Politics and Sales
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Small Improvements, Big Revenue Gains: Golf Lessons for Sales Success
- July 9, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Politics and Sales, Understanding the Sales Force
Most salespeople chase big fixes that deliver only incremental gains. What if 10% improvements in three key areas could deliver 33% more revenue? Lessons from the golf course on why discovery and qualification beat polishing presentations every time.
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The Rise of Socialism in Sales: How Equal Outcomes Are Killing Merit and Performance
- July 1, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Baseball and Sales, Dinger the Dog, Politics and Sales, Understanding the Sales Force
Socialism has quietly crept into sales organizations through equal-outcome compensation plans, weakened accountability, tenure-based promotions, and identity-focused hiring. The result? Lower performance, entitlement, and frustrated top producers. Here’s what’s happening and what smart leaders can do about it.
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From the Vault – 130 Additional Articles on Sales and Sales Leadership
- June 26, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Politics and Sales, Sales Compensation, Sales Pipeline and Forecast, Sales Process, Understanding the Sales Force
I discovered more than 125 articles that were published in various magazines over the years, many of them in Top Sales Magazine, where I have been a regular contributor for more than 15 years, as well as Selling Power, TED Magazine, Smart Selling and others. They are listed in no particular order, with links (as they become available) to each article. Most are shorter articles – 400 or 800 words – than those I write for Understanding the Sales Force and some go back to 20006. Come back often as more links are added every day!
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Biased Polls and Poor Sales Questions: 83% of Salespeople Fail at This
- January 29, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Best Top 10 Lists, Politics and Sales, Sales Assessments Compared, Understanding the Sales Force
New OMG data reveals only 17% of salespeople are strong in Consultative Selling—especially at asking great, tough questions. See how biased poll questions mirror weak sales probes, and why specific competitor-weakness questions win more deals. Percentile breakdowns + fixes inside.
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Unify Your Sales Message: Lessons from Politics and Balance of Nature
- September 2, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Politics and Sales, Understanding the Sales Force
Democrats flood the airwaves with one message, like their cringy 2025 Trump/Musk attack videos, while Republicans’ scattered talking points barely register. Sound like your sales team? Most operate like the GOP—95% of companies lack consistent messaging, per Objective Management Group data. Take Balance of Nature’s “fruits and veggies in a capsule” campaign: real customers, from moms to celebs, passionately amplify one message, driving huge growth. Imagine your salespeople delivering your value prop with that fire! At Kurlan & Associates, we analyze elevator pitches and value propositions to ensure consistency and impact. Sales leaders, review your messaging, make sure your team knows it cold, and enforce it like CRM compliance. Need help crafting a unified, authentic pitch? Read the full post for tips to make your sales messaging win.
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Official Guidance for Sales Teams Navigating the 2nd Trump Economy
- January 20, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Politics and Sales, Understanding the Sales Force
Let’s discuss how the Trump economy will affect sales organizations.
It will be easier to schedule meetings – hooray!
It may be easier to reach decision makers – that’s awesome! They hide when they aren’t interested in spending.
Sales cycles will be shorter – that’s great news!
But with all that good news, I do have five warnings to share:
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How to Prepare for the Big Sales Presentation
- June 24, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Politics and Sales, Understanding the Sales Force
The goal of the big presentation, as with the debate, is to differentiate, but that requires knowing your competition’s strengths and weaknesses and being able to point out those where you are superior. Assuming that your price will be higher, you must represent its value and it must be that value that stands out above and beyond everything else. How can you be the value?
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Trump, The Iowa Caucus, and Sales Improvement
- January 16, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Politics and Sales, Understanding the Sales Force
This course is the most fun you could ever have while going through sales training! But it is so much more than fun and entertainment. There are powerful selling lessons in each clip, and despite the fun, you will become more effective at all aspects of selling. It doesn’t matter how long you have been in sales, what you sell, who you sell it to, the length of your sales cycle or the cost of your product or service. Nor does it matter where your competency gaps are.
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How to Sell to Major Accounts That Love Your Competitor
- October 23, 2023
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Politics and Sales, Understanding the Sales Force
Salespeople tend to take their best accounts for granted. They don’t call as often as they should. They don’t visit as often as they could. You need to be there and/or on the phone with them more often than the salesperson they like so much. Something is bound to go wrong. Something is likely to disappoint your prospect. That’s your opportunity to change the conversation.
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Sales Presentations to Big Companies – the Same as Political Theater
- September 22, 2023
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Politics and Sales, Understanding the Sales Force
What really happens on presentation day? Theater. Salespeople validate what the individuals on the committee already believe to be true. If you’re not the one getting the business, nothing you do on that day will change that UNLESS the one who is getting the business screws up big time.
