At a Seminar

Are you in Sales? Do you feel like you’re in Sales? If you’ve been in this industry for any significant length of time, you understand that you CONSTANTLY have to sell something – a solution to a problem, and accurate, decently-funded budget, a large Reserve project, a one hour, quarterly Board Meeting. If you have a position on an issue or idea and you want to be successful in getting buy-in on it, you need to be able to sell it. So – why not brush up on some sales techniques that will help you do that? It couldn’t hurt, and you may find out, as I did, that underneath that exterior coat of Community Association Manager, you’ll find one of the greatest sales professionals that ever lived. That’s not bragging – if you’ve survived the Management ride this long, that’s a fact, not a complement…

You Can’t Teach A Kid To Ride A Bike At A Seminar by David H. Sandler (©1995 David H. Sandler/Bay Head Publishing).

In my transition from management to sales, I realized I needed to educate myself in (what I thought) was a new arena for me. So what did I do? You guessed it – purchased a whole lot of books. I probably have 10 – 15 books on sales and marketing on my shelf, all of which have some value. But they also create some confusion, since each advocates a different methodology. At a Sales Meeting in April, Bob Schwartz, one of our regional VP’s (there’s your free plug, Bob, but that’s it – I’m all tapped out!) introduced concepts from the Sandler Selling System developed by David Sandler. It was amazing to me how intuitive it seemed to be so, of course, I bought the book. This system is different from others I’ve seen in that it’s not ‘hard sell’, but walking prospects down a path through a series of questions wherein the ‘Prospect’ (that’s a sales term – you can call them a client, customer, owner, etc.) does 70% of the talking, you do 30%, and the Prospects sell themselves. Part of the Sandler Process is:

Rapport & Bonding – develop the relationship

Upfront Contract – a verbal commitment wherein if I can ‘heal your pain’, will you (buy, accept, allow) what I have to offer?

Diagnose their Pain – most folks don’t want to disclose what their real issues are or, as Sandler says, they lie! Probing, low-key questions (think Columbo – “Oh, one more thing, Miss…”) help them to give that information up

Offer an appropriate solution – one that will minimize or eradicate their pain

Obviously there is a ton more detail in the book. What I thought was particularly revealing here is the human psychology of the Prospect (or in our case, the Client). I know as a client or prospect, I want to control the Selling Dance – I want to pump the sales professional for all the information I can and give up little or nothing. Very much applicable to the world in which we work. This system will help you get around that.

The title alone is worth the price of admission. It means that you can’t develop any significant and lasting skill without time and practice. It’s easy to embrace the concept of practice in Sports, Music or Medicine. Why should it be any different when it comes to dealing with people? None of us rode a bike well the first time out – I remember getting pushed into a bed of roses my first time without training wheels. Through time, effort and a willingness to fall (read: fail), we got there. That’s what Sandler means by the title. That’s appropriate advice for virtually any venue in life! 5 Stars

Rolf Crocker is the Vice President of Associa and he can be reached at .