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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Canada's Podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_01: Hello, I'm Mario Tonigusi, Managing Editor of Canada's Podcast.
[00:09] SPEAKER_01: My guest today on Calgary's Podcast is Tony Scaffail of the Scaffail Group.
[00:15] SPEAKER_01: And thanks for joining us today, Tony.
[00:18] SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me, Mario.
[00:19] SPEAKER_01: It's a pleasure.
[00:20] SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's talk a little bit about what the Scaffail Group is and what do you guys do?
[00:27] SPEAKER_02: A couple of things that we do.
[00:29] SPEAKER_02: It's actually two parts.
[00:30] SPEAKER_02: One is a training company.
[00:32] SPEAKER_02: And I've been in the sales game my whole life.
[00:35] SPEAKER_02: I tell everybody I know to do two things.
[00:37] SPEAKER_02: I know to play the drums and I know to sell things.
[00:40] SPEAKER_02: And so I've been fortunate enough to be in that game for many years.
[00:44] SPEAKER_02: So I teach sales, of course.
[00:47] SPEAKER_02: But my biggest category is how to teach companies and salespeople.
[00:51] SPEAKER_02: How do you social media to prospect today?
[00:53] SPEAKER_02: Because times have changed.
[00:57] SPEAKER_02: We all go on our phones and that's where everybody is.
[01:00] SPEAKER_02: So I just show people how to do that.
[01:02] SPEAKER_02: And the other side of my business is a marketing company.
[01:05] SPEAKER_02: I used to write a company called Sounds Around in Calgary.
[01:09] SPEAKER_02: And we spent a couple of million dollars a year in marketing.
[01:12] SPEAKER_02: You learn a few things after 30 years of doing that.
[01:15] SPEAKER_02: And I say this marketing hasn't changed just the vehicle heads.
[01:18] SPEAKER_02: So that's kind of two things.
[01:20] SPEAKER_02: I'm a training company and a marketing company on the other side.
[01:22] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're going to get into your background with Sounds Rounds and other things.
[01:28] SPEAKER_01: But I'm just curious from your perspective, let's talk a little bit about that social media world.
[01:34] SPEAKER_01: Sure.
[01:35] SPEAKER_01: You know, where do you think most businesses are with with all this?
[01:40] SPEAKER_01: I know it's kind of kind of be can be overwhelming for many of them.
[01:45] SPEAKER_02: Well, it is overwhelming.
[01:47] SPEAKER_02: And here's what I found.
[01:48] SPEAKER_02: First of all, there's the people who get it and a good for you if you get it.
[01:53] SPEAKER_02: And then there's the people that go, ah, that stuff doesn't work.
[01:58] SPEAKER_02: And that's because they're afraid of the tool.
[02:00] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[02:00] SPEAKER_02: It's very simple.
[02:02] SPEAKER_02: You know, if I, if you don't know, I always equated to music.
[02:06] SPEAKER_02: You know, I can play a guitar.
[02:08] SPEAKER_02: But if I give you a guitar and I go, hey, play this, this is easy.
[02:11] SPEAKER_02: Right?
[02:11] SPEAKER_02: You shouldn't be able to do that.
[02:12] SPEAKER_02: No problem.
[02:13] SPEAKER_02: Social media is kind of the same.
[02:14] SPEAKER_02: You got to learn a little bit because there's some technical things.
[02:17] SPEAKER_02: And you got to use an electronic device.
[02:20] SPEAKER_02: So the people that go, ah, that stuff doesn't work.
[02:23] SPEAKER_02: They're just afraid of it.
[02:24] SPEAKER_02: And what I do is I make you comfortable with it and take away the fear.
[02:29] SPEAKER_01: Right.
[02:29] SPEAKER_01: Show you the easy way to do it.
[02:31] SPEAKER_01: But the company is, uh, can make a big mistake by not being on social media, right?
[02:36] SPEAKER_02: If you're not on social media, Mario, I say you're invisible.
[02:40] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[02:41] SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know, the days of going to the yellow pages and looking up, uh, you know,
[02:48] SPEAKER_02: looking up a business that that went out with Beatles and Long Hair.
[02:52] SPEAKER_02: I mean, it just, the times have changed.
[02:57] SPEAKER_02: And I, I think my lucky stars are today that I keep changing with the times because I
[03:03] SPEAKER_02: don't want to be one of those guys that goes, how do I book an airline ticket now?
[03:09] SPEAKER_02: You know, because everything it revolves around, I hate to see this at computer.
[03:14] SPEAKER_02: I don't agree with it all, but it's just the way, you know, it's not me that, that brought
[03:19] SPEAKER_02: it to this.
[03:19] SPEAKER_02: It's what it is and you got to adapt.
[03:22] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[03:22] SPEAKER_01: Okay.
[03:22] SPEAKER_01: So you mentioned sounds around.
[03:24] SPEAKER_01: This is a stuck a little bit about your background, Tony, like, uh, for those folks who
[03:30] SPEAKER_01: are, uh, haven't been around for a while.
[03:33] SPEAKER_01: But tell us a little bit about sounds around and what you did with that company when you
[03:38] SPEAKER_01: were there.
[03:39] SPEAKER_02: Sounds around was kind of phenomenal and in Calvary.
[03:43] SPEAKER_02: We, I think we hit above our weight class.
[03:47] SPEAKER_02: We did, I think we got to about $40 million a year.
[03:51] SPEAKER_02: We had a couple of hundred employees at one time.
[03:55] SPEAKER_02: And we went up against the big guys, the best buys and the visions and, you know, whoever
[03:59] SPEAKER_02: came around.
[04:00] SPEAKER_02: We hit the TV business.
[04:02] SPEAKER_02: We were in, you know, we hit the TV business where, you know, one from two TVs to the big
[04:08] SPEAKER_02: screens.
[04:08] SPEAKER_02: Remember the big screen TVs and, and, you know, right to Plasma's and the prices just kept
[04:14] SPEAKER_02: going up at one time.
[04:16] SPEAKER_02: You know, it was, we sold the first Plasma in Calvary in Canada, actually.
[04:22] SPEAKER_02: And the first one was we sold for $30,000.
[04:25] SPEAKER_02: That television today, a 42 inch, that one was a Plasma today and a 32 inch or 42 inch LCD
[04:34] SPEAKER_02: TV is 300 bucks.
[04:36] SPEAKER_02: So, you know, but it was a phenomenal business.
[04:39] SPEAKER_02: We lost it for, we went for about 25 years and we used to do a one day sale.
[04:44] SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you remember the big four building at the Stampede grounds.
[04:47] SPEAKER_02: Believe it or not, we sold $4 million in one day.
[04:52] SPEAKER_02: Now, whether you, I don't care if you're selling candy or Cadillacs or, which is $4 million
[04:57] SPEAKER_02: in the day is a lot of business and it's still a Canadian retail record, believe it or not.
[05:03] SPEAKER_01: So tell me, what was the reason behind the success of Sounds Around and why it got so big?
[05:11] SPEAKER_02: We were local.
[05:13] SPEAKER_02: I'm going to say this.
[05:14] SPEAKER_02: I think we were just smarter than, you know, the big guys.
[05:18] SPEAKER_02: Actually, I went to work for Best Buy as a Vice President after we got the Sounds Around thing.
[05:25] SPEAKER_02: And what I found is they were just clumsy.
[05:27] SPEAKER_02: It was the David and Goliath thing, you know, that the big box stores were, you know,
[05:32] SPEAKER_02: to take three steps, you needed, you know, hundreds and thousands of people
[05:36] SPEAKER_02: where we were nimble and we could maneuver quicker.
[05:40] SPEAKER_02: And quite frankly, we had a sales floor that was second to none.
[05:45] SPEAKER_02: We just knew how to do it.
[05:47] SPEAKER_02: And I'm going to tell you the timing was right.
[05:50] SPEAKER_02: You know, timing, timing, timing.
[05:52] SPEAKER_02: We hit the TV business.
[05:53] SPEAKER_02: It was a boom, Mario.
[05:54] SPEAKER_02: And now today, it's just not there anymore.
[05:57] SPEAKER_02: So sometimes you got to know when to hang up your skates.
[06:01] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[06:05] SPEAKER_01: No worries.
[06:06] SPEAKER_01: Excuse me.
[06:07] SPEAKER_01: So tell me, you know, going through the experience of working with companies of that nature,
[06:16] SPEAKER_01: what did you learn about sales?
[06:19] SPEAKER_01: That was important.
[06:20] SPEAKER_02: Well, you know, you take a Sounds Around which we were called at a couple of hundred people.
[06:25] SPEAKER_02: When I went to Best Buy, I think it was 11,000 employees at that time.
[06:30] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[06:31] SPEAKER_02: And what I learned was, they were all the same problems.
[06:36] SPEAKER_02: You know, I don't care who you are and what business you're in.
[06:38] SPEAKER_02: You're in the people business.
[06:40] SPEAKER_02: Okay.
[06:41] SPEAKER_02: And if you know how to manage and run people and get them to move forward, then you're
[06:50] SPEAKER_02: a good leader.
[06:51] SPEAKER_02: It's tougher to lead today.
[06:53] SPEAKER_02: I'm going to say this, Mario.
[06:54] SPEAKER_02: And I never thought I'd say this.
[06:57] SPEAKER_02: I always considered myself a good leader.
[07:00] SPEAKER_02: But in today's world, there's different attitudes out there and different opinions and things
[07:04] SPEAKER_02: have changed.
[07:05] SPEAKER_02: And I've had to learn to adapt to it because it doesn't adapt to me.
[07:10] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[07:11] SPEAKER_02: Right?
[07:12] SPEAKER_02: And that's kind of what I've learned throughout the whole thing.
[07:15] SPEAKER_02: The problems were the same.
[07:16] SPEAKER_02: Bottom line.
[07:17] SPEAKER_00: Discover the latest trends, strategies, and success stories in the ever evolving world
[07:22] SPEAKER_00: of business.
[07:24] SPEAKER_00: Canada's podcast.com subscribe now.
[07:27] SPEAKER_01: What do you think the biggest mistake is that companies make today?
[07:30] SPEAKER_01: Businesses make today.
[07:32] SPEAKER_01: Training.
[07:33] SPEAKER_01: Training.
[07:34] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[07:34] SPEAKER_02: And it's real simple.
[07:36] SPEAKER_02: I'm going to go back to my guitar theory.
[07:38] SPEAKER_02: You know, they just come on.
[07:39] SPEAKER_02: Hey, how you doing, Mario?
[07:40] SPEAKER_02: Welcome aboard.
[07:41] SPEAKER_02: We love you.
[07:42] SPEAKER_02: I'll be right with you.
[07:43] SPEAKER_02: I'm going to show you some stuff.
[07:44] SPEAKER_02: And then they give you your office or they put you on the sales floor and then that's
[07:48] SPEAKER_02: it.
[07:48] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[07:49] SPEAKER_02: And they go, oh, good.
[07:50] SPEAKER_02: You're doing great.
[07:51] SPEAKER_02: Sickers one.
[07:52] SPEAKER_02: And then a month later, they come in.
[07:54] SPEAKER_02: Mario, your sales are not that good.
[07:56] SPEAKER_02: Well, what's going on?
[07:57] SPEAKER_03: Right?
[07:59] SPEAKER_02: So you've got to show people.
[08:00] SPEAKER_02: And if you can't, look, in today's business world, you can't hire talent.
[08:05] SPEAKER_02: You've got to know how to make talent and develop talent.
[08:09] SPEAKER_01: And if you can't do that, it's just going to be a little cut for you.
[08:13] SPEAKER_01: Tony, what do you like about being an entrepreneur?
[08:18] SPEAKER_02: Um, I like learning at my own speed and I like running at my own speed.
[08:25] SPEAKER_02: Right?
[08:26] SPEAKER_02: And in a company, you run at the speed of the team.
[08:31] SPEAKER_02: Right?
[08:31] SPEAKER_02: So if the team plays a little slower, you move a little slower.
[08:35] SPEAKER_02: Right?
[08:36] SPEAKER_02: You know, being a coach of a team or a leader of a band or whatever it is, you have to,
[08:42] SPEAKER_02: you know, once again, I'm going to go back to my music days.
[08:44] SPEAKER_02: You know, if we had five people in the band and one, you know, couldn't read music or
[08:49] SPEAKER_02: couldn't sing, well, that just stumped you a little bit.
[08:51] SPEAKER_02: Right?
[08:52] SPEAKER_02: And then just get your lurch slower.
[08:53] SPEAKER_01: Or so it's that, that's kind of what I've learned.
[08:57] SPEAKER_01: Okay.
[08:57] SPEAKER_01: Tony, you mentioned music a few times here.
[09:00] SPEAKER_01: Tell me you're back around the music.
[09:02] SPEAKER_02: Played professionally for 10 years.
[09:04] SPEAKER_02: I was very lucky.
[09:05] SPEAKER_02: I got to play with some famous Canadian artists.
[09:08] SPEAKER_02: I toured a bit, played wedding bands.
[09:13] SPEAKER_02: I did, I played in one band that we were kind of like a show band where, you know, we'd
[09:19] SPEAKER_02: start out in 50s and we had 50s T shirts on.
[09:22] SPEAKER_02: And we looked like we're in the 50s and then we put bandanas on in the 60s and then we
[09:26] SPEAKER_02: did 70s music.
[09:28] SPEAKER_02: And then, you know, that was the 80s and then we played glory and flash dance and all that
[09:32] SPEAKER_02: kind of stuff.
[09:33] SPEAKER_02: And, you know, and then I went into business and I hung up my musical scapes because it
[09:40] SPEAKER_02: was time.
[09:41] SPEAKER_02: But I always wanted to be a rock and roll star.
[09:43] SPEAKER_02: And I think I still am in a certain way.
[09:45] SPEAKER_02: So you played, you played drums?
[09:49] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[09:49] SPEAKER_02: I'm a drummer and I, back then I thought I could sing, all right.
[09:53] SPEAKER_02: And that's why I got hired.
[09:55] SPEAKER_02: I was a drummer that could sing.
[09:57] SPEAKER_02: If you were just a drummer, there was a million of them.
[09:59] SPEAKER_02: But if you could sing a little bit, you got a little bit of work and yeah, it was, I had
[10:04] SPEAKER_02: a blast.
[10:06] SPEAKER_01: So who did you play with that that I would do?
[10:09] SPEAKER_02: Well, I'd rather not say that just because there, but I got, I did get to play with some
[10:16] SPEAKER_02: famous Canadian bands.
[10:18] SPEAKER_01: Okay, super there.
[10:20] SPEAKER_01: What do you think that background and music did in terms of helping you in the business
[10:28] SPEAKER_01: world?
[10:29] SPEAKER_02: In business.
[10:30] SPEAKER_02: So I tell this story in my, in my training, I call it the drum story.
[10:35] SPEAKER_02: So I went to school with a guy who, you know, we went to school, we went to music school
[10:42] SPEAKER_02: and after he was done, you know, after a few years, he played a little bit and I said,
[10:50] SPEAKER_02: well, what are you doing now?
[10:51] SPEAKER_02: He says, well, I quit music.
[10:53] SPEAKER_02: He says, well, why?
[10:55] SPEAKER_02: He says, well, I can't make any money.
[10:57] SPEAKER_02: He says, I went into business.
[10:58] SPEAKER_02: He says, really?
[10:59] SPEAKER_02: And I says, well, what did you do?
[11:01] SPEAKER_02: He says, well, I took my music skills and I put them into my business skills and I
[11:04] SPEAKER_02: says, well, what was that?
[11:06] SPEAKER_02: He says, well, I practiced.
[11:08] SPEAKER_02: He says, I practiced, I practiced, I practiced.
[11:10] SPEAKER_02: Just like we did when we learned the song, we played over and over and over until we
[11:14] SPEAKER_02: perfected it, right?
[11:16] SPEAKER_02: And I says, well, what did that do for your business?
[11:18] SPEAKER_02: He says, I just became real good at my business and I started making real money.
[11:21] SPEAKER_02: He says, because that, you know, in the music business, I just couldn't make any money.
[11:25] SPEAKER_02: You know who this guy is?
[11:26] SPEAKER_02: This guy was me.
[11:27] SPEAKER_02: I quit at 27 because I loved music and I loved playing, but, you know, there's an old
[11:32] SPEAKER_02: saying, never make your passion your business.
[11:34] SPEAKER_02: You know, that's one thing.
[11:35] SPEAKER_02: And the other thing was business was it was a vehicle to make a living.
[11:42] SPEAKER_02: Music was fun.
[11:43] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[11:43] SPEAKER_02: If you could make a living at it, that would be great.
[11:46] SPEAKER_02: But it was, you know, a lot of the times it was like hitting the lottery.
[11:50] SPEAKER_02: But what I learned from music in business, practice, practice and skill, just improve your
[11:56] SPEAKER_02: skill, practice of what you do.
[11:57] SPEAKER_02: When I go into a meeting, I'm rehearsed.
[12:00] SPEAKER_02: I go through it at first and make sure that I know what I'm doing.
[12:04] SPEAKER_02: Because I'd rather practice on my own than practice in front of the client.
[12:10] SPEAKER_01: You still play the drums?
[12:12] SPEAKER_01: Like a mother.
[12:16] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[12:17] SPEAKER_02: I know to do two things.
[12:18] SPEAKER_02: How do you know what to do?
[12:19] Speaker UNKNOWN: How do you know what to play the drums?
[12:21] SPEAKER_02: How do you feel when you get behind the drums?
[12:24] SPEAKER_02: It's magical.
[12:25] SPEAKER_02: It's something that you're born with, Mario.
[12:28] SPEAKER_02: You know, the Lord gives you that says, here's some talent.
[12:32] SPEAKER_02: It's up to you on how good you get at it.
[12:36] SPEAKER_02: That's the practice part.
[12:38] SPEAKER_01: You were born in Raisin, Calgary, right?
[12:41] SPEAKER_01: I was born in Italy.
[12:43] SPEAKER_01: Oh, you were born in Italy.
[12:47] SPEAKER_02: I grew up in a town called Thunder Bay, Ontario.
[12:51] SPEAKER_02: You know, a big Italian community, your P and community.
[12:58] SPEAKER_02: Great place to be from, as I say.
[13:00] SPEAKER_02: Cold as you can get it in this country.
[13:05] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[13:06] SPEAKER_01: All right.
[13:07] SPEAKER_01: You can't see.
[13:08] SPEAKER_01: You can't see my shirt at all.
[13:10] SPEAKER_01: It's just a screen, but in honor of talking to Italian, talking today there.
[13:15] SPEAKER_01: That's what I'm wearing.
[13:16] Speaker UNKNOWN: All right.
[13:17] SPEAKER_01: That's where I'm wearing today.
[13:18] SPEAKER_01: What do you like about being an Italian?
[13:21] SPEAKER_01: Of course, I love the food.
[13:24] SPEAKER_02: You know, I love the, I love the, um,
[13:30] SPEAKER_02: quality expression in the hands and the, you know, hugging and, you know,
[13:35] SPEAKER_02: when we, yeah, it's, yeah, it's, it's, and it's a romantic, uh, nationality.
[13:43] SPEAKER_02: You know, it's, it's, uh, very, um, inviting and let's have a drink and all of that.
[13:49] SPEAKER_02: And that's what I enjoy about being a Italian.
[13:51] SPEAKER_02: I'm going to, I'm going to tell you this, Mario.
[13:53] SPEAKER_02: We were talking about the Italian club.
[13:55] SPEAKER_02: This year I became a member of the Italian club.
[13:59] SPEAKER_02: I joined a butchery league.
[14:01] SPEAKER_02: I, um, I'm in the Italian choir and I also am a, um, a board member of the Italian sportsman's dinner.
[14:10] SPEAKER_02: I've become Italian again because in the past, I was traveling all the time for work and I can never do it.
[14:17] SPEAKER_02: And that was, you know, um, that's what it was.
[14:20] SPEAKER_02: Now I'm enjoying, I live two blocks away from the Italian hall.
[14:24] SPEAKER_02: And I'm an old walk now, you know, like, and I like it.
[14:29] SPEAKER_01: So I'm enjoying that.
[14:31] SPEAKER_01: Where's your, uh, you know, you're known for, uh, wearing those, uh, I'm not going to say funny hats,
[14:37] SPEAKER_01: but, you know, uh, the cool, cool hats, but let's put it this way.
[14:40] SPEAKER_01: Oh, let's, yeah.
[14:45] SPEAKER_01: There we go.
[14:46] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[14:46] SPEAKER_01: There's my hat.
[14:47] SPEAKER_01: Your hat was, how many of those?
[14:50] SPEAKER_01: I'm 30.
[14:52] SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
[14:53] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[14:53] SPEAKER_02: What do you get them?
[14:55] SPEAKER_02: I buy them, you know, it's fine.
[14:56] SPEAKER_02: You're going to laugh at this.
[14:57] SPEAKER_02: I was in the store one day and this hat was there and I put it on this lady walks by and she goes,
[15:01] SPEAKER_02: that looks great on you, right?
[15:04] SPEAKER_02: Well, I don't have a lot of hair anymore.
[15:05] SPEAKER_02: So when my head's cold and I just started wearing one,
[15:08] SPEAKER_02: but my father wore a hat for many, many years and,
[15:12] SPEAKER_03: yeah.
[15:12] SPEAKER_02: And now I like it.
[15:13] SPEAKER_02: It's kind of part of my signature trademark.
[15:16] SPEAKER_02: What do you want to call it?
[15:17] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
[15:18] SPEAKER_01: Everybody's got to, uh, like something like that.
[15:22] SPEAKER_01: So living and working in Calgary as a business guy, uh,
[15:27] SPEAKER_01: tell me, um, you know, what are your thoughts about being here and,
[15:32] SPEAKER_01: and running a business?
[15:33] SPEAKER_01: There's a good place to do business.
[15:36] SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes, and no, you know, um,
[15:39] SPEAKER_02: you've been here long enough.
[15:41] SPEAKER_02: It's Feast or Famine, it's Boomer Buston.
[15:43] SPEAKER_02: And you got to be able to ride those, uh,
[15:46] SPEAKER_02: situations out, you know, when, in the sounds around days,
[15:49] SPEAKER_02: when, you know, when things were going up, you know, uh,
[15:54] SPEAKER_02: hang on.
[15:55] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[15:55] SPEAKER_02: You know, listen, it's just, it's, I think it's harder to run a business
[16:00] SPEAKER_02: in a booming economy or just as hard to run a business in a booming economy
[16:04] SPEAKER_02: as it is in a declining economy.
[16:06] SPEAKER_02: But I'm going to tell you that it's been tough for probably the last
[16:11] SPEAKER_02: 10, 12 years.
[16:12] SPEAKER_02: Calvary's a bit tougher.
[16:13] SPEAKER_02: Come on, we, we depend on the oil and gas business.
[16:17] SPEAKER_02: Everybody knows that.
[16:18] SPEAKER_02: When it's, when it's, uh, running, everybody's running and when it's walking.
[16:23] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, everybody's walking.
[16:25] SPEAKER_01: You know, you know, when you, you're saying that, though,
[16:28] SPEAKER_01: you kind of look at that, uh, although it's been tough,
[16:31] SPEAKER_01: I think it's part of the problem with the way being Calvary is you look
[16:37] SPEAKER_01: back at the glory days, so to speak.
[16:39] SPEAKER_01: And, uh, where everything was easy and the money was floating, right?
[16:43] SPEAKER_01: And, uh, I mean, even in my, in my days and, uh,
[16:47] SPEAKER_01: working with the Calgary Harold back, especially back in the,
[16:50] SPEAKER_01: in the 80s and, uh, man, that, that was a good time.
[16:54] SPEAKER_01: I was a heyday of, uh, of journalism because there's so much
[16:58] SPEAKER_01: money flowing around, right?
[17:00] SPEAKER_01: And, uh, and I think, you know, even though,
[17:03] SPEAKER_01: even though things now appear to be, uh, bad,
[17:08] SPEAKER_01: they're not really bad because I think we're looking at it
[17:11] SPEAKER_01: comparatively to the past, right?
[17:14] SPEAKER_02: You know, uh, Mario, uh, I always said this, um,
[17:19] SPEAKER_02: in the, call it the 90s, uh, the, the good year,
[17:22] SPEAKER_02: they said, the dummies were making money and I was living proof.
[17:25] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[17:25] SPEAKER_03: Okay.
[17:26] SPEAKER_02: But it, it, it just, you know, you got, you got to, uh,
[17:30] SPEAKER_02: ebb and flow with, with the times and, and it's what it is, right?
[17:34] SPEAKER_02: And, you know, to be in business today, you got to have a lot of cash,
[17:40] SPEAKER_02: you know, and, and, and, and if you can have the cash,
[17:42] SPEAKER_02: you can ride it through because there's going to be ups and downs.
[17:45] SPEAKER_02: It's not consistent like it used to be many, many years ago.
[17:49] SPEAKER_02: That's what I find.
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[18:00] SPEAKER_01: So what do you think the key is for businesses that,
[18:04] SPEAKER_01: to, to be successful and, uh, and, and even to survive, uh, you know,
[18:09] SPEAKER_01: in some of these tough times that we're in.
[18:11] SPEAKER_02: We're going to go back to my same thing, train your people.
[18:14] SPEAKER_02: Make sure that when somebody comes in and says, hey,
[18:17] SPEAKER_02: you sell this, what, what does it do or this is your service?
[18:20] SPEAKER_02: Make sure that they're the best at explaining it and selling it to you and what
[18:24] SPEAKER_02: have you because that's, look, people want to buy, they don't want to be sold.
[18:29] SPEAKER_02: Right?
[18:29] SPEAKER_02: And, and, and it's just when people say, now it's just a cry for more information.
[18:34] SPEAKER_03: Mm.
[18:34] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[18:35] SPEAKER_02: And, and, and that is the biggest thing is have, you know, uh, invest in your people.
[18:41] SPEAKER_01: Because you're in the people business.
[18:43] SPEAKER_01: Funny how many, how many companies don't though.
[18:47] SPEAKER_02: I'm going to tell you this that since the, uh, COVID, which, you know,
[18:51] SPEAKER_02: slow down a lot of things, my training, uh, side of my business, I was booked.
[18:56] SPEAKER_02: Like all the time.
[18:58] SPEAKER_03: Mm.
[18:59] SPEAKER_02: Constantly booked.
[19:00] SPEAKER_02: Then it came back a little bit online, but not like it did before.
[19:04] SPEAKER_02: So, um, yeah.
[19:06] SPEAKER_02: You know, I mean, I prefer the, I prefer the live stuff, Mario.
[19:09] SPEAKER_02: I can see your face.
[19:10] SPEAKER_02: I can read your body language.
[19:12] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I can tell if you're into it or not.
[19:15] SPEAKER_02: Online, like, but this is the new way.
[19:18] SPEAKER_02: All right.
[19:18] SPEAKER_02: This is the new way of communicating.
[19:21] SPEAKER_01: But, you know, I find that, you know, a lot of companies and, and, I've been associated with a
[19:27] SPEAKER_01: lot in the past where, where they, they talk the talk, right? And, you know, you know,
[19:33] SPEAKER_01: important to train our employees and, and, and they, and they do all these workshops,
[19:39] SPEAKER_01: etc. But there was a disconnect between the doing of the workshops and then the actual
[19:45] SPEAKER_01: execution of implementing what those workshops are talking about into your business, right?
[19:53] SPEAKER_01: How do you, I'm going to give you an example.
[19:56] SPEAKER_02: I was doing a training, uh, not too long ago or sorry, just after COVID.
[20:02] SPEAKER_02: And it was for an oil and gas company and quite a big one.
[20:05] SPEAKER_02: I don't want to mention names.
[20:06] SPEAKER_02: I don't like to mention names.
[20:07] SPEAKER_02: And, um, so we're doing this training session and I said, Hey, guys, what keeps you up at night?
[20:12] SPEAKER_02: Or, um, you know, what, what's the toughest part of your job?
[20:16] SPEAKER_02: And this one fellow puts up his hand and says, you know, I just can't get in front of anybody
[20:21] SPEAKER_02: anymore. Nobody wants to go for lunch. Nobody wants to go for a drink.
[20:24] SPEAKER_02: Nobody wants to go for dinner, right?
[20:27] SPEAKER_02: And I went, well, what seems to be the problem?
[20:29] SPEAKER_02: This is what I do a lot of business when I take people out for lunch, right?
[20:32] SPEAKER_02: And he says that's where we, and it is common, right?
[20:35] SPEAKER_02: Go out for lunch, few beers, you know, and that's that that's kind of like their stick.
[20:39] SPEAKER_02: And I says, well, you know, I get that people don't want to go out anymore.
[20:43] SPEAKER_02: I says, but, you know, what I do when I want to have lunch with somebody is I ask them what's
[20:47] SPEAKER_02: your favorite restaurant? And I said, and what would you like to, you know, from there?
[20:51] SPEAKER_02: And so I said, what else would you like with that?
[20:54] SPEAKER_02: And I send them skipped aditious 10 minutes before our zoom meeting.
[20:58] SPEAKER_02: I have lunch as well. And we have a lunch meeting right at our desk.
[21:02] SPEAKER_02: Well, they thought I had the cure for cancer.
[21:05] SPEAKER_02: Right? And it's, it's just simple.
[21:08] SPEAKER_02: It's just simple. You want to have a lunch meeting?
[21:11] SPEAKER_02: This is the new forum, right?
[21:14] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, that's true. But you know, when it all comes down to, you know, whatever it is you're
[21:20] SPEAKER_01: doing, whether you're, you're selling digital services or whether you're selling a hot dog,
[21:27] SPEAKER_01: or whatever, or selling a, you know, big screen TV, it comes down to that connection with the
[21:36] SPEAKER_02: people thing, right? You're in the people business. We're back to that.
[21:40] SPEAKER_01: I think any business is the people business, right?
[21:43] SPEAKER_02: All, all is every all. It's not some all.
[21:47] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah. And they don't, and some don't get it. And some paid, some paid the consequences
[21:53] SPEAKER_01: of not getting it, I guess.
[21:55] SPEAKER_02: Ah, look, we all on a daily basis, I'll walk into an establishment and I'll go, oh my God,
[22:02] SPEAKER_02: is this what you got to work with? But then you go into, you know, some places,
[22:06] SPEAKER_02: hey, we had lunch at Spolombos last week. Remember that?
[22:09] SPEAKER_02: I mean, you go in there, they're on you. There's somebody in line. What can I get you?
[22:14] SPEAKER_02: I mean, and they're putting you, I look at that and I go, these guys got it going on.
[22:19] SPEAKER_02: There's no stumbling. Oh, I didn't get this. They know what's going on.
[22:25] SPEAKER_02: So there are many businesses that really know how to do it. But there's many businesses that,
[22:31] SPEAKER_02: once again, they don't put time and effort into their people.
[22:37] SPEAKER_01: Yeah. So last thing I was going to ask you, Tony, now obviously you're busy with work and all that
[22:43] SPEAKER_01: stuff. And some of the other stuff, what else do you do to relax? Your life seems like
[22:54] SPEAKER_02: 150 miles an hour. Yeah, I go to a pretty good clip. You know, I start my day at six in the
[23:02] SPEAKER_02: morning. I'll be honest with you, I'm done at about two, two, 30 in the afternoon. And I just
[23:06] SPEAKER_02: don't have it. I'm sure up in the morning and I go to the gym and, you know, I work out and
[23:11] SPEAKER_02: and that's that's kind of my day. But what I do to relax is right beside me, you can't really see it.
[23:17] SPEAKER_02: I have guitars, keyboards, microphones, PA system. So I play to music and that, and you know, I probably
[23:26] SPEAKER_02: probably a good three to four or five hours a week. I spend just playing music and I learned,
[23:31] SPEAKER_02: I taught myself how to play the guitar. And I still like to sing and, you know, and that's my
[23:37] SPEAKER_01: relaxation, the odds with it. Excellent. All right. Me, call us your talk into you. Thanks so
[23:43] SPEAKER_01: much for joining us today. Thank you very much, Mario. All right. That was Tony Scapio,
[23:49] SPEAKER_01: who of the Scapio group. Hey, it was going to ask you. I noticed on your website, you call yourself
[23:54] SPEAKER_01: the chief entertainment officer CEO. Yes. Now you look at it. Does that how you look at your role?
[24:01] SPEAKER_02: Absolutely. Look, if I can't have fun at it, here's another thing. I only do business with people
[24:07] SPEAKER_02: I love and I really want to work with. All right. Wonderful. Thanks for joining us again.
[24:11] SPEAKER_01: And I'm, thanks everyone. I'm Mario Tonigüzi, Managing Editor of Canada's podcast.
