Alan Sandler, Managing Partner of Sandler Partners, opened the 2026 Sandler Partners National Summit in San Diego, CA, with a clear message: Sandler Partners is not for sale. Four years ago, Alan made a 10-year commitment to independence built on three priorities: a thriving company, a team that enjoys working together, and Partners who choose to grow with Sandler. Today, Sandler is three for three.
While close to 200 agencies have sold to larger technology services distributors (TSDs), Sandler Partners has grown organically, reaching a $1.2 billion run rate in customer billings with zero acquisitions, and continues to invest heavily in innovation and the tools and people that support Partners.
One of those tools took center stage. Alan gave attendees a first look at ScoutAI, which serves as Partners’ “personal sales engineer, anywhere, anytime.” Partners can simply email the tool any solution questions, RFPs, client bills, and more, no formatting required, and receive recommendations shaped by the experience of Sandler’s Sales Engineering team in their inbox in minutes. ScoutAI adds to the team rather than replacing it, and the responses are structured to fit client needs vs. suggesting promoted Providers. As Alan stated, “Nobody in this room should ever lose a deal because the question came up at midnight.”
At the center of Alan’s message was the customer relationship. As some TSDs hire salespeople to rebuild relationships that didn’t transfer with their acquisitions, Alan put it simply: “You can buy the accounts. You cannot buy the customer.” That trust matters more than ever as AI drives demand across Connectivity, Data Center and Colocation, AI, and Cybersecurity. Customers will buy these solutions from someone. “The only question is whether that somebody is you.”
That same focus on relationships is what sets Sandler Partners apart. As the last of the major TSDs that doesn’t answer to private equity or venture capital, Sandler answers only to its community: its Partners, employees, and Providers.