Dave Kurlan
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Can the Worst Salespeople be Saved?
- March 25, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Sales Data and Science, Understanding the Sales Force
Recently, I was asked to explain what a company can do with the bottom 74% that I write about so frequently. It’s a great question…and I will share several examples…Depending on the size of your sales force, the relative effectiveness of your sales coaching, the degree to which you embrace sales best practices, and your track record at selecting and hiring only A players, your sales force might not have a top 6%, next 20% and bottom 74%. Nope. It could be better – or worse. Your sales force might have salespeople that are all in the top 26% or all of your salespeople might belong to the bottom 74%. What’s interesting is how that plays out.
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How Music Can Definitely Help You Sell More
- March 18, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Music and Sales, Salespeople Like Children, Understanding the Sales Force
Next week, I have a special treat for my readers. I will post an article that features my least read articles of all time – sounds very exciting, doesn’t it? While I was looking for the least read articles, I consistently came across a whole bunch of my articles that were related to music.
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How to Close a Sale using Proof of Concept
- March 16, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Sales Data and Science, Understanding the Sales Force
New salespeople have even greater challenges when they sell products and services that must be proven. Do they have to prove that they’re better, quicker, smarter, cooler or easier? Do they have to prove that their ROI is better? Do they have to prove a new technology or concept? Do they have a powerful, consistent way to do that?
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Beach Ball of Death Predicts Lack of Sales Growth
- March 11, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force
And then there is the beach ball I want to share today – the sales beach ball of impending doom. You might be wondering how there could even be a sales beach ball, never mind one that spells impending doom; but, there is.
Last week I saw it for the first time on a slide from a deck that Objective Management Group (OMG) prepares when we evaluate a sales force. This particular slide answered the question, “Why Aren’t We Generating More New Business?”
Here’s the slide:
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Epic Debate on the Science of OMG’s Sales Assessment
- March 9, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Sales Assessments Compared, Understanding the Sales Force
In my opinion, that very conversation is now the ultimate, defining conversation comparing the science behind OMG’s award-winning sales assessments, to gut instinct, faith, intuition and experience. The conversation explored whether or not the science was accurate, valid, predictive, consistent, and reliable. The contrarions weighed in, the know-it-alls spoke up, and eventually, the supporters arrived in droves. If you read only one article/discussion on sales selection tools in your lifetime, this must be the one. Read and Join the discussion here, but I warn you, it contains a LOT of very compelling and highly-charged reading.
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Rebuttal to What Elite Salespeople Do Differently
- March 4, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Sales Assessments Compared, Sales Data and Science, Understanding the Sales Force
This article appeared through syndication on some other sites. On CustomerThink, an epic discussion followed this introduction and I have included more than 50 comments that appeared there. It started with this comment from Bob Thompson, who also happens to own the CustomerThink website:
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Case History – Another Pitiful Sales Cold Call Exposed
- March 2, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
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Verne Harnish’s Rant and 3 Sales Leadership Issues
- February 25, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Books, Movies, Theater and Television, Understanding the Sales Force
The one newsletter that I never fail to read each week, rain, 7 feet of snow, sub-zero temperatures, or shine, is Verne Harnish’s Weekly Insights (subscribe here). If you are not familiar with Verne (The Growth Guy), he wrote Mastering the Rockefeller Habits and his latest book, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make it and the Rest Don’t, is another must-read best seller.
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How Dramatically Has Selling Changed?
- February 19, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force
Yesterday, I was listening to a radio promotion when they said, “Take a selfie with a standie and then, using your smartphone or tablet, upload it to Facebook, or tweet your image using hashtag [something I can’t remember].”
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Short Window of Opportunity with Sr. Executives
- February 6, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Monthly Tips, Tactics - Scoring (Closing)
This month I’ll focus on timing, specifically, the short window of opportunity that exists with most senior level executives. Your window of opportunity remains available only while you are in front of that person. As soon as you leave, your prospect is on to the next burning issue and you become out of sight and out of mind. Getting that prospect’s attention a second time becomes much more challenging and, in many cases, impossible. To succeed with this prospect, you must quickly get his attention and cover enough ground in the first meeting to get a commitment to work together. This actually shortens the sales cycle in what is typically viewed as a very long sell cycle.
