Sales Managers Mastermind: Micro-Learning

Leading by Example

Hey, it's Jody from Sandler Keystone. In this video, I want to talk about the importance of leading by example when driving change into your organization — the pitfalls if you don't, and very specifically, how to make the Sandler methodology part of your culture while merging it with the latest technology to drive that change.

This is important because what I've seen over time is that when the leader doesn't drive change by showing their team they're all in, the sales team tends to sit back and say, "Do I really need to do this?" When we bring Sandler into an organization to create a common sales methodology, or when we bring in a technology like a video tool or ChatGPT, many salespeople will say some form of, "Well, this too shall pass." But if the manager leads by example — is actively using the methodology, using terms like upfront contract in every meeting, starting every meeting with an upfront contract — that's exactly how we drive change.

Leading by example requires moving out of your comfort zone. It requires you to be a couple of chapters ahead of your team. But I can tell you hands down, the team will not adopt a change — whether a methodology or a technology — unless you lead it.

Driving the Sandler Methodology Into Your Culture

One of the things we find is that when you're bringing Sandler into an organization, or even if you've had Sandler as your methodology for years, using it as a common language every day is critical for it to be effective. If you as the manager aren't doing upfront contracts before meetings, if you're on a joint sales call and you're not doing a pre-call strategy beforehand, if you're not debriefing the meeting afterwards, and if you're on a sales call with your salesperson and you're not asking pain questions — your team is going to pick up on that every single moment you're in front of them.

By adopting the methodology yourself — in internal meetings, on sales calls, everywhere — they begin to realize: this is our operating system, this is our language, and this is our culture.

Embracing New Technology as a Leader

The other area, especially today, is technology. I have a lot of managers who will say, "Hey, we should be using large language models like ChatGPT or Gemini," or "We should be doing video messages, or posting more on LinkedIn." But salespeople can tell if you're an opposer. They can tell if you're saying one thing and doing another.

When it comes to a new technology, you leading it is critical. As an example, if you want prerecorded video to get sticky in your organization — and it is clearly an edge in sales communication — the first step is that you start doing them internally, to your team, as their leader. "Hey group, let me share with you the price increase that's coming up." "Hey group, here's a new product coming out — we've got a meeting next week and I wanted to give you this video beforehand." You using the technology is the first step to adoption on your team, and I have not seen it truly adopted in an organization unless the leader starts first.

I think one of the reasons all of this matters is that salespeople are dealing with a lot of change and trying to figure out what choices to make. I know that for many salespeople — if you get them off to the side and give them a little truth serum — they view the sales manager as sitting in an ivory tower, not connected to reality, just saying "do this, do this, do this." The feedback I often get is, "They tell me one thing, but they don't really believe in it." There is nothing like leading by example when it comes to driving change into an organization. If you are not willing to do it as a manager, you probably shouldn't introduce it into your company.

Cookbooks, Pre-Call Planners, and Sandler Language

A very tactical example of this is the cookbook. If you've seen the previous video on cookbooks, you know it's the behavioral plan where we manage activities, not just results — the key behaviors we want salespeople executing on a regular basis. But managers should also have a cookbook for their own activities. Leading by example means that when you work through cookbooks with your team, instead of making it all about "show me your cookbook," you start with, "We're doing cookbooks — I'll start. Here's mine." Sharing yours with the entire team sends a message that is on a whole other level compared to just telling them to go do an activity. You've been in sales with a manager who did it that way, and I can pretty much guess how you felt about it.

A couple of other best practices for driving the Sandler methodology into your culture are pre-call planners and post-call debriefs with Sandler language embedded. Instead of asking, "What are you planning to do on the call next week?" it becomes, "Let's talk about your upfront contract. What's the cast of characters? What are their DISC profiles? What pain points do we already know about? What questions are they going to ask, and how are we going to answer or reverse those? What do we think the real issue is below the surface?" And when debriefing, instead of "How did the call go?" it's, "Let's break it down using the Sandler methodology. What was the upfront contract going in? What pain points did you go in with? What did you discover? Did you quantify the pain? Are they committed to fixing it? Did you discuss investment levels? Who did you meet with, and who were the hidden influencers?"

Using that language consistently — in pre-call strategy, post-call debriefs, and every internal conversation — means that at some point your leadership of the conversation becomes infectious and ultimately becomes part of the culture.

I should also mention that I created this video because I've seen the flip side. I've seen people bring Sandler into an organization — and you already know it's solid and it works — but without leadership driving it, buying into it, and making it part of the conversation, it doesn't matter how road-tested the methodology is. It's not going to be effective in that organization. I've seen so many companies bring Sandler in where it could have been an amazing fit with amazing results, but because the leader wasn't making it part of the culture by leading by example, it didn't get sticky — and ultimately didn't work.