finger. I can't believe it's, you know, been a couple years now. So a little bit about me, how we got started here. My journey into sales, my journey into where we are today, all started with the area of curiosity. When I was in college at Florida State University, shout out Knowles, I was told to read a book, Your Next Five Moves by Patrick B. David. I had a small software company. That was my next step. Did I read the book? No.

I wasn't really much a reader at that point in time. I put in the back burner, that back burner was a pretty big burner. A few years later, my mom puts a newspaper on the table, says, hey, there's this entrepreneur, Patrick Bette David, just moved down the street. Two headquarters here, you have to check it out. Patrick Bette David moved into the neighborhood. So I didn't read the book then, but you better believe I started reading the book now. One thing led to another. I said, you know what, there's an opportunity, he's in the neighborhood.

Who doesn't want a mentor? Who doesn't want a coach? Who doesn't want somebody who's able to put you in a better phase of life, better phase of living, so I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to be a part of the journey. I applied for a couple of jobs, it just didn't work out. And I said, you know what, is this really for me? I grew up knowing I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I'm going to build something, and now want to work for the guy. Interesting, is this the direction I want to go? So after a few weeks of convincing myself, I said, you know what, maybe it's a good opportunity. I do want a mentor, I do want a coach.

What if I could work alongside this mentor, this coach, Patrick? So, alongside Patrick, in hindsight now, three years later, manager of Bette David Consulting, and it's been an absolute journey. So that's a bit of a fast track from where I started to how it began, but also three years later, now managing the division. So, now there's just about 50 consultants here and counting, but man, it's been an incredible journey so far.

Andrew Lasky (07:01)
That's awesome. So when you actually went ahead and you read his book, what was it about the book that made you say, okay, I want to go interview and work with this guy?

Antonio Mainolfi (07:11)
So it's your next five moves, so it shows the different areas, move one, move two, move one is the best one, it's master knowing yourself. When you're having the conversations, it's easy to say, it's the how to, how do I do something, or it's the identity. If I can figure out the identity, the conversations I'm having with myself, the focus, the rooms I'm in, it could be the way we dress, or it's the how to, how do I do something, how does this take place, it's more of the logical brain. The how to is,

it's 10 % versus the identity, that's gonna take 85, 90 % of it. At that point I said, you know what, if I can figure out me and where I'm going, that was a pivotal moment. It just made sense, that's when it all came together.

Andrew Lasky (07:54)
Awesome. Awesome. So as far as like getting into consulting, obviously, that's the industry that Patrick is in after he sold his insurance company. Did you have a passion for consulting as well? Or did that kind of just, you know, align with you wanting to be with him?

Antonio Mainolfi (08:13)
Best part about this all, this is my first sales job. I had zero experience in sales, of course I could sell my parents, sell my friends, and you know, when I had my small software company, but this was a first opportunity as far as consulting all from ground zero. I never had the experience, I didn't know it was a direction I wanted to go, but it's so clear. It's not only, you know, personal development, improving with my family, my friends, the way we have conversations, what we do, how we drive, but also,

Andrew Lasky (08:18)
That's awesome.

Antonio Mainolfi (08:42)
had the opportunity and privilege to help change lives of entrepreneurs around the world. it's something I wish I knew early on that feeling, but it's such an incredible feeling to able to pass the torch to somebody else.

Andrew Lasky (08:53)
Yeah, absolutely. And so when you were interviewing, you know, at his company with no sales experience, obviously you had your software company. So you did have some business background. What did you do to like stand out? You know, I'm sure there was other candidates that had sales experience that were interviewing and you got the job and a couple of years later, now you're the manager. But that initial moment where you were interviewing and it was your first sales job, you know, what did you do to

to stand out.

Antonio Mainolfi (09:24)
No doubt. So, there wasn't much standing out to do. There was, know, do you fit the culture, do you fit the environment, do you have a positive attitude, do you wanna be here? Of course my background helped a little bit, but at that point we were very, very brand new. The division wasn't even called Bet David Consulting. It was just, we have events, we're hosting some opportunities, we have some masterminds you could be a part of, and we said, you know what, hey, could be, they saw it in me and said, hey, you could be a good fit.

Now fast forward, I could talk about effort, attitude, teamwork, innovation, results, but the biggest thing early on is, do you have a positive attitude? And Patrick always says, if you watch his videos and his content, I don't care about skill set, I care about your willingness to learn, your willingness to try. It's seven o'clock on a Friday night, are you gonna continue your appointments or are gonna cancel and go out on a Friday night? That's the type of conversation. Now of course, you're also gonna see us to say, of course we need skill set, yes, that's a given, but I care more about are you gonna get the job done?

You know, we're in the ninth inning or in seventh inning, ninth inning, we're in the last stretch. Can you keep pushing? That's who we want to be around. So I would say early on, very grateful. If I were to apply right now, I don't even know if I would have made it with the resume I had coming into it, but early on it was an easy conversation.

Andrew Lasky (10:41)
That's awesome. So yeah, it sounds like it's all about controlling, you know, the things that you can control, such as effort, attitude, and, know, your skill set will then eventually come as you progress with the company. So being that it was your very first sales job, you know, there's going to be a lot of people in the audience where, you they might be going and looking for their first sales job and, you know, they're unsure about, you know, what their day to day is going to look like in certain industries.

And so on the consulting side, you know, what does the typical day to day look like?

Antonio Mainolfi (11:19)
It depends, right? It depends on what level you want to be dependent on. Depends on what level you want to be relying on. Depends on what level you want to achieve. Some people are in sales because, maybe their father was in sales, their mother, their friends, hey, it's a great opportunity, I could drive the Porsche, I could do this, and I could live a lifestyle I want to achieve. That's what I want, okay? Or they're in it because they love the product, they love the service, they're backed by it so much.

where it's inevitable. It's just, it's in my blood. I'm just obviously gonna tell you about how much you need this product because it means so much to me. It's ingrained to me. Or maybe you join sales because maybe it's a last resort. But what does the day to day look like? What's behind the scenes? What's involved? That's your question. It depends, right? You could be a part of it. You could work the nine to five. You could head out the office at 5 p.m. To be completely honest, you're gonna be mediocre at best at sales. Sales, always on. I can tell you, right now it's almost 8.30.

Andrew Lasky (12:11)
Mm-hmm.

Antonio Mainolfi (12:16)
on a Tuesday right now, I'm still in the office. The team, probably about 50%, 60 % of all my consultants are probably still here. It's a typical night. I'll probably be here the next two hours, probably more of that, because I know what needs to be done. There's so much opportunity on the table, there's so much growth. Now I can say someone like Patrick, but David, just a little behind the scenes, we just launched our very own private Valuetainment cigar lounge. We're gonna have NFL players, we're gonna have

Andrew Lasky (12:18)
Stormy Office.

Antonio Mainolfi (12:45)
So many people behind the scenes coming and spending time with us in the lounge having conversations. And I'm talking about sales, I'm talking about cigar lounge, but I'm talking about our ecosystem, right? We're hosting conferences around the world, 12,000 entrepreneurs in Orlando, Florida this year. We're going to the Kentucky Derby, we're going to Formula One. We're going, I can tell you everything that we're doing. We have a $41 million, 11 acre campus here on the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport. We're gonna have 2,000 employees here before we know it. We have a green light to hire.

60 new consultants within 60 days. And it's not just something where Patrick's gonna say, we'll see, we have two new recruiters starting, we have so much on the table, but I share all this because of course I'm gonna work hard. I can make another phone call, I know what's gonna happen here. I could go ahead, could work the next hour, why? Because I know my family's gonna be working alongside me. I know my kids are one day gonna be a part of the vision. They're gonna be playing on our campus here, we're gonna have schools, we're have universities.

Andrew Lasky (13:29)
Is it good?

Antonio Mainolfi (13:43)
We have a gym opening on our campus here in about three weeks. We have a basketball court. We had talked about a pickleball court. I'm a pickleball guy. But to answer your question directly, it just depends on what level you want to live. Do you want to be mediocre and just jump in nine to five? Or do you want to give your all weekends, holidays, birthdays, after hours? If my phone rings and it's Patrick, I'm going to have to mute myself. I'm taking the call. That should start to operate. So it totally depends.

Andrew Lasky (14:04)
Mm-hmm.

That's awesome. So yeah, clearly you guys have an amazing culture over there and it really shows. So when you're when you're prospecting or dealing with, you know, potential clients, like every industry is different. So when I was doing medical device sales, it was all in person. I used to have to drive about an hour to an hour and a half, sometimes two hours just to go see a doctor. And if I was home, then I was losing money. But now

You know, I'm in real estate now full time and it's the complete opposite. It's like if I'm not in front of my computer talking to people, you know, on social media or picking up the phone, I can get so much more done. Now it's a completely different sales process than the industry I was in before. So when it comes to consulting, you know, from a day to day standpoint, are you going out? Are you meeting with clients face to face?

Are you still picking up the phone and making dials? Like what does that look like?

Antonio Mainolfi (15:09)
Yeah, so it totally depends on what is happening day to day, right? What I tell you now is probably gonna change by tomorrow. But typically throughout the day, I say about 80 % of my day, I'm talking to CEOs, founders, entrepreneurs. The profile is they're looking at built to scale, built to sell, or maybe a legacy succession planning for their business and for their family. Now, they're looking for that clarity, they watch the podcast, they love Patrick. I jump on the phone and they just wanna see, is it a video recommendation, is it a book?

is it, just to be completely honest, I love the podcast. I didn't even know you guys have a division. We don't even advertise. That's the best part. No one knows who we are. They know Patrick. They may have seen his face. They don't even know we have a division. So I'm calling the community to see how we can provide value and see where that conversation takes us. 20 % of my time, I'm helping build and scale our division. So anything that we're doing here, logistics wise, systems, building out the company, I'm also a part of that. Very grateful for those conversations. But a day to day for myself,

Andrew Lasky (15:45)
Hehe.

Antonio Mainolfi (16:06)
Typically, I'm about 18 to 20 meetings per day on Zoom, having conversations just like this on a computer. And for lunchtime, I like to get out the office. Why? Get some opportunity to meet some entrepreneurs, maybe meet some local friends, family that are in the area, or maybe it's just a client who's in town. I love to have a quick conversation, 45 minutes to an hour. I can't really break away in the day to day, but I have a quick lunch that we could be a part of. But I am in front of the computer having our calls.

But we have guests come in flying for the podcast. We have guests flying for one-on-ones consulting with Patrick. When they're in town, of course, we'll meet friends and family who also coming with them. But typically, my day-to-day is on a computer just because we have so many people that are actually wanting to be a part of something that is more than just a quick transaction, a quick event. Patrick says, and I know this is something I wanted to share, Patrick is not interested in anybody being a part of the community.

part of the community unless it's for a 30 year run. Guys, we're all for 30 years. What does that mean? Patrick's on a 40 year run, but we're on a 30 year run to see where we can take your business. We can start at something very low, it could be six figures, I'm sorry, it be three figures. It can go all way up to seven figures. But we know what Patrick can bring. Patrick knows what he can bring and it just depends on what level you wanna do business with us, where you wanna start. We know that hey, we can start here, we can start in five years from now.

Andrew Lasky (17:04)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Antonio Mainolfi (17:30)
Take all the time you need. It's a matter of time before you come in the front door and we have a conversation. So to answer your question, it is over Zoom, but it's always open. It's always flexible.

Andrew Lasky (17:40)
That's awesome. Cool. So being that Patrick came from the insurance industry and you work with a lot of different entrepreneurs who said mostly CEOs, founders. these people like founders and CEOs, are they mostly insurance companies or what other industries do you really work with where you can really help their business?

Antonio Mainolfi (18:03)
So great question. Everybody in my book of business is insurance. No, I'm just kidding. I probably have, there's no joke. I probably, I can count on maybe one hand, maybe two hands on how many people I work with that are in insurance. In different focus areas of insurance, but it could be trucking and logistics. It could be pallets. It could be a customer poultry. It could be dentistry, know, healthcare, produce. There's so many different industries.

Andrew Lasky (18:07)
Ha

Antonio Mainolfi (18:32)
you know, it's arguably 85 % of business is all fundamental, right? You're gonna build sales team, leadership, culture, driver, do you know how to build the systems and operations? Is there employee handbook, HR, building an executive leadership team, and really being able to work on the business, but also who trains the trainer, who coaches the coach, who mentors the mentor, that's all part of the process. So as far as the industry, you know, most of the business, systematically, it is the same. The 10, 15 %...

It's all fundamental, right? What makes a lawyer, a law firm, a law firm is not the exact same what makes a company who builds thermoses the same company. That's what makes it a little different. So any industry we could have conversations with, but they're going to need specialized people to have certain conversations, whether it's more of a systematic approach or maybe the CEO needs a little bit more of a push. Maybe they need a driver, they need a leader. They may need a crucial conversation. Patrick will put them in the right area, right conversation.

Andrew Lasky (19:10)
Mm-hmm.

Antonio Mainolfi (19:31)
It's a large spectrum.

Andrew Lasky (19:33)
That's awesome. And so you don't have to give us all the secrets here, but when a client gets onboarded with you, and they tell you what their goals are, how do you guys keep them accountable so that they can reach their goal so that they stay with you guys long term?

Antonio Mainolfi (19:49)
Yeah, and I'd say from the very beginning, the biggest area of opportunity, and I tell all my guys this, we have intense training. They go through about, I think it's a five week onboarding. They leave HR onboard and they go into our own onboarding to be a consultant here. They have a certain amount of trainings and systems. We have what's called, bet David consulting university. We have a certain amount of tests they have to go through.

and drive for and if they pass those tests, they can actually be onboarded to the team. But as far as what does the journey map look like? What does it look like when someone's onboarded? It goes for the needs analysis. Now have John here. John, listen, you can't see me with this problem or maybe you didn't even come to me with a problem. You told me about your business here but I challenged you or I anticipated a need or I anticipated a problem or a leak in the business and man, you weren't even thinking about that. Man, I'm challenging you to think other different ways or.

I'm challenging it, really? That's how you guys do business? I love Patrick, man, you guys are, wow, the value's over here? Interesting, so someone being able to be a, not a yes man, someone highlighting the blind spots, having those conversations, that's where, you know, at the very beginning, it's the needs analysis. If we're able to do solid needs analysis, do we actually, is there synergy? Is there an actual fit here? Then we'll consider doing business. You know, I'll share this here, we're not for everybody.

Not everybody who is a great candidate can just join one of our masterminds. Not anybody who has the money can actually join one on one with Patrick. I can't just collect the thousands of dollars. So for us, it's can you do a proper needs analysis? Are they a good fit for the community? Are they a net positive? Do they actually want to learn? there a value here? Can we take a chance and see where the relationship takes us? I'm always a fan of starting small. You probably know, like, and trust Patrick, but hey, before we even dive into our conversation, why don't we just start here?

One, are you coachable? Two, is this something where you're actually going to execute? I always tell my clients, listen, how many books do you read a month? One, two, maybe three, sometimes I get a four. Pretty audacious. But if you read four books a month, three books a month, can you actually implement that month over month? Are you having those conversations? Are you talking to people and actually implement it? If you're not, my next statement is, John, can I be direct with you? Yeah, you're reading all these books, you're doing all this, but if you can't implement, why are you doing so much?

Andrew Lasky (22:09)
Mm-hmm. You don't want to be a book reader. You need to take the information that you're receiving and you got to actually act on it. So that's awesome.

Antonio Mainolfi (22:19)
You know,

yeah, it's huge, but learned knowledge is not gonna get you anywhere. So I have those conversations with John, even if you join one of our events, or even if you join one of our masterminds, if it's a possibility, I have to get approval. But if you can join one of our masterminds and you're not gonna execute, we're not gonna go through the deliverables together, there's zero reason why you should be a part of the community. Right, you're just gonna be someone who hands us the money. If there's no return, if there's no benefit on your end, we're not in the business of just taking your money. We're in the business to say, listen, if you're able to grow,

you're someone who appreciates being held accountable, you're coachable, I wanna ask you for more money. Why? Because I know you're making more money, we're building our relationship, that's exactly what this is all about. So it just totally depends on where they're headed, where they wanna go, but to directly answer your question, it starts at the very beginning of the needs analysis.

Andrew Lasky (23:06)
That's awesome. So I want to turn the conversation back to you again. So I'm just, before we get into the whole management side, you know, going back to your life as a, as a sales rep on the consulting side, you know, very fascinated with how quickly you pick things up. You know, I have a direct experience with you. You know, you've sent me many gifts along the, you know, our three year, you know, friendship together, super, super impressive.

You you stand out or at least that's how I see, you're like magic touch with, you know, with me and I'm sure with other clients, but to go from zero sales experience and then to get promoted, you must have had like, you know, a lot of challenges. And so if you could just take like one challenge that you first had and how you overcame it, I think that would give the audience a

you know, very good perspective of somebody who is brand new and just crushing it in sales.

Antonio Mainolfi (24:08)
That is such a good question. I appreciate you sharing that. know it's, you know, we've had whether it's a really cool opportunities to, you know, finally have a first conversation in person to coming out to events and you're handing over a gift or even going to lunch. It's, it's been a journey and I know we're reliving those thoughts here right now. I'd say the biggest lesson, there's so many, but the biggest one that just came to my mind is the thoughts you're having with yourself. Sales? If you're going to ask me here.

The biggest strength you can have, whether you're going into sales or right now you're watching this and you're probably trying to figure out to get to that next level, can I do it? Is it for me? It's the voice in your head. It's the identity. It's the mental toughness. It's the EQ. It's everything behind the scenes. Patrick shares one thing on his mastermind I'll share here. It's the conversation you have with yourself. Okay, let me go a little bit deeper. Sometimes you're gonna catch yourself, you know what? Shoot, I didn't hit this number this month.

I gave my commitment, I was gonna drive this, I was talking to my team, I was talking to my manager at this point, you know what, I didn't hit it, okay? But at least I did this. But as soon as you have that thought of at least I did this, or at least I've done this in the past, you give yourself an exit. You give yourself a way out to say, that's okay, I didn't have to, because at least I did this before. It means you don't wanna be challenged. That means you don't even really care to get to that point. That means, you know what?

You're not even okay taking full responsibility or full accountability. Sales, you're gonna get beat up, right? You're five more nos until you get your yes, sure. But you have no idea. have 10 people that hung up on you today. You had four people that may have been late to the Zoom. You had one person that didn't show up. You had three people in the pipeline that actually fell through. One bought a, instead of buying a six figure engagement, they only bought a four digit engagement.

Now your mindset's everywhere, that's only what you're dealing with. Maybe the computer's not operating as fast as you need to, your desk is a mess because you're driving all day long, you probably had a messy meal, you didn't go out to eat, you ate at your desk, you had papers crumbled up, you have no idea what's going on. The guy next to you is trying to figure out, hey, is this guy okay? Because they can feel the emotion, it's a little hot in the office, you might be sweating. All that's happening, and then you enter in what's happening in the office, what's happening on the team, what's going on at home.

Andrew Lasky (26:04)
Mm-hmm.

Antonio Mainolfi (26:28)
Everything's going through your mind at that point, mental overload, right? Emotion overload. You're trying to figure out what's going on. I'd say the biggest lesson for me is to compartmentalize, but also what are you solving for? You didn't sign, nobody else signed you up for this. Odds are you signed yourself up for sales. It's not easy, but it is so dang simple. You mean all I to do is pick up my phone and call an entrepreneur to see if he wants to change his life, change his family? That's incredible.

Andrew Lasky (26:40)
Mm-hmm.

Antonio Mainolfi (26:56)
Now I can easily say this, but I'm gonna attach a quick story for me going through those motions, for me going through those conversations, not knowing if there's a future, not knowing what's next, because I don't know what that next is. Patrick does something very well, and there's many different areas, but in this scenario, it's RE, re-recruit, re-incentivize, re-evaluate, reinvigorate, bring the trust back, the opportunity that, why are we doing this? Sell the crusade.

sell the dream, what's behind the scenes. There's one of my clients, we'll just call him John again. I go, John, why are you driving so hard? I'm challenging him. This sounds good, this sounds good. He changed business, he's starting from ground zero again. He's an older gentleman, he has a daughter. I'm like, John, why are you doing this? Why does this matter to you? I'm just trying to understand John. John, come on the same side of the table as me. Or let me go to same side of the table as you. Why are you doing this? Do I have permission to be direct to you? He goes, yeah.

we're having a crucial conversation and he goes, Antonio, I just love Patrick. I love Patrick so much. He was doing this, this and that. mean, he's empowered me or he made me feel like, man, he's my mentor, all these different things, but if I could be direct, you he said that he had cancer and Patrick got into this level. He wants to keep driving, but his drive, his vision, his mission is to leave a family better off no matter what happens with the legacy business that they keep driving and support the family.

but he gave all the credit to Patrick. And you better damn believe that that fires me up to keep going. That's why we do what we do because of stories like this. It's not just a phony sales process or things like that. We're in it for 30 years. And that's what's the best. Patrick will give you two sides. You can go this direction or you can go this direction. And it makes the process so simple because you're building relationships. You're building trust with people around the world. But I would say to answer your question, it's mental and emotional toughness.

Andrew Lasky (28:51)
There's something that you said that I don't want to skip over. you you said like, do I have your permission to be blunt or to be honest or provide feedback? So that's actually one thing that I that I learned from Patrick. And when you're having conversations, you know, with people and maybe, you know, obviously, this is a client of yours. But when you're trying to break through to somebody and you feel like they're not like listening to you or you're not actually

Antonio Mainolfi (29:01)
Correct.

Andrew Lasky (29:21)
you know, connecting just by saying, you know, hey, do I have permission to be honest with you? Or do I have your permission to give you real feedback? It just, it completely opens up the prospect, the client or whoever, and it allows you to actually now start communicating with the person that you're across from. So it's just something that you said that I...

you know, for the audience, I wanted them to, you know, hear that because that is something that I started actually implementing into my sales process. And it got my clients to start trusting me more when, you know, because when you go and you give somebody, let's say not the best, you know, feedback, you know, it could hurt them, right. But if you then say, Hey, do I have your permission to give you honest feedback? And they say yes.

then it allows you to, you know, obviously be very honest with them. And again, it just opens up the whole conversation.

Antonio Mainolfi (30:25)
Yeah, and I'll go a little bit deeper. know, we'll have that drive permission to be direct. Yes. Are you sure what I might say next might hurt your feelings? And at this point, it's just a direct challenge. Now, they take it and they want to keep going. They're coachable. If they hang up the phone, maybe it wasn't for them, but it depends on where the conversation is going. But typically it could be a blind spot. Maybe it's just, hey, we're in pattern recognition, pattern recognition. We know we've seen this before thousands of times.

Andrew Lasky (30:35)
Mm-hmm.

Antonio Mainolfi (30:52)
We've seen this thousands of times. I just want to ask a simple question. Are you sure? That's the reason why you're doing what you're doing? Or are just giving yourself an excuse? Right? No, things like that.

Andrew Lasky (31:00)
Yeah, yeah. So now moving over to like the management side. So earlier in the show, you mentioned that, you know, I think you want to hire like 60 new consultants over the next 60 days or something of that of that matter. When you're looking at hiring somebody, I mean, earlier we talked about, you know, mental attitude, you know, effort, things that you can control. But you probably get so many people that, you know, are interviewing, they apply.

to work at, you know, David consulting or any part of the value team and community, you know, what is something other than what we've already spoke about that, you know, as you're going through an interview and these people, like what would get somebody the job over somebody else?

Antonio Mainolfi (31:47)
I'll make it so simple. And it's a very good question because it's actually something we spoke about about an hour ago. We just a simple conversation behind the scenes. You can have someone they're a perfect fit. College, they're local, they don't have to travel. Maybe they're fit. At this point, you don't know if they have a family, but maybe you saw when they graduated high school, you saw when they graduated college, or you saw when, you know, how many jobs they've had in the past. You could probably tell age.

If they pass the resume, they have sales experience, you don't see too many hops between jobs, are you dating? You've only been with the longest company five months. Why would we hire you? We want a marriage. We want something where you're able to have your kids join and have that conversation, join long-term. The objection is, hey,

I don't know unless I find the best environment. Well, you know because you should have evaluated yourself and you haven't evaluated yourself, maybe this is not the right area. We're not here to test to see if this is good. We have big dreams. ValueTainment's gonna take over the world. That's the mindset. So what's the biggest thing? If you pass the resume, you're crystal clear on the resume, before you even come in for an interview, there's a seven step process that we vet out before even stepping foot in the ValueTainment HQ. Now, they have to read one of Patrick's books.

They have to watch a series of videos. They have to build a business plan. They have a conversation with the SME or a CME, subject matter expert. It's a whole process. There's about 11,000, maybe at this point, 12 to 13,000 applicants and we only hire less than 1%. And from all of that, I mean, it's a fraction, right? From anybody who comes in, by the time they come in person, the biggest thing is a killer instinct. You can have the best resume.

Andrew Lasky (33:25)
Mm-hmm.

Antonio Mainolfi (33:33)
But if you can't come in and have that killer instinct, how are you gonna convince a CEO that you're gonna take his business from going bankrupt to having the ease where his pillow is soft at night again? Or how are you gonna take a spouse, a wife, a father, from not having those bad conversations where they're about to divorce or the business is about to have a divorce? No, what is that paradigm shift? What does that conversation need to have? Can you actually...

Process and have that conversation. Is it the mental toughness the emotional toughness? Is it the identity? Is it the charisma? Is it the trust? What is it that you have that you're able to say? You know what I'm able to help this entrepreneur. Is it the conviction all that you're able to see in person you can shake hands for me It's almost like the back of my hand. Once you shake somebody's hand, you know, man That's that guy or that gal man. I can't wait until they have the opportunity to jump on the phones because you know What what's gonna happen? You know, man he

Andrew Lasky (34:24)
Thank

Antonio Mainolfi (34:29)
Talk's very soft.

Can, say it again, like you don't have those conversations, can you work on a resume, but can you actually have that killer instinct? Can you actually drive? It depends, but I would say the biggest thing is knowing how bad they want it. What's the chip on their shoulder to allow them to keep pushing forward? That matters most.

Andrew Lasky (34:36)
Mm-hmm.

That's awesome. Yeah, I think, you know, especially if you're new to sales, you know, one of the things that, you know, you can do to outperform so many people, you know, in your industry, your teammates, your competition, everybody, is just move with one intention and two urgency. If you can have both of those, you can be, you know, intentful about your day, all of your actions, have your schedule filled, and actually follow up, be on time.

You know, when somebody says, can you send this over to me? You actually do that. That's that all goes like with the killer instinct that you're that you're referring to. So that's that's awesome. So now that you're in management, you know, are you still expected to to go out there and sell and then train your guys at the same time? Or now that you have like more responsibility, you know, how has your role like changed? Is it more now on training than the

the new guys, you know, throughout your hiring process to training to selling like what does that look like for you?

Antonio Mainolfi (35:53)
There's a staircase I typically draw out at this point in time when we're going through training. You're always gonna suck before you get to that next level, right? You're always gonna suck before you get to that next level. You've seen it from the events you've been at with us. But every single day, there's a new level of expectation. Every single day, what you were able to handle.

You're now expected to be here. You're expected to drive. Why? Because I'm working with the founder, a leader, CEO, number one YouTube podcast for entrepreneurs around the world, number one Wall Street bestseller, all these different things, 10 different companies. Level of expectation is there. What am I doing? My role has only gotten far more intense. Am I selling? More than ever. Nothing's changed on that front. In fact, it's probably tried to quadruple. You can't do anything unless there's moral authority. Am I gonna listen to someone who can't even?

Really? You mean I can do this, that easy, and you can't even, why would I listen to you? You have to have that moral authority, that's one. Two, being in management, you have to convince others that they can do things that they never even thought was possible. Highlight their blind spots, drive them, poke them, push them. Sometimes maybe I'll push them close to their limits and say, okay, is this someone who is mentally there? Is this someone who wants it, or they just have an ego? Being able to trust, but verify, have those conversations. What's my role? Driving, selling, pushing.

Also, that's the best part about it, by the way, because it's like just what I mentioned here, the conversation is to feel why entrepreneurs do what they do. you want a legacy business, why? Because if this is what happened with my parents, my family, this, that is so dang exciting because I've been talking to it from the get-go, it's three years now, look at where they are, it's so dang invigorating. I can't even take that credit, all that credit goes to Patrick, but just to be able to know the impact we're creating, that's where conviction comes from.

Andrew Lasky (37:34)
Mm-hmm.

Antonio Mainolfi (37:44)
Selling yes, driving yes, pushing people to do what they never thought was possible. And what that means is behind the scenes, we have the formula to develop leaders who develop leaders who develop leaders. And Patrick says, you guys, you know what? You know why I'm so convinced we're gonna win is because we have the formula to develop leaders. And it's the culture, it's our credo, it's everything we follow, but it's all thanks to Patrick because we know being a good candidate for a job,

whether it's bed-daving, consulting, value-taming, you have to have a positive attitude. There's so much behind the scenes, but the number one determination, if you don't have a positive attitude, we're not interested. We're changing the world. We want you to be at your fullest potential. If you can't find it, maybe this is not the right opportunity. We'll try something else. But of course, we're in the results business. You have a quota, you have things to drive and push for. That's the name of the game, right? It sells. We're in the results-based business. If you can't make it, it's not for you. Next.

Andrew Lasky (38:24)
Mm-hmm.

That's awesome. Yeah. So you guys are, you constantly developing yourselves, developing your teammates, and then also developing your clients. You know, one thing that you said earlier that, you know, kind of like struck a chord with me is, you know, how do you take a business owner or founder that is about to go bankrupt where literally that phone call, that could be their last decision that they ever make for their company. And so

be able to have that conviction, that drive, that understanding of the value that your company brings and what you can do for them is incredible. So Antonio, thank you so much for providing the insights and we're gonna get to the final part of our show here, which we call the final four. These are the same four questions that we ask everybody that comes on the show. And so the first one is gonna be,

What is your favorite sales book or your favorite sales movie?

Antonio Mainolfi (39:45)
Sales book or sales movie. The first book that came to mind, it's actually the book I'm reading now with my team, it's Sales EQ. Right, we can talk about all these different sales books, but Sales EQ, from being able to understand the conversations you can have and nimble and navigate and dance in the conversation, you have to have your own EQ on the call. I'd say if there's a movie, it's gonna be Wolf of Wall Street, 100%.

Andrew Lasky (40:08)
Awesome.

What's like one sales strategy or tactic that you implemented that just clicked and just changed everything for you?

Antonio Mainolfi (40:21)
Genuine, just being genuine. Listen, if this is going to help this entrepreneur, they've been running this business, they've been driving here, they've been having these conversations, they have no idea who to trust, they've been burned in the past, man, I'm gonna be your best friend. I'm gonna be your best friend because if you do decide to give me the green light and we charge the card, guess what? You just told me that I'm interested in seeing where you can take this relationship. So being genuine and just giving him all the right cards up front. I'm gonna serve them by making sure I ask them the right questions.

I'm gonna challenge them by getting the right answers to those questions. And if it makes sense and we're a fit, I'm gonna say, there's no reason, based off what you shared, there's no reason why we don't move to the next steps. Having those conversations, being genuine would be my answer.

Andrew Lasky (41:05)
I love that. What is your most favorite purchase that you've ever made with the commission check?

Antonio Mainolfi (41:14)
Man, I've made some awesome purchases. Yes, yep, yep, no, that's been incredible. I'll go a little deeper than just a new car. I would say the biggest thing for me is being able to support and drive or support and being able to buy things for my parents and my family. We're giving back. You gave me such an incredible life. They don't know this, but going to Italy, whether it's Formula One, my dad loves Formula One.

Andrew Lasky (41:18)
think you told me the other day you just got a new car recently.

Antonio Mainolfi (41:42)
Being able to just be a part of experiences and not having to worry, don't worry, it's been taken care of. You're being able for me to have those conversations with myself and say, man, this is what I'm driving for. Being able to front that check or front the experience, that's been incredible. But giving back for the family, I'm gonna go that direction.

Andrew Lasky (41:58)
That's awesome. love that. so knowing what you know now in the years of experience that you had now have in sales, if you had to start all over again, what would be the very first thing that you would do to get it all back?

Antonio Mainolfi (42:13)
If I had to start all over again, but I knew exactly what I do right now, pick up the phone and start freaking dialing. It would be work ethic, it would be, you've done it before, you have the identity, you have the courage, the charisma, the drive, the know-how. At this point, it just depends on how bad you want it, and if that's clear for you, just get to work. If what you have and what you're selling and what you're driving for,

Andrew Lasky (42:16)
Mm-hmm.

yeah.

Antonio Mainolfi (42:40)
You believe in it, you trust in it, and you're gonna hear this from all the gurus out there, right? believe in the product or you can sell it and things like that. Do they actually need it before you can sell the pen? But if you actually fully know that this is gonna help and support this entrepreneur, I'm gonna do whatever it takes to make sure they have it. Because if they say no on the phone, they sold me. I don't wanna keep getting sold. But being able to get back up and keep trying again, it's that mental know-how and keep pushing for it because you're made for it.

Andrew Lasky (43:00)
Yep.

Antonio Mainolfi (43:07)
what that one know before you get that yes, man, when you get that yes, it's the most dang rewarding. Yes.

Andrew Lasky (43:13)
Yep, it sure is. Antonio, you're an incredible guy. Thank you so much for coming on the show. If people want to learn more about you, where can they find you?

Antonio Mainolfi (43:23)
Absolutely. So online social media, it's Tony talking more than happy to have a conversation and join but Drew, man, it's always a great conversation. My man, I'm looking forward to it. We'll see you soon.

Andrew Lasky (43:35)
Awesome. Thank you, Antonio.

Antonio Mainolfi (43:37)
You bet.

Andrew Lasky (43:39)
Awesome, dude. Good shit, man. Let's go. Let's go.

Antonio Mainolfi (43:42)
That was cool.

Honestly, time flew by. I don't even know what time it is. 840.

Andrew Lasky (43:46)
Yeah, it's

perfect, dude. 845. So yeah, bro, that was awesome. This is my first time being on this side of the microphone. dude, you crushed it, bro. You did such a great job. I can't wait for this to come out. I'm going to have my virtual assistant top this up for us. It's going to be live on everything. YouTube, the video, then audio everywhere.

Antonio Mainolfi (43:57)
Okay.

Andrew Lasky (44:14)
Um, you know, so many amazing, you know, uh, bits that you had in there. So, um, you know, I'll make sure that, you know, he goes through and he, he does some cool like edits for you and stuff so that you can use it for social media. Um, but yeah, bro, thank you so much. And, um, you know, I guess, you know, is there any like feedback that you would have for me? Cause this is my first time like, you know, being the interviewer. Um, so it's good.

Antonio Mainolfi (44:43)
Yeah, no,

I mean I had fun. It was awesome. I'd say at one point in the beginning we were going kind of fast question answer boom boom boom Wasn't bad. I mean I can handle it right but like You know kind of like you know, I'm curious like why would you kind of sitting the emotion like I always tell my guys like You know question answer really they kind of just go deeper one more level before you to the next question to kind of see where it takes them or like they always say like, you know mirroring people like

Andrew Lasky (44:49)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Antonio Mainolfi (45:12)
whatever the last thing they said, just say the last word and just like, they'll continue talking. I don't think it was a problem at all, because you let me talk a lot. At one point I was like, well that's a lot of questions, but it was good. Other than that, had fun. I like not knowing what you're gonna ask me, because it allows me just to be free fall.

Andrew Lasky (45:15)
Yup.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, dude, you did

an amazing job.

Antonio Mainolfi (45:33)
Cool, that was exciting. Other than that, no, no. think maybe more of like, hey, what do want my audience to see? By watching this, what are they gonna get out? And we said a bunch of things here, actually.

Andrew Lasky (45:49)
Mm-hmm.

Antonio Mainolfi (45:52)
hey, why do you do this? Or what's your sales process? hey, kind of like on each one, what am I gonna uncover? Man, this guy's really good at communication. How do you get so good at communication? Pulling that up so they can pull out a lesson from each one, I'm sure there's so many that you shared on. But maybe something like that, where it's like if we're gonna build sales and things like that, they know if they watch it, they're gonna learn something new. Like, oh shoot, man, that guy is dressed really good. Man, do you have to dress this good? Or are you just doing it for the pot? I don't know. Stuff like that.

Andrew Lasky (46:07)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah,

yeah, yeah. I think at least to like start, you know, I have somebody coming on from a different industry. And so just getting the audience to like, you know, actually understand what each industry is like and what the day to day is and like what it takes. So yeah, no, bro, that's that's that's awesome feedback. So I'm excited for this thing to go live. And as always, bro, I appreciate you so much.

And I know you were telling me about something, it Friday or when?

Antonio Mainolfi (46:56)
Yeah, yeah, I'm glad you brought it up. So Friday, 7.30, if you can make it, maybe like shoot for like 7.20. We're gonna have members come check out the actual cigar lounge. you know, being there, they're actually, you'll walk into the humidor, know, grab a cigar if you want. They're gonna take your phones, they're gonna put in a Faraday bag, no phones, high level. It's gonna be legit. I know it was something you were considering being a part of. I said, hey, at least get a sneak peek.

you know, kind of see if it's actually something you want to be a part of, have some good conversations, concierge, the bartenders there and things like that. But I got some crazy news. I know when I shared to you the beginning, like NFL players, like birthdays and things like that, we had like a damn near team here today. NFL, just all these people showing up, like behind the scenes. You, let's say if it makes sense and you want to be a part of it, the rate that you're locked in, forever it's going to be that rate. When we have more locations, when we have different levels, floors, units.

when we have comedians from around the world, like you get priority access because you're a part of it. There's so much, right, with Patrick and he's selling us the dream. We had a meeting about it today. But yeah, check it out Friday. It's 7.30 to 10. I'll show up for a few hours. I got a few guys coming. There's probably gonna be about maybe like 40, 50 of us. You'll meet some cool people and then we'll have a time.

Andrew Lasky (48:14)
Cool, awesome brother, yeah. It looks like I can most likely attend right now. I do have to double check a couple of things, but it seems like I can probably make that. again, my man, I appreciate you brother. I'm glad that we're gonna start seeing each other a lot more often. And yeah, I look forward to having this come out.

Antonio Mainolfi (48:26)
Do it.

Yeah, I appreciate you. Thanks for the trust and having me on. look forward to seeing how goes.

Andrew Lasky (48:40)
Sounds good, homie. Talk to you soon,

Antonio Mainolfi (48:42)
See you soon,