[Top Agency Series] B2B Sales — Biggest Mistakes and Lessons

Peter Palarchio is Co-founder of NAV43, a digital marketing agency specializing in full-funnel digital marketing through paid media and SEO. With a background that began in the event marketing space, he has transitioned into overseeing digital growth across numerous projects, from startups to enterprises. Peter is recognized for his expertise in SEO, paid media, and CRO, and has worked with prominent clients like Marriott, Hyatt, and Fairmont. Equipped with an entrepreneurial spirit, he’s also experienced the nuances of agency partnerships, exit strategies, and the journey from burnout to renewed passion.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [3:35] Peter Palarchio describes NAV43’s focus on SEO, paid media, and CRO for e-commerce and lead generation
• [4:50] How Peter initially left NAV43, only to return with fresh insights
• [6:15] Peter’s roots in event marketing and how it translated into digital success
• [8:31] The story of how NAV43 started, grew, and evolved
• [12:44] Insights into the complications and resolutions of the shotgun clause in business partnerships
• [19:13] Peter discusses the conversation and decision that led him back to NAV43
• [28:27] The specific strategies Peter implemented to improve his b2b inbound lead sales process
• [37:50] The importance of trust factors and objection handling in virtual sales
• [45:14] Peter shares valuable b2b sales tips

In this episode…

Unlocking success in b2b sales requires a deep understanding of effective selling techniques, navigating complex decision-making structures, and ultimately sealing lucrative deals. So, what strategies and insights are vital for excelling in b2b sales?

Peter Palarchio, a highly regarded brand specialist, delves into his entrepreneurial roots that began in the event marketing space and evolved into a top-notch agency known for SEO, paid media, and CRO. He shares the rollercoaster ride of starting NAV43 with his university roommate Ben, managing a full-service agency, coping with burnout, and his unexpected departure for a consultancy role. He uncovers what compelled him to return and revamp their approach — tackling the complex world of inbound b2b sales head-on.

In this episode of Inspired Insider Podcast, host Dr. Jeremy Weisz interviews Peter Palarchio, Co-founder of NAV43, about mastering the b2b sales process. Peter describes NAV43’s focus on SEO, paid media, and CRO for e-commerce and lead generation, how NAV43 started, grew, and evolved, the complications and resolutions of the shotgun clause in business partnerships, and how to improve the b2b inbound lead sales process.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Peter Palarchio on LinkedIn
• NAV43

Special Mention(s):

• Ben Dankiw on LinkedIn
• It’s Not About The Nail
• Second Bite Podcast
• SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham
• Chris Yates on LinkedIn
• HubSpot
• ClickUp
• Canva
• Stripe
• QuickBooks

Related episode(s):

• “[Top Agency Series] Navigating the Constant Changes in Digital Marketing With Ben Dankiw of NAV43” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
• “[Top Agency Series] Most Valuable Advice When Selling Your Agency With Todd Taskey of Potomac Business Capital” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
• “[Top Agency Series] Navigating a Merger and Becoming an End-to-End Digital Partner With Kevin Hourigan of Spinutech” on the Inspired Insider Podcast

Quotable Moments:

• “You can’t leave without understanding why you’re not moving forward — ask and they will tell you.”
• “I’ve learned sales is as big of a skill as marketing, operations, or finance.”
• “Know who your customer isn’t — this is just as crucial as knowing who your customer is.”
• “In selling, practice your objection handling as if you’re preparing for a sport.”
• “Selling virtually requires establishing trust factors immediately.”

Action Steps:

1. Define your customer personas: Understanding who your ideal customers are allows for more targeted and effective selling strategies. 
2. Embrace technology for efficiency: Utilizing CRM systems like HubSpot and design tools like Canva can streamline operations and enhance customer communications.
3. Qualify your leads: By knowing who your customers aren’t, you can focus valuable time and resources on the leads with real potential.
4. Practice objection handling: Anticipating and being prepared for potential client resistance can greatly improve sales outcomes.
5. Get decision-maker buy-in: Ensuring that the true decision-maker is on board is paramount for closing b2b deals.

Episode Transcript

Intro 0:01 

You are listening to Inspired Insider with your host, Dr Jeremy Weisz.

Jeremy Weisz 0:22 

Dr Jeremy Weisz here, founder of inspiredinsider.com, where I talk with inspirational entrepreneurs and leaders today, is no different. I have Peter of nav43.com and Peter, before I formally introduce you, I always like to point out other episodes people should check out other podcasts. Since this is part of the top agency series, a fan favorite in this is Todd Taskey. Todd Taskey had on he has a Second Bite Podcast. He basically helps take agencies, pairs them with private equity, helps sell agencies and Second Bite, he called it that because sometimes he finds the agencies make more on the second bite than they do on the first when they sell the private equity and they private equity sells, they actually make more rolling equity into the private equity fund than they did on the first sale. So he talks about valuation, the agency space that was an interesting one.

Also, Kevin Hourigan of Spinutech was another interesting one. He’s had an agency since 1995 so he talks about, just over decades, what does the internet land scale? We were talking before we hit record, Peter about AI, right? He was talking about, what did the internet landscape look like, and in ‘95 and then ongoing and the business landscape and the agency landscape. So a lot changed throughout the years. So that was another interesting one. So you can check out more at inspiredinsider.com and this episode is brought to you by Rise25. At Rise25 we help businesses give to and connect to their dream relationships and partnerships. And how do we do that?

We do that by helping you run your podcast. We’re an easy button for a company to launch and run a podcast, and we do the strategy, the accountability and the full execution. So kind of Peter, we call ourselves the magic elves that run in the background and make it look easy for the host so they can develop amazing relationships, create amazing content, and, most importantly, run their business. For me, the number one thing in my life is relationships. I’m always looking at ways to give to my best relationships, and I found no better way, over the past decade, to profile the people and companies I admire on this planet and share with the world what they’re working on. So if you’ve thought about podcasting, you should. If you have questions, you can go to rise25.com or email us at [email protected].

I’m excited to introduce Peter Palarchio, and he’s the co-founder of NAV43 actually, funny enough, I have had Ben, his co-founder on the podcast, so you can check that episode out. We’ll hear both sides of the story here. But NAV43 is a digital agency that’s known for its innovative online growth strategies. Peter actually launched his entrepreneurial career at 25 in the event marketing space. Since he’s overseen digital growth on hundreds of projects ranging from startups to enterprises, and during his agency career, he’s led major accounts, including ones with Marriott, Hyatt, Fairmont, and many, many more. Peter, thanks for joining me.

Peter Palarchio 3:25 

Thanks so much for having me.

Jeremy Weisz 3:27 

So just start off for a second and tell us about NAV43 and what you do.

Peter Palarchio 3:35 

NAV43 is a digital marketing agency focusing on three main pillars, we focus on SEO, paid media and CRO, and we focus in primarily two areas of e-commerce and lead generation, so b2b or b2c, lead generation. And we focus on these three main pillars because we feel that they work together incredibly well for lowering your overall cost per acquisition. Obviously, after the fact, there’s a lot of things that go on with the funnel to keep your customers, but we’re really focusing on getting you that net new business.

Jeremy Weisz 4:08 

Some interesting things that we’ll talk about Peter is how you started the company. You went off and did something else, and then you came back to the company, that was super fascinating. So we’ll talk a little bit about that dynamic, also how strategy has protected you guys. We’ll talk about that and sales stuff. I know you geek out on sales stuff, so we’ll talk about that, and then maybe some AI sprinkled in there. So, but start off, I’m fascinated by this here. So you started the company, you went off, and then you came back.

Peter Palarchio 4:50 

That’s right. So not common, I’m sure, maybe the shiny object syndrome is with entrepreneurs have always wanted to do a million different things that you think you might be good at or that might keep your interest. But, yeah, I think usually the story is, find it, grow it, sell it, or maybe hire someone to run it, or something along those lines. But NAV43 I think, in its original form, it’s over 10 years old now. NAV43 itself was founded in 2016 but Ben and I were university roommates. So it’s kind of that story where we stayed in touch and both navigated our way into digital.

We found this new landscape. It was exciting. We were both analytic junkies, I think, off the bat, and we looked at ourselves and said, We can do this. Let’s start a business. So in 2013 we did that, I would say, if we were to label it today, it was more freelancing, side hustle, doing some other things, and I had already had some experience in the event marketing space. So that was the first area that I kind of got my business chops and really started seeing how when I was driving ticket sales to events, and these were fairly large scale events, often 5000 people plus digital became more and more important.

Jeremy Weisz 6:10 

What type of events were they more like trade shows or conferences? What type of events were you?

Peter Palarchio 6:15 

Yeah, so pretty big in nightlife, actually, and concerts and festivals. So that’s kind of what I was doing. I was 25 so kind of work matching with what I wanted to do in my free time was also really good. And found a way to kind of make some money off of it, and really grew. And that’s a whole story, kind of about how sponsorship plays in it’s really a huge factor for offsetting costs. Learned how to manage my own P&Ls learned how to manage inventory staffing. But marketing is such a huge component of throwing events, and there’s this interesting transition around that time as well, around maybe 2010, and into the years after was tickets themselves moved. There used to be physical tickets, and it moved to the digitization of tickets.

And now, for the first time, I learned what a real funnel was. I could see points of conversion, how people got there, and how to spend ad dollars effectively. And being a very small startup, having to kind of learn this on my own as well, because it was my dollars. Ben, at the time, was also got into this, I think, brand side originally, and then moved to a large agency, and was getting large agency experience. And you can kind of see sometimes, as a younger individual what agencies might be charging without fully understanding all the costs associated with it. And that guy can do this. So we joined forces, and very quickly got clients where Ben was the paid media expert, and we were predominantly doing PPC at the time, like we both had taught ourselves kind of ads. I had learned a lot about social advertising. This was the dawn of Facebook ads, and Ben was getting really, really good at PPC, so we started that in 2013.

Jeremy Weisz 8:06 

It’s almost like a magic trick. You know what I mean? Like PPC, like I could make customers show up out of nowhere.

Peter Palarchio 8:13 

And it was cheaper. Back then, the ads were cheaper. I think everyone who’s been in the space for a long time knows it was a lot cheaper and it was easier to show good acquisition costs. So again, this is a 10 year journey, so going to try to fast track this, but since you’ve had Ben on, there’s a funny story in this.

Jeremy Weisz 8:28 

I don’t think he told any of this. We didn’t talk much about this.

Peter Palarchio 8:31 

There’s a funny story in this, because this is NAV43 again, 2016 so Ben has his job, and I’m still kind of working in event marketing, and making some money there, and we’re getting some clients. And I have to give kudos to this guy, because I said, Ben, if we need this thing to work, you really got to quit your job, man. And he’s like, Yeah, you know, I got to quit my job. He’s like, you’re coming aboard too, I’m like oh, yeah, I’m coming aboard. And there had been some opportunities in the event marketing space that really blossomed. And I’m like, Ben, I’m not coming aboard.

Jeremy Weisz 9:10 

Like, I know you just quit your job.

Peter Palarchio 9:12 

Yeah, and I think you cash.

Jeremy Weisz 9:15 

You got punched in the face.

Peter Palarchio 9:17 

And still friends, still friends. He was enjoying his life, right, but I did come back. I came back.

Jeremy Weisz 9:26 

He quit his job. Did he stay at that point? Did he just go full time with NAV43. So he did, so he just kept doing it.

Peter Palarchio 9:35 

He kept doing it, and it was enough to sustain him, right again. Like I said.

Jeremy Weisz 9:39 

You weren’t. Were you working? Were you involved at all at that point?

Peter Palarchio 9:43 

I was in the business dev side of referrals. And then it was, like I said, if I were to label it, we were incorporated, and we had that stuff, but we were still young, and like I said, if I were to label it today, it was a little more freelancing, contractors, not having to deal full time employees. So this is the 2013 to 2016 side. But it kind of kept growing, in a sense, and he kind of looked at me and he said, man, I got to, like, take on some of these clients, like, on my own. I want to oversee SEO, like these things. Like starts taking revenue outside of our incorporation at the time, obviously, okay, go do what you got to do. I didn’t have any eyes for kind of scaling that at the time, but event marketing for me had turned into branding. Had turned into a niche in hospitality and tourism, which is how I got some of the clients you kind of mentioned initially that working in Event Marketing led me to major sponsors, a lot of alcohol companies, a lot of things.

And really had my eyes on more of a full service agency. And that opportunity came around with some investors that wanted to scale up quite largely. And in 2016 that’s when I gave Ben a call, and I said, look, I’m going to do this deal. It’s mainly gonna be branding design, some of the things that I’ve been focusing on, but I would love to have a digital arm. Do you want to come aboard? And that’s kind of how NAV43 formed in more of its current state, and then, yeah, we kind of rolled on it. We did have some funding, so we’re able to grow quickly, I think, off of that side, but NAV, but again, it was part of a bigger agency, and I wasn’t again, working as closely. And then did that till around 2020 ish, so you’re doing four and a half years, and we racked up some really good clients. But again, Ben heading up more of our digital arm. Me doing client management, overall operations, branding.

We did digital design, websites, UX, we were doing a lot of full service things, came to a point after those four years, I was feeling a lot of agency burnout. There were some things from a P&L perspective that weren’t making sense of being part of a larger agency, and we decided to shock them our way out. We had a buy sell with the larger agency. And I know I fast forwarded four years here, but Ben and I bought ourselves out.

Jeremy Weisz 12:19 

For people who don’t know what that is, talk about the shotgun. And that’s something you put in place in the very beginning of this deal. So if I go back for a second, Peter, was the funding for NAV43 or was there a separate entity that had the funding and then you just brought kind of Ben into the digital arm.

Peter Palarchio 12:44 

Yeah, so I’ll have to give myself a little bit of kudos Ben and that other organization that he kind of started outside of our freelance kind of agreement did get acquired. So we did write Ben a check at the time, and he came on board, right? So, it paid off a little bit for him. When this was happening, because there was an acquisition of that entity by my newly formed entity as well, there is obviously a shareholder agreement. So there was a purchase of capital, capital structuring. For anyone new to entrepreneurship, I think it’s incredibly important for you to understand. I think, if you’re analyzing bigger companies, also very important to understand. But you’re going to issue a certain amount of shares out to shareholders, and they’re going to have a price, and you’re gonna have to buy them, and you might sell them one day.

So it’s certainly something to understand, but also understand exit clauses, I would say it’s very important. I think a lot of entrepreneurs, whether it’s you’re doing with your best friend or stranger, go into things with the absolute best intentions. At one point, you’re likely going to leave that business. I don’t think many entrepreneurs start their business at 25 and retire in that business at 65 so although you’re going with it with the best intentions, and you overlook what this exit deal might be, especially if you’re younger, because you’re credibly positive everything’s going to work out. You guys are going to take over the world. You’re likely going to revisit that again. And maybe it sits on a drawer somewhere, maybe it doesn’t.

Maybe it’s something that you have to understand, because it’s a real world scenario. So I’d advise you to get a pretty good corporate lawyer who understands the size of your business and maybe the industry to write up something. So ours at the time, the way it was. It was tied to fair market value, to a point which can be difficult to assess, but that protects both sides, I think, on a shotgun. So shotgun is you basically send an offer to a certain percentage of the shareholders to buy their shares, with usually a time limit attached. So when you’re sending over that offer, it’s a you send over this shot. It can be called a Buy, Sell shotgun. You’re sending over an offer to buy their shares out, that, in our situation, was tied to. A certain percentage of fair market value, and you have a time to respond, but at the end of the day, once you send that, you’re no longer partners.

So you’ve set a price and a valuation on your shares, and it’s I’m either buying yours or you’re buying mine. But it’s a very serious letter to send that says we’re not partners at the end of this. I would advise most people, if it’s under good terms, talk to each other, first, you can save yourself a lot of money legal fees and likely agree to it, but if you’re not under good terms, you can do it, and then it can be a fairly interesting ride and emotions waiting to hear back from their lawyers.

Jeremy Weisz 12:45 

And it somewhat forces people to be fair, because the price that you offer to buy them, they can turn around, and reverse to you, right? So like, Well, I’m gonna buy you for $1 well, then they choose, no, then I get to buy you for $1 so it forces you to really think through what would be fair for both parties, even in the toughest of circumstances, I imagine.

Peter Palarchio 15:59 

That’s right. So it certainly protects both parties, because let’s say, if it’s under bad circumstances, and maybe you want to low ball them as much as possible, you might lose your half, right? So you do have to send an offer, like I said, whether it’s tied to fair market or whatever. Remember, the shotgun can be turned around on you, and you just valued your share, so they have the choice to accept it, and you purchase their shares, or they turn it around, they say, okay, I am purchasing yours. And I think, that’s the comment at the end of the day, you’re not going to be partners after that cause is executed.

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