I’m drawn to the humanity in business: it’s absolutely fascinating. The deeper I dive into business plans, strategic planning, organizational structures, sales revenue and profit, the more I find people.

 A close friend of mine, who has been a sales representative for the past 16 years said, “a good sales representative knows how to sell a product without selling the product.” As counterintuitive as this may sound, I understand what she means. Companies will do their “due diligence” and provide basic features-and-benefits product training, competitive analysis, and maybe give some strategic direction in the market to “prepare” their staff for the cut and thrust of the tough commercial environment. But even with all that training, it’s still not that kind of knowledge that will teach them to close the sale, or get the job done. It’s what a professional or company will do to develop their “people skills” that gets the job done.

I had a conversation with Antonio Garrido, President of Sandler Training, Miami​, a certified Sandler Training partner, to find out the secret sauce to “selling without telling”.  Sandler Training, is a globally recognized sales organization, founded by David Sandler in the late 1960’s, which offers a mental and emotional approach to development of sales professionals. Sandler believed that selling was a long-term development plan, which put the buyer and seller on equal footing. Here are the questions and responses from my recent conversation with Antonio.

AMM: What is the Sandler Selling Methodology?

Antonio: “Sandler initially wrote about his selling method in the book, ‘You Can’t Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar,’ which speaks to breaking the rules to conventional selling. He believed that conventional sales training doesn’t work because of the difference between ‘knowing vs. owning’  – the difference between knowing what to do or say in any particular circumstance, and having the skill to actually do or say what is required. Motivational, short term, sales training doesn’t work since it doesn’t fundamentally change people’s belief-sets, and habits: what’s needed is incremental conditioning and understanding built over a long time supplemented with consistent reinforcement and support. Consider Kurt Lewin’s concerns for how people slide back to previous routines. Success, Sandler realized, is predicated by three main aspects: 1) the collection of the right behaviors, 2) the right skills or techniques in a particular activity, and 3) an individual’s attitude. What we in Sandler call the B.A.T. Success Triangle”

AMM: What kind of results are produced by implementing the Sandler Selling Methodology?

Antonio: “The Sandler organization spans the globe – over 250 offices, delivering over half a million hours live training per year, in 27 languages. If we look at just one of our many metrics, such as how long clients stays with us, our average client retention is 2.6 years. Our results are self-evident, and we employ the adult learning model providing information in a variety of ways over a protracted period, which allows individuals to understand, process, and absorb information in their own particular way. We teach people how to manage their expectations. Disappointment = Reality – Expectations. There isn’t a magic solution, and we typically observe that “people get worse before they get better”, but we help them every step of the way: it’s a difficult, but worthwhile journey.

AMM: What would you recommend companies do differently than what is currently in practice to support their sales function?

Antonio: “Typically our client comes to us when they realise that things aren’t what they should be. Companies have a clear growth-vision for the future; but then ‘life’ happens – things get in the way, sales targets are missed, and profits suffer; close behind follows frustration, disappointment and sometimes, anger. Sales managers and business owners see the shortfalls as their fault. It’s when the gap of where the company is, and where it wants to be is large and painful enough that they seek our help to reach its critical sales objectives. Around half of the companies out there that feel this way, are comfortable and visionary enough to pay for this kind of change and development. In the last ten years or so, organizations structurally focused on six sigma; then to how to make the company “lean”; then to “just in time”; then to “agile”, and now to “cooperative approaches”. If a company is experiencing a lack of profit, then the inefficiency is found in one or more of these 5 buckets: Staff, Structure, Strategy, Skill, or Sales/Marketing.”

 AMM: With Sandler being so globally recognized, do you find that companies run with your methods, or need to differentiate according to culture and market?

Antonio: “Sandler works with companies where there is a good fit. We do not offer a one-size-fits-all cookie-cutter solution. We look for clients who appreciate our philosophy, and can be curious without being attached to the outcome: this is our overriding principle and we are much like a lawyer who may not take a case he knows he cannot win. Our formula is tailored to the company, and people respond well to it, since we focus on the conversation using techniques learned in transactional analysis.”

After interviewing Antonio, I walked away with the impression that the Sandler approach is very people-centric, taking care of the people involved in the sales process, and the psychological development and interplay between the buyer and the seller. And, I am happy to be able to be the first to announce that Sandler Training is soon to release a new book authored by Antonio himself, “Asking Questions The Sandler Way”, exploring and explaining the strategies of asking the right questions, at the right time, in the right way, for the right reasons: a real must for every salesperson out there.

Sandler is a proponent of training by guided discovery, and I agree by saying that “what gets the job done,” is how you develop your staff’s people skills. Whether you create internal development programs within your company, or work with outside organizations to develop your staff’s people skills, their development in their roles and jobs are not stagnant, but rather that people will always be at various points in their development along a continuum from novice to expert. And it is essential for companies to consider developing its people with ongoing discovery.

How does your company provide development for your critical people?