The Foundation of Sales Success - Shane Peterson
This week on Merchants of Change, we've got Shane Peterson. Shane played division 1 baseball at Cal State Long Beach before playing professionally with the Cardinals, Athletics, Brewers, Rays, Padres, and Dodgers before transitioning to sales with Clumio. Today, he's an enterprise account executive at Clumio, a leader in simplifying organizations' data protection on AWS. Here he is, Shane Peterson. I'm JR Butler, cofounder and CEO of The Shift Group, and you're listening to Merchants of Change.
Speaker 1:This is a podcast about transferring change. This is a podcast about transferring the skills and behaviors we acquire as athletes and military veterans into becoming a professional salesperson. Each week, we'll introduce you to a top performer who will help us understand how they became professional merchants of change. What's up, kid? Today, we got Shane Peterson.
Speaker 1:Shane, great to meet you, man. Thanks for being on the show.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Of course. Appreciate you having me on. I'm excited. Been looking forward to it.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. So for a little bit of context, we started our podcast to to really create content and learnings for the folks that we work with. Right? We help former, elite athletes and military veterans successfully transition into b two b sales careers. We've been doing it for a couple years, and and our our audience has grown significantly.
Speaker 1:It includes that type of crew of folks that are considering sales as a career path. It also includes people that are new to sales. And then, you know, recently, we've we've really been growing the audience of, you know, kinda seasoned salespeople that are that are getting a lot of great mindset and tactical lessons from these conversations. We always kinda follow the same path. We we'll talk a little bit about your athletic career, hear kinda some of the challenges that you ran into in your transition, some of the lessons you learned, and then we'll we'll kinda spend the last third of the conversation around all the stuff that you're you're picking up as a sales pro.
Speaker 1:Sound like a good plan?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Sounds great.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Alright. Great. I always start, like, really broad. You've you've obviously had a very impressive baseball career.
Speaker 1:So I'm excited to hear your answer here. If I asked you to talk about your favorite memories of your athletic career, where does your where does your mind go right away, Shane?
Speaker 2:It's always that initial kind of professional draft, right? Where you've got family around, you're watching on TV. I was fortunate enough. I didn't really remember back then whether they aired the 1st round or what. But, you know, I was in those discussions.
Speaker 2:So once they got even to the website though, and you hear your name called, and your family's right there with you, and, you know, knowing that they've gone through as much as you have, really. Like, to be honest, like, yeah, it's it it means the world to you, but it means the world to your parents too. So
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. That that that is such a it's a special day for not just yourself, but like you said, all the people that helped you get to that to that point. I was talking to our producer before the show and he was telling me you had a story where, you got called up against your old team and and had a had a had a had a great, great experience. Can you talk about that a little bit?
Speaker 2:Yeah. As far as on field memories go, that that's always the one that jumps out to me just because, you know, you've always you hear the stories Aaron Rogers and, you know, Tom Brady's and the whatnot. They got chips on your shoulder on their shoulders and, like, every athlete has kind of a similar thing. So, this was really it was actually my last stint, playing against the Oakland A's who I was drafted by the cardinals, but I went over there after a year and I spent 5 plus years there. And, you know, it's yeah.
Speaker 2:I could've done better, but I also did well enough to get, in my opinion, do, you know, more bigly time, a little bit more. I only had 2 days with them. So, anyway, after a couple years of being gone with them, I was with the rays and we're doing our west coast swing, playing playing in Oakland in the coliseum, and I was the 25th guy very much so. Like, it didn't matter how I did, I was filling in for guys, but I play in Saturday night and we were Sunday day game, off day the next day, but I was over 3, top of the 9th, tie ball game, 32 count, runner on 2nd base, kinda what you almost dream of as a baseball player anyway. Base hit to right field, go ahead run scores.
Speaker 2:We win by 1, you know, you're doing the interview. You get the the bucket dumped on you, and you're just everything that you can imagine, I got which is phenomenal. Right? Like, that's that's why you play the game. That's why you continue to play the game and grind through and grind through.
Speaker 2:And then I always have to mention after that Sunday day game, I think we're playing on like 10 o'clock because we had a 3 hour flight back or not 3 hour flight, 6 hour flight. 3 hour time difference, you know, back to to Tampa. And I'm not playing. And I know this the night before, despite, like I said, I I went 4 for 401 game and didn't play the next day. Like, it's just part of being a bench player.
Speaker 2:Right? Just kinda know. But I'm sitting there. I think I had a red bull in my hand. I got sunglasses.
Speaker 2:I'm chilling on the bench. It's the top of the first. Steven Souza junior is leading off playing right field. He gets a base hit, steal second base and gets hurt. Like, not bad, but hurt enough.
Speaker 2:And next thing I know, Cash is like, hey, Peter, you're in right field. And I shot up, like, oh, son of a. Not stretch. Not mine. Nothing.
Speaker 2:So, you know, partly my own fault, but also let me come I'm I'm riding into the off day just, maybe I pinch hit, maybe whatever. Go in there, get 4 at bats, 4 strikeouts, just the worst you could possibly imagine. Only player in race history to ever strike out 4 times in a game he didn't start, you know, like, at that on the record books. Maybe that's changed, but I don't know. But, you know, it was just total life ex, experience, baseball, sales, everything.
Speaker 2:You're at your high. Couldn't do any better. Couldn't be feeling better about yourself. And then 10 hours later, I'm just struggling on a 6 hour flight back home. So
Speaker 1:Oh, man. That is that is like that's sports in a nutshell right there, dude.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That is I I I hate to say I hate to tell the story, but I love to tell the story because, you know
Speaker 1:Yeah. No. Listen. Like, that's resiliency is a muscle, Shane. Right?
Speaker 1:Like, that's that's the Yep. That that type of experience makes you, you know, it sounds corny, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So you you look at the way, like, at the time, there couldn't be a like, I couldn't have been more down, or I couldn't have thought that this is the biggest mistake of my career, biggest whatever. And then you flash forward even, a week later, a month later, now what was this? 7 years ago. It's a funny story and you don't even think twice about it.
Speaker 2:So it's always bigger in the moment.
Speaker 1:Yeah. 100%. How would, looking back on your baseball career, Shane, how how do you think your teammates would describe you if if they were asked about you?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I was always a clubhouse guy. I love being in the clubhouse. I got along with everybody in some way, Even the guys that nobody liked with I would be the the guy that would kind of be their friend, which is good because, you know, some of those guys were the best players on the team, you know. Like, you you gotta make sure that, they've got somebody in their ear, somebody who they can rely and support on.
Speaker 2:So, but I was always to just led by example. I was never a big rah rah guy. Still am not a big rah rah guy. Right? It's, hey, this is what you gotta do.
Speaker 2:This is how you do it. People come to me and say, like, hey, is this okay? Like, no. It's not okay. Why why would you do that?
Speaker 2:But, and also just again, especially later in my career when I was in triple a, and I've got, you know, 12 years of of triple a time basically. And, a lot of young kids, the game's gotten super young now. So try to just be that mentor.
Speaker 1:Yeah. The the becoming a veteran is, I saw my my brother do it. Right? My brother played 14 years of professional hockey and was like, you know, those first couple of years, you're the rookie. You're kinda like learning the ropes and then you always have guys that step up and show you the way.
Speaker 1:And then, you know, we we talk a lot about it in our business. It's like first you learn, then you earn, and then you return. Right? And then and I think we see athletes do that that stick around for a long time. It's it's always good to give back to that next generation.
Speaker 1:Talk a little bit, Now did you you did 12 years. Did you have a plan of what life after baseball was gonna look like? Talk a little bit about your your own personal transition story, Shane.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I had zero plan. It's one of those things where as you start to get older with I mean, in baseball. Right? When you're 32, you're a miracle that you're still on the field in any sport.
Speaker 2:But I've known for I had known for years that, like, hey. Like, I'm pretty much done. Like, what am I gonna do after? But one, it's hard to give up the dream. Right?
Speaker 2:Like, hey. I'm still getting contract offers. I'm still playing. And I wanna focus on this, but 2, I don't really know what anything entails. And so that's for me a big passion of mine now is hopefully not what I love what you all are doing, you know, especially in the sales side, but getting together just a different, like, a bunch of resources to let players know.
Speaker 2:And not just players, you got military, you got even college kids who, it's like, hey, what do I wanna do? And understanding what that is day to day. Because that's what I didn't know. I didn't know what sales entail day to day from year 1 to year 10. I didn't know what an accountant was.
Speaker 2:I didn't know all these things. So I just it was hard for me to make that, first step. And so until I actually did that in sales, it was, you know, it's kind of going with the flow which when you're trying to make a decision, the only bad decision you can make is no decision, I think. So
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. We we see, and I think you followed this path, a lot of guys will go and do coaching for a little bit as, like, a stopgap. Is that is that kinda how you ended up as a coach for a little while?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I was very much, you know, one I liked working with kids, you know, I like because I don't love teaching the mechanics of things. I think it's you could have any number of people who who like to do that. But I think that there's a huge gap in baseball with the the mental side. Right?
Speaker 2:Like, where to be, how to to play, like, what to, how to prepare, all these things that I enjoyed. Now, trying to do that with 10 year olds is a little little bit more difficult, but I still did, you know, some lessons and individual stuff that paid the bills while I was, while I was trying to figure out. I had to go back finish school. So you can imagine 12 years after, college, not many credits transferred. So I had I had a lot of makeup to do, but, again, I still love being around the kids.
Speaker 2:I I I love that age. Loved, helping them out.
Speaker 1:How how did, how did sales come across your desk? Like like, how'd you find it, And and talk a little bit about, like, those early those early lessons that you learned as a as a new sales professional.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I always like to say that I I tripped and fell into it. Right? Face first wasn't I didn't know. It's one of those things too.
Speaker 2:Like, I didn't know what sales really was. Right? And there's there's a difference between software sales and medical device sales and car salesman right there. There's a lot of the same ideas, but, again, the day to day is different. Like, how you think about things are different.
Speaker 2:But I've just had a few major life events that happened all like, boom boom boom. And really it was like, hey, Just do something. Right? Like, just make a decision. Like I said, that's the only thing you can't do is not make a decision.
Speaker 2:So I finished my LinkedIn was and I was about to graduate, like, the next month. I had a recruiter reach out and said, hey, I got this this sales job that the hiring manager wants, specifically wants former athletes. He was a former NFL linebacker for the Arizona Cardinals. I mean, pretty simple process to go through, but, man, talking about learning things on the fly early for sure is, you know, it's just a completely different. Same mindset but also applied in such a different way from sports, you know.
Speaker 1:Totally. Yeah. The the the the the parallels between the mindset is undeniable. But to your point, like, you're not you're not in the gym. You're not, you know, throwing the long ball working on arm strength.
Speaker 1:You're, like, you're practicing account research. You're practicing your messaging. You're practicing objection handling, but, like, bringing that athlete, like, high rep, high energy to that new this new, like, group of skills and concepts. That's why guys like your first boss look for guys like you and me and and and former athletes and military veterans, because it is so similar in the mindset. Yep.
Speaker 1:And the resilience the resiliency to the story you told earlier. Like, you are gonna go 0 for 4 Yeah. On Monday. And guess what? You need to come back on Tuesday and get ready to get right back up to the plate.
Speaker 1:Right?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. And I think even too, it's the understanding that, like, hey. Yeah. The the the more you do, the the you want to ideally be able to have a 30 second memory, but also understanding they're like, hey, when you've got a bad day or a bad week, like, don't don't expect you to just, like, not everybody.
Speaker 2:I don't expect myself to just all of a sudden be like, I'm good. Right? Like, there are some things that you gotta do and realize like, hey, just make sure that my o for you know, I just went o for 10. Make sure that doesn't turn into an o for 30. Right?
Speaker 2:Like, you know, yeah. And maybe it turns into an over 15, but just don't, like, don't let it drag out so long that all of a sudden you can't make up for it. So, you know, understanding that just because you know that you wanna get back into it, doesn't mean that you're gonna go suddenly 10 for 10. But
Speaker 1:Absolutely. What what did you find, like, early on, Shane? What did you find from, like, sports that immediately translated for you to, like, helping you as a salesperson? Like, what were some of the trades and skills that immediately translated for you?
Speaker 2:A lot of it for me was, of course, you got the main things that we all think about, right? The discipline, and the drive, the ability to, really have a goal that you don't give up on, despite how unattainable it may seem at the moment. But really, it's not everybody has that capability to be honest. Like, I shouldn't say that. Everybody has that capability, but it takes years years of practice.
Speaker 2:And so that's what sports in general hit gives, you know, us former athletes in particular since that's what I know. Such an advantage is that fact that we've spent years, decades, probably longer in training those muscles to actually apply that because it's everybody can do it, but it's not easy. It's definitely not easy. So, the just the many years that we've got of building that muscle as you said, doing doing those things that Yeah. Translate to not just sales, but really life in general, but sales is is a key one.
Speaker 1:I I I'm also curious to get your take, like, one of the things that I found as an athlete to be a superpower for me was, like, maximizing the time that I have. Right? Like, because as athletes, we come from pretty structured environments, but for much of the off season, it's kinda like, hey. You have to go get better this summer. So, like, we'll or or in your case, this winter for baseball.
Speaker 1:Yep. We'll see you next year. Can you talk a little bit about how that played out for you as as, like, somebody that walked into a career that's fairly it's fairly ambiguous in terms of, like, how you're expected to spend your time? The the outcomes are by no means ambiguous, but how you get there is. Did that Yeah.
Speaker 1:Did that background in athletics help you there?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I was very fortunate. My very first coaching pro ball in short season was he was a little out there, he's a little nuts DJ. He, but he had some really good nuggets if you're paying attention. Right?
Speaker 2:And you really, like, took into what he had a ton of experience. And one of the things that he said that really stuck out to me, very first bus trip from the, Buffalo Airport down to Patavia was, you know, I'll help there. I'll help you. I'll be there for you, but I'm only gonna care as much about your career as you do. Right?
Speaker 2:Like, I'm not gonna care more, I'm not gonna care less. So I the way I took that was like, hey. Alright. I've gotta do this. Like, I'm if I've got the off season, I come into the season, and it's clear that I didn't work, it's clear that I didn't do anything.
Speaker 2:That next spring training like, the guys that did that, like, he, you know, didn't really help a ton. And so, understanding that you are responsible for your career, and I can't say there's any, like, set structure that you can really look at and take into that, off season, but just the mindset of knowing that this is your career, Nobody's gonna be able to make you successful if you don't wanna be successful yourself. And that just helps give you the the motivation. Right? It gives you the why of what why you're doing stuff in the off season when you don't aren't told to.
Speaker 1:I love that. I I wrote that quote down. We only we only care as much as you care. That's awesome. Yep.
Speaker 1:Such a good piece of advice. And it applies to business too, I think. Yep. Really good.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:Now I I don't know if you get these calls. Obviously, I've gotten a lot of them. That's why I started the company. But, like, if a senior from Long Beach calls you and they're interested in sales, what does that conversation look like, Shane?
Speaker 2:The first question I'll always ask is why, you know. You you may not know why, you know, it may just be something that is you see other people do it. But, you know, you have to have a why. Like, that's such a big thing and no matter what you wanna do. And if your why is you wanna make a ton of money, like, honestly, like, great.
Speaker 2:Like, that's that can be a huge motivator in sales for a lot of people. But, you know, it's you need to know that you wanna do this. And so I try to give them a very clear like, hey, this is what I do, being an SDR sucks. Like, it just it's not like, you know, you're in rookie ball essentially just sitting in a clubhouse with cockroaches all around you and but then you think about the fact that, like, hey, this is what you wanna do and you can get to an a e and be a, you know, enterprise a e or get into leadership, like, it's there aren't many better careers than this. So, but making sure that you're gonna spend a year, 2 years, maybe more as an SDR.
Speaker 2:If you don't wanna be into sales, like, you're just gonna it's gonna be 3 years of misery for no reason.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And and and I like that, We I hear a lot is the financial reasoning, which I actually like. I'm okay. I'm okay with a sales rep that's financially motivated. Right?
Speaker 1:Like, as long as it's, like, truly in their bones. Right? Like, I didn't grow up with a lot. I wanna have a lot. Like, that's candidly, like, I'd say my first 5 years of success, that was what drove me.
Speaker 1:Yep. But if the if I would say, like, even if you have, like, a great why about sales and you're not financially motivated, I always tell people like, hey. If you're okay making, like, a mediocre salary, don't do sales because you're it is not worth it. Like, it is way too hard to just go Exactly. And collect a mediocre paycheck for it.
Speaker 2:You know? 100%.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. But the way I look at, a lot of things and like I I love sales, actually, like, there's a lot more to it than I ever thought. Right? Like, you know, there's a lot more theory to it, there's a lot more, to put into practice. There's just a a ton more than I ever imagined, but it's also affords me a great work life balance most of the time.
Speaker 2:Right? Like, I get to go do as much as I enjoy sales. I get to go do the things I also love to do because one, I can work remote. So I can go visit family and work out there, you know. I have the weekends where I can afford to go play golf.
Speaker 2:Right? And so, it's, it's important to, you know, look, you you've gotta whatever you do in your career, do what you love, but also do what gives you the ability to then go do what you love. As long as you enjoy it at least a little bit.
Speaker 1:Exactly. Exactly. I I, I always tell people I love sale. One of the reasons one of the many reasons I love sales is because it's a career that you build around your life and you don't have to build your life around your career. Right?
Speaker 1:Like, it's Yep. The to your point, it's the those first two years, like, you're just gonna have to suck it up a little bit. But, like, if you earn it and you get to the spot that you're in and that I've been in where you're you're, like, a true, like, high ticket enterprise type of seller, you're you're you're right in your ticket for exactly, like, you're gonna be able to coach your kids. You're gonna be able to play golf. You're gonna be able to go on the trip that you wanna go on to.
Speaker 1:So if you can really unlock a lot of that value in your life that you can't get in other career paths, even other career paths that make a lot of money, like being a doctor, being a lawyer, working on Wall Street. Like, those are all very high paid paid gigs where you essentially trade your time for money. Sales is not that situation, you know.
Speaker 2:Yep. 100%. And yep. Any anything else that you
Speaker 1:would add about, like like so let's get into, like, the the tactical side of sales. Like, what do you love about the actual job chain?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. So I got into software sales in particular because I I love the tech side of it. Like, I part of what I consider getting into was just IT in general. Now
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And this is where former athletes have a huge, benefit. Right? I I was talking to MLB, the Players Association has a phenomenal career transition, resource program. And I ended up only kinda doing 1, session, but it was very much the, like, hey, you're gonna be applying to these maybe IT positions, and you have, yeah, 12 years of baseball experience, but that really doesn't translate well. You're gonna be going up against kids who are fresh out of college with 5 years of internships at Google and, you know, you're gonna it's gonna be hard for you to even get past the automated process of it, where you look at sales and your experiences catches somebody's eye immediately.
Speaker 2:And I get to stay involved with the tech community. I get to learn new products. I get to learn things that, are super interesting to me because I know for me and I've I've always known this, but especially the last 3 years. If I'm not passionate about something, I'm not gonna sell. Like, I'm gonna sit there in my chair and be super monotone and quiet and it's just not gonna work.
Speaker 2:So that's the the tech side of it. And I didn't realize when I was playing because you're around 30 guys, at least in the baseball clubhouse, almost 24 hours a day for 6 months. And so, I always thought that, like, I just wanna go do something close doors away from everybody because that's what I did after clubhouses because you needed I needed to recharge that way. But when I got done playing and I realized, like, man, I don't have this social aspect anymore. I don't have, you know, I'm not talking to people.
Speaker 2:You know, COVID didn't help that situation. But, sales is very much one. You're building a team atmosphere with others around you, at least that's how I do. That's why I like kinda smaller companies. But also, you're building champions.
Speaker 2:Right? You're you're going out and now things are getting more in person, but you're you're helping other people, you're talking to them, you're texting them, you're doing all these things that give you that social aspect that I didn't realize that I was missing, but, you know, it's it's a huge part that I enjoy.
Speaker 1:A 100%. A 100%. I guess like to to close it out, Shane, we always ask every guest, we talk a lot, Like, people always ask me, JR, why do you guys focus on athletes and veterans? And my answer is always the same. It's like, these are people that know how to get dialed in.
Speaker 1:And I think we all have a different we all have a, a high level understanding of what that means in sports and the military. Mhmm. For you, what what is being dialed in mean as a sales professional?
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's very much, you get those blinders on, you get focused to where, you know, what what baseball movie was for love of the game? I think it was where, you know, he locks in and all the noise around him goes away. Right? You don't have all these distractions.
Speaker 2:And even at times, and that's so huge when you've got things that you don't wanna do. Right? As an SDR, there are so many things that you don't wanna do. Like, I don't know how many times where I'm just tired and I'm, like, I've got a cold call, a list of 500 people. I'm like, do I wanna do it?
Speaker 2:No. But I dial in, right, like, figuratively and literally. But, like, I I I get this dialed in and put my blinders on and I just do it. And not only do I do it, but I do it well. And I think that's where athletes have this ability to do things that are hard, do things those hard things well, and do them consistently.
Speaker 2:Because, you know, when when you're not focused on all the outside noise, what you're doing is your your primary you're putting all of your skill, all of your effort, all your talents into it.
Speaker 1:100%. I love that answer. The blinders, baby. The blinders. Kane, this was an awesome conversation, man.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. Thank you so much for joining our show. We really appreciate having you on.
Speaker 2:Of course. Yeah. Like I said, I was, I reached out to you all because I'm just so, you know, passionate about what you guys are doing and I wanted to get on here and I wanted to, know, always love sharing my story, what it can help people. And, you know, hopefully, any anybody watching this can take a few nuggets like I did from my my old coach. And, you know, even just one thing over the the 30 minutes is, is worth my time.
Speaker 2:So I
Speaker 1:I'm I'm very likely gonna steal that advice you got from your coach and and lead our training. Like, listen, we are only gonna care about your career as much as you care about your career. I love that. Yep. Thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 2:And and the other part of that too is, you know, I'll care, you know, I'll care as much as you do. So, you know, if if you wanna hit in the cages at 1 AM after the game, I'll be there for you. A 100%, you know. So
Speaker 1:Sign me up, baby. I love it.
Speaker 2:I love it. Yep.
Speaker 1:Thanks for joining my friend.
Speaker 2:Of course, man. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:This wraps up this episode of Merchants of Change. If you enjoyed this episode, the most meaningful way to save banks is to submit a review wherever you listen to
Speaker 2:www.shiftgroup.i0.
