Happy National Are You Okay Day! Today is the perfect day to check in with a teammate and make sure they're not crying in the bathroom like you were last week. 😁 

In today’s Follow Up:

• The Sandler Selling method 🗣️ 

• A female LinkedIn vs. male 🗞️

• Sales jobs 🏢 

• LinkedIn & sales meme 😂 

Sales Fact of The Day

The Sandler Selling System

Sandlers are known for:

• Making funny movies

• Balling in oversized basketball shorts

• Developing one of the leading sales methods

Despite the fact he looks like an 80’s infomercial host trying to sell you a seminar… when it comes to sales, David Sandler knows what he’s talking about.

While David created the Sandler selling system more than 50 years ago, it’s a timeless guide to selling in any industry.

The system is made up of 7 steps and a submarine to show how it works.

He chose a submarine to represent the system because of the way WWII sailors moved between compartments after their ships were shot down, to avoid flooding.

He believed that sales require the same procedure to avoid disaster - moving from one step to the next.

1. Bonding & Rapport

Building rapport isn’t about closing the deal, it’s about building a connection with your prospect.

Use some of the strategies we mentioned last week to build rapport including mirroring your prospect, speaking their language, and asking meaningful questions about things they care about.

Remember, the more rapport you build with your prospect, the easier the sales process will be.

2. Upfront Contract

A lot of sales reps hide their intentions until they pitch, but Sandler says you should do the opposite.

Lay your cards on the table so you can create a low-pressure environment and disarm prospects that come to a meeting prepared for a fight.

A simple way to do this is with the A.N.O.T framework:

• Appreciate you taking the time to meet today.

• Naturally, you will have questions for me and I’ll do my best to answer those.

• Obviously, I’ll have questions for you to better understand your current pain points.

• Typically I use the first 5 minutes to better understand your current situation and then get into how we can help.

Sound fair?

A contract like this shows you respect the prospect’s time and have no ulterior motives.

3. Pain

This is arguably the most important step, but one that reps often breeze over.

How can you solve their problem if you don’t know their pain?

Prospects will usually give emotional responses. But don’t just take their first answers at the surface level. Dig into the heart of the issue.

Sandler gives us a framework called, the “pain funnel” to break it into 3 levels.

Surface level problems:

• Tell me more about it…

• Can you be more specific and give an example?

• How long has this been a problem?

Business reasons

• What have you tried to do about this?

• Has anything you've already tried worked?

• How much do you think this has cost you?

Emotional Impact

• How do you feel about how much this has cost you?

• What kind of trouble does this cause for you?

• Have you given up trying to deal with this problem?

Once you understand the prospect pain you can solve it.

4. Budget

Mentioning pricing is like medicine. It doesn’t feel good in the moment, but it’s better to get it over with sooner rather than later.

Mentioning pricing early on allows you to make sure your prospects can afford your solution and isn’t just a tire-kicker.

No money = no sale.

Find out what your prospect’s intended budget is and which department oversees that budget.

Some common budget questions include:

• How much are you currently spending?

• What’s the problem costing you?

• Have you discussed a budget for a solution to your problem?

5. Decision

Selling to a non-decision maker is the equivalent of talking to your crush’s dad.

It might help, but it won’t close the deal.

Your job is to find out who the decision-maker(s) is/are and get them involved in the process. The more decision-makers you have direct contact with - the more likely you are to close the deal.

6. Fulfill

This is your pitch. Your time to shine.

This is where you make the case for how you can solve your prospect’s problem.

This phase has four steps:

1. The review: Review all of the information you have so far → pain points, budget, decision-makers, etc.

2. The presentation: Present your product as the solution to their pain. This isn’t about education, it’s about the prospect making the decision.

3. The close: If you’ve done everything else right, the prospect says yes. Confirm they’re happy to move forward with the deal by outlining the next steps.

4. The confirmation: This step should be a breeze. Simply confirm what you’ve already discussed. Get a definitive yes. That’s it.

7. Post-Sell

Sandler doesn’t stop at the sale. Sales reps should help hand off the new customer to the team that will onboard them.

You’ve helped them through the entire process and this isn’t the time to throw them the peace sign. ✌️ 

This is where you make sure they’re happy with their decision and don’t have buyer’s remorse. In most cases, it’s easier (and cheaper) to keep a current customer happy vs. finding a new one.

Checking in on LinkedIn ✍️ 

2 years to get a BDR job back!? 🤔 

Sales Meme of the Day

And that’s a wrap!

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