Catalyst Sale Podcast: Sales Training | Sales Strategy | B2b | Selling | Marketing

In this episode, Mike and Erik Kostelnik talk about solving problems, working towards execution and building out your business. Erik is the Founder and CEO of Postal.io  Questions Answered: Why do people struggle with engagement? How have things changed in our current environment? What is your approach to problem solving? How do you avoid scope creep? What is your decision making process? Why do we get sucked into the lures? How can you be easy to do business with? How can we manage the growth cycle? Key Takeaways: We struggle with engagement because we have been so focused on the digital world. We need to take a step back and ask what the customer journey looks like. Everyone is trying to navigate our current operating environment, companies need to be agile. It’s more important than ever to have a platform to manage your customer engagement items. The key is stay on the right path 5 Step Problem Solving Process Ideation Research Build/launch Understand what your KPI’s are Raise capital If you’re not

In this episode, Mike and Jody discuss the definition of pipeline and common challenges associated with a Sales pipeline.  Questions Answered: When we say pipeline, what are we talking about? What are some common pipeline challenges? Are there different segments of the pipeline? Key Takeaways: Sum of all of the opportunity that is out there = pipeline Weighted probability of closing that business = forecast Challenge 1 - actually doing the work and getting in front of customers Challenge 2 - Deals sit in the pipeline for too long Challenge 3 - Neglecting to put things in the pipeline because you are not sure if it will turn into anything. Don’t get emotionally attached If you have a 45 day sales cycle, evaluate your pipeline every 15 - 30 days If you have a 6, 18 or 24 month sales cycle, evaluate your pipeline monthly or quarterly. A forecast is a sub-set of pipeline. If I am not managing the pipeline well, it will have a negative effect on my ability to forecast with any level of predictability.  I firmly

In this episode, Mike talks with Tanner Brock about his continued onboarding experience with Catalyst Sale.  Questions Answered: What has been the worst thing that has happened so far? How are you overcoming this issue? Why might our outreach number be lower than we expect? What’s next? Do we apply call planning in the context of outreach? How do we measure success? Key Takeaways: Adjustment into an official sales role has been the hardest so far. Rather than trying to be an expert, I am going to be a student. Listening to previous podcasts you have done has been helpful and studying the frameworks. It is important to be humble to understand why it isn’t working. There is a big lack of vulnerability in the marketplace. We need to ask if we have a problem with our ideal customer profile and ask if our message is clear. It can be rewarding to share my experience applying the Catalyst Sale principles in my own life. The only time I want to put together a call plan is when I am going to have a call. Structural

In this episode, Mike and Jody discuss the best ways to handle mistakes when they occur. Questions Answered: What are the best ways to handle mistakes? How can we handle current mistakes? How do you view historical mistakes? Key Takeaways: It is great to share stories about lessons learned. It is important to be transparent and open. We can all learn from each others mistakes and learn from the stories that relate to those mistakes. If you are unable to fix or address the mistake on your own, it is important to get other people involved as quickly as possible. Don’t make a mistake bigger than it already is. Reach out to others. If you can fix it immediately, fix it! Depends on the scope of the mistake, the type of mistake and your capability to fix it. Owning mistakes can help build a greater level of credibility and trust. People can learn lessons from you when you share historical mistakes. Show Links: Link to Tanner discussion on Ego Link to Twitter Thread Work With Catalyst Sale: Listen to our free

In this episode, Mike and Jody discuss the importance of a good first customer interaction and discovery call/meeting. Questions Answered: What should the first customer interaction look like? What is involved in discovery? Why do you want to find out more about the person? How does knowing the person better help you with the sale you are trying to make? What else do we need to know about the first interaction? Key Takeaways: Ask questions. Do research - can be from public or private sources (asking questions.) Deliver the information you have in the context of what is important to the customer It’s important to know the person because they are going to either influence or make the decision. Asking questions and getting to know them helps them realize I am a human being and not someone just trying to sell something. Asking if they have any questions for you will let you know how engaged they are in the conversation. You can refer back to what these first questions revealed in future discussions. Builds a p

This week Tanner Brock, founder of 9-5 5-9 Coaching joins the Catalyst Sale Podcast.  Tanner is joining the team in a freelance role as an Account Executive.  As an account executive, Tanner's focus will be on selling Catalyst Sale courses in the B2B space. Tanner is a non-traditional sales professional, who has not worked in an account executive role.  Tanner will be a guest on the podcast in the future, we will share his journey, lessons learned, mistakes, and wins. We discuss one common mistake today, specifically the tendency to focus on how we solve the problem (solution) rather than the problem. Work With Catalyst Sale: Listen to our free resource (this podcast) and then put the action items into practice. Share your work with us via Twitter or hello@catalystsale.com Invest in a Catalyst Sale course - self directed. Hire us as a consultant/advisor within your team or organization Chat with us or contact us via Twitter or LinkedIn. Thank You  Please send listener questions and feedback to hello@catalys

This week we have a listener question - how do you avoid selling on price alone? Questions Answered: How do you avoid selling on price alone? How do you go about figuring out what the problem is? If a customer keeps driving conversation towards price, should we be concerned? Are there other bad habits to avoid? Key Takeaways: Price is one of those things that a lot of people want to know about, but no one wants to talk about in detail. Understand the value that you deliver to an organization. Ask questions about what is going on inside the business relative to the problem you solve for. Find out why they are interested in having a conversation with you, why they are interested in working with you. Be careful about assumptions, ask why price is important to them. Ask, “when you have made this type of decision before, what does the process look like?” Include price on the first page of your proposal. We find ourselves focusing on features and benefits of the tool or software rather than the actual business i

In this episode, Mike and Amanda Goetz have a great conversation about intention, focus, lessons learned in building a business, joining a business and starting over. Amanda is the VP of Marketing at The Knot and Founder of a new side gig.  Questions Answered: What drove you to start building out a side business? How do you keep things straight? How did you start to get comfortable with saying no to things? What compelled you to go out and raise money this time? How do you say no to people? How do you deal with the pain, conflict and challenges? Why do we struggle with transparency? What does community mean to you? How do we overcome not wanting to be self-promotional? Key Takeaways: Ask everyday, how am I going to approach this day and what does success look like Don’t believe in “mommy guilt” Whatever I am doing in this moment gets my full attention. Focus and Finish Your defense is your email. Not every email needs an immediate response. Your offense is when you are in control of what you are doing. In

How do you create a great proposal? In this episode, Mike and Jody discuss best practices when it comes to proposal planning. Questions Answered: What goes into a proposal? Where does price go? What are some mistakes people make with proposals? Key Takeaways: One of the challenges people will make when coming to proposal writing is they feel like they have to put everything in there. I would challenge you to think of it as less is more. Elements of a proposal: problem we are solving for, why is it important to solve the problem, how do we solve the problem, price If we can cover all four of these things, we have given them a solid framework that they can use to justify a purchase. Proposal should be simple to understand and very clear. My preference is to deliver price as early as possible as late as necessary. At minimum on the first page so they don’t have to flip pages or scroll down. Don’t tell your organization’s entire story up front We tend to overcomplicate and make them too long. Another mistake i

A lot has happened since launching Catalyst Sale in 2015.  In the spirit of making it easier to work with us, Mike and Jody talk about Catalyst Sale and what Mike is working on now. We take some time and distinguish between Catalyst Sale the products, and the advisory services Mike provides. Questions Answered: What will listeners get when working with Mike? What will listeners get from Catalyst Sale? What are you most excited about moving forward? Key Takeaways: You will get tools, not scripts Catalyst Sale will help with  Frameworks Territory Planning Processes - The Catalyst Sale Process Training - Courses, content, blog, podcast Excited about the people I work with and the change happening in organizations.  If you have tried to figure out sales and feel there is a lot of noise and you aren’t sure what you should be doing, give me a call. We can talk through what will work best for you and your problem. My mission is to help people get better at Sales. Work With Catalyst Sale: Listen to our free

Handling Objections In this episode, Mike and Jody discuss a listener tip regarding objection handling.  We bounce around a bit on this one, but ultimately bring it home with some practical thoughts on objection handling. TLDR - ask questions, gain context, don't react. Questions Answered: Do objection handling documents work? Can you build out questions on an objection handling sheet? Key Takeaways: Objection handling documents can work if you are not just reading off of a script. These documents can help with alignment within an organization. When dealing with a pricing objection, ask “from what perspective?” Don’t interrogate customers, but work to gather a bit more information. If you guess, you only have one chance of guessing right. Rather than answer the objection immediately, take a pause and ask one question.  Account plans are a useful tool - You can listen to our account planning podcast here Show Links: www.jodymaberry.com https://catalystsale.com Submit Listener Questions To: podcast@cataly

In this episode, Mike talks with Chris Walker about marketing, sales, revenue operations and alignment. Chris is the CEO of Refine Labs. Questions Answered: How did you suddenly start to appear in everyone feed’s and gain a following? How do we design for the future? Where did your appreciation for doing the work come from? What are some biases that Sales folks have about marketing? Why don’t we do anything with the information we read or have access to? What are some biases that marketing folks have about sales? How does technology play a role? What mistakes do we make when thinking about brand? What are some buyer journey mistakes we make? Key Takeaways: Spent time working for others and getting good at my craft. I loved learning and tended to move outside of the function I was doing within those companies. Be aware of where you gravitate Sports, competitiveness helped me to work hard. You can work harder than others. Sales becomes a lot easier when you do marketing well. Change your intent with your act

In this episode, Mike and Jody tackle a listener question and provide tips on how to make it easy to do business with you. Listener Question: For companies not taking a beating, but also are not currently positioned for success, what are clever and nimble revenue leaders doing right now? Questions Answered: How easy is it for our customers to do business with us? What can we do to help our customers solve problems? Key Takeaways: Do not lose sight of your fundamentals Don’t make your problems your customers problems Think about modifying the terms and conditions in your contracts. Think about using electronic versions for digital signatures. Take care of the problem your customer is having right now Be aware of competition that exists in the marketplace and if the competition is a better fit for their current problem, consider referring. This helps with reduce scope creep and customers will appreciate the gesture and remember that in the future. Always ask questions Gather the information you absolutely ne

In this episode, Mike talks with Justin Rohner about entrepreneurship, mindset and gardening. Justin is the Founder and CEO of Agriscaping Technologies and Director of the Queen Creek Botanical Garden. Questions Answered: From an entrepreneurial aspect, where does creativity come into play? What questions do you use to drive curiosity? Should there always be balance? Are mindset and perspective critical? How do we avoid negative traps? Why do we fear talking about mistakes or sharing failure with others? Key Takeaways: Without creativity, the unknowns become scary and will scare you away from doing anything. Curiosity is the best pathway to creativity. Ask, “how do we serve people in the present moment.” Emotions are great indicators How can I use this emotion? What is it showing me? Energy is always good. It’s just a matter of how you direct it. Once we are aware that we are on a ladder somewhere, we can choose to jump up the ladder and re-address the situation. We are combining the best of productive agr

In this episode, Mike and Jody discuss a listener question related to adopting the Challenger Sales Method. Listener Question: My organization is adopting the Challenger Sales Method. I am curious on your thoughts on Challenger and training the team on the same process.  Questions Answered: What is the benefit of training a sales team all on the same process/method? What do you think about the Challenger Method? What’s the difference between process and method? How do you recommend pairing process with method? Do you recommend the Challenger Method? How do you suggest I model a new sales process when I am not a seller? Key Takeaways: Having a common language across the organization is very beneficial The Challenger Method offers the fundamentals you would expect. I would not describe the Challenger Method as a Sales Process. When implementing something new, it is important to be very clear about what you are trying to accomplish. Process = distinct set of steps Method = vehicle you use to get there, underl

*Language Warning* On this episode, Mike is joined by Scott Leese. Scott is the Founder of Scott Leese Consulting, Co-Founder of Surf and Sales and Co-Host of the Surf and Sales Podcast and author of Addicted To The Process. Mike and Scott discuss building a community, transparency and more.  Questions Answered: Why do people try to present a persona? How do I find a community? How do we become more transparent with others? Why do we fall into the trap of building a solution? Who can create urgency? Key Takeaways: People often try to present themselves as unbreakable Be open about what you have gone through. People resonate with this  Get comfortable with who you are Offer ideas to those around you There are several communities out there, but if you can’t find one that works for you, build one One of the best things you can do if you are struggling is help other people Don’t just go into a meeting and immediately start talking about your solution Find pain, build value, create urgency and discuss solution

In this episode, Mike and Jody discuss how businesses may begin thinking differently due to the COVID19 Pandemic and taking a page out of Jeff Noel's book, Mike offers a 72 hour challenge. Questions Answered: Why is it important to think differently about things I already know? Will this pandemic change the way we do things? Key Takeaways: It’s important to have some sort of qualification process. Talk in 2 weeks when you have an update is soft. Hold your customers accountable and hold yourself accountable. Prepare for unknown unknowns. Don’t be so resistant to change. Communication about changes needs to be clear. 72 Hour Challenge: Take 10 minutes prior to every call over the next 72 hours to Call Plan. Document who is in the room, objectives (yours and theirs) and desired next steps. E-Mail us at hello@catalystsale.com to tell us your experience with the 72 hour challenge. Show Links: If Disney Ran Your Life - Jeff Noel Work With Catalyst Sale: Listen to our free resource (this podcast) and then put

The First 200! In this episode, Mike and Jody discuss the first 200 episodes of the Catalyst Sale Podcast. They talk about what has changed, what has stayed the same and what we can look forward to in the future.  Questions Answered: Why did you start a Podcast? Why do you still do a Podcast? What has changed over the 200 episodes? What has stayed the same? What will change in the next 200 episodes? Key Takeaways: Started a Podcast to get content out in the marketplace Started bringing more guests on with a Sales background The definition of Sales has stayed the same. Connecting the dots between a problem that exists and a solution that exists. Look for more video content in the future Looking at introducing panel type discussions Looking to be more creative in the way we deliver content Would like to have more authors on as guests. Calls to Action: What would you like to hear more about on upcoming episodes? How can we provide you with more value? Do you know someone who would be a great guest? Are you

In this episode, Mike talks with Alanna Fincke about the timely topics of resilience, mindfulness, overcoming challenges and self-care.  Questions Answered: How can we overcome the challenge of uncertainty?  What are the 3 components? What are some tools we can use? What is mindfulness? What is resilience?  Can we build resilience? Why is self-care important? Key Takeaways: Resilience can be our guide right now Reframe your thoughts Trap It, Map It, Zap It: Trap It = recognize the signs of the emotion. Map It = Bring awareness to your thoughts. Zap It = Reframe your thoughts. Start small. One way is to write or discuss 3 good things that happened during the day Mindfulness is the practice of being present in the moment. Resilience is defined as our ability to bounce back from challenge, manage stress and move forward and thrive in our lives.  Let go of what you can’t control, but find one thing that you can control. Self-care is not a luxury. Burnout is real. Build a balance Iceberg beliefs - hidden beneat

This is the 11th in a series of short episodes where we will focus on specific topics that are relevant to today's working environment.  Many of us are making the transition to remote work, working from home, leading distributed teams, navigating our own personal experiences.  Alanna Fincke is the VP of Content at meQuilibrium, she is an integrative health coach, and resilience expert. She joins me today to discuss Resilience.   Questions Addressed What is Resilience? What are some common mistakes we make when thinking about Resilience? Why do we make these mistakes? How can we avoid these mistakes? How does this change when thinking about Leadership in the context of working from home or remote work? How does this change when thinking about Leadership in the context of Teams, Customers, and Self? How important is Resilience as a leader? Show Links Alanna on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alannafincke/ Thank You  Please send listener questions and feedback to hello@catalystsale.com or contact us d