Today we’d like to introduce you to John Barrows.
John, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I got my degree in marketing, fell into sales with Black & Decker/DeWalt then moved to Xerox where I got my real sales education. Then a friend of mine started an outsourced IT services firm (Thrive Networks) and I joined as the 4th employee to run Sales & Marketing. I made 400 dials a week, went on 8-15 sales calls a month and attended every networking group and event in Boston for 7 years to help Thrive become one of the fastest growing companies in MA for 3 years in a row and then we sold off to Staples. I worked through the transition and ultimately got fired because I couldn’t really fit into the corporate culture or play the political game necessary to survive. From there I started with a sales training company Basho who’s training I had taken when I was at Thrive and had a huge impact on my results. I worked with some of their larger accounts while continuing to sell. A new CEO took over the company and decided to go all in on technology and wasn’t interested in investing in the training. Then 2007 economy hit, and he ended up firing 30 of the 35 of us and going all in on the tech. I approached him to see what he was going to do with the training and he didn’t have a good answer, so I started another company with one of the other trainers and effectively took over the training division along with all the clients. After 4 years with my partner I split off on my own with jbarrows and now train some of the world’s fastest growing companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Dropbox, Google, etc. Here is a detailed story line in Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianrashid/2017/05/05/solo-consultant-trains-some-of-the-fastest-growing-companies-in-the-world-here-is-how-he-did-it/#670b72249807
Has it been a smooth road?
Not at all. at Black & Decker/DeWalt I was working 15+ hours a day, 7 days a week traveling across the Northeast. At Xerox I took over a territory selling to State & Local Government that had 5 reps in the territory in less than 3 years so there was no trust built with the client base. I almost got fired because it took me a long time to rebuild that trust before I was able to produce results but when I did I ended up being one of the top reps in the region. At Thrive we were self-funded, and I was the entire sales and marketing team for 5 years before we hired anyone else. I worked 15+ hours a day, 7 days a week making cold calls and driving around MA all day while going to every networking event I could go to in the evenings. After we sold the company to Staples I had a very hard time fitting into their corporate culture since I don’t have much of a filter and I really don’t like playing politics so after about a year’s worth of pain they fired me which was devastating. Then I found a job with Basho which was great but had me traveling all over the world almost every week. When the new CEO came in and fired everyone I had to figure out my next move which was to start my own company off their ruins. I’ve been running my own training practice now for over 5 years doing all the customer service, sales, delivery and content development myself until recently where I’ve hired a few people to help me scale.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with jbarrows – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I train sales teams of some of the world’s fastest growing companies like Salesforce.com, LinkedIn, Google, Dropbox and many more. The training focuses on techniques and structure that drive immediate results at every stage of the sales process with a specialty in prospecting and outbound lead generation.
What I’m most proud of is that we help sales reps sell the right way and make a difference for the reps, the companies we work with and their clients. Sales is the greatest profession in the world when done right, it’s the worst when done wrong. We help sales reps do it right.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I absolutely love Boston. it’s the ‘realest’ city with the realest people I’ve ever experienced. You know where you stand with people from Boston. they are hardworking, upfront and direct. There’s very little fluff or bullshit involved unlike most other cities. Boston has a deep history which is reflected in the friendships and relationships with people. I still feel like it’s a blue-collar town with a chip on our shoulder and something to prove. It’s also a walkable and manageable city that isn’t overwhelming like NY. Our sports teams also reflect the attitude and greatness of this city and it makes me proud to wear their logos as I travel.
What I like least about Boston is the weather between January and April and how the Spring usually sucks too. The winters wear on your after a while. I also don’t like how all the bars, and everything closes around 1-2am and there is no happy hour because of some old school left over ridiculous laws that don’t make much sense in today’s world.
Contact Info:
- Address: 10 Post Office Square 8th Floor
- Website: www.jbarrows.com
- Phone: 6175297271
- Email: john@jbarrows.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnmbarrows/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JBarrows
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnMBarrows
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows/
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
