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Sandler Training
Prince of Wales Charity turns to Baltimore for help!
As the credit crunch bites in Great Britain even one of the Royal Family's favourite charities is suffering. The Queen's eldest son, Prince Charles, set up the Prince's Trust in 1976 to help troubled young people in the UK find a role in life.
Now the trust has been forced to turn to a Baltimore-based sales training organization to help it raise funds. It's the first time the charity has sought help with corporate fundraising. The trust say charities must think like businesses to attract support in increasingly tough times.
With corporate support waning, they decided to look to Sandler Training for help.
Nigel Dunand, 47, based in Worcester in the English West Midlands, will help the youth charity's workers find new ways to bring in extra revenue. David Littlewood, the charity's head of commercial development in the West Midlands, said: "We are in a sales environment and there are a lot of charities that we are competing with.
"We rely very much on corporate involvement for our donations. Animals charities and the like attract donation from individuals all over the country. In times of recession those donations continue and even increase". "But we're already seeing corporate donations declining as the credit crunch starts to bite."
"We now need to be more efficient and converting more of our leads."
"Initially people respond well to charities, they find it hard to say no because they genuinely want to help."
"But after as many as six meetings we still aren't seeing donations coming in and that is what we are trying to cut through."
"The challenge is to be efficient and recognise where the donations are going to come rom, I think that is where Sandler can help us."
Nigel Dunand said: "Charities spend a lot of time making visits to people who simply can’t say no to them, although they don't want to contribute.
"It is often difficult to say “no” to a charity wanting money. We'll be showing them how to help people make a decision, and get the No early, before so much time has been wasted. It’s the "think it overs" that turn into a slow ‘no’, that costs organizations valuable time and money."
"It's about understanding how people make decisions and helping them make the right one. It will require some changes in behaviour and the thought processes they use. I am really looking forward to working with them."
Nigel began work as a UK franchise holder with Baltimore-based Sandler, the world's largest sales training organisation, just over a year ago after spending 18 years with German firm IFM Electronic in both America and the UK.
He is part of the success story behind the transformed Longbridge site in Birmingham, once home to British Leyland and Rover until its 6,000 workers lost their jobs in 2005.
Now he runs courses from the Innovation Centre at Longbridge, a far cry from the site's strike-ravaged history in the 1970s when convenor Derek "Red Robbo" Robinson orchestrated 523 industrial disputes at the then government-owned British Leyland (BL) plant.
Nigel said: "It's becoming a success story in one of the buildings that grew from the rubble of Longbridge Rover."
"It's good to be a part of a group of people breathing new life into Longbridge after its troubles of the past. I am delighted to bring Sandler Training to a famous site and become part of the new lease of life it's now enjoying." “Many of our clients have innovative products or services that they want to get into the market as fast as possible. They find that the traditional sales approach produces long sales cycles and fights over pricing. We teach people how not to act like a sales person with an agenda, but how to become a trusted advisor with no agenda other than to help people make the right decision”
“Solicitors, engineers, business owners, corporate fundraisers and professionals of all types want to grow their business without being mistaken for a salesperson”
“The Sandler system is a proven sales and management system. It’s not suitable for everyone, so we need to go through an evaluation process with all our prospective clients. It helps with making the right decision!”
David Sandler founded the Sandler Sales Institute in 1966 and it now has 230 training centers around the world. Nigel said: "I worked in Pennsylvania with IFM Electronics and I was introduced to the Sandler methods.
"When I came back to the UK with IFM I approached Sandler to work with us, but the meeting went a different way and I ended up buying a franchise."
"I think one of the main points we get across is that sales doesn't have to be a struggle. We are not training people for a fight, we are helping them realise everyone has the ability to be successful and the importance of helping people make mutually profitable decisions."
