Selling

We’re all taught at some point that we need to ask for a Call to Action (CTA)– a request that the person we’re talking to commit to do something. And usually, we make that request. But how effectively?

A famous selling rule set out half a century ago by David Sandler, the founder of our company, goes like this: Don’t spill your candy in the lobby.

Let’s explore the intricacies of mastering Sandler tactics skillfully and understanding the tactics triangle with the seasoned Sandler trainer, Jim Dunn, hailing from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Astonishing advances in information technology have made big headlines recently- are good salespeople now, or will they ever be, irrelevant?

In this episode of the "How to Succeed" podcast, bilingual sales trainer Jorge Saunders joins to discuss the principles of selling in Spanish in North America.

In this episode, Jeff Stasiuk talks about the significance of writing effective field copy that can grab people's attention and lead them toward the sales funnel.

In this episode, Danny Wood will teach you how to create a powerful elevator pitch that will leave a lasting impression on your audience.

Making buyer-focused conversations happen consistently takes practice. Why? Well, unfortunately, we often fall into the trap of making the conversation about us, our stuff, and our company’s track record. The fact is, we’re hard-wired to do that, for the simple reason that we’re human beings.

Looking for a way to create an engaging and effective product demo? Look no further than a story-led demo! In this episode of the How to Succeed Podcast, Nick Capozzi will join us to discuss the power of story-led demos and how they can help you succeed.

This episode features Brad Ferguson as our guest. We talk about how to create a 30-Second Commercial successfully. Brad advises salespeople to target their ideal clients and specify the issues that others are facing that they can resolve.

In this episode, we sit down with Christopher Roche, CEO of Catalyst Consulting, to discuss how to succeed at creating demand. Christopher explains that lead generation is the typical marketing approach used by companies, but it often leads to frustration due to unqualified leads.

This article focuses on the stages of the buyer’s journey that matter most to salespeople- Engagement, Consideration, Decision, and Advocacy. We must meet buyers wherever they are in this journey and not where we have traditionally started our own process.

Kyle Jepson and Mike Montague, instructors in this course talk about why salespeople fail to connect in prospecting calls and how you can bring more relevance and credibility to your sales conversations.

Creating an internal champion for your product is one of the best things you can do to increase sales and market share. In this video, you will learn how to create an army of internal champions for your product.

As a salesperson, it is important to be aware of the risks that buyers face when purchasing a property. In this video, we discuss some of the best practices you can implement in order to reduce the risk for your buyers.

Mike Montague interviews David Mattson, President and CEO of Sandler and author of How to Sell to the Modern Buyer. Dave talks about the new Sandler book and how modern sellers can align with the current reality of selling in a hybrid world.

Long before the pandemic transformed most of our workplaces, I was happy to work full-time as a remote employee. I’ve been one of those lucky people who didn’t really have to change all that much to adapt to the monumental changes that began to unfold in early 2020.

The referral generation process we are about to share with you can transform your month, your quarter, your year, and your career. It should be at or near the heart of your prospecting plan. Learn it! Practice it! Use it! Share it with your organization! 

Greater and greater digitization of the sales process was always going to happen; the global pandemic simply hastened its arrival.

The global pandemic forced the buyer/seller relationship online, dramatically accelerating a trend toward digitization of the buying process that was already in place.

Within the professional buyer/seller environment, preferences and practices have altered dramatically since the spring of 2020.

High performance sales teams we work with are adopting a hybrid selling approach to leverage the best practices of both in-person and virtual selling.

Mike Montague interviews Dan Tyre, Inbound Fellow at Hubspot, on How to Succeed at Selling in a Hybrid World.

In Sandler, we have identified three elements that are required for success in selling we call it B.A.T.

Within the professional buyer/seller environment, preferences and practices have altered dramatically since the spring of 2020.

Mike Montague interviews Brian Jackson on How to Succeed at Your 30 Second Commercial. Brian is an award-winning Sandler Trainer in San Diego, CA.

The answers you give to these questions can help you ensure that you maintain momentum as you emerge from these challenging times.

Congratulations. You’ve put in all kinds of hard work, and you’ve finally created a great e-commerce offering.

This year, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the book, Dave will revisit each of the original 49 Sandler Rules and give updated takes on their relevance to salespeople and sales leaders.

Mike Montague interviews John Livesay on How to Succeed at Better Selling Through Storytelling.

Given the upheavals and uncertainty of 2020, many leaders and salespeople have been asking us what we see on the horizon as the next year approaches. What skills and adaptations will be necessary not just to survive, but to thrive in 2021?

It’s that time of year. The holidays loom, there is a chill in the air, and countless articles appear providing guidance to sales representatives about how to close the year strong. The five, ten or twenty best strategies are outlined in checklists to insure end-of-year success. “Contact every client” is an action often recommended, as is “Revisit prospects who have chosen another vendor.”

We’ve all heard the sobering statistics that winning a new major account costs far more than keeping one – depending on the study you read, perhaps twenty times as much. And we’ve all heard how even a small increase in a firm’s overall major client retention rate has an exponentially positive effect on revenues and profits. We also know, of course, that, on the flip side, decreases in retention rates produce similarly negative impacts, often devastating and long-lasting.

This year, on Fridays, Dave talks about the attitude, behavior, and techniques of successful sales managers as he shares his thoughts on the 49 Sandler Rules for Sales Leaders.

We all know the statistics. Most selling organizations derive 80% of their revenues from 20% of their clients. Winning a new major account costs up to 20 times more than keeping a current one. And even a small percentage increase in a firm’s major client retention rate can have an exponentially positive effect on revenues – while similar decreases can produce negative financial impacts, often devastating and long-lasting.

This year, on Fridays, Dave talks about the attitude, behavior, and techniques of successful sales managers as he shares his thoughts on the 49 Sandler Rules for Sales Leaders.

Selling to major accounts, also known as enterprise accounts, is radically different from selling in other spaces. For one thing, the major account selling cycle is a continuous process – continuous because there’s no end to the cycle of selling to and serving large accounts. And the streams of transactions over time between buying and selling organizations constitute a client journey with a distinctive itinerary along a clear roadmap, a roadmap that delivers value on an ongoing basis.

We know all about the importance of team selling, don’t we? It's that powerful strategy in which multiple team members from different functional areas of a selling organization work collaboratively to win deals. Especially in the enterprise world, team selling is widely implemented.

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Brian Sullivan, VP of Sandler Enterprise Selling, and Markku Kauppinen discuss: Major Account Buying Teams-Know the Behaviors.

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In sales, we all bundle our accounts, clients and prospects, into logical groupings to add clarity and understanding to our efforts. We use vertical categories, assembling together our healthcare, consumer products, technology accounts, and others. We also differentiate by geography, adding efficiency in territory management by bundling accounts based on physical locations. 

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In selling to and serving major accounts, team selling is one of the most powerful, and underutilized, competitive advantages. Effectively mobilizing your organization’s most precious assets, its people, often makes the difference between success or failure in large deals. 

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Welcome to Selling the Sandler Way podcast. Hosts from Sandler Training will discuss impactful information about trending topics and strategic selling. In this episode, Brian Sullivan, VP of Enterprise Selling talks with Marcus Cauchi and Dave Davies about Channel Selling in the Enterprise World.

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Trials and demos can be an important part of your sales cycle, especially in the enterprise space. Another term for a trial or demo, is the “Monkey’s Paw,” which is a small version of your larger service or a consulting project. A successful Monkey’s Paw has three components, which are similar to a successful trial.

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Many sales professionals we work struggle with the question of how to leverage social networking platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter into their business development plan. Here are twelve simple steps you can take that will make it easier for you to launch and sustain mutually beneficial social connections online.

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Potential buyers of your product or service – like the rest of us – spend a lot of their time online. This gives rise to a question: What are the best ways to engage with them when a voice to voice or a face to face conversation isn’t a possibility? Here are five simple, effective steps you can follow.

In enterprise selling, there is a heavy focus on business value. Watch to see how Brian Sullivan, VP of Sandler Enterprise Selling, addresses this challenge through the Sandler Enterprise Selling Program.

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Watch Brian Sullivan, Vice President of Sandler Enterprise Selling, describe how the Sandler Enterprise Selling Program addresses one of the most common enterprise sales challenges, extended sales cycles.

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Watch Brian Sullivan, Vice President of Sandler Enterprise Selling, explain how the Sandler Enterprise Selling Program addresses the idea of sophisticated competition – a challenge that, while present in the simple selling arena, is extremely prominent in enterprise selling.

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Jason Nierman, Founder and President at Accelerated Advising, shows you how to succeed with the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques needed to be more successful at forming strategic partnerships for business development. Get the best practices collected from around the world.

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Welcome to Selling the Sandler Way podcast. Hosts from Sandler Training will discuss impactful information about trending topics and strategic selling.

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In enterprise selling, making decisions becomes a much more complex endeavor. Watch Brian Sullivan, Vice President of Sandler Enterprise Selling describe how the Sandler Enterprise Selling Program addresses this common enterprise sales challenge.

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This special bonus episode takes you back about 25 years to a training session with our founder, David H. Sander. He talks about why a selling system is so important to your career, even if you don't pick his...

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Learn how the Sandler Enterprise Selling program addresses the idea of cross-functional sales teams with Brian Sullivan, Vice President of Sandler Enterprise Selling.

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Learn how the Sandler Enterprise Selling Program can help you win, grow, and retain enterprise accounts from Vice President of Sandler Enterprise Selling, Brian Sullivan. 

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Let’s start by talking about the elephant in the room: Cold calling is almost every salesperson’s least favorite topic. In fact, the only two groups who like the idea of cold calling are those who have never done it and sales managers.

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When our clients are elephant hunting or are selling in the enterprise space, we encourage them to engage their executives in peer-to-peer selling to their counterparts at prospect organizations.

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According to research done by AYTM, over 60% of business professionals will take a summer vacation. At any given moment this summer, a third of your prospects and customers may be away from work. That can make it difficult to keep sales numbers up – and yourself or your team motivated. This summer, you can use these social selling tips to avoid a summer slump.

Jeff Schaffner, Senior Business Developer at Acro Media Inc and host of the Exploring Ecommerce podcast joins Mike Montague to talk about how to succeed at ecommerce. Is digital disruption threatening your business model? Learn how to lean into and succeed in ecommerce with the creators of Sandler.com and our online shop

Summertime can be a difficult time for salespeople. Vacations, seasonal businesses, and other distractions can make it more challenging to get in touch with decision-makers. LinkedIn is a smart way to be more productive during these months. Of course, every great business deal requires a conversation. Using LinkedIn, you can make sure you have more of those conversations, have them with the right people, and have the best conversation possible.

Of the many daunting challenges that sales teams face in selling into complex enterprise accounts, one of the most frustrating is that of long, drawn-out sales cycles. Months can pass, even years, while pursuing a major opportunity with an enterprise account, an opportunity that may or may not be won. As that precious time passes, the doubt, the uncertainties, the risks and the costs all increase. How can selling organizations overcome this challenge?

In this special retro-edition, we go back to the early 1990's with David H Sandler as he explains the Salesperson's Bill of Rights. David Sandler knew the sales profession needed a self-esteem boost and he gave us the path to figure it out for ourselves. Listen in as Sandle challenges you get what is rightfully yours.

Prospecting is the lifeblood of a successful sales career... but many salespeople overlook the basic behaviors that support a consistent prospecting routine. Here are the five necessary behaviors professional salespeople need in order to become successful at prospecting.

Learn how to find the science and systems in the soft skills of selling. Karl Schaphorst discusses the latest and best practices for the sales profession. Learn the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques behind the science of selling. 

We’re sometimes asked what the bare minimum should be in terms of digital prospecting ability for an individual salesperson. Below, our list of five things we believe every salesperson, operating in any industry, should be able to do in terms of digital prospecting. If for some reason you can’t do this much right now, you should learn how, and sooner rather than later!

“In the dark of the night, every cat’s a leopard.” This old Indian saying provides great insight into enterprise selling, because it reminds us how important it is to identify the information that matters most about our key competitors… We must know them, prioritize them, and account for them. That means conducting a truly effective, and customized, competitive analysis. Unfortunately, most research sales teams do in this area falls far short of the mark.

The Sandler Enterprise Selling (SES) program, based on David Sandler’s revolutionary selling system, organizes the enterprise selling cycle around a six-stage, continuous process. SES provides a number of special tools throughout its six stages to help organizations land, keep and grow long-term clients, and we’ve added a tool to the SES arsenal – the Quarterly Value Review, or QVR.

Kevin Hallenbeck joins us to talk about the advanced Sandler technique of Negative Reverse Selling. Negative Reverse Selling combines reverse psychology with Sandler's questioning techniques. This is a very powerful, advanced strategy for getting to the truth in any conversation.

If your goal is to find more prospects, get more and better referrals, and make more commission dollars in 2018 than you did in 2017, consider upping your social selling game. Here are four quick tips that will help you to avoid some common mistakes online.

Paul Lanigan from Sandler in Dublin, Ireland share the dangers of social selling and how to find success. Learn the difference between social marketing, social networking, social prospecting, and social selling. Find social selling success with these tips and tricks for maximizing your social media.

1) If your 30-Second Commercial doesn’t answer a prospect’s “What’s in it for me?” question, there will be nothing in it for you!

Welcome to Selling the Sandler Way, with your host Dave Mattson, the president and CEO of Sandler Training. He is a five-time bestselling author, speaker, trainer, and consultant to hundreds of international organizations. In this show, he talks to other Sandler trainers about the Sandler selling system.

If you were to go to the dictionary and look up the definition of the word “Success,” you’d be likely to find something like this:​ SUCCESS (n): the accomplishment of a desired aim or purpose.

Welcome to Selling the Sandler Way, with your host Dave Mattson, the president and CEO of Sandler Training. He is a five-time bestselling author, speaker, trainer, and consultant to hundreds of international organizations. In this show, he talks to other Sandler trainers about the Sandler selling system.

Guest host, Lindsey Demetris, interviews Mike Montague, VP of Online Learning at Sandler Training and the creator of our new Social Selling Success course. Mike shares the best practices of today's top social sellers and attitudes, behaviors, and techniques for social prospecting in 2018.

One surefire way to increase your selling success—close more sales, more quickly, and more consistently—is to call on the right people for the right reason with the right product or service. That makes sense. But, for the product or service you want to sell, who are the right prospects and what are the right reasons?

Welcome to Selling the Sandler Way, with your host Dave Mattson, the president and CEO of Sandler Training. He is a five-time bestselling author, speaker, trainer, and consultant to hundreds of international organizations. In this show, he talks to other Sandler trainers about the Sandler selling system.

Later this month, myself and Marketing Director, Lindsey Demetris, are hosting a free webinar detailing how to drive revenues through social selling. We plan on teaching our viewers how to target efficiently, connect appropriately, and build engagement.

The primary questions looming in the minds of prospects when they first talk with salespeople are, “What do you know about my company?” and “What do you know about my industry?”​ If, in the first few minutes of conversation, you don’t convey through your questions or comments that you understand something about the company’s goals or the challenges it faces, the interaction will be short-lived.  You’ll be perceived as “just another salesperson.” 

Welcome to Selling the Sandler Way, with your host Dave Mattson, the president and CEO of Sandler Training. He is a five-time bestselling author, speaker, trainer, and consultant to hundreds of international organizations. In this show, he talks to other Sandler trainers about the Sandler selling system.

Welcome to Selling the Sandler Way, with your host Dave Mattson, the president and CEO of Sandler Training. He is a five-time bestselling author, speaker, trainer, and consultant to hundreds of international organizations. In this show, he talks to other Sandler trainers about the Sandler selling system.

First, let’s understand what social prospecting is and what it isn’t. Social prospecting simply means using social media and online networks to add more prospects, information, or sales opportunities to your pipeline. In other words, social prospecting is using modern communication and information networks to start a sales conversation with another person to determine if there is a reason to do business together.

Greg Nanigian, Sandler trainer from Boston and new author of Why People Buy, joins us to talk about the best practices for uncovering Pain. You will learn how to discover why people buy and what to do about it. Greg shares how to start sales conversations that close deals and how to uncover the emotional reasons people buy from you.

Rodney Dangerfield built his comic career on a signature tagline: “I get no respect.”  Unfortunately, there are far too many salespeople who suffer from the Dangerfield syndrome – either they feel they get no respect or, worse, they act that way.  They walk around with sullen expressions and a woe-is-me outlook.  They are selling sympathy rather than solutions.  If we are describing you, study this carefully.  Hold your head high and reflect the pride of your profession.  Selling is a great field.  It has advantages that few other careers can claim.

Welcome to Selling the Sandler Way, with your host Dave Mattson, the president and CEO of Sandler Training. He is a five-time bestselling author, speaker, trainer, and consultant to hundreds of international organizations. In this show, he talks to other Sandler trainers about the Sandler selling system.

Welcome to Selling the Sandler Way, with your host Dave Mattson, the president and CEO of Sandler Training. He is a five-time bestselling author, speaker, trainer, and consultant to hundreds of international organizations. In this show, he talks to other Sandler trainers about the Sandler selling system.

Welcome to Selling the Sandler Way, with your host Dave Mattson, the president and CEO of Sandler Training. He is a five-time bestselling author, speaker, trainer, and consultant to hundreds of international organizations. In this show, he talks to other Sandler trainers about the Sandler selling system.

Have you ever wondered, “What am I doing wrong?” or, “How can I take my practice to the next level?” If you have, you’re not alone, and you’re in luck. Our newest book release, Asking Questions The Sandler Way, answers both of those quandaries and reveals so much more. In the book, Sandler trainer and author, Antonio Garrido, outlines how he revitalized his practice by changing his approach. Below we have identified a few key takeaways from the book.  

Welcome to Selling the Sandler Way, with your host Dave Mattson, the president and CEO of Sandler Training. He is a five-time bestselling author, speaker, trainer, and consultant to hundreds of international organizations. In this show, he talks to other Sandler trainers about the Sandler selling system.

In this episode of Selling the Sandler Way, Dave Mattson, the President and CEO of Sandler Training explores the Sandler Selling Philosophies behind the Sandler Selling System with Michael Norton, EVP of Global Accounts at Sandler Trainer.

I made this statement about the fact that it's not what we sell that makes us different, it's how we sell it. Although he had heard that Sandler rule before, he was taken back and asked me to repeat it several times. What he began to understand was that to differentiate ourselves in selling situations we often look at the features and benefits of what we're selling. 

In this episode of Selling the Sandler Way, Dave Mattson, the President and CEO of Sandler Training explores the Sandler Selling Philosophies behind the Sandler Selling System with Paul Lanigan, a Sandler Trainer.

In this episode of Selling the Sandler Way, Dave Mattson, the President and CEO of Sandler training explores the Sandler Selling Philosophies behind the Sandler Selling System with Roger Wentworth, a Sandler Trainer.

Welcome to the How to Succeed Podcast. The show that helps you get to the top and stay there. This is How To Succeed at Selling Girl Scout Cookies. The show is brought to you by Sandler Training the worldwide leader and sales management and customer service training. For more information on Sandler Training, including white papers, webinars, and more, visit Sandler.com.

In this episode of Selling the Sandler Way, Dave Mattson, the President and CEO of Sandler Training explores the top sales challenges and how to overcome them with Mike Ross, a Sandler Trainer.

Welcome to a special program presented by Sandler Training. Today's show is designed to deal with the hardest situation that you as a salesperson are experiencing, or you as a leader, or some of the most common issues that you're facing day to day. It's really the stuff that gives you stress. What we're going to talk about today are some tactics and strategies to help you progress either your sale from one step to the next, or your organization, your company. We've got two different types of groups listening today. We've got leaders/managers, and we also have some sales professionals. We're going to go back and forth throughout the day. Regardless, if you've got to progress your organization or progress your sale, I think being stuck—as an example, in the sales process—is not a healthy place to be.

We are proud to introduce a new Sandler podcast, Selling the Sandler Way with host Dave Mattson, the  President and CEO of Sandler Training. He is a five-time bestselling author, speaker, trainer, and consultant to hundreds of international organizations. In this show, he talks to other Sandler trainers about the Sandler Selling System. Listen to episode one in which Dave discusses the psychology behind the sale with Sandler Trainer, Pat Heidrich.

Email marketing is an inexpensive and effective way to get in touch with prospects if you take the proper steps in crafting them. The information you relay in your email and the way you share it has a direct impact on how well your email will perform with recipients. You don’t have to be a professional writer to get attention or to create a successful email campaign, but you should be concise and include compelling information. Most prospective buyers are bombarded with emails from a variety of businesses, on a daily basis. Incorporating the right details allow you to break through the clutter and helps ensure that you make a connection. 

Traditional sales training says present, present, present and close, close, close – convince your prospect with a compelling presentation, show him enough value, and he will surely buy.  When I first got into sales I really sweated the presentations.  I practiced them over and over; used different visual props and brochures; tried a variety of persuasive arguments; and created notebooks full of evidence favoring my product and my company.  Ultimately it became apparent that no matter how exciting or compelling my presentation was, my close rate was mostly dependent on what happened before the presentation, not during it.

Social selling means using virtual tools and online networks to add more prospects, opportunities, and information to your sales pipeline. 

In his recent book, Change or Die, author Alan Deutschman claims that although we have the ability to change our behavior, we rarely do.  In fact, the odds are nine-to-one that when faced with a dire need to change, we won’t.  Most smokers who are presented with a wealth of scientific data on the dangers of tobacco do not quit smoking.  Our beliefs are what we feel in our gut and those beliefs are hard to change; we spent a lifetime developing and defending them.  This explains why providing information rarely changes how people think or act.

Have you ever lost a sale because of a problem you could have and probably should have dealt with earlier in the sales process? Have you ever lost a customer because you waited too long to tell them about a delay or defect? If you know a problem is going to blow up in your face, defuse it now.

Sandler principles are rock solid and timeless. However, the expression and execution of the Sandler Selling System are constantly evolving with changing times to stay relevant with current technologies and trends in business. As our world-famous Sandler Submarine approaches its 50^th birthday, we thought it was time to give it a new look.

Social selling, or using social media during the prospecting and sales function, may very well be the “three-point line” of the sales world. It is a modern-day creation that can be perceived as a marketing gimmick or a cheap stunt, but it has been around for almost 20 years and people are now starting to see its real value.

Special guest, Brian Sullivan, Sandler trainer and author shares his thoughts about how to succeed at enterprise selling. It is an inside look at the new Sandler Training book, Sandler Enterprise Selling: Winning, Growing, and Retaining Major Accounts.

Technology and the sales process have always been besties—the telephone, the typewriter, and the GPS were old friends of the traveling sales representative. Today's buyer's journey has evolved into online-heavy research and marketing, but technology—just a different sort—is still crucial to the sales process and its success.

You don't have to be a tech wizard to grow your business through social selling. You can use your network of business contacts, to take a proactive, client-centered view of prospecting on social media. This special bonus podcast cuts through all the noise, tech-speak, and misconceptions about LinkedIn and social selling.

Most people have one thing in common: the desire to “do better.” Of course, “doing better” means different things to different people. For some salespeople, it means closing more sales. For others, it means closing bigger sales. And there are salespeople for whom it means working less hard…or simply working less. What does it mean for you?

At Sandler Training, we believe in not solely talking about features and benefits during your sales call, but rather focusing on the prospect’s needs. However, there is a time for presenting, once you have qualified the opportunity. Once a prospect is fully qualified in Pain, Budget, and Decision, then it is time for you to make the presentation, and you want to make that presentation as persuasive as possible.

Do you think it would be possible to actually sell more and sell more easily? Could you actually spend less time, money and energy on business development and enjoy more revenue and profit? When you stop trying to sell to everyone, you can actually invest time and effort to build real ideal client relationships with qualified prospects. You can work smarter instead of harder.

As a buyer, what comes to mind when you think of the word, "Salesperson"? Usually what comes to mind are things like… used cars, polyester suits, briefcases, and flip charts or PowerPoint presentations. Many people dislike dealing with salespeople, and some even shudder at the thought of being one. Few, if any, children grow up dreaming of being salespeople, yet it is the most common profession in the world. Why is that?

If your goal is to find more prospects, get more and better referrals, and make more commission dollars in 2016 than you did in 2015, consider upping your social selling game. Here are four quick tips that will help you to avoid some common mistakes online.

Understanding the importance of various accounts helps sellers sort customers and prepare for the next appropriate step in a relationship with the client.

I spend about 80% of my time working with sales professionals to perfect their ability to structure the questions that need to be asked. They all understand the importance of asking questions but need some assistance in creating their own tailored versions. Salesmen often enjoy the exercise of deciphering which questions uncover the compelling reasons the prospect should do business with them. 

A leader's most important task is to create clarity for themselves and their organization. Without personal clarity life satisfaction decreases and complacency sets in. Without organizational clarity productivity suffers and turnover increases

Sandler Training spends more than 92,000 hours per year training companies and individuals how to strengthen sales, leadership and management skills.

The CEO of an IT services company recently shared his belief with me that every two years for one hour, his prospects are so angry with their existing supplier that his company had a chance to take the business away from his competitor. This is not an unusual belief. He was talking about demand fulfillment, which is safe and easy

Companies have a systematic approach to complete almost every task; from the production line to accounting and payroll. Companies rely on clearly defined ways to get the job done effectively and efficiently. There are some areas of organizations that are commonly left to play by their own rules; like the sales and business development departments. Management exclaims, "go get 'em; bring in some new business! We believe in you!" In the current competitive and entitled market, the fly by the seat of your pants sales team almost never achieve the results they are looking for.

Imagine if there was no order. No procedures, no systems, no processes and no checks and balances. Chaos!? More than likely. People would be playing by their own rules and would be unpredictable at best. Without systems and processes we would be flying by the seat of our pants, with no clue as to what's going to happen next or how to figure out when things go wrong.

I read an article recently that slammed sales people for using the "hard sell" tactic of asking for a decision at the end of a presentation. To paraphrase David Sandler, don't make presentations without a prior commitment to make a "no" or "yes" at the end of the presentation. Two valuables a sales person possesses are information and time. Making presentations without a commitment by a prospect to make a choice between "no" and "yes" at the end is a waste of both. Now, there are two instances when asking for a decision at the end of a presentation is a hard sell tactic

A recent study by the Aberdeen Group showed that Best-In-Class companies, who used Sandler Training, had almost 50% more salespeople hitting quota than those companies who did not. When I meet with owners, CEOs, and sales managers, they often ask me why Sandler Training is different from the sales training they have seen or invested in before.

Sandler Training has many novel approaches to selling. But back in 2000 when I started my sales training business, there was one topic in particular that I wasn't expecting in a sales training curriculum. There was an entire section dedicated to insuring that salespeople's self-identity was separate and distinct from their sales role. I figured that since salespeople get rejected a lot, this chapter was there to ensure salespeople had methods to deal with rejection and not take it all too personally.

Salespeople could significantly increase their earnings if they stopped saying and believing "I know why."

Your meeting date and time has been established.  You're confident your product or service is superior to your competitors.  Your goal for the meeting is to convince the prospect. You've planned to be there for 45 minutes.

The ABA Journal published a wonderful article about the legendary Texas lawyer "Racehorse" Haynes. In his very first jury trial, he accidentally stepped on a spittoon and fell to the floor in front of the judge and jury. After his client was later acquitted, he reasoned that it may have been because the jury felt sorry for the defendant being represented by such an inept attorney.

Have you ever given thought to how people decide to buy a product or service? Consider yourself in this analogy - do you employ any of these strategies? We believe we have a need or we determine that we have a need for a product or service. With the Internet at our fingertips we immediately do some research on whatever we are in the market for. This process may take minutes or it may take hours depending on whether you are a detail person or just want a quick overview. In addition to our Internet search, we may also ask family and friends for their recommendations.

The good and bad of relationship-based sales. The Good Relationship-based sales methods are ideal. Most of the time those relationships are the only thing protecting you from competing solely on price. In sales training, we have a saying: "All things being equal, people buy from people they like. All things being unequal, people still buy from people they like."e

In regards to your business, the expertise you have gained over the years is completely worthless... until someone gives you money for it. If you have a medical doctorate, all you really have is a bunch of student loans until you have patients, and get paid for your knowledge.

Prospects like to play games with salespeople. The purpose of games prospects play is to make a salesperson feel not-OK. When a salesperson feels not-OK in front of a prospect, they are more likely to give up their time and information in the hope that their prospect will make them feel OK again. Some of the games prospects play with salespeople are: Why Don't You, Yes But - your prospect rejects every one of your suggestions with some version of "yes, but" (e.g. "we'd love to implement option A, but our budget was cut last week.")

When you get an email from a prospect with one of the following requests, what do you do? Send me a quote for.. Provide us with more information about.. We'd like a proposal.. Forward us a brochure on.. If you thought, "reply by email," you just put your prospect firmly in control of the sales process. How? The reason is found in neuro-linguistic programming (NLP)

Before you choose to answer your prospect's "how much" question, consider if you are unintentionally helping your prospect lower your prices. While a common trick of the amateur salesperson is offering increasing discounts to win business, I haven't met a professional salesperson who uses this tactic. Unfortunately, the professional salesperson can still be guilty of helping their prospect lower their prices by "anchoring" their prospect

The bottom line of selling is going to the bank; however, prospects are more likely to offer hope instead of an order when meeting a salesperson. "Hope is the only thing stronger than fear,"---President Snow, the Hunger Games. "A little hope is effective; a lot of hope is dangerous." Because hope is stronger than fear, a salesperson is comfortable taking their prospect's hope ("we're giving you top consideration") instead of overcoming their fear of losing a deal and gently asking what does "top consideration" really means

The two words that are guaranteed to trip up most sales people are "better" and "value." The latter we'll talk about in another post. Typically the "better" trap is set by a prospect at the beginning of a meeting. After introductions and polite conversation your prospect says, "so tell me how you are better than my current supplier." If your instinct is to jump to a features-and-benefits presentation, STOP! There is no way for you to answer that question and have any chance of closing the sale. There are three reasons why your prospects set the "better" trap

Over time, every successful salesperson comes to the conclusion that having the proper selling posture during the sales interview is critical. Many sales people are still struggling to understand this concept. When we talk about posture, we are talking about the attitude reflected in the communication of the salesperson. We know that the message we send in our communication is made up of our body language, our tonality, and our words. However, how we mix those three elements creates a particular attitude that is palpable to our receiver. There are three primary language postures

I am fascinated by the way clients, prospects and salespeople, in general, define success. It is usually very personaland intimate, and reflects their perspective on their own life. Some define it in terms of income as in "he who dieswith the most money" is deemed successful. Others use the importance of their job to determinewhetheror not theyare successful. A third group speaks of balance, though it is rarely achieved.

Do you "sell to live" or "live to sell"? I have been training sales people for over 16 years and have found a common trait in the highest performers: they "live to sell". They love prospecting for new business opportunities. They love being in the role of "closer". Their sales quota is a benchmark that they regularly exceed because just hitting quota makes them "average". They don't hide from the fact that they sell by putting words like "account manager" or "territory manager" on their business cards.

If you're like most salespeople, you don't know how to network effectively. Usually you'll wing it, improvise, or spend time with colleagues or clients you know really well instead of engaging prospects. When I ask, "why you don't approach prospects at networking events?", I'd get a lot of "I don't knows." What you don't know, or don't even realize, is your problem is mom. Specifically in influence the messages mom drilled into your head in your first six years like

Have you ever killed a sale by bringing up an irrelevant feature to your prospect? Something you, or probably your marketing department, thought you prospect should know about before they signed up? At Sandler, this is known as "painting seagulls in your prospect's picture." Unfortunately, your seagull can quickly turn into an albatross. Traditionally trained salespeople who sit through hours of product training before being let out in front of prospects can't wait to share all their product knowledge when they get in front of anyone, qualified prospect or not

Last time we discussed the tension of wanting to rescue a prospect sales process. Now let's look at the situation between the buyer and seller as objectively as possible:

How do you convince someone to buy your product or service? Think about how you buy a product or service. Even the richest people in the world with "money to burn" do not buy for the sake of buying. Yes they can buy whenever or whatever they choose, however there is a reason that they buy. People love to buy, they just don't like to be sold.

A client recently shared about a road trip he and his boss had taken to do walk-in calls. The salesperson was being encouraged to start going further afield to look for new business opportunities so he created a list of potential companies and off they went. The boss was essentially going for the ride to be of support so he allowed things to unfold as they did.

I had an interesting conversation at a social event that made me recognize that I, along with people in general, seem to want to make decisions for other people. This is an interesting observation from a sales perspective and it's also applicable in our everyday lives. Let me share the story

Why do we think that by asking a question we'll hurt the prospect's feelings? What you need to remember is that that you are not responsible for how a prospect reacts to a question that you ask. Clients share with me daily the questions they've avoided asking for fear of upsetting the prospect. Sometimes they get frustrated with themselves because they feel they lost a sale or an opportunity of a sale because they lacked the guts to ask questions. They would rather bite their tongue than ask a question that they think might make the prospect uncomfortable

Let's admit it. No salesperson likes making cold calls. Prospecting is perhaps the most stressful and anxiety ridden aspect to sales. 

I was sitting in a coffee shop reading a book in early November when I overheard two salespeople talking about the current state of their business. One was explaining to the other that he looked forward to this time of year because all his customers were out of money and all of his prospects were going to wait until next year to purchase.

You may not recall the first time you heard the word NO; however, that first time and the many times you heard it after all happened when you were a toddler. You continued to hear the word NO through your childhood years and eventually it became ingrained in your psyche.

In sales, there's a big difference between knowing what to say and knowing what to think. Sandler Training CEO Dave Mattson explains the seven deadly sales sins to avoid now and forever. 

"Can you get me an estimate?"

"Why don't you write up a proposal for me?"

"Well, just get me an outline of your plans for us and we'll get back to you."

Do these sound familiar? Possibly a "free consulting" nightmare that sales professionals see way too often?

If you simply differentiate yourself as saying you're "the best" sales professional out there, then you can look forward to clients and prospects who will wander around to see if one of the millions of other "bests" out there are cheaper. This rule is simple. See what your competition does, and then make sure that what you do is incomparable. Having a unique game plan will help set you on the path to one-of-a-kind success.

Sure, it's easy to externalize your problems if things aren't going well. Remember: as a salesperson, it's your job to sweep those excuses aside. You'll never grow as a sales professional if you leave every call thinking you're just unlucky to run into the world's pickiest prospects.

No, we're not advocating neglect. Just understand that the salesperson should be looking for neither approval nor acceptance from his or her prospect. Learn how you can leave your emotions out of the equation.

To really sell, you've got to step out onto that stage, choose the right performance for the right audience and be prepared to analyze their reactions. Do everything right, and you may just get asked for an encore.

I've spent a lot of time considering why the occupation of selling has been given such a low approval rating over the past 40 years. It wasn't always that way. Here's a story that got me thinking about this again. A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in California when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him

How's your memory? Do you fall into the category as described the old adage, "I'd forget my head if it wasn't connected to my body"? Are you constantly setting traps for yourself to be on time for meetings or where your car keys are placed or what's supposed to be happening on your schedule from hour to hour?

In today's environment we have to stop acting and looking like beggars with briefcases and begin to recognize that the name of the game in 2010 is taking business away from our competitors. Let the others wrestle it out at the procurement department and with the low-level influencers.

Why do people buy milk or bread or cereal or soda at the gas station convenience store when those items are far less expensive at a grocery store? Obviously, they have a need for the items. More importantly, buying at the convenience store is quick, and you guessed it, convenient. And "quick" and "convenient" represent value. They fill up with gas, run in and pick up the items they need, and they're on their way. No hunting for a parking space. No grocery carts to dodge. No long checkout lines.

The other day, people in the training center were discussing how they go about building trust. The group shared lots of ideas, and every idea they shared would probably do the trick. When all was said and done, we had a list of about twenty things people could do to build trust.

Today's business is focusing on something that champion athletes have always known: the right combination of training and coaching will help achieve greatness. It's not enough to have a superior product or service. You must have the skills to get that message across to your prospects. Training imparts the knowledge critical for success in today's competitive economy.

How would you answer this question: Why does someone or a firm engage you or decide to buy from you? Take a moment and write down the reasons you think people buy. From what I have seen in most professional schools, people compete to have the best grades, the most outstanding ideas and the most highly thought of papers. I have noticed that students who do well often get the most attention from teachers

Last week, my clients and I were talking about how to respond to adversity. If you made it through that message and you still have your head up high and your eyes forward, you might be asking the question: "What do I do now?" When we say something like: "There are people who say there is a recession, I decided not to participate," we are not being cute and we are not putting our head in the sand.

Growing up, I was raised by an optimist and a pessimist. My mom was probably the happiest, funniest, friendliest person you could ever meet. She made sure that I was raised with an altruistic mindset, wishing nothing but good for everybody and doing my best to help people out. As I started to learn and mature, I asked her about why she was helping some people she really did not like. Her response was simple. "Matt, everybody can be better off and helping them helps the community.

Twenty years ago, when I was a young salesperson just starting out, I was fortunate enough to get sent to quite a bit of sales training. All of the training programs seemed to center around the "Three Big Steps to Selling." The "Three Big Steps to Selling" are: 1) Prospecting 2) Presenting 3) Closin

Imagine walking into a prospect's office and having him or her say, "I have a problem. There is a monkey on my back and I want to make it yours." Any normal person would know better than to say, "Great, toss that over here and let me add that to the monkeys I am already working with." As a sales coach, I spend time with quite a few people who have big monkey collections. They have accepted that their prospects and clients' problems are actually theirs. Unfortunately, these monkey collections have some predictable consequences

Recently, I found myself absorbed with the notion of influence. I wondered aloud who the great influencers of our time are, then wondered further how each had reached their influential positions. A voice in the room, that of a top trusted advisor, shot back, "The number-one salesman in the world is a kid who wants ice cream!" We laughed.. Yet buried in that answer was delicious truth.

Salespeople are not wise to the ways of great sorcerers and for that we can all be thankful. Sorcerers are known for exotic blends, flash powder, potent broths and a willingness to pluck the eyes out of living things. Sorcerers spend an inordinate amount of time consulting the bones, looking to see what the future holds - which usually ends up about half-right. There's every reason to believe that consulting those dried up old bones might be about as successful as the "winging it" strategy employed by many sales amateurs.

"Equal business stature, that's all I want--to be treated as an equal. I have earned that right. Yet to a gatekeeper or prospect, I am the lowest form of humanity." So lamented a friend of mine over a recent lunch of burgers, fries and a heaping plate of frustrated sales efforts

There are a lot of good reasons to pick up the phone and reach out to new prospective customers. When it comes to finding new business opportunities, the phone offers a high level of efficiency, is relatively inexpensive, and is a great way to gather valuable information that can help us find business.

I don't know about you, but I have never liked being told what to do. I don't think I've ever met anybody who did respond well to that kind of instruction, even when the person in charge-a coach at sports, for example-clearly knew what he was doing if the message is delivered wrong. It doesn't matter if what you are saying is true, if it's not delivered properly. You can be the authority, but no one cares if you can't deliver your message in a way that others can accept. The fact that you have good prudent knowledge, the fact that you're correct, doesn't matter if not delivered properly.

While some salespeople might see voicemail as a dead end or a link in a long game of phone tag, opportunists see it as a chance to learn even more about the prospect before interacting with them. If you listen closely to a prospect's outbound voicemail message, you can pick up clues to help you adjust your style to be more like theirs

Planning on an economic rebound, companies in the U.S. and Canada are beginning to up their investments in new product and service introductions, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey released in August. Businesses are also investing more in information technology and in marketing and sales promotion.

That's encouraging, especially since it should mean more purchases of the kinds of good and services high-level sales professionals represent.

The end of summer's gloomy retail sales figures, coming after two months of modest gains, are giving rise to considerable pessimism among sales professionals. While understandable, this pessimism is also, I believe, completely unwarranted but not for the reasons you might think.
 Yes, back-to-school sales at the big chain stores are rotten. The housing market in many areas is lousy. Consumer confidence is weak and may be even weaker by the time you read this. I don't disagree with any of that. Facts are facts

When the economy took a nosedive, most sales professionals quickly responded in one of two ways. There were those who lost confidence and basically hunkered down, hoping to wait out the recession. They adopted a "base camp" mentality, wanting only to hold onto what business they had until the weather cleared, and they could start their ascent again

The rotten economy, if you haven't noticed, may be taking a toll on your health. "Today's economy is stressing people out, and stress has been linked to a number of illnesses-such as heart disease, high blood pressure and increased risk for cancer," according to a new study in the July 15 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology. A lot of this stress is understandable-but also unnecessary. If you are in sales, a sales system can help you reduce that pressure you are under in a big way. You will be as productive as ever, which should mean less anxiety