About Ben

About Ben

About

Ben WARD

ABOUT BEN

Sales Leadership Expert and Strategic Advisor

Ben Ward is a sales and leadership master with over 20 years experience in executive leadership training and development. A sought-after keynote speaker, leadership mentor, and strategic advisor, the #1 bestselling author of “Sellership”, and “Pluck the FUD”. Founder of Forward Leadership––a consulting firm helping entrepreneurs, business professionals, and sales leaders recruit, retain and scale high performing sales teams.

Ben has been married to the love of his life Sheri Rollins Ward for 19 years, and they have three beautiful children they raise in San Clemente, California.

Built a company worth $56M by 30.

Then lost everything because of this:

Hubris.

Sometimes when you find success early, it can go to your head — it certainly did for me.

The good news is I’ve learned from my mistakes.

A little bit about me:
  • Door-to-door sales in 2002
  • Earned $25k first summer, then $50k, and $100k
  • Transitioned from salesperson to sales manager and kept scaling my earnings (hit $1M+ while in college)
  • Became the top regional manager and highest earner in an Inc 500 company
  • Co-founded Elevate Inc and scaled it to 2,000 people
  • Took it public in 2010
  • Lost everything by 2013
  • Rebuilt and focus 100% of my time on leadership development
  • Published two books
  • And I dominate at ping-pong.
  • I help salespeople become sales leaders.
 

Because I know how to do both—AND I know they are NOT the same skill.

Specifically, this is what I offer:

• Keynote Speaking / Events →
• Digital Masterclass →
• Executive Leadership Consulting →
• 1:1 and group Coaching →
• Mastermind Groups and Retreats →
• Write Books →
• Free Resources →

And I’ve helped regional sales managers, Senior VP’s, CXO’s, direct sales organization, D2D companies, entrepreneurs growing sales leadership & teams, healthcare execs, insurance agencies, SAAS companies, Vivint, Nuskin, Doterra, Hawx, Verizon, etc.

AKA if you lead a team that sells stuff to people in person, online or over the phone–and you want to level up your leadership…

I can probably help.

My Story

My Sales-Fueled Leadership Journey

I started my leadership journey building door-to-door sales teams while I was in college. I developed the highest producing sales region at Firstline Security, a $100 million dollar Inc.500 company. I became the #1 producer in the company of over 2,000 people nationwide, generating over $37 million dollars in revenue with my teams. I went from earning $7 an hour stringing tennis rackets, to having earned my first 7 figures in sales & leadership commission by the time I was 26 years old.

What People Are Saying About Ben

Jeremy Liebell

Ben Ward consistently exceeds every expectation by providing the exact resources, knowledge, and tools needed to reach the next level. His mentorship offers a fresh perspective and essential leadership strategies that you may not even realize you’re missing.

Ryan Russon

Working with Ben is a total ‘no-brainer’ decision that yields immediate results. Ben has a powerful and authentic way of challenging you to bring out your absolute best, both professionally and personally.

Alex Sipos

In a short period of time, Ben Ward’s leadership and sales expertise provided life-changing insights that were truly unique to anything I’ve experienced before. Ben is a genuine and caring mentor who is deeply invested in his clients’ personal growth and development.

Thomas Grantham

No matter where you are in your journey,whether it’s year one or year ten, Ben Ward has the unique ability to meet you at your level with clear, actionable wisdom.

Oriya Hirschhorn

Event Planner, Elevated

“Ben’s speech blew it out of the water—he brought incredible energy, had the whole crowd engaged, and made our event an A+ experience.

Chad Willardson

Founder of Pacific Capital & Elevated

Ben was the most impactful speaker at our event—he brought energy, deep insight, and helped our group eliminate fear, uncertainty, and doubt so they could level up.

Tyler Trump

Ben helped us transform our team culture and hit record sales faster than we ever imagined.

Whitney Davis

Co-Founder, Empower Financial Group

Ben is electric on stage. He captured the full attention of my team for 90 minutes, and drove them into immediate action after the event.

Ty Bennett

Bestselling Author of The Power of Storytelling

Pluck the FUD is profound and sticky! You’ll never forget it, and you’ll never want to.

Steve D. Sims

Founder, Bluefish

Sellership––fantastic wisdom for creating leadership. Recommend highly.

Peter Vidmar

Chairman of the Board of USA Gymnastics,

My advice to Ben several years ago was to write a book that people want to read. He nailed it with Pluck the FUD!

Mike C-Rock

Founder, That1 Agency

Ben is rocket fuel for sales leaders.

Mark Moss

Founder, Market Disruptors

Sales Leaders listen up, learn everything you can from Ben. He is a sales leadership master.

Lisa & Devin Graff

Business Owners

Ben worked closely with us for 3 years while we scaled our first business. He helped us create a lifestyle doing what we love, and become financially free. Thank you forever Ben.

Les Brown

THE Motivator

Sellership is a tremendous example of leadership in real time.

Lady Jen Du Plessis

The Team & Scaling Architect

Ben is the real deal, and Sellership is the answer for every new sales manager to become powerhouse leaders.

Kirk Schilling

Owner of Schilling Real Estate Group

I trust Ben with my life on all things sales leadership.

Kathy Roberts

Former President Discover Bank

Ben Ward is the mad scientist of sales leadership. A highly impactful mentor and leader, and has successfully guided our executive team in helping us ‘Pluck the FUD’ to achieve at the highest level.

Josh Anastasi

Regional Sales Manager, Hawx

Before working with Ben, I was stuck managing chaos—always rebuilding, always reacting. After going through his Sellership System™, I have a high-performing team I don’t have to babysit. We’re breaking records, and I’m finally getting my life back.