Takeaways from Dan Sandler

Last week, we had a guest speaker in class, former GCC alum and professional salesperson, Dan Sandler. One of the first things that Dan told us was: “Selling is nothing but a Broadway play performed by a psychologist.” At first, I sat there confused, trying to figure out how sales related to theater and psychology simultaneously. But then, when Dan explained that sales is about moving people by intellectually connecting with them on a deeper level, my conventional definition of sales became completely uprooted.

Other groundbreaking takeaways from Dan’s lecture included:

1.) There is nothing wrong with manipulation if your intentions are pure.

The premise of this statement uprooted everything I had grown up learning. Manipulation? Good? I had never associated manipulation as an effective sales strategy, until Dan explained that manipulation, with the intention of wanting to understand another person on a deeper level, can actually be a genuine relationship-builder.

2.) Quit talking about yourself.

During his lecture, Dan asked us to pair up with another person in the room and attempt to ask that other person a question without using any personal pronouns. Although I initially thought the exercise would be easy (there’s no way I talk that much about myself, am I right?), I quickly learned that it was more difficult than I originally anticipated. I also found myself trying to think of a follow-up question, while my partner answered the previous one. This exercise highlighted my need to work on my active listening skills, which is critical in sales but also in building genuine connections outside of sales.

3.) Be confident on who you are as a person. You are priceless.

Dan asked us to close our eyes and visualize who we are, without our titles and obligations. Then, we had to rate how we viewed ourselves as a person. Dan told us that the average answer after completing this exercise was a 4-5 on a scale of 10. He went on to explain that we base so much of our worth on accolades and appearance that we forget who we are as human beings.

Although there were many important takeaways from Dan’s lecture, I believe this is arguably the most important. In sales, as with anything else, our worth is not dependent on how successful we are. Success is how you treat others, but most importantly, yourself.