Tech Sales is for Hustlers Podcast

Episode 47: Anton Cardenas – It’s Okay To Fail

Every athlete understands the nature of sports – you better put in the work and be ready to overcome challenges to be at the top of your game. Anton Cardenas took those lessons and simply applied them to his professional sales career.

And even at the top of your game, you may still fail. But a few setbacks didn’t stop Anton Cardenas. His sports background taught him to have grit and overcome challenges, and it propelled him to become the rockstar salesperson he is today.

In this episode of Tech Sales is for Hustlers, Anton details his professional journey, including the way his experiences at community college and playing ice hockey and rugby all heavily influenced his personality and work ethic.

Listen as Anton shares his firsthand experiences with defeat – and learn the two ways he fought through it to come out better. He’ll also detail how to smoothly make the transition from the SDR role to the AE role, and drop a ton of added insight along the way!

Guest-At-A-Glance

Name: Anton Cardenas

What he does: Anton is a Senior Account Executive – Mid Market at Samsara.

Company: Samsara

Noteworthy: Anton played rugby at the University of Oregon. The skills he developed on the rugby field helped him evolve professionally. 

Exit Year from memoryBlue: 2017

Months at memoryBlue: 8

Alumni Path: Hired Out

Where to find Anton: LinkedIn

Key Insights

⚡ The transition from SDRs to AEs is something they need to be ready for. Anton likes to challenge himself. Once he is in the comfort zone, he knows it’s time for a new experience. Unfortunately, many changes are not successful from the start, such as his transition from an SDR to AE. ”I thought it was going to be a smooth transition. I didn’t take the time to learn. So I did take a step back, and eventually, I was able to talk to the mentors and learn that closing is not just about presenting a product and hoping it sticks, but also about building a relationship with the customer. It’s about thinking about what that other sales rep that you’re competing with does.”

⚡Take the time to learn about the customer. The lesson Anton learned is the importance of slowing down and focusing on a client. It is not the number of clients that matters but the quality of relationships you build with them. ”I saw that when I asked for the business, a customer on the other end of the phone said, Anton cared about my business. He cared about how my business operates rather than just how his product would fit. When you genuinely show your care for these businesses, in the end, they’re like I trust signing up with him because I know that my business is in good hands.”

⚡Embrace the zero. In sales, everybody wants to get to the top and make thousands of dollars right away. However, that’s not possible, Aron explains. Instead of chasing instant success, enjoy the process of learning and don’t be afraid of experiencing failure. ”Embrace that bottom of the scoreboard because there are two ways you can deal with it: You embrace it and learn from it, or you can leave, and you don’t change your process. The diamonds come from those hard times from that zero, for sure.”

Episode Highlights

Don’t Be Upset When a Door Closes

”What did rugby teach me? It taught me that I needed to fail at something and not have the resources to do something that I love to open doors to try something new. And don’t be upset that something is not going your way because the door’s going to open and there’ll be a new experience. That’s going to be just as or more fruitful than what you thought your first experience would be. If you’re going to be in this sport, you need to be able to take the consequences that come with it. I needed to be able to accept change within the team. The whole story of my rugby journey is that unexpected things happen, and you need to be able to roll with the punches.”

I Was So Lucky to Have a Great Client

”I’m using my fingers as quotes because it’s the Indian, not the arrow; that’s the metaphor I want. I was thankful that I had a good client. The product was easy to sell. There was a need for it in the industry. Many businesses needed it. An MDM, mobile device management, that’s what MobileIron does. So when you call into a business, they know what the product is, compared to these other startups or the smaller companies where you have to sell the idea as a whole. At memoryBlue, the team that we had, there were four of us, I believe, we became close, and we were able to make calls together, hold ourselves accountable. I think that we looked at our group as a separate entity within the memoryBlue office.” 

It Took Some Time to Understand What Was in Front of Me

”At memoryBlue and now stepping into the professional world, you’re like, I’m changing businesses and providing metrics in a dollar figure. And that can give me a job after this. And from memoryBlue, I’ve gone to MobileIron and then to Samsara, and it all started with the platform that you guys built.”

From SDR to AE

”I joined MobileIron, and I come in as an SDR. I was in a comfort zone. I was doing something that I was used to and having success with, which, as a theme of my story today, you’ll see that when I am comfortable in roles is when things start to change a little bit. And I open up to a new experience. What’s the next step from SDR? It’s an AE. I’m like, okay, awesome. I can qualify, I can prospect well, customers love me. I’m easy to talk to. I’m going to be great as an AE. It’s going to be fantastic. No problem. I go through the interview process at MobileIron for an AE, and I get the role.”

The Lesson of The Challenger Sale

”I slowed down. I think that’s a huge thing for young sales professionals. We’re not taking a breath before talking to a client. We don’t understand what this business does.”

Nowadays, AEs Tend to Overlook the Importance of SDRs

”What I like to do is grow relationships with the ADRs and talk to them about, hey, who are you calling, what are the deals you’re working on? How can I be a better AE to you? How can I help qualify for an opportunity? If AE doesn’t treat the SDR as a teammate on the field, that AE is not going to get fed the way he or she wants.”

Transcript:

Marc Gonyea: [00:00:00] Today, we have a very special guest coming with us or from, coming from downtown San Francisco. This gentleman played rugby at The University of Oregon, and when he started at memoryBlue, like many of you, he was not sure exactly what we do. Anton Cardenas.

[00:00:19] Anton Cardenas: [00:00:19] Thank you so much for having me, boys. I appreciate it. Marc and Chris, it’s a pleasure. I’m excited to do this, excited to  this. You know, I listen to podcasts all the time and being on the other end of the, uh, of the microphone, I guess you could say is going to be very special.

[00:00:34] Chris Corcoran: [00:00:34] The Quack attack.

[00:00:36] Anton Cardenas: [00:00:36] Go, Ducks. Yes, sir.

[00:00:39] Marc Gonyea: [00:00:39] Oh, man. All right. Well, good, Anton. I forgot to throw the seed. Currently you’re a Senior Account Executive at Samsara. Yes?

[00:00:46] Anton Cardenas: [00:00:46] Yes. Yes, this is true. Um, I was, uh, moved up to a senior account role February 1st. So very recently I went through that transition.

[00:00:57] Chris Corcoran: [00:00:57] And, the listeners need to know that this is a rescheduled podcast taping, and the reason why is this because Anton had to conduct some business and close the deal out. So congratulations, Anton, on closing that deal and we’re happy to accommodate your official business.

[00:01:15] Anton Cardenas: [00:01:15] Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah. I messaged Caroline at the last minute and I was trying to get the owner of this company on the line for a while. Um, you know, he was giving me his, this guy, that guy to talk to finally reached back out to me and I said, I couldn’t let it up. So, um, it was a good intro to the weekend.

[00:01:32] Um, but I thank you guys for accommodating. Um, and then this morning too, I forgot that Central Time is not the same as Eastern Time, and Pacific Time is completely different. So, uh, but here we are. Uh, I’m happy to be here.

[00:01:44] Marc Gonyea: [00:01:44] That man. Well, let’s get to it. So, you bounced from us in April of 2017. So, that’s, uh, there’ll be four years in April, but before we, before we get to Samsara, before I tell them of memoryBlue, I like, we liked to get, the audience, to get to know you a little bit about you, like growing up. So, I think you’ve got a pretty cool story.

[00:02:03] So, tell us a little bit about your growing up and we’ll, we’ll, we’ll, kind of, we’ll try to start from there.

[00:02:08] Anton Cardenas: [00:02:08] Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, first and foremost, I think that, you know, for the people listening at memoryBlue, uh, for the SDRs and who it is, I have a question. Do you, guys, make them listen to this, as kind of like, uh, a task or something that they need to accomplish? Or, is it, like, up to them?

[00:02:26] Chris Corcoran: [00:02:26] Up to them.

[00:02:26]Marc Gonyea: [00:02:26] The only thing, the only thing that we make the SDRs do is blitz. And did I catch you at a bad time?

[00:02:33] Anton Cardenas: [00:02:33] Yes.

[00:02:35] Marc Gonyea: [00:02:35] And, the phrase that pays. Right?

[00:02:38] Anton Cardenas: [00:02:38] Which phrase? What’s the, what’s the phrase that pays? I, that wasn’t, uh, I didn’t have that phrase.

[00:02:42] Marc Gonyea: [00:02:42] Oh, this is West Coast Cali. In addition to what we spoke about on this call prospects, what else would you like us to talk? Yeah, I say, you know.

[00:02:50] Anton Cardenas: [00:02:50] There you go. Yeah. Well, get on, on Joe Reeves for not telling me what the phrase that pays, ’cause that’s new to me 

[00:02:58] Marc Gonyea: [00:02:58] All right. So, but a lot of listened to it. Keep going.

[00:03:01] Anton Cardenas: [00:03:01] Yes. Okay. So, you know, I just think that. I, uh, you know, was in such a crazy, uh, transition in my life when I started at memoryBlue where I was trying to make thousand book meetings where I didn’t take the time to do things like this. Right. And he listened to, um, people that have gone through the process successful, or maybe, you know, had a different experience.

[00:03:22] Um, so it’s just, uh, you know, it’s a pleasure to be able to share my stories. I just want to lead with that. So a little bit about me. Um, I grew up in, uh, well, you know, I lived most of my life in Fremont, California, uh, East Bay. So I, uh, I was actually born in Arizona. Um, my mom, she, uh, was a Philippine, uh, Filipino uh, citizen and she was pregnant with me at nine months.

[00:03:47] Covered me in a couple of jackets, flew to Arizona to see her sister had me. Um, and then flew back to the Philippines. So I was able to get citizenship. Um, it was pretty special, really awesome experience. I don’t really remember it. I was a kid obviously, but you know, my mom is a warrior, uh, for doing that.

[00:04:05] So I lived in the Philippines and Hong Kong. Okay. I’ll pause there. 

[00:04:09] Marc Gonyea: [00:04:09] Moms are bad. Your mom’s bad. I love your stories. Your mom was nine months pregnant, got on a plane from the Philippines?

[00:04:16] Anton Cardenas: [00:04:16] Yeah.

[00:04:16] Marc Gonyea: [00:04:16] Came to the United States, delivered, had you, and then, then went back?

[00:04:25] Anton Cardenas: [00:04:25] Went back. Yup. Her sister lived… 

[00:04:27] Anton Cardenas: [00:04:27] She is a badass, yeah. No, my mom’s a legend. Um, and I, I think at this part of the podcast, when she listens to it, you know, there won’t be a dry eye, um, in the house, but she, uh, you know, she thought to herself that it would be more of a, um, you know, it would be better for me to have this experience as a citizen and take that risk.

[00:04:48] So, yeah, hats off to her. Love you, mom.

[00:04:52] Marc Gonyea: [00:04:52] Alright, dude. great. And I, I, this will make her laugh. I want to apologize for me butchering the pronunciation of your last name. I can’t do it. Good. Chris, you try it.

[00:05:03] Anton Cardenas: [00:05:03] You can do it 

[00:05:04] Chris Corcoran: [00:05:04] Cardenas 

[00:05:05] Anton Cardenas: [00:05:05] There you go. It’s your turn, Marc.

[00:05:08] Marc Gonyea: [00:05:08] I can’t do it. I’m not going to do it. Let’s move on. All right. All right. So, when did you work up the Philippines? When did you come back here?

[00:05:14] Anton Cardenas: [00:05:14] So, I came back to, uh, the United States when I was five or six years old, so still fairly young, right. I’m just starting to create memories and, and, you know, know things. And, uh, that’s when he moved to Fremont. Um, and I lived in, uh, 4740 Touchstone Terrace. Uh, love that spot. We’re actually remodeling our kitchen this weekend.

[00:05:36] So, uh, big changes for my family. Yeah. And, so went to school, um, in Fremont, then went to Moreau Catholic High School. And, that’s where I met, uh, you know, my fiance and, you know, she’s, she’s working at Google now, and, uh, she’s a software engineer over at Google Maps. So, that’s pretty fun. You know, if you ever used Google Maps, you can think of, think of me and, uh, how maybe I distract her from work.

[00:05:57] So, um, I then went to University of Oregon, uh, played rugby there. And, honestly, I had no idea what I even wanted to do with my career, so, I started as a journalism major. Um, and journalism, like, you know, I was, I was good at writing. Um, I guess I’m good conversationalist. And, maybe I thought I’d go into reporting or investigation or, you know, uh, delivering some sort of stories, uh, to people. Um, but it was that kind of love for conversation and discussion that I did like, so I thought, okay, you know, journalism would be the move. Um, and I remember having a conversation, uh, with my dad coming home from, I think it was my sophomore year. And I said, hey, my dad’s like, do you really want to do this, is this something you want to do? And, I thought to myself, I don’t, I actually don’t know, so that’s when I changed the business. Um, and my first job, while still in college, uh, during summer breaks was at the Apple store, uh, in Stanford, uh, selling iPads, iPhones, Macbooks, selling headphones, selling accessories, right? And, to me, I was just the coolest 18, 19-year-old kid with an awesome job, wearing the blue shirts. Right? So, little did I know that I was dipping my foot into sales, right? And, into conversations and even, like I said, uh, when we discussed before, like field sales, right? And, I’m shaking hands, I’m doing a deal in person. Had no idea.

[00:07:26] I was just having fun with it. Right? It was something that I enjoyed and I just, uh, didn’t know that that was actually an open door to something that I’m doing today. So, uh, changed the business. It was fantastic. Um, University of Oregon was, uh, the best experience. I went through the community college route too, so anyone that did community college or anyone that’s thinking of doing community college, I highly highly encourage it. Um, it was a great place for me to one be humbled, cause out of high school, I got denied by a lot of colleges, right? So, I had to go to the community college route and while all my friends were wearing their, uh, college jackets, you know, senior year of high school, I didn’t have one.

[00:08:06] And, do not feel discouraged. Anyone that went that route, do not feel like it is not successful because you can absolutely one save a ton of cash. And two, you have time to really develop yourself as your own individual, right? You’re not at this big, huge university following, you know, the freshmen experience, you’re doing your own thing.

[00:08:27] Right? So, I did that. Uh, I went to De Anza in Cupertino. Um, such a great experience there when I didn’t even think of that, then obviously went to Oregon, uh, did business school graduated from there and then went to memoryBlue, and the rest is history. And again, the first, the first day of memoryBlue, I had no idea what memoryBlue did.

[00:08:48] I had no idea that memoryBlue served clients. I didn’t even know that. Yeah, I had no idea, but you know, it, it was, it was, uh, the start of an amazing adventure.

[00:08:58] Marc Gonyea: [00:08:58] How did you, wait, how did you find, even find out about memoryBlue?

[00:09:03] Like how did that happen?

[00:09:04] Anton Cardenas: [00:09:04] You’re recruiting, your recruiters were on LinkedIn. I remember on LinkedIn and I forgot the name of the recruiter that I talked to. She was great. Uh, yeah, she was fantastic. And got me on board. Yeah.

[00:09:19] Marc Gonyea: [00:09:19] All right. All right. So what do you remember from starting? weren’t with us for that long we’ll we’ll we’ll get to that too.

[00:09:24] Anton Cardenas: [00:09:24] Yeah. What I remember from starting. So I remember the first day, uh, I came about an hour early, uh, to work. Um, and I was outside in the cold for super long. And, uh, I didn’t really know which door to go in. You know, it’s like my, it was like the first day of freshman year of a high school, but in the professional level, I had no idea what what door to go in.

[00:09:46] I was completely lost and lo and behold, Justin Henry walks up. Um, and yep. J.Hen uh, probably wearing his Seahawks and lumberjack hat right now. Um, he walks up, lets me up. Right? It’s my first day. And honestly, I don’t know if you guys ever going to change this, but the cubicles are kind of intimidating.

[00:10:07] You come in and there’s just walls of cubicles everywhere. You don’t see anyone. Um, and yeah, that was my first experience. I sit down, um, and I’m just sitting there. My heart’s racing, not even a computer in front of me. I’m still on my phone, pretending to be productive. And, then obviously we go into, like, you know, the first kickoff meeting.

[00:10:25] Um, but yeah, I just remember the, the, my, my, my tension and my energy was so high, but I had nowhere to like, uh, give that energy or, you know, talk to anyone. And, then obviously, you know, Jeannie and Joe come in and, and, and Joe came in wearing his sunglasses, and I remember it was, like, dark outside still, but he was still wearing his sunglasses. And, and, this guy, I just knew from the start, uh, this guy is a grinder. Um, what’s up, Joe? I miss you, man, uh.

[00:10:54] Marc Gonyea: [00:10:54] Love that guy, love that guy.

[00:10:56] Anton Cardenas: [00:10:56] Yeah, that was, I remember that was my first day, uh.

[00:10:58] Chris Corcoran: [00:10:58] Hey, Anton. So, you were commuting?

[00:11:01] Anton Cardenas: [00:11:01] A lot.

[00:11:02] Chris Corcoran: [00:11:02] Hi, talk, share for the listeners. Just, kind of, what sort of a commute you were looking, looking at on a daily basis, that you did twice a day every day?

[00:11:09] Anton Cardenas: [00:11:09] Yeah. Wow. Um, well, I’ll, I’ll, I’ll back up there a little bit. So, graduated high school, I had to go to De Anza, right? I drive from Fremont, California to Cupertino, which is about 30, 35, 40 minutes. From Cupertino I’d drive up to Palo Alto to the Apple store in Palo Alto. I crossed the bridge to go back to Fremont.

[00:11:29] So, it’s a, it’s a triangle from East Bay to South Bay to kind of peninsula Palo Alto area, and that was doing that when I was 18. So, I was already used to driving a lot, right? And putting thousands of miles on my car, um, frequently. First car was a O2 Subaru Impreza. Uh, love that car. And, so I come back from college, right? And I, I only have to drive from Fremont to San Jose. No, well, it’s not too bad until I do it with the rest of the Bay Area, Silicon Valley at, at 7:30 AM on a good day. Chris, it’d take me an hour, hour, hour, I think I would say an hour on a good day, to get from my front door to, uh, the memory, memoryBlue front door. On a bad day, it was like an hour thirty. Maybe even more than that.

[00:12:15] Chris Corcoran: [00:12:15] Wow. And, that’s just one way.

[00:12:18] Anton Cardenas: [00:12:18] This one way. Exactly. So, I would leave the office at, you know, five o’clock, I think, the time that we head out, and yeah, I wouldn’t be getting home until 6, 6:30. Um, you know, luckily living with my parents for a little bit before I got my own spot. You know, there was dinner prepared and things like that, but, uh, just remember, wow, straight from college, right into the grind of, like, of life, you know, and just jumps head, dove and head first.

[00:12:48] Marc Gonyea: [00:12:48] So you, you, we, I mentioned on the intro that you didn’t really know what we did. So when did, as you get going, when did that start? When did you make the full realization?

[00:12:59] Anton Cardenas: [00:12:59] So, the full realization was the next day, Tuesday when, and I, I think this is still the most awesome thing that you guys do is how sometimes, if the client allows it, they actually go on site. Right? So, Monday they say, Anton, you’re going to be assigned to MobileIron. Right? And, I’m like, Mobile what, like, what is this?

[00:13:19] I thought I worked for memoryBlue. Who, what, who is this MobileIron? I thought, I thought that Jeannie’s my boss. Who’s this company over here. Right? So, um, I can, throughout the course of the Monday, I find out that what memoryBlue does is, you know, and I’m speaking, uh, speaking to the choir here is make calls and source meetings for other companies that are hiring memoryBlue.

[00:13:39] Right? And, this was the first time, and this is honestly my fault for not preparing that I’m knowing about this. So, I’m like, wow, so I work for memoryBlue and they’re paying me my paycheck, you know, Chris and Marc, but I am answering honestly to the SDR manager over at MobileIron, right?

So, Tuesday rolls around, and it’s my second day on the job, and I’m now having to go to a new office on my second day, so I’m basically having two first days back-to-back and, and I’m like, wow, what did I sign up for? This is insane. So, I get to MobileIron and, uh, Andy Gager, uh, is there.

[00:14:18] Yup. And Andy Gager is there. And, uh, Jennae Cambra is there. 

[00:14:26] and Kaitlyn Garrish is there.

[00:14:31] Another Duck. Absolutely. Um, and you know, Kaitlyn and I randomly ran into each other in New York. Imagine of all cities in the world to run into each other. Um, and I’m missing another person. I know Jessica Hollinger was my, uh, she was at memoryBlue with me.

Um, but yeah, so I run into these great individuals and I’m having a second first day back-to-back And, um, that’s when I find out this is going to be basically my team memoryBlue is kind of the unit where I’m learning the processes, learning the skillset, but this is my team that I’m going to be working with and delivering, uh, you know, for this. This publicly traded company. I’m like, wow, this is my second day on the job.

[00:15:09] And I’m working in a publicly traded company, you know, working with my fingers, quoted, uh, cause I’m not hired out yet, but yeah. And all of a sudden I find out well, I’m, I’m really making a difference here. Um, and I’m working for a company that memoryBlue set me up with. So that’s when it kicked in Wednesday comes around.

[00:15:25] Right. I kind of have my feet and my bearings, but yeah. What a crazy night I look back it. What a crazy first two days that was nuts.

[00:15:34] Marc Gonyea: [00:15:34] It’s a whirlwind. It’s a whirlwind because yeah. You’re thrown into it. And then you’re. I mean, man, this is a dedicated example, dedication. I know we talked about the commute, but that’s a big deal. Cause you started to get into this job, which is a very difficult job, but to learn and learn how to do it, then you got to get and face traffic and come home.

[00:15:52] But, but you know, so that in itself says a lot about your motivation, but let’s talk a little bit about the job. So you mentioned about Joe Reeves. Joe Reeves has been a grinder. So tell us a little bit more about that. Like, did he teach you some of that? Did someone else or what.

[00:16:07] Anton Cardenas: [00:16:07]  Absolutely. So, um, in the San Jose memoryBlue office, right. I don’t know if you guys changed the layout, so you walk in, right. And you have the kitchen on your left. You have the, the. The, uh, what do you call them? The cubicles right there. You have the first row of cubicles that back in the day when I was there, that first row was like storage.

[00:16:24] There’s a printer. There, there was open desk It was, it, it was kind of, you know, a little bit unorganized second row, boom. Those were all of the, you know, the individuals you turn left. Right. And, uh, Joe Reeves is if you’re gonna turn left, Joe’s there on the left. And my desk is next to him. And at this point he actually wasn’t a manager yet.

[00:16:43] He was just an SDR and I was his. Um, I was his mentee. He was my mentor. I think that was the, that was the program that we had. And, um, you know, he came in every day, protein bottle, shaking, drinking it, and I’m like shaking and not a word, somebody that sits down and he almost hit the protein shaker on the desk, like a gavel in a, in a courtroom right time to get to work. Um, And I’m one I’m really sitting there like wondering every day. Right.

And I’m learning what the, uh, what the deal is with this guy. And I remember this on Wednesday, right? So Monday’s busy It’s my first day Tuesday, I’m gone Wednesday. I’m sitting there. So my first day on the job, really, and he comes back, he pulls his chair back a little bit and looks at me and he goes, Anton, I’m going to be hard on you.

[00:17:32] I’m not going to be easy on you. I’m going to be really hard on you. And I’m like, wow. I is, is it supposed to be like this? Like. Like, am I supposed to be intimidated right now or motivated? I don’t know. Um, so, you know, long story short Joe really, uh, was dedicated to, I think, bringing metrics and bringing results for his client, right?

[00:17:54] Whether it was, uh, sourcing a demo in a meeting, which is the highest. Uh, you know, level that a memoryBlue SDR can provide, or it’s just being able to bring value in some way. Right. And he was always thinking of how to do them. And it always started with coming in, making his calls when he needed to follow up with a specific email, bringing value to that email.

[00:18:13] And I realized that while other people in the office maybe were kind of. And, you know, not speaking down on anyone, people were going through the motions, there was intention to everything that Joe did. Right. And there was intention to, um, the process that he had, even if it seemed insane at sometimes, right?

[00:18:30] Like dude you already made 120 calls, like big whoop. Dude we need to do more. And he says, well, you know, the more work you put in now, the more rewards you get later on. And, um, I would find him, you know, he knew how to have fun, right. And he’s a work-hard-play-hard kind of dude. And I found that I think he enjoyed that playing side more because he was able to work hard and kind of validate.

[00:18:51] Um, that, that enjoyment that he had, right. Uh, that he still does. And, um, I think I brought that into my professional career where if I grind from eight to five and I put in the time, I know that, Hey, at the end of the day, if I got a lot of nos and I didn’t really have the best productivity they numbers wise, but I do the best that I could.

[00:19:10] I know that I’m still setting myself up for success. Right. And I’m laying the foundation for, uh, being able to bring my best every day. And even though sometimes you’re not getting the results you want, if you know that you put the work in that you will get those results eventually. And he definitely taught me that for sure.

[00:19:29] Marc Gonyea: [00:19:29] That’s good to hear.

[00:19:31] Chris Corcoran: [00:19:31] It’s on. What did rugby teach you?

[00:19:34] Anton Cardenas: [00:19:34] Wow. That’s a, that’s a great question. Um, my story with rugby, this is how it went. So I, I grew up here in the Bay area, not playing rugby. I didn’t play rugby. I love contact sports. I played ice hockey growing up, right. That was my go-to sport, ice hockey. And I played at a competitive level. I played, um, for a club team called the Santa Clara Blackhawks, if anyone’s familiar, um, the compete with like the junior sharks, things like that.

[00:20:02] And so I went to Oregon. And it’s a club hockey team, right? So I went to go play and unfortunately the club hockey team costs out of my pocket around 2000, $2,500, um, per season. And. You know, I just, uh, I couldn’t afford that. And at this time, you know, I was paying for college on my own, my own rent and my own, um, you know, food and everything like that.

[00:20:26] I was pretty independent plus, you know, obviously had to, you know, support myself to help the family. And I just couldn’t afford that. And so my buddies in Southern California, they joined the rugby team at their university. They loved it and I ended up. Uh, saying, okay. The rugby team is a lot less expensive.

[00:20:44] It’s still has that physical aspect. There’s still comradery with, you know, the boys and, and there was a pack 12, uh, league. So we were traveling up and down, still playing, you know, the best schools. And I tried out, I walked on, I made the team and yeah, the rest is history. So what did rugby teach me? You know, it taught me first off from the get-go that, uh, I needed to fail at something and not have the resources to do something that I love, like ice hockey to open experiences and open doors to try something new.

[00:21:14] Right. Um, and, uh, some of my best friends in life, um, come, came from the rugby team. Right. And we talk every day and we see each other, maybe two once every month, once every two months. So I still keep so, so, so close to them. But I think the first thing that taught me was don’t be upset at when a door closes.

[00:21:33] Um, that you’re not expecting. Right. And don’t be upset that, uh, something’s not going your way because the door’s going to open and there’ll be a new experience. That’s going to be just as, or more fruitful than what you thought your first experience would be. Um, it taught me a lot more than that too, and we can go into it, but it taught me first and foremost, that failure is okay.

[00:21:52] Failure is definitely okay. 

[00:21:55] Chris Corcoran: [00:21:55] Did it teach you that?

[00:21:57] Anton Cardenas: [00:21:57] Um, it taught me to, you know, toughen up. It taught me to, you know, go through, um, physical pain, sophomore year. Uh, I mean, I guess I can, can’t show a picture to the audience of my sophomore season. Um, we were playing University of Washington in Seattle. Um, it was the, almost the end of the game. I had the ball, and in rugby, you’re not allowed to just drop a shoulder and hit someone, right.

[00:22:23] That’s not allowed. It’s something that is, uh, you can get a huge penalty for it. You need to wrap up, you know, right? When you say wrap up, you need to, you know, use your arms, tackle in a safe manner. That’s why nowadays, um, football coaches in America are teaching kids to tackle in the rugby way, because it’s safer and it’s actually more efficient to get the player down.

[00:22:44] Long story short, I have the ball and a player comes on the University of Washington side. He drops his shoulder right into my face, into my orbital bone. So I, I break my bone, my skull in three places, um, right beside my left eye’s broken, the top of my nose, and the top of my orbital. And, then I had, like, a fracture in my jaw.

[00:23:05] Um, so my face was broken. On the same play, I broke my toe on the same play. Um, so yeah, it was brutal and that was my sophomore season.

[00:23:14] Chris Corcoran: [00:23:14] Did you score?

[00:23:16] Anton Cardenas: [00:23:16] Absolutely not. I got rocked. I got blasted off the sideline. Um, but again, see that was a, an illegal move by the player to not wrap up. He lowered his shoulder. So, you know, the boys had my back and, uh, you know, they got into the, uh, into that player’s face.

[00:23:31] I think the player actually got in trouble by the League. Um, but I was out, I was out for a while. I couldn’t. My face was black and blue. My eye was red. Um, luckily, you know, uh, by a miracle, I didn’t have to have, like, surgery on my face. It, kind of, it healed very well. I mean, that’s a miracle, definitely, but it taught me to, uh, you know, take pain and be able to know that, you know, if you’re going to be able to, if you’re going to be in this sport, you need to be able to take the consequences that come with it. I could have wrapped it up and hung up the cleats there, but I didn’t. Um, you know, I really started getting a lot of playing time, my junior and senior year, um, starting for the team.

[00:24:09] Uh, my junior and senior year, uh, I think the thing that taught me too, was I needed to be able to accept change within the team. I really wanted to play a wing. I really wanted to play wing, which is a position on the outside that scores a lot. It’s like a wide receiver in football. They score a lot. They have a lot of highlight plays.

[00:24:25] Uh, there may be one of the faster guys that really wanted to play the position, but I needed to accept that the team didn’t need that at the time. They needed a fallback, which is a more of a defensive position. It’s like a safety in football that really hangs back and, uh, protects the offense. If the offer protects the team from the offensive, the offense breaks through, much like a safety. And, uh, between my sophomore and junior season, I accepted that and said, hey, all right, I will take the position that maybe I wasn’t so used to.

[00:24:54] Um, I learned that and that’s when I got playing time, and that’s when the team did really well too. So, you know, um, again, the whole story of my rugby journey is that unexpected things happen and you need to be able to roll with the punches, and if you don’t do it, right, if I just really was stubborn and wanted to play wing, but wouldn’t get playing time, I wouldn’t have the experience I did. I would kind of be, uh, you know, pouting with my arms across my chest, but I took that, you know, feedback, hey, I think you’d be better at this position, the team needs it. Um, and that transitioned a lot. That experience of accepting that position change, as trivial as it sounds to just rugby, it really trained, changed to, you know, my career. hey, maybe I need to be on this team. Maybe I need to do this new, you know, sales tactic. Maybe I need to try this new, uh, skill out, right? Or this new process? Um, and it’s helped me know that if I stay stagnant with one thing that I think is making me successful, I’m really closing the doors to, you know, other things that I’m missing out on.

[00:25:55] Marc Gonyea: [00:25:55] Excellent. So, you’re, you’re, you’re working for us in your app MobileIron. Let’s talk a little bit about, you know, what you did there in, in, in, uh, what you were, what you’re proud at. Cause you’ve worked for them exclusively, then you got converted. Talk a little bit about that process and that transition.

[00:26:13] Anton Cardenas: [00:26:13] Yeah, absolutely. Um, I felt lucky. I felt lucky first and foremost, that I didn’t, um, I had a good client. I had a great client and there is some SDRs that, you know, maybe didn’t have the best client. Right? And again, I’m using my fingers as quotes because, at the end of the day, it’s, it’s not, it’s the Indian, not the arrow.

[00:26:33] Right? That’s the metaphor I want to use. But I was really thankful that I had a good client. It was, a, uh, the product was easy to sell. Um, there was a need for it in the industry. Uh, there was a, uh, many businesses needed it, specifically, like, hey, an MDM, mobile device management. That’s what MobileIron does. Um, it’s something that was mandated, right?

[00:26:57] So, when you call into a business, uh, they didn’t know exactly what the product is, compared to these other startups or the smaller companies where you have to sell the idea as a whole, um, to, uh, Omar Gordato, who was my manager on the MobileIron side, and who was kind of the direct contact between memoryBlue and MobileIron.

[00:27:17] He was fantastic too. He really taught me how to, uh, he taught me more than just the sales process, because I was learning a lot of that in MobileIron. And, he taught me a lot about, you know, how to hold yourself professionally, right? How to act within a, uh, a job office, how to interact with other businesses or sorry, other business, other, um, departments at an organization.

[00:27:41] So, he taught me a lot of the, uh, the professional skills that you might not learn other ways. So, shout out to him. Um, and at memoryBlue, right, the team that we had, there was four of us, I believe, uh, we became really close, and we were able to, you know, make calls together, hold ourselves accountable, um, to, uh, the metrics that Omar was holding us to.

[00:28:01] And, I think that we actually looked at our four group at memoryBlue, the MobileIron as kind of a separate entity within the memoryBlue office, right? We had our own metrics, we had our own product, and I think that honestly helped us four be more focused on what we needed to do to deliver for the client.

[00:28:21] Right? Um, there were times where, you know, I think that MobileIron wanted us to do something when memoryBlue wanted us to do something as well, something different. So, there’s sometimes was a little bit of butting heads in terms of hmm, who do I listen to more, to listen to Joe who my MD or it was an Omar, who’s the, uh, you know, the, the end client for you, guys?

[00:28:42] Right? And, um, I think that was a good experience as well, to just learn, you know, where do I direct my focus? Where do I direct my attention to? Um. Yeah. I mean the, the experience on a day-to-day basis I was so, I was so lucky to have a great client, um, but I think the team aspect was really what brought it to the next level.

[00:29:03] Okay.

[00:29:05] Marc Gonyea: [00:29:05] That’s strong. And then you, when you were working with your MobileIron team, you also had some of these other memoryBlue guys who you’re working with, right, who, who would never lose out of the house? Who were some of those folks? Do you remember any of them?

[00:29:17] Anton Cardenas: [00:29:17] Yeah. So, so the people that were on the MobileIron client, like the people that were on the team.

[00:29:23] Marc Gonyea: [00:29:23] And, the people who were in the office, like, um, in the memoryBlue office.

[00:29:28] like you, you ended up

[00:29:30] Anton Cardenas: [00:29:30] so like me, J Hen was a, uh, MobileIron um, Andy Gager and Jannae Cambra and Kaitlyn Garish got hired already, but I worked with them on a day-to-day basis. I think in my cohort, I guess you could say that got hired out. It was. Uh, it was Justin Henry, Jessica Hollinger, uh, myself and Amy Cooper. And Those were… yup, and us four, uh, got hired at the same time. And, like I said, that us four, as a group, kind of, you know, joined and bonded together and, um, really took the MobileIron, uh, you know, experienced seriously. Cause we thought that, well, if we do good here, we’ll get hired at a company where we’ll get shares.

[00:30:14] Right? That’s kind of crazy to think about, someone fresh out of college, having shares at a business, uh, you know, being a stakeholder, uh, having, uh, you know, a full-time role somewhere. Um, and I think that’s the goal for many memoryBlue, uh, what’s the word I’m looking for, um, employees. It’s that, well, I have the opportunity the memoryBlue is presenting me to be a full-time SDR or another role, right, at a business that, um, will give me benefits and give me, you know, these different features, and I can jumpstart my career.

I mean, not saying that memoryBlue doesn’t do that, but you know, um, it gives you that experience of, wow, I can be a stakeholder at a business. Um, I think that’s something that I was, uh, kind of, you know, taken back by like, memoryBlue is presenting me this platform to excel. Um, yeah. And, I think it took some time as well to understand the gravity of what was in front of me too. Uh, cause at a college, right, w- what’s your responsibility in college? It’s to present, uh, to go to class, get good grades and pass the final, right?

[00:31:16] But at memoryBlue, and now stepping into the professional world, you’re like, I’m actually changing businesses and providing metrics in a, uh, you know, dollar figure. And, you know, that can give me a job after this. And, you know, obviously from memoryBlue, I’ve gone to MobileIron to Samsara, excuse me, to Samsara, and it all started with, you know, the platform that you guys built.

[00:31:40] So, you know, hats off to you guys, too.

[00:31:43] Marc Gonyea: [00:31:43] Let’s, we’ll get onto the member of MobileIron thing. One last year, memoryBlue, you’re a little modest, like you were, thought of highly in the memoryBlue circles, right? And, you ended up being somebody’s mentor and you work with some of those guys we haven’t hit yet. Right?

[00:31:57] Anton Cardenas: [00:31:57] Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Uh, maybe we can, you know, ding the bell for these guys cause they deserve it too. Um, you know, Kendrick Trotter, uh, one of…

[00:32:04]Yeah, King Trot, he’s one of the most expiring inspiring people to this day you know. And um when he joined memoryBlue I was close to being hired out already. So I think the conversations from MobileIron to hire me out were already happening.

But Kendrick joins and just by random chance actually don’t know if this was selected you know on purpose but I was his mentor. And we were assigned to work together to just talk about his experience the same way Joe did for me.

So this was this was actually the first leadership experience that I had and you know I went on to be a team lead at Samsara, but this was the first time that someone was coming to me To pick my brain and my experience and Kendrick and I really bonded on the idea of being both collegiate athletes. Where there were some days uh the sport came first and in college the sport came first and there were some days that you know we were grinding um in the classroom on the field so much that uh you know it was part of who we were.

We were living and breathing just this this routine and this schedule and something that you know I think he taught me as well is that you need to there’s a huge transition from that sport experience and that grind that you put in Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday so that you can compete and you know show out on the field on Saturday. And uh to this day Kendrick still posts pictures of he says on like on social media game day right.

When he goes into a client meeting or he goes into a new uh you know customer meeting and it’s that same mentality of “Hey we prepared you know all week for this time to meet the client time to meet the customer and and deliver right Um and at the end of the day for sales there’s a scoreboard right. Either you put up your number or you didn’t.

And I think that’s one thing that me and him also embraced was that there is you know there’s going to be a scoreboard where some people are at the bottom and  some people are at the top and if you you know don’t think about that scoreboard and you just kind of you know going through the motions it’s not going to turn out well.

So having that competitive edge is something that him and I both you know fed off each other a lot. And I just remember every time I was talking to him he was taking notes and and sponging it all up. Even though I think Kendrick is older than me I’m not too sure but um you know he’s just one of the he’s one of the most active listeners that I’ve ever encountered.

So uh today you know he’s working on Us in Technology. If anyone hasn’t checked that out what Us and Technology is doing is it’s really helping uh businesses diversify their sales culture And bring um you know black Latino Asian representation into sales. So he’s actually the CEO of his own business. Uh and he’s running that and so that’s so inspiring Um and you know me and him are in communication now to work together. I’m going to help be a mentor in his program and so you know I’m learning from him.

He’s learning from me. We’re still in communication all the time And Uh again right It’s just it was the platform of memoryBlue that brought us together. So for anyone that’s listening to this right now if they have a mentor-to-mentee relationship do not take that for granted cause you don’t know you know what’s going to come out of it. Um that person could be the CEO of a super successful business one day and you’re gonna want them to take you out to dinner. So you know keep it uh keep it close

[00:35:38] Marc Gonyea: [00:35:38] We love Kendrick and uh we admire what he’s been doing with us and UIT and we’re gonna work with them on that too. I actually um all right so so you’re at mobile and you’re doing your thing, let’s talk about the transition. This is the transition we want to talk about. How would you kind of what what you were doing at MobileIron and how you went from SDR to AE?

[00:35:55] Anton Cardenas: [00:35:55] Sure let’s do it So I joined MobileIron um and I come in as an SDR Right And uh my motion that I’m doing on my first day as a memoryBlue full employee sorry as a MobileIron full employee the motion that I’m doing the same thing that I was doing at memoryBlue Right So cool I was used to it again I was in a comfort zone Again I was doing something that I was used to and having success with which as a theme of my story today I think you’ll see that when I am comfortable in roles is when you know things start to change a little bit And I kind of open up to a new experience where there is some some doubt and there is some uh some questioning So I’m comfortable as an SDR I’m really good And obviously what’s the next step from SDR It’s an AE right So I’m like okay awesome I can qualify.

Well I can prospect good customers love me. I’m easy to talk to I’m going to be great as an AE right It’s going to be fantastic No problem So um I joined As I I go through the interview process at MobileIron for an AE and I get the role right I get the role and um my job is now to close all the new business that’s coming in from uh our channel Verizon I have Verizon to channel partner The way channel partners work is Verizon will source leads for MobileIron They’ll send them they’ll set me up with a meeting and I closed the customer I go through the sales cycle.

I go through the sales process And I was really caught off guard by how I was not successful as an AE Um I was qualifying and prospecting and showing the product but I had no idea how to close Right And I was so in fixed I was so fixed on the demo and I was so fixed on getting them on the call which was the memoryBlue way and the AE SDR way.

But I just was not Uh bringing in numbers and I was not doing it on the AE side so much so where I didn’t bring in a single dollar one quarter as an AE Right And remember that scoreboard I was talking about just a few minutes ago imagine that scoreboard at the end of the quarter showing up and I’m at literally $0. Right It’s embarrassing It’s embarrassing It’s uh it it’s hard to Swallow that pill. It’s hard to uh come home and enjoy your life outside of work When you know you’re not delivering on the work side Right And it was tough.

I was questioning if sales was even right for me and even even management at MobileIron was questioning is is Anton right For this job is Anton right for um you know this this closing role And so um I really took a step back and I had to Look at my my goals And I had to look at what I was really trying to do and I it’s sales.

Right So I reached out to a few mentors I reached out to a few people that were successful in the role and Jim Rose. He is a um an AE now um outside of MobileIron. He was an AE there, uh, at a time. Uh, Sean Robinson, he was the channel manager for Verizon. I mean, these names, um, might not, you know, ring bells in the memoryBlue side, but they were so important to my success. Um, I would talk to Craig Ryan, uh, another individual, uh, in MobileIron.

[00:39:12] And, these are AEs there that had success. And, you know, they’re probably in the time that I was talking to them in their late twenties and I was in, I was like 21, 22, at the time. And, you know, I said to them like, dude, what are you, guys, doing to close business? But Jessica Hollinger, for example, she moved to AE the same time that I did, and she was having so much success, and she was blowing up her number, she was having fun with it. And, I just was so in my head, um, so that the transition stuff and the transition is something that I think SDRs to AEs need to be ready for, and which I wasn’t. Again, I just thought it was going to be a smooth transition.

[00:39:50] Uh, just like I thought I’d be able to play ice hockey at Oregon, or how I thought I’d be able to go, you know, straight to Oregon instead of community college, right? I was wrong again. Right? And I didn’t take time to learn. I didn’t take time to focus on that. So I did take a step back and the transition was tough, but, you know, eventually I was able to talk to these mentors, and learn that closing is not about just, uh, presenting a product and hoping it sticks.

[00:40:14] Right? But it’s also about building a relationship with the customer. It’s about, uh, you know, finding pain. It’s about thinking about what that other sales rep that you’re competing with, what are the other sales rep doing? Right? What are they doing that you’re not? Um, it’s about building rapport in places that, you know, you don’t think you’re going to build it.

[00:40:31] Right? Talk about things outside of work. Talk about things that are important to the customer. Um, be more personal, right? Don’t don’t just be fixated on that number, but be fixated on solving a solution for our customer. And, obviously that, that, uh, that mindset takes time that mindset takes a lot to do, to do the switch from qualifying and prospecting to closing it does take practice. So, you know, I read Challenger Sale. That is something that, it’s a classic. Right? And if you, it’s talked about, you, guys, probably talk about it, right? Challenger sale. And, um, that helped me understand that if I’m not challenging the customer, customer’s not going to give me any time of day and I’m not solving a need for them.

[00:41:10] If I’m not saying that, hey, this product is really going to change the way you do business, I’m not challenging the customer in that way, how am I going to earn that respect from the customer? Right? And, that’s what I wasn’t doing. I wasn’t earning the respect from customers. Um, I was just another presenter.

[00:41:26] I wasn’t even selling. I was presenting a product. I wasn’t selling it to him. So, um, you know, talking to my mentors, those three guys I named, really changed it for me. Um, reading Challenger Sale, it’s such a classic book. It’s, uh, a book that is, sometimes people think it’s corny, but it changed the game for me.

[00:41:43] Um, and I wrote the four challenger sale, kind of, keys on my desktop. And, I thought about those as I went to every call, right? Am I showing something new to the customer? Um, am I making the customer feel uncomfortable with an idea that I’m presenting, right? And you got to do these things if you want to earn that respect and mental, mental, uh, you know, mindshare from a customer. Um, the changes I were hard, but I’m not gonna lie, but I think that, again, my failure when I saw that zero on the scoreboard, helped me know that in there was something I needed to change in my process. Um, and maybe there’s people listening to this podcast right now that have that zero, and I just don’t want people to either also get discouraged by that zero.

[00:42:23] Cause that zero can also be the moment that you say, hey, there’s something in my process that I need to change. It’s that wake up moment. Um, it’s that moment for me when I got denied from the University of Oregon and changed my process, went to community college. So, that zero reached out to my mentors, read some books, looked myself in the mirror.

[00:42:41] Right? And, um, it was the failure that made me successful. For sure. Sorry for the long-winded answer, but I’m, kind of,

[00:42:48] Marc Gonyea: [00:42:48] No, no, no, no. This, this is, we don’t need to interrupt when someone’s dropping it like this.

[00:42:54] Anton Cardenas: [00:42:54] Yeah 

[00:42:56] Chris Corcoran: [00:42:56] So I’m always curious about those people who think the Challenger Sale is corny. I would love to get their list of books.

[00:43:05] Anton Cardenas: [00:43:05] Right? Yeah. I bet. I bet you they don’t even have a book.

[00:43:10] Chris Corcoran: [00:43:10] They don’t even have a book, but here you are, you’re taking it upon yourself to go and try to make yourself better. You’re reading the books and you’re not just reading it to say you read it, you’re applying it.

[00:43:20] You’re putting that list on your desk. You’re, you’re bringing those things into your deals. What sort of, what sort of changes did you see start happening once you started implementing what you were teaching yourself?

[00:43:31] Anton Cardenas: [00:43:31] I slowed down. I slowed down. I think that’s a huge thing for young sales professionals is. We’re not slowing down. We’re not taking a breath before talking to a client. We’re not understanding what this business does. For example, I had a demo this morning with a florist company, right? Uh, they have, you know, they have a great use case for Samsara They have a great, um, you know, pain as well that they’re experiencing, but if I don’t take the time to understand what is this florist company in? Uh, you know, I think they’re, yeah, they’re in Missouri. They’re in St. Louis. Um, what is this florist company? How do they operate? What’s, it’s a family business, you know, who are the people involved?

[00:44:13] What do they care about? If I’m not slowing down to think about those things, one, I’m not going to build rapport with the customer, and if you don’t build rapport with a customer, you have no right to challenge them. Right? Because if you challenge a customer with no rapport, you’re just being disrespectful.

[00:44:30] Right? But if you have built that relationship with a customer and learn about, uh, the name of this business here, right, Walter Knoll Florist. It’s a six generational company. The owner is Walter Knoll, the third, right? Um, This is a family run business, right? If I treat it as just an enterprise where I’m just another sales rep, I’m not going to earn their trust.

[00:44:54] Right? If I want to go into this call and challenge them, I need to be personal and trustworthy to begin with, right? And that means small things. I don’t know, on the next demo, sharing my camera, showing them my face. I dunno, sending them maybe a, a note saying, hey, or a t-shirt package, which we do at Samsara, right?

[00:45:14] Just doing something different because I took the time to know what this business is about, and that slowing down is I think what I wasn’t doing. I was going into every deal with a, a blueprint. This is what it’s supposed to be, and, uh, this is what I learned from this training at this time, which are important, but you need to be flexible and slow down and think about what, uh, who, who you’re talking to.

[00:45:39] And, um, I think one thing, it sounds corny, but I was thinking if my mom and dad ran a small business or a business in general, how would I want someone to talk to them? Right? How would I want someone to talk to my mom and dad if they were trying to sell MobileIron, for example. Right? And, um, I wasn’t doing that.

[00:45:57] I was just going quick, dive in, head in, which in Silicon Valley is what’s taught, right? Bang, the phones hit dials, you know, get your numbers out there, which is all good things. But if you don’t have the soft skills to earn that trust with a customer and think about what their business is about, it’s not going to go anywhere.

[00:46:14] So, that’s the first thing I learned when I really drove into Challenger. Um, yeah, I mean, I think that’s one of the most important things.

[00:46:23] Chris Corcoran: [00:46:23] And, w- what sort of results did you see once you started applying this?

[00:46:27] Anton Cardenas: [00:46:27] I saw that when I asked for the business, it was so much more received, right? Because when I asked for the business, that customer on the other end of the phone said, Anton was, he cared about the pain in my business. He cared about the, how my business operates rather than just how his product would fit. Anton cared a lot about me and what I, you know, what my state is with this pain, and you guys get it. Three levels of pain, right? Um, it goes from, and forgive me if I don’t, if I, if I miss this, but it’s, you know, uh, financial, to personal to emotional, I think, right? Something, something like that. And, I wasn’t tapping into, you know, the bottom half of that iceberg, but when you slow down and you tap into that and you genuinely show your care for these businesses, when you ask for the business at the end, like, no doubt. Anton has been so helpful and thoughtful through this whole process. I trust signing up with him because I know that my business is in good hands.

[00:47:28] Right? And, um, it’s, it’s so much easier asking for the business too when you take the time to learn about the customer, learn about what they are doing on a operational level. And, you know, I, and, and take this, no offense at any way at all from the memoryBlue side, but going from blessing, you know, blitzing to a hundred calls a day and sending out the emails, having to go into, ask for business, right?

[00:47:55] There’s some steps in there that need this. There’s some things in there that need to be practiced and worked on, like the soft skills, right? Like rapport building, like, um, slowing down. And those things, um, come with experience only, I think. Right? And, uh, and what I’m focusing on.

[00:48:13] Marc Gonyea: [00:48:13] Let’s hit that. That’s really, that’s really big, cause you said it very succinctly. Those things come with experience only. So, we, we’ve got this group of SDRs who are doing the blitzing, learning the habits, the grind, learning, opening statements, learning how to be comfortable, silence, right? Learning how to ask questions, learning a little bit about the pain funnel, but the things that they need to learn to get to the next level, they want to go, go, go, go, go.

And that’s, those are the types of people we look for. And, those are the people that get successful in that role. How do you tell, Anton, you know four years ago memoryBlue or people who’s listening and thinking about coming to work at memoryBlue or an SDR now to be patient.

[00:48:56] And if it only comes with time,

[00:48:58] Anton Cardenas: [00:48:58] Cool. So experience I think is the key word here because the skill that I learned at memoryBlue to hammer the phones you know Joe Reeves style coming in with his sunglasses and his hat and he would block out the world to do his job. Right Those skills that I learned in memoryBlue are irreplaceable and there are no business today that push a more grind mentality than you guys. Right Because when I went to MobileIron when I went to Samsara the the amount of calls that they were asking for was like 30 40 50. And to them 50 calls was a lot of calls right, I’m like scratching my head like well we’ll do an a hundred in memoryBlue. And you know I got used to that. So I want the SDRs listening to this to know that the skill set that they are learning right now. It’s so valuable. But to also know that when you go and look at my dog uh….

[00:49:55] Marc Gonyea: [00:49:55] That’s Fine. I love it cool

[00:49:57] Anton Cardenas: [00:49:57] Yeah uh she’s uh she’s almost a hundred pounds and she’s a bunch of about a hundred pounds, Mr. What’s up baby? Um sometimes you can hear her when she drinks water. It’s so loud and I have to like pause my conversation.

[00:50:12] Okay Okay I know these Bose headphones are great I I you know set these up recently to be really good with um the noise canceling but I digress. I just want the SDRs to know that the skills they’re learning now are so important but to also know that they are not they are not learning the full closing skills yet and that is going to come from them. Taking the time to learn it Right Um you guys do a fantastic job of teaching those skills on a literally daily check-in.

But when you go to a closing role there’s not going to be someone there to say, “Hey did you do your followup call? Did you do uh you know did you research about the business in this way?”

That’s up to you. And I think it comes with you know slowing down again. Right And being able to understand that you don’t know everything. And you could have been the number one SDR at SED company but you’re going to go to the bottom of the barrel uh for the next AE position position.

And then it takes it takes being humble as well to know that uh Hey I was at the top of the board for you know setting meetings but now I’m in at the bottom for actually bringing in revenue. And I think that’s what something super interesting about sales is that everyone at the company knows where everyone is.

I mean you’re the SDRs in memoryBlue probably check the scoreboard every day. I check you know the leader board as well uh frequently. And obviously it’s so easy to check when you’re at the top but you have to embrace checking when you’re at the bottom too to know that Hey there’s something that I need to do to change my game to change my flow.

Um there’s some great friends of mine that have left the sales career because they just weren’t able to you know deal with that zero. On the scoreboard or see them at the bottom of the barrel And these are all my friends obviously. But I think that being in sales is is unique. And I think being in sales you know teaches this grit um over time. Right

So I think that the SDRs in memoryBlue today doesn’t need to understand that Yes you could be the top SDR right now but there’s gonna come a time hopefully soon Where you are going to be at zero. And I hope that everyone is successful all the time but I want people to embrace the zero.

I think that’s something that I you know try to live by is embrace the zero embrace that uh that bottom of the scoreboard because there’s two ways you can deal with it.

You embrace it and you learn from it and you get to the top or you leave and um and you don’t change your process, and you’re still at zero. You’re still at zero. And you know Um sometimes that’s good for some people maybe sales isn’t the right path for you too. Right

You guys probably started trying to convince businesses that Hey I have a cheaper way to provide you SDRs. And I am honestly when I was thinking to myself like wow Marc and Chris came up with this such innovative and uh innovative innovative way to save on like sales operating costs. But you guys probably had a lot of nos in your face too. And here where you guys are today. So um got to embrace the zero. That’s my uh you got to embrace it and embrace it because if you don’t right, it’s going to it’s going to hurt. 

[00:53:29] Marc Gonyea: [00:53:29] It’s 

[00:53:30] Anton Cardenas: [00:53:30] I’m open the…

[00:53:31] Marc Gonyea: [00:53:31] Like, you might get out of the game a little prematurely.

[00:53:34] Anton Cardenas: [00:53:34] Yeah. And I’m sure there’s some people in the world that have, could have been great, great sales professionals, but, um, just couldn’t take the, uh, just couldn’t take the negative that comes with it. Right? And then sales is tough because, uh, for example, I just got promoted, uh, from, uh, the AE for small medium business to a senior account executive role.

[00:53:57] Right? And that the, for the small medium business, I was the number one sales rep. Right? It was awesome seeing my name at the top, but this is small medium business. Right? I go up to, you know, the more senior side and I’m at the bottom. Right? And, I just started two weeks ago. So, you know, still building my book of business, but I’m going through that same transition right now where I don’t have a giant customer that’s going to, you know, come and just have an easy upsell and boom. You know, I have a big deal.

[00:54:26] I have to build that book of business from the ground up. And, I think that’s something that, you know, sales managers also look for it, right? Who are my, who are my reps that have, you know, the, uh, the cards against them? Who are my reps that have to build their book from the ground up and how are they, uh, dealing with that, right?

[00:54:43] Are they stressed out and negative about it? Or, you know, are they are the grinding under pressure? And, you know what they say, right? No pressure, no diamonds. Um, and I think that, you know, those, the diamonds come from those hard times. From that zero, for sure.

[00:54:58] Marc Gonyea: [00:54:58] So, tell us a little bit, what are you doing now? I see, I’m sorry, you, kind of, hit on it, but tell us a little bit, a little more detail, because people always wonder, what do I do after, you know, with the MobileIron did a great job for them, and then, you know, I know you always wanted to move to San Francisco and you found it, a company with an off, headquarters in San Francisco, and then you’ve been, moved up the food chain there.

[00:55:20] So, what are you doing now? Break it down for us a little.

[00:55:22] Anton Cardenas: [00:55:22] Absolutely. Um, so it was April of 2019, so almost two years, uh, I’ll be at Samsara, and um, when Samsara reached out to me, I was in a really good spot at MobileIron. Right? I was comfortable. I was finally, my numbers were finally coming in. Right? And again, the story of my career path is the it’s the same, right?

[00:55:44] I was in a comfortable spot and I decided to go to an uncomfortable place. So, I literally went to the Samsara interview saying, all right, uh, these guys have to sell me on it. Right? These guys have to sell me on, uh, the company, on the product, on the vibe. And I walked in. I had interviews with, uh, you know, three managers there. Uh, one manager who’s, I don’t know, maybe he’s going to listen to this.

[00:56:07] I’ll send them the link and I let them 56:08 His name is Jeff Harrison, and he actually runs the San Jose Samsara office. Um, and he interviewed me, and, you know, the, the manager experience that I got from him, uh, he ended up being my direct manager, was, uh, just such a great experience where I learned so much.

[00:56:25] So, uh, I got the role. Right? Started from the bottom, had to work my way to the top, and we were on monthly quotas. Um, this was, this was challenging, right? So, we got to bring in, uh, X amount of dollars. It was around, if I do the math right now 168 it was probably how many, how many work days are there in a normal month?

[00:56:43] Like, 20, 21? Cool. So, we had to bring in $35,000, um, ACV, annual contract value per month, and we’re selling it to small medium businesses. And for people who don’t know what Samsara does, um, we’re a fleet management solution. So, uh, my story is always this- if you own a bakery, and you have 10 trucks delivering baked goods around, uh, you know, Washington DC, for example. As the business owner, you want to track those trucks, right?

[00:57:10] Are they safe on the road? Are they efficient? Are they on time? So, uh, Samsara serves those kinds of clients. And obviously we have huge clients, like ABF Freight or Dohrn Transfer, that have thousands of vehicles. So, um, for small medium business, I have to bring in $35,000 a month. There was one quarter where I come into work on Friday.

[00:57:29] Right? And, I had $32,000. That was not going to hit quota. Right? So, I’m stressing out it’s Friday of the last day of the quarter, and I just said, you know what, I’m just going to tap in to what I learned in memoryBlue I’m going to hit the phones I’m going to see who out there needs it Right And at this point it’s six hours left until the end of the quarter Right And this was July of 2019 I remember specifically all my friends they’re at quota right And they’re enjoying their Friday and I still need 3000 more dollars I hit the phones I was able to schedule a meeting Right And luckily the Samsara product that delivers value so much so that a business owner is like yeah I’ll buy this right now.

And luckily when the bell rung at uh uh at Friday afternoon I was past that 35 mark Right. Honestly you know what I never thought about it until this moment where I think that the memoryBlue uh Kind of energy kind of tapped into it right there where I needed to hit the phones. I needed to get that one more conversation I needed to you know grind it out Um and I was able to do that And I think that that is something I definitely learned from you guys So again hats off.

[00:58:35] Marc Gonyea: [00:58:35] Nah, come on. Everybody learns stuff from us, but not everyone applies it the same way, uh, or, or at all. So you applied it and it’s obviously paying off.

[00:58:46] Anton Cardenas: [00:58:46] Yeah it was good And it was uh so we went from monthly quotas to quarterly quotas Um I was in the it’s called AE1 AE1 AE2 I was in the AE segment for uh 21 months Good amount of time Um I earned iron president’s club this last quarter which is top 1% of sales reps So there’s two winners There’s two clubs winner circle which is top 10% And the president’s club which is 1% And you know when I started at Samsara.

I’d never thought that I would get to the top 1%. But I mean lo and behold um and by you know hard work and Uh despite team effort of people around me right It’s not all me it was my team that helped me out I got to that 1% mark and I’ll be going to hopefully you know uh uh COVID free Hawaii in um yeah COVID free Hawaii in September but I just never thought I’d really get to that level. Um and you know seeing myself at the top of the leaderboard uh for AE was fantastic and Uh you know looking back at all the times that I failed and wasn’t able to bring that number in when I had that zero at the end of the quarter uh for mobile for MobileIron looking back to last quarter when you know they send me you know these these plaques and uh these uh these awards right.

And you look at it and you think wow um you know this this is awesome Like I’m I’m not I’m never going to leave AE1 right This is the best boom The next day after earning president’s club I hit I go to AE2 and I’m at the bottom now Right.

And I’m grinding to build my book of business and I’m probably not going to get any recognition for a while Right Um after the you know some deals will come in and maybe I will but I think that’s something that I’ve learned up to this point is that I need to embrace the you know grinding without any recognition embrace not being at the top of the leaderboard for a while.

Because once you understand that Hey this is the situation I’m in Then the accolades will come after that Um and so I’m in that I’m in that spot now where you know no recognition just building my book of business and you know hopefully in the next year two years then I can climb climb the ranks again but we’ll see. You know it comes down to uh if I have to reschedule any more demos for podcasts with you guys but we’ll see.

[01:00:56] Chris Corcoran: [01:00:56] Hey, Anton. Uh, Earlier you were talking about when, when you first started your career as an SDR and how, how quickly you realized that you were actually making a difference. When we were preparing for this, you talked about, uh, when you were a memoryBlue SDR, how you surfaced a huge opportunity and it ultimately ended up closing for your client.

[01:01:17] Can you talk a little bit about that story?

[01:01:19] Anton Cardenas: [01:01:19] Sure sure um so I was the enterprise SDR Um at Mo at memoryBlue for the time And I was helping a sales rep by the name of Cody Hubbard uh Cody Hubbard He handled uh kind of like the Tola region if that’s what they call it Right Texas Louisiana Yeah TOLA region. And, um, there’s a company that many of us know, called Texas Instruments, right?

And they build, uh, we think they just built calculators, but really they build semiconductors to help run, um, you know, small, uh, technologies and small equipment. And, all I knew about them was a calculator company that had a ton of customers to call or a ton of context to call it. Right? So, I see Texas Instruments and I see, well, all right, I’m going to bang out my a hundred calls just by hitting up this company right here.

[01:02:08] And, um, you know, I call them the Texas Instruments for maybe, uh, uh, one week, two weeks, and I ended up setting a demo, uh, with one of the, uh, security, uh, mobile security officers at Texas Instruments. Um, ended up going through the, you know, the demo and, uh, Cody Hubbard leads the demo for them, but as a memoryBlue, uh, SDR, right, I booked it and it occurred. So, boom. Uh, it happened. Right for me, that’s, that’s all of it. And, as a, as a new college grad, I did what I needed to do. I got my booking. It occurred. I didn’t think any more of it. Right? Um, I get hired by MobileIron. I’m working, and lo and behold, I start to hear more rumblings of Texas Instruments.

[01:02:54] Oh, wow, so they’re actually going to trial our products now. Oh, wow. They’re going to trial our new, uh, MobileIron access feature. Oh, wow. They’re going to trial our platinum bundle. Right? So the building and building, and this deal is getting larger and larger. And, as someone who has their name tied to it on Salesforce, it’s, kind of, a proud moment where you’re seeing this deal go through the stages and you can see, you know, opportunity created, uh Anton Cardenas back in the day.

[01:03:21] Right? And, um, Cody ends up closing it for close to a million dollars. Uh, and you know, I, I don’t want to say that it would never have happened because of the cold call that I placed, but, uh, you know, maybe Texas Instruments would have reached out or another, um, you know, MobileIron, uh, SDR would have called, but it was a really proud moment for me to say, wow, you know, from the memoryBlue, uh, cubicle, right, there in downtown San Jose, um, next to crazy Joe Reeves. You know, I booked this demo for, you know, Cody Hubbard that ended up turning to a real opportunity that became, you know, a huge, uh, gen, you know, revenue generating deal. And, um, it all started with, you know, memoryBlue again. So, that was, that was really special.

[01:04:03] I still bring that up on. Um, like what is, you know, when, in interviews, when people ask you, what are some moments that you’re proud of? I still bring that up. Um, because the SDR grind is something that I think is overlooked a lot of times in a interview process or the next step, but it really shows, you know, dedication, outbounding, dedication to getting the door closed in your face.

[01:04:24] Um, I don’t know how many times I’ve received, like, you know, bad words on email from, you know, reaching out. So, it’s being able to embrace that. Uh, but yeah, that was, that was an awesome experience.

[01:04:35] Chris Corcoran: [01:04:35] So, I think that the fact that you served time as an SDR has really helps you out in many ways. Now you’re, you have the luxury of having SDR support you and tee up meetings for you. So, talk a little bit about what it’s like being an AE and knowing what it’s like being an SDR. If you could share a little bit about.

[01:04:52] Anton Cardenas: [01:04:52] Yeah, absolutely. Um, so at, at Samsara Samsara way it works, is, there’s a group of maybe 10 to 15, uh, SDRs. Uh, we call them ADRs at Samsara uh, account development, that call for the central region, which is my region. Right? And they’re calling into, uh, mid-market account businesses, which is what I service. And so, um, I’m working online, I’m working online. All of a sudden, my inbound line rings.

[01:05:18] Right? And, I pick up the phone and it’s an SDR on the other side of the line, hey, I just made this cold call. Um, this is, uh, you know, Marc on the other side of the phone, he owns a 70 vehicle fleet. He needs these needs, and I’ve been calling into them for about a week and they agreed to a demo. Um, so right then and there, right?

[01:05:38] I’m going to talk to this client and it was all 100% sourced from the ADR. Uh, I wasn’t, I could have literally been doing anything else. Then, all of a sudden, there’s a deal on my plate. Right? So, if it wasn’t for the ADR team of 10 to 15, I would be needing to make all these calls myself. Right? And, luckily Samsara has a structure in place that has a great ADR system.

[01:06:02] Um, ADR, SDR, you know, same thing, but I think that nowadays AEs tend to overlook the importance of an SDR sometimes, and they, kind of, uh, lack for a better term, disrespect the grind that the SDR does for the AE where, you know, at the end of the quarter, end of the year, the accolades always go to the AE but in, the, never, you know, the SDR. Um, and, you know, Samsara does a good job of, uh, you know, doing those accolades, for example, Winner Circle for the top 10 sales reps, also ADRs to get, to get, uh, you know, uh, eligible for that.

[01:06:38] So, you know, they do a good job of, um, congratulating them, but I think a lot of times, you know, an AE just takes the deal, and doesn’t really think about the work that went in, from the ADR perspective. So, what I like to do is grow relationships with the ADRs and talk to them about, hey, who are you calling?

[01:06:56] You know, what are the deals you’re working on? Um, how can I be a better AE to you? Right? How can I help, uh, you know, qualify an opportunity? Or how can I help you grow your book of business? Right? So, ADRs has talked to me a lot about, um, you know, my process and how I’m able to, kind of, impart my wisdom on them a little bit.

[01:07:14] So, I think that, you know, you scratch my back, I scratch yours. If AEs, in general, just don’t respect that SDR, ADR grind, they’re not going to get that love when a deal needs to be, you know, sent up or, you know, there’s some companies that have a one-to-one ADR to AE ratio SDR to AE ratio. Some companies have that. And, if the AE doesn’t treat The SDR on the same playing field right As a as a teammate on the field right That AE is not going to get fed the way he or she wants Um and it kind of goes back to the uh the rugby experience that I had is sorry someone’s playing music real loud 

[01:07:55] Marc Gonyea: [01:07:55] Yeah, It makes it real it’s you can really

[01:07:59] Anton Cardenas: [01:07:59] It’s the uh you know the beauty of the city right Um if the AE and the ADR aren’t tight and succinct right It’s going to be they’re going to be aiming in two different directions and not gonna be working closely together So um you know I had the pleasure of having great AEs Jim Rose who I said before Sean Robinson these are people that took me under their wing and who mentored me And I encourage all ADRs to seek out those relationships too Because there’s people at every company um that are willing to talk are willing to help are willing to put SDRs under their wing And I think you know SDRs are doing themselves a disservice if they don’t reach out and talk to people with that experience you know Um so I don’t know Maybe you guys can like incorporate that It’s like Hey for the AEs that you guys support it your set clients you know set set up meetings with them talk about their process uh get under their wing Right Add them on LinkedIn something like that Um cause that was one thing I wasn’t doing when I wasn’t when I wasn’t successful I wasn’t reaching out to people that have been successful in the role Right And I started getting successful when I started picking brains of people and getting out of my own you know head space things like that.

[01:09:08] Marc Gonyea: [01:09:08] yeah, that’s good advice. We definitely try to do that. Um, it comes secondary to actually book and occur in the meetings. 

[01:09:16] And it’s not, it’s easier when you’re doing that, but that’s definitely something that we preach and had an interview this morning. Internal interview was with one of the SDRs That’s one of our key priorities.

[01:09:27] Anton Cardenas: [01:09:27] Nice Fantastic

[01:09:31] I needed that today too I mean even for people like few people like you guys I mean thank you so much for reaching out to me to do this podcast but I think about it and I’m like you know Marc and Chris are a resource I need to talk to them They’re business owners of you know their own organization. That’s a goal that I have one day It’s to be be my own boss So um y’all you guys would be hearing from me a lot more.

[01:09:50] Marc Gonyea: [01:09:50] All right, Anton, anytime, man. Anytime. Hey, Anton, you kind of wrap things up. What do you do? What do you do outside the office to like, kinda, also handle, make sure to take care of yourself? Uh, besides being a season ticket holder to the, this, you unzip your, your,

[01:10:08] as you unzip your paddock, you’re out of your fleece there.

[01:10:11] I can see the dubs, the dubs, a t-shirt, but talk a little bit, a little bit about what you do to kind of keep your mind, right. And your body

[01:10:18] Anton Cardenas: [01:10:18] Yeah absolutely Yeah Just life life outside of work you know Um wow COVID let’s talk let’s talk about that You know what what work from home did um when I was working at the Samsara office right It was so fast-paced where get to work you know grinding um at the desk leaving work hitting the gym maybe hitting the bar and Uh you know going to you know a Giants game or something like that Um but with COVID and everything that’s slowed down um I was able to really really focus and internalize more as to you know what to I really like to do. Right?

It’s not one of my desk mates want to drag me into a, what do I want to do, you know, with the group of people, um, that are just, you know, having fun.

[01:11:04] What do I want to do? What I want to slow down? So, um, I got a dog, as you, guys, saw. A huge, a Burmese Mountain Dog. That was on March 16th, was when I got her. So, it’s almost a year, um, that I’ve had her in, that has been such an amazing experience with the work from home culture and everything like that. Um, I am a season ticket holder to the Warriors.

[01:11:24] One goal I had of mine was to be a season ticket holder to a team. Right? Giants, Sharks, Warriors. Those are my squads. Um, 

[01:11:32] I was thinking Oh no no Niners Niners Niners come on

[01:11:36] Chris Corcoran: [01:11:36] Plus the Raiders left.

[01:11:38] Anton Cardenas: [01:11:38] Yeah they they left uh there’s a funny joke that I have a group chat with some friends and there’s a die hard Raider fan in the group chat And everyone just always text that person They left you they left you uh just just to kind of rub it in a little bit but that was a goal of mine was to be a season ticket holder for a sports team. So Uh the Nin the warriors moved to the city I moved to the city Um some things worked out with my uncle who was a season ticket holder He gave me his rights Um you know I was able to save up some money and you know with with the blessing of my job now is able to afford it Um so now right Uh I feel like I kind of have a stake in the in the Dubs So whenever they come on TV um I have a big uh you know joy in watching them Uh I just got engaged um last October

[01:12:24] Chris Corcoran: [01:12:24] Congratulations.

[01:12:26] Anton Cardenas: [01:12:26] Thank you I appreciate that Yeah And it’s it’s kind of fun you know being able to just you know beat domestic a little bit right. Cook up a good dinner um you know make the house nice uh take care of take care of things that can be taken care of.

For example uh I mean this sounds kind of nasty but um some mold started growing like in our hallway so you know I got that taken care of you know all I had to do is really call the landlord but still it makes you feel like like you uh you know are a little bit more responsible right. And um I try to get 60 minutes of exercise in a day as you can see behind me here I got the Peloton highly recommend uh anyone getting that especially with work from home. Um honestly reach out to me on LinkedIn I’ll give you a referral code. Marc and Chris you two that referral code is a is there for you guys. Um I highly recommend it. It’s cool. You hop on you Get your sweat in And you know you hop off but it’s fun to be able to set goals and have measurable you know things that you’re striving for Uh you can see that chess board right there Right Uh

[01:13:26] Chris Corcoran: [01:13:26] The Queen’s Gambit.

[01:13:27] Anton Cardenas: [01:13:27] Queen’s Gambit, but yeah, honestly, after I watched Queen’s Gambit, I was like, you know what, I need to get back into the chess game.

[01:13:32] So, um, I mean, and Chrissy, my fiance, we play probably a couple of times a week, you know, I’m learning new moves, new strategies, but I think one thing I learned at 2020 was that it’s okay to just chill and just relax. And, sometimes people in sales think that, you know, part of sales is going out to the bar and taking shots and, uh, you know, hanging out with the team, which is awesome.

[01:13:56] Those are all great things, right? Team camaraderie is fantastic. But I think one thing about sales that I’ve experienced, um, is if I’m able to just relax and slow down and be in a good mental space, right, when I have conversations with customers, I’m being more genuine, I’m being more authentic, and I’ve learned to just relax a lot about a lot more.

[01:14:15] Um, does that answer your question? I’m trying to think of other passions that I do.

[01:14:20] Chris Corcoran: [01:14:20] Hey, Anton, Anton. So, um, talk to the listeners a little bit about how the sort of mental strength that you need to have to continue to play chess, knowing you’re going to lose.

[01:14:34] Anton Cardenas: [01:14:34] Uh, Chess360, Chess360  is is uh you can get humiliated on there Chess360 is some pros Uh it’s an online platform right And you’d go there to play Um and you can get beat in five six seven moves Oh my God Um, and sometimes, like, I go on YouTube, it was hilarious. So, some of my buddies, some of my buddies were over and we were just hanging out.

[01:14:57] We go on YouTube. And, they’re like, Anton, what the hell is this? And the first, like, three searches on my YouTube or five-move checkmate, uh, ten-move checkmate. And, I was like watching YouTube to learn these. And, there’s still not clicking in my head. So, um, now I, uh, anyone that wants to be mentally challenged, and humiliated, and humbled, play chess against someone good. Play chess against someone good. I think that teaches a lot of life lessons as well.

[01:15:23] Marc Gonyea: [01:15:23] All right. 

[01:15:24] Chris Corcoran: [01:15:24] Very good, Anton.

[01:15:25] Marc Gonyea: [01:15:25] Anton.

[01:15:25] Anton Cardenas: [01:15:25] Thank you, guys. I think I can be both of you, guys, in chess though. I’ll take you, guys, both up. Yeah.

[01:15:30] Marc Gonyea: [01:15:30] It’s big news piece. Both of us that want some speech. So, I’ll be out in, like, two moves.

[01:15:36] Anton Cardenas: [01:15:36] No, absolutely. Thank you, guys, so much for having me. It’s a pleasure. Um, again, I think anyone in the memoryBlue, uh, experience today, just know that you have a amazing. Uh, just jump pad, um, ex, you know, uh, opportunity to really get yourself off the ground and learn skills that are not taught anywhere else.

[01:15:56] So, you know, some days a hundred calls seems like a lot, and it seems like, you know, busy work, but just enjoy, embrace the grind and embrace the zero. Um, so thank you, Mark and Chris. I appreciate it.

[01:16:06] Chris Corcoran: [01:16:06] Keep killing it. 

[01:16:06] Anton Cardenas: [01:16:06] sir 

[01:16:07] Marc Gonyea: [01:16:07] Anton, that was beautiful. Thank you very much for the time and the insight.

[01:16:11] Anton Cardenas: [01:16:11] Thank you, guys. 

[01:16:12] Samsara way it works is there’s a group of maybe 10 to 15, uh, SDRs. Uh, we call them ADRs at Samsara uh, account development, that call for the Central region, which is my region. Right. And they’re calling into, uh, mid-market account businesses, which is what I service. And so, um, I’m working online, I’m working online all of a sudden my inbound line rings.

[01:16:35] Right. And I pick up the phone and it’s an SDR on the other side of the line. Hey, I just made this cold call. Um, this is, uh, you know, Mark on the other side of the phone, he owns a 70 vehicle fleet. He needs these needs and I’ve been calling into them for about a week and they agreed to a demo. Um, so right then and there, right.

[01:16:55] I’m going to talk to this client and it was all 100% sourced from the ADR. Uh, I wasn’t, I could have literally been doing anything else Then all of a sudden there’s a deal on my plate. Right. So if it wasn’t for the ADR team of 10 to 15, I would be needing to make all these calls myself. Right. And luckily Samsara has a structure in place that has a great ADR system.

[01:17:18] Um, ADR SDR, you know, same thing, but I think that nowadays AEs tend to overlook the importance of an SDR sometimes. And they kind of, uh, lack for a better term disrespect the grind that the SDR does for the AE where, you know, at the end of the quarter, end of the year, the accolades always go to the AE but in the never, you know, the SDR, um, and, you know, Samsara does a good job of, uh, you know, doing those accolades, for example, winner circle for the top 10 sales reps, also ADRs to get, to get, uh, you know, uh, eligible for that.

[01:17:55] So, you know, they do a good job of, um, congratulating them, but I think a lot of times, you know, an AE just takes the deal and doesn’t really think about the work that went in from the ADR perspective. So what I like to do is grow relationships with the ADRs and talk to them about, Hey, who are you calling?

[01:18:12] You know, what are the deals you’re working on? Um, how can I be a better AE to you? Right. How can I help, uh, you know, qualify an opportunity? Or how can I help you grow your book of business? Right. So, ADRs has talked to me a lot about, um, you know, my process and how I’m able to kind of impart my wisdom on them a little bit.

[01:18:30] So I think that, you know, you scratch my back, I scratch yours if AEs in general, just don’t respect that, SDR ADR grind, they’re not going to get that love when a deal needs to be, you know, sent up or, you know, there’s some companies that have a one-to-one ADR to AE ratio, SDR to AE ratio. Some companies have that. And if the AE doesn’t treat

[01:18:53] the SDR on the same playing field, right, as a, as a teammate on the field, right, that AE is not going to get fed the way he or she wants. Um, and it kind of goes back to the, uh, the rugby experience that I had is sorry, someone’s playing music real loud, 

[01:19:12] Marc Gonyea: [01:19:12] yeah, it makes it real it’s you can really

[01:19:15] Anton Cardenas: [01:19:15] It’s the, uh, you know, the beauty of the city, right?

[01:19:18] Um, if the AE and the ADR aren’t tight and succinct, right, it’s going to be, they’re going to be aiming in two different directions and not gonna be working closely together. So, um, you know, I had the pleasure of having great AEs, Jim Rose, who I said before, Sean Robinson, these are people that took me under their wing and who mentored me.

[01:19:38] And I encourage all ADRs to seek out those relationships too Because there’s people at every company um that are willing to talk are willing to help are willing to put SDRs under their wing And I think you know SDRs are doing themselves a disservice if they don’t reach out and talk to people with that experience you know Um so I don’t know Maybe you guys can like incorporate that It’s like Hey for the AEs that you guys support it your set clients you know set set up meetings with them talk about their process uh get under their wing Right Add them on LinkedIn something like that Um cause that was one thing I wasn’t doing when I wasn’t when I wasn’t successful I wasn’t reaching out to people that have been successful in the role Right And I started getting successful when I started picking brains of people and getting out of my own you know head space things like that

[01:20:25] Marc Gonyea: [01:20:25] yeah, that’s good advice. We definitely try to do that. Um, it comes secondary to actually book and occur in the meetings. 

[01:20:33] And it’s not, it’s easier when you’re doing that, but that’s definitely something that we preach and had an interview this morning. Internal interview was with one of the SDRs That’s one of our key priorities.

[01:20:44] Anton Cardenas: [01:20:44] Nice Fantastic I needed that today too I mean even for people like few people like you guys I mean thank you so much for reaching out to me to do this podcast but I think about it and I’m like you know Mark and Chris are a resource I need to talk to them They’re business owners of you know their own organization That’s a goal that I have one day It’s to be be my own boss So um y’all you guys would be hearing from me a lot more

[01:21:06] Marc Gonyea: [01:21:06] All right, Anton, anytime, man. Anytime. Hey, Anton, you kind of wrap things up. W w what do you do? What do you do outside the office to like, kinda, also handle, make sure to take care of yourself? Uh, besides being a season ticket holder to the, this, you unzip your, your, as you unzip your paddock, you’re out of your fleece there.

[01:21:27] I can see the dubs, the dubs, a t-shirt, but talk a little bit, a little bit about what you do to kind of keep your mind, right. And your body

[01:21:35] Anton Cardenas: [01:21:35] Yeah absolutely Yeah Just life life outside of work you know Um wow COVID let’s talk let’s talk about that You know what what work from home did um when I was working at the Samsara office right It was so fast-paced where get to work you know grinding um at the desk leaving work hitting the gym maybe hitting the bar and Uh you know going to you know a giants game or something like that Um but with COVID and everything that’s slowed down um I was able to really really focus and internalize more as to you know what to I really like to do Right It’s not one of my desk mates want to drag me into a what do I want to do you know with the group of people um that are just you know having fun What do I want to do What I want to slow down So um I got a dog as you guys saw a huge A Burmese mountain dog that was on March 16th was when I got her So it’s almost a year um that I’ve had her in that has been such an amazing experience with the work from home culture and everything like that Um I am a season ticket holder to the warriors One goal I had of mine was to be a season ticket holder to a team Right And giants sharks warriors Those are my squads Um 

[01:22:49] I was thinking Oh no no Niners Niners Niners come on

[01:22:53] Chris Corcoran: [01:22:53] the Raiders Plus the Raiders left.

[01:22:55] Anton Cardenas: [01:22:55] Yeah they they left uh there’s a funny joke that I have a group chat with some friends and there’s a die hard Raider fan in the group chat And everyone just always text that person They left you they left you uh just just to kind of rub it in a little bit but that was a goal of mine was to be a season ticket holder for a sports team So Uh the Nin the warriors moved to the city I moved to the city Um some things worked out with my uncle who was a season ticket holder He gave me his rights Um you know I was able to save up some money and you know with with the blessing of my job now is able to afford it Um so now right Uh I feel like I kind of have a stake in the in the Dubs So whenever they come on TV um I have a big uh you know joy in watching them Uh I just got engaged um last October

[01:23:41] Chris Corcoran: [01:23:41] Congratulations.

[01:23:42] Anton Cardenas: [01:23:42] thank you I appreciate that Yeah And it’s it’s kind of fun you know being able to just you know beat domestic a little bit right Cook up a good dinner um you know make the house nice uh take care of take care of things that can be taken care of For example uh I mean this sounds kind of nasty but um some mold started growing like in our hallway so you know I got that taken care of you know all I had to do is really call the landlord but still it makes you feel like like you uh you know are a little bit more responsible right And um I try to get 60 minutes of exercise in a day as you can see behind me here I got the Peloton highly recommend uh anyone getting that especially with work from home Um honestly reach out to me on LinkedIn I’ll give you a referral code Uh Mark and Chris you two that referral code is a is there for you guys Um I highly recommend it It’s cool You hop on you Get your sweat in And you know you hop off but it’s fun to be able to set goals and have measurable you know things that you’re striving for Uh you can see that chess board right there Right Uh

[01:24:43] Chris Corcoran: [01:24:43] The Queen’s gambit.

[01:24:44] Anton Cardenas: [01:24:44] Queen’s gambit but yeah honestly after I watched Queen’s gambit I was like you know what I need to get back into the chess game So um I mean and Chrissy my fiance we play probably a couple of times a week you know I’m learning new moves new strategies but I think one thing I learned at 2020 was that it’s okay to just chill and just relax And sometimes people in sales think that you know part of sales is going out to the bar and taking shots and uh you know hanging out with the team which is awesome Those are all great things right Team camaraderie is fantastic But I think one thing about sales that I’ve experienced um is if I’m able to just relax and slow down and be in a good mental space right When I have conversations with customers I’m being more genuine I’m being more authentic and I’ve learned to just relax a lot about a lot more Um does that answer your question I’m trying to think of other passions that I do

[01:25:37] Chris Corcoran: [01:25:37] Hey, Anton, Anton. So, um, talk to the listeners a little bit about how the sort of mental strength that you need to have to continue to play chess, knowing you’re going to lose.

[01:25:51] Anton Cardenas: [01:25:51] Uh Chess360 Chess360 three is is uh you can get humiliated on there Chess360 is some pros Uh it’s an online platform right And you’d go there to play Um and you can get beat in five six seven moves Oh my God Um, and sometimes like I go on YouTube, it was hilarious. So some of my buddies, some of my buddies were over and we were just hanging out.

[01:26:13] We go on YouTube. And they’re like, Anton, what the hell is this? And the first like three searches on my YouTube or five-move checkmate, uh, ten-move checkmate. And I was like watching YouTube to learn these. And there’s still not clicking in my head. So, um, now I, uh, anyone that wants to be mentally challenged and humiliated and humbled play chess against someone.

[01:26:35] Good play chess against someone. Good. I think that teaches a lot of life lessons, right? as

[01:26:40] well 

[01:26:40] Marc Gonyea: [01:26:40] All right.

[01:26:41] Chris Corcoran: [01:26:41] very good. Anton Good And

[01:26:42] Marc Gonyea: [01:26:42] Anton Tom,

[01:26:44] Anton Cardenas: [01:26:44] Thank you guys. I think I can be both of you guys in chess though. I’ll take you guys both up. Yeah,

[01:26:49] Marc Gonyea: [01:26:49] it’s big news piece. Both of us that want some speech. So I’ll be out in like two moves.

[01:26:55] Anton Cardenas: [01:26:55] no, absolutely. Thank you guys so much for having me. It’s a pleasure. Um, again, I think anyone in the memoryBlue uh, experience today, just know that you have a amazing. Uh, just jump pad, um, ex you know, uh, opportunity to really get yourself off the ground and learn skills that are not taught anywhere else.

[01:27:15] So, you know, some days a hundred calls seems like a lot, and it seems like, you know, busy work, but just enjoy, embrace the grind and embrace the zero. Um, so thank you, Mark. And Chris. I appreciate it.

[01:27:25] Chris Corcoran: [01:27:25] Keep killing it killing

[01:27:26] Anton Cardenas: [01:27:26] Yes sir 

[01:27:27] Marc Gonyea: [01:27:27] Yeah, Anton. That was beautiful. Thank you very much for the time and the insight

[01:27:31] Anton Cardenas: [01:27:31] Thank you guys everyday. Did I Do good. Was that, was that

[01:27:33] Marc Gonyea: [01:27:33] you did. Great. You did great, man. It’s amazing.