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Most Salespeople Suck at Selling – Is it Worse Than Ever?
- August 26, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
What is your approach to get people to call you back after you have left 2 or 3 messages?”
In the past month, there have been 47 comments, one of the most popular topics I’ve seen there. Some of the replies have been on target but most are embarrassing to read. These are sales management executives and this is a “what salespeople must learn to do in their 1st week in sales” topic. Most salespeople do not have the skills to consistently get new prospects to the phone!
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You Lost the Sale – What Should Your Salespeople Do Next?
- August 25, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I get tremendous satisfaction from helping companies evaluate their sales forces, develop and optimize their processes, improve efficiencies, train and coach their teams, select great salespeople and increase revenue and profit. But I LOVE to sell. Agassi hated tennis yet still mastered the sport to become #1 in the world! You can learn a lot from an example like that!
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Enough Already with all the Sales 2.0 Talk!
- August 24, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Today, some experts are making a business out of writing about and teaching only Sales 2.0. The thing is that Sales 2.0 is not a new way to sell but it is similar to email and fax.
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How to Add Value to Your Sales Offering
- August 17, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
We often discuss the importance of adding value as well as how to sell and build value. Last week I was asked if I could provide an example of what added value could be.
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Top 10 Criteria for a Qualified Sales Presentation
- August 17, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Salespeople should not be allowed to present until their prospects have yielded the right of way. Where intelligent pedestrians qualify the opportunity to cross, intelligent salespeople qualify the opportunity to present.
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Top 10 Reasons for Roller Coaster Sales Performance
- August 11, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
We know why the market goes up and down – in hindsight – but we can never predict when. Do we know why sales performance bounces up and down? Here are my ten reasons for inconsistent sales performance:
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Top 10 Keys to an Effective Sales Hiring Process
- August 11, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
There are many keys to making the the sales hiring process work effectively yet most companies fail to get these keys right. Some of them are obvious, while some are more subtle. And most of all, the integrity, or in this case, the outcome of the process is only as strong as the weakest link. Ignore or fail to complete any one step the way it is designed and the entire outcome will be in jeopardy, as in, another salesperson that fails to launch, doesn’t meet expectations, or succeeds at being utterly mediocre.
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Harvard Business Review Blog Post Gets Salespeople Wrong
- August 9, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The Blog at the Harvard Business Review recently ran this article about the top seven personality traits of successful salespeople. Thanks to Peter for sending this along to me.
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Busy Salespeople are Lazy Salespeople
- August 8, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Things aren’t always what they seem with your salespeople. Sometimes, the busier they are, the less they are doing! I had several conversations in the past week that explain my opening comment.
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What it Takes to Make Your Sales Pipeline Accurate & Predictive
- August 5, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Yesterday, while speaking in DC, I asked my usual questions, but the response to one of the questions left me scratching my head. It wasn’t a new question; as a matter of fact, I’ve been asking it for years. And, as you can see below, I’ve been writing about the pipeline in various ways for years: