How LifeTouch Transformed Its Sales Culture with Sandler Training

Introduction: From Inconsistent Growth to Sales Accountability and Culture Change

When the new Vice President of Sales stepped into leadership at LifeTouch, the organization faced a familiar challenge: flat organic growth, despite decades of effort. With 650 sales professionals across the U.S. and Canada, the company had a strong foundation—but lacked a consistent sales playbook, defined sales accountabilities, and a culture of disciplined execution.

For years, the company tried new sales ideas and programs every few cycles, but nothing stuck. It wasn’t for lack of effort—it was a lack of strategic structure and repeatable systems. That’s when LifeTouch decided to partner with Sandler Sales Training.

The Sales Reality: Good at Selling, Not at Telling the Story

LifeTouch provides photography services for schools, including student and staff portraits and ID cards. Sales teams meet directly with principals and school district leaders—often in intimidating settings like the principal’s office.

That experience created a power imbalance, where sales reps didn’t always feel like equals to the decision-makers. The team was capable but needed support to build confidence, consistency, and consultative skills.

While the company talked often about becoming “world-class,” it hadn’t yet made the leap from intention to execution.

The Turning Point: From Homegrown Training to Strategic Sales Development

For years, LifeTouch had tried to develop its own internal sales training. They used coaching, ride-alongs, and role-playing, but lacked clarity around what true excellence looked like—or how to scale it across a national team.

Leadership realized they needed an external partner who could help build:

Sales discipline and accountability
A unified sales language
Structured development and coaching frameworks
A culture of performance

They considered several well-known training companies, including Dale Carnegie. But it was Sandler that stood out—especially after attending a breakout session at the Sandler Summit that touched on key needs like pre-call planning, feedback assessments, upfront agreements, and equal business stature.

From Skepticism to Momentum: Leading with the Top 20%

Like many leaders, there was initial skepticism: Was this training really going to work? But that changed quickly.

They launched Sandler with their top-performing 20% of sales leaders—and the feedback was immediate and overwhelmingly positive. For the first time, reps and leaders were requesting more training. Engagement soared, and word-of-mouth began spreading throughout the organization.

The secret? Sandler didn’t just provide knowledge. It helped LifeTouch operationalize behavior change and make sales excellence repeatable.

Investing in People Is the Real Competitive Advantage

The VP of Sales offers simple advice for other leaders who feel too busy to invest in training: make the time.

You can have the best product or service, but in a competitive market, the company that invests in its people—and in the systems and structure to support them—is the one that wins.

Sandler training elevated both the caliber of people joining the organization and the performance of those already in it.

Cultural Transformation at Scale: Raising the Bar Across a $650M Company

Changing culture in a well-established company isn’t easy. But that’s exactly what LifeTouch has accomplished with Sandler. With over $650 million in revenue, the business is evolving into a truly world-class sales organization—driven by consistent processes, strong leadership, and a renewed sense of purpose.