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In this episode, we explore a counterintuitive but powerful sales idea: don’t be creative. That doesn’t mean don’t adapt or think—but it does mean stop spending so much time inventing responses on the fly. Jason and Jim walk through the five common responses prospects give—yes, no, maybe, I don’t know, and I’m not comfortable telling you—and explain how building a repeatable system for handling them is a smarter strategy than winging it every time.

We discuss the difference between rigid scripts and flexible talk tracks, and why the best sellers come across as authentic because they’re practiced—not because they’re improvising. There’s also a helpful analogy to acting: great actors follow a script but make it sound natural. If you’re looking for ways to improve your presence, sharpen your self-awareness, or build consistency in the way you run calls, this episode gives you the framework to start acting with more intentionality and less guesswork.

The core message: trust your process, test it thoroughly, and stop trying to prove it wrong before you’ve even given it a chance to work.

🏆 About Crossroads Business Development:

At Crossroads Business Development we are the recipients of the David H. Sandler award for 2021, the highest mark of achievement that the network passes out. We pride ourselves with our dedicated service to the success of our clients and our top-of-the-line training that keeps our clients engaged and coming back for more.

Jim is a dynamic and engaging conference presenter and national speaker, renowned for his impactful presentations at a wide array of sales and industry events. With an impressive twenty-five-year track record in entrepreneurial small business creation, sales, and company management, he brings a wealth of real-world experience. Additionally, Jim has spent two decades honing his expertise through Sandler Sales & Management Training, equipping him with the tools to drive success in any organization. His keen insights and ability to identify and address roadblocks are instrumental in fostering growth and transformation for individuals and companies.
📧 Reach out to Jim at jim.stephens@sandler.com

Jason worked at the university before joining the team. He brings an analytical perspective to coaching and has several tracks to help with team and personal development. Our clients hire Jason for his systematic approach to help them integrate Sandler into their day-to-day operations. His attention to detail and expertise with our assessment tools help them create behavior-based plans to incorporate more processes and align their goals with the company's goals.
📧 Reach out to Jason at jason.stephens@sandler.com

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Every salesperson runs on scripts—internalized beliefs and stories about money, people, and success. In this episode, Jim and Jason shine a light on two critical scripts that silently derail performance:

• Money Tolerance: Your internal beliefs about what you can afford often cap what you believe others should pay. If you're uncomfortable with large numbers, you’ll unconsciously soften your ask.
• “You’ll never ask someone to spend more than what you’re comfortable spending yourself.”
• Mental Presence: Your ability to stay emotionally engaged in a sales conversation often depends on how quiet—or loud—your internal script is. When you’re in your head, you’re not in the room.
• “Presence isn’t just listening—it’s freedom from the noise in your own head.”

These attitudes aren’t fixed traits; they’re rewritable. When you change the script, you change your performance.

🏆 About Crossroads Business Development:

At Crossroads Business Development we are the recipients of the David H. Sandler award for 2021, the highest mark of achievement that the network passes out. We pride ourselves with our dedicated service to the success of our clients and our top-of-the-line training that keeps our clients engaged and coming back for more.

Jim is a dynamic and engaging conference presenter and national speaker, renowned for his impactful presentations at a wide array of sales and industry events. With an impressive twenty-five-year track record in entrepreneurial small business creation, sales, and company management, he brings a wealth of real-world experience. Additionally, Jim has spent two decades honing his expertise through Sandler Sales & Management Training, equipping him with the tools to drive success in any organization. His keen insights and ability to identify and address roadblocks are instrumental in fostering growth and transformation for individuals and companies.
📧 Reach out to Jim at jim.stephens@sandler.com

Jason worked at the university before joining the team. He brings an analytical perspective to coaching and has several tracks to help with team and personal development. Our clients hire Jason for his systematic approach to help them integrate Sandler into their day-to-day operations. His attention to detail and expertise with our assessment tools help them create behavior-based plans to incorporate more processes and align their goals with the company's goals.
📧 Reach out to Jason at jason.stephens@sandler.com

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In this episode, Jason and Jim explore how time management is less about controlling your schedule and more about understanding your personal priorities and the emotional and financial costs of misalignment. They introduce the concept of “Pain by Numbers”—a strategy for quantifying the cost of inaction and bad habits in your daily behaviors.

Key topics include:

• Why most people float in default mode and how that drains productivity and energy.
• How to conduct a time audit to identify your true behavior vs. your stated goals.
• What it means to quantify emotional impact, not just financial ROI.
• Why small daily decisions compound, and how to measure their long-term cost.
• The difference between using pain/shame vs. gain/opportunity as motivational fuel.

Jim shares the humbling story of trying to “optimize every minute” with a personal mantra—only to end up emotionally wrecked from the pressure. Jason ties in a powerful Faulkner quote, "I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all your breath trying to conquer it. Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools." about forgetting time to live in the moment, flipping the script on traditional time management advice.

🏆 About Crossroads Business Development:

At Crossroads Business Development we are the recipients of the David H. Sandler award for 2021, the highest mark of achievement that the network passes out. We pride ourselves with our dedicated service to the success of our clients and our top-of-the-line training that keeps our clients engaged and coming back for more.

Jim is a dynamic and engaging conference presenter and national speaker, renowned for his impactful presentations at a wide array of sales and industry events. With an impressive twenty-five-year track record in entrepreneurial small business creation, sales, and company management, he brings a wealth of real-world experience. Additionally, Jim has spent two decades honing his expertise through Sandler Sales & Management Training, equipping him with the tools to drive success in any organization. His keen insights and ability to identify and address roadblocks are instrumental in fostering growth and transformation for individuals and companies.
📧 Reach out to Jim at jim.stephens@sandler.com

Jason worked at the university before joining the team. He brings an analytical perspective to coaching and has several tracks to help with team and personal development. Our clients hire Jason for his systematic approach to help them integrate Sandler into their day-to-day operations. His attention to detail and expertise with our assessment tools help them create behavior-based plans to incorporate more processes and align their goals with the company's goals.
📧 Reach out to Jason at jason.stephens@sandler.com

Send us a text

In this episode of the Sandler Training Hour, Jim and Jason dive into what makes great sales managers thrive—and why many sales leaders fall into a trap of being reactive instead of intentional. The conversation kicks off with a core question: "What’s the role of a sales manager—really?" and quickly gets into tactical and philosophical ground.

Jason shares that many managers default to "reactive management", where coaching happens only in response to problems. He says, “We have to change the cadence—we wait until people screw up before we coach them.” Jim adds that proactive coaching starts with clarity: “You’ve got to know the expectations and you’ve got to track the behaviors that get there.”

The episode highlights a key coaching trap: Managers spending too much time in the trenches doing the work for others. Jason reflects, “You can’t grow your team if you’re constantly rescuing them.” Instead, managers should measure success not just by results, but by how many people on their team improve each month.

Great sales management requires true leadership that comes from a manager’s ability to build capacity in others, not from being the smartest person in the room. Coaching is not about answering questions—it’s about asking the right questions.

As Jim puts it, “Great managers create space for their team to grow, reflect, and own their outcomes.”

At Crossroads Business Development we are the recipients of the David H. Sandler award for 2021, the highest mark of achievement that the network passes out. We pride ourselves with our dedicated service to the success of our clients and our top-of-the-line training that keeps our clients engaged and coming back for more.

Jim is a dynamic and engaging conference presenter and national speaker, renowned for his impactful presentations at a wide array of sales and industry events. With an impressive twenty-five-year track record in entrepreneurial small business creation, sales, and company management, he brings a wealth of real-world experience. Additionally, Jim has spent two decades honing his expertise through Sandler Sales & Management Training, equipping him with the tools to drive success in any organization. His keen insights and ability to identify and address roadblocks are instrumental in fostering growth and transformation for individuals and companies.

📧 Reach out to Jim at jim.stephens@sandler.com

Jason worked at the university before joining the team. He brings an analytical perspective to coaching and has several tracks to help with team and personal development. Our clients hire Jason for his systematic approach to help them integrate Sandler into their day-to-day operations. His attention to detail and expertise with our assessment tools help them create behavior-based plans to incorporate more processes and align their goals with the company's goals.

📧 Reach out to Jason at jason.stephens@sandler.com

Send us a text

In this final episode of our Barriers to Success series, Jason and Jim unpack what may be the most important roadblock to sales success—being “I”-centered. This powerful episode challenges you to examine how your internal focus and emotional needs can derail your sales process, communication, and personal growth.

Key Takeaways:

🔹 Your need for approval may be undermining your success.
“If I want people to like me… I'm likely to not ask questions that are going to be perceived as challenging” – Jim highlights how our psychological need for validation can keep us from asking the tough—but necessary—questions in a discovery process.

🔹 You are not your role—focus on the process, not your feelings.
Jason explains, “You can either be a performer or a critic, but you can’t be both.” Emotional self-judgment can paralyze your ability to act effectively in the moment.

🔹 The prospect only cares about their world—not your discomfort.
“The number one problem is that you spend so much time worrying about yourself when the prospect only cares about themselves and their plan” – Jason frames the core issue with being “I”-centered in selling.

🔹 Use systems to stay out of your own way.
Systems like Sandler help redirect your focus from self-consciousness to structured discovery: “You don’t have to think about what to do, because it’s part of a process that removes that focus on yourself”.

🔹 Your inner critic is not your sales coach.
Drawing from quotes by Philip K. Dick and Marcus Aurelius, Jason explores how self-punishment keeps us stuck: “The worst things we do, we do to ourselves,” and, “Instead of choosing to become a good person today, you choose to become one tomorrow”.

Call to Action:
This is the final installment of our Barriers to Success series—don’t miss this culminating episode! It’s packed with mindset shifts and personal challenges that will help you reframe your internal dialogue and show up with purpose in every conversation.

At Crossroads Business Development we are the recipients of the David H. Sandler award for 2021, the highest mark of achievement that the network passes out. We pride ourselves with our dedicated service to the success of our clients and our top-of-the-line training that keeps our clients engaged and coming back for more.

Reach us at:

Jason.Stephens@sandler.com

Jim.Stephens@sandler.com

Send us a text

In this episode of the Sandler Training Hour, Jim and Jason return to the series on Barriers to Success with two more hidden saboteurs: Stamp Collecting and Excess Baggage. If you've ever blown up at a client, found yourself avoiding confrontation, or felt frozen by your past failures, this one’s for you.

🔥 Barrier #7: Emotional Stamp Collecting

Most people don’t explode at others over just one thing—it’s the 99 things they held in that finally boil over. Jim frames this behavior as emotional stamp collecting:

But it’s not just you. When your client is the one collecting stamps—especially unspoken disappointments—you’re sitting on a time bomb:

The fix? Assertive communication now—not emotional catharsis later. Jason urges:

That doesn’t mean dumping emotions without purpose, but rather confronting misalignments early and with intention. Don’t let avoidance today create chaos tomorrow.

🧳 Barrier #8: Unfinished Business (aka Baggage)

Next up, the internal weight you carry—old belief systems, limiting assumptions, or workplace scars. Baggage shows up in passive behavior, over-cautiousness, and unclear boundaries:

In sales, this might look like endlessly checking in, asking for updates, or avoiding the tough conversation because of internal guilt or fear. Jim and Jason describe this state as invisible—not even passive anymore.

Jason warns:

Jim follows:

🧠 Mindset Challenge: Audit Your Emotional Ledger

Before you go into another sales meeting, coaching call, or difficult conversation, Jason recommends doing a quick self-inventory:

• What emotional stamps are you collecting?
• Who do you need to clear the air with?
• What baggage are you carrying that is keeping you from being direct, firm, and intentional?

By naming it, you reclaim it.

Reach out to us at Jason.Stephens@sandler.com if you want to connect.

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🔹 #7 – The Mr. Nice Guy Model

Jim expands:

But avoiding pushiness often leads to indirect conversations and unclear expectations, which in turn creates bloated pipelines and lost opportunities.

🔹 #8 – Dependence on Others

Jim offers a healthier frame:

🔹 #9 – Not Knowing the Difference Between Needs and Wants

They discuss how desperation repels buyers:

Jason wraps it up by noting:

💡 This Week’s Challenge

Reflect on Barriers 7–9:

• Where do you see the Mr. Nice Guy model showing up in your conversations?
• Are you dependent on others for motivation, or practicing healthy interdependence?
• Do you approach opportunities from need or from want?

Be intentional and see how shifting these mindsets opens up new levels of success.

At Crossroads Business Development we are the recipients of the David H. Sandler award for 2021, the highest mark of achievement that the network passes out. We pride ourselves with our dedicated service to the success of our clients and our top-of-the-line training that keeps our clients engaged and coming back for more.

Jim is a dynamic and engaging conference presenter and national speaker, renowned for his impactful presentations at a wide array of sales and industry events. With an impressive twenty-five-year track record in entrepreneurial small business creation, sales, and company management, he brings a wealth of real-world experience. Additionally, Jim has spent two decades honing his expertise through Sandler Sales & Management Training, equipping him with the tools to drive success in any organization.
📧 For inquiries, reach out to Jim at jim.stephens@sandler.com.

Jason worked at the university before joining the team. He brings an analytical perspective to coaching and has several tracks to help with team and personal development.
Our clients hire Jason for his systematic approach to help them integrate Sandler into their day-to-day operations. His attention to detail and expertise with our assessment tools help them create behavior-based plans to incorporate more processes and align their goals with the company's goals.
📧 You can reach Jason at jason.stephens@sandler.com.

Send us a text

Breaking Through the Next Barriers to Success

In this week’s Sandler Training Hour, Jim and Jason continue exploring the 21 Barriers to Success from No Guts, No Gain. Last time, they covered resignation, lack of priorities, and low self-esteem. This week, they dive into the next three:

🔹 Hopelessness

🔹 Lack of Confidence

🔹 Fear of Rejection / Need for Approval

💡 This Week’s Challenge

Notice which of these barriers—hopelessness, lack of confidence, or fear of rejection—are showing up for you. Reframe your narrative, be deliberate, and celebrate your no’s to fuel momentum.

🎧 Listen to the full episode of the Sandler Training Hour:
“Barriers to Success: Hopelessness, Confidence, and Fear of Rejection.”

At Crossroads Business Development we are the recipients of the David H. Sandler award for 2021, the highest mark of achievement that the network passes out. We pride ourselves with our dedicated service to the success of our clients and our top-of-the-line training that keeps our clients engaged and coming back for more.

Jim is a dynamic and engaging conference presenter and national speaker, renowned for his impactful presentations at a wide array of sales and industry events. With an impressive twenty-five-year track record in entrepreneurial small business creation, sales, and company management, he brings a wealth of real-world experience. Additionally, Jim has spent two decades honing his expertise through Sandler Sales & Management Training, equipping him with the tools to drive success in any organization.
📧 For inquiries, reach out to Jim at jim.stephens@sandler.com.

Jason worked at the university before joining the team. He brings an analytical perspective to coaching and has several tracks to help with team and personal development.
Our clients hire Jason for his systematic approach to help them integrate Sandler into their day-to-day operations. His attention to detail and expertise with our assessment tools help them create behavior-based plans to incorporate more processes and align their goals with the company's goals.
📧 You can reach Jason at jason.stephens@sandler.com.