PLANO, TX: Entrepreneurs, Business & Finance — Episode: Glenn Poulos on Building (and Rebuilding) Winning Sales Organizations

https://henryharrison.com/glenn-poulos/

Guest: Glenn Poulos

— founder, 3× company builder, LinkedIn Top Voice, author of Never Sit in the Lobby

Episode Snapshot

What we cover: Selling without being “that salesperson,” buying a business under non-competes, the power-utility pivot, recovering from a zero-to-hero-to-zero moment, enterprise deal strategy, and practical ways Glenn uses AI daily to win more bids.

Why listen: Glenn has built and sold companies across telecom and now power utilities. He’s candid about a painful, all-stock exit that went to zero—and exactly how he bounced back to $84M revenue before his next sale.

Quick Bio

Glenn sold GAP Wireless (telecom distribution) to private equity in 2022, then acquired Prog USA (power-utility test & measurement distributor) in January 2024 to stay clear of non-competes—switching tech (telecom → power), customers (telcos → utilities), and country (Canada → U.S.) while running the same style of business. He’s an active LinkedIn Top Voice and the author of Never Sit in the Lobby.

Key Takeaways

“Nothing happens until something gets sold.” Sales is the starting point of the value chain—and it’s a craft worth defending.

Customer-first systems win. Build repeatable ways to get, act, and stay in front of customers and be a “pleasure to do business with” even when you lose a deal.

Map the money machine. Learn how your customer actually makes money (e.g., some “hardware” firms are really finance companies).

Enterprise deals require altitude. Start at the highest relevant level; know exactly who signs at each $ tier.

Resilience is a skill. Glenn once sold for stock, got locked up, and watched it all go to zero—then founded a new company within days and grew it to $84M before selling.

AI as a force multiplier. Use AI to mine tenders, summarize 80-page contracts, craft (then humanize) outreach, and spot cash-flow patterns.

Standout Stories

The Dofasco Steel Mill “door-knock relay.” In 24 hours, Glenn and his president went from plant floor → Toshiba integrator → electrical distributor → VP approver and closed the largest order of his career, no emails, no quotes—just live, high-altitude selling.

The painful exit that reset everything. After a stock-only sale to a public company, Glenn became an insider, couldn’t sell, and lost everything when the acquirer imploded. He turned that failure into the launchpad for GAP Wireless, later sold to PE.

Favorite Lines

“Start and finish at the highest possible level relative to the size of the deal.”

“People want to buy—but not from a pain in the butt.”

“I call it poverty avoidance—it keeps me moving.”

Book: Never Sit in the Lobby — 57 sales tips to be “a pleasure to do business with.” https://www.amazon.com/Never-Sit-Lobb...

Connect with Glenn

Website: https://glennpoulos.com/

LinkedIn: / glennpoulos

Connect with Henry

Website: https://henryharrison.com/

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