Prospects

An overview of Sandler rule twenty-two by Ken Seawell

An overview of Sandler rule twenty-six by Ken Seawell

An overview of Sandler rule thirty-one by Ken Seawell

While watching a Sandler conference video on Sandler Online, I was struck by something Bill Bartlett, a Sandler trainer in Chicago, said. I am paraphrasing, but the gist of the message was that through bonding and rapport, you earn the right to ask the tough questions that cut through the clutter and get to the truth. One of the best ways to start that process is to identify the person’s DiSC profile and use that knowledge to build rapport.

In a previous post I have mentioned my new cadence for prospecting, which follows a strategic, purposeful plan for developing business opportunities with new people. As you may recall, I explained that I follow this order:

As a salesperson, my goal is to create equal business stature and a mutual decision-making process. In doing so, the prospect and I are equal. If I have to ask for the order, then I tip the scales of equality to me and doing business is not a mutually beneficial decision. Pressuring the prospect to buy upsets the balance of equality also.

As a beginner, you ask a lot of questions. You might feel kind of silly, at first. But, asking questions benefits you. You learn a lot and, more importantly, you learn specifics that will help you in the future.

As a salesperson what is your goal? Is it to build good relationships with clients? Is it to establish yourself as a partner in my client’s success? Is it to help my prospect discover the truth? Technically yes, but ultimately, that is not your goal. Your goal is to close the sale, aka “go to the bank.”

As I’ve said before, your job as a salesperson is to listen to the prospect. You have to figure out what they need, why they need it, and if you can help them come up with a solution. And that can’t happen if you are too busy selling yourself and your products.

As an expert in your field, you are sure to know all the industry terminology and products that you offer. But I want you to think about your prospect. How are they going to feel when you start talking about things that they don’t know and using words they don’t understand? Confused, uncomfortable, and intimidated.

Did you know that anytime you hear someone talk about the future, it’s actually a glimpse into what they’re thinking about right now? The problem is that traditional salespeople don’t use that knowledge to their advantage. They don’t use the future as a tool to understand the present.

If you know me professionally, you’ll probably think it’s comical that I am writing about this rule… but I promise, I’ve got some valuable insight on this. In sales, the phrase “your meter’s always running” applies to blurring the line between friendship and business. How you handle yourself in business matters.

2017 was a good year for me… my best year ever. I was consistent in hitting my behaviors for the all 52 weeks of the year. In fact, I did 96.7% of my behaviors, from emails to cold walk-ins, during the year. I consider that a victory.However, I wasn’t completely happy. I knew that I struggled on occasion with the motivation and the mindset to achieve 100% of my behaviors and that gnawed at me like how a dog takes to a bone. As usual, it was some advice that my good friend and mentor, Erik Meier, told me that sparked a change in my actions.

In a perfect world, every conversation we have with another human would be a straight-forward, mutually beneficial conversation. But we don’t live in a perfect world, and many times the conversations we have with others are anything but straight forward. As a Sandler disciple, I often turn to the three tenets to improve my areas of deficiency. Let’s look at how attitude, behavior and technique can help reduce game playing.

I tweaked the title of the 1977 song “I Fought the Law” by The Clash to highlight an incident I had recently. Here are the two things for you to chew on (some pun intended), and a few questions to ask yourself from my experience:

In my experience with dealing with sales over the years, I’ve discovered there are two types of styles:
• Solving and selling
• Learning and listening

Let me tell you why I prefer the learning and listening style.

I recently listened to a podcast from Rochelle Carrington and it opened my eyes to dealing with objections. With many thanks to Rochelle, let me share with you what I’ve learned.

Your job as the salesperson is to find out the intent behind a prospect's question. The best way to do this is to answer their question with one of your own.

Have you ever made an assumption about what a client is saying to you, or what you think a prospect is going to say? If you have, you’re not alone. I think it’s safe to say that we as people, and especially as salespeople, are guilty of mind reading.

f the prospect is listening, what aren’t they doing? That’s right, they’re not talking.

In every sales meeting, the prospect should be the one talking and you, as the salesperson, should be the one listening. The Sandler Ratio for salespeople during meetings is 70% listening and 30% talking. By letting them do the talking and making yourself listen, you’ll find out what they really need from you.

In my continuing series on the Sandler Rules, let’s talk about rule number two. The second Sandler Rule is don’t spill your candy in the lobby.

That sounds more like a good idea at the movies, not for business.

In my continuing series on the Sandler Rules, let’s talk about Sandler rule number three, “No Mutual Mystification.“ This rule emphasizes the importance of clarity between you and your prospect instead of assuming you are hearing what you want to hear.

In my continuing series on the Sandler Rules, let’s talk about Sandler rule number five, “Never answer an unasked question.”

The title speaks for itself. Why do people dislike it so much? It’s because they put too much pressure on themselves. Prospecting is about the process of reaching out to people you haven’t done business with in the hopes of making a connection. Reaching out to make connections can take form in many ways; email, social media, cold calls, cold walk-ins, networking events, talks, or even standing in line for your morning coffee.

Prospecting is about gauging the prospect’s interest level in scheduling a sales appointment. Too many amateur sales people start selling features and benefits, which may lead the prospect to lose interest in meeting for one of two reasons. The prospect may hear something in your feature and benefit dump that they don’t like or need, ending the opportunity before it began. The prospect may also feel pressured to buy too early in the process, ending any chances of meeting.

Similar to earning compound interest on your money, you can earn compound interest when you prospect. Consider the “interest” you earn in prospecting the lessons you learn from the mistakes you make. Learning from those mistakes results in you becoming a stronger salesperson.

In my continuing series on the Sandler Rules, let’s talk about Sandler rule number ten, “Develop a prospecting awareness.” Many people are uncomfortable prospecting, but as I have mentioned before, you don’t have to like it you just have to do it. If you want to read more on that topic, click here. In my experience, the problem people have with prospecting is that they do not know how.

In my continuing series on the Sandler Rules, let’s talk about Sandler rule number eleven, “ Money does grow on trees.” So what does it mean? Think of your network and the people you know as a tree. When you make a new connection, another branch “grows”. By taking care of the tree, and giving it “water”, you are making yourself money.

Sandler colleague Antonio Garrido made that statement at his talk at the Sandler Summit this year in Orlando, and it has stuck with me ever since. What struck me was the simplicity of the message. Being different is better. The simplicity, however, hides a complexity that is key to the statement’s success.

Do you ever fear the word "No" from prospects and customers?

All things being equal, people tend to buy from people they like and trust.  All things being unequal, the same principal applies. 

Learn how to uncover and understand the prospect's buying motivations. What could be more important in sales than understanding why people buy? Mike Crandall, Sandler trainer and author, talks about the key factors for motivation. 

Getting started in sales, or increasing your success once you’ve established yourself, can be a very challenging task. One of the hardest parts of this process is securing leads. What’s even harder is ensuring those leads are qualified.

To grow as a salesperson, mastering this aspect of your career is key. Below I have identified three ways to get qualified referrals. Incorporating these simple tips will help you step up your referral game and uncover a path to new levels of success.

This blog will illustrate several techniques to nurture those prospects in your funnel and how to effectively turn them into clients. The ability to do this is what separates good salespeople from just good networkers. Below are four keys to developing a successful nurture funnel and how to convert your prospects into clients. 

A while back I attended a one-day Prospecting Boot Camp for salespeople in the heart of downtown London. After nine days of visiting attractions abroad, I decided to let my wife do the final day by herself, so I could endeavor to learn the differences (if any) in the mindset of British salespeople from their American counterparts.

Welcome to the "How to Succeed Podcast." The show that shows you how to get to the top and stay there. This is "How to Succeed at Preventing Objections."  The show is brought to you by Sandler Training. The worldwide leader in sales, management and customer service training. For more information on Sandler Training, including free wi-papers, webinars and more, visit Sandler.com and look under the resources tab.  I'm your host Mike Montague and my guest this week is Joe Ippolito He is a Sandler trainer from Boston. And we're gonna talk to him about how to succeed at preventing objections. Joe, welcome to the show. Tell me a little bit about objections and why you picked this for a topic and who should be paying attention today?

Have you ever lost a sale you thought was closed?

Have you ever been in front of a prospect and found yourself in a situation where you felt something, but were afraid to say it out loud?

Have you ever had a buyer change his mind after committing to the sale?

Have you ever talked yourself out of a sale?

Have you ever overwhelmed a prospect with product knowledge?

Have you ever built a proposal or recommendation for your reasons, rather than the prospects?

Have you ever blurred the line between "friend" and "customer?"

Have you ever missed a signal that there was really "no deal?"

Wednesday mornings are tough enough without our most annoying client calling in with the usual simple problem that he is over-reacting to. We sigh and answer the phone - all while making the facial gestures of a person eating oysters for the first time in their life. WHY does that client seem to be determined to drive you insane? It's your fault ... Every morning the manager from the operations department stops in to tell you how your team messed up his operations this weekend. She is soooo abrasive. You answer in abrupt sentences and quite rudely push her out the door