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Quote In 2007 our sales were like a roller coaster driven by a former partner. In 2009 and 2010 our company had year over year increases in sales. We have a pipeline, proposal system and a motivated Business Development Manager. How did two Owner engineers accomplish this? By knowing what we did not know. We went to the CEN and were referred to Lorraine Ferguson, the president of the local Sandler Training business. Lorraine introduced us to the Sandler Selling System through the Presidents Club. She also came to our business and helped us set up the systems we needed and also guide us in the key hiring of our Business Development Manager. This isn't just sales training. This is a whole system that is far reaching and designed for success. The system works and flows through all of the relationships within and outside of the company. I draw upon those skills for almost every aspect of my duties as an Owner. Without a doubt Sandler Training has put us in a position of significant competitive advantage. Quote

Frank Burzesi Owner, XC Associates, Inc.

Sales Tips & tactics


    Thank you, Mr. Prospect - Read more...
David Sandler wrote a Thank You dispatch to his prospects who gave him more lies, deception and mistreatment than he ever could have imagined.

Identify Unproductive Behavior - Read more...
If what you are doing does not produce the results you want, then change what you are doing.

No Surprises On A Sales Call - Read more...
Surprises can sometimes be fun, but not when you're dealing with a prospect or customer. Surprises during a meeting, either from the prospect or from you, can be a deal breaker, or at the very least compromise a positive relationship between you and your prospect.

I forgot my calendar - Read more...
Without an agenda that everyone is focused on, meetings turn into social gatherings. If that is the purpose of the meeting, fine. However, it rarely is.

Why Do Prospects Buy From You? - Read more...
I have found that most salespeople are more focused on the act of selling and less focused on helping prospects buy. The #1 job of salespeople today is to find prospects who need their product or service and get out of the way so they can buy it.

He's A Really Good Client - Read more...
There is a difference between having a social relationship with someone and having a business relationship with someone.

Meet the Cast of the Sale - Read more...
In almost every buying decision, you will work with a cast of characters who are involved in the process. Often, one member of the cast--usually someone at or near the top of the organizational chart--has the responsibility for making the decision.

Communicating Your Sales Message - Read more...
The first few moments of interaction with prospects are the most crucial. It’s in those instants that prospects form an initial opinion about the value of investing time, any amount of time, to speak with you.

Just a half hour of your time. - Read more...
Badgering a prospect for an appointment only reinforces in the prospect’s mind that you are just another one of those "pain-in-the-butt" salespeople.

How Much is "IF" Worth? - Read more...
Have you stopped to think just how much the word "IF" is worth? Judging by the way so many salespeople talk, it must be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I have always done it this way - Read more...
If you keep doing it the same way, is it because you are making more and more money, or is it because that’s the way you’ve always done it?

Five Things Sales People Should Never Do - Read more...
To ensure your success as a salesperson make sure you never do these five things (or should you)?

Meet with an Agenda - Read more...
Meetings that are held with no written agenda start late, last forever, and accomplish only the wasting of everyone’s time.

Can or Can't Do - Read more...
Henry Ford reminded us, “If a man thinks he can do a thing or he thinks he cannot do a thing, he is right.”

Put the Phone Down - Read more...
Unless your job is to make one call after another, in other words you are a telemarketer, then being on the phone all day or most of the day is robbing you of productive work time.

Six Tips for Effective Listening - Read more...
When you interact with clients, they should be doing at least 70% of the talking, which means you're doing at least 70% of the listening.

Three Questions for the New Year - Read more...
It’s not too late to set your 2013 goals. Start by asking yourself three questions.

Be a stand-up person and get things done. - Read more...
Want to make meetings shorter and more productive? Stand up.

What Motivates You? - Read more...
You can achieve those goals, but the question is what is motivating you to.

I don't know where my time goes - Read more...
You do know where your time goes. You have to decide if you want your time to keep going there.

Stop Selling Features and Benefits - Read more...
It sounds heretical for a sales trainer to say, "Stop selling features and benefits," doesn't it?

Don't show them how. - Read more...
Make the best use of your time by showing someone how to do something you do. And then, if appropriate, let him do it.

5 Strategies to Close Faster - Read more...
For some salespeople, the amount of time it takes to secure an initial appointment with a prospect is excessive.

Haven't Got Time To Explain It. - Read more...
Always make time to explain. You never know just how important that one explanation might turn out to be.

Are You Obsessed? - Read more...
Successful salespeople are. They are obsessed with doing what has to be done each and every day to reach their goals.

Are YOU Selling Umbrellas in the Desert? - Read more...
If you did your homework you wouldn’t be calling someone in the Sahara Desert asking them to speak to the person in charge of umbrella purchases.

If I want it done right, I do it. - Read more...
Do you believe that if you want it done correctly, you have to do it yourself? How is this impacting your co-workers?

If a tree falls in the woods does it make a sound? - Read more...
Yes this is a sales question. If you have a great product but fail to put it in the hands of the people that can use it, is it really a great product?

Make the plan, skip some steps. - Read more...
Glenn is a salesperson who drives sales managers and upper management crazy. For months at a time, he can close just about every sale without so much as breaking a sweat.

Selling Professionals and Obstacle Racing - Read more...
Michael decides to grow his comfort zone by enlisting in the Tough Mudder and learns that it similar to selling.

Defining a Good Fit in Sales - Read more...
The sooner you disqualify an opportunity, the sooner you can direct your efforts to other potentially more rewarding opportunities. So, don’t push for "yes." Instead, go for the "no" – and greater rewards.

Good decisions are ones made. - Read more...
Many times in sales, the salesperson and the buyer reach multiple points where some form of decision needs to be made in order to go any further.

Keep thinking. It will go away. - Read more...
Postponing a decision because you are still considering all of information, both on-hand and yet to come in, can reach the point where the need for the decision ceases to exist. The sales opportunity is lost. No businessperson wants to make a decision that is a mistake. So what happens so many times? No decision is made. By not making a decision, you avoided the possibility of making a mistake. You may also avoid the possibility of bringing a new product to market to a client who wanted it.

Agonize or Organize? - Read more...
The most frequent excuse for not reaching a goal or completing a task is, "There isn't enough time."

I Need More Time - Read more...
A major frustration for salespeople is dealing with prospects that can't seem to make a decision. Perhaps the biggest of those frustrations is struggling with prospects who indicate the desire to make a decision (and to do so by a certain date), but when the date rolls around, they invariably need more time.

Save time, skip the planning - Read more...
Right at this moment, there is a prospect who will buy from the next salesperson that walks through the door or calls. If you’re that person, you just made the sale. And if you call on enough prospects, you will stumble across the ones who’ll buy right this minute. Sales managers and upper management often view the constant “stumble” method as the way to success. After all, with this method, the vast majority of the salesperson’s time is spent selling. The logic is simple, the more time out selling, the more sales. Planning on what to do takes time away from being out there doing it. So skip the planning. Who needs planning anyway? New salespeople. There is, however, one small problem with this method. The salesperson never has a steady income nor does the company have steady sales. When one salesperson burns out, move another one in. Move them in, burn them out, move them in.

Hard work isn't digging a ditch. - Read more...
From the point of view of the fellow in the ditch, the hard work had already been done. Every shovelful after the first one was getting him one shovelful closer to success. From my point of view, what he was doing was extremely hard work. Now I ask you, whose point of view is the one that really matters?

Three Steps to Greater Selling Success - Read more...
If you want to excel in the sales game, you only have to follow three simple steps. If you're already at the top of your game, following these steps will take you to higher levels of success. Even if you're at the other end of the success spectrum, in a slump perhaps and ready to throw in the towel, following these three steps will get you out of your slump and on your way to success ... guaranteed! So, what are these three magical steps?.

Knowledge Is Power - Read more...
Do you keep up with the changes happening at your clients' businesses? If there were mergers, consolidations, layoffs, or acquisitions in the offing, would you know?

Midnight oil doesn't exist - Read more...
One of the great, and usually destructive, tales of business handed down from one business owner to another, and from older salespeople to younger salespeople, is the burning of the midnight oil. "The only way to succeed is to burn the midnight oil." "The sooner you start burning the midnight oil, the sooner you will have success." This tale, this myth, is so powerful that many burners of the oil truly believe that long hours are really a sign of success.

"Do They 'Own' The Pain?" - Read more...
What are the biggest roadblocks to closing a new account? If you are selling a product or service the prospect is already buying from another company, the biggest roadblock is likely to be the relationship the prospect has with that supplier or provider. Not the company or the salesperson, but the relationship.

Winners have the same amount of time as non-winners - Read more...
Salespeople earning a million dollars a year have the same number of hours in the day as those who have just spent their first-ever day as salespeople. Not an hour more, not an hour less.

Stop Being a Pest - Read more...
Prospects don’t like receiving cold calls any more than salesperson like making them. Prospects also have a standard "get rid of this salespeople" script. Unfortunately, most salespeople are so well trained by prospects that they fall right into following the prospect’s script.

If The Competition Is Doing It - Stop - Read more...
Successful salespeople are often experts at differentiating themselves from the competition. This isn’t a coincidence. It’s vital because if the prospect has no way of differentiating between sales people, they’ll default to their tried and true method, price. Poor and mediocre salespeople are the ones that cut their price and try to low ball a deal. Successful sales professionals avoid the situation and when circumstances place them in that battle, they usually walk away. So as a rule of thumb, if the competition is doing it, do something else..

Chase the "big" ones? - Read more...
Nick has been seduced by a common salesperson’s myth—that sitting out there, wherever “there” is, are the “big” clients just waiting to be approached. Once the lucky salesperson finds these big clients, obviously overlooked by every other salesperson in the world, the "just getting by" days are banished forever. Along with this myth is the belief, held by many in sales, that small clients take a great deal of time for very little compensation. In other words, small clients hold the "real" salesperson back from the big time. The sooner you can "dump" the moms and pops, the better.

Stop Selling to Close More - Read more...
When you really want (or possibly need) to close a sale, it's easy to drop into "convincing" mode. You begin to sound like the stereotypical "high-pressure" salesperson explaining the benefits of the various features of your product or service and "justifying" the costs. These are precisely the things you shouldn't be doing. Why?

Dispose of Disaster - Read more...
Nick’s meeting on Thursday morning was one he had been working on getting for the past four months. This was the one. After two previous meetings, this was the one where the decision was going to be made. The last person in the world he expected to hear on the other end of the phone as he picked it up, was George. "Glad I caught you in," said George. Nick had this sinking feeling but maybe, he thought, George is calling with some good news.

Traditional Sales Mistakes - You Know Better! - Read more...
The salesperson started in high gear, rapidly explaining innovative technical features and benefits. He spoke eloquently while demonstrating credible product and industry knowledge. The salesperson knew the industry so well that he was able to tell the prospect what to worry about. Several times, he said "You may run into this situation, so let me explain how we could address that now."

Six Tips for Effective Listening - Read more...
When you interact with clients, they should be doing at least 70% of the talking, which means you're doing at least 70% of the listening. Listening is crucial for effective sales-it's the only way you'll learn what your prospect or client REALLY needs. Follow these tips for effective listening:

Customers for Life - Read more...
Outstanding salespeople have learned how to ride along with their customers so that when a need arises, the first and perhaps only person they turn to is them. You’ve heard the phrase, "out of sight, out of mind." From the customer's point of view, the salesperson who sold them disappears from their daily awareness once the product is delivered and performing properly.

Go Three More Feet - Read more...
In Napoleon Hill’s book Think and Grow Rich, R. U. Darby learned the secret of success. When all seemed hopeless in his search for gold, digging three more feet uncovered riches beyond Darby’s wildest dreams. People who want to give up on a goal because of some short-term discomfort are invariably discouraged. They are seldom engaged fully in what they are doing or with whom they are doing it, and have no idea how to move forward. They are often resigned, passive people who suffer from profound inertia. And, their chronic complaining changes nothing!

Who pulls the trigger? - Read more...
Every salesperson is told to make sure that the presentation, the talk, and the direct mail piece is sent to the decision maker. Sometimes in the rush to concentrate on the decision maker, those who also influence the outcome can be overlooked.

Motivation - Read more...
Do your salespeople, individually, care whether or not your company is the "Best in the World" or "The Leader in Widget Performance"? Undoubtedly that is important to them, but is that what gets them up in the morning, and keeps them going out in the field?

Why did you ever consider us? - Read more...
Why do many salespeople bail out when a prospect says that the sale is not going to happen? One reason is that many salespeople expect, before the call is even made, that the prospect will end it. "I call any 10 prospects and nine of them are a waste of time. Nine times out of 10 I lose."

Is Your Sales Cycle Set? - Read more...
Many salespeople believe that their sales cycle pattern is set, and it can’t be sped up or done differently. They are convinced that, “It is what it is".

Does the prospect have the need? - Read more...
If you are calling the appropriate prospects for your product, that someday everyone of them will buy that product. While it may not be from you, they will buy. There are, however, a certain number of prospects who will buy within the next two months. You need to uncover them.

When To Send Literature - Read more...
Sooner or later, a prospect is going to tell you, "Send literature." It's a natural response to a salesperson. It's an easy way to reject the salesperson without getting personal. Before you agree to send literature, ask yourself, "Why is the prospect requesting literature? Is this a sign of no interest?"

Sales is not Intellectual - Read more...
Frank was one of those notorious customers about whom every sales group tells stories. Any sale made to Frank was small, the commission even less than small, and the pain and suffering Frank put the salesperson through were legendary. "I remember the time," said Andy, "that Frank and I went at it for close to an hour. He thought he could nail me with his knowledge of how our product was built and why it was overpriced. Took him to the mat. He finally admitted I knew my stuff. Didn’t get any order, but I got his respect."

Twelve Sandler Steps To Sales Success - Read more...
This is a collection of twelve simple steps all salespeople should live by. 1. Being genuinely interested in your prospect's personal and professional opinions will do as much (perhaps more) to develop rapport as identifying his personality style or discovering if he is a football, baseball, or hockey fan. 2. It's just as important to disqualify a selling opportunity as it is to qualify it. 3. What the prospect wants and what the prospect actually needs are rarely the same.

Confidence Builders - Read more...
To work with customers, either selling or in customer service, you must believe in your products and services, in your company, and most importantly, in yourself. Your skills and your success depend almost entirely on your own self-confidence.

Do You Dare To Dream? - Read more...
Goals do not have to be glamorous or earthshaking. They do not have to reach into the next decade. They just have to be ours – small goals. Goals that take us through tomorrow into next week, next month, and as far into the future as we dare to dream.

Don't Be A Spectator - Read more...
Every salesperson is told to find the decision maker. But if the decision maker is hidden behind a group, then what? If the group makes the decision, then the salesperson should meet and make a presentation to the group. Can’t present to the group? Withdraw from the race. Tell the prospect that there is no point in going any further in the process—take the sale away. What’s going to happen? One of two things.

"What" Sales Questions to Ask Prospects - Read more...
When a prospect expresses interest in your product or service, "what" plays a pivotal role in developing the potential opportunity. Why? Because asking "what" questions in the early stages of the selling cycle facilitates obtaining the information needed to understand the nature and scope of the opportunity. And, in the latter stages, "what" questions help you to determine if your product or service represents the best fit for the defined opportunity. Let's examine some of the "what" questions to which you will need answers as you work toward defining the opportunity.

Take the price out! - Read more...
Everyone who walks through the door, calls on the phone, or requests a meeting with you has some idea what the price is. It may be too low or too high, but they do have a price in mind. Everyone—without exception.

Include Customer Service Reps in Your Business Decisions - Read more...
Rather than treating the customer service department as the ‘clean-up crew’ (any mistake down the line, and the clean-up crew is sent in to do damage control and ‘fix it’, begin to think of these employees as what they are: business people. Many know more about the products, services, and processes than even the CEO!

Key Performance Indicators for Sales Superstars - Read more...
Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are the business development metrics that are most important in your company or industry. Sales superstars identify the KPI for their business and use them to track and measure their goals. On a day-to-day basis, they update where they are in reaching their goals, what activity has been accomplished and the results that have been netted from it. Superstars have an in-depth system of tracking and measuring which lets them define their effectiveness and make changes as necessary.

Be A Sponge! - Read more...
The prospect comes in, regardless of the type of business, with some idea of what he wants to buy. But since most don’t know exactly, the prospect is also dealing with uncertainty and experiencing insecurity. No one likes nor enjoys being uncertain or insecure.

Rejecting Rejection - Read more...
No one in any profession is successful 100% of the time. Keep rejection in perspective as you move toward your goal. 1. Expect your share of rejections. 2. Focus on the long term. Tomorrow you'll barely remember those rude words barked at you today. Next week, you'll have to struggle to recall them. Life goes on.

Referrals are gold. Ask! - Read more...
“I just don’t understand,” said Andy, “you always seem to have referrals to work from. Where do you get them?” Nick was standing next to his desk. He picked his briefcase up off the desktop and paused, looking at Andy. “Well, some come from customers, others come from prospects... a few here, a few there, it adds up.” “That’s what I don’t understand. Here I am, most of the time calling on prospects. I mean last week, our sales manager could not believe that I spent close to 35 hours prospecting.”

What lies ahead for 2012? - Read more...
With a new year just over the horizon, it's time to take stock of where you are. Without question, 2011 has been a challenging year for some businesses. Many thrived; others struggled. Regardless of how your company fared, the question is the same: What are you going to do in 2012? Will you thrive...or merely survive? While the state of the economy will have some influence on the answer to that question, your attitude and actions will have the greatest impact. What it all boils down to is this: you can sit around and wait for things to get better...or you can take action and make things better. If you choose the latter option, here are five things you can do to bolster your success.

Prospecting With A Plan - Read more...
A good pool of prospects is one of the keys to a successful selling career. Knowing how to prospect effectively keeps a career vital, and is truly the lifeblood of sales. Yet, so many sales professionals overlook the crucial element of having a prospecting plan. With a plan to follow, you can measure your efforts and results.

Get into their world - Read more...
“We will build you a car,” said Ignacio, leading both the husband and wife to one of the empty closing booths, “and then I will work on the best price for you. How is that?” he asked, addressing the question to the husband. “Fine,” he responded, “but we already know exactly what we want. Here, I’ve typed it out.”

The Most Difficult Aspect of Selling - Read more...
What is the most difficult aspect of selling? * Accurately analyzing the growth potential of customers * Creating an effective territory plan * Developing an appropriate prospecting message * Formulating meaningful qualifying questions * Preparing responses for the inevitable stalls and objections * Developing an effective plan to meet sales goals While all of these represent a challenge of one sort or another, the most difficult aspect of selling isn’t included in the list. After you analyze your market, develop a territory plan, develop and rehearse your prospecting pitch, formulate your qualifying questions, prepare responses to anticipated questions, and set some ambitious goals…you must take action.

First, Do The Behavior! - Read more...
A new day is dawning on my sales career, decided Andy. As he drove to work, basking in the afterglow of the outstanding sales training seminar he had attended the day before, he couldn’t wait to start.

Now comes Technique! - Read more...
Four months ago, Jill attended a seminar on how to keep her customers and prospects thinking of her, and not her competition. One simple method was sending a personal thank you note to everyone who stopped in and met with her.

Six Ways To Be A Better Manager - Read more...
Part of your responsibility as sales manager is to help your sales team increase their capacity to perform and improve the outcomes of their performance. In other words, help them become better salespeople. To that end, you conduct regular sales meetings to hold them accountable, you provide coaching to keep them on track, and your provide training when needed.

What Happened to the Motivation? - Read more...
Why is it that so many salespeople start their selling careers with a great deal of enthusiasm—truly motivated to grow, to succeed, and to advance their careers—and then, somewhere along the way, the motivation fades, and the "career" becomes little more than a job…a way to make a living?

Can You Shorten Your Sales Cycle? - Read more...
Almost all salespeople will agree that the shorter the selling cycle, the better. Why? Because long selling cycles have two negative consequences: You’re less likely to be actively prospecting for new clients while you’re working on an existing opportunity. Consequently, your pipeline thins out, and if the deal you’re working on falls apart, you have fewer opportunities to fall back on. The longer you work on an opportunity, the more emotionally tied to it you become, and the more likely you are to make concessions (which typically eat into profits and your commission) to keep it “alive.” What are the reasons for long selling cycles?

Out of the comfort zone! - Read more...
“This looks like it’s going to be a really tough one,” said Nick turning to Gail. “I bet five bucks that if the sale ever happens, it will take some poor salesperson months to close it.”

Five Things Salespeople Must Have - Read more...
While there are several factors that contribute to success in the sales arena, there are five things you must have in order to maximize your potential and the results you achieve.

Questions, Questions, Questions.... - Read more...
If you’ve ever hung up, or walked away from a conversation and not had a clear understanding of what should happen next, you may be a victim of "incomplete questions".

The "More Prospects" Paradox - Read more...
Logic suggests that "more prospects" will lead to more sales. While that may be true for some salespeople, for many others, "more prospects" actually leads to fewer sales.

You don't know me. - Read more...
Mark was having his usual results from cold calling. But he was determined to make at least twenty contacts today no matter what. He knew that with that goal accomplished, he’d aver- age at least three appointments. Back to the grindstone, he thought.

Warm Up to Cold Calling - Read more...
Cold calling: For many of us, the word "cold" is the key. Just the thought of picking up the phone sends a chill up our spines. Unfortunately, if we approach cold calling with an attitude of negativity, we'll communicate that attitude to the prospect. Do you want to send the signal that, "I'm a desperate salesperson in an uncomfortable activity?" Or do you want to indicate that "I'm a financially independent consultant who is comfortable making cold calls?"

What's the best that could happen...? - Read more...
“Chris,” said Joan Deloit, president of Peerce & Doogle, “I can’t begin to tell you how pleased we all are that you could make it on such short notice.” Chris looked around the room at the group: head of production, head of marketing, the con- troller, the CIO, all of the heavy hitters in one place. Talk about reaching the decision makers, he thought, and they are all here for the first meeting.

I Want To Be Liked! - Read more...
We all have a social need to be liked, but is it necessarily what you should strive for as a business development professional? It's a trick question - because if we are liked - that's a good thing, as long as being a good guy doesn't mean wimping out.

How do you suggest we do that? - Read more...
Tim had gotten through to the president of the company on a cold call only to be told that he did not have any need at the moment for his service. Arnold, the president, suggested that "They get back in touch in a couple of months." "How do you suggest we do that?" asked Tim. "Well, the easiest thing to do is just call me." "That sounds good, but usually there is a big problem." "What problem?"

Why Prospects Buy - Read more...
The reasons you give a prospect to buy are rarely the reasons a prospect buys. In fact, a prospect sometimes buys in spite of your reasons. Our reasons for buying are a stock list of features that many times mean nothing to a prospect or they simply don't care about them. Good salespeople discover what reasons a prospect has for buying and helps them understand why those reasons are valid. Allowing a prospect to give their reasons for buying lets you determine what is important to them and why they might want or need your product or service.

Let Them Toot the Horn - Read more...
“Tony,” said Nick, “I’m going nuts with this one prospect who has been in here three times and just won’t buy anything.”

Close the Sale or Close the File - Read more...
For many salespeople, there is an inverse relationship between the size of their pending file (filled with opportunities they are pursuing) and the size of their commission checks. The bigger the pending file, the smaller the amount of the commission checks.

Customers for Life - Read more...
Wendy was not your typical car salesperson. There was a reason why I've bought my last three cars from her and, as I discovered, I was not the only one who had been taken care of in a similar fashion. Once, looking into the side room where the dealership's computer system was, I discovered the ubiguitous "Salesperson of the Month" plaques. For the past 10 years, there were only 10 months out of 120 months that her name was not at the top.

The Fourth Wall of Customer Service - Read more...
In the theater, the "fourth wall" is the wall between the actors and the audience. Behind this wall - the world of the actors is exactly as the audience imagines it. The good guys and the bad guys all fit within the story being told. If the fourth wall is "broken" the audience is directly acknowledged - the spell is broken. Once, broken, the fourth wall is hard to reconstruct and the audience may not be happy. Read more.

How’s Business? - Read more...
When asked, “How’s business?” most salespeople respond with “Great!” “Terrific!” “OK, I guess,” “Not so good,” or “Good, all things considered.” Most of these replies translate to, “I don’t know.”