Leveraging the Pandemic to Build an Extraordinary Sales Team, with David Royce and Vess Pearson
David Royce and Vess Pearson
You may not expect a pest control company to have a full-sized NCAA basketball court and a golf simulator inside their headquarters—but then, you may not expect a lot of things about Aptive Environmental’s unique culture and amazing vibe. Modeled after the slick beauty of leading tech companies, Aptive has been a disruptor in the pest control industry by offering the best technology and solutions to a stable and professional sales team and introducing an element of fun. At the helm of this juggernaut company’s beginning is David Royce, Founder and Chairman, and Vess Pearson, CEO. David describes himself as a “serial entrepreneur,” and is always looking to make the world a better place with each business he starts or influences. He has been featured in several articles by Forbes magazine and other national publications and continues to dazzle the world with his intense curiosity and tenacious creativity. Vess brings his passion, drive, and energy for building successful sales teams and creating a fun culture. Vess continues to propel Aptive forward as the CEO, as David has transitioned to a less hands-on role. With a clear aptitude for connecting with people, Vess’ energy in moving a group towards a goal compels those around him to join in and become invested. David and Vess are committed to the healthy culture and sustained growth of their company, and the sincerity of their intentions towards employees and clients is absolutely apparent in all that they do. New sales reps hired at Aptive see a 60% average increase in their sales. When we asked about this, David attributed that success to “a lot of simple stuff done extraordinarily well.” This notion permeates every idea they talked about with us, every plan and structure they have put in play: the small things add up. Aptive’s successes continue to add up and achieve new heights with every passing year, with Vess and David continually contemplating new approaches.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- What personal challenges the sales team took on as a result of Aptive Strong
- How David and Vess prepared their salesforce to take on their biggest challenge to date as an organization
- How David and Vess have built such an amazing culture and attracted the best talent in the “not-so-sexy” business of pest control
- What were the things in the business that might be changing which led David and Vess to realize that an increased level of mental toughness was a good thing to focus on
- How they got their people to embrace the mindset that where you feel friction or adversity is really an opportunity
- How was Aptive able to blow up their numbers during the crisis
- Why and how did Vess gamify the sales process that resulted in some very cool competitions
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