“Not moving quickly, but moving patiently, assessing the business, understanding that anything that happens now is going to impact the future.” – Tom Barnes in today’s Tip 1322
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2022 Sales Success Summit
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Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today I’ve got a longer than usual clip from the brand new episode on the Sales Success Stories podcast that just released today with Tom Barnes. Tom just left Humu as their #1 top performer, to lead his first team at Praxis Labs. There was just so much goodness in this clip I couldn’t cut it down and there’s tons more in the full episode. Listen to this:
Tom Barnes: So my biggest advice that I give my former self I know you answered that question already, but I just want to double down on it. And Ian, your speaker from last year’s Summit, really, really resonated with me. Like the things that that dude was saying about, not just work-life balance, because it’s so much more than that, but finding your real why in life and really sticking to your values and making sure that what you do is not only helping you to be a better person but making the world a better place. It stuck with me so well. Like, Ian, you’re awesome man. I got to meet with you and talk with you again.
And that’s where I’m at right now. Being able to understand that. Hey, I think been diagnosed with high functioning anxiety. I just figured out what that is. I do have this pursuit of success and never feel really comfortable with the amount of success that I’ve had. Always feeling like things could fall apart or I haven’t done enough, still feeling guilt. So it’s something I’m working on all the time. But just continuing to remind others and remind myself that your self-worth is not your point in the stack rank.
And I’d also challenge whatever it may be, right, because I’m a big believer. I’m a universal believer, if you will, and spirituality. So I challenge people to have an experience that wakens them spiritually inside. I’m a big believer in meditation. Just been getting more into mindfulness. So go meditate. Go practice mindfulness. Take some alone time to a far-off place in the world. Follow Matthew McConaughey. Go to the Amazon alone, Amazon River, completely alone. Go trip out on, I think, my Oscar or something. Go find your spiritual awakening. Do whatever it takes to open up that inside part of you. And if you can’t get out and have that spiritual awakening elsewhere on a vacation, well, commit to doing something hard every single day.
I would advocate for mindfulness, 14 days straight. I would advocate going to therapy. A big believer in that as well. Go read some books on these things. That’s how I got started into it. Go read community programs on Reddit. That’s where I did a lot of my mental work prior to opening up to official work with therapy. That’s where I’m a big believer in mental health and happy to help with anyone there. I’m not at all acting like I have it figured out, but what I do know is I know a lot more than I did early in my career, because when I was met with difficulty after not having much difficulty at all in my first few years, it crippled me, and it crippled me in my personal life as well. And that’s not okay, and I don’t want that for anyone.
Scott Ingram: Yeah, big man. I appreciate you. Again, sharing all of that. I know that Ian definitely had a big impact on a lot of people last year at the Summit. I’m pretty sure, I’ll have to double-check, I think we have shared that presentation publicly, so we will put that into the show notes if you go to Top1.fm/151 because I actually know my numbers for once or Top1.fm/Tom-Barnes you’ll find all the details there. And because we in was the number one ranked speaker at last year’s Summit, he will be taking the stage again this year. So Tom, you will have the opportunity to spend some time with Ian talking all that through this year.
Tom Barnes: So excited because I would be crazy to miss your Sale Success Summit this year. I was not paid listeners to say this. It’s the best event I’ve been to. At this event, the experience of the game. It’s people that are actually in the field. It’s not learning from teachers who are writing everything up on the whiteboard and never practicing it. It’s got the synergy and symbiosis of having the right people in the field who are, I should say in the room from the field who are actively selling and doing these things daily. And it’s been my favorite event in terms of the flexibility and how fluid it is. You’re sitting in, we have one in Utah. It’s called Bruvy, but think about a place where they serve beer and food while you watch a movie theater. You’re sitting there with an all-you-can-eat card where you write whatever you want on that card, put it down, and they’re going to bring you food. And you listen to the top sellers in the country talk about real-world results. I mean, it’s incredible. So check it out. Really get there if you can. Ask your company to put in the budget so you can make it there.
Scott Ingram: Well, I certainly appreciate you saying that, Tom. And just to give people a link, if you go to Top1Summit, the number one. Top1Summit.com will have the details there. And you are, not only did you participate in a team that came last year, you are planning on bringing your new team that you’re forming. You want to talk about kind of what’s driving that and how you’re thinking about that?
Tom Barnes: Yeah. So if my boss, the CEO here is this on the podcast, it’s the first time hearing it, so I don’t want to get myself into too much trouble with that. But, yeah, I’m putting together plans in that we’re building a salesforce here at Praxis Labs. We’re serious a, we are very young. They took the approach at a very smart approach in hindsight, due to how successful they’ve been able to be and just having a product out in the field for a year and a half. They released their product in April of 2021 of going very engineering heavy, research and development heavy.
And then Elise Smith, our CEO and founder, she is just a natural salesperson, she’s a killer salesperson. And so I was the first sales hire. She was driving sales for them, generating millions of dollars in revenue already ARR in a very quick time frame. And so they decided, hey, we’re growing much quicker than we have been. Let’s get in the Head of Sales. Let’s get that Head of Sales to build out a team of SDRs, AE, Sales Ops, get a real traditional sales force. And I thought, is there a better way of doing that than coming out in October with the first few hires? To be able to bond, to learn from the top sellers, to be able to network with the top sellers, and to really be able to learn actionable things, as I was able to do last year while I was at Humu. No, there isn’t. And so we’re planning on it. And again, at least the first time you’re hearing about it. I’m sorry. But it’s something that I would see as a real differentiator and game changer for any org, whether you’re a brand new salesforce learning to come together and gain synergy together. Or if you’ve been doing this for many years together and you want to be able to crack the code even more.
Scott Ingram: Well Yeah, very cool. Well, the good news is there’s a little bit of a gap between us recording this conversation and releasing it, Tom, so I’m sure you have an opportunity to chat with Elise and not surprise her in this way, but you are in this stage, Tom, where you’re working on building your first team. Talk about that. How are you thinking about that and kind of the experience that you have and all that you have seen and applying that to what the profile is kind of who you’re looking for to bring on as you build out your new team?
Tom Barnes: Yeah, love that question. And what it really has turned into is an overwhelming feeling of Imposter Syndrome, which I’ve had for many years, and I get a bay and then it comes back again and again. But I also don’t completely hate Imposter Syndrome. I don’t think it’s the vice or the chain that a lot of people say it is. I kind of side with Adam Grant who says that and has seen through research that, Hey, Imposter Syndrome, having that chip on your shoulder and that doubt always keeps you to be challenging yourself and to be growing. So I’m actually, in a weird way, almost an advocate of it because the last thing that you want is to become a little proficient at something and good at something and then suffer the Dunning-Kruger effect, which is believing that you are the best expert at something when in reality, you’re just average. And that is getting in the book of Adam Grant. Right. Think again. Getting to the very top of the mountain, but you’re at the very top of Mount Stupid. And so I’m a big believer in not becoming that. And so the very first thing that I’m focused on is getting with as many mentors as I can, reading more than I ever have in my entire life. And then to answer your question, as a part of that, not moving quickly, but moving patiently, assessing the business, understanding that anything that happens now is going to impact the future. So it needs to be very thought out, very well understood. And then finding folks who are mission-aligned is really important for what we’re doing there as well, which is ensuring that the workforce has the ability to drive equity in the workforce, to be able to drive their diversity and inclusion efforts. And so finding folks that believe in that, that they know that makes the world not only is a necessary part of the world, but makes the world a very better place, is a value that’s very important.
And then I’m a believer in being the CEO of your business. So if you’re a sales rep, carrying accountability for everything, and I know I mentioned the 3 T’s, I still believe in the 3 T’s to success for sales. Again, the 3 T’s being talent, territory, and timing. Unfortunately, only one of those T’s is a controlled T. You can control your talent. You can identify your skill gaps. You can work to become better.
So there is a part of you needing to identify of where you are if the two other T’s are still there for you. When I’ve identified in my career that those things could be going away or that they may not be there for me that’s when I made the risky move at a time to hop from something that felt super comfortable and super good to something else. Even though it was a scary move at the time. It felt like the risky move. And I wouldn’t change it at all for how it’s worked out for me. So I would advocate for that as well for folks.
Scott Ingram: Amazing. So, two things. The first one, your Mount Stupid comment is just stuck with me, and I’m playing with this idea of I have to maybe tie that into the summit somehow. Right?Because the Sales Success Summit is a much, much taller peak, and I don’t think any of us have made it to the top. And the people who don’t come to the summit are probably standing at the top of Mount Stupid.
Tom Barnes: No kidding. 100%. If you think you’ve got life figured out, you’re a moron. The more I know, the more I learn. I don’t know. You know what I mean?
Scott Ingram: For my full massive interview with Tom Barnes in episode 151 of the Sales Success Stories podcast, links to connect to him directly and to get your ticket to the Sales Success Summit, or at least the videos, Just click over to DailySales.Tips/1322. Oh, and Tom will be one of those presenters! So check it out and then, come on back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!