Iván Arias Caraballo

Why this persona fits the audience

Manages a 7-person outbound sales team in Madrid, with reps across Spain and Portugal. Tracks role notes, coaching points, and personal working styles in shared docs and calendar comments during weekly pipeline and review meetings.

• Age: 31
• Location: Madrid, Spain
• Occupation: Sales manager
• Income: €55k base + commission
• Education: Licenciatura in Business Administration
• Company size: 50-100 employees, SaaS
• Years in role: 3

“'The best managers don't solve problems-they fix what's broken and then help their team forget it ever happened.'”

Iván Arias Caraballo's sales career started in 2017 as a rep at a SaaS startup. His eureka moment came when he realized his manager's coaching style (brutal honesty + espresso stand 1:1s) was the only reason he hit quota. Promoted to team lead two years in, he implemented what he learned about high-performing reps: they need to see their progress in real numbers, not vague encouragement. His 2021 promotion to sales manager came with a painful realization – he was better at coaching than managing. That winter, he spent €2,000 on a leadership coach who taught him to balance accountability with empathy. Now, his personal hustle habit conflicts with his team's work-life balance ideals. Recently introduced mandatory 90-minute 'focus blocks' to his team's schedules, which some resented until they saw their productivity numbers improve. His biggest recent win was convincing headquarters to adopt his quarterly rep rotation system, which has helped with knowledge transfer across offices. Still haunted by the 2022 CRM migration that cost the team two months of momentum. Now he's obsessed with finding tools that help his reps articulate their strengths – he's tried three different personality assessment tools with mixed results. His real passion project is rebuilding the onboarding process, which currently relies on a chaotic mix of Google Docs, recordings of old team meetings, and his own handwritten notes. He's considering formal coaching certification but can't justify the €5k cost during a quarter where the Lisbon office keeps missing targets.

Background & daily life

A day in their life

6:30 AM wake-up, 10-minute stretch while watching cycle vlog (no music – too distracting). 30-minute cold shower ritual inherited from a sales mentor. First call of the day is at 8:30 AM with Lisbon rep who's consistently missing their weekly activity targets. Spends 9:15-10:00 obsessing over new LinkedIn Sales Navigator features before coaching call. 11 AM pipeline review meeting where he redlines CRM entries that aren't specific enough. 12:30 PM detects his usual tapas bar is overcrowded (bad omen) and pivots to a quiet espresso stand for lunch while reviewing rep call recordings. 2 PM team deep-dive on demo-to-close conversion patterns. 4 PM commutes to gym with a Portuguese prospect he's been nurturing. 7 PM dinner with a customer success rep he's trying to convert to sales. 9 PM responds to a rep's urgent message about a deal at risk, realizing he forgot his own sister's birthday. Falls asleep at 11:45 PM while watching Real Madrid highlights, work laptop still open to the Lisbon rep's activity tracker.

Lifestyle

Lives in a renovated 3rd-floor flat in Chamberí, where he's meticulously curated an ergonomic workspace around his standing desk. Wakes at 6:30 for a 90-minute cycling route (now includes the new alameda trees in Casa de Campo). Revenue targets mean he dines at the same 3 tapas bars in rotation – yesterday's meeting with Porto rep ended at La Bola Taberna, where he's on first-name basis with the bartender. Sends €300/month to parents in Málaga, consistently misses his sister's calls to avoid the 'you're working too hard' lecture. Social life revolves around footy previews at El Círculo de Bellas Artes, but recently replaced weekend plan drinks with 5 AM Sunday runs after a work email backlog triggered a particularly bad insomnia cycle.

Work life

Manages 7 outbound reps spread across Madrid, Barcelona, and Lisbon – their performance metrics are his second religion after Real Madrid's La Liga standing. His team's shared Notion doc is a warzone of color-coded rep styles (he personally redlines vague language in their CRM notes). Just implemented 'clarity rounds' where reps must explain their week in 1 minute – loves the pressure it puts on them. Current obsession: improving demo-to-close ratios with coaching around handoffs to customer success. His own calendar is a Rorschach test of his management philosophy – blocks for 1:1s are sacred, but prospect follow-ups get slotted between espresso runs. Weekly pipeline meetings are legendary for their brutality; reps fear his 'dead pelotas' label for stalled deals.

Relationships

His rep team sees him as oddly protective – he once called a Lisbon rep at 11 PM to talk them out of quitting. Parents judged him harshly for going into sales instead of corporate. His tight-knit friend group from business school has mostly scattered to Madrid's Fintech scene, leaving him to bond with peers over weekend sales coaching meetups in San Sebastián. Close with his sister but avoids her 'be happy' lectures. Most influenced by his disgraced former manager who taught him 'the only metric that matters is what you can change today'.

How they decide

Data-heavy but moves fast when the right pattern emerges. Will spend 2 hours building a spreadsheet to decide between two lunch spots. Prefers to consult his 'inner circle' reps before making structural team changes. Hates making emotional decisions but admits his football mood affects which metrics he prioritizes after losses.

How they sound

Speaks in concise bursts with a Madrid accent that softens when talking to prospects. Uses football metaphors even when inappropriate. Avoids saying 'just do what I say' but thinks it constantly. Calls things 'dead pelotas' when they're wasted resources. Slips into English technical terms during stress. Always starts meetings by asking 'What's the one thing you want to change about this?'. Ends calls with 'Let's make it happen' regardless of what was discussed.