Luis Báez, a Sales Enablement Strategist who has worked with tech giants like LinkedIn, Uber, Tesla, and Google, explains why LinkedIn is the best employment experience he’s ever had, what parts of sales make him feel icky and why you don’t need them, the massive value of community, how the same customers behave radically differently depending on the platform they're engaging with, creating a "water cooler" in a virtual setting, thriving through intrapreneurship, and accepting messiness.

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Hello, Action Catalyst listeners. Today, our

guest is Luis Baez. He has been a sales enablement strategist at

companies like LinkedIn, Uber, Tesla, and Google. Luis Baez has

spent 14 years of his experience in sales and marketing, bringing

a breadth of knowledge and experience that spans digital

advertising software and sustainability with a revenue

impact of over 600 million to date. Good to meet you!

You as well.

So Luis, talk to me a little bit about your

background, how did you get started in the world of sales?

It was really by chance. I am the first

generation versus my family, every single college education

and you know, wanting the best outcome, of course, it's like

doctor, lawyer of business person, trying to being a doctor

hated it, went to law school, dropped out, hated it. And then

after that, I had a friend who was working on the marketing

team at WebMD. And she said to me, you don't know this, but

you've got this magnetism about you. And you have a way of just

commanding people like you, you have a presence. And I wonder if

sales might be for you. And so she referred me in and I went

through eight rounds of interviews for an ad sales job

knowing nothing about advertising, or online business

or tech or even working in corporate because I've been

filled in and we're nonprofit, and legal, that experience

cemented if nothing else, my capacity to sell myself, we then

went through eight rounds of interviews, and I got a job

offer.

All right! I'd love to hear a little bit more

about that. I know one of your big talking points is

intrapreneurship. What did that look like for you at a few of

these different companies?

Yeah, I want to say that I didn't really realize

that I was an intrapreneur. I didn't understand what that

meant, or the capacity for that until I stepped away from

corporate and became an entrepreneur. And I started an

online business and a consultancy. I would sell online

programs and consult other startups. And it was then that I

realized that I had it so good as an account executive, because

they handled my legal, they handled my marketing, right,

they took care of everything, all of the overhead and all I

did was sell and walk home with the cash. And that's when it

clicked for me that I thought that I didn't have the capacity

to be an entrepreneur, I thought I was starting from scratch. But

I realized that I'd been conditioned for working in that

way. Because I've been an individual contributor, working

in enterprise sales and closing over half a billion dollars for

these bigger companies, right. And so I developed that

awareness of the fact that I was worrying or capable were in both

of these acts of managing a book of business within a business on

behalf of the business, but also being able to do that for

myself, and for my own team. And so with the intrapreneurship,

apple fell on my head when I stepped away from corporate. And

as I stepped back in, I moved in the path of revenue enablement,

because I had done all the sales things I had walked the path of

or climbed the ladder from sales support to sales executive to

sales leader. And what I came to realize is that my happy place

was really in that sweet spot around people development and

coaching and guiding people through the sales process. And

that's ultimately, you know, what led me down the path I'm

walking down now and because I had a friend who looked at me

and said, well, at some point Olympians that qualify for

events, and they can continue to compete and other events, but

they ultimately pivot towards coochie and training the next

Olympian and so maybe that's your path. And and sure enough,

it was.

What were some of the key differences for you,

though, from building your own practice versus working for one?

I think, starting your own business, you have to

be an adrenaline junkie, it's all on you. Right? That's it to

get started. You're going to get help from other experts. You're

going to you know, pull people into projects, launches,

development, etc. You're gonna iron people as you go. But at

the onset, it's it's actually a really lonely process, and

you've got to work really hard and diligently to build a

network around yourself. But the thing that I am clear about

after having had these experiences is that the method,

the methodologies or the approach when it comes to

selling or sales, it's really the same, right? When you think

about taking someone from not knowing you are understanding

what it is that you offer, to visualizing the transformation

after having worked with you to seeing results at the end, and

your capacity to influence and guide and consult. Those are

skills that I think are universal, no matter how it is,

you're showing up, whether you're an entrepreneur or an

entrepreneur.

And I guess for our listeners, how would you

define intrapreneurs that you help?

An intrapreneur is someone that has a share of the

business, and operates and functions as someone who holds

himself accountable for their shares of the business? Right.

And so the context for that is coming up in the tech industry.

It's no secret that part of the incentives that you see well for

working in tech include a salary and equity in the company or

options, right. And so when you think about it, if you're

receiving shares in the business, that means you own a

piece of it, right. And if you aren't a pizza, then the way

that you show up needs to be aligned with that, rather than

having a passive experience and just clocking in and clocking

out, let go of the title, let go of the ego, and just assume and

claim the title of being a boss in this business and show up

like one. Think about how you spend the first hour of your

day. Think about the people that you surround yourself with

building your own board of advisors, think about even the

way that you run point on projects, holding yourself

accountable and leaving nothing to chance. And that shift has to

happen with that realization that I own a piece of this

business, I'm not just an employee of it.

Yeah. So what I'm hearing you say is almost like a

mindset of treating your job less like a job and more like an

owner.

Exactly. Mindset and a work ethic for sure.

What are some organizations or companies in

your experience that do this well?

The best career experience I've ever had was at

LinkedIn, the culture is bar none. And I mean, you would

expect so right there, the world's largest professional

network. And so the the ways that you build your career and

the kind of career experience that you have, are very

carefully designed. So I borrow a lot of, you know, my ideas and

my playbooks from the experiences that I had there.

And from the leaders that I engaged with while I was there.

I'm always intrigued by companies that are

able to create that culture.

And it's not, not impossible, right, I'm gonna say

that it certainly takes some time and some effort and

investment. It takes some shedding of old skin and old

assumptions about how we do business and how we should be

doing business. But once you let go, and you put your faith in

the process, and in the methodology, it can be a really

wonderful experience for everyone. Right? It can be a

really wonderful experience for you, as a leader to see that

your team is optimally productive when people are

happy. And, you know, you are, you know, trending to hit your

own goals, you know, for your higher ups. And then the people

who are engaging directly with customers, right, they, they

feel a sense of responsibility to the customer in a very

different way. They feel like a stakeholder and an owner in it.

You know, we talk a lot on our podcast about the

different levels of confidence and expertise at something and

how that's developed over time. What was your journey in sales?

When did you make some big leaps? And what were some of the

setbacks?

How much time have you had left? So you know, for

context, again, I, I'm someone that's first generation didn't

have any family that have worked corporate, so I didn't have any

sense for like, how to navigate these spaces. I'm also an old

gay man. And so I inherently have connected with leaders and

colleagues and people that didn't really make me feel

welcomed or found ways to try to throw daggers at my back or

interrupt my sales flow or my relationships with customers,

right? Like I've had some issues like really navigating my

career. And so I want to contextualize all of that I

think it's really important to recognize that not everyone has

this sort of work experience where we get to clock in and

clock out. Some of us have to do double time while we're on the

clock. At first I fumbled when it came to sales and Sally I

wanted to control the conversation and be the smartest

person in the room and I didn't want to lose face right then

there was so much anxiety because I'd never been trained.

But as I progressed and I was moving up the ladder I started

to become methodical in my approach. I started to think

about okay in when I walk into conversations with customers,

typical profile, same anxiety, same line of questions I'm going

to make you know, make sure that I'm prepared with answers

examples, case studies that etc. So it took some time to build

that fluency and understanding the customer very confidently

addressing their hesitation and objection, right that was like

one big skill and very Have confidence that I developed over

time. And then there was this other thing about the the

mindset shift, right? Like once I got comfortable with like a

methodical repeatable process to selling that took away the

anxiety from me showing up for that customer, but also ensured

that like I wasn't showing up and throwing up and actively

listening to the customer, right, then there was the

pursuit of bigger deals, we're going from selling $200,000

deals to $2 million deals to $20 million deals, the mindset

shift, as I kept going up in my career from you know, from

selling mid market and enterprise sales, what I came to

realize is that, it actually takes the same amount of

anxiety, effort, process, resources, etc. To close a

$200,000 deal as it does a $20 million deal. The difference is

my capacity and my self awareness and self confidence,

that swagger that I really only developed from, again, all the

experiences that I had messing up deals, getting the feedback

and fighting against all things against me to get my place to

the starting line of the race. But then even just thinking

about, like, the mistakes that, you know, I experienced with

customers, the fumbles, etcetera, like all of that

conditioned me eventually to get to a place where I was

comfortable with my process, and I just needed to trust that it

would help me and that I would succeed moving on to bigger

accounts. You know, truth be told, you know, it was messy

throughout, right. But as I moved up, so did my confidence.

Along the way, I had some examples of really amazing

leaders, one of the best examples of leadership that I've

experienced today was at LinkedIn, you know, this was my

first tech job, I'd been recruited to work at the company

super excited. But I'd come from very toxic sales environments

and sales floors, where, you know, it's that always be

closing mentality, people yelling at you running, you

know, drilling you on your numbers, you know, like it was a

high pressure, high anxiety environment. So I was

conditioned to just like, always know, my numbers, always be

ready to talk about them on the spot, you know, just being on

online, logged on. And it was a vastly different, it was a

totally different experience than I was expecting, because my

director steps into the row, she was two minutes late, and she

apologized to everyone in the room, plugged her laptop and

projected her laptop on the screen. And on the screen was

her calendar, and it was wild and color coded and filled to

the brim. And she opened up by holding herself accountable. I'm

sorry, I was late. Here's where I was, here's what I was doing.

This is what I'm working on this week. This is how I prioritize

our requests. These are the time blocks that I've dedicated to

working on these things. These are the meetings that are happy

to move on these things before drilling us. She held herself

accountable, and demonstrated to us the way that we should be

thinking about our time and how we manage I was blown away.

Yeah, I love that. You know, it sounds like you're

also pretty self taught. What were some of the key books,

things that you've read or listened to around the world of

sales that helped you develop and hone your craft?

I actually hate most of the sales content that

exists. I think it's a matter of there are things that are

lacking in the sales content that I often consume. And I

think that there's a lack of focus on wellness and mental

health. When I approach coaching someone, I understand that the

way that they think influences the way that they behave and

therefore influences their outcomes. When I think about a

lot of these authors, gurus and the content that exists out

there, a lot of it is about squeezing the opportunity,

squeezing the micromoments, squeezing and cornering the

customer and maximizing the value and doubling the deal. But

I think that over time, what I really what has helped me stand

out from the crowd is that I actually don't have that

approach. I'm not Sharky or sleazy, I'm not the high

pressure seller. Over time, I figured out my style. And it was

really after reading all the books, and not feeling that they

really spoke to me and then going off and trying my own

thing. And I think that actually, the books that have

helped me the most are actually not the sales books. It's the

psychology and the copywriting books, right, that capacity to

master neurolinguistics and persuasion and reading a room, I

think has helped me a lot more than a 10 step process for

discovery that is, you know, known to yield 10x results that

didn't do it for me.

So maybe coming back to you kind of are a double

duty, right. You work for deputed today, but you also have

your own consultancy still. So what's been the balancing act of

that?

It's it's an imbalanced act. That is for

sure. Right? There are moments where my career requires a lot

more of my time and my attention and focus than I have to allow

for them. and create the space for that, because I'm still very

committed to the work that I'm doing in the ways that I'm

growing this tool row that I'm walking, I haven't quite

achieved everything I want to walking down that path. At the

same time. I'm in Enneagram two, I'm an empath. I'm an introvert,

I love to just help people. And even though I don't actively, I

don't have a full roster of clients at all times, like I

used to, when I was doing it full time solopreneur ship, I

still get people reaching out to me working on some really

amazing ideas, really brilliant business models that have you

know, social and equity component to it that I really

admire and respect. And as these opportunities come up, I can't

say no to the chance to step in and advise and consultant, and

to help implement sales processes or to help interview

their first sales hire, or even write the job description or

that right and thinking about, you know, ways that I can help

other businesses that deserve a standing chance, get that

jumpstart, and honor the trust that they're putting in me, but

it's hard, I'm not going to sugarcoat it ambition is, is

like playing with fire, sometimes you've got to know and

you've got to dip out. And I think that over time, I have

learned to recognize those moments where my cup is

overflowing, and I need to set boundaries. And I need to also

go offline. And that's really important too. Because when

you're grinding, you stop producing good ideas. When

you're tired and exhausted, not just like the physical fatigue,

when we when you reach that mental fatigue, no one's going

to benefit from it. And so you have to go offline, you need to

get your sleep you need to get your workouts in. I've also

gotten into the floating spa, I don't know if you've ever had

that experience. If you get into a sensory deprivation pool. It's

a saltwater, you just lay there and it's like you just melt into

time and space. You have to you have to actively do this. Why I

mentioned earlier like one of the things that's missing from

the books that I read often around leadership and sales.

It's like, you got to take care of number one. And that's the

conversation that we don't have enough. It's like I am not AI

powered. I'm human. I have my batteries need add, you know,

and intentional recharging.

So it's really important to recognize when that

is for sure. When you got into your consulting practice. I

mean, this is something that a lot of listeners have thought

about doing. A lot of our listeners did make that jump for

themselves, whatever that business was, what were the

biggest surprises for you?

I thought I had a leg up because I knew business right

before going into business. For myself, I worked as an executive

selling to Fortune 500 C level executives Running the Numbers

working with all the analysts, etc. I got bought, I knew how to

run a business. And so even before I stepped into that

space, had the website together had the offer together sales

pages, the emails, everything like setup and running. I was

like, yes, I've got this right. If you build it, they will come

and I built it. And then I no one should know it. So it was

like, Okay, I'm not competing against anyone, it's just me at

the starting line of this race, right? It doesn't matter a solo

marathon that I'm about to go on and in my fever to get started.

And to get everything looking just right. I overlooked the

fact that like, I didn't have like an email list or following

or anything I was starting from scratch, got the LLC set up

about the accountant and all these things going on in the

background, because I thought I knew how to run a business. But

it is very different when you are out here putting yourself

out there. And there are probably 1000 ways to crack this

egg. And it's a matter of testing, refining and

optimizing. But also like showing up authentically or like

if it took me a while to step away from running ads, and doing

all those things that the Guru's and everyone said you should do

when you're running an online business, right? I found my

sweet spot and teaching and guests teaching and, and guest

speaking. And this is what I love doing this is the

intersection of doing something that I love and doing something

that's super effective for my brand and my business. And so I

just want to encourage anyone who's listening to this and

going Yes, I hear what you're saying. I don't know, you know,

I've tried cracking the eggs, you know, 800 out of 1000 ways,

like what should I do next? Do what feels right and do it well.

Yeah, great advice. And so you're you found

part of the solution to your one of your challenges on starting

your business was providing education to your audience as a

way to build trust. You chose LinkedIn as a platform for that?

I feel like that's what I read.

LinkedIn and Instagram and Facebook groups

because I a lot of folks that step into online business and

solopreneurs solo practitioner sort of work will often join

communities on Facebook, they'll follow other online teachers and

things like that. have communities and so one of the

ways that I would build my roster of clients is like

jumping into these communities adding massive value. And then

eventually people, you know, would tap my shoulder and say,

I'd love to talk to you and learn more. Same thing on

Instagram. And then same thing on LinkedIn. LinkedIn for it,

for me, will always be Bay. And it's not just because I worked

there like I, I ended up being recruited at LinkedIn, because

of my activity on LinkedIn. Like, literally the recruiter

was like, You're active, do you want to come talk to us about

teaching other people how to use LinkedIn, and it's been the

perfect place to showcase my myself in the work that I do

across every space that I move.

You know, a lot of folks will, you know, ask where

do I build my community?

Different customer intent, if everyone had like,

break it down from there, but the same person that I might be

engaging with will spend their time on LinkedIn differently

than on on Instagram, when I engage with them on LinkedIn,

I'm offering advice. When I'm hanging out with them on

Instagram, we're sharing memes, you know, it's the watercooler

versus the boardroom, right. And when you think about engaging

with your colleagues, or co workers or customers in everyday

situation than physical spaces, yeah, there are moments where

you button up because it's time to do business. And there are

moments where you let your hair down. And so I have to think

about how to create those experiences and in virtual

settings, and that's ultimately what was my approach, you know,

I had a different presence on each channel. I was engaging

with the same pool of business owners who were on these

platforms for their own marketing needs, or maybe

researching and sourcing customers for themselves.

Yeah, were you kind of a super user, I guess,

of this form of like, does this how you digested your content?

A lot of trial and error, and a lot of coming up

against like, I actually did not, like the idea of using

Instagram for Business, right? Like, it's where I hung out

with, like my cousin, my Auntie's my bestie is that to

set up a business account for business purposes, and I am

someone that like, it was so like, buttoned up and corporate

and like, you know, didn't want to lose face. It's like, I was

coming off too serious on the platform, right, and I wasn't

getting the results, or I wasn't making the connections that I

wanted. Lots of learning about how to show up learning from

everyone else. And, and that's a time committed, I'm also someone

that doesn't actually like to spend a whole lot of time on

social media, right? I try to say, I literally set a timer,

open the app, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, timer goes off.

We're done. You have to have boundaries, because you could

literally spend an entire day on LinkedIn or Instagram and not

make a single dollar.

Yeah. Great. You know, with all the experience

that you've had to date, what feedback or advice would you

give a young version of yourself like a 21 year old Luis that's

coming up? What do you say that 21 year old version of you would

need to hear from yourself today?

Start sooner, and it's going to be messy no matter

how much you try. So just get used to that. The younger me was

like this perfectionist about a 10 year plan. I grew up in

poverty. first in my family receiving education, I wasn't

going to blow my shot, like I had a method, there was a way

that I was going to continue to grow and come up in my career.

And I think because of that I delayed starting things. Or, you

know, because it wasn't the right time. Or I didn't start

because it didn't look right. Or it was messy or wasn't perfect,

right. But over time I've learned and the power of

progress over perfection. So if I could go back to my younger

self, I would impart that knowledge on them and say,

everything you want is going to happen. Everything that you

deserve is already in motion. Start now done slap lipstick on

it later.

That's good. We're gonna get you a t shirt made

that says that. So we always ask our guests how success is

defined by them. Because you know, it's such a generic word.

When you define success, what does it mean to you? And how do

you know when you've achieved it?

That's an excellent question. Success for me, means

being in control of my time and working on the things that I

want to work on when I want to work on them. What influences

that is some you know, I have been working since the age of

14, when it was legal to work in the state of New York. My first

job was scrubbing toilets at McDonald's. And I have to do

what I had to do to save up for college and I worked three jobs

while in college to get through it. Right. I have always done

what I had to do to get to where I wanted to be. And my ultimate

goal is to be in control of my time and not do the things that

I don't want to do and only work on the things that I want to

that will be the indicator of success when I have that time

and those options.

I love that. Luis, this has been an

enlightening conversation; anything you want to guide our

our viewers or listeners to?

I appreciate that. I think we've spent some time

talking really high level today. But I'm really a tactical person

step once that to start doing start moving, take action,

right? And if you are feeling fired up after listening to this

and want to do something to elevate yourself or your sales

process or whatever that might be, add on over to learn from

luis.com. And you'll be able to check out all of my programs and

free courses there.

Awesome. Yeah, appreciate it. Luis, thanks so

much for your time today.

Thank you. This has been a really fun conversation.

Super easy, breezy. I just appreciate the space to just

show up as my whole self tell my story and thank you so much.