Dave Kurlan’s Understanding the Sales Force Blog
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Hiring Salespeople – How Deadpool Would Fare as a Sales Candidate
- August 16, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Books, Movies, Theater and Television, Understanding the Sales Force
Hiring salespeople doesn’t have to be complicated but most companies get the entire process wrong from expectations, to job description, specs, job posting, vetting, phone interview, first interview, final interview, selection and on-boarding. The companies we help attract more candidates, better quality candidates, conduct fewer interviews, have significantly less turnover, and new salespeople producing out of the gate. We could probably help you too, but you must want the help. That means getting your ego out of the way, embracing a different way to hire salespeople, paying for the help, and being more patient than before. If you are willing to do that, you can be a big winner and build a kick-ass sales team.
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Is Sales Today Nothing More than its Tech Stack?
- August 9, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
If you are on the sales team in any function, focus on selling and ignore the noise and distractions of anything that isn’t directly helping you develop your skills to book more meetings, improve your ability to reach decision makers, build relationships and trust, take a consultative approach, sell value, qualify and close business.
To everything else simply say “fuck off.”
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DO ASSESSMENTS MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE SALES ORGANIZATION?
- August 8, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Sales Assessments Compared, Understanding the Sales Force
Asking if assessments make a difference in sales is an important question because if they don’t, then companies shouldn’t waste their money and if they do, every company should be following suit.
But if you ask this question to the executives at 100 companies the results will look something like this:
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Baby Fish and New Salespeople Experience the Same Fate
- August 1, 2024
- Posted by: Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
- Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force
If your turnover is less than 10% you have a turnover problem – not enough turnover! If your turnover is between 10-20% you’re good. If it’s greater than 20% it’s worth exploring what is contributing to your high turnover rate and how to fix it. Sometimes it’s because you are hiring the wrong salespeople. Sometimes it’s lack of effective onboarding, lack of effective sales training, lack of coaching, lack of accountability, or lack of leadership.
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The Biggest Mistake That Salespeople Make When Closing
- July 31, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force
Aggressive salespeople are no more effective than passive salespeople but if I had to choose one over the other I would take my chances with the aggressive salesperson and attempt to get them to tone it down. While the challenges with passive salespeople are obvious, there is one mistake I consistently observe being made by aggressive salespeople and wouldn’t you know it, the salesperson approached us and made the mistake. That made me want to sit in a messaging recliner to get the stress out.
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Ten Reasons Why Most Sales Training Doesn’t Work
- July 10, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
As I share my top ten reasons why sales training doesn’t usually work iyt’s important to note that You may not like them and/or may not agree with them.
I’ve been training salespeople at companies for almost 40 years, and I can tell you from experience that it’s always these one or more of the following ten reasons:
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How Practice Can Increase Sales and Commissions by 33%
- July 9, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Baseball and Sales, Understanding the Sales Force
According to data from more than 2.5 million salespeople assessed by Objective Management Group (OMG), only 72% of all salespeople are committed to their sales success and if we look at the largest population – the weakest 50% – only a little more than half of that group are committed. Why would they practice?
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Is Fred a Top Salesperson or a Horrible Imposter?
- July 2, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force
Fred’s sales manager sees both sides. He told me that Fred is an imposter and the OMG evaluation perfectly described his sales capabilities. So yes, Fred is both a top salesperson and a horrible imposter.
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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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Stop the Dysfunction in the Sales Function
- June 17, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force
For some reason, a plurality of executives think way too highly of their company’s sales capabilities and believe they will figure it out themselves. Egos and hurt feelings take priority over best practices, right people in the right seats, sales competencies and sales processes.
