9: Richard Rivera - The Art of Building Champions
With 18 months and no sales, Richard Rivera had to rethink his approach. He shares the stories behind two gamechanging career deals that cemented him as a sales rockstar closing $50M+ contracts. We discuss his book "The Champion Sell" and how champion relationships, emotional connections, and certainty fueled his success.
Episode Summary
18 months without a sale pushed Richard Rivera to rethink his approach. He shares the stories of two of his gamechanging career deals.
In the episode, we talk about Richard's new book, The Champion Sell. He shares how champion relationships, emotional connections, and certainty transformed him into a sales rockstar closing $50M+ deals.
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:04:00 - Richard's Early Struggles at BladeLogic
00:06:20 - Turning his confidence around through stories
00:08:00 - Deal #1: The deal that turned it around (the Aha deal)
00:18:20 - Building champions at Dell
00:23:00 - The big negotiation & close
00:29:30 - Gaining Certainty Through Visualization
00:34:30 - Deal #2: AT&T - The record setting $50M deal
00:42:26 - Last Minute Deal Drama
00:45:00 - Game theory in Sales
00:50:50 - Why people should care about The Champion Sell
00:57:35 - Richard's mentors and what they taught him
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