The Discovery Foundation Sales Accelerator program just wrapped – a combination of online webinars and weekly, one to one coaching sessions. We caught up with Nicholas Wong, Co-Founder at Certicraft, to learn about his experience in the program, why he came back for a second time, and how it helped him increase sales by 300%.
You’re a Co-Founder at Certicraft, a company that creates compliance software for craft cannabis growers. What did you want to get out of the program? What challenges were you facing as a business?
When we were first joining the program we came from a place of great ignorance. We had done sales before, but in a structured sales environment or selling into government, so setting up a sales program from ground up as a startup was completely new.
We had done a couple of different programs before, so we had just enough info to make us dangerous, and knew what we didn’t know.
The sales program filled in all of those buckets. That’s what we loved about it–it’s not just what you need to know, it gave us foundational knowledge and a solid understanding. That, paired with the coaching, helps you mobilize that advice and start making tweeks immediately to iterate on your own processes.
You did the program twice–why come back for a second time?
For more coaching. After the first one, we were just starting to mobilize some of the things we had been deciding. We doubled down on the Hubspot model, content creation structure, and content marketing strategy.
Having one-to-one checkups with Peter and Rochelle helped us continue to go in the right direction. It was slow to initially get everything set up, but then we built up repeated acceleration over time. Now, just being able to have that oversight for us, as we continue to try and carry the strategy, is hugely beneficial.
What did you learn in the sales and marketing webinars?
One of Peter’s that I’m going to be going back to is Hiring for Your Sales Team. There’s a ton of great perspective in there, that you can only gain having gone through everything that he’s gone through
For Rochelle’s, definitely SEO help, and tips on backlinks. It provided great structure on how you can consider implementing SEO strategies for your own business.
What skills or processes have you applied to your business?
The importance of recording and mobilizing sales numbers into sales processes. It’s difficult to implement that right away, but it puts a litmus test on how well we’re doing, the one thing above all. It ensures your pipeline is enough to keep your sales going.
Any comments on the mentorship?
It’s hard to know what to do with it at the beginning, cause you’re right through the door, like a deer in the headlights. But as you go along, it becomes so beneficial to have a supportive group of people on your side. As an entrepreneur, you are going to miss 1000 things–having another pair of eyes from someone who’s gone through it puts things in perspective and helps you focus on what you ought to be doing.
Would you recommend the program to others? Why or why not?
Absolutely. This, more than any other sales program I have attended, is the one I would recommend for any entrepreneur for someone who is trying to establish or scale their sales in their business.
You must either know these things or you have to start learning them – otherwise you’ll have gaps in your business model when you try to build or scale your business.
This course, in particular, was formatted well for entrepreneurs and was addressed to us with our time constraints and practical needs in mind.
How would you describe Peter in 3 words?
Here’s a short phrase instead: Peter is the epitome of a software sales person – he just knows it, lives it, and that’s exactly who he is. And he does it well.
And how would you describe Rochelle?
Bombastic, encouraging and knowledgeable. She’s deeply knowledgeable about her field of expertise.
Anything else you’d like to add?
This program gets my wholehearted recommendation – we’ve Increased sales by 300% and are now working with 75 companies. When starting in the program, the first time, we went from under 20 to where we are now.
Get on the waitlist
The Discovery Foundation Sales Accelerator Program is now closed, but if you’re interested in joining in the future, join our waitlist for our next intake.
You can also check out Rochelle and Peter’s sales and marketing webinars on our Youtube channel.
