Gaspar’s started their transition consulting with another firm, but they had no success. “They just couldn’t get us off the ground,” Sarah explained. Shortly after failing to take flight, Gaspar’s turned to Sandler Training. “We couldn’t get through our issues without facilitation. Sandler helped greatly with that. It took an outside perspective to get through it.” The change in ownership started a relationship that became woven into the very fabric of Gaspar’s existence. “For us, it’s part of our culture. You need a unified company culture where everyone speaks the same language. Sandler has helped us develop a culture of learning and curiosity, as well as all the other tools that holistically help us in all aspects of life.” Sandler’s culture merged with Gaspar’s and began a steady process of providing sustainable practices and continued value. Sarah recognized that without the proper tools, her team was always going to be bound by limitations. The Sandler Training method isn’t built solely around speaking. So much of communication training focuses on talking with confidence and conviction. But, when you’re dealing with customer experience, it’s crucial to listen . Sarah details how this concept has helped with their conflict resolution by explaining, “We go in and ask a ton of questions, listening and digesting. What are the real issues owners have with their home? Is it functional for that family?” Listening isn’t just important externally, but it’s also important internally. The tagline for Gaspar’s is “If you live in it, you should love it,” and Sarah attempts to apply this to the inner workings of her business. The tagline was brought up during a meeting recently. Sarah says, “We continually ask ourselves, A TRANSITION OF MORE THAN OWNERSHIP
‘How do we make sure we are finding the underlying issues for everything?” This question is central to how Gaspar’s approaches their meetings. It’s important for Sarah to keep her employees invigorated, but she ran into an issue when it came to Gaspar’s meetings. “We fell into a lull of having too many meaningless meetings,” she explained. It wasn’t as if Gaspar’s employees were passing around coffee mugs with the inscription, “I survived another meeting that should’ve been an email.” But as Sarah explains it, “You have to be intentional.” You can put your nose to the grindstone all you want, but when push comes to shove, you’re not going to accomplish anything without proper communication. undervalue the entirety of the package. But communication is at the very core of what the system is all about. Sure, there are sales methods and personal- development training, but the one common denominator of everything that Sandler Training teaches is effective communication. If Sandler were only presented as communication training, it would 2008. She inherited her final stake in the company just before the real estate market took a nosedive. One of her very first talking points was the nightmare of every new company leader: pay cuts. “It created stress for everyone. We cut across the board — the entire company. We didn’t lose anyone as a result, but we had a lot of rebuilding to do after that.” Why do you think Gaspar’s didn’t lose anyone when they cut pay? You could easily argue that the workers had nowhere else to go, and that might very well be the case for some, but Gaspar’s THE TOUGH TIMES Sarah became the majority shareholder of Gaspar’s in
has a history of being a firm that treats their employees right. A big part of that is the trickle-down effect Sarah’s leadership has on her team. It wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows when Sarah’s employees reacted to learning that training was becoming an integral part of their business. “There were a lot of hostages in the room. They’d say, ‘This is crap. Why would we do this?’ But now, it’s not an option, because it’s part of our culture.” Training is so ingrained in their business that it’s brought up in every interview and laid out as an expectation for all employees. “In my experience, many employees are engaged, and those who aren’t don’t stay on our team.” Sarah has about 30 percent of her company actively participating in Sandler Training on a regular basis. Ten members have weekly sales training every Wednesday for two hours. Sarah herself goes to management training twice a month, and she brings her management team with her. “It’s critical to our success. It gives us perspective, and it helps me to have an outside, third party saying the same things I am.” Sarah also receives personal coaching. Strategic planning was something Sarah plugged into wholeheartedly. “It serves as a roadmap. We look at it quarterly, annually, three years out, five years out, and forever.” A business without a plan is not a business at all. You cannot afford to just “wing it” when it comes to building an entrepreneurial future. A cook might be able to throw some ingredients around and make an edible dish, but to be a fine chef, you need a clear and detailed plan for everything you make. It’s the same for running a business. Once you have a plan clearly defined, only then can you improvise. WHAT SANDLER DOES FOR GASPAR’S
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