Scaling Success Building and Growing High-Performance Sales Teams for Unstoppable Growth: Michelle Terpstra - Startup Sales Leadership Institute

SPEAKER_00 0:04

This is the Beyond the Story Podcast, a show that goes way beyond the story. And now, Sebastian Frost. Michelle, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Thank you for having me, Sebastian. I'm super excited to be here.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

I'm super excited to have you here. Uh, you and I met, we were just talking about this a couple months back. We spent uh a week at sea at uh Ross B. Williams uh business mastermind. Uh not a not a bad way to spend a week uh in the middle of the ocean in the Caribbean hanging out with some awesome people. We both had the opportunity of sharing the stage and pouring into some folks that week. And uh you like I we were just chatting here before we started the interview. Um, you were like instantaneously like my people. And we just meet some people and you're like, that person is my people right here. So so great that we're still uh we're still in touch here. And I was dying to get you on the show and uh we're able to do it. So here we are. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

I'm so when you know, you know, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Absolutely. Yes, you do. So the your your world is sales, sales, sales, and more sales, but not just selling your product, helping businesses, organizations, uh, entrepreneurs, solopreneurs really increase what they're already doing sales-wise on here. So I'm excited to learn about what you actually do. And I and I'm even more excited to learn about uh your program. Uh, but before we get into all that, let's back up a little bit. For context, let's help our listeners better understand a little bit more about Michelle and your backstory and what really brought you to present day and what you're working on.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Awesome. So, yes, I am all things sales. I live, I breathe it, I'm obsessed with it, I love it. I don't think there's anybody else out there that likes sales more than me. And I'm proud to wear that badge. So, my background is I spent 10 years working for three fortune 500s, and then I worked for a small consulting firm. And that's when I was really exposed to the beauty and the possibility of training, coaching, and consulting. And I loved every minute of it. And one day I woke up and I was with my little girl. She was, I think, six, she was like six months old. And then I had a four-year-old boy at the time too. And I was just like, man, I really want to show her that she can really do anything she wants. And I know that's like a cheesy story of, oh, I looked in my daughter's eyes and just knew I had to do something else, but that's the honest to God truth. And I just was like, you know what? There are bigger things than a multi-six figure nine to five sales job. Like I want to go bigger than that. And not, and it wasn't just about money, it was about impact, mission, fulfillment, happiness. And one of my main things in life is freedom. I'm always looking to maximize my freedom, which creation freedom, time freedom, financial freedom, choice freedom. And at that moment, I just said, that's it. I'm going to start my own business. And so it didn't take me very long to get out of my nine to five. And I remember when I told my husband that, you know, I'm leaving a multi-six-figure sales job and gonna start my own business. And he looked me straight in the eyes and he's like, I don't know anybody else who could do it better. And there was like not even a hesitation in his voice. He was like, Yeah, you'll figure it out. You've got it. And I was like, oh, wow, all right, here we go. Like one stamp of approval. And it didn't take very long, just like a couple of months for me to get my business up and rolling. And this was January 2020. And I had no idea what was coming in, you know, March and April of 2020. And it actually worked out really well for my business because everyone who was used to getting clients in person needed to figure out how to get clients online. And so if you're a virtual sales training company that teaches virtual selling, then you end up taking off in that type of environment. And so it was so much fun to serve so many people so quickly and allow them to still scale their businesses during time of uncertainty and the pandemic and a really frightening time for a lot of people. And I love what I do. I will always teach selling. And I've had 500 businesses come to me for help or since 2020, the beginning of 2020. And it's amazing. And I love what I get to do.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

I love it. There's nothing better than that. I mean, well, first of all, you know, being able to, you know, get the green light from your spouse um right out of the gates is is so you're like, that's it? Okay, cool. I mean, that's like your for you already knew this was your next move, and then you get the you get the stamp of approval uh from the hubs, and then from there, you already know, hey, listen, this is this is how this is the way it's gonna be because I said this is the way it's gonna be. So 500 clients is no small number uh to to talk about. So congrats on that. And that's just a mere three, you know, almost you know, three years now. So congrats on on all that. So, how's it all work? How does the program work? How did you conceptualize it? What does it do for people? What problems do you solve? Let fill us in.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

Fill us in. Okay, so the there's been an evolution of who I've been helping over the last few years. So people come to me for a few reasons. One, you're a solopreneur, entrepreneur, and you freaking hate sales. And you're like, I've got to figure out how I start loving sales or I don't get to have a business, right? So there's that is the first type of person that I immediately helped. They were the easiest for me to find, had the um most opportunity to serve. And my program for that is called the Sales Success Lab. And it has run over and over and over again since um about mid-2020. And that's really my keystone product that helps the solopreneurs hit the six figures and feel really, really confident in selling. So then I got all of these people really successful making six figures. And I started speaking on stage and doing guest podcasting and really networking with very high net worth um entrepreneurs and some of the biggest names in the industry. And so they asked me, they said, Hey, can you come into my business as a fractional CSO, fractional chief sales officer, and help us fix some of the stuff that's going on, like building a sales team, fixing some offers, building products, all of these things. And I said, wow, that sounds fun. Let's do that. And so I jumped in as a fractional CSO and have been doing that for a couple of years now as well. And during my time doing that one-to-one, I was thinking in the back of my mind the whole time, I'm like, there has to be a way to productize this so that it doesn't have to just be you have to spend a ton of money for a fractional CSO. How can I start to teach people how to be sales leaders, hire their sales teams, and build these amazing extensions of their brand so that they can scale? And so that's the product I'm gonna talk about in a moment. But I remember when one of my, it was probably like my second or third CSO gig, and uh Bob called me and he's like, Michelle, I don't want to do this virtually, create the product virtually. Can you come to Philly? And I said, sure. So I got on a plane, went down to Philly from New York, and we spent an entire day with um post-it notes and whiteboards and built out this amazing product for him to sell. And then we went to work and trained his sales team. He's never had a sales team before, and we had a $500,000 launch on a thousand dollar product.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

Yeah. And it was really that moment where I was like, I'm the best at this and I need to reach some more people. And that was the creation of the startup sales leadership academy, which, and I'm not sure when this will air, but the first cohort is going through April 24th, 2023. And that is where I'm going to teach people to have that type of results, but have it with themselves and they themselves become the sales leader. Cause now I'm at the point where I want to teach it to others so they can be in uh independent and autonomous to scale their business.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

I love that. So, how's it all work? What's the cohort? What's what's involved with the cohort? What are some of the things people can expect by working with you?

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Yes, yes, yes. Okay. So, first things first is that we have to prepare your business to actually have someone else sell your products and programs. This is a really crucial part that everybody just thinks you can skip. Like, oh, hey, I'm gonna go find this amazing salesperson and just drop them into my business and hope they can sell. Let me tell you, it doesn't work at all, almost never. You might get lucky. Maybe one person listening to this is gonna send me a message and say I'm wrong. The rest of them are gonna ask me about the startup sales leadership academy. It's just the way it is. And what's so what's really important is that you, a lot of the people that I work with are personal brands that are moving from personal brand into quote unquote real business or removing themselves from day-to-day operations. And that's a really, really big move. So we have to make sure that someone can sell just as great as you or better, right? Then what's the point if they can't? So the program is designed to prepare your business. And then also my secret sauce is a branded sales university. Nobody else in the industry does this. And it is like creating a digital course for your sales team so that you can onboard at scale and they understand what makes you different. How are you different? What are your core values? What are the steps that people go from lead to sale? How can I put them into continuity? How can we increase MRR? Like all of these things are so crucial. And then from a sales leadership standpoint, it holds the two of you accountable for what does your sales meeting look like every week? What does a huddle look like? What metrics matter? How are we gauging success? None of this is taught at scale in our industry. And I'm here to do it. So, and the cool thing is, is it's in team environment. So if you have a team, you can bring them. I don't charge extra for your team. I want everybody there. So you create these calls, we take action, we build out the assets, and you're done in four to six weeks. You are ready to hire your first or next a-team salesperson.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

So you're creating the product and the infrastructure to support the launch of the product.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

So that's a great question. Inside the Startup Sales Leadership Academy, we are just talking about building the sales team. So I expect you to come in with your product. With the exception is if you don't have continuity on the back end of your front end offer, we are going to fix that and we can do it really quickly. Because without recurring revenue, without really locking in MRR, then you're really cutting yourself off at the knees and you're wasting so much money and you are not expanding the lifetime value of a client. So that would be the exception.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

I learned that lesson a while from a client, oddly enough.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

About a year and a half ago. And when I say revolutionized and just absolutely changed everything, he was like, What are you doing as an option ongoing? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It is a requirement. Like they pay you to launch a podcast and then they pay you for 12 months to continue to produce the podcast and hopefully longer than that. I'm the first one. Send me a contract, lock me in, let's go. And I thought, well, it's so important. I think it's something a lot of people miss because it's like, well, if I can just get that big up front and continue to sell, I look at it as a it's like a sales job, really. It's like you're only as good as your last sale on here, and you better hope you don't spend the money from the initial sale on here because it really helps on those, so not only just continue to grow the company, but it helps on those slower months too, when new deals may not be coming in as frequently as they were before. You've still got the recurring revenue. But at the same time, what I've learned, Michelle, is that you can't really get sleep on that recurring revenue too. You've got to treat that like new deals too. I look at recurring revenue like it does, it's not even there. I know it's there and it's great that it's there, but if it goes away or it goes up or it goes down, well, that's okay too. I think a lot of people will get fat and happy and go, well, we got it up to 10, 15, 20,000 a month. We're good. Uh, and in reality, the world of sales are never good. Have you is that some of your same experience?

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Yes, it's a security blanket, but it doesn't mean you get to fall asleep at the wheel, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

So you know, and this is the and it's a big problem that people face when they're doing all the sales themselves. And it's a conundrum. It's right, you've worked super, super hard, you get a bulk amount of sales and say you go to an event or you're speaking or you do a launch or something and you get an influx of clients, right? Depending on how you're set up in the back side of everything, that could really put a lot of pressure on you time-wise. So now you're fulfilling and you're not selling. So then the conundrum is how do I balance both? And my answer is if your product's that good and you're selling that much, you need somebody selling for you. Because if you think about it, eight hours a day, 40 hours a week, 160 hours a month, I'm pretty darn sure that's gonna take you to the next level. If you have a dedicated person spending that much time making sure, regardless of the sales, that you keep feeding the funnel. And back to the MRR conversation is the most successful entrepreneur I know in the digital marketing space and a client of mine, he doesn't even sell a paid in full option. Okay, this is probably earth-shattering to like everybody listening. He wants the MRR. So he locks into a contract, but it's Emma, it's MRR. And then when you're done with the first 12 months, there's a continuation that's another 12 month um continuing container. And the reason why this is amazing is you know, the stats change every day. It's anywhere between seven and 11 contact points for somebody to say yes to and work to you, work with you. It's a lot of contact points. Are you kidding? Right. I mean, that's why Alex Hermosi and some of the big names, they produce 600 pieces of fresh content every month. They know it, right? So the reason why it's important is that if you get a loyal fan base and you can get them in the front door, then keep them. Lifetime value. Keep serving them, keep growing. I mean, it's exactly why I created the Startup Sales Leadership Academy is I was like, great, I served my people. They got up to having killer businesses. What's the next level? Well, next level's this. So you want to keep serving people. And that is like the most rewarding thing ever is when you don't have to keep chasing and you can serve.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Yeah. All right, let's address the elephant in the room when it comes to sales. And that is leads.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

Leads, leads, leads.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

I started a long time ago growing up in the world of sales. Um, he who has the or he or she who has the leads wins. And uh goes back to the Glengarry days, you know, these are the Glengarry leads. So uh your system works, sales are coming in for an organization, sales can always be better and more. There's a gigantic uh void because of quality lead generation and being able to bring new people in. What's the solution there? I know it's an ongoing mystery for most on here in your experience and what you get to do on a daily basis. How do you solve the lead problem?

SPEAKER_01 15:04

So I'm old school. I'm old school. I mean, I had to find all my own leads and make my own sales for every sales job I have ever had. And so this whole digital marketing world of where sales reps just sit there and wait for their calendar to be filled with qualified leads and then get paid all of this money to just close that. I'm like, that's a dream job. Had I known that was available, maybe I wouldn't have created my business. Like to me, that is just so easy and simple. And I believe that there are multiple ways for you to generate highly qualified leads. I have so many clients that do various different types of funnels, paid and organic, that really put qualified leads on the calendar. And it works really, really well for them. So that's one option. The second option is to go a little old school. And the salesperson that you hire is responsible for prospecting. And I want to draw the line between prospecting and lead gen, because this is a very important distinction. Okay. So lead gen is one to many. So like lead magnets, podcasts, YouTube, content, ads, all of these things are meant to capture someone in the front end funnel and send them through your system, right? Prospecting is a sales professional's responsibility. And that is a one-to-one connection point. That means networking events, local and online, like hello, B and I. Like there's so many like regular places you can go, right? So networking online in person, creating a dream 100 list, which I think is just the biggest no-brainer thing ever for a salesperson. Um, leveraging social media in a one-to-one environment, which means direct outreach, relationship building, and all of these different things. I think it is absolutely crucial for someone that you bring into your business to have prospecting skills. And if that person has prospecting skills, then you are constantly going to have opportunities to serve and sell. So the combination of lead gen, which is the business owner's responsibility, okay, with the combination of prospecting, which is the salesperson's responsibility, you can have a beautiful, sustainable, scalable business. And that's how the big boys do it.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

So when you bring in this individual that's handling biz dev slash sales on here, is this a salaried position or is this a uh haunt what you eat type scenario?

SPEAKER_01 17:22

So it can be both. It depends on your business model, um, where you are revenue-wise, the caliber of person you're looking to search for and hire. I mean, there's so many variable variables, and I've seen people be successful either way. So it really depends getting into your business, understanding the profitability of each of your products that you're selling, what is your padding to pay someone, and then matching that with the right person.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

Okay. I come from the school of, you know, if you're looking for guarantees, the the world of sales is not your uh is not your jam.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Uh yeah, I mean, I've had both. I've had commission only and I've had base plus commission. And it really just depends. Like, I mean, I think of myself as a top-tier sales professional. And if I have a base, I'm not not working.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

I think that's a lot of what business owners fear. Oh, if I'm gonna give them a base, they're gonna sleep in, drink coffee, and not prospect, right? Like I think a lot of people think that. The reverse thought of it is I'm gonna show how much I'm invested in them, their success and their growth and commitment to my brand. I'm gonna pay them like I pay myself with high expectations. And if you miss the mark, you're fired. Right. So there's two different ways to go about it. I've unfortunately had to fire a lot of salespeople. And it's not a great feeling, but you sometimes just got to do it.

unknown 18:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Well, I mean, that all comes with setting clear boundaries and expectations right out of the gate, saying, hey, listen, you know, this is roles responsibility. Here's what's expected of you. And if you can't meet those responsibilities, um, then it's probably not gonna be a fit eventually. But let's hope we never ever get there. Uh and that way people know, you know, going into it. And and again, the world of sales is a lot of churn and burn. It is a lot of revolving door, but that's the way it is. But you know, you you're all you all you also can find those those gems that used to say, you know, you can't find a good sales rep because they've all got jobs.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Well, that's why you've got to learn how to take them away from other jobs.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

I I had a guy that I worked for in Southern California when I was uh when I was 20, which was like two years ago. Um, and um he used to go test drive cars at Mercedes and BMW and get the rep in the car um for a test drive and go, so you're making the kind of money you want to make?

SPEAKER_01 19:38

Oh my god, that's so good.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

Ended up converting a bunch of, you know, because if you can sell Mercedes and BMWs all day, you can sell just about anything. So uh he converts sales and they they definitely know how to work too. That's eight days a week, pound in the pavement, literally. Um, but uh, I'll never forget that as far as you know the recruiting and the recruiting aspect. But I always think about that. You see these people like on street corners and whatnot. Do you love animals? Can you take this quick survey? I was like, man, do you have any idea what I could do with this? And you won't have to sweat or carry around uh a clipboard and beg people for money. I mean, I always got constantly think about that. Uber drivers too, ones that you can just tell. Some just got it, you know, they do it on the side, but they're like, I met a guy pick me up from uh from um the fountain blue on my views from an event a couple weeks ago, and I got in his car and it was a brand new Lexus SUV. And I was like, man, this thing's great. He goes, Yeah, I got it three days ago. I was like, damn. And I go, now you drive an Uber for it. He goes, No, I actually, this is actually my my my fifth car. Um, I'm like, five cars? He goes, Yeah, I have a Turo business. So I rent them all. I do have a car rental business and I run everything through Turo. And then I drive my nicest cars as um Uber Lux and Uber and Uber Black to supplement income. And I thought, wow, what an incredible time to be alive. And go, let me ask you a question. Out of those five, out of those six, yeah, six cars. Out of those six cars, he goes, it brings in about six grand a month uh minimum and uh covers the cover cost of the payments, puts a couple bucks in my pocket, and I'm continuing to scale the process uh as well. And um, I thought, whoa, I mean, it's just a it's just incredible what's what's available, you know, these days. I don't know how we got on this topic oh, we got on the topic, just you know, the basic hustle, which is the world of sales.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

Yes. And I mean, my I mean, it's just I like to do hard things. So do hard things. It feels good. Like I my personality is not like take the easy way. I mean, I'm up at 5 a.m. every single day, regardless of what the day looks like, you know, except for on the weekends, I don't do it then. But you know, I'm writing, I'm working out, and like I like to do hard things. I think it's fun. I believe in high performance. I feel the reward is really good. And I'm just don't have a lazy bone in my body. And so for me, when someone says, Oh, it seems so hard, I'm like, or it's really rewarding. Which way do you want to look at it? So that's my own personality, and that's typically who I attract, or the high achieving, high performance uh, you know, type of people into my world that thrive and enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Absolutely. Well, I mean, sales is hard, being broke's hard. Choose your heart, you know?

SPEAKER_01 22:07

Yeah, choose your heart and building a business is hard, working a nine to five is hard, like raising two people, two little babies to be good humans out there in the world is really hard. You know, maintaining great relationships, really hard. Like, or you can just say that like hard is fun and the rewards are greater. So it's just depending on how you want to look at it.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

Yeah, it's all perspective.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

It's all perspective.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

Michelle, you're an absolute gem, and it's just been so great to have yet another conversation with you and really dive into exactly uh what you do. I'm so excited about the upcoming launch of your new product, what you're doing here, the podcast. Uh, I I'd be remiss to not bring that up. Uh, that's happening in the summer. Um, so just such such such a privilege to uh to be in company with just such a great superhuman like yourself. I just want to encourage you to keep doing what you're doing. You're doing work that matters. It clearly shows it. You you absolutely just glow with I love what I do and I love my life and every aspect of it. So keep keep doing uh what you're doing there. Any final thoughts for our listeners on the world of sales or anything we've chatted about today?

SPEAKER_01 23:11

Yeah, you have two choices of sales. You either learn to love it yourself and stay consistent and grow your business, knowing there is a limitation, or two, you go all in and decide you're gonna have an extension of yourself with a sales team, and then you're absolutely limitless.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

Couldn't have said it better. Amazing final thoughts. Thanks again for your time, Michelle.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

Thank you, Sebastian.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

Until next time, friends. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Beyond the Story Podcast. Be sure to appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. Signing off from the podcast, launchlab.com studios. We'll talk to you next time.