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From Yankees Pin Strips To Entrepreneurial HQ (Patrick Antrim)

Author

Wes Schaeffer
October 13, 2014

About Today’s Guest on The Sales Podcast

Patrick Antrim was on top of the world. He was drafted as shortstop for the New York Yankees and was making his way through their organization when they drafted a certain future Hall of Famer by the name of Jeter.

With the writing on the wall, and a tugging by his little voice to follow a bigger dream, Patrick left major league baseball for good to follow his entrepreneurial dreams.

Rubber-Meets-The-Road Sales Tip

  • Failure, setbacks and self-doubt are part of life.

    • Successful athletes, sales people, entrepreneurs learn to manage it and contain it.

    • Even Derek Jeter had doubts about his own abilities from time to time.

  • Realized he was more of an entrepreneur and didn’t like the structure of the big leagues so he retired in 1998.

  • Followed exceptional baseball players that excelled in the business world.

  • Found a mentor in George Argyros (former owner of the Mariners). Taught him real estate.

  • Ran portfolios for George and wealthy investors.

  • But even wealthy investors make mistakes and this national real estate portfolio that collapsed.

  • He had to rethink his business plan and had to change overnight to launch his own business in the worst recession in our lifetimes.

  • In 2009 he created an ecosystem of good talent for property managers to find good people.

Adjust quickly when the facts present themselves.”

  • Patrick was a fan of baseball but was paid by the Yankees.

    • “The Yankee Way” was not his way.

    • It was easy to make the decision to leave the Yankees.

    • It took probably five years for the people around him to be convinced that it was the right decision.

    • He didn’t want to be known as a baseball player.

  • You have to perform and prepare and lead and play your role and play as a team and adjust.

  • The process people take to get better is what fascinates Patrick.

The process people take to get better is what fascinates.”

  • Look at the first steps of these great athletes.

    • 1996 – Jeter is pulled up because Fernandez broke his elbow.

    • Hit a home run his first game and everyone relaxed.

    • Jeter was the Rookie of the Year that year.

  • George Argyros always talked about how he started. He started counting cars and lead to brokering a deal in gas stations.

  • It’s hard to be fast and efficient when you’re starting out but you work on it and develop yourself as you develop processes.

It’s hard to be fast and efficient when you’re starting out.” 

  • Patrick saw the need in the automotive space and launched.

  • The automotive industry spends $45 billion to sell 15 million cars.

  • Get your internal start

  • 3-3 Rule: Owners. Teams. Consumers.

  • The Yankees focus on the team. When you have good people and take care of them and give them what they need and you have a good customer experience and revenue.

  • People like winners. Patrick did $400 million in business with George and he learned how to win in business.

  • He thought he was selling job ads when he launched his CareersInAuto.com business, but found that people need process (talent acquisition, culture, etc).

    • He has all of these businesses because he pivots his business and none of his businesses are run as an island.

    • His products are secondary. Steps and procedures are they key to helping his clients.

    • People are important so as he created his job board he saw that people really needed more help beyond buying ads.

  • Recruiting is a function and a cost.

    • Look at talent acquisition as an investment. You do your due diligence.

    • Great entities are always recruiting.

    • He provides a value add and digs deeper to help them improve their results.

  • “Let’s take the sale off the table. How can I help you?” Became a partner vs a provider.

Great entities are always recruiting.”

Links Mentioned

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