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  • Deadly Negotiation Strategies – The Bob Chronicles Part 8

    • March 24, 2025
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I asked Bob why he thought negotiations would be required and he told me that his prospect said they didn’t want to spend more than $50,000.  You read that right.  He knew they didn’t want to spend more than $50,000 and he proposed a solution for more than $1,000,000! 

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  • 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!

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  • 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.

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  • 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. 

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  • 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.

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  • 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.

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  • 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?

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  • 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.

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  • 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? 

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  • 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?

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