Analogies Archives - Page 19 of 26

30 Interesting Non-Selling Subjects to Make You Better at Selling

July 5, 2017
Posted by: Dave Kurlan
Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force

I was sitting next to a guy who knows that our son is one of the best ball players in his age group in New England. He is from the former Soviet Union and when he told me that he tought his son to play catch I was confused. I said, “You didn’t play baseball growing up – how were you able to teach him?”

He said, “When I was in school, we may not have played baseball, but we did have to practice throwing grenades and it’s exactly the same motion!”

Who knew?

And he didn’t know at the time that practicing grenades would prepare him for something completely different years later.

The same goes for sales. There are so many subjects, all unrelated to selling, that can make salespeople more effective.

I’ve written about many of these subjects before. Don’t click on all of them though. Find 3 that interest you and read only those. Then leave a comment below on how that could help you.

Predict the Weather but Control the Sales Forecast and Revenue

June 6, 2017
Posted by: Dave Kurlan
Categories: Analogies, Sales Pipeline and Forecast, Understanding the Sales Force

You may be familiar when the rant sounds like: “It’s almost the end of the quarter, we’re only at 65% of forecast, the pipeline is half empty, and nothing is closing. With the exception of 3 nice deals that came in during May, our salespeople have sucked.”

While the crappy weather and your crappy 2nd quarter revenue have crappy in common, there is one huge difference that can help you hit your sales forecast even when the weather forecast is for rain.

What B2B Companies Must Learn from 10 Reasons Why Amazon is Destroying Retailers

April 17, 2017
Posted by: Dave Kurlan
Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force

Amazon generated almost $44 Billion in net revenue last year and it had to come from somewhere. That’s not $44 Billion that people wouldn’t have spent if not for Amazon. It’s money that people would have spent, at some retailer, probably within an hour of their home or office, but chose to buy from Amazon instead.

You may think it’s because Amazon saves them money but that isn’t necessarily true. And you may think it’s simply more convenient to order from your laptop or mobile device but that might not be the case either. I’m going to share my 10 reasons why this is happening and you might be very surprised with my conclusion at the end of the article where I provide an important warning for B2B Sellers.

10 Selling Scenarios When You Must Slow Down

February 7, 2017
Posted by: Dave Kurlan
Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force

Rick Porcello’s thoughts about the importance of slowing down in certain situations and focusing on the present apply to the following 10 sales and sales leadership scenarios. Slow down:

Sales Excellence: How to Close Anything and Everything in Any Vertical

January 30, 2017
Posted by: Dave Kurlan
Categories: Analogies, Sales Data and Science, Understanding the Sales Force

I am going to share the real truth about closing and it’s quite different from what you’ve read, what you’ve listened to, what you’ve watched, and probably from what you’ve practiced. Countless books, tapes, videos and podcasts have been devoted to closing techniques. Thousands of companies deliver seminars and training programs to help salespeople develop their closing skills. They’re all wrong and they have all wasted your time.

I have written 1,600 articles and not once have I shared the closing secret that I am about to share in this article.

How Learning to Drive Can Help You Achieve Sales Mastery

January 9, 2017
Posted by: Dave Kurlan
Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force

I was on the phone with a client who spent some time telling me about how he follows the sales process, prepares the questions he wants to ask, makes sure he remembers to thoroughly qualify, prepares and plans his presentations and considers all of the possible objections he may encounter along the way.

That’s all well and good – but it’s too complicated. It’s much more like driving a car. Let me explain:

Is it Your Salespeople or Did You Make a Bad Decision?

October 19, 2016
Posted by: Dave Kurlan
Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force

Salesforce.com.

Consider this quote from a client:

“You were right, you know. Six months ago, when you told us that we wouldn’t be happy with the integration of the customized sales process into Salesforce.com, we didn’t understand what you meant. But now we do. It’s clunky, not really part of the interface, the customization cost us tens of thousands of dollars, and it doesn’t work the way we need it to. We are so sorry we didn’t listen because that train has left the station.”

The Crucial Selling Skill That Nobody Talks About

October 14, 2016
Posted by: Dave Kurlan
Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force

I couldn’t care less because the tool looked lame and if he thought that he was going to hurt my feelings with his threat to remove my name he is as stupid as he is impatient. And patience is what I want to talk about today.

The Second Most Important Sales Lesson of My Life

September 8, 2016
Posted by: Dave Kurlan
Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force

Earlier this week I posted an article that told the story of the biggest sales lesson of my life. I received so many emails about that article because it seemed to really resonate with my readers. Yet, as much as it resonated, there was one question that several of them asked in their emails. They wanted to know why we were in that tenement building in the first place. And the answer to that question leads me to the second most important sales lesson of my life.