United Sugars Inc, Edina, MN 
www.untedsugars.com

United Sugars Inc is responsible for 30-35% of the sugar sold in the USA. Some of their customers are Hershey's, Pepsi, Coca Cola, Mars Candies and many others. Dirk was looking for a challenging sales skills program for a very experienced group of successful sales people. Many of this group has over 20 years of selling in the industry and many MBA's also. A 5 session Reverse Engineered Sales Program was conducted over four months for the group of 20. Below are comments and a video of their final comments at the last session for your review.

Dirk Swart
 VP Sales & Marketing

The program was great at taking the group through a formal process with an emphasis on questioning versus talking. The material is sound and the exercises made the material adaptable to us and should enhance its use.
 This will defiantly make me a better manager as it helps me better understand the thought process of others and how that can help me motivate the group.

Pete Smith
Strategic Accounts Director

The development of open ended questions to meet the customers true needs, this should help productivity. A very practical approach in a very safe environment to practice. The DISC profile along with the Mastering of Questions will help me to identify the best ways to communicate with customers. We can see results very quickly with the application of the ideas.

Steve Hanson
Marketing Manager

This program helped me in recognizing fears and how to get rid of them. Lots of good communication tools for building and maintaining relationships. The group work allowed the option of interacting rather than placing the
responsibility solely on each individual.

Ray Wood
National Account Sales

The use of open questions helps me get the real facts and deal with objections more effectively. The activities, practice and spaced learning help to make these ideas into skills I use every day. The material and ideas apply to most selling activities.

Kelly Jacobson
Customer Relationship Specialist

The different levels of questioning will help my level of influence, understanding  of customers and adeptness in conversations. By understanding the values and motives of my customers, we can build even better relationships with better results. The group work really helped to make the ideas viable.

Jan Blake
Regional Industrial Sales

Being made aware of how powerful the questioning methods can be. This will help me gain more information on current and prospective customers, which will help both sales and relationships. Harlan has a broad base of reference when  it comes to sales which helps him to make things relative to our situation.

Darla Willoughby
Business Analyst Transportation

The ability to understand different personalities, how they are influenced and the questioning skills help me to be a better negotiator and understand more about what I am buying. There was a lot of real life learning here and Harlan had a good ability help us adapt though role play and coaching. The interaction with all levels of the company was a real plus.

Megan Benavidez
Customer Relationship Specialist

I am obtaining better relationships with my customers through effective
open questioning. The DISC helps me understand my customers better and helps get through problem solving more effectively. This has changed my thinking about sales, that it is not about the product. All of the hands on work along with Harlan's ability to think on his feet with great examples made it easy to apply.

Ted Guy
Strategic Account Sales

This program provided a quality overview and understanding of the communication process which is critical to success with customers when negotiating business. I will  be investing more time in planning my engagements with customers and co-workers  utilizing the ideas and skills we have worked with. The trainer has a comfortable demeanor and very open to addressing questions.

Mark Gappa
National Industrial Sales

I have learned to further question objections and determine the problem and address them to resolution. The DISC has also help me to look inward and determine my strengths and how to alter potential short comings. I like the way Harlan is able to draw everyone out and into the issue at hand.

Steve Hines
Director of Marketing

I thought the program was immediately applicable. The discovery step, dealing with objections and self talk will all help me sell better. The presenters were frank, open and very engaging.

Christi Thielke
Customer Service Supervisor

This was very different than other sessions. Harlan did a good job of starting the conversation and then letting us tailor it to our business. The idea of more open and better questions will give us more feed back and results from our customers.

Jeff Koppenhaver
Truck Transportation Supervisor

This program has opened my mind to new ideas and approaches to selling
(communicating). The practice and interaction helps to understand and use the open questions and develop better listening skills. The trainers were very experienced, credible and engaging.

Pete Havanac
Sales & Marketing Analyst

Being in the technical side, this really gave me insight into selling and communicating. I will apply this in my personal life and internally. The program was conducted with a good balance between instruction and activity. Doing is always a better way of learning, and we did a lot of doing. The trainer was well informed and moved things along very well and time went fast each day.

Gary Staples
National Accounts Director

This program gets to the heart of the matter quickly. The activities and role plays worked better than I expected and reinforced a lot of other training. Communications listening, probing more with effective open questions and the DISC are some of the key ideas I have been using. The trainers did a very good job of relating to our organization and industry.

Jonathan Loyd
National Industrial Sales

Asking better questions and the DISC to understand my customers better were keys that I use regularly, even on strangers at truck stops. It has helped me to clarify opportunities as well as objections. The break out sessions and role play really helped to understand and apply the information.

Peter Blaydes
National Industrial Sales

This program has very solid ideas. I learned to justify the product with results, use more open questioning and understanding my customers better through the DISC. I would recommend this training because I can see the benefits!

Ray Smith
Operations Director

This will helps us evaluate our vendors motivations and values more effectively and create a more structured meeting with more control and results. It has been one of the better training sessions with lots of interaction and presenters with a good knowledge base.

Lee Glass
Transportation Director

This was a great program on communications and reinforced a lot of ideas and concepts we already knew but needed to put into practice more.