From learning about sales as a child to speaking about it on stage. Ryan Sauers fills us in

- [Chris] On this episode of C-Level, I'm speaking with Ryan Sauers, President and CMO of Sauers Consulting Strategies.

- So Ryan, so thank you so much for coming out. You got several books out, you've got a consulting firm, you do a lot of speaking. I'm really excited about today's episode because we get to talk about sales and marketing and how that plays in the workplace. But I'm really big on people's journey. So tell me yours. Like, how did you get started? How did you get into all this? Where you from?

- Absolutely, well, thanks for having me, Chris. I appreciate it. I'm actually an Atlanta native.

- [Chris] Cool.

- So, in today's world, that's the outlier, I guess. But, yeah, I always had an interest in sales, communications, human behavior, marketing. And even when I was an undergraduate, I kinda parlayed communications, public relations, marketing courses to get to kinda what I thought I would do. And yeah, these things you name have come together because I have a passion for improving human performance and all the things you named. And so my story has been year by year, step by step, person by person, relationship by relationship, and it's kinda led me to where I am now, which is crazy, it's busy, but it's a good busy. It's fun. I stay, I have my hands on a lot of things but I love it. I absolutely love it.

- So where in Atlanta are you from?

- Originally, I was in like the Decatur-ish area.

- [Chris] Yeah, yeah.

- And then I lived in another part of DeKalb County. I now have raised up three daughters. One in college at Georgia Tech, one a junior who's gonna play soccer in college, and then my baby, I call her, she's 12. And she's in middle school. My wife of like 23 years, but we are now in Gwinnett. So, one time, long-term I'm gonna to get to Florida and live by the water. That's my final.

- [Chris] Yeah, there you go.

- But, I promised the family we would be here for the while but yeah, that's where we are.

- [Chris] It's cool. So, what was it about, was it something early on that you knew that you wanted to learn more about sales and learn about marketing? Did this start like before school, while in school, out of school?

- You know, that's a great question, Chris. I remember my dad telling me on the trip to college, he was showing me like we'd get to a fast food restaurant and he said, "Somebody sold that concrete, "somebody sold that building, "somebody sold this real estate space, "somebody sold this sign." And I kinda halfway listened. But I realized even when, like at high school, I did the yearbook sales. And I did it mainly, for anybody listening, when they're all tuned in later. I did it because you could get out of three class periods and go off-campus.

- [Chris] Right? But I'd get a way to get out.