Josh Pitchford

Often when I am training and coaching salespeople, I feel like a football coach. As I write this blog, I am watching highlights a full Saturday of college football during halftime of the Georgia game. What I mean by feeling like a football coach, is all the ‘coachspeak.’ They say a lot of cliché things, and I wonder if salespeople feel the same when they hear from us, or their sales leader.

Many believe that a referral is at the top of this hierarchy, but it is just below “new business from an existing account” (Expand inside of the Sandler KARE model). However, for most salespeople, a referral or “warm introduction” is still gold at the top of the sales pipeline.

As we head into Q4 and the end of the year, we also phase into planning for sales to kick-off during the new year. If you happen to be in charge of planning, organizing, or building content for a sales kick-off, this blog may be helpful. As we head into Q4 and the end of the year, we also phase into planning for sales to kick-off during the new year. If you happen to be in charge of planning, organizing, or building content for a sales kick-off, this blog may be helpful.

Admittedly I’m biased when I say the Sandler Submarine is the world’s greatest system for selling. The value of the system is not only through the sales process, but after. I have often said the Sandler Submarine is the world’s greatest debriefing tool as well.

Any sales training that anyone has ever experienced includes plenty about building rapport and bonding with your prospect. The Bonding and Rapport step of Sandler is the very first step of the Sandler Submarine in the Sandler Selling System and is built to make executing the rest of the system so much easier.

A completely full pipeline…sounds nice, doesn’t it? Of course it does! We haven’t run across many people in sales that don’t want to be in front of more new opportunities. If your role includes finding new business, it is probably what you are waking up each day thinking about – “what's next?”.

“Time cures all wounds.”

We have heard this saying before, and in many situations, it is absolutely true. Unfortunately, it certainly applies to your pipeline.

Raise your hand if you love cold calling. If you did, there are one of three reasons:

1. You are a liar.
2. You don’t have to do it.
3. You have discovered a system for cold calling like Sandler Training’s.

Without more context, the following system for cold calling may be tough to implement, but it serves to build awareness that there is a way to make sure any salesperson can build the confidence to pick up the phone consistently.

Have you ever walked out of a sales meeting and felt like you have been to the principal’s office? Unfortunately, it is a common occurrence in the life of many salespeople. There is actually a system for how this happens and how to make sure it doesn’t happen to you.

When I first joined Sandler as a trainer, one of the keys to success shared with me was the importance of journaling. It's great for clearing your mind. It helps you visualize things. It makes you accountable. There are plenty of other benefits, too.

I was even given a very long list of things to journal about. I had never been one to write out my thoughts, so any help I could get was welcomed.

I did it consistently for less than a month. Of course, my low planning score manifested, and soon enough, the priority to write in my journal faded away.

A few months later, I discovered a structure that worked great and fits my fast-paced, visual learning style.