Steve, the Sales Professional

“Carmine’s books are like having a cheat code to a video game”

The Challenge

Steve is a sales professional at a global software company with nearly 12,000 employees and $4 billion in annual revenue. Two years ago, Steve attempted to transition from an engineer into a sales role. The company was assembling a team of “evangelists” who would speak about the company’s products to customers, partners, and analysts. Their job was to stir up excitement for the company’s software and technology solutions. Steve didn’t get the job. As an engineer, his resume didn’t reflect his communication skills. Steve set out to prove that he could be an exceptionally persuasive salesperson.

The Transformation

Using Carmine’s books as a guide, Steve worked on his presentation, public-speaking and storytelling skills. Although he wasn’t on the global evangelist team, Steve transitioned into a sales role at the company to promote cloud-based solutions. “When I first moved into a sales role I struggled with explaining complicated technology solutions (VoIP PBX, Unified Communications) to non-technical people. I found that presenting and demonstrating our solutions in a way which was memorable and easy to digest was not something anyone could do well—among both my peers and competitors…After discovering your books, I realized they were like having the cheat code for a video game. After digesting and applying the concepts you outlined, I was able to explain our solutions much more simply, which helped me stand out from peers and my competitors.”

The Result

Nobody underestimates Steve today. In the annual sales meeting, the company’s CEO recognized Steve on stage. Steve received the CEO Excellence Award, which comes with “an incredible financial award.” The CEO said, “We need ten more people like Steve.” Meet Steve in this video: “Give me an audience, the bigger the better, and I’ll deliver my pitch. During each presentation, I watch and face by face, I can see the audience begin to get it.” Carmine’s books, workshops, and keynotes will give your sales teams an advantage in the market.

“As a result of my overall performance at the conference, the CEO requested that I speak to our new Board of Directors because, as I was told, ‘You are the only person so far who can explain all this in really simple terms.’  New hires are being tasked with digesting your method. It’s become the desired template. I’m 100% convinced I would not be where I am right now if I had not discovered your books.” -Steve Forcum

Eli, the CEO and Tech Maverick

“Carmine is a different breed, a true partner.”

The Challenge

SanDisk pioneered flash memory, the storage that makes our consumer gadgets usable: digital cameras, iPods, iPads, smartphones, notebook and server computers. Carmine began working with Sandisk CEO Eli Harari and its C-suite executive team in 2008. The company was facing an existential crisis. The global financial meltdown had triggered the worst recession since the 1930s. As demand for flash-enabled consumer products plummeted, the industry faced a massive oversupply problem. Prices tanked, as did SanDisk’s stock, which plunged 90 percent over the course of a year. In August 2008, a competitor, Samsung, launched an unsolicited bid to purchase SanDisk for a 50 percent premium, or $10 billion. Mutual fund managers who owned a large percentage of stock pressed Harari to make the deal. But Harari believed the offer wasn’t in the best interest of the company’s shareholders, partners, and customers. When he turned down the offer of $26 a share, a popular television business personality put a picture of Harari on a “wall of shame” for rejecting the sale. “They don’t understand our story,” Harari told Carmine.

The Transformation

Carmine helped SanDisk create a narrative that clearly explained the company’s vision and long-term value. The story focused on the experience of the team, which had successfully weathered downturns in the past; its superb technology; Sandisk’s exclusive patents; and its $2.5B cash position, which it had built up in the good times. Carmine helped to craft the story and both he and Vanessa Gallo, Gallo Communications’ body language expert, prepared the executive team for public presentations and television interviews.

The Result

Carmine’s relationship with SanDisk extended over the next seven years until October 21, 2015, when Western Digital made an offer to buy SanDisk. Western Digital offered $86.50 a share, or more than double Samsung’s original offer. SanDisk was sold for $19 billion. Business pioneers can have the greatest ideas in the world, but if those ideas are not communicated persuasively, it doesn’t matter.

Intel, the Brand

“Carmine has made me and my demanding company proud for over a decade.”

The Challenge

As Intel evolved from an engineering driven firm whose products—largely hidden from view— powered 90% of the world’s computers, to customer-focused products, the company’s executives and engineers needed to transform the way they told the brand story. In 2005, Intel hired Carmine Gallo as the brand’s exclusive media-training, storytelling and presentation skills coach. For the next ten years, Carmine held workshops and one-on-one sessions with hundreds of C-suite executives, general managers, directors and engineers to help them craft and tell the Intel brand story. He did everything from prepare CFO Stacy Smith for quarterly television appearances to working with design teams on CEO Brian Krzanich’s highly anticipated keynotes at the annual CES show in Las Vegas.

The Transformation

In 2005, Intel released a mix of technically advanced products along with confusing messaging and code-names. Carmine held classes each month with sales professionals and executives to help craft a clear, compelling and consistent story. For example, in 2006 Intel released its Core 2 duo, a ‘dual-core’ processor family for desktop and laptop computers. The acronyms and tech specs were so confusing, employees in department couldn’t interpret what another department was saying. Carmine helped refine the message to focus on the benefits to the customer and use rhetorical language that would grab people’s attention. Carmine suggested: “Intel’s chips act as the brain of your computer. The Core 2 Duo is like getting two brains in one computer. That means your applications will load faster, your games will play better, your video will look better, and your battery will last longer.” Intel went one step further and hired comedy legend Carl Reiner, the comedian who directed “The Man with Two Brains,” to add some humor to a highly technical subject. Carmine often traveled to Intel campuses in Silicon Valley, Portland, Austin, Phoenix, and conducted remote webcasts with employees in Europe, Asia and South America. The feedback that Carmine’s classes received from executives, marketers, engineers, general managers and directors among the highest rated performance reviews for any outside advisor. “The training was fantastic, it really left me feeling empowered to speak with confidence about Intel and my areas of expertise,” one attendee said. “Carmine is both very personable and professional. He was very engaged and clearly enjoys freely sharing his expertise which is always appreciated. He takes the time to learn enough about each student and their areas of expertise to be able to help the students find their strengths, build their confidence, etc. He’s an excellent instructor and coach,” said another.

The Result

In 2015 and 2016, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich delivered the opening keynote at the prestigious CES conference in Las Vegas. The design and marketing team responsible for creating the script and the slides for the major event had taken Carmine’s classes and adopted every element from Carmine’s international bestseller, “The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs.” The keynotes had all of the attributes of a Carmine Gallo-inspired presentation: Surprising ‘Wow Moments,’ the rule of three, visual story slides, exciting demos, the 10-minute rule, Twitter-friendly headlines/messages and multiple speakers who share the stage. Both keynotes were widely considered the best presentations in both years: “Intel Steals the Show with an Inspiring Keynote.”

-David Dickstein
Executive Communications & Platforms Team, Intel

Tomas Bay, the Coach

“This one book [The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs] changed my life.”

The Challenge

Tomas wasn’t a natural presenter. Few people are. Tomas mumbled as a child especially when he was nervous or excited. He didn’t enjoy presenting and he had the added challenge of English being his second language.

In business school he studied English which was necessary for his first job at Maersk in Copenhagen. He thought he was pathetic. “I got D’s in my first English tests. Yes, D!… I felt Dumb.” He was struggling and the headmaster at the school was not happy either. He worked at it and managed to pass the exam.

During his career in general management at Maersk then Swire, Tomas was in countless meetings where the presentations were underwhelming and boring. He knew it could be better, a lot better. He was determined to help the leadership team improve the way they present their ideas.

“Now I am on a different path. The dumb young man, who mumbled, is now helping senior executives present their ideas in English. Showing them how to create messages that are short, sharp and sticky. How is that possible?”

The Transformation

According to Bay this is the day that changed everything:

January 7, 2011, was a cold Friday in Hong Kong. I was browsing for books on Amazon. That’s when it happened. I saw the book that would eventually change my life. It was ‘The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs’ by Carmine Gallo. I was already a fan of Steve Jobs and Apple, so it was an easy buy. I was hooked. I started reading the book the same day, and I finished it in two days. I highlighted the important parts. I made notes. I thought, “Wow. Finally, I have found a better way to make presentations. It’s freaking awesome.” Yes, I was excited. I was like a 6-year old kid in a candy store.

He knew he couldn’t just turn up the next morning and change all the presentations. He wanted to test the principles he learned in the book. He did that by creating Slideshare presentations. To his pleasant surprise, he received many thousand views on the Slideshare site.

The Result

The Slideshare success gave him confidence to begin introducing the principles at work. He ran ‘Talk Like Steve’ workshops based on the techniques he learned from the book. The workshops were well received and “transformative” according to Bay. That was the beginning of a career change.

Bay’s Slideshare decks have racked up more than 5 million views and he is is now a coach who has helped professors at Harvard Business School, TED speakers, startups and executives. “It’s been an awesome ride,” says Bay.

Tomas Bay, coach, mentor and advisor credits Carmine Gallo and his book for changing his life. This one book not only changed his life’s path, it helped him find his life’s passion.

Sally Rusk, the Teacher

“I loved your book [Talk Like TED] and helped me as a teacher and in my speaking life.”

The Challenge

Sally Rusk is a middle school teacher in a Seattle suburb. As a leadership teacher of 12 – 14 year old kids, Sally Rusk wanted to give her students a guide to help them prepare for their persuasive speeches that are required for the class. The class is designed to teach the students about how to serve their community and better relationships with others. The students have to identify a cause that was important to them like cancer awareness and after the persuasive speeches are given, one topic is chosen as a school fundraiser.

According to Sally, “Communication is key to relationships as well as for leaders to get their point across. I treated this assignment as a sort of “prewrite” for their cause speech. They identified a cause that was important to them such as raising awareness for cancer research. Their goal was to persuade the class to care about their topic and ask them to pick it for a school-wide drive we would do to raise money for their cause.”

Over the summer she read Talk Like TED and that gave her an idea. She decided to take the parts of the book that were appropriate for her students and created a instructional handout.

The Transformation

The handout, along with the links to great examples of TED talks that Carmine included in the book, helped the students organize the content of their presentations and make them persuasive. They even learned how to build in metaphors, visuals humor and multi-sensory experiences into their presentations.

The Result

The lessons learned from the handout and the TED talks made the presentations much better and the students will use the skills they learned throughout their academic careers and lives. Ms. Rusk does some guest speaking in schools and has applied the ideas from Talk Like TED into her own speeches and has become better for it.

.

The $875 Million Presentation

The Challenge

Chris worked for a construction group in Canada. They landed a large job with an energy company. Although the project was completed, they went through growing pains, and the client wasn’t 100% satisfied.

According to Chris, “Word on the street was that we would never work for the energy company again.”

After this rough experience the company was still able to successfully bid on projects. Chris was responsible for setting up presentations where the company would invite potential customers and provide them with dinner and drinks. The presentations were delivered by the executive staff. Although the presentations were ok, Chris realized they weren’t getting nearly the traction they deserved or the business needed to keep growing. The presentations failed to deliver solid leads.

The Transformation

Feeling frustrated, Chris went a bookstore to clear his head. He saw Carmine’s book, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs and bought it on a whim. He read it and was so excited about the content he went back and bought 18 copies for his team to read. He eventually bought 100 more! According to Chris, “I created a ‘Gallo inspired’ boot camp where I introduced senior leaders to Carmine’s, content and YouTube clips and I applied the strategies and ideas of building a story around our safety record, our innovative processes, etc.”

The Result

In the very next dinner presentation, clients began to engage with the company. They won four contracts that were worth $5 to $40 million each. According to Chris, at one of the sessions an executive from the energy company that was disappointed came to watch the presentation. He was impressed and allowed the company to come to the table to pitch again. By 2013, they signed a contract with them worth $875 million– the largest contract in the company’s history. The energy company said the their innovative storytelling won them over.

Chris told us, “Carmine, because of your book we created a program in our company that awards workers when they think of innovations that save us time and money. We film each winner telling their headline, their idea and their story. It is so successful that other companies in our field want to use it, including our clients!”