War Room,
I’m sure you’d agree that the AMA with Corporate Bro was simply kick*ss. So many great questions came up, and @GeneralCorp 's answers were astoundingly descriptive (and as always, witty!)
Goes without saying we owe a giant “Thank You” to Ross for sharing his never-told-before anecdotes and quality sales advice.
In the same breath, we also wanted to give a shout-out to some of our War Room savages. Especially the ones who asked very thought-provoking, quality questions, bringing out the richest content from Ross’ system.
So here’s a quick recap (and rewards) of the AMA with Corporate Bro.
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Top “Upvoted” Question (@antiASKHOLE → Reward : +25 Commish )
Question: I want the honest story about the day that you decided to hit record to make your first video/skit. What made you do it?
Answer: It's not particularly crazy but I’ll never forget. It was 2014. I was working at Oracle. I remember walking through the office with my buddy Matt. We were in Redwood shores HQ - Twin Dolphin Drive. I looked around and saw a bunch of 20-40 year olds wearing corporate clothes that didn’t quite fit right. They were all running around using terms like Application Server, Middleware, Cloud Computing etc. And NONE OF THEM had any idea WTF they were talking about. I couldn’t understand how these 22 year olds could be closing million dollar deals with Fortune 100 CEOs all the while having no idea wtf they were selling. (The answer is because SEs). Not to mention these same people would go black out at Coachella and then come back with a misdemeanor for pissing in public YET STILL still hit prez club. That’s just how people rolled. Young, lots of money, lots of partying. It was wild. So I looked at my friend Matt and said, “Holy shit dude everyone here is a Corporate Bro.” That’s when I jumped on Vine and started documenting the ridiculous shit that happened. Rest is history
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TOP “Burning” Question (@Sunbunny31 → Reward: +25 Commish )
Question: Does an MBA help in Sales? And if so, does having one from an elite institution make a difference?
Answer: Directly in the art of selling? No, not exactly. There are negotiation classes, but those are geared toward far more complex deals (ie: getting approval to build an oil business in a foreign country; negotiation across multiple parties). At Stanford we had a class about building and scaling sales orgs, but that was more about how to structure a sales team if you were a founder CEO.
But as for the art of selling, absolutely not. Do you need an MBA to grow in sales? No, not at all. It can help you understand various facets of a business. Things like accounting and how revenue is recognized (a lot of what TechSalesTom said).
I’ll say the most important thing an MBA did for me was to put me around a bunch of incredibly smart people (this may answer your elite institution question) who are trying to build companies and have NO IDEA how to sell or build sales teams. So guess who they come to? Me. A bunch of Yale grads who worked at Boston Consulting Group for 5 years and who just received 20 million dollars make me an advisor and pay me for consulting.
So now, not only could I jump back into a sales leadership role at any point, but I also have a vested interest in the success of some future tech giants. That’s been the most valuable connection between my MBA and Sales. Not a lot of us get MBAs… true differentiator.
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TOP “Researched” Question (@TennisandSales → Reward: +25 Commish )
Question: More details on Corp Capital! concept sounds cool but can just anyone throw in $1000 now they are an "angel Investor"?
Answer: Long answer incoming....So I started CorpCap because I wanted to bridge my Stanford world with my Sales World. I’ve been doing angel investing for years. But I also hated the fact that in sales you get fucked on the equity side of things. 4 year vesting, 1 year cliff, blah blah. So I was like, “what if I could get us into private companies and not need to work there?”
My thesis was this: Salespeople are risk tolerant. They make good money. Many of them like to invest in traditional markets/Crypto. So, why not give them access to venture deals that are traditionally unavailable to them. Hence Corp Cap.
Now I’ll note, I get access to these deals without you jabronis so I don’t necessarily NEED to do this. But its fun, and I’d love to all of us to make money. Of course, these investments are likely to need 7+ years to show a return. But if history has shown us anything, Tech companies tend to be pretty valuable.
Now to your question of how does it work? Each month, me and my biz partner Matt (also stanford), bring a deal to the group. We usually get about 100k-150k in allocation. People have a choice to invest or not. The minimum is 1k. You can also pass. Think of it like a merch drop. Once the deal drops it will fill up in about a week or less. So, if someone wanted to put 50k into the deal, we’d only have 50-100k left for others. It’s first come, first serve.
There are requirements to invest. You have to be accredited. You can google it but basically all it means is you have to have made 200k for at least 2 years, or be worth over $1M in total assets. So, its restrictive in that regard.
BUT, Matt and I are working on a Fund that will launch next year that ANYONE can participate in. The minimum will be 5k. In the case of a fund, you dont get a choice on each deal. You just give money to the pool and we will put it into various companies. It’s less hands on for you as an investor and can be treated more like an index fund. More details on that in a few months though. If you’re interested in investing with us www.corpcapital.vc (and yes, you can put Angel Investor on your Linkedin)
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TOP “Newjoiner” Question (@TheShark → Reward: +25 Commish )
Question: At what point in one's sales career is it the right time to hang up the bag and join marketing? Is sales management the holy grail or actually hell on earth? Is carrying a bag until retirement any way to live?
Answer: This one is completely dependent on who you are. Me? I'd much rather be Steve Kerr than Steph Curry. I think you'll know once you start valuing the happiness over the money. And if that never really happens and money = happiness then hold that MF bag forever. Most people have a shelf life in sales. My dream sales job would almost be an Oracle Account Manager for all the telecom companies: verizon, ATT etc. Why? Because you close 30M a year, you know its gonna come in, and its just managing important relationships of important people. Oh yeah, and the money is SICK. So yeah, I just admitted that my ideal job would be an AM role... Money/Worklife balance = yes plz.
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TOP “Creative” Question (@HOLYGUACAMOLE → Reward: +50 Commish )
Question: CORPBRO: how do you prepare for the ultimate sales call?
Scenario 1) Making the first impression
Scenario 2) CLOSING THE MF'n DEAL.
(I wear special closing socks that only I know have super powers, its a mental thing but is kinda like suiting up for a game)
Answer: When i was only selling over the phone I wore this ridiculous Frog Hat. Frog hat only came out for big calls and big deals. Dude rarely let me down.
How do I prepare?
Step one: Stimulant (coffee, pre workout, Addy)
Step two: Jams (Moana soundtrack, My Chemical Romance, House Music
Step three: Frog Hat
Step 4: Profit.
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Top “Bravado” Question (@UserNotFound → Reward: +50 Commish )
Question: Im curious what feedback you get from other “sales influencers” regarding your content. Most of them position the sales life as butterflies and rainbows, when you do a good job of keeping it real. How much pushback do you face?
Answer: Behind closed doors most of them love what I do. They just can’t publicly admit it. (similar to most of you fuckers who wont like my posts on LinkedIn cuz you’re scared). I think its hard, whether you’re a sales influencer or a brand thinking about working with me, or an Ops leader thinking about hiring me for an SKO. They are all a little scared admitting they like what I do because of the optics. In my opinion it’s bullshit. But we live in an overly woke society right now. The word bro did not age well since 2014. I’m actually thinking about changing my name to just “Corp” because its costing me so much money.
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All rewards would be distributed in an hour's time. Once again, thanks@GeneralCorp for such an eventful AMA.
In case someone wants to see/download the entire AMA thread, including the links below:
- Transcript - https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/how-was-the-ama-with-ross
- AMA Thread - https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/pre-event-ask-corporate-bro-anything
PS: We’re thinking of more ways to continue making the War Room bulletproof of shitty sales content, and reward savages who’re trying to make this place better for salespeople, every single day! Also planning the next AMA soon for y’all. Mostly post the Black Friday sale!
Cheers!
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