Proponents of traditional sales training simply teach the material, sometimes in a very entertaining format, but they place the responsibility for using the material on the salesperson.

So what happens? The salesperson sits at home, stuck with personal flaws related to identity, and he cant perform. He takes no risks. Not being able to use what he has learned simply makes him feel worse. He gets caught in a downward spiral of failure and rejection. He continues to find himself not doing what hes supposed to do for example, not leaving his home to make sales calls. Pressure, guilt, self-doubt, worry, and fear will eventually totally immobilize this salesperson.

The Sandler Selling System separates identity and role. And by doing so, we reduce the risk factors in a salespersons life. Since self-esteem cannot be hurt by the rejection of the sales process, a salesperson will continually take risks . . . more risks, and higher risks, leading to bigger sales.

The Sandler Selling System doesnt merely teach techniques and strategies. Human relations skills are included as well. The result is that salespeople whom we train are able to use the techniques and strategies with ease and success.

Tens Continue to Grow

When I tell people their identity is always a ten, some of them argue that its impossible, because a rating of ten implies they have no room to grow. The say, If I was a ten when I was born, and a ten when I was eleven, and twenty-five, and Im a ten today, then how did I grow?

Okay, imagine that you are going to plant a seed in the ground. The seed is going to grow into a rose. When you plant the seed, whats the value of the seed and everything in it? Can we agree that its a ten?

Now, after a couple of weeks of sunshine and water, a stem wiggles up from out of the seed and appears above ground. Whats the value of that stem? Can it be anything other than a ten? If you say its less than a ten, then explain when it lost value. It didnt, of course!

So after six weeks, whats the value of the rose? In fifteen weeks, whats the value of the rose? It continues to be a ten. So the rose was a ten as a seed, and its a ten now. And yet, didnt it grow?

Just because your identity is valued at a ten doesnt mean you stopped growing. You grow all the time.

However, thats not to say you dont have psychological trash. In fact, everyone does! Its part of being human. If you were the only person with psychological trash, then youd have a problem. But weve all got some of it, and in spite of it, we continue to be tens, and continue to grow.

Excerpted from You Cant Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar, 1995 Sandler Sales Institute. All rights reserved.