Selling Action: Ray Leone Discusses Motivational Speaking, Poker, Camouflage, and Staying Positive

By Sean Chaffin

With plenty of bounty bucks up for grabs, Ray Leone has certainly dressed the part. He looked ready for action in the first two days of the WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble – completely decked out in camouflage. It wasn’t just for the “hunting” aspect of the tournament.

“I hunt, fish, and play poker,” he says. “I wear the same outfit for everything. They call me the ‘Camo Man.’ It’s easy to recognize me when I’m in a room – there’s only one guy in all camouflage.”

Just before the Bounty Scramble, Leone shot a deer at his land in South Carolina before playing on Day 1b. Leone adds that the look is practical as he pulls his extended collar over his mouth to conceal part of his face. He claims WPT Champion Darryll Fish folded pocket Kings to him when he “masked up.”

“I had pocket nines,” he says laughing.

Poker’s certainly not Leone’s occupation. Camo is traded for a nice suit and tie when he hits the stage as a motivational speaker and sales team supercharger. He and his son Tony are the brains behind the Sales Funnel, a program to help companies motivate staff with improved strategies to increase profits. He’s written a few books for business people hoping to improve their techniques.

The company’s website notes that Leone previously worked at the Atomic Energy Commission at Princeton University and later as program manager for Virginia Commonwealth University, RCA, and UNISYS before becoming a top salesman for two international companies.

“I was the No. 1 swimming pool salesman in the world,” he says. “Companies in the industry wanted to know how I did it. So I would go to conventions and teach it.”

Leone is talkative at the table, just check out the video of him and James Calderaro Mic’d Up on Day 2.

Companies in other industries asked Leone to teach their sales teams, and he soon realized he had a business model that might work. He now has licensees teaching the process all over the world, and is regularly hired as a consultant to help in major business deals. 

“I have a client who paid me a million dollars not to train their competition,” he says. 

Leone is a recreational poker player who enjoys firing some bullets in events in the Jacksonville area. After making Day 2 in the Bounty Scramble, Leone was eliminated before the first break, but quickly jumped in a $1,100 event. He went on to finish second for $14,010.

“What I love about poker is that it’s the only game you can play and have a chance to beat a world champion,” he says. “You can’t do it in tennis, golf, chess, bridge, nothing because of that 30 percent luck factor. I do it for the competition – it’s exciting.”

After recently selling his homes in the Jacksonville area, poker is less of a hobby, however. He now lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, but heads on the road if a tournament here interests him. This summer that included 10 events at the World Series of Poker.

“I bubble everything,” says with a big laugh. “I’m not there to cash, I’m there to win. So I’m either crashing and burning or I’m going to go all the way.”

Leone and his wife have been married 47 years, and he has three children and five grandchildren. When not hunting, fishing, playing poker, or spending time with his grandchildren, Leone enjoys riding in his classic 1959 Cadillac lowrider. The horn plays a theme from The Godfather.

Even at 78, Leone shows no sign of slowing down. Most of his work involves strategizing with other companies now and his son handles much of the Sales Funnel work. One of his favorites speeches is called, “Fail Your Way to Success.”

“Every failure in my life took me to a new level,” he says. “I was 28 years old and I wrote software with RCA. On Monday I was a program manager at Virginia University and on Friday RCA announced that we were out of the computer business and 13,000 of us hit the streets. Two of my coworkers committed suicide.”

Sales became his next career. He went into land development marketing, but the Federal Trade Commission put a stop to off-site sales in that industry. The pool business was next and he helped transform the sales process for pool sales and became a top seller. That led to his Sales Funnel technique, which he was able to transfer across industries.

“So every failure always took me to another higher level,” he says. “I did it. Be the best at what you do, stay focused, and you become what you think about. Successful people look at an opportunity and say, ‘What if it works? The average person looks at an opportunity and says, ‘What if it doesn’t?’ The average person looks at the penalty, while other people are looking at the rewards of success.

“Poker players are the same way. If you’re playing to survive, you’re not going to make it. You’ve got to expect to win because expectations precede the result. You become what you think about, but most people think about losing. That’s the reality.”

A new book from Leone is coming out in the near future called Ray’s Rules. With his background in sales and motivating people to reach their goals, Leone offered his three rules to keep in mind for poker players.

Ray’s Rules for Poker and Life

1. NBA (Never Be Average) – ”I don’t care what you decide to do, try to be the best you can be at whatever you choose.”

2. Make Studying a Habit – “I do what I teach in that I read a lot. For poker, that includes Jonathan Little, and I like Alexander Fitzgerald a lot. I read a book a week on sales, leadership, or human behavior for 40 years. That’s 2,000 books. If I only one idea out of each book, look where I am. Study whatever it is you do and make it a habit.”

3. Wherever You Are, Be There – Leone admits he got distracted during a $1,100 tournament at bestbet after busting out of the championship event. “I was watching the Eagles and I blew my 20,000 chips just screwing around. When you work, work. When you’re playing poker, play poker. Why are you watching a game when you should be observing what the heck is going on.”

Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas, and his work appears in numerous websites and publications. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions.