Escaping the Drift with John Gafford
Broadcasting to Sales Mastery: Dave Anderson on Loyalty and Resilience
Tue, 15 Apr 2025
Dave Anderson, a broadcasting industry veteran who has shared the microphone with legends like Charlemagne, brings his wealth of experience to our latest episode of "Escaping the Drift." Join us as we explore the fervent sports culture of Philadelphia, where loyalty and confrontation go hand in hand. Dave takes us down memory lane with stories that capture the city's gritty spirit, from the notorious jail in the old Veterans Stadium to its relentless quest for respect. Our conversation paints a vivid picture of a city characterized by resilience and passionate devotion, offering insights into what makes Philly fans uniquely formidable. We then shift the conversation to the steadfast nature of traditional radio in the digital age, highlighting its unmatched local charm and reliability during emergencies. Drawing on personal career journeys, we discuss the courage needed to transition from conventional roles to entrepreneurial paths, emphasizing the importance of adaptability and self-awareness. Sales skills come under the spotlight, as we share anecdotes from our early careers that demonstrate the art of building genuine relationships. We also critique the often detrimental influence of "alpha sales gurus," advocating instead for sincerity and authenticity in client interactions. Wrapping up, we delve into strategies for effective sales calls, underscoring the importance of preparation and respect for the client's time. Positive energy emerges as a crucial ingredient for success, with belief in one's product and self being key drivers of achievement. As we navigate the themes of perspective and support networks, we reinforce the value of diversity in thought and strategy. Ultimately, we conclude that sales is less about products and more about creating real human connections, urging listeners to celebrate the irreplaceable human element in all sales endeavors. CHAPTERS (00:00) - Escaping the Drift With Dave Anderson (09:23) - Radio's Resilience and Transition to Sales (14:10) - Building Relationships in Sales and Publishing (23:51) - Rejecting Alpha Sales Gurus (27:47) - Effective Sales Call Strategies (35:37) - Positive Energy and Sales Success (43:10) - Choosing Your Perspective and Circle (46:25) - Embrace Diversity in Sales Success (53:20) - Sales Is About Real Connections 💬 Did you enjoy this podcast episode? Tell us all about it in the comment section below! ☑️ If you liked this video, consider subscribing to Escaping The Drift with John Gafford ************* 💯 About John Gafford: After appearing on NBC's "The Apprentice", John relocated to the Las Vegas Valley and founded several successful companies in the real estate space. ➡️ The Gafford Group at Simply Vegas, top 1% of all REALTORS nationwide in terms of production. Simply Vegas, a 500 agent brokerage with billions in annual sales Clear Title, a 7-figure full-service title and escrow company. ➡️ Streamline Home Loans - An independent mortgage bank with more than 100 loan officers. The Simply Group, A national expansion vehicle partnering with large brokers across the country to vertically integrate their real estate brokerages. ************* ✅ Follow John Gafford on social media: Instagram ▶️ / thejohngafford Facebook ▶️ / gafford2 🎧 Stream The Escaping The Drift Podcast with John Gafford Episode here: Listen On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7cWN80gtZ4m4wl3DqQoJmK?si=2d60fd72329d44a9 Listen On Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/escaping-the-drift-with-john-gafford/id1582927283 ************* #escapingthedrift #daveanderson #broadcasting #philadelphia #sportsculture #loyalty #confrontation #veteransstadium #resilience #radio #digitalage #traditional #entrepreneurial #salesskills #relationships #salesgurus #coldcalling #positiveenergy #attitude #perspective #supportnetworks #diversity #authenticity #humanconnections
Chapter 1: Who is Dave Anderson and what is his broadcasting background?
Oh, 1998, 1999. Okay, deep. All right, cool. Before. I was on her show.
I was on her show like 20 years ago, not 30 years ago. Yeah. And now, Escaping the Drift, the show designed to get you from where you are to where you want to be. I'm John Gafford, and I have a knack for getting extraordinary achievers to drop their secrets to help you on a path to greatness. So stop drifting along, escape the drift, and it's time to start right now.
back again back again for another episode of the podcast like it says in the opening man gets you from where you are to where you want to be and today beamed from the interwebs right into the studio i got a dude that has worked in the broadcasting industry with such greats as charlemagne it's just this dude's resume goes on like crazy and he has developed some systems and some processes to help you achieve some things that you
got to hear. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the program. This is Dave Anderson. Dave, how are you, man? I don't have any interesting complaints, man. Thanks so much for having me. Interesting complaints.
Where are you today, man? Where are you? I'm at home in Philly. Relaxing, man. Just finished up homeschool with my youngest, so just relaxing today, thank God.
At home in Philly, are you still, is the hangover still going from the Super Bowl win, I'm guessing?
First of all, there is no hangover. We are still very high. We are high. We are so high, we climb greased poles without a problem, man. Like, this has been just the most wonderful year in football since the last time we won the Super Bowl. So, yeah, man, I'm having a ball. Most of my friends are having a ball. And I'm really sticking it to all my friends who are Cowboys fans.
Yeah, I can see that. Let me ask you this. Why does Philly, before we get into the thing to help folks, why does Philly have such a reputation for having such confrontational fans? One of my favorite things I've seen on the internet and probably the last year is somebody said, hear me out a new reality show.
We take MMA fighters, we take UFC fighters, and we put them in the opposing team's jerseys and take them to Philly sporting events. They won't survive. I think, dude, what is it about the passion of the city? Is it just is it a tribal instinct that we have to beat up opposing fans?
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Chapter 2: Why are Philadelphia sports fans known for their loyalty and confrontation?
in the stadium was that designed to get them back in the stands to just adjudicate them quickly give you a ticket and then get you back out there was such a backlog in the jail every time there was a sporting event because we'd be fighting you you mix philadelphia grit with a whole lot of beer Yeah, bro.
It's going to be fine. It's not going to pay off. All right. Well, let's talk a little bit about you, man. So obviously you're a guy that's achieved a lot of success and helped a lot of people become very successful. So I'm always interested in kind of the nature versus nurture thing, man. Tell me about you growing up. Yeah.
Well, my mom was a teacher. My dad was a cop. So very, you know, basic home life, but everybody in my family, my mom's family, they were really big on education, really big on reading. And you were allowed to have an opinion. You just had to back it up with a whole lot of research.
So if you had a difference of opinion, you better be ready to back it up at the dinner table with charts and PDFs and the whole nine. And that was a big thing. The other thing that, you know, when I came up, my brother and I, you can start whatever you wanted to, but you either finished it Or you quit. And if you quit, you couldn't pick it back up. So I learned seven instruments. I sang.
My brother was a three sport athlete. You know, I was doing radio at nine, TV at 15. You know, so there was this mindset of you finish what you start and you become the best at it or you don't bother doing it at all because your last name meant something in my house. And to this day, that's how I am with my kids. Anderson's don't give up. Anderson, what do you mean you can't do this?
Figure it out.
We don't quit. So you said you were doing TV at nine.
I was on radio at nine, TV at 15. What are you doing on the radio at nine? Everybody says that, but nobody bats an eye about the Olsen twins having the number one show as infants.
um i was doing a show called get held they didn't have to do anything hosting a radio show you gotta actually kind of bring it i mean as a nine-year-old you're hosting a radio show yeah i was i was co-hosting with an adult thank god and i was having the time of my life we were playing you know music that was kid-centered we were talking about things that kids go through like kids have problems and everybody ignores kids until they grow up or they get into trouble before they grow up
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Chapter 3: How is traditional radio adapting and staying resilient in the digital age?
so i would turn on the tv at four o'clock in the morning and the 600 block of 19th street there were three shootings and so the 600 block of 19th street is where i would go hey hey listen not to bother you uh real quick do you know miss jenkins just got shot oh you didn't hear what what kind of security system do you have well you know we're running a 39 special right now oh no you don't need to worry about credit or a long-term contract it's month to month sign here and here and so by the end of the block
I met my month's quota, and then I would just rinse and repeat every day. That's it. I go to where the need is. I'm not trying to do the random, hi, how you doing? I'm Dave with ADT, and you know crime is bad. No, I'm going where the bleeding is happening, and I'm coming with gauze, some needles, some Band-Aids, and a daggone bus to take you to the hospital every day.
That is, yeah, I mean, that is, that is, dude, I've been doing this for a long time, right? That's probably the best example I've ever heard of identifying a buying market, identifying a target rich environment, no pun intended, I'm shooting, but just being able to identify who you're selling to. So how do you take that methodology and translate it into other industries? How do you do it?
The thing of it is everybody likes to buy. Nobody wants to be sold to. So the thing that people miss out on is they're worrying about their quotas. They're worrying about their commission. They're worrying about making money. They're not concerned about building relationships. It's not what you know. And the lie is it's who you know. No, it's not. It's who knows you and is willing to admit to it.
And so when you start building relationships, the thing that I do with every single person I ever meet, I say, listen, I just got one question for you. What can I do to make your life better? And people are like, wait, you're asking me how you can help me? And I'm like, yeah, because if I help you and I mean, help you in a real way, not like how people say, hey, how you doing?
Like, if I help you in a real way, there's nothing you won't do for me. And you know better than anybody.
money is one thing but a favor when you need to pull it worth a whole lot more than money and so that's what you do you you find a way to build relationships and people will be so happy hey have you met bob bob is awesome you got to sit down with bob bob you got to meet dave dave is crazy he does all these things man he's got the sales technique and he's got these books and he speaks all over these they will start to be your army
of how great you are and you never have to toot your own horn. And so that translates in every single industry. If you're looking at somebody and you know, like say if you're doing hair and you say, listen, I see that you got some split ends. I understand that. Do you know that the simplest thing to do
is do a deep conditioner and then also do some apple cider vinegar rinse and then put on a bonnet that has a satin lining. Or if you don't like bonnets, that's fine. Put on a satin line pillowcase. Your split ends will stop and you won't need to come into me as much. Now that might seem like you're losing money, but what you just did was get a customer for life. Loyalty is powerful.
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Chapter 4: What motivated Dave Anderson to transition from broadcasting to sales?
And the funny thing was the first comment that I got back on that video and I made it was some dude said, he goes, I mean, if you get victimized by getting a sales call, I mean, you're a little soft. And I'm like, okay, bro, you don't understand what I was trying to say.
If Gordon Ramsay goes into a restaurant and they serve him a terrible meal, he's going to say, this chef just victimized me because he's a master. Yes, I'm very good at what I do. So if somebody does it sloppily, I'm saying you victimize me. So what sends you walk me through what makes a good sales call?
To me, a good sales call comes down to doing the research before you call.
prepare for a cold call you know you can do your research especially in this day and age when you've got every answer to every question in your phone you should automatically know who you're talking to what they're into what they like where they're struggling you should see opportunities on their website for improvement there should be so many things in your arsenal that all you're doing is just picking from the buffet of I'm about to close this bugger and we don't do that we just go
Hey, it's Dave Anderson. How are you doing? How are you doing today? Yeah, no. Listen, man, your website, I was looking at it and I bet you you're having some sales conversion problems. Well, yeah. How'd you know that? Because your website made me want to click off in the first five minutes. Tell me more.
Like you've got to start by taking the time to show that you cared enough not to just call them out the blue and waste their time. You're calling to save them from something they don't even realize. It's like if you and I are walking down the road and I've been down this road before and I go, hey, no, no, no. Come on this side because there's a hole right there.
You're not going to debate me about the hole. Obviously, I'm not going to tell you that there's a hole there when there isn't. You're going to take my advice because I saw the hole ahead of time and I'm preventing you from getting into that hole. We don't do that. It's about, I got to get these numbers.
There's some dumb chick named Linda listening and running your calls and she's playing with her hair and she's worrying about your bio breaks. Damn you, Linda. We have to get back to making sure we're researching ourselves. Secondly, we've got to make sure we're building a rapport and doing that naturally. Not in the, hey, how you doing? Like, you know, what's been going on, man?
Like, what are the things that... I want to stop you.
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Chapter 5: What sales strategies helped Dave succeed in door-to-door selling?
Yeah, so it's good.
No, absolutely.
I do a sports show with some folks, and every time I'm on, I have a different piece of Eagles paraphernalia on just to annoy them. But no, you build rapport on what you have in common, and that's the solution to their problem. Like, yo, listen, I know it sucks right now. I know what you're doing sucks right now and they don't see it. That's fine. This is me in Utah.
So what I got right now is going to set you far ahead of everybody in there to the point where you'll be running that place in six months. No BS. What would you like to know first? Oh, how can I run the place in six months? Okay, cool. This takes care of this, this, that, and the third. This CRM here is better because it does bop, bop, bop, bop, bop. You know, what are you currently using?
Oh, well, you know, they got us using, you know, CRM X. Oh, oh, because it's 2003 there, huh? Yeah. And they're like, yeah, man, they don't they're in the dark. They all are. That's why I'm trying to drag you out kicking and screaming. I need you to be my pioneer. All right. Well, what's it going to cost? It's not going to cost you anything. But when you start producing, it's going to be this.
And then your managers are going to want to know. And then at that point, you're an ally. You're not a salesperson, you know. And then from there, the deal should close itself with the ability for you to answer their questions knowledgeably. If you don't know the product that you're selling intimately, Why are you on the phone? Why are you talking? You should not be selling anything.
You need to go back to the training room and study. You need to be using this stuff. Why do we sell products we don't use or believe in?
That to me is a... Yeah, that's the key, dude. Everybody I've ever met that has said, oh, I did sales once, I hated it. What were you selling? I was selling this. Was it a good product or bad? I was terrible. Well, that's why you hated your job. Cause you had to stand there and lie to people all day. You don't believe in what you're selling, bro. You're never going to want to do it.
You're never going to be any good.
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Chapter 6: How can building genuine relationships improve sales success?
In there, everything is right with the world because this is the place where the money is happening, baby. This is Vegas and you're a high roller. You've got to take on that mindset, even when it sucks, even when it's hard. Listen, you have pretended to like your boss and laugh at his corny jokes for less.
You're not willing to pretend like everything is all right in your personal life in order to come up professionally, in order to switch that energy up? Also, move your body. Go get yourself a new shirt or press the one that you have. Switch out your outfits. Get something going so that you feel good about yourself. Change your hair. Get a haircut. External things will change you.
I have one of my best friends, a guy named Ace, right? And believe it or not, he cuts my hair. I know I have locks, but trust me. But the thing of it is, bro, he'll tell you. People get out of his chair, and it's like they're transformed. Their energy is different. They feel like they can take on the world. And then they'll FaceTime their woman. I do it myself. I FaceTime my wife.
I'll be like, yo. She'll say, oh, you look good. I'm zooming home. I'm running red lights to get to Mars so she can see how good I look. If you do things that make you feel good, that energy is palpable. The same thing happens when your energy is negative and you're listening to your boss. Well, you know, it's the end of the month. Thanks, Captain Obvious. Cool. No problem, Chuck. I'm on it.
Watch my smoke. And I'm there early and I'm the last one out because I got to make this happen. And that's that. And then you go back to what you were doing that was working. that you can control that you're no longer doing. You got to take stock.
I love that you said, feel good, play good, pretty much what you said. Because I tell people, if you're in a slump, step number one, wear a suit every single day. You got to put a suit on. Because to me, man, it's like that's your Superman suit. Like there's a change in that physiology.
Like if you're rolling into the office, I'm casual today because a little nippy in Vegas today, believe it or not. Really? What's nippy in Vegas? High is only 58 today. So a little nippy in Vegas today. Yeah, it's cold, right? That's really weather. Yeah. Yeah, it is, dude. It's cold outside for this time of year. It's going to be 97 next week, so there you go.
But anyway, but yeah, look good, feel good. And I always tell people, if you make that change, you put on a Superman outfit, right? It's going to change. Your physicality will change your physiology, which will change your outcome. Two, I'm a real big believer on visualization of things that you want to manifest.
and right now i think if for me like for all of the stuff we use chat gbt through we use it all day long for a million different things in our company but for me like one of the most valuable that i never really hear anybody talk about is chat gbt is now especially with the new upgrade makes incredible imagery like incredible imagery so dude you can like when you write out your goals and you're writing that vision statement about what you're going to have
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Chapter 7: What is Dave Anderson's opinion on 'alpha sales gurus' and their sales techniques?
And I was like, man, that's terrible because it's probably sort of true. But dude, I root like crazy for all my friends to do well. And I got a lot of friends. I have a lot of friends that do exponentially better than I do. And I root like crazy for them. And I'm so happy for them. I make it a point to cheer when my friends win. And I think that's
That's something that is, I think the hustle mentality a little bit, the hustle culture that's come up in the last five to seven years has created so much competition, which don't even competition is great. I love Pete. I love competition. I love all of that stuff. But at the same time, you got to also be rooting for, for your people on your team.
Yeah, no, it's the most important thing to be a cheerleader when it's time to be a cheerleader because everybody has their time. You know, you look at Dennis Rodman. Dennis Rodman is not in the conversation as to who's the greatest between Jordan and LeBron, but Dennis Rodman led the league in rebounds. By the way, Michael Jordan never won a championship that did not involve Scottie Pippen.
Everybody has a role to play. So why am I going to get mad? You don't ever hear Superman hating on Aquaman. And I mean, he could. Talking to the fish is not exactly the sexiest superpower, but everybody has their lane. Everybody has their purpose. And it's lonely at the top because everybody thinks everything is a competition. And it's not.
The best thing you can do is collaborate with like-minded people. And so I want the best for everybody because if that's the case, then we're all winning. My grandfather, who had a sixth grade education, said, Dave, a candle never lost anything by lighting another one. That's how I live my life.
I'm going to challenge what you said a little bit though. You said collaborate with like-minded people. I like to collaborate with people that think differently from me as much as I can because I think the echo chambers that everybody likes to crawl in where everybody agrees with everybody.
I mean, I would say like, I have a great business partner in our businesses here and we do not always agree on everything because we've always said, bro, if we always agree, one of us shouldn't be here.
Yeah, when I say like-minded, I mean, you and I might say, okay, I wanna climb this mountain. And I'm like, yo, jet pack. You're like ropes and cleavers and sticks and guides. I'm like, jet pack. We're both trying to go to the top of the mountain. We don't agree on how to get there, but the goal is the same. Our methodologies can be completely different.
But if we have that goal that we're going to get there one way or the other, And if one of us is falling off the side of the mountain, we're going to lift the other one up. Then we're going to win. I don't want you to agree with me. And the majority of my team does not agree with half the things I say. And they shouldn't. I think the yes culture is a completely different animal.
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Chapter 8: What are effective sales call strategies and the importance of positive energy?
And that is something, thank God, that AI will never be able to replace. See you next week. What's up, everybody? Thanks for joining us for another episode of Escaping the Drift. Hope you got a bunch out of it, or at least as much as I did out of it. Anyway, if you want to learn more about the show, you can always go over to escapingthedrift.com. You can join our mailing list.
But do me a favor, if you wouldn't mind, throw up that five-star review, give us a share, do something, man. We're here for you. Hopefully, you'll be here for us. But anyway, in the meantime, we will see you at the next episode.