Sandler rules
- It is always equal rights. Mutual respect.
- Ask for the time you need. Selling side doesn’t value their time. “Can I have 30M/2H?”
- Always have an Upfront Contract (UFC).
- You can have a UFC to set the UFC!
- How long to set the UFC? As long as it takes.
- Customers can mislead
- NO is OK!
- Pain - put their underpants on
- More questions —> get curious, reversing is a good way to ask questions
- Do do “Premature elaboration” —> talk too much. If you talk too much, the wrong person is talking
- Never be on the wrong side of the pendiulum
General guidelines
- Practice the Sandler principles at least twice a week. 30M each
- Systematic referrals - give it context. Don’t do it ad hoc. 40 mins/week.
- There is no bad prospect, only bad sales people
- Attitude - between the ‘ears’. Voices in your head
Process
- Leads —> qualified prospects
- Q prospects —> Won/Lost
- How important is the “product”? Average product can win in the market
- Writing notes on “lessons learned” is a 100x better. Self-development journal
- Write clues about DISCC when you meet poeople
Key qualification questions
- Whose signature is required to ultimately release the funds?
- CFO. Ok. What does he need?
- X, Y and Z
- Don’t be shy to give people homework
- Belieft - believe you are a paid consultant when talking to a client. Client needs to convince you that the payback is worth it.
- Time
- Purpose: NO is OK
- Agenda:
- Outcomes: typically we find 1 of 2 things happen. You say “yes” and “no”.
- Key phrases
- Before we get started, would it make sense if we took a couple of minutes to agree what we both need to cover today and where that might leave us?
- Make it third-party —> “Other companies” that work w/ us have done this.
- “Appreciate you have a choice.”
- “Before we meet again John, should we agree how best to run the next meeting?”
- Video calls - make sure the video is at “eye level” so they don’t see up your nose
- People buy “emotionally” bu they rationalise “intellectually”
- The best presentation is the presetnation the prospect never sees
- Follow-up meetings
- Recap the UFC
- To remind them
- Check that nothing has changed
- 3rd party
- Describe pain
- Test relevance — using negative verbs
- Explain pain in simple language e.g. How do you “feel” the problem?
RFP
- Influence
- Access to stakeholders
- Un-natural advantage