TheInquisitor Podcast with Marcus Cauchi

Matt Gaskin - Lean, Selling & Why Most Transformations Fail

What if everything you thought you knew about transformation was wrong? In this episode, Marcus Cauchi and Matt Gaskin cut through the nonsense and dive into the brutal truths about why most change programs flop—and what Lean really looks like when it’s done right.

💡 Key Takeaways:
🔹 Lean isn’t a methodology, it’s a mindset. It’s about learning, adjusting, and delivering value daily from the bottom up, not just implementing a new set of tools.
🔹 Go to Gemba! True leaders don’t make decisions from behind a desk, they go to where the work is happening. Want to understand inefficiencies? Get out there and see them for yourself.
🔹 Simplicity is hard. Lean sounds straightforward, reduce waste, increase value, but in reality, cutting through organisational complexity is an art form.
🔹 Selling isn’t about pushing, it’s about pulling. Lean organisations understand that the market should pull products through the value stream, not the other way around. Deadlines and durations are not the same thing.
🔹 The trap of traditional sales systems. Most sales processes are riddled with inefficiencies, so what are we actually prospecting for? The ideal customer isn’t just someone willing to buy but one who will return, expand, and refer.
🔹 Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation. When the task is simple, extrinsic rewards (like money) work. But when creativity and problem-solving are required, intrinsic motivation wins. The famous Candle Problem experiment proved this decades ago: when people were rewarded for solving it faster, they actually performed worse.

🚩 Red Flags in Transformation Programs:
❌ Consultants promising specific cost savings before they’ve even observed your processes? Run.
❌ Leaders who think transformation is about tools, not people? It will fail.
❌ Ignoring how change impacts individual contributors? Expect resistance and failure.

🛠 Lessons from Toyota:
Toyota is hard on the process, not the people, a critical distinction. Sustainable improvement happens when organisations hire problem solvers, not just people who follow orders.

🔥 If revenue wasn’t your primary measure of success, how would you define whether your transformation is working?

📲 Tune in now and rethink everything you know about Lean, sales, and leadership. Connect with Matt Gaskin on LinkedIn for more.

Rob Goddard: Sell More Scale Faster Exit Strong

Selling your business is the biggest deal you’ll ever close, but are you set up to get the best possible outcome? In this episode, Rob Goddard, business acquisitions and sales expert, shares how to maximise valuation, avoid costly mistakes, and negotiate like a pro.

But that’s not all. The principles of selling a business apply to every high-stakes deal. Whether you’re an entrepreneur planning an exit or a salesperson looking to sharpen your skills, this episode is packed with insights you can use immediately.

What You’ll Learn:

✅ How to increase your business’s value before selling
✅ Common pitfalls that leave money on the table
✅ The negotiation tactics that get better outcomes
✅ Why understanding buyers is key in any deal
✅ What top salespeople can learn from exit strategies

 

Who Should Listen?
🔹 Business owners thinking about selling
🔹 Sales leaders and professionals who want to sharpen deal-making skills
🔹 Entrepreneurs looking to build a business with exit potential

Next Steps:

📌 Connect with Rob on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/robgoddard/
📌 Want to improve your sales strategy? https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcuscauchi/

🚀 Don’t miss this one, press play now!

Rebecca Gebhardt discusses From Leaderboard to Leadership

Leaderboard to Leadership with Rebecca Gebhardt & Marcus Cauchi

Summary: This episode offers more than a sales leadership lesson—it’s a blueprint for transformation. Rebecca and Marcus challenge outdated thinking about leadership, relationships, and what it means to truly succeed in sales. Packed with insight and wisdom, it’s a wake-up call for anyone ready to lead with purpose and intention.

Rebecca Gebhardt’s Leaderboard to Leadership doesn’t pull any punches: promoting your top salesperson doesn’t make them a leader. Leadership isn’t just the next step up from closing deals—it’s a completely different game, and most people aren't prepared to play it. Without the right training and mindset, you're not offering them a promotion—you’re setting them up to fail.

This episode goes deeper than your standard sales talk. Rebecca and Marcus cut right to the core: real relationships. Not the transactional kind that evaporate once the contract is signed, but the ones built on trust and understanding—the relationships that last. Their message is crystal clear: if you don’t understand what your customer actually needs, you’ve already lost them.

Marcus brings the heat with AI, but not in the way you’d expect. Forget about AI as a flashy tool; Marcus shows how it can be a brutal mirror, reflecting your blind spots and challenging your assumptions. It’s not about the tech—it’s about seeing yourself clearly and growing from it.

Then there’s Marcus’s golden rule: "sell hot, not cold." If you’re wasting your time on cold calls and hard pitches, you're missing the point. Warm leads—relationships you’ve already nurtured—are the real opportunities. This isn’t just about closing the next deal; it’s about creating something that scales and sustains success.

Rebecca hits on the mindset leaders need to succeed: “abundant, bold, curious.” Leadership isn’t about resting on your past wins. It’s about staying hungry, constantly learning, and pushing even when you think you’ve arrived. It’s this mindset that gets you to the top—and keeps you there.

But Marcus takes a step back to show the big picture: Sales alone won’t cut it. To win, you need every part of your business—procurement, customer success, finance, operations, the Board, all of it—aligned around what the customer actually wants to accomplish. Silos are where good people are sent to die, too often chasing the wrong metrics for the sake of numbers. That’s how you burn relationships and your reputation.

The reality? Chasing numbers isn’t leadership. Building relationships is. Metrics might feel good in the short term, but if they come at the expense of trust, you’ve already lost the long game.

Leaderboard to Leadership (out 20th Sept 2024) isn’t a roadmap—perhaps it’s your antidote to mediocrity. It’s a guide to transforming potential into performance, not by accident, but by intention. Rebecca doesn’t hand you shortcuts; she gives you the tools to build leaders who can thrive—not just survive. Stop floundering and start leading with purpose.

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What's the Ally Method™?

If you’re tired of promoting your top sellers only to watch them stagnate, it’s time to change the narrative. With the ALLY Method™, I’ll show you how the difference between stagnation and transformation is the story you tell yourself. Together, we’ll rewrite that story and turn potential into performance—deliberately, not by accident.

Let’s have a conversation. Contact me, marcus@laughs-last.com, today, and I’ll show you how coaching and training can elevate your team. If you’re ready to break silos, lead with intention, to build something lasting, the bright path is right here. Let’s walk it together.

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Trust, Risk & Authentic Sales Strategies with Procurement Expert Mike Lander

Episode Overview: In this episode, Marcus Cauchi hosts Mike Lander, a seasoned procurement director turned sales trainer, who shares insights from both sides of the procurement and sales processes. The conversation centers around improving sales strategies by understanding buyer psychology and removing uncertainties that often hinder successful sales.

Key Highlights:

1. Background and Experience:

• Mike Lander has extensive experience in procurement, having managed substantial budgets and vendor relationships. He now focuses on educating salespeople about what not to do when dealing with buyers.

Buyer and Seller Dynamics:

• The discussion explores the common mistakes salespeople make, such as using manipulative tactics, which often backfire. Lander emphasizes the importance of building trust and credibility with buyers rather than using transactional sales techniques.

Risk and Decision Making:

• A critical theme is understanding how buyers assess risk. Lander explains that buyers prioritize minimizing risk, which includes concerns about reputational, operational, and financial risks. Effective sellers help buyers mitigate these risks by providing clear, value-driven solutions.

Building Relationships:

• The conversation highlights the significance of deepening relationships with clients, exemplified by Lander’s experience with a trusted vendor named Malcolm. Malcolm’s approach was relationship-first, offering timely and valuable insights that helped navigate complex decisions and risks.

Negotiation and Value Perception:

• Lander discusses negotiation strategies, stressing that sellers should focus on adding real value rather than being seen as commodities. He advises that sales professionals should aim to understand the buyer's needs and co-develop solutions, thereby differentiating themselves in the market.

Final Thoughts:

• The episode wraps up with Lander reiterating the importance of sincerity in sales.

Tune in to hear more about navigating the intricacies of sales and procurement from a dual perspective!

Jeff Standridge - Building Lasting Business Relationships: Trust, Integrity, and Long-Term Success

In this episode, Jeff Standridge and Marcus Cauchi discuss the importance of a client-centred approach in business relationships. They emphasise prioritising relationship-building over immediate sales, focusing on finding lifetime customers, and avoiding high-pressure tactics that can lead to buyer's remorse.

 

The conversation highlights the value of delivering consistent, ethical practices and maintaining integrity, even in changing circumstances. They also touch on the importance of mentorship, continuous learning, and clear communication in leadership.

 

Standridge advises that leaders should be cautious with their words, as even casual comments can influence team actions. The episode concludes with a discussion on the significance of creating a culture of excellence and the role of continuous improvement in achieving long-term success.

 

Contact  Jeff D. Standridge, Ed.D. | LinkedIn

Contact Marcus (Principled Selling®) Cauchi | LinkedIn

 

Test your sales strategy 

 

https://mailchi.mp/laughs-last.com/satp.

 

Grab 30 minutes with me for free and get honest feedback on your results.  You'll learn one thing you don't know about yourself, 2 ways to start building pipeline certainty immediately and what you can start doing in 90 days without my help to get yourself started on the right track.

Roee Hartuv: Sustainable Efficient Process Driven Growth

Roee Hartuv, a former combat helicopter pilot and current expert at Winning by Design, shares insights from his unique journey from the military to revenue architect. His profound understanding of the importance of process design helps identify what works, what doesn't, and what needs to happen to meet business goals. This episode delves into the nuances of sales processes, customer acquisition, and the hidden costs that can drain a company’s resources.

Roee discusses how his interest in process design began during his time as a pilot, emphasizing the critical importance of understanding effective and ineffective processes in high-stakes environments. He provides an in-depth analysis of customer churn and its financial implications, revealing why reaching a Proof of Concept (POC) can cost $43,000 even if the customer does not convert.

Salespeople are encouraged to rethink their training, recognizing that the buyer's journey is not linear and requires strategic adjustments. Roee critiques vendor-biased sales methodologies like MEDIC and BANT, highlighting the need to focus on desired customer impacts rather than just product features and pain points.

Mapping the sales process to a non-linear buyer journey, understanding the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), and their decision-making process are key topics. The episode also examines the conflicting goals of stakeholders, from VCs to profit-driven businesses, and how growth rate-driven valuations can harm long-term profitability.

A deeper understanding of customer acquisition costs beyond surface-level metrics is necessary, along with evaluating data to genuinely understand company performance. Roee explains why some companies will never recover from an unprofitable foundation, even if they pivot to customer-focused strategies. He emphasizes that poor processes lead to amplified negative outcomes with AI implementation.

To avoid over-investment, developing a solid growth plan and resisting investor pressure is crucial. Roee offers strategic advice for business success, stressing the difficulty of abandoning ineffective practices and the necessity of operational support for enterprise sales.

The dangers of a poorly managed pipeline and the resulting increase in churn are examined, along with strategies to enhance customer success activities to improve reputation and reduce churn. Roee shares the benefits of customer advisory boards and the extended role of marketing teams beyond top-of-funnel activities.

Addressing the skills gap among middle managers who thrived during the growth-at-all-costs phase is essential, preparing them for a changed business landscape. Finally, the importance of testing processes before scaling and having a measurable process to identify problems and opportunities for improvement is highlighted.

Tune in to gain valuable insights from Roee Hartuv and discover how to perfect your sales processes and strategies to drive sustainable growth. Don't miss this engaging and informative conversation!

Contact Information:

• Roee Hartuv: LinkedIn
• Marcus Cauchi: LinkedIn
• Winning by Design

Read Jacco van der Kooij‘s book ‘Revenue Architecture” https://amzn.to/3xJ4k0G

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Transforming Sales: Ethical, Relationship-Driven with Leah Borges

Key Takeaways:

• Ditch Cold Outreach: Creates distrust; focus on building relationships early.
• Value First: Understand buyers deeply and empower their vision.
• Measure Right: Prioritize value per hour, not dials or meetings.
• Cultural Fit: Hire right, create great work environments, avoid micromanaging.

 

Rethinking Sales:

Buyers engage salespeople to make confident purchase decisions. Instead of prospecting to active buyers, focus on companies that will be in the market 6-36 months out. Build relationships and understand their context before they start evaluating. When they do evaluate, you can guide them based on their specific needs rather than pitching features.

Flaws in Sales Practices:

Cold outreach has abysmal conversion rates (0.3% success), yet companies still invest heavily in it. Discounting and fake urgency often push buyers away instead of accelerating deals. Conventional discovery methods trigger buyers' fight-or-flight response by focusing on past pain. Metrics like dials, activities, and short-term pipeline drive self-oriented behaviors that are misaligned with helping buyers.

Ethical Sales Approach:

To be timely, relevant, and valuable, understand the buyer's context well in advance. Build trust by aligning with the buyer's intended outcomes, not your own sales agenda. Create "binary effects" that avoid triggering adrenaline or cortisol, and instead promote serotonin and dopamine. Operate with integrity to become the most trusted business advisor buyers know.

Improving Enablement:

Most sales managers are over-promoted individual contributors lacking real leadership skills. Recruitment and creating an environment for people to thrive should be top management priorities. Focus on coaching reps on value contribution per hour rather than micromanaging activity metrics. Consider a subscription-based coaching model to truly enable reps beyond one-time placement fees.

 

Contact Leah Borges 📕 | LinkedIn

 

If anything in this episode resonates, test your sales strategy and book a free  30 minute strategy session https://bit.ly/NewSellingAptitudeTest 

Mary Gentile - Speaking Truth to Power Without Getting Fired

Mary Gentile discusses her book "Giving Voice to Values" and insights on navigating ethical dilemmas in business.

Key Takeaways

• Mary's approach focuses on rehearsing and pre-scripting effective ways to voice one's values when facing ethical conflicts, rather than just philosophical debates.
• Anticipating objections and finding ways to address concerns while upholding values is key, without requiring the other party to feel shamed.
• Self-knowledge, understanding motivations/fears of others, and normalizing ethical conflicts as part of doing business enables more constructive conversations.
• Practicing scenarios and developing scripts allows building "muscle memory" for voicing values effectively in real situations.

Voicing Values Effectively

• Understand your most effective style (questioning, analysis, storytelling etc.)
• Anticipate objections and reasons/rationalizations for unethical behaviour
• Frame responses addressing the other party's fears and motivations
• Position yourself as solving a problem for them, not opposing
• Build trust by demonstrating understanding of pressures they face

Practicing v Role Play Scenarios

• Unlike role-plays, GVV scenarios have all parties working towards voicing the ethical stance
• Avoids defaulting to embedded unethical arguments and rationalizations
• Focuses on developing new, constructive ways to reframe and address the situation
• Builds "muscle memory" for having these conversations effectively

Managing Pressures and Ethical Conflicts

• Understand your strengths for persuasion that align with your values
• Explore the other party's fears, risks and what's at stake for them
• Provide substantive suggestions showing you understand their situation
• Position yourself as being on their side, not simply opposing them
• Normalize that ethical conflicts are a normal part of business life

Contact Mary via her website:

Giving Voice to Values – How to Speak Your Mind When You Know What's Right (givingvoicetovaluesthebook.com)

 

Contact marcus@laughs-last.com

 

#givingvoicetovalues

#ethicalselling

#innovation

Hot Revenue Webinar 2 - The Ally Method with Dan Pfister, Suzanne and Marcus Cauchi

This is the 2nd Webinar in our Hot! Revenue Series

 

Book  30 minutes with Marcus:  https://calendly.com/marcuscauchi/revenue-audit-debrief

 

Take the selling aptitude test https://bit.ly/NewSellingAptitudeTest

 

Hot Revenue Webinar 1 - Customer Winback with Dan Pfister and Marcus Cauchi

The 1st of 3 Webinars in our hot revenue series.