We had the privilege of welcoming Rener Gracie to a skucast Live! episode this week, and what an insanely energetic time, learning from a master instructor in sales, problem-solving, and passion!
Rener Gracie floored the sharks on Shark Tank with one of the best pitches the show had ever seen. His product, the Quikflip, earned not only a half-million-dollar investment but landed on Time Magazine’s “Best Inventions of 2019” list. He’s a Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor at Gracie University and co-creator of their online curriculum, his product line is available through our amazing friends at S&S Activewear.
In this exclusive interview, Rener shared six essential lessons he’s learned through his sales and entrepreneurial experience, you can skip to the highlights below but honestly, it’s a rich episode full of brilliant advice that’s worth a cup of coffee and a pause in your day. And we promise: you’ll extract a bigger boost from Rener’s energy than you will your coffee beans!
Storytelling Enchants (10:21): During our interview, we played Rener’s clip from Shark Tank and asked Rener to share his thoughts on how he came up with the idea to demonstrate a simple hoodie concept through the vehicle of story, plus what he learned from this technique of approaching sales in a story-driven way.
Passion Pulls (14:08): Rener talks about passion in a way that I’ve never heard anyone else speak to it, he reflects on how passion is a skill and an art in selling and that, as “teachers of teachers” at one of the world’s preeminent jiu-jitsu studios, they learned that in order for anyone to believe you, you must communicate with passion because, “that’s all sales and teaching really is, transferring the passion or enthusiasm for your topic to others. If someone does not appreciate fully what you are teaching or selling it’s because you haven’t transferred your passion.” And he shared a masterful tip: “your audience’s passion for your presentation or product must never exceed yours … your passion has to pull your audience along with you.”
Pump the Problem; Demonstrate the Solution (18:10): It begins with passion, but at the heart of your selling solution, you must solve a problem. “Pump the problem; demonstrate the solution” was a mantra Rener repeated over and over. “Jiu-jitsu is only as good as the problem it solves. The Quikflip hoodie is only as good as the problem it solves.” Rener mentions later in the video, “I didn’t set out to start a new company, I started out by trying to solve my problem.”
Alavanca Opens Opportunity (20:50): In everything that Rener does, he applies precise application, whether in words, speaking to billionaires at Shark Tank for example, or when he’s locked in a jiu-jitsu match, precision is the key to unlocking a problem. Too often, as salespeople, we wing it, but Rener does two things: He looks for precise answers to specific problems and he look for the hidden leverage -what he calls “alavanca”- in any situation. “Every problem is a technique waiting to be discovered.”
Winning and Losing = Winning (23:57): Rener shares that winning and losing is not either/or proposition. “If we win, cool, let’s replicate; if we lose, we learn and move on to the next one.” But mostly, maintaining one’s equilibrium through both winning and losing is the key.
Your Outside Passions Transform Your Work (35:20): In our final question, we asked Rener what would he share with the younger entrepreneurial Rener Gracie that would have helped prevent his biggest mistake and he shared some brilliant advice on how our lives outside of our work -in his case, his life teaching Jiu-jitsu- transforms our work. Most of our innovation that we bring to bear upon our business world will come from outside our expertise, outside our industry, and outside our profession. Never categorize your life in ways that exclude your outside interests, they play a vital role in your creativity, ingenuity, and success.
Rener’s grandfather Hélio Gracie, created Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and we’ll leave you with his wise words, words that will serve us well as we each compete in a new world with new problems:
Always assume that your opponent is going to be bigger, stronger, and faster than you; so that you learn to rely on technique, timing, and leverage rather than brute strength.
Thanks for joining us Rener, and special thanks to our friends at S&S Activewear who gifted the community with their very own commonsku Quikflip hoodies.
Stay tuned for another episode of skucast Live!