From Overlooked to Overbooked, with Luis Baez – Episode 459 of The Action Catalyst
- Posted by Action Catalyst
- On May 28, 2024
- 0 Comments
- Adam Outland, Business, coaching, entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, revenue, sales, social media, success, tech

Luis Báez, a Sales Enablement Strategist who has worked with tech giants like LinkedIn, Uber, Tesla, and Google, explains why LinkedIn in is the best employment experience he’s ever had, what parts of sales make him feel icky and why you don’t need them, the massive value of community, how the same customers behave radically differently depending on the platform they’re engaging with, creating a “water cooler” in a virtual setting, thriving through intrapreneurship, and accepting messiness.
About Luis:
Luis Báez is a Sales Enablement Strategist and Sales Consultant dedicated to serving online business owners including consultants, coaches, B2B startups, and SaaS companies, and has worked with tech giants like LinkedIn, Uber, Tesla, and Google.
With over 14 years of experience in Sales & Marketing, Luis brings a breadth of knowledge and experience that spans digital advertising, software, and sustainability — with a revenue impact of over $600 Million to date. A Bronx-raised, proud, Puerto Rican-American and former Silicon Valley C-Suite professional, Luis is dedicated to helping business owners and employees build themselves as better people—full stop. Luis has spent time at some of the biggest Silicon Valley startups, including LinkedIn, Google, Uber, Tesla, and more, as well as WebMD and the BBC. Luis has also served as the Global Director of Revenue Enablement at Deputy (a SaaS Workforce Management Product Company).
He’s also a published author through the internationally-recognized Madecraft organization, and was recently named an official Linkedin Instructor averaging 1.2K learners a day.
Learn more at LuisBaez.com.
The Action Catalyst is presented by the Southwestern Family of Companies. With each episode, the podcast features some of the nation’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing meaningful tips and advice. Learn more at TheActionCatalyst.com, subscribe below or wherever you listen to podcasts, and be sure to leave a rating and review!
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(Transcribed using A.I. / May include errors):
Adam Outland
Hello, Action Catalyst listeners. Today, our guest is Luis Baez. He has been a sales enablement strategist at companies like LinkedIn, Uber, Tesla, and Google. Luis Baez has spent 14 years of his experience in sales and marketing, bringing a breadth of knowledge and experience that spans digital advertising software and sustainability with a revenue impact of over 600 million to date. Good to meet you!
Luis Baez
You as well.
Adam Outland
So Luis, talk to me a little bit about your background, how did you get started in the world of sales?
Luis Baez
It was really by chance. I am the first generation versus my family, every single college education and you know, wanting the best outcome, of course, it’s like doctor, lawyer of business person, trying to being a doctor hated it, went to law school, dropped out, hated it. And then after that, I had a friend who was working on the marketing team at WebMD. And she said to me, you don’t know this, but you’ve got this magnetism about you. And you have a way of just commanding people like you, you have a presence. And I wonder if sales might be for you. And so she referred me in and I went through eight rounds of interviews for an ad sales job knowing nothing about advertising, or online business or tech or even working in corporate because I’ve been filled in and we’re nonprofit, and legal, that experience cemented if nothing else, my capacity to sell myself, we then went through eight rounds of interviews, and I got a job offer.
Adam Outland
All right! I’d love to hear a little bit more about that. I know one of your big talking points is intrapreneurship. What did that look like for you at a few of these different companies?
Luis Baez
Yeah, I want to say that I didn’t really realize that I was an intrapreneur. I didn’t understand what that meant, or the capacity for that until I stepped away from corporate and became an entrepreneur. And I started an online business and a consultancy. I would sell online programs and consult other startups. And it was then that I realized that I had it so good as an account executive, because they handled my legal, they handled my marketing, right, they took care of everything, all of the overhead and all I did was sell and walk home with the cash. And that’s when it clicked for me that I thought that I didn’t have the capacity to be an entrepreneur, I thought I was starting from scratch. But I realized that I’d been conditioned for working in that way. Because I’ve been an individual contributor, working in enterprise sales and closing over half a billion dollars for these bigger companies, right. And so I developed that awareness of the fact that I was worrying or capable were in both of these acts of managing a book of business within a business on behalf of the business, but also being able to do that for myself, and for my own team. And so with the intrapreneurship, apple fell on my head when I stepped away from corporate. And as I stepped back in, I moved in the path of revenue enablement, because I had done all the sales things I had walked the path of or climbed the ladder from sales support to sales executive to sales leader. And what I came to realize is that my happy place was really in that sweet spot around people development and coaching and guiding people through the sales process. And that’s ultimately, you know, what led me down the path I’m walking down now and because I had a friend who looked at me and said, well, at some point Olympians that qualify for events, and they can continue to compete and other events, but they ultimately pivot towards coaching and training the next Olympian and so maybe that’s your path. And and sure enough, it was.
Adam Outland
What were some of the key differences for you, though, from building your own practice versus working for one?
Luis Baez
I think, starting your own business, you have to be an adrenaline junkie, it’s all on you. Right? That’s it to get started. You’re going to get help from other experts. You’re going to you know, pull people into projects, launches, development, etc. You’re gonna iron people as you go. But at the onset, it’s it’s actually a really lonely process, and you’ve got to work really hard and diligently to build a network around yourself. But the thing that I am clear about after having had these experiences is that the method, the methodologies or the approach when it comes to selling or sales, it’s really the same, right? When you think about taking someone from not knowing you are understanding what it is that you offer, to visualizing the transformation after having worked with you to seeing results at the end, and your capacity to influence and guide and consult. Those are skills that I think are universal, no matter how it is, you’re showing up, whether you’re an entrepreneur or an entrepreneur.
Adam Outland
And I guess for our listeners, how would you define intrapreneurs that you help?
Luis Baez
An intrapreneur is someone that has a share of the business, and operates and functions as someone who holds himself accountable for their shares of the business? Right. And so the context for that is coming up in the tech industry. It’s no secret that part of the incentives that you see well for working in tech include a salary and equity in the company or options, right. And so when you think about it, if you’re receiving shares in the business, that means you own a piece of it, right. And if you aren’t a pizza, then the way that you show up needs to be aligned with that, rather than having a passive experience and just clocking in and clocking out, let go of the title, let go of the ego, and just assume and claim the title of being a boss in this business and show up like one. Think about how you spend the first hour of your day. Think about the people that you surround yourself with building your own board of advisors, think about even the way that you run point on projects, holding yourself accountable and leaving nothing to chance. And that shift has to happen with that realization that I own a piece of this business, I’m not just an employee of it.
Adam Outland
Yeah. So what I’m hearing you say is almost like a mindset of treating your job less like a job and more like an owner.
Luis Baez
Exactly. Mindset and a work ethic for sure.
Adam Outland
What are some organizations or companies in your experience that do this well?
Luis Baez
The best career experience I’ve ever had was at LinkedIn, the culture is bar none. And I mean, you would expect so right there, the world’s largest professional network. And so the the ways that you build your career and the kind of career experience that you have, are very carefully designed. So I borrow a lot of, you know, my ideas and my playbooks from the experiences that I had there. And from the leaders that I engaged with while I was there.
Adam Outland
I’m always intrigued by companies that are able to create that culture.
Luis Baez
And it’s not, not impossible, right, I’m gonna say that it certainly takes some time and some effort and investment. It takes some shedding of old skin and old assumptions about how we do business and how we should be doing business. But once you let go, and you put your faith in the process, and in the methodology, it can be a really wonderful experience for everyone. Right? It can be a really wonderful experience for you, as a leader to see that your team is optimally productive when people are happy. And, you know, you are, you know, trending to hit your own goals, you know, for your higher ups. And then the people who are engaging directly with customers, right, they, they feel a sense of responsibility to the customer in a very different way. They feel like a stakeholder and an owner in it.
Adam Outland
You know, we talk a lot on our podcast about the different levels of confidence and expertise at something and how that’s developed over time. What was your journey in sales? When did you make some big leaps? And what were some of the setbacks?
Luis Baez
How much time have you had left? So you know, for context, again, I, I’m someone that’s first generation didn’t have any family that have worked corporate, so I didn’t have any sense for like, how to navigate these spaces. I’m also an old gay man. And so I inherently have connected with leaders and colleagues and people that didn’t really make me feel welcomed or found ways to try to throw daggers at my back or interrupt my sales flow or my relationships with customers, right? Like I’ve had some issues like really navigating my career. And so I want to contextualize all of that I think it’s really important to recognize that not everyone has this sort of work experience where we get to clock in and clock out. Some of us have to do double time while we’re on the clock. At first I fumbled when it came to sales and Sally I wanted to control the conversation and be the smartest person in the room and I didn’t want to lose face right then there was so much anxiety because I’d never been trained. But as I progressed and I was moving up the ladder I started to become methodical in my approach. I started to think about okay in when I walk into conversations with customers, typical profile, same anxiety, same line of questions I’m going to make you know, make sure that I’m prepared with answers examples, case studies that etc. So it took some time to build that fluency and understanding the customer very confidently addressing their hesitation and objection, right that was like one big skill and very Have confidence that I developed over time. And then there was this other thing about the the mindset shift, right? Like once I got comfortable with like a methodical repeatable process to selling that took away the anxiety from me showing up for that customer, but also ensured that like I wasn’t showing up and throwing up and actively listening to the customer, right, then there was the pursuit of bigger deals, we’re going from selling $200,000 deals to $2 million deals to $20 million deals, the mindset shift, as I kept going up in my career from you know, from selling mid market and enterprise sales, what I came to realize is that, it actually takes the same amount of anxiety, effort, process, resources, etc. To close a $200,000 deal as it does a $20 million deal. The difference is my capacity and my self awareness and self confidence, that swagger that I really only developed from, again, all the experiences that I had messing up deals, getting the feedback and fighting against all things against me to get my place to the starting line of the race. But then even just thinking about, like, the mistakes that, you know, I experienced with customers, the fumbles, etcetera, like all of that conditioned me eventually to get to a place where I was comfortable with my process, and I just needed to trust that it would help me and that I would succeed moving on to bigger accounts. You know, truth be told, you know, it was messy throughout, right. But as I moved up, so did my confidence. Along the way, I had some examples of really amazing leaders, one of the best examples of leadership that I’ve experienced today was at LinkedIn, you know, this was my first tech job, I’d been recruited to work at the company super excited. But I’d come from very toxic sales environments and sales floors, where, you know, it’s that always be closing mentality, people yelling at you running, you know, drilling you on your numbers, you know, like it was a high pressure, high anxiety environment. So I was conditioned to just like, always know, my numbers, always be ready to talk about them on the spot, you know, just being on online, logged on. And it was a vastly different, it was a totally different experience than I was expecting, because my director steps into the row, she was two minutes late, and she apologized to everyone in the room, plugged her laptop and projected her laptop on the screen. And on the screen was her calendar, and it was wild and color coded and filled to the brim. And she opened up by holding herself accountable. I’m sorry, I was late. Here’s where I was, here’s what I was doing. This is what I’m working on this week. This is how I prioritize our requests. These are the time blocks that I’ve dedicated to working on these things. These are the meetings that are happy to move on these things before drilling us. She held herself accountable, and demonstrated to us the way that we should be thinking about our time and how we manage I was blown away.
Adam Outland
Yeah, I love that. You know, it sounds like you’re also pretty self taught. What were some of the key books, things that you’ve read or listened to around the world of sales that helped you develop and hone your craft?
Luis Baez
I actually hate most of the sales content that exists. I think it’s a matter of there are things that are lacking in the sales content that I often consume. And I think that there’s a lack of focus on wellness and mental health. When I approach coaching someone, I understand that the way that they think influences the way that they behave and therefore influences their outcomes. When I think about a lot of these authors, gurus and the content that exists out there, a lot of it is about squeezing the opportunity, squeezing the micromoments, squeezing and cornering the customer and maximizing the value and doubling the deal. But I think that over time, what I really what has helped me stand out from the crowd is that I actually don’t have that approach. I’m not Sharky or sleazy, I’m not the high pressure seller. Over time, I figured out my style. And it was really after reading all the books, and not feeling that they really spoke to me and then going off and trying my own thing. And I think that actually, the books that have helped me the most are actually not the sales books. It’s the psychology and the copywriting books, right, that capacity to master neurolinguistics and persuasion and reading a room, I think has helped me a lot more than a 10 step process for discovery that is, you know, known to yield 10x results that didn’t do it for me.
Adam Outland
So maybe coming back to you kind of are a double duty, right. You work for deputed today, but you also have your own consultancy still. So what’s been the balancing act of that?
Luis Baez
It’s it’s an imbalanced act. That is for sure. Right? There are moments where my career requires a lot more of my time and my attention and focus than I have to allow for them. and create the space for that, because I’m still very committed to the work that I’m doing in the ways that I’m growing this tool row that I’m walking, I haven’t quite achieved everything I want to walking down that path. At the same time. I’m in Enneagram two, I’m an empath. I’m an introvert, I love to just help people. And even though I don’t actively, I don’t have a full roster of clients at all times, like I used to, when I was doing it full time solopreneur ship, I still get people reaching out to me working on some really amazing ideas, really brilliant business models that have you know, social and equity component to it that I really admire and respect. And as these opportunities come up, I can’t say no to the chance to step in and advise and consultant, and to help implement sales processes or to help interview their first sales hire, or even write the job description or that right and thinking about, you know, ways that I can help other businesses that deserve a standing chance, get that jumpstart, and honor the trust that they’re putting in me, but it’s hard, I’m not going to sugarcoat it ambition is, is like playing with fire, sometimes you’ve got to know and you’ve got to dip out. And I think that over time, I have learned to recognize those moments where my cup is overflowing, and I need to set boundaries. And I need to also go offline. And that’s really important too. Because when you’re grinding, you stop producing good ideas. When you’re tired and exhausted, not just like the physical fatigue, when we when you reach that mental fatigue, no one’s going to benefit from it. And so you have to go offline, you need to get your sleep you need to get your workouts in. I’ve also gotten into the floating spa, I don’t know if you’ve ever had that experience. If you get into a sensory deprivation pool. It’s a saltwater, you just lay there and it’s like you just melt into time and space. You have to you have to actively do this. Why I mentioned earlier like one of the things that’s missing from the books that I read often around leadership and sales. It’s like, you got to take care of number one. And that’s the conversation that we don’t have enough. It’s like I am not AI powered. I’m human. I have my batteries need add, you know, and intentional recharging.
Adam Outland
So it’s really important to recognize when that is for sure. When you got into your consulting practice. I mean, this is something that a lot of listeners have thought about doing. A lot of our listeners did make that jump for themselves, whatever that business was, what were the biggest surprises for you?
Luis Baez
I thought I had a leg up because I knew business right before going into business. For myself, I worked as an executive selling to Fortune 500 C level executives Running the Numbers working with all the analysts, etc. I got bought, I knew how to run a business. And so even before I stepped into that space, had the website together had the offer together sales pages, the emails, everything like setup and running. I was like, yes, I’ve got this right. If you build it, they will come and I built it. And then I no one should know it. So it was like, Okay, I’m not competing against anyone, it’s just me at the starting line of this race, right? It doesn’t matter a solo marathon that I’m about to go on and in my fever to get started. And to get everything looking just right. I overlooked the fact that like, I didn’t have like an email list or following or anything I was starting from scratch, got the LLC set up about the accountant and all these things going on in the background, because I thought I knew how to run a business. But it is very different when you are out here putting yourself out there. And there are probably 1000 ways to crack this egg. And it’s a matter of testing, refining and optimizing. But also like showing up authentically or like if it took me a while to step away from running ads, and doing all those things that the Guru’s and everyone said you should do when you’re running an online business, right? I found my sweet spot and teaching and guests teaching and, and guest speaking. And this is what I love doing this is the intersection of doing something that I love and doing something that’s super effective for my brand and my business. And so I just want to encourage anyone who’s listening to this and going Yes, I hear what you’re saying. I don’t know, you know, I’ve tried cracking the eggs, you know, 800 out of 1000 ways, like what should I do next? Do what feels right and do it well.
Adam Outland
Yeah, great advice. And so you’re you found part of the solution to your one of your challenges on starting your business was providing education to your audience as a way to build trust. You chose LinkedIn as a platform for that? I feel like that’s what I read.
Luis Baez
LinkedIn and Instagram and Facebook groups because I a lot of folks that step into online business and solopreneurs solo practitioner sort of work will often join communities on Facebook, they’ll follow other online teachers and things like that. have communities and so one of the ways that I would build my roster of clients is like jumping into these communities adding massive value. And then eventually people, you know, would tap my shoulder and say, I’d love to talk to you and learn more. Same thing on Instagram. And then same thing on LinkedIn. LinkedIn for it, for me, will always be Bay. And it’s not just because I worked there like I, I ended up being recruited at LinkedIn, because of my activity on LinkedIn. Like, literally the recruiter was like, You’re active, do you want to come talk to us about teaching other people how to use LinkedIn, and it’s been the perfect place to showcase my myself in the work that I do across every space that I move.
Adam Outland
You know, a lot of folks will, you know, ask where do I build my community?
Luis Baez
Different customer intent, if everyone had like, break it down from there, but the same person that I might be engaging with will spend their time on LinkedIn differently than on on Instagram, when I engage with them on LinkedIn, I’m offering advice. When I’m hanging out with them on Instagram, we’re sharing memes, you know, it’s the watercooler versus the boardroom, right. And when you think about engaging with your colleagues, or co workers or customers in everyday situation than physical spaces, yeah, there are moments where you button up because it’s time to do business. And there are moments where you let your hair down. And so I have to think about how to create those experiences and in virtual settings, and that’s ultimately what was my approach, you know, I had a different presence on each channel. I was engaging with the same pool of business owners who were on these platforms for their own marketing needs, or maybe researching and sourcing customers for themselves.
Adam Outland
Yeah, were you kind of a super user, I guess, of this form of like, does this how you digested your content?
Luis Baez
A lot of trial and error, and a lot of coming up against like, I actually did not, like the idea of using Instagram for Business, right? Like, it’s where I hung out with, like my cousin, my Auntie’s my bestie is that to set up a business account for business purposes, and I am someone that like, it was so like, buttoned up and corporate and like, you know, didn’t want to lose face. It’s like, I was coming off too serious on the platform, right, and I wasn’t getting the results, or I wasn’t making the connections that I wanted. Lots of learning about how to show up learning from everyone else. And, and that’s a time committed, I’m also someone that doesn’t actually like to spend a whole lot of time on social media, right? I try to say, I literally set a timer, open the app, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, timer goes off. We’re done. You have to have boundaries, because you could literally spend an entire day on LinkedIn or Instagram and not make a single dollar.
Adam Outland
Yeah. Great. You know, with all the experience that you’ve had to date, what feedback or advice would you give a young version of yourself like a 21 year old Luis that’s coming up? What do you say that 21 year old version of you would need to hear from yourself today?
Luis Baez
Start sooner, and it’s going to be messy no matter how much you try. So just get used to that. The younger me was like this perfectionist about a 10 year plan. I grew up in poverty. first in my family receiving education, I wasn’t going to blow my shot, like I had a method, there was a way that I was going to continue to grow and come up in my career. And I think because of that I delayed starting things. Or, you know, because it wasn’t the right time. Or I didn’t start because it didn’t look right. Or it was messy or wasn’t perfect, right. But over time I’ve learned and the power of progress over perfection. So if I could go back to my younger self, I would impart that knowledge on them and say, everything you want is going to happen. Everything that you deserve is already in motion. Start now done slap lipstick on it later.
Adam Outland
That’s good. We’re gonna get you a t shirt made that says that. So we always ask our guests how success is defined by them. Because you know, it’s such a generic word. When you define success, what does it mean to you? And how do you know when you’ve achieved it?
Luis Baez
That’s an excellent question. Success for me, means being in control of my time and working on the things that I want to work on when I want to work on them. What influences that is some you know, I have been working since the age of 14, when it was legal to work in the state of New York. My first job was scrubbing toilets at McDonald’s. And I have to do what I had to do to save up for college and I worked three jobs while in college to get through it. Right. I have always done what I had to do to get to where I wanted to be. And my ultimate goal is to be in control of my time and not do the things that I don’t want to do and only work on the things that I want to that will be the indicator of success when I have that time and those options.
Adam Outland
I love that. Luis, this has been an enlightening conversation; anything you want to guide our our viewers or listeners to?
Luis Baez
I appreciate that. I think we’ve spent some time talking really high level today. But I’m really a tactical person step once that to start doing start moving, take action, right? And if you are feeling fired up after listening to this and want to do something to elevate yourself or your sales process or whatever that might be, add on over to learn from luis.com. And you’ll be able to check out all of my programs and free courses there.
Adam Outland
Awesome. Yeah, appreciate it. Luis, thanks so much for your time today.
Luis Baez
Thank you. This has been a really fun conversation. Super easy, breezy. I just appreciate the space to just show up as my whole self tell my story and thank you so much.
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