I’ve had a deep respect for Gecko Robotics for years. They’re an absolute force in the industry — with top-tier technology, a mission that matters, and a business development engine that sets them apart. So when I had the chance to sit down with MPJ and hear his insights on scaling one of the top B2B tech companies through business development, I jumped on it.

What struck me most was MPJ’s mix of passion and precision. His answers weren’t just sharp — they showed a genuine care for the company, the technology, and the people behind it. He stands out because he doesn’t just work in the industry; he immerses himself in it. That level of commitment goes beyond tactics, it comes from conviction.

In this interview, MPJ shares hard-won lessons on prospecting, breaking through noise, winning high-stakes deals, and driving adoption of cutting-edge tech in traditional industries. If you care about business development in competitive markets, you’ll want to take notes.

Prospecting in Complex B2B Environments

B2B prospecting can be complex, especially with long sales cycles and multiple stakeholders involved. How do you approach prospecting in such environments? Could you walk us through your process for identifying high-potential leads and engaging them effectively at the very start of the sales cycle?

MPJ: First things first, I became a sponge in the industry I serve. I need to understand who would use this product or service. The ideal customer profile is an easy first step, as is the industry size and the company’s maturity (although I will come back to this).

I am a big fan of using the tools at my disposal: Sales Navigator, Google, YouTube, Google Alerts, Annual Reports, and seeing what is out there to build out my potential champions list. Little things matter—like whether your buyer might have a local newspaper clipping about their community involvement. I once found out a VP of Engineering had a Twitter account where he tweeted about all the beers he liked. You bet I brought up a beer we both liked.

Of course, I use email and still believe in calling, but I have found that doing what others do not do goes a long way. I have written letters, postcards, and even faxed a customer once. I will spend time before I make the first move.

When I was younger, I would overthink what I would say or what they might say. I learned quickly that you cannot prepare for every objection, so put yourself in their shoes, and you should be fine. Remember, it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it (you can tell I am married).

Getting a Foot in the Door

B2B sales often starts with a challenge: securing that initial access or buy-in from a new prospect. What are your strategies for getting your foot in the door with busy decision-makers who are inundated with pitches? How do you break through the noise and earn that first meeting or conversation with a prospect who doesn’t know you yet?

MPJ: I’m fortunate to be part of an exceptional company, distinguished by its outstanding PR, leadership, and captivating technology. However, this hasn’t always been, nor is it consistently, the case.

To address this, I strive to present my best with insights drawn from both internal and external examples. For instance, I might craft an email (or other written communication) to a CFO with a compelling subject line like “Cash is fact, profit is opinion,” followed by an opening sentence that is provocative yet defensible and straightforward.

Consider my work in a somewhat regulated industry, governed by codes and standards developed through years of trial and error. I’ve begun to liken these codes to The Farmer’s Almanac—a useful tool, but if you truly want to plan a trip or harvest, you’d opt for radar or a weather channel.

My approach is so personalized that recipients feel compelled to respond.

Proud Sales Win – Lessons Learned

Looking back on your career, is there a particular deal or client win you’re especially proud of? I’d love to hear the story behind it — what made that deal challenging or unique, how you ultimately won it, and what you learned from the experience. What insights from that win would you share with other sales professionals facing similarly high-stakes or difficult deals?

MPJ: To protect the identities of my past, present, and future customers, I will omit specific logos and locations (ABC). However, this particular client was one of the largest utilities in the country, boasting extensive resources and well-documented procedures. They operated one of the newest units nationwide, a remarkable blend of cutting-edge technology and, once you got to know them, exceptional people.

Their regional engineering group was led by a Cowboy named “Kevin,” a true engineer’s engineer. For years, I persistently pursued Kevin, aiming to secure an opportunity for our company. What began as a casual lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Shreveport, Louisiana, in early 2020, eventually culminated in a meeting with their CEO at their headquarters in the summer of 2022.

Kevin was hands-on, fiercely proud of his team’s accomplishments, and protective against any external interference. He saw no immediate need for our services. I was asking him to invest $100,000 in a proof of concept, despite their internal data indicating they were in good shape and had at least another decade before encountering any significant issues. Yet, through consistent education, regular check-ins, and even post-football game texts (he was a Packers fan), I finally earned the right for Gecko to inspect his $2 billion piece of equipment. I ensured we had the ideal team, the perfect conditions, and every detail double-checked, knowing that if we succeeded, Kevin would spread the word.

Funnily enough, after that initial shift, we nearly got kicked off the site. Not because we did anything wrong, but because we uncovered something that, according to Kevin, simply couldn’t exist. Their data had suggested they had 10 years before a problem arose. But their data was flawed.

Imagine my surprise when I received a call from Kevin, exclaiming, “What the hell are you all doing? How the hell is this robot finding these readings when just last year, we found it was still in good shape?” Thankfully, I understood what Kevin was about to discover: these robots identify problems long before humans can. So, I stood my ground, reassured him, and maintained full transparency. I delved into the specifics, sharing the raw data. Kevin still wasn’t convinced and insisted he would personally inspect and cut out an area we identified as 30% degraded compared to his own data.

Around lunchtime the next day, I received an email from Kevin that I will never forget along with a picture showing exactly what the robot was seeing. Talking to him that day, he seemed upset. He was the guy, the Oklahoma legend, ultimately responsible for the health of the fleet. He felt like it was his fault this happened. I quickly reassured him: if he had never accepted my invitation to talk shop over a burrito, they would have never found this problem until it was too late. His forward thinking allowed his company to go from reactive to proactive.

Later that day, he doubled the scope. A Regional VP was going to come in based on these findings because while we found a future problem, they now needed to deal with a $1M unbudgeted repair in a short period of time. Behind the scenes, I was making sure everyone in Gecko’s leadership knew. We don’t just do robots — we do data analytics as well — and back in the spring of 2022, we had our beta version of Cantilever. We flew down our Forward Deployed Engineering lead to present what we found. They knew it was a beta, but they quickly saw what this was turning into. About 10 minutes into the presentation, the Regional VP interrupted and said: “The fact that you got us the data was impressive in itself, but what you are doing with the data is unbelievable.”

Two months later, that story, that win, that hard work got our founders in the room with this utility’s CEO.

I say all this because in sales: you have to stay positive, see the big picture, celebrate small victories, and always want more. Positive mental attitude goes a long way — but I also hate to lose more than I want to win.

My advice to others is this: no one likes change except a wet baby. So make it easy for them, stay patient, and deliver.

Business Development for Innovative Tech

Innovative tech startups often face the dual challenge of selling a new product while also educating the market. Based on your experience, how should a cutting-edge tech company approach business development? Are there specific strategies you recommend — for example, focusing on strategic partnerships, targeting early adopter customer segments, or investing in thought leadership — to help a novel technology gain traction in the B2B space?

MPJ: In my experience, it’s extremely important to solve specific problems, not all the problems. Partnerships can be good, but only if it’s a true partnership. We had some early failures with blue-chip partners because it almost felt like they had the leverage or thought they knew best — but in reality, they move slower and don’t always have the same ambitions.

Education is important as a marketing strategy, but you also have to adjust your messaging and literature to the clientele you want. For example, I might market to a plant manager about helping them run their facility better, while I will market to a CFO on how Gecko can help with Return on Invested Capital (ROIC).

Trade shows are for show-and-tell. Don’t do the booth — do the floor. Don’t do the tech council — do the leadership forum.

Advice for Thriving in Competitive Markets

For sales professionals and startup founders reading this who are trying to grow in highly competitive markets, what is one piece of advice you would give them? Whether it’s a mindset shift or a practical technique, what do you believe will help them stand out from the competition and scale their business development efforts successfully?

MPJ: Your competition is busy polishing scripts, running the same cadences, and waiting for “enough proof” before they act. That’s exactly why they blend in.

If you want to stand out, do the opposite. Take the risk others won’t. Start the conversation earlier. Frame the problem in a way that makes people think differently. Offer a bold idea before it’s fully validated.

Buyers don’t remember the one who checked every box. They remember the one who challenged their thinking and opened up a new path.

The truth? If you’re waiting for the path to be clear, you’ll always be following in someone else’s footsteps.

So trust your instincts, move fast, challenge the status quo. That’s how you stand out. That’s how you scale.

Technology Adoption in Traditional Industries

Gecko Robotics works in industrial inspection and robotics, where many clients are legacy operators used to doing things a certain way. What have you found works best in convincing such organizations to adopt robotics and automated inspection vs. sticking with manual methods?

MPJ: When you are selling this type of technology into industries that have been doing things the same way for 50 years, you cannot just lead with features. Legacy operators are not waking up saying, “I’d love to change everything today.” They are waking up saying, “Do not let this plant go down.”

What works best is reframing the problem. I do not talk about robots replacing inspectors. I talk about eliminating risk, saving millions in downtime, and making people’s jobs safer. That is the language everyone in heavy industry understands. Once they connect robotics to fewer outages, fewer accidents, and a clearer path to hitting their numbers, the conversation flips.

The other piece — and this comes from how I naturally operate — is being bold enough to challenge their thinking. I will ask: “If you already know manual methods are missing things, why double down on them?” Sometimes that directness creates the crack where change seeps in.

So, the formula I have found is simple: focus on the pain they cannot ignore, frame technology as the safer and faster way forward, and be convinced enough to challenge old habits. That is when even the most traditional operations lean in.

Also, I am figuring out that conviction goes a long way. People know when you are being fake.

Scaling Sales in a Highly Technical Product

Gecko’s solutions are deeply technical — sensors, robotics, data analytics, etc. How do you balance sales messaging between technical accuracy and business outcome? Who do you involve in your sales cycles (engineers, operations, executives), and how do you tailor your pitch to each?

MPJ: Honestly, it’s like trying to explain Wi-Fi to my grandmother. She doesn’t care about frequencies, she just wants Netflix to work. Same with our clients. They don’t wake up craving “high-resolution robotics inspection data streams.” They want fewer outages, safer teams, and more money hitting the bottom line.

So here’s how I balance it. I start with business outcomes because that’s the universal language: downtime avoided, millions saved, safety records improved. Once they’re nodding along, then I sprinkle in the technical magic — sensors that can see what humans miss, robotics that go where people cannot, analytics that turn gigabytes into decisions. I keep the tech as the “how,” not the headline.

Now, who do I bring into the sales cycle? Everyone. And I mean everyone:

• Executives: They want the big picture. “How does this reduce risk and make me look like a genius in the boardroom?”

• Operations leaders: They care about headaches. “Will this actually make shutdowns shorter and inspections safer?”

• Engineers: These folks want the wiring diagram. “Show me the data, the tolerances, the specs. Prove it’s not just smoke and mirrors.”

The trick is I never give the same pitch twice. For executives, I talk like a strategist. For ops, I talk like a firefighter. For engineers, I let our technical team tag in — because if I start free-styling about ultrasonic transducers, somebody’s going to fact-check me.

At the end of the day, it’s a dance. The story starts with outcomes, shifts into how, and gets tailored depending on who’s across the table. My job is to make sure everyone walks out of the room thinking: “This is exactly what I needed to hear.” Even if what they needed was three totally different things.

Fello's Thoughts

At Fello, we love this. We love seeing people with real passion placed in the right roles where they can thrive. We love the humanity he brings to the table, because in industries that can feel hyper-technical or transactional, that authenticity makes all the difference.

This type of motivation isn’t just inspiring, it’s practical. Passion paired with purpose creates resilience, and resilience is what drives results across so many different fields. Whether you’re in tech, operations, or leadership, the ability to show up with conviction and humanity makes you stand out in competitive environments.