David Trapani

You may have heard of the popular Sandler selling rule known as “reversing” and wondered what it was all about. No, it has nothing to do with backing your car up. Reversing simply means you answer every question from a prospective buyer with a question of your own.

Often, the easiest person to sell something to is the person you’ve already
sold something to.
We forget this sometimes. Perhaps that’s because of the terminology we use. It’s
quite common for salespeople and sales managers to talk about “closing the sale” –
but is that word “close” really the best way to describe what’s really happening when
there’s a decision to purchase our product or service?

Try, Need to and Can’t. These are three words that any sales coach worth their salt will not allow to pass during a coaching conversation without probing. Why? Because these words are almost always code for a salesperson doing what salespeople do best, influencing their manager’s and coach’s to let them slide.

We sometimes forget that Sandler’s Up-Front Contract is not only a tool to run a prospecting or sales call, but ANY business or personal interaction you may have. We would encourage you to remind your team to practice using UFC’s in their personal life right now, as well as with customers on non-selling calls.

If you have salespeople, chances are they have sat through quite a few of your virtual sales training meetings. The salespeople we work with tell us their top 3 complaints about virtual sales training meetings are that: A) They’re often disappointed they don’t learn anything new. B) They get bored on the calls as the training is not interactive enough and C) They feel like it’s hard to retain the material because it’s only presented to them once, but not reinforced in the future.

As a sales leader, there’s a simple way to help the salesperson check their beliefs when they are potentially getting in the way (head trash). When Ben said there could be negative consequences from using the technique that Terri suggested, she could have asked Ben the following question, in a nurturing manner.

If you’re Sandler-trained, chances are, you and your team (and perhaps even your family), already use DISC day-to-day to improve your communication and how you adapt to one another. If your assessments haven’t been reviewed in a while, now might be a important time to review them to remind your team to be mindful of overuse, and also to be on the lookout for customers and family members who are overusing their DISC styles. And remember, one caution, when we adapt away from our natural style(s), it burns a lot of mental calories. Be prepared to be a little mentally worn out from adapting. But if you are worn out, you’ll know you’re doing it right.

Getting a referral is only a piece of the equation. Most salespeople say their business is built on referrals, an activity that you have little control over. The “control piece of getting a referral is the ability to ask for one. Take a read and explore a possible way to ask for the referral.

Grace is a new salesperson, recently hired by a major software firm. She’s three months into her first year on the job, and she’s in trouble.

Are you tired of hearing one thing at a sales call and then when you go to validate that information something has changed? Take a read of the attached to see why this may be happening.