Carlos Delatorre, CRO @Harness: Why Every Sales Rep Should Do Pipeline Generation | E1251

I think for an early-stage company, the CEO really has to develop the plays, figure out the message, at least that initial message. I don't believe salespeople sell. Buyers buy. All salespeople can do is create an environment that is conducive to that purchase decision.

Ready to go? Carlos, I've wanted to do this one for a while. I'd heard so many things about you from prior guests, so thank you so much for joining me today.

It's a pleasure, Harry, thank you for having me. I have arrived. (laughs)

(laughs) It is great to do it in person as well, it makes it so much more special. I love to start with context, though. When did you first realize that you had this love of sales first?

Probably as a teenager. Um, I had a cousin, uh, my cousin Tais was dating a guy who was a manager of a clothing store and (clears throat) I think I was 14 or 15 at the time. And I had worked, you know, for several years mowing lawns and raking leaves and doing odd jobs, uh, paid by the hour. (clears throat) And, uh, he decided to give me a shot at the store. He would let me come in on the weekends and sell men's suits and, uh, the commission rate was 10%. And the suits were $800 to $1,000 and over the course of a weekend, I could usually sell one suit, maybe two, maybe three. Uh, and so to make a hundred bucks in the air conditioning in the mall was pretty amazing, and I thought, "Hmm, there's something to this."

Do you think people are born salespeople or do you think it can be learned?

I think it absolutely can be learned. And I think when people say that someone is born a sales, uh, a salesperson, usually what they're referring to is charisma and a big personality and, um, I don't know that those things are necessarily what makes a great salesperson. They don't hurt, but they're not the core of it. Um, so sure, uh, having more empathy, having, uh, (clears throat) uh, you know, being genuinely curious, I think those things help, uh, you know, are innate, uh, innate attributes that make people better salespeople. But I think most of it is learned.

EQ, empathy, that pain tolerance, all feels a little bit like a game of art. And then we see the world today and it feels a lot more scientific.

Mm-hmm.

How do you think about sales being art or science?

Yeah, I think art is what we call something when we don't understand it yet. Um, (clears throat) you know, people could say, "Oh, you know, Picasso, that's, that's art. How does he do it?" And then you have, you know, students studying for years and then they break it down, "Well, it's the colors and the shapes," or whatever it is that's the basis of, uh, of Picasso's art. And so I think like anything, um, there, there are people who are savants, who are gifted, and there are people who can, uh, connect dots that others don't see. But then, um, others can, can follow, can learn, and can, can replicate those things. So I think it's more science than art, candidly.