“Every time I feel like giving up or any time I feel like I don’t want to keep going, I think back to that and I think about future me and my future kids and I want to give them the same story and I want this to teach the same intrinsic motivators and the work ethic that my parents instilled in me.” – Eddie Baez in today’s Tip 291
How about you? What motivates you?
Join the conversation below and check out the full conversation with Eddie Baez!
Eddie Baez on Sales Success Stories Interview
Eddie Baez on LinkedIn
IBIS World
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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 something on my mind, and thought I’d share a clip from my most recent interview on Sales Success Stories with Eddie Baez first, to frame the opportunity. Eddie has been the #1 top performer in his role at IBIS World for the last 3 years. Here’s what he said when I asked him about what motivates him:
Eddie Baez: It’s my parents. This one’s tough. All right, so growing up, my parents didn’t separate. You know, right away they didn’t separate well into my teens. And you know, frankly if I’m a hundred percent honest, my dad was actually a great guy and they’re still really good friends, which helped a lot because when my mom got sick, he came back and helped us out and it was very platonic, but it helped nonetheless. And I think he did a phenomenal job. And I think the biggest thing that both of my parents agreed on, despite their differences, was making sure that my brother and I were okay and that we had a future to come back to after all these big challenges we’re out of the way. So both of my parents immigrated from the Dominican Republic and my dad held down so many blue-collar jobs. I mean from a foreman in the fashion district, a movie set security guard, which was probably his most fun job. And you know, he got to meet lineage Leonardo DiCaprio, which was cool. And then his last job was as a janitor at a pretty large company. But you know, it was nothing but blue-collar jobs. My dad never took a sick day above everything else. He never complained about his jobs or anything that, if money was tight, he’d never complained. And he was no stranger to picking up extra shifts to support the family. And then on the opposite side of the spectrum. My mom, actually, sorry, not on the opposite side of the spectrum, let’s run that back. My mom, very similar to my father owns her own business daycare business and it was a daycare provider for over 15 years. And the only time she wasn’t doing it was when she got sick for about five or six years. And her immediate thought, like I said, after getting sick, getting the great news that she was cancer-free was that I need to get back to work, support my kids and get through it. And for me, that is in the back of my mind, just the most indelible thing possible. I mean, every
Scott Ingram: If you want to listen to my full conversation with Eddie, and I hope you will, it’s available in episode number 79 on the Sales Success Stories podcast, but here’s why I shared this particular clip. I’ve seen this over and over again with quite a few of the top performers that I’ve interviewed. They experienced some serious adversity growing up. In quite a few cases their parents were immigrants or they grew up poor and they have a chip on their shoulders. The resulting drive and work ethic are unbelievable. Yet at the same time, I see certain industries, and I’m looking directly at your technology, where they won’t even interview somebody without previous tech experience. I want to challenge the broader community around this. I believe there are very few solutions or industries that are so technical that they can’t be learned with dedicated study over the course of a few months. What can’t be learned over the course of a few months is true drive and true grit. That’s not something you teach somebody. My challenge to sales managers who are hiring is this. Take a chance. Put aside what you think the mold for a solid salesperson looks like. Instead, talk to a broader set of individuals from much more diverse backgrounds. Find somebody with some incredible innate drive and perhaps a chip on their shoulder and take a chance. I’d be willing to bet that they’ll crack your solid salesperson mold with a breakout performance given enough time and coaching. Are you up for the challenge?
I appreciate you listening to my rant today. Be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip from Jeff Bajorek.