-
How Driving Down the Highway Will Help You Close More Sales
- January 22, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
If there is one thing that most salespeople are guilty of, it is voluntarily ending the conversation with more unanswered questions than answered questions. It doesn’t need to be that way either!
-
Trump, The Iowa Caucus, and Sales Improvement
- January 16, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: 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.
-
How Our Veterinarian Can Help Improve Your Win Rate
- January 9, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Most repeat business is handled by salespeople with a number of different titles but the two that describe most of them are, Order Taker and Quoter. The salesperson receives the call or email where the existing customer asks for the price on something they may or may not be currently buying from this company. The order taker/quoter says, “I’ll get a quote right off to you!” While some of those quotes or proposals convert to sales, many more do not. Why?
-
Combining Goal Setting with Sales Competencies
- January 4, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Allow me to introduce the first draft of the first innovation of 2024 from Kurlan & Associates: The Sales Goals Grid, which incorporates most of the 21 Sales Core Competencies. It is a great visual for every salesperson, regardless of what they sell, who they sell for, who they sell to, or the length of their sales cycle. You can even adapt it to your own needs.
-
How to Always Respond Appropriately to Your Prospect
- December 21, 2023
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
When a salesperson experiences momentary panic, or forgets what to do or how to do it, that call, Zoom, or in-person meeting is over. It could even spell the end of that opportunity. I’ll explain how to Always Respond Appropriately to Your Prospect
Three ingredients influence events like these:
-
The Best Sales and Sales Leadership Content of 2023
- December 11, 2023
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Welcome to my annual list of the best sales and sales leadership content of 2023. This year’s list has thirteen entries, including articles, videos, and LinkedIn posts. There are several categories including Most Read, Most Liked, Most Engagement, Best Quality and Personal Favorite. Ready?
-
My Latest on Using Email to Book New Meetings
- November 29, 2023
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Salespeople have been spoiled by inbound leads, outbound emails, and BDRs generating leads for them. As a result, those in sales for fewer than ten years never learned how and suck at cold calling. Those who used to cold call but have since stopped, forgot how to and also suck at cold calling.
-
Why Top and Bottom Salespeople Have the Same Scores
- November 21, 2023
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
A question was brought to my attention about Objective Management Group (OMG) assessments. For context, OMG has assessed more than 2.4 million salespeople, their accuracy is legendary and they’ve earned their stripes for predictive validity as well. I was shown two sales candidate evaluations that at first glance had important findings that looked the same. Both individuals lacked Desire for Success in Sales and Commitment to Achieve Sales Success. The problem is that individual number one is their top salesperson and individual number two is their worst salesperson. The question I was asked was, “How can that be!”
-
Movie Contrasts the Best and Worst Salespeople
- November 14, 2023
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
We watched GameStop: Rise of the Players and despite it being a documentary, found it to be quite entertaining. It was David versus Goliath. It was Amateur versus Professional. It was about an improbable outcome accomplished by people who were unlikely to succeed and even more unlikely to win the big payoff.
While I thought it had a lot in common with selling, the twelve central figures:
Were not professional investors although they did invest in GameStop.
Were not skilled traders although they did conduct some research.
Did not trade as a full-time job or hobby.
Were making decisions based on hunches, not history or science.
Found in each other kindred souls with a shared passion for GameStop.The five statements above suggest that skills, attributes, competencies and capabilities were NOT part of their success so what could this possibly have in common with selling?
-
What Companies Don’t Know About Sales
- November 10, 2023
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
We heard that the “Sound of Freedom” was a good movie but waited until we could stream it at home. We loved the movie, but we were moved even more by the closing messages displayed on the screen. The statistics are astounding, where as a result of human trafficking, mostly at the southern border, more children are enslaved today than when slavery was legal! We didn’t know what we didn’t know.
“Companies don’t know what they don’t know about sales” is true in most companies and sales organizations.