Clearly Sandler Sales Tech and just winging it are not the only two options. Understandably, it's important to get your sales team up to speed, and using various sales systems might help, but the team itself should really be the focus in which to discover the speed. Mentoring, performance transparency, strategic incentives, and regular recognition of top performers will have more benefits that some 'off the shelf' system. What I found most revealing was that when the sales team was flying blind without a marketing plan, no matter what system they were using (hello cold calls?) they were spinning their wheels. Instead, building a comprehensive marketing / sales program resulted in better client outreach. This reinforces the basic fact that every product or service should have a marketing plan attached to it to lay the groundwork for the sales process that follows. And that question is simply answered by asking 'Who wants it, and how will we best let them know about it?'. To that answer, I doubt - cold calls 'brrr' - will ever be a top choice. Otherwise, thanks for sharing your team members stories.

ps. here are the 2 starred reviews from the 'you can't teach a kid to ride a bike at a seminar' book (what kind of title is that anyways? Surely you CAN teach a kid to ride a bike at a seminar. How better to teach a kid? By having them read a book? Maybe it should be called 'you can't teach a kid to ride a bike by reading a book'. Regardless, my point is that some of these concerns appear rather valid (though I've not read the book myself.)

http://www.amazon.com/Cant-Teach-Ride-Bike-Seminar/product-r...