🎙️Transcript: Sales Mastership
Winning By Design
"Sales Mastership"
Ralph Barsi
January 2017
Summary
In this Sales Mastership presentation hosted by Winning By Design at the Boomtrain office in San Francisco, Ralph Barsi delivers an inspiring talk about what separates good sales professionals from great ones.
Opening on a rainy night, Ralph immediately frames the audience as A players who showed up despite the weather, demonstrating the first principle of differentiation: seeing obstacles as opportunities.
As the leader of ServiceNow's 130-person worldwide sales development organization, Ralph shares his philosophy built on three foundational pillars: cultivating an attitude of gratitude, building your personal brand, and differentiating yourself from ordinary performers.
He emphasizes that everyone earns their perspective by remembering that making $40,000 per year in the United States places you in the wealthiest 3.5% globally and 52 times wealthier than a billion people.
Ralph introduces Simon Sinek's Golden Circle framework (Why, How, What), stressing that great salespeople and leaders start with understanding their purpose before moving to methodology and outcomes.
He discusses the importance of having a "trigger" - a person or vision that pulls you through the darkest professional times, borrowing from US Navy SEAL philosophy.
Throughout the presentation, Ralph emphasizes that A players work on themselves harder than they work on their jobs, attract opportunities rather than pursuing them, put a metaphorical "10 on everyone's forehead" by giving people the benefit of the doubt, and pay attention to details because they're always setting an example whether they realize it or not.
BIG Takeaways
A Players See Opportunity in Obstacles
When ordinary salespeople look at a rainy night and decide to stay home, A players see less competition and more networking opportunities. This mindset of turning challenges into advantages defines top performers. They don't make excuses based on circumstances; they find ways to use those circumstances to their benefit. Showing up when others don't is the first step to differentiation.
Cultivate an Attitude of Gratitude for Perspective
If you make $40,000 per year in the United States, you're in the wealthiest 3.5% of people in the world and 52 times wealthier than a billion people. Working in the Bay Area at a tech company means you're incredibly blessed. Stop complaining about minor setbacks and keep perspective on how fortunate you are. This attitude of gratitude provides resilience during tough quota periods and prevents you from taking your opportunities for granted.
Build Your Brand by Adding Value to Escape Obscurity
When salespeople complain that nobody answers their emails or picks up their phone calls, the real problem is simple: nobody knows who they are. You must build your personal brand by adding value to the marketplace. Share insights, teach what you're learning, create content, and serve your community. When you add value consistently, you become more valuable, and opportunities start seeking you out rather than you having to chase them down.
Start With Why Using Simon Sinek's "Golden Circle"
Great leaders and salespeople always start with Why before moving to How and What. Why are you in your role? Why are you at your company? Who are you trying to serve beyond just yourself? When facing dark times (missing quota, dead pipeline, rejection), reconnecting with your purpose and the outcomes you're pursuing provides the strength to continue. Even in sales conversations, prospects are asking "Why you and why now?" so starting with why is essential.
Identify Your Trigger to Get Through Dark Times
The US Navy SEALs use the concept of a "trigger" - a person, vision, or image that pulls them through life-threatening situations. Sales professionals need the same. Life is a series of temporary events, and when you're going through a terrible week, month, or quarter, your trigger reminds you why you're doing this work. Ideally, your trigger is a person (family member, mentor, team) rather than a material thing. Leaders must know their team members well enough to help them reconnect with their triggers during difficult periods.
Work on Yourself Harder Than You Work on Your Job
A players understand that if they change, everything changes for them. They make decisions to be successful and win before anything else happens. They don't hope for a great week; they expect one because they've invested in their own development. Read books like Unbeatable Mind by Mark Divine. Study how winners win first in their minds before executing in reality. Continuous self-improvement creates the foundation for all professional success.
Put a 10 on Everyone's Forehead and Pay Attention to Details
Give every person you encounter the benefit of the doubt. Start by assuming they deserve a perfect 10 rating, and let them take that number down through their own actions rather than you prejudging them. As Abraham Lincoln said, "I don't like that man. I must get to know him a little bit better." Remember that you're always setting an example and leaving an impression, whether people tell you about it or not. Little things make big things matter, so have class, be kind, do good, and add value consistently.
Transcript
Ralph Barsi (00:00):
Thank you so much for being here on a rainy night. You're already differentiating yourself from the ordinary salespeople out there, whether you're a sales leader or an individual contributor. Some people look outside and they think, oh wow, it's raining. I'm just going to chill. Too bad we didn't get to do it tonight. You know what I mean? But then there are the A players who look outside and go, "Hey, it's raining. Killer. There'll be less people there. There's more opportunity for me to network. Let's do this." So hats off to you guys. And I'm also honored to be here to have been invited by Dan to kick off the new year with everybody in here and to also present with my buddy J. Ryan Williams. A hand for J Ryan. Thank you. Yeah. Special leader in our industry and we both have I think 20 to 30 minutes each.
(00:50):
I'm going to do my very best not to ramble on and on and on because I could probably talk to you for the next three hours. But I thought I would keep my presentation very macro level. And so as Dan mentioned, I run the worldwide sales development organization at ServiceNow. We're based in Santa Clara. My team has 130 people on it in seven offices around the world. So of those 130 people, 100 of them are our account development reps who are on the phones, following up on inbound leads, doing outbound prospecting and essentially booking meetings and creating revenue pipeline for our account executives. And then the other 30 are frontline managers as well as directors. And then I also oversee an enablement team as well who handles a lot of education, enablement and operations. And I've been there just over a year and it is an absolute whirlwind.
(01:44):
I feel like I've been there eight years already. I had a full head of hair when I got there and it's gone. So anyway, a little bit about me just for some context. I'm from the Bay Area. I grew up in Pacifica, right on the coast, went to high school here in San Francisco. Went to college across the Bay at St. Mary's where I met my wife. I've lived in the East Bay ever since, and now I live in Danville. So coming over here was a real blast with the rain. But anyway, it's great to be here. I've been in sales my entire career of 23 years so far. And it's interesting, but at ServiceNow, the sales development organization actually rolls up to marketing, not sales. So that's a whole new venture for me and it's pretty fun actually. It's a whole different perspective on how the business is run.
(02:29):
I love to write, speak, coach, and teach specifically about this. I feel that everybody in this room has a unique gift and strength that they are born with. And I feel like this is my vocation, not my work, to try to tease that strength and gift out of you so that you could share it with everybody in our marketplace and in our community, which is beloved by all the people that I know in our community. So if you are not sharing those strengths and gifts, hopefully by tonight's presentation, by either me or J Ryan, that you'll grab at least one nugget of value today, go ahead and take it into the marketplace and actually pay it forward. Okay? I also co-founded a 501(c)(3) nonprofit because we're not just here to sell things and we're not just here to lead teams or try to aspire to become a great closer and get a big commission check, but this is life guys and shit happens in life.
(03:25):
And I have had very close people die and I could have wallowed in the misery of losing them, but instead I've networked with people close to me and we have mobilized and formed a 501(c)(3) to go ahead and help others. So if you want to look it up, it's called the Gable Heartbeats Foundation and next month we're going to do our fifth annual fundraiser where we put defibrillators, AEDs in sports complexes, on sports fields and in gymnasiums to prevent sudden cardiac arrest. And we also help fund low-fee heart screenings for young adults. And we're doing one at St. Ignatius College Prep in February. And I love to play the drums. So I've played for 42 years, that ages me, but I started playing when I was three years old. And yeah, that's something I'd probably do if I was not doing this.
(04:17):
I'd be at sound check right now somewhere in Toledo.
(04:21):
Everything I talk about, everything I'll mention tonight, again, we don't have too much time together. Maybe we can get to questions instead of listening to me talk the whole time, is really about these three things. I think it's important that everybody in this room start shaping an attitude of gratitude if you don't have one already. And if you have just a little one, let's make it a big one, okay? Let's talk about building brand. A lot of salespeople that I run into, whether they are leaders or whether they're individual contributors or sales development reps, really struggle with people getting back to them. Nobody answers their emails. Nobody picks up the phone when they call. Well, here's the thing guys, nobody knows who you are. So what you need to do is build your brand and get out of obscurity by adding value to the marketplace and in return you will become more valuable and all of a sudden your phone is ringing.
(05:08):
People are calling you. So there's a focus on attracting opportunity versus pursuing it. So building your brand is very, very important. And then finally, differentiating yourself from the ordinary is why we are here tonight. It's the theme of both of our talks. We're going to leave you with macro stuff to think about as well as micro stuff to think about. You can go home right now and start applying some of the things that you'll hear one of us say tonight and you can actually add value and progress in your career as a result and help others along the way. So a little known fact, if you earn $40,000 in the United States, you're in the wealthiest 3.5% of people in the world. You're 52 times wealthier than a billion people. So if you look on this timeline, that's you, number three and a half, number four on the left.
(06:01):
And that's by making $40,000 a year. And I'm no dummy. We live in the Bay Area and that's very rare to see a sales rep making 40K a year. So that means most of the people in this room are making more than that. And if you're walking into work every day, kind of bitching and moaning about stuff, keep this in perspective, okay? That you guys are very blessed, that you work in one of the baddest, coolest places in the world. And so what do we get for that? What do we get from you for that gift? Do not take that for granted or take advantage of it. Okay? Keep perspective. And please don't let others around you take it for granted either because it's a real drag and it's a real pain in the ass when you're hanging around with a bunch of negative people who aren't cognizant of this stuff or mindful of it.
(06:51):
If anyone is not familiar with this image, this is called the Golden Circle. And it was first presented about five or six years ago in a TED Talk by Simon Sinek. And in that talk, Simon talked about why inspiring leaders are able to create movements and get people influenced enough to move things forward and start working for the greater good and helping the world. So I thought I would just hang on this image tonight and talk about the importance of the why, the how, and then the what. And when you follow this model, starting everything you do with the why first, and then going to the how and then going to the what, incredible things will happen. Okay? So starting with why are you here tonight? Why are you in the role you're in or the company you work for or the company you're building?
(07:42):
Why are you doing it? Who is it that you are trying to serve? Hopefully it is not just yourself. Hopefully you are facing outward and you're trying to make a difference in the world by helping those who are in your network and building that network by adding value to their lives. So as salespeople, like anybody else, we go through some super rough times, especially when we've got quotas and numbers on our head that we have to hit. And then of course we have bills to pay and families to take care of or families we want to start. So it's really important in those dark times when no one's picking up your calls or when you missed quota for the week, month, quarter, or even year, that you start to focus on what your purpose is and what outcome that you are after and why you're after that outcome.
(08:36):
And the trigger is very important to keep in mind as well. That's a great military term, the trigger. And the US Navy SEALs use it all the time. So when they're facing the most life-threatening situations, there is a trigger or a vision or an image of whoever it is in their lives that gets them through those darkest times. So it's critical and imperative that you have a trigger and hopefully it is a person and not a thing that's going to pull you through some of those darkest times because they're going to happen. And for the leaders in the room, be mindful of that with your reps because they're going to have really crappy weeks too or crappy days and you need to be able to know them well enough to know how to get them to think about that trigger and show them that the issue that they're going through right now is very, very temporary as is life.
(09:27):
It's just a series of temporary events and if they can just get through this one temporary event, sunshine is going to happen again. So the rain that we're facing in San Francisco, we needed it. We've needed it for years. When it stops, it's probably not going to rain for 10 years, right? But the thing is, the rain will come back. It just always does. It's just cyclical. So if you can remind yourselves of that and remind your people and your teams of that, that this is temporary, what's the trigger that's going to pull us through? You guys will make it through pretty much anything, okay? So it's important to always keep in mind first what the why is. Oh, and if you want to get all salesy and you want to start talking to prospects, talk to them about the why too. We hear friends of mine like John Barrows talking about why you and why you now.
(10:14):
That's what your prospects are asking you when you're picking up the phone and calling them and they actually pick up the phone. They want to know why are you calling me and why now? So have answers to those types of questions and you'll find yourself having more success when you're starting with why.
(10:31):
So tidbits. Good news is I've uploaded this already onto SlideShare. I'll give you the link at the very end of this presentation. The poor folks in the very back, this is an eye chart. So forgive me for that. And I actually don't typically read slides. I will read these for you. But how is where we are now, right? So we talked about the why, now we're at the how. How will you succeed? Well, if you want to differentiate yourself from the ordinary salespeople and sales leaders out there, here's what the A players are doing. They work on themselves harder than they work on their jobs, straight up. They walk around this world knowing that if they will change, everything will change for them. It's very, very simple. And they've all made a decision to be successful and to win, and it really starts there. You have to decide first and make a commitment to your own decision before anything is going to happen in your favor.
(11:29):
And I'm a firm believer, I'm one of those guys that walks around this planet just thinking that a lot of things are happening in my favor. It's just the way I think. But it's also a decision I've made too, that I don't go into my weeks hoping I have a great week. I just expect to have a great week and I know stuff's probably going to happen that's going to throw me off, but I'm anticipating it because I'm working on myself harder than I am at my job. The second is attract opportunities, don't pursue them, which we talked about a few minutes ago. It also goes for prospects and customers and jobs and income and connections, significant others and life. Just look to attract things to you, attract opportunities. And there's a great law out there that just never, never gives up, right? And that is seek and you will find.
(12:18):
If you want to buy a red BMW, all of a sudden you start seeing red BMWs all over the road. They're everywhere because you're looking for them. Same thing happens with pretty much everything in life. Just start looking for it. Decide to win and win first in your mind. I'm reading a great book right now. Again, I'm a big US Navy SEALs fan. My family's Navy, so I'm always fired up. And one of the books I'm reading right now is called Unbeatable Mind. Great book. By a US Navy SEAL named Mark Divine. And he talks about Navy SEALs and people who win in general, they win first in their minds before they go into whatever they have to go into. Okay? Put a 10 on everyone's forehead. Please do this. Please do this for everybody in this room. Give people the benefit of the doubt.
(13:06):
Everybody here is trying to do their best. Some are really good at the trying part and others are really bad at it, but give them the benefit of the doubt and let them take that 10 down to a one on their own. Don't be the person that does that for them. Okay? Get to know people. There's a great quote from former president Abraham Lincoln and it goes like this: "I don't like that man. I must get to know him a little bit better." So it's on you guys to get to know people a little bit better before you start throwing the prejudgments out and giving people a two before you even give them time of day. And then finally pay attention to the detail. Little things make the big things matter. So I tell my leaders and my reps this pretty much all the time, and that is that you are always setting an example to those around you.
(13:57):
They won't always tell you that you're setting an example. They won't always share with you the impression that you're leaving for them, but you are leaving an impression. So leave a great impression. Have class, right? Be kind, give people a 10 on their forehead first, do good, add value, all that stuff. We all hear about these principles, and the question is: are you applying them?