Listen to David Garascia, a seasoned consumer products commercial leader with a $3.5B sales record, share his secrets of successful sales strategies, growth perspectives and the importance of occasionally changing lanes. He'll walk us through the fundamentals of sales, from the importance of consistency and follow-up to influencing actions through words. Garascia understands the art of persuasion, importance of staying curious, and the necessity of distilling knowledge - insights that are invaluable in today's competitive business landscape.
Listen to David Garascia, a seasoned consumer products commercial leader with a $3.5B sales record, share his secrets of successful sales strategies, growth perspectives and the importance of occasionally changing lanes. He'll walk us through the fundamentals of sales, from the importance of consistency and follow-up to influencing actions through words. Garascia understands the art of persuasion, importance of staying curious, and the necessity of distilling knowledge - insights that are invaluable in today's competitive business landscape.
Welcome to the third growth option podcast, where we talk with business leaders and innovators hungry to drive growth that can be faster than internal organic growth and less risky than acquisition. Your moderator is Bernal Dunke-Schpuller, chief Sherpa and CEO at Realign, who has led private equity owned distributors through turnarounds and growth. With battle proven leaders from all frontiers, we want to provoke thinking about business growth beyond conventional wisdom and binary choices.
Speaker 2:Hey, I'm Bernal, your host, talking today with David Garacia. Did I say that right, garasha, Garasha? So I didn't say it right at all. That's okay. Yeah, you know, but I'm sure you and I are not. This is not the first time it happened to either one of us that our last name was pronounced oddly.
Speaker 3:Duke of Stuyler and Garasha.
Speaker 2:Yeah, garasha.
Speaker 2:I love it. David Garasha, consumer products commercial leader with some great success stories getting products onto national retail chain shelves. I read somewhere about a three and a half billion, with a B billion dollar number of commercial placement that you've been involved in with big brands like Solo Cups or Denone, and some scars on your face right as all hard charging people have and invariably get. So I really kind of want to dig deep on. You know, your perspectives on growth, which are different at the ripe old age of I can say that, can I say that out loud how old you are? But anyway, you're not 30 and you're not 40.
Speaker 3:I'm not 30. I'm not 40. That's right, we'll just leave it at that.
Speaker 2:We'll leave it at that. That's fair, and you're younger than me so you know. But no, I want to really kind of talk through this concept of you know, changing lanes. But first of all, welcome to the third growth option, podcast David.
Speaker 3:Hey Ben, first of all it's I'm privileged and honored that you would reach out to me. I know we've collaborated on some things and we've shared stories and we have a mutual number of mutual connections. But was again, I was honored when you reached out and I thought sure would love to participate in part of your journey and share a little bit of that. Mine so happy to be here and looking forward to talking a little bit today.
Speaker 2:Terrific. So heart charging, commercializing work, you know getting products into Kroger or Walmart or you know big retail chains. You know it's pretty much what I call mano a mano warfare. I think it's competitive, it's very competitive and from all accounts you've really enjoyed and sort of thrived in that highly competitive environment in your 30s and 40s. What did you love about that the most?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think you know, from a commercial sales point to commercial development, for me it was really moving people to action with your words. You know, and that's really you know, sales, business development, that's really you know. When you distill it all down, that's what we're doing, right, you know you're walking in your town of story to a stakeholder, decision maker, and you're getting into commit to something, taking your product and then either promoting it or giving you better shelf space, etc. To access, access to consumer. It's, it's competitive and I think you know that's the.
Speaker 3:I think the fun of it is, you know your, it's a sport, really it is you know. So, when you mentioned the beginning, like this, three and a half billion dollars, that's a number I've kind of kept score throughout my career. I do have notes of hey, you know I sold this deal, I sold that deal and you know, as a sales guy, maybe I rounded up a little bit, maybe it's 3.3. And you know it's, it's competitive and I think that the you know the journey of a salesperson, you know can zig and zag and there's different ways you can do it. But whether you're calling on Walmart, whether you're calling on Costco, whether you're calling on McDonald's or whether you're calling on a small, you know, a privately held client the goal is still the same.
Speaker 3:you know you want to move them to action through your words and you know there are a lot of people that are typically behind those. You know you're the salesperson, the sales representative or whatever the title may be, and the titles change and industries change and you've got a lot of people behind you. You've got marketing and product development and legal and finance and all those people, but you're the one standing in front of the other person. You're the one there to sell that story. So for me, it was just the first time I did it. It was I, you know jokingly say I felt the roar of the crowd. You felt what? The roar of the crowd? The roar of the crowd.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's like you know, you went in and you, you, your first sale and you, hey, you know I'll do this and well, I like this. And then you, you, you want to go get that, it's a thrill, right. And so you get like a dopamine rush. So you want to go do it again, and you do it again, and luckily it's a healthy dopamine rush, you know, and you're like, wow, I can, I can, I think I can make a career out of this. And then you know, as you, of course, as you rise to an organization or as you get more industry experience and a different experience and with different organizations, then you start to crystallize that knowledge and say, okay, you know, really comes down to you know, I think if you talk to anybody it's been successful in business development or sales.
Speaker 3:However you want to want to bracket it, there's just really a core set of things you got to do every day, the basics you know, to use the sports analogy the blocking, the tackling. Those are the things that matter consistency and follow up and all that. But ultimately for me I mean you know, long winded way of answering your question it was, it's competitive and you just really get when you sell the deal, when you close it, when you have the product on the shelf. You just feel for me it's, it's. You feel like you just want to gain. You know it's fun and then you know you want to wake up tomorrow and do it again.
Speaker 2:The phrase you used reminded me of the quote unquote words matter. You do choose your words carefully in order to move people, in order to make a point, in order to persuade, in order to order to prepare for a meeting with a Walmart buyer. You choose your words carefully. I mean you. You spent time preparing for the meeting and thinking about it before you walk into the meeting. You don't just shoot from the hip right.
Speaker 3:I think it's. I would say yes to both. There is some shooting from the hip. Yes, I think you know it's the old adage. Whether it's, you know, a sports playbook or a battle plan, they all look good on paper. In the moment, the moment the action starts, the shooting from the hip is a learned skill.
Speaker 3:I would say very early in my career. You know my first, I would say I started my career with Coca Cola Bottling Company and I was there very, very short period of time. It's very capital intensive business, the bottling guy. And so I said I don't know that, I want to spend my time here. And so I went to work for PepsiCo, you know Blue Chip Company, fantastic training and development, and they kind of had a rule that for every hour you would spend in front of the customer, you should have 40 hours of prep work. So when you did walk in, you had game plan, every possible scenario, any objection that the buyer or the decision maker could possibly have. You were prepared to go and sell through, sell around, overcome those objections.
Speaker 3:And that's really when you're young in your career, I think it's really it's like the fundamentals in a sport, right?
Speaker 3:Or if you're my oldest, excuse me, my middle son's learned to play guitar and you know the basics and the notes and the chords and all that matters and you have to get the fundamentals down, just like you would in any sport, whether it's baseball or basketball. But then as you kind of grow through your career, then you realize the best sales presentations, the best, most successful meetings I've had in my career where we've had a big win, the sales deck never even came out of your briefcase. You know, ultimately, you, I think you, you learned to develop the rapport and it's. There's another human being across the desk from you and it doesn't matter what their gender or the race or their background, they're another human being and they've got their objectives and they've got their organization they're trying to support and, and you know, the more you can work to collaborate and I think that's been part of my journey, has been the collaboration piece is really when two organizations you've got to win that both of you hear the roar of the crowd.
Speaker 2:You know the way I think about it is you have to prepare and then you have to remain curious. Right, because I made that mistake early in my career where I would you know, do that 40 hours of preparation for the one hour and and the PowerPoint, and blah, blah, blah, and it might have been a 40 page PowerPoint, and and if I, if somebody cut me off on page 3 or on page 33 out of 40, I would get itchy. As opposed to later now, I'm like it's cool, you know, or maybe we'd never even open the PowerPoint, but the preparation helped me kind of get my mind right. And then the curiosity piece helps me To listen and keep moving and I think it's interesting.
Speaker 3:You mentioned curiosity. Like I'm a very curious individual by nature and I never really took me a while if you're my professional career to realize I had and I couldn't take when that aha Mim was, if there even was an aha. But curiosity really propels Sales and business development. So we the term today, which was which we didn't use when I started out in the business you know today they call it a discovery process. In the discovery process with your client or your target or your prospect, you're learning about their business, you're learning about their needs. You know how can I add value. And curiosity really drives.
Speaker 3:You know the profession has driven me and you know folks, if you're willing to dig in and learn the customer and and think like the customer and be an advocate for the customer in your organization, it matters. So I think you know you're right, beno is like the goal shouldn't be to get through all the slides in the deck. The goal should be to understand the customer's needs and how you may be able to serve them. And also I'd say you know the old adage, you know and learn this working in a private equity company Not all business is good business not every revenue dollar is a good dollar.
Speaker 3:Right, I mean, you've got sometimes you know being able to look the customer now and say, you know, I, I don't have a solution for you, but I'm glad we know each other. One day we may do business together, but it's not gonna be now, because I don't have anything that you're gonna be interested in. Don't, don't force it. You know the tech world will call that fail fast or get to know you and oh, get there fast, because then you okay, now I'll move to my next target and go on.
Speaker 2:So you mentioned private equity and so you started. You know, I did the first probably a couple decades of your career in blue chip companies.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's right. First 15 PepsiCo and Denone, you know, to blue chip companies, right.
Speaker 2:And then you did some private equity PE assignments, which is kind of a different lane In terms of culture, work environment, way of working compared to, you know, fortune 50 companies. Any takeaways from the private equity world.
Speaker 3:Private equity, I think, is painted with a broad brush of. You know it's the for those that this will probably date myself again. But you know, watch Wall Street and Gordon Gekko and you know things of that nature that private equity is is a pejorative and essentially it's just. You know they're private investors and most of them are really a good firms and most of them are seeking to have sustainable business. You know Warren Buffett yeah, I essentially private equity. You can just, as a consumer, if you want to buy a Piece of his share, he's able to do that. I think private equity for me. I learned a couple of things. I learned that you know time kills deals. You know, have the, the patience to wait around for lots of reasons, either because your investors, the clock is ticking, etc. And then also the amount that you can accomplish, that a team or an individual can accomplish Without all the resources that you thought you needed to accomplish something without the fortune 50 type resources.
Speaker 3:Absolutely right. We have to work in a resource constrained environment with something that Was an eye-opener for me and I and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the fast pace. Not everybody, I don't say it's the fast pace. It the pace probably isn't much different than like working in a PepsiCo or Even what I'm doing now. You know this. This, this could be sold at any moment. This could be Transacted at any moment the company, not the product, correct?
Speaker 3:Yeah, the firm, your organization, you're part of, and so there, I think you have to have a sense of hey, I can, I can do this on. You know, if this doesn't work out, I, I'm in the sales profession. On the, okay, I'll move on to my next opportunity. Fortunately for me, I did it four times in private equity. All four times we know we were able to was it was a good thing. I mean, the company was able to achieve its objectives of either transacting and being acquired, emerging, and you learn a lot. Can I tell people earlier in your career, like, if you can go and do private equity and be part of that, I think you learn a lot about yourself, can it? Just, you just operate a different environment and it's probably much easier do.
Speaker 3:Today. So many organizations and firms are being acquired Private equity for lots of different reasons older firms, there's a little bit stagnant, you need to push, etc. But Is a different environment than working in a you know fortune fifty company. They tend to move in a pace that let's focus on what really matters. At the end of the day, serving the customer tends to be their goal and that's, that's the objective. And so for sales person, it's almost the greatest place to be, because they just want to drive top line revenue, bring new customers in, ideally in a sustainable manner, try to find potentially strategic buyer or partner. So it was really good.
Speaker 3:Good and interesting for me and I probably learn more about who I am and what I wanted to do as I aged into my career. And even you know, after doing this for twenty five years I can send. I'm still, I guess, maybe trying to figure out what I want to do with myself and I'm okay with that. Now, like ten years ago, I was pretty nervous. I'm like man, I should really kind of know what I want to do, what's the rest of my career. But then I thought, now I wake up in the morning, I'm like I live in the moment, I enjoy what I'm doing, I enjoy the role that I'm in and I learned that through private equity of just enjoy the position you're in now. Do the best you can, continue to build your network, continue to make it about people.
Speaker 2:There'll be something over the horizon for you to do tomorrow one of the things you mentioned to me last time we spoke was that you are more focused these days than you were, you know, in your Twenty, thirty's and coaching those around you. You know team members I would imagine people reporting to you, but we can coach colleagues as well, at the same level. But you mentioned one particular person and a woman that you're coaching or you're working with.
Speaker 3:I think she was born and overseas I was my boss, that's my gm, okay, okay okay, my boss, yeah, so my boss, and so she'll likely listen to this one I posted on the car.
Speaker 3:Fantastic, she's our gm here in the united states for bell brands. My employer, she, you know, I know what her background she is iranian and she was one of the first, if not the first, female general managers of a large company in iran. So fantastic, right. And so she comes. She spent some time in france with bell and now she's here in the us and I'm.
Speaker 3:The perspective that she brings, you know, comes from different culture, more closed culture I think that you would have here in the west. Is it be challenged, I think, to think differently? Right? So sometimes you come into, I know what I'm doing, I've done this before. This is, you know, you have your muscle memory etc. And you come into the To the business day and to be challenged by somebody with just a different mindset, perspective, but also, she's challenged, I think, all of us anybody works for, works with her, whatever your level, new organization is, let's focus on what matters, right. Let's focus on people, let's focus on customers. You know, those are things that really matter and the rest is, you know, we don't have to take any of this personally. Let's focus on the things that matter, and that's the people so you've taken away different perspectives, different experiences, different Thought processes.
Speaker 2:Working in fortune fifty environments, working in private equity environments bell is probably, would you put it, in the realm of a fortune fifty company, or maybe a little bit Smaller maybe smaller you would, I think you know, from a us standpoint, be what we call the market company that's one of the things that I am enjoying, have enjoyed and treasure in my career.
Speaker 2:I think you and I are very similar in that way that we have sort of Worked in different environments and size, companies and cultures and perspectives, and you know, I cannot imagine myself doing what I'm doing without having Gone through different experiences like that. You use a great. I think it was you who said you know some, some people have what having thirty years of experience, but they actually have one year of experience that they applied thirty times over yeah, yeah, you are right, yeah, right those those people that sort of didn't really learn that.
Speaker 2:They just learned one thing and they kept using that drink over and over again.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think you know what is. It's tough to you don't know this when you younger in your career. Right, you look up and you know, you think, okay, I got a long career ahead of me and you're not really sure where it's gonna go. I think you know people, your aspiration I certainly was, you know, wanted to move to the next level, get more responsibility and, as I mentioned, I can join the role that you're in. That was a key learning for me.
Speaker 3:I want to get to the next level so quickly, not so much financially, wasn't really so much about money although that did play a part when you're younger, obviously. What was this more about? Like I can do more. I believe in myself, I can do more.
Speaker 3:I think what I would tell my younger self now, right, if I can say hey, dave, just enjoy and master the role you're in, do the best you can, the role you're in. That's gonna give you number one peace of mind so you can go do your job more effectively and, you know, won't have as many sleepless nights worrying about am I gonna get promoted, am I the right guy? Am I the person that they're gonna? They're gonna tap next, and I think that matters immensely to just enjoy the role that you're in. And that's kind of like I would say today, where you talk about coaching and developing people, I mean ultimately through my entire career, where I would say the one constant has always been, really, when you step back, businesses about people, right, and so I hear people in this organization or that organization or the other organization whatever and I'll talk about well, you know, we're dysfunctional here when you get more than two people in a room. You got dysfunction right, cuz everyone's got an opinion sometimes when there's one.
Speaker 3:But it's like you know people together, you know everybody has a different perspective and I think the folks that I've had a chance to interact with and you know Talk about in their career and give coaching and guys development is like the one team, one dream mentality, right, and I think that's that's changed a little bit. I mean, when I start my career was very most organizations and these are good organizations these were some of the best. They're a wanna say autocratic, but they weren't democracies, right, and you had a leader, and this is the list is our objective, this is what we're gonna do and that's not acceptable to you. Then, okay, it's been nice work with you. I'm where I think today it's the others. More middle ground is how we be collaborative and Innovation, you know, comes from everybody in the organization, not just the innovation department. That's better.
Speaker 3:So I think you see that part of that's the change in the, the different generations that come into the workspace. I'm a gen Xer, so you know we can't where the generation feel like you know, everybody's ignored us. We have a president gen X and we talk about the millenials and baby boomers and we're like putting our hand up like hey, what about us? You know, you know we matter to and we're kinda like we were the last generation. I guess it kind of understood was like to not.
Speaker 3:You know, not have digital is part of our life, and I have a screen is part of our life, and now we live in a different world and I'm rambling a little bit, but I think where I'm going with all this is when you get further down the line in your career would probably brings me the greatest satisfaction is I work with people that are older than me. I work with people that are my, my contemporaries, I work with people younger and it's just fascinating that everybody brings that unique kind of perspective and when you're trying to solve and reach the customer and I always remind everybody our customers are the same way yeah, we got to serve customers of different ages and different genders and races and backgrounds and cultures, and so it does matter to have have all those people to table. I think you can only do that by the. I think the old career model was you know, go work at pepsi for thirty years or work for procter and gamble for thirty years. I think today that's a disadvantage if you spend all your time it was more linear.
Speaker 2:There was a prescribed beginning, middle and end. At the end there is a you know the golden watch at the retirement party and you use the term career portfolio Is how you look at your background and experience. Well, I've got a good stock portfolio, I've got some experience in this group and I've got some experience in that group, type of company, type of market etc. Talk a little bit about this portfolio versus just kind of a linear approach.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, I mean, I think you you kind of teed up nicely when you say you know, some people do thirty years of the same thing. They just do it year over year over year. Even though you might be taking different roles in a company, you still have that. It's the culture. I think it's Imagine if you you've been fortunate to live and do business in other countries I've been fortunate to travel in many countries and do business. I think, like if you only did business in the us, if you only did business in Europe, your mindset would be uniquely different. I think that's the same way with your career, like if you spend Most of your career, all of your career, one, one organization or even in one industry. Quite frankly, I think you just you don't have a perspective on different ways to do things, different ways to approach the consumer, different ways to innovate. And I think, as we, you know, the world changes faster and faster each day with technology and organizations are looking for folks that can be nimble, can adapt and can solve their business objectives. But also back to that sales and discovery process. You know, how can I bring all of my experiences, my learned experiences, my crystallized knowledge, how do I sit in front of the customer. Maybe we'll have a breakthrough moment with that customer, maybe we'll find a different way to do things. So I really do believe in diversity of career matters immensely today, much more than ever ever.
Speaker 3:Did you know? I started my career? Was you know if you, if you change jobs every five years, you're a job offer? Today it's, you know, really, two years, I think, is probably where it is. You know, people want to see two years of mostly to see if we're able to have success year over year. Is that or is it just a good luck and good timing?
Speaker 3:So and I'm not proposing to anybody that's listening like you, should change jobs every two years. But don't be afraid, don't be fearful. You know, if you see an opportunity, if someone's you know, certainly if someone's approaching you because they've heard about or seen your success, you take those discussions seriously and challenge yourself. You know, always, always want to be growing and reinventing yourself and learning new experiences. Whatever your function is, whether you're in sales, I see it all the time. You know, especially in the finance function, you get finance folks that come from one industry and they come into another industry and you would think they're just numbers on a page or on an Excel spreadsheet, but there's. You know there's different levers in each industry and that I just think kids have a richer experience.
Speaker 2:Final question for you today Is there something you know today that you wish you had known as a 25 year old? Oh, absolutely. There's more than this, no, but just just the one.
Speaker 3:You only get one Relationships matter in business, I mean when I and it's you know I'll be vulnerable here when I was younger, you know I worked, you know, for PepsiCo and you would walk in and you had a little. You could puff your chest out a little bit and I'm like, hey, we're this is. You know, we're PepsiCo. You know you're going to do business because of the brand and as you get older in your career you realize that ultimately you know relationships matter and if you build that rapport first, you know, certainly with your customers, that's going to serve you well. So I would go back and tell myself at 25, and I would tell anybody that's 25 in business and in life, right, I mean, this is the applicable to anything you do.
Speaker 3:Relationships absolutely matter, you know, cherish those. You know business deals come and go, but relationships are the things that really fuel you and make you who you are. And I've done a lot of big deals with a lot of really critical big customers and I would say this and I'm proud of those things, but I'm most proud of the relationships I've built, the people I've helped grow in their careers. Those are the, those are the things. That's kind of your legacy. So relationships matter. I know it now and I and I probably knew it at age 25, but I didn't take it seriously. I thought I'm young, like it won't be a big deal. But you know, you learn as you go. You learn, you take some knocks and and and we're gonna offer it.
Speaker 2:David, thank you for sharing time this morning. You know, kind of talking through this concept of changing lanes throughout our careers. I wrote down the word concepts. Career diversity matters. Stay curious is very important. I love the PepsiCo for every hour of interaction. Prepare for 40 hours might be a little bit exaggerated, but depending on this type of conversation, obviously, and relationships matter, david, I've enjoyed our conversations over the years. Right, we've had a number of conversations at Starbucks or Panera's in Cincinnati. You got to come to our Mexico City office next time you're in Mexico City because I know you love this town as well. But if folks wanted to reach out to you one on one, where might they find you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so if you want to reach me, the easiest way is just to find me on LinkedIn. You can direct message me on LinkedIn and then we can connect and then all my contact information will be there and LinkedIn. So I love to connect, I'm an open character, love to help and network and do all these things and share my network with others. And I just say thank you, ben. This has been good to talk and share my perspective and again, honored and privileged, and Mexico City is one of my top cities to visit. It's fantastic. Any of your listeners go to Mexico City.
Speaker 2:It's the best kept secret of big mega cities in the world.
Speaker 3:Yeah, wonderful people, wonderful food and culture and always, always felt wonderful and had a good time when I've been there for business. So, looking forward to, I'll take you up on that offer next time I'm there.
Speaker 2:Sounds good, david. Thank you so much, hey. If folks wanted to explore other growth topics, you can find me on our website, realignforresultscom, or just email Beno B-E-N-N-O at realignforresultscom. Thanks and keep growing.
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