Numerous sales methodologies are now established for businesses to implement and witness a rise in their sales. They make it easy to reach your potential buyers with a set of predefined actions and steps to be followed.
Implementing a sales process simplifies your roadmap to win more sales for your company. No matter how qualified or brilliant your sales team is, you would not be able to suffice the quality sales requirement without a proper method in approach.
Every business or company differs in its works and the kind of audience it intends to attract. Hence choosing the right sales method is essential, which would not be a problem given the different variety of methods proposed in today's time.
One of such is the Sandler sales methodology, which has proven to be the most effective in generating sales. But what actually is it, and how is it different from others?
What is Sandler Sales methodology?
Sandler sales methodology given by David Sandler in 1967 is way ahead of regular sales methods that we see. The flow of this method and how it pans out is very unique.
Here, the salesperson steps into the shoes of a consultant and tries to communicate with the prospect about their pain points and requirements. The process of this methodology involves more spotlight on the qualification of the prospect rather than the usual norm of just closing the sales.
No one wants to fall prey to a sales call, speaking from a consumer’s perspective. Whenever direct selling of a product is attempted without listening about the prospect's needs or pain points, it drives them to cut the call and lose interest as a part of their defense mechanism. Sandler sales method prevents this as its main focus is to establish clarity about the budget or the need of the product in the initial stages itself. With that being done, the scope of losing the prospect at the very end of the sales funnel is minimal.
Roles are reversed here as it is actually like the prospect is convincing the seller to sell.
If at any point of this process the salesperson feels that the prospect is not suitable for their business, they drop the lead. You might feel that this method would let you miss a lot of leads but that is the whole essence of this sales method. It lets you dwell only on those prospects that are useful and are in actual need of your product. It’s like filtering out the not so ‘good fits’ early, which are anyway not going to convert.
Sandler sales methodology is not just a great option for the sales team but also for the prospects as it benefits both parties equally. The prospect does not feel like they are being sold a product forcefully.
David Sandler, the founder of Sandler sales methodology chose an image of a submarine to convey his concept. According to the Sandler website, the reason behind picking a submarine for the explanation was that he was influenced while watching world war II related movies where submarines were attacked and the crew moved from compartment to compartment to avoid flooding.
Source: https://www.sandler.com/sandler-selling-system/
He proposed a seven step process to be followed where each step is like a compartment which you try to pass with proper objective and criteria.
These seven steps are divided into three broad stages which are:
- Establishing the relationship
- Prospect Qualification
- Sales closing
Here is your quick guide through the 7 steps involved in the Sandler sales method.
1. Bonding and Rapport
This comes under establishing the relationship stage.
In this step, the sales rep tries to build a normal conversation with the prospect, just like we do with a stranger on a bus or while in the queue for buying tickets.
A base setup is in-making at this stage by conversing about the prospect’s business and providing them with solutions. At this moment, no direct selling of the product or even mentioning of it is involved.
2. Up-front contracts
At this stage, the agendas or the client’s expectations or the aim of the meeting is being discussed.
It helps in keeping the flow of the conversation controlled and no element of surprise comes up.
This step is vital and should not be avoided as it ensures clarity and transparency from both ends in the initial stages, which eases the process of qualification of prospects.
3. Pain
This step is a part of qualifying the prospect stage. At this step, the goal is to identify the fundamental pain points of the prospect.
In the Sandler sales method, as more focus is given to lead qualification, this step becomes more crucial. With properly framed questions, the salesperson tries to locate the areas of difficulty of the prospect. This will eventually help in the decision-making process.
Imagine how much time it saves if you realize that the prospect’s needs do not align with what your company is selling and you turn them down at this stage itself.
4. Budget
Prospect's budget seems to be an important factor.
Sandler methodology prefers to address this factor early in the process by directly asking for a definite budget to the prospect so that the salesperson can decide on if he should continue the process or drop it.
5. Decision
This is the last stage of Prospect qualification.
In this step, a decision must be made by thoroughly checking all the past conversations and analyzing the prospect's requirements.
If everything seems perfect, then the sales rep will qualify the prospect and will move forward to closing the deal. But if any hindrance is found from the above steps that prove that the prospect is not a proper fit for the company, then the sales rep will end up dropping the prospect.
6. Fulfillment
Here starts the closing stage.
Now that you have all the crucial information about the prospect, it is time to convince them by providing them proper solutions.
You try to fulfill their pain points and requests by keeping in mind the information you have obtained during the qualifying process.
7. Post-sell
This is the final step of the sales method. Now that the prospect has qualified and successfully converted into a buyer, you concentrate on the after part of it.
Discuss the future business needs or establish the next steps with the buyer.
Conclusion
This was all about the Sandler sales method. Undoubtedly, it is the most promising and effective method out there as it tackles a more practical approach that is not just oriented for more sales closing.
If you ace the execution of this sales method, you will definitely see a spike in your sales generation, with better quality sales.
