Interview with Justin Wynter - Senior Enterprise Account Executive, Salesforce

Justin Wynter compare his approach to sales as he is gets older with his passion for running. When he was growing up, he was a sprinter in track and field, competing in the 100 meter and 200 meter. But now that he is getting older, he has gotten into distance running. In his career, when he was younger in his career, Justin might have gone for a quick close, but now he  compares the sales cycle to a marathon, where developing long-term relationships are more important than the quick closes.

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Guest - Justin Wynter
Host - Carl Grant
Producer - Seth Grant

Transcript

Carl Grant: 0:18

Welcome to Rainmakers! I'm here with Justin Wynter senior enterprise account executive for Salesforce. Welcome, Justin.

Justin Wynter: 0:27

Carl, thank you for having me. Excited to be here.

Unknown: 0:30

Yeah, absolutely. So I'm looking through your background and thinking about things that you've done. It looks like you started out doing some real estate. You went to Wharton, and then you moved into sports management, and you had some kind of cool jobs with the Spurs. Talk to me a little bit about that, and how business development played into that role.

Justin Wynter: 0:52

Yeah, yeah, it was, it was a great experience I've loved and still love sport, sports entertainment. And my primary focus was the Austin Spurs when I joined the team. It was the Austin Toros and kind of, we did a little bit of a rebrand in 2014 over to Austin Spurs. And so I started out primarily looking to build our corporate sponsorships, corporate partnerships. So definitely, you know, the business development side, establishing relationships with business owners, decision makers at different companies around Austin and and sort of my role continued to expand from from there, but it's just an amazing experience and and learned a lot when it came to relationship building. And, and in revenue generation, some really cool experience.

Carl Grant: 1:39

Then the Spurs moved down to San Antonio did that not so

Justin Wynter: 1:44

everyone knows kind of the San Antonio Spurs, right, the our NBA team and five championships and amazing winning culture, they have a G league team called the Austin Spurs, which is, if you're familiar with the minor league baseball system, it's kind of a similar, sort of setup a little bit of a farm system. Some would say for the San Antonio Spurs and got a front row seat for a lot of the young talent that has said that the San Antonio Spurs with a draft, they would start them in Austin. And and they would, they would move their way onto the San Antonio Spurs roster. deshante Murray, Bryn Forbes, who since moved on to the Milwaukee Bucks. earlier on, that was Cory Joseph, we have Jonathan Simmons, this just some amazing players, amazing people. And to be able to tell that story and be a part of that story. When building our corporate base was a lot of fun.

Carl Grant: 2:34

Talk to me about how you went about developing those business relationships and cultivating them and getting them involved.

Justin Wynter: 2:41

Yeah, you know, the relationship piece is really, really big for me, I think. It's very easy to, you know, if you think ticket sales, right, think ticket sales, corporate sponsorship sales are kind of the two revenue pillars, major revenue pillars of a of a G league franchise, it can be very easy to go and be transactional, right? And, you know, hey, let me tell you this, and then can continue to move and you have to play the numbers game, right? For every 10 conversations I have one may result in business. But it's really important to approach every single conversation with authenticity, curiosity, you know, in a genuine willingness to to get to know the person and that was always really important to me. And I've learned that, you know, over time and wanted to make sure that people saw me as as a trusted adviser, you know, maybe in an ideal situation, a friend, right, but you know, at the very least a trusted advisor and not just sales guy, business development guy vendor, right. And so, over over time, I think you're getting better at that. And, and, you know, one of my favorite things would be, you know, years would go by, and I'd be working with someone and I say, Hey, you know, my son's graduate from high school, my kids at the same son that I when I first met you, he was going into middle school, and we're, we're talking about that, or I'm a big birthday guy, right? You know, oh, yeah, you know, your son 17th birthday, right? They had you remember, like, I just I love those kinds of things, and building relationships that way, in a way that's more meaningful. And oh, by the way, here's a contract and we'll sign right. But, you know, the relationship comes first. And because ultimately, particularly in sports, you know, we would find, you know, there's lots of different things to sell right? But in sports, you're not necessarily necessarily selling a need, right? You're you're selling a story you're you're selling an experience and you're selling relationship right a lot of times they may want to do a company may want to do business with the Austin Spurs because of a relationship with with the person that they that they know they're versus, you know, that this this overwhelming business need. And so that that's something that was very important to me, during my entire time.

Carl Grant: 4:53

Well, that seems to be a theme of these podcasts is that most of the people I've talked to are relational rather than transactional. And There's a big difference. I see it a lot of in the mergers and acquisitions world where we're, you know, people are on to the next transaction, that's all I can think about is the next transaction or the next in the software business, the VAC sale, you know, smile and dial and try to get the next close. But, but you and I have a much different long term approach to the market. And that approach is one that will, you know, these relationships follow you wherever you go, you know, right, today, you're, you're representing Salesforce salesforce.com. And that's much much different than a sports team. And so, talk to me about how those relationships you develop out of all those years of doing sports have translated into working for a software platform.

Justin Wynter: 5:46

Yeah, absolutely. And, yeah, I got the I got the opportunity to make the move to Salesforce and have jumped in. And it's been it's been a It's been an amazing ride so far. And I think, you know, part of it is the, you know, that mentioned of cultivating relationships, you know, part of part of that is, is knowing your limitations, right. And so, you know, something I benefited from a lot was was just amazing mentorship with with the Spurs, right. And there's amazing people in that in that organization. And, you know, Tim salir, and Ryan Snyder and Frank maselli, who's like a legend in the industry, we're really, really crucial for me. And so identifying mentors, and maybe taking a little bit from from each has really helped set me up for success with Salesforce and identifying, you know, similar individuals within that organization. And so, I think cultivating relationships not only with, you know, prospects or people we may be selling to, but also within the organization was something that I learned with us for sports entertainment. And so, back to your back to your question on the Salesforce piece. You know, it's it's truly it's a marathon, right? It's, um, yeah, when I growing up in high school, I was I was, I ran track and field that was a sprinter. I love sprinting, 100 meter 200 meter, but now it's gotten older, I've actually gotten into distance running, you know, run half marathons and, and it's a different body type different muscles, different workout. But I'm actually finding myself appreciating this, this long game a lot more. And I think about that as it pertains to sales. And with Salesforce, you know, knowing my limitations of being new to the industry, knowing my limitations and leveraging and then build and then leaning on the people around me has been a big learning piece for me and but then also never stopping the curiosity, right, because I'm new to the industry. Asking questions about about the businesses asking questions about, you know, where their pain points are. All those things that that I've learned throughout my career have really helped me as I've gotten into this career with Salesforce

Carl Grant: 8:26

Did you take some of those same relationships with you? Are you doing business with the same people?

Justin Wynter: 8:30

You know, it's a little bit different. It's a little bit different. A lot of a lot of my clients in in Salesforce are not in Austin, right? They're there, the western half of the US, but not not in Austin. They're their accounts spread across the west coast. And so it's a little bit different. But in that way, it's it's been exciting to start some new relationships, right. And so to ask new questions, and and truly come in is, Hey, I'm the new guy. I'd love to know, how did you get to where you are today? And, you know, your business is thriving. You tell me, tell me about that. How'd you get there? Like I loved to be able to dig into those conversations from a fresh perspective.

Carl Grant: 9:09

So look, I like to go to areas in this podcast where other people don't go so nobody would know by looking at the listening to you that you're you're a black man, but you're a black man. And, and we live in this world of diversity and inclusion. It's become a big buzzword and I kind of grew up in a kind of a colorblind society where, you know, it was very diverse. We didn't think about these things, but like, you can't get away from it today in today's business world. So how is that work for you as it has it? Has it been a colorblind society or have you found some of these initiatives to help you or or what?

Justin Wynter: 9:43

Well, I think just to start off, I mean that that's probably the number one thing about me and I that's that's the you mentioned, no one would know that from hearing from me, but that's the number one thing that I'm I'm proud of, right and that I wear every every day in my life is is being a person of color, right? I think being a black man and then representing you know, my family and who I am very well and so it's not a colorblind society by any means. But I also I look at this as I listened to one of your you've got I'm now a fan of your podcast Carl's Jr. Several several episodes now and you've got you've had you've had some friends on here Tim Donahue and Rene bangles, Dorf, who I've had the privilege of working with a little bit, she was a great supporter of the Austin Spurs, she mentioned, you know, being one of the only females and in a male dominated industry, but but turning that around to, to some that she really owned, right and made her own

Carl Grant: 10:38

Oh, she absolutely did.

Justin Wynter: 10:39

Yeah. And then it is awesome story. And I think, you know, that's something, you know, maybe in a slightly different way, but I, you know, me being a black man is is is something that I'm so proud of, and I wear with with pride, and that's something I own and then if I can, if I can use that, to promote the, the success of other people that look like me, kid to give back wherever I can and be a resource that that's something I that's, that's number one for me. So I don't look at it as a limitation at all I look at it as, as a source of pride. And, and I always have, and so I You'll never see me sort of pretending to not be or pretending to be I'm just going to be my authentic self. And, and bring that to the table and let everyone else to sort of adjust around me if you know that that's meant to be the best way to put that. But that's that's the big thing about me is the pride that I have for being who I am.

Carl Grant: 11:40

That's fantastic. So I found I was doing a lot of the right things all throughout my career just because it was the right thing to do when we'd have pitch events, you know, half the presenters would be minority or female and, and then all of a sudden society woke up a year ago. And and I didn't I didn't know how to react to that. I'm like, Alright, so should I should I frown upon the fact that they're, they're waking up because of really bad things have happened. But I didn't I realized, you know what, we've got a running head start with what we've been doing. So let's just let's just accelerate and, and seize the opportunity with all these relationships we've developed over time. And and so I don't know, I kind of embraced it. And, you know, glad the rest of the society is is caught on. I don't know, if you look at it that way.

Justin Wynter: 12:29

These are, Carl, these are conversations we've had, we've needed to have for a long time, or some have been more comfortable having those types of conversations, some haven't. Unfortunately, it took some some very, very serious situations in 2020 to force us all to come to the table. But um, you know, the way I look at it is it's an ongoing thing, right? It's not a holiday. It's not a not a single flashbulb moment. It's, it's, you know, it's a lifestyle and and, and so if anything good came out of 2020. I think maybe it's forcing us to have those conversations more regularly. And that's something it's certainly the forefront of my mind. Yeah, well, I think it would have been silly for me to try to do this podcast without talking about it.

Carl Grant: 13:11

And so Justin, what what I want to get from you is a young person listening to this podcast, maybe in college, maybe just starting out, and they're like, Man, this guy's really, you know, he's gotten to Wharton, he's, he's worked for the Spurs. He's working at Salesforce, he's an achiever. What advice do you have for for young people that want to emulate you?

Justin Wynter: 13:35

Well, I think the mention of cultivating relationships that that can't be overstated. You know, I've, you and I've talked offline about this too, Carl, like just just relationships are so important and so central, you can't No, no person is an island and in no matter what you're doing, even if you're not in business development, the relationships are going to serve you well. Integrity, right, like that's, and I'll come clean on this podcast I, I have, especially just starting out into the workforce. You know, I there were times where I fell short with that, and that that came back to bite me and, and so I needed to make sure and I need to make sure that that is number one. You know, being being being truthful, being who I say I am, you know, following through all of those things, be because the other people you work with, expect that and that's that's how you can can truly, truly develop relationships. So integrity, if someone's just starting out, you know, making sure that that they have a good sense of self and that and that they're ready to be ready to follow through and be authentic all the way through. And if you are rejected, you know, for any reason. You know, make sure that that's based on what you are truly bringing to the table. And so I think that's a big one. I think the other one probably goes without saying and I've heard others say this too, Carl is just Hard work right? Nothing replaces good old fashioned hard work. I say all the time I hit the jackpot with my parents like my mom and dad are amazing, just amazing, amazing people and I probably didn't realize it until I became a parent myself and now I'm like sounding like my mom and I'm repeating things my dad was saying, but one of the things that they never really had to say they just lived was was hard work. They worked they were they were people that you know, got up went to work and you know, no complaints and I think that is something that rubbed off on me more than anything else and so if you ask anyone that that's worked with me over the years if nothing else I'm going to work very hard and and that's that's something I don't take my employment for granted I don't take you know my career for granted my status anything I you know, every every single day I want to make sure I'm getting up and working as hard if I can and I would definitely want to make sure that you know anyone starting out in a career approaches it that way as well you know that there's nothing some sometimes entry level positions right you may be asked to do something a little outside of your comfort zone. You may be asked to do you know, some some work that I want I want to be I wish I was up here when you may need to start down here right and then but just making sure that you're you're doing it you know, doing it with pride and and giving it your all so that you can get to where you eventually want to go.

Carl Grant: 16:28

Well, it seems so common sense and almost old fashioned. It's great advice. Justin Wynter Senior Enterprise Account Executive for Salesforce. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Justin Wynter: 16:38

Thank you, Carl. Appreciate it.

Carl Grant: 16:40

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