Search Results
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Harvard Business Review Blog Off Target on Sales Greatness
- March 5, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
This recent article in the Harvard Business Review Blog was as far off target as any I have ever debunked. Steve Martin lists 7 characteristics that he says differentiate great sales forces from good ones. His seven are:
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Sales Excellence Studies Propagate Mediocrity
- February 26, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
If you conduct a Google search for “sales excellence studies”, you’ll find more than 20,000 results. I’m sure that some results point to surveys which were conducted by others, but either way, that’s a lot of studies on sales excellence. If any of those studies were actually ground-breaking, insightful or truly representative of sales excellence, there would probably be fewer than a dozen. But there are not. There are many reasons why these studies are so lame, but let’s name just a few:
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Get Your Sales Force to Perform Magic and Make Sales Appear!
- January 5, 2012
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
We don’t talk about it much but sales has a lot of magic to it.
We disguise the magic and call it art, but when people are unable to describe how it actually works it must be magic. Want an example?
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Every Sales Assessment Tells a Story – This is Fred’s Story
- December 19, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
When his boss couldn’t understand why Fred wasn’t performing, we performed a sales force evaluation and among the things we focused in on was Fred.
Fred’s Sales DNA was generally quite good but when it came to his selling skills, there were a few problems that explained everything.
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How Can Strong Salespeople Lack Desire for Success?
- October 20, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
This question is kind of funny to me.
Using Objective Management Group’s Sales Candidate Assessment, a company could assess 1,000 salespeople, understand that Lack of Desire for Success in Sales causes an automatic “Not Recommended”, and not be tempted to interview a single candidate who lacks Desire. That is until they introduce a sales candidate that they “know” into the mix.
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Are You Looking for Salespeople with Entrepreneurial Spirit?
- May 26, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Is it reasonable to expect your salespeople to live and breath your business? To bring it up wherever they go? With whomever they meet? Should it be part of the job description? Would it be authentic? Would it help?
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Exposed – Personality Tests Disguised as Sales Assessments
- January 28, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Yesterday, I met with a long-time client who, in his previous company, used OMG’s Assessments to identify what needed to change in order to double revenue from $30 million to $60 million. In his new company, which is already about 12x that size, he wants to double revenue again. He said, “I just wasted two years with the _____ Assessment.” The assessment to which he referred was a personality assessment marketed as a sales assessment. It could have referred to any personality or behavioral-styles assessment.
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Who Are Better Salespeople – Men or Women?
- October 23, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Tom Peters said women are better salespeople than men.
I wrote that Objective Management Group’s data proves that a greater percentage of women are stronger than men.
Here is how that data breaks down: