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Quote After more than a decade of working together, Sandler's superb sales and sales management training programs continue to deliver the edge we need. Your most recent prospecting seminar produced another big surge in appointment levels for the attending regions. Sandler's overall training efforts continue to earn an astounding 93 percent approval rating! Quote

Glen Miller
Chief Executive Officer

Sales Tips, Articles and Sales Advice


    Why Sales Training Fails - Read more...
What? Did I just hear a sales trainer make that statement? In a survey conducted by the American Society of Training and Development, 69 percent of survey respondents believe that formal sales training they receive was effective. However, that’s at least a 30 percent failure rate. If the objectives are clear as to what sales training can do for a company or for an individual, then why does sales training fail 30 percent of the time? Most of us do not understand that learning professional selling skills is like learning any other body of knowledge.

Focus on 5 Areas Today To Close Business Tomorrow - Read more...
All too often, salespeople focus on the wrong elements in their attempt to increase sales. They turn their attention to the features, benefits, and value-added aspects of their product or service in an attempt to differentiate it from that of the competition and ultimately convince prospects to buy. While these elements may eventually play a part in the presentation (more on that later), it is not the place to start.

Four Steps To Snagging The One That Got Away - Read more...
Telling fishing stories about "the one that got away" can be amusing. Telling sales stories about the prospect that got away are anything but amusing. Frustrating is a more appropriate description. Fortunately, there is a big difference between fishing and selling. The chance of re-snagging the trophy-class fish that slipped the hook at the last moment is extremely small. The chance of "re-snagging" the prospect who slipped away is much greater, if you're willing to exert a little effort.

Sandler Sales Training - Read more...
“Sales training doesn’t work” claim business owners and sales managers who view training as an event—often a short-term event designed primarily to educate—rather than a process. Effective training must be more than education. It must include application with measurement, feedback, fine-tuning, and reinforcement.

Close the Sale or Close the File - Read more...
By Gary Harvey

Sales Myth: Prospects Need Time - Read more...
By: Gary Harvey

You Earn Exactly What You Think You're Worth - Read more...
Money is a concept. We form a concept in our heads of what we should be making and by extension, what our professional value is. The problem in sales is that when we settle on a value of what we should make, it limits our growth.

Selling Strategies for Today's Economy - Read more...
The old saying, "When prospects are enthusiastic, they are buying" does not hold true in this marketplace. Enthusiastic prospects may be focused on the exciting possibility of your product or service because they either don't have any money or cannot or will not make a decision. Enthusiasm is out, serious buyers are in. Window shopping and tire kicking is fun for the buyer becomes it costs the buyer nothing. If individuals are getting ready to invest money, they seriously consider cash flow, potential value, potential loss, security, trust and many other emotional issues.

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 few sales. “Prospects” is undeniably the essential element in the sales process. However, the quality of the prospects and the pattern of interaction with them after the initial contact will determine if the sales process leads to closed sales…or closed files (and fewer sales). What accounts for the difference?

A Salesperson with a Cause... - Read more...
Okay, I have two questions for you. First, what do you absolutely love to do? And second, how well do you do it? Now, I'm betting that whatever your answer to the first question may be, the answer to the second question will be somewhere between "very well" and "superbly." Because, if you love doing something, you are probably good at it. Do you know anyone who has achieved tremendous success doing something he or she hates? I don't.

Buyer-Focused Selling - Read more...
The entrepreneurial salesperson’s struggle is to keep the focus on the prospective buyer, not on himself or herself or on the product or service they are selling. Caught up in their own enthusiasm and love for their product, the salesperson is quick to spill all their information with boring details and long explanations in the hopes of educating their prospective buyer about their product or service. All the while, the prospect is thinking, “So what”. This is not buyer-focused “selling,” it is “salesperson-focused selling”.

Will This Sales Candidate Really Fail If We Hire Him? - Read more...
This week I called the type of candidate that traditional HR professionals love - his resume was formatted, there were no typos, his background was exactly what my client craved - but the assessment wasn't so impressed with him; he was a borderline candidate at best. Normally this candidate would not have received a call from me but because he was a good fit, I was looking for a needle in a haystack candidate (again) and was on the cusp, there was no downside to a 3-minute call.

Dangerous Sales Myths... - Read more...
Low Price Is Not An Advantage. Selling is not all about price! This is a rampant excuse that sales people use to justify why not getting a deal. Low price is not essential to closing a deal. Does price matter? Of course it can play a role: however, it's only essential if salespeople allow it to be.

What is Sales Force Development? - Read more...
What is Sales Force Development all about? Sales training? Coaching? Sales Force Automation? Sales Selection? Sales Assessments? Compensation? Incentives? Performance? Sales Management Effectiveness? Mapping the Sales Process? Documentation? Having a Play Book? More? While it's all of those things and more, its primary focus is the company's strategies for growing sales, whether they are the right strategies, whether sales management is aligned on those strategies, and whether the sales force can execute those strategies.

Colorado’s 10 Most Powerful Salespeople - Read more...
Our client, Kris Swanson, is featured in ColoradoBiz as one of the top 10 salespeople in Colorado. Check it out!

A Message of Thanks - Read more...
I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you and your staff for saving my sales career. I have been a part of the Sandler family since 2007 and it has made a world of difference. Before Sandler I was petrified of the phone. You could not get me to make cold calls for all the money in the world. This system has given me the confidence and the courage to talk to anyone and everyone.

Conquering Cold Call Reluctance - Read more...
In today's world of cold-calling regulations, there are ways to make your cold calls non-traditional and thus more successful. In my Sandler Sales Training classes, we use "Pattern Interrupt," meaning we interrupt the pattern the prospect is accustom to. First, however, it makes sense to deal with what I call "Cold Call Reluctance," an emotional state in which your enthusiasm for what you're doing is very low - maybe even so low that you will not make any cold calls.

The Anti-Money Mantra - Read more...
There is a great deal of talk today on the political forefront about money and making money and who does and who doesn’t make it. This is not a political piece, I assure you. What I want to ask is, “Are societies and your beliefs about money impacting you?” And therefore, standing in the way of your sales success?

Thank You..From Joe Meli - Read more...
Sandler has helped me become a smarter salesperson. Instead of falling into prospect traps when they are looking for unpaid consulting I set an upfront contract with the prospect and tell them right up front that I am going to be truthful with them and that I expect them to be truthful with me.

Eight Cold-Call - Read more...
I know many of you are thinking, cold calling? No one does that anymore what with social media, networking events, referrals etc. But if these efforts aren't filing your pipeline, maybe it’s time you revisit some cold calling. First, let me share a rule we have in our training about cold calling: you don’t have to like it – you just have to do it. With that rule in mind, here are the eight “don’t’s” when you’re doing something you really don’t like, but acknowledge you have to do.

The Hidden Pitfalls of RFPs - Read more...
Many owners that we train believe that they should respond to all proposal requests that come across their desks where the scope of the work falls within the capabilities of their company’s expertise. It’s easy for sales people to fall into the Request for Proposal (RFP) trap. It “feels” like a warm lead and is far more desirable than “beating the bushes”, especially by cold calling, to turn up an opportunity. Desirable, yes. But smart? No.

Tactic: When setting appointments, always get invited in. NO BEGGING! - Read more...
The Story: Time was convinced that is only he could somehow get in front of more prospects, he'd do a lot better. Bet it was always tough to get anyone to agree to an appointment. He starting collecting all the excuses....

Tactic: Closing the Sale - Read more...
I'm reminded of a salesperson in a furniture store helping a young couple look for a dining room set....