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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 impact, the thing that you actually deliver, If you find yourself talking more about your product than your customers' challenge, you may be falling into a trap that will be relatively easy to compete with. Features are a dime a dozen. Focus more on value and business impact. Show Links: Submit Listener questions via Live Chat or email us at podcast@catalystsale.com If Disney Ran Your Life Podcast - Season 5 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

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 the absence of information, people spin and they ask a lot of questions. I believe in pro-active communication. When people don't have a true North Star, that's when you get unnecessary emails. Experience is the best teacher. You have to do applications of these things. When it comes to saying no to business relationships, I think a lot about where it needs to start and it needs to start with knowing yourself. It's ok to acknowledge highs and lows and talk about those openly. Someone has to be brave enough to go first. This creates a foundation of trust and further vulnerability. Community means to me people who found connection through usually highs or lows. Brands that try to be everything to everyone end up being nothing to anyone. Self-promotion is very different than stating your thoughts. Put your thoughts into the world. You have to bet on yourself before other people will. Show Links: Amanda 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

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 is finding a proposal that works and then everyone on the team uses it. Show Links: Planning Templates 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

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 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 Mike 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

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@catalystsale.com DM us 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 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 activities. Help people without expecting them to buy. Ask yourself, "Is this the most important thing I can be doing?" Buyer has to go from 0% buying to 100% buying. How do we move buyers to a place where they want to talk to our Sales Reps? The idea that once a marketer passes a lead to sales, they are no longer responsible for it is something to challenge. Take responsibility for your piece of the puzzle. Discipline forces you to change your behaviors. Focus on your customer and then reverse engineer. Marketing is very simple. You need people in your organization to challenge the things you do today and find ways to make them better. The idea of more things will generate more results is something I challenge because typically it creates a lot of inefficiencies. People that are smart and who execute will win. Brand is created based on the feeling you create inside of people. Mistakes are made when we don't distinguish when execution is brand execution or sales activation execution. Typically the average number of videos someone needs to see before being comfortable requesting a demo is 60. The buyer journey is not linear. Communicate in ways that aren't salesy but are educational and objective. Show Links: Chris on LinkedIn Refine Labs website State of Demand Gen 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. 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 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 need to understand their problem, when they need to solve it, understand who is impacted, why they care and how they have already attempted to solve the problem. When you continue to be contacted with a common set of problems from customers, a market driven pivot may be needed. Take advantage of the teams you have working with customers to gather feedback about what's important to the customer. Remember, you have resources inside your organization that you can deploy in different ways. Take advantage of that resource. Make it easy to work with you, make it easy to implement and help them be successful. If you have a question you would like us to consider answering on the podcast, email us at podcast@catalystsale.com or hello@catalystsale.com. ______________________________ 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 at https://catalystsale.com

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 agriculture with the best of ornamental landscape. A victim blames, an owner creates. Find community events that connect entrepreneurs The nature of a strong economy is expansion. Move forward with the concept of service to others The more people you serve more often, the more wealth you have. Ask the right questions, move things forward. Show Links: Queen Creek Botanical Garden www.Agriscaping.com 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 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, underlying principles Blending the Catalyst Sale combo of process, method, framework and approach, you create predictable sales outcomes and improved performance. Keep with a consistent message Remember that change takes time Promote early adopters and recruit them to help you get others on board. 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

*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 Urgency is inside people already, we just need to unearth it It helps to be a part of a tight knit community When you know someone well, it is easier to give precise, specialized coaching and feedback Leverage the tools available to you. You never know who you might be able to help or who can help you You can put your real self out there and it can be very rewarding Show Links: Scott Leese Consulting Surf and Sales Addicted to the Process Books Mentioned In This Podcast Episode: The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday Stillness Is The Key by Ryan Holiday Tribe by Sebastian Junger 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 Demystify Sales - the course