The Client Builder Selling Story

Growing up in a family business – a wholesale distribution company that sold heating and cooling equipment to HVAC dealers – gave Larry Lewis  the opportunity to witness firsthand just how important sales and marketing skills are to the success of the typical small business.  He soon realized that the difference between those who were successful and those that struggled had little to do with the quality of their work.  The difference was in their ability to market and sell.

The Client Builder Selling Process is made for people that sell solutions to problems, regardless of whether those solutions comes in the form of a product or a service.He also came to understand the benefit of building a business around systems.  In 1982, he was responsible for installing the first computerized system for purchasing, inventory control, order entry, billing and accounting inside his family’s business.  These systems and the others throughout their small company saved them time and money.  They also ensured a consistent level of quality and customer service.

Larry’s father eventually sold the business and Larry moved on to work for other companies in sales.  While working as a salesperson for LexisNexis he was introduced to SPIN Selling and for the first time he discovered the power of having a systematic approach to selling.  Utilizing this system, he became one of the company’s top sales reps.

Longing for the independence that compels most small business owners to go into business for themselves, Larry acquired a Sandler Sales Institute franchise in 1996 and started his own sales training business.  He was determined to provide small businesses with the tools and training they needed to generate more sales and be more successful.  Armed with a selling system and his determination to succeed, he built a strong foundation of new clients.

Like SPIN Selling and other selling systems that preceded it, the Sandler Selling System had a lot going for it.  However, after David Sandler’s death in 1995, many of Sandler’s strategies and tactics began to grow stale and outdated especially with the expanded use of technologies like voice mail and the internet.  In addition, many of Larry’s clients found certain elements of Sandler’s system to be too difficult to execute and many of Sandler’s techniques were perceived as overtly manipulative.

In response to these concerns, Larry began to incorporate more and more strategies and techniques from other selling experts – people like Neil Rackham, Bill Brooks, Jeff Thule, and the Miller-Heiman organization – into his training.  Finally, after seven years, he sold his Sandler franchise and developed a selling system of his own – the Client Builder Selling Process.

The Client Builder Selling process is a selling system tailor-made for small businesses that sell solutions to problems regardless of whether those solutions come in the form of a product or a service.  It incorporates the best sales practices Larry has experienced during his 20+ years as a sales professional along with everything his clients have taught him over the last 14 years as a sales and marketing coach.   Client Builder Selling is a selling system that recognizes the realities of doing business in today’s highly competitive, global economy.  It’s a process that is honest and straightforward.  In short, it’s a selling system that works.

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