If you’ve been following my posts for a while, you know that I love website design and you probably know by now that I’m Sandlerized to the core. For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, Sandler Training in Loveland is a sales and management training program that I recommend to every person who’s within 3 feet of me. In a nutshell, here’s how I would summarize Sandler’s philosophy:
Stop acting like a sales person.
Pretty simple, yet virtually every sales person you encounter is programmed to act and look and do the same things. I counted myself in that group, until Sandler opened my eyes. Forget everything you every thought you knew about sales and marketing. Toss it out the window. Now do the opposite.
Did you ever see that episode of Seinfeld where George Costanza decided that every decision he ever made was a bad decision so he started doing the opposite of what his gut was telling him? It worked beautifully. Suddenly his miserable life turned around. People started liking him. His career took off. Everything changed because he adopted a new mentality. He had a paradigm shift where he started doing the opposite of what he’d normally do. That’s basically what Sandler teaches.
When we act like typical sales people or write marketing copy that’s like every other brochure or website out there, we have a tendency to blend in, plus people hate sales people as much as they hate advertisements. Why? Because they’re pushy. They’re self-absorbed. Sales people and ads are typically all about themselves. They brag about how great they are and why you should love their offering. Let’s face it, we’re all a little selfish. We like it when people pay attention to us. We don’t like it when people only care about themselves. So, the key is to turn the tables and show more interest in the person across the table. Try it and you’ll be surprised how different it feels. If you find yourself starting to beat your chest, stop it. If you’re about to point out something great about your product, don’t. I mean zero bragging. Stop being pushy. Stop telling everyone meet why they should love you.
Here’s a quick exercise from Sandler: Go to a networking event and see how long you can go without saying “I” or “we” or “our company.” It’s tough. You’re programmed to talk about yourself when networking. You’ll be foreced to ask questions about the other person. When they ask what you do, how are you going to respond without saying, “Well, I…” Ooops. You blew it. Think about that. We’ll pick up there next week and see how you did.