Podcast: Confronting and Taking Advantage of the Discomfort of Selling3 min read

Mark Wainwright sits down to talk sales with BJ Kraemer, host of the Inspiring People & Places podcast and President and CEO of MCFA.

Sales can be challenging, particularly for introverted, technical professionals. Fortunately, there are many ways for these individuals to engage in selling and to succeed. The superpower of introverted professionals is their curiosity, and the only thing standing in their way is their expertise. If experts can put aside their knowledge and assumptions to ask really good questions, they can excel at sales. And then their expertise can come through in the alternatives and options they present to their clients. That and more in the Confronting and Taking Advantage of the Discomfort of Selling podcast.

Listen to this episode with the player above, or follow this link to the 50-minute, Confronting and Taking Advantage of the Discomfort of Selling podcast. In this episode, BJ sits down with Mark to explore why firms shy away from using the word “sales”. They discuss empowering sales teams and how to understand the client’s needs to offer services that are unique.

What is Inspiring People & Places?

MCFA interviews national leaders in the architecture, engineering, construction, and development industry. The goals of the podcast are to educate, innovate and inspire industry professionals to disrupt the status quo, improve their project teams and steward public & private investments more effectively.

About MCFA

Founded in 2003, MCFA is a CVE Verified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business providing planning and strategy, program management and construction management services. MCFA’s works with the DoD and other federal agencies, state and local agencies and numerous other public and private clients. MCFA’s unique team of experienced professionals includes personnel who have training, certifications and licenses in all functional areas of planning, design, development, implementation and management of facilities, infrastructure, civil works and installation master planning projects.

If you enjoyed this podcast…

Hosted by John Tyreman and Mark Wainwright, the Breaking BizDev podcast explores business development in professional services firms. Each episode pulls apart and highlights critical marketing and sales activities and strategies that “BD” often overlooks. Breaking BizDev works over the commonly seen yet ill-advised practices in all types of expert firms. And then provides clarity on how firms can think and act differently in their marketing and sales efforts.

If you host a podcast and wish to have Mark join you as a guest, then please send an email. Mark focuses on sales in professional services firms and help busy practitioners sell with confidence. And if you’re so inclined, your thoughts and feedback on these podcasts is always welcome.


Wainwright Insight provides fractional sales management and sales consulting to organizations who want to take control of their pipeline and build future sales leaders—but could use a little, part-time expertise. I work with professional services firms, and the experts in those firms, who need to get better at chasing and winning big deals when the stakes are high.

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