The People Side Of Performance With Brad Montgomery

Posted by John Livesay in podcast0 comments

You will bring people around when you make them feel happy. Brad Montgomery, a motivational keynote speaker, dives into getting more of yourself and the people around you through Laugh-O-Nomics. Although humor is a tool to create a connection with others in your business, a simple smile, laugh, or being open is the easiest way to connect. It affects the business when we lose our human touch and enclose ourselves in the cage of sales techniques. Find value in your soft skills in this episode with Brad Montgomery now.

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The People Side Of Performance With Brad Montgomery

Our guest is Brad Montgomery who is a keynote speaker. He brings humor to the workplace and shows how humor is a great way to build connections. He said, “The secret is not trying to be funny.” Enjoy the episode.

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Our guest is Brad Montgomery who is a motivational keynote speaker for business, healthcare, and association audiences. He speaks on the people side of performance, and how to get more out of yourself and the people around you. He has spoken in all 50 states and 4 continents, and is a member of the Speaker Hall of Fame. Microsoft called his presentation, “A hilarious boost to the bottom line.” If you’re looking for an award-winning funny and fresh keynoter with a message connecting soft skills to bottom-line growth, then Brad is the guy. Welcome to the show, Brad.

What’s up, John? I’m glad to be here. When you hear someone else read the bio that I wrote, it sounds so boring.

I love the hilarious boost to the bottom line. That’s a great sound bite. Having come from an advertising background, I am always looking for some hook like that. Let’s make it come to life a little bit. Tell me your story of origin. Where did you grow up? You can go back to childhood.

I was born in a log cabin or a manger. I can’t remember one of those. The real deal is I was a magician since seventh grade. That led to doing magic through college at a Renaissance fair. After college, I thought, “I’m going to be a magician for one year, and then I’ll be a lawyer. I’ll go to law school.” Law school never happened because it turned out you can’t learn magic in a year. What are we thinking? The magic went better than I thought. It led to more stuff. It led to another thing. I didn’t go to law school. I always assumed I would but my journey has not been this thing where I say, “I’m going to get this thing and do it.” Instead, I did this and then it led to the next thing. I did that. I feel like I’ve got a nail and I keep hammering at that thing. That is the secret to my success. As opposed to vision or creativity, I keep working.

First of all, the concept is that you can be happy at work. For a lot of people, that used to be, “I only am happy when I’m off work.” The concept of being happy at work seemed like an oxymoron almost. Let’s talk about that particular topic because now more than ever, some people are coming back full-time, some people still working from home full-time, and there’s a hybrid of all that going on. What do you talk to audiences about that can be taught from a standpoint of happiness? A lot of people think they already are happy. How can you teach it?

This is my favorite question. I used to cover happiness as a business skill generally. The problem with that is some of our happiness we cannot control because we have a gene pool. There’s a huge portion we can control. What turned me on is when I discovered a subset of one of those things that we control, and how powerful and how easy it is. That is the best place to start with happiness. I’m talking about social and emotional support, which is a boring phrase. What it means is acknowledgment, encouragement, making people feel important, connecting them to their vision and purpose, and generally being an encourager. It turns out that stuff our grandma did by accident is good in the workplace.

You talk about how there’s some actual science behind happiness. Can you give us a hint of what that is?

Who knows that they would study all this? It does seem like common sense. Surround yourself with good people. Have long-term relationships. Focus on the positive and not the negative. It seems like common sense but they have studied it to death. Here’s a quick aside. Those studies are boring to read and do not make you happy. The science is clear, especially for example, when we talk about encouraging people, building up others, mentoring them, or motivating them.

It benefits the person who is the target of that effort, but it turns out the giver of that encouragement gains much more. One of those things they gain is happiness. If you want to prove it, wait until you’re having a crappy day, and then think of somebody who’s having a crappier day. Send them a text and say, “I’m thinking of you. How’s the chemo going?” It’s common sense but there is study after study that tells us that focusing on others makes us happier.

That’s why a lot of people get a lot out of volunteering. You think you’re helping the person. I see people who rescue dogs. They say, “That dog rescued me.” It’s getting your focus off of yourself a little bit.

Is it story time, John?

It’s always story time here.

[bctt tweet=”It is not about laughter. It is about connection.” username=”John_Livesay”]

When the pandemic hit, you and I are in the same business. Our calendar dried up. I’m a motivational speaker. I should not wallow but I was wallowing. It hit me. I’m embarrassed to tell you what pulled me out, which was when I started volunteering for a food bank and loading boxes of food in cars for contactless delivery. Thousands of cars would line up in a Denver shopping mall parking lot. We would load food in their cars. What I craved was talking to the drivers and saying, “Are you okay? We’re going to be here next week. Do you need anything else? How can I help?” Chatting with them and looking at them in the eyes is what got me out of it. Volunteering is massive. It seems like a motivational speaker should know that. I should have discovered that a little quicker than I did but there you go.

You talk about this blog you have about Awesome versus Chase Bank. I love a tale of anything, A Tale of Two Cities, or a tale of someone. One experience was great and one was not. Can you give us a quick summary of what that experience is? Everyone had great customer service experiences and not so great.

This is also a great lesson in sales, social and emotional support, and making people feel important. It goes like this. I was getting some blood drawn as part of a physical with no big deals in the doctor’s office. I’m a magician. I mentioned that. I was playing with a poker chip, and I lost it. They see me looking around the waiting room. It’s super embarrassing to have an adult look around under the chairs. This kid behind the counter said, “What’s up?”

I sheepishly told him, “I have a poker chip. I lost it.” That guy got up from his desk and was all smiley and nice. He ended up looking through the trash in the blood draw room. He had the gloves on. He found my poker chip. He came out. He had a big smile. I was thrilled. It had this feel-good experience. Let’s be clear. He was happy because he knew how much I appreciated him. I was thrilled but this also was not his job. His job was not to look for some chucklehead’s poker chip.

Let’s contrast that with Chase Bank. To shorten the story, there were a lot of complexities with opening an account for my dad who has a lot of memory problems. I’m opening an account. I said, “You can’t email him.” He said, “No problem.” Sure enough, they email them. I go in there. I ended up getting escalated to a branch manager. All that guy would do was push me onto the 800 number saying, “For emails you have to call 800.” “I’ve tried that. Don’t make me do it. I need a Chase person.” “Call this and do it.” It didn’t work. I call him back. He’s like, “Sorry, it’s our policy.”

Meaning, I’m not the cute kid with the poker chip who was probably a new hire who loved his job and was willing to help me even though it wasn’t part of his job. The branch manager had a genuine customer there. We have our businesses there. There were some high dollars in there at the time. He thought, “I’m not taking ownership.” He didn’t make me feel like I was important and cared for. I love that story because the more experienced and educated person is a branch manager but the guy who’s great at business is some guy who used common sense and said, “I can help.”

For me, the contrast is one is well–paid, and one is probably the starting salary. You’ve got the reverse experience from the entry–level person. Just because you’re paid well doesn’t mean you’re good at that.

Doesn’t it make you wonder what the rest of Chase is doing with their culture? If that’s their culture at that one tiny branch, then they’re not dropping the ball in making their managers care about their customers.

You also have trademarked something. I‘ve trademarked The Pitch Whisperer™ for myself. You trademarked Laugh-O-Nomics™. I know what goes into trademarking something. How did you come up with that name? What does it mean?

To be fair, I still use that name a lot but not as much as I used to. Like all of my best ideas, it came from a smarter person who advised me. I was in a mastermind group. It was 2008. Remember that? Those were happy times for speaking. I was mostly a funny guy. Mostly people were hiring me to do a very funny keynote with a whiff of a topic. This buddy of mine said, “You need to business up.”

“Use an ROI here.”

“Let’s get on this. You are not a funny person anymore.” He came up with Laugh-O-Nomics™. I used it for years but oddly, my business went way up in that recession. Well done to my buddy Jay Arthur. Even now, there’s a problem with that name. If I use Laugh-O-Nomics™ with a lot of my clients and say, “I can come and speak to your leaders, your team, your frontline staff, or whomever. We can talk about Laugh-O-Nomics™,” they tune out because they’re like, “I got to have value and takeaways. Our people need to be better.” Even though we have the science behind it and that name is great, who knew that’s a turnoff for a lot of buyers?

You don’t know until you test it. Let’s talk about how humor does have business value. My premise is whoever tells the best story is the one that people hire, whether it’s a speaker, or you’re pitching a product. Whoever makes people feel happy or bring some humor to the presentation is the one that people want to engage with. A lot of people go, “I‘m not a comedian. I should open I open my presentation to my sales team with a joke every week.” They’re usually bad jokes. Please, don’t try. Do you have any tips for somebody who wants to have some humor in their workplace but doesn’t know where to start?

Laugh-O-Nomics: Focusing on others makes us happier.

No one has asked me that question for such a long time. The secret isn’t trying to be funny. The secret is trying to set up a culture even if it’s a one-on-one culture where humor is welcome. I don’t think it’s about making people laugh. It’s about connections. When we change that vocabulary by saying, “Your goal in this sales call is a connection,” one tool is to make them laugh. Suddenly, the stakes are much lower because there are other tools you can rely on, including smiling. If you’re on a sales call, and your prospective buyer says a joke and you don’t laugh, you’re an idiot. You’re not connecting. The easiest way to do it sounds so crazy. It’s easy to dismiss but smile, laugh, and be open to, “We’re having a good time here.”

Sometimes I find that I am at my funniest when I’m not trying to be funny. I remember talking to a friend. I go, “I read this research that if you take a cold shower, it burns fat, fights depression, and reduces inflammation. It had me at burns fat. I‘m trying it.” He laughed as you did. I wasn’t even trying to be funny. I was just being me. I didn’t think it will burn fat.

I was talking with someone who is a professional comedian. He goes, “In the world of comedy, we say that if this is true, what else is true?” You could say something like, “I‘ve given up working out altogether. All I do is take three cold showers a day now.” I thought, “There’s a technique to this as there’s a technique to telling stories.” I wanted to get your thoughts on that world of magic and comedy where there are some rules that if this is true, what else is true to get the second laugh?

Your comic buddy is right. There’s another corollary or a rule. If you can give voice to what other people are thinking, you get credit for being funny. Let’s say the most basic thing. If you walk into a room and it’s freezing, and everyone says it’s freezing but no one is talking about it, you say, “What is this, an igloo?” If you write that down, that is not a funny joke but because you’re putting voice to the fact that everyone is going, “I’m freezing. The air conditioning is too high,” then people are like, “That guy is so funny.”

Use a little metaphor or analogy. I often say that as a salesperson if you can describe someone’s problem and show empathy, they think you’re in their heads. They think, “If you understand my problem that well, you must have my solution.” It builds that connection you’re talking about.

You and I are talking about the same thing with different words because whether or not you’re building empathy or you’re reading your mind by saying, “I bet you’re cold like me,” then that’s a connection. We’re both humans in this room, which is the emphasis of where I am now, especially when I’m talking with sales teams, which I do a ton. Often salespeople get wrapped up in sales techniques. They’re like, “It’s time for the close. I’m going to overcome objections.” They forget. “If I am a human being in front of another human being right now, most of that other stuff takes care of stuff.” You got to know some techniques but most of it seems to be handled when you say, “I care about you. I’m listening.”

I‘ve had event planners email a speaking guru and say, “We liked his energy when we interviewed him. We’re going to hire him.” I thought, “Rarely is it that blatant.” I believe money is energy. Later, I asked her about that comment. She said, “You made me feel good interviewing you. I figured we could probably do that to a ballroom full of people too.” At the end of the day, we’re selling how we make people feel and not selling ourselves like, “I‘m the best.”

“Do I have a connection with you?” I‘m asking questions and am showing interest in ideas to customize my talk. Therefore, that might make your audience feel listened to and heard even though I can’t speak to 500 people at a time as I’m doing with you one-on-one. It’s that concept of, “I don’t want to be pushy.” Selling yourself doesn’t necessarily mean you’re pushing yourself. It means your soft skills are strong. It’s listening, empathy, storytelling, or in your case, humor.

Stories are often funny.

Especially if they’re self-deprecating.

What you said is so true but I missed that when I was younger. Right out of college, I was in front of an audience. I thought, “I’m a businessman.” I would dress a little stiff and act a little stiff during the sales process. It took me a while to realize, “Are you kidding me, Brad? Your brand is off. You’re telling them you’re lighthearted and funny, and then you’re not in the sales call. Why are you being so weird? You’re trusting yourself to relax into it.”

Some of my favorite speakers or comedians are the ones that show some vulnerability.

That’s a trend right now.

[bctt tweet=”Give voice to what others are thinking.” username=”John_Livesay”]

We’re assuming you’re an expert, or you wouldn’t be in the final three or whatever, but you can make it somewhat relatable, “I would like to be a funny speaker.” If you make it seem like you were natural at it and didn’t have to work at it, never had a bad experience, and never had a joke bomb, then I can’t relate to anything you’re telling me. You’re laughing. I‘m guessing you had a joke bomb or two. We all have.

My question is this. Have you had an experience, because I sure have, where you say something that usually gets a laugh, and then you’re in front of a different audience, and it‘s crickets? You’re thinking, “Is it me? Is the joke no longer funny?” The next audience loves it. It’s the same time of day. It’s not like this is a Canadian audience versus an American audience. None of that observable like, “This is why,” is there. What are your thoughts on that?

Welcome to the club. You and me both, buddy. That happens all the time. It’s so weird, especially if you’ve told the joke 90 times, and it has done well 90 times, and then 91 and 92 are not good. You get in your head and then in 93, you’re back. I remember working at clubs. That was less lonely in many ways than being a keynote speaker because you’re with other comics. You could say, “How is the room?” They would say, “The early show was on fire. These guys are sitting there at the late show.” That gave me some comfort, “When I walk out there, they’re not going to laugh as much.”

It’s a thing. We don’t know why. It could be the weather because teachers swear that the weather changes their students. It could be some weird thing about what was in the news or what they were told beforehand. It could be that there’s a grumpy section right up front that is infecting the audience because they’re not laughing, and people can see them. It’s so random.

I‘ve heard these stories of speakers saying right before they go on, “We announced some layoffs. They’re not going to go up there. Good luck.”

I’ve had that happen twice.

You’re like, “Do I acknowledge the elephant in the room? How do I make that funny? It’s not funny. People are scared and upset.” The other part is, “We’re running late to the last week of the day. It’s between you and cocktails, or people have planes to catch. Could you shorten your talk to 45 minutes instead of an hour?” There’s no time to adjust your slides. You’ve got to be agile, think on your feet, and smile, “I can. No problem.” Nobody wants a diva.

That gets easier as we do this but there is a weird psychological thing where you’re thinking, “I got my plan. I’m ready.” You’re prepping for an athletic thing. You’re in your zone. They’re like, “I changed my mind. We’re not going to have a fourth quarter.” “I had my good stuff planned for the fourth quarter. Hold on.”

People underestimate being easy to work with, whether you’re a salesperson or a speaker. It can be a competitive advantage. I saw that on your website. You got called back by Boeing. I‘ve been fortunate enough to get called back by companies myself. Part of it is, “You were easy to work with. We had fun. The audience had fun.”

When I first got started, I was doing colleges. Right out of college, I started working at colleges, and performing at colleges. One time, I got a gig where the buyers are college students. It’s not always, but often. They’re the most unsophisticated buyers ever. I talked to this young woman who was an oboe player and mentioned the Mozart Oboe Concerto. She was working on that concerto. I got booked. I’m telling you. Between you and me, I was not good. I was young. I hadn’t figured it out yet but it was because I knew the Oboe Concerto by Mozart. Who knew? It’s so random.

If people want to book you as a speaker, they can go to your website, BradMontgomery.com. Before I let you go, is there any last thought, a quote, or maybe even a joke you want to leave us with?

“No pressure but could you make us laugh, Brad?” Did you just do that?

I figured I didn’t want to restrain you to a quote. It could be a funny quote. There are all kinds of funny quotes.

Laugh-O-Nomics: Whoever makes people feel happy or brings some humor to the presentation is the one that people want to engage with.

It’s not going to be funny, so calm down but it’s going to be awesome. I’m sure you feel the same. Everyone feels like at this time in the history of our planet, we’re all pooped. We’re overwhelmed. We have been told COVID is over but we all have friends who have it. Work is supposed to be easy because it’s hybrid but it’s not. There’s a war in Europe. There’s economics. It’s a divided country.

There is a technique that we can all use starting this instant that’s easy. You already know how to do it. Focus on the person in front of you, help them feel safe and cared for, help them get what they need, and watch how that trickles to feeling less overwhelmed, improving your business, raising your scientific measurable of happiness, and generally killing things in a good way.

I love it. What a great way to end. Thank you, Brad, for bringing a little bit of humor, joy, and wisdom to all of us.

I feel like I have a new friend, John.

Likewise. Thanks.

Important Links

• Brad Montgomery
• Awesome versus Chase Bank
• A Tale of Two Cities
• The Pitch Whisperer™
• Laugh-O-Nomics™
• Better Selling Through Storytelling Method Online Course

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