Irfan Jafar is a top Sales Specialist at VMware, an organization that believes that software has the power to unlock new opportunities for people and our planet. VMware looks beyond the barriers of compromise to engineer new ways to make technologies work together seamlessly. Irfan is a technology sales professional with a clear goal to help his customers become more successful. He believes that, as a sales professional, it is his responsibility to be able to provide the best possible solution to his customers’ business and IT challenges. Irfan is a big believer in personal growth and development and strives every day to be a better human than he was the day before.
In this episode, Irfan talks about his sales style and philosophy which are rooted in empathy, passion, and a genuine curiosity to solve his customers’ problems. Irfan and Scott discuss the power of visualization and maintaining a positive attitude in sales. Sometimes, your mind and your attitude can be your greatest assets. Irfan speaks to his three keys to success. These include being passionate and exceptional, curating disciplined habits and focus, and starting with the end in mind. Irfan is very thoughtful and detailed in his actions and he does not do something unless it will help lead him to achieve personal or professional goals. This approach has led to a tremendous amount of success for Irfan throughout his sales career.
Irfan continues by taking the audience through a typical day in the life. He wakes up consistently at 4:15 every morning, makes his pre-workout drink, reads or listens to podcasts for about thirty minutes to allow his meal to kick in, and completes a solid forty-five-minute workout. From there, Irfan writes down his top three priorities of the day – it is key to point out these are not the same as escalations that occur throughout the day. Irfan then approaches his day by visualizing a day that goes incredibly well. This is another key to Irfan’s success. Irfan finishes his day in a similar manner to how he started it, by listening to podcasts, reading, or catching up on any learnings. Finally, Irfan charges the audience with a very specific actionable challenge. He challenges them to start their day at 4:30 am, complete a workout, do some reading and be very disciplined around your priorities. Then, pick three accounts to set up C-level meetings, and remember that your mind is a wonderful thing. Just like thinking small, thinking big is a choice.
What We Covered:
00:01 – Scott thanks the sponsors of today’s episode, Outreach, Proposify, and Alyce
00:36 – Scott welcomes today’s guest, Irfan Jafar
00:56 – The top three attributes that Irfan attributes to his success
01:09 – Number 1: Being passionate and exceptional
01:52 – Number 2: Disciplined habits and focus
02:33 – Number 3: Starting with the end in mind
03:23 – Irfan speaks to how he sets his goals at the beginning of each year
05:05 – Scott and Irfan dive deep into what it means to build
07:02 – What it means to be passionate and exceptional
09:39 – Scott takes a moment to thank one of today’s sponsors, Proposify
10:22 – Irfan expounds on his role at VMware
10:56 – Irfan quantifies his sales results
11:49 – Irfan’s sales origin story
12:57 – What Irfan would do differently if given the chance and speaks to failures he’s endured throughout his career
16:50 – The importance of selling for a company that you truly believe in
19:41 – Scott takes a moment to thank another one of today’s sponsors, Outreach
20:25 – Irfan speaks to the differences in working for a startup and more establish organizations
25:26 – The level of focus Irfan places on internal sales
26:33 – How Irfan manages executive briefings
35:04 – Scott takes a moment to thank the final sponsor of today’s episode, Alyce
36:52 – How Irfan works through sales meeting timelines
38:39 – Irfan speaks to the deal sizes he works on in the software industry
40:47 – Irfan’s favorite sales success story
47:19 – The importance of maintaining momentum
48:03 – Irfan takes the audience through a typical day in the life
54:02 – Irfan breaks down how he color codes his calendar and how he handles when his schedule becomes more hectic
58:18 – Irfan discusses how he accomplishes his top three priorities every day
1:04:16 – Best practices Irfan implements to maximize his time management
1:08:58 – The books, news, podcasts and trade information that Irfan consumes
1:10:20 – What motivates and drives Irfan
1:11:09 – Where Irfan sees his career going in the future
1:13:06 – Tools and apps that are critical to Irfan’s success
1:16:08 – Irfan’s sales philosophy and style
1:18:08 – The sales story that has impacted Irfan the most
1:22:17 – One of Irfan’s beliefs that the average sales professional would think is crazy
1:24:32 – An average sales professional’s belief that Irfan thinks is crazy
1:27:17 – The most important lessons Irfan had to learn to get to this point in his career
1:30:46 – Advice Irfan would give to an upstart sales professional
1:32:39 – Irfan takes a moment to shout out his own sales mentors
1:34:36 – The importance of having trust in sales
1:37:24 – Advice Irfan would give to struggling sales professionals
1:39:09 – Scott and Irfan stress the importance of truly listening
1:41:07 – What Irfan would want to know about the top sellers of other organizations
1:44:51 – Irfan shares a story of a time he learned from a loss
1:50:24 – Irfan’s actionable challenge to the audience
Tweetables:
“I truly believe in the saying, ‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.’ And I try to live by this daily.” (02:20)
“If you come along with a solution that you have so much passion for and you present as such, then I think your customers just get in line with you. And they believe in your solutions as well.” (19:21)
“I look at it from a customer’s perspective. So, if your customer is willing to make a commitment – even if it’s virtual and only for four or five hours – you have to be respectful of their time. You have to provide them value for the time they’re spending with you.” (37:00)
“You always have to find balance in how you move forward.” (59:45)
“My motivation is that I want to be exceptional in everything that I do.” (1:10:26)
“Your mind is a very interesting thing. I can close my eyes right now and I can imagine and visualize that I am having the best time of my life. I’m able to change my attitude right now and I’m able to feel that energy.” (1:25:57)
“You have to be genuinely curious about what others’ problems are and how you can solve them, even in a more effective manner. And that brings real joy, not just a good commission check.” (1:37:04)
Links Mentioned:
[email protected]
Sales Success Summit
Irfan Jafar on LinkedIn
VMware Website
Kyle Gutzler’s Article
Brandon Fluharty on Sales Success Stories Interview
Sponsors Mentioned:
Tools Mentioned:
Audible
Workspace One
Amazon
Apple Podcasts
Linkedin
Books Mentioned:
The Philosopher’s Toolkit
Mindset
The Challenger Sale
The Challenger Customer
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
Build a Better Brain
The Speed of Trust
Podcasts Mentioned:
Other Links Mentioned:
Stephen Covey’s Four Quadrants of Time Management:
