Category: Business Development

Sales Leaders: Align, Model and Master the Process

12/18/2024

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Morristown
David Sandler patterned his selling system as a tool for both sales and leadership. In fact, his system is where the disciplines of sales and leadership converge. Effective sales leaders don’t just understand Sandler’s seven-step process; they model it for their team as a daily working reality. They know each step of the Sandler system must be handled in the proper order for the prospect and salesperson to move through the sales process together. And not only that: they know the seller’s relationship with the buyer operates in parallel with the sales leader’s relationship with the members of the sales team.

How Well Do You Know the Four Learning Styles of Buyers?

11/21/2024

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Morristown
Have you ever noticed how some prospects engage with you instantly, and with complete attention, when you cite verifiable facts and figures … while other prospects remain totally unmoved by the same hard data? Some people will closely evaluate the data you share, ask how it was verified, and (if they like your answer) feel right at home in the discussion. Others, though, are more likely to need hands-on demonstrations …. step-by-step explanations … or in-depth discussions before they feel comfortable making any decision. Just as students in a classroom have different ways of learning, buyers have diverse learning and decision-making styles. There are four main styles for salespeople to understand. Understanding them and catering to them can dramatically influence your ability to tailor your messaging – and secure the commitments that support your sales process.

Accelerate Deal Velocity .... by Driving Success Through Action and Collaboration

10/24/2024

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Morristown
Let’s talk about a mindset that can quickly accelerate your sales cycle: a bias toward action. An action bias can break down barriers, foster stronger collaboration, and drive measurable increases in deal velocity for every salesperson on the team. This kind of mindset assumes that doing something is better than doing nothing, that taking the initiative is better than waiting for permission or the perfect conditions. We live in an imperfect world, and that means that assuming bias toward action is a key to success in sales—and in our broader professional journey.

Sales Leaders: Are You Filling the Right Skill Gap?

9/19/2024

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Morristown

To optimize team performance, it’s essential that sales leaders understand the difference between cohort skill gaps and individual skill gaps.

By understanding and addressing these gaps strategically, sales leaders can drive better results.

For Sales Professionals - Don’t Put Out the Fire Too Early

8/22/2024

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Morristown
Here’s a gut-check question for sales leaders: When salespeople come to you with a problem, is your first instinct to hand them the solution? Is that your default setting: simply putting out whatever fire the rep identifies for you? Because you think doing so will save time?

Or … do you look for ways to create an adult-to-adult conversation that empowers them to find their own solution to whatever issue they’re facing?

The Sandler Success Triangle: Unleash the Power of B.A.T. !

6/20/2024

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Morristown
Some people think success in sales is simply a matter of learning the right techniques. That's only part of the equation. David Sandler, the founder of our company, advocated a revolutionary, holistic approach that incorporates not just mastery of specific techniques, but also improvements in two other areas. These three elements, Behavior, Attitude, and Technique (B.A.T.), form the three corners of Sandler's famous Success Triangle.

Understanding the Modern Buyer: A Shift Towards Personalization

5/23/2024

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Morristown
Have you ever instantly "clicked" with someone during a sales call or meeting, feeling like you both spoke the same language? Most salespeople we talk to quickly answer “yes.” If that's you, please take a moment now to remember that experience of easy communication and seemingly effortless, strong rapport. Then, maybe think for just a minute or two more about the opposite scenario. Ever met someone you just couldn't gel with right from the start? Someone who didn't “get” you, or vice versa?

Two Simple Sandler Questioning Rules That Improve Closing Ratios

4/25/2024

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Morristown
As sales professionals, it’s our job to determine our prospective buyer’s pain. How? By asking the right questions at the right time and in the right way. When we do this, our closing ratios improve. When we don’t, those same ratios get worse. Of course, we all want better closing ratios. That means we will want to start from the position that there is no room in our world for mind-reading.

Sell Like You Don’t Need the Business

3/21/2024

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Morristown
You may have heard the old saying that 90 percent of success happens between the ears. That’s easy enough to say. But what does putting this principle into practice really mean? What does it look like when it shows up, in a discussion with a prospective buyer, as part of who we really are?

What Is Your Buyer’s Journey – And How Does It Affect Your Selling Strategy?

2/22/2024

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Morristown
Not all buyers have the same priorities … but sometimes we make the mistake of imagining they do. The buyer’s journey has certain discrete stages. It’s our responsibility as sales professionals to understand these stages, identify the priorities that connect to each stage, and then adapt to those priorities. An important early stage of this journey is called Engagement. This is where buyers start talking about what they think they need.

When Your Foot Hurts, You're Probably Standing on Your Own Toe

1/25/2024

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Morristown
As salespeople, we can sometimes be our own worst enemy when it comes to communicating or interacting with buyers. There’s a Radiohead song called “Just,” with a lyrical hook that says, “You do it to yourself.” That’s pretty much the soundtrack to the modern sales professional’s life. We don’t always want to believe it, but the hard truth is, when there’s a problem, the odds are pretty good that we did it to ourselves.

The VUCA Challenge: Why Technique Is Not Enough

12/28/2023

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Morristown
David Sandler’s famous Success Triangle looks like this:
• Attitude is what happens between your ears.
• Technique is what you learn to do.
• Behavior is what you do consistently—what you put into practice.
Those three corners on the triangle can drive our ascent to our fullest and highest potential, not just in sales, but in life.

Your Secret Weapon for Customer Success: Quarterly Value Reviews

11/22/2023

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Morristown
Key customer accounts are like vast fields of dark, rich, fertile soil. Your selling and serving teams have the seeds of growth in hand. But to grow or even retain important accounts, you must deliver success on the customer’s terms. That means maintaining high-level client executive relationships is essential. And these relationships must be based on value, as defined from the client’s perspective.

The "FORCE MULTIPLIER" Most Sales Teams Don't Bother to Deploy

9/21/2023

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Morristown
One of the most powerful ideas for maximizing team sales productivity is a surprisingly simple one: “Don’t buy back tomorrow what you sold today.” At Sandler, we believe that sales process and methodology ought to be consistent across all seller roles. Having different parts of the sales team learning and executing different approaches results in a siloed strategy. That not only wastes resources, but it also sends inconsistent signals to clients and customers, and it undermines the customer experience.

The One Technique That Empowers You to Run a Great Sales Meeting

8/21/2023

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Morristown
What’s the key to running a great sales meeting? At Sandler, we teach that success in this critical area lies in learning to propose a specific type of agreement before anything of consequence happens between the participants -- an agreement about what, exactly, is going to take place during the discussion that’s about to unfold. The act of proposing this agreement levels the psychological playing field between buyer and seller. Which is why this particular technique, known as the up-front contract, is such a game-changer.

Ask This One Powerful Question … Before You Agree to Deliver A Presentation

7/20/2023

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Morristown
When a prospect asks you to deliver a presentation, do you instantly agree? Lots of salespeople do. Sometimes it’s because they’re excited about the possibility of engaging directly with a person they haven’t been able to meet yet. Sometimes it’s because they think that any sign of interest from a prospect should be quickly rewarded. And sometimes it’s because they just love being the center of attention! But in reality, none of these justifications are strategically sound reasons for a salesperson to agree to deliver a formal presentation. Here’s why.

Are Sales and Marketing Working Together?

7/13/2023

By Allan Berger, Berger Business Advisors
We have seen countless examples of uncoordinated sales and marketing activities resulted in wasting both time and money. Here’s one example. A company exhibits at a trade show. Leads are collected but not distributed to sales reps until long after the trade show ends. By the time the sales rep contacts the attendee, the attendee no longer remembers why they were drawn to the company’s exhibit. How does this happen? It is easy to understand when sales and marketing are not working in harmony.

Ask This Simple Question Before You Finalize Any Meeting with a Buyer or Influencer

6/15/2023

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Morristown

There’s one simple, easy-to-pose question that will, if you use it consistently, simultaneously improve your closing ratio, shorten your sales cycle, and deepen your relationship and impact within the buying organization.

And yet most salespeople hardly ever ask this question.

The Budget Step...and the Monsters Under the Bed

5/25/2023

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Training
A critical part of the Sandler qualification process is finding out what the available budget is. One of the things we’ve found consistently is that most salespeople are deeply uncomfortable with the idea of coming right out and asking a decision-maker how much money is available to solve a problem. Most of them skip the discussion entirely, then try to sneak in their pricing at the end of their presentation. Does that work? No. The big question is: Why are so many salespeople so resistant to initiating this discussion? And the answer is: there is a monster under their bed.

A Decision to Not Make a Decision Is Still a Decision

4/27/2023

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Training

David Sandler emphasized this classic definition so often that it’s fair to say he considered it to be of central importance to the Sandler Selling System. While his idea may sound a bit confusing to you the very first time you encounter it, if you follow it through, you will find that it makes perfect sense. In fact, this simple Sandler guideline often serves as the last word when it comes to deciding whether you have a “live” prospect – or a “dead” lead.

Sell Like You Don't Need the Business

3/23/2023

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Training

You may have heard the old saying that 90 percent of success happens between the ears. That’s easy enough to say.

But what does putting this principle into practice really mean? What does it look like when it shows up, in a discussion with a prospective buyer, as part of who we really are?

Three Big Ideas That Create Prospecting Breakthroughs

2/23/2023

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Training
To sell effectively to the modern buyer, we need to identify and set aside all the head trash that keeps us from engaging effectively, and often, to uncover new opportunities. This means understanding the power of our own behavior. Behavior is basically our muscle memory in action, which we regularly turn to and do as a matter of course, time after time. Behavior is quantifiable, meaning we can count it when it happens. Our prospecting behaviors drive our income. It’s that simple.

You Don’t Have to Like Prospecting … You Just Have to Do It

8/18/2022

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Training
The salesperson who claims to “like” prospecting hasn’t ever done it. How can anyone “like” a process that produces such an arena for rejection? When salespeople say they like prospecting, what they might mean is this: “I don’t mind paying the price of prospecting to reach my objectives.” Many salespeople haven’t reached that stage. If you’re still at the stage where prospecting means dialing a number and hoping the line is busy… don’t worry. You’re okay. You just haven’t learned to focus on the end result.

Speak More Languages, Close More Sales

7/21/2022

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Training
Have you ever noticed that some people jump to quick conclusions, don’t like to get bogged down with details, and like to take the 30,000-foot view of issues? Or that others prioritize making and keeping friends? Or that still others just don’t like change and conflict, and want to avoid making decisions? If you’ve ever noticed people who fit those descriptions, then you’re in a good position to expand your repertoire of selling languages!

No One Gets into Your Head Without Your Permission

6/23/2022

By Cal Thomas, Sandler Training
Have you ever volunteered a price reduction before someone asked for it? Have you ever felt less than okay about yourself because somebody didn’t decide to buy from you?

If you answered “Yes,” you should be aware that you let your buyer into your personal headspace, where the buyer didn’t belong. You chose to become emotionally involved in the sales process. And you know what? That usually doesn’t end well.

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