Sandler Brief: Sales Leaders Didn't Start the Fire

Here’s a gut-check question for sales leaders: When salespeople come to you with a problem, is your first instinct to hand them the solution? Is that your default setting? Put out whatever fire the rep identifies for you. Because you think doing so will save time?  

Or do you look for ways to create an adult-to-adult conversation that empowers them to find their own solution to whatever issue they face?  

The best way to create that conversation is during a private one-on-one meeting. During that meeting, we can ask them to expand their horizons and give us more information about their problem. We might say something like this:  

That’s interesting. Can you tell me a little bit more about (X)?

That question may be a pattern interrupt for the salesperson because they may be used to being handed the answer right away. It’s a good idea to avoid filling the awkward silence that sometimes follows this question. A better approach is to be curious and wait for the salesperson to answer back. Their taking responsibility for describing the problem in more detail increases the likelihood of their assuming responsibility for understanding the problem.  

After they’ve responded to this first question, we can continue with the next one, which will sound something like this:

Can you be a little more specific about (X)? Can you give me an example? 

Again, setting aside the instinct to help them answer this question will help them assume ownership of the issue. Once they give us a response, we can continue with a question like:

Let me ask you something. How long has this kind of issue been a problem for you?  

Translation: Have they been coming to you for help with this issue for a while? Typically, the answer is going to be “Yes.”  Maybe we let them process that fact and quantify it in terms of weeks, months, or even years. Once they’ve done that, we could continue the conversation with:  

What have you tried to do about that? (Any answer.) And did that work? (Obviously not, because they are trying to get us to solve the problem here.) I’m curious – how much would you say this has cost you, in terms of both time spent or opportunities lost because you were dealing with this?  

If you are familiar with Sandler, the odds are good that you recognize these questions. They’re part of a powerful interview sequence known as the Pain Funnel. This is a classic Sandler questioning sequence that delivers remarkable results when it’s used with prospective buyers. But you know what? It also provides excellent results in coaching settings with individual salespeople. In fact, it can deliver breakthroughs in a matter of minutes.  And it can change the culture of your team from “Please fix this for me” to “How can I solve this problem on my own, in a way that supports me, my colleagues, and my whole organization?”

 If all else fails, we can ask: “Just out of curiosity . . . what would you have done about this if I’d been out sick today?”  

Asking questions like these will free up more of our time to do all those things we’re responsible for besides putting out fires that salespeople could be putting out themselves. If that’s not worth changing our default setting for, what is?