Siftie Spotlight: Ricky Franklin, Account Executive

This is part of a monthly series in which we get to know Sifties.

Ricky Franklin is an account executive at Sift Science and has been with us for 11 months.

If he could eat just one food for the rest of his life, it would be a classic, all-American breakfast: eggs (scrambled with queso), bacon, toast, and orange juice or coffee.

What’s something that happened or something that someone said that changed how you view the world?

I love one-liners  – I think they’re easy to remember and have a lasting impact. I had a mentor when I was a teacher in Memphis, who I’ve stayed in contact with. I’ll never forget him telling me, “Whenever you meet someone for the first time, they will never care about how much you know until they know how much you care.”

I think that’s something that really resonates in Sales when it comes to meeting a prospect for the first time. They typically don’t care about how knowledgeable we are about our product/console/pitch/etc. until they feel that we are showing genuine concern about understanding their business, their fraud-related needs, and how we can help them.

Where is your favorite place to be?

On a baseball field. Number one, I always enjoy some vitamin D, some sunshine. Number two, I enjoy spitting seeds. Number three, there’s always a lesson to be learned and problem solving happening on the field. You have a mindset of ever better, and when you’re there you should be focused on how to continue to improve, either bettering yourself or others around you.

Who do you admire the most?

When I was a teacher I was a baseball coach, as well, and I had a player named Charone Wiggins. He recently passed. The reasons I admire him the most are for his ability to always focus not on what you don’t have, but on what you do have; his belief that you should have a positive attitude even when the odds seem like they’re against you; and how he treated those around him with compassion, because you never know what type of day or moment a person is in.

Who is/are your favorite fictional character(s) and why?

Will Smith in the show Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Will Smith in Pursuit of Happiness, Will Smith in Independence Day and Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, and soon-to-be Bad Boys III. Need I go on?

What would people be surprised to learn about you?

That I’m half-Mexican and my mom’s first generation. During her side of the family’s gatherings, the Gonzalez’s, Spanish is the only language spoken.

What was your first job?

My first job was at a local Mexican restaurant, Florencio’s in Merced. I was a busser, then server, then manager during my high school and college summers. The two lessons learned worth sharing:

1. Always strive to remember someone’s name upon first introduction, it starts the relationship on a great note.
2. What you put into the world is what you get back, so treat people with compassion and always trust that it will yield positive dividends down the line.