Sean Tierney shares his background as a musician, kite surfer, entrepreneur, podcast host, digital nomad and, since 2015, the Director of Sales at Pagely. Tasked with selling B-to-B to Fortune 500 companies, he explains the techniques he used to increase Pagely’s sales by 70% in a single year while traveling the world with Remote Year, living in 18 countries, and closing his single largest deal from a Moroccan bowling alley. Sean then breaks down the sales systems he developed into 7 steps but emphasizes the importance of establishing product-market-fit before attempting any scaling techniques. Post-product-market-fit, he explains the importance of starting with “flow mapping” the lead experience. He then shares the next step of measuring metrics and KPIs. Next he explains how to build a sales “process”. Then he explains his concept of “Flintstoning” and why it is so important. After that he explains how to start “delegating”, and eventually to start “automating”. And finally, he talks about the more advanced technique of “Scaling Personal Attention”, and discusses the “Choose Your Own Adventure” interactive video experience he developed or Pagely. We then move on to talk about Sean’s world travel adventures and his experience hosting The Nomad Podcast. He then explains the scope of his “Nomad Prep Academy” that he created as a course for helping people get into the digital nomad lifestyle. And finally he shares his vision of the future of the remote work and how the digital nomad ecosystem is evolving, and he explains why he thinks people deserve to lead extraordinary lives and how nomadic travel can help them to do so.
Hosted by Matt Bowles
21: Increasing Sales 70% in a Year While Working Remotely from 18 Countries and Closing Deals in a Moroccan Bowling Alley with Sean Tierney.
Episode #21: Increasing Sales 70% in a Year While Working Remotely from 18 Countries and Closing Deals in a Moroccan Bowling Alley with Sean Tierney.
Hosted by Matt Bowles
21: Increasing Sales 70% in a Year While Working Remotely from 18 Countries and Closing Deals in a Moroccan Bowling Alley with Sean Tierney.
Episode Summary
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About the Guest
Sean Tierney
Sean Tierney is the Director of Sales for Pagely, a managed WordPress hosting provider, that serves clients such as Disney, Warner Brothers, Comcast and many others you would surely know. And he does it while working remotely from some of the most epic locations around the world. In Sean’s first year of being a digital nomad, he increased Pagely’s annual revenue by 70% Year over year, and he did it all while travelling the world on the Remote Year program and living in 18 different countries on 4 continents that year. In the last 3 years, Sean’s sales expertise helped Pagely to grow from 8 to 38 employees and HE has subsequently gotten international media attention and speaking engagements around the world for the sales systems and processes he has built, including his concept of flintstoning, his automation philosophy on scaling personal attention, and the “Choose your own adventure” video consultation experience he designed and implemented at Pagely. Sean is also the host of the Nomad Podcast and the founder of NomadPrep Academy, an online training course to help more people transition into the nomadic lifestyle.
What You'll Learn
- How to Build a Location-Independent Sales Department from Scratch by Systematizing, Delegating and Automating
- How to Scale Personal Attention and Create an Interactive Video Sales Consultation
- Why We Were Meant to Live Extraordinary Lives and the Importance of Personal Growth Through Travel
Links From the Episode
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SEAN’S COURSE
- Nomad Prep Academy (Use Discount Code “MAVERICK” to get 20% Off)
WINE SHARED DURING THE INTERVIEW
BOOK SEAN RECOMMENDS
WORK-TRAVEL PROGRAMS AND NOMAD EVENTS MENTIONED
- Remote Year (Get $100 discount using our link)
- Nomad Cruise
PEOPLE MENTIONED
RESOURCES MENTIONED
- Active Campaign (CRM)
- Calendly
- Camberin House (Flintstoning, Canada)
- Draw.io (Flow Chart Software)
- Google Analytics
- Infusionsoft (CRM)
- Interactive Video Sales Consult built with Dot.vu and Zapier.com
- Reply.io
- Steve Blank Udacity Course
- Trello
OTHER MAVERICK SHOW INTERVIEW MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
TRAVEL-SIZE FITNESS SYSTEM SEAN RECOMMENDS
CONTENT THAT SEAN READS
LOCATION WHERE THE EPISODE WAS RECORDED
SEAN’S TOP 3 TRAVEL DESTINATIONS
SEAN’S TOP 3 BUCKET LIST TRAVEL DESTINATIONS
OTHER DESTINATIONS MENTIONED
- Australia
- Prague, Czech Republic
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- Morocco
- New Zealand
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Valencia, Spain
- Los Angeles, USA
- Phoenix, USA
Check Flight Prices to Any of These Destinations
TOP 5 FAVORITE HIP HOP ARTIST OF ALL TIME
FOLLOW SEAN
Time Stamped Show Notes
[02:41] MATT AND SEAN SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCE TOGETHER IN BRAZIL
- Describing the Beach Towns
- What Sean loves about Kite Surfing
- Sean’s Song and Guitar Performance in Brazilian Portuguese
- Caipirinha Street in Jericoacoara
- Rooftop Nightclubs Open Only During Happy Hour
[17:24] THE PRODUCT/SERVICE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
- Reducing Risk When Building a Startup
- Focus on Finding Product-Market Fit
[20:21] SCALING A SALES DEPARTMENT
- Mapping Out Your “Flows” of Information
- Mapping Out Your Customer Lifecycle
[23:09] TRACKING METRICS AND KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
- The Difference Between ‘Metrics’ and ‘KPIs”
- The Importance of Measurements
- Using Data to Optimizing Micro-Conversion Points
[26:03] ESTABLISHING A SALES PROCESS
- Establish a Pipeline with “Stages” Relevant to You
- Move Leads Through the Funnel
- Track High Level Data First
- Get More Granular Over Time
[28:03] FLINTSTONING
- Do Everything Manually First.
- Don’t Automate the Wrong Things Too Early
[29:15] DELEGATING AND AUTOMATING
- Hire Other People to Run the Systems You Built
- Create Machine Automation for Other Systems You Built
- Understanding Which Systems to Automate vs. Delegate
[35:36] SCALING PERSONAL ATTENTION
- How to Deliver a Boutique Experience at Scale
- Pagely’s “Choose Your Own Adventure” Video Sales Consultation
- Auto-Tagging Prospects for Segmented Drip-Marketing Follow Up
- Increasing Closing Percentages by Humanizing Yourself Through Video First
- How to Build an Interactive Video Sales Consultation
[49:53] HOW TO EXTRACT MORE VALUE OUT OF EXISTING LEAD TRAFFIC
- IP lookup of website visitors to create B-to-B stakeholder outreach targets
- Cascading personalized outreach to the 5 key stakeholders in a company
[55:45] RUNNING THE SALES DEPARTMENT REMOTELY
- Closing Pagely’s largest sale in a Moroccan bowling alley
[57:03] THE BEGINNING OF SEAN’S WORLD TRAVEL
- Sean’s Study Abroad Experience in Ecuador during college
- Climbing South America’s Largest Active Volcano…And Falling Over the Edge
- Spending the Night Huddled with 6 People in an Ecuadorian ATM Booth
[1:03:56] SEAN’S CHOICE TO BECOME A FULL-TIME DIGITAL NOMAD
- How Sean Found and Chose to Participate in the Remote Year Program
- Explaining the Remote Year Program Experience
- The Value of the Remote Year Alumni Network
- The Depth of Connection and Community that Forms on the Remote Year Program
[1:15:27] SEAN’S PERSONAL GROWTH THROUGH WORLD TRAVEL
- Sean’s #1 Reflection and Takeaway from this Travel Experience
- Why Travel Makes Us All Better People
- Why Sean Believes We Are Meant to Lead Extraordinary Lives
- The Power of Travel to Revitalize Us and Shock Us Back to Life
[1:20:00] THE FUTURE OF REMOTE WORK AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE NOMAD LIFESTYLE
- Why Sean Sees Remote Work Increasing into the Future and The Benefits of It
- How Sean Sees the Digital Nomad Eco-System Evolving
[1:21:50] SEAN’S COURSE: NOMAD PROP ACADEMY
- Why Sean Created Nomad Prep Academy
- Sean’s Motive in Creating The Best Course on Transitioning into the Nomad Lifestyle
- Overview of the Content of Nomad Prep Academy
- How to Overcome Financial and Logistical Obstacles to Entering the Nomad Lifestyle
- How to Convince Your Employer to Let You Work Remotely
- The Mindset Required to Become a Digital Nomad
[1:31:47] SEAN’S NOMAD PODCAST
- Why Sean Started Nomad Podcast
- What Types of Guests and Topics Sean Features on Nomad Podcast
[1:34:39] THE LIGHTNING ROUND
- Sean’s Top 3 Business Books
- Top Blog That Sean Reads
- Travel Fitness System That Sean Uses
- Sean’s Top 3 Travel Recommendations
- Sean’s Top 3 Bucket List Destinations
[1:41:22] FOLLOW SEAN ON SOCIAL MEDIA
[1:42:10] SEAN’S TOP 5 HIP HOP ARTISTS OF ALL TIME
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