Category: Podcast

Listener Question – Mentoring on the Job

This week on the Catalyst Sale podcast we review a listener topic. Spencer asked if we could discuss the importance of having a good mentor as a new rep OR a seasoned rep starting with a new company or in a new industry.

It is through mentoring programs and job shadowing programs that organization information can be passed down from person to person, and generation to generation. Sales is a thinking process, engaging in conversations with your mentor/mentee inspires thought. It is also through these programs that creativity can be inspired, relationships can be built, knowledge can be passed quickly, and a catalyst for innovation can occur.

If these programs are set up poorly, or the mentor/mentee match is mishandled, the results can be rough.  Focus can be lost, frustration ensues, productivity and performance drops – for both sides of the equation.

Should you implement a job shadowing or mentoring program in your Sales Org?

The short answer – it depends.  This may already happen organically within your organization, collaboration may be high, engagement may be high.  If that is the case, there is no need to add process for the sake of process.   If you have an audience that feels they are disconnected, not engaged, your onboarding time is longer than expected, you may want to consider it.

Should you have a formal or informal mentoring program?

Again, it depends.  formal and informal have their place, it depends on the organizational culture, the mix of employees that make up the team, and your objectives.  A formal program will drive engagement, and help establish manufactured connections.  An informal approach may allow your team to design relationships based on personal perception of needs and may be more impactful in the long run.

How can Sales Leadership play an important role in supporting mentoring programs?

Sales leadership plays an important role in supporting mentoring programs by reinforcing that sharing knowledge and experience is core to the team.  You can demonstrate your commitment through your behavior.  Identify ways to facilitate connections and networking within the team.  Leverage your strengths within your team, and connect experts.  Lead by doing.

We discuss why you may want to consider a formal mentoring or job shadowing program, even if culturally it may not seem like the best fit.  We share personal experiences with mentors who helped us throughout our career and we close the discussion with some important tips for both mentors & mentees.

Thank you for listening to this week’s podcast.  If you have questions about the Catalyst Sale approach or building a mentoring program, you can reach us at hello@catalystsale.com

Contact us today to learn more via hello@catalystsale.com or, schedule a call with us to discuss our practice areas.

Schedule a Plateau Breakthrough Discussion
Please send them to hello@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn.

Subscribe to the Catalyst Sale Podcast

Subscribe via iTunes

Subscribe via Google Play

Catalyst Sale

In every business, in every opportunity, there is someone who can help you navigate the internal challenges and close the deal. There is a Catalyst. We integrate process (Catalyst Sale Process), technology and people, with the purpose of accelerating revenue. Our thoughtful approach minimizes false starts that are common in emerging markets and high growth environments. We continue to evolve our practice based on customer needs and emerging technology. We care about a thinking process that enables results versus a process that tells people what to do.

Sales is a Thinking Process.

You can find us via LinkedIn, Twitter, & The Catalyst Sale Website on the links below

Mike Conner on Twitter

Mike Simmons on Twitter

Mike Conner on LinkedIn

Mike Simmons on LinkedIn

Catalyst Sale Twitter

Catalyst Sale on LinkedIn

Catalyst Sale Website

Key Performance Indicators – what works, what doesn’t, and where to start

This week on the podcast, we have a listener question from Jared in Florida.  Jared is questioning the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are being measured by the organization and wonders how do you determine if you are measuring the right things.

When it comes to sales, most of us are ultimately measured by performance vs. the number we are accountable to deliver.  Performance vs Quota or Plan is a good measure of success on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis depending on your product, solution, or service. What if you want to go beyond the financials?  What are some of the other metrics you can track to illustrate or confirm success/failure?

How to choose Sales KPIs

It has been said many times, most attributed to Peter Drucker – “What gets measured gets managed.”  It has also been our experience that you need to be careful what you measure, because it may create unintended consequences.

When thinking about KPIs, begin with the end in mind.  

From a traditional sales perspective, you can look at each stage in the funnel, have a clear set of objectives and expectations, measure performance against each stage, and identify gaps/risk.  As an example, we use Funnelwise to help report on these metrics and help us identify opportunities for growth within individual territories and verticals.

Help Me Dertermine the Correct KPIs to Track

Traditional Sales KPIs include

• Performance vs Plan
• Performance vs Previous Year
• Cost of Sale
• Number of Opportunities Created
• Number of Proposals delivered
• Number of Presentations delivered
• Number of Calls Made
• Number of Meetings Scheduled
• Number of Prospects Identified
• Number of Pilots/Trials Started

What happens if you are pre-revenue, or you are still in the process of confirming product-market fit?  You can apply KPIs to user behavior.  As an example in a SaaS based product where engagement is expected, you may want to consider the following metrics.

User Behavior KPIs can include

• Number of times a user shares content
• Number of times a user clicks shared content
• Number of times a user views content
• Number of times a user enters the site per day/month/quarter
• Number of new users who access the product per day/month/quarter
• Number of users who return to the product per day/month/quarter
• Number of times a user performs X behavior

When we think of these metrics we usually begin with the end in mind, what is the desired behavior, desired state, how do we measure success, what do we expect to see to indicate success.

You need to consistently be evaluating the KPIs that you choose and determining whether or not they are truly impacting the success of the business.

How often should you measure your KPIs?

Once the KPIs are defined, the next step is to establish frequency.  Is it critical that you look at your KPIs on a daily basis?  Depending on the business, it may be necessary.  KPIs should be segmented into Daily (if necessary), Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, & Annual segments.  Investing time in the process of establishing KPIs, and tracking them over time, will help you to identify where you are succeeding, and where there are opportunities for improvement.

Many times we have seen situations where KPIs are established but are not being measured consistently.  This lack of consistency makes it difficult to evaluate success and make decisions based on data.

Create Personal KPIs

As an individual contributor, you can establish your own set of KPIs.  If you are interested in doing so, make sure they align with the organization’s objectives.   Communicate with your leadership team and colleagues to validate what you are measuring.  Continue to evaluate the viability of the measures, and share the data with your leadership team as you identify interesting trends.  Establishing individual KPIs can keep you on track, and drive performance.

When Key Performance Indicators are known throughout the organization, Performance vs Plan is shared, an environment can be created where the team (organization) is working toward a common goal.  There is nothing like being on a team who is in the know, who is brought in, and who is working toward a common objective.

Thank you for listening to this week’s podcast.  If you have questions about the Catalyst Sale approach, KPI definition, or have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast,  you can reach us at hello@catalystsale.com or, schedule a call with us to discuss our practice areas.

Set Goals and Achieve them with The Reset

Guest – Dan Tyre from HubSpot

We are excited to have Dan Tyre join us on this week’s episode of the Catalyst Sale Podcast.  The conversation went so well, we ended up recording our longest podcast to date.  Let us know how you like this format, and who you would like us to invite to join us on the podcast.

Dan is a director at HubSpot, entrepreneur multiple times over & inbound expert. We cover the do’s and don’t’s when thinking about outreach and connecting with your prospects.

Building rapport – It isn’t just small talk, it is important.  Invest your time in the information gathering phase, and it will pay dividends.

When thinking about the connect call – don’t use this as your opportunity to qualify – You have not earned the right to do so.   It is so important to get the person on the other end talking, and focus on the positive.  So many times reps miss with this step.  They start with their agenda, or talking about their company.  Be helpful.  If you are not researching, you don’t deserve the person on the other end to pick-up the phone.

The connect call is focused on helping, be human, provide context.  Be an effective warm caller, by investing time into your prospects.

• What’s the best time to call your prospects?
• What’s the best time to send an email?
• How many voicemails should you leave before expecting a response?
• Why does Dan recommend calling early in the morning?

Very few people take this from the perspective of respect.  Remember, you are an executive speaking to an executive. Put yourself in front of your customers as one human being to another.

Dan and Mike share their experience, a number of best practices, and ultimately an approach that you can apply today to get results.  You can apply these concepts and take action immediately by integrating these concepts into the Catalyst Sale Call Plan and Account Planning documents.

You can connect with Dan directly via Twitter (@dantyre), LinkedIn or via the email mentioned in the podcast.

If you have questions about the Catalyst Sale approach, or would like to discuss how Inbound Marketing teams and Sales can work better together you can reach us at hello@catalystsale.com or, schedule a call with us to discuss our practice areas.

Schedule a Plateau Breakthrough Discussion
Listener questions are great, please send them to hello@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn.

Subscribe to the Catalyst Sale Podcast

Subscribe via iTunes

Subscribe via Google Play

Catalyst Sale

In every business, in every opportunity, there is someone who can help you navigate the internal challenges and close the deal. There is a Catalyst. We integrate process (Catalyst Sale Process), technology and people, with the purpose of accelerating revenue. Our thoughtful approach minimizes false starts that are common in emerging markets and high growth environments. We continue to evolve our practice based on customer needs and emerging technology. We care about a thinking process that enables results versus a process that tells people what to do.

Sales is a Thinking Process.

You can find us via LinkedIn, Twitter, & The Catalyst Sale Website on the links below

Mike Conner on Twitter

Mike Simmons on Twitter

Mike Conner on LinkedIn

Mike Simmons on LinkedIn

Catalyst Sale Twitter

Catalyst Sale on LinkedIn

Catalyst Sale Website

Plateau Breakthrough Practice Area

Catalyst Sale has multiple services we deliver to the marketplace.  This is the second in a series of podcasts where we share our capabilities.  In this episode, we discuss Breaking through Revenue Plateaus, and our approach to identifying gaps and risk from the perspective of People, Technology, and Process.

CEOs, CFOs, COOs, Board members, Advisors, Investors, Controllers, struggle with this question – “Are we doing everything we can to grow top-line revenue?”  The next question is likely – “How do I generate more growth without creating unnecessary risk in my current business?” Followed by – “How can we innovate when it comes to growth?”

Can you relate to any of these statements?

• Single digit or low double digit growth is nice, but it will not get us to where we want to be, in the timeframe we’d like to get there.
• It has been a while since the team has brought up an idea that is new or innovative.
• We have invested in a company with a great product, great technical know-how, and a solid revenue track record, but I’m not sure they are ready to scale.
• Sales is a black box, I’m unable to decipher.

As we go through the process we assess readiness.  We interview your team, test assumptions, provide objective analysis, and identify gaps in people, technology, process.  Think of this as a post-mortem in your sales organization while the business maintains its focus.

Contact us today to learn more.

Schedule a Plateau Breakthrough Discussion
Listener questions are great, please send them to hello@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn.

Subscribe to the Catalyst Sale Podcast

Subscribe via iTunes

Subscribe via Google Play

Catalyst Sale

In every business, in every opportunity, there is someone who can help you navigate the internal challenges and close the deal.  There is a Catalyst.  We integrate process (Catalyst Sale Process), technology and people, with the purpose of accelerating revenue. Our thoughtful approach minimizes false starts that are common in emerging markets and high growth environments. We continue to evolve our practice based on customer needs and emerging technology. We care about a thinking process that enables results versus a process that tells people what to do.

Sales is a Thinking Process.

You can find us via LinkedIn, Twitter, & The Catalyst Sale Website on the links below

Mike Conner on Twitter

Mike Simmons on Twitter

Mike Conner on LinkedIn

Mike Simmons on LinkedIn

Catalyst Sale Twitter

Catalyst Sale on LinkedIn

Catalyst Sale Website

Product Market Fit 

This week’s episode is the first in a series highlighting the Catalyst Sale practice areas.

Catalyst Sale works with organizations to determine Product Market fit before making investments in expensive sales resources. We help validate your sales readiness and build out your initial sales strategy.

We do this via a 60 to 90 day engagment, where we will…

• Evaluate Product Capabilities through testing
• Validate defined use cases with external customers
• Deliver a Gap Analysis with and action plan

Founders/CoFounders and entrepreneurs are optimistic when it comes to product market fit. The product you have created may pass the family test, but have you been able to get customers outside of your network to purchase?

Can you relate to any of these statements?

• We’ve identified product market fit, but…
  • We are not seeing adoption
  • Users do not stay engaged
  • Customers are not spending money
  • Metrics do not align with our original expectations
• Our focus changes quarterly, monthly, weekly
• We don’t know where to start
• We’ve started, but we are not making progress

As we go through the process we assess readiness.  We test assumptions, identify use cases, and test these use cases in real world scenarios outside of the bubble

Schedule a Product Market Fit Discussion
Listener questions are great, please send them to hello@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn.

Subscribe to the Catalyst Sale Podcast

Subscribe via iTunes

Subscribe via Google Play

Catalyst Sale

In every business, in every opportunity, there is someone who can help you navigate the internal challenges and close the deal.  There is a Catalyst.  We integrate process (Catalyst Sale Process), technology and people, with the purpose of accelerating revenue. Our thoughtful approach minimizes false starts that are common in emerging markets and high growth environments. We continue to evolve our practice based on customer needs and emerging technology. We care about a thinking process that enables results versus a process that tells people what to do.

Sales is a Thinking Process.

You can find us via LinkedIn, Twitter, & The Catalyst Sale Website on the links below

Mike Conner on Twitter

Mike Simmons on Twitter

Mike Conner on LinkedIn

Mike Simmons on LinkedIn

Catalyst Sale Twitter

Catalyst Sale on LinkedIn

Catalyst Sale Website

Sales Foundational Skills – Objection Handling

Objections are common in the sales process.  A number of sales training companies offer best practices in handling objections and ways to avoid objections.  Many times these “best practices” are a bit gimicky.

Sometimes it is important, as the rep, to raise the objection.  Objections, questions, validation, are critical guideposts that your customers and you must navigate as they work toward their decision.

Common objections include price, influence, time, budget, competitive capabilities, technology, etc.  Sometimes the objection is less common.  Even worse, the objection might be silent.  Remeber – The worst objection is the one you don’t hear.

Mike & I share our approach when it comes to objection handling, how we have trained our teams to handle the objection, and the mistakes you will want to avoid.

Humanize the process, continue to provide value, and don’t answer your objections with a list of information your client/prospect can pull out of the FAQs.  If someone tells you that “every objection can be overcome” they are probably selling you on some “technique”, and not the process.

Roleplay and game planning should play an important role in your objection handling approach.  As we have said before (Ben Franklin) – failure to plan is a plan to fail.

Assumptions Establish a Quick Path to Failure

If you walk away with one key takeaway from this podcast – Don’t make assumptions.  When it comes to listening to objections, or responding to those objections – Listen to understand, not to respond.

Subscribe to the Catalyst Sale Podcast

Subscribe via iTunes

Subscribe via Google Play

Catalyst Sale

In every business, in every opportunity, there is someone who can help you navigate the internal challenges and close the deal.  There is a Catalyst.  We integrate process (Catalyst Sale Process), technology and people, with the purpose of accelerating revenue. Our thoughtful approach minimizes false starts that are common in emerging markets and high growth environments. We continue to evolve our practice based on customer needs and emerging technology. We care about a thinking process that enables results versus a process that tells people what to do.

Sales is a Thinking Process.

Download the Sales Planning Templates Discussed on the PodcastIdentify gaps in your Sales Process through an assessment with one of our founders
You can find us via LinkedIn, Twitter, & The Catalyst Sale Website on the links below

Mike Conner on Twitter

Mike Simmons on Twitter

Mike Conner on LinkedIn

Mike Simmons on LinkedIn

Catalyst Sale Twitter

Catalyst Sale on LinkedIn

Catalyst Sale Website

Listener Question – What do you mean by – Sales is a Thinking Process?

It’s more than just our tagline, it’s a guiding concept of ours.  It is part of our culture.  We have not found a substitute for thinking, and we hope we never do.

This is one of our shorter podcasts, but we cover some great content relative to the application of thought throughout the sales process. We discuss thinking from the perspective of the customer and how a thoughtful approach will separate you from your competition.

Sales as a thinking process means there are no Silver Bullets, there are no “Easy Buttons”, and be careful about the assumptions you make.

As you think about ways to apply thinking to your process and your training, consider role plays, work through the scenarios, and think about topics in the context of business application.  This approach and these concepts apply whether we are talking about sales training or leadership training.

Click Here to see our additional Catalyst Sale Podcast Topics

Subscribe to the Catalyst Sale Podcast

Subscribe via iTunes

Subscribe via Google Play

Catalyst Sale

In every business, in every opportunity, there is someone who can help you navigate the internal challenges and close the deal.  There is a Catalyst.  We integrate process (Catalyst Sale Process), technology and people, with the purpose of accelerating revenue. Our thoughtful approach minimizes false starts that are common in emerging markets and high growth environments. We continue to evolve our practice based on customer needs and emerging technology. We care about a thinking process that enables results versus a process that tells people what to do.

Sales is a Thinking Process.

Download the Sales Planning Templates Discussed on the PodcastYou can find us via LinkedIn, Twitter, & The Catalyst Sale Website on the links below

Mike Conner on Twitter

Mike Simmons on Twitter

Mike Conner on LinkedIn

Mike Simmons on LinkedIn

Catalyst Sale Twitter

Catalyst Sale on LinkedIn

Catalyst Sale Website

Podcast Guest Dan Peter – Salesforce MVP

Dan is a Salesforce MVP, and Lead Applications Engineer at Kenandy.  Dan started his Salesforce development career in 2009, and is an active leader in the Salesforce community. You can connect with @DanielJPeter on twitter, or look for him at the next Bay Area Salesforce Developer Meetup.

On this week’s episode of the Catalyst Sale Podcast, we cover a number of topics, including Ohana at Salesforce, Diversity, Women in Technology, Dan’s career, background on where we met, and more.

Links to information regarding many of the topics discussed follow.

Bay Area Salesforce Developer Group – https://twitter.com/forcedevmeetup

Snowforce (Salt Lake City, UT) conference recap:

Punta Dreamin’ (Punta del Este, Uruguay) conference recap:

Listing of all the Salesforce community conferences

Salesforce Trailhead “Cultivate Equality at Work”

Sandy Kurtzig – Kenandy – About Us Page – https://www.kenandy.com/about/

Salesforce Einstein – The impact of AI on data, and creating Superhuman capabilities.

Subscribe to the Catalyst Sale Podcast

Subscribe via iTunes

Subscribe via Google Play

Catalyst Sale

In every business, in every opportunity, there is someone who can help you navigate the internal challenges and close the deal.  There is a Catalyst.  We integrate process (Catalyst Sale Process), technology and people, with the purpose of accelerating revenue. Our thoughtful approach minimizes false starts that are common in emerging markets and high growth environments. We continue to evolve our practice based on customer needs and emerging technology. We care about a thinking process that enables results versus a process that tells people what to do.

Sales is a Thinking Process.

Download the Sales Planning Templates Discussed on the Podcast 

Identify gaps in your Sales Process through an assessment with one of our founders
You can find us via LinkedIn, Twitter, & The Catalyst Sale Website on the links below

Mike Conner on Twitter

Mike Simmons on Twitter

Mike Conner on LinkedIn

Mike Simmons on LinkedIn

Catalyst Sale Twitter

Catalyst Sale on LinkedIn

Catalyst Sale Website

Listener Question – Should You Force the Demo?

Does every demo you deliver sound the same?  Are you caught in the demo script trap?  Are you more focused on scheduling the demo, than understanding your customer/prospects organization?

If you answered yes to the above, you’ll find this week’s podcast insightful, and hopefully a little fun.

If you are in sales management and one of the KPIs for your team is the number of demos they conduct on a weekly basis, you should listen to our response to Mike’s question.

The demo should be for the customer, not manufactured to meet a set of KPIs, nor an opportunity for you to display all of the features and functions of your product.  A good demo is delivered in the context of the customer, using stories and experience to help the customer visualize the application within their use case.

This week Mike & Mike get into a deep discussion around customer demos.  We discuss the timing of the demo, personalization for the customer, demo loops, and many of the common mistakes made when you rush to demo.

Thanks for listening & for sharing with your team.

Subscribe via iTunes

Subscribe via Google Play

Catalyst Sale

Sales is a Thinking Process.  You can learn more about Catalyst Sale by following us on LinkedIn, Twitter, & via the Catalyst Sale Website.  Our sales process includes Validation, Qualification, Fit, and Feasibility, Proposal, Closed Won & the Confirmation Step.

Download the Sales Planning Templates Discussed on the PodcastIdentify gaps in your Sales Process through an assessment with one of our foundersYou can find us via LinkedIn, Twitter, & The Catalyst Sale Website on the links below

Mike Conner on Twitter

Mike Simmons on Twitter

Mike Conner on LinkedIn

Mike Simmons on LinkedIn

Catalyst Sale Twitter

Catalyst Sale on LinkedIn

Catalyst Sale Website

Where do you Start when Planning an Effective Sales Training Event or Global Sales Meeting?

• What is the current state?
• What is the desired state?
• What are your gaps?
• How will you execute?
• How will you follow-up and hold the team accountable?
• Who are the experts in your organization that you can lean on?

There are no silver bullets, but there are some practical experiences you can put your team through to help improve performance.

Effective training, sales or otherwise, includes the delivery of information, an opportunity to demonstrate retention/application of the new skill, and a chance to test and retest the concepts in a simulated environment. Unfortunately, most organizations stop here, reps go home, training is not reinforced, and the team operates the way they always have.

This week Mike & Mike share their approach in planning sales meeting, implementing new sales training programs, and some background on this Catalyst Sale area of practice.

Thanks for listening & for sharing with your team.

Click Here to see our additional Catalyst Sale Podcast Topics
At Catalyst Sale, we are focused on the long game. This week a listener question draws attention to the things that happen beyond your control, and when it makes sense to recommend that a client reduces their investment with your organization.

We also review why it is important to factor in churn as you work through your budget planning process, and when is the right time to discuss it.

Catalyst Sale

Sales is a Thinking Process. Qualification, Fit, and Feasibility are core components of our sales process. You can learn more about Catalyst Sale by following us on LinkedIn, Twitter, & via the Catalyst Sale Website.

Download the Sales Planning Templates Discussed on the Podcast
You can find us via LinkedIn, Twitter, & The Catalyst Sale Website on the links below

Mike Conner on Twitter

Mike Simmons on Twitter

Mike Conner on LinkedIn

Mike Simmons on LinkedIn

Catalyst Sale Twitter

Catalyst Sale on LinkedIn

Catalyst Sale Website