Find My Catalyst Podcast

In this episode, Mike and Jody discuss confidence in sales, asking for help and enjoying the thinking that sales requires. Questions Answered: How do we gain confidence when starting in Sales? Why do Sales experts not seek help? How do we enjoy the thinking that goes into Sales? Key Takeaways: Being able to trust the process leads to confidence When you have a stable set of systems, tools, methods and approach, you can improve confidence and capability. Territory Planning - understanding your ideal customer Account Planning - who, what, why, where, when, how Call Planning - who will be in the room, what are their objectives, what are our objectives, desired next steps Ego is the biggest challenge We struggle with "I don't know." If we check our ego at the door then we can improve our interest or capacity for asking for help. Don't just assume people aren't asking questions in the background. If you aren't enjoying the process, maybe it isn't the right field for you. Redirect into something you do enjoy. If you want to enjoy it again, train others. Have a question you would like us to answer in a future episode? Contact us: podcast@catalystsale.com www.catalystsale.com twitter 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. Find our courses here Hire us as a consultant/advisor within your team or organization Thank You Please send listener questions and feedback to hello@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you by Catalyst Sale - you can learn more about Catalyst Sale, and the products and services we provide via the following links. Growth Acceleration - Plateau Breakthrough Product Market Fit

In this episode, Mike talks with Tanner Brock about his continued onboarding experience with Catalyst Sale. This is the third round of this series. Check out episodes 212 and 215, if you missed the first two sessions. Questions Answered: What's not working? What are some of the things we will test regarding follow-up? What are some common challenges? What are some things we are going to start? Key Takeaways: Spraying and praying approach is not working. Squinting too much to fit people in. Go back and use frameworks to readjust. Focus more on people, not numbers. We may know what we should do, but that doesn't necessarily translate into what we do. Stop creating unrealistic plans for the day. Create a combo of sequences to use with various prospects. Personalize the sequence to the people. Try to add value every time you reach out. Common challenges: deals stall, pipeline development, articulating what we do, confidence. Focus on and celebrate the little things. If you go into it positive, you have higher energy, you're more effective, you're more useful to people. Establish gates you want to move through and celebrate as you go through the gates. What qualifies as a win can be a challenge. Make sure you are doing the basics. Follow-up is important. Each success opens another gate. 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. Find our courses here or contact Tanner - Tanner@catalystsale.com Hire us as a consultant/advisor within your team or organization Ep 212 Ep 215 Thank You Please send listener questions and feedback to podcast@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you by Catalyst Sale - you can learn more about Catalyst Sale, and the products and services we provide via the following links. Growth Acceleration - Plateau Breakthrough Product Market Fit

Mike Conner is back.... In this episode, Mike talks with Mike about ways to apply basic sales skills when job hunting, along with a number of other things. Don't miss the last 10 min where we discuss some foundational things many sales pros miss. Questions Answered: How can you apply sales skills to a job hunt What basic things can early Sales Pros do better? Key Takeaways: Be sure to take time to have an evaluation process. Ask if you really enjoy what you are doing. Ask, is this new thing that I am looking to do the right fit for me? If you do good things over a long period of time, things tend to work out. Use the following criteria when thinking about a new position: Who is hiring? Who is thriving? How have they navigated their way through our current working environment? Are they living their mission? Try to make meaningful connections. Basic things that any early Sales Professional can work on doing better: Pick the company you are going to invest your time in wisely. Ask questions and take the information in. Listen to the answers. Don't wait to build your network and build a diverse network Do the basics - ask questions, put together project plans, account plans, territory plans and call plans. Do the work. Don't wait to continue learning new things. Leverage the people that are inside your organization. Show Links: Mike Conner on Twitter Mike Conner on LinkedIn 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. Find our courses here Hire us as a consultant/advisor within your team or organization Thank You Please send listener questions and feedback to hello@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you by Catalyst Sale - you can learn more about Catalyst Sale, and the products and services we provide via the following links. Growth Acceleration - Plateau Breakthrough Product Market Fit

In this episode, Mike and Jody discuss a listener question regarding the Catalyst Sale Frameworks. Questions Answered: Why is it that the Catalyst Sale Frameworks are effective not just for sales, but for other areas of life? How does it change things to have a plan? Where else can the frameworks apply? How often do you think of the frameworks being used outside of sales? Why did you decide that The Reset was worth doing? Key Takeaways: Sales is Life and Life is Sales. In any engagement, you are likely trying to compel someone to take action. There is a direct correlation between the stuff we do everyday and sales. Life skills - communication, gathering data & conducting research, leveraging story, time management, project management. Having a plan creates a higher level of predictability that you will reach the desired outcome. By applying these processes and frameworks, you can get better in sales and in life. Sales for Non-Sales Professionals is for anyone who is interested in solving problems, in moving things forward, is interested in helping and transition in their lives or in the lives of others. Sales for Non-Sales Professionals shows you how to use sales frameworks in the work you do to improve your ability and execute. The Reset and Sales - sales is about connecting the dots between a problem and a solution. The Reset helps connect the dots between your problem/goal and the solution. 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. Find our courses here Hire us as a consultant/advisor within your team or organization Thank You Please send listener questions and feedback to hello@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you by Catalyst Sale - you can learn more about Catalyst Sale, and the products and services we provide via the following links. Growth Acceleration - Plateau Breakthrough Product Market Fit

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 experiencing scope creep you are either not asking the right questions or you are dead on right. Buyers are always influenced by the shiny lure and buzz words. Reduce the amount of friction that it takes people to get into the product. Be sure you know how customers go through your purchase process Getting people into our free trial is really part of our marketing. You're not going to know where things are failing until they actually fail. You have to set the business up to scale from day one meaning you have to have your 5 year plan and then you have to execute on your plan. Show Links: Postal.io Erik on Twitter Postal on Twitter 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. Find our courses here Hire us as a consultant/advisor within your team or organization Thank You Please send listener questions and feedback to hello@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you by Catalyst Sale - you can learn more about Catalyst Sale, and the products and services we provide via the following links. Growth Acceleration - Plateau Breakthrough Product Market Fit

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 believe you can forecast if you leverage data and simplify your process. 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 podcast@catalystsale.com Invest in a Catalyst Sale course - self directed. Find our courses here Hire us as a consultant/advisor within your team or organization Thank You Please send listener questions and feedback to podcast@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you by Catalyst Sale - you can learn more about Catalyst Sale, and the products and services we provide via the following links. Growth Acceleration - Plateau Breakthrough Product Market Fit

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. Structurally the same concepts apply to outreach we send out. All the Catalyst Sale tools build on each other and help you to think clearly Profit and loss help us measure success. Gather data to determine if what we are doing is working. Test. 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. Find our courses here or contact Tanner - Tanner@catalystsale.com Hire us as a consultant/advisor within your team or organization Thank You Please send listener questions and feedback to podcast@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you by Catalyst Sale - you can learn more about Catalyst Sale, and the products and services we provide via the following links. Growth Acceleration - Plateau Breakthrough Product Market Fit

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 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. Find our courses here Hire us as a consultant/advisor within your team or organization Thank You Please send listener questions and feedback to podcast@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you by Catalyst Sale - you can learn more about Catalyst Sale, and the products and services we provide via the following links. Growth Acceleration - Plateau Breakthrough Product Market Fit

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 personal relationship. Be prepared to do a demo if necessary Show Links: Call Planning Podcast 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 Purchase Demystify Sales, A Catalyst Sale Course here Interested in working with us? Visit https://catalystsale.com and chat with us, or contact us via Twitter or LinkedIn. Please send listener questions and feedback to podcast@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you by Catalyst Sale - you can learn more about Catalyst Sale, and the products and services we provide via the following links. Growth Acceleration - Plateau Breakthrough Product Market Fit

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@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you by Catalyst Sale - you can learn more about Catalyst Sale, and the products and services we provide via the following links. Growth Acceleration - Plateau Breakthrough Product Market Fit