When I was in my first sales position working for a software company, I went through a workshop that taught the Sandler Sales Methodology. This was actually one of the first real sales training programs that I went through, and I loved it. Here is a quick review and summary of what I liked about their sales methodology.

 

Counterintuitive

One of the things that caught my attention most with the Sandler Sales Methodology is that some of it is counterintuitive. This means you actually do the exact opposite of what you think you should do when you are selling.

For example, they taught a concept of stripping line, also known as “the takeaway.” But with this tactic, you actually tell the prospect that they should not buy from you – or express concern or doubt regarding the fit.

This was fascinating to me as it is the exact opposite of what your instincts would tell you to do. Do you mean I am a salesperson who needs to sell something and I am going to tell a prospect that they shouldn’t buy from me? Well, the way Sandler teaches this tactic makes sense and is actually extremely effective.

It was this concept that helped me to realize that it is not just about always pushing to move forward and following your natural instincts that lead to the best results. There are small things that you can change and do to impact your results.

 

Focus on Pain

Another thing that I really liked about the Sander sales methodology was that it had a big focus on prospect pain. This was eye-opening to me at the time and one of the key factors that separate good salespeople from the average.

The salespeople who don’t focus on looking for prospect pain typically end up trying to sell to every prospect they cross paths with. The problem with that is that many of these prospects do not have any of the pain or problems that the salesperson can help with, so there is a low probability that the salesperson will be able to get the prospect to pull the trigger on the purchase and spend money. This makes the prospect unqualified and not worth the salesperson’s valuable time to try to sell to them.

When you use the Sandler sales methodology and operate with the mindset to look for the pain that you fix when talking to prospects, not only do you sound better in terms of being more polished and consultative, but you will also find yourself working better leads and having a healthier pipeline with a better close rate.

 

Sales Scripter Fits Nicely with Sandler

The one challenge with Sandler is that it tells you what you should be doing, but it does not tell you exactly what to say. For example, you will leave a Sandler training class and know that you need to look for pain, but you might not know exactly what pain to look for or what to say and ask to get pain into a conversation.

SalesScripter solves this gap and will help you to clearly outline all of the benefits and pain points for the different buyer personas that you sell to. Adding this tool to your existing investment and adoption will help to you magnify your ROI for what you have spent in Sandler and explode your sales results.