We had the privilege of having Dave Starcher, sales manager at Keystone Ridge Designs in Butler, Pennsylvania, in our Sales class on Friday. Dave is a Nationally recognized sales professional who has worked in sales roles in multiple different industries, including medical sales and now benches, tables, and more at Keystone Ridge Designs. As a nationally recognized salesman, Dave has plenty of sales experience and enormous amounts of wisdom to share with the younger generation. Dave spoke to our Sales class about three Sandler rules that he believes are essential for us to be using in our everyday lives. These three rules are, 1. the rule of reversal, 2. being disarmingly honest with others, and 3. asking permission to ask questions. He elaborated on each of these three rules with examples of how he, or other people he knows, have used these rules in their sales roles.
First, the rule of reversal, means that when someone asks you a question, you should find a way to reverse the question back to the other person. Dave used an example of his wife asking him what he wants for lunch, to which he responds, “Umm… I don’t know, what do you want?” Using a word like ‘umm’ makes the reversal less noticeable to others.
Second, being disarmingly honest with others, means exactly how it sounds. When someone asks a question or makes a comment, you should respond in an honest way, even if it may not be what the other person is expecting. If you as the salesperson feel like a conversation isn’t going well or feel that the prospective customer wouldn’t be a good fit for you or your company, you should tell them that. You could say something like, “I’m not so sure we would be the right fit for you,” or something similar that fits the context of the conversation.
Lastly, asking permission to ask questions, means that you should ask the person you are talking to if you can ask them some questions before just doing it. It’s important that you give them a chance to say if that is okay or not before you move forward. These three tips can be very beneficial in everyday conversation, not just sales contexts, because they can help you get to know the person you are talking to and figure out their needs.
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While I think the first rule, the rule of reversal, is a bit rude to the other person and is usually pretty obvious to them unless they are extremely distracted, I think the other two make a lot of sense. I really like the second rule, the rule of being disarmingly honest, because, as a person who is not planning on going into any kind of professional sales, I can still see a lot of value in it for everyday interactions. It’s basically another way of saying don’t be a people pleaser and mean what you say.