Search Results
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Salespeople With This Weakness Score 47% Worse at Reaching Decision Makers
- October 16, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
A lot of the salespeople I coach have a weakness in their Sales DNA – their need to be liked. Approximately 58% of all salespeople have this weakness and on average, salespeople score 76% in that competency. Elite salespeople have an average score of 87% and weak salespeople have an average score of 69%.
What would it look like if we were to pivot this data and look only at the group who have it as a weakness? When we filter the results by the need to be liked, there are some very interesting scores. Could it be that the need to be liked – by itself – is a predictor of sales success? Maybe. We know that if the salesperson is in an account management role, the need to be liked is an asset. However, in any kind of producer role, especially in a consultative process or methodology, it will get in the way. Take a look at this data!
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Voice Mail – Reaching Decision Makers
- January 19, 2015
- Posted by: Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
- Categories: Monthly Tips, Tactics - Getting to 1st Base (Appointments)
This story is from a reader of Baseline Selling:
Please read Page 43 of Baseline Selling. Since I’m over the embarrassment of screwing up something so simple, here goes. After almost 20 years of selling, managing & coaching salespeople and now sales development, I just learned last week how to leave a voicemail!
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Top 4 Reasons Salespeople Struggle to Reach Decision Makers
- October 30, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
So here we are again, with half of the salespeople reporting that they aren’t reaching decision makers. And why would a decision maker want to be reached if the salespeople are focused only on presentations? And companies wonder why their sales cycles are so long, their closing percentages are so low and their margins are slip sliding away…
Also noteworthy were these findings from the survey results:
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A Key Competency That Differentiates Top Sales Performers From Posers
- July 21, 2021
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The bottom 50% of all salespeople are posers too. In an article last week we discussed how data can help you hire the ideal salespeople.
In that article I shared a top/bottom analysis where the top performers were 100% more effective reaching decision makers than the bottoms. Below I’ve shared another top/bottom analysis with different findings.
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New Data Shows that You Can Double Revenue by Overcoming This One Sales Weakness
- October 22, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
My article revealed that salespeople who are burdened with the need to be liked are far less effective at selling than those who don’t have that weakness. The biggest insight of all was that these salespeople were 47% less effective reaching decision makers!
This article will take the same approach and use the same data from Objective Management Group’s (OMG) evaluations of 2,064,425 salespeople to look at salespeople who are uncomfortable having a financial conversation with their prospects and customers. The latest data reveals that 60% of all salespeople have this weakness! What do you think it will reveal?
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Sales 102 – The Pitch Deck, the Price Reduction and the Data
- September 29, 2016
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Recently I met with a CEO whose salespeople were not closing enough business. We had just evaluated their sales force and I had the answers as to why their sales were so underwhelming. Before we could explain what was causing their problem, the CEO said something along the lines of, “We are going to create a new pitch deck and reduce our prices. That will solve the problem!”
They weren’t suggesting a small price change either. It sounded like an 80% reduction and their reasoning overlapped with one of the contributing issues that we identified. Their salespeople weren’t reaching decision makers which raises more questions. Why weren’t they reaching decision makers and could anything be done about it? Would lowering their prices solve the problem or did the issue go deeper than that?
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250 Best Articles on Sales and Sales Leadership by Category
- April 4, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
These are the top 10 articles in 25 categories on sales, sales leadership, sales assessments, sales performance, sales excellence, sales process and more.
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10 Unfavorable Selling Conditions That Prevent Sales Success
- March 25, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
When you encounter unfavorable selling conditions, refuse to accept them. This isn’t about moving forward with a couple of favorable conditions, it’s about NOT moving forward unless the conditions become more favorable. Whether or not you wish to admit it, the truth is that when the conditions don’t favor you, the business isn’t coming to you.
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Homicide Detective Makes Best Case for Sales Process
- March 21, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The author admits that until he conducted his “cold-case investigation” of the New Testament, he was an atheist who always followed the evidence to find the truth. Similarly, a lot of prospects are also non-believers – not necessarily in Jesus – in your product or service. As I read and learned about the author’s methods for uncovering truth, or proof, I felt that salespeople could learn a lot about proof of concept, presenting facts, backing up claims, return on investment, and offering credible testimonials. That’s not nearly the analogy I’m going to make.
Wallace shared a story in the Forward about the time he was shot by a criminal who was on parole, and was not allowed to have a firearm. Up until the moment of the shooting, Wallace believed that a bullet-proof vest would stop a bullet. In the moment of the shooting, he believed in the bullet proof vest. At that moment his belief changed from “belief that” to “belief in.” That was the analogy he wished to apply to the gospels. He wondered if he could find the evidence to replace faith (belief that the miracles occurred) with proof (belief in both Jesus and the miracles).
That also happens to be my analogy from the book. Most salespeople believe that a sales process can help them succeed while the very best salespeople believe in their sales process.
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Don Kent and My 8 Reasons For Inaccurate Sales Forecasts
- February 15, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
1960’s Don Kent is like a 2020’s salesperson. Excited about an opportunity, but wrong. And they don’t have to be wrong, shouldn’t be wrong, and honestly, can’t be wrong. The 2020’s salesperson may not have computer models, but they do have technology and it’s not the technology getting the forecast wrong. It’s the salesperson. There are a number of reasons they get so excited and get it so wrong but here are eight good ones: