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Jim Collins Fortune Interview Translated for the Sales Force
- March 2, 2009
- Posted by: Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
So, if you must do something, as opposed to nothing, what can you do? You can only cut so many costs. You can only sit back and wait for so long. You can only hope so much. At some point, you must do something about the one thing you can control – your sales force – the single connecting point between you and your revenue.
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Revising the Forbes Message of the Day for the Sales Force
- February 26, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The Forbes Success Calendar for 2/25/09 said, “Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change – this is the rhythm of our living. Out of our overconfidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress.” – Bruce Barton
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The CEO Who Needed to Hire Salespeople
- February 25, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Yesterday I spoke with a CEO who asked for some help recruiting salespeople. It seems that the salespeople they had previously hired had failed. As I learned more about their business, a few things became obvious to me:
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Topgrading Pros, Cons and Sales Assessments
- February 23, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Somehow, I got thrown into the middle of an internet disagreement between Brad Smart, author of Topgrading, and Bob Corlett, a blogger who calls himself The Staffing Adviser.
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Personality Assessments – They Still Don’t Get it
- February 18, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The following email was recently forwarded to me. As you read it, look at the descriptors which the client references in the personality assessments. They’re not sales descriptors, so in essence, we have another example of an assessment which claims to be measuring one thing, but actually is measuring another:
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Former IBM Pro Lashes Out Over Sales Assessment
- February 17, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
A CEO of a fairly large-sized but under-performing OEM asked us to evaluate his sales force. One of the three regional managers, who assessed as poorly as any regional manager could, called to complain about his results. In addition to calling me a toad, Bob said that in the eighties he used to sell and manage at IBM and he led the top performing team. He finished by letting me know that we didn’t know what we were talking about and, by the way, he would be picking me up at the airport for the kick-off of their national training initiative.
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Will Gifts Get Prospects to Return Calls from your Salespeople?
- February 13, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
A fruit basket arrived this morning. My first reaction was, “who would want to send me a fruit basket?” It turned out that a salesperson sent it, hoping to get me on the phone. He had already left two voice mail messages and stopped by on one other occasion.
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Sales and Customer Service are Just Like Steriod Use in Baseball
- February 11, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Sales is just like Steroid use in Baseball.
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Sales Assessments vs Personality Assessments Episode III – The PHD’s Strike Back
- February 3, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Are PHD’s more sensitive to criticism than the rest of us?
I heard from a few over the past week and they weren’t happy with what I wrote here and here. I rocked their world and they couldn’t cope.
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How to Turn Around Flat or Declining Sales Revenue
- February 2, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I am in the process of reading a New York Times bestseller called 90 Minutes in Heaven. The first chapter, where Don Piper describes his 90 minutes in heaven, is by far the best part of the book. Page after page of the rest of the book (so far), details his horrible ordeal, the accident, his years of pain and recovery and his depression. This section of the book is not that enjoyable. But today, I came to a passage of about 3 pages that made the drudgery worthwhile.