TMRP - EP Neil Rogers - Full Video Audio Edit
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Shawn Buttner: [00:00:00] Hey, it's Shawn. Welcome to the Meaningful Revolution podcast, where we hope to inspire you to your purposeful journeys and pursuits by interviewing people that are very passionate about their life, the things that they do. And so today's guest is just that he's an expert in sales. That has had over three decades in sales and marketing as a job and wrote the book, Bar Tips, Everything I Needed to Know in Sales, I Learned Behind the Bar.
And what I really love about our conversation is just how authentic Neal is in sharing his story, in struggling to find out what his purpose was, but realizing he had an interpersonal intelligence that was his strength. And that led him into really becoming successful in sales and marketing and how he developed his philosophy [00:01:00] of around sales, right?
Which is essentially you're in hospitality. You're always trying to create experience. You always are trying to build relationships. You always need to be organized in order to make sure. That you're ready for opportunity when it presents itself, also on top of that, he has a program called positive activity, which is developing the mindset to be consistent, to show up being your best in a problem solving growth focused mindset, which I'm as a coach, love mindset, so it was fantastic that we were able to talk about that a bit, but at the end of the day, I think you're going to love this conversation as much as I did with Neil Rogers.
without further ado, let's get into the episode.
[00:02:00] Hey everyone, welcome to the meaningful revolution podcast, where we hope to inspire you into your passions by interviewing people about their passions. Our guest today has over three decades and career or a three decade career in sales and marketing. Working in numerous different industries. He's the owner of Rogers marketing and creator with his wife of positive activity process, which helps increase people's quality of life through creativity, optimism, and positivity.
His recent book, bar tips, everything I needed to know in sales. I learned behind the bar. Shares what he learned as a bartender that helped him lead a purposeful and successful life and career. I am really honored to introduce our guest today, Neil Rogers. Leo, welcome to the podcast. Hey, Shane. How are you doing?
Great. first off, could you share some, you wrote the book, bar tips, everything I need to know in sales, learn behind the bar. how did you develop your passion for sales?
Neil Rogers: as [00:03:00] it says, it started behind the bar. I enjoyed, so when I was floundering through school trying to figure out what I was going to do, I, took a couple of swings and misses at school, and then, started working in the hospitality business.
I had been working in the hospitality business. Kept going and then I wound up as a bar back. And which is the, the slavery of, of bartending, the guys that do all the work and grab the ice and all that. And then decided I want to be a bartender because that looked cool, right?
That was the whole criteria for it at the time, at, 19 years old. And, set my sights. I got a bar job. I put down my first drink in somebody, in front of somebody. And I loved the immediate feedback of giving them what they were looking for and serving them. So I, it's how I got onto the whole, making, solution providing, understanding their needs and getting them what they want, making suggestions.
Maybe you should try this, simple things, [00:04:00] right? And but, when I took it, when I failed out of school for the second time, I,I knew I still need, people would say, with your interpersonal skills, you'd probably be good in sales. So now I still have to, I still have to go get a degree.
So I, but I went back differently. I attacked it differently. I now had a passion, had a better direction, a vision, if you will. And and I went back and I became a very successful student. And I did it by, accidentally figuring out doing some sales techniques, which was, I showed up.
I actively listened. I took notes, paying attention. I, I took advantage of any of the extra help they offered. If they asked for an answer during class, I would chime in. I would participate. And so it would be my guess if I was on the cusp of getting an A or a B minus.
I get the A or B plus, I should say. yeah, so that's how accountants are all [00:05:00] started, and then I, started selling after, after, right after I got married, I stopped, I stopped working the bar. and then I was just full time sales. Right on.
Shawn Buttner: So I love that you, when you're explaining that you call out your interpersonal skills, and I know you've talked about the different types of intelligence that people have.
Or can have. And Could you maybe go through, did you read that book and then, it clicked for you, or was it something you just stumbled on?
Neil Rogers: It's almost everything in this gig is retrospect, right? Okay. It just all happened, and then it worked out that, oh yeah, that explains that, right?
No, this guy, actually he wrote the foreword of the book, introduced me to the book, The Frames of Mind. It's a big, long book. I'm not even going to claim I read it. I read the chapters I needed to read about the different types of intelligence. And it's just one of the things, one of those things I wish I knew back then because I wouldn't have had such a bad feeling about myself, that my academics, I always joke that [00:06:00] my, my, my class rank and my combined SAT scores have got one thing in common.
They were both in the triple digits. , no. My academic prowess wasn't there. It wasn't that I failed out. It wasn't that I was, unintelligent. I just, it just wasn't my, my, the book learning just wasn't my forte. And, but I did do well in certain thi in certain things that were logical and quant and built upon each, on each other.
quantitative methods, math, pro math and whatnot became, I was pretty good in accounting. That's actually my, when I did get back to school, they asked me, do you want to be a tutor? It's sure, why not? I'll try. so yeah,yeah, the, I got derailed there. What was that?
what was your question?
Shawn Buttner: Oh, it's just about discovering the different types of
Neil Rogers: intelligence. Okay. So yeah. So what I learned was that now in retrospect, that interpersonal skills, there is interpersonal intelligence. There is intrapersonal intelligence. So self awareness. [00:07:00] And, so I had that.
I have a little musical intelligence, so it's, and then I do have academic intelligence. It's just, it's more, most of what I learned was street smarts, was doing it, learned by doing. Right
Shawn Buttner: on. Do you think that discovering, looking back, you can identify it as that, that, social interpersonal intelligence, but discovering that, oh, I'm really good at this, How did that shape how you felt about, emotionally about learning it in school, because from your story, it sounds like you tried school and it wasn't your thing.
It wasn't your thing. And then you found your thing. Yeah. And then you're like, Oh, I get it now. And everything seemed to align behind it. How did that. Is that correct?
Neil Rogers: That's spot on. Yeah. when I went back to school for the final time, I, you know, I didn't want to fail.
I [00:08:00] had a reason for being, I knew where I was going previous to that. It was just it was just giving it a shot. All right. I guess this is what, so when I graduated high school, I was 17 years old and I was the seventh of eight of an Irish Catholic family. So nobody's paying attention, right?
So it's not like it's not like it is today where we've got our kids lives playing from DNA right up until, I don't even know whenever we let them go, but I think we're always way more involved than our parents. My parents were, no accident with my parents. I love my parents, but, but yeah, so it's, That's how it evolved.
Shawn Buttner: so I guess throughout that whole experience, how did you mentioned that one of the programs you run is the, positive activity. I get that right. how does that come into play with. Story coming up. Have you always, were you always positive and optimistic and creative, or was there a time where you struggled with that?
it was a time
Neil Rogers: [00:09:00] when I struggled with just about everything, Yeah. about go. but that, get in line, right? Who we're all had. But until I got to the, to the schooling that I finally figured out. what the algorithm is, the power, in today's parlance, yeah, you should show up.
Whoa. What is who defunct that, and that you should listen and you should actively participate. So that's really where, where the rubber met the road as it were. and I just built upon that. And that's the same stuff I did when I went out on the road, I showed up more than anybody else.
I was more organized. I was trying to be nicer. more accommodating, ask better questions, listen better, two ears, one mouth, listen, using that proportion. That's how we were built. so yeah, so that's and so we did, I did that and all the businesses that I've been successful and I've had a couple, I've had a swing and a miss, but when I look back on that, it's because I got away from these principles that you see in the book.
Right.
Shawn Buttner: awesome. and [00:10:00] one of your previous interviews, I noticed you mentioned that the way that you. The philosophy developed about sales is really that you're in the hospitality industry. I know it came from a talk that you, I think it was a talk, correct me if I'm wrong on that.
Neil Rogers: that was the realization, right?
There was a. There was a gentleman who gave the keynote speech at, a chamber event where my daughter was being honored and he was the guy who brought five guys burgers here to New Hampshire. That's where he, he, his pregame speech to all of his employees when they opened up the shop was, We're not in the burger business, we're not in the fry business, we're not in the soda business, we're not in the shake business, we're in the hospitality business.
And I looked at my wife who's, who I met, point of context, as when I was a bartender and she was a food waitress, I looked at her and I said, I've never left the hospitality business. I've been bartending on the road for years. And and so all those things building upon, building upon that.
And then I [00:11:00] did things innately because of, maybe it was because of that experience, maybe not, I'm not sure, but back to the positive thing, I did the, I, I would, when I first went out on the road in the food business, I would tape little notes to myself on the dashboard. Stay out on the road, we're just getting started, be positive, make more calls, right?
And I don't know why I did it, I just did it. it wasn't like, I didn't read any book on it, but in retrospect, there's lots of books on it. And mine happens to be one of them, but it's practical application. And positive activity is just where you get your mindset right first, right?
So you want to be in a place of positivity. So then you can, then you're in a, then that takes you into a space of open minded, divergent thinking, solution providing creativity. You don't see problems anymore, you only see solutions. you're not sitting there all lathered up because somebody did something, [00:12:00] you've got your mind you're ready to go.
And then whatever your productivity steps are after that, depends on what you're trying to accomplish. In the book, we outline our business development steps. We thought that would be germane to a lot of people that would read the book. But I also use those steps in my music. And 90 days. of a process, and just say, okay, after 90 days, where's your piano playing going to be?
Where's your singing going to be? If you do these five things every five days a week, it's going to be better. It's going to be exponentially better, my, Carnegie Hall, probably not, but for my own personal,gratis gratification. But if you're going to go into business development and you're going to, you're going to go out and start,you start a business, start a sales territory, whatever that may be, do you know who can buy what you sell?
Do you have a benefit statement? What are they going to get from working with you? Can you articulate that on one sheet of [00:13:00] paper? now that you've determined who can buy what you sell, who the heck are they? let's get some lists together. Who do you know? The group. You know the group you meet, the group you buy group you group, is your network, your p, your immediate network.
And then they should know what you're doing because they can be what a referral source. And we always want referrals. much better to tee those up than to, than the group you buy, which is the last group you want, some listserv or whatever. And then those, and those that you meet, what type of networking opportunities are you going on?
Are you ready at a moment's notice to give your, your elevated pitch, your 30 second commercial, whatever that may be, in order to get some sort of, feeling as to whether or not you're hitting the, you're hitting the,you're hitting a chord. And then we propose. in positive activity that you have campaigns set up for follow up on each of those groups.
So you, as an example, if you meet somebody at a chamber event or a cocktail party or Christmas [00:14:00] party coming up, right? And you tell them what you do, I'm a certified health, high performance coach. What does that mean? It means this. That's interesting. Great. What are you going to do? You think he or she is sitting there waiting for, waiting by the phone for you to call?
no. So what's your process to get them in queue? How are you going to systematically market to them? Because we believe in the seven touch theory that conventional wisdom says in order to get somebody's attention, you have to hit him at least seven significantly times, seven times of significance.
So something different. don't sit there and leave them seven voicemails, not gonna work, don't sit there and,it's, I did my email marketing. I guess I'm good now. no, you need to send them something. You need to get in, get in there because now it's difficult to get to meet them.
it's like, how are you going to get that first meeting? And that's an art form these days. We used to do it by walking in the door. Can't do that anymore. Yeah, some of the businesses [00:15:00] that were in, you could, it's, there was a lot of wholesale to retail, wholesale to restaurants, wholesale to sporting goods stores and shoe stores, but now our business for the last 27 years, we used to be able to walk into a lobby.
Can't do that anymore. No, can't leave something behind in the lobby. No, nobody wants to see that. What's in this thing? Yeah. so that's when we say, if you go through that over 90 days, you won't recognize where you've been. I'm like, holy Toledo, I've got momentum. there's a multiplier effect that goes on with that.
If you do this every day, if you get your mind if you stay creative, if you, look at things differently. Okay, so that did, that approach didn't work. what else could work? If somebody really want to meet, I really believe they can buy what I sell. I believe I can help them.
Sincerely, right? How do we get that first meeting? And then how do you conduct the first meeting? It's all part of positive activity. It's the last step. how are you gonna, how are you going to set up the 15 minute [00:16:00] coffee call? Will you get it all done? It's a great thing. I'm not big on sales techniques, but one that I really think was good, I've seen it in two, done two ways.
One is, Sandler Sales does something called the upfront contract. So that's where you sit down at that coffee meeting and we propose, we prescribe that you have your one sheeter, right? that describes your offering and you use those as talking points to get through the meeting. But it's more about them.
We want to hear from them. So it's about, okay, so how much time do we have again here Shane today? Oh, 15 minutes. Great. What I'd like to do I'd like to tell you a little bit about me. I want to hear a lot about you and what the challenges you have and then I guess we can determine at that point what the next step might be if there is one, I don't, you're not putting it on them, you're not trying to close them right out of the gate.
They don't feel threatened. I can tell a closing technique, you [00:17:00] quick one out of the gate. It's Oh man, really? I'm too old for this. Please don't try to close me on day one. Fair enough. Yeah. So yeah. So that's where the positive activity thing comes in. And so the activity begets activity.
So you just keep going and doing this stuff every day and following up and doing the process. And like I said, there'll be a multiplier effect. You go, Whoa, I get 10 appointments. I get four sales. I've got whatever it is. my piano,my, I feel better playing the piano, feel better singing, feel better at racquetball if that's even a sport anymore, pickleball, let's say pickleball, but I've got something every day in the half hour or so to get better at that sport.
Shawn Buttner: I love the idea and consistency and a lot of my clients, that's what I work on with a lot of the people I coach because half of it is, I believe, just showing up. I think naturally people get bored doing the [00:18:00] same thing over and over. You're just naturally going to be like, how do I do this a little bit differently?
If I'm not doing it at the result that I want, I need to switch it up. and I found that to be hugely effective. So I really do love call out. And that the activity gets activity. I'm a synthetic learning also, meaning that, what I loved about coding is you do that and it works. It doesn't computers are very brutal and truthful in that way.
and so you can always know if you're on the right track or not. or maybe not. So in other, industries, I'm curious, If you were to give a, like a couple of pieces of advice to a beginner who's just maybe starting in a sales type position, I know we've talked about a lot of things already, but if you could sum it up into maybe two or three things to really focus in on, to [00:19:00] start on the right foot in a sales position, do you have any, bits of advice that would come up to mind
Neil Rogers: right away?
Oh, no question. Be organized.
Shawn Buttner: Be organized. Okay, what does that mean?
Neil Rogers: You can never be over organized. So I'll give you an example. So when I was in the, so I, my first job, my first successful job, I should say, where I used the process was I was selling food for a distributor, back to restaurants. So I was back in my gig, right?
And,that day ended at 2 30, right? Because you could not, you couldn't, if you couldn't, if you couldn't get the orders in by 2 30, you couldn't ship them the next day. and I had,I had accepted a job to go from, we just thought of making money doing pretty well selling for these guys, took a territory from, I think it was like, I want to say it was 150, 000 to 1, 000, 005 in 18 months.
Just from doing the stuff and showing up and all that. [00:20:00] And, but I was asked right after we got married, by a friend of mine if I'd like to go work with them as a manufacturer's rep in the sporting goods business. And I knew they were very successful. So I said, sure. So I went, now I'm making nothing. So I'm going back.
So it was real entrepreneurial venture. you think, I think they offered me a small drawer or something, but I had to pay it back. So if I could live without it and my wife was working at the time, so that worked out. But at 2 30, when the day was done, I'd go home. I'd break out maps. So now I'm now, instead of just working around Boston, I'm working All of New England, or a significant portion of New England.
So I got to get on the road, I got to plan my days. So I took blank maps, and I plotted all the customers. Because I got all the, I got all the information from the, From my, my, the guys that I was working with[00:21:00] from the, lines that we represented and I just put them all with phone numbers and all that and then I lay, I got all my samples, I organized all my samples.
So now I'm still making money with someone else. I'm not doing anything wrong, because the day is done, I told them exactly what I was doing, there's no problem, they just wanted to make sure I was maintaining the customers in my two week period, and and so I was ready to go day one, to sit there and make phone calls, or maybe just get in my car and go, so whatever I couldn't get appointments I would just fill in with, stop it in, drop it out.
now I've started my process. I'm dropping in, I'm being nice, I'm not being intrusive. I'm with this, I represent these brands, yada, yada, when's a good time? So you're just getting a rapport started, a relationship started. But I was ready to go day one. Now, if you go work for a company, so I was working for my man, pretty much I've always worked for pretty much myself the whole time.
and [00:22:00] I, there was no safety net, right? there's no six months of, four grand a month and car and expenses and all that. It was like, it was me. So I had to get going as fast as I could. And I did. So we started out, I think the territory was, I think I want to say it was 250, 000 in sales, which equated to about 5, 000 in commissions.
maybe seven. No, I'm sure if 250 would probably, I would say it's 8, 8, 000, right? So now I got to pay my expense out of there, my sample bill, all those things. Four years later, using my little process, positive activity, 10 million. Wow. Showing up being prepared. So organization I think is the first thing.
The first thing, honestly, I think they need all the tips that are in the,they should school themselves. They should get all the tips that are in the, how are they, how do they greet people? Yeah. You can always be better at greeting people. you're in the hospitality business.
[00:23:00] Smile. Say hello to everybody. When you go for a walk, when you're in a bar, or in a restaurant, say hello. How you doing? What's going on? How's your day? Just get it started. Get that vibe going. funny, my oldest brother, one of my older brothers, I should say, that I walk with, he's a retired teacher. He's now 75.
He, we'll go walking around, our hometown, we split our time between here and another town, and I'll walk with him and I'll say hello to everybody. Good morning. How are you? How's the day? Isn't it beautiful? He doesn't say a word.
He's not a sales guy. You have to like people, you have to want to sit at the bar, sit at the counter, talk to people. in fairness, I went to, we went to,where are you stationed, Shane?
Shawn Buttner: grew up in Chicago, now in San Francisco Bay Area.
Neil Rogers: Oh, so you're out in the, you're on the left coast.
So we went to, so this is foo, you just, so we went to Nantucket last week. Okay. And, so we got, we were taking a boat at [00:24:00] 115, sat at the bar at the, landing cafe and, struck a conversation with the two people next to me and a young couple. in their mid thirties or so, and great people, and they look successful.
they just ooze success, they were, and they were outgoing and whatnot. And of course I can't help but ask, weasel in a message about the book. Oh really? You wrote a book? I said, yeah. I got your Amazon. Oh, opened up, ordered the book. So we, we got that going. We saw them again over in the Island.
My daughter winds up knowing the woman, she was with us. They play, it's some lacrosse affiliation with, he texts me today, because he works in my hometown, and he says, got your book today. I want to stay in touch. let's get it. Can we have lunch? Sure. You got to want to do that stuff. And I want to do that stuff.[00:25:00]
I want to, I just, I'm intrigued by them. They're nice people. I like to be around young people, I don't want to be a pathetic old guy hanging around with youngins, but but it's, But yeah, so that's the type of things I think they need to be doing, being out, even if you don't think it's worthwhile, this, me, this conference never works, or this never, go and meet, go to meet people.
That's what I think. I'm old school though.
Shawn Buttner: I love it, I think it can be really, having grown up with technology and just seeing how aunts and uncles or my parents will act. You go out to dinner or whatever, just like talking to people around you. admirable. I think, it's a lost art.
I think as much as technology can connect people, it's also created a weird barrier
Neil Rogers: in a sense. So you're segueing right into one of my speeches.
Shawn Buttner: Oh, excellent.
Neil Rogers: Tech is no threat to [00:26:00] me.
So sure. A lot of good things have happened with 50 years. cell phones have act like. Mini computers, streaming services for movies, streaming services for music, email marketing, social media marketing. Amazon has changed the landscape of shopping. Explain this to me. Why do people sit in coffee shops and want to talk? Laughs. why was Barbie a phenomenon this year? Why did Taylor Swift sell out every major stadium? And oh, by the way, just made it to the cover of Time today. Oh, wow. There's a shoe store in this town, Alec Shoes.
He's busy on a Tuesday in February. I know February doesn't mean as much to you, but here in the north is northeast. [00:27:00] Tuesday in a February is freezing and maybe snowy. You'll walk in there and then finally, did you know that Direct mail marketing is up in 2023.
That's a metaphor we use, that I use and I actually, I R& D'd it. Do you know what that means? Researched and developed? Ripped off and duplicated.
Shawn Buttner: same ish. Same,
Neil Rogers: So a friend of mine, actually my daughter's friend, he, we became friendly too, wrote this, thing on AI. And he said, the metaphor we use, Have you ever seen the movie Good Will Hunting?
Yes. Oh yeah. Okay. There's an iconic scene in the movie where Shawn, Robin Williams character, is yet again frustrated with Will, Matt Damon's character, and they're sitting on a park bench. And in Roger, Robin Williams best Boston accent, he goes, You don't know what you're talking about. You've [00:28:00] never been out of Boston.
Oh, sure. I could ask you about art, and you give me the skinny on every art book that has ever been written. But you can't tell me what the Sistine Chapel looks like, or it's how it smells, all those beautiful, what those beautiful ceilings. look So the point of that is, the point of the metaphor is that it's not going to compete with our senses.
It just isn't. I don't care what they say. Maybe, and I'm not doing double blind studies and doing all sorts of, I'm talking about, just two guys talking here. And again, using logic that sure, it's going to enhance our lives. There's going to be things that we'll use, but it's no threat to me in terms of doing a complex presentation.
It may aid in that. Okay. We'll aid. Maybe help streamline the copy process. It's not going to close a complex deal. no, and it's not going to, it's not going to have anything like this. [00:29:00] And the reason why, you think back on those things that we were comparing, why back to Taylor Swift?
Why? Why? Why is she so popular? she provides. a full experience. And my wife went for the first time. She had never seen it before. And she came back, liked her music. Came back, converted. Yeah. Just now, I'm not so sure that would happen to me, but, I would have enjoyed it.
I know. But I'm not a big stadium guy. I don't like, I love 300 seat, venues, I like intimate settings. and, there's a lot of talent out there that you can find in an intimate setting, right? Yeah. but one of the things, a nice book for everybody to think about, and if you haven't read this, I consider, I consider, I think you should consider it.
It's a book called The Happiness Advantage, because you like positivity, right? Do you know of the book?
Shawn Buttner: Yeah, it was,yeah, I've read it
Neil Rogers: before. It's great. Shawn Acorn, right? Yes. One of the things that [00:30:00] Shawn just, one of the, Harvard. And so one of the things that he discovered in all of this, in all of this research, is that the depth and the breadth of our social interactions determine our overall happiness and our longevity.
Take that for what you will, but it sounds pretty good to me, and, and, he's the one that determined that the more positive you sells 37 percent more, the more positive you is 31 percent more productive. And if you think about it, if you're in misery, if you're walking around. and you're not in that place of creativity because you haven't got your mind right.
You're negative and all that, oh, pull me in and nobody ever calls me back and I can't get a deal done. All this, give me the good leads, give me the Glen Gary leads, right? You've seen that [00:31:00] movie? no. I have not. Put that on your list to see. Okay. Glen Gary, Glen Ross.
One of the, one of the greatest sales movies you'll ever see. Okay. And,it's within, it's got an iconic scene in there by Alec Baldwin. He's the sale, he's the sales manager type from downtown. He's coming in to straighten out the, real estate office.
Okay. But yeah,and I, yeah,I recommend all of your listeners, at least watch the Shawn Acor Ted Talk on the happiness advantage. It's 12 minutes. He doesn't get it all in, but it's pretty compelling and it will, it's a great audible book, to listen to it again, over and over.
Excellent.
Shawn Buttner: Oh, I love that. and I also believe by talking about technology very broadly, like it's all in service to people, I think, like people use it, people build with [00:32:00] it, people maintain it. I differentiated myself in my career in tech and being the person that like. What are we like trying to make sure that things were understandable to humans behind the scenes so you can maintain it better?
which seems common sense, but sometimes you get some really insane things. so yeah, I love that point. And it reminded me too of another guest I had, Dr. Ahuvia, who did a book on the things that we love and, just how with. Taylor Swift and that experience that you're talking about, how, why sales isn't really, or why humanity isn't super threatened by technology is because we do everything.
I think, or he postulates for love. It's a proxy for love. You go to the Taylor Swift with your daughter, and have that experience together. And that's like a core memory that you have for the [00:33:00] rest of your life. So it's really just yeah, that's what came to mind
Neil Rogers: for me. So last night we went to, I don't know if you know this artist, his name is Brett Eldridge.
I don't, no. he's a country guy. Very good, very talented. Not the, twangy, I got my beer, my truck, my girl type, country. I, on a different level or sphere or whatever, I don't want to diss the country people, but he's, he did his holiday show last night, and we went, and my daughter bought it for me, actually my daughter and wife bought it for, I think it was for my birthday, and, we went down, it was in a new place in Boston, called the MGM Fenway, it's right by Fenway Park as you might well imagine, and they, it was a beautiful facility, it was, three jackets, 15 to hang them, and, They're getting you every [00:34:00] which way you can.
I think the tickets were 250 apiece. Oof. And, but it was an experience. The three of us went. It was a Tuesday night. Not usually going out on a Tuesday night, but, it was a good experience. And, but here's what I would suggest. I've done it. I won't do it again. What I will do is I'll go see Morgan James, who's from, I don't know if you've ever heard of Postmodern Jukebox, but it's where they take, yeah, so she used to do Postmodern Jukebox.
And she's doing her Christmas concert right down the street from our place in Plymouth, Massachusetts in a 300 person, venue converted church for 50 bucks. I think it's less. It's 40. And my buddy actually bought the tickets. So it's but, but that to me, and then, but that to me will be even as, a similar experience for 200 a month.
Yeah. by the way, if you want to get a beer, it's 7 as [00:35:00] opposed to 12. 50.
Shawn Buttner: That's Yeah, it's important. Oh, that's so cool. My wife and I just, last week went to the small theater and saw an acoustic act from one of our, favorite rock artists. This guy by the name of Ty Segall. It's 70s classical feel.
Kind of weird too, but, yeah, we got, it was probably less than a hundred people that were in the theater and we got to sit like in the second row and it's just like that feeling of, and I love music too. I know you mentioned you play a little bit, but,yeah, just being that close and yeah, they have the theater decked out for Christmas.
So there's all sorts of you go in and it's just tinsel for, 10 feet or whatever. And, yeah, it's just. So just
Neil Rogers: always working the experience. So we're doing, instead of going to the show Saturday night, Buddy and I did get the tickets. I said, I can't, I go to the, [00:36:00] I go to the three o'clock show for the holiday pops.
Then what we do, so what we used to do is we used to all go out to dinner afterwards. So you jam in 12 people or 15 people trying to get a table somewhere. And I said, you know what? Why don't we do this? Why don't we do it in our place? I'll have somebody come and serve us. We'll order the food. It's not highfalutin.
It's really just we pay somebody to service and clean up afterwards, right? It's, and we order pans of food. It's not like she's not cooked. She just eats it up, puts, puts it out for us when we get back. But what we're, but what it did do is it enhanced the experience. So now we get to stand around, walk around, talk to other people, you're not stuck at one side of the table.
So this is where the hospitality comes in again, And just always, a buddy of mine is bringing his girlfriend that I've met once. And I said, so I hear she likes old fashions. I said, I got some makers mark. He goes, She's a George Dickel guy, so all right, I'll find some George Dickel. So I bought her a bottle of George [00:37:00] Dickel.
She's taking it with her though, because I don't drink polycarbonate.
Shawn Buttner: Fair enough. That's awesome. I guess to bring it full circle then, I am, so I haven't read your book yet. I definitely want to, have, having, read a little bit about, or having talked with you today and then. Doing some research behind the thing, but how much, did you learn about creating an experience as a bartender?
Cause I imagine like that, now you see like that on Netflix, they have that bartending competition thing. That's like the bullish breakoff or it's super flashy or whatever, but that seems a little bit too showy to me. The times where I've really gone to a bar and enjoyed, talking to the bartender, do a really good job with the product, but it's also you're learning about their family and stuff, and it's just, they're telling stories about San Francisco or Chicago or wherever.
did you have that type of, experience, focus back then? [00:38:00] Another way to rephrase the, question is how much is hospitality about creating that experience? Because I know that's not something I've studied extensively or have a lot of experience with.
Neil Rogers: it's more about, it's just, a lot of it is an eight, if you're, you can learn to do it, you have to want to do it, you have to like to do it.
And that is so one of the places, the first place I worked at, they had a dock board, slow day. Hey, you want to play a game of docks? so we've got two people there, it's a small, slow afternoon, and then if I, if I, by the way, if it starts getting busy, hey, listen, could you take over for me?
Bill wants to play. We're gonna keep going. Yeah, you guys, now they know each other. Now I'm paying it forward, right? just a simple thing like that, creating a little bit of an experience, introducing somebody, this guy, matter of fact, I was into, I was going into a radio interview, and I stopped into a bar where, restaurant bar, where a buddy of mine worked with us.
And, 40 years ago, not in this one, but he was, so he's still doing it 70, 74 moves. So still moving pretty good to [00:39:00] Angus. His name is Angus McKay. How about that for a day? Nice. So he goes, so he, so I sit down, and I said, I'm going to an interview up the street and, He says,he introduces me to this guy who wrote a book called, Shotgunned.
he was a cop around Boston, and he talked about how he tracked down, tracked down a, A hijacked truck and they come out guns blazing and so he got shot. So that's where I'm at in the book right now. but it's just like he created a little bit of experience. So we chatted for a little bit and then I had to scoot, I had to go, I had to go do my interview, but it was interesting.
So you have to want to, you really have to want, it's, introverts game. Yeah, you're still supporting that in that regard, right?
Shawn Buttner: okay. with that said, Neil, it's been such a pleasure to talk with you. I know that you gave me a bunch of things that I'll put in the show notes on where to [00:40:00] people or the people can follow up with you.
But where would be the best place to buy your book or to follow up with you if they wanted to learn more
about you? I'd like to put people, point people to the positiveactivity. net site because we've got information about the book on there and then the direct link to the Amazon or Barnes and Noble, spot that you can buy because their search engines can get a little funky, Okay. Right on. We'll have that definitely in the show notes. yeah, with that, like I said, I have a whole bunch of notes from this and I'm sure going back through this, I'm going to learn a whole bunch more. I can't wait to get that book to, really get into the process, that you talk about. And so with that, is there anything else you want to say before we wrap
Neil Rogers: up?
I know it's been a lot of fun. Awesome. A lot of fun. you're converted. You're a software engineer that converted to hospitality, brother. Welcome aboard.
Shawn Buttner: Thank you. Welcome aboard. all right, with that, we'll see you guys in [00:41:00] the next episode of the Meaningful Revolution podcast. See you, team.
