Summit Series: Day two at a Glance

Going against the grain, Sandler Training switched up the agenda from previous years and started Day 2 with separate breakout sessions for clients and trainers. And despite the packed agenda from Day 1 and continued fun out on the town, the energy was palpable early Friday morning.

Client sessions were full of humor, best practices, quotable moments, videos and, most importantly, tips and takeaways that clients can put into practice as soon as they get back to office this week. (In fact, some clients admitted to testing out new techniques immediately by making calls to prospects while the information was fresh.)

Here are a few of our favorite moments from Day 2 of the Sandler Summit:

• The camaraderie was apparent at breakfast. Just like previous years, new friendships were established on Day 1 and carried on into the mixer and beyond. The jokes were witty, the stories were insightful and the connections will be lasting. (Fact: Summit attendees cite networking and making new connections as one of the greatest benefits of the Sandler Summit.)
• Breakout sessions started strong with enthusiasm and humor that made people open their eyes to what they can be doing every day to improve their productivity. Clients chose between the management training and sales training tracks.

Some highlights from the sessions include:

• With a focus on BAT, Brad Freyer encouraged everyone to fight the urge to be an "at-leaster" and to stop making excuses for mediocrity. (Definition: At-leaster (noun) – someone who's not the best, but "at least" not the worst.)
• More sage Sandler advice came from Andrew Wall who urged the audience to have a playbook on hand during sales calls and to spend half of the time talking about pain. Troy Elmore asked the group to rethink fear and instead be driven by fear. His quotable and tweetable moment was: "You can't get to courage without walking through vulnerability."
• Sandler's funny guy and respected trainer Stevenson Brooks entertained the crowd by telling stories, sharing experiences and drawing comparisons between sales professionals and superheroes as both need to wear a "disguise" at times.
• Tim Roberts reminded the crowd of the importance of living outside of your comfort zone to not miss opportunities. After all, according to Tim, "we don't know what we don't know."
• With a focus on the Summit's theme, Formula 4 Success, Bob Heiss shared a list of "must do" BATs to help you reach your full potential. What was your favorite?
• Mike Crandall spoke to sales managers about how to motivate salespeople, but first shared this: "If you want to help them more than THEY want to help themselves, you're setting up both parties for heartache and disaster."
• Applying Sandler to your work environment was laid out by Bill McCrary as Sandler can be customized to any business without jeopardizing the core of the system. Rich Chiarello focused on the importance of a timeline and woke up the room when he shared the results of a recent study that revealed that the biggest challenge facing B2B marketers is generating new leads. 

After being named Sandler's Rookie of the Year, Eric Knight, took a panoramic shot of the crowd to remember his professional milestone.

After a morning apart, clients and trainers reunited for the afternoon sessions led by Bill Murray and Rochelle Carrington. With so much expertise shared, a few of our favorites are below:

• Bill Murray focused on overcoming wimp junctions, but one bit of advice that a lot of professionals will put in practice is related to client presentations. "Everyone knows it's best to present last – so why not just ask to present last? It works in your favor almost every time."
• When it comes to your success, 80% of it is between your ears. Rochelle Carrington reminds attendees to keep the self-talk positive. Her opener was an eye-opener for the room, "If you don't anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all. How many of us use that and apply it to ourselves?"
• After two days of training, professional development, networking and growth, Dave Mattson closed the Summit and sent the crowd home with more inspiring insight on goal-setting and how to reach those goals.

Thanks to everyone who attended and followed along with the 2014 Sandler Summit!