Episode 151: Sophisticated Prospecting and the Three Ts of Sales with Tom Barnes

Until Tom Barnes very recently stepped into a new Head of Sales role at Praxis Labs, he was the number one Enterprise Sales Director at Humu, an organization with a mission to make work better with science and machine learning. Tom has the privilege of leading the go-to-market function and leads Praxis Labs global growth strategy to help organizations improve equity and inclusion in the workplace. As Head of Sales, he is building the Praxis Labs sales machine by bringing business impact to Praxis Labs customers. He brings a wealth of experience from the Employee Experience and L&D space and was an integral part of driving 3 early-stage pre-IPO organizations through their successful IPOs.

Today, Tom joins the show to discuss his sales origin story, the importance of taking calculated risks, and his mission to be a disruptor in sales. Tom shares the three things he attributes most to his success, including grit, taking risks, and prioritizing his mental well-being and spirituality. Tom expounds on his sales style and philosophies, especially MEDDPIC and Command of the Message. Tom’s analytical approach has helped him master the Three Ts of sales: Talent, Territory, and Timing. Faith is an important aspect of Tom’s life and, as such, plays a critical role in his sales processes.

Tom takes the audience through a typical day in the life, from his early morning meditation routine to the hours he blocks off for pure prospecting. Tom understands that, in order to sustain success, he needs to ensure he is fully present for the day which is why mindfulness plays a large role in Tom’s routine. Finally, Tom issues an actionable challenge to the audience. He challenges them to find something that you’ve believed in and knew was right for you but that you haven’t made the time to dedicate yourself to. Once you have that, whether it’s meditation, getting out in nature, seeking therapy, or simply reading. Do that task daily for two straight weeks and see what kind of change it evokes in you.

What We Covered:

00:01 – Scott thanks today’s sponsors, Outreach & Gong
00:36 – Scott introduces today’s guest, Tom Barnes
00:58 – The top three things Tom attributes to his success
01:18 – Number One: Grit
01:32 – Number Two: Risk Taking
01:37 – Number Three: Mental well-being and spirituality
02:04 – A quick story on risk
04:57 – Tom speaks to his previous role at Humu and the transition to his current role at Praxis Labs
06:58 – Tom quantifies his sales results
09:46 – How Tom balances the front-end and back-end engines of Sales
12:12 – Scott takes a moment to thank one of today’s sponsors, Outreach
12:47 – Combining sophisticated white-glove prospecting and prospecting at scale to ensure personalization
15:30 – How Tom is differentiating his prospecting efforts
17:47 – Tom’s sales origin story
21:29 – Tom opens up about his childhood and how it has impacted his sales origin story
23:27 – What Tom would do differently if given the chance
24:50 – Tom’s time at Domo
28:16 – The Silicon Slopes
30:05 – Tom expounds on the connection between Sales and faith
33:40 – Tom’s favorite sales story
38:45 – Tom’s proudest accomplishment
40:07 – Tom’s journey to mental well-being
43:36 – Tom takes a moment to share how incredible last year’s Sales Success Summit was and how much it impacted him
46:52 – How Tom is approaching building his own team
49:17 – The Three Ts of sales success: Talent, Territory & Timing
50:37 – Tom speaks to how he enhanced territory opportunities for reps in his organization
53:39 – Winners win and losers lose
55:32 – Tom’s due diligence and research process when it comes to investors
58:22 – The most challenging aspect of Tom’s role
1:04:28 – Shifting the culture of leadership and hiring
1:07:19 – Tom takes the audience through a typical day in the life
1:12:07 – Avoiding ‘single-threadedness’
1:18:35 – Other habits and routines that are critical to Tom’s success
1:20:33 – Scott takes a moment to thank one of today’s sponsors, Gong
1:21:18 – The books, news, podcasts, and trade information that Tom consumes
1:24:35 – Tom’s sales style and philosophy
1:33:50 – What motivates and drives Tom
1:35:50 – Getting to ‘enough’
1:39:33 – One of Tom’s beliefs that the average sales professional would think is crazy
1:42:54 – An average sales professional’s belief that Tom thinks is crazy
1:47:30 – Tom issues an actionable challenge to the audience

Tweetables:

“I want to be talking to companies that are trying to do something different in the marketplace, – whether they’re trying to create a new category or trying to disrupt the marketplace – because that’s what I’m trying to do.” (08:30)

“I’m a big believer, especially with all the tools we have now out there, that we can make every outreach that we have personalized and at scale.” (11:01)

“When you dedicate and put your life on pause to go to another place in the country or another place in the world to preach to people about Jesus Christ and your religion and to deal with rejection, doors slammed on you and words yelled at you, it’s very good at building resiliency.” (31:41)

“I’m a believer in being the CEO of your business. So, if you’re a sales rep, that means carrying accountability for everything.” (49:07)

“The thing I struggle with the most now with sales is still not being able to control every single outcome that’s going to occur. I have a hard time with that still.” (58:31)

“So much of tech sales in the tech industry at times is hiring for potential and hiring a person for who they can be even more importantly at times than bringing in the finished product of who somebody already is.” (1:05:20)

“Never move away from doing the hard things because once you get too comfortable and you stop doing the hard things, that’s when you’re going to stop progressing and stop growing in your career.” (1:20:04)

“Now what motivates me – what I strive and want to grow to even more – is the ability to have more resources and possibilities to make an impact on the world, as well as for my family and my children.” (1:34:18)

What We Covered:

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