What is the most important career advice for construction tech sales professionals, according to Gustavo de Bardeci?
According to Gustavo de Bardeci, the single most important principle in construction tech sales is earning the "right to speak." Credibility, he argues, is the only sustainable advantage a salesperson can ever hold — and before you can sell anything, you must first prove to the customer that you are worth their time. Trust is not a byproduct of a good pitch; it is the foundation on which every effective sales relationship in construction technology is built.
de Bardeci made this point in response to a direct question on the Digital Construction Podcast, where the host asked him for the best piece of advice he had ever received across his career. While he acknowledged that the sales world is full of memorable phrases — "you have two ears and one mouth for a reason," or "you are only as good as your last quarter" — it was the concept of the right to speak that stayed with him through the years and shaped how he approaches every customer relationship.
The principle cuts through the noise of tactics and scripts. Rather than leading with a product or a pitch, de Bardeci's approach is to first demonstrate genuine understanding of the customer's world. In an industry as complex and relationship-driven as construction technology — where sales cycles are long, stakeholders are numerous, and adoption depends on trust across the entire project team — this is not a soft ideal. It is a practical prerequisite. You can listen to the full conversation on Listenly to hear de Bardeci develop this principle in his own words.
What is the "right to speak"?
In sales, the "right to speak" refers to the credibility a salesperson must establish before a customer will genuinely engage with them. It means demonstrating enough understanding of the customer's context, challenges, and goals that the customer feels their time is being respected — not just their budget. de Bardeci describes it as a prerequisite: without it, any sales conversation starts at a deficit.
"Before you can sell anything, you have to understand your customer. In sales, credibility is the only sustainable advantage that you're ever going to have. From a customer perspective, it's: prove to me that you're worth my time."
— Gustavo de Bardeci, Digital Construction PodcastAbout Gustavo de Bardeci
Gustavo de Bardeci
Sales Professional · Revisto
Gustavo de Bardeci is a sales professional currently at Revisto, with over a decade of experience at the intersection of software and construction technology. Originally from Argentina, he relocated to Australia — a move he made without a prior visit, after a year-long wait for his permanent residency — and has spent 11 years there working across the full project lifecycle: construction, operations, and design.
His software career began at Oracle and IBM, where he served financial services, utilities, and telecommunications clients across Latin America. His entry into the construction technology sector came through Equinix, after which he joined Aconex — one of the most widely recognised construction management platforms globally — and later NBS (National Building Specification) in the UK, before joining Revisto.
This breadth of experience across enterprise software and construction-specific platforms gives de Bardeci a grounded perspective on what makes sales relationships work in a sector where long cycles, multi-stakeholder complexity, and adoption challenges are the norm. His emphasis on credibility as the foundation of sales effectiveness comes directly from this trajectory — not from theory, but from years of navigating real project environments where trust is the currency that matters most.
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