Meet Mike (Overview - for people with short attention spans):
Sales Coach, Trainer and Speaker, Mike Leeds consistently delivers viable approaches to selling in today's market. With 39 years of experience in selling, training and leadership, the commonsense approach to getting top performance from his clients, is his trademark.
Mike’s passion for developing salespeople was cultivated over 20 years in the corporate world (AT&T and Grainger). These successful experiences became the foundation for Pro Sales Coaching, which was founded by Mike in 2002. He was quickly embraced by the sales community for his reputation of driving sales professionals to achieve their optimum performance. That reputation has put Mike Leeds in demand for Coaching, Training and Speaking events throughout the U.S. and Canada.
He is an active sales trainer at the Arizona Small Business Association (also currently on ASBA's Board of Directors) and is the founder of the Leeds Groups (Group Sales Coaching). The Leeds Groups are currently located throughout Metro Phoenix, and virtual Leeds Groups are being established
Mike’s Background (Additional detail - for people with longer attention spans):
Growing up in Tucson, AZ, Mike started in the business world as an entrepreneur at 13-years old taking care of people’s homes when they were on vacation. For peak season, he had to hire an assistant. During High School, Mike split his time between working for a grocery store and in sales for his family’s retail jewelry store as 1 of 8 employees. The grocery store taught him customer relationship skills as well as merchandising as products competed for shelf space. The jewelry store taught him a life lesson in selling wants over needs, as well as how to build repeatable business models.
Throughout college, Mike worked for a retail tire store, valet parked cars, and continued to support the family business. In addition to continuing to develop sales skills, he learned the importance of providing exceptional customer service. (Especially since people that valet park rely heavily on gratuities.)
Upon college graduation, Mike opted for the corporate world to gain experience before considering joining the family business. After a few years in the corporate world, he determined the corporate world was his path forward.
Mike’s corporate gig started with Mountain Bell (AT&T) where he joined the corporation before the historic breakup of the Bell System. He was hired to be part of the post AT&T divestiture team. Mike’s first sales call out of training started out as a huge disaster which had him re-thinking his career choice. However, he eventually turned that disaster into a sale (a topic that he covers in speaking engagements). Overall, the AT&T experience was quite successful. Mike moved from Account Executive (multiple ranks), to National Account Manager to Sales Manager. He closed one of the largest sales in the region, and later led a sales team to record sales levels. After nearly 18 years, Mike had maxed his career opportunity in Phoenix (was not willing to relocate) and happened to qualify for early retirement.
Being able to hire and train his replacement at AT&T was important to Mike as he accepted a new position with Grainger Industrial Supply. In his first full year at Grainger, Mike’s team moved from a ranking in the bottom quarter of all districts to #3 in the country, with all branches and sales representatives achieving their sales goals. He was given additional responsibility of managing the operations in his district of Phoenix/Las Vegas along with sales. As he moved up the corporate ladder, Mike began drifting further from his passion of coaching salespeople (where the rubber meets the road). After 3+ years at Grainger, Mike left the corporate world to launch his own business as a sales coach where he could help individual salespeople and sales teams improve their sales results both strategically and tactically. That was 2002, and he’s been assisting sales producers improve their sales results ever since.
Mike is a native Arizonan and proud Sun Devil Alum of Arizona State University. He and his wife live in metro-Phoenix and have two amazing grown children (both married) and two terrific grandchildren. He is an avid sports fan and sees many parallels between the sports world and the sales world.
“I unequivocally recommend my mentor, Mike Leeds, to anyone who has the desire to grow both personally and professionally. It has been my pleasure to learn from him over these last few years. 2009 was our best year ever." Shannon Martin - President of The Shannon S. Martin Company in Phoenix, AZ
Mike in the news...
THE RECORD REPORTER (Phoenix) - Published: August 14, 2013
LEADING THE WAY
BY CHRIS GILFILLAN
It was Jan. 8, 1982. AT&T had just inked a consent decree that finalized the divestiture of its company, effectively trading $149.5 billion in assets and more than 90 percent its market share for regulation and uncertainty. With that break up into the “baby Bells,” AT&T’s future was unclear. But that didn’t bother then account executive Mike Leeds; it’s actually where he thrived, climbing the ranks from account executive to national account manager and sales manager despite the divestiture and uncertainty.
“It was unregulated, so I knew we had to earn it as opposed to being the default [phone company],” Leeds said about the antitrust break up. “It was a lot more competitive, and I like competition. I like earning business because we’re the right fit and we solve customer needs and problems as opposed to ‘We’re AT&T; you have no choice.’”
It is that tenet that Leeds holds on to today, as head coach of Pro Sales Coaching, the company he founded in 2003 with his wife Jody. With an office off Greenway Parkway, Leeds takes the experience he had at AT&T and helps small business sales teams improve their returns. For Leeds, the competitive marketplace is about identifying the “hunters” and the “farmers.”
“Hunters were business acquisitions. Farmers are account management and grow existing business,” he said. “Most salespeople, by nature, are farmers. And what I mean is that they like handling existing customers. They like going into friendly environments. There could be issues, but they’ll wrap their hands around those issues, and they already have a relationship.”
MJS Designs, Inc., an electronics manufacturing services company, hired Leeds to help them with their sales force. There, Leeds worked with them to develop a repeatable sales process that they could use with business prospects across the spectrum. “We helped them develop a sales process, where the steps are repeatable and almost mechanical. But it’s how you do it and the personal relationships you have with the customers that keeps it fresh, so you don’t feel like you are a robot.”
Leeds’ sales philosophy stems from learning the ropes at his family’s business, Ronel Jewelers, which used to be on Pennington Street in Tucson. “My grandfather used to tell me, ’No one really needs what we sell. The whole world can operate with Timex watches and plain gold wedding bands. Everything else is a want; it is not a need.’ And that really stuck with me still to this day. One of my favorite sales topics is on the difference between wants and needs.”
And after 17 years at AT&T and three at Grainger, Leeds targets small and midsize businesses to show them how to increase revenue through boosting sales. “Sales is a black-and-white business,” he said. “There’s a scoreboard up there. You’re either making your numbers, exceeding your numbers, or you’re not. So how do I get to keep my job? I help my teams exceed their sales numbers.”
Leeds emphasized the importance of growing through experience, saying that “we’re going to continue to learn until we’re done and we’re six feet under.” He said it’s important to learn from other professions, and he’s writing a book on how a sales team can learn from everyday experiences. “I absolutely love my job,” he said, “and I think it really helps for all of us to truly love what we do.”