Finance Career - Commercial Relationship Manager Solid Advice

Gain solid career advice from Commercial Relationship Manager Gonzalo Aranda Sandoval.  He has a successful career in the finance industry, and he's also a start-up founder, inventor, and student pilot.  He brings proven strategies to the table so you will want to listen to the very end.  Learn one of the most important traits he learned at a young age and what successful people around him have that he has found to be a huge value-add in his professional career and personal life. 

Transcript

Leah Solorio, CEO/Founder Nspire Careers 0:09
Hi everyone, this is Leah Solorio CEO Nspire Careers. Thank you for tuning into my podcast coming to you from the heart of Silicon Valley, San Jose, California welcoming Gonzalo Aranda Sandoval who is in the finance industry. He is a Commercial Relationship Manager, welcome Gonzalo.

Gonzalo Aranda Sandoval 0:32
Thank you Leah, thank you so much for having me here today.

Leah Solorio, CEO/Founder Nspire Careers 0:34
I appreciate you taking the time and I look forward to you inspiring many others who are considering the finance industry and learning about different positions and what it takes. So, tell me how you got started in this field.

Gonzalo Aranda Sandoval 0:51
So, I started as a teller right after high school. It was my first job as I started college at Fresno State in two thousand.... and. God I don’t even remember, in 2006. So, I knew I wanted to get into the finance industry. I was going to study business, studied entrepreneurship, because at some point I wanted that for myself, I wanted to be, I am an entrepreneur. But in the meantime, I wanted to also learn as much as I can while I'm working and have a job that's useful in that learning process. So, I chose banking because one my mom was in it. I have family in it. I kind of followed their footsteps. But also, while I was working in also learning it was also an education for me because I got to talk to business owners every day. People who manage their money well and people that don't manage their money well, so it was a wealth of information. It was it was kind of like getting an MBA, but instead me paying for to get theory, the bank was paying me to learn real world applications. So that's how I got started. Right when I was 18 years old.

Leah Solorio, CEO/Founder Nspire Careers 1:55
Wonderful. So, what were the passions that have led to your success? You've been in the industry a while

Gonzalo Aranda Sandoval 2:03
oh, about 15 years since I started in banking. The reason I've always done well, I have a sense of urgency, and I think that's important. That's a huge trait that the people that are successful around me. My boss doesn't have to check in on me to see if I'm doing my work. I used to have offices and I’d give up the offices just to get a desk on the floor next to my manager, just so he can hear me on my calls and my interactions with customers all day. Because I do not like the question... I have a pet peeve... when they asked me what I did today ha-ha. I'd rather show them as I'm working. And so, I would give up private offices and just get a desk outside, and they would see my sense of urgency, my sense of urgency to hit my goals. It's like a personal thing with me where I want to be successful. My boss doesn't have to worry about that. The district managers don't have to worry about that they know I'm self-driven. And so, if I can just sum it down to just one little phrase, its sense of urgency. I have a sense of urgency that I want to be successful. And so, I think that's what's led to that success, and then

you know, I try not to wait for promotions or movements I try to nudge those along. I tried to be proactive and moving up because me staying in a position and not moving up. To me I feel like now I'm wasting time if I'm in a position too long, you know I'm only. I was only in my 20s for a certain number of years now I’m in my mid 30s I got to move up as fast as I possibly can. Time flies, so we got to take advantage.

Leah Solorio, CEO/Founder Nspire Careers 3:37
Yes, thank you. This is a valuable nugget. Gonzalo Tell me a little bit about your family influence

Gonzalo Aranda Sandoval 3:45
my family we're all very you know, hardworking people, blessed “siempre le hechamos ganas” I always say

Leah Solorio, CEO/Founder Nspire Careers 3:52
Let’s talk about if you don't mind a little bit on how you go about negotiating because you're in finance.

Gonzalo Aranda Sandoval 3:57
part of that sense of urgency is nudging the process along to then move up to always better yourself and your career and your salary. You really must write down not wing it you have to write down every win you had in your previous job. I mean, make a list, and just go all out. Every little thing doesn't matter how small it is. And then you can kind of organize it into different groups where it's maybe one groups like time management, the other one’s sales or somehow getting stuff done or pushing through problems and salaries websites online, you do your research on what the position holds. You know, a lot of times the recruiters will you know, though they'll send you like a low number. And one thing I always know is that you whatever you ask, they're never going to give you that they're always going to negotiate somewhere in the middle else so you can ask for a little more than maybe you want because they're always going to try to negotiate a little most people are open to negotiating just no one ever asks no one ever does. You know, and it's just like, hey, you know, you make your list of reasons why they should hire you why you're the next logical choice in that position. And I mean for them, it's in their budget. They have a range for a reason so do not be scared, and they're good at you know, maybe pushing back. They're always going to give you an initial pushback, but you just must stick to your guns a little bit. Not in a in a rude way but just like no, you know what, I really think maybe you should, you know, maybe we can think about this or maybe bring it up to a supervisor of yours and see if we can make something happen or something like that. But you always you always insist in a respectful way, just insist just asking almost no one even asks. And then when they do the initial pushback, that's another huge percentage of people that just like okay, well then like never mind, just insist one more time. You can always say, you know, I know it's, you know I have not been offered the position. If and when I do, we'll talk about this in detail, but can you at least give maybe like give me a range of what the salary is for this, this position here just so I can start planning and preparing?

Leah Solorio, CEO/Founder Nspire Careers 6:07

When I think about when it comes to negotiation, and then you're writing these lists of accomplishments and of course, understanding the position and the goals of the company. So, you're putting yourself in the position of the employer because they know what they're looking for and what they need, whatever it is their pain point you're going to address that pain point. So being honest, because a person can say whatever, but at the end of the day, you have got to deliver. I really want to make sure that people are not stretching the truth that employers want honesty that you can deliver. And don't just line up everything with the position job description, just so they can rule you in. There are other ways that you can get into the position without having to be a cookie cutter of the original job descriptions. So, you know, I look forward to, you know, discussing that further with job seekers.

Gonzalo Aranda Sandoval 7:00
You just brought up a great point, a great phrase, you have um. what did you say? I mean, you have to deliver, right? Well, that's the recruiter’s job. Her “sales” is delivering candidates to the manager. I mean, the manager picks them but so if you've gotten far enough, you know, that means they like you and that means you're qualified. And at that point, you could start opening conversations like hey, don't think oh they’ll just be like you know, for example, if they offered you the position at that point, don't think they're just going to rescind it quick, because you asked for a little more money. Like that's not going to happen. And I think a lot of people have that irrational fear, like, aw, man, if I push too hard that you’re going to be like, never mind, they're probably never going to do that. I mean, at that point, if they offered it. They already picked you. They already said yes. You just have to... you just have to you know just have to figure out the minor details. And, you know, they're not going to take it personal. But the money's going to come out of your manager's pocket, you know, like, it's a whatever corporation already budgeted. already budgeted for this. So yeah, just don't feel bad, do not feel bad, negotiate, ask questions. You know, one thing I always love, and one of the reasons I think individually like my personal brand, is I always try to stay very grounded and down to earth. I'm not very. Aw man in Spanish...I’m thinking of the English word like, like showy or cremoso like, sweet talking or what do you call it? I forget the term right now. But a schmoozer like I try to stay very down to earth and get to interact with people like on an actual personal level not on like this professional, always level. So, I'll always try to somehow find a personal, some personal line of communication with the actual recruiter as well as with the manager, whoever's hiring you. And we start talking about you know, whatever, our favorite football team whatever, that way like the mask can come off and it's just like now it's just me and you Leah talking. You Know.

Leah Solorio, CEO/Founder Nspire Careers 7:00 You're just having a conversation

Gonzalo Aranda Sandoval 7:55
Just having a conversation and asking the recruiter Hey, can you really help me I really would. Like to get this just be real with people show your humanity you know make them feel comfortable enough to reciprocate and, and then have a real conversation and don't always just be like so uptight and professional. Where you have this mask on all day. It's like when my

clients talk to me; they know they're talking to Gonzalo not “Oh my Commercial Relationship Manager.” Let's call Gonzalo, they can text me and call me. They can be themselves.

Leah Solorio, CEO/Founder Nspire Careers 9:53
I always tell people job seekers. You don't know what you don't know. So why are you going to get so worked up over a position you don't even know if you want it? You don't even know if you like it? You don't even know if it's a cultural fit. You got to relax and treat it as a conversation. Park that fears and have the conversation. Are there tough problems that you deal with in your industry?

Gonzalo Aranda Sandoval 10:16
Yeah. So, if you want to get into banking, you know, a teller for example, a teller position is a very structured job. You're there a certain number of hours as soon as you clock out, you do not worry about your job anymore. but once you get into be a personal banker or in my case, a commercial banker, relationship manager what that means is that I manage a book of business from medium to large sized clients or businesses. Let's just say I have 50 in my book of business. My job is to just take care of them grow the relationship and do some business development on the side and bring in new relationships to the bank. So, time management is the biggest and toughest problem that I deal with. And everything else by itself is easy. But putting everything together is very hard. And that for me is extremely overwhelming all the time. Because I'm always on my clients can call me text me anytime. I'm always, you know, worried about, you know, closing deals, maybe they're purchasing their commercial building. You know, there's all these timelines there. And you're working with various other departments and various other companies to get that done. You're dealing with a realtor, you're dealing with the sellers you’re dealing with the title companies, insurance companies. I mean, you have to kind of corral everybody. Sometimes it's like herding cats and then on the other hand, you must then keep up with the day to day of your existing clients and their monitoring because we monitor their financials throughout the year and annually, and to look for trends, see how they're doing to analyze our portfolio. The strength of our portfolio too because we must report that to various government agencies. And so, you there's just so many hats you wear and then on top of that, I need to have a social life. I have all these hobbies, you know, I'm learning I'm a student pilot learning how to fly which is like a whole another career, and I am a startup founder. So, I have a website I'm founding cloutr.com, which is a platform where people can organize themselves to go shopping for groups (goods) and services, using their power numbers to negotiate better prices.

Leah Solorio, CEO/Founder Nspire Careers 12:39
And everything you've been doing has prepared you to pursue all these other things. You have your interests and passions. I get it, being a pilot, but just being the entrepreneur, like you said the foundation of finance is what’s helping you and you really feel the confidence to be able to move into that. Yeah, it was solid for you. The most rewarding part of your work

Gonzalo Aranda Sandoval 13:00
I think, with what I do is helping the business owners achieve goals they set out to...to attain and then watching their companies grow because as companies grow, it's not just more money

for the owners. It's not just my business owners getting richer and wealthier, which is a huge win, and you know, something we all aspire to. But as their companies grow, they naturally need to hire more people. So, you're creating jobs. So, you yourself by being a good banker or a bad banker may. specifically impact your local economy. I mean, if I you know, I was able to close. It was a tough deal...I was able to close a line of credit on this client that was growing like crazy during COVID. He was one of those as COVID started because of what they manufacture which is like PPE and all this stuff. It's just blew up. And, you know, and it was tough. It was tough getting them not just a line of credit, but they needed a few things, and we were able to get it done and because of that they're able to hire more people. But if I would have slipped on it, you know, somehow during the process of somehow it wouldn't have been able to get done. I would have literally affected you know, some jobs that wouldn't have people that would have got hired wouldn’t have been unable to provide for their family. I mean, it's a little butterfly effect sometimes and so that's the most rewarding thing, because you I don't deal with smaller businesses it has to be at the medium to larger size at this point. So now I do see how my work affects handling multiple jobs that I can create if I do such a good job.

Leah Solorio, CEO/Founder Nspire Careers 14:53
Can you tell me to say the industry in general, maybe people you come across in your industry, what have you seen in them that are the best qualities that you have seen in professionals in your industry?

Gonzalo Aranda Sandoval 15:05
Doing what you said you're going to do and the follow through is huge? If someone offers you help, or advice or something in that capacity, do it follow through. If a client says hey, you know what, let's grab lunch. Literally go and schedule the lunch for the next week or whatever. but don't let these opportunities pass by because then those lunches more casual. That's when people open you find more opportunities. You get to build a personal relationship where they say oh, you know what, my friend also has a business like mine. I'm going to refer you to him. I haven't done a cold call like two years. I've been slammed busy by just word of mouth and clients referring me to other clients and friends referring me to clients. All I do now is get business from just hanging out my friends,

Leah Solorio, CEO/Founder Nspire Careers 16:01
I’m so impressed by that. Thank you so much, you’re a wonderful leader. I really value this conversation. I know that everyone is really going to appreciate it you've given so much, and I thank you. Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Gonzalo Aranda Sandoval 16:16
Yeah, well, I haven't shared my favorite and my strongest piece of advice yet. I kept that for last. So. Thank you. Let me go on the second one and then we'll end with my best advice that I have. First is as soon as you graduate or soon as you get that new job. Especially if you're young, do not go into debt. If I, were you I’d take a Dave Ramsey course. You learn how to how to cashflow everything. You don't need a new car. You don't need a five 600 $700 month payment. You do not need that. That's the number one killer of cash flow. And for us, especially in Hispanic community. You know, we don't come from generations of wealth. A lot of times our wealth

comes from ourselves. And if we blow that 25% or more a month in just a car, we I mean that's a huge impact on us. That's it's like taking a huge pay cut. And so just be smart about it. I see that all the time especially one of my biggest pet peeves is when you know like a teller like you know, which is an entry level position at a bank. A lot of times they pay like minimum wage. They work at a bank now, so they need a three series BMW and it's just like my biggest pet peeve of all time. You’re a teller man do not buy a three series BMW. Do not buy a three series BMW, you know, you don't need a fancy.... You're a teller you are not visiting clients, you know you're showing up to work and leaving, save your money for the love of God, it's not about how much you make it is about how much you save. Ok so if you're a lowly teller, you know a humble Teller and you're saving $500 a month and there's this branch manager making six figures saves like nothing is going into debt every month you're doing a better job than someone who's making way more money than you. So that's number two tidbit but my best tidbit, my best piece of advice, and it's something I learned on my own through my experience and I unlocked was I this is how I phrase it this is what I call it I always say get referred. get referred down don't get referred up. And what I mean by that is let's just say I am I'm a banker wanting to move to a new city or whatever or getting a new job at a new bank. I'm not going to you're going to have a hiring manager; you're going to have someone that's going to be your boss. So do whatever research do whatever you have to do find people on LinkedIn, who work at that same company, ask them I've done that before. Ask them hey, you know who's calling the shots here who's calling the shots there. Don't go up to someone that's a subordinate or lower than your future boss and ask those people to refer you up to their boss that holds very little weight compared to if you find out who your boss's boss is. Find him on LinkedIn figured out, research call people talk to people figure out who their boss is and then contact them and then be like, hey, I'm really interested. My name is whatever really interested in joining your company. I heard there’s this position open. I would love for you to introduce me to the hiring manager. You know most people don't ever get asked that. And whenever the referral comes from the boss. I'm telling you that imagine that if you don't get hired, imagine how that hiring manager is going to feel a little awkward. You know, it's going to be like wait, I didn't hire the boss's recommendation. And then a lot of times it's not even this crazy recommendation. No, it's just the boss's boss. Just simply saying, hey, you know, you know, I met this, this kid over the weekend or, or, or this week. I got his resume. You know what look at him. You know, it doesn't have to be this crazy recommendation. Just that simple conversation. And if my boss gave me someone so I had a position open, and my boss gave me a recommendation. Oh, man, just psychologically. I have a huge amount of weight on this decision about hiring this person or not. I mean, that's going to that's going to it's always going to be there in the back of my mind. Like you, this is the boss's guy or girl and get referred down. Don't try to get referred up. Because that's night and day. And I'll tell you if you do that, if you get referred down, I'll be willing to bet that your chances now of getting that position, no matter who your competition is just one up by 80%. I mean, just simple fact right.

Leah Solorio, CEO/Founder Nspire Careers 21:15
That is huge, and I would like to add that if it is an in-person interview for them to bring their lunch to say I'm ready to start this one a client of mine years ago said that when he showed up to an interview, he placed his lunch on the table at the interview. And they're like, what is that? He's like, hey, I'm ready to start. I thought that was valuable

Gonzalo Aranda Sandoval 21:38
carrying a little box with the office supplies, where do I put this. ha ha

Leah Solorio, CEO/Founder Nspire Careers 21:44
Thank you so much I really appreciate this. I feel that this insight is just been wonderful. You have Nspired me, and I've learned so much. I'm so appreciative and I know that you're going to inspire the world and that's what I want to do. Bringing real people and real stories to the world.

Gonzalo Aranda Sandoval 22:03
Well, thank you, Leah. It was fun. And anytime you need me back here again. I'd be more than happy.

Leah Solorio, CEO/Founder Nspire Careers 22:09
Thank you, job seekers. I hope that you're inspired today by this conversation. Connect with us at nspirecareers@gmail.com nspirecareers.com and NSPIRECAREERS.com and on Instagram. We look forward to hearing from you.