Tal Paperin of DealMentor: How To Grow Your Business In A Challenging Economy

Business Strategy Series with Kage Spatz, CEO at Spacetwin

Tal Paperin

“History and economics are a known roller coaster. Everything goes up, everything goes down, so if right now you are spiraling down due to a challenging economy, please rest assured, the world has gone through this before. This too, shall pass.”

Is it possible to create massive growth in challenging market conditions? What steps should an entrepreneur take to grow their business during unpredictable times?

As part of our Strategy Series, Kage Spatz talks with fellow successful business owners and growth experts to help you discover new ways to grow your business during challenging economic times. Today, we had the pleasure of talking with Tal Paperin.

Over 20 years leading international sales across five continents — with clients including PepsiCo, Del Monte, and Mars — Tal Paperin built DealMentor, an AI-powered sales execution platform.

Tal was born in the USSR, immigrated to Israel where he served in the Israeli Air Force, and completed 2 B.A.s in International Relations and Eastern Asia Studies/Chinese from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He speaks Russian, Hebrew, English, and Chinese, and has five children.

Thank you for joining us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I’ve been sales my entire life, since I sold fish I caught at the beach at 9. Closing the deal is in my blood. But, I couldn’t stay an SDR for long, so worked my way up and around the world, until finally I saw that I don’t have to work in-house anymore, I have the experience CEOs and Founders are looking for, and positioned myself as a Fractional CRO.

Last year I was working for a leading US software company, managing 8 sales people in total. Just like everyone else, they suffered from the same issues that plague most sales teams. They didn’t know how to handle objections and froze once the prospect brought up a competitor. They didn’t prepare for calls — the excuse was always “I’m being paid for demos booked, no practicing my script.”

I needed a tool to fix the above and other issues that I know are common to all businesses. I built a proto-type using ChatGPT that would let them get the scoop on unknown competitors quickly, help them answer objections with just a few clicks, and generally be able to do their job much better, without expecting too much additional investing on training.

Can you share with our readers a story from your own experience about how you were able to grow your business during a challenging economy?

The only way to grow a business when there are challenges is to become significantly more efficient. That means, either do more or do what you do better. I did this during COVID and instead of having external offices and employees, we moved to contractors, in-house, and remote. Cost went down and efficiency went up.

Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the motivation to continue through your challenges? What sustains your drive?

No, I’m Soviet, we don’t give up. My bills and my family are the only motivation I need to keep going. Seeing my clients succeed sustains my drive. Sure, it’s good for business!

But more than that, it’s seeing a CEO or Founder, that has people who depend on them for their livelihood, relieved that their revenue situation is better. I love that my work lets people make more money!

What would is the most critical role of a leader during challenging times?

This is going to sound like a cliché, but — leading by example. Right now, I am doing all the things I expect my employees to do. I’m a developer, I’m an SDR, I am a marketer, and so on. I’m not above anything to make sure we succeed.

When the future seems so uncertain, what is the best way to boost morale? What can a leader do to inspire, motivate and engage their team?

Google something like gold prices or SP500. Where am I going with this? History and economics are a known roller coaster. Everything goes up, everything goes down, so if right now you are spiraling down due to a challenging economy, please rest assured, the world has gone through this before. This too, shall pass.

Motivate your team? Dirty jokes, remote happy hours, and bonuses when the work warrants it.

How can a business leader make plans when the future is so unpredictable?

Easy, when we say the future is unpredictable, we don’t really mean that. There are predictable things — death and taxes! In other words, you can’t make plans regarding specific things in the future, but for everything else you can and are 100% in your control.

As a religious person, you know that to do the maximum that depends on you, and the rest is in the hands of God.

What can a company do to avoid losing clients or customers who say, “I just can’t afford it now”?

There are a few things you can do. Why do people say that? Either they don’t see your value and ROI, hence you need to clarify that. Or, they don’t see the cost of not changing. Meaning, if they don’t buy from you, what happens? Is it going to cost them more?

What lead generation strategies work best during a difficult economy?

Cold calls. It’s not rocket science, and people do still answer the phones.

Are there specific marketing approaches that work best when times are tough?

Always lead with ROI. When your lead clearly sees that they aren’t paying for another tool, but rather investing in a solution that will help them generate even more money, the product sells itself.

Can you share 3 of the most common mistakes you see other businesses make during difficult times? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?

1. Cutting money on sales or marketing. This is the engine of the business. If you want to save money on car maintenance by buying less gas, you aren’t really saving. You aren’t going anywhere.
2. Panicking that results in strategic whiplash. When the leadership doesn’t have a strategic plan for growth, bumps in the road cause panic that results in new processes that don’t help, and often conflict with other successful processes. Don’t panic, and more than that, make sure you have a strategic growth plan.
3. Firing people, you’ll need them when things are better. Usually marketers get fired first, but when your sales people need marketing material, there’s one person left to help who can’t manage all of the requests.

Now to the primary question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are the 5 most important things a business should do to grow during a challenging economy?

1 . Focus on strategy.

Too often businesses focus on the product and expect that if it’s great, it will have clients. “If you build it, they will come,” scenario. But it’s lazy and doesn’t work.

Your go to market strategy is just as important as your product. There is no excuse with AI not to develop a comprehensive GTM strategy with milestones and responsibility delegation.

2 . To answer clearly whom you’re selling, why are they buying, and how are you going to sell that.

I started DealMentor because I had this all laid out for my sales and marketing consulting firm that I started a decade ago. However, I received so many other leads from people who wanted my help but were priced out, I said there has to be an opportunity here.

3 . Have a very detailed description of who your ICP is.

At least 5 pages long for EACH ICP. This is something people overlook, they address the item above, but don’t expand on it so they have an incomplete picture. I many years ago I was on the phone with a lead.

We were already several conversations into the process, but she just wasn’t committing. I said to her, “I bet you are at home, on your couch, curled up with your cat on your lap, bored of talking to me.” She burst out laughing that I read the scene so correctly and we closed the deal that day.

4 . This question is misleading! The 80/20 rule means that if you focus on 10 things, only 2 of them matter, hence there can’t be 5 most important things.

But your dear readers are looking for help. So I’ll say: focus on the 80/20 rule. Look to the things in your business that take the most time, are the most expensive, but don’t contribute the most to your revenue.

That means if you’re spending thousands every month on paid ads, but the lead aren’t converting, you need to have a serious conversation with your marketing department.

5 . Know where to cut, but also know when to re-invest.

I know a particular CEO who grew his company from nothing to tens of millions of dollars a year, but he knew it wasn’t going to last. As sales slowed, he had to slowly but surely start letting people go. At the same time, he invested in identifying new marketing for his product.

It took a few years, but the new markets are finally starting to bear fruit and they are slowly bringing staff back — but as contractors to save money. These kinds of difficult financial decisions are the difference between companies that succeed, and those that shut down.

We are blessed to have prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private lunch with?

Jeffery Gitomer.

Thank you for sharing your insights with our audience today.

Host: Kage Spatz is a Forbes ft. founder of Spacetwin — a confidential business growth partner since 2012. Want to make more by giving more? Start here.