🎙️Transcript: Coffee with Closers Podcast

Coffee with Closers Podcast
"Why Mindset Really Matters. Business Lessons from a Top Sales Executive"
Samuel Thimothy, Ralph Barsi
November 13, 2020

Summary

In this episode of Coffee With Closers, Samuel Thimothy interviews Ralph Barsi, VP of Global Sales at Tray.io, who brings over two decades of sales leadership experience.

The conversation explores the evolution of sales leadership in the technology era, emphasizing the balance between automation and human connection.

Barsi shares his philosophy on servant leadership, revealing that his greatest pride comes from watching his team members grow into leaders themselves, start businesses, and make positive impacts in the world.

The discussion delves into practical aspects of sales excellence, from the characteristics of top performers to the mindset required for success.

Barsi advocates for a leadership style that combines niceness with assertiveness, challenging the traditional notion that sales leaders need to be harsh to be effective.

He emphasizes the importance of being an early technology adopter while ensuring that tools serve as extensions of human proficiency rather than replacements for genuine connection.

Throughout the conversation, Barsi demonstrates how successful sales leadership is fundamentally about empowering others to solve problems independently while maintaining a positive, forward-looking mindset.

BIG Takeaways

• Leadership Success is Measured by What Your People Become – Ralph's greatest professional pride isn't in personal achievements or revenue numbers, but in watching his team members evolve into leaders, entrepreneurs, and positive contributors to society. This servant leadership approach focuses on developing people who can "pay forward" what they've learned, creating a multiplier effect that extends far beyond immediate business results. The true measure of a leader's impact is seen in the long-term success and growth of those they've mentored, not just in quarterly metrics.

• Technology Should Extend, Not Replace, Human Proficiency – While embracing sales automation and being an early adopter of technology, Barsi emphasizes that tools are only effective as extensions of existing skills and competencies. The key is ensuring that automation enhances the customer experience from the outset rather than forcing prospects to navigate through "wacky automation processes" before reaching a helpful professional. Success comes from combining technology with human acumen in the right way, using tools to amplify what teams can already bring to the table rather than replacing fundamental sales skills.

• The Two-Solution Rule for Problem-Solving Excellence – The best leaders Barsi has worked with implement a powerful principle: find two solutions to every problem before escalating it. This approach has enabled him to solve problems independently 90% of the time while sharpening his own leadership skills. By thinking both creatively (finding new approaches to make square pegs fit round holes) and critically (reverse engineering from desired outcomes), individuals develop the resourcefulness that accelerates career growth. The ability to solve problems quickly and teach others your methodology is directly correlated with career advancement.

• Top Performers Share Five Key Characteristics – Through decades of observation, Barsi identifies five traits of exceptional sales professionals: (1) They're organized and know when to say no, protecting their time for deal-critical activities; (2) They're great communicators who write, speak, and listen well; (3) They maintain positive attitudes and "stay in the sunlight"; (4) They're resourceful, bringing solutions before escalating problems; (5) They're excellent orchestrators who quickly discern what needs their attention versus what should be routed to others. These characteristics consistently separate top performers from the rest.

• Success is a Decision, Not a Circumstance – Barsi's mindset philosophy centers on a powerful concept: if you're struggling with success, you haven't truly decided to be successful yet. Once that mental switch flips and you commit to success in everything you do, obstacles begin moving out of your way. Combined with staying in motion (because opportunity favors action) and trusting fundamental laws like "you reap what you sow," this decision-based approach to success transforms mindset from a passive hope to an active choice that drives consistent results.

• Being Nice is Harder and More Effective Than Being Tough – Challenging conventional sales wisdom, Barsi argues that being nice while remaining firm and assertive is both more difficult and more effective than the traditional "tough guy" approach. This empathetic leadership style helps people open up about challenges, builds lasting customer relationships, and creates environments where teams want to excel. The ability to seek first to understand, then to be understood, while maintaining genuine care for others' success, creates the foundation for both immediate sales success and long-term relationship building.

• Chronicle Your Journey for Future Learning – Barsi's advice to his younger self emphasizes the importance of documenting both successes and failures, along with the lessons learned from each experience. This practice serves multiple purposes: it provides personal reflection and growth opportunities, creates a knowledge base that can help others avoid similar mistakes, and builds a legacy that future generations can learn from. Whether published or kept private, this chronicle becomes a valuable resource for understanding patterns, recognizing growth, and sharing wisdom with others who follow similar paths.

Transcript

Samuel Thimothy (00:00):
In today's episode of Coffee With Closers, I'm sitting down with Ralph Barsi. He's the current VP of Global Sales at Tray.io. He has over 20 years of experience as a sales leader, and he shared some of the wisdom and knowledge he has in terms of what it takes to become a sales leader, and also some advice for how to improve your leadership skills and how to impact the people that you are responsible for. So stay tuned for this episode of Coffee with Closers.

Narrator (00:28):
Thanks for joining us for this episode of Coffee with Closers, where business leaders share insights on how to build businesses from the ground up and best practices for innovating in their industry.

Samuel Thimothy (00:43):
Hey, Ralph, I'm super excited to have you join me for this episode of Coffee With Closers.

Ralph Barsi (00:48):
Thank you, Samuel. It's great to see you.

Samuel Thimothy (00:50):
Most certainly, and appreciate you sparing this afternoon with me.

Ralph Barsi (00:54):
It's my pleasure. It's great to be here. Thanks for having me.

Samuel Thimothy (00:57):
Most certainly. So the people may not have heard of you, which is probably not a lot of people, but can you share a little bit about who you are?

Ralph Barsi (01:04):
I'm sure it's a lot of people who haven't heard of me. So my name is Ralph Barsi. I oversee the Global Inside Sales organization at a company called Tray.io. It's based in San Francisco. We also have an office in London today.

Essentially what Tray does is we're a general automation platform, and so what we do is we help the enterprise do two things for the most part. The first is help them integrate all the components of their tech stack, and secondly, we help them drive automated workflows and help them digitally transform.

It's a pleasure to be here. Prior to that, I worked in a number of different companies wearing a couple different hats. I was an individual contributor for most of my career. The latter half is really centered on building and leading sales and sales development organizations.

Samuel Thimothy (01:54):
Most certainly. So I know Ralph, I've heard you speak at multiple conferences in the past. You've been on panels, you also are a prolific writer like you just explained. You've been an accomplished sales leader for almost over two decades, if I'm not mistaken. So you've accomplished...

Ralph Barsi (02:09):
I'm getting up there.

Samuel Thimothy (02:10):
You've accomplished a lot in your career. Of all the things that you've accomplished, what would you say is one thing that you're most proud of?

Ralph Barsi (02:17):
Oh boy. Well, thank you, Samuel. So what I'm most proud of is what becomes of the people who have worked in my organizations. So under my leadership over the last two decades, it's just been a thrill and a joy for me to watch them go on to lead their own teams, start their own businesses, build great families, and just do good in the world and pay the good stuff that they learned while they were in our team and organizations pay that stuff forward.

That's the most fulfilling and exciting thing for me to watch in my career.

Samuel Thimothy (02:59):
So what is that compelling reason for Ralph to keep going even after almost two decades have passed?

Ralph Barsi (03:06):
Oh, well, there's so many more people to serve and help and support. And like I said, it's an ongoing process of me getting excited to watch what becomes of people, and I just feel like I've still got some tools in the tool chest to help an even broader audience with the experiences that I've gone through and the things that I've learned.

Samuel Thimothy (03:30):
So I know when you probably started in your career as a sales individual contributor and where you are today, a lot has changed over these last 20 some years. How has your approach on sales changed as time evolved and as technology started to take place?

Ralph Barsi (03:45):
Oh, sure. Yes, it has changed quite a bit. I've really considered myself an early adopter of a lot of technology. So I embrace technology, I leverage it, but I leverage it with this caveat. The technology and tools that we use in selling today are merely extensions of our own proficiency, our own acumen, our own degree of skill and competency.

And so if you can really combine them in the right way, you could do some really effective things for your prospects and customers. I've always welcomed the proliferation of technology and applications that are out there, as long as they have served as a true extension of what I can bring to the table and what my teams can bring to the table to begin with.

Samuel Thimothy (04:34):
Has there ever been a time when you were kind of resistant to change with the technology? Because I know there's so much conversation around sales automation and all those different things, right? With AI listening tools for coaching, so much is available for sales leaders and for sales individual reps that are, whether it be SDR and AE. Has there been a time where you're like, ah, this is just a fad, it's not going to stay?

Ralph Barsi (04:57):
Yeah, it's probably more... There have been many times where I'm just overwhelmed by the amount of noise in the marketplace. I think of the MarTech infographic that's released pretty much every year, and the most recent one from 2020 I think shows something like 7,200 applications just in the B2B marketing and sales ecosystem, which is just insane to think about.

And over time, that infographic has really done its best to compartmentalize and categorize what application serves, what problem and what need. So the biggest challenge for me is just being able to discern what can solve my problem or problems right now, the most efficiently, the most effectively. And also, I don't want to be overwhelmed with too many components in our tech stack to where it's just too much to keep up with.

And I'm getting alerts every single day pushed to me about what's going on in this different area, and it's not always relevant, and it's not always important, let alone urgent. So that's been a challenge for me with the apps that I do use today and the technologies I do use today, as well as a lot of the noise that's out there.

Samuel Thimothy (06:17):
What role do you think sales automation or automation in general plays in the process of selling? Do you believe there's room for it? And if so...

Ralph Barsi (06:26):
Oh, I think it plays a critical function, frankly, and I do think however, that it's most effective when the people behind the engine behind the wheel are doing it. So for example, if you're talking about email cadences or sequences or if you're talking about automatic responses to inbound leads, there's email copy and content and material that needs to go out that's going to be prospect or customer facing.

And you have to be very mindful in the building of that engine, how you're branding yourself, your team, your company, to those prospects and customers and kind of what experience they're going through. Are you really delighting them from step one or do they have to get through the weeds of your wacky automation processes before they can really speak to a professional who can help them work their way and navigate through the process?

You obviously want to delight them from the outset, so you've got to be super sensitive to what you're asking the tools and technologies to do for you.

Samuel Thimothy (07:37):
And I watched your talks on, especially you're geared toward SDRs, you're talking to them about specifically how do they become a subject matter expert in this space and things of that nature. And I know sales leaders and SDRs, all those guys are implementing a lot of technology, which has a lot of automation with some level of personalization as well.

But do you believe that we're losing touch with the human aspect of it with just relying heavily on automation and not necessarily really caring for the prospect that they're trying to reach? That you're just letting automation in some customization and variables do the job and hoping that the prospect is going to find that message?

Ralph Barsi (08:16):
So I don't want to be too general Samuel, but I do think there's some cases where it's kind of backfired, and I think it really, it called some of our gaps to attention in the midst of COVID when we had to shelter in place, work from home, do everything virtually. It really highlighted what was broken in terms of our outreach, how we are delighting or not the prospects and customers.

But that said, we've been able to adapt, I think as a profession really, really well. We've become more sensitive, more empathetic, more straightforward, more cool with people when we're talking with them. And I think a lot of that has bled in a good way into the automation that we're using today.

Samuel Thimothy (09:06):
And I know most of your career, you've led sales teams in tech companies and in some sort of a technology or SaaS product, and I know you've kind of led the SDR team as your primary leadership role. Do you think the SDR model of basically doing prospecting and cold outreach and things like that works better in the SaaS and tech world than in a service space?

Ralph Barsi (09:28):
I don't know if I am experienced enough in the other verticals to really answer that question. Having acquaintances, colleagues, friends in different verticals and industries, they've got their act together as well when it comes to prospecting and reaching out to their install base or prospective marketplace. So it's tough to compare and contrast how we in SaaS and B2B handle that versus other verticals.

Samuel Thimothy (10:00):
Because in my personal experience, we're also building a service company. We also have a SaaS product, but the SaaS product seems to have a little bit better traction. People, for whatever reason, SaaS is found to be a little bit of sexier thing to talk about, whereas, Hey, I'm trying to sell you a service and it's not tangible, and I can't really immediately find any value...

Ralph Barsi (10:21):
Having...

Samuel Thimothy (10:21):
...having a conversation.

Ralph Barsi (10:21):
Sorry, Samuel.

Samuel Thimothy (10:22):
Whereas...

Ralph Barsi (10:24):
You got me thinking now. I was just thinking it really depends on the audience. It depends on the persona that you're reaching out to. So for example, folks in sales and marketing, they're super familiar with getting hit up all the time from a lot of salespeople, whereas folks in the services or in need of services aren't probably used to that type of outreach, and so are a bit more averse to it than the former audience.

So those are some things that I'm thinking about just listening to your comments.

Samuel Thimothy (10:54):
And because I know from just having helped other SaaS companies where they're successfully scaling their SDR team, starting with a two guys team all the way down to like 12 to 20 within a matter of two years, and we've seen that happen. I'm like, well, in the SaaS service business, we're hardly even able to get one person to succeed, let alone build a team of 20. So that's why I was curious with your experience in the SaaS space, if you notice that.

Ralph Barsi (11:19):
Yeah, so if there's any gap at all, I'm going to start defaulting to what learning platform are you using? How are you enabling your team to be proficient in the field, whether it's a sales or services approach. And so I would challenge organizations to consider how they're enabling their teams if they're running into issues.

Samuel Thimothy (11:42):
Do you have any predictions on where the sales...

Ralph Barsi (11:45):
I think it's going to become even more automated, frankly. But then again, my experience is partial coming from Tray.io, coming from ServiceNow. It's all about how the enterprise today is digitally transforming to drive automated workflows, to drive integrations, to streamline their business processes, to put their important human capital onto bigger, better, more important things that humans don't have to be focused on and working on.

So that's where I see it going at least in the near term over the next five to 10 years. And it's really fun to be part of it.

Samuel Thimothy (12:23):
And I know you worked in a lot of different companies. You worked alongside a lot of different sales leaders and you observed some good ones and probably some bad ones. From your observations, what were some of the characteristics that you saw? Some of the best performing...

Ralph Barsi (12:37):
Sales leaders in my experience, they believed in us. They believed in me, they believed in the team, they believed in the mission, and they would move obstacles out of the way to empower us to accomplish the mission and to realize our full potential. They had great attitudes, even though they were super, super tough when it came to the business issues.

They also, they would always lean into the sunlight, so to speak. So always encouraging, but always encouraging with a kind of coaching hat on. Would kind of let you fall on your face, but then encourage you to be resourceful to find out what you think the problem is. I'm sorry, what you think the solution is to the problem versus just telling you how to get it done.

I could go on and on about the influences both good and bad. I've had so many, I've been really, really blessed. There's more pros than cons. I've had more great leaders than crummy leaders.

Samuel Thimothy (13:41):
And I think sometimes you have this playbook and you just give it to the rep and say, Hey, just follow this book and don't ask me questions. That really doesn't go well because you really want to challenge their thinking and coach them along the way as opposed to just giving them a Bible and say, just read it and do it.

And what about actually just practicing as well, right? Because I know I've heard stories of good sales leaders are the ones that actually go on the front line, do it and model it. And have you seen that happen in your career?

Ralph Barsi (14:11):
Watching other leaders? Absolutely. So it runs the gamut in terms of a couple examples I can cite for you, Samuel, but for example, the best leaders in my experience have said something to the effect of, Hey, find two solutions to every problem before you escalate it to me. And nine times out of 10, I've been able to solve the problem on my own, which has really helped me sharpen my own leadership skills.

I've seen leaders roll up their sleeves in framing up OKRs, for example, and then holding everybody, including themselves accountable to how well they're reconciling against those OKRs. I've seen the rubber meet the road in terms of their rigor, the way they have conducted weekly leadership meetings, the way they've challenged people in a very constructive way to come back next week with a better understanding of how to articulate this problem, this problem, and this problem, and what we're doing about it and what help you need from the organization.

I mean, it's just nonstop examples that I could cite with respect to just killer leadership.

Samuel Thimothy (15:20):
And I think that's very interesting point that you brought up. I've heard a story where if you're a sales leader or any sort of management role, when someone brings you a monkey, don't just take their monkey, just have them figure out what to do with that monkey, right? It's the problems that they bring to you. It's like they're little monkeys, just have them solve it.

Otherwise, everybody's just going to stop bringing you a monkey. By the end of the day, you're going to have so many monkeys in your room and you're surrounded by a bunch of little monkeys. So I think it's just empowering people to solve their own business problems or whatever the problem that they're faced with. I think it will just avoid having to keep solving for them and empower them to become leaders and hopefully train the other people.

Ralph Barsi (15:59):
Without question. So for people watching and listening to us right now, my macro approach to problem solving is, look, let's keep it very simple. You can be a creative thinker or you could be a critical thinker, or you could be a little bit of both.

So creative thinking is, look, we've got this square peg that we want to put into a round hole. We're not quite sure how, given the number of leads that are coming in every month, for example, we're going to distribute them evenly. We're going to monitor and manage each respective segment optimally, et cetera. So what do we need to do creatively? What are some exercises that we can implement to help us think differently and to kind of think outside the box so that we can make this work?

On the flip side, we have to think critically. We have to start with what is the answer and then what are the questions that we need to ask to help us deduce how to arrive at that answer? What reverse engineering exercises do we need to do from the end of the quarter or the end of the fiscal year back to present to help guide us towards getting to that answer? What do we need to do first, second, third? What is important versus urgent? What costs less but has greater impact versus costs more and doesn't have that much impact?

Those are two ways thinking creatively and critically to be resourceful and to be a leader in your own organization, whether you're a sales development rep, whether you're a team leader, whether you're a director or even a VP. There are a couple different approaches to solving problems. And the more problems you can solve and the faster you can solve them, and the better you can teach others how you solved them, the higher you will go in your career.

Samuel Thimothy (17:47):
And most certainly, and I think the example that you gave of even preparing the up and coming sales, the individual contributors on how to solve for themselves. Hey, if I needed to reach this in revenue target, I have to have this many opportunities in my pipeline. I expect to close this many at this length of time so they can start forecasting themselves as opposed to having to sit with their sales managers and try to figure it out and then trying to do last minute crunch on, Hey, man, I got to close something because I'm not anywhere near quota.

So I think that's a great, great example that you gave there. So from your experience actually working with a lot of individual contributors, what are some of the skills and qualities that you've seen?

Ralph Barsi (18:27):
Sure. Well, they're very organized, so they know when to say no to things. And an example is, Hey, these team meetings are happening, or we have a guest speaker coming on Friday to talk about this. Hey, look, if it is truly in the way of you getting a deal or deals across the line, the best reps will say no. They will not make time for those types of meetings. Their time is precious and they use it well.

They're organized in terms of how they frame up their day, how they frame up their week. And it's a good segue into the second great characteristic is they're great communicators. They write well, speak well, listen well. They know how to present to a large group, to a small group at the beginning of every week or at the end of every week. They're summarizing how well they're doing against their goals and what help they need, and they're sending it to the right stakeholders.

They have a great attitude, as I mentioned earlier, similar to some of the great sales leaders I've worked for. They stay in the sunlight. They're positive versus negative. If they're negative, it's pretty temporary.

They're resourceful, bringing solutions to every problem that they're encountering and trying to solve it on their own first before escalating it. And then finally, I would say they're great orchestrators. I see the best AEs in my career and individual contributors as routers. They are very quick to discern whether or not something needs to get their attention or the attention of somebody better than them in a certain area, and they will route it accordingly to make sure that it gets done and best serves the prospect or the customer.

Those are just a couple of key takeaways that I've seen over and over and over again.

Samuel Thimothy (20:15):
Yeah, I mean, those are the great points, especially as you're observing for someone, especially if you're thinking about promotions and things like that, you can say, Hey, this guy's a top performer. He exemplifies what a good leader should look like.

Which kind of gives me the question, what advice do you have for somebody who's an aspiring individual contributor? They have the very good qualities that you just described. What advice do you have for them in terms of preparing them to become a sales leader?

Ralph Barsi (20:39):
So as you know, success leaves clues. So seek out those who are already successful in the role that you're aspiring to be in and gather any and all insights and information you can get on what's making them so great at what they're doing, whether that's through a podcast or a blog or a book. Make sure you become a student, but here's the critical point. You have got to apply what you are learning.

You can't just learn and read all the books and go, yeah, those are great books. Really, really good best practices out there and apply none of them. So you've got to dip your toe in the water and get going on things and really take action.

When you take a look at your week, for example, don't focus so much on what it is you need to do that week. Focus on what must get done that week. There's a big difference between the two.

Samuel Thimothy (21:28):
Yeah, just getting the to-do lists done versus something that's more going to put you toward your business goals...

Ralph Barsi (21:34):
That's...

Samuel Thimothy (21:34):
...your own personal goals, not just checking out some to-do lists. My other question that I have is obviously over the years you've heard a lot of advice from people and some good and some bad ones. Are there any bad advice that you hear that you commonly...

Ralph Barsi (21:50):
Just...

Samuel Thimothy (21:50):
...laugh at?

Ralph Barsi (21:50):
That's a great question. I had a sales leader of mine one time tell me, I'm just too nice. You know what? You're just too nice to people. Okay, well, okay. I don't know how to not be nice. I mean, I do, but not in the workplace.

I think everybody's really trying to get after it in their own way, and I respect the game, and I respect how people approach the game. People do things differently than I do. I don't think people need to necessarily model the way I approach people and approach my work. And there are some people that I'm certainly not going to model as well.

So I mean, that I think is bad advice, at least in my experience, being too nice to people. I like to treat people the way I like to be treated. I like to work with people who are smiling and are happy versus miserable and grumpy all the time. Those are the people I like to surround myself with.

I want people who are constantly aiming to level up their game, and they want to be really, really great at their craft, but they're also humble enough and modest enough to listen and learn from others and know that they're not perfect in what they do. Those are the types of people I like to surround myself with. So yeah, to me that was bad advice. Just being too nice. Sorry.

Samuel Thimothy (23:10):
Yeah, I guess I think they're confusing being nice from being firm and...

Ralph Barsi (23:17):
Assertive.

Samuel Thimothy (23:18):
I guess they probably just think that's probably what they're referring.

Ralph Barsi (23:21):
Yeah, you could be firm and assertive and be nice at the same time.

Samuel Thimothy (23:25):
Exactly, exactly. And I think people rather have somebody who's nice to them be assertive than somebody who's a badass and just trying to boss them around, and they just don't want to take orders from somebody...

Ralph Barsi (23:37):
...like that. Yeah. I personally don't want to take orders from people like that. And also, Samuel, I mean, you'd probably agree with me. It's harder to be nice. It's harder to be cool to people. It's harder to stay positive. I'm not saying you're blind to things going on or ignorant of them, but I mean, you could just be cool to people.

Samuel Thimothy (23:58):
And that skill of empathy is a big skill for sales in general. If you're calling on a prospect, talking to them, you really need to understand their circumstances and what they are going through instead of you just trying to be, Hey, I got to get this guy to buy from me.

And the same thing goes for the people that you're leading. You got to understand what triggers them, what motivates them, what actually is going through their head. So that being nice part will help people open up to you and share their side of the story when maybe they're not hitting the quota. And you can actually ask...

Ralph Barsi (24:28):
Oh, totally. Well said, well said. You have to, if you're a true salesperson and you want to develop a long lasting relationship between this prospect's company and your company, then you'll just put the whole money concept on the shelf and you'll just try to seek first to understand, then to be understood.

Try to find out what their initiatives are based on your research, based on similar personas you've spoken to, what the industry trends look like, what problems they're likely encountering, and how your company has helped solve those problems. Just begin a genuine diagnosis process. Before you prescribe anything, get a really full understanding and let them know what you're doing.

Help them connect the dots. Tell them, look, this is why I'm asking you all these questions. I'm trying to tailor the experience that I can get the appropriate folks at our company to speak with the appropriate folks at yours, including you of course, and really help prescribe what the best path forward is for you. And that just goes such a long way.

And then you could tell stories 10, 15 years later at a team dinner with the customer now sitting next to you about those early days when you first reached out to her to have those first conversations. And it's super fun.

Samuel Thimothy (25:45):
Most certainly, and I couldn't agree more. The other question that I have is basically about the mindset. You talked about being nice is not the automatic nature for most people, and it's also in the sales function. The mindset is a very big thing, and especially if you have to keep that positive mode going. Talk to me a little bit about how do you train yourself. Talk to me a little bit about the mindset aspect of...

Ralph Barsi (26:09):
Wow mindset is... we could spend an entire conversation on mindset. Mindset. I'm glad you're bringing it up. A couple things that I want people to think about when they think about mindset is, if you're having trouble being successful today or in your career in general, you have not decided yet to be successful.

Because once that switch goes on in your mind and you decide, you know what? I'm going to be a big success in everything that I do, things will start moving out of the way on your behalf and in your best interest. Also, if you stay in motion, opportunity will favor you. You have to trust the laws out there, like you reap what you sow, what you put into this is what you're going to get out of it. And then some momentum is mass times velocity. So if you just get up, put your one foot in front of the other and start moving forward, things will start to work in your favor.

There's just so much that we could talk about, Samuel, when it comes to mindset. You can switch how you're thinking or feeling about something in a nanosecond. A great analogy that I've heard comes from Tony Robbins. You're not thinking about your left earlobe until right now when I mentioned it, but that's how quickly you can shift your mindset.

If you want to buy a red BMW next week, suddenly you're going to start seeing red BMWs all over the road when you're driving. It's just because your brain is focused on them. So yeah, we can go all day on that one. That's a great question. I hope that helps.

Samuel Thimothy (27:44):
Yeah, and I think the book, I don't know if you read the Think and Grow Rich, the whole concept was is how you train your mind, right? Because you have to perceive and dream what you want to see in the future, and then you would start to put things in place to help you reach that dream.

And I think the people that sometimes that can't perceive it, and they just see everything impossible, and those are the ones also just always have that negative connotation on everything.

Ralph Barsi (28:09):
Yeah. The good news is a lot of it's self-imposed. It's up to you to change it. There are some deep rooted belief systems that are really, really hard for people to change, and the language that they use, whether they're in their own self-talk, as well as the language they use with others, could always use some recalibration.

And so I think people need to just put themselves in check and put themselves on their list of excuses if things aren't going right. In fact, they should put themselves at the top of the list because they're in their own way. I've seen that over and over again. I see it even today, and it breaks my heart to see, because it's super changeable. You could fix it if you want.

Samuel Thimothy (28:51):
Who has been the biggest influence on your leadership style?

Ralph Barsi (28:54):
Oh boy. Biggest influence on my leadership style. Somebody I know or don't know, or doesn't matter?

Samuel Thimothy (29:02):
It doesn't matter. I'm just curious to learn if you had, because I think in your own talks, you've talked, Hey, if you want to be somebody, model after them, put your own style to it. But then you model the people that you... so one person that...

Ralph Barsi (29:15):
I've continued to look up to is Coach John Wooden from the UCLA basketball team. God rest him. But my favorite book was co-written by him and a gentleman named Steve Jamison. It's called Wooden on Leadership.

And there's just too many components of how Coach Wooden led that resonate with me, starting with, he loved his players, he loved them, he wanted the best for them. Number two, he was a very structured man and even created what he called the Pyramid of Success. And each building block of that pyramid meant something, whether it was being inspirational to others, being humble, he used that as his code to lead others.

He was very buttoned up from the way he appeared to the way he spoke to people, to the way he held himself accountable to the standards he held himself and his team to. All that stuff resonates with me day in and day out. So that would probably be one of the top influencers in my career to this day.

Samuel Thimothy (30:28):
That's awesome to hear. And I do hear a lot of people using coaches from different sports because they seem to have a big impact on not just the people that they have as players underneath them, but the entire teams.

Ralph Barsi (30:43):
Well, those who aren't familiar, those who aren't familiar with Coach Wooden, I highly encourage you to just look into him, study his craft.

Samuel Thimothy (30:51):
Yeah, I'll certainly look for that. I'm not a big sports fan, so I don't know a lot of the coaches, but I do hear a lot of analogies from sports. Often times when I'm talking to sales leaders, it's definitely somewhere where they always draw ideas from.

I'm sure you have a busy day, you're a sales leader, you got family, fun, all that stuff that you got to worry about. Are there any productivity hacks that you have that keeps you on target with everything...

Ralph Barsi (31:15):
...that you need to do? Ooh, what's a good one? Put everything on your calendar that's important to you. If it's not on the calendar, it's not going to happen. So even if that means, Hey, I've got to follow up with Samuel to thank him for having me on Coffee with Closers, I will put that on a calendar invite to myself. I will then get a calendar alert, and when I get that alert, I basically stop what I'm doing and I fire off an email or I'll send a thank you card.

Another productivity hack is I literally keep a box of blank thank you cards on my desk because I think there's not much that's more effective than a handwritten note to someone just to tell them what you think of them and to tell them how grateful you are for what they've done for you. And yeah, those are two I'll leave with the audience today. It's a great question.

Samuel Thimothy (32:07):
Some good advice. And I think in the world of emails, I think we don't often get a lot of thank you cards. I think when you do get a card, it's a big deal. Whoa, that's nice. It is definitely a big deal.

Knowing what you know today, what would you tell your younger self?

Ralph Barsi (32:23):
Lord, slow down. Slow down. Know that everything's going to work out in the end. Stop getting all spun up over stuff that doesn't really matter that much and chronicle the work you're doing somehow, some way, whether you publish it or not, or keep it close to the vest for you to look back at through the years.

Chronicle your accomplishments, chronicle your failures, write about them, write about what you've learned in the experience, and you never know your kids, your grandkids or others may see that someday and be able to avoid some of the mistakes you made or model some of the successes that you've experienced.

Samuel Thimothy (33:07):
Awesome. Well, Ralph, I appreciate you sparing this afternoon with me. I certainly enjoyed our conversation. Thank you for sharing some of your experiences.

Ralph Barsi (33:14):
Oh, thanks for having me on this podcast, Samuel. We're all watching and learning from you and your guests, so I really appreciate being part of it. Thanks for having me today.

Narrator (33:24):
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