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Dave Kurlan is a finalist for Top Sales & Marketing Blog
- December 8, 2013
- Posted by: Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
- Category: News
Understanding the Sales Force, the popular business blog by Dave Kurlan, is a finalist for the Top Sales & Marketing Blog of 2013.
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What is the Most Difficult Part of the Sales Process?
- December 6, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
We discussed the various challenges associated with all three milestones and when all was said and done, everyone agreed that the midpoint, that crucial point in time where compelling reasons to buy must be identified, is the most difficult for salespeople.
Why? Well a quick look at the following list of mini-milestones, that must be accomplished in order to get to the point where compelling reasons will be shared, tells the whole story. How many of your salespeople can do all of this in their first meeting?
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Lost Sales, Deals, and Accounts – Fairy Tales or Dragnet?
- December 3, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Yesterday, Dennis and I were reviewing Lost Deal comments for a client when we came across one that began, “In the end, when all was said and done…”
You really don’t have to read any further. You can easily recognize, from just the first few words, that this was going to be a fairy tale. A story. One salesperson’s editorial. A whole lot of words that will not be particularly useful for you or the analysis. Webster’s Dictionary defines a fairy tale as “a false story meant to trick people.”
When it comes to analyzing lost deals, we should be far more interested in watching a police show, like Dragnet, where you are more likely to hear, “Just the facts, Ma’am.”
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Opinion: Why Sales Win Rates Have Reached an All-Time Low
- November 27, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
One of the findings in the most recent Sales Performance Optimization Study, from CSO Insights, revealed that the win rate for deals has reached an all-time low.
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Study Says to Highlight 3 Features in a Sales Presentation
- November 25, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
A very interesting article caught my attention on Inc. Magazine’s website. You must read the article in order to understand the following questions.
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The Law of Opposites; Does This Description of Salespeople Offend?
- November 18, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I’ll get to it, but first bear with me…
Last week, I was driving into Boston to lead our fall Sales Leadership Intensive. I was listening to the personalities on the Boston sports radio station discuss the client appreciation event that they attended the prior evening.
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Social Selling – I’m a Proponent, Not a Detractor – Look at The Stats
- November 15, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Bob Thompson left several comments on the article at the CustomerThink site. In his last comment, he asked what the stats would look like if we only reported on what the best salespeople did with social media. I think that’s a terrific idea, Bob, and while it’s much more difficult to isolate those statistics, I did the research and report on it here.
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Top 10 Ways Salespeople are Selling in the Dark
- November 13, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Did you happen to see the movie Gravity?
Early in the movie, the two astronauts, played by Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, lose communications with Houston. From that point on, they don’t stop talking to Houston, they don’t stop reporting in and they don’t change protocol. What they do change, is they add a phrase to the beginning of each message, “Houston, in the dark…”
They are moving blindly, without direction, without feedback, without certainty. They are in the dark. That’s exactly how most salespeople go through each day, through each sales call and meeting, and through each sales cycle. They are in the dark.
It’s most obvious when salespeople don’t know:
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Insider Opinion – Why Sales Experts Can’t Agree on Anything
- November 11, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Good things are happening in the world of sales and some of those things are coming your way. Just keep both eyes open, your nose to the ground and your antenna up. You’ll intuitively know whether or not what you are reading is a bunch of bunk or the real deal.
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Sales Candidate Shortage – More Proof That Sales Isn’t Dead Yet
- November 7, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
As you probably know, many people have been writing premature obituaries about the impending death of selling. Of course, that’s been going on since at least 2006 when I posted my first rebuttal to this silly claim, and as recently as last month when I posted my latest rebuttal. It’s being perpetuated by extremist marketers who are claiming that inbound will become the be-all end-all.
It’s simply not true.