Sandler — How to Succeed

Sandler Systems Inc.’s training and coaching provides the tools to create common processes, culture and sales language within their customers’ organizations. Following their recent success in 2018 Corporate Excellence Awards, we profiled the firm and spoke to Zelda Jessup who provided us with a detailed insight into the inner workings of the award-winning firm.

Sandler Systems Inc’s training and coaching provides the tools to create common processes, culture and sales language within their customers’ organizations, by offering programs focused on a diverse range of areas including: Prospecting, Social Selling, Enterprise Selling, Customer Service, Sales Management, Selling Into the C-Suite, and Coaching.

One of the key differentiators between Sandler and other training is their focus on the whole client through emphasis on Behaviors and Attitudes—in addition to Techniques—in their training.

Sandler’s 270 training centers offer programs and reinforcement to their clients delivered by fulltime certified Sandler trainers in their clients’ local markets around the world.

In addition to this, Sandler also offers a wide variety of online tools and technology to reinforce the training experience 24/7 and increase our customers’ ROI. SandlerOnline provides on-demand resources for sales teams and business leaders through interactive courses, quizzes and a library of content and multi-media resources. The system currently houses over 16,000 clients, serving 30+ countries in 21 languages. Going into detail about the firm’s overall mission, Zelda begins by reciting a part of Sandler’s mission statement.

“Success guides Sandler in everything we do, from developing effective training programs for Fortune 500 companies, to helping individual sales professionals advance their own careers.

“It is our mission, our promise and our brand, whether its measured in increased revenue, billings growth, expansion or advancement. It’s the goal of our clients—current and future, global and local—on the street and in the boardroom.

“Success is what we create when we turn declining market share, customer attrition, high turnover and the lack of a common sales process into increased revenue, higher profits, expansion and advancement.

“Lastly, success is why we get up in the morning. It’s what led David Sandler to start this firm 50 years ago. It’s what propelled us to become the largest sales, corporate and management training company in the world today.”

Speaking of success, Zelda informs us of the key differentiators between Sandler and competitors within their respected industry, pointing to the qualities which marks the firm out as the best possible option for clients.

“Here at Sandler, there are two primary differentiators between us and other training firms. The first is our focus on the whole client through emphasis on Behaviors and Attitudes, in addition to Techniques, as a big part of the training. This focus is what provides a truly transformational experience for our clients and their businesses and organizations.

“The second is the use of reinforcement training, which Sandler invented long before anyone else used the term. At Sandler, we know that short-term training events generally get short-term results. Permanent, lasting change takes time and repetition to achieve. Most of our training is based this principle.”

It is no secret that behind every successful company is a dedicated team of individuals who work tirelessly to ensure that they achieve their overall goal. When discussing the internal culture at Sandler, Zelda is keen to highlight how each member of the team is well-equipped to provide the best possible service to their clients.

“Sandler’s internal culture is a legacy from being founded by a sales person, with boots on the ground in the field. We are fastpaced and constantly questing for what’s next on the horizon to expand our training content and delivery.

“Sandler trainers are first and foremost sales people and sales managers – people who have ‘walked the talk’- who we teach how to train what is the best training methodologies in the world. Therefore, our trainers have ‘street cred’ with our clients. They know what’s involved in the sales process, sales management challenges, etc., because they’ve been there and done that. This provides a very unique, real-world experience that no other training company offers, which resonates with our clients.

“We require that all new Sandler trainers attend an eight-day intensive boot camp style Initial Training, before they are licensed to sell or deliver our proprietary training methodologies. In addition, we offer a rigorous 4-level Certification process for both trainers and clients, which incorporates knowledge of the material and processes, as well as demonstrated ability to execute.

“New hires for Sandler world headquarters attend onboarding sessions, are encouraged to attend sales and management training offerings in local training centers, as well as investing in other skills and knowledge experiences which are supported by the company.”

Bringing the interview to a close, Zelda reflects on the current state of the industry Sandler operates within, as well as noting on the developments that she foresees and how the firm will adapt around these.

“At present, we are a global organization with offices in 30+ countries, so we don’t experience a lot of regionalized issues. Our challenges tend to revolve around technology, and how to best leverage it for the best ROI. It can be a black hole into which you pour money, as it’s always in flux. It’s a constant balancing act to keep our tools and platforms fresh and relevant, while ensuring they provide return on the investment of both money and resources to support and maintain them.

“As for the future, the ever-widening diversity of demographics in age and culture who have expectations of personalized content delivery and the constant evolution of technology will continue to be challenges in our industry.

“We are already dealing with the former with digitizing all our training materials into many different modalities, and providing tools which provide clients with personalized, actionable plans.”

Looking ahead to what the future holds for the firm, Zelda signs off by revealing the exciting plans which lie in the pipeline for the firm, especially following their recent success in Corporate Vision’s 2018 Corporate Excellence Awards where they were righteously awarded the accolade 2018’s Global Leader for Sales & Management Training.

“Currently, we train more than 31,000 clients annually. Moving forwards, our future plans are focusing more on Vertical Market Penetration, as well as an Alumni Initiative to re-engage with the millions of clients we’ve trained over 50 years.”

Company: Sandler Systems Inc.

Address: 300 Red Brook Blvd. Suite 400, Owings Mills, MD 21117 USA

Website: www.sandler.com