Becoming a Technology-Enabled Salesperson with MapAnything’s Michael Muhlfelder

Heather Miller, Writer and Editor

With a career spanning more than 25 years in B2B sales, Michael Muhlfelder first started out during the days of index cards, manila folders, and manually tracked cold calls. But during the mid-1990s he had his first taste of “technology-enabled selling,” and he hasn’t stopped since. Here, he shares his insights to avoid “analysis paralysis,” create open communication, and assess where the future of sales is headed.

You started your career with cold calls and territories, and then moved into sales management. What were the biggest lessons from that transition?

The value of control and authority in sales management roles. My first leadership role was in a large enterprise. I had a lot of authority; however I had very little control over the reps themselves. When I moved to a smaller company after that, I had control over process and authority over people. Throughout all my experiences, I’ve learned how important it is for sales managers and executives to have the empowerment that allows them the freedom of open communication and ability to make the decisions that will drive growth.

How do you support that open communication?

I’m always asking myself, “How do I help my company get better? How do I help my people get better? How do we improve every process every day?” But I can’t answer those questions without open and honest communication. We work to eliminate politics because I want to know if there’s something to improve or [that’s] upsetting customers or prospects. We don’t get better unless we communicate constantly and consistently, and avoid the trap of, “Well, that’s the way we’ve always done it,” or “Well, we can’t do it that way.” That creates poor decisioning or worse, analysis paralysis.

How do you define “analysis paralysis”?

It’s that constant evaluation and looking at a process or a problem until it’s perfect. I think it was Voltaire who first said, “Perfect is the enemy of the good.” I believe sometimes you just get your process plan out there. Your customers and sales teams will tell you what’s wrong with it. That’s not to say, on the product side, that you release buggy software — never, never, never!

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