Jason Cooper, Sales Training Coach, Podcast Host, Radio Presenter
For over 25 years, Jason Cooper has worked in the UK, Ireland and other European markets and has been in the corporate area and has co-founded two startups. Jason has also helped numerous businesses and individuals grow.
Since 2016 Jason has helped transform salespeople and sales teams. He helps salespeople realise their true potential - not just as professionals but as colleagues, as team players, and business advocates.
"Selling or serving others is about driving business results, it's about increasing revenues, and most importantly, it's about converting conversations. Unless you can convert a sale, you can't make a sale; you can't build client relationships—my approach to sales training centres on critical areas such as self-motivation, personal relationships and individual tenacity.
“Don't ever be afraid of asking anyone – people are more than giving when they feel that they are helping people to grow. Make sure you ask the right people. Perseverance and tons of patience. This doesn't happen overnight.”
Jason Cooper
How do you help someone to believe they should never give up? How do you motivate someone to keep going? When I work with salespeople one of the challenges that they face is to keep their motivation up, it's a little bit like when I go running you know there's a part of that run that I don't look forward to, but I know once I start I soon get over that.
This is the same as when you don't want to get on and make calls to connect with a new customer once you do and win a sale. It makes you feel great, and your motivation is back on track.", says Jason.
Tell us about your current role and what you like about your career/role or areas of focus.
I'm a sales training coach. I’ve been interested in selling since his early school days, and my mission is to impact salespeople and teams to help thousands of people to get what they want - globally through being able to impact the revenue of the customer’s bottom line dramatically.
I have 25 years’ experience operating a seasoned ‘Sales Training Coach’, and I personally understand the motivational challenges that salespeople and teams must face daily.
What I like about facilitating workshops or coaching sessions online or in the real world is seeing the transformation of people and noticing the difference in the results they make. This feeds me to learn more about how I can improve so as an advocate of continuous learning and building my success will help others. Whether through one to one Coaching or via a Team setting what I want for each person is to be able to feel good about the work they do in sales.
All areas covered in psychology, body language, coaching, keynote, humour, effective communication, mindset, and so much more – this is my MBA. This is how I learn and grow and then feed-forward back to people.
What inspires you, motivates you, helps you to make each day count?
Get inspired by helping people to grow more, but while that's happening, I'm also growing myself, which makes a massive difference to my life. I hope it has an impact on other people as well.
Outside of your professional work area, what hobbies or interests do you have or what other areas of your life are of real importance to you?
One of the main things that I love to do, and it's my new passion - trail running. I love to run! I was a great runner as a kid, and I used to be good at cross country and Octathlons and decathlons, but now I run with a trail running club over the Dublin mountains, it's a great way to keep physically and mentally fit.
It's also perfect for the mind, is good for the brain to get everything out of your system. Furthermore, suitable for upper areas that are important to me, such as family, friends, connections, and helping other people grow. Therefore you are building excellent long-term relationships with people.
When it comes to your life chosen career, is there a phrase, quote or saying that you like?
A bit of a cliche here but "if you believe you can or if you believe you can't and then you're right". I love the internal dialogue of this quotation because it's what you focus your mind on.
That comes out with the answer, so if you think negatively or if your words are constructed in certain ways that the internal thoughts are programming the response to it. So whatever you're right into your head whether it's positive or negative has an effect into your life.
What are you most proud of in your life?
I'm very proud of my family. It's an obvious one to answer.
I'm also proud that I ran a 26 kilometre run in aid of men's mental health. I am hugely proud of doing that because something personal happened to a friend of mine earlier this year, and being able to achieve that is something that makes me feel that I'm helping others that might be facing issues.
What do you wish you had known when you started?
I think you have to find your path. You have to find your destiny. That comes with time. That comes with a huge amount of patience, and it comes out from experience.
Then it comes to you as a critical thing, is its passion for finding out your path takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of heartaches, a lot of tears until you find your passion, and once you have that then that's the goal in life that you need to strive for.
Who do you most admire in business, academic or creative circles?
In business, I love people that make a difference. I love people that are trying to do something outstanding, but they carved their niche because there is a challenge or there is a problem that they're overcoming, and by doing that they create a fantastic product.
Academically I love the areas of neuroscience. I love the area or thinking differently and doing stuff differently from behavioural economics to psychology to neuro-linguistic programming or areas related to the way we communicate with ourselves and others.
Expanding your mind again, it goes back to you. If you think you can or if you think you can't then you're right so doing something creative and different I think that's wonderful.
Learning how to grow and grow every single day, and challenge yourself by new opportunities, and challenge yourself through something different every single day, and think as positively as you can.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
The best advice that you can ever receive or that I've received "found your passion and then work on it and then work hard".
What drives or motivates you each day in a work environment?
As a coaching environment, when I work with people and teams in a coaching environment, what motivates me is the glint in the eye that they understand it.
And they get it and to make sure that I'm delivering in the best possible way that they can adopt a habit to make a difference in their lives.
Once they've got it, they understand it. My best feeling after that is by people telling me how well they've done and what impact they're making in their lives or in their business lives that is just so powerful and so humbling as well.
What are your thoughts on the future of social media?
Social media is one of those things that should be very careful. A lot of artificial intelligence has to be done with integrity and done with a lot of trust.
The challenge and problem are those listening devices that are out there and are connected, and listening to absolutely everything that you have and say. I think it has to be done in a slightly different way to the future of social media; has to be three-dimensional; has to be improved in a communicative way and machine learning.
It has to be based on what you want, and what you want to see onto it, but what I'd like to see is a technology that blocks us from being tracked by all social media, sensors etc.
What is your favourite social media platform, and why?
My favourite social media is LinkedIn because it's where I get most of my business from. However, I've been using it since 2007, very well versed with what it can do.
I think Facebook is a little bit old. I just keep it there for keeping up to speed with my parents and my family and some friends. All of that for me that's not business, that's slightly different.
Instagram is awesome. WhatsApp is useful as well. I like that just to connect with people more so than anything else.
Do you have a mentor, or have you ever been a mentor to anyone?
Yeah, I'd be mentored plenty of times, and I think that's probably the best thing you can do.
I'm not going to tell you who they are, but yes being mentored by two or three different people and the more you have even just to have a conversation with someone it makes so much difference.
I've also mentored loads of people in the startup places, and people that come to me for coaching and business coaching. I go out and mentor so there's a slight difference between the two mentoring - one is sitting side by side business coaches, asking lots of questions - so slightly different in its approach, but I advise anyone out there to get a coach - a mentor. So you can bounce ideas, you can share and grow.
How do you network? What is your prefered way to network?
My preferred way to network in the digital world LinkedIn. Once you get a connection, you can do it via several platforms out there. You can do a Zoom call.
You have to look for creative ways to network and find your clients and build good long-term relationships with them.
Ideally meeting people in the real world is the best way but obviously, now we have to be creative due to the current constraints of the world.
What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same area of work?
Best thing I could always suggest is meet up for virtual coffee, and that's what I've done.
Ask people questions - "how do you find it?" "what are the areas of challenges while the areas of opportunities?", or "what can you do?".
Don't ever be afraid of asking anyone – people are more than giving when they feel that they are helping people to grow. Make sure you ask the right people.
What do you feel is the most common reason for people failing or giving up?
Some of the reasons that people are failing are because they are not committed. It's not the right path for them. They haven't found passion, so they give up too quickly.
Perseverance and tons of patience. This doesn't happen overnight. Only happens overnight to the very few, so it's like the iceberg that effect you only see the top but not what you see underneath meaning all of the hard work and effort.
The work effort struggles the tears, and on top, you just see the success, so it takes time, things will happen when you're focused.
How do you define success, and what lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience?
Success means lots of things to lots of different people. It could be money. It could be ego.
It could be other things, but for me, it's achieving my goals. I find that success; it's something that you have to chunk down and work on - incremental steps as opposed to having a big idea which is terrific.
Once you've achieved that, what is next? How can I reach the next goal? It means a lot of things to different people, so just find your success. Reward yourself and then go on to the next thing. Whatever that reward might be, and whatever that success might look for you.
What skills do you feel have helped you to become successful?
Some of the best things that helped me to learn are read books, go on courses; then another method; speak with people; get a mentor, a coach, or an advisor; do podcasts; the radio show; and listen to people.
Understanding them, in fact, listening, is probably one of the best skills that you can ever have to know how you can adapt - how you can grow. I find having patience; having a good deal of respect for someone else is key.
Is there anything else that you’re working on that you would like to share?
I also have two Podcasts series called Mindful Leadership and The Global Sales Leader – I talk with some fantastic people from around the globe in a relaxed, organic manner on how they lead. What motivates them, what can we learn, how can we all change as leaders and sales leaders to make an impact on growth learning.