Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
  • About Us
    • Corporate Overview
    • Management
    • Senior Consultants
    • Brand Promise
    • Our Philosophy
    • Partners
    • Ask a Question
    • Our Clients
      • Testimonials
      • Client Projects
  • Services
    • Cutting Edge
      • Sales Candidate Assessments and Sales Force Evaluations
      • Training
      • Sales Process Consulting
      • Coaching
      • Train the Trainer
      • Sales Recruiting
    • Sales Force
      • Sales Force Architecture
      • Social Selling
      • Inside Sales
      • Sales Process Customization
      • Channel Sales
      • Sales Pipeline and Forecasting
    • Growth and Development
      • Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
      • Sales Force Evaluation
      • Sales Methodology
      • Sales Compensation
      • Corporate Training
      • Free Tools
  • Who
    • CEO or President
    • CSO or Sales Leader
    • Human Resources VP or Director
    • Non-Profit Director or Chair
    • Founder/Owner
    • Sales Manager
    • Salesperson
  • News & Events
    • Sales Leadership Intensive
      • Overview
      • Agenda
      • Speakers
      • More Information
      • Enroll
      • Attendee Testimonials
    • News
    • Book A Speaker
      • Book Chris
      • Book Dave
      • Book Dennis
      • Book Derek
    • Corporate Training
    • Self-Directed Training
  • Baseline Selling
    • About Baseline Selling
    • Selling Tips
    • Field Guide
    • Trade Reviews
    • What The Experts are Saying
    • Corporate Training
    • Self-Directed Training
    • Speaking
      • Invite Dave Kurlan to Speak
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Media
    • Dave Kurlan’s Blog
    • Books
      • Baseline Sellng
      • Sales Hack
      • Death of 20th Century Selling
      • 101 Ways to Improve Your Life V2
      • Mindless Selling
      • Stepping Stones
      • Mastering the World of Selling
    • Magazine/Newspaper/Interviews
    • Videos
    • Podcasts & Webinars
  • This is What Would Happen if Bob Got Promoted to Sales Manager

    • February 7, 2023
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    For those of you who are familiar with my series of articles about Bob – the worst salesperson ever – you can catch up by enjoying, laughing, and making fun of him here.  12 of the articles that show up on that page are about Bob!

    read more
  • The Bob Chronicles – The Difference Between Selling Skills and Effectiveness

    • October 12, 2022
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Today a client asked me to explain the difference between skills and effectiveness. You won’t find the answer by doing a Google search as that search turns up exactly nothing on the subject.  This article will discuss the similarity between symptoms/causes and skills/effectiveness. Do you remember Bob, the subject of many articles and my favorite weak salesperson to write about?

    Bob strikes again!

    I’ve written 10 articles about Bob and everyone says that the Bob series is their favorite.

    read more
  • When Salespeople Can’t Close Closable Business – The Bob Chronicles Part 7

    • February 14, 2022
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    So what did Bob get himself into this time?

    It’s a huge opportunity that Bob has been nurturing for years and several months ago his prospect, a top executive that has the influence and authority to make a decision, confided that he would like to find a way to do business and not only that, have this be part of his legacy. 

    read more
  • Bob Chronicles Part 6 – When Salespeople Suddenly Make Things Your Problem

    • January 20, 2022
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Bob was informed 2 weeks ago that an important customer proposal would be due by the end of business today. At 4pm, Bob was in a panic, screaming that he needed pricing in the next 10 minutes or you’ll lose the business.  Suddenly it has become your problem.

    read more
  • The Bob Chronicles Part 5 – Bob Can’t Win This Argument Over a Sales Core Competency

    • June 22, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    OMG has assessed more than 2 million salespeople and measures their sales capabilities in 21 Sales Core Competencies.  While some might not like their scores, most salespeople agree with our findings because they are extremely accurate.  However, there is one competency of the 21 that causes salespeople to dig in, disagree, and push back.  Today I will explain the competency and share yesterday’s conversation with Bob.  For new readers, and those who don’t remember, Bob tends to get himself into trouble and is representative of all weak salespeople.

    read more
  • Crappy Salespeople and Lack of Urgency Alignment  – The Bob Chronicles Part 4

    • April 27, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    This is the fourth installment in the Bob Chronicles.  Bob is the weak salesperson who represents the bottom 50% of all salespeople. You can read previous installments about Bob below:

    The $225,000 Mistake That Most Salespeople Make

    Data – The Top Salespeople are 631% More Effective at This Than Weak Salespeople 

    Good Bob, Bad Bob, The Stockdale Paradox and Sales Success

    You’re probably wondering, what did Bob screw up this time?  He screwed up urgency.  You might be asking how a salesperson could possibly screw up urgency but Bob and the rest of the weak salespeople screw up just about everything else so why not urgency too?

    read more
  • Good Bob, Bad Bob, The Stockdale Paradox, and Sales Success

    • February 2, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Happy Ears is a Big Problem for most salespeople.  When it’s a strength, Objective Management Group (OMG) calls it Healthy Skepticism.  The challenge is that Healthy Skepticism is unlike the other selling strengths and weaknesses measured by OMG, where great salespeople have them as strengths and weak salespeople have them as weaknesses.  With Healthy Skepticism there is little differentiation between strong and weak salespeople.

    read more
  • Data – Top Salespeople are 631% More Effective at This Than Weak Salespeople (The Bob Chronicles – Part 3)

    • January 26, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Bob is up to his old tricks.  If you don’t know who Bob is, you can learn about his sales misadventures in this article on not properly selling a trial, and this article about not selling value.  Both articles are of the must-read variety.

    So what did Bob do to piss me off this week? 

    read more
  • Sales Selection – Would You Choose Bob or Mary?

    • September 16, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    As is the trend in the automobile industry these days, there is a hybrid, the best of both worlds, with all the charm of Bob and all the resolve of Mary.  But my opening question didn’t include the ‘A’ player as one of the choices.  If you had to choose Bob or Mary, who would you select?

    read more
  • Coconut Flakes Help to Improve Sales Effectiveness

    • November 6, 2023
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    authentic salespeople

    My wife took me to a Vegan restaurant for lunch and I ordered a sandwich that consisted of coconut, lettuce and tomato on multi-grain bread.  I not only didn’t hate it, I liked it.  I showed my wife that it had bacon in it and she swore it didn’t.  She suggested I ask the owner so I asked him about the bacon and he explained that he prepared the coconut flakes to have the look, taste and texture of bacon.  Fake bacon.

    There are fake salespeople too. 

    read more
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 7
Search Our Site
Subscribe to Our Blog

Follow Us on Twitter
Retweet on Twitter Dave Kurlan Retweeted
heytammybruce Tammy Bruce @heytammybruce ·
1 Dec

“My fifth-grade science project was to type everyone’s blood in my class. My oldest son’s fifth-grade science project, four decades later, was the equivalent of number-painting a comic book.” https://martinhackworth.substack.com/p/why-21st-century-science-is-in-trouble

Reply on Twitter 1730396912203825446 Retweet on Twitter 1730396912203825446 16 Like on Twitter 1730396912203825446 65 Twitter 1730396912203825446
Latest News
  • Kurlan & Associates Named to Top 20 Virtual Sales Training Companies in 2020

    June 8, 2020
  • Training Industry named Kurlan & Associates one of the Training companies to watch in 2020

    May 1, 2020
Discover More About Kurlan & Associates
 
Kurlan & Associates, Inc.

Kurlan & Associates, Inc. was founded in 1985 by Dave Kurlan, a renowned expert in sales force assessments, training and strategic growth strategies.

Contact Us

  • 21 East Main Street, Suite 301
    Westborough, MA 01581 USA
  • 00 +1 + 508-389-9350

Explore

  • Home
  • About
  • Services
  • News
  • Baseline Selling
  • Sitemap
  • Contact

Follow Us on Twitter

Retweet on Twitter Dave Kurlan Retweeted
heytammybruce Tammy Bruce @heytammybruce ·
1 Dec

“My fifth-grade science project was to type everyone’s blood in my class. My oldest son’s fifth-grade science project, four decades later, was the equivalent of number-painting a comic book.” https://martinhackworth.substack.com/p/why-21st-century-science-is-in-trouble

Reply on Twitter 1730396912203825446 Retweet on Twitter 1730396912203825446 16 Like on Twitter 1730396912203825446 65 Twitter 1730396912203825446
© Copyright 2005-2023 Kurlan & Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Website designed and developed by PENTA Communications, Inc.
Subscribe to Our Blog

Understanding the Sales Force