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Salespeople are Like Children – The Series
- August 14, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I have written many articles based on the insights of our son, most when he was between the ages of 3-7. Each article has profound lessons and they’re fun to read. Readers have enjoyed these particular articles so much, and found the lessons to be so good, that I compiled this series called Salespeople are Like Children. As you might expect, some of these articles are my all-time favorites too.
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Filling the Sales Pipeline – Who’s to Blame?
- August 12, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
You’ve installed the latest and greatest application to track, monitor and review your pipeline. You’ve provided them with training to assist them in adding new opportunities to the pipeline. You’ve let the sales force know that they must add new opportunities to the pipeline now. There are individual goals and quotas that support the team’s goals and quotas and it’s now or never.
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Getting Customers to Flock Back to Your Salespeople
- August 11, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Last night at dinner, my 77 year-old father showed us the obituary he had saved from when his father died. Abe Kurlan died in 1968 at the age of 68. Since I pick up the most subtle of patterns, the first thing that ran through my head was that I might make it to 86! It also got me thinking about what Abe did for a living. He was a car salesman back in the day when before he could sell you a car he had to teach you how to drive one!
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Data Points Tell a Story – Prospects Buy Happy Endings
- August 9, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Our son, who is now six, doesn’t know the the full extent of what I do for a living. Rather than tell him that I’m a sales force development expert and explain the many facets of that, he knows that I have meetings (talk with people on the phone and in my office), that I do work (stuff on the computer), that I’m the boss of my office (12 people report up to me) and that I sometimes conduct training (show salespeople how to sell). I haven’t attempted to explain evaluating, compensation, incentives, metrics, recruiting, leadership development, executive coaching, consulting, strategies, systems or processes.
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The Lost Gospels – Most Sales Candidates Really Suck!
- August 6, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
You must have a structured, world-class, sales recruiting process that features a world-class sales specific assessment to consistently identify the sales candidates that will prosper at your company.
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With Manny in LA LA Land the Sales Force Can Produce
- August 1, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I posted this article earlier in the week before Manny Complainez was traded to the LA Dodgers. Mike Carroll posted this article earlier today. The King of Self-Centeredness was granted his wish and sent off, leaving his teammates relieved, happy, and excited about their team’s future.
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Does Changing Compensation Increase Sales?
- July 31, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
One of the attendees asked how she could change the compensation for her highly paid, salaried producers, in order to provide the incentive to sell more.
If that’s all it takes, getting salespeople to sell more would be easy!
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Technology, Software, and Tools for the Sales Force
- July 29, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Inside CRM published its comparison guide to Sales Force Automation and did not even include Landslide among the 12 applications it compared. Goes to show how little the software engineers, writers and editors know about selling. Traditional CRM is difficult for salespeople to embrace!
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Manny Being Manny – When to Terminate Top Producers on your Sales Force
- July 28, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Most sales forces have a person – a maverick – like Manny; a top producer who marches to the beat of his own drummer. We have a different set of rules for these producers and as long as they’re not causing difficulties for anyone else we tend to tolerate what they do and don’t do. They don’t attend all the meetings, aren’t held to the same standards, regularly give us a load of crap and we tolerate it as long as they continue to produce.
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Fear Factor for the Sales Force
- July 24, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Your Sales Team Fear Factor.