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The Science of Achievement Applied to Sales Success
- November 29, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Many salespeople have been in sales for ten plus years and aren’t the best of the best. They’re not even in the top 26%. I will use science to explain this. If we go back and look at Objective Management Group’s data on the salespeople that have been assessed so far, we find that 22% are not trainable (no incentive to change) and another 10% shouldn’t even be in sales. So that leaves 42% unaccounted for. What about them? I dug through the data and found that:
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Sales 2.0 Tools Have Their Place, But Where is It?
- November 23, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Sales 2.0 – I love the tools, but they don’t replace the basics.
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NY Times Articles Hits Then Misses the Mark on Sales
- November 18, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Compensation is tricky and one size never fits all.
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Selling Power Hit and Then Miss the Mark on Sales
- November 17, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Yesterday it was the Harvard Business Review article and today it’s a Selling Power article.
They pointed to three qualities that are highly predictive indicators of a top sales performer. Let’s see how their claims (using data from personality assessments) stack up against real sales science (using Objective Management Group’s data from sales specific assessments).
They said the 3 highly predictive qualities are:
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Harvard Business Review Hit and Then Missed the Mark on Sales
- November 16, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Their conclusion was that everyone receives sales training on presentation and pitch but not on rising to the challenge and customer interaction. They recommended that salespeople should get more training in those areas where they haven’t developed the other skills. You don’t say…
OK, I can’t wait to share my perspective. Here is how HBR missed the mark:
In no particular order:
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The Hidden Power of the Sales Candidate Follow Up Letter
- November 15, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
You receive follow up letters from your sales candidates all the time, right? And you probably make notes in their files that they sent those nice follow up letters and you might even rank them higher as a result.
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Dave Kurlan was the keynote speaker at an Executive Luncheon at Bentley University, November 10.
- November 11, 2010
- Posted by: Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
- Category: News
Bentley University was the locale for an executive luncheon that featured Dave Kurlan as the keynote speaker.
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How to Get Salespeople to Leave Their Comfort Zone
- November 11, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
We asked our 8-year-old son if he was willing to help out and have a female classmate ride home with him today. He wasn’t sure. If he didn’t do the right thing and said no, he would hurt her feelings. If he did the right thing, he worried that he would be uncomfortable spending time with her. When they are eight years old, boys think girls are yucky.
This is the same dilemma that salespeople face every day, in every sales call, in every interaction. Do the right thing and ask the tough question that the situation calls for; or do what’s comfortable and present.
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Effective or Easiest – Which Path Will Your Salespeople Choose?
- November 8, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
There are always one or two crucial turning points in every sales cycle where your salespeople must choose between asking the tough question that are called for, or saying what’s comfortable for them.
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How Can Anyone Spend That Much Time on Sales Coaching?
- November 4, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
According to Objective Management Group’s considerable data, only 15% of all sales managers spend as much as 25% of their time on coaching and the time they do spend on coaching is generally ineffective. Two more statistics from OMG reveal that 18% of them shouldn’t even be in sales management, and 34% of them aren’t trainable because they lack the incentive to change. And one last statistic, a whopping 84% of sales managers just plain suck!