Professional Development

Onboarding sales talent has never been more important, given the tightness of the current labor market. Yet the most effective, proven best practices for shortening the runway to success for new hires remain largely unknown and unimplemented.

The Sandler Summit is a powerful two-day hybrid event where successful business professionals across all industries learn, collaborate, and network.

Mike Montague interviews Sharina Perry, CEO and Inventor of Utopia Plastix, on How to Succeed at Supply Chain Management.

Mike Montague interviews Sophia Stone on How to Succeed at Experiential Learning.

A big part of the sales leader’s job is to determine the measurable behaviors that will lead to success for a given salesperson, and to evaluate the numbers that connect to those behaviors.

Spring is here. It’s brighter later. It’s getting warmer. It’s a time for growing things. While planning our Summer harvest, let’s consider 10 Laws for Planting Seeds of Personal and Professional Growth.

Mike Montague interviews Antarctic Mike on How to Succeed at Meeting New People.

Mike Montague interviews Dave Mattson on How to Succeed at Scaling Sales Success.

Mike Montague interviews Randy Seidl on How to Succeed at Being Part of a Sales Community.

Michelle Prince is the best-selling author of her first book, “Winning In Life Now” and is a highly sought after Zig Ziglar Motivational Speaker.

Mike Montague interviews Wade Rowan, Sandler trainer from Chattanooga, on How to Succeed at Identifying Your Personal Advantage.

This year, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the book, Dave will revisit each of the original 49 Sandler Rules and give updated takes on their relevance to salespeople and sales leaders.

Mike Montague interviews Keith Kong on How to Succeed at Doing the Impossible.

This year, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the book, Dave will revisit each of the original 49 Sandler Rules and give updated takes on their relevance to salespeople and sales leaders.

Mike Montague interviews Antonio Garrido on How to Succeed at Ride-Along Coaching. Get a FREE chapter of Antonio’s book here.

This year, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the book, Dave will revisit each of the original 49 Sandler Rules and give updated takes on their relevance to salespeople and sales leaders.

This year, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the book, Dave will revisit each of the original 49 Sandler Rules and give updated takes on their relevance to salespeople and sales leaders.

Mike Montague interviews Sharlene Douthit on How to Succeed at Giving Good Feedback.

This year, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the book, Dave will revisit each of the original 49 Sandler Rules and give updated takes on their relevance to salespeople and sales leaders.

This year, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the book, Dave will revisit each of the original 49 Sandler Rules and give updated takes on their relevance to salespeople and sales leaders.

Mike Montague interviews best-selling author, Nir Eyal, on How to Succeed at Being Indistractable.

This year, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the book, Dave will revisit each of the original 49 Sandler Rules and give updated takes on their relevance to salespeople and sales leaders.

Mike Montague interviews Oksana Esberard, author of Next Level You and mental health advocate, on How to Succeed and Stay Mentally Healthy.

This year, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the book, Dave will revisit each of the original 49 Sandler Rules and give updated takes on their relevance to salespeople and sales leaders.

Everyone loves a good quiz and the Sandler Research Center has a tricky question for any business leader responsible for customer success or net revenue retention.

This year, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the book, Dave will revisit each of the original 49 Sandler Rules and give updated takes on their relevance to salespeople and sales leaders.

Mike Montague interviews Brian Jackson on How to Succeed at Active Fundraising.

In today’s current market conditions, leaders need to accept that the success of their teams and their companies will rely heavily on striking a collaborative, coordinated balance between creative strategic thinking and effective implementation.

Mike Montague Interviews Laura Janusik on How to Succeed at Listening intelligence.

This year, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the book, Dave will revisit each of the original 49 Sandler Rules and give updated takes on their relevance to salespeople and sales leaders.

Mike Montague interviews Dr. Benjamin Hardy on How to Succeed at Understanding Your Personality.

Mike Montague interviews Clint Babcock on his new book and How to Succeed at Negotiating from the Inside Out.

This year, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the book, Dave will revisit each of the original 49 Sandler Rules and give updated takes on their relevance to salespeople and sales leaders.

Mike Montague interviews Pete Oliver on How to Succeed at Vision-Based Execution.

David Mattson, President and CEO of Sandler Training and 6-time Author, talks about his Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek best-selling book, The Sandler Rules: 49 Timeless Selling Principles and How to Apply Them.

“The Critical Elements of Proactive Client Retention” is the most recent Sandler Research Center survey project, which closed to survey participants on May 31. We are now performing data analysis and will soon publish our complete findings. In advance of that report, I’ve followed, with great interest, the results from a single question asked among the 25 questions of the survey and want to share the findings.

This year, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the book, Dave will revisit each of the original 49 Sandler Rules and give updated takes on their relevance to salespeople and sales leaders.

Mike Montague interviews George McGehrin on How to Succeed at Finding a New Job. George is the president of the McGehrin Group, an executive headhunter and recruiting firm. 

This year, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the book, Dave will revisit each of the original 49 Sandler Rules and give updated takes on their relevance to salespeople and sales leaders.

Mike Montague interviews Jason Caywood, Sandler trainer from Salt Lake City, on How to Succeed at Understanding IR Theory.

David Mattson, President and CEO of Sandler Training and 6-time Author, talks about his Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek best-selling book, The Sandler Rules: 49 Timeless Selling Principles and How to Apply Them.

Mike Montague interviews Clint Babcock on How to Succeed at Three Hidden Traits of Successful Salespeople.

Mike Montague interviews Sandra Crozier-McKee on How to Succeed at Emotional Intelligence.

Mike Montague interviews Terri Trespicio on How to Succeed at Finding Your Voice and Your Audience.

In today’s world, artificial intelligence (AI) is getting more powerful and more prominent in the sales process. What does that mean for professional salespeople? There used to be an occupation called “switchboard operator” – now there isn’t. Fifty years from now, will there no longer be an occupation called “professional salesperson”?

Brian Sullivan interviews Oksana Esberard about Mindfulness in Selling.

One of the main goals of an L&D strategy is to improve employees’ performance. Your training sessions must result in a motivated and resourceful staff, one able to close more sales. But how do you create a strategy that actually improves employee’s performance?

Mike Montague interviews his co-instructor for the online goal-setting workshop, Amy Woodall, on How to Succeed at Setting Goals.

Mike Montague interviews Tony Altham, Executive Director at BNI in the UK, on How to Succeed at Business Networking.

This year, on Fridays, Dave talks about the attitude, behavior, and techniques of successful sales managers as he shares his thoughts on the 49 Sandler Rules for Sales Leaders.

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.

Mike Montague interviews Scott Perry on How to Succeed at Being Creative on Purpose. In this episode learn: What does being creative on purpose mean? Are YOU creative? Four principles to be creative on purpose.

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.

This year, on Fridays, Dave talks about the attitude, behavior, and techniques of successful sales managers as he shares his thoughts on the 49 Sandler Rules for Sales Leaders.

Listen Time: 11 Minutes

The aggressive, sustainable growth so many company leaders seek, but few can actually point to, lies in moving yourself and your organization into a growth-driven sales culture. The following three steps are essential preliminaries to that shift.

Read Time: 6 Minutes

Here are five simple ways we can improve the quality of our communication with the people who are currently buying from us and expand and deepen those relationships over time.

Read Time: 8 Minutes

As a sales trainer, I get a lot of pushback about the word “pain.” Many of my clients reason that there are many other motives to explain why people buy. There have been multiple instances where they were offended by the very word “pain” and its negative connotation and then asked if we can call it something else instead. 

Read Time: 4 Minutes 

This year, on Fridays, Dave talks about the attitude, behavior, and techniques of successful sales managers as he shares his thoughts on the 49 Sandler Rules for Sales Leaders.

Listen Time: 10 Minutes

Tim Priebe, Founder of T&S Online Marketing, talks about how to integrate Sandler into your marketing and shows you the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques needed to be more successful at marketing the Sandler way. Get the best practices for marketing collected from around the world.

Listen Time: 30 Minutes

Learn how to build a better day. Whether it is yourself or your sales team, Jim Ayraud will help you learn the best practices for sales accountability and building new behavior habits.

Listen Time: 23 Minutes

People have many fears. Obviously, there are natural fears which have helped us to survive as a species but let’s leave them to scientists. This time, I would like to review the work-related one: the fear of change.

Read Time: 6 Minutes

Chris Duffey, Author and Strategic Development Manager at Adobe, talks about Artificial Intelligence and the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques needed to be more successful in a world with AI. Get the best practices collected from around the world.

Listen Time: 24 Minutes

Hamish Knox, Sandler trainer from Calgary and two-time author, shares and audio blog about how to share your vision for the future of your team through questions. He talks about the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques needed to be more successful in sales management. 

Listen Time: 5 Minutes

Greg Skloot is President and COO at Crystal, an online app that can tell you anyone's DISC personality before you meet them. Greg and his team at Crystal are a new strategic partner of Sandler Training, and he will tell you how to succeed with the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques needed to tailor your sales pitch to your prospect's personality.

Listen Time: 24 Minutes

This is a special bonus episode, a look back at this year’s Sandler Summit and one of our opening keynotes by Andy McCredie. He is a Sandler trainer from the UK and did a killer hour-long talk on closing the sale. The full talk is available in Sandler Online. Here are some quick tips on How to Succeed at Closing more Sales.

Listen Time: 11 Minutes

This year, on Fridays, Dave talks about the attitude, behavior, and techniques of successful sales managers as he shares his thoughts on the 49 Sandler Rules for Sales Leaders.

Listen Time: 12 Minutes

Most salespeople who need to prospect for a living will tell you that it’s a very proactive, immediate results-driven exercise that can be uncomfortable at times. Hard to disagree with that. This is a topic that we get involved with far too often as it’s a common point of frustration for many business owners and sales leaders regarding their selling culture.

Read Time: 5 Minutes

Hamish Knox, Sandler trainer and two-time author, shows you how to succeed with the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques needed to be more successful at selling across the executive level. Get the best practices collected from around the world for using your executives to sell to the prospect's.

<Listen Time: 28 Minutes

Brian Sullivan, VP of Sandler Enterprise Selling, speaks with Steve Moritz, thirty year veteran of the technology industry and CEO of Moritz Consulting Group about  Consulting Services: Putting the client first in sales and delivery.

Listen Time: 40 Minutes

A lot of salespeople I’ve met over the years are looking for the magic bullet. We all want it. The one thing to say. The one place be seen. The one-liner to handle an objection or to get a sale. Prepare for heartbreak…there are no magic bullets. There is good news, though there are a lot of magic BB’s.A lot of salespeople I’ve met over the years are looking for the magic bullet. We all want it. The one thing to say. The one place be seen. The one-liner to handle an objection or to get a sale. Prepare for heartbreak…there are no magic bullets. There is good news, though there are a lot of magic BB’s.

Rick McDermott, Sandler trainer, shows you how to succeed with the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques needed to be more successful in sales. Get the best practices collected from around the world.

Listen Time: 19 Minutes

Geof Bowie, Sandler trainer, shows you how to succeed with the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques needed to be more successful at achieving a flow state in sales. Get the best practices collected from around the world.

Listen Time: 21 Minutes

This year, on Fridays, Dave talks about the attitude, behavior, and techniques of successful sales managers as he shares his thoughts on the 49 Sandler Rules for Sales Leaders.

Listen Time: 12 Minutes

This special bonus episode takes you back about 25 years to a training session with our founder, David H. Sander. He talks about why a selling system is so important to your career, even if you don't pick his...

Listen Time: 9 Minutes

Joel Kaczmarek, Sandler trainer, shows you how to succeed at gratitude loop with the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques needed to be more successful in sales. Get the best practices collected from around the world for being more grateful and happy with your success.

Listen Time: 28 Minutes

SMART Goal Setting with Mike Crandall: Mike Crandall, Sandler Trainer from OK, and Mike Montague, VP of Online Learning discuss SMART goal setting strategies.

Watch Time: 56 Minutes

Learn how the insights and our real-time messaging works on the Sales Accountability platform.

Watch Time: 3 Minutes

Welcome to the How to Succeed podcast, the show that helps you get to the top and stay there... This is How to Succeed at setting yourself up for a breakthrough.

Listen Time: 12 Minute

This year, on Fridays, Dave talks about the attitude, behavior, and techniques of successful sales managers as he shares his thoughts on the 49 Sandler Rules for Sales Leaders.

Listen Time: 8 Minutes

This bonus episode is brought to you by the Sandler Annual Sales and Leadership Summit in Orlando, FL March 20th-22nd. To join our trainers from around the world and about a thousand of your high-performing colleagues, go to here for more information. 

Listen Time: 13 Minutes

Jim Ayraud, Sandler trainer and co-creator of www.SalesAccountability.com, shows you how to succeed with the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques needed to be more successful at maximizing your time invested. Get the best practices collected from around the world.

Listen Time: 29 Minutes

This bonus episode is brought to you by the Sandler Annual Sales and Leadership Summit in Orlando, FL March 20th-22nd. To join our trainers from around the world and about a thousand of your high-performing colleagues, go here for more information. Tickets are limited.

Listen Time: 18 Minutes

Brent Chapman, CIO of RoundPoint Mortgage and speaker and upcoming author, shows you how to succeed with the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques needed to be more successful in building a winning company culture. Get the best practices collected from around the world.

Listen Time: 29 Minutes

Gerry Weinberg, a Sandler trainer from Detriot, shows you how to succeed with the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques needed to be more successful in connecting with your clients through advanced bonding and rapport tactics. Get the best practices collected from around the world.

Listen Time: 28 Minutes

Dave Mattson, President and CEO at Sandler, shows you how to succeed with the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques needed to be more successful in sales. Get the best practices collected from around the world.

Hap Klopp, Founder and former CEO of The North Face and author of multiple books, shows you how to succeed with the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques needed to be more successful in the the face of digital disruption. Get the best practices collected from around the world.

Listen Time: 30 Minutes

Bill Bartlett, Sandler trainer and author, shows you how to succeed with the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques needed to be more successful in branding your personal presence. Get the best practices collected from around the world.

Listen Time: 20 Minutes

The end of the year is upon us! And contrary to popular belief, this is not necessarily a “dead” time in terms of business development and relationship-building for salespeople. Here are four simple strategies you can use right away to ramp up your prospecting performance during the holiday season.

Read Time: 4 Minutes

Kevin Leung, Sandler client and Salesperson of the Years, shows you how to succeed with the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques needed to be more successful in sales. Get the best practices collected from around the world.

Listen Time: 20 Minutes

Dan Stalp, Sandler trainer from Kansas City, joins us to talk about the attitude, behaviors, and techniques to help get out of your own way and stop beating yourself up. This is a tough subject, but sometimes, the biggest obstacle to success is ourselves. Learn how to succeed by not bullying yourself.

Lori Logue, Manager of Customer Success at Evernote, talks about how Evernote business can help you share notes with Salesforce and collaborate across the sales and delivery teams. Learn the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques of successful notetaking in business.

Most managers we talk to would quickly agree with Drucker’s observation, and with the related proposition that their team’s capacity to learn, grow, and adapt is one of the organization’s most important assets. Yet very few of these managers have taken the time to discuss and develop a personalized learning and development plan for the team members who report to them.

Tina Phillips joins the podcast for the first time to talk about improving your listening skills in sales and in your personal life. Learn the attitudes, behaviors, and techniques of great listeners, and learn how to incorporate them into your conversations. 

Learn how to bring up the subject of money and break through the baggage around it. Whether there is tension in you or the prospect, bringing up the budget can raise some uncomfortable feelings. Lauren Valentine will help you learn how to think and talk about money in an adult manner to help you succeed in sales.

Learn how to improve your attitude, behavior, and technique to improve your personal performance. Anneli Thomspon from England talks about how to maximize your personal efforts in whatever you are trying to accomplish this year.

Inside salespeople who find themselves behind quota may assign their performance problems to any number of factors beyond their control: the economy, the competition, the weather. But the reality is that the single most common reason for this problem lies in something they do control: their choice to use, or not to use, a cookbook.

Today’s sales professionals find themselves facing unprecedented, and often uncomfortable, change. More and more salespeople have larger territories than they used to have, and are responsible for selling a wider range of products and services than they’ve ever sold. They've got a lot to do, and they usually have less time in which to do it than they had last year.

Customer relationships are the lifeblood of any sellers’ career. The ability to attract clients, build rapport, and start sales conversations ultimately determines the level of success that a salesperson will enjoy. You can be an extreme specialist who knows all the tricks of the trade, but without supplementing your knowledge with interpersonal communication skills, you’ll fail to connect with your clients or prospects on a deeper level. Building rapport is essential to turn yourself from a transactional seller into a trusted partner. Below I’ve outlined four ways to strengthen your bond with clients.

In this special audio blog, Mike Montague, our VP of Online Learning and Development, talks about how we structured five different types of online learning into Sandler Online. You will learn how each type is different and how they can help you get to the next level.

In my career, I’ve been both a mentor and a mentee. I know how important both sides of this relationship are, and what elements are necessary to be successful from both perspectives. Earlier in my career, I went through many mentors and felt that some were more beneficial to my growth than others. Below I have outlined five questions you should ask to ensure you begin a successful relationship with a mentor.

Today’s sales professionals find themselves facing unprecedented, and often uncomfortable, change. More and more salespeople have larger territories than they used to have,  and are responsible for selling a wider range of products and services than they’ve ever sold. They've got a lot to do, and they usually have less time in which to do it than they had last year.

The How to Succeed Podcast is a public and free podcast from Sandler Training, the worldwide leader in sales, management, and customer service training for individuals all the way up to Fortune 500 companies with over 250 locations around the globe.

Day in and day out, sellers are inundated with sales tips, new technologies, and industry updates. It’s easy to get caught up in the newest trends and forget about the basics. Today, I’ve outlined five simple tasks that salespeople can perform to improve their daily efficiency and make them more effective.

It’s a generally accepted notion that acquiring a new customer is more expensive than retaining an existing customer.

Add to that fact a sluggish economy where businesses are scrutinizing budgets and considering alternative suppliers, and it’s easy to understand why it’s important to have a customer retention strategy in place. After all, current customers (as well as past customers) have already demonstrated that they want and are willing to pay for your products and services. It makes good sense to hold on to them. Doing so is crucial to the growth and success of your business.

Rule #10: Treat the job interview as a sales call, which means it's your job to disqualify.

At this point, if you have yet to begin thinking about offering a summer internship, you’re probably behind. That’s okay though, we’re here to help. Below are 5 great ways to maximize the value of a summer internship for both you and those you hire. 

Role play is one of the best methods for developing your people, but salespeople loath role play and managers shy away from it, because it often becomes an exercise that leaves participants frustrated. Putting role play through the lens of David Sandler’s Success Triangle – attitude, behavior, and technique – both managers and salespeople could role play more effectively and increase both their role performance, outlook, and technique.