Hamish Knox: Lessons from a Sandler Guru

About Hamish Knox: Hamish Knox is a member of the global Sandler network. Hamish supports private organizations in Southern Alberta create and maintain a scalable, repeatable, consistent sales engines and an engaged, motivated team by holding them accountable to implementing the structures, systems, and processes shared in our sessions. Before joining the Sandler network, Hamish worked in various industries, including media, communication services, software, and professional sports, which melded his passions for sales and education. Hamish was named the 2020 David H. Sandler Award winner, Sandler's highest honor, becoming the first Canadian trainer to receive that award. He was the first two-time author in the Sandler network, writing books on topics no one likes to talk about. His first book was on Accountability the Sandler Way, and his second on Change the Sandler Way. Sandler Home Office regularly invites Hamish to speak at Sandler's train-the-trainer conferences and Sandler's public Sales and Leadership Summit in Orlando. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Hamish.

In this episode, Nancy and Hamish discuss the following:

• Hamish's motivation to move to Sandler
• The importance of having systems in place for success by design, rather than success by default, in sales organizations
• Differentiating on how you sell, not what you sell
• The value of David H. Sandler Award
• Accountability and the fear of change in sales
• The importance of making the conversation about the buyer and not about the seller's needs

Key Takeaways: 

• Without systems, it's very much, you know, flying by the seat of your pants, which is a cliche that gets bandied about. 
• Sandler is not just about a bunch of cheesy lines or techniques or saying these seven things; you'll always get the meeting or the order.
• If we don't have accountability, if we don't have the boundaries defined, our salespeople are going to make it up.
• I genuinely love what I do.

"You know, people, what's the cliche about people fear three things: death, taxes, and change? Because our brains are wired to keep us safe, which usually means stuck. Because no matter where you believe that we all came from, whoever, you know, the listeners out there, wherever you believe that humanity emerged from, ultimately, our brains are still wired that way, right? Our brains are still looking for the lions and the saber-toothed tigers that are going to eat us. And so, ultimately, change used to mean that you died, or you went hungry, and then you died. So, you were dead, but you were just more or less full in your stomach when you died. And so, our brains are still back there. So, no one likes change. And the book Change the Sandler Way is really about the human side of change because, ultimately, Nancy, change is super simple. Like, it's, we don't have a CRM today, we do have a CRM tomorrow. That's change. Human beings don't change, they transition, and transition is almost like the five stages of grief. And so that book is all about how we support leaders who go through these same emotions well before their team members actually manage a successful change. I recently saw that 89% of all corporate change initiatives fail. Yeah, like it was a number that blew my mind. And you think about how many probable billions of dollars are spent on these initiatives from buying the product or service and having the team meetings and getting things going to have it fail that much. There's got to be a better way." – HAMISH

"Sandler is a number of things. So, number one, it's about differentiating on how you sell, not what you sell. Because what we sell is a commodity in the minds of our buyers. It doesn't matter what we're selling. And the only way to differentiate a commodity is typically by price. And so, with Sandler, we seek to create clarity with our buyers. I was talking to a very, very successful entrepreneur yesterday. We're in a mastermind group, and they were saying, well, what do you suggest I do? Because I'm the primary seller. And I said, well, let's pretend I'm your client. What would you say to me when I say, well, what's going to happen today, right? We booked a call. What's going to happen today? And they're like, well, you know, here's our process for building out, you know, the services that we offer. And I said, well, that's great. But what's gonna happen to me now in this sales call? And he said, well, I don't know. And I said, well, that's a problem because no one wants to talk to a salesperson. And so, If we don't create clarity upfront with our potential, with our buyers, all they're thinking is when is Hamish going to ask for my wallet? They're not actually listening. So, we need to create that clarity upfront using the upfront contract, and which is like a supercharged agenda for listeners who haven't heard about it before. And then pain, humans are animals, biologically that's true, biologically we're animals and animals are wired to move away from pain or towards pleasure. There was a study done in Vegas, which is a great place to study both pain and pleasure, that pain was a five times greater motivator than pleasure. And a lot of people, when they hear that, they don't wanna think about pain. And what I tell my clients is you're never going to say pain to your buyer. You're never gonna say, "Nancy, let's talk about your pain with getting real qualified opportunities in the top of your funnel," because you're going to look at me like, "You went to a sales training class, didn't you? You've got a shiny new toy you want to try out." – HAMISH

"The one takeaway I want the audience to go with is it's never about us, it's always about the buyer. So, if the buyer calls up and goes, if we ring ring hello and the buyer goes, what, that's not about us. And if the buyer says, well, why should I work with you? And you say, well, here's some reasons why other people have worked with us. Are any of those relevant to you? So always making it about the buyer and never about us and getting our emotional needs met is very, very powerful." – HAMISH

Connect with Hamish Knox:

• LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamishknox/
• Sandler: https://www.hamish.sandler.com/howtosandler

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