Welcome to Canada's Podcast.Hello, I'm Mario Toneguzi, Managing Editor of Canada's Podcast.My guest today on Calgary's podcast is Tony Scafeo of The Scafeo Group, and thanks for joining us today, Tony.Thanks for having me, Mario.It's a pleasure.
Okay, let's talk a little bit about what The Scafeo Group is and what you guys do.
Well, a couple of things that we do.It's actually two parts.One is a training company and I've been in the sales game my whole life.I tell everybody I know how to do two things.I know how to play the drums and I know how to sell things.
And so I've been fortunate enough to be in that game for many years.So I teach sales, of course, but my biggest category is how to teach companies and salespeople how to use social media to prospect today, because times have changed.
We all go on our phones and that's where everybody is.So I just show people how to do that.And the other side of my business is a marketing company.
I used to run a company called Sounds Around in Calgary, and we spent a couple of million dollars a year in marketing. You learn a few things after 30 years of doing that.And I say this, marketing hasn't changed, just the vehicle has.
So that's kind of two things.I'm a training company and a marketing company on the other side.
We're going to get into your background with Sounds Rounds and other things.But I'm just curious, from your perspective, let's talk a little bit about that social media world.Sure. Where do you think most businesses are with all this?
I know it can be overwhelming for many of them.
Well, it is overwhelming.And here's what I found.First of all, there's the people who get it and good for you if you get it.And then there's the people that go, ah, that stuff doesn't work.Right.And that's because they're afraid of the tool.Yeah.
Right.It's very simple.You know, if I if you don't know, I always equated to music.You know, I can play a guitar.But if I give you a guitar and I go, hey, play this, this is easy.Right.You should be able to do that.No problem.
Social media is kind of the same.You've got to learn a little bit because there's some technical things, and you've got to use an electronic device.So the people that go, ah, that stuff doesn't work, they're just afraid of it.
And what I do is I make you comfortable with it and take away the fear.
I show you the easy way to do it.Companies can make a big mistake by not being on social media, right?
If you're not on social media, Mario, I say you're invisible.Yeah. I mean, you know, the days of going to the Yellow Pages and looking up, you know, looking up a business that went out with beetles and long hair.
I mean, it just the times have changed.And I thank my lucky stars every day that I keep changing with the times, because I don't want to be one of those guys that goes, how do I book an airline ticket now?
You know, because everything it revolves around.I hate to say this, a computer, I don't agree with it all, but it's just the way, you know, it's not me that that brought it to this.It's what it is.And you got to adapt.
Yeah, OK.So you mentioned Sounds Around.Let's talk a little bit about your background, Tony, for those folks who haven't been around for a while.But tell us a little bit about Sounds Around and what you did with that company when you were there.
Sounds Around was kind of a phenomenon in Calgary. We, I think we hit above our weight class.We did, I think we got to about $40M a year.We had a couple of hundred employees at one time.
And we went up against the big guys, the best buys and the visions and you know, whoever came around. We hit the TV business.We hit the TV business where it went from tube TVs to the big screens.
Remember the big screen TVs and right to plasmas and the prices just kept going up at one time.We sold the first plasma in Calgary. in Canada actually, and the first one was we sold for $30,000.That television today, a 42-inch, that one was a plasma.
Today, a 32-inch or a 42-inch LCD TV is 300 bucks. So, but it was a phenomenal business.We went for about 25 years and we used to do a one day sale.I don't know if you remember at the big four building at the Stampede grounds.
Believe it or not, we sold $4 million in one day. Now, I don't care if you're selling candy or Cadillacs, which is $4 million in a day is a lot of business, and it's still a Canadian retail record, believe it or not.
So tell me, what was the reasons behind the success of Sounds Round and why it got so big?
We were local.I'm going to say this.I think we were just smarter than the big guys.Actually, I went to work for Best Buy as a vice president after we got out of the Sounds Round thing.What I found is they were just clumsy.
It was the David and Goliath thing.The big box stores were to take three steps, you needed hundreds and thousands of people where we were nimble and we could maneuver quicker, and quite frankly, we had a sales floor that was second to none.
We just knew how to do it. I'm going to tell you the timing was right.Timing, timing, timing.We hit the TV business.It was a boom, Mario.And now today, it's just not there anymore.So sometimes you've got to know when to hang up your skates.Yeah.
No worries.Excuse me.So tell me, going through the experience of working with Companies of that nature.What did you learn about sales that was important?
Well, you know, you take you take a sales round, which we were called it a couple of hundred people when I went to Best Buy.I think it was eleven thousand employees at that time.
And and what I what I learned was there were all the same problems.You know, I don't care who you are and what business you're in.You're in the people business.
Okay, and if you know how to manage and run people and can get them to move forward, then you. You're a good leader.It's tougher to lead today.I'm going to say this, Mario, and I never thought I'd say this.I always considered myself a good leader.
But in today's world, there's different attitudes out there and different opinions and things have changed.And I've had to learn to adapt to it because it doesn't adapt to me.And that's kind of what I've learned throughout the whole thing.
The problems were the same, bottom line.
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What do you think the biggest mistake is that companies make today?Businesses make today?Braining. Training.
Yeah, it's very, it's real simple.I'm going to go back to my guitar theory.You know, they just come on.Hey, how you doing, Mario?Welcome aboard.We love you.I'll be right with you.
You know, I'm going to show you some stuff and then they give you your office or they put you on the sales floor and then that's it.
And they go, oh, good.You're doing great.Sink or swim.And then a month later, they come in.Mario, your sales are not that good.Well, what's going on? So you got to show people and if you can't look in today's business world, you can't hire talent.
You got to know how to make talent and develop talent.
And if you can't do that, it's just going to be a little tougher for you.Tony, what do you like about being an entrepreneur?
I like. learning at my own speed and I like running at my own speed, right?In a company, you run at the speed of the team, right?So if the team plays a little slower, you move a little slower, right?You know, being a coach of a team,
or a leader of a band or whatever it is.Once again, I'm going to go back to my music days.If we had five people in the band and one couldn't read music or couldn't sing, well, that just stumped you a little bit.You learn slower.
That's what I've learned.Tell me, you mentioned music a few times here.Tell me your background in music.Played professionally for 10 years.
I was very lucky.I got to play with some famous Canadian artists.I toured a bit, played in wedding bands.
I played in one band that we were kind of like a show band where we'd start out 50s and we had 50s t-shirts on and we looked like we were in the 50s and then we put bandanas on in the 60s and then we did 70s music and then that was the 80s and then we played Gloria and Flashdance and all that kind of stuff and
You know, and then I went into business and I hung up my musical skates because it was time.But I always wanted to be a rock and roll star.And I think I still am in a certain way.So you played, you played drums. Yeah, I'm a drummer.
And I back then I thought I could sing.All right.And that's why I got hired.I was a drummer that could sing.If you were just a drummer, there was a million of them.But if you could sing a little bit, you got a little bit of work.
And yeah, it was I had I had a blast. So who did you play with that I would know?I'd rather not say that just because there, but I did get to play with some famous Canadian bands.
Okay, super there.What do you think that background in music did in terms of Helping you in the business world in business.
So I tell this story in my in my training I call it the drum story.So I went to school with a guy who You know We went to school.
We went to music school and and after he was done I You know after a few years he played a little bit and and I said that well, what are you doing now?He says well I quit music He says, well, why?He says, well, I can't make any money.
He says, I went into business.He says, really?And I says, well, what did you do?And he says, well, I took my music skills and I put them into my business skills.And I says, well, what was that?He says, well, I practiced.
He says, I practiced, I practiced, I practiced.Just like we did when we learned the song, we'd play it over and over and over until we perfected it, right?And I says, well, what did that do for your business?
He says, I just became real good at my business and I started making real money.He says, because that, you know, in the music business, I just couldn't make any money.You know who this guy is.This guy was me.
I quit at 27 because I loved music and I loved playing.But, you know, there's an old saying, never make your passion your business.You know, that's one thing.And the other thing was business was. It was a vehicle to make a living.Music was fun.
If you could make a living at it, that would be great.But it was, you know, a lot of the times it was like hitting the lottery.But what I learned from music in business, practice, practice, and skill.Just improve your skill, practice of what you do.
When I go into a meeting, I'm rehearsed.I go through it at first and make sure that I know what I'm doing, because I'd rather practice on my own than practice in front of the client.
You still play the drums?Like a mother.
I know to do two things.I know to sell stuff and I know to play the drums.How do you feel when you get behind the drums?It's magical.It's something that you're born with, Mario.The Lord gives you that says, here's some talent.
It's up to you on how good you get at it.That's the practice part.
You were born and raised in Calgary, right?I was born in Italy.
Born in Italy, grew up in a town called Thunder Bay, Ontario.A big Italian community, big European community.Great place to be from, as I say.Cold as you can get in this country.
All right, you can't see my shirt, so I'll adjust the screen, but in honor of talking to two Italians talking today, that's what I'm wearing today.What do you like about being an Italian?
Of course, I love the food, you know.I love the I love the, call it the expression, and the hands, and the, you know, hugging, and the, you know, when we, yeah, it's, yeah, it's, and it's a romantic nationality.
You know, it's very inviting, and let's have a drink, and all of that, and that's what I enjoy about being Italian.I'm gonna tell you this, Mario, we were talking about the Italian club.
This year, I became a member of the Italian Club, I joined a Bocce League, I'm in the Italian choir, and I also am a board member of the Italian Sportsman's Dinner.
I've become Italian again because in the past, I was traveling all the time for work and I can never do it.That's what it was.Now, I live two blocks away from the Italian Hall, And I'm an old wop now, and I like it.
So I'm enjoying that.You're known for wearing those, I'm not going to say funny hats, but the cool hats.But let's put it this way.Oh, let's, yeah.There we go.There's my hat.We're wondering where your hat was.How many of those do you have? 30.Oh, my gosh.
What do you got, though?I buy, you know, it's fine.You're going to laugh at this.I was in a store one day and this hat was there and I put it on.This lady walks by and she goes, that looks great on you.Right.Well, I don't have a lot of hair anymore.
So my head's cold and I just started wearing one.But my father wore a hat for many, many years.And now I like it.It's kind of part of my signature trademark, whatever you want to call it.
Yeah, exactly.Everybody's got something like that.So living and working in Calgary as a business guy, tell me what are your thoughts about being here and running a business?Is it a good place to do business?
Yes, yes and no.You know, you've been here long enough.It's feast or famine.It's boom or bust.And you got to be able to ride those situations out.You know, when in the sounds round days when, you know, when things were going up, Hang on.
Listen, I think it's harder to run a business in a booming economy or just as hard to run a business in a booming economy as it is in a declining economy.But I'm going to tell you that It's been tough for probably the last 10-12 years.
Calgary's a bit tougher.Come on, we depend on the oil and gas business.Everybody knows that.And when it's running, everybody's running.And when it's walking,
You know, when you say that, though, you kind of look at that, although it's been tough, I think it's part of the problem with being Calgary is you look back at the glory days, so to speak, and where everything was easy and the money was flowing, right?
And I remember even in my in my days working with the Calgary Herald, especially back in the 80s.Man, that was a good time.That was a heyday of journalism because there was so much money flowing around.I think even though things now appear to be
They're not really bad, because I think we're looking at it comparatively to the past, right?
You know, Mario, I always said this.In the, call it the 90s, the good year, they said the dummies were making money, and I was living proof.But it just, you know, you've got to ebb and flow with the times, and it's what it is, right?
You know, to be in business today, you got to have a lot of cash, you know, and if you have the cash, you can ride it through because there's going to be ups and downs.It's not consistent like it used to be many, many years ago.That's what I find.
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So what do you think the key is for businesses to be successful and even to survive in some of these tough times that we're in?
I'm going to go back to my same thing, train your people.Make sure that when somebody comes in and says, hey, you sell this, what does it do?Or this is your service.
Make sure that they're the best at explaining it and selling it to you and what have you.Because that's, look, people want to buy.They don't want to be sold. Right.And it's just when people say, no, it's just a cry for more information.
And that is the biggest thing is have, you know, invest in your people because you're in the people business.
It's funny how many how many companies don't, though.
I'm going to tell you this, that since the covid, which, you know, slowed down a lot of things, my training side of my business, I was booked like all the time. Constantly booked.Then it came back a little bit online, but not like it did before.
So, um, you know, and I prefer the, I prefer the live stuff, Mario.I can see your face.I can read your body language.I can tell if you're into it or not online.Like, but this is the new way, right?This is the new way of communicating.
But I find that a lot of companies, and I've been associated with a lot in the past, where they talk the talk.It's important to train our employees, and they do all these workshops, et cetera.
There was a disconnect between the doing of the workshops and then the actual execution of implementing what those workshops were talking about into your business, right?How do you?
I'm going to give you an example.I was doing a training not too long ago, or sorry, just after COVID.And it was for an oil and gas company and quite a big one.I don't want to mention names.I don't like to mention names.
And so we're doing this training session.And I said, Hey, guys, what keeps you up at night?Or, you know, what's the toughest part of your job? And this one fellow puts up his hand and says, you know, I just can't get in front of anybody anymore.
Nobody wants to go for lunch.Nobody wants to go for a drink.Nobody wants to go for dinner.Right.And I went, well, what seems to be the problem?Says, well, I do a lot of business when I take people out for lunch.Right.
And he says, that's where we and it is common, right?Go out for lunch, few beers, you know, and that's that.That's kind of like their stick. And I says, well, you know, I get that people don't want to go out anymore.
I says, but you know what I do when I want to have lunch with somebody is ask them, what's your favorite restaurant?And I said, and what would you like to, you know, from there?And so I said, what else would you like with that?
And I send them skip the dishes 10 minutes before our Zoom meeting.I have lunch as well.And we have a lunch meeting right at our desk.Well, they thought I had the cure for cancer.Right.And it's just simple. It's just simple.
You want to have a lunch meeting?This is the new forum.
Yeah, no, that's true.But, you know, when it all comes down to, you know, whatever it is you're doing, whether you're selling digital services, or whether you're selling a hot dog, or whatever, or selling a big screen TV.
It comes down to that connection with the people thing, right?
You're in the people business.We're back to that.
I think any business is a people business, right?
All, all, every, all.Not some, all.
Yeah, yeah.And some don't get it, and some pay the consequences of not getting it, I guess.
Uh, look, we all, on a daily basis, I'll walk into an establishment and I'll go, Oh my God, is this what you got to work with?But then you go into, you know, some places, Hey, we had lunch at Spolumbo's last week.Remember that?
I mean, you go in there, they're on you.There's somebody in line.What can I get you?And they're putting you, I look at that and they go, these guys got it going on.There's no stumbling.Oh, I did.What did you do?I didn't get this.
And they know what's going on. So there are many businesses that really know how to do it, but there's many businesses that, once again, they don't put time and effort into their people.
Yeah, so last thing I was going to ask you, Tony.Now, obviously, you're busy with work and all that stuff, and some of the other stuff.What else do you do to relax?Your life seems like 150 miles an hour.
Yeah, I go to pretty good clip.You know, I start my day at six in the morning.I'll be honest with you.I'm done at about two, two thirty in the afternoon.I just don't have it.
I'm sharp in the morning and I go to the gym and, you know, I work out and and that's that's kind of my day.But what I do to relax is right beside me.You can't really see it.I have guitars, keyboards, microphones, PA system.
So I play to music and, you know, I probably
Probably a good three to four or five hours a week I spend just playing music and I learned, I taught myself how to play the guitar and I still like to sing and you know, and that's my relaxation, to be honest with you.
Oh, excellent.All right, Tony.Pleasure talking to you.Thanks so much for joining us today.
Thank you very much, Mario.
All right.That was Tony Scappio of the Scappio Group.I was going to ask you, I noticed on your website you call yourself the Chief Entertainment Officer, CEO.Yes.Is that how you look at it?Is that how you look at your role?Absolutely.
Look, if I can't have fun at it, here's another thing.I only do business with people I love and I really want to work with.
All right, wonderful.Thanks for joining us again.Thanks, everyone.I'm Mario Tonaguzi, Managing Editor of Canada's Podcast.
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