Antonio Garrido - Asking Questions The Sandler Way

PRAISE FOR

ASKING QUESTIONS THE SANDLER WAY

A must-read for any sales professional wanting to do better.

BEN MASCARELLO, Chief Operating Officer, NOVOLEX

Read this book. Learn the principles. Then go ask really good questions to make sure that you go win something big.

DAVID LENG, Chief Executive Officer, Sinseal Extrusions Limited

Pay attention to this man and the lessons in this book. The system really works, and it will hugely change for the better the quality of your personal and professional relationships.

TIMOTHY ARMITT, Managing Director, Lyndon Design

My company is extremely familiar with the Sandler selling principles; we have been a client for some years. When Antonio wrote this book we made it compulsory reading. Its a very lively and engaging read that is low on technical jargon, and high on practical application. Business books are not always riveting page-turnersthis one most definitely is.

LYLE BRAMBIER, President, Brambiers

2017 Sandler Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Reproduction, modification, storage in a retrieval system or retransmission, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, is strictly prohibited without the prior written permission of Sandler Systems, Inc.

S Sandler Training (with design), Sandler, Sandler Training, Sandler Selling System, and the Sandler Pain Funnel (words and design) are registered service marks of Sandler Systems, Inc.

Sandler Submarine (words and design) is a service mark of Sandler Systems, Inc.

Because the English language lacks a generic singular pronoun that indicates both genders, we have used the masculine pronouns for the sake of style, readability, and brevity. This material applies to both men and women.

Paperback: 978-0-692-83860-0

E-book: 978-0-692-88254-2

To my mum, Val. Maybe, just maybe, you were right about me all along.

To my uniquely wonderful wife Julie, our amazing kids, and the terrific family that supports us both.
This book would not have been possible without the love, help, and encouragement of you all.
Thanks a million with chocky-sprinkles.

To those in my Sandler family, who always seem to ask me the right questions.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T heres not much I learned from being a bad sales professional that I couldnt have learned by simply setting all my money on fire every week. Come to think of it, thats basically what I was doing for the first phase of my sales career. My gratitude goes out to David Mattson and the entire Sandler family for helping me stop doing that and for making the next phase of my career, and by extension this book, possible.

I am grateful, too, for the skill, tenacity, and unflagging determination of my very good friend and Sandlers resident literary genius, Yusuf Toropov, who served as developmental editor on this project. Heartfelt thanks go out to him and to his partners in crime Jerry Dorris and Laura Matthews, masters of the layout and line-editing crafts, respectively.

There are no words capable of expressing the depth of my gratitude to my brother Carlos Garrido for all the help and support he has provided over the years, so I wont pretend there are.

Deep thanks go out to all those in the Sandler home office who contributed their time, care, and attention at various phases of this project, including: Margaret Stevens Jacks, Rachel Miller, Dsire Pilachowski, Jennifer Willard, Jasamine Stephens, Elizabeth Faust, and Jena Heffernan.

Finally, thank you, dear reader, for picking up this bookand thank you in advance for continuing to read and turn the pages until you, too, stop setting all your money on fire.

FOREWORD

D avid Sandler, the founder of Sandler Training and the creator of the Sandler Selling System, recognized the trans-formative power of questions. He insisted on a professional salespersons duty to pose good questions during the sales processespecially at those moments, early in the relationship, when buyers felt most entitled to redirect conversations with questions of their own.

Sandler rejected the free consulting approach to sales that doles out seemingly endless helpings of complimentary advice, insight, and experience. He challenged salespeople to spend a lot less time answering questionsand a lot more time posing them. He insisted on a salespersons right to reverse a question from a prospective buyer by answering a question with a question.

This kind of selling takes practice. For most of us, it doesnt come intuitively because weve spent so much time in a sales process in which the buyer is in control and calls the shots. Now comes Antonio Garridos book Asking Questions the Sandler Way. Its an invaluable, detailed, and consistently engaging elucidation of what remains, for most salespeople, a revolutionary new idea: As a professional, you have the right, and the responsibility, to take control of the sales discussion by asking good questions.

You do. If youre willing to accept that premise and take action on it, the book youre reading right now can open an exciting new chapter in your career as a professional salesperson.

David H. Mattson

President/CEO, Sandler Training

INTRODUCTION

W hen does the sales process really begin?

Some say that sales starts at the very first hello. Everything before that first critical opening word, these people say, is marketing; everything after that is sales.

Others say that the real work of sales doesnt begin until the prospect first says, No. Otherwise, they insist, its just order-taking.

Those are the two most common responses; this book rejects both. This book holds that selling begins when you start asking good questions.

Most salespeople up and down the land have a fairly blunt and unsophisticated sales strategy that doesnt rely all that much on the kinds of questions youll be reading about in this book. Their strategy is not very clever. Its not based on any clear empirical proof of successheck, it doesnt even work that well. It is, however, familiar.

Its what typical salespeople always seem to find themselves doing. Everyone knows how unsettling it can be to try anything new or scary. The familiar sales process Im talking aboutthe one most salespeople follow out of sheer force of habitlooks something like this:

Find someone, anyone, who might be ever so slightly interested in what you do/sell/make/offer/promote.

Beg for an appointment.

Show up and throw up everything you know about your product or service, finding clever ways to cram as many features and benefits as you can into the time your prospect grants you.

Agree to give your prospect everything that can possibly be asked forif not for free, then damn close.

Attempt a cunning closing technique or two.

Smile as sweetly as possible.

Keep talking fast enough, loudly enough, and engagingly enough to keep your prospect off-balance for long enough.

Repeat the above with as many live prospects as possible.

Chase, and chase, and chaseand hope and pray for the very best.