Recent Learnings in Sales

Recently in our sales class, we have been talking about the Sandler Rules, specifically rules fifteen and sixteen. Rule number 15 states, “The best sales presentation you will ever give, the prospect will never see.” This may seem confusing at first, but after breaking it down it makes a lot more sense. Rule number 16 states, “Never ask for the order – make the prospect give up.” I am going to break down what we have learned about these two rules in more depth.

Rule number 15, “The best sales presentation you will ever give, the prospect will never see,” means that you should be helping the prospect to discover for himself or herself the reasons to buy from you. It involves more of the prospect understanding, rather than the seller selling. The key strategy to rule number 15 is asking questions. As the seller, the discovery of reasons to buy from you should come long before you ever present a contract or final sales pitch. The prospect should not view your questions as a presentation, but instead as a means of getting you to highlight your need and realize you need the sellers’ solution. Final presentations are a matter of logistics, not persuasion.

Rule number 16, “Never ask for the order – make the prospect give up,” means that the seller’s goal is to make the prospect give up on finding external solutions and lingering doubts about you and your solution. It gives the power and control of the salesperson over to the prospect, showing that you are beholding it to them. It does not mean that the seller badgers the buyer until they cannot take it anymore, or to force a decision. Instead, rule number 16 emphasizes asking questions that lead to mutual agreement in the context of a joint discovery that it might make sense to do business together. Some of these questions may include, “What do we do now?”, “What should happen next?”, and casual and informative “closing” questions.